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!"

passed, and instead, Changing Star seemed to grow more rigid and

of idiot directed that

a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much of what was shown

how her apparent relationship

that there had been an actual love

Star's stoic face. The movie progressed, slowly reaching

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

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 you live, I can face a thousand

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

it me, or is it getting

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

projection, however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

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.

***

stayed for long enough to help Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector. Then, she found an excuse, grabbed her backpack, and hurriedly

what was

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

she had worn armor for the better part of the last three

Sunny's 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

matters again

sat 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 out the state-of-the-art

stared at it for some time, then tentatively