Chapter 135: Little Sakura’s Determination

Changing room.

Tang Liuli’s departure cast a heavy silence over the room.

Kirimi Miyuki stood all alone in one spot.

In an instant, thoughts surged crazily in the quiet environment, countless suspicions arose, all the suppressed issues from the past surged and fluttered at this moment.

The girl pursed her lips, jealousy and suspicion mixed with unreasonable anger, intertwining into distorted emotions. She tried hard to swallow her grievances and sadness, but couldn’t help tightening the towel in her hand. In her lowered eyes, a dark paranoia burned like fire.

Why did this happen?

Clearly, whether teaming up with Little Qing or bathing together, should all have been very happy things.

Whether it was Xie Qingxuan’s words or Tang Liuli’s secret meeting with Chu Yuanqing, both pierced the heart like a sharp knife, causing a painful separation of flesh and blood. Intense possessiveness gave rise to a tangled mess of emotions, causing the recently calm state of mind to collapse once again.

If…

If they can do it, why can’t I?

The vibrant cherry blossom color in Kirimi Miyuki’s eyes, like a blowing snow in the light, momentarily revealed a fierce edge, but then gradually stripped away the color bit by bit in a tide-like sense of self-obliteration, fading into weakness and softness.

The hand clutching the towel slowly released.

Little Sakura quietly folded it neatly, placed it back on the bench, and remained silent with her eyes downcast.

Tang Liuli was right, their relationship was always like this. After reclaiming Chu Yuanqing into the team, the fragile alliance naturally fell apart, returning to a full state of competition.

No matter what progress the other party and Chu Yuanqing have made, there is no need to report back to oneself. Getting angry and questioning here will only lose dignity and grace, becoming a beast distorted by emotions and desires.

–Idols can have desires too.

But the condition is that this selfish desire won’t destroy Kirimi Miyuki’s own fantasy.

Kirimi Miyuki likes Chu Yuanqing.

This liking is a precious treasure that can make her cultivate a youthful and clear emotion that belongs to this age, as long as she sees it as a sediment of life, and can even interpret it into a more dazzling stage.

And such pure, youthful innocence, bright like a gem, filled with hopeful and longing beautiful feelings, should not be mixed with impurities called “possession” and “jealousy.”

Kirimi Miyuki looked serious and whispered softly:

“Liking someone is a personal matter.”

Nobody is perfect.

Maybe she can never completely eliminate those ugly desires of possession, jealousy, and anger in her heart.

But as long as she remains herself, the pure and persistent Kirimi Miyuki who hasn’t lost her initial intentions, she will never release similar emotions onto Chu Yuanqing, or towards her “competitors.”

Kirimi Miyuki closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered to herself:

“Maybe I should take a closer look at myself.”

Since she embarked on her dream-chasing journey at the age of 12, her life has been filled with work, school, training, and the challenging activities of being an idol.

It has been a full 7 years since then.

During these 7 years, she relied on her passion for idols and her desire for her dream, keeping herself in the idealized idol state, even creating the Perfect Interpretation Method as a tool to adjust her inner feelings.

But in the end, no matter how strong her personality is, or how much she loves the stage, there is a limit. She had no friends to confide in, or hobbies to relieve stress, and she suppressed herself for a long time, focusing all her attention on being an idol, which eventually led to some issues.

In reality, after being forced to disband her group, facing multiple setbacks, and being rejected by the Tokyo “Dazzling Stage” audition, she could clearly sense the changes in herself.

The most noticeable changes were her emotional instability and well-hidden paranoia.

In the idol industry, these issues can be masked by her love for the stage and strong self-control.

Especially after entering Sea City’s “Dazzling Stage”, she achieved success one after another, stepping onto bigger stages each time. She received more attention and love than the past 7 years combined, and her previous mental struggles gradually faded away.

After all, nothing is more healing than going from hardship to success.

At this stage, she was supposed to focus completely on her career, putting all her efforts into making a debut on the “Dazzling Stage” and becoming an idol watched by countless people on a national and global level.

Although that was indeed the case, part of her attention was still drawn to Chu Yuanqing, who theoretically was her competitor. This even influenced her important decision of choosing teammates.

Kirimi Miyuki began to question herself – she was not shallow or naive in love, nor did she have any previous inclinations towards romantic relationships with women. Why did she fall for Chu Yuanqing, crossing over her past beliefs?

Was it because Chu Yuanqing helped her when she was about to fall embarrassingly?

Was it because they shared very similar values, both placing great importance on the stage to a point that seemed foolish to others?

Was it the aura of warmth, charm, and goodness that Chu Yuanqing exuded, surpassing Kirimi Miyuki’s previous experiences?

Or perhaps it was Chu Yuanqing in a wedding dress, shining in the sea breeze and sunlight like a divine being descending to earth, with an eternal grace in her fleeting glance?

Kirimi Miyuki originally wanted to reflect on whether she really liked Chu Yuanqing by replaying what happened between them.

What comforted and embarrassed her at the same time was that the more she reflected, the clearer her feelings of love became, like ink spreading in her mind forming Chu Yuanqing’s smiling face, becoming tender and irresistible.

The girl pressed her lips together and continued to ponder.

She felt that there were still some elements that she couldn’t understand, those mysterious and elusive things that gave her a sense of fate, like a saint praying with certainty.

After a moment of thought, Kirimi Miyuki confidently came to a decision.

“It’s love.”

Falling in love with someone always has reasons that we can’t quite explain, and she realized that there were even more reasons beyond that, proving that this feeling was indeed what people called love.

And at this moment of reaching this conclusion, she suddenly remembered an old movie called “Zhong Wuyan,” and had a moment of realization.

The girl looked dazed and lost in thought.

That was a love movie, the story was very simple. It was about Zhong Wuyan and King Xuan of Qi falling in love. However, just as their destined relationship was about to happen, a fox who liked Zhong Wuyan appeared.

The fox’s love was pure yet savage. She used a love curse to make Zhong Wuyan ugly, forcing her to love the fox in return, or be ugly for the rest of her life. But Zhong Wuyan firmly refused.

Out of anger, the fox transformed into a beauty named Xia Yingchun and seduced King Xuan of Qi herself. She was sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, and strangely fell in love with both King Xuan of Qi and Zhong Wuyan, leading to a series of events.

What she remembered was a conversation between Zhong Wuyan and the fox.

– “What is love, really?”

– “Love is about giving everything to your beloved unconditionally, sacrificing all, just wanting to make them happy and joyful.”

– “No, love is about possession, destruction, and even ruining things, using any means to get what you want, not caring if the other person is hurt, breaking up when necessary, and burning bridges.”

The fox answered like that because she saw Zhong Wuyan’s love differently.

After Zhong Wuyan was affected by the love curse, she was repeatedly rejected by King Xuan of Qi for being ugly, even turned on and ended up in prison, and eventually, as King Xuan of Qi was addicted to gambling, she was used as a bet and lost.

Even though she was heartbroken and suggested a separation, deep down she still had sincere and foolish love.

Zhong Wuyan’s response straightforwardly expressed the little fox’s love, using the threat of a love spell to demand, which aligns with the idea of possessiveness, destruction, and ruthlessness.

Kirimi Miyuki didn’t understand when she first saw it, but now she somewhat grasped it. She realized her past emotional self was like a fragile little fox, on the verge of hurting the person she liked if she took a few more steps.

If this love would hurt Little Qing, can it still be considered love?

Love can contain desires, but love that cannot control desires is just a destructive fire.

The pink haze in Kirimi Miyuki’s eyes made her feel a mix of shame and understanding. She transcended the impure and narrow desires and made a profound decision in her heart.

Chu Yuanqing is very beautiful.

But if achieving this beauty comes at the cost of dragging gods into the mundane world, falling into a filthy swamp, and being turned into clay to be embraced, she would rather never come close to the other person.

The pretty face of the girl, once clouded with weariness and shadows, now revealed a sincere and cheerful smile. She whispered to herself in her heart:

“I don’t want to become the kind of person I used to dislike.”

“I’ve always chased after that perfect and shining idol, worthy of everyone’s love, even if I like someone, I will still stick to my principles.”

“So, even if it’s painful and difficult, I must not let my desires control me and hurt others.”

And miraculously, in this moment of determination, the “Cocoon of the Heart” inside the soul shone brightly, cleansing the turbulent emotions and making the heart purer. Like a gentle light bathing the self, even the Rose Oath taken off and put in the bag emitted colorful light.

Splash, splash.

The sound of invisible waves swept past her ears.

The rose bud blooming on the platinum earring seemed unreal for a moment, as if creating a deeper connection with her soul.

Kirimi Miyuki thought it was a trick of the mind, she regained her energy, brushed off the strange feeling like a baptism, and without paying too much attention to this detail, she confidently walked out of the changing room to find Chu Yuanqing.

…

…

At the same time, in the central chamber, unexpected data calculations caused the super AI named Dream Weaver to open its eyes in surprise as it looked at the status screen of the six Artificial Lanterns.

The Mobius loop showed a connection break, indicating complete fusion with the host’s soul.

The goddess Xie Qingxuan’s skirt was intricately wrapped in colorful black lines in the 3D image, signifying an accelerated fusion process through Plunder Shine and the dominant Heart Flow.

Following that, there were Tang Liuli in the early stages of forming the Cocoon of the Heart, the mainstream idol Kirimi Miyuki, and the closely matched pair Chen Yining and Ji Shuzhu.

One of the mainstream idols, deep in solitary contemplation, unexpectedly cleared away internal impurities and returned to a state of purity, surpassing Tang Liuli and catching up to Xie Qingxuan in a radiant holographic display of the Rose Oath.

It’s important to note that the fusion progress of the Lanterns represents the speed of witch cultivation.

Any increase in growth rate is a cause for celebration, as it is worthy of constant observation.

The crimson eyes of Dream Weaver Rabbit were filled with joy as it clapped its hands and exclaimed with a smile:

“Liang Xiaoxiao, because of you, created a special ‘Cocoon of the Heart’.”

“Tang Liuli, by being with you, completed the missing parts of the ‘Cocoon of the Heart’.”

“During the time Xie Qingxuan teamed up with you, the nurturing efficiency of the ‘Cocoon of the Heart’ increased by 679%, and after separating from you, she decided to accept her true self.”

“Even the most royal and pure idol reservist, on the second day of teaming up with you, shone brightly, significantly increasing the fusion progress of the lantern.”

“Was this a coincidence, or an unpredictable stroke of luck on the stage?”

“If this marvelous chemical reaction can continue to erupt, perhaps… Sea City could become one of the top three intense regions in the global ‘Dazzling Stage’ in the future.”

…

…

At 9:30 PM, in the dormitory.

Tang Liuli felt a bit sad as she moved her blanket to Chu Yuanqing’s room. She lay on the soft bed and forgot about her argument with Little Sakura. When she closed her eyes, all she could see in her mind was the view she saw in the bath.

The cat with green eyes blushed as she thought. She turned to the side, hugged her blanket, and moved the pillow aside. She pressed her face against the sheets Chu Yuanqing had slept on, wrinkling her nose like a small animal as she sniffed the scent. It felt as if she was burying her face in Chu Yuanqing’s chest, smelling milk and flowers.

This darn imagination!

Tang Liuli regretted a bit and thought she should talk to Little Qing about not taking the pillow and blanket. That way, it would be like sleeping together, and they would surely have sweet dreams.

Also…

“Little Qing’s body is so good, everything is big and her skin is smooth and soft. She looks flawless. Should I ask a nutritionist to design a diet and exercise plan for me to become more mature and beautiful?”

Tang Liuli daydreamed and felt anxious.

Today’s actions in the bath gave her important information, but her relationship with Chu Yuanqing did not progress at all. Even if she confessed to that Sakura girl, there was not much to show off.

Darn it, she should take the risk of being seen as a bad kid and give Chu Yuanqing a kiss!

And thinking about this,

The green-eyed cat felt a bit down, even if it got close to Mother Qing, it seemed like they couldn’t pull each other into an intimate distance, maybe even be wary enough to be put on a blacklist. In the future, even daily snuggles would become incredibly challenging.

“How should a girl pursue another girl?”

“In a normal heterosexual relationship, it involves chatting, giving gifts, taking care of each other, going out together, and eventually things will fall into place.”

“But when it comes to girls, it seems like doing those things doesn’t really stand out.”

“And when I think about it, at first it was fine, but now in my daily interactions with Honey Qing, I’m totally in the stage of being taken care of. Forget about trying to pursue her, it feels like I’m the one being pursued, right?”

Tang Liuli was getting more and more frustrated, she felt like she should go ask Honey Moon.

Little Wang Shu was a smart and excellent student, who might have some wise advice to offer, but unfortunately she couldn’t ask today, as the other party was enjoying bedtime stories read by Mother Qing.

As for why she knew so accurately…

After developing her talent in “Heart Flow”, it had evolved into a range skill and domain skill. Now, just a wall away, nothing could stop her from stealing motherly love!

Tang Liuli felt more and more proud, showing a slightly inflated but lovely smile. She believed her talent was becoming more extraordinary, and she was confident that one day, even from halfway across Daxia, she could steal Honey Qing’s motherly love.

If she were to share it with the world, allowing everyone to enjoy this Godly Qing’s compassion, it would truly be a great ability capable of saving the world!

Even though she would only secretly indulge in it herself, it didn’t diminish the immense power of this skill!

Can that silly dog do it? Can that fierce Sakura girl do it?

Winwinwin! She had already won too many times!

Tang Liuli contentedly rubbed against the bedsheets, completing her bedtime spiritual victory ritual. She closed her eyes, indulging in the illusory joy of being a winner, slowly drifting into dreams.

…

…

On the other side,

Chu Yuanqing closed the fairy tale book in her hand, she glanced at her adorable daughter’s sleeping face, gently stroked the hair strands on her forehead with her fingertips, her rosy lips moved silently, said goodnight, then pulled back the blanket on one side of the bed, ready to lie down to sleep.

– Knock, knock, knock.

And with the faint sound of knocking on the door, an unexpected guest entered the father and daughter’s room.

It was Kirimi Miyuki.