Moonless and windy.
Although Golden Hour maintained 24-hour illumination, the top of The Reverie Hotel pierced into the clouds, with the cloud layer blocking all light and sound from below.
Whoosh—
A shuttle flew past in the sky. When it passed by The Reverie Hotel, the cabin door was suddenly pushed open from the inside. A figure entirely wrapped in black stood at the cabin door, a pair of emerald green eyes fixed tightly on the building.
Rustle—
Under the moonlight, the black-clad person suddenly jumped down from the shuttle, spreading their cloak. The moonlight cast their shadow onto the hotel's exterior wall, outlining the shape of a mighty eagle.
To ensure this operation could proceed in secrecy, Robin had made thorough preparations.
It had to be so secretive that no one would discover it!
Pat.
Robin landed silently outside the window of the room where Stelle and the others were staying. She took a device from her pocket and skillfully activated it, unlocking the window's security lock.
Click.
The window opened, and Robin's slender figure slipped inside, landing on the ground like a nimble cat.
The first step of the infiltration plan: success.
Robin glanced around. Although the room was pitch black, under the moonlight's glow, she could vaguely make out that this was the bathroom.
However, the entire bathroom was now a mess. Shampoo, body wash, lotion······ all sorts of care products were scattered everywhere. On the shower curtain, the walls, the glass—everywhere were undried water stains—
Robin accidentally stepped on something and nearly lost her balance in an instant. She ultimately steadied herself in an extremely precarious pose, avoiding falling and making a sound.
Gurgle gurgle—
A bottle of lubricant rolled to the wall; clearly, that was what Robin had just stepped on.
"...What a mess. What exactly happened here?" Robin furrowed her brows slightly and murmured.
Would a normal person bathing cause this? Wait... could it be?!
The actual situation:
The bathroom one hour ago.
Stelle deftly stripped off her clothes, humming a little tune in her mouth: "Arigato Mambo Hachimi o~"
(it's a mix of hachimi, mambo song and the Chinese military dance, midu mountain song) "Phonk 阿西噶的曼波哈基米"曼波 哈基米音樂 - Hachimi music (6asDdEFlccA on YT link)
Bang!
Just as she was about to remove her underwear, March 7th suddenly accidentally bumped open the bathroom door and fell to the ground: "Ouch, this floor is so slippery··· Eh? Stelle, sorry, I didn't mean to."
Seeing this, Stelle hurriedly went forward to check: "Are you okay, March? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"
March 7th shook her head. "No, just got my clothes wet from the water, and my hands are dirty too. How about we bathe together?"
At these words, Stelle's face immediately showed difficulty. Bathe together? This······
"Aiya!"
Before she could speak, another exclamation came from outside. Firefly also accidentally fell to the ground, rubbing her head while complaining: "Why did someone put a barrier cube here? Geez··· My clothes are all dirty now; I really just want to take a quick bath."
Stelle: ······
Five minutes later, the three of them were soaking together in the luxurious bathroom's tub, silently without a word.
Ah, but things weren't over yet··· Stelle fished out a water gun from the bottom of the tub and shouted, "Let's play a water gun contest! See who sprays the hardest!"
Thus, the bathroom turned into a complete mess amid the three's playful tussle.
Time returned to now.
Robin somewhat disgustedly stepped over the water gun on the floor and gently twisted the doorknob, quietly opening the bathroom door a crack.
Good; next, as long as she found Miss Stelle's bedroom and sneaked in······
Whoosh—
No!
Suddenly, Robin's hairs stood on end all over her body. She instinctively leaped into the bathtub to hide: Her intuition had just told her—something's wrong!
In the darkness outside the door······ someone!
This news was undoubtedly unexpected for Robin. At this moment, her mind was filled with confusion: Exactly who could it be, sneaking around in the room just like her?
A thief? No··· This was The Reverie's highest-spec suite; the security system had absolute safeguards. Even a higher-level Pathstrider couldn't slip in without alerting the room's occupants.
So there was only one possibility: The person just outside the door was one of the room's residents!
·····
March 7th wore thin sleepwear, the silky fabric outlining breathtaking curves on her body. Under the moonlight, she held her breath, inching bit by bit toward someone's bedroom.
To ensure she wasn't detected by the other person, she hadn't even put on shoes.
To be honest, March 7th had long harbored a sense of crisis in her heart.
She regretted it—regretted that back in Belobog, on the Xianzhou Luofu, there had been so much time to spend with Stelle, so many opportunities to directly claim her prize, but because of her unhurried strategy, it had given this later Firefly an opening.
Although her own relationship with Stelle was a bit closer, this kind of competition could lead to total defeat with the slightest carelessness.
So she needed to play it cautiously.
And tonight was the day the moon would devour the star.
With that thought, March 7th secretly glanced at Firefly's room, a smug glint passing through her eyes: Heh, starting tomorrow, you'll be thoroughly reduced to a third wheel, forever only able to be—and only being—Stelle's friend.
And I, heh heh heh heh heh······
Just thinking of what expression Firefly would show upon learning the truth tomorrow made March 7th want to hum softly.
Just thinking of what shy expression Stelle would have later made March 7th want to hum softly.
Just thinking of doing heh heh heh later in a place separated from Firefly by only one room made March 7th want to hum even more.
Moreover, calculating the time, the little stellaron should arrive in these couple of days; when it did, heh heh heh······
In the adjacent bathroom, Robin finally saw the figure of the room's second occupant through the door crack, and her heart tightened—this was bad.
With March 7th here, infiltrating the room to steal clothes would be even harder.
··No choice; she'd have to do this. Later, find a way to sneak up and knock March 7th out from behind, then do it herself. Though it was a bit immoral, for her... brother's major life matters, she'd do it!·····
However, whether it was March 7th's path to claiming her prize or Robin's path to theft, neither would be so easy.
On the ceiling, another figure in sleepwear clung to it like a gecko, a pair of beautiful eyes staring down at March 7th below, the corners of her mouth curling into a mocking arc.
Heh, she'd noticed something off in this guy's gaze during bath time today; she hadn't expected her to really make a move in the middle of the night.
Too bad, tsk tsk—if it were an ordinary person, they might really have been taken by this little girl. But she was Firefly; as everyone knew, she didn't dream!
Want to claim your prize right under my nose? What a joke.
Watch me knock you out, then claim Stelle right in front of you, heh heh heh.
Firefly let go of her grip, her body silently falling from the ceiling, landing behind March 7th.
Robin, who was preparing to make her move from the side: ???
Another expert?!