~ 💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 60→1ch | 100→2ch | 200→5ch ⏰ Resets Monday!
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The bell rang.
Li Ancheng was just pushing back his chair, ready to take Kotonoha Katsura to practice Iaido.
A light breeze swept through, carrying a clean citrus scent.
Xenovia Quarta jogged over to his desk.
She braced her hands on her knees, bent slightly forward, and blinked up at him with those big, lively eyes.
Her cheeks were faintly pink.
“Ancheng, could you…
come with me to the rooftop?
I have something personal I’d like to tell you.
Just the two of us.” “Sure.” Li Ancheng nodded and stood.
Passing Kotonoha Katsura’s seat, he paused.
He tapped the surface of her desk lightly, his voice easy and warm.
“Katsura, wait for me here.
I’ll be back and then we’ll get started.” Kotonoha Katsura had been sitting with her head down the whole time, pretending to read.
At those words, she lifted her cool, composed face.
She nodded, firm and decisive, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
“Mm.
I’ll wait.” Not far away, in her own seat.
Setsuna Kiyoura watched their retreating backs in silence.
That familiar ache coiled tight around her heart again.
She gripped her fountain pen.
Last time, she had stepped aside.
But this time…
She would absolutely not yield again.
Because the way Ancheng looked at her…
He definitely had feelings for her.
She was sure of it.
She could sacrifice herself, but she could not sacrifice someone else’s feelings.
Not unless Ancheng personally accepted Xenovia’s confession with his own mouth.
Setsuna Kiyoura drew a slow breath.
Her gaze hardened into something she had never worn before.
In a corner of the classroom that no one was paying any attention to, and truly, no one was, Every word that had passed between Li Ancheng and Kotonoha Katsura had been swallowed whole by a pair of jealous eyes.
Makoto Itou.
He sat squeezing his phone, the screen still glowing with the wallpaper he had snapped on the subway without her knowing.
Kotonoha Katsura’s profile, quiet and beautiful, framed against the window.
He had been right.
He had been right, of course.
It was all because of that bastard Li Ancheng.
That was why Katsura had gone so cold on him.
He waited until the classroom had nearly emptied out.
Then he sucked in a breath, got up, and walked over to Kotonoha Katsura’s desk.
“Katsura…” “Yesterday — that whole thing with Taisuke was just a stupid prank, a misunderstanding.
Won’t you…
won’t you even let me explain?
Just one word?” The fingers Kotonoha Katsura was using to turn a page went still for a moment.
She didn’t look up.
Her voice came out flat and colorless, like a glass of water with nothing in it at all.
“Itou, that has nothing to do with it.
I simply don’t want to be in a relationship right now.
Please stop coming to me like this.” “Then what about Li Ancheng?!” The jealousy Makoto Itou had been sitting on erupted like a burst pipe.
He couldn’t hold it anymore.
“Your attitude toward him is completely different and you know it!
He’s been in our class for two days.
Two days!” “And I — I’ve been here this whole time.
How is that fair?!
Is it just his face?!
Even when there are clearly so many women around him all the time!” BANG!
Issei Hyoudou’s palm crashed down on his desk.
He shoved to his feet, pointing straight at Makoto Itou, voice raw with fury.
“Makoto Itou!
Say one more word about my big brother and I will throw you out that window myself.
Try me!” But Kotonoha Katsura simply closed her book.
She raised her eyes, clear, still, utterly calm, and looked at Makoto Itou without a ripple of expression.
Her voice stayed soft.
Every word landed like a blade.
“You pursued me.
That means I’m obligated to accept you?” Makoto Itou froze where he stood.
He stared at her.
And then, as if he couldn’t stop himself, he blurted out the question he had been most afraid to ask.
“I just need to know…” “Do you like Li Ancheng?!” “Yes.” No hesitation.
Not even a flicker of it.
Kotonoha Katsura’s answer hit like an Iaido draw, one clean stroke, no afterthought.
The word was barely out before she seemed to catch up with herself.
Her head dipped.
Color flooded her cheeks all at once, burning bright.
Her mind drifted, unbidden, back to last night.
When she had gotten home, she noticed something strange.
Her body, always frail, always dragging, felt light in a way it never had before.
She had been so puzzled that she’d tried going for a run.
2 hours.
No dizziness.
No heart pounding out of her chest.
Like she had been made over from the inside.
She had turned it over and over in her mind.
The only unusual thing that had happened all day was when Ancheng guided her through the Iaido form, touching that tree branch to her shoulder, and the warmth that had moved through her from that single point of contact.
Then she thought about the fact that he had originally been heading to the Supernatural Studies Department.
The answer came together in an instant.
Ancheng was not simply wealthy.
What he carried was something else entirely.
The power to heal.
To mend what was broken.
And he had used it on her quietly, without a word.
Without once hinting that she owed him anything in return.
How could anyone be that good?
That gentle without making a production of it?
“Impossible.
This is absolutely impossible.” Makoto Itou’s pupils had shrunk to pinpoints.
He was staring at the flush spreading across Kotonoha Katsura’s face, the shy warmth that had risen there simply from thinking about Li Ancheng.
That easy, unguarded honesty winded him worse than any sharp rejection could have.
“You, you used to accept the cherry blossom bookmarks I gave you.
You smiled at me when I asked about homework.
You did!” “How can you like someone who transferred in two days ago?
Someone who doesn’t even know what you like?!” His fists had gone white at the knuckles.
His voice was shaking now.
“He pressured you, didn’t he.
That’s it, right?
Or — or maybe…” “Katsura.
Are you just trying to hurt me on purpose?
I’ve been here this whole time.
How can you do this to me…” “Itou.” Issei Hyoudou’s voice came out cold and flat.
His expression was undisguised contempt.
“A girl rejects you, you walk away with some dignity.
What you’re doing right now…” He looked Makoto Itou up and down.
“It’s ugly.
Just so you know.” Makoto Itou didn’t seem to hear him.
His eyes were still locked on Kotonoha Katsura, waiting for some last thread of hope to appear.
“No.” Kotonoha Katsura shook her head, gentle and unhurried.
She ground his last illusion to dust without raising her voice.
“Ancheng knows what I like.” A beat.
“And whenever I’m with him…
I feel calm.
Easy.
Like I can breathe.” She met Makoto Itou’s eyes.
“That’s something you’ve never been able to give me.” Something went out of Makoto Itou in that moment.
It was as if the air had been let out of him all at once.
He stood there for a long time, not moving, not speaking.
Then, slowly, his fists opened.
“…Fine.” He pulled his mouth into a smile.
It looked worse than crying.
“Kotonoha Katsura — you’ll regret this!” He threw the words out behind him like they meant something.
They didn’t.
Makoto Itou turned and walked out, stumbling, like a dog that had been run off.
— Up on the rooftop of the teaching building.
Li Ancheng leaned against the railing.
Kuroka was curled up in his arms, purring contentedly into his chest.
He looked at Xenovia Quarta standing before him, her cheeks a vivid red, and let out a quiet, amused breath.
“Ms.
Saionji, you’ve been staring at my face for almost 3 minutes now.” “So what was this secret you needed to tell me?” “Um…
yesterday.
In front of the whole class…” Xenovia Quarta pressed her lips together.
The tips of her ears were burning.
Her fingers twisted around each other.
“I…
I said I liked Ancheng.
About that, please, don’t feel pressured.
That’s all I wanted to say.” Li Ancheng chuckled and shook his head.
“I don’t feel pressured at all.” “Th…
that’s good…” Xenovia Quarta quietly let out a breath she’d been holding for what felt like a very long time.
Then, as if she had screwed up her courage and made some terrifying decision, she snapped her gaze up to meet his.
Her eyes were wide and earnest.
“Ancheng…
do you have feelings for Setsuna?
If you really like her, I, I can help you.
I’ll help you go after her!” “Mm.” Li Ancheng stroked Kuroka’s soft ears, his tone perfectly easy.
“To be precise — you, Katsura, and Setsuna.” He paused, then said it plainly.
“All three of you.
I like all three of you.” “…Huh?!” Xenovia Quarta’s eyes went wide enough to fall out of her head.
Her jaw went slack.
She stood completely frozen in the rooftop breeze, as if her brain had simply stopped working.
Is this, is this something a person can just say out loud like that?!
“But I grew up training in the deep mountains since I was small.
I’ve never had a girlfriend.” Li Ancheng’s smile carried the faint shape of a rueful confession.
“So sometimes I can’t help but think…” “How good it would be if all three of you could be with me at the same time.” He tilted his head slightly.
“Is a thought like that…
too greedy?” “Meow.” Kuroka gave a slow, lazy roll of her eyes and unleashed a torrent of silent commentary.
Pfft!
Master, the density of women in your orbit has been past the limit for a while now, okay?!
This won’t do.
She needed to pay closer attention.
At this rate, even that oblivious Shirone might end up on Master’s list before long.
Wait, had Master really been treating her, this whole time, as nothing more than an ordinary cat to pet?!
The nerve.
Xenovia Quarta pulled in a slow breath and wrestled her heart back down from wherever it had launched itself.
The shock on her face dissolved, replaced by something layered and hard to name.
“All three of them…
he likes all three of them…” She repeated it softly to herself, like she was turning over a stone that was heavier than it looked.
“Katsura is so innocent, so reserved.
She’s definitely never entertained a possibility like this.” “Setsuna looks cold on the outside, but underneath she’s more sensitive than anyone.” She looked at Li Ancheng directly.
“Has Ancheng actually thought about what would happen…
if all three of us really did say yes?
What would that even look like?” “Which is exactly why…” Li Ancheng only smiled wider, more relaxed than before.
“I haven’t pursued any of you, have I?” Xenovia Quarta blinked.
Somehow that logic had gotten its hooks into her, and before she could stop herself, she was nodding.
“I…
that…
that does seem to be true, actually…” Silence settled between them.
Then Xenovia Quarta seemed to arrive at some earth-shaking resolution.
She raised her hand slowly, pale and delicate, and extended it toward Li Ancheng.
Her voice was trembling.
“Um…
since Ancheng says he has no experience with love…” “Then, then how about…
I stay with you and…
we try holding hands first?
Just think of it as, as building up some experience!” Li Ancheng took her hand naturally, warm fingers closing around hers, and asked with genuine curiosity.
“And then?” Xenovia Quarta’s heartbeat crashed.
“…A-and then?” Kuroka, reading the room perfectly, hopped from his arms to his shoulder, turned her back to them both, and radiated the calm energy of a cat who had seen absolutely nothing and intended to see nothing further.
“Well, wasn’t it Ms.
Saionji who volunteered to teach me?” Li Ancheng looked completely innocent.
His gaze drifted, almost idly, to the rooftop door, slightly ajar.
“Given that I have no experience, hand-holding is the first lesson.
Surely that isn’t the entire curriculum?” At that exact moment, Kuroka’s voice slipped into his mind, dripping with amusement.
“Master~ There’s a little clown crouching behind that door like a sewer rat, recording everything, meow~” Li Ancheng gave her head an absentminded pat.
Makoto, huh.
Let him film.
What was he going to do with it, exactly?
“…” Xenovia Quarta stood in flushed silence for 2 full seconds.
Then she stepped forward and wrapped both arms around Li Ancheng’s waist.
Tight.
She pressed herself against his chest, that soft warmth completely unguarded, and buried her burning face against him, voice barely above a murmur.
“Th…
this is what a hug feels like.
When you have a girlfriend.” “Is that right?” Li Ancheng settled an arm around her waist and tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.
“The maids at my house hug me like this every morning when I leave for the day.
Does that make them my girlfriends too?” “You are such a — you’re a complete idiot!” Xenovia Quarta’s composure finally shattered.
Her face went scarlet from her cheeks to her hairline.
She shoved up onto her tiptoes, squeezed her eyes shut, and before she could talk herself out of it, pressed a quick, firm kiss to the side of Li Ancheng’s face.
“What about that?!
That’s not something your maids do, is it?!” “Honestly…
it feels about the same.” Li Ancheng touched his cheek with a perfectly serene expression.
“When I was small, the older girls in my family used to grab me and kiss my cheek all the time.” “Meow!” Kuroka had heard enough.
She let out one sharp, withering meow.
Keep pretending.
Absolutely keep pretending.
He spent all of last night sleeping in Alpha’s arms.
The entire night.
She had been lying right there beside them.
She saw everything.
Xenovia Quarta looked at Li Ancheng’s profile, that devastating, unbearable face, and felt her breathing come completely undone.
Some deep, wordless pull took over.
She closed her eyes slowly.
Her chin lifted, just slightly, the pale line of her throat catching the light.
And she kissed him.
Soft.
Unhurried.
Her lips meeting his for one suspended moment before she drew back.
Even her throat was flushed when she opened her eyes, a warm crimson blooming all the way down her neck.
She fixed her gaze on Li Ancheng and waited, her voice a barely steadied whisper.
“…Wh-what about that?” “Mm.” Something shifted at the corner of Li Ancheng’s mouth.
A smile, slow and genuine.
“That one…
is genuinely something special.” He reached out and tilted her chin up with one finger, unhurried.
“Teacher Saionji.” His eyes held hers.
“Would you mind showing me again?” Xenovia Quarta’s lashes trembled.
She rose onto her tiptoes.
She closed her eyes.
“…You may, Ancheng.” ➤ Next: The Day the Love Legend Shattered, Silently Taking Root in Her Heart — .—— .—— .—— .—— .—— Enjoying the story?