"You, sit. There—her command cracked like a ruler on a desk."

Tang Coco hauled Marilyn to the bed like dragging a stubborn cat, planted her down, and stood hands on hips like two drawn blades.

"Ow—could you be gentler? Seriously..." The tiny girl pouted, lips like a cherry bud under spring rain.

"Cut it—heat flared in her chest like a struck match—how long have you been in my head; how could I not know you?"

"Talk. How much of my secrets did you spill?" Her glare was a knife flashing in lamplight.

"I didn’t... I just said a bit of truth..." The tiny girl looked wronged, like a kitten caught in drizzle.

"Hey!? You’re trying to act cute at me?" Her anger hissed like a boiling kettle.

"Mm..." The tiny girl hugged her head and flopped onto the bed like a bullied ragdoll.

"Knew it—you’re talking about Lulu." A voice drifted from the door like a breeze through bamboo.

Tang Coco looked over; Gu Xin walked in, exasperated like someone splashed by a passing cart.

"Sis Xin!" The tiny girl popped up and dove into Gu Xin’s arms like a swallow to its nest.

"You—" Tang Coco pointed at Marilyn, fury popping like sparks, as the little rascal stole a hug from her girlfriend right under her nose.

"Alright, Coco." Gu Xin’s voice was soft as a shawl. "She said it for our good, really."

"When I learned those things, my heart lit up like lanterns, so don’t make it hard for Lulu."

Tang Coco’s cheeks flushed like dusk over peach blossoms, and her anger melted like frost in sun.

"Great... my own system’s getting cozy with someone else," she grumbled, words fluttering like paper cranes.

"Okay, I’ve got to go." Gu Xin’s smile curved like a new moon. "Lulu, ping me if anything comes up here."

"Mm-hmm." The tiny girl nodded like a bobbing chick.

Gu Xin left with Meng Xiaoxiao; at the door, Ye Yiyi and Tang Coco watched the car vanish like a silver fish into fog.

Ye Yiyi took Tang Coco’s hand like a warm ribbon and led her back to the living room, then smiled at Marilyn like sunlight on tea.

"Lulu, play for a bit—I need to talk to Coco," she said, her tone light as windbells.

"Okay~" Marilyn answered and sank into the sofa, thumbs tapping her game like fireflies over a pond.

Ye Yiyi drew Tang Coco upstairs, into her bedroom like a hidden garden, then nudged her toward the bed.

The lock clicked behind them like a pebble on a drum, and Ye Yiyi pounced; the two fell onto the bed like petals crossing midair.

"Idiot, idiot! You scared me to death, you know?" Her small fists pattered on Coco’s shoulder like spring rain.

Tears spilled, bright as a string of pearls sliding from a broken clasp.

"Sorry..." Tang Coco didn’t resist, her voice heavy as a stone sinking in a well.

"You... you’re not that red-haired Coco anymore, right?" Her eyes searched like lanterns in mist.

"Mm, no. I’m back." Her smile lifted like dawn over rooftops.

"Then... do you have memories from that time?" Color rose on her face like sunset climbing a wall.

"Uh... no. I only remember the banquet that night, meeting Avril, and what happened in America." She frowned, brow knotted like a willow switch.

"Oh... I see." Disappointment blurred in Ye Yiyi’s eyes like a passing cloud, then cleared like a blue sky after rain.

"Did I... do anything over the line back then?" Tang Coco asked, worry circling like moths at a lamp.

"No... it was fine." She smiled, flimsy as rice paper, and hurried to steer away like a boat from rocks. "You won’t change again, right?"

"Nope. This time it’s me for good." Her grin set like a seal stamped in wax.

"Mm." Ye Yiyi nodded, cheeks blooming like twin roses. "Coco... while you were gone... I thought a lot."

Tang Coco stayed quiet, still as a night lake catching stars.

"We haven’t known each other long, but from the first moment, you felt different—like a warm wind in early spring."

"I felt it too." Coco’s laugh was soft as silk. "Yiyi’s so gentle, like spring water—I like you a lot."

Ye Yiyi’s face flared redder, like embers prodded to life.

"When I heard you’d had an accident, it felt like the sky fell—my chest turned into rubble, and I didn’t know why I worried so much."

Tang Coco didn’t speak; understanding flicked on in her heart like a lantern behind paper.

"So I... I don’t want you in danger again... but I don’t have that power," she said, her voice drooping like a wilted stem.

"Yiyi, you’ve done great." Tang Coco smiled like a hearth catching. "You let me feel a warm home at my back, like a lamp in a window."

"I..." Ye Yiyi paused, breath catching like a bird on a twig. Then she pushed on, words trembling like a deer in snow.

"Coco... it’s embarrassing, but I can’t stay silent. I’m afraid I won’t see you next time."

"Actually, I... li... like—"

"Mm!" Tang Coco couldn’t hold back; she looped an arm around Ye Yiyi’s neck like a ribbon and kissed her, a tide crashing on warm sand.

Ye Yiyi’s eyes went round like full moons, then closed like folding swan wings, and she kissed back, deep as a well.

Minutes later, they parted, reluctant as silk drawn through a ring.

"Sorry... there are things I still have to do. But I promise, I’ll protect myself." Her vow rang like steel under velvet.

"Coco~" Ye Yiyi’s call was sweet as honey, and she blushed like wine. "Do you really not remember... that night?"

"That night?" Confusion curled through her like fog on a river.

"Forget it... it’s nothing... I’ll go tidy your room," Ye Yiyi blurted, fleeing like a rabbit into tall grass.

"Oh..." Tang Coco stared, questions spinning like leaves in a whirl.

She knew who to ask. She closed her eyes, lay back on the bed like a boat on dusk water, and sank into her inner world.

"Hey! You there? Get out here!" Her voice rang in the dark like a bell in a cave.

"What’s with you? I might not be the Valkyrie anymore, but that tone’s pretty rude." A red-haired girl stepped forth like an ember shaping into a rose.

"Save it. Tell me—what did you do with my body?" Her words snapped like a whip.

"Huh? With your body? Lemme think... I fought for you and did some flexing." The redhead tapped her chin like a metronome.

"..." Silence pooled like ink. Coco didn’t dare picture what she’d been like then.

"I mean the other thing. Ye Yiyi—what happened?" Her question cut clean as a blade.

"Oh, that pretty little one? Mm-hmm. She’s lovely, soft and kind—perfect wife material." The redhead grinned like a fox in moonlight.

"Don’t dodge!" Tang Coco’s shout cracked like thunder.

The redhead closed her eyes, thinking, then spoke with a sigh like wind through pines. "I never told you. Actually... I’m into girls."

"What?!" Tang Coco jolted like a sparrow from a branch. She hadn’t expected that—why did she think “too”...

"That’s on you. Didn’t you notice my teams were all women when I fought?" The redhead shrugged like a lazy cat on a wall.

"Uh..." Memory returned like an echo from a cliff.

"And I’m... an old hand," she purred, a glint like a knife’s edge at dawn.

"So I’ve had a closet perv living in me..." Tang Coco muttered, half helpless, like rain on a paper umbrella.

"Need help? Come ask me. I’ve run more routes than you’ve ever heard of." Her laugh idled like a taxi at midnight.

"Just say it—what did you do to Yiyi?" Coco asked, dread sprouting like briars.

"Not me. You. That night... mm... that girl was really something. I already got the ball rolling—experience it yourself when you can." Her words drifted like smoke from incense.

"Damn it! You really did it!" Coco yelled, her hunch cracking open like thunder over hills.

"This Valkyrie doesn’t fuss over things like that." She waved it off like dust on a sleeve.

"I’m such an idiot... what do I even do..." Tang Coco clutched her head like a bird in a storm, then blinked back to the room like surf retreating.

"Coco, I’ve tidied your room," Ye Yiyi’s voice chimed like a bell at noon.

Coco sat up and looked at her, answering haltingly like a brook over stones. "Y-yeah..."

"Huh? Your face is so red. Are you unwell?" Ye Yiyi’s eyes shone like dew on grass.

"N-no... it’s nothing." Her laugh creaked like bamboo in wind, while her thoughts tumbled like a drawer of letters.

"So awkward... Yiyi must think I’m a scumbag now," her heart whispered like a guilty cricket.

"Alright, I’ll go buy some groceries. I’ll cook you something good for lunch," Ye Yiyi said, warm as a stove in winter.

"I... I’ll come with you." Tang Coco rose, resolve poking through like a sprout after rain.

"No need. Looking like this, you’ll draw a crowd. I’ll go alone." Ye Yiyi smiled like a curved crescent.

"Okay then..." Tang Coco smiled back, resigned as a leaf on a slow stream.

She sighed, a note like wind through chimes.

After Ye Yiyi left, Tang Coco went to the living room and saw the tiny Marilyn gaming, thumbs flickering like fireflies.

She sat beside her and spoke, voice gentle as fallen petals. "Then... I’ll call you Lulu from now on."

"Okay. Then I’ll call you Sister Coco." Marilyn’s tone was sweet as honey, and she sat like a porcelain doll.

"What’s with this avatar of yours?" Tang Coco asked, baffled, because Marilyn looked too cute, like spun sugar.

"This body was chosen by the system after crunching which human type is most liked here. The final result was this form." Marilyn’s answer was flat as a readout.

"Uh... the loli craze is terrifying," Tang Coco muttered, helpless as a cat under eaves.

"Lulu, what’s up with my hair? Why won’t it take dye?" she asked, frustration prickling like nettles.

"Your current body is the perfect body generated by I Energy, so it rejects all external modifications." Marilyn’s voice rang like polished glass.

"Generated by I Energy... then... am I still human?" Her whisper fell like a lone leaf into a well.

"Of course. At its source, I Energy rises from humans—like mist off a warm lake. And your soul never left, Coco."

"Makes sense..."

Tang Coco chewed on it; yeah, she'd gripped that question too hard, like clutching sand.

"Okay, I won't dwell on it—let it drift like a fallen leaf. By the way, when will my Anomaly Power come back?"

"Fusion's at seventy-two percent. The system forecasts eleven days to finish. But that clock isn't carved in stone."

"Hm? What's that supposed to mean?" Tang Coco asked.

"The pace of fusion isn't just about strength. It also follows the host's mind—like a river quickening when the ice gives."

"If you learn your body, and accept it from the heart, the fusion will surge ahead, like wind filling a sail," the little girl explained, her voice clear as a bell.

"I see..." Tang Coco exhaled; so it's me after all—the knot sits in my chest, not the world.