A mistake!

Slurp, slurp~

Xu Xiaoyu was happily devouring her noodles, while Weijiu sat next to her, using a fork to delicately twirl small bundles of noodles into her mouth, eating with a measured, ladylike restraint.

Seeing that both of them had an appetite, Xu Feng felt a flicker of relief and smiled. However, she had yet to touch her own bowl of beef noodles; her mind was too heavy for hunger.

On the way home, the elf Mang Qiu had cautiously recounted everything she and Weijiu had witnessed earlier.

The conclusion Mang Qiu had reached was terrifying: hidden within Xu Feng’s body was a black beast of monstrous power. It was still dormant, but the mere vibrations of its slumber were enough to shake Mang Qiu’s very will.

If it were just that, Xu Feng might have been able to accept it—after all, since it was happening to her, the Dream Protection Bureau would surely have a way to solve it. But just as her own body was acting up, her sister, Xu Xiaoyu, had resonated in response. The white light on Xiaoyu’s body appeared holy, yet Mang Qiu didn’t know the source of that power; she only felt instinctively that such pure white and black were not normal. On the contrary, they were two sides of an extreme opposition!

Xu Feng looked at Xiaoyu’s face, her expression clouded with worry.

“Bro, you’re not eating?” Seeing Xu Feng staring blankly at her, Xiaoyu pointed her chopsticks directly at Xu Feng’s face.

“I’m not really hungry, I ate this morning…” Xu Feng stopped mid-sentence. She hadn’t actually eaten anything this morning.

“You can’t tell me you’re full from breakfast. Bro, you clearly have something on your mind, and I’m all ears.” Xiaoyu set down her chopsticks. She read Xu Feng’s thoughts with startling clarity, despite the fact that they had seen very little of each other in recent years.

“Sigh… wasn’t I seeing a doctor a while back? It’s just stress. Sometimes it makes me lose my appetite like this.”

“Huh? Is it that serious, Bro?” Xiaoyu stood up and slid into the seat between Xu Feng and Weijiu. She studied Xu Feng’s worried, guilty expression and narrowed her eyes.

“It’s not just that, is it? Bro, what else are you hiding from me?”

“Uh…” Xu Feng pursed her lips. There were too many problems; she didn’t know which one to pick to tell Xiaoyu first.

“Bro, if you won’t talk, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad about how you worked a secret part-time job last summer to buy a computer and play games on Steam!” Xiaoyu whipped out her phone and gave it a threatening shake.

Xu Feng sat there agape, her chopsticks clattering to the floor.

“How did you know about that?!”

“Hmph! To tell you the truth, Bro, I’m actually on your friends list!”

Xiaoyu laid all her cards on the table. This meant that every time Xu Feng went online at home and every non-study-related thing she did was under Xiaoyu’s total control!

“You were actually spying on me?!” Xu Feng was in utter disbelief.

“Don’t change the subject! Spill it, Bro! Don’t think you’re getting away with this!” Xiaoyu’s stance was clear. With the fate of her computer and her games hanging in the balance, Xu Feng had no choice but to bite the bullet and weave a reasonable explanation.

Maybe I should just tell her! I’ll use the concept of a ‘dream’ to test her reaction. It might help her act as a witness or protector for me later.

Having made up her mind, Xu Feng swallowed hard and cleared her throat.

“Lately, I’ve been having these dreams. I turned into… a girl.”

Silence fell over the room.

The noodles in Weijiu’s mouth stalled. She looked at Xu Feng in shock, while Xiaoyu sat frozen, her eyes blinking rapidly.

“What did you say, Bro? Say that again?”

“Uh, I turned into a girl. But let me be clear! It’s only in the dream!” Every word of Xu Feng’s explanation was technically true, yet it felt exactly like a lie.

“Ah? Haha! Bro, you’ve been moping all day because of that?” Xiaoyu leaned her elbows on the table and began to giggle at Xu Feng.

“It’s for real…” Xu Feng rubbed the back of her neck helplessly, even though she was telling the absolute truth.

“So what if it’s real? I thought it was some kind of nightmare…” Xiaoyu laughed until tears came to her eyes. The “Brother” in her memory was actually so melancholic over a dream. It’s not like he had actually transformed; he was still a big boy sitting right there, wasn’t he?

Seeing Xiaoyu’s relaxed attitude, Xu Feng tentatively pushed her hypothetical further.

“Um, Xiaoyu… I mean, what if one day your brother really did turn into a girl? What would you do?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I would, of course, accept~ it~ wholeheartedly~! Whether I gain an older sister or a younger sister, I’d still like… mgh.” Xiaoyu stopped abruptly, her face turning bright red as she covered her mouth. That slip of the tongue—saying she “liked” him—had exposed something she wasn’t ready for.

“Oh, oh. Well, that’s good then.” Xu Feng let out a massive sigh of relief. She completely missed the “like” part—or perhaps she subconsciously ignored it, chalking it up to sibling banter.

“I’m full! You and Weijiu finish up!” Xiaoyu suddenly stood up and bolted toward Xu Feng’s room as if trying to flee as far away from her as possible.

Xu Feng watched her enter the room, then looked down at the beef noodles in front of her.

Suddenly, I have an appetite!

Weijiu watched Xu Feng start to dig in, then looked back at the bedroom door. She was the third party here; as the saying goes, “the bystander sees most clearly.”

【Big Brother, your sister… said she likes you.】

This mental voice transmitted directly to Xu Feng. With two noodles still hanging from her mouth, she choked and broke into a fit of coughing.

“Cough, cough, cough! Weijiu, you’re not joking?”

“No. I heard it with my own ears,” Weijiu promised, patting her chest.

“Ah?” Xu Feng felt like the noodles in her mouth had suddenly become even more delicious for some inexplicable reason.

……

Inside Xu Feng’s room, Xiaoyu was sprawled on the bed. She hugged the pillow tightly, burying her face deep into it. Her legs swung wildly off the edge of the bed, kicking against the frame with a rhythmic thud-thud of regret.

Xu Xiaoyu! Are you trying to die?! What was that “like” you just said in front of your brother! Thank goodness he’s a bit dim, otherwise you’d be finished!

Xiaoyu cross-examined herself in self-reflection. After a few minutes, she finally stopped thumping the bed.

I think I saw a creator say once that siblings have a natural affinity anyway, and if they’ve been separated for a long time, the psychological influence can be even stronger…

Lost in thought, Xiaoyu opened her phone and tapped into a certain “pink app” to search. Finally, she found the video title she was looking for:

《The Reasons Behind Sibling Closeness》

Xiaoyu clicked the video and dragged the progress bar to the section she wanted, adjusting the volume just right.

“…The kinship between siblings is determined more by environment after birth. The possibility of both parties having a mutual liking for each other is also extremely high, and there are many clear examples of this, such as—”

Bang.

“Xiaoyu, I wanted to discuss something with you…” The moment Xu Feng opened the door, the video’s audio was still playing.

“Eh?!” Xiaoyu froze, her finger accidentally pressing the volume button to its maximum.

“Therefore, a sister liking her brother is an entirely understandable phenomenon.”

The video ended right there. Xiaoyu sat up, her face flushed a deep crimson. In a panic, she powered off her phone and shoved it under her butt, looking like she desperately wanted to explain herself.

“I’ll… leave you to it.” Xu Feng silently closed the door.

“No! Bro, listen to me!” Xiaoyu wailed. Tossing her phone aside, she scrambled out the door. She had to save her image!