“Aren’t you going home yet?” Aya Tone asked, settling habitually beside Li Jia.
After playing with Aya Jiu for a while, he sent Big White to take her for a bath. Tomorrow was Monday, and Aya Jiu had kindergarten, so she couldn’t stay up late.
Li Jia smiled, “It’s so late. Aren’t you going to see me off? I’m a girl, you know.”
“You’re not planning to walk all the way back, are you?”
Aside from their usual task exchanges, he had never seen Li Jia simply walk out the main gate; hadn’t she always used spatial teleportation?
“I had a sudden whim to take a walk at night. Is that not allowed?” Li Jia raised an eyebrow, a hint of displeasure in her tone.
‘Is it so hard for you to see me home?’
‘Her old boyfriend from school used to pick her up and drop her off every single day.’
“Hmm…”
Aya Tone glanced hesitantly at the bathroom, then at his phone.
It was past eight…
Weighing the time in his mind, an hour should be enough. He could return just in time to coax Aya Jiu to sleep. After all, they couldn’t possibly walk the entire way back.
‘No… they probably couldn’t, right?’
“Alright!”
He then walked to the bathroom door and spoke to the two playing inside.
“Let’s go.”
Grabbing the keys from the shoe cabinet, Aya Tone led Li Jia out of the house.
The streets weren’t particularly lively at eight o’clock. At this hour, most people were in that transitional phase—dinner just settled, but the nightlife yet to begin.
As they walked, few pedestrians were to be seen, mostly just passing cars.
“We’re not actually going to keep walking, are we?”
After walking for about half an hour, Aya Tone finally realized something was amiss.
Li Jia, it seemed, had absolutely no intention of hailing a cab. She simply kept walking forward, occasionally making idle conversation.
“Is that not allowed?” Li Jia tilted her head, looking at him.
The soft streetlights illuminated her face, lending her features a subtle beauty.
“It’s not that it’s impossible…”
They walked for another ten minutes or so, eventually arriving at a deserted park.
Unlike the brightly lit streets outside, the park was shrouded in gloom, with only the faint silhouettes of playground equipment visible.
A fence stood, a barrier between two worlds.
“Your home?” Aya Tone gestured towards the swings in the park.
‘They’d walked all this way just to come here?’
‘He regretted it…’
“In a way, yes, you could call it my home. This land does belong to my family, after all.”
Li Jia deftly climbed over the fence, and after landing, waved to Aya Tone, who was still outside.
“Come on in and play! I used to come here all the time at night, whenever I felt like it. Don’t worry, no one will chase us away.”
‘This…’
Aya Tone suddenly felt an urge to turn around and leave, but…
‘Since he was already here.’
So he walked to the iron gate beside the fence, gently pulled the bolt, and the door swung open with little effort.
After stepping inside, he kindly closed the gate behind them.
“Let’s go.”
Li Jia: “……You’re making me look quite foolish.”
“Your foolishness has nothing to do with me. What normal person’s first thought is to climb over a wall when the gate isn’t even locked?”
“That does seem to be the case.”
The spark of defiance on Li Jia’s face instantly withered.
Guided by the moonlight, the two strolled through the darkened park.
Unlike Aya Tone, who proceeded cautiously with every step, Li Jia navigated the park’s layout with the familiarity of someone returning home.
In mere seconds, she was gleefully stepping on the bricks lining the path, heading deeper into the shadows.
Aya Tone blinked, but all that remained for him was a dark silhouette, dancing gracefully into the gloom.
Resigned, he quickened his pace, disappearing into the night.
****
“Aya Tone, could you transform into your witch form and stay with me for a bit?” Li Jia asked, sitting on the swing and gazing up at the brilliant night sky.
The poor, dilapidated swing groaned mournfully with each of her movements.
Li Jia paid it no mind; the celestial river of stars was reflected in her eyes.
‘How long had it been since she’d seen such vast and numerous stars?’
“No,” Aya Tone refused without hesitation.
‘What a joke. It was off-duty hours; she could forget about her working overtime.’
“Is that so?” Li Jia sounded a little disappointed.
“What do you want to do?” Aya Tone couldn’t quite grasp Li Jia’s intentions.
‘If it were the President, he’d know with his gut that she had ill intentions.’
‘But Li Jia…’
‘She hadn’t left any bad impressions on him, so it was hard to say at the moment.’
‘Perhaps she just…’
‘Wasn’t used to him facing her as a male.’
“There’s something I need your help with, something serious. I thought that if you were in your witch form, you’d be a bit more earnest.”
As his gaze met Li Jia’s clear eyes, the hesitation in his heart vanished instantly.
“Then… alright.”
‘Indeed, not everyone harbored malicious intentions like the President. He was still too quick to generalize.’
The starlight faded, and a white-haired witch in a black hoodie abruptly appeared before Li Jia.
“Speak,” the witch said. “What do you need my help with?”
The soft, sweet voice stirred Li Jia’s emotions. Aya Tone only felt fireworks before her eyes as the dark figure embraced her.
‘It’s Li Jia!?’
Aya Tone’s pupils suddenly constricted, and the hand she instinctively reached into her backpack to grab a knife paused, then she nonchalantly pulled it back.
The faint, delicate fragrance that suddenly wafted into her nose—though subtle, she had smelled it before when close to Li Jia at home.
“Hey, I’m a guy, stop hugging me.”
It wasn’t hard to discern the exasperation in her voice at that moment.
Ultimately, Li Jia’s trustworthiness in her eyes was too high. Being unexpectedly embraced, she could only assume Li Jia simply hadn’t been close to her in a long time.
‘After all, the other person was one of her few friends.’
‘Let her be.’
‘Of course, if it were Fire Finch…’
‘Heh heh, go to hell!’
‘A classic case of double standards.’
Li Jia didn’t release her grip. Her chin rested gently on Aya Tone’s somewhat shrunken shoulder, and her red lips moved slightly, “Just let me hug you for a moment, just one moment.”
“Just one moment, then.”
Li Jia held her tightly, as if afraid she might suddenly run away.
Unable to move, Aya Tone could only idly experiment with what Big White had mentioned that day: activating the power of the stars to enhance herself.
‘It sounded so cool.’
‘But… how was she supposed to do it?’
Aya Tone furrowed her adorable brows, gazing at the distant starry sky.
‘What had she said back then?’
‘Look up, see!’
“Stare…”
Three seconds passed…
Half a minute passed…
‘Damn it! What was there to see? Just stars and more stars. She couldn’t feel any connection whatsoever.’
‘Give up, give up.’
Aya Tone threw up her hands in surrender.
She admitted that she was just a useless spirit root with no comprehension.
After staring for so long (less than a minute), her only sensation was aching eyes; she couldn’t feel any starlight power at all.
‘So, relying on comprehension wasn’t suitable for someone like her, who had cheats.’
“Li Jia, can you tell me now? Aya Jiu needs to sleep.”
They’d been out for over an hour. If they didn’t go back soon, Aya Jiu wouldn’t have the energy for kindergarten tomorrow.
“Hmph~”
Though Li Jia felt a myriad of reluctance in her heart, she understood that this matter couldn’t be rushed.
Releasing her embrace on Aya Tone’s hand, she said calmly, “I want you to come with me to an S-rank dungeon to retrieve a fruit.”
Clingy isn’t she.