On the other side.
Xia Yue, wearing Xia Xi’s skin, followed Luo Xinyu back home.
And then…
“Ahem, so, uh, Xinyu… do you play games?”
“Games?”
Luo Xinyu was a bit confused.
From what she remembered, Xia Xi had never played any games other than that one—what was it called?—Golden Spatula Auto Chess.
And the last time he’d invited her to play a game was after he’d swapped bodies with An Xiaoyu, when he was pretending to use a voice changer to mess with his buddy while playing Naraka: Bladepoint for the big boss.
It had been so long. Why was he suddenly asking to play a game with her today?
“Yeah, like Honor of Kings. Do you play, Xinyu?”
Honor of Kings?
Hearing the name of that game, Luo Xinyu remembered how, when they’d just gotten to the hospital, she’d seen Xia Yue playing it.
So…
This “Xia Xi” was actually Xia Yue?
That girl was the only one who got that obsessed with the game.
But why would Xia Xi and Xia Yue swap bodies? Was it because he couldn’t stand seeing his sister suffer from her illness, so he wanted to take the pain for her?
No way. Xia Xi couldn’t possibly be that kind-hearted.
Luo Xinyu thought she knew Xia Xi pretty well. For a minor injury like his sister’s, there was no way he’d voluntarily take it on.
That left only one possibility…
“Well, I can play, but… you can’t back out on what you promised to do tonight, okay~?”
What he promised to do tonight?
What kind of agreement did her big brother make with Sister Xinyu? Dang it! That stupid big brother didn’t tell her anything. Now what was she supposed to do?
“Of… of course. I definitely won’t back out.”
Whatever it was, she’d just agree for now. If her big brother was willing to promise it, it couldn’t be anything bad, right?
“So what supplies do we need to prepare for tonight? I want to try some more creative ways.”
An Xiaoyu watched Luo Xinyu’s eyes curve into a smile, her face beaming, and felt a bunch of question marks pop up in her head.
She didn’t remember Xia Xi and Sister Xinyu having any kind of promise. And one that required supplies at that.
Could it be that game space again?
Before she could think it over, she caught the look Luo Xinyu shot her way. Even though she didn’t know what Sister Xinyu was trying to do, Sister Xinyu was always so good to her. Of course she’d play along at a time like this.
“Yeah, yeah! Sister Xinyu has been looking forward to it for so long.”
If even An Xiaoyu said that, Xia Yue found it even harder to refuse.
But… something they’d do at night, just her big brother and Sister Xinyu, one guy and one girl… and they’d need a lot of supplies…
An idea popped into Xia Yue’s head. She looked up at Luo Xinyu’s face and noticed that her cheeks were slightly flushed, with a shy expression.
Masaka?! (Could it be?) That kind of thing?
No way, no way. She was going to have to do that with Sister Xinyu in place of her stupid big brother?!
If her big brother ever found out, would he get so mad he’d kick her out of the house?
“W-wait! Xinyu, is what you’re talking about… what I’m thinking it is?”
Seeing how nervous the person in front of her looked, Luo Xinyu let out a “pfft” and covered her mouth as she laughed.
“Hahaha, silly Xia Yue, what are you imagining~? Your brother and I don’t even have a real commitment yet. How could we possibly do something like that?”
As soon as she said that, the other two people in the room stared at Luo Xinyu in shock.
“What do you mean? Isn’t this Xia Xi standing here? Why are you calling her Xia Yue?”
An Xiaoyu didn’t catch on at first, but then she quickly realized that Sister Xinyu might have figured out that Xia Yue and Xia Xi had swapped bodies.
“What are you talking about, Xinyu? My sister is still at the hospital. I’m Xia Xi.”
What Xia Yue had wanted to blurt out was “A commitment… Xinyu, would you be my girlfriend?” But the next second, she caught the nickname “Xia Yue” and immediately tried to cover up her real identity.
“Xia Yue, stop pretending in front of us. Xia Xi would never invite me to play Honor of Kings or anything like that~”
As she spoke, Luo Xinyu pointed at the other person’s legs.
“And besides, have you ever seen a guy sit with his knees turned in like that? You dummy.”
Only after Luo Xinyu pointed it out did Xia Yue realize how feminine her sitting posture was.
She also understood that she’d been holding it in too long at school and was too eager to find someone to play games with, which was why she’d slipped up. But she still wanted to put up a fight.
“What if I just saw my sister playing it today and suddenly felt like downloading it to give it a try? Is that not allowed?”
Seeing that she was still being stubborn, Luo Xinyu stepped forward, used her right thumb and index finger to pinch the other person’s chin, and slowly lifted her face.
“Oh~ Then, Xia Yue, what was it you thought we were going to do tonight? Could it be… something a little embarrassing~?”
Seeing the teasing look in Sister Xinyu’s eyes, Xia Yue instantly realized she’d been tricked.
Her big brother had never promised Sister Xinyu anything about tonight. That was purely something Xinyu had made up just to make her imagination run wild.
And it made sense. If her stupid big brother had actually promised to do that kind of thing with Xinyu tonight, there was no way he would’ve swapped skins with her.
“Dang it! Sister Xinyu is a meanie!!!”
Once she’d figured it out, she shook her head hard, flinging the other girl’s hand off her chin. Then she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away, pouting.
It was hard to imagine someone with Xia Xi’s build making such a girly, angry gesture.
Add to that the fact that Xia Xi’s face was naturally delicate, plus certain regional stereotypes, and she looked exactly like a soft, sweet, effeminate boy.
“So you really are Xia Yue?”
An Xiaoyu reached out and poked Xia Yue’s face in disbelief.
She didn’t know why, but ever since she’d come to Xia Xi’s house and spent more time with Xia Yue, she’d also picked up the habit of poking people’s faces. The main reason was that the bouncy, soft feeling of poking a cheek was really satisfying.
“Who else would I be? Since you’ve already figured it out, I won’t pretend anymore. My brother and I swapped skins. He’s going to school to take the exams for me.”
“Oh.”
An Xiaoyu nodded. Xia Xi swapping bodies with someone else wasn’t a one-time thing. She was pretty used to it by now, so she wasn’t all that surprised.
But Luo Xinyu, on the other hand, was sharp enough to catch the problem in what she’d just said.
“Swapped skins? Didn’t you swap bodies?”
Xia Yue’s pretend-anger act had only lasted a few seconds. It wasn’t like she was genuinely upset.
Now she was back to sitting normally, tearing open a bag of chips she’d bought on the way over and munching on them with a loud crunch.
“We didn’t swap bodies. We just put on each other’s skins.”
