The door was pushed open, followed by the soft sound of footsteps.

Before long, the pink-haired girl sneaked a peek through the bedroom door, revealing only a pair of wide, curious eyes surveying the inside of the room.

Noa disconnected from her mental space, slowly opened her eyes, and turned her head toward the doorway.

"Aurora? What are you doing there?"

Realizing she'd been noticed, Aurora stepped out from behind the door with a cheerful grin.

"Good morning, big sis! What are you up to?"

Completely ignoring Noa's question, she launched straight into leading the conversation.

"Reading."

I certainly can't tell you I'm taking history lessons from an ancient relic from tens of thousands of years ago, can I?

Hearing this, Aurora glanced toward Noa's desk. There was indeed a book laid out there.

But the pages were flat and unread, as if the book had merely been placed there without ever being opened. And based on Aurora’s own observation, this same book had been sitting on Noa's desk for at least a week.

With her big sister's reading efficiency, a book of this thickness should take her no more than three days to finish.

So… "reading" was clearly just a cover. What Noa was really doing while perched at this desk was something else entirely.

Was this connected to her elder sister's strange behaviors from some time ago?

Aurora still hadn’t forgotten about that.

After giving it some thought, Aurora decided that it was time to carry out the "ghost-catching" plan she'd been brewing for days.

"Where’s Muen?" Noa asked.

"Oh, second sis is playing in the backyard with Dad."

Noa nodded lightly in response, asking no more questions before turning her head back and picking up the book from her desk to casually flip through its pages.

Aurora had been right—this book really was just a prop. Noa had finished reading it a long time ago but had simply forgotten to replace it with a new one.

What Noa hadn't anticipated, however, was that her tiny oversight would be caught and scrutinized by Aurora.

While Noa was absentmindedly skimming over words on the page, the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor reached her ears.

She looked up at the noise and saw Aurora pushing a chair, one even taller than herself, over to her side before climbing onto it carefully with both hands and feet.

"What are you doing, Aurora?"

"Studying with you, of course! You gave me all those books to prepare for next semester, remember? I thought I'd do some preview reading."

"Oh… okay."

Not overthinking it, Noa buried her head back in her book, pretending to read.

Aurora also obediently pulled out one of the preparation books her sister had given her, flipping through it as though engrossed.

Yet those lively pink eyes were constantly darting toward Noa, stealing glances now and then.

After a few moments, Aurora figured the timing was just about right to put her plan into action.

*Thud*—

The book in Aurora's hands suddenly slipped to the floor.

At the same moment, Aurora lost her balance, tumbling clumsily from the chair and landing on the ground.

Startled, Noa rushed to her side, holding onto her younger sister's shoulders with concern. "Are you okay, Aurora? Did you hurt yourself?"

Aurora, however, leaned weakly against her elder sister's embrace, clutching one hand to her temple as her face contorted in anguish.

"Ahhh!... So—so much pain… it’s unbearable!"

"Where does it hurt? Did you hurt your back when you fell?"

"No! No—Don't let it out!"

Just as Noa was about to examine Aurora for injuries, she was suddenly met with this cryptic outburst.

The Involuted Queen was absolutely baffled.

Huh… Don't… let it out?

"Aurora?"

"Sis… Ahhh!— You have to go! I can't hold it in! My second personality… is breaking free!"

"Huh?"

"She’s breaking out! Breaking out!"

Aurora’s legs flailed, her tail thumped against the floor, and then she dramatically went limp as though "passing out" in her elder sister's arms.

Noa was stunned, she immediately shook Aurora, alarmed. "Hey! Hey, Aurora, don't scare me! I'll take you to find—"

"Hahahahaha!—"

Before Noa could finish her sentence, Aurora, who had been "unconscious" mere moments ago, suddenly sprang upright from her sister’s hold with astonishing vitality.

The little pink-haired girl now stood boldly in front of Noa, hands on her waist, her face beaming with unmistakable smugness.

Noa was more confused than ever.

What kind of act... was this?

Did she lose a round of truth or dare?

"Aurora?" Noa tentatively called out her sister's name.

"I am not Aurora! Aurora has gone to sleep. This body is mine now!"

"……"

Those lines sound quite familiar.

What is this, my dear little sister… Have you also been inspired by a Dragon Clan hero from the past?

"Stop spouting nonsense, Aurora."

"Who's spouting nonsense?"

Aurora struck a defiant pose, raising her arm in a flex as though she had impressive biceps to display—though there was nothing even remotely resembling them.

"I’m Aurora’s hidden personality! Unlike her weakling self, I am stronger! Full of power!"

This bizarre proclamation didn’t faze Noa in the slightest.

With an emotionless face, Noa simply extended her hand to feel Aurora’s forehead.

"No fever… So why are you talking nonsense?"

Aurora shook her head, flicking away Noa's hand.

"I’ve already told you, I’m Aurora's hidden personality! Isn’t that amazing?”

Noa calmly folded her arms over her chest, unperturbed. "Oh, really? Then what’s your name?"

Aurora froze for a second. "What… what name?"

"You just said you're different from weak little Aurora, didn’t you?" Noa pressed logically. "Then you should have your own name, right?"

"Uh… emmmm…"

"What’s the matter? Don't tell me you don’t have one."

"Wh-who said I don’t? Of course I have a name! My name is… uh..."

Aurora was thinking rapidly.

Damn it. Why did her elder sister pay attention to such weird spot?

But if she couldn't come up with a name right now, the plan would be hard to proceed.

Aurora thought for a while, and then made an ambiguous statement, "My name is......H-Hikari! Yes, Hikara."

"Oh. You actually went ahead and gave yourself a name," Noa said flatly.

"Now what about you?"

Noa arched a brow. "Me, what?"

"Stop pretending! Since everyone has a mysterious second personality, naturally I can sense yours too, Noa K. Melkevi! Bring out your other self and let’s have a little chat!"

Tch.

Either Aurora had seriously hit her head during the fall, or this was… so-called "middle-school syndrome"?

But wasn’t she too young to be entering her edgy phrase?

Mother always said that only someone like Dad could act this way, regardless of age.

Wait a second...

Did that mean...?

She inherited Dad's endless "intensity”; Muen got Dad’s talent; Aurora got Dad’s… middle-school syndrome?

"I don’t have a second personality, Aurora, and you need to stop playing around."

Noa still thought her little sister was just goofing off, so she took it entirely unseriously.

"I am not joking! Come on, let your other self come out! I can’t wait to meet a new friend!"

Noa sighed softly, exasperation painted across her face.

Okay, she got it.

Aurora wasn't suffering from middle-school syndrome, nor did she hit her head during the fall.

What she *was* doing was clinging to the "ghost expulsion" incident from a few days ago.

Noa should've seen this coming. While her *second* sister, Muen, was a bit aloof, her *youngest* sister wasn’t so easy to fool.

Still, Noa couldn’t exactly come clean to Aurora either—or else that ancient ancestor in the mental space would nag at her again.

So…

An idea suddenly sparked in Noa’s mind.

"Ah… Since you've already discovered it, I suppose it's time for me to stop hiding," she said with a dead-serious expression.

Aurora’s eyes lit up at once.

It worked!

It really worked! She’d tricked her!

Suppressing her excitement, Aurora feigned calmness and asked in a steady tone,

"Very well then, what's the name of your… other self?"

"Noa."

"I’m not asking you! I’m asking for your second personality's name!"

"Hm. Noa."

"……Get this straight—it’s not your name! It’s the name of your second per-so-na-li-ty!"

Noa shrugged. "Fine, don't believe me if you don’t want to."

I really am being honest here, but if you don’t believe me, that’s not my fault.

Aurora was close to losing her mind.

Why… Why was it that just when her setup was gaining traction, her elder sister suddenly refused to follow the script?

Looking at Noa's ice-cold, expressionless face that resembled their mom’s to an uncanny degree, Aurora reluctantly realized that her current tactic wasn’t going to work anymore.

She concluded that Noa was only humoring her earlier and had no intention of fully cooperating.

Aurora sighed inwardly.

Well, for today, it seemed she’d have to call it quits.

"Ah… Time spent together is so fleeting. Soon, I must bid farewell to this free world."

Aurora clutched her chest in an exaggerated display of grief and reluctance.

Noa said nothing, observing quietly as her little sister seemed overcome by dramatic flair.

"The heavens did not create me, Hikari—the second personalities of the world would have endured eternal darkness! Farewell to this realm!"

After delivering those words, the pink-haired girl leaned backward onto the floor, motionless as though "fainting" in place.

Seconds later, she lazily opened her eyes, ruffled her already messy hair, stood back up, looked around in apparent confusion, and finally locked eyes with Noa.

"Big sis? What just happened to me?"

Noa smiled. "Nothing much."

"Oh… Well, if that’s all, I’ll go join second sis in the backyard then."

With that, Aurora turned to leave.

But before she could even take a single step, Noa stopped her.

"Wait a moment."

"What is it, big sis?"

Noa’s eyes shimmered faintly as she spoke, "Actually… you just awakened your second personality."

Aurora blinked, pretending to be entirely clueless. "Huh? What’s that?"

"I don’t know either."

Noa walked over and took her younger sister’s hand. "But your second personality is scary. It might be some kind of illness, so let’s go see Mom. Maybe she can cure it."

Go see… Mom?

No!

Absolutely not!

Originally, this move was meant to lure the snake out of its hole, but hopefully, in the end, the snake won’t come out while you end up trapped instead.

Aurora quickly braked with both feet, even her little tail stiffened behind her. “Don’t go looking for Mom, big sis!”

“But your second personality is seriously terrifying. If this goes on too long, I’m afraid it’ll affect your mental health.”

“Ummm… A-actually, I was just pretending just now…”

Big sis didn’t seem to be joking, so Aurora had no choice but to come clean.

“Pretending? That real? No way you could pull that off, Aurora. Sis is doing this for your own good. Let’s go.”

“No way, big sis! If Mom finds out, Aurora will be treated like a weird kid!”

Seeing that the little pink-haired girl finally got scared, Noa was finally satisfied and let go.

“Are you still going to pretend to be a lunatic and scare me again?”

Aurora shook her head like a rattling drum. “No, I won’t! I won’t!”

“Hmph, off you go then.”

“Thank you, big sis, for sparing me!”

As soon as she was released, Aurora bolted out like a streak of lightning.

Noa chuckled coldly to herself.

“Got you, didn’t I, little rascal?”

But even though she managed to fool Aurora this time, next time… what kind of trick would she try to test her again?