“Mmph—”

Gu Xin’s kiss sealed Tang Coco’s lips, warm as steam over spring water. But Coco had no mood to savor it; her hands, weak as willow leaves, pressed at Gu Xin’s shoulders, seeking distance.

“Haa— stop… I don’t want this anymore…”

Coco struggled like a fish in a net. Gu Xin finally loosened a fraction. Coco drew a breath, cheeks pink as peach blossoms, and blurted it out.

“Why…”

Gu Xin stared, eyes deep as a night lake.

“I… I don’t deserve this from you…”

Coco stammered, voice thin as mist at dawn.

“You really think that?”

“…”

When Coco didn’t answer, Gu Xin took Coco’s hand and set it to her chest. Softness rose like new snow under the palm, yet Coco’s heart had no room for that garden.

“You know? This heart is yours. If you truly think that, then it doesn’t deserve to beat for you.”

Her tone fell heavy as rain on stone.

Then Gu Xin lifted her other hand. White frost coiled and hardened, a crystal dagger born of ice.

“If it doesn’t deserve to beat for you, let it stop.”

She aimed the blade at her heart.

“Don’t!”

Coco lunged and wrapped Gu Xin, a tide slamming a pier.

Splash—ripples fanned out like silver rings.

The icy dagger halted against Coco’s back, a finger from piercing her pale skin.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Xin… sob… I was wrong…”

Emotion surged like a storm tide. Tears mixed with warm bathwater, rain melting into a lake.

“…”

Gu Xin stood silent, still as a pine in snow.

“I won’t take revenge… I won’t chase Dark Energy anymore… I won’t do those things…”

Coco cried, words breaking like driftwood.

“Coco, that’s not the answer I want.”

Gu Xin’s hand stroked Coco’s back, light as wind over reeds.

“Sniff…”

Coco kept sobbing, a flute lost in fog.

“Those words might be what Yiyi and the others need. But I’m not the same as them. Nor is Yuting.”

Gu Xin closed her eyes. Her voice moved slow as a river at dusk.

“We went through life and death together, so we can understand why you did all that. Our anger isn’t about that.”

“Then… why…”

Coco’s question fell soft as rain.

“What we truly want is for you to face yourself. To cherish yourself. Spare a little of the love you pour on everyone else, and give it to you.”

Gu Xin rubbed Coco’s hair, fingers combing like sunlight through bamboo.

“I…”

Shame pricked like thorns. Coco knew the knot, but habit sat heavy as chains.

“Honestly, we’re the same. Whatever you become, we want to live happy together and fight strong together. Not watch you pay in silence while we hide behind you, craving your protection. Can you feel it? Even Yiyi, who has no Anomaly Power, and Xiaoxiao, who laughs loud and lives loose, are trying everything to shield you. How could those of us with power do any less?”

“I…”

Her chest ached like a bruise. Gu Xin’s words pressed on a place she couldn’t name.

“Coco, I hope… you can set the past down for a while. Lay down the Shadow Division’s Asura. Be a girl. Just be a girl for a while.”

Gu Xin held Coco’s shoulders and lifted her chin, eyes meeting like moonlight on water.

“…”

Coco stared at the familiar face, thoughts turning like leaves in wind. Gu Xin waited with patience, a lantern on a quiet pier.

“Okay… for this stretch… I’ll try to be… a… a girl…”

Coco finally murmured, head bowed like a lily in rain.

“Good. That’s the one I love.”

Gu Xin smiled, a spring thaw, and pulled Coco into a deep embrace.

“…”

Then Gu Xin’s hand slipped behind Coco, nimble as a sparrow. She undid the bra and the piece below. She bathed Coco gently, touch warm as a towel in sun. Coco’s cheeks flushed rose. She kept her head down, still as a fawn, thoughts drifting.

“All right. Stay in the water a second. I’ll get you a nightgown.”

Gu Xin stood. The white nightdress, soaked, clung like moonlight to her curves. She slid on slippers and left the bathroom. Soon she came back in a black nightdress, arms full of white blankets like gathered clouds.

“Up you go. I’ll dry you, or you’ll catch a chill.”

“Mm.”

With Gu Xin’s help, Coco stood, one step out of the tub. Her strength was low, legs trembling like reeds. Seeing that, Gu Xin dragged over a small stool and sat Coco down. She took a bath towel and dried her, stroke by careful stroke, like smoothing silk.

“See? Such a beautiful body, and you don’t even treasure it. You risk yourself every day.”

Gu Xin scolded with a soft bite, like a cat tapping a paw.

“…”

“I was wrong, okay…”

Coco muttered, face red as dusk.

“Hmph. If you’re wrong, you make it up to me.”

“Huh? How?”

“Starting tomorrow, we choose everything you wear.”

“We?”

Coco blinked, puzzled, eyes like wet ink.

“Yeah. When you go live with Yiyi, you’ll follow their arrangement.”

Gu Xin’s voice was even as a metronome.

“…”

“Let’s not…”

“Mm? Already disobeying? Who just said she knew she was wrong?”

Gu Xin arched a brow, a blade of light in her gaze.

“…”

Coco hesitated, heart a tangle of vines. Yiyi’s style was fresh, and she liked it. But Li Muyan’s taste… wasn’t simple. If Li Muyan went bold, she might push Coco into all sorts of new things…

“If you won’t agree, pretend I said nothing. Dry yourself.”

Gu Xin feigned a rise, anger rustling like startled birds.

“Hey!? No, no… I agree, okay…”

Coco hurried, hands up like a truce.

“Good. I recorded it.”

Gu Xin pulled a little recorder from between her breasts, a secret tucked like a jade pendant.

“…”

Coco’s face went dark as a cloud. For the first time, she found Gu Xin’s fullness annoying.

“All right, almost done.”

Gu Xin set the towel aside and turned to fetch the white blanket.

“Hm? What for?”

“To wrap you. What else?”

“Huh? A nightgown would do, right?”

“See? You never cherish your body. Right now, you can’t catch a chill. Not even a little. Besides, I don’t have a full-body set here, only nightdresses. You can’t wear those now.”

“…”

“Fine…”

Gu Xin wrapped Coco from the shoulders down, snug as a cocoon. Then she lifted her and carried her to bed, like a bride through a doorway.

Half an hour later, Coco’s hair was dry, and so was Gu Xin’s.

“Xin, do you think… Yuting is really angry with me…”

Coco lay under the quilt, bundled tight as a dumpling—because Gu Xin wouldn’t let her wear underwear.

“Oh? Worried about her?”

Gu Xin sat on the bedside in a nightdress, combing her hair, strands flowing like ink.

“Uh…”

Coco fell quiet, words hiding like fish.

“I think you’re afraid she’ll get mad and do something to you—”

Gu Xin’s mouth curled, a fox with a secret.

“…”

Silence again. Gu Xin had guessed her heart.

“Relax. Angry or not, you’re mine tonight.”

“Huh?”

The sudden sentence stunned Coco, like a bell in a fog. She didn’t get why Gu Xin dropped that line—until she did.

“Mmph!”

Gu Xin flipped the quilt, slipped into the warm dark, and hugged Coco’s soft body. She kissed her hard, a spark in dry grass.

Coco’s eyes flew open. She hadn’t expected a sudden raid.

“Xin…”

A bit of strength returned. Coco pushed Gu Xin back, breath scattering like birds.

“Tonight… I won’t let you off so easily—”

Then Gu Xin sealed Coco’s lips again. Her pale hands wandered at Coco’s waist, light as water.

“Mmm—”

A cute sound leaked between kisses. Coco’s body gave a small, helpless struggle, a moth beating at lantern-glass. She hadn’t expected even gentle Gu Xin to act.

Slowly, Gu Xin’s hand moved upward and met soft warmth. With no clothes on, Coco’s skin was rain-sensitive. A touch there made her shiver, a string plucked.

“Mm—”

Coco moaned, eyes half-lidded like crescent moons. She saw Gu Xin’s face flushed, lashes trembling like dragonfly wings. Gu Xin was nervous too. Seeing that, something in Coco loosened. If Gu Xin could be this brave, what kind of “boyfriend” was she, shrinking back?

She lifted one arm and looped it around Gu Xin’s neck, drawing them tight as ink and paper. Her other hand slid behind and unfastened the clasp beneath, a click like a seed pod.

“Mm…”

Gu Xin gave a soft hum, then opened her eyes, puzzled and bright as stars. She slowly lifted her head.

“Haa— why are you…”

Gu Xin asked, cheeks red as ripe cherries.

“What, go too long without that and forget how?”

Coco’s mouth tilted, a knife wrapped in silk.

“Pfft—no matter how you change, you never drop those bad habits—”

Gu Xin laughed, allure pouring like wine.

“Can’t help it. You walked a lamb into a tiger’s den.”

“A lamb into a tiger’s den? Haha. First time I’ve seen such a cute little tiger—”

“Oh? Looking down on little tigers?”

Coco’s brows arched, two strokes of ink.

“Yeah—then—let me see what tricks this little tiger has—”

Gu Xin licked her lips, tongue a flash of light. That look snapped months of banked heat in Coco’s chest.

“Don’t think my transformation makes me helpless!”

Coco rolled Gu Xin to the side, light as a wave. She flipped and lay over her, then kissed Gu Xin hard, like thunder meeting the ridge.