While Haxxor Bunny and Caelus-the-rabbit-bear were conspiring together over the fine art of latching onto a rich woman and calling it self-reliance, the others had already finished field-testing the properties of the Synthesizer Pen.
After personal observation and taste-testing by the unimpeachable expert in the field of coffee — Sister Himeko herself — a verdict was reached: the "ink" inside the Synthesizer Pen actually contained coffee. Or rather, it simply was coffee. And quite good coffee at that.
The amount of "ink" that could be squeezed out far exceeded the capacity of any normal pen cartridge. A full ten cups' worth of coffee-ink were extracted before it finally ran dry — and it slowly refilled over time after being infused with Path energy. In the hands of a Pathstrider, this little trinket was essentially an infinite-ink pen.
As for the last discovered property — how, exactly, was that one found out?
"Waaaah! Nooooo!"\
March 7th's snow-pale cheeks were smudged with ink, bearing a lopsided little ink-black turtle, its shell additionally graced with a tic-tac-toe grid courtesy of Stelle. Her face had flushed crimson all the way to the roots of her hair. Her soft white hands were clamped around Stelle's neck, hoisting half of the girl bodily off the sofa so she arched over the armrest like a bridge:
"This is all your fault! It won't come off now! What am I supposed to do?!"\
"But I let you draw one back on me," Stelle argued, entirely unrepentant, a pink piglet doodled on her own left cheek.
"I don't want to draw on you! I want you to wipe this off me!"\
March 7th grabbed Stelle's collar and shook her with furious abandon.
"I — I genuinely didn't know it wouldn't wipe off."\
The Stellaron spirit muttered weakly, casting desperate SOS glances at Old Yang, Himeko, and Dan Heng.
She'd just looked at Ah Qi's face — so fair, so soft — and her hand holding the pen had moved entirely of its own accord. By the time she came back to herself, the little turtle was already finished.
"I don't care!"\
"If you don't get this drawing off my face today, then… heh…"\
In that instant, the March 7th in Stelle's eyes transformed into a dark silhouette — hair billowing in a windless room, the image of a gnashing, clawing vengeful spirit.
Himeko and Old Yang naturally had no intention of intervening. Stelle had started it, after all. Dan Heng simply picked up his phone and took two photos.
Since when had that thick-browed, wide-eyed boy gone so rotten?!
"Ah Qi, calm down — calm down!"\
"I'm sorry! I apologize!"\
"Hmph. If apologies were worth anything, what would we need the Cloud Knights for?"\
Stelle's survival instincts hit maximum overdrive. She snapped taut like a bowstring and threw her head back in a heroic cry:
"At the pinnacle of art, sovereign above all — so long as this Stelle-cub lives, the sky shall not fall! Caelus-cub, save me!"\
"Pfft—!"\
From Caelus's angle, the ink turtle on March 7th's cheek actually made even her furious expression look ridiculously adorable. He couldn't hold it together.
"Hahahaha~!"\
"Little Turtle March and Little Piggy Stelle! You two are perfect for each other!"\
The laughter rang out unrestrained, growing louder and louder. The ink turtle on March 7th's right cheek seemed to tighten. The pink piglet on Stelle's left cheek seemed to twitch.
Blue-pink and molten-gold eyes met across the air — and in that instant, both girls went very, very still. Their pretty faces settled into matching expressions of absolute blankness.
March 7th released Stelle. Stelle didn't run. Instead, she fell into step beside March 7th, and together they fixed Caelus with a silent, razor-sharp stare.
"What are you two planning?"\
Caelus clocked the shift immediately. Quick as a flash, he scooped up Haxxor Bunny and positioned her in front of himself as a human shield.
Stelle and March 7th exchanged a glance: "If everyone gets a drawing on their face, then it's the same as no one having one!"\
Before the words were even finished, Stelle had already snatched up the coffee-stained pen and bolted — flashing March 7th a tactical hand signal on the way.
"Ah Qi — seal the exits!"\
The synergy honed through countless pillow-fight campaigns kicked in instantly. March 7th understood without a word, and with a flick of her wrist, Six-Phased Ice spires erupted from the floor and sealed every door in the room.
Haxxor Bunny, hauled in front of Caelus as a meat-shield against her will, watched Stelle charging toward her. She snapped her grey eyes wide open and raised one small hand in a crisp French military salute:
"Wait! I'm innocent!"\
"Kekeke~ Innocent?"\
Silver hair swept into an arrogant arc. The features that could only be described as stunning suddenly contorted into a textbook Jounouchi-style ahegao face.
"Pfft — cough!"\
That expression, paired with the inky little piglet on her cheek, cracked Haxxor Bunny wide open. A laugh burst out of her before she could stop it.
"Who dares claim innocence? Who can truly deny all blame? Not even seen at the twilight of ages."\
Coffee pen leveled like a sword at the heavens, Stelle struck the pose of an ancient xia wanderer and spoke with slow gravity — sharp and weathered, as though an emperor were stepping forth from the distant past.
"And besides — you laughed. You're not innocent anymore!"\
The distance was nothing. At full sprint, Stelle crossed it in just over a second.
Haxxor Bunny, still weak from laughing, was caught. The pen descended. The tip of the pen scratched swoosh swoosh across her tender cheek, leaving behind a simple line drawing of a bunny.
"Son of a—!"\
The swearing Haxxor Bunny was flung aside. Stelle swept up the coffee pen with a contemptuous smirk and advanced on the cornered Caelus.
Physically, Caelus was at an absolute disadvantage. Unless they were in bed with Stelle's happy-stacks multiplied to the point her mind was thoroughly scrambled, close-quarters combat with Stelle was a guaranteed loss.
"You really want to do this? I know how to wipe the ink off."\
Caelus crossed his arms — calm, unhurried.
The pen tip, descending toward Caelus's cheek, froze. The eyes that had been brimming with mischief and gleeful menace softened into crescent moons in an instant. The pen swooshed back into Stelle's skirt pocket. She threw an arm around Caelus's shoulder:
"Hah, if you knew how to fix it, you could've said so earlier."\
"Can you — can you actually get it off? The little turtle on my face."\
Stelle's offensive triggered March 7th's passive. She activated Beautiful Girl's Privilege as a follow-up attack — tiptoeing forward, she hugged Caelus's arm with both hands.
"Sister Himeko and Uncle Yang tried everything and nothing worked."\
"The pen's 'ink' is strange — it has some inexplicably tenacious quality. It'd be worth studying properly sometime," Himeko remarked with a light smile.
In the Space Station, she could probably fill a hundred-odd academic papers on the subject.
"It's actually pretty simple. Sister Himeko said the ink is essentially coffee — so then—"\
Caelus smiled. And before March 7th could react, he leaned in and licked the turtle-shaped ink mark on her cheek. Twice.
It was only after the warmth left her cheek that March 7th processed what had just happened. A tide of red flushed up her neck and onto her face.
"You — you you you—!"\
Before she could finish her sentence of outrage, March 7th caught sight of Stelle across from her — eyes gone slightly wide, the most adorably dumbstruck little expression on her face.
"It's — it's gone!"\
"...Huh?"\
She wiped the spot where Caelus's saliva had been, pulled out her pocket mirror, and checked. The ink turtle had vanished without a trace.
"It's really gone… yay!"\
March 7th cheered and bounced — then turned and thwapped Caelus's shoulder with her little fists in rapid succession, though the force was about as threatening as bumping into a marshmallow: "Was it so hard to tell us that first?"\
The main issue was that everyone had been watching — and Caelus had licked her cheek… she was so embarrassed!
"Since the ink is fundamentally coffee, it can be… 'drunk' off?" Welt murmured, apparently giving this serious thought.
"And why didn't you say this from the very beginning?"\
March 7th planted her hands on her hips, eyebrows arched high in accusation.
"Because I only just thought of it under Stelle's life-threatening pressure," Caelus said with a shrug. He reached out and pinched both of March 7th's cheeks — only to have his hands promptly smacked away.
"You are terrible, and I am never believing a word you say again!"\
March 7th shot him a reproachful glare.
"Caelus-cub, do mine first."\
Stelle grabbed Caelus's collar and pressed her cheek — still bearing its ink-black piglet — right up against him. Unlike March 7th, she didn't show a scrap of embarrassment.
"Call me daddy."\
"Dad~dy~!"\
The voice that came out was so cloying and performatively saccharine that Caelus stuck out his tongue in an exaggerated gag — but he wiped the coffee-ink off her face all the same.
"Born between heaven and earth, how could this Stellaron spirit stoop to living beneath another for so long?!"\
And just as Caelus had fully expected — the moment the piglet was gone, Stelle turned on him. She whipped out the coffee pen and aimed it straight at his face.
"Heh. Always knew you had rebellion in your heart."\
Caelus grabbed March 7th and promoted her to his new human shield, and the two of them launched into a merry chase around the room.
Whether it was the tongue-licking technique for removing the ink, or the whiplash speed of Stelle's betrayal — all of it left Haxxor Bunny staring slack-jawed at the mirror, watching the little ink rabbit on her own face.
"What about me? What about me, the entirely innocent bystander collateral?!"\
Miss Haxxor Bunny had a powerful urge to channel her inner Zuo'an rager.
She still had no idea what this coffee-ink stuff even was.
She'd already tried using Aether Editing to modify the marks on her face — it worked, but agonizingly slowly.
Was she really going to have to ask Caelus to use his tongue too?
[I have no objections.]
Bronie, the body's true owner, chimed in right on cue.
"..."\
She had objections, thank you very much!
How was that any different from being kissed?
If she absolutely had to pick a boy to do it — it couldn't be helped, it would be the only option if the ink never came off on its own — Miss Haxxor Bunny supposed she'd pick Caelus. He was the only viable choice.
But if anyone was available? Obviously she'd find Seele to help!
The ink was essentially saliva — or rather, it required someone to "drink" the coffee off.
This might actually be an opportunity.
Well played, Stelle! And Sensei too!
You've done me a great service!
Her fingers unconsciously worried the cuff of her jacket sleeve. Haxxor Bunny snuck a glance at Seele's fair, adorable face — swallowed quietly, her voice coming out just a touch dry:
"Um… th-that… Seele… could you h-help me wipe the ink off my face?"\
"B-Bronie-sis… s-sure."\
The response was soft, trailing off gently. Seele's fingers curled around the lace hem of her skirt. Dark-blue hair fell slightly forward, just enough to veil the tips of her lashes — as if she were trying to hide a blush behind that curtain.
The adorably flustered sight sent a flutter straight through Haxxor Bunny's chest.
What she didn't see was the faint curve at the corner of the girl's lips as she turned her head.
Still me~ thought Caelus-Seele.
"Th-then… I'll leave it to you, Seele."\
Miss Haxxor Bunny's heart was singing. She wrestled her soaring spirits under control — heart thundering, knees barely steady — and took quick steps to Seele's side.
"Bronie-sis… c-could you close your eyes for me?"\
A faint blush bloomed across Seele's cheeks, tinting her pale face with something almost coy.
Do you understand what it means to deserve an acting award? (Tactical lean-back.)
"Oh — okay!"\
Haxxor Bunny nodded eagerly. Seele's personality was shy about this sort of thing, obviously!
She had to be considerate.
"You absolutely cannot open your eyes, okay~?"\
"I solemnly swear I won't."\
Haxxor Bunny made the promise with the gravity of a vow. Her own face had gone faintly pink. She closed her eyes — waiting, like a girl expecting a kiss.
The shy act vanished. Seele looked at the Haxxor Bunny standing there with her eyes shut, awaiting the sensation — and felt a wave of pure delight. She drew a breath and blew a soft puff of air.
The warm breath, laden with Seele's heat, drifted across Haxxor Bunny's face. She seemed to tense slightly.
Hehe~ This is so much fun~!
Seele was thoroughly pleased with herself.
The little bunny was being toyed with in the palm of Seele's hand!
She was already planning to snap a photo of herself kissing Bronie-sis on her phone, then wait until Haxxor Bunny had grown up a little more — at which point Caelus could forward the photo to Silver Wolf, and they'd all get to watch two hackers wage all-out war until the edges of the network itself crumbled and the very protocols dissolved!
Seele could cheer them on at that point — or rather, cry out "Stop fighting, you two!" — perfectly recreating a legendary scene for the ages.
As Lü Xiaobu once famously declared: "Nothing I enjoy more than watching women fight!"
Two hacker girls going at each other's throats would surely have its own unique flavor entirely.
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