Yue Liuyi woke from a soft bed, like surfacing from warm silk into cool air.

LittleSnow lay beside her, lashes fanning like quiet wings, her face glowing with the calm of a sunlit pond.

“Ah… it’s already evening?”

Yue Liuyi lifted her head and sat up, the quilt slipping like a pale wave.

Outside the window, night had pooled like ink; since the treatment ended, she had lain with LittleSnow until now.

“Oo… it took longer than I expected. But if LittleSnow’s better, that’s enough.”

The blue-haired girl gazed at her lover; under the white wedding dress, LittleSnow’s skin held a dewy sheen, and though asleep, the silver-haired girl’s color looked brighter than days ago.

“Mm… then right now, I should…”

While Dixue still slept, Yue Liuyi quietly changed out of the wedding dress; the white little dress was lovely, but wearing it now felt like moonlight too bold for midnight.

To keep LittleSnow from waking angry, she set the teddy bear Ailuna had gifted in her place. With the quilt pulled up, the bear lying there made the room warm as lamplight.

“Hehe, that’s set. What next?”

“Waa—help!”

She was still wondering when Little Rose’s cry for help floated up from downstairs like a startled bird.

Enemy attack? Yue Liuyi had no time to think; wrapped in pajamas, she dashed down the stairs like a gust.

“I don’t want to eat! But I’m so hungry! Grrr!”

“I’m sorry!”

“Huh?”

At the foot of the stairs, a strange tableau met her eyes like a tilted painting.

Little Rose sat at the dining table, face knotted in pain, while Kaka’s ears drooped, his whole posture like a wilted plant.

“E—everyone…?”

“Wow, our little angel’s here! Angel sis, finally! We’re saved!”

“Woof! Master’s here! Master’s here!”

Seeing Yue Liuyi, Kaka and Little Rose bounced like they’d just spotted a walking ten grand.

“What’s wrong, you two…?”

“Ah! Angel sis, cook for us, quick! I don’t want that!”

“I’m sorry… it’s all my fault, I messed up!”

“Huh?”

Only then did Yue Liuyi notice Yin Mu half-kneeling on the floor, random branches strapped to his back like a penitent burden.

“Yin Mu, why are you carrying branches?”

“Uh… I’m… carrying thorns to beg forgiveness… I’m sorry… I ruined dinner!”

“Ruined it?”

A weird scent crept into Yue Liuyi’s nose like damp smoke after rain.

Following it, she looked down and found a bowl of black soup on the table, glossy as tar.

How to even describe it?

It wasn’t burnt, yet somehow worse than burned, like night gone stale.

Floating in the soup weren’t just twigs and dog food, but socks and screws; oily black bubbles rose and burst, like dark matter breathing from an outer abyss.

“Wh—what is this…?”

“Angel sis, save me! I was starving, so I sent Yin Mu to cook! But I don’t want to eat chaotic matter!”

Little Rose trembled, clutching Yue Liuyi’s skirt like a lifeline, then hugged the blue-haired girl’s thigh as if anchoring to a tree.

“Woof! Kaka doesn’t want to eat it either!”

Kaka pounced too, locking onto her other thigh like a panicked pup clinging to shore.

“I’m sorry! I made the meal into this, I’m really sorry!”

Yin Mu kept the firewood on his back and bowed, forehead tapping the floor like a penitent drum.

“Ah! No need to apologize!”

“I’m sorry! I failed because I couldn’t find eyeballs or frogs! I’ve let everyone down!”

“Mm, as long as you add eyeballs and frogs it’ll be delicious… Wa—wait! Eyeballs and frogs? Yin Mu, were you going to put those in the soup?!”

“Of course! If the ingredients are complete, my ladies the witches will surely regain their health!”

“Why would eating this make anyone healthy?!”

“Huh? The book said so. Eat it, and you’ll be cured…”

“Which book? I never heard that.”

“Starting Today, I’m a Witch! It’s a bestseller…”

“Stop using fantasy novels as manuals!”

…

…

Sighing like wind through reeds, Yue Liuyi tied on an apron and cooked for the three from scratch.

It was already past nine at night; counting from the morning treatment with LittleSnow, ten hours had slipped away like sand through fingers. The girls of Moon Post Bookstore hadn’t eaten and were famished.

So she simply served a plate of egg fried rice, and the girls snatched it like sparrows finding grain.

“Hey! Slow down!”

“Woof! Back to life!”

“So good! Angel sis is so wonderfully domestic! She’ll make an amazing wife someday!”

“Ah… don’t say things like that now!”

Yue Liuyi’s face flushed rose, the words tugging her back to what she’d blurted earlier.

(I’m LittleSnow’s little wife too…)

Say it like that, and wasn’t she admitting she’s a girl? Where would a boy’s dignity go, like a banner lowered?

Though… maybe becoming a girl forever wouldn’t be so bad, like choosing spring over winter.

She looked at her hands and legs—small and cute—and with the little dress, the whole picture was pure moe, like a doll come to life. With looks like this, she’d be loved wherever she went, right?

(Uu… > <!)

Even if that life seems easy, Yue Liuyi doesn’t want to be a girl who only sells cuteness; that’s too embarrassing, like sugar without tea.

Even as a girl, she wants to be a dashing, handsome one, like a breeze that climbs mountains.

There are sunny girls who crave adventure like boys do, right? She’ll aim that way, like setting a compass to dawn.

Yue Liuyi nodded to herself, setting a peculiar goal like a paper crane launched to the sky.

“So… that book was all lies?”

Yin Mu slumped by the table, lying like a puppet with cut strings.

His lifeless look made Yue Liuyi lean in to comfort him. “It’s okay. Most things in novels don’t cross into reality.”

“B—but! I’ve prepared for this day for so long!”

“Prepared… for long?”

“Yeah… I logged every recipe I saw in novels so I could use them today. But it turns out…”

Finishing, Yin Mu collapsed like a salted fish that lost its sea.

“In that case… how about I teach you some magic?”

“Huh? Magic!”

At the word magic, the girl in black sprang back to life, like a spark catching dry leaves.

“Mm… if it’s entry-level, Yin Mu should be able to use it.”

“I want to learn!”

And just like that, Yue Liuyi’s midnight class began, like a lantern lit in the quiet.