‘Is it her…? Dawn Sugar Snow… I think that’s the name?’ Qianya’s thoughts tightened like a drawn bowstring. ‘She’s one stroke off from Qingsheng Tangxue, and her face echoes Tangxue’s, like reflections on the same pond. Their mana doesn’t braid together much. If she and Rain Moon Willow swapped places for a moment, maybe her identity would click into focus…’

‘Rain Moon Willow’s scent of power matches Qingsheng Tangxue’s, like two notes from the same flute. I met the Merfolk queen once, and her child, Qingtian Yaya. Their Sea God’s name sank with the tides and never came ashore. Dawn Sugar Snow’s divine mana tastes of brine and moonlit waves, just like Merfolk arts. If I’m not wrong, Dawn Sugar Snow is the Sea God—and her sister, Rain Moon Willow, the Ice Deity, is Tangxue’s birth mother.’

“Wah!”

Lost in that storm of guesses, Qianya bumped into a senior. The red liquid in her hand fanned across the woman’s stockings like spilt sunset.

‘…I’m sorry, senpai! I didn’t mean it!’

“It’s fine.”

A ripple of magic hummed like a plucked string. Qianya’s chest tightened before she could breathe. The hallway, the spill, even her own motion froze, then slid backward like a tide pulling off the shore—she was back to the instant before the collision.

“…”

“Watch your step next time.” The woman’s voice fell like soft rain, and she was gone. Qianya turned too late, catching only a drift of silky gray hair, like ash on snow.

‘Time ability…’

Only after the footsteps faded did the embarrassment flare. Because she was short, she’d smacked right into the woman’s chest like a startled sparrow.

‘That senpai’s pretty well—equipped. Shame I didn’t see her face.’ Qianya sighed, lifted the blood bag, and headed for the dorm, her thoughts trailing like smoke.

‘Am I really the weakest here…?’ The gloom came first, heavy as fog, as she climbed the stairs. Every student she passed felt like a mountain. And somehow only she and Xuewei were elementary-school small. Why just us?

“She’s still asleep?” Qianya muttered, tapping Xuewei’s quilt. It was soft and springy, dewy-cool like fresh moss.

From the front, she could only see the back of Xuewei’s head—pale blue hair streaked with pink, tangles blooming like seaweed. With that sleeping posture, she’d spend ages at the mirror later.

‘How did this girl live this long? She’s clueless, and danger slides right past her. Has she just floated under a safe sky, sheltered by that omnipotent sister?’

Qianya plopped into her chair, set Xuewei’s share of breakfast aside like laying out offerings, and finally noticed a strip of paper on her desk.

‘…They want us at the central plaza at noon?’ She glanced at the star-pinned sky outside. How were you supposed to find noon in a place without a sun?

There was no clock in the dorm. The usual ways to tell time sputtered out in this space like dead embers. She had to run to the student council to request a clock; by the time she returned, the hands pointed past ten.

“…”

“Ah, Qianya, you’re back. Why’re you drenched in sweat?” Xuewei cupped a roasted sweet potato, steam curling like ghosts. “Is the food on the desk for me? Thanks…”

“Don’t mention it.” Qianya’s tone was flat as still water. She set the rest aside and fell face-first onto her bed.

‘I… what am I doing…’

Reason barked like a commander: chase every clue, because each second wasted could crack the world. But her body sank into campus rhythm like warm sand, and the mismatch scraped her raw.

“Mm… we still have to gather at the plaza at noon…” Xuewei’s voice drifted over, faintly sulky, like rain tapping a window.

‘Did she forget why we came…? Figures. With that brain, remembering would be the miracle.’

‘Something here keeps pressing against my mind, like a thin veil. But what is it? I can’t feel a seam to pull…’ Drowsy, Qianya rolled over and caught her reflection in the mirror.

‘Twelve… no. Eleven.’

Clarity fell like a hammer. Her head slumped into the pillow.

‘Even my temperament’s been pulled back.’

A thousand years of seasoning, gone like smoke. Memory remained, but knowledge and a grown spine had melted. Looking back at her own past felt like watching lanterns on a distant river. As if those things happened to someone else.

“Damn that black-bellied bastard…” she grumbled, twisting a lock of hair around her finger, coil after coil, like winding thread.

‘Good thing I was a cautious kid. Even rolled back, I won’t flop like that idiot and call it a day.’ She glanced at Xuewei preening before the mirror, a small heat of pride sparking.

‘I’ve already built rapport with Xuewei. When I find Tangxue, the odds of staying by her side go up.’

‘Whoa—no. Not yet. No daydreams until the ground is solid.’ She set the fantasy aside like a sealed letter.

Qianya had a rule: idle fantasies were weeds. A wish earned the right to bloom only when conditions were ironclad.

‘Lying here won’t conjure miracles. No one knows that better than me.’ Steel flashed in her gaze. She pushed up from the bed.

“Let’s head out, Xuewei. Tangxue might show at the plaza. If she doesn’t, we pivot to Rain Moon Willow.”

“Mm… Right, Qianya—about Rain Moon Willow, I’ve got this weird pull.” Xuewei’s face tightened, confused and eager. “My body… it thrums. Like I want to pounce, and I don’t know why…”

“Xuewei, have you considered the Ice Deity, Rain Moon Willow, might be Tangxue’s birth mother?”

“!?”

“Anything unseen is still a guess. But this time, I’m pretty sure.”

“…I believe you.” Xuewei set her right hand over her heart and shut her eyes. Blood hummed like a spring under stone. When she saw Rain Moon Willow, a child-to-mother trust rose up—one she’d never felt even with Tangxue.

“Should we… go say hello now?”

“Mm…”

They argued gently over who’d knock. Rock, paper, scissors crowned Qianya, but Xuewei nearly fainted from nerves at the door. With a helpless sigh, Qianya stepped up.

“Please, come in.”

“?”

‘I didn’t knock yet!’

She coughed, then knocked anyway. The door wasn’t locked; a touch, and it swung open like a slow tide.

Rain Moon Willow slept in Dawn Sugar Snow’s arms, breath even as snowfall. Dawn Sugar Snow leaned against the wall, quiet as a moonlit cliff, simply watching her.

“Do you need something? If you can, keep it down. Don’t wake Yueyu.”

“Um… we’re actually here for her…”