Xuewei was unusually calm, a winter lake gone still, and Qianya’s surprise fluttered like a startled sparrow.

Hi there. We’re with the Student Council, and I’ve got some records to confirm with Tangxue, Qianya said with a spring-sun smile, smooth as porcelain.

Is that so, Rain Moon Willow murmured, her breath drawing back like a tide, then softer, My sister went to the nearby market for food, down aisles bright as lanterns.

Then could we wait here for a bit, like stones by the stream?

Xuewei blinked at Qianya, startled like a deer in moonlight, and tugged her collar like a child tugging a sleeve.

Annoyance prickled like thorns before the thought hissed, Hey, Qianya! We came for Tangxue—don’t waste time here!

Qianya’s smile stayed cloudless, a summer sky, and she kept standing there like a cedar in wind.

Suit yourselves, Rain Moon Willow exhaled, her voice cool as shade, and leaned by the bed with eyes half-lidded like dusk.

With the hostess’s leave, Qianya led Xuewei to the balcony, settling like two swallows on an open rail, while Xuewei swallowed her protest like a bitter herb.

Better to sit and wait than wander lost, like incense smoke drifting without a shrine.

Fair, Xuewei yielded, a reed nodding to the current, and stared at the starry sky like spilled salt on velvet.

Rain Moon Willow watched the two shamelessly take the balcony, then huffed like a kettle and dove under the covers like into a snowdrift.

Half an hour later, knuckles tapped the door like rain, and all three looked over like deer caught by torchlight—yet it wasn’t Tangxue, but a pink-haired girl with petals for hair.

Under three converging gazes, the girl wilted like a cut flower. Um… which of you is Dawn Sugar Snow’s little sister?

I… am?

Shock cracked like lightning: Wait, that name’s not right!

I am, Rain Moon Willow said, steady as stone, stepping forward like a shadow at noon. Did my sister ask you to tell me something?

Mm, the cute angelic junior nodded, bitter as tea leaves. Dawn Sugar Snow ran into trouble at the Student Council. They need her sister to come sign.

Got it, Rain Moon Willow said, a bow loosed from the string, and moved at once like a swift through dawn. After she left, Qianya waved a hand before Xuewei’s eyes like a fan stirring heat. Hey, she’s gone—let’s catch up!

Mm, Xuewei answered, her voice a drooping willow, and followed with tangled thoughts like knotted thread.

Tangxue, your sister isn’t here yet?

She’s on her way, Dawn Sugar Snow groaned, slumped on the desk like a deflated cat, after an hour that crawled like a snail.

Sister! Rain Moon Willow shoved the glass door, frost blooming thin as breath on a mirror, then, seeing her sister safe, she flung herself into Dawn Sugar Snow’s arms like a falling leaf finding ground.

Yueyu, you finally made it! Dawn Sugar Snow grumbled like summer thunder. I only went for late-night snacks and bumped into Council members. They said there were outside intruders and were checking IDs. Weren’t we together? With only me here, they couldn’t confirm our IDs, so they kept me… ugh, I’m fuming!

Mm, Rain Moon Willow nestled in her arms like a kitten, nodding into warmth like a hearth.

Yueyu, are you even listening to me?

Mm.

…

Since the sister’s arrived, could you confirm your identities here, like stamping a seal on wet clay?

Yueyu…

Mm.

Hand out.

Mm.

Dawn Sugar Snow took her sister’s hand and pressed it to the glass plate, mana tracing frost-bright lines like rime on a window.

That enough? her tone snapped like brittle ice, anger steaming like a hot spring in snow.

Mm… that’ll do, the staffer said, nodding at the panel like a bobbing buoy—new students, confirmed.

Then—

Crack!

The glass door burst into shards like a smashed icicle, and everyone whipped toward it like grass in a gust. Xuewei and Qianya froze in the doorway, stiff as hares under hawks, while hostile intent pinned them like spears; one step, and mana beams would turn them into a sieve.

Ah-haha… the door just fell apart when we touched it—I’ve no idea why, really! Qianya’s laugh fluttered like torn paper in wind.

Senior! The pink-haired angelic junior smoothed the air like rain on dust, easing the stiffness like oil on gears.

Uh… what’s going on here, the senior asked, her voice low as distant thunder.

After a rush of explanations, identities cleared like fog under sun.

So they’re new students… looks like a misunderstanding, the formidable senior said, right hand propping her head like a pillar, eyes thoughtful as deep water.

A leaf-faint thought drifted: Aren’t these two a bit weak?

Jiling, walk these two back, and be careful on the road, like lanterns in wind.

Mm, the stoic, short-haired girl nodded, calm as obsidian, and Qianya caught a dazing shimmer in her eyes like heat haze over sand.

Mind affinity?

Close, but not it… Xuewei hugged her knees like a curled fern, the thread they’d chased snapping like a brittle twig. That Tangxue looked like my brother, name and all… but she’s definitely not him.

Xuewei, let’s go with the senior for now, Qianya said, a steady oar on dark water.

Oh… Xuewei breathed, small as a moth, and followed like a shadow.

At least let’s leave here first. This place is too dangerous, like thin ice over a black river.

Led by the senior, they returned to the dorm safe as birds to a nest, and soon Rain Moon Willow and Dawn Sugar Snow slipped back to their room like twin moons behind clouds. From the balcony, one turn of Qianya’s head could have met their wave like a bridge across a stream, but her mind was still strung tight like a bow that refused to slacken.

People here are strange, and their strength towers beyond what I imagined, like mountains under storm, Qianya thought, her nerves humming like cicadas.

She raked her long hair in frustration like claws through reeds, and the tangle only worsened like brambles.

Xuewei, what do you make of those sisters? Qianya asked, voice soft as dusk.

They’re not my brother, Xuewei said, hugging her knees like a shell.

Didn’t you feel it? Even the weakest student here is far stronger than us, like waves against two small boats, Qianya said, grave as stone.

Oh, Xuewei answered, listless as ash.

And that woman said there are intruders in the academy. That means we can’t go out tonight, like birds grounded by storm.

Oh, Xuewei echoed, a pebble dropped into a well.

…Xuewei?

What, she said, eyes flicking like a cat’s tail at Qianya’s waving hand.

Let’s summarize where we stand, Qianya sighed, the breath a mist against cold glass.

Here’s my conclusion, she said, words laid like stones on a path. This place isn’t reality, but it’s no dream either, like twilight between shore and sea. When I was at the Student Council, I felt death’s edge, sharp as a knife. I’ve been dragged into dreams before, and this felt utterly different, like frost versus fog.

But it can’t be reality. If the ice holds that many monsters, the Flower of the Other Shore wouldn’t just threaten the world—it couldn’t last a year, like a candle in a gale.

So I think we’re inside some past node, but we didn’t time-travel back, she said, eyes steady as stars. This should be a small space—a miracle that lets us live here and feel it, like walking inside a painted scroll.

And the one who made all this, the one who could shape a sky in a bowl, must be the Ice Deity, Rain Moon Willow.