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 cold with each scene. Rain felt so uncomfortable that she

idiot

a 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 was shown about her relationship with the heroic

how her apparent relationship with Sunny

that there had been an actual love

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

the actor playing Sir Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty

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 you live, I can face

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

me, or is it

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

however, suddenly

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

thought that she smelled smoke. Turning around, the teenage girl noticed a thin stream

'That's strange...'

mouth to say something, but

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

only stayed for long enough to help Changing Star clean

knew what was

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

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

of Effie's clothing did not

such matters again felt very

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

some time, then tentatively accessed