Seated in the student council office, Ningyu watched the two visitors, calm as winter light over frost.

“Waa, waa! I want to drop out!”

“Me too!”

One black, one white—two catfolk girls burst in, wailing, their cries like sparrows scattering, leaving Ningyu at a loss.

“I hear your request. But as student council president, I can’t allow withdrawals. If you’re struggling, tell me. I’ll tutor you.”

Her voice was steady as a spring brook. Duty sat on her shoulders like a mantle she’d chosen.

Ningyu’s straight gold hair fell to her shoulders like poured sunlight. Beauty aside, she was meticulous and responsible, the idol every girl admired.

Yet this time, the “can-do” president hit a wall.

“I don’t want tutoring. I want dried fish, then to cuddle Sister Yue Liuyi and sleep!”

“Same… I don’t want to be here! No Sister Yue, and no Lady Maria’s game!”

Ningyu realized their hearts were straying like cats at dusk. These two weren’t like other students. They were transfer students sent by the Elven Parliament, and in the Elven Capital they had neither kin nor friends.

So she made a vow, firm as oak. She’d make them love learning, and feel a home’s warmth on campus.

“I understand. I’ll find ‘Yue Liuyi’ for you—if you study well.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Mm.”

“Thank you, President Ningyu! We won’t skip today’s classes!”

“Good. That’s how good kids talk.”

She watched the catgirls bounce away like sunbeams, and a relieved smile unfurled like a flower.

…

“This should be the place.”

Leaving the council office, Ningyu entered the records room.

Here, among the few places with computers at the Elven Academy, the machines were unlike human ones: magic-crystal displays set into carved wood, processors powered by aether cores, gleaming like fireflies trapped in amber.

Ningyu was a traditional elf girl. New tech was misty to her, but her resolve burned steady—she would find “Yue Liuyi” for her juniors.

“Let me see… open a search engine, then… then…”

She flipped through a thick manual, following each step like tracing lines on a leaf.

“Time to type the query… Zaocun said Yue Liuyi is for hugging to sleep. Is it… a new kind of pillow?”

She frowned and typed “Yue Liuyi pillow.” Results bloomed like a field in spring.

The hottest news came from Gelven, sold by two girlfriends newly docked at the port. A new pillow, name: Yue Liuyi.

Unlike normal pillows, Yue Liuyi was designed for girls. It looked like a doll with azure hair, touch soft and springy; you could change her clothes and shoes, dress her like morning dew or midnight stars.

That forced-energy cheer, so cute it made Ningyu’s heart skip like a pebble over water. She wanted to order two.

“But… trade routes are blocked. Even if I order, nothing will reach the Elven Forest…”

She despised war. The council even had a human exchange secretary, but once war began, she was confined, faces separated like banks of a flooded river.

So the gold-haired girl had to dig for information alone, lantern in hand under a cloudy sky.

“If they can’t deliver… I’ll just make one myself!”

She nodded to herself. As an elf, she excelled at sewing and art. With materials and a model, making a similar pillow was no mountain to climb.

“But… where do I get the model? Photos won’t give me true size…”

Gelven’s Yue Liuyi pillow was a one-to-one replica of a real girl. If Ningyu made it by hand, she needed a blue-haired model, or the difference would be a canyon.

No answer came. She looked out the window.

Just then, a blue-haired girl as soft as the Yue Liuyi pillow walked past, hand in hand with another girl, their steps like twin swallows.

That cute expression, those ocean-blue eyes—she was the spitting image of the Gelven pillow.

…

“Hello, classmate.”

Before Yue Liuyi, a gold-haired girl appeared, bold as a sunlit blade. Her hair fell straight, her golden eyes unwavering, like twin suns unblinking.

“Uh? H-hi…”

“I’m Ningyu, president of the high school student council.”

“Eh? S-student council president? I… I’m Fengyi…”

Yue Liuyi had no idea why the president sought her. Still, the girl was stunning, composed and clear, like when she first met Dixue.

Catching Yue Liuyi’s small, dazzled look, Dixue’s mood wrinkled like a cat’s nose.

“President Ningyu, what business do you have with my junior?”

“Ah? You’re a Silverwing Elf? Our school has a classmate this beautiful? Please, you have to join the council!”

Ningyu glided past the silver-haired girl’s hidden hostility, her praise ringing like bells.

“Uh…”

Dixue knit her slim brows, vexed. Honest girls like Ningyu were hardest for her to parry. “Thanks for the compliment… but I won’t join. I’m a club president myself.”

“That’s a pity…”

Her eyes dimmed like a cloud crossing the sun; the regret was real.

“President Ningyu, what did you need from me?”

“I’m here to ask Fengyi to model for the prototype of the Yue Liuyi pillow.”

(The Yue Liuyi pillow!?)

(Did she see through our identity!?)

Air tightened like a drawn bow. Dixue quietly gathered magic in her palm, a hush before lightning.

Seeing their tension, Ningyu faltered, then asked, “Eh? Is there anything wrong with the Yue Liuyi pillow? Oh… right, it’s a human patent. But I won’t use it commercially. It’s just to help classmates study.”

“Help… classmates study?”

Yue Liuyi tilted her head, puzzled. This sunlit girl carried no malice, and she didn’t seem to recognize her.

“Mm. Here’s the data. Please take a look. I think Miss Yue Liuyi is a perfect model, so I had to ask. If I’m intruding, I’m terribly sorry.”

“Ah!? Gelven’s Yue Liuyi pillows are a hit!? Wow!! That goth girl actually…”

Reading the news, the two girls finally put the pieces together.

“They turned my Little Yue into a pillow—too much! And they didn’t even send me one…”

(???)

“So, Fengyi, can you help me? If I make them, I’ll gift each of you one.”

“Of course! Just keep the outfit-changing feature!”

“???”

“Thank you!”

Watching the two presidents seal the deal in a heartbeat, Yue Liuyi stood there, disbelief fluttering like a moth.

…

In the locker room, the silver-haired girl measured Yue Liuyi “very seriously,” her tape like a shy snake.

“Mm… height, 161 cm. Weight, 49 kg. Secret code, 875684…”

“Just measure my body. LittleSnow, why are you kneading me nonstop!”

“That’s called taking advantage. It’s a high art.”

“Don’t make that sound noble!”

The broad locker room held wooden racks lined with soft elven uniforms and the sportswear girls had shed, draped like clouds on branches.

Sunlight sifted through leaf-shadows, pooling between cabinets. A faint scent of girl-sweat lingered like morning dew.

(Ugh… I’ve stepped into the girls’ locker room now. The pervert charge won’t wash off!)

Yue Liuyi couldn’t claim zero curiosity. Cute girls went in, came out in other clothes; her thoughts fluttered like startled sparrows. Still, she kept her line. Even as a girl, she never trespassed into hidden places.

Now, with her Yue Liuyi form held even by day, things slid down odd paths like cart wheels in wet clay.

All thanks to Dixue. The silver-haired girl loved teasing her like a cat with string.

“Ugh… Dixue-senpai, seriously! I’m right beside you. Why do you need a pillow?”

“My dream? A room full of Little Yue.”

Dixue said it stone-serious, like stating a life’s vow.

“That’s horrifying! Straight-up a horror flick.”

Yue Liuyi remembered rooms stuffed with dolls in those films, the unblinking stares. It chilled like a late wind.

“It won’t be. If the room’s full of Little Yue, it’s a comedy.”

“Calling it a comedy is too much!”

“Then it’s a romance.”

“In some sense, that’s even worse.”

Under Dixue’s close measurements, the work wrapped up fast, like tying a neat ribbon.

Ningyu nodded, gratitude warm as tea.

“Thank you, Dixue and Fengyi. These measurements are enough.”

“Eh? This much is enough? Σ(⊙▽⊙)”

“Mm. Fengyi’s specs are great—perfect for a pillow.”

“Is that a compliment… Why can’t I feel happy. -_-||”

“Of course it’s praise.”

Ningyu smiled, her gaze bright as noon sun, clear and gathered.

“I can finish in about three days. Then you can pick it up at the student council.”

“Three days?”

“Yes. I need to make the wig and prep the cotton. It takes a bit.”

“In that case, timing’s tight. President Ningyu, can you ship the pillow by Rainbow-Eagle courier to our address? It’s easier to send and receive.”

“Rainbow-Eagle courier? I can deliver it myself too. Where are your dorms?”

“We’re day students. Not living on campus yet. My home’s near Lanmu Lane. Send it to the bird-nest pickup locker at Lanmu Lane.”

“Mm. Understood.”

She murmured the address once, and it settled in her memory like ink on silk.

“Oh, right, President Ningyu. You can give my junior’s pillow to anyone who needs it. One condition: only girls or cute boys. If it’s someone gross…”

“Mm. Rest easy, Dixue and Liuyi. I won’t give something so lovely to anyone unworthy. The ones who need the pillow are two catfolk girls. Their names are Zaocun and Lingwei. Both adorable.”

“Lingwei? Zaocun!?”

“Mm.”

Facing their surprise, Ningyu spoke mildly, like naming stars.