■■■■◇

"Huanyue... you..." Shiori looked at Huanyue's utterly unsmiling face, worry flashing through her heart.

"Is it strange, Shiori...?"

Qian Huanyue lowered her head slightly and buried it against Shiori's chest.

"Ah... it's because you look a little sad, Huanyue."

"..."

Silence briefly hung between them.

"Can't you... indulge me... a little more?" Huanyue murmured.

"I'll always indulge you, Huanyue. But right now, just being with you makes me feel inexplicably uneasy—I'm worried sick."

"You really do like sticking your nose into everything." The head buried against her chest shifted, a muffled grumble emerging from it, but she showed no intention of pulling away.

"Ah... yes, sorry." Shiori honestly admitted fault, though her fingertips gently brushed through the other girl's trailing silver hair.

Several more seconds of silence passed.

"Won't you... keep drinking with me?" Huanyue suddenly asked softly.

Without the slightest hesitation, Shiori immediately answered, "Of course I will! I'll drink with you."

She took another ordinary straw and inserted it into the special drink that had been neglected for so long.

The two of them stopped fooling around and simply shared the same drink in silence. It was a little too sweet.

Once the drink was finished, they strode toward the shop entrance.

The afternoon sunlight was somewhat dazzling. She instinctively looked up, and her gaze was once again drawn to the strangely shaped New Tenguu Tower in the distance.

Its faintly glowing stone monument had a crimson sphere embedded at its very top. Though it was clearly daytime, she could still distinctly sense a certain radiance.

Suddenly, everything before her turned red.

Qian Huanyue suddenly felt irritation about to spill from her chest. Resentment, slaughter, and all manner of sudden emotions churned together within her.

"[Godly Astral Dress: Thousandfold]." Her Astral Dress swiftly unfolded.

"[Seraph of Thousand Blades]!"