"Alright, dinner's up!"

Ye Yiyi came out of the kitchen with dishes, steam curling like white ribbons. The table was a painted feast, and their appetites rose like a tide.

Ningxin’s impression of Tang Coco thawed like frost in spring. After Li Muyan’s brief explanation, she saw how Coco and Ye Yiyi had met, threads crossing on a loom. She doubted Coco’s self-told past like a shadow on water, yet she let the stone sink without a ripple.

"Okay, let’s eat." Tang Coco walked over, untying her apron like shedding a soft shell. Her long, pale legs flashed like moonlit bamboo. She’d helped Ye Yiyi in the kitchen like a sparrow pecking grain.

"Mm—our Yiyi’s cooking is still the best," Ningxin praised, warmth flickering like a small stove.

Ye Yiyi waved it off like a curtain in a breeze. "Not really. I haven’t cooked in a while. These days Coco cooked, and hers tastes better."

"Oh? She can cook?" Surprise sparked on Ningxin’s face like tinder catching.

"Uh… why, do I look like I couldn’t?" Tang Coco said, exasperation rising like steam from a pot.

"Heh, I took you for a hothouse ornament, all bloom, no roots," Ningxin laughed, voice light as wind chimes. "Looks and cooking? Whoever marries you must’ve banked saintly karma."

The joke rubbed like a pebble in a shoe. She’d rather walk alone for life than marry a man, a vow hard as iron.

"Ningxin, don’t joke," Tang Coco said, her tone flat as a calm pond.

"What, am I wrong? You won’t marry someday?" Ningxin feigned surprise, eyes bright like foxfire.

"Right. I won’t marry." The words landed like a knife on a chopping board.

"Tsk, tsk, feels like I found a rare feather," Ningxin said, smugness curling like a cat’s tail.

"Enough, let’s eat. Yiyi made dinner with care—it’s extra good," Tang Coco said, steady as a straight road. Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan let the banter drift past like clouds.

"Really? Then I’ll savor it," Ningxin said, lifting her chopsticks like a brush. She tasted a dish, then sipped the bone broth.

Heat exploded like a chili comet. Her hand froze midair like a statue. Her face flickered through expressions like storm clouds rolling, and tears gathered like summer rain.

"Water! Water!" She gasped, words dry as dust.

"Huh? Ningxin, what’s wrong?" Ye Yiyi stared, puzzled, like a deer in a clearing.

"Spicy… so spicy… burning," Ningxin forced out, each word a coal.

"Spicy? No way, Yiyi’s cooking is light as spring water," Li Muyan said, doubt raising an eyebrow like a sail. He tried a spoonful, then—pfft—he sputtered, coughing like a failing bellows. "Cough, cough… so hot!"

"Ah, looks like we’re out of water. Should I go boil some?" Tang Coco said, calm as still tea, a hidden glint like a needle in velvet.

She’d cooked it, a small counterstrike like a rose’s thorn. Li Muyan often bullied her like a big cat swatting a cub, and Ningxin had tried taking liberties at first sight like a hand snatching fruit.

"Cough… you—" Li Muyan turned, anger flaring like a struck match, glaring at Coco. Coco wore innocence like a paper mask.

"Alright, Coco, bring them water," Ye Yiyi said, realization breaking like dawn. She knew she hadn’t mixed spices, and helplessness settled like a soft shawl.

"Hmph, let’s see if you still dare bully me," Tang Coco thought, proud as a preening bird. She fetched two bottles of mineral water, plastic gleaming like clear ice. They gulped it down, glug-glug, like parched travelers at a well.

"Good one, you little imp, daring to prank me—cough," Li Muyan said, half-laughing through ash.

"Oh, pure accident. Must’ve swapped the spices," Coco said, palms up like empty plates. "I just recovered; my brain’s still rebooting."

With their scuffle like a summer squall and Ye Yiyi’s peacemaking like a steady umbrella, dinner finally ended.

Afterward, Tang Coco claimed discomfort and slipped to the rooftop terrace, the night air cool as river silk. Under a star-sown sky like sprinkled salt, old memories rose like mist. She’d learned this body and this new life like feet finding a path at dusk. But she knew too little; lately, too many riddles rippled like fish under dark water.

Another worry gnawed like a mouse at grain. Her temper and habits kept drifting toward a girl’s shore, beyond easy control. The petty revenge tasted sweet like burnt sugar, yet afterward she frowned at herself, counting the cost.

She lifted the worn watch in her palm, scratches mapping tiny roads. That mysterious space flashed back like lightning behind cloud.

This change wasn’t a fluke, the thought solid as stone. There had to be a cause, and this watch might be the key like a hidden tooth.

Wait. A spark leapt like flint. Back then, both Father and Mother had one. Maybe Mother knows something, and the other watch is with her. But facing her like this—how do I step forward, like what kind of shadow?

The thought pressed down like rain. She didn’t notice a presence sidle up like a cat on velvet paws.

"What’s up? What are you thinking?" A voice brushed her ear like a breeze, and she started as if pricked.

She turned. Ningxin stood there, quiet as moonlight, and she hadn’t sensed a thing. Suspicion stirring like reeds, Coco stepped back a few paces like a wary fox.

"N-Ningxin, how did you get here?" Her voice thinned like thread.

"I saw you spacing out, so I came to check," Ningxin said, smile soft as tea steam. "Well? What’s on your mind?"

"N-nothing," Coco said, heart locking like a gate. Secrets don’t ride the wind.

Ningxin moved closer, breath warm as a candle flame. She leaned to her ear and whispered, "Thinking about your Anomaly Power?"

The words struck like a drum. Coco’s head buzzed, and she stared, shock bright as lightning.

"Surprised?" Ningxin sounded unbothered, steady as a stone path. "You must’ve guessed. Otherwise, how could I cure your illness?"

"Who are you?" Coco sprang back, distance strung like a drawn bow. Her guard rose like a shield.

"Me? Ningxin," she said, name simple as a pebble. "As for identity, not yet. Just know we’re the same kind, and I won’t harm you."

"The same kind?" Coco echoed, cold as dew.

"Yeah. I’m an Abnormal too," Ningxin said, tilting her head with a wink like a firefly.

Gold kindled in her eyes like dawn on a lake, then faded like embers under ash.

Coco’s tightness slackened a notch like a loosened knot. At least she doesn’t know about the transformation—just that I’m an Abnormal.

"What do you want?" Her words stayed sheathed like a blade.

"To help you, that’s all," Ningxin said, steady as a levee. "If I’m not wrong, you can’t control your Anomaly Power, and you need help, right?"

Silence pooled like dark tea.

"No answer counts as yes. I can help," she added, clear as a bell.

"How would you help me?" Coco asked, caution flicking like a fish tail.

"I’ll tell you after a while," Ningxin said, keeping the lid on like a simmering pot.

"Then why help me?" Coco’s eyes narrowed like slits.

"Because I’ve taken an interest in you," Ningxin said, earnest as a vow, with a smile like a crescent.

The more they spoke, the more it tangled like vines. Coco watched her and knew she wouldn’t tell the whole truth yet.

"My business can’t reach them," Coco said, the them pointing like a finger at Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan.

"Of course," Ningxin said, agreement easy as shade. "They don’t know I’m an Abnormal either. Rest easy."

"Then that’s that. I’m going to rest," Coco said, tone cool as well water. She left the terrace, steps light but guarded like a night patrol.

Ningxin watched her go, unruffled by the chill like a pine in winter. "Anomaly Power at least SS-class, yet she moves like any ordinary," she murmured, eyes bright as a jeweler’s. "How many secrets coil around you?"

She smiled, a small curve like a hook catching light, staring at Coco’s vanishing silhouette like treasure behind gauze.