Whew…

Sheltered by the black fog like a draped cloak, Yue Liuyi slipped out the window with her gathered spoils clinking like hidden pebbles.

The mall drifters lay felled by magic like wheat after a storm, but others outside might sense the shift and swarm like wolves.

Her chest tight with urgency, she took the narrow path and ran, skirting trouble like reeds bending away from wind.

But—

A filthy man stood on the only way out, a scarecrow planted in hard-packed earth.

His look matched any wasteland drifter’s—rags hanging like torn flags, hair twisted into ropes like a muddled braid.

Is he a lookout?

Her brow drew tight like a pulled bowstring; then the thought flicked cold. Her small frame and blue eyes shone like glass, already caught.

If this goes on, even knocking him out will spill more of who I am, like ink in water.

“D-don’t kill me!”

He dropped to the ground with a thud, legs scrabbling like crabs, inching back in trembling jerks.

The alley was a single vein of stone, no room to slip away; his shoulder hit the wall corner like a trapped bird, nowhere left.

“D-don’t kill me! I—I’m not with them!”

“Aren’t you… a wasteland drifter?”

She weighed the angles like stones in hand, then stopped.

“You… you’re a g-girl…?”

“So what if I am? Do you want to die?”

“I’m sorry—heroine, spare me! I only collect scrap! I’m not with them!”

He bowed till his forehead hit the ground, thumping like a drum.

“Heh. Whether you’re with them… that’s not so certain.”

She dropped her voice into a cool, older register and leaned in, shadow long like a blade. “You saw it, right? The mall’s drifters are done.”

“If you want to live, clamp your lips like shutters. Don’t speak of me.”

“Y-yes. I get it! I won’t say a word about you!”

“Good. Then eat this fruit.”

Yue Liuyi drew a small fruit from her pocket, slow as lifting a lid off a lantern.

“A f-fruit…?”

“You’re still asking? Do you want to die?”

“I’ll eat it now!”

Confused, yet pinned by Yue Liuyi’s cold gaze like frost on a leaf, he gulped the fruit down.

“That’s better. It’s a bit wasteful using it on you, but if you leak anything within a month, the antidote won’t be waiting.”

“A-antidote…?”

“What you ate is the Seven Venoms Fruit. Without the antidote in a month, you’ll bleed from seven orifices like seven dark springs.”

“Seven… orifices…”

He went slack with terror, eyes lantern-wide, mouth open like a fish, words gone.

“Good luck. I’ll return in a month. Whether you live hangs on your tongue, hehe…”

Her laugh trailed like wind-chimes in a dusk breeze as she swaggered away.

It helped that she’d been to the New Land; she borrowed the chill grace of the Crimson Baroness and scared him straight like a fox’s shadow over hens.

She didn’t want to harm the innocent, nor paint a target for drifter revenge, so she sealed his lips this way, a knot tied with smoke.

Of course, what he ate was just a common little fruit, no more than a wild berry under the hedge.

Leaving the drifters’ turf behind, the road smoothed like a calm river after rapids.

A few streets later, the Moon Post Bookstore came into view, familiar as a lighthouse in haze; she drew out her key to push in.

Then—

The door came down—or so it felt—like a wooden wave tipping.

“Huh?”

A very cute girl filled her sight, a spark like a firefly.

Her pupils were light brown like tea, her skin wheat-browned and healthy, small in height but coiled with strength like a spring.

“Welcome back, Master—woof woof!”

“Uh? I’m the one who fell?”

Only then did Yue Liuyi realize it wasn’t the door but herself toppling, pressed flat by the little girl like grass under playful paws.

“W-who… are you?”

“Woof!”

The girl opened her mouth and leaned in for her lips like a bold pup.

Am I getting pushed down? What’s happening?!

She squeezed her eyes shut; damp coolness brushed her cheek like dew.

Huh? Not my lips…

She blinked and saw the blond little girl with her tongue out, licking her cheek in warm strokes like silk.

Her saliva held no sour reek, only a light fragrance like fresh herb tea drifting in air.

The slick touch was cool and ticklish like body wash on skin, a soothing ripple that settled like rain on summer stone.

This… this is…

A familiar voice cut in like a bell through fog. “Kaka, what are you doing! That’s not food!”