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!"

the Dark City. The brief moment of liveliness passed, and instead, Changing Star seemed to grow more rigid and cold with each scene. Rain felt so uncomfortable that she could not bring herself to

idiot directed that stupid

bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much of

how her apparent relationship with Sunny

been an actual love triangle

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

and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the hand, he looked her in the

not matter… but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns,

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

or is

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

however, suddenly

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

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

'That's strange...'

to say something, but before she

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

help Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector.

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

Memories, of course… but she had worn armor for the better part of the last three years. Putting on something

shirt on, she 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 to do

again felt

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

at it for some