CRACK!!!
Shiroyasha's petite figure instantly froze, petrified on the spot as if turned to stone.
After finally mustering the courage to overcome her shame and strike such a pose, she had been walked in on. Twice.
Black Rabbit was one thing.
The simple-minded, timid bunny girl could be easily intimidated into keeping a secret. Besides, she was Su Mo's subordinate now, so she was one of them. Once Shiroyasha became the main wife, Black Rabbit would be one of her handmaidens, so it didn't matter if she saw.
But she never, ever expected an outsider to burst in at this moment, especially an old acquaintance.
At this realization, the light completely faded from Shiroyasha's eyes. She finally understood the true meaning of social suicide.
And at that very moment, the unexpected intruder proceeded to beat her corpse.
"You-you-you, who are you! Are you really Shiroyasha?"
Kurma stumbled backward, an expression of utter disbelief on her face. She almost bit her tongue in shock. The idiot Shiroyasha is nowhere near this cute! And she would never try to please someone like this! Even if she's in love, she wouldn't be this subservient!
Fake! It's all fake!
"Little Kong-Kong, I think we've stumbled into some kind of powerful illusion!" Kurma said to the golden-haired girl beside her, her face pale with alarm.
"C-calm down! World Ki—Little Kurma, I know you're anxious, but try not to be anxious," Sun Wukong, who had followed her in, said as she took in the same scene. Having had plenty of interactions with Shiroyasha herself, the shock on her face was no less than Kurma's.
Even as she urged calmness, she ignited her Fiery Golden Eyes, clearly suspecting that this was an illusion or that she was dreaming.
However, after her illusion-piercing gaze scanned the surroundings, she found no trace of falsehood.
She couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from her brow. "I know you might not believe this—hell, I barely believe it myself—but everything we're seeing seems to be real!"
"You're saying this is real?!" Kurma's small mouth fell open.
Although she had considered the possibility—after all, few illusions in the world could affect a being of her level—the idea that this was reality was even harder to swallow than the existence of some mysterious Gift that could affect a Full Authority Domain.
After all…
"Th-th-th-that's Shiroyasha!" Kurma stammered, overwhelmed with emotion as she pointed a slender finger at the white-stockinged loli before them.
"How can a Shiroyasha this cute possibly exist in this world?"
"And how could Shiroyasha possibly dress up like this just to please a man?"
"There's a limit to being love-struck! To say that unfeminine idiot Shiroyasha would turn into this... you might as well tell me you're God!"
Her string of loud questions made the already petrified Shiroyasha tremble slightly, inflicting additional trauma on her fragile little heart.
Noticing this detail, and seeing how Kurma was struggling to accept reality, Sun Wukong tried to placate her. "Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth. It's perfectly normal for couples to spice things up a bit!"
Couples?
The word brought a flicker of warmth back to Shiroyasha's expression, a tiny bit of life returning to her. Is that how others see my relationship with Su Mo?
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong continued, "As for you being God, I certainly can't believe that. After all..." She raised her head and looked toward the man with black hair and black eyes sitting on the throne, calmly watching the scene unfold. She spread her hands. "...the real deal is right in front of us!"
Prompted by her reminder, Kurma finally snapped out of it and turned her gaze to Su Mo, the target of her visit.
Confirming that everything happening was indeed real, Kurma took a deep breath. Her gaze on the black-haired, black-eyed man shifted from confusion to shock, then to admiration, and finally to a reverence akin to looking up at a towering mountain.
Finally, with an incredibly serious and sincere tone, she shouted, "Teacher!"
"Huh?"
The sudden cry left not only Black Rabbit and Sun Wukong completely bewildered, but even Su Mo and the shame-feigning Shiroyasha found it strange. Teacher? What does she mean?
As if sensing their confusion, the silver-haired loli walked toward Su Mo with the piety of a mortal on a pilgrimage to their god. She clasped her hands before her chest, looked up at him, and her eyes sparkled.
"Teacher Su Mo! Please accept little Kurma as your disciple! I want to learn your methods for training Shiroyasha, too! I never thought someone could train that idiot into such an obedient and adorable loli... Please, teach me! Little Kurma will do anything!"
So that's what she meant by 'teacher'!
Realizing what the silver-haired loli was getting at, Su Mo felt a little speechless. Before he could say anything, a surge of immense power exploded from behind Kurma.
Su Mo looked toward the source of the power with an amused expression, making no move to defend. Kurma, however, seemed to realize something, and a cold sweat broke out on her back.
The petite, silver-haired loli froze, then slowly turned her head, attempting to explain. "Shiroya, you don't have to be shy. I'm not learning this to use it against you—"
But before she could finish, her peripheral vision caught sight of Shiroyasha, who now radiated the aura of a demon from hell, and the giant star beast she had just hurled at her.
BOOM!
The sound of a celestial collision shook the very earth, its aftershock altering the flow of the planet's ley lines.
A second later, Shiroyasha's shamed and furious roar echoed throughout Arcadia.
"Damn you! Who are you calling an idiot who's been trained to be inseparable from Su Mo?!"
The world fell silent.
A few seconds later, Shiroyasha realized what she had just said. What should have been a secret known only to the few people in the hall had now been broadcasted by her own mouth.
"Uuu..." A cry of shame and indignation escaped her lips. Doesn't this mean everyone in Little Garden will now think I'm an idiot trained by Su Mo?
This was no longer just social suicide among acquaintances; this was social suicide across all of Little Garden.
At this realization, Shiroyasha's eyes lost their light once more, like a robot that had just been powered down.
However, just before the light vanished completely, a hand that was both incredibly familiar and immensely reassuring rested on her head. "Don't mind it. At the very least, this outfit really does suit you. You look very cute."
"R-Really?"
Praise from Su Mo instantly revived Shiroyasha's spirits. Kurma's "love-struck" assessment was proving surprisingly accurate. Even in the face of social annihilation, Su Mo's approval was far more important to Shiroyasha.
If Su Mo truly liked her like this, then any price was worth it. The opinions of others, even multiplied by ten thousand, meant nothing compared to his.
"Of course." Su Mo nodded and gently pinched Shiroyasha's soft cheek. "I accept your feelings. Don't worry, what happened just now won't get out."
"R-Really?" Shiroyasha looked up at Su Mo, overjoyed. To avoid social death across Little Garden and gain Su Mo's approval? Wasn't this an absolute win?
"Of course. It's just a matter of suppressing the spread of a meme. Not difficult," Su Mo nodded, then looked toward the gaping hole in the hall wall where the silver-haired loli was now climbing back in, puffing her cheeks in complaint.
"Speaking of which, there's something I'm curious about." He looked down at Shiroyasha in his arms.
"What is it?" Shiroyasha blinked.
"I know the identity of our guest. She is the second avatar of the Sun King Group, a Pure-Blooded Dragon named Kurma. Even in Little Garden, she is the first and strongest of her kind." Su Mo recounted the information he had gathered, his gaze shifting back and forth between Shiroyasha's and Kurma's lovely faces. "What I don't know is, why do you two look so similar? Aside from your eye color, you could be twin sisters."
First the vampire sisters, Leticia and Lamia, and now a twin for Shiroyasha.
Both had slender bodies and delicate, adorable features. Aside from one having golden eyes and the other red, they were practically identical.
Anyone would assume they were twins.
But in reality, their races were completely different. A Pure-Blooded Dragon and a Celestial Spirit couldn't possibly be sisters.
In a sense, both were beings born of nature itself, without parents.
Hearing Su Mo's question, Shiroyasha shot a glare at the nearby Kurma, pouted, and was about to explain when Kurma skipped over and cut her off.
"Of course, it's because a body this beautiful can only be possessed by the greatest of beings! While this idiot Shiroya is a step below me, she's barely a Full Authority Domain, so she's barely qualified to share my appearance!"
she declared, striking a proud pose with her hands on her hips.
The beauty of a Celestial Spirit could only be rivaled by the most supreme goddesses of beauty, and Shiroyasha's cuteness was top-tier even among them. Kurma's confidence was not unfounded.
However—
"You make it sound so grand, but weren't you just jealous of my looks and copied my form when you transformed, without even asking me?!" Shiroyasha's single sentence exposed Kurma's shameless act.
Kurma's true form was a colossal dragon the size of a universe. For a being of that level, transforming was an incredibly difficult task.
To avoid ending up with a form she disliked, she had indeed secretly copied Shiroyasha's appearance back then.
"W-What do you mean, copied?! Y-You don't have a copyright on it! And I was just imitating, at most borrowing. It's not copying! Can the actions of a World King be considered copying?" Kurma began to explain, her face flushing red. It seemed she knew she was in the wrong but had no better excuse.
"Yeah, yeah, you didn't copy. My looks are just too captivating!" Shiroyasha retorted sarcastically, then narcissistically touched the cheek Su Mo had just pinched. "But out of all the Celestial Spirits, you chose me instead of the Halloween Queen. I'll give you credit for having good taste!"
By now, she no longer cared about such a trivial matter. Kurma's actions proved she was more attractive than the Halloween Queen, which made Shiroyasha feel a little smug.
"The Queen?" Kurma shook her head. "She's pretty too, but we're not that close. We don't really know each other!"
"Huh?" Shiroyasha looked up, puzzled. "But... we're not that close either, are we?"
At these words, Kurma's petite body stiffened on the spot. "I-Is that so..."
"Of course it is!" Shiroyasha nodded without hesitation.
Kurma clutched her flat chest, trembling and speechless for a moment.
"..." The golden-haired girl standing to the side, recalling how much Kurma had cared about this "acquaintance and rival" Shiroyasha on their way here, felt a pang of pity. But she kept her eyes down and said nothing.
After a few seconds, Kurma finally recovered. She forced a laugh and said, "I-I see. You're talking about the past, right, Shiroyasha? Before I successfully transformed, maybe we weren't that close, but after—"
"But didn't you leave Little Garden not long after that? You only just came back. All in all, we haven't met that many times," Shiroyasha cut her off, feigning confusion. "So, we weren't very close then, and we're not very close now, right? Don't tell me you just unilaterally thought we were good friends? Is that why you felt you had the right to use my face?"
"I-I—" The words were a critical hit. The silver-haired loli was speechless. She looked up in a panic, asking in disbelief, "Shi-Shiroya, you're not joking, are you? If it's about what happened earlier, I apologize! But in your eyes, are we really not even acquaintances, let alone friends? Huh? Huh?!"
She took a step forward and started shaking Shiroyasha by the collar, her pride clearly shattered.
"Who knows!" Shiroyasha let her shake her, whistling nonchalantly. "I certainly don't have any idiot friends who barge into rooms without knocking. If some people are just being presumptuous, that has nothing to do with me!"
"So you are still mad about what happened! Fine! I won't ask Teacher Su Mo to be my master! I won't learn how to train you! Just take back what you said! Don't make me look like I'm full of myself!" Kurma cried out in protest.
It seemed that she, who was often alone, truly valued her frenemy Shiroyasha. Calling her an idiot was likely just her way of getting attention.
However, hearing this "surrender," Shiroyasha only grew more displeased.
"What training? There's no training! If you don't know what you're talking about, then shut up, you idiot! What business is it of yours what happens between me and Su Mo?"
"But the way you were just now—"
"Shut up, don't say it!"
"I'm just explaining!"
"No explaining, either! Just forget it!"
"No, not unless you take back what you said!"
"No way!"
"Shiroyasha is an idiot!"
"Kurma has no friends!"
Amid the chaos, the two silver-haired lolis with identical faces pressed their foreheads together, sparks flying from their eyes as they engaged in a fierce standoff.
Witnessing this completely unexpected scene, the golden-haired girl averted her gaze and happened to meet Su Mo's. They both shook their heads in perfect, unspoken unison, sighing at the spectacle.