“Huh? Where did Xi and Youxiang go?”

Alicia stared at Ling, who sat alone like a stray sparrow on a rail. Weren’t they supposed to be rehearsing? She’d only stepped away—couldn’t they stick a dummy in her place and keep going?

Ling didn’t answer. She lifted a finger, fished in her pocket, and pinched a piece of nothing. Her thumb clicked an invisible lighter twice, like flint under frost. She drew a deep, imaginary drag, then let out a long, misty sigh.

“They went... to do what young people do.”

Her voice carried cellar-dust and old smoke, like a middle-aged uncle under a flickering streetlamp. Alicia knew at once this silly loli had been fake-smoking the whole time. Dumb. Unexpectedly cute. But not healthy. Not green. Punishable.

“Ultimate Loli Arts: Heaven-and-Earth–Sundering Forehead Flick!”

Bonk!

A wave of force cracked against Ling’s forehead like a tossed pebble on a temple bell. She flipped backward, soles to the sky, a meme-ready pose framed by air.

She slapped the floor, sprang up like a coiled spring, and jabbed a tiny finger at Alicia’s nose. “You—you—you—you—you... you used magic! Look at my forehead! It’s— it’s red!”

Hands on her hips, Alicia’s look was all disdain, like a cat on a wall. “So?”

Ling fumed, a kettle rattling its lid. She couldn’t bring herself to hit Alicia, couldn’t out-argue her either. Was she doomed to be bullied for life?

Out of nowhere, a scene bloomed in her head—Alicia and their future kids, hand in hand, ganging up on her like little thunderclouds. Tears pooled at her eyes, round as dew on bamboo.

Alicia spotted the shine—this faucet was about to open.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry. Big sis was wrong. Don’t cry here, okay? If you cry, people will think I’m a pervert who bullies lolis. You don’t want my good name ruined, right?”

Right—if I cry, Alicia eats crow!

The thought gave Ling a tiny, wicked victory. Her mood lifted like a paper lantern... and the moment she felt good, she couldn’t cry. Tragic, like rain stopping right before the fields drink.

“We’re back...”

A weak voice drifted in like a tired breeze. They turned. Miss Youxiang staggered in with loli Xi piggybacked, a willow bending under a sleepy sparrow.

“Ling... one day... I’ll make you... carry someone for five kilometers... no—run around the equator...”

She spent her last ounce of strength on the threat. She and the dozing loli on her back toppled together, two felled bamboo shoots.

Ling knew the curtain should fall on a perfect ending. Somehow, her own route slipped into a Bad End, like a lantern blown out at dusk.

——

Glug, glug... ×2

Youxiang and Xi poured water down like parched camels at an oasis; their throats bobbed like reeds in a river. Watching them made Ling thirsty. She yanked a carton of Wangzai milk from her side and took two swigs. Alicia rolled her eyes. Ling mirrored the eye-roll, turned away, and drank again.

Burp~ ×2

They finished in sync, then burped in sync. By that measure, Ling’s matchmaking plan hit a clean hundred percent—maybe overflowed the cup.

They traded a glance. Surprise and sly delight flickered like twin fireflies. Maybe the look was silly; they both covered their mouths and giggled.

“Could you not flaunt your lovey-dovey right in front of me...”

Ling’s voice cut through their pink, syrupy backdrop like wind through peach blossoms. It wasn’t that she couldn’t read the room. She was just... a little jealous. She set their table. They got the feast. What about her?

Huh? Alicia? That girl—

Ling glanced at Alicia. Alicia blinked, then her eyes softened into a blessing, a quiet lantern-light. She tugged Ling’s sleeve: don’t break it up.

See? How am I supposed to be happy with someone force-feeding me PDA?

Gripes aside, Ling’s mutter popped their pink bubble. Maybe she’d seen this play before. Xi got it at once: someone had eaten too much couple-candy. She leaned to Youxiang’s ear and “whispered”—

“WE’LL—CON—TIN—UE—TO—NIGHT—WHEN—WE—GET—HOME!!!”

Under Ling’s near-erupting glare, Xi scampered over, wrapped both hands around Ling’s arm, and shook it like a spoiled kitten with a silk ribbon. Ling had a height edge, so the whole scene read little-sis coaxing big-sis—a gentle, healing picture.

“Thanks, Ling-chan. I was wrong. Treating you like some bad loli who’d abduct Youxiang was my biggest mistake...”

Xi was a born flirt. With big sisters, she sold cute; with lolis, she went even cuter, voice soft as mochi. To Ling, it was a lethal loli apologizing while hugging her arm, eyes full of guilt—okay, maybe she imagined that part. Who could resist?

“Ah... it’s fine. If a little loli messes up, she’s forgiven~ Big sis isn’t mad at all~”

Ling slipped into the big-sister role like a borrowed robe. Xi’s brief eye-roll flashed and vanished like a fish in a pond. Ling, lost in the haze, didn’t notice.

“Mhm, thank you, big sis~ ...urk.” (small)

“Don’t—”

“Big sis, you’re a good person.”

“Eh?”