Stella spent a full four minutes preparing herself mentally.
Finally...
"...Let's do this."
Stella took a deep breath and tapped the confirm button with her finger.
Blue specks of light began to spread from her chest, like countless fireflies crawling across her skin.
Wherever the light passed, her height shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye—
March 7th, who had previously been looking Stella in the eye, began to look down at her.
Lower.
And lower still.
Until Stella's field of vision was filled only with everyone's lower bodies.
Stella [Tribbie] tilted her head up, her face written with utter despair.
"I knew it..."
The voice drifted out from her own mouth, soft and sweet like cotton candy.
Stella [Tribbie]:...
"Wait a second!"
March 7th suddenly sprang up from her seat, the cup in her hand almost flying away.
Stella [Tribbie] blinked her eyes: "What's wrong?"
"Three?"
March 7th pointed at Stella, then pointed at the empty air, then pointed at the empty air again, her finger trembling as if she had been electrocuted.
Welt pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting light.
"...Three."
"So cute!!!"
A white shadow rushed out from the side.
[Bai Heng]'s eyes shone like two little suns, and her fluffy ear tips were clearly perked up.
She grabbed Stella [Tribbie]'s hands and raised them over her head, her movements fluid and smooth, like someone grabbing a front-row spot at a flag-raising ceremony.
Stella [Tribbie] was lifted by her hands, her whole body suspended in the air for a moment, but she was quickly put down.
Then, out of thin air, a red, fluffy mass appeared on her left side.
"We are [Trianne]!"
The red-haired girl—[Trianne]—held up Stella's left hand and shouted with plenty of energy, as if delivering a declaration of independence.
The right side also felt chilly.
"We are [Trinnon]."
The red-haired girl with bangs covering her eyes spoke in a flat tone, as if reading a weather forecast.
But her movement of raising her hand was not hesitant at all.
Both of them turned their heads at the same time, their eyes staring uniformly at Stella, who was being held up in the middle.
"She is [Tribbie]!"
[Trianne]'s voice was high-pitched.
"[Tribbie]."
[Trinnon]'s voice was flat.
Stella [Tribbie]:...
Who am I, where am I, why do I feel like I've been kidnapped and forced to perform?
The two little girls looked at each other and revealed bright smiles.
"We are—"
"[Trispios]!"
"The Holy Maiden of Janusopolis!"
They spoke in unison, with a rapport like they had rehearsed eight hundred times.
The room was quiet for two seconds.
"As expected."
[Jing Yuan]'s voice drifted leisurely from the sofa.
He was holding a cup of tea, sitting as lazily as a cat basking in the sun; the teacup spun on his fingertips, and he didn't even lift his eyelids.
"[Jing Yuan]."
[Jingliu] stood by the window, arms crossed, her tone carrying that familiar chill of "what mischief are you brewing again."
"You knew about this all along, didn't you."
"It was merely a guess."
[Jing Yuan] put down the teacup and finally opened his eyes, his smile as gentle and slow as if he were chatting about the nice weather today.
"I didn't expect that when the main body transforms into [Tribbie], it would force the summoning of these two. Hmm, an interesting discovery."
The tone he used to say "an interesting discovery" was exactly the same as when he said "eating fish tonight."
Stella [Tribbie] finally broke free from the two's grip, her little short legs shuffling seven or eight steps before reaching the coffee table.
—Yes, she walked seven or eight steps.
From the door to the coffee table, it usually takes three steps.
Today, it took seven steps.
And she was out of breath.
She puffed up her cheeks and tilted her head to glare at [Jing Yuan].
The latter smiled and handed over a cup of tea.
"Have a cup of tea to cool off your anger."
Stella [Tribbie] grabbed the teacup, held it with both hands, and took a big gulp.
Then her whole body froze.
Her eyes widened.
"...So bitter."
The voice was soft and sweet, the tone tragic.
"Ugh—!!"
[Trianne] next to her had already stuck out her tongue, her entire face scrunched up like a kitten splashed with lemon juice.
"Wuu..."
[Trinnon] silently put down the teacup, expressionlessly picked up the water kettle nearby, and poured it into her mouth.
"Give me some!"
[Trianne] pounced over.
Stella [Tribbie] also pounced over.
Three red-haired heads crowded over the water kettle; the scene looked inexplicably like three little animals fighting for milk.
Dan Heng rubbed his temples, his voice weary: "You did that on purpose."
[Jing Yuan] picked up his teacup again, looking innocent.
"I didn't expect the commotion to be so big."
He paused and took a sip of tea.
—I really just didn't expect it to be this bitter.
Everyone: You just admitted you did it on purpose.
[Yingxing] poked his head out from the corner, holding a metal plate that had appeared out of nowhere, and was drawing something rapidly.
"Let's record this... forced summoning, height synchronization, shared sense of taste? No, maybe it's not just the sense of taste..."
Stella [Tribbie] finally grabbed the water kettle at this moment.
She gulped down half the kettle, let out a long breath, and then looked down at herself—hmm, little hands, little feet, little skirt.
She raised her head and glared at [Jing Yuan].
But at this height, looking up at Jing Yuan—from this angle, the lethality of her glare was approximately zero.
Instead, it looked a bit like—acting cute.
[Jing Yuan] clearly realized this too.
He put down the teacup and showed a rare, slightly more serious expression.
"Ahem."
He said.
"Once [Tribbie] reaches level 20, she should be able to control the number of summons."
He paused.
"...Probably."
Stella [Tribbie] was silent.
[Trianne] was silent.
[Trinnon] was silent.
Three pairs of eyes stared uniformly at [Jing Yuan].
[Jing Yuan] silently picked up the teacup and used the lid to cover the lower half of his face.
General, your composure is collapsing.
Stelle thought to herself.
By the window, [Jingliu] rarely didn't add a snide remark.
She just watched the three little red-haired ones huddled together, her lips seemingly, apparently, probably—
Curled up just a little bit.
It was very subtle.
But [Bai Heng] saw it.
"Jingliu, you're smiling, aren't you!"
"No."
"You are! Your lips moved!"
"You saw wrong."
"Jingliu, you like kids, right! Right!"
"...Bai Heng."
"Hmm?"
"Your ears are twitching."
"Eek—!"
[Bai Heng] covered the ears on top of her head with her hands.
There was finally some genuine laughter in the room.
Stella [Tribbie] held that cup of bitter tea, sitting on the edge of the coffee table, her two little short legs dangling in the air and swinging back and forth.
Next to her were [Trianne] and [Trinnon].
The three little red-haired ones sat in a row.
Stella [Tribbie] looked down at her dangling toes, sighed, and swung her little short legs twice more.
And on the chair opposite, [Jing Yuan] put down the teacup, his gaze passing over the rim of the cup and landing on those three red-haired heads.
He smiled.