Four o’clock sharp. The knock came like a death bell tolling.

Zhang Wendao and Ling Nuo Si had been herded to the Golden Arches. A 12-yuan strawberry-and-vanilla sundae each finally bribed them into waiting quietly, no peeking.

The door swung open.

Liu RuoYuan stood there, a figure framed by the afternoon light like ink on rice paper.

Twenty-two, fully grown, a beauty carved by time; not the girl in memory, yet the echo remained—enough for Yekase to know it was her.

Maybe the teacher title weighed on her. No floaty dresses like the ones Yekase remembered—today she wore a conservative dark suit, neat as a rain-washed leaf.

“Hello, Student Yekase.”

Her smile was warm, like early spring sun landing on a windowsill.

Student. Right out the gate.

Emotion swelled first, a five-flavor storm inside. Words stalled. Yekase only nodded and pulled the door wider, like parting a curtain of rain.

Liu RuoYuan slipped off her shoes at the threshold, then stepped in, quiet as a cat crossing frost.

She looked around. “So clean. You’re great at taking care of yourself.”

It wasn’t her cleaning, but the praise still fell like a soft blanket.

They sat across the table. The home visit officially began.

“First, can you tell me why you’ve stopped coming to school?”

—Contender Liu RuoYuan opens with a clean strike, straight to the point!

“Why… I’m still looking for the reason.”

—Contender Yekase uses feign-ignorance!

“You don’t know? Is it confusion about the future? At your age, that’s common. And you live alone, with no one to talk to...”

—Super effective!

Liu RuoYuan bought it, then started persuading herself, thoughts spinning like a pinwheel in wind.

Maybe that fake perfect score really did weigh heavy in a teacher’s heart. Geniuses get a longer leash—until they skip a whole year. That’s the line.

If Yekase actually took the exams, science would be fine. English too—paper reading honed it like a whetstone. Chinese, history, politics? Pure shrug. No way to ace everything.

Deal with it later. Make smart glasses or something, cheat elegantly, pass decently, done.

“Yekase.”

“…?”

“Come sit in your teacher’s lap.”

…

???

What is happening?

Blinking, at sea, Yekase froze like a deer mid-step.

Liu RuoYuan patted her thigh with dogged rhythm, ta-ta, like rain urging a late traveler.

…This felt oddly familiar. But as a brother—however lousy—sitting in the younger sister’s lap was absurd. Yekase shook her head, firm as a slammed door.

Liu RuoYuan kept patting. Patient, relentless, tide against stone.

They stalemated for a minute.

“Good girl.”

…And she sat. Damn it.

“Teacher hopes to see you in the Class 1, Grade 11 classroom tomorrow. Maybe you only need one glance to master the knowledge. But the time in school—those hours become the marrow of a life. I don’t want your seventeen to be a room with one shadow.”

At seventeen, Yekase had already started sketching her first design—the Flashblade System.

Back then, Flash Energy was a mystery. She hunted for an Infinite Power to hold up her idea, fumbling and fixing, over and over, scavenging whatever a high-schooler could buy, failing like waves that keep kissing the same stubborn rock. It was unforgettable in the best and worst ways.

The stage set, Yekase let a knot in her voice show, then spoke the line she’d prepared days ago.

“…All right. I’ll go.”

“If you really don’t want to, then I’ll have to tell you—eh?”

“I’ll go to school tomorrow.”

“You agreed that fast?!”

“You don’t want me to agree?!”

“I prepped a whole vat of chicken soup to persuade you and didn’t use a drop!”

“Chicken soup! You’re calling it chicken soup to my face!”

They volleyed complaints like shuttlecocks, fast and furious.

Why are we like this!

Liu RuoYuan coughed. “Ahem. Just warming up the air a bit. It’s great you’ll come. But don’t you want to hear about your teacher’s youth?”

She persisted! She’d pour that chicken soup down Yekase’s throat today if it killed her. A clingy, relentless woman!

“Th-then, go on?”

It had been almost ten years since Yekase had seen her sister’s face. They’d traded calls and messages in college, then topics thinned like winter branches. Fewer chats, then none.

Guilt crawled like ivy. She wouldn’t repay with this borrowed body, but letting her talk—this much she could do.

“It was when I was seventeen.”

Five years ago?

Back then, Yekase had just stepped into the world. The organization’s labyrinth from zero, work from dawn to dark; home was a black box she never opened.

“Dad went abroad for work. Four years, no return. My brother had just graduated from college, fell into a cold war with Mom, and never came back either. It was only Mom and me, two against the wind.”

“That brother was pretty outrageous…”

So Dad was gone that long? In Yekase’s memory he was a regular office worker. She didn’t even know he’d gone abroad.

Her tone held little feeling, more like turning pages. “I thought about not going to college. I’d stay home, take care of Mom, maybe find someone rich to marry… I considered it seriously.”

“But you pushed through?”

“I pushed through. Do you know why?”

Yekase shook her head.

“Because my brother, already working in Twin Towers City, told me, ‘You don’t study to change your class. You study to change the world.’ Then he gave me all his savings.”

…Did I really say something that dramatic? Just to look cool?

Under the table, sweat ran like a chill stream down her back.

The money did happen. She remembered that clearly. Four years of college savings plus most of the first six months’ pay—about fifty thousand. Then two months of plain rice with fermented tofu, day in, day out.

“And I became a teacher. Recently, I got the chance to teach in Twin Towers City, so I came at once. I want to tell my brother—I did it.”

Okay. Brother has seen it, and keenly felt your sense of duty.

But if she came for Yekase, why no call? No prior contact, just an ambush meeting?

…Oh, wait.

Her old phone—the number tied to ———— had long been cut off for unpaid bills.

So the fault’s on this side!

“So… have you found your brother?”

Guilt first, then the question slipped out.

“No.”

She’d already found him, though.

“His phone’s dead. He never told me his address. He doesn’t reply on chat apps either.”

Chat app?

Right, that account gets spammed a hundred times a day by the Heavenly Prison King. It’s been sealed away for ages…

“But I believe ‘fate’ will bring us back together. Worst case, I’ll post a paid missing-person request.”

“That’s pricey!”

Yekase hurried to stop her. “Maybe he’s just… extremely busy lately? He’ll reply soon!”

“Thanks for comforting me.”

When she left, Yekase would log into the old account and drop a line. Stall her for now. Not a long-term fix. She’d need a black-market gadget to disguise her whole body.

The story ended. Five o’clock had snuck in like dusk fog. “Yekase, have you eaten? Let teacher take you out.”

“Huh? No need…”

Zhang Wendao and Ling Nuo Si were still waiting at the Golden Arches.

And letting her little sister pay felt… off.

“Oh my, are you shy?” Liu RuoYuan studied Yekase’s profile, mischief bright as a firefly.

“Uh? What makes you think that?”

“On my way here, I worried you’d be the arrogant type—talent-drunk, not listening to anyone…”

Her hand brushed over Yekase’s head. It made her squirm, like wearing a sweater wrong-side-out.

“Now I’m relieved. You’re a good kid who knows how to listen.”

…Uh.

Praised like a child by a sister five years younger—positions twisted like tangled kites, and her scalp tingled.

Yekase wriggled free and hopped down from her lap.

“See? Shy after all.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Time to go—her eyes said as much.

“All right, teacher will head back. See you tomorrow.”

“Mm. Mm. Mm.”

…

She left.

Brain blank, Yekase stared at the closed door like it was a horizon line.

“Uniform… backpack… do I bring a backpack? Might as well look the part…”

Right. Something more urgent.

She pulled out her phone. Logged into the account she used back when she was a guy.

Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong!

Notifications flooded the top of the screen, a waterfall of pings. Over a thousand messages from “Crazy Lady” in one rush!

“Mikala Aila, you dog—”

But she didn’t dare block her. If the woman knew she’d seen the messages, that blade would probably arrive at her door in two days.

She opened Contacts and found Liu RuoYuan.

[Beast of Possibility: Morning.]

[Lil Sis: ?]

—Instant reply!

Oh no. Was she… waiting the whole time? She told a “student” her brother’s story, then stared at a chat window gone silent for two, three years?

That’s… a little creepy.

Instant regret bit like frost. The timing was too obvious—she’d just left, and now the brother texts? Guilt had steamrolled basic logic.

[Lil Sis: You still have the face to text me.]

Image. Image shattered.

Being scolded actually soothed her. So she hadn’t linked “sudden brother message” to the home visit.

[Beast of Possibility: Hey, I’ve just been swamped. Didn’t see.]

[Beast of Possibility: Your bro’s rolling in cash now. Our family’s rich.]

Lie first, clean later.

Lately, she realized the people she lied to most—and worst—were her own. Felt like a double agent playing both sides of a mirror.

[Lil Sis: I don’t buy it. Unless you meet me.]

Of course she wanted to meet.

But Yekase had her excuse ready; otherwise she wouldn’t have messaged so fast.

[Beast of Possibility: I’m in closed development inside the park. Secret project. Can’t leave.]

Once she had a device to make her body look like herself—like the original ——————she’d meet her, citing the end of the dev cycle. Perfect.

Why did this feel like Detective Conan?

[Lil Sis: So after two years, you text just to brag you made it big out of town, no time for a mere peasant like me?]

[Beast of Possibility: No, no. When I’m done, I’ll show you my big house. We’ll bring Mom and Dad over to retire. How’s home?]

[Lil Sis: Dad’s been abroad for years, same as you—no word. Mom’s great, runs every evening. But is your cold war with her over?]

[Beast of Possibility: Uh, about that… we’ll talk when we can! I heard you became a teacher? Congrats.]

[Lil Sis: Bro]

…a storm was brewing, the air heavy like wet cloth.

Yekase bit her lip and braced; a line like “you still have the nerve to pretend you care about family” wouldn’t surprise her.

[Little Sis: You’re still so clumsy at changing the subject—stiff as a board.]

…haha—thin as paper.

Time to pack the bag, fold the day shut.