“You’re okay, right?”
The black-haired girl lay crumpled like a fallen bird on the ground. Her clothes hung in torn strips like shredded leaves; swollen claw-marks flared on her skin. Her pale-pink eyes were puffed from crying, and her palms were smeared with dust like ash.
“Wah—th-they…”
Even with Yue Liuyi rushing in like a gust through bamboo, the girl kept sobbing like rain hammering glass, a tiny doll jolted awake from a nightmare that still clung like fog.
“Easy, it’s over now.” Yue Liuyi slipped off her jacket like a warm cloak and draped it over her. “Those bullies are down. They won’t threaten you again.”
“R-really?”
Trembling, she finally opened her eyes wide and looked around like a startled doe. The punks were sprawled like toppled scarecrows; they wouldn’t be standing anytime soon.
“Eh… wow! Big sis, you’re amazing! They’re really all down!”
“Heh-heh…”
Yue Liuyi gave a shy smile, soft as a waning moon.
But just then, she caught the ends of the girl’s hair—like a hidden petal peeking from soot.
The color there was purple, twilight-rich.
In that instant, Yue’s eyes widened; tangled thoughts drifted through the blue-haired girl’s mind like wind through pines.
In the Winterwood District, the punks should be under Luyao’s watch, wolves held by a lone red-haired shepherd.
That free red-haired youth wouldn’t allow his crew to rape a girl; and no outside force would move on the council’s lockdown day, when Winterwood’s gates shut like frost.
So, the girl before her…
In a heartbeat, Yue Liuyi stepped back, like a wave pulling from shore.
Within that second, the crying on the girl’s face flipped to shock, then slid into blank fog, like clouds shifting over the moon.
The smaller girl stared at Yue, head tilted in puzzlement like a sparrow. “B-big sis…? What’s wrong…”
“Your hair…”
“My hair? What about it?”
“Is it dyed? Why turn a lovely purple into plain black, hiding dusk under night?”
“Eh…?”
Though the girl’s eyes went wide, lost, Yue saw clearly: the fabric looked ruined by a storm, but the vital places were untouched, like a shrine spared by lightning.
“You… you’re Purple Illusion, aren’t you.”
Yue Liuyi spoke the name slowly, her voice dropping like a stone into a still pond.
The girl, seeing Yue had pierced the truth, let the mask slip like silk falling.
“Mm… looks like I wasn’t wrong. That guy Luyao really passed my info to you.”
“What?”
“I’m curious about your plan… but it seems Big Sis has his full trust, hm?” Her words curled like smoke rising to a sealed ceiling.
She set her right hand over her chest, tucked her left arm behind, lifted her chin like a swan, and smiled faintly.
No doubt, no panic; the black-haired girl now was a different person from the sobbing child before, like night trading masks with dawn.
“Are you really Purple Illusion… Why do this… Were these men your trap?”
“Mm! Of course.”
She nodded and smiled. “Because it’s just too fun. I usually train them like puppets on strings. Letting them toy with me this time is great, too.”
“T-train?”
“Mm, yes… Oh, right! Big Sis, wanna join us? I can tell you’ve got talent, a blade with a hidden sheen.”
“Eh…?”
“I can see you’ve got a taste for being trained. Don’t worry—under my hands, you’ll be the club’s top girl. Wow, perfect! Another new toy.”
“Ugh… I’d never do that! You brat…”
Disgust flared like sparks. Yue Liuyi pouted, anger flickering like a fox’s tail in fog. Luyao had warned her to be careful with Purple Illusion, but she hadn’t expected her to be this slippery, or this strange.
“Hmph. So these punks are your crew. I’m leaving—enjoy your own games.” Her words fell like cold rain.
Yue Liuyi shook her head and turned to go, like a reed bending away from wind.
“Eh? Big Sis won’t reconsider? We’ll always welcome you… however…”
Here, her sweet tone shifted; the next words came out one by one, each syllable a shard of ice.
“Whatever you’re doing, don’t get in the way of Purple Illusion’s business.
Otherwise…
Purple Illusion
will break you
for fun.”
“…”
Yue Liuyi didn’t answer. She walked straight away without looking back, like a blade cutting through mist.
