Watch Out, or She Might Slip Through Your Fingers~

"Hey, have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Yesterday at noon, all the food in the cafeteria turned into pretty girls' pantyhose that had been deep-fried and then air-dried!"

"That's pretty wild, but why is your version different from the one I heard? I heard... a ghost was behind it!"

"A ghost?!!"

"Yeah. According to a person in the know, a pink-haired cyber ghost girl has been wandering around near our academy!"

"That's so bizarre! Tell me more!"

During the break between classes, Lu Guan listened to the students chatting around him, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

Good news never traveled far, but bad news traveled a thousand miles.

At Stardust Academy, never underestimate this bunch of prodigies' ability to spread rumors. Even the most ordinary event would become an utterly absurd rumor after passing through a few hands, with each person adding their own embellishments.

Besides, from a bystander's perspective, what happened yesterday...

It was already bizarre enough. After just one day, the rumors had merely turned the stinky socks, which had gone unwashed for three days and been dried by the fireplace, into a pretty girl's deep-fried pantyhose. If anything, that made the truth sound better than it was.

Of course, he couldn't rule out that the description came from someone who had eaten it, just like the limited-edition "glutinous rice lemon tea" Snow King had released in Lu Guan's previous life, which someone had described as tasting like a pretty girl's stinky feet.

As long as his imagination ran wild, everything would be all right.

"Mm-hmm-hmm~"

For once, Dania had actually woken up during the break today. She seemed to be in a good mood, humming an unfamiliar tune as she walked with light steps and sat down in the empty seat in front of Lu Guan.

Then she promptly put her head down and went to sleep.

Lu Guan: "???"

He couldn't quite figure out what Dania was doing. Had she come over during the break just to find a different place to sleep?

After class, Lu Guan quickly gathered his textbooks. Just as he was about to leave, he felt someone grab his wrist.

Dania had woken up at some point. She blinked her pretty, wide eyes and asked in her characteristically languid voice, "Could you say what you said yesterday to me again?"

Was she actually acting cute with him?

The corner of Lu Guan's mouth tilted up. Wanting to tease her, he asked at his leisure, "Which thing are you talking about, Dania?"

"The last thing you said before we parted..."

"Oh? I don't remember. Why don't you repeat it for me first, Dania?"

"If you don't want to say it, forget it." Dania's face reddened, and she asked instead, "Are you going to lunch? Want to go to the cafeteria together?"

Lazybones Dania had actually taken the initiative to ask him to the cafeteria? Was reaching the passing mark in affection really that effective?

"Since such a cute, pretty girl has invited me herself, how could I possibly bear to refuse?" Lu Guan smiled slightly and turned his wrist, taking Dania's hand in his instead.

"Huh?" Dania was caught off guard. She seemed to have never expected Lu Guan to do that, and the lines she had prepared went completely unused. Her eyes betrayed a growing panic.

"I-it's against the rules to take a girl's hand like that!"

Seeing the girl's attempt to appear calm, Lu Guan felt like laughing.

But he knew full well that laughing now might completely ruin the intimate atmosphere. There was every reason for him to keep a straight face.

"But if I don't hold your hand... what if you fall asleep halfway there?" Lu Guan asked.

Dania looked a little displeased. "...I'm not that sleepy, am I?"

"That's strange..." Lu Guan teased. "I distinctly remember someone sleeping from the first class this morning until now... If it weren't lunchtime, I suspect she could have slept until tonight."

"Bring that up again... and I might bite you!"

The girl bared her teeth and claws, but she still wasn't intimidating in the slightest.

Lu Guan chuckled, rolled up his sleeve, and held his arm out to Dania's mouth. "Go ahead and bite, then... It's not like I... Oooow! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! You actually bit me?!"

The cafeteria.

Dania stopped eating, wiped her mouth, and said,

"I'm full, I'm full! Too bad. I wish there were some cake."

Lu Guan looked down at Dania's belly. Her stomach was like a bottomless pit: even after she had eaten two kilograms of food, her belly hadn't bulged in the slightest.

That defied common sense! She was so tiny, yet she could eat as much as three grown men. Could the things she ate really be going straight to Aleph-1?

As everyone knew, if a girl ordered only two dishes on a date because she didn't want you to spend too much, that showed she was a good girl who knew how to put herself in someone else's shoes.

If she ordered nine dishes but only took a few bites, whether to test you or for some other purpose, that showed you shouldn't get too close to her, because her intentions weren't pure.

But... if she could finish all nine dishes, that was another matter.

So Lu Guan took out a plate of cake the same way he had yesterday and set it in front of her. "Brave warrior! Canst thou partake of another?"

Dania tilted her head and frowned. Her face was full of confusion, as if to say, Are you speaking the common language of Solaris?

Oops. I forgot that Dania grew up under the oppressive conditions of the Fractsidus and never received a formal education. Staying alive was hard enough, never mind understanding Huanglong speech.

"Ahem... I mean, Dania, can you still manage a piece of cake?"

"What's so hard about that?"

Despite saying that, Dania picked up a spoon, scooped up a small piece of cake, and popped it straight into Lu Guan's mouth while he wasn't paying attention.

"Mmph???"

"Make sure you eat it!" Dania's eyes gleamed slyly, and her voice took on a wheedling note. "A girl like me couldn't possibly eat so much on her own, so I'll have to ask you to help me with some of it~"

Just as Lu Guan was about to say something, a soft female voice suddenly came from behind them. "Dania?"

They turned around. A girl with light chestnut hair, dressed in Rinascita Royan Tribe attire, stood behind them, studying the hand Dania had used to feed Lu Guan with a meaningful expression.

"Na... Napomo?" Dania sounded flustered. She hurriedly pulled back the hand holding the spoon, then lowered both hands and rubbed them together, seemingly trying to ease the intense unease she felt.

"You two aren't..." Napomo gestured at them, her face bright with a curious smile. "In that kind of relationship, are you?"

"N-no, you've got the wrong idea." Dania hurriedly denied it, as though something terrible would happen the next second.

"Denying it so quickly? Looks like I guessed right!" Napomo turned to Lu Guan. "What's your name?"

"You actually snuck our Yaya away while I wasn't looking!"

"That's so sneaky!"

"Uh...?" Lu Guan looked at Dania and saw her shake her head slightly, so he answered frankly, "I've only known her for two days. We're just classmates, so please don't get the wrong idea."

[Beep! Dania affection -4]

[Current character affection: 61]

[Host, please watch your behavior.]

Did I say the wrong thing? Wasn't Dania shaking her head to tell me to deny it? Why did her affection go down?

"Oh? Just classmates?" Napomo looked at Dania. "My dear Yaya, tell me, is that really the case?"

"Y-yes, it is." Dania didn't even raise her head as she spoke. "Lu Guan and I are just ordinary classmates. Don't get the wrong idea."

Dania stood up. "I have something to do, so I'll be going..."

With that, she walked off at a pace completely unlike her usual sluggish manner. Like a little girl caught dating early by her parents, she disappeared from Lu Guan's sight at great speed.

"Leaving in such a hurry?"

Napomo narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked in the direction Dania had disappeared. Still, determined to keep up the act to the end, she said to Lu Guan, "You still haven't told me your name."

"My name's Lu Guan. I'm from Huanglong. What about you?"

"Mm-hmm~ My name is Napomo. I'm Yaya's very, very best friend..." Napomo leaned closer, her voice mysterious. "Tell me secretly, do you like our Dania?"

That tone... there's no doubt about it!

Although your appearance is very deceiving, your words and actions have exposed your true nature. You innately evil leader of the Fractsidus, I'll personally...

Forget it, forget it. Falling out with her now wouldn't do either me or Dania any good. I might as well play along.

"Both are possible. That's my answer."

Zi's words remained authoritative: when you didn't know how to answer a question... give her an open-ended answer!

"Oh my~ If you don't want to tell me, forget it." Napomo smiled and winked at Lu Guan. "But I have a lot of faith in our Yaya's charm..."

"If you keep saying things you don't mean, watch out, or she might quietly slip through your fingers~"

With those parting words, she went straight after Dania in the direction she had fled.