“That fucking bitch! I don’t care anymore. Fuck the house arrest, I don’t care if she’s Hayakawa’s roommate, I don’t care what the consequences are, I’m going to rip out her fucking—”

Jia watched Eui silently rage, kicking over furniture, throwing things, and generally making almost as much of a mess inside as they had seen outside. She was swearing curses and threats on Sun Jaehwa—silently. Jia was reading her lips, but it was a bit surreal watching her scream in total silence.

“Yue, did you see who did this?”

Yan Yue was watching Eui’s tantrum with a bemused look on her face. She answered Jia distractedly.

“Hm? Oh, not really. I realized something was amiss when a rotten fish was hurled over the walls into the courtyard, but when I checked outside through the windows they pelted me with rice—I don’t know how they got it so sticky, I can still smell it in my hair, ugh.”

“They?”

Yue nodded, not taking her eyes off of the bizarre picture of Eui’s silent rampage.

“Mhm, two or three girls that I saw. Be—er, half-spirits by the looks of it. Why is she silent? It’s creeping me out.”

Jia’s eyebrows rose. Half-spirits?

“Elder Qin did it, don’t worry about it. There’s not that many half-spirits in the academy—maybe two dozen or so at most. Did you see what they looked like? We might be able to narrow it down.”

Yue shrugged, then ducked a flying plate from Eui. Jia caught it before it could hit anything—she was sick of buying new dishware.

“Eui, stop breaking things! Yue, you were saying?”

“That was deliberately targeted at me!”

“Focus Yue, what did they look like?”

“Tch, I don’t know! They were girls, their faces were covered, and they were wearing the academy uniforms. I saw tails, but I wasn’t exactly focused on identifying what kind while dodging expired comestibles.”

Jia sighed in exasperation before setting one of the couches upright and sitting down. Eui seemed to have gotten tired of taking her anger out on everything in sight and flopped down next to her with a furious scowl on her face.

“I just wish I knew who did this and why.”

Yue sat on the other couch across from them and hummed thoughtfully.

“Hmm, Eui seems rather confident that it was that Sun Jaehwa girl, but I got the distinct impression that she was quite taken with you during our brief interaction.”

Jia grimaced at the memory of Yue using her body like a puppet to talk to Sun Jaehwa—she’d nearly put that event out of her mind.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. The only people with details of our past are Sun Jaehwa and Tae In-Su. Well, I guess Do Hye knows as well—and I might have confided in Dae or Eunae at some point.”

Yue gave her a flat, unimpressed look.

“You might have? Do you not know?”

Jia blushed and flattened her ears.

“I uh, sometimes forget that people don’t know and let my mouth get ahead of me. I’m not very good at keeping track of who knows what. I think it’s just them, though.”

Yue sighed, shaking her head.

“It doesn’t really make sense. I could see her targeting Eui, but I don’t see any reason she would go after you or me. Are you sure this isn’t the work of Tae In-Su—or Zheng Long and Han Yu, for that matter? They might not be entirely aware of your backgrounds, but the accusations could be allusions to my brother.”

Jia rubbed her chin in contemplation.

“I don’t know...maybe? I don’t think that fits, though. How would Zheng Long and Han Yu convince Goryeon girls to do this? And is it really the kind of thing they would do?”

“Granted, they usually aren’t the types to stoop to this level of petty bullying, but they’re also not used to suffering defeats. Do you think Tae In-Su might have talked the girls into it? I’ve barely met him, is he a lady’s man?”

Jia sighed and shrugged.

“I have no idea. The only times I’ve met him were when I stole his token of invitation and when I confronted him after he joined the academy.”

Yue tapped a finger on her cheek as she thought. She was about to speak again when she was interrupted by Eui snapping her fingers. Or at least trying to, she stared flatly at her fingers when they produced no sound, but she’d managed to get their attention anyway. Eui took Jia’s hand before speaking, but moved her lips anyway for Yue’s benefit.

“This is exactly the kind of thing that Sun Jaehwa would do. She’s probably spent the last two months gathering a circle of loyal friends and followers and telling them all sorts of nasty shit about us—which is where the rumors started.”

“But where would she have learned that I used to be a thief?”

Eui flicked her in the forehead.

“You already forgot your first conversation with her, stupid! She heard about you from Tae In-Su. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already roped him into her circle.”

Jia rubbed her forehead where Eui had flicked her, pouting.

“Okay, fine, but why? What’s the point of all this?”

Yue shrugged.

“Jealousy, maybe? She’s no doubt heard of your relationship with Eui by now, if she hadn’t known before.”

Eui shook her head.

“It’s more than that. This is just what Jaehwa does. It’s about clout—social power and the ability to wield it. Jia and I have made waves—people talk about us, and we have some powerful friends. That makes us a threat to her status, so she spreads rumors to turn whatever fame we have into infamy. After last month, the general sentiment probably flipped to something negative, and now Jaehwa can safely make examples of us—’this is what happens to people Sun Jaehwa doesn’t like’.”

Jia stared slack-jawed at Eui.

“You were friends with this person!?”

Eui blushed and averted her eyes, she didn’t move her lips as she spoke this time.

“Love can make you blind. Besides, I was a different person back then—I thought that kind of thing was normal. I’m guessing that she’s probably no longer interested in you, either. She either overheard you talking to Hayakawa or gave up after hearing about the incident last month. She’s pretty fickle like that.”

Jia was glad to hear that she didn’t need to worry about any more unwanted advances, but wasn’t exactly pleased to be the target of Sun Jaehwa’s bullying, either.

“So what are we supposed to do about it? How can we fight back, especially confined to the house like we are?”

Eui opened her mouth to respond, but Jia preempted her.

“Other than murder her.”

Eui closed her mouth and just shrugged.

“I’ve never been on the other end of it before.”

Yue was biting her thumbnail, her brows furrowed in consternation.

“I suspect that our best option would be to turn it around on her, somehow. She wields social power well, but cultivators ultimately answer to personal strength above all else—a duel to put her in her place wouldn’t be bad, but she’ll be expecting that. No doubt she’ll find reasons to refuse—most likely by denying her involvement.”

Jia groaned in frustration.

“I’d rather avoid any more violence, to be honest. I feel like every time I solve a problem that way it just makes more problems.”

Yue shook her head.

“I’m afraid the only truly non-violent option here would be to publicly refute her assertions, but that would end poorly. After all, you are a thief and Miss Eui is a murderer.”

“And you’re a—”

Jia elbowed Eui in the side hard before she could finish mouthing the words.

“I don’t care if you curse, but don’t call people that.”

Yue raised a curious eyebrow at Jia as Eui rubbed at her side, pouting.

“A sore spot? Not that I don’t appreciate being defended.”

“Yes, now shut up about it. If we can’t deny her accusations, and we can’t challenge her to a duel, then what?”

Yue shrugged.

“You should deny her accusations, regardless of the truth behind them, just don’t let yourself get caught up in public debate about it. Remember, a poor reputation for you now reflects on Hayakawa Kaede as well, and you need her clan’s protection now more than ever. If she won’t come to you for a duel, then you’ll simply have to defend yourself and your reputation more...aggressively.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Yue smirked deviously.

“Well, she’ll have a hard time finding people willing to do her dirty work for her if everyone she sends ends up with broken bones, don’t you think?”

Jia felt a bit queasy about the idea, but she felt Eui’s grip on her hand tighten with excitement.

“Jia, I think I might be going crazy because Yue just said something that I actually agree with!”

Jia rubbed at her temple, feeling the beginnings of a new headache. She didn’t have any better ideas, though. Hopefully they wouldn't get into too much trouble for starting fights.

It was easier said than done, to retaliate aggressively against the vandals. For one thing, they weren’t always home, and there wouldn’t be much they could do if the house was attacked while nobody—or just Yue, who was still relatively helpless—was home. Another problem was that they couldn’t be certain that they would be targeted in exactly the same way again. They lacked the information and manpower to counter whatever it was that Sun had planned for them.

Jia decided that the best option would be to consult Hayakawa. This involved her too, after all, and she’d probably want to know that it was happening at the very least. Unfortunately they couldn’t really meet at Hayakawa’s dorm, both because of Jia’s house arrest and because Hayakawa shared a house with Sun Jaehwa. However, Jia and Hayakawa had set a precedent for occasionally sparring together—though she had found that since her domain was sealed she’d struggled to keep up with Hayakawa’s much greater skill.

Still, it made a good excuse to have a conversation, even if it did mean getting thoroughly pummeled in the process.

“Yield! I need a break, and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Jia’s timely surrender saved her from being smashed into the dirt, as Hayakawa immediately stopped her strike short—impressive control, as always. Jia was out of breath and drenched in sweat after a few hours of training in the hot sun, but Hayakawa seemed unfazed—even her bright red hair had hardly a strand out of place as she relaxed and nodded toward Jia.

“Alright. Not bad, Miss Lee. Your basic movements have improved dramatically, though I’m not sure what happened to your reflexes—some lingering effects of the injury?”

Jia’s tail curled in on itself and she flicked an ear in irritation as she shook her head.

“Not quite, but close enough. Thanks! It doesn’t really feel like I’m doing better. If anything it’s like I’ve backslid and lost months of progress.”

“It’s possible. Serious injuries can leave scars beyond just the physical, but you seem to be improving to me. You had something you wanted to discuss?”

Jia nodded and they sat in the grass, taking a short break while she apprised Hayakawa of what had happened and their suspected culprit.

“Miss Sun? Why would she want to defame you?”

“We think it's a combination of propping herself up by knocking us down, and personal vendetta. She and Eui have a...history.”

“I see. I suppose there are some among the students who would see you two as unknown upstarts causing trouble. So what do you intend to do about it?”

Jia explained their plan to deter would-be bullies in order to force Sun Jaehwa to either confront them herself, or run out of followers willing to do her dirty work.

“Hmm. It might work, but it’s a dangerous path. You wouldn’t be improving your reputation, only instilling fear in those who would question you.”

“I know that, but I don’t really know how to improve our reputation. Truth be told, I think attitudes like Yan Zhihao and Zheng Long’s are pretty inevitable even from those who aren’t from Qin. Eunae tries to stay as far removed from her status as possible and you’re—pragmatic, but I think most of the people from noble or wealthy families resent Eui and me.”

“True enough. People like that will have likely made up their minds already, and simply chased the rumors as validation for their resentment. How are you going to enact this plan of yours, then?”

Jia leaned back and shrugged.

“I really don’t know. I don’t have a head for this kind of thing. I’ve always either faced my problems head on, or run away from them entirely. It doesn’t feel like I can do that here. Plus, in the context of everything I’ve had to deal with in the last year, some petty vandalism and name calling is a bit hard to take seriously.”

Hayakawa gave Jia a steely look.

“Showing weakness will bring you more trouble than showing strength. In the end, that’s what this is about. Meekly enduring the harassment will only invite more of the same. While it won’t help your reputation, you’re right to strike decisively before this grows any further.”

“Fair enough, I guess. I think we probably need some help gathering information. Eui and I are stuck in the house most of the time unless we’re in lessons or training. If we knew what they were planning or when they were going to strike, we’d be able to at least prepare for it and fight back. What we need is to force a direct confrontation.”

Hayakawa nodded along.

“You might have more luck asking Miss Seong. She’s much better connected, particularly among the Goryeon students. I’d be glad to assist in whatever way I can—actually, that reminds me that I need to discuss something with you as well.”

Jia blinked in confusion at the troubled expression on Hayakawa’s face.

“Is something wrong?”

Hayakawa sighed, averting her eyes in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability.

“There are some...complications with our arrangement, Miss Lee—both personal and practical.”

Jia felt her skin prickling as she swallowed nervously. She hadn’t been particularly enthusiastic about becoming a vassal to the Hayakawa clan, but at this point she wasn’t sure if she was prepared to dissolve their agreement—it had already saved them once, and she and Eui might not survive a day past graduation without their aegis.

“I had anticipated some strife with the Awakening Dragon sect given the circumstances, and your history with Yan Zhihao, but I underestimated the severity of their grudge—one which will likely only have deepened after the events of last month. I realize now you were in much more significant duress than I knew.”

Lee Jia frowned, she didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Is that a problem? I thought we had a deal, does it really matter what the circumstances of the agreement were?”

“It does, but perhaps not in the way you think. On a practical level, my clan is unlikely to be willing to grant you blanket protection from one of the great sects—we discussed that before, didn’t we?”

Come to think of it, Lee Jia did remember something like that. She nodded uncomfortably, and Hayakawa gave her a reassuring smile.

“You can relax, Miss Lee. I’m not going to dissolve our agreement, but in order to make it more palatable for my clan—and for myself—I think that some changes are in order.”

Lee Jia grimaced at that.

“You want me to give up even more!?”

“Not exactly, no. I did say personal as well as practical, didn’t I? Knowing what I do now, I don’t think the agreement was anything close to fair—and I promised not to exploit your desperation. At the time I was—irritable. I thought you were being coached by Yan Yue, and I let my personal feelings cloud my judgement.”

Well, Jia could hardly blame her for hating Yan Yue.

“Here’s what I propose—assisting Fujino with his team’s qi awakenings is payment enough for their invitations to train on the mountain. For my intervention against Zheng Long, I would consider us even if you would include me in your spiritual tutoring, now that you’ve adequately demonstrated its validity.”

In other words, now that she knew it would work, she wanted to use the awakening stone as well. Jia squirmed awkwardly.

“That’s...nice, but um...”

“I know what you’re thinking. You still want the protection of my clan, and I still want your cooperation. While I doubt my father will be able to accept our previous arrangement, I think there is still a way. If you make certain concessions, we could contrive to work together not as mistress and retainer, but as...”

“Friends?”

Hayakawa’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and her posture tightened.

“Allies, Miss Lee.”

Oops! Lee Jia had forgotten about Hayakawa’s strange aversion to the F-word.

“Okay...what kind of concessions?”

“The awakening stone—Fujino told me everything about it. Please don’t blame him for breaking the secrecy, he’s not in a position to deny my requests. If you were willing to give us the awakening stone, then it would be trivial to convince my father of the value of an alliance.”

Lee Jia bit her lip nervously.

“That’s...a lot to ask. It’s literally the most precious thing I own, even if it’s not immediately useful to me anymore.”

Hayakawa nodded, standing up and brushing herself off.

“I understand. You don’t have to decide right away, but please give it some thought. In the meantime, I think that’s enough of a break. Shall we continue, or do you need a chance to speak to Miss Seong?”

Jia cracked her neck and stretched as she stood, before taking up a fighting stance.

“Eunae can wait a bit. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!”

Eunae seemed to be strangely enthusiastic about the idea of knocking a few heads together to make an example. It was odd—Jia had never known the somewhat flighty girl to be one for violence, but now it felt like she was seeing a totally new facet of her friend.

“Perhaps Dae can help us whip up some defensive formations, or set up a counter ambush. Of course if your house was vandalized by our countrymen I’ll know precisely who by the end of the day, so we could always take it to them—ah, but you’re still under house arrest. That reminds me! Rika and I have been thinking that we should visit you for our usual tea sessions—I’ve been missing them terribly. Anyhow, communication will be key in an information campaign like this, so see if you can get Miss Yan to lend you her speaking stone so that I can reattune it for you. Also—”

“Eunae, slow down!”

Jia interrupted the fox girl’s rambling while waving her hands urgently.

“I’ll talk to Dae about the formations, but for now the information is enough, thank you. And you’re welcome to visit any time, of course. Uh, what was that last part about a speaking stone?”

Euane nodded excitedly, her three tails swishing in a distracting manner.

“Yes! I know she has one—even the most basic infiltration units should be equipped with them. I only have one linked pair, but if you bring me Miss Yan’s I should be able to attune it to the same network.”

“R-right. I’ll ask her about it.”

The fact that Eunae referred to Yue as ‘Miss Yan’ said quite a lot about Eunae’s feelings about the girl. Eunae used given names with most girls—and even some boys—unless they were complete strangers. Jia wasn’t sure whether Eunae was even capable of outright cruelty, but cold indifference seemed to be the best she could muster for Yan Yue.

“Very well, was there anything else? I don’t want to get you in trouble for lingering too long after class.”

Jia wasn’t really sure whether anyone was actually enforcing her house arrest at this point, though she was sure that she’d find herself face to face with an angry Elder Qin if she tried to leave the campus itself.

“Uh, no not really, though I’ve been meaning to ask—did you um...grow another tail?”

Eunae wrapped the new appendage around in front of her and held it in her hands—did everyone have better prehensile control than Jia? The best she could usually do was shift it out of the way when she sat down.

“Ah, this? It’s surprisingly late, but generally Seong girls are born with only one or two, and the rest grow in later. It’s rather unusual to get a new one at my age, though. It happened right after I reached the second stage of spiritual cultivation and my inner spirit set my soul on fire.”

“Oh! Congratulat—wait, what!?”

Eunae put a hand on her cheek and laughed as if she was talking about an embarrassing childhood memory.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I found a method to practice my own ancestral technique, and had a similar vision to the one you described. My spirit half was rather chatty, unlike yours, but she still had something to teach me—she was just a little bit of a harsh teacher.”

“Are...are you okay?”

Eunae nodded happily.

“Better than ever! It finally feels like I have a path forward to perhaps learning to control my abilities, though I sadly seem to have nearly no talent for it. I’ll just have to make up for it with practice, as always.”

“I see...well, if you ever need someone to practice with, I could still use some training against spiritual attacks, even if it’s not quite so urgent anymore.”

“Perhaps I will take you up on that, thank you Jia!”

Jia left the training field feeling cautiously optimistic about her immediate future. After everything she’d been through, it was almost refreshing to have something as normal as social pressure and bullying to worry about. Well, aside from the myriad of obstacles she faced in her training.

Overall, it still felt like things were looking up.