The late summer sun was still glaringly bright.
Lu Chen stood there holding a strawberry ice cream in one hand and a vanilla one in the other, staring at the ice cream machine with a troubled look.
Should he get one for himself too? It was so hot today—he honestly really wanted one.
But he only had two hands.
Also...
Ei would definitely enjoy both flavors, but what about Miko? Which one would she prefer? If he gave her the wrong one, would she be upset?
Considering she'd even gone so far as to write a novel for him, Lu Chen was feeling especially grateful toward Guuji right now.
He recalled how Miko rolled her eyes at him, complaining that he never cared about her...
Lu Chen slipped into thought.
"Young man? Have you made up your mind yet?"
"Trust me—with your looks, you'd be a breakout star after debut. We've got a new talent show coming up..."
Thinking he was starting to win him over, the talent scout kept jabbering like a crow, getting more animated by the second as he followed behind.
Lu Chen was indeed lost in thought—but it was only about ice cream.
Snapping back to reality, he fixed his gaze on the scout, who had just bragged his way up to a nine-figure pre-tax salary.
"Which company are you from?"
The scout's eyes lit up, thinking he'd finally convinced him.
"Starlight Entertainment!"
"Oh."
Lu Chen nodded. So he was one of Tony's colleagues. No wonder he used the same pitch Tony used when he recruited Venti.
Lu Chen turned and walked toward Ei and Miko with the ice creams. The scout followed, only to be stunned into silence when he spotted the two beautiful girls ahead.
"Today's my lucky day..."
"Am I dreaming...?"
"Excuse me, do you two have any plans to debut?"
After handing the ice creams to them, Lu Chen turned right back around, grabbed the guy, and dragged him over to the haunted house across the street.
Screams echoed from within. The scout, firmly restrained by Lu Chen's strength, thought he was about to get beaten up—only to see the young man pointing at the haunted house entrance.
"You said you're with Starlight, right? In a few minutes, someone will walk out of here with singing skills equal to V.T.'s—no, identical. I swear I'm not lying. I'll stake my reputation on it."
Lu Chen patted him on the shoulder with a mysterious tone.
"Whether you rise to challenge Director Tony's position depends on you. Good luck! Go create the next superstar!"
"For real?!"
The scout's eyes went wide. A genius singer on par with the legendary V.T.? That was no joke.
After all, Starlight had only survived thanks to V.T.'s explosive debut. As his fame soared, Tony—who had discovered him—rose through the ranks and recently became a director.
Tony was the envy of everyone in the company, this scout included. Hearing Lu Chen say that, how could he not be ecstatic?
"Thank y—"
He turned around.
"Wait—where'd they go?"
...
Lu Chen jogged to catch up with Ei and Miko, who were already far ahead, chatting and enjoying their ice cream.
Miko appeared to be quite pleased with her vanilla cone. She took a small bite with her pale pink lips, and as the sun beat down, a bit of melted cream stuck to the corner of her mouth.
When she saw Lu Chen approaching, she gently wiped it away—though a trace of shine still lingered.
Lu Chen sighed in relief. At least she seemed to be enjoying it.
And then...
"I don't actually like vanilla ice cream," she said with a smile.
"You're eating it so happily for someone who doesn't like it." Lu Chen raised an eyebrow, exposing her obvious lie.
"Hmph, so you say I like it, and I do? How are you gonna prove that?" Miko raised a brow.
"Uh... well..."
Lu Chen felt completely outmatched by this fox. She felt prickly from head to toe—not cute at all.
Ei saw the helpless look on his face and smiled gently.
"Don't worry about it, Chen. Miko just told me earlier that she really likes it."
"Ei!" Miko wasn't expecting to be betrayed like that.
"Hmph!" Lu Chen crossed his arms. "Knew it. Foxes always say one thing and mean another."
Miko narrowed her eyes. Realizing she was losing the argument, she chose to drop it.
"Who was that guy earlier?"
"Talent scout from Starlight." Lu Chen waved it off. "Don't worry, I got rid of him."
Ei nodded, then glanced at Lu Chen's empty hands.
"Chen, didn't you get one for yourself?"
"Huh...?"
Lu Chen paused before realizing—he really didn't.
"Haha, it's not even that hot," he said while squinting up at the blazing sun. "I don't actually want any..."
Sometimes, he liked saying the opposite of what he meant.
What he didn't expect was—
"Here!"
"Want some?"
The two of them extended their ice creams to him at the same time. Lu Chen's hand froze in midair, his smile turning a little stiff.
Following the half-eaten pink strawberry cone, he saw Ei's expression remain completely unchanged—her movement smooth and natural, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Looking at the green vanilla cone, Miko's expression was a bit hesitant. When she saw Ei reach out, she almost instinctively tried to pull hers back.
But in the end, she didn't.
"Which one do you want? Hurry up, Chen." Ei looked at him.
"It's melting," Miko added with a small pout.
"Uh..."
"It's melting..."
"..."
Faced with two pairs of beautiful, unblinking eyes, Lu Chen honestly hoped they'd just melt faster—because his brain was about to implode.
The second star after the Big Bang...
After a long, long silence, inspiration struck.
"Have you ever heard of fried ice cream?"
In that instant, Lu Chen truly felt like a genius.
"Fried ice cream?" Ei looked at him curiously.
"That's right!" Lu Chen nodded. "It's like DIY ice cream. You can mix any flavors together—whatever you like! It's really good!"
Miko seemed to catch on to his idea. The corners of her mouth curved in a subtle, silent smile.
Lu Chen snatched the ice creams from their hands, pulled out a tray from his system, and mashed the two flavors together. Before long, the mix took on a strange swirl of colors. Then, he used Cryo to refreeze the whole thing...
"Ta-da!"
A big scoop of oddly-colored ice cream now sat in his hand. Lu Chen pulled out two forks from the system and proudly offered them to the girls.
"Here—give it a try!"
"Mmm..." Ei took a small bite. Surprisingly, it was really good.
Miko tried to hold back her laughter as she took a fork from Lu Chen and sampled a bit too.
"Mmm~ It's delicious~"
"I'm glad you like it..." Lu Chen exhaled with relief.
Miko winked at him. "Don't just stand there watching us eat!"
Ei chimed in too. "Yeah, Chen—join us!"
Lu Chen smiled, then sat beneath the tree with them to enjoy the ice cream together.
The end-of-summer heat still lingered, which made the ice cream taste especially good.