They spent ages wandering around the theme park, eating and drinking along the way and doing a little shopping.

Both girls wore bright smiles, having so much fun they lost track of time. It wasn’t until the sky began to darken and the lights came on that they suddenly realized evening had arrived.

That night, the theme park was holding a festival celebration.

In the heart of the bustling shopping street stood a huge cake mold. On Qixi Festival, couples visiting the park could check in and lend their support. Every time a certain number of people checked in, the cake would rise by one layer.

Once the whole cake had risen, layer by layer, there’d be a grand fireworks show by the river.

With a beef skewer in her mouth, Ruo Xiaoxi was led over by Xia Zhibai. The two of them checked in together and received a pair of slips of paper. Like ema, they could write blessings on them and hang them on the nearby Qixi tree. Quite a few slips were already hanging from its branches.

“What should I write…?” Xia Zhibai held the slip in her hand and looked up at the tree, thinking.

“Huh? I have to write one too?” Ruo Xiaoxi looked at the slip being held out to her. Busy eating her skewer, she seemed to be a beat slower to react than everyone else.

“Of course. We both have to write one, then hang them up. That’s the only way the blessings will work.”

“Oh, okay.” Ruo Xiaoxi picked up the pen and thought for a moment. Then she deliberately moved away from Xia Zhibai, turned her back, and secretly wrote on the slip before tying on a little red cord.

Hmph. Keeping it all secret and not letting me see. As if I even wanted to look.

Xia Zhibai snickered. She thought of a few wishes of her own and wrote them down, then took both slips and rose onto her tiptoes to hang them up. After all, they said the higher you hung them, the more likely your wishes were to come true.

The moment she’d hung up the slips, she pinched Ruo Xiaoxi’s and snuck a look with lightning speed! As if she even wanted to see what it said. Oh, she absolutely did!

“Hey! Wait, Sister Xia, that’s cheating! Then I want to see what you wrote too!” Ruo Xiaoxi cried in protest, raising a small fist as she bounced up and down on the spot.

“Hehe, shorty, you can’t reach~” Xia Zhibai patted her on the head. She’d hung the slip well beyond Ruo Xiaoxi’s reach.

Let’s see what Ruo Xiaoxi wrote…

Why was she suddenly getting nervous? The closer Xia Zhibai got to picking up the slip to read it, the more she felt like she could hear her own heartbeat.

It was Qixi Festival, after all, and she’d come here with Ruo Xiaoxi today. Could it be…

Could Ruo Xiaoxi have written something about her too?

—[Beef skewers are so good.]

Huh? Had she read it wrong? She rubbed her eyes and looked again.

Oh, right. She’d missed something.

—[Beef skewers are so good!]

She’d missed an exclamation mark.

The night before a storm is always calm.

Xia Zhibai clutched Ruo Xiaoxi’s slip and stood there stunned for a good ten seconds.

Then dark lines seemed to appear across her forehead. She turned with a kindly smile to find Ruo Xiaoxi tiptoeing away. Ruo Xiaoxi turned back and gave an awkward smile.

Xia Zhibai reached out, grabbed her by the back of her collar, and hauled her right back.

“These are supposed to be blessings, and this is what you write!? You just wrote ‘Beef skewers are so good’? Oh, ‘Beef skewers are so good!’ That’s it? You couldn’t think of anything besides beef skewers, you little foodie?”

“I-I just couldn’t think of anything right away! I happened to be eating a beef skewer, and the thought suddenly came to me, so I wrote it down. The slip probably even has grease from my hand on it.”

“And you’re proud of that?” Xia Zhibai felt as if she were standing in a cold wind. She’d written nothing but blessings for Ruo Xiaoxi—wishing she’d grow prettier, and that she’d become more devoted in matters of the heart, among other things.

The cold wind… Yeah. Her fingers were still so sensitive to the cold. They’d need Ruo Xiaoxi’s little nest to warm them up.

Sigh. Though, more than angry, she was a little sad.

Xia Zhibai sighed helplessly. She shouldn’t have expected anything from this little girl.

“I give up. Whatever, it’s just a slip of paper.” Xia Zhibai tried to let it go. Maybe she was the only one who thought something like this meant much—like a heartfelt gesture worth remembering.

But just as she was about to let go of the slip and leave, she happened to catch sight of some writing on the back.

“Hm?” She turned it slightly and took a look. Sure enough, there was a neat line of delicate handwriting on the back, written in the same style and tone. It said—[Sister Xia is so pretty!]

Xia Zhibai’s eyes slowly widened, and her heart suddenly went quiet.

She glanced at Ruo Xiaoxi, who was still looking down at her shoes and trying to get away with cuteness. Xia Zhibai didn’t tell her there was writing on the back. She’d left it up to fate: whichever side she saw would be down to luck.

Whether, to Xia Zhibai, Ruo Xiaoxi was a carefree girl who didn’t have a care in the world, or someone who actually cared too, it didn’t matter to her. Ruo Xiaoxi could be both—or neither.

Xia Zhibai took her hand and held the little thing in her palm.

As expected, she really did like this adorable girl—someone who could turn her into a lesbian. No. She only liked Ruo Xiaoxi.

Or, to put it another way, Ruo Xiaoxi was the girl she’d fallen for despite everything she’d thought about gender.

They sat side by side on a large rock by the river. Like countless other couples, they listened to the summer breeze whispering beside them and watched the fireworks bloom across the night sky, their colorful lights falling over their faces.

The train of love had reached its final stop.

Ruo Xiaoxi seemed to hear her own voice over the speakers, telling her she’d arrived at her destination and it was time to get off—then board the next train, bound for another journey still full of unknowns.

Because she was a girl who’d fall in love but wouldn’t agree to be anyone’s girlfriend. A girl who didn’t want to take responsibility. Drink someone’s blood and run—that was the way of life of a Little Vampire Princess!

“Ruo Xiaoxi…” Xia Zhibai spoke to her softly.

Here it comes. A confession. Ruo Xiaoxi gently closed her eyes, wondering how to part with this older girl as kindly as possible. At the very least, she didn’t want to break her heart. She wanted to become a beautiful memory instead.

“Ruo Xiaoxi, after we watch the fireworks, do you want to come over to my place? I bought lots of pretty new dresses. Would you like to try some on?”

“Sister Xia, actually, we… Huh?” Ruo Xiaoxi had already prepared her lines, but Xia Zhibai hadn’t confessed like she’d expected. Instead, she’d invited her over to her place.

Huhhh?

Wasn’t this normally the romantic moment when someone confessed while they watched the fireworks?

Why wasn’t she following the script?

Was this… overtime!?