“Let’s start with the big clans,” Hoshina said, voice unrolling like a scroll under moonlight. “The Esper Organization is split among three houses: the Lin Clan, the Ouyang Clan, and the Tang Clan.”
With a flick of her petite hand, a fine-crafted bot glided over like a dragonfly skimming a pond, poured green tea whose steam curled like bamboo smoke, then slid back like a swallow to its eaves.
“So magical!” Even Xiao Qianxue, cool as frost on jade, had never seen a robot move so fluidly, like water finding its path.
“Not bad, right? I built it myself,” Hoshina said, pride sprouting like a spring shoot in her voice.
“Go on, taste it,” she added, bright as a paper lantern. “I usually brew it for Bloo, but that guy never says a word, like a stone in a stream.”
“Mhm.” The blonde girl blew across the tea like a soft breeze over a lake, then took a small sip like a bird pecking dew. “It’s really good.”
“Thank goodness,” Hoshina exhaled, hand to chest like setting down a burden, relief blooming across her face like dawn light.
“Ahem, Hoshina, you’re straying,” came the gentle reminder, light as rain on leaves.
“Ah—sorry, sorry,” she stuck out her tongue, playful as a kitten in sun. An AI with human moods was disarmingly cute, like a porcelain doll warmed by firelight, and the blonde girl’s lips curved.
“Plain as the words themselves,” Hoshina went on, tone steady as a drum. “Lin Fan is the Lin Clan’s direct heir, no siblings, the next patriarch already named like a seal pressed in wax.”
“When someone points at you and says, ‘You’ll bear the clan’s weight,’ you split two ways,” she said, lifting a jade-slim hand and showing two fingers like twin reeds.
“Some think, ‘I’ll be the boss anyway,’ and squander it all, using power to run wild like a horse off its reins, leaving messes like footprints in mud for others to clean.”
“Or you turn into someone like Lin Fan, grinding daily like a whetstone on steel, preparing to shoulder more, fix more, and earn the skills fit for a patriarch.”
With a sleight of hand, a cup appeared before her like a conjured moon, and she sipped like a lady tasting spring rain.
“As for the timid who collapse under pressure, the clan prunes them like weak branches,” she said, voice cool as shade. “Ugly as it is, they’re worse than the first kind, who at least stand in the wind.”
“So Lin Fan’s been carrying a mountain far too early, and naturally he’s grown a mind and strength beyond his years, like pines toughened by winter.”
Listening, the blonde girl fell into thought like a stone sinking through clear water, and Lin Fan’s constant busyness finally made sense, like pieces clicking in a wooden puzzle.
“Why do you know so much about Lin Fan?” she asked, eyes steady as gold coins in lamplight.
“Well, I was bored, so I dug up what I could,” Hoshina said, casual as a breeze combing grass. “And I figured you’d care,” she added, running a hand down hair that shimmered like pink silk; if it were real, it would flow like a waterfall.
“Let’s keep going,” she said, tapping forward like a brushstroke. “The other two: Ouyang and Tang. The Tang heirs are a brother and sister—he’s been close with Lin Fan since they were kids, and she’s always tagged along like a shadow.”
“Overall, Tang and Lin have allied more than they’ve clashed, like cranes sharing a lake, so if Lin Fan becomes patriarch, the Tang won’t suffer, and they rarely move against him.”
“The Ouyang Clan’s different,” she said, eyes turning sharp as flint. “They’re hostile to the Lin, but with the Tang it’s more ‘you don’t cross me, I don’t cross you,’ like two tigers on separate hills.”
“So the recent moves were all arranged by the Ouyang Clan?” Little Loli asked, testing the waters like a toe to a stream.
“Mostly, yes,” Hoshina said, settling beside the blonde girl like a cat curling on cushions. “There was a mission not long ago—everyone died but Lin Fan, bodies falling like leaves—and who knows how many traps Ouyang laid behind the curtain.”
“The ones who died were drifters in the Organization, loose as reeds in wind. Few cared, but the Ouyang will spin it hard, like pounding a drum to stir a crowd.”
“How’s the power spread among the three?” Little Loli asked, sipping tea that gleamed like jade.
“Ouyang’s top end beats either of the other two alone, like a taller peak on the range,” Hoshina said, stretching with a languid yawn like a cat in sun. “But if Lin and Tang truly joined, Ouyang wouldn’t win, though they aren’t a real alliance, so balance holds, with Ouyang usually on the windward side.”
She flopped onto the sofa like a petal on water, and from behind there was a teasing flash of white, quick as a gull’s wing.
“So lately Ouyang’s pressing Lin Fan at every turn, even thinking to kidnap you as a hefty bargaining chip,” Hoshina murmured, voice lazy as dusk. “If they’d pulled it off, the fallout would’ve been a storm.”
“Sounds like you really don’t like the Ouyang Clan,” the blonde girl said, drawing her gaze back to the cup like a moon drawn to the tide.
“Of course,” Hoshina said, flipping upright like a page. “They’re the ones who forced me and Bloo to leave, like smoke driving swallows from the rafters.”
“So that’s why you’re telling me all this?” she asked, gold eyes meeting pink like sun touching sakura.
“Only partly,” Hoshina smiled, sly as foxfire. “The enemy of my enemy is a friend, right? Mostly, I’m bored and wanted something to do, like tossing pebbles into a quiet pond.”
Just then, the elevator doors opened with a soft sigh like reeds parting, and the blue-haired youth Bloo appeared inside like a shard of sky.
“Let’s test your strength,” Hoshina said, bracing her hands like setting stakes, curiosity lighting her gaze like sparks. “I’m interested in your second stage.”
“Second stage?” The blonde girl blinked, puzzled as mist over fields.
“You don’t know? The mode where even your hair turns red, like maple at first frost.”
“I know it exists,” Xiao Qianxue said, shrugging like a willow in light wind. “But I’m out cold when it happens, and I didn’t even know I transformed last battle.”
“And after whatever teleport triggered last time, I can’t switch back to combat mode,” she added, voice shrinking like embers. “Right now I’m just an ordinary girl.”
“Is that so?” Hoshina propped her chin, thoughts turning like cogs beneath silk gloves, while Bloo stepped out, poured himself tea, and drank alone like a lone pine in snow.
The hall sank into silence, wide as a winter lake and just as still.
