Chapter 56: Cooking for Her Little Girlfriend, Meow?
A Heated Lecture
Xiao Xi sighed inwardly, accepting that she couldn’t make Xiao Coco quit so easily. Instead, she decided to use this chance to train her to stop being so reckless in missions.
“Rushing in isn’t a good habit. In your current state, can you rest well by tomorrow? Can your magic recover enough to keep training?”
“This is just training. But tell me, if you face an enemy far stronger than you in real combat, what do you do?”
“Fight the monster with all I’ve got, find ways to stall, and wait for reinforcements!” Coco answered firmly.
“Wrong!” Xiao Xi gritted her teeth. “If you can’t win, why stick around? If you face a monster you can’t handle, run! The Association has other magical girls to deal with it!”
“But…”
Coco blinked, stunned. She hadn’t expected this from [Eternal Star]. Wasn’t [Eternal Star] always the one charging into battle during the great chaos, leading the front lines?
A magical girl should stand up in times of crisis to protect people—that’s what she’d learned from [Eternal Star]!
“I get it, Senior!” Coco suddenly realized. “You don’t need to test me. I won’t run and save myself in a crisis! It’s my duty as a magical girl!”
‘F*ck!’ Xiao Xi fumed, almost wondering if Coco was deliberately defying her.
Why did she assume it was a test? Was her admiration for [Eternal Star] so blind? Couldn’t Xiao Xi’s words be sincere?
Xiao Xi had banked on Coco’s fandom, but she’d overlooked one thing: Coco trusted [Eternal Star] too much. To her, her senior was a paragon of justice, and everything she did was for her benefit!
Coco was the type who’d believe any promise or manipulation from a boss, working harder to prove herself… when the boss’s goal was to make her quit to avoid severance pay!
A Misstep Under Pressure
“If someone else heard your self-sacrificing words, they’d be touched. But right now, I’m just frustrated!” Xiao Xi snapped.
“Why are you so stubborn? Your idol belittles you, and you still persist? Can’t you just… give up?”
“That’s exactly what you need to fix! Passion alone isn’t enough! Can’t you learn to protect yourself first? Have you thought about how people who care about you feel?”
“If not for that flaw, you wouldn’t have been in danger last time! Do you know how bad that injury was? If it had been slightly off…”
“Senior, how do you know about my injury from the last mission?” Coco’s puzzled voice cut in.
Xiao Xi clamped her mouth shut, realizing her emotions had made her slip up.
Still, she maintained her cold senior persona in front of Coco, refusing to panic.
“…Miss L told me. Didn’t you ask her to contact me?”
But her quick excuse didn’t convince Coco. Frowning, Coco thought back. She hadn’t mentioned the injury to Miss L, had she?
She’d only been at the scene by chance; another team handled the mission, so she hadn’t filed a report.
It wasn’t impossible that Miss L heard about her injury from others, but would she remember the exact location? Coco recalled only Sirius checking her wounds…
“Alright, that’s enough for today. We’ll talk about the next training when you’re recovered. I’ll have Miss L notify you of the time.”
Xiao Xi hurriedly cut off Coco’s thoughts. She’d hoped to crush Coco’s resolve today, but this brat was tougher than expected.
No matter. She’d come up with new ways to break her. Coco couldn’t keep this up forever.
A Familiar Feeling
Watching [Eternal Star] leave in a rush, Coco took a while to get up from the ground.
Something felt off. Her senior’s tone reminded her of being scolded by an elder.
It was like when she was a kid, scraping her knee while playing outside. Her sister would chide her for being careless while tenderly treating her wound…
Moreover, Coco hadn’t expected [Eternal Star]’s training to be so intense. No wonder her senior said, “If you can’t handle this, quit being a magical girl.”
Surely, her senior was pushing her to build motivation and a sense of urgency, right? She couldn’t be deliberately trying to make her quit, could she?
Speaking of which, why had her senior left so hurriedly? Did she have something urgent to handle?
Well, her senior was a real person with responsibilities. For someone like [Eternal Star], it must be something important.
A Domestic Morning
Xiao Xi did have something urgent… she was rushing home to make breakfast for Ye Xinglan.
When Xiao Xi got home, Ye Xinglan was just waking up, lounging on the living room sofa, still in pajamas, trying to clear her sleepy head. The contrast between the drowsy rich girl and the energized Xiao Xi, fresh from intense training, was stark.
“Huh? Xiao Xi, what were you doing out so early?”
“Jogging, getting some exercise,” Xiao Xi grinned. “Morning workouts are refreshing. What do you want for breakfast? I’ll make it.”
Ye Xinglan nodded quietly. She hadn’t realized Xiao Xi had the energy for morning exercise. Thinking about it, Xiao Xi had plenty of good qualities—hardworking, driven, and cute. Compared to her… being rich was her only standout trait, wasn’t it?
Xiao Xi’s diligence made her a great catch…
Catching her thoughts drifting, Ye Xinglan shook her head, blaming her groggy morning brain. Lately, though, she found Xiao Xi increasingly appealing, like seeing her through a lover’s eyes…
“I want toast with jam, a fried egg, and hot milk!” Ye Xinglan declared, resuming her haughty heiress demeanor.
“Got it, milady. Give me a moment.”
If Coco knew her revered [Eternal Star] rushed off to cook breakfast for her “little girlfriend,” how would she feel?