A clear stream slipped through a deep-green forest, a blue ribbon threading shadows and moss. Beneath the glassy surface, a small golden silhouette flickered like sunlight on fish scales.
“Haaah.” Little Loli broke the surface, gulping the forest’s mint-cool air. Comfort bloomed first; movement followed. “Bathing here feels the best.” She spun in the water. Her long gold hair slid like silk; pale skin shimmered, bent by the light’s refraction.
“Looks like the Evolution Pearl doesn’t reshape my body. For example…” Her hands rose, cupping a barely formed chest. “—!” A jolt shot from her sternum across her nerves. She shivered, golden lashes trembling. “So sensitive…” She jerked her hand away. She pouted. The crimson eye set in her right palm glowed sharp through the clear stream.
“Such a cute eye~” She lifted her right hand high. Two eyes met one, gaze straight as a blade. The wrinkles around the palm-eye tugged a helpless smile from her lips.
“A perfectly good hand, turned into this… heh~~” She pressed that eye to her cherry-pink mouth. The instant skin touched eye—“Mmm…” Another electric wave arced through her. Heat bloomed; a blush climbed her delicate face like dawn.
“Tsk, honestly…” After a breathless moment, Little Loli pulled her hand back, cheeks aflame. “I’ll just cosplay a Bandaged Girl later, haha.” She splashed a few more playful circles, then slipped from the creek. She toweled off with care, then slid into fresh clothes.
“Ten already?” She checked her phone. A call cut in. “Young Miss, I’m here. Where are you?” The scrawny man’s voice buzzed over the line.
“On my way!” She hung up. Gold irises iced into scarlet, like embers under frost. Her body blurred. She streaked toward the rendezvous like a phantom on the wind.
“How are you supposed to meet anyone here? Why’d that girl pick this place?” The scrawny man climbed from his newly bought car and squinted at the world: trees everywhere, one lonely road threading the grove.
“I’m here.” He was still peering up at a tall trunk when a clear, sweet voice chimed behind him. He jumped. “Young Miss, you’re here one moment and gone the next—uh, I mean, quick on your feet.” He fixed his wording fast, a half-sleazy grin hitching his mouth.
“Whatever. The stuff?” The golden-haired girl didn’t care for chatter; her mind was already tasting salt and sugar. “Relax. Plenty.” He flipped the trunk. Plastic bags bulged—food and daily goods packed to the brim.
“Whoa!” Her eyes lit. She dove like a kid at a festival. “All mine!”
He was basking in her cuteness when he saw… the eye on her right hand. “Waaah!” The scrawny man yelped, collapsing to a squat.
“Don’t screech.” She glanced at him, unimpressed, as he sat on the ground. “Your hand… your hand!” The kind of thing that only shows up in anime or sci-fi sat alive in front of him. That crimson eye, with a black pupil shaped like a cross, rattled his bones.
“Sorry, forgot to cover this. Hehe~~” Little Loli looked at her right hand and stuck out her tongue, embarrassed. “What happened? I swear it wasn’t there a few days ago.” He stood, trying to fix his composure, but his gaze kept flinching to her palm.
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Anyway—how’s Brother Zhuo’s mother?” She cut the topic clean with a practiced tilt of her head. “Our boss’s mother is in surgery. I heard it went great. And Xiao Tao’s already gone back to school. We check on them daily.” He patted the new car, speaking with proud warmth.
“You buy this car too?” She eyed his face, then the paint. Casual words, light tone. “Yeah. Savings plus this job’s bounty. Finally got my dream car!”
“Enough showing off. Got anything valuable recently?”
“Right, right. The cops released a statement saying you escaped. Nothing else.” He smacked his forehead, then shoved his phone at her with the news open. “Why release that? What are they thinking?”
Little Loli frowned at the screen. It felt wrong in her gut; it made no sense in the game they were playing. The news said nothing about how she got out, nothing about the SWAT deaths. Of course it didn’t.
“Whatever. Maybe it’ll blow over.” Her mouth tossed the words, but her chest stayed tight. If an esper organization had her marked, she wasn’t dodging the net that easily. What do you think this is, GTA V?
“That’s it for now, Young Miss. I’m off.” He unloaded everything, then slid behind the wheel.
“Ping me if anything pops up~”
“Absolutely!” Her voice landed like a booster shot. The engine snarled. The white car dwindled, then slipped out of sight like a fish downriver.
“What even is that model? Never seen it.” She shrugged. Combat mode settled over her like a mantle. She scooped up everything with effortless strength, then vanished up the mountain road.
Back at the cave, she spread the goods across the stone like a casual feast.
“Wow! All my favorites!” Bags of chips lined up like colorful scales. Alone meant she could be the first version of herself—no masks, no polish, no practiced smile.
“Only…” She lifted her gaze to the forest fringe. Two small birds cut a line across the sky. “It’s really lonely…”
She stuffed chips into her mouth, desperate and stubborn. She fought the warm images that kept rising—days wrapped in care, voices always checking in, hands that never let go.
“I won’t…” She chewed hard, cheeks full like a hamster. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes again. She grabbed a drink and gulped, rough. “I won’t cry…”
Her nose ran without her noticing. “When did I get this soft?”
She scrubbed her eyes, forcing the corners of her mouth up into something that looked like a smile.
In the forest, besides wind stroking leaves, there was only the sound of a girl with gold hair, crunching chips like a metronome of stubbornness.
The day slid past. “This is the third day. You two can leave.” A policeman pushed the door open, finding the pair already packed.
“Let’s go.”
