Sleeping Together

Amid the rising steam, a hand felt its way through the white mist, grasped the shower handle, and turned off the hot water.

Larkspur stepped out of the shower, quickly dried herself off, untied her hair, and looked toward the bathroom mirror.

In the mirror, a girl with long azure hair stared back at her expressionlessly. Her slender, well-proportioned limbs looked as fragile as a doll's.

This seemed to be the first time she had bathed in this body since returning, Larkspur thought.

When she had first become a Magical Girl in her youth, there were occasional times when she needed to clean this body. She would always keep her eyes shut, her face flushed as she hurriedly finished washing. Even looking at the body of the opposite sex in the mirror made her nervous from her stirring hormones, and she had not dared to look for long.

After so many years, now that she had been married for years herself, looking at this childlike body no longer gave rise to any stray thoughts.

Rather, times had changed. In her eyes now, a Magical Girl's transformed state was no different from a weapon. This body was both weapon and armor; to her, it was like a soldier's suit of armor, merely appearing delicate and beautiful on the outside.

Still, magic had the power to halt time for Magical Girls. Whenever she looked at that appearance in the mirror, unchanged for over a decade, she sometimes felt disoriented in time, as though she were still living in the days gone by.

Unwilling to dwell on that feeling, Larkspur closed her eyes, avoiding her reflection, and stopped thinking about it.

After putting on the clothes Xia Liang had prepared and rolling up the overly long sleeves and pant legs, she walked out of the bathroom and found Xia Liang rummaging through the wardrobe for pillows.

"I'll help," she offered, and the two of them got busy together.

There was only a small single bed in Xia Liang's room, so for the sake of sleep quality, Xia Liang decided to use her parents' master bedroom.

As she put it, "It's sitting empty anyway. It's good that it can be used to host a guest."

After spending around ten minutes making the bed and putting the extra things back into the wardrobe, Larkspur looked at the bed before her with a complicated expression.

Though she currently looked like nothing more than a little girl, she was, at heart, an adult man. The thought of lying in the same bed as a girl she had known for only a month, a girl about the same age as her daughter, weighed heavily on her conscience.

Meanwhile, at some point, Xia Liang had shuffled back to her own room in slippers and returned holding the pillow from her bed. She now stood beside the bed, looking at Larkspur expectantly.

The arrow was already on the string. Refusing now would only hurt the child.

After wrestling with herself for a long while, Larkspur still could not bring herself to say anything harsh. She could only sigh. "Then let's turn off the lights and sleep."

"Mm!"

Xia Liang, who had been waiting for this, answered happily.

After closing the master bedroom door and switching off the ceiling light, Larkspur and Xia Liang climbed beneath the covers one after the other and lay down on the bed.

With so many concerns on her mind, Larkspur deliberately kept her distance from Xia Liang, making sure they would not easily come into physical contact.

It was not that she had any thoughts about Xia Liang. In fact, faced with a child like this, she simply could not summon the mindset of a man looking at the opposite sex. She only felt that she ought to act like an adult and maintain basic propriety.

Unfortunately, while that was what she thought, Xia Liang clearly did not see it that way.

Lying on her side with her back to Xia Liang, Larkspur had not even warmed the pillow beneath her head when she felt a pair of arms reach around from behind and wrap tightly around her.

"Ah, just as I thought, you're so soft and smell so nice when I hug you. You feel even better than a body pillow..." Xia Liang's voice came from behind her.

Held in Xia Liang's arms, Larkspur's expression stiffened slightly. She tried pushing her hands away twice, but to no avail, so she could only ask helplessly, "Could you let go?"

"No." Xia Liang's answer was equally straightforward.

"Don't you think it's cramped sleeping like this?"

"This is a rare chance to sleep while hugging my little senior. I'm going to keep hugging you until my arms get sore."

"...You're being far too willful."

"Since you were the one who asked, little senior, tonight I'm going to be this willful." Xia Liang answered beside her ear.

Hearing that answer, Larkspur knew there was no room for negotiation. She could only close her eyes and sigh. "I'm starting to regret this. I really feel like I've gotten myself into trouble."

"Hehe, little senior, you're a lot like Xiao Lu in this regard." Xia Liang, behind her, did not mind in the slightest. Instead, she chuckled softly.

"How so?" Larkspur simply asked.

"Sharp tongue, soft heart," Xia Liang judged. "You say such harsh things, but your actions are often the complete opposite."

"I'm getting out of bed."

"No." Though she said that, Xia Liang tightened her arms around Larkspur a little more.

Unable to hold back another sigh, Larkspur obediently let Xia Liang hug her for a while. When she noticed that the girl behind her still did not seem to be asleep, she asked again:

"What we talked about tonight, about your parents... do you need to tell White Rose?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"If I told her just like that, with Xiao Lu's personality, she'd probably start pitying me."

Xia Liang said softly, "I don't want our relationship to become strange because of 'pity.' I want to get along with Xiao Lu and become real friends. If that feeling is mixed with an element of 'pity,' it would make me very unhappy."

"And it's fine to tell me?"

"Hehe, because little senior is a mature adult, right?"

As she said that, Xia Liang paused slightly, then asked Larkspur as if seeking confirmation, "Is it okay for me to think that way?"

"As long as you like it. It's your family matter; whether you want to say anything is your freedom." Larkspur closed her eyes, her tone gradually softening.

But as she spoke those words, she suddenly felt her shoulder grow a little damp.

Remaining silent, she turned her head slightly and saw Xia Liang burying her face behind her shoulder. In the darkness, her bangs covered her face again, making it impossible to see her expression.

But Larkspur could more or less guess that she was crying.

Why she would cry at a time like this was something Larkspur could not understand. She could only sense that Xia Liang did not want her to point it out, so she pretended not to know, closed her eyes again, and let Xia Liang hold her.

"Thank you, little senior."

Not long afterward, Xia Liang's slightly hoarse voice came from behind her again.

She knew that crying at a time like this was actually rather inappropriate. But it had been so long since someone had needed her, so long since someone had listened to her say so much, and someone had even taken the initiative to tell her that she could be a little "willful." So many long-awaited things had gathered together, making her feel as though she were in a beautiful dream once more.

"It's nothing." Larkspur's response was light. She knew that at a time like this, calmly accepting it was the proper attitude.

"Little senior."

"Mm?"

"I'll work hard for the Certification Card assessment."

Lowering her voice, Xia Liang's words carried a certain resolve. "I'll work hard to become stronger too, and one day, I'll stand by your side as well."

Larkspur's breathing caught slightly.

"...You will. All of you definitely will." Then, in a cool yet gentle voice, she encouraged Xia Liang.

After saying that, she seemed to remember something. With some hesitation, she added, "But since we've brought this up, I made a decision just now. I'm not sure what you think of it."

"What is it?"

"Starting next time, let's hold the study sessions at your house."

Larkspur still had her back to Xia Liang when she said this, so in the darkness, Xia Liang could not see Larkspur's expression.

But she knew exactly what her own expression looked like.

Burying her face against Larkspur's back, her heart leapt with joy. She tried hard to restrain the corners of her rising mouth, then replied softly:

"Mm, I'm truly honored."