Shadow Slave

Projected onto the wall, a languid jade beauty with a slim waist and long eyelashes was traversing a labyrinth of crimson coral, her voluptuous figure barely covered by a flimsy seaweed attire. A teenage boy of about thirteen years of age was scurrying along as he shouted:

"...Are you crazy?!"

Sitting on the sofa near the real Changing Star, Rain felt like sinking into the earth. As the movie went by, her cheeks slowly turned bright red. The daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, on the contrary, became increasingly more deadpan and devoid of emotion. By now, her face was so still that it seemed paralyzed.

Rain awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Uh… come to think of it, the actress they chose does not look like you at all. You are much prettier!"

Nephis shifted and briefly glanced down. Then, she said evenly:

"Thank you."

After a while, she added:

"Why would they cast a child to play Sunny? What a strange decision. Only a complete fool could mistake him for a young boy."

Rain let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah! Yeah… definitely…"

She looked away in utter embarrassment, and then forced out:

"And what is up with that stupid catchphrase? That does not sound like something Sunny would say at all!"

Changing Star moved, suddenly becoming a little more lively.

"Oh, no. That actually happened. A lot!"

Dark City. The brief moment of liveliness passed, and

idiot directed that stupid

Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much

apparent relationship

it be… that there had been an actual

failed to glimpse anything from Changing Star's stoic face. The movie progressed, slowly reaching its

of the actor playing Sir Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the hand, he looked

but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns, humanity still has hope! The Dreamers of the Dark City have hope! As long as you live, I can face

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

is it getting hot in

Star's face. She looked at

however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

Turning around, the teenage girl noticed

'That's strange...'

her mouth to say

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector. Then, she

what was going to explode

the teenage girl was gone, Nephis was once again left alone in the empty house. She lingered for a bit, then went back into the guest bedroom and rummaged through Effie's closet. She had no clothes apart from the tracksuit that the Academy had issued to her, which was soaked with sweat after

were Memories, of course… but she had worn armor for the better part of the

other articles of Effie's

matters again felt

trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger. Then, she shifted uncomfortably, looked around, and took out the state-of-the-art communicator the government provided to

some