The glazed ceramic ridge-tiles of the attic eaves curled upward at their corners, red silk tassels swaying lazily in the breeze. For a brief moment, the courtyard fell completely quiet.
"How come nobody's saying anything? Does nobody want one?"
Stelle tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.
"Uh…"
Everyone exchanged wide-eyed glances. The cautionary tale of Little Gui snarfing down ice cream bars and nearly stripping herself bare in public was fresh in everyone's minds — nobody was exactly rushing to volunteer as the next test subject for mystery snacks.
Sure, they weren't poisonous. But what if they came with some embarrassing side effect?
"Tch — outrageous. Fascinating!"
Haxxor Bunny looked equal parts skeptical and intrigued, propping her small chin in her hand as she studied the rainbow-colored candy.
Could you actually eat something synthesized from a 'ghost' and a shredded pair of stockings and a busted skirt?
Anyone witnessing the Universal Synthesizer at work for the first time tended to have exactly this reaction — the gap between raw ingredients and finished product was, to put it mildly, a little jarring.
"Since you're the one who made them, you should go first~!"
March 7th pressed both hands playfully against the side of her face and clapped them in a cheerful little rhythm, her gaze sweeping across the colorful spherical rainbow candies.
Visually, they were absolutely gorgeous — the kind of thing that would immediately snag the attention of every young girl who laid eyes on them. Honestly, March 7th wasn't worried about hygiene.
They'd already eaten chocolate made from Stelle's stockings before. After Xueyi the Judge had eaten hers, she'd run an analysis using instruments built into the Herta puppet — the composition came back as almost entirely beneficial nutrients for growth. Clean as infant formula, practically.
Whether it was the black-stockings chocolate or the Six-Phased Ice cream bars, each creation had its own distinct character and layers of flavor, endlessly fascinating — it made you genuinely curious how those ingredients kept getting synthesized into things so inexplicably delicious.
And this batch of candy was just so pretty.
Like little glass marbles, their surfaces wrapped in swirling iridescent ribbons of color. If not for the whole random-side-effect concern, March 7th would have popped one in her mouth ages ago.
"Look at this Ah Qi — won't even eat a piece of candy."
Caelus scoffed. "Honestly, too lame."
"So lame, this Ah Qi."
Stelle matched Caelus's pointed look at March 7th, wearing a perfectly-executed 'little sis, you're really not up to it, huh?' smug expression.
"Bronya, Little Gui, Seele, Sushang — do any of you want to try one first?"
"Eh — no, no, absolutely not."
Still traumatized from the OCD ice cream bar incident that had nearly left her bolting through a public space in her birthday suit, Guinaifen waved her hands frantically in refusal, recoiling like she'd been offered actual poison.
"You eat it yourself."
Even though it looked kind of interesting, Haxxor Bunny — bearing in mind what had just happened to Guinaifen and what the rainbow candy was technically made of — politely declined with every fiber of her being.
She was not eating candy synthesized from stockings, a shredded skirt, and a ghost, thank you very much!
Both Sushangs and Seele followed suit and shook their heads.
"You lot have absolutely zero Trailblazing Spirit."
Stelle sighed with theatrical disappointment. "Truly the worst generation of Trailblazers I've ever led. Caelus-cub, what about you?"
The ash-haired girl pinched a piece of rainbow candy between her delicately fair fingers and held it up to Caelus's lips, arching one eyebrow.
"If you adjusted your tone and expression even slightly, I might actually eat it."
Caelus slanted a look at the Stellaron spirit — currently sabotaging every last trace of her own sultry elegance by insisting on wearing a sky-blue novelty-lingerie qipao.
"And you're calling Ah Qi out — Caelus-cub, you're just as much of a wimp, y'know."
The face of a Jiangnan-gentle qipao-clad elder sister was currently making the teasing expression of a little gremlin. The contrast was, admittedly, kind of adorable.
"Oh, so you're the brave one?"
Caelus reached out and pinched Stelle's jelly-soft cheek.
"Kidding~"
Stelle batted his hand away, flashing a bright, confident grin — all pearly-white teeth — and pointed at herself with a thumb:
"I am extremely brave, okay~! I am the best Trailblazer around~!"
"Oh, extremely brave, an ace Trailblazer!"
His fingertip grazed first along the satin hem of Stelle's qipao, brushing the snow-pale skin of her calves beneath — skin as white as fresh snow, made even more luminous by the contrast of blue satin. His palm slid along the qipao's slit, and he gave her two light, deliberate pats.
"Nice figure, by the way — pretty firm."
"Hehehe~"
Stelle looked enormously pleased with herself, completely unbothered by what Caelus's hand was doing — instead flashing the same smug grin right back at him: "If you're gonna compliment me, go all out. What do you think I am, weakling Ah Wei?"
"This Stellaron spirit's constitution is invincible!"
Watching Stelle talk herself up with gleeful, shameless arrogance, March 7th folded her arms and puffed out her cheeks in her most adorable display of indignation:
"So what if your constitution's strong — don't think that means you can just do whatever you want!"
"Sorry~!"
Stelle produced a limited-edition women's designer sunglasses from her spatial ring — a gift from Asta — slid them on, and flicked them with a self-satisfied little tap:
"Having a strong constitution absolutely means I can do whatever I want."
"Less talk, more action — just eat it already."
Caelus picked up a candy about two centimeters in diameter, its surface swirling with colors like wildfire sweeping through white clouds.
"Fine, I'll eat it!"
Stelle declared with full theatrical bravado, plopped herself down onto a nearby stone bench — her ocean-blue qipao tracing the graceful curve of her perked-up rear while her waist held a willowy, swaying tension.
She mimed pinching a handkerchief that wasn't there, gave it a little flick, cast a sidelong glance from beneath her lashes like a favored imperial consort deigning to notice a palace maid:
"Little Caelus-boy~ Feed this imperial consort her candy~!"
The languid yet impishly adorable pose was utterly, lethally sweet. Caelus played along in an exaggerated falsetto: "As you wish~ my dear Star Consort~!" — and popped the candy, which looked like a crimson gown melted into sugar coating, into that pouty little mouth.
Stelle's pearly teeth parted slightly to receive it, and then —
"Reoreoreoreoreo."
This absolute menace was doing the Kakyoin cherry trick. Her tongue moved like a little serpent, curling around the candy's surface, spinning it at speed between her lips and teeth.
Haxxor Bunny: "…"
Does this girl have even a shred of self-awareness as a beautiful young woman?
Even Haxxor Bunny had to admit — Stelle was a complete and total chaotic gremlin. A whole comedic disaster.
What a waste of a face like that.
Li Sushang and Little Gui's mouths twitched slightly.
"Alright, alright — I've known for a while that your tongue is very… agile. Just eat it already. What, do you want me to feed it to you mouth-to-mouth?"
As for when exactly Caelus had come to know about the agility of Stelle's tongue — well. The degree of dexterity Stelle had achieved today had been, shall we say, thoroughly practiced on him. On certain evenings, Caelus would occasionally purchase a Lick-Lick Fruit. The bodily fluids of a Candy Human were not only sweet, but apparently quite nutritious — Star-baby had honed her oral technique entirely through dedicated application.
"Nyeh nyeh nyeh~!"
Stelle stuck her tongue out at Caelus, then brought her teeth together with a soft snap and bit into the candy ball:
"Sweet without being cloying, bursting filling at the center, really good layering… totally legit!"
Stelle could presumably cook — not that she ever had — but above all else, she could eat. She had the palate of a genuine gourmet.
"She ate it! She actually ate it!"
"Stelle — do you feel anything off? Anything strange at all?"
March 7th and Little Gui immediately crowded in on either side of Stelle, circling her and watching closely.
Haxxor Bunny and Sushang looked on with equal curiosity.
"Nothing feels off, it just tastes really good."
Stelle crossed her legs and chewed leisurely.
Crack crack crack!
The sound of the candy's hard outer shell being bitten through.
Pop!
The sound of something giving way.
"Hm?"
Stelle had just swallowed the warm flowing center of the candy when her whole body suddenly went still. She stared downward in a daze.
The girls around her all widened their eyes. Haxxor Bunny included — all of them staring at Stelle with undisguised surprise.
Her height — already well above average among women — grew a little taller still. Stelle's features, already coolly beautiful when she wasn't talking, took on a more mature cast, an inherent, natural allure.
Most noticeable was the forward-facing development at her chest.
The qipao was already a special novelty-lingerie style, cut to maximize curves and thus fitted quite snugly — and the mountains that had just risen in elevation tested it further. Abundant, snow-pale softness spilled slightly from the qipao's sides, and the button at the center, stretched to its absolute limit against the dramatically elevated terrain, gave a decisive snap.
Against an opponent who had outmaneuvered every mathematician with a number over fifty thousand, the beleaguered fabric finally found liberation.
Though not completely destroyed, the diamond-shaped opening at the center had expanded to more than double its original size, instantly vaulting this form-fitted qipao up an entire tier — from tasteful to something you'd only see on an Azur Lane skin.
"Oh — oh WOW, they're big!"
Little Gui blurted it out before she could stop herself.
"Stelle, watch yourself!"
March 7th caught the slipping half of Stelle's qipao, holding it in place to prevent those two trembling cream-cake domes from becoming fully exposed to the open air.
Stelle herself wasn't particularly bothered — after all, everyone here was a friend, and a beautiful girl at that.
As for Caelus-cub?
He provoked considerably less bashfulness in her than a random stranger girl would have.
"Did I… get bigger?"
Stelle raised both hands, spreading them before her eyes and studying them.
"…"
Caelus moved around to Stelle's back. Amid a chorus of flushed and quickly-averted gazes from the other girls, he reached out — and then sucked in a sharp breath, reeling in a tactical backstep:
"Not a little bigger — a full two sizes. C to E."
"So… it's candy that increases bust size?"
Stelle examined her fair little hands, processing the sensation coming through the shared link — something that didn't fit in a single grip.
At those words from Stelle and Caelus, the girls who had just politely averted their gazes out of embarrassment all froze in unison — as though a keyword had been triggered — and looked up as one.
There is no girl who doesn't love beauty. Everyone wants a better figure. Everyone.
"No way — seriously?! Bro, that's actually possible?!"
Haxxor Bunny stared in absolute stupefaction for a long moment, then slowly turned a sharpening gaze toward the candy.
She'd said she wouldn't eat it. But then again — now that she'd joined the Astral Express, that meant embracing the Trailblazing Spirit!
It was just candy made from stockings, a slightly-destroyed skirt, and a ghost~!
Worth a taste!
"It's not limited to just bust growth — her whole body grew a little. It should be candy that promotes general growth, or rather, maturation overall."
Caelus retracted his hand. Stelle now radiated, inexplicably, the aura of a wife — like a perfectly ripened honey-peach. If he kept testing further, things were going to get complicated.
He stroked his chin in thought, the lingering fragrance of milk drifting up from his fingers into his nose.
"Um… what exactly are you all doing?"
Before Caelus had even finished speaking, he looked up to find every single girl — except the oblivious Sushang — quietly reaching for a piece of candy.
"Caelus-cub, looking at how Stelle turned out, this candy seems really good… Seele wants to try."
The navy-haired girl said so sweetly, and Caelus knew that the one currently in control of the body was Black Seele — she very much wanted to see what Seele would look like all grown up.
"Exactly, that's all!"
March 7th's nod was firm and vigorous.
She just wanted to eat candy. The side effect wasn't negative as far as she was concerned, totally acceptable.
It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to experience what it felt like to be a mature, reliable, big-sister figure with the kind of broad, warm presence of someone like Himeko.
Yep. That's all!
"I shall take my first step on the Trailblazer's journey!"
Haxxor Bunny's expression was solemn and resolute.
She'd been envying Bronya (Silver Wing) for a long time — was she finally going to experience her own future form firsthand?
Flat-chested?
Hmph. One candy down the hatch, and my fate is mine to command!
"Little Caelus-cub~ open up."
A voice came — Stelle's now, carrying a new thread of sultry warmth that hadn't been there before. Caelus obligingly opened his mouth, and Stelle flicked two pieces of candy in, watching him with deeply curious eyes.
Going by what had just happened to her, the change in Caelus-cub shouldn't be too… hm!!! ???
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