“That— I’m really here to buy magelight candles.”
“Magelight candles? You… well, we don’t sell magelight candles anymore.”
The young engineer shook her head, like a wind vane refusing the breeze, not buying what Yue Liuyi said.
“Huh? You don’t sell them?”
“Mm. Sis Kiki said no one would ever come to buy magelight candles again.”
“What?”
Yue Liuyi’s breath snagged like a thread on a thorn. “No one would buy… w-what happened?”
“Back then, some guy named Dongfang Chen used to come often for magelight candles.”
“Named… Dongfang Chen?”
“Yeah.” The engineer girl nodded, her words dropping like bolts onto a workbench. “But that Dongfang Chen seems to have died. So Sis Kiki stopped making magelight candles.”
“D-died?”
“So… I just got assigned here. I don’t really know.”
The girl with the wrench shook her head, impatience flashing like a spark. She drew a key from her belt, the metal glinting like fish-scale under light, and held it up to Yue Liuyi. “Here’s your chance. Prove you’re not an intruder. Otherwise, I’ll lock you up and hand you to the police.”
“W-wait! Right! I know Sis Kiki! I’m her acquaintance. If you ask Sis Kiki, she’ll recognize me.”
She didn’t know the young engineer, but she knew Sis Kiki like a familiar moon over the eaves. If this girl knew Kiki, there had to be room to clear the fog.
But the girl only shook her head, annoyance rustling like dry paper. “If you’re Sis Kiki’s acquaintance, she should’ve told you about the traps! Looks like you’re lying. I hate… being lied to.”
She slid the key back onto her belt, then turned, ready to press some hidden button like a trigger beneath the skin.
“Sis Kiki’s real name is Aiqiqi, and she’s got a head of sky-blue hair.”
“What?”
The engineer froze mid-turn, fingers combing her messy brown strands, then her gaze returned to Yue Liuyi.
“Sis Kiki stands around one point seven meters tall, and her favorite is Yingyao Ramen.”
“You… how do you know that? Maybe… you really are my sister’s acquaintance? But… impossible. No one should be coming to look for Sis Kiki.”
“It’s been a long time since I came here. But I am her acquaintance. Please, take me to Sis Kiki.”
“Phew… fine, fine. But you have to answer me one question.”
Her face tightened like a drawn bow; coffee-brown eyes locked on Yue Liuyi, cold as late-night rain.
“A question? What question?”
“You and Sis Kiki… what are you, really?”
…
…
What… are we?
The question struck, and Yue Liuyi went still, like a leaf caught in a pause of wind.
Truthfully, we’re very good friends… right?
Is that true?
She asked herself, and sank into memory like a stone slipping under a quiet lake.
…
It was a late-autumn night. No leaves drifted, but the chill threaded through window cracks like silver needles into the Moon Post Bookstore.
Back then, Winter Leaf Road wasn’t so empty; the street had a ramen shop with a warm glow and steady bustle, a ladle stirring steam like clouds in a bowl.
So the street held a modest stream of passersby, and sometimes a stranger would wander into the bookstore like a bird into a lantern’s halo.
Even among those sudden footsteps, Sis Kiki was different— a blue swan among sparrows.
“Daily free ramen delivery. Let me read here, okay?”
“Huh…?”
Back then, Dongfang Chen was still small, a sapling under streetlight. He never imagined a stranger— a beautiful blue-haired big sister— would open with such an offer.
“Not satisfied? Books are priceless… Fine. How about a discount on magelight candles? I think the books would be happy.”
While Dongfang Chen was still stunned, the dignified girl raised the stakes, her smile neat as folded paper.
“Magelight… candles?!”
“Yes. Thirty yuan a bundle… premium quality. How about it?”
“Uh!”
The deal was a comet streaking across his doubts. Dongfang Chen had no reason to refuse.
Magelight candles on the market cost at least fifty yuan a bundle, and that was for average stock. Thirty was practically factory price, a river cutting straight to the sea.
And to read magic books, you had to use magelight candles. So customers buying a spellbook usually took a fistful of candles home— this business was a sure win, like sunrise after a long night.
“Really… thirty a bundle?”
“If you don’t mind, come take a look.”
“Um… may I ask… big sis, you’re not… a trafficker, right?”
Dongfang Chen edged the question forward like a mouse peeking out. He wasn’t a child easily tricked, but wolves still prowled in world-shadow.
“Rest easy. Of course not. I’m a student at nearby Linluo University. Here’s my card and student ID.”
“Eh…?”
He took the card. The three characters Aiqiqi sat under Linluo’s crest like ink on snow.
That was how Dongfang Chen met Sis Kiki.
