Chapter 185 – Love Is a Battlefield

“Tongtong! You are not allowed to argue with everyone!”

As the Yuri situation grew tense, Yang Shanshan urgently told her sister through telepathy to calm down, sit, and talk things out.

“Oh, Sis…” Yang Tongtong sounded like she was watching someone hopelessly unwilling to help herself. “Don’t you understand yet? Love is a battlefield!”

“We live standing tall-we never die on our knees!”

“Just give me permission, Sis, and I’ll kill every last one of these interloping wicked women right now.”

Yang Shanshan was at a loss for words.

Was their perfectly nice fishing trip about to turn into murder and body disposal?

“No fighting! And no arguing!” Yang Shanshan knew she couldn’t outtalk her sister, but she could still issue a firm command.

As if someone had shut off her engine, Yang Tongtong sat back down.

The tense Yuri situation eased at once.

Lin Xi was still utterly lost. Hadn’t everyone been happily eating fish just one minute ago?

“Lin Xi,” Yang Tongtong asked, “does the promise of an extra reward still count?”

Every eye turned toward Lin Xi.

Now all the pressure was on her.

Her stomach began hurting for no apparent reason…

Why does it feel like every last one of them wants to eat me alive??? Am I imagining things???

Don’t tell me they’re all afraid to sleep alone and want to share my tent?

B-but there’s only one of me! And I only have one tent!

They can’t exactly divide me up, can they???

Faced with this impossible problem, Lin Xi chose to give up on life entirely… as if!

No more being a pushover!

Stand tall!

Lin Xi rose and declared with grave seriousness, “A promise is a promise. We agreed on an extra reward, so we have to honor it.”

“Yay!-” Yang Tongtong flaunted her triumph before the other “losers.”

The instant Lin Xi finished speaking, Zhao Xinning said, “Xi, I’m afraid to sleep in a tent by myself too…”

Oh. Well, this was-

“All right. You can stay with us too, Xinning.”

Lin Xi was willing to give Angel-sama special treatment outside the agreed rules.

“Then what about me?!” Xia Xun was visibly angry.

“A Magical Girl is afraid to sleep alone in a tent?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can share with Shi Yu or Lu Yi.”

Xia Xun had no answer.

Lin Xi thought she had resolved the problem perfectly, yet Xia Xun, Shi Yu, and Lu Yi all looked distinctly unhappy.

Even Yang Tongtong seemed displeased that Lin Xi had let Xinning join them.

“Why don’t you just divide me up? You can each take a piece back to your tent,” Lin Xi joked.

Warming up a tense atmosphere with a cold joke was her specialty.

“Good idea!” An ice blade materialized in Xia Xun’s hand.

Lin Xi had no comeback.

“I want the head,” Shi Yu said expressionlessly.

“I want the biggest piece,” Lu Yi said expressionlessly.

The trio of “losing heroines” all wore blank faces.

Lin Xi’s own face was considerably more animated. Shock came first, followed by a miserable smile.

“That was just a cold joke. You three are joking too… right?”

Xia Xun, Shi Yu, and Lu Yi stared at her in silence. Sweat poured down Lin Xi’s back.

This godforsaken dump called Z City isn’t fit to live in for another day!

“Um, aren’t we camping for two days?”

“Tonight, I’ll share a tent with Shanshan, Little Sister Tongtong, and Xinning.”

“Tomorrow night, I’ll share with you three. Problem solved, right?”

The ice blade in Xia Xun’s hand vanished as though it had never existed. “Honestly, don’t be so nervous. I was only joking.”

Shi Yu concurred, “I was but jesting just now.”

Lu Yi said, “If we’re dividing up Lin Xi, I still want the largest piece.”

Lin Xi had run out of things to say.

You silly cat. Everyone else was obviously joking, and the unfunny cold joke was already over.

After surviving that life-or-death question, everyone sat down in harmony and resumed eating fish.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Sigh-

As if nothing had happened…

Lin Xi’s mood was heavy and complicated.

Of all these girls, only Xinning and Shanshan had never confessed their feelings to her. Xia Xun was her prospective girlfriend, Shi Yu her backup girlfriend, Yang Tongtong had wanted to get a room with her at a love hotel, and Lu Yi… was a silly Neko…

Sigh-

…

After lunch, everyone split up to handle different chores. Lin Xi and Zhao Xinning went to the stream together to wash the dishes.

“You really are popular, Xi,” Zhao Xinning said. “Not so long ago, I was the only friend you had.”

“You’ve changed so much. It almost feels… as though you’ve become a completely different person.”

Lin Xi paused.

She really had become a different person.

The Cuddle Witch had been shot dead…

The memory of being shot by her younger sister was the only memory of the Cuddle Witch that Lin Xi possessed.

In other words, Zhao Xinning knew far more about what the Cuddle Witch had once been like than Lin Xi herself did.

“I… I suppose I have changed.” Lin Xi laughed awkwardly. “People are always growing and changing, aren’t they?”

“That’s true. But no matter how much you change, Xi, you’ll always be the very best Xi in my heart.”

“Thanks, Xinning. You’re the very best Xinning in my heart too.”

Warmth spread through Lin Xi’s chest. Being with Angel-sama always filled her with an inexplicable warmth.

A warmth that was both inexplicable and somehow special…

Do I… like Angel-sama?

Not the way I like a friend, but as something more than that???

For one fleeting moment, Lin Xi’s heartbeat lost its rhythm…

“Master,” the Queen of Curses reported at the perfect moment, “Lin Xi appears to have suddenly developed feelings for you that go beyond friendship.”

“What???!!!” Zhao Xinning, crouched by the stream scrubbing a plate, nearly shot to her feet in excitement.

“If you don’t confess now, when will you?” the Queen of Curses urged.

Zhao Xinning calmed herself again. “Are you only claiming Xi suddenly has feelings for me because you want me to confess to her?”

“No. Why would I ever lie to you?”

“Then… should I really confess right now?”

Zhao Xinning’s plan had been to eliminate the pests first, then nurture her relationship with Lin Xi and confess only once her odds of success reached 99.9 percent.

How could a childhood friend with such an enormous advantage be this cautious?!

The Queen of Curses found Zhao Xinning far too timid. “Master, Yang Tongtong was right about one thing: love is a battlefield.”

“You can’t wait until your chance of victory reaches 99.9 percent before committing all your forces. Conditions on a battlefield can change in an instant. You must seize the opportunity when it comes.”

“And this is an excellent opportunity.”

“Really???” Zhao Xinning still lacked confidence. “What are my odds if I launch the offensive now?”

The Queen of Curses considered it. “Around ninety percent. I can’t know what Lin Xi is truly thinking, after all. I can only sense some of her emotions.”

“Only ninety percent?!” Zhao Xinning wavered.

“Ninety percent isn’t enough?!” the Queen of Curses shot back.

To Zhao Xinning, any odds below ninety-nine percent constituted a major “military gamble.”

“Take the gamble,” said the Queen of Curses. “A bicycle could turn into a motorcycle.”

Zhao Xinning did not dignify that with an answer.

She turned toward Lin Xi just as Lin Xi looked her way.

Their eyes met.

Both girls blushed.

A girl’s blush spoke more eloquently than any words of love.