“This girl…” The thought drifted like a wisp of mist across Qianya’s mind.

She kept quiet, trailing them like a shadow up to the second floor, her silence pooling like morning dew.

The cafeteria was student-run, a hive lit like lanterns, and for the first month everything flowed free as spring water.

After that month, prices would bite like autumn wind, the Academy footing no more of the bill.

Resources only circulated on campus, a closed stream like a lotus pond ringed by stone.

Currency came from the Student Council, its coins cast from ore that hummed like night rain against the mind.

Even if you didn’t spend them, the metal sat heavy like river pebbles, holding its own value.

Xuewei led the way, her pace light like a sparrow hopping on tiles.

She stopped at a grilled-fish shop, lifted her chin like a cat scenting air, and inhaled the aroma like river smoke.

Only after a second sniff did she nod, satisfied, like a moon settling on calm water.

“This is the place! Their grilled fish is amazing, like embers under a winter night.”

“Since Xuewei says so…” Dawn Sugar Snow squeezed her little sister’s hand, pulling her in like a gentle tide.

She glanced back at the rest of them, her eyes beckoning like lanterns in fog. “Come on, aren’t you coming in?”

“Um…” Xuewei’s words stumbled like stones in a brook, and Qianya’s gaze slid away like a swallow.

“Classmate Dawn Sugar Snow, carrying Yueyu on your back through the door isn’t very… elegant?” The question floated like a paper kite.

Rain Moon Willow stood taller than Dawn Sugar Snow, and from a distance she looked curled on Tangxue’s back like a dozing cat.

“Yueyu…” Dawn Sugar Snow poked Yueyu’s thigh, gentle as a reed tapping water.

Yueyu huffed, turned her face away like a moon behind clouds, and stuck her tongue at Qianya like a playful fox.

“So that’s how it is, and I can’t help it.” Dawn Sugar Snow’s smile bent like a willow branch.

“Ahaha…” Qianya laughed, thin as frost on glass, and Rain Moon Willow shot her a look sharp as sleet.

“Welcome—are the four of you together?” The waitress’s voice chimed like silver bells.

“We are, four together,” Dawn Sugar Snow replied, firm as a drumbeat.

“Please, right this way~” She gestured, her hand sweeping like a fan in summer heat.

“Huh? This girl…” Qianya stared at the blue-haired waitress, surprise sparking like fireflies. She was the one who’d registered her and Xuewei.

“It’s you!” The words leapt like sparks from dry bark.

“Hmm? Do you two know me?” The blue-haired girl pointed to herself, her smile bright as dawn.

“You were the one who signed us up…” Qianya’s voice tangled like ivy, and the others recognized her too.

“Oh, so you’re a student as well—your aura felt like the Academy’s gatekeepers,” someone said, the idea hanging like a banner.

“Eh? You’re not wrong—this Academy is run by students, like a ship crewed by its own sailors,” she said, her tone clear as streamwater. “Even the Student Council President is a third-year.”

“Then… does no one graduate?” Qianya asked, the question landing like a pebble in a still pond.

The blue-haired girl fell silent, then answered, each word slow as drifting leaves. “Some do, but not many.”

“When someone meets the requirements, the Academy holds a graduation ceremony, bright as festival lanterns.”

“But since Heavenly Deity Academy was founded, graduates have been few, and even third-years are rare, like cranes in winter.”

“Are you a third-year?” The question rose like smoke.

“Me? Hahaha, no way,” she laughed, a spring stream bubbling over stones. “If I had that skill, I wouldn’t be here flipping fish.”

“Is the Student Council President the strongest in the Academy?” Qianya pressed, her tone taut like a bowstring.

“The strongest? Of course it’s the President,” she said as if stating sunrise. “Every student knows that, like a rule carved in stone.”

“Then, if the President is the strongest, are the graduates stronger than the President?” Qianya’s curiosity flared like candlelight.

“That…” The blue-haired girl went quiet, her silence hanging like mist, because she’d never seen a graduate herself.

“Where does the President usually stay? I want to meet them,” Qianya said, her words arrowing like swifts.

“Qianya,” Dawn Sugar Snow warned, her voice soft as rain, seeing their senior on the verge of tears.

“I—I only just enrolled,” the blue-haired girl managed, her hands twisting like willow leaves. “A senior from the Council asked me to fill in, so I don’t know much.”

“Thank you. That’s enough for me,” Qianya said, gratitude warm as sunlight, and she took the girl’s hand gently.

“Eh? I’m glad I could help,” the girl murmured, her relief light as birds taking wing.

“Let’s go order grilled fish—hey! You all went in without me!” Qianya huffed, storming forward like a summer squall.

She tripped over her own foot and fell flat, a sparrow clipping a hidden stone.

“Idiot…” Xuewei muttered, the word crisp as frost.

‘I actually got called an idiot by Xuewei…’ Qianya rubbed her brow, the ache pulsing like a bruise, and sighed.

‘I got too worked up; my heart’s a drum in a storm,’ she thought, the resolve settling like iron.

‘Once I meet the President, I can confront Rain Moon Willow; she’ll have to answer me, like thunder after lightning.’

“What a huge grilled fish… the table can barely hold it, like a raft on a swollen river. Can we finish it?”

“Mm, it’s really good. Yueyu, try it,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, her smile shining like a warm hearth.

“Mm—delicious! The flesh is soft and silky, melting like snow,” Yueyu beamed, her words bubbling like a kettle. “The spicy, savory sides seep in like rain into earth.”

“One bite and you can taste layers, like rings in old wood—Sis, you try?”

“Mm, it’s really good,” Dawn Sugar Snow replied, content rolling in like evening shade.

“Really? I’ll try a piece,” Xuewei said, sliding a morsel into her mouth, the spice spreading like fire over silk.

The familiar flavor opened a door like sunlight on a dusty room, and memory unfurled like old scrolls.

“Brother…” Her whisper trembled like a reed in wind.

“Xuewei…?” Dawn Sugar Snow heard the waver, thin as a harp string, and stepped close like a shield. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just remembered my brother,” Xuewei said, wiping her eye, the motion light as a moth’s wing.

“You’ve mentioned your brother a lot—did you come here to find family?” Dawn Sugar Snow asked, her gaze gentle as moonlight.

“Mm.” Xuewei nodded, a cherry petal falling without sound.

“Tell me your brother’s traits—maybe I know them,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, patting her chest with confidence bright as a banner.

Qianya caught Xuewei’s eye and winked, a signal fluttering like a flag, but Xuewei didn’t catch it.

“My brother, she…” Xuewei began, her voice winding like a river through stones.

“She? Your ‘brother’ is a woman?” Dawn Sugar Snow’s expression shifted, a ripple across calm water.

“Yes.” Xuewei nodded with weary acceptance, a leaf settling after a long fall.

She told the story of decades, each scene laid out like stars across a night sky, nothing spared.

By the time she finished, the fish had cooled, its steam fading like morning mist.

“Ah, no wonder you call her brother… I’m sorry, Xuewei—I don’t know her,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, helpless as a hand in rain.

Xuewei shook her head, the motion small as a boat’s bow. “No, I’m grateful you listened,” she said, warmth flickering like a candle.

Rain Moon Willow watched her in silence, a mountain under snow, saying nothing from start to end.

“Aren’t you eating? The fish is going cold,” Qianya said, lifting a piece, the oil shining like lake water.

“Cough—so spicy!” The heat hit her like a spark to tinder.

“Idiot Qianya,” Xuewei said, rolling her eyes like moons crossing cloud.

Qianya almost snapped, her stare sharp as icicles, but she let it go, her temper dimming like a spent torch.

‘From the earlier talk, Rain Moon Willow seems cold outside and warm inside, like frost over fire,’ Qianya thought, the suspicion curling like smoke.

‘Yet she showed nothing, not a ripple—she must know something,’ the certainty settling like stone in her chest.