The two of them slipped into the classroom, one ahead and one behind, like two shadows crossing a threshold.

“Holy crap—Xiao Qianxue actually came back alive!”

“Unbelievable. Anyone else would’ve been swept away in a storm like that.”

When Xiao Qianxue stepped in, eyes clung to the blonde girl like frost to glass. “Tch. Skip class to play and get carried off by a storm—guess heaven’s got eyes after all.”

Follow the voice, and you find a decent-looking girl perched with a flock of girls, their laughter shrill as shattered porcelain.

A wry chill drifted through Little Loli’s chest. “So going missing really draws a crowd…” She ignored the room like rain on an umbrella and walked to her seat. She set her bag down and sat—then the chair gave way. She dropped with a thud, and her pale legs flashed in the open air like moonlight on water.

“Hahahahaha!” The flock howled. With sharp ears like a hunting cat, Little Loli picked their words clean: “I got bored and unscrewed that chair a few days ago. Didn’t think it’d pay off like this, haha.” “She crawled back from a disaster and you do that?” The mock pity stung like vinegar.

Little Loli’s face flickered sun to storm; a red light glimmered in her eyes, there then gone.

“You bitches!” Joanna couldn’t hold it back. She lunged, but Little Loli rose and caught her by the wrist, her grip calm as a sheathed blade.

“Just small-time clowns. Not worth it.” She brushed her knees as if dusting off fallen petals, her gaze cutting sideways like a knife.

“Clowns? Then what does that make yo—” The pretty girl didn’t finish. Little Loli snatched the pen in front of her and, whoosh, sent it flying. It bit the desk between the girl’s fingers, quivering like a pinned cicada.

“Can you shut up now?” Golden eyes looked cold as winter water.

“Tch.” The girl turned away, refusing to meet Xiao Qianxue’s gaze.

“Even without power, my aim’s still there.” Little Loli’s voice was quiet, like a pebble dropped in a pond.

“What happened while I was gone?” Little Loli fetched a new chair from the back and sat, composed as a willow.

“I only started coming back yesterday. No idea,” Joanna said with a helpless shrug, light as a breeze. “Looks like some dumb little clique. Just jealousy.”

“Boring…” Without noticing, Xiao Qianxue slipped back into memories of high school, like mist returning to the river.

“Xiaoxue! Xiaoxue! Lunchtime!”

“Mm… don’t be loud… five more minutes… yah!”

Little Loli clutched her chest and shrank into the corner like a startled bird. “Sleeping in isn’t what good girls do,” Joanna sang, sunshine in her smile.

“Anyway… I’m not much of a good person…” Guilt welled up first, then the alleyway flashed back—ropes, shadows, the taste of iron. “Maybe I didn’t have to kill them back then… just knock them out… then no one would’ve found out…”

Joanna saw her bestie’s face sink like a cloud over the moon and frowned. “Xiaoxue, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me it’s aftereffects.” She took the blonde girl’s hand, warm as a lantern. “Don’t overthink. Let’s go eat.” Her smile was clear as noon.

“Mm…” Little Loli exhaled and surfaced, a leaf riding the current. “Let’s go.”

Two days earlier, Ou Xiangyang gathered a handful of girls in a corner like sparrows under an eave. “You all know Xiao Qianxue vanished in the storm.”

“We do, Young Master Ou. And then?” They were all from money, glossed like lacquer, and they knew his pedigree. Being summoned set their hearts fluttering like silk flags.

“I’ve got solid intel she didn’t die. She’ll be back in a few days. When she comes, I want you to hit her hard.” He calculated like a chess player in the rain—after a disaster, then a public beating, she’d tire fast. That would be his opening.

“Leave it to us.” A chance to curry favor with the mayor’s son—none of them would miss it.

“Good. It’s set.”

Lunchtime. The two stepped into the cafeteria, and there they were again: three trays and a boy scanning the door like a meerkat. He spotted them and waved, bright as a signal flag.

“Yo, Cai Wenbin, you’re really diligent,” Joanna teased, a chuckle like wind chimes. Little Loli sat without a word, quiet as a stone.

“Xiaoxue, I’m so glad you’re back safe!” Cai Wenbin’s eyes shone like lamps fixed on the blonde.

“Oh.” Little Loli didn’t have the mood to humor anyone. She bowed over her food, eating in steady strokes like rain on eaves.

“Uh…” Cai Wenbin glanced at Joanna, lost as a kite. Joanna only gave a small, helpless smile and dug in.

In the afternoon’s PE class, Joanna once again dragged Little Loli into her fitting room like a tide pulling a shell. “Nana, I’ve got my own fitting room now…” Xiao Qianxue knelt, leaning against the wall, eyes wide and pleading like a deer, staring up at Joanna.

“No can do. I’ve gotta check your development properly.” Joanna’s tone was honey; her hands were mischief.

“Kya—stop!” The scene politely faded to black.

They arrived at the track. Clusters of students waited like stones around a pond. After lining them up, the PE teacher blinked at Little Loli’s return, surprise a spark, then class mode settled like a cap.

“Today’s the fourth day of the week. Monday is our school’s sports meet.” He paused, gaze sweeping over them like a broom. “This period, we finalize the roster, assign events, and start training.”

“If you signed up, take two steps forward.” About a dozen stepped up, feet thumping like drums. Joanna was among them, smile bright as a pennant.

Little Loli thought first, cool as night. Without that edge in her body anymore, there was no point in joining. No benefit. Just noise.

“Xiao Qianxue, I remember you registered for the sprints. Why aren’t you stepping up?” the PE teacher asked, puzzled, like a cloud snagged on a peak.

“Sorry. I’m not interested.” Little Loli smiled with her eyes half-lidded, a bell with a hidden crack. Sweet voice, sly undertow.

“Competing is a chance to bring honor to the class,” the teacher pressed, stubborn as an old pine. He knew her times from weeks ago.

“Look at this so-called class belle,” the flock of girls jeered, voices like crows. “Class honor doesn’t interest her? What kind of belle is that? She doesn’t even deserve to be in this class.”

“Teacher, I’m withdrawing!” Her words fell like a blade severing a rope, clean and final.