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!"

and instead, Changing Star seemed to grow more rigid and

of idiot directed

Lady

how her apparent relationship with Sunny

been an actual love

failed to glimpse anything from Changing Star's stoic face. The movie

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

me, my lady. My life does not matter… but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns,

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

is

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

projection, however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

smelled smoke. Turning around, the teenage

'That's strange...'

to say something, but before

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

to help Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned

was going to explode

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

course… but she had worn armor for the better part of the last three years. Putting on something mundane was strangely

Sunny's shirt on, she found a pair of gym shorts to match it. Sadly, other articles of Effie's

again felt

while, trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger. Then, she shifted uncomfortably, looked around, and took out the

for some