"Whew...that was one heck of a meal," Yu An Yan whistled.

"Sure was," I agreed, leaning back on the couch.

The seven of us had just finished eating lunch at Hotpot Shenzhen. Needless to say, we were all very satisfied and full. Well...with the exception of the phoenix.

"Hmph! I didn't get to eat anything!" she declared, puffing out her cute little cheeks in a pout. Since she was in her tiny bird form, it was more adorable than anything else. However, the four girls who didn't know about her yet, Yu An Yan, Yu An Xue, Qing Yue, and Obsidia, were shocked by the sudden outburst.

"T-This bird...it can talk?" Yu An Yan asked, gulping nervously. "I've been wondering for a while now regarding what it is...I just didn't ask since I thought it was just a pet you bought Mei Gui..."

I sighed. "I should've told you guys about her sooner. Basically, here's what happened..."

I repeated the same things I told Feng Mian, including my advancement to the Origin Chaos stage as well as my newfound multicasting ability. The four of them were evidently shocked at what I said, which was understandable considering how powerful this new skill was. Being clever individuals, they seemed to have also realized the endless new possibilities I could use in fights now that I had this ability.

"Hm...so this tiny creature here is a phoenix?" Obsidia mused. "No wonder I felt a familiar energy coming from it..."

"Hey! Dragon bastard! Who are you calling a 'tiny creature'?!" the tiny creature on my shoulder protested angrily.

"Keep it down..." I muttered. I didn't want anyone else to hear anything about Obsidia being a dragon, nor the fact that this bird can talk.

"But this is truly interesting..." Obsidia continued, completely ignoring the phoenix's defiant objection. "The phoenix race, from what I know, died out many years ago..."

I tilted my head. This was the first time I've heard about this, and it seemed it was similar for the girls. We all stared at Obsidia in confusion, but then the phoenix herself spoke up.

"That is true, but not entirely accurate. Indeed, our race vanished from this world around two thousand years ago...but we didn't, like, 'die out' or anything. At the time, we were being relentlessly hunted down by the despicable dragon race...and were forced into hiding within the summoning dimension," she explained.

"Huh...this isn't recorded in any books," Feng Mian noted.

Obsidia shrugged. "But of course. The feud between dragons and phoenixes are something only members of those two races would know."

"Then...isn't telling us kind of taboo?" I asked cautiously.

The phoenix was the one to answer this time. "Not really, it's long in the past now, so no one really cares...at the time, we kept our secret war hidden since we didn't want any third parties intervening and reaping the benefits. But now, the war is more or less over, though..." she turned to glare at Obsidia with killing intent. "I still hate dragons."

"I feel the same about you," Obsidia replied with a threatening look that matched the phoenix's.

"Grrr..."

"Rawr..."

"Okay, break it apart, ladies," I quickly interrupted, since things could've gotten ugly there. "I don't know about your war or whatever, and honestly, I really don't care. All I know is that it happened two thousand years ago, as you say. So just let bygones be bygones...besides, I doubt neither of you actually participated in the war. You aren't that old...right?"

I was a little uncertain, actually. I knew for a fact that both dragons and phoenixes could live for very long times. In fact, phoenixes in legends were claimed to have been immortal, and many dragons have lived for several millennia. However, both of them shook their head, which made me sigh in relief. I would have trauma if such a young and beautiful human form is actually a 2000 year old dragon.

"Hm...come to think of it, I still haven't given you a name yet, have I?" I asked, patting the phoenix perched on top of my shoulder.

"Hmph! Human, I have a name already, and I refuse to be named again!" she said defiantly.

Uh, I'm your master for eternity. Shouldn't I be able to name you, at the very least...?

"E-Er, sure. What's your name then? Oh, and you are to address me as Master from now on."

"Grr...." the phoenix growled angrily, but understood that I was indeed her master, so she didn't resist after that. "Anyway...Flaria."

"Flaria?" I echoed.

"That's my name," she explained. "My mom gave me it."

"Your mom...?" Feng Mian tilted her head. "Does that mean there are more phoenixes in the summoning dimension?"

Flaria nodded. "Yes, but they are all extremely weak now...there are no flames to live on within the summoning dimension, so the old phoenixes are all powerless. I am the only phoenix considered young, and us new phoenixes have enough life force to not need a fire to live off of."

"What about your mom? She shouldn't be that old, right?" Yu An Yan asked.

Immediately, the mood darkened, and Flaria buried her head into my shoulder. "My mom...she's gone."

Yu An Yan covered her mouth from the shock at this news. "I-I'm sorry for bringing that topic up...that was insensitive of me."

Aren't phoenixes supposed to be immortal...? I was a bit curious as to how her mother died, as she mentioned something about her back in the summoning dimension as well...but seeing the atmosphere, I decided against it. Even I was able to read the mood in this scenario.

"Okay, anyway...where do you guys want to go next?" Feng Mian asked after a waitress came over and cleaned up everything. Yu An Yan swiped her debit card on a payment terminal, and the seven of us exited the restaurant.

"Huh? W-Wait, Feng Mian, I never agreed to this," I hurriedly said, backing away frantically.

Feng Mian shrugged. "Yeah yeah, you're tired and all that? Sorry, but I don't buy any of it. If you really want to go, you can, but can you really bear to leave all six of us frail, weak girls all alone?"

Saying this, she made a cute gesture that really made me want to cuddle her right then and there. The only things that stopped me were my self-control as a man, and the fact that all the other girls were present. Mainly the latter.

You guys? Weak? What a farce...but why do I suddenly feel bad about just leaving them behind now? Damn it, Feng Mian...no, I can't give in here. I need to escape, now, before I get dragged alo-

"Now where do you think you're going, hm, Big Brother Xuan Kai?" Qing Yue said, latching onto my arm and preventing my from getting the hell out of there.

I tried to gently pull away, but it was useless. Qing Yue's grip was far stronger than my expectations...and so, I ended up going along with the six girls.

"Hey, how about we go watch a movie?" Yu An Yan suggested. "I heard there's this new one that's pretty good."

Feng Mian clapped her hands together. "Sure! I'm down, but what about the tickets...?"

"Don't worry, the movie theatre we're going to is owned by my family. We can easily get tickets and such," Yu An Yan explained proudly.

"Okay, then..." Feng Mian turned to look at everyone else. "Does anyone not want to go?"

Yes! I don't! I just want to go home!

But knowing full well my opinion would just be ignored if I said anything, I kept silent. No one else raised their hand or spoke up either, so it was decided we would be going to a movie theatre owned by the Yu family.

*****

- 2 Hours Later, 5 PM -

"Hey hey, what did you all think of the movie?" Qing Yue asked energetically.

"It was fine, I suppose," Obsidia replied stoically.

"Huh? C'mon, Obsidia! It was better than just fine, obviously!" Yu An Yan exclaimed, a starry look in her eyes. "Ah...what a sweet love story..."

"For real! The actors were all really good, too..." Feng Mian mused.

Please, I want to cringe.

The movie we had watched was basically the epitome of romance: cheesy, embarrassing, and something I did not understand. Thus, I sat through most of the movie sleeping. Yu An Xue, who had been sitting beside me, noticed this and pinched me awake at one point, but I soon fell asleep again after that, and she didn't bother me anymore.

I then checked the time. 5 PM.

"Uh, guys? It's 5 PM. Can I go now?" I asked eagerly.

Feng Mian shook her head, and made eye contact with the other girls, one by one. "There's just one thing more we have to do together, yeah?"

Yu An Yan nodded. "Yep."

"Hehe~look forward to it, Big Brother Xuan Kai~" Qing Yue added with a charming giggle.

"Mm...you'll like it...I think," Yu An Xue mumbled quietly.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but the girls merely smiled at me mysteriously.

"Well then...let's head back to the dorms!" Feng Mian announced.

"Wait, back to the dorms?" I asked. "Didn't you just say you wanted to one more thing?"

Feng Mian spun around, and gave me a cute wink. "Yeah, I did. And we will do that 'thing' in your room."

H-Hold up, that sounds very, very, inappropriate. Don't say things that can lead to misunderstandings like that! I doubt she meant that, since knowing her if she was really talking about that, she would be blushing right now, but still, this is dangerous territory. Six girls and one guy in a room at night? Yeah, uh...I don't think so.

But alas, the seven of us ended up going to my dorm anyway, without counting my opinion as usual. However, before that, each of the girls went to their own dorms to 'do something', as they put it. Obsidia went to Yu An Yan's since she was staying there, and Mei Gui remained with me. Once everyone was finished, we went up the elevator together. Around 2 minutes later, I unlocked the door to my dorm, and all of us piled in. I shut the door behind Obsidia, who was the last one to enter. I then turned around and crossed my arms.

"So? What are we doing?"

The girls, except Obsidia, were each holding a present box of some kind in their hands...I had a feeling where this was going, but I didn't say it out loud since I would feel even more guilty then. They prepared gifts for me on Christmas, but I forgot to buy anything for them...curses.

"We prepared some Christmas presents for you, Xuan Kai," Feng Mian said with a bright smile.

Yes, I can see that...but oh man, my heart hurts from the guilt.

"Oh, if you're worried about not getting us anything, don't be," Yu An Yan added with a comforting tone. "We know you're not the type to celebrate things like this, and so we understand."

She saw right through me, huh?

I sighed. "That may be so, but...I still feel bad..."

Qing Yue then leapt into my arms, and snuggled up to me tightly. "Mou~we already said, don't worry about it. If you really want to make it up to us, then..." she looked up at me with cute puppy eyes. "...Kiss us."