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Can you die of cuteness overload? Belle suspects that the answer is yes and that she will need to go to the hospital soon. Her symptoms: lately, when she's out with Ye Shunguang on their little strolls through New Eridu, her heart rate often increases as if she was running a marathon, and Belle is certain that her stamina is not that bad! She's been training with Shifu and going into Hollows personally, after all, and she's never felt her heart go this fast as it does when she's out with her senior.
Then, she also feels lightheaded around Ye Shunguang a lot, especially when Ye Shunguang walks too closely and their arms accidentally brush, or when she smiles at Belle with the power of a thousand suns. And don't even get Belle started on how easily she loses track of time when they're out together! It has happened more than once that she suddenly realises that it's already evening, the sun setting without warning ...
All in all, it seems like a very serious situation. The other disciples of Suibian Temple checked Belle's meridians and checked her for symptoms of Ether corruption, but they couldn't find anything. They say that she's fine and that there's nothing off that would warrant Shifu's immediate intervention. Neither Wise nor Fairy are any help on that topic, either. Wise insists that he "doesn't know anything about women" and refuses to comment on Belle's problems (can you believe that he says, "you'll be fine?" with a laugh?) - and dear Fairy says that she doesn't have any information in her data bank that Belle would consider helpful in any way.
So. Belle suffers in silence, valiantly, trying to understand this novel condition that she's temporarily calling "cuteness overload" and that will potentially be the death of her. Because what else is Belle supposed to do? Tell her lovely Senior Ye Shunguang that she can't continue meeting up like this?
"Belle! Belle, hi!"
Scratch that. It will definitely be the death of her.
Today, Ye Shunguang is wearing a casual outfit consisting of a flowy slit skirt, a white laced top with much cleavage and some extra accessories in addition to her regular hair ties, which in total make Belle's novel condition flare up like a firework. All Belle can do when Ye Shunguang approaches is to freeze up and stare.
Unsuspecting, Ye Shunguang throws her arms around Belle to greet her and before Belle has the mental presence to reciprocate the hug, Ye Shunguang has let go again and stepped back to do a little twirl. She lifts her skirt by the sides with a dazzling smile that turns her eyes crescent and tips herself a bit forward.
"What do you think of this outfit? Isn't it cute?" she asks and now notices in what state Belle is. (Belle.exe has stopped working. Complete system reboot necessary. Please contact the administrator.) Immediately Ye Shunguang's smile gives way to obvious worry about Belle.
"Belle?! Is everything alright? Is it the cuteness overload?" Ye Shunguang asks, taking a step closer. Of all people Belle told about her condition, Senior is one of the few who is taking it seriously, fortunately. But then she pauses, and her eyes widen at a different thought.
"Or do I not look good?" Ye Shunguang asks with a feeble voice.
"No!" The shout breaks out of Belle with such force that passersby turn their heads to look at them, but Belle doesn't care. She'd rather die of a mysterious disease than allow a cute girl to think such utter nonsense! "No, it's - you are very beautiful! The outfit ... yes, it's very good! I love it," Belle says, reanimated with the force of her protest.
"Ah!" Ye Shunguang places a gentle hand on her chest. "I'm relieved. You know, I wasn't sure if you'd like to see me in something like this. Your brother helped me pick this out."
"Did he." Sobering up at this information, Belle puts her hands against her hips. She doesn't know if she should thank Wise for pushing Ye Shunguang towards this fabulous choice, or suspect him of foul play. Like, he knew that she was suffering from cuteness overload! Why would he help Ye Shunguang pick such a cute outfit! It was quite the dilemma - but only for a second.
"I would have asked A-Yuan, but ..." Ye Shunguang doesn't finish the sentence, her gaze lowered to the ground. At the sight of her dejected expression, Belle decides to be grateful to what Wise did, and grabs Ye Shunguang by the hand, startling her out of the sad thoughts.
"We will find him!" Belle promises and gives Ye Shunguang's hand a reassuring squeeze. Her grip is warm and tight and for a moment, Ye Shunguang holds Belle's earnest gaze and lets the warmth embrace her. "And for now, let's go make some more memories, alright?"
"Mh!" Ye Shunguang smiles, tilting her head to the side, and allows Belle to pull her along. It's totally reasonable that Belle doesn't let go of Ye Shunguang's hand. After all, Ye Shunguang doesn't know her way around here and might get easily lost (1), there is a sizable crowd around here and Belle is quite small, so it prevents them from being separated (2), and Belle made their outing plan for today, so she knows where to go and Ye Shunguang does not (3).
There seems to be some kind of event going on at Public Security. The crowd in front of the building is so thick that it's impossible to see what exactly is being promoted and no matter how Ye Shunguang stretches and cranes her neck, she doesn't see anything. Instead, she contends with watching the back of Belle's bobbing head in front of her and takes comfort in their very necessary prolonged hand holding. It's ... nice.
On the downside, she feels the loss of contact physically when they arrive at today's destination and Belle lets go of Ye Shunguang's hand to make a "tada" gesture at a store called "Richard Teamilk". But the emotion doesn't last long because as always, Belle's enthusiasm is contagious.
"Hi, Coco!" Belle greets the employee, who seems very tired but is extremely friendly and waves at them both with a little smile. Of course she and Belle are friends, but it doesn't surprise Ye Shunguang because Junior Belle is so well connected and has so many unexpected friends basically everywhere! And really, who wouldn't want to be friends with her?
Coco and Belle exchange some small talk about a movie that they both like and then talk about teamilk flavours, while Ye Shunguang is studying the menu for something, too. To be honest, she cannot even begin to imagine what the different beverages might taste like; she wasn't allowed anything like this during seclusion, and Senior Yinhu doesn't usually do sweet drinks, him being too careful with Suibian's spending and their diets.
One of the drinks is described as ... Sweet Girl Fluffy Marshmallow Lambkin Milk? Definitely sounds like a memory that Ye Shunguang will cherish forever once she writes about it in her diary. Or would the drink turn out to be an assault to her senses, so she had better settle for something else ...?
A light touch against her elbow pulls Ye Shunguang out of her thoughts, even though it takes her another solid second to be present mentally. Fortunately, Coco is super patient and nice, and together with Belle, Ye Shunguang finally manages to find something to order. It's just curious that the spot where Belle touched her is still tingling, but Ye Shunguang decides not to worry about it.
After Coco hands them their teamilks, Ye Shunguang tries her first ever cup of Yumyum Mint Teamilk (delicious!), and asks Belle for a commemorative selfie for her diary. Then, with the beverages in hand, they head towards the riverbank, walking in the opposite direction of the crowd around Public Security.
As they cross the street over a bridge, Ye Shunguang throws a curious look back. From this vantage point, she can see directly into the courtyard of Public Security and pinpoints the centre of the commotion - a group of uniformed people who must be celebrities judging by the crowd of fans around them. Too bad that Ye Shunguang doesn't know them, but she appreciates the Fox Thiren's distinct and very beautiful ears in passing, before her attention return to Belle and their drinks in hand.
The weather is nice, with a blue sky and warm sunshine that reflects off the flowing river water. Belle is retelling some stories from the Hollows while they are walking along the river, and not for the first time in these past days, Ye Shunguang realises that she's happy. And it's all thanks to these little outings that Belle has accompanied her on, just a series of moments that will stay with Ye Shunguang forever as something precious.
And Ye Shunguang isn't grateful to Belle for the outings alone, either. She feels very lucky to have met her Junior, someone so full of life and positive energy, a truly outstanding friend. And so smart! And good! And beautiful! Without Belle, life would definitely feel much darker and emptier.
Oh but how can Ye Shunguang repay her sweet Junior for everything she has done for her? Should she just tell Belle what she feels? After all, they can talk openly with each other because they can trust each other, just like Belle has entrusted her with the information about the cuteness overload! Oh, if only Ye Shunguang could help Belle with that mysterious disease at least.
But what else could be ...?
As Ye Shunguang is asking herself that, her gaze happens to land on a cart in some distance and an idea pops into her mind. Instinctively, her hand shoots out and she grabs onto Belle's sleeve, pulling her to a stop as well.
"What's up, Senior?" Belle asks, turning to face Ye Shunguang. The expression on Ye Shunguang's face makes Belle's heart skip a beat before it picks up again dangerously quickly: shy, her gaze averted, her cheeks powdered with a soft red that matches the colour of her skirt. The light of the setting sun frames her so perfectly that it hurts.
It's like a romantic scene from a movie. A beautiful picture that makes Belle's fingers twitch to reach for her phone and capture it through the lens of her camera, but she can't move and is frozen by the moment.
"You are not going to laugh at me, right?" Ye Shunguang asks and reaches up to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
"Huh?" Belle is swaying on her feet, suddenly feeling lightheaded. At the same time she's rooted to the spot, unable to tear her eyes away from her lovely senior. The moment threatens to overwhelm her. "Why would I ...?"
Inhaling deeply, Ye Shunguang clenches her hands into fists and presses them into the folds of her skirt.
"Promise me you won't." Ye Shunguang puffs out her cheeks and tries to look intimidating (?), but she's about as intimidating as her chunky tabby cat. Only cute. Deadly cute. Kinda like Ju Fufu, Belle immediately thinks. Which is the wrong role model for these kind of things, if you want to be convincing. Belle would know.
At the same time, her stomach is doing funny things that feel like somersaults. Was it something in the teamilk? What if ... the teamilk was too sweet? Could it be that the sweetness of the drink brings about cuteness overload too? And in such an important moment?!
"Okay." Belle manages to nod. Maybe she can show Ye Shunguang how to weaponise her pout convincingly one of these days. Senior definitely has the talent, but she needs just a little nudge in the right direction - which Belle, the master pouter (according to Wise), is more than willing to give to her. Just some lessons between friends!
Though Belle must confess that Ye Shunguang's pouting is quite effective on her already. She's breathless (and that's certainly not from the teamilk!). But Belle also doesn't want to interrupt what is going to happen next because it feels very, very important. So what if cuteness overload is getting to her? At least she can hear out Ye Shunguang before she passes out or even dies from her illness ...! (#worthit)
"I promise on my video store's prosperity that I won't laugh at you, no matter what you are going to tell me in a second," Belle breathes.
"Good!" Ye Shunguang straightens but still hesitates. Then, collecting herself, she presses her hands against her temples, closes her eyes tightly and says so quickly Belle has issues understanding her: "Ineverhadicecreameverbefore!"
"What?"
"I said! I never had! Ice cream! Ever before!" She points to the ice cream cart across the street. "I don't know what it tastes like, and I would like to invite you to some ice cream."
"Oh." This is not what Belle expected Ye Shunguang to say. At all. Something so normal, Belle means. And it must be showing on her face because in the next moment, Ye Shunguang closes the distance between them and catches Belle around the waist and by one arm before her knees can give in under her.
"Junior Belle!" Ye Shunguang exclaims, her eyes wide with alarm. "Is it flaring up again?"
"Yes," Belle says faintly.
"Don't worry, Junior Belle! I know exactly what I need to do!" With renewed determination, Ye Shunguang adjusts her grip around Belle and helps her to a nearby bench, onto which she pushes Belle by the shoulders. Ye Shunguang keeps her hands there to stabilise Belle and leans forward to look into her face intently.
(What Ye Shunguang doesn't know is that from Belle's position, all that Belle can see are boobs, and that is also the reason for the sound Belle makes when she opens her eyes and immediately closes them again.)
As it is, after a prolonged moment of intensely staring into Belle's face and then checking her temperature (she's burning up!), Ye Shunguang nods with a serious expression. How fortunate that she received basic medical training and has also taken the time to look into possible remedies for a devious illness like cuteness overload, even if Ye Shunguang has no idea how to heal it.
"I see how it is. It is exactly as described in that book that I found on the internet," she says. And before Belle (who keeps opening her eyes only to close them again quickly, the poor dear) can open her mouth to ask, Ye Shunguang continues: "I know exactly how to alleviate your symptoms. Or well ... in theory. I've never tested it on anyone before, but I'm sure it'll be fine! You just relax and tell me if you're feeling better at any point, okay?"
After she gets a nod, Ye Shunguang redirects her attention to Belle's arms. She pushes Belle's sleeves down to her elbow, picking up one arm to hold at Belle's wrist, and presses two fingers against the soft skin there. Her face changes with concentration as she finds and listens to Belle's fluttering heartbeat.
Once Ye Shunguang has Belle's pulse, she shifts her method of perception according to the training of Yunkui Summit and slides her fingers along the soft inside of Belle's forearm and then back, making sure to be slow and use a little bit of pressure. It seems to be working because Belle's breath hitches and a little shudder runs through her.
Or maybe not - because when Ye Shunguang checks Belle's pulse again, Belle's symptoms only got worse. Her face darkens.
"What is it?" Belle asks, breathlessly.
"It's worse than I anticipated. Your condition is very persistent. I must initiate Plan B."
"Plan B? Is it also from that book that you read online?"
"Yes. And it explained that sometimes, instead of using your fingers, it's more effective to use your mouth. If I remember correctly, it was something about changing the stimulating experience of the inside." Ye Shunguang meets Belle's gaze, her expression serious. "Is that okay with you, Junior Belle?"
"Yes. Yes, it might help." Belle is desperate, but she trusts Ye Shunguang and the research that she has done into possible remedies for the illness. This is just one of those necessary things, really. But ... Belle must stay focused, so she closes her eyes when Ye Shunguang presses her lips against Belle's wrist, fully determined to let her Senior try and help her.
It tickles. Senior brushes her lips over Belle's skin, her breaths fluttering, and Belle decides that having her eyes closed is worse than having them open. And just in that moment, Ye Shunguang's lips part, and Belle squeaks at the moist sensation of a tongue darting along her wrist in a kitten lick.
"Bear with me," Ye Shunguang whispers and nibbles on the inside of Belle's forearm, soothing irritated spots with apologetic licks. Her tail is wagging, but she doesn't seem to notice. Nor does she know about the heat that crawls up Belle's shoulders, her throat and into her face; Ye Shunguang notices when Belle tries to shield her face with her free hand and averts her burning head.
"Belle?" Mindlessly pressing Belle's hand against her chest with both of her own hands on top, Ye Shunguang leans forward quickly, and asks: "Did it help? Do you feel any better?"
Belle glances at her out of the corner of her eyes repeatedly, her one free hand still pressed against the side of her face but barely shielding anything from Ye Shunguang's attentive gaze. Belle gulps and focuses on the pressure of her Senior's hands on her other hand, the faint beat of a heart.
"I feel different," Belle replies. Her tongue darts over her dry lips, and she's all too aware of Ye Shunguang's eyes burning into her. It's not an uncomfortable feeling by any means. Does that mean that Senior's technique helped? "There's ... heat. Here." Belle touches her stomach lightly, her gaze averted shyly.
"Just like it was described in the book," Ye Shunguang says and then lets go of Belle's hand to clap excitedly. If her smile wasn't so blinding and captivating, Belle would have cried at the loss, but instead, she smiles back and laughs a bit at Senior's adorable little dance.
"That means that the method worked!" Ye Shunguang says happily as she does the little dance. "Now that everything's concentrated in your central meridian, I can cleanse your excess energy!"
"With one of Shifu's techniques?"
"Yes!"
"But it doesn't use the power of the Qingming Sword, right?" Belle can't help asking, worry evident in her voice.
"Don't worry, Junior Belle. It doesn't." Becoming serious again, Ye Shunguang reaches out as if to touch Belle's shoulder or pat her head, but halfway she changes her mind and assumes a channelling pose instead. For that, she holds her hand angled in front of her chest, two fingers skywards, and focuses the energy around them in preparation for a Perception Technique.
Belle watches her calmly, so relaxed and still tingling - but not because she is nervous. She really does trust Senior and thinks that Xiao'guang will be able to help her cleanse this strange energy. She must be tingling because of it.
As focused as the two of them are, they don't notice the arrival of a third person at their side until a voice, calm but alert, asks: "What's going on here?"
"M-Miyabi!" Belle sits up straighter, recognising the voice easily. This time, the heat that makes her cheeks burn, is distinctively different from the one from cuteness overload, but that may be because of Ye Shunguang's treatment. "Hi! What a surprise to meet you here!"
"Didn't you know about the promotional event by Public Security to showcase the strength of our new partnership?" Miyabi asks curiously, the tip of her ear twitching. At Belle's blank stare, Miyabi lowers her head a bit. "Mh, I see. No worries, I only learned about it from Yanagi-san this morning, too, and treated it as a form of training. And you are?"
Her attention shifts to Ye Shunguang, who has stopped the cleansing process and now introduces herself to Miyabi. Upon hearing her full name in return, Ye Shunguang's face lights up.
"Oh, you're a fellow Void Hunter! Hello," Ye Shunguang says, and then answers Miyabi's initial question with a gesture at Belle. "See, about what we were doing earlier, Belle is suffering from a mysterious condition and I was about to try and help her. We're calling it 'cuteness overload'. It makes her feel faint and weak all of a sudden and it started soon after our last adventure into the Lemnian Hollow."
"When does it happen?" Miyabi's gaze sharpens, and her grip around her katana's hilt tightens instinctively. Belle feels a flutter of appreciation for that Miyabi takes this seriously. Heaven knows that there are far too few people in her life that do, and it can never hurt getting someone else's opinion on it.
"It always happens when I'm out and about with Senior Ye Shunguang. It's like this -" and Belle begins to recount in detail what is happening with her out of the blue whenever she and Senior are just trying to have fun. Fortunately, Miyabi is up to date with Belle's progress with her Ether training at Suibian Temple, and her own training and experience as a Void Hunter enable her to formulate an opinion - not to mention that she's listening very intently to everything Belle says, nodding from time to time.
"It is serious," Miyabi says once Belle stops talking. "I sometimes feel the same way around Yanagi. But there's a foolproof method to stop it."
"What is it?" Expectantly, both Belle and Ye Shunguang lean forward, closer to Miyabi, who crosses her arms in front of her chest and lowers her head with closed eyes.
"Training," she says. "You must keep exposing yourself to the stimulant and become immune to it. It's the best remedy, as my case has proven. Now, when Yanagi goes over the mission reports and bows over the table next to or in front of me, I have my training to fall back on and don't get distracted by her well-rounded -"
Miyabi's ears twitch, and Miyabi raises a fist to her mouth to clear her throat, leaving the sentence unfinished. "At the moment, it only works when she's around. I'm working on resisting the influence in cases such as these," she explains to the two gravely nodding girls left and right of her.
"So that's how it is." Thoughtful, Ye Shunguang runs her fingers through a strand of her hair over her shoulder. Of course, a proven method to deal with such illnesses is much better than her experimental approach that combines perception with Shifu's techniques, Ye Shunguang thinks. How lucky they are that Miyabi decided to approach them!
"How does it work, Miss Hoshimi?" Ye Shunguang asks, making her decision.
"Take Belle's hand." Opening her eyes, Miyabi waits until Ye Shunguang does. Her gaze flickers up to her fellow Void Hunter and rests there for a second as if looking for something, then focuses on Belle.
Belle tilts her head, her lips curled up in an expectant and a little confused smile, as she waits for further instructions. Holding onto Ye Shunguang's hand is nice, yes, but they have been doing this for a while now and until now, this wasn't the cure for cuteness overload. If it was, Belle would know, she's sure of it. But she's also sure that Miyabi isn't done yet.
And really, after a while of seemingly waiting for something, Miyabi points at their joined hands and says: "Intertwine your fingers."
Now that is something that they've never done before. It doesn't come automatically to Belle, so she turns her head to look down at their joined hands, puzzled at the thrill that passes through her like an electric shock. A sign that Miyabi's approach is working?
Belle spreads her fingers without letting go of her senior's hand, while Ye Shunguang does the same, and slowly (dare Belle say, "reverently"?), they intertwine their fingers. Belle catches her breath in her throat, completely taken in by the strange, unfamiliar sensation of this hand holding. And when she looks past their hands at Ye Shunguang, at the silent wonder in her face, the slightly parted lips, the light furrow in her brows, Belle feels the usual signs of cuteness overload roar up in her.
"Like .... like this?" she asks, her voice too high even in her ears. She's more than certain that the two Thirens hear it even better. Though looking at Ye Shunguang, Belle isn't sure that ... "Xiao'guang?"
"Miss Ye. This state is effective." Miyabi's voice is laced with satisfaction. "Your tail is wagging."
"Oh." Inhaling a deep, shuddering breath, Ye Shunguang lets go and presses her hands against her flaming cheeks. What she says next confirms Belle's fears. "Oh, I think I caught the same illness, Belle! I ... I feel ... I need to sit down." And Ye Shunguang drops onto the bench next to Belle, where Belle immediately begins to make a fuss over her. How terrible that cuteness overload is contagious!
Fortunately, not all is lost. As always, Miyabi knows exactly how to uplift their spirits.
"I never said it would be easy training. Training hardly ever is." Miyabi crosses her arms in front of her chest and lowers her head, calm and collected. "But with time, you will master this challenge. I have full faith in your prowess."
Right - this was all part of the training, an effective and tried method. All was going according to plan! And when Belle exchanges glances with her senior, she sees the same realisation on her face, the same hope in her eyes.
"Thank you for your wise words, Miss Hoshimi!"
"Thank you, Miyabi!"
"Any time." A small smile appears on Miyabi's face. Then, her attention shifts as her ears catch something, and she half turns to see her colleagues wave and shout from across Lumina Square.
"It seems my time is over," Miyabi comments with a nod and looks back at the two girls on the bench. She hesitates briefly, then says: "I wish you the best. May our paths soon cross again."
They watch Miyabi leave in silence, both lost in thought. Ye Shunguang breaks the silence eventually, stopping Belle from worrying her bottom lip any longer.
"Well ... Junior Belle, do you want to try again?" she asks quietly, keeping her eyes fixed forward. Her hand rests on the bench next to her. It's a beautiful hand, soft and warm and elegant, and it makes Belle ... feel things.
Belle looks at it, musters her courage, and moves her hand next to Senior's until their pinkies touch. From the electric current that shoots through her at the contact, Belle knows that they have much training before them. But Miyabi was right, nobody said that it would be easy.
-
"You're back." Wise takes off his headphones and looks over his shoulder at Belle, who entered the staff room with a dreamy expression. It makes Wise swivel around in his chair, smugness dripping from his tone as he says: "Well well well. Someone's glowing. No more 'cuteness overload' illness, dearest sister?"
"Shush. I finally solved all my problems. You should be happy for me."
Ignoring Wise, Belle walks towards the couch to grab the snacks that she left there. It's late, but that's why they're called "midnight snacks".
Wise huffs a laugh, already turning back to the screen.
"Oh thank the heavens above," he says. "I was waiting for the penny to drop. When did you confess to Ye Shunguang?"
Belle stops short. The movement is so sudden that Wise catches it out of the corner of his eyes and freezes too, confused for a second.
"Ah? She confessed first?" he asks. "I didn't think it would be that way. But nice, either way. Congratulations, you two."
"Confess ... what?"
Belle barely dares to breathe. Wise just looks utterly confused.
"Huh? Confess what what? That you're in love? That you both are in love with each other? What else is there to confess? She already knows that we're Phaethon, after all."
Oh.
In the span of a moment, every single interaction, reaction and thought that Belle ever had with, to and about Ye Shunguang, is thrown into new light, the truth of Wise's words sinking in like a stone thrown into a sea of emotions. It makes too much sense, now that Belle thinks about it. And really, she should've realised it herself way earlier.
Considering this, Belle's reaction is very rational and even modest. She just folds like a paper cutout, overwhelmed by the information. And then she muffles a scream into the crook of her elbow, on the verge of tears, the emotions just bubbling over.