In a corner of Linelor City, an abandoned factory crouched like a husk bleached by winter wind.

Scrapped machines wore brown rust like scabs, and stone walls were furred with mutant moss.

Disassembled car parts piled into a little hill, while tires were lashed with coarse rope into a hulking sofa like a coiled serpent.

Inside the forsaken yard, a scruffy clutch of youths huddled, nerves tight as drumskin; across from them stood a leather-jacketed young man with fire-red hair, a torch in human shape.

“What, you ran into a mage?” he asked, voice flicking like a match.

“Y-yeah! Scary strong, like a storm!”

The youths bobbed their heads, cringing like turtles before a hawk.

“Strong? What can he do?” he asked, gaze sharp as a knife.

“He could call massive torrents, like a river breaking its banks! Seems like a water-type mage!”

“Water magic? What harm is that? You punks didn’t just get scared off, did you, like rats bolting from a shadow?”

“B-boss, easy! The boys gave it all! The water was huge, like a waterfall crashing white!”

“A waterfall? You’ve seen a waterfall? Don’t blow smoke like a busted exhaust.”

“On t-TV… it looked like a busted main! Boss, I swear on my life, it was exactly like that!”

“Fine, fine. I get it,” he said, waving it off like shooing flies.

The burly youth let his hand fall, choosing to believe them as dust settled.

“Seems a tough one showed near the Winterwood District. Give the Shadow Alliance the target’s looks. From now on, don’t poke that tiger.”

“Mm-hmm…” they murmured, voices thin as mosquitoes by a ditch.

“What is it, why the hemming and hawing like chewing wax?”

“B-boss… that mage was a girl under one-sixty. If word gets out, won’t it shame the Flame Ruins Gang?”

“A g-girl?!”

“Y-yeah! We don’t care, but it might smear you, boss, like mud on a banner…”

“A young girl mage… Keep this quiet. Especially don’t let the girls from Purple Illusion hear it, or it’ll spread like wildfire.”

“Oh, right! Boss, you’re wise. If Purple Illusion hears and recruits her, our gang can’t take them, like boats against a hard current!”

“Not just that… You don’t get how scary that girl from Purple Illusion is, cold as frost under moonlight.”

He fished out a lighter and lit a cigarette, worries curling like smoke into the rafters.

…

…

…

Knock, knock, knock—like rain on a drum.

From the first floor of the Moon Post Bookstore, the sound of knocking rose, sudden as a stone in still water.

Yue Liuyi followed the sound downstairs, her steps light as cat paws on old wood.

“Who is it?” she called, voice chiming like a blue bell.

“Huh…? Isn’t that Brother Dongfang Chen…?”

At the door, a boy’s tender voice floated in, eleven or twelve by the sound, like a bamboo flute in spring rain.

Yue Liuyi pushed the door open. Sure enough, a small, neat-faced boy stood there, cute as a painted doll.

“Whoa? Pretty blue-haired sister… Sis, are you Brother Dongfang Chen’s girlfriend?” he asked, eyes bright as wet stars.

“Girlfriend—n-no, I’m not!” she blurted, flustered like a startled sparrow taking wing.

At that, Yue Liuyi shook her head fast, leaves in a sudden wind; the boy clearly knew Dongfang Chen.

But no matter how she searched her mind, she couldn’t place this little guy, like trying to grab smoke.

Awkward prickled first, pins at her collarbone. She was a girl now; how could she explain? Belief aside, she didn’t even know where to start, a threadless loom.

So the blue-haired girl just shook her head and said, awkward smile a slim crescent moon, “W-well… Dongfang Chen isn’t back yet, but you can treat me as his little sister. If something’s up, you can tell me!”

Maybe she’d been a girl long enough; the words flowed smooth, her cute kindness like warm tea, easing the boy’s unease.

“Oh… Brother Dongfang Chen hasn’t come back?”

“Mm… mm!” she answered, a small nod like a pecking sparrow.

“Oh, got it! As long as Brother Dongfang Chen’s okay! Thank you, pretty blue-haired sister,” he said, a sunshine smile breaking through like dawn.

“Y-you’re welcome…” she murmured, heat rising like a blush of peach.

Facing that pure smile, guilt pricked Yue Liuyi, a thorn under silk. He’d found the Moon Post Bookstore on day one and cared so much about Dongfang Chen—he had to be tied to her past, like a knot in red string.

Yet she’d lied, and she couldn’t even recall his name, a page torn clean from the book.

“S-so… if it’s okay, could you tell me your name?” she asked, voice soft as drifting snow.

“Huh? My name? I’m Lidashi!”

“L-Lidashi?!”

Hearing the name, Yue Liuyi reeled and plopped to the floor, as if her knees had turned to water.

“Huh? Are you okay, sis?!” the boy yelped, alarm bright as a struck bell.

He rushed up and took her wrist to help, quick as a startled deer through grass.

“I-I’m fine… Are you really… Lidashi?” she asked, eyes wide like moons in a night pond.

She looked at the neat, adorable boy. She just couldn’t overlay him with the Lidashi in her memory, two slides that wouldn’t align.

Not that the old Lidashi wasn’t cute; it’s that in her memory he was… too sloppy, like a mud-smeared stray.

His nose ran like a leaky tap; his padded coat was in tatters; his hair went a month unwashed; one romp outdoors and dust clung like ash.

Nothing like the clean, bright boy before her—two people as far apart as river and shore.

“Yeah, I’m really Lidashi! Oh—Sis, could you help me with something?” he said, eyes shining like morning dew.

“Huh? What is it…” she asked, heart fluttering like a caged finch.

“Mm… Sis, if you see Brother Dongfang Chen, could you tell him I’ve been adopted by a family? He doesn’t need to worry about me!”

“Y-you’ve been adopted? That’s… really wonderful!” she said, relief falling like a soft spring rain.

Looking at the boy’s beaming face, Yue Liuyi felt joy rise from the heart, sunlight pouring through a torn cloud.