“Excuse me, may I borrow Miss Xinyu for a moment?”
Natsukawa Mirai, dressed in casual, cool clothing, suddenly walked up to Xia Xi and Luo Xinyu, speaking politely.
Xia Xi and Luo Xinyu exchanged a glance, finding the words somewhat familiar.
It felt like just a few dozen minutes ago, someone on the phone had wanted to borrow Xia Xi.
Noticing their strange looks, Natsukawa Mirai immediately realized her phrasing was off.
“Sorry, sorry, I mean, we’d like to talk to Miss Xinyu alone for a bit.”
“Oh, just a private chat.”
Xia Xi and Luo Xinyu exchanged another glance.
Both knew the other was thinking the same thing. It couldn’t be helped—they’d just gone through the whole “borrowing Xia Xi to be a boyfriend” incident, and now Natsukawa Mirai was here to borrow Luo Xinyu.
Who knew if they were lesbians wanting Luo Xinyu to pretend to be someone’s girlfriend or something.
Xia Xi thought that Tachibana Rin definitely gave off that vibe.
…
“Alright, what do you want to talk about?”
Xia Xi actually had a pretty good idea. What they wanted to ask about was undoubtedly related to a certain author—the system quest was still hanging there, after all.
If they were talking to the real Luo Xinyu, she might have let something slip. But unfortunately, standing before them was the author himself, and the system had explicitly forbidden him from revealing his true identity. So…
“It’s like this. We know you previously looked into the author of Dragon Clan. The two of us really admire him too, so we were hoping to get some information about the author from you, Miss Xinyu.”
As if worried the young lady might misunderstand, Natsukawa Mirai added:
“Don’t worry, young lady. We’re not trying to cause trouble for the author. We just want to have a friendly chat with him. His books are so good. We really want to know what kind of person could write such an excellent work.”
Xia Xi knew they meant no harm. Normally, with friends, he’d just tell them he was the author—it wouldn’t matter much.
But not this time. With the system quest hanging over his head, he didn’t know what the punishment “absolute choice in the brain” actually was, but if it was a punishment, it definitely wasn’t anything good.
“Mm… but I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone his real identity, so… sorry, I can’t help you.”
Xia Xi clearly refused their request.
Natsukawa Mirai and Tachibana Rin tactfully didn’t press further, shifting to some casual chat.
After all, they’d only known each other for a day. The young lady and that author had probably known each other for who knew how long. Since she’d already made a promise, pushing further would be inappropriate.
There’s a saying: if you make someone uncomfortable, they won’t care about your feelings either. Treat others with kindness, and kindness will follow. That’s the way to conduct oneself.
After some idle chatter, Xia Xi returned to Luo Xinyu’s side.
“What did they ask you?”
Luo Xinyu handed him a drink she’d found in Xia Xi’s backpack, curious.
Xia Xi took the drink and gulped down a big mouthful.
He’d been chatting with those two girls for so long, he was genuinely thirsty.
“Nothing much. They just wanted to know who wrote Dragon Clan. They know you looked into me before, so they wanted to get some info from you.”
Smacking his lips, Xia Xi felt the drink’s taste was somewhat familiar.
“By the way, Xinyu, where’d you buy this drink? It’s pretty good.”
“Huh? Didn’t you buy it? I found it in your backpack. I couldn’t find bottled water, so I just grabbed the drink for you.”
Found in his backpack?
Xia Xi remembered… hadn’t the system rewarded him a bottle of… Natsukawa Mirai’s personally made kuchikami sake?
Xia Xi: “…”
Natsukawa Mirai: “The young lady actually likes drinking this kind of alcohol…”
No wonder the taste was so familiar! It was that Natsukawa Mirai girl’s drink again!
Xia Xi expressionlessly put the drink back in his backpack and silently pulled out the half-empty water bottle Luo Xinyu had been drinking from.
His own bottle was long finished. Only Luo Xinyu’s half bottle remained.
An indirect kiss was way better than drinking that weird concoction!
“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with that drink?”
Luo Xinyu didn’t quite understand why Xia Xi’s expression changed after just one sip.
Didn’t he say it was pretty good? How strange.
“N-nothing… it’s just that the way it’s made is a bit unusual. Not something most people would accept.”
Hearing that, Luo Xinyu lost any desire to investigate further.
If he said it wasn’t something most people could accept, why would she want to know? Just to gross herself out?
…
Two days later.
“Xinyu, maybe we should forget it. Breaking the promise probably won’t matter. I’m still a bit worried.”
Xia Xi saw that it was almost time for Luo Xinyu’s flight, and an inexplicable discomfort welled up in his heart, as if something was about to happen.
“A promise is a promise. That’s what you taught me, right? Relax, I’ll be back in a few days to keep you company. In the meantime, you better play your part as me, Meek Young Lady~”
“You’re the Meek Young Lady!”
“Hehe, I’m the real man now.”
As she spoke, Luo Xinyu grabbed Xia Xi’s hand and pressed it against the abs of her current body—the ones that originally belonged to Xia Xi.
After seeing Luo Xinyu off, Xia Xi sat bored at his desk at home.
Since there was nothing else to do, he might as well keep drawing Dragon Ball.
He had to admit, recreating a manga was much harder than typing out a novel from memory.
Manga requires careful attention to detail. The panel layouts can’t be too chaotic either. It’s incredibly draining.
No wonder manga artists only put out one chapter a week, or even a month.
Just as Xia Xi was buried in his work, the system notification sounded again.
[Ding!]
[Interesting event detected. Temporary quest issued: Yandere Treatment]
[Real-life yanderes are rare. Does the host really want to miss something so interesting? Surely the host wants to experience it too.]
[You will enter Leng Xiyu’s body in ten minutes. Luo Xinyu’s body will be managed by the system. Leng Xiyu’s consciousness will fall into deep sleep.]
[After the two-day experience period ends, the host may return.]
[Quest reward: You got to experience something so interesting and you still want a reward? You want everything, huh.]
[Refusal punishment: Luo Xinyu becomes yandere.]
Well, well. Xia Xi had wondered why he’d felt so uneasy earlier. So this was what was waiting for him.
This damn system was definitely a chaos-loving troll!
Experience being a yandere? He didn’t want to!
