Sparkle clearly saw how the three lunatics had been acting up just moments ago, but now all their eyes suddenly turned toward her.
Stelle strode forward with her bat in hand, wearing a mischievous grin, while Pei Guang held out a cup of coffee that looked terrifying just to glance at, his mouth spitting out words even more frightening.
"Don't be afraid, we're not bad people~ Here! Drink this. Once you drink it, you'll feel a happiness like never before!"
Beside him, Stelle swung her bat. "Coffee or the bat—there's no other choice."
Happiness like never before? More like she'd be completely finished if she drank it!
And why on earth did she have to choose between coffee and a bat? Couldn't she just refuse both?
And as for Firefly? She hadn't said anything, but standing next to Pei Guang, she had a strange air about her, hands on her hips proudly.
Three against one, yet Pei Guang wasn't arrogant enough to think this was a guaranteed win.
Having truly experienced this world, he knew that in a group he could indulge a little, but against a single enemy he had to be fully alert.
As he looked around at the scene, something etched into his very DNA stirred.
"Auntie, press it down~"
Just as Sparkle was silent, an uplifting BGM suddenly rang out.
It turned out Pei Guang had seen the spectacle and, unable to help himself, pulled out a speaker.
He turned his body sideways toward Sparkle, clenched fists at his waist, legs crossed, head tilted back, and looked at her with an almost regal air.
The speaker blasted the familiar "Auntie press it down" BGM. Firefly had never experienced this kind of thing before—but Stelle had!
She remembered Belobog's Underworld, back then when she, Pei Guang, and March 7th stood at the Underworld's gate.
And yes, the same BGM had been playing.
Only now, March had been replaced by Firefly, and Svarog had been replaced by Sparkle. But that was fine, as long as the core of the team, Pei Guang, was here.
Compared to back then, Stelle had grown a lot. Looking at the bat in her hand, an idea popped into her head.
She suddenly began pounding away furiously with her bat. With each strike, Sparkle could clearly hear the cursed watermelon spouting its taunts.
"Brothers, who even gets this."
"Absolutely ridiculous."
"Let's ignore the facts!"
The endless jeers made Sparkle's eyes widen, bloodshot: those were the same mocking voices from her dream!
At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to tear Stelle apart alive. But Stelle only grinned with that shameless smile, as if daring her to respond.
Compared to those two, Firefly was much more straightforward.
Watching all this, she didn't know what to do, after all it was her first time seeing anything like it.
Firefly: "Um… what should I do?"
Pei Guang: "Do whatever you want to do?"
Firefly: "Whatever I want to do…"
She took a deep breath.
She still felt a bit embarrassed, but seeing how Pei Guang and Stelle were acting, she followed along.
She bent her knees, put her right arm forward, and lowered her body into a stance full of energy. If she leapt into a flying kick right then, no one would have been surprised.
Pei Guang's eyes lit up at the sight. "Nice! Looks really cool. If you were in full armor doing that pose, it'd be perfect."
Stelle nodded. "Exactly, exactly!"
While the three hyped each other up, Sparkle was left dumbfounded.
Even among the Masked Fools she'd always been considered unconventional, but after seeing Pei Guang, she almost felt like she'd been too conservative all along.
Facing this trio blasting "Auntie press it down" on one side while striking poses ready to fight on the other, Sparkle took a deep breath.
"Darling, I'm not your enemy~"
Pei Guang: "I don't believe it! If you weren't my enemy, why would you be marked as one? And even impersonating Sampo to get close to us? Listen, you used my friendship with Sampo, tried to approach us under his identity, disguised yourself to infiltrate. That's clearly an enemy approach. Which means there's only one option…"
Stelle: "Enemy, fight!"
Pei Guang: "Exactly! Enemy, fight."
Firefly: "Enemy… fight?"
Seeing the three about to launch at her, Sparkle threw up her hands. "Wait wait wait, I'm not here to fight you! I disguised myself as Sampo~ just to invite you to experience something only adults can experience~ But since you didn't know me, I had no choice but to take on a familiar form~ As for Sampo, he's not just your friend, he's my friend too~"
A smile spread across her face—but Pei Guang's reply froze it there.
Pei Guang: "You're not Sampo's friend. If you were, Sampo would have said he'd do anything for me. If you wanted to invite me to something, you could have just come straight to me, why the disguise? The disguise proves you have a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience, a guilty conscience—you're the enemy. Enemy, fight!" Content originally comes from nοvelfire.net
Sparkle cried out, "Wait, wait! You say I have a guilty conscience? Not true~ The one at your side, she's the one with a guilty conscience~"
That single line made Firefly's heart tighten.
Her meeting with Pei Guang had been by chance, but as she spent more time with him, it was true she'd started harboring… other thoughts.
She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Pei Guang turned to Stelle.
"So you have a guilty conscience! Stelle, I've treated you well, and this is how you repay me? Tell me, how many treasure chests have you been opening behind my back? And how much good stuff have you pulled out? If you don't come clean today, you'll be in trouble."
Stelle glared at Sparkle. "How do you know I've got a guilty conscience?"
Stelle turned back to Pei Guang. "Ah Guang! We can't let this one live—she can read minds. Ugh, how could I possibly hide anything from you when you treat me so well? Since coming into this dream world, I've opened thirty-one treasure chests. Every single one was garbage! The only good loot I've gotten is what you gave me!"
Pei Guang: "??? Oh, I see! I was wondering how I'd been wandering around here for so long and only ran into one lucky drop. Turns out you've been intercepting them all. Speak! Did you really open thirty-one, or are you lying?"
Stelle: "That's not important—we need to beat that one down first!"
Pei Guang: "Don't change the subject! You've been secretly opening thirty-one of my treasure chests?"
Stelle pulled out a folding chair from a plastic lawn chair and set it down in the middle. "What do you mean 'your' chests? They're mine! Treasure chests belong to whoever can open them."
Pei Guang then drew his weapon and glared at Stelle. "Stelle! Your days of casually opening my treasure chests are over."