My ex-girlfriend is a magical girl junior?

Chapter 257 A Small "Compensation"

Liuli noticed that Xingshuang had fallen into a long silence after hearing the request, so with some hesitation and unease, she slowly straightened up.

She carefully shone her light on the other person's delicate face, only to see a troubled expression that made her heart sink.

As expected—it still doesn't work?

This thought was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, completely extinguishing the courage and hope she had just mustered.

"Senpai—" Her voice suddenly broke into an uncontrollable sob, and her eyes quickly reddened. "I—I know, I'm sorry—"

Xing Shuang, who was frantically brainstorming and thinking of various solutions, was startled by this sudden, tearful voice.

She immediately snapped out of her reverie, looked at the girl before her with reddened eyes and on the verge of tears, and waved her hand somewhat frantically to comfort her, "Liuli, it's not like that! You've misunderstood!"

"I understand," Liuli shook her head vigorously, forcing out a smile that looked worse than crying. "It was my request that was too abrupt and too willful—"

"After all, the true identity of a magical girl is not something that can be told to others casually. The three of us are in special circumstances, so it's perfectly normal that you don't want to—senpai."

As Liuli spoke, she tried her best to hold back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes, but the unruly, glistening tears still quietly slid down the contours of her fair cheeks.

The way she was trying so hard not to cry, yet was heartbroken to the extreme, was incredibly endearing.

"Sigh—" Seeing this, Xing Shuang sighed in her heart, filled with helplessness and heartache.

She reached out her slender hand, clad in a pearl-white glove, and gently wiped away the tear stains on the other's cheek. Then, she asked softly, "Liuli, aren't you curious—why I never asked you from the beginning why you needed someone else to accompany you even when meeting your own father?"

"Eh?"

Upon hearing this unexpected question, Liuli was instantly stunned.

She instantly recalled the entire process in her mind and was shocked to realize that she had indeed—never told the other party the specific reasons for her family problems.

And as Xing Shuang said, she didn't ask even a single related question.

Generally speaking, before refusing or hesitating, a normal person should at least subconsciously ask for a reason.

Xing Shuang looked at Liu Li's adorable face filled with confusion, reached out and gently stroked her smooth, ear-length hair, and continued softly, "Actually, I already knew about your father; Lin Che told me."

"Did he—tell the senior?" Liuli stared blankly at Xingshuang, unable to react for a moment.

"Yes." Xingshuang nodded affirmatively, continuing to weave this well-intentioned lie.

"You all know that there has always been a special connection between him and me. And what we exchanged included not only various intelligence about the enemy, but also occasionally—something about you."

"Lin Che said that he was very worried about you, and he was also worried that if I didn't know the truth, I might inadvertently say something that would hurt you when we talked."

"That's why he took it upon himself to tell me everything after learning about those things."

When Xing Shuang finished speaking, her expression hesitated. She carefully observed Liu Li's reaction and continued in a slightly apologetic tone, "Personally—I don't think his behavior is honorable. After all, it involves your very important personal privacy."

.

"Although I hope you can try not to blame him, but—if you really get angry because of this, I think—he probably won't defend himself either."

"No, how could I possibly get angry over something like that?!"

After realizing what was happening, Liuli immediately shook her head vigorously and retorted urgently.

If it were a stranger, or someone she wasn't very familiar with, prying into her past that she didn't want to remember, she would naturally feel angry and offended.

But if it's the one who always cares about you unconditionally—

If it were him, out of a desire to protect his own self-esteem, he would have told these unspeakable things to another senior who also cared about him. She would not have felt angry at all; on the contrary, she would have felt a touch of sweetness.

So, he cares about me even more than I imagined?

Thinking of this, Liuli's cheeks unconsciously flushed a beautiful blush, and even her ears felt a little hot.

"That's good."

Xing Shuang looked at her somewhat shy expression and visibly breathed a sigh of relief. She then immediately straightened up and brought the topic back on track: "Liu Li, my hesitation in answering your request is not because I am unwilling to help you, but because I feel that Lin Che is a more suitable candidate than me in this matter."

"He—is a more suitable candidate than my senior?" Ruri murmured in disbelief, never expecting to hear such a statement from her senior.

"Um.

""

Xing Shuang nodded with unwavering determination: "What you need is someone—someone who can make you feel absolutely safe in front of that irresponsible father—to be with you."

"Lin Che can definitely do that."

"But—he's just a high school student, not a mature adult like you, senior," Ruri said hesitantly.

In her opinion, it was a bit too much to ask a boy of the same age to face such an adult.

Xing Shuang shook her head slightly, a mysterious smile on her face: "I would say he is a more suitable candidate, because—a few days ago he secretly met with your father, and—he even had a rather unfriendly exchange with him."

"That time, he didn't show the slightest bit of fear."

"How could that be?! When did that happen?!" Liuli's eyes widened instantly, her face filled with surprise.

Xing Shuang smiled and replied, "For more specific details, you can ask him in person when you meet him later. If he doesn't agree to your request then, just come find me again."

"Although I dare say—the possibility of that kind of thing is basically zero."

Hearing Senior Xingshuang's incredibly firm tone, Liu-Li nodded vigorously, and all the worry and fear she had about tomorrow's matter vanished in an instant.

Yes—since Senior Xing Shuang said so, and since it was him who accompanied me to see that man back then—

So what do I have to be afraid of?

Seeing Liuli's reaction, Xingshuang finally relaxed.

While she was pondering, she astutely grasped the real essence of the other party's request: the need for a reliable person to accompany her to see her father.

And that person could be Xing Shuang, or of course—it could be Lin Che.

Judging from Liuli's description of "a mature adult", the other party is simply worried that "Lin Che", as a high school student, will not be able to handle the pressure of facing an adult.

For him, as a reborn individual, this matter was actually not a problem at all.

So as long as—as long as Liuli believes that Lin Che can do the same thing, then there's no need for me to worry about those complicated thoughts about the "new identity".

At that moment, she suddenly heard Liuli's voice again: "However, Senior Xingshuang—"

Xing Shuang turned her head and saw that the other person had a sly smile on their face, looking like they were longing for something.

"Since you said before that I could rely on you without worry, yet you handed this responsibility over to him—can I—ask you for some small compensation?"

Xing Shuang shook her head helplessly as she looked at Liu Li's familiar face, thinking to herself: This child—how did she learn Yu Qing's move exactly as it was?

But then, she smiled and replied in a doting tone, "Okay, what kind of compensation do you want?"

Do you want me to pat your head, or... hold you for a little while?

With her hands behind her back, Liuli walked forward with light steps, her sly smile growing even brighter.

"I want all of those, but right now—"

She walked up to Xing Shuang, and under the slightly puzzled gaze of the other, she suddenly stood on tiptoe and leaned forward slightly.

The soft, warm touch was fleeting, disappearing as soon as it touched Xingshuang's cheek.

"Chirp~"

A moment later, Ruri straightened up, slowly removing her lips from Xingshuang's cheek with an incredibly sweet smile: "This time, what I want—is more than just this, senpai~"

"Eh?"

For a moment, Xing Shuang was completely unaware of what had happened.

She instinctively reached out and covered her cheek where she had just been kissed, feeling the lingering warmth and fragrance. She was completely stunned.

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