Chapter 7: Pretending to Be a Couple?

A Hasty Departure

Xiaoxi stepped out of her room after changing her computer password.

She caught Xiaoke changing clothes at the entrance.

“Leaving already? Not staying for lunch, Ke?”

“Eat with a pervert like you? Gross,” Xiaoke said without looking up, slipping on her shoes.

“I’ve got school stuff to handle. I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

Xiaoxi frowned. “School hasn’t even started. What kind of stuff?”

“None of your business!”

Xiaoke fumbled for words, then slammed the door shut with a bang and left.

Xiaoxi shrugged.

She figured Xiaoke was just mad about the spicy fanfic.

During lunch, Xiaoxi kept thinking about Ye Xinglan’s earlier hug.

But Ye Xinglan was happily munching away like a hamster, so Xiaoxi hesitated to bring it up.

After eating, she tried to focus on writing in her room.

Frustrated and unable to type, she decided to confront Ye Xinglan.

Come to think of it, despite co-renting for a while, she’d never been in Ye Xinglan’s room.

“The door’s unlocked. Come in.”

A Shocking Room

Pushing open the door, Xiaoxi froze.

She knew Ye Xinglan had ordered tons of stuff online to decorate.

But she hadn’t expected… this.

The walls were plastered with Eternal Star posters.

The shelves were packed with Eternal Star merch.

It looked like the room of a die-hard fan.

Except every poster had a ghost face or a giant X drawn on it, some scrawled with “Go die.”

Ye Xinglan’s bed held a life-sized Eternal Star body pillow.

Its worn state suggested it wasn’t for cuddling.

It looked like it’d been used as a punching bag!

“Well? Pretty nice setup, right?” Ye Xinglan puffed out her chest proudly, noticing Xiaoxi’s shock.

Don’t be proud of something so bizarre!

“You hate Eternal Star that much?”

“Of course. The Magical Girl Association and Eternal Star are no good!”

“You need evidence for claims like that, Miss Ye Xinglan,” Xiaoxi said, exasperated.

Ye Xinglan doubled down, pulling out her phone.

She showed Xiaoxi article after article.

“Shock! The Dark Side of Famous Magical Girl Eternal Star!”—all obvious clickbait.

“These are… no, all fake news. No credibility.”

“How do you know they’re fake?” Ye Xinglan shot back.

“You’re not Eternal Star. How do you know she didn’t do those things?”

Xiaoxi fell silent.

She couldn’t exactly argue back.

A Painful Past

Setting aside personal grudges, Ye Xinglan genuinely thought Eternal Star was a hypocrite.

As the Divine Summoning Society’s former secret weapon, she knew secrets even regular members didn’t.

The Association had done plenty of shady things behind closed doors.

For one, during her time in the Bone Vault, they’d conducted inhumane experiments on her and other monsters.

She refused to believe Eternal Star, who’d locked her up, was unaware.

Seeing her own face plastered across Ye Xinglan’s room, defaced, and the battered body pillow with her image, Xiaoxi’s feelings were complicated.

She let out a long sigh.

“What’s with that face? I’m bashing Eternal Star, not you.”

“No… I just think Eternal Star protected a lot of people. Does she really deserve this?”

Ye Xinglan narrowed her eyes, staring at Xiaoxi.

Her gaze made Xiaoxi uneasy.

“Why do you keep defending Eternal Star… Oh, I get it!” Ye Xinglan’s voice shot up.

Xiaoxi was so protective and knew so much about Eternal Star’s teammates.

She must’ve studied them obsessively.

There was only one explanation—

“You’re an Eternal Star stan, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

Xiaoxi blinked, baffled at how Ye Xinglan reached that conclusion.

Honestly, she used to hate her rabid fans.

They’d cheer during her monster battles instead of fleeing, forcing her to fight and protect them.

Now, someone was calling her one of her own stans?

“Then why only write spicy fanfic about Eternal Star’s teammates and not her?”

“I…”

Xiaoxi was speechless, caught between a rock and a hard place.

“Fine, whatever you say…” she muttered.

“Wait, I came to ask you something, not argue about this.”

Clearing the Air

“About earlier in the living room,” Xiaoxi mimicked a hugging gesture.

“That wasn’t what we agreed on, was it?”

Thinking back, Ye Xinglan’s excuse for co-renting was odd.

The view in this rundown complex was nice?

A rich girl like her surely lived somewhere fancier.

Why leave a mansion to stay here?

It felt more like… she was hiding from someone.

“Miss Ye Xinglan, be honest,” Xiaoxi said seriously.

“Do you have some other motive? Are you hiding from someone?”

Now it was Ye Xinglan’s turn to go quiet.

To keep her cover, she needed Xiaoxi’s cooperation.

Should she come up with a better excuse?

Or… Xiaoxi wasn’t a magical girl.

An ordinary person wouldn’t care about her real identity, right?

“Fine, you’re right,” Ye Xinglan said carefully.

“I’m hiding… from my family.”

Family? Xiaoxi paused, waiting for her to continue.

“They arranged a marriage for me, but I’m not interested, so I ran.”

“Then I thought, if I already had a partner, they’d back off.”

No wonder Ye Xinglan went on that blind date.

Xiaoxi nodded.

Dodging an arranged marriage made sense for a rich girl like her.

A Bold Proposal

“So—be my fake girlfriend. How about it?”

Ye Xinglan pointed at Xiaoxi, like picking a Pokémon with a dramatic “It’s you!”

“If we pretend to be a couple and live together for a bit, my family should give up. Don’t worry, money’s no issue.”

Xiaoxi’s face twisted like she’d eaten something sour.

With no quick cash from writing, she had little ground to refuse.

But this wasn’t about money.

Pretending to date Eternal Star’s biggest hater?

Her magical girl pride…

Then again, she’d thrown that pride away when she started writing spicy defeat fanfic.

Fine, she’d endure it!

Seeing Xiaoxi reluctantly agree under financial pressure, Ye Xinglan hummed happily.

She knew Xiaoxi wouldn’t say no.

Oh, speaking of money…

Ye Xinglan stopped Xiaoxi, who was sulking and about to leave, with a beckoning finger.

“I’m suddenly in the mood to collect rent.”

“What? Didn’t we agree to hold off… Oh, you’re threatening me now?”

“Mm-hmm~ Repeat after me—‘Eternal Star’s no good~’”

Xiaoxi clenched her fists, face red.

After a moment, she muttered through gritted teeth.

“Eternal Star’s no good.”

“That’s right! Heh heh heh heh!”

Ye Xinglan let out a string of villainous laughs straight out of an anime.

For some reason, hearing Xiaoxi say it felt insanely satisfying.

It was like Eternal Star herself admitting defeat.

Since Xiaoxi was a fan, it was close enough!