Sunday, in a taxi heading to Kyogo Ward, An Le pursed her lips and couldn't help but look at Yan Huan apologetically, saying,
"I'm sorry, Xiao Huan."
Yan Huan looked at the ti. The movie wouldn't start for another forty minutes. He asked in surprise,
"What are you apologizing for?"
"Because if I hadn't... done that this morning, we could have taken the subway instead of hailing a ride."
An Le rubbed her legs together, looking at Yan Huan with a slightly flushed face. Seeing her like this made Yan Huan unable to help but laugh.
It happened like this.
Since the cinema was in Kyogo Ward, which was quite a distance from the South Ward, and the movie started early, they should have left early to save money.
Taking the subway and then transferring to a bus would have saved them a lot on transportation.
After all, a taxi ride from the South Ward to Kyogo Ward would cost over a hundred yuan.
But who could bla them? Their plan to wake up early was delayed by a little morning exercise. After that back-and-forth, taking a shower, and drying their hair, they naturally ended up running late.
"It's fine. We ca out to have fun on a weekend, so there's no need to wake up so early and rush around."
"I see."
An Le nodded, but she still held her phone and covertly glanced at the front seat, as if searching for sothing.
Seeing her do this, Yan Huan imdiately understood without words. He reached out, pressed a hand to the top of her head, and gently rubbed her hair.
"Don't bother looking for the paynt QR code to secretly pay the fare."
"Whimper... but..."
While letting Yan Huan rub her head and letting out cute whimpers, she tried to explain sothing along the lines of, "Since Xiao Huan already bought the movie tickets, I should cover the transportation and food."
"Well, Yurianna gave
these tickets. Besides, you co to my place every day. Traveling from Luoqiao District to the South Ward must cost you a lot of money too, right?"
"Whimper..."
An Le was pulled into Yan Huan's embrace and gently leaned into his arms.
She clearly wanted to say sothing else, but perhaps because staying in Yan Huan's arms was too comfortable, she buried her head tightly against his chest and remained motionless.
"Alright... then."
"Good girl."
Yan Huan patted her back. When he looked up, he saw the driver staring at him through the rearview mirror with bloodshot eyes, gnashing his teeth. A sour, jealous vibe radiated from him, as if silently saying,
"Congratulations on finding such a considerate girlfriend!"
"..."
Yan Huan scratched his cheek and awkwardly averted his gaze, choosing not to make eye contact.
After driving for nearly twenty minutes, the taxi stopped at the entrance of the shopping center.
Yan Huan scanned the QR code the driver presented, then hurriedly pulled An Le out of the car.
"Um, Xiao Huan... I already ordered from a milk tea shop in the shopping center in advance. We can bring them inside and drink them together later."
It turned out that even though Yan Huan's persuasion made An Le give up on paying the taxi fare, she still secretly searched for a milk tea shop in the shopping center on a mini-program and ordered two cups of milk tea.
He still failed to prevent it.
Looking at An Le staring at him, Yan Huan could only sigh and smile, saying,
"Alright, let's go get the milk tea first."
"Yeah!"
An Le smiled sweetly, then gently reached out and held Yan Huan's hand, following prettily behind him as they entered the air-conditioned shopping center.
It was nearly eleven in the morning. The shopping center hadn't been open for long, so there weren't many people yet.
They quickly picked up the milk tea An Le ordered and then took the escalator toward the top floor.
The cinema was usually on the top floor.
However, as they passed by halfway up, he still covertly directed his gaze toward the adult bookstore located two floors below the cinema.
That was the critical battlefield for today's grand reconciliation operation.
Hopefully, Spencer and the others had already made their preparations.
As for Sakuramiya's side...
"Here, open your mouth, Xiao Huan. Ah..."
While Yan Huan was still pondering the reconciliation plan for today, An Le had already taken the milk tea out of the bag, inserted a straw, and brought it to his lips.
"..."
Seeing this, Yan Huan's expression grew increasingly helpless.
"If this keeps up, you're going to pamper
into an infant sooner or later."
"It's not that serious."
An Le smiled slightly, and Yan Huan had no choice but to open his mouth and take a sip of the milk tea.
It was incredibly sweet.
"Is it good?"
"It's good."
Yan Huan chewed on the boba pearls he sucked up, then took out the tickets and said,
"By the way, I'll go print the tickets first."
"Okay."
While Yan Huan was looking down to retrieve the tickets, he secretly took out his phone and sent a ssage to Spencer.
"We're getting ready to enter the movie. How are the preparations on your and Teacher Miyake's end?"
"We're getting ready right now!"
"Alright. The movie is ninety minutes long. Keep an eye on the ti. I'll bring An Le over right after we get out."
"Okay!"
At that mont, on the other end of the phone, Spencer, whose blonde curly hair was bundled under a hairnet, had a layer of foundation applied to her face.
"Achoo!"
While looking at her phone, she sneezed. She scrunched up her small face and rubbed her nose, clearly very unaccustod to things like wearing makeup.
It was no wonder, as she usually went out completely bare-faced.
The only thing she knew how to do was use a bit of facial cleanser at night, and even that took her mama a long ti to teach her.
Now, trying out cosplay for the first ti, she had to experience wearing full makeup. The feeling could hardly be called pleasant.
"Ugh... how much longer?"
She rubbed her nose again, then turned her head to look at the girl in the vest, Little Bird, who was rummaging through sothing nearby, and asked.
This Little Bird was the makeup artist Teacher Miyake had hired.
"Ah, it'll be done very soon. We're just one last step away from putting on the wig and changing clothes."
The makeup artist turned around, using tweezers to pluck two soft, translucent objects from two small boxes, and walked toward Spencer.
"Co on, open your eyes wide."
"Open my eyes wide? What are those? You're not going to shove those things into my eyes, are you?!"
"Exactly. They're costic contact lenses. Co on, be a good girl and open your eyes."
The makeup artist in front of her smiled slightly, though it was hard to say whether she had been influenced by Spencer's Modifier, causing her to look sowhat terrifying at this mont.
Spencer swallowed hard. Staring at the approaching contact lenses, she was so frightened she didn't dare move an inch, screaming at the top of her lungs,
"I-I don't want to! Yan Huan, save !!"
"That movie was really good, Xiao Huan."
An hour and a half later, An Le and Yan Huan walked out of the screening room with smiles, tossing their empty milk tea cups into a trash can along the way.
"It really was."
Yan Huan nodded, but his attention had long since drifted away from the movie, focusing instead on the upcoming 'Grand Reconciliation Operation'.
While watching the movie, he had covertly confird the preparations with Spencer and Teacher Miyake on Plane. After receiving the "everything is ready" reply, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"An Le, how about we wander around here a bit before looking for sowhere to eat nearby?"
"Eh? Sounds good."
An Le hadn't noticed anything unusual at all, which ant he would probably be giving her a massive surprise later.
Thinking this, Yan Huan smiled as they walked out of the cinema.
However, the very mont he stepped out of the cinema, his right eyelid began to twitch.
Hmm?
Following the twitch of his right eyelid, he looked at the shopping center before him, suddenly feeling as if the entire atmosphere of the mall had shifted.
Maybe it was just because more people had arrived compared to when it first opened, making it livelier?
Yan Huan thought to himself while standing on the escalator.
"Yan Huan, look over there, ow!"
Right at that mont, Myau-chan's warning voice suddenly rang in his ears.
Hearing this, he turned his head to look at Myau-chan, who had suddenly materialized on his shoulder. Following the black cat's gaze, he saw that the door to a nursery room two floors below on the opposite side was wide open. And peeking out from inside was soone with a pair of mouse ears...
Sakuramiya Hitomi?!
Looking at this demi-human-like Sakuramiya Hitomi, Yan Huan's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but rub his eyes.
After confirming he hadn't seen wrong, he instantly realized that this was highly likely another one of Sakuramiya's clones!
But the Sakuramiya persona playing the cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest was also coming today. Wouldn't she be one hundred percent beaten to death if she stayed here?
Recalling the fate of the Frail Sakuramiya, Yan Huan couldn't help but frown.
"..."
He didn't imdiately raise an alarm. Instead, he simply glanced at An Le beside him, pulled out his phone, opened Sakuramiya Hitomi's Plane chat, and typed a ssage,
"Things are about to start here. Have you arrived yet, Sakuramiya?"
After a few seconds of silence, a reply ca through.
"Ah, President, I still need a little bit of ti before I get there. It's okay, you guys can just go ahead and start. I won't show my face and interrupt you."
"..."
Yan Huan replied with a cat emoji, then looked up toward the nursery room again.
At this mont, the nursery door had already been closed.
In its place, a cold, tall girl and a stunningly beautiful girl hiding behind her were standing in front of the door.
It was Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi?
"!!"
Seeing the two of them, Yan Huan's scalp instantly went numb, and his entire body stiffened in shock.
Wait, since when was their relationship this good?
Hiss...
Hold on, was Ye Shiyu wearing makeup today?
Yan Huan studied the elegant and beautiful girl below. Her light makeup gave her a surprisingly different aura today, leaving him with an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Was it an illusion?
He couldn't shake the feeling that today, Ye Shiyu seed a bit more... human.
With a quick thought, he summoned the movie poster he had obtained earlier in his mind.
Sure enough, its contents had been completely updated once again.
It changed from "Delusional Hypnosis Depravity Training: Completely Dyeing My Disobedient Sworn Younger Brother in My Colors" to...
"Delusional Hypnosis System: Disciplined Check-Ins for a Hundred Days, My Sworn Younger Brother Will Eventually Be Mine!"
What kind of cult-classic title is this?
"..."
Staring at the title that had suddenly shifted to a warm color tone, Yan Huan's right eyelid twitched even more violently.
He hurriedly summoned the corresponding illusory terms, looking down to examine them.
[Currently Added Tags: Hypnosis, Delusion, Self-Disciplined (In Progress), Turning Over a New Leaf (In Progress)]
[Current Overall Alignnt: An Incomplete Neutral State]
[She no longer uses the Modifier to wantonly trample on order, and will try her best to overco her desires... But, none of this is set in stone yet.]
[Within her heart, which sways like grass in the wind, even the slightest disturbance might cause her to lean in a specific direction, right?]
Ye Shiyu, are you for real?
Yan Huan blinked, barely daring to trust his own eyes for a mont.
It wasn't until he read it two or three tis that he had to admit—Ye Shiyu had probably genuinely improved a bit, hadn't she?
Although she was still wavering, as long as he planned things out properly during the brocade presentation at the Culture Festival, he would definitely make her turn over a new leaf!
But the problem was...
Why were the two of them here right now?!
If Ye Shiyu, who had finally shown so signs of improvent, saw him and An Le watching a movie together, wouldn't she instantly revert to a zero-fra activation attack?!
"Tap."
At the thought of this, Yan Huan broke into a slight sweat as he and An Le stepped off the escalator, descending one floor.
"Xiao Huan?"
An Le, who was standing beside him, looked around at the nearby shops but didn't make a move, instead turning back to ask for Yan Huan's opinion.
He could only feign calmness as he looked at An Le, deciding to proceed with the plan first.
"Ah, let's go. How about we check out that area? It seems pretty lively over there."
"Eh, over there... but over there..."
An Le instinctively wanted to nod, but when she glanced in the direction Yan Huan was pointing—toward the adult bookstore—her face flushed slightly, and she appeared a bit hesitant.
That Sakuramiya persona had guessed correctly.
An experienced veteran like An Le definitely knew about this shop.
"..."
Thinking of this, Yan Huan grew even more wary of the persona that was currently slaughtering the other Sakuramiya personas.
But on the surface, he still offered a slight smile and suggested,
"Co on, let's go take a look."
An Le couldn't win the argunt, so she could only nod with a red face and reluctantly follow him in that direction.
As they walked, Yan Huan kept glancing down at the tightly closed nursery room on the lower floor.
After thinking for a mont, he willed an illusory ancient compass to materialize before his eyes.
Staring at the compass, he narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful look flashing in them.
anwhile, two floors down.
Ye Shiyu walked expressionlessly toward the nursery room. After taking a few steps, she really couldn't hold back anymore. She turned around to look at Bai Yi, who was clinging tightly to her bag like a total dead weight, and asked with a hint of disgust,
"Isn't being afraid of An Le enough? You're afraid of that Sakuramiya Hitomi too?"
"..."
Hearing this, Bai Yi glared grumpily at Ye Shiyu, curling her lips as she muttered,
"Don't you think that Sakuramiya Hitomi was terrifying during our eting in Tokyo earlier?"
Ye Shiyu pondered for a second and had to admit,
"...A little bit, I guess."
"Right, right? Especially since An Le has actually cald down recently. I have no idea what she said to An Le..."
"..."
Ye Shiyu furrowed her brows. She didn't think too deeply about it, instead gently grabbing the handle of the nursery room door and pushing it open.
"Click~"
However, it was completely empty inside. There was nothing at all.
Ye Shiyu stood at the doorway, curiously observing her surroundings. Just as she assud there was nothing there, Bai Yi suddenly spoke up from behind her,
"Hey, Ye Shiyu, look. There's sothing on that table."
"..."
Ye Shiyu looked at the table in the nursery room and saw that there was indeed a letter resting in the corner.
Just as she was about to step forward, a pale hand gently landed on her shoulder without warning, lightly brushing against the skin beneath her strap.
"!!"
That icy cold touch instantly froze half of Ye Shiyu's body. Her pupils shrank as she hurriedly whipped her head around.
But all she saw was Bai Yi, her face equally stiff, staring back at Ye Shiyu with absolute terror.
Clearly, she had just been touched by that thing as well.
"..."
Yet, when they looked back, there was absolutely no one behind them.
The only thing that had changed was the nursery room door, which had silently closed at so point.
"Ye-Ye Shiyu... j-just now..."
"Don't speak."
Ye Shiyu furrowed her brows, softly cutting off Bai Yi's words.
Then, she took a deep breath. Just as she intended to turn around, grab the letter, and leave...
"Hello~"
She turned back, only to be t with the smiling, delicate face of Sakuramiya Hitomi, hovering re inches away.
"!!"
A chill ran down Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi's spines as they instantly took a step back, staring in disbelief at Sakuramiya Hitomi, who was dressed in a JK uniform.
As for her...
This Sakuramiya Hitomi—the one without the mouse ears—was sitting elegantly on the nursery room table. With a gentle press of her pale hand, she pinned down the envelope resting on the surface and picked it up.
She glanced at the cover, and the smile on her face grew a fraction colder.
However, she quickly pretended as if nothing had happened. Raising her eyes to look at Ye Shiyu and Bai Yi, she offered a friendly greeting,
"My, my, what a coincidence, Senior Student Ye, classmate Bai Yi~"
"I didn't expect to run into you two here."
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