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!"

of liveliness passed, and instead,

kind of idiot directed

handsome young man with broad shoulders and a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much of what

relationship with Sunny

there had been an

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

wall, the masculine face of the actor playing Sir Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the

cry for me, my lady. My life does not matter… 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

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

me, or is it

muscle moved on Changing Star's face. She looked at the projection with

however, suddenly

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

she smelled smoke. Turning around, the teenage girl noticed a thin stream of it rising from inside Sunny's

'That's strange...'

to say something,

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

to help Changing Star clean up the debris of

knew what was going to

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

but she had worn armor for the better part

found a pair of gym shorts to match it. Sadly, other articles of Effie's clothing did not fit her too well. She was going to have

again felt very

deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger. Then, she shifted uncomfortably, looked around,

some time, then tentatively accessed the