Just like in the game, Shuiye You had already straightened her clothes and was kneeling off to one side, watching the doorway. Apart from the faint blush that hadn’t quite faded from her cheeks and the neatly coiled rope hidden behind her, there was no sign of what had just happened.
Good. So far, nothing had gone wrong.
“Can I help you?” Shuiye You lifted her clear, water-blue eyes and glanced over Jiecheng Yuan before lowering them again.
Though Shuiye You spoke politely and formally, Jiecheng Yuan felt an invisible pressure steadily mounting—so much so that, for a moment, she didn’t know what to do.
“Hello! I’m Jiecheng Yuan from Class 2-A! You’re Shuiye, right?”
Jiecheng Yuan did her best to recreate the scene from the game. Shuiye You was the ace of the Kyudo Club and a famous ice-cold beauty. Plenty of people knew her name, so there was nothing strange about calling her by it.
“Mm.” Shuiye You gave a quiet reply. Her gaze lingered on Yuan for several seconds. “Jiecheng, are you interested in the Kyudo Club?”
For those few seconds, Jiecheng Yuan’s heart seemed to stop beating, too. She didn’t breathe easy until Shuiye You spoke again. Following the game, she pretended she was about to leave and delivered the player’s line: “Sorry, I must’ve come to the wrong place!”
“Wait.” Shuiye You’s voice was still utterly calm.
Perfect. It had gone exactly like this in the game, too. The original plot was moving along without a hitch.
The plot involving Shuiye You was very simple to explain.
Put simply, the player, seeing things from Xiwei Li’s perspective, stumbled upon her embarrassing play. Shuiye You then used “training the mind” as an excuse, made it their little secret, and asked the player to help with her so-called “special training.”
The “special training” was the part players loved. As the two grew closer, it came in all sorts of variations.
After the “special training,” Shuiye You would keep a straight face and say, “My training is still insufficient. I couldn’t withstand the test,” then invite the player to another session.
Winning Shuiye You over, just like in the game, shouldn’t be hard. In theory, she was the second-easiest character in the whole game to romance.
Incidentally, the easiest was Jiecheng Yuan, whose affection was already maxed out the moment she appeared.
Jiecheng Yuan had no intention of getting into that kind of twisted relationship with Shuiye You. All she wanted was to become ordinary colleagues and friends, then work together when Magical Girl-related incidents came up.
After all, she didn’t know how the two of them had met in the original story. And even if she did, she couldn’t transform into an ordinary Magical Girl like in the game. Either way, she had to find another approach.
Following the game’s script, Jiecheng Yuan went back into the room and slid the door shut. Then she sat down facing Shuiye You. “Is there something you wanted to talk about, Shuiye?”
“Did you see?” Shuiye You was the one who should’ve been embarrassed, but she spoke as if nothing had happened. If anything, she sounded like she was interrogating Jiecheng Yuan.
That wall around her heart is something else.
“Yes, I did.” Jiecheng Yuan lowered her head, pretending to feel awkward. Seeing what she’d seen, her face really was burning a little. That should be enough to fool her.
Shuiye You raised her head, which had been bowed all this time. Her clear eyes held not a trace of emotion. “This is part of the Kyudo Club’s training.”
“What?” Jiecheng Yuan played along and voiced her confusion.
“Kyudo, kendo, the tea ceremony—their ultimate purpose is to refine the mind. As the ace of the Kyudo Club, I should set an example.” Shuiye You continued with the lines Jiecheng Yuan knew by heart, reaching for the loop of rope behind her. “The bow, the arrow, the sword, the tea—they’re all tools for reaching that goal. This is no different.”
Sure. If you say it’s a tool, then it’s a tool. I still don’t know why Xiwei Li believed that ridiculous excuse in the game and went along with it.
“By placing restraints on myself, I hope to reach a state where I’m unmoved by outside influences. That’s my goal.” Shuiye You gathered the loop of rope in her arms. “Have you heard the story of General Yumimoto?”
When Jiecheng Yuan shook her head, Shuiye You began telling her the story.
How could she not know it? It was a tired old tale about General Yumimoto, a skilled archer who took shelter in a village one night. To repay the villagers for a bowl of porridge and a meal, he single-handedly drove off an enemy force attacking the village. At dawn, they found him dead at the village entrance, still holding his bow-drawing stance despite the arrows piercing his body.
Shuiye You brought up this story, riddled with holes, so often that it had become a running joke among the players.
She’d heard it more than enough times already, but for the sake of the plot, she’d have to listen to the whole thing again.
“This special training has always been my secret. But lately, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to keep up. I’d like to ask you to help me with it, Jiecheng.”
Shuiye You finished her lengthy story, then held out the loop of rope in both hands, as if a Yamato Nadeshiko were presenting it to a valiant general as a reward.
Here came the wildest part of the story!
Her movements were slow, and undeniably graceful. Yet there was an irresistible force behind that unhurried motion, stirring an instinctive urge to obey.
Jiecheng Yuan didn’t even realize she’d reached out to take the neatly coiled rope.
If she really took it, the next CG would unlock.
The player had no choice here. The CG unlocked as naturally as could be. But Jiecheng Yuan did have a choice, and she didn’t want to end up in that kind of unhealthy relationship with Shuiye You.
“I’m sorry, I… I really can’t.”
Jiecheng Yuan’s fingers stopped just a few centimeters from the rope. They twitched, then she curled her open hand into a fist.
Just as she was about to pull her hand back, Shuiye You grabbed her wrist with a sharp thump. Yuan tried to tug her arm free, but it didn’t budge.
Jiecheng Yuan grabbed her own arm with her other hand and tried again with all her strength. But Shuiye You’s bow-drawing hand was like a vise, holding firm. Instead, Yuan’s body tilted toward her.
Jiecheng Yuan started to panic. Nothing like this had ever happened in the game.
“Jiecheng.”
While Jiecheng Yuan was distracted by her name, the coil of rope came loose. It no longer wrapped around Shuiye You’s body—instead, it looped around Jiecheng Yuan’s free wrist. Shuiye You tied it off in a flash, binding Yuan’s wrists tightly together.
Then, still sitting gracefully on her knees, Shuiye You gripped the section of rope binding Yuan’s wrists and yanked. Jiecheng Yuan had already been leaning forward, and now she lost her balance completely. Her forehead struck the floor with a dull thud.
Jiecheng Yuan strained to lift her head and found herself face-to-face with Shuiye You’s icy gaze. An inexplicable chill shot up her spine to the top of her head, making her shudder.
Shuiye You sat right where she was, just as she had when Jiecheng Yuan first entered. This was the first time Yuan had seen a clear shift in Shuiye You’s emotions. Her voice, already almost devoid of feeling, dropped below freezing.
“What are you here for?”
