A crescent moon, curved like a smile, filtered through potted leaves and laid quiet silver on the balcony.

After the rousing board game, the big living room sprawled with half-eaten snack bags and scattered cards, steeped in a lazy, sated hush.

Every girl sank into the soft couch like a cat in warm sunlight, eyes drifting toward the big color TV in the center.

“If you’d said it was just a joke, I wouldn’t have taken anything off…”

“Hehe~”

Dixue flashed a playful grin and slid beside Yue Liuyi, hand twined with hand, shoulders touching like two leaves in the same breeze.

Maria couldn’t resist a tease. “We’ve discovered a new anti-Dixue specialized weapon. It works even better with its casing off.”

“It’s not a weapon. Little Moon is my personal hugging pillow~”

Facing Maria, Dixue wrapped the blue-haired girl’s waist and drew her into an easy embrace, like winding silk around jade.

“That’s even worse!”

The words said one thing, but Yue Liuyi’s smile said another; it had been ages since she joked like this with her partners, and the warmth tasted sweet.

(There’s a pinch of guilt and a spark of pride. If I hadn’t come, maybe they wouldn’t have gathered. So Yue Liuyi’s identity still works—heh. I wonder what faces they’ll make when they learn I’m a boy. Maybe they’ll kill me, lol.)

Yue Liuyi didn’t regret her choice. Like every big decision she’d ever made, she followed the most honest pull of her heart.

“It’s so good that Big Sister Yue could come.”

Zero Wei’s cat ears flicked with delight, and she flopped happily across the couch like a sun-dazed kitten.

Xiang Xiaoyan kept quiet, but her gaze toward Dixue was full of relief, like a knot at last untied.

“I’m a little jealous of Dixue. She can touch Little Moon whenever she wants. Look at my Zero Wei—she bolts in shy panic every time I try to hug her, and she won’t let me touch those cat ears!”

“M-Maria, what are you even saying! I’m a boy!”

“But you’re in a maid outfit. That argument doesn’t land at all…”

“Among catfolk, that’s normal.”

As the girls chatted, the TV cut into a sudden report.

A middle-aged anchor in a suit stared gravely into the camera and spoke without preamble.

“Here’s an urgent notice. A highly toxic rainstorm has been detected approaching. Sky Voyager will shut all entrances in thirty minutes, at 21:10. Teleportation arrays and trams will also be suspended. Expect severe shaking. All passengers on deck must return to their cabins or seek the nearest shelter. Do not open windows. Do not linger outside. Repeating, due to—”

Outside, the night sky hung water screens that bloomed into holograms, their rippling light urging the strolling passengers on deck to leave at once.

“A toxic storm?”

“Mm.”

Dixue nodded, calm as moonlight. “We’re on Huimang Star right now, the third jump-planet Dragon Heaven uses en route to the New Land. The flora here often stirs storms laced thick with toxins. Hitting one only now is lucky.”

“Then our ship… do we need an emergency transfer?”

“No. Our Skyship’s theoretical defenses beat Sky Voyager’s. It’s just… we shouldn’t go out. This kind of toxic rain won’t kill you outright, but it’s harsh on skin. I don’t want Little Moon turning into a panda.”

“Dixue…” Xiang Xiaoyan rose from the couch. Her pitch-black silhouette stepped to the window, violet eyes reflecting the night like two deep springs. “Even without a commission, we should aid in this disaster.”

“Of course. It’s just…” Dixue moved to stand, then hesitated, her gaze sliding toward Yue Liuyi, words caught at the edge.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! We had plenty of fun. Work comes first!”

“Thank you, Little Moon. I’ll make it up to you later, then…”

Dixue stood and looked to the cuckoo clock in the hall. 20:43.

“Let’s prep for the operation. Meet in the cockpit at 21:00.”

“Got it.”

Xiang Xiaoyan, Maria, and Lingwei nodded and split off with practiced ease, swift as birds to their tasks.

“Huh?”

“Everyone’s gone to get ready… Little Moon, don’t worry. You’re my support. Just watch from the side. There’s no obligation.”

“But… I saw Zero Wei heading off to prep too. And me…”

Confidence stirred like a night breeze in Yue Liuyi’s chest. After a day’s rest, her right arm had healed; she could cast freely again.

“As long as you’re nearby, I’m brimming with drive!”

“That makes me the cheer squad…”

“Support is important too. Oh—let me show you something.”

Dixue took Yue Liuyi’s hand and ran, like a stray gust pulling a streamer, toward a room within the Skyship.

Cabinets lined the walls. A floor-to-ceiling mirror caught a pale sheen of moonlight. At a glance, it looked like a changing room.

“A changing room?”

Yue Liuyi jolted. Anything involving changing clothes…

(No. Hold steady. I’ll show a boy’s dignity this time. I won’t let Dixue tease me again!)

To her surprise, Dixue didn’t tease her.

“Not exactly. The cabinets do hold a lot of skirts, but they’re combat wear. Call it the armory. Little Moon, you still don’t have a handy weapon. Pick one.”

Dixue opened a wooden door. Enchanted weapons gleamed out like stars in a lacquered night. A half-length longsword. A dagger clear as cut diamond. An antique-looking muzzle-loader. A composite blast shield…

“Wow…”

It was Yue Liuyi’s first time seeing so many enchanted weapons. She leaned in, eyes drinking detail like dew.

“Nothing too special, just the ones still serviceable… What type of magic do you favor? Elemental or artifice?”

Magic had countless paths, but two mainstream branches ruled—artifice and elemental. Artifice channeled the power sealed in weapons. Elemental drew on the free magic in the air. Swordmasters and knights loved the first; elemental mages and ward-weavers loved the second.

“Elemental, mostly. But a little different. My magic resonates with the environment. It’s stronger at night… so, a traditional mage, more or less.”

She paused; a memory pricked like thorns. In her boy form, she fought another way. Her resonance wasn’t as high. Back then, she wasn’t a mage at all.

“In that case, this is for you…”

Dixue reached into the cabinet and drew out a shining focus—an azure magic longsword, bright as a spring-fed stream.

“S-so cool…”

Water-blue light ran the blade, as if ripples moved beneath glass. It was beautiful… And when Yue Liuyi took it, she felt its quiet power. The blade was gentle to the touch, clear yet not cold. Spirited yet not wild. At her fingertips, it answered with warm pulses, like standing in a breeze of early spring.

“It’s a magic longsword. It can guard up close and it amplifies your spells.”

“Thanks, LittleSnow… Wait—wait!”

Yue Liuyi turned—and promptly dropped to the floor in shock. Before her stretched a scene too beautiful to belong to earth. Dixue had slipped off her top. Skin smooth as carved jade glowed under the light. Long silver hair, soft as drifting clouds, poured down to her waist. Limbs were slender, lines were poised, and the silver-haired girl looked like a forest spirit—mysterious, elegant, graced with an otherworldly beauty.

Heat surged into Yue Liuyi’s cheeks. Her eyes had no safe place to land. It was her first time truly seeing Dixue’s body, and her hands forgot what to do.

“Hehe, tease successful! Why so tense, Little Moon? Is an unsatisfied wish from the party coming true right now?” Dixue bent with a crafty smile and reached for the blue-haired girl’s hand, and those tempting curves edged closer, sharper in view.

“Th-that… Right! LittleSnow, hurry and change! We’ll be out of time!”

The words tumbled over one another, half-air, half-plea. First rule: don’t look. It felt too much like stealing from Dixue.

She shut her eyes tight.

“Little Moon being shy is too cute! If we didn’t have a mission, I’d really…”

Dixue sighed in mock regret and slipped into fresh gear.

When Yue Liuyi opened her eyes again, Dixue had already dressed.

It was a regal silver battle dress, solemn yet graceful. A broad bow fluttered like a tame butterfly. Satin skirts danced on her steps. White over-knee socks matched clean, comfortable gauntlets. A deep gray quiver and belt hugged her waist. In her hand, a silver longbow, elegant as art and plainly extraordinary.

In that moment, Dixue looked sharper and sterner than usual. If not for the warmth in her green eyes, one might mistake her for an ice-cut maiden.

“Our operation begins.”

Dixue swept her hand forward, and the skirt’s hem answered with a soft, swirling wave.