Little Pink Starfish

Before this idea took root, Gao Ling hadn’t thought much of it.
But once the thought appeared—what if Seventeen is Yuan?—she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She kept zoning out for days.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?” her mom suddenly barked. “Walking around like you’ve lost your soul… Can you at least watch where you’re going? You’re gonna fall down the stairs!”

Snapping back to reality, Gao Ling quickly looked at her feet, narrowly avoiding a trip.

She adjusted the bag of groceries she was carrying and said, “Mom, you go ahead. I’m going to a friend’s place. Here, take these home first.”

“Friend? Which friend?”

“Xiao Li’s,” she blurted the name of a random girlfriend, then rushed off and caught a cab straight to Qiu Ling’s place.

In the cab, she pulled out those leaf pages again. She still couldn’t decipher the books, but she kept them perfectly flattened, each one pressed inside a notebook.

Arriving at Qiu Ling’s house, she barged in, startling her. Qiu Ling didn’t know what Gao Ling was doing there so early in the morning.

“Something wrong?” Qiu Ling asked.

“I… I…” Gao Ling stammered a bit. She had charged in with momentum, but now that she was face to face with someone, suddenly it felt awkward, even absurd, to voice her theory.

Still, since she was already here, she couldn’t just leave without saying anything. Face flushed red, she finally spilled everything that had been on her mind lately.

Qiu Ling didn’t laugh. She clearly didn’t take it too seriously, but she did offer a suggestion: “If you really want to confirm it… why not ask Tang Shi’s dad? He’s a powerful demon—maybe he knows.”

Then she called Tang Shi, talked briefly, and gave Gao Ling a reassuring thumbs-up. Feeling relieved, Gao Ling went home, cheeks still burning.

Tang Shi’s dad didn’t come home often. It would be a while before they could ask him. Until then, Gao Ling would just have to wait patiently.

So she kept quiet at home, didn’t mention any of it to anyone—just kept it locked inside.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan was puzzling over something else entirely: why was her fan-made persona so wildly popular, while her real self’s character got so little love?

It felt kind of like a slap in the face… but also a bit of a blessing. At least when the next popularity poll came around, she could ride the wave from those fanfics.

She scrolled through comments under the latest manga post. Someone had copied a fanfic from a forum into the comments, and the replies were full of “AAAAHHH” and others complaining, “This is way too OOC… What are you even fantasizing about?!”

As she read, her phone suddenly rang—it was Tang Shi. Yuan Yuanyuan quickly switched to her “Yuan” voice and answered.

“Hello? Tang Shi, what’s up?”

“Boss!” Tang Shi sounded thrilled. “You finally picked up! I have a question!”

As always, Tang Shi got right to the point. Yuan Yuanyuan braced herself for another bizarre question, but this time, Tang Shi asked:

“Boss, is Seventeen the same person as Yuan?”

…

Yuan Yuanyuan decided that from now on, she needed to mentally prepare herself before answering Tang Shi’s calls—just in case of sudden death by shock.

“…What’s your deal?” she said. “You… seriously, why are you always like this…”

She really didn’t know how to respond to Tang Shi anymore. That kid always came in like a wrecking ball with surprise attacks.

But Tang Shi sounded completely casual, even smug. “Someone asked me about it. I was originally going to ask my dad, but he’s not coming home for half a month… so I figured I’d ask you instead.”

“…Oh.” Yuan Yuanyuan had been wondering if Tang Shi had discovered something herself, but now it seemed like she was just being nosy—asking on a whim, without much thought.

Fine. Arguing with a fool only makes you look like one.

So she just said, “Yeah, same person. Yuan is Seventeen.”

She was going to go on and explain the significance of pseudonyms in the manga, maybe ask who first figured it out, but Tang Shi’s voice completely drowned her out.

“I knew it! Boss, thank you! You really are a great demon!”

“Wait, hold on—who asked you that question?” Yuan Yuanyuan quickly interjected.

“A super pretty girl who really likes Yuan. I’ll introduce you sometime.” And with that, Tang Shi hung up—without giving Yuan Yuanyuan a chance to ask anything else.

“…Ah.” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, words dying in her mouth.

She thought about calling back… then decided: What’s the point of keeping this a secret anymore?

She shrugged it off and promptly forgot about the whole thing. Let people ask whoever they want. It’s not like they’ll ever meet her anyway.

Tang Shi, on the other hand, immediately called Qiu Ling. “Hey! I just asked the boss—Yuan is Seventeen!”

Qiu Ling had been napping—no easy feat for a senior in high school. She usually only protected her sleep for the sake of her hair. But after hearing that, she shot up from bed, blood rushing to her head.

Holy crap! HOLY CRAP! Did I just hear what I think I heard?!

“How’d you ask him?” Qiu Ling said, still groggy and suspecting she had low blood pressure. “Wait… I thought this was just a dumb theory—turns out it’s real?!”

“Yup!” Tang Shi said, completely smug. “I told you guys when I found that note in the boss’s stuff. You two pretended to agree but clearly thought I was full of crap. Who’s the idiot now, huh?”

“…You knew we thought you were an idiot?” Qiu Ling said blankly.

This conversation’s focus is going off the rails…

Qiu Ling hung up and bounced on her bed a few times—then realized this wasn’t the time for that. She immediately called Gao Ling.

But before dialing, she had a sudden flash of inspiration. Instead, she opened their group chat and made a public announcement:

[Everyone, listen up—BIG news incoming.]
[YUAN!!!!!!!! That guy!! He’s Seventeen from the manga!!!]

Middle of the day, a tiny group chat with just a few dozen people exploded. Everyone—students, office workers alike—gave up on their lunch breaks and began madly tapping their screens.

Gao Ling stared at the message and the thread of comments that followed, completely stunned.

…

[Wait, wait—would this count as a secret among demons?] They were still discussing it all the way into dinner. Gao Ling was glued to her phone until her mom scolded her, forcing her to put it down.

Her mind was still buzzing. Today had been too dramatic. She doubted she’d calm down even by bedtime.

It had all started with a dream. A ridiculous, surreal dream that somehow—turned out to be true.

Her head was filled with thoughts. After realizing Yuan was Seventeen, so many things in the manga suddenly made sense… even hidden plotlines became clear.

So Yuan was the same demon the demon world handed over to the humans as a bargaining chip and got executed?

But that didn’t add up. Wasn’t he kind and friendly toward humans? Why would the humans demand his execution? What did he do to anger them?

And the “traitor”? What was that all about? Why did Yu Wu call him a traitor the moment he appeared?

Gao Ling felt like she understood some things, but others became even murkier. This world was based on reality, not just fiction. The deeper truths were buried further than paper manga could show.

Then there was that line Yuan said to Fa Ning…

“You know who Seventeen is?”
“Of course I do.”

No wonder Yuan looked so weird when he said it.

He WAS Seventeen all along! What must he have been feeling inside when he said that?

Now it all felt like some kind of black comedy. But when placed on Seventeen’s shoulders… the comedy felt deeply out of place.

So if Yuan was Seventeen… that meant he really was the demon handed over to the human side?

What had he been thinking back then… and what about now?

And as for the whole debate over whether Seventeen or Yuan was stronger in illusion magic… well, that argument was moot now.

Gao Ling ate distractedly, getting another scolding from her mom for looking out of it.

“What’s with you? You’ve been off all day,” her mom said.

“I just… found something out I don’t really understand,” Gao Ling replied. “I’m done eating. I’m heading back.”

Back in her room, she opened her phone to find the group chat thread had grown enormous. They were currently discussing one thing:

[So… do you guys really think Yuan spares Fa Ning because he’s tsundere?]

[Crap… we’ve just uncovered a huge secret. Are we gonna get silenced?]

[Keep it light, guys. Moderation is key. 😅] Gao Ling replied, not wanting the convo to spiral too far.

[What do you mean? We’re seriously discussing this, not joking.]
[What do you think Yuan’s personality is like?]

[Personality?] Gao Ling typed. [Pretty good, actually. Straightforward…]

[No, we mean—is he tsundere?]

[Tsundere?] Gao Ling frowned. She hated that term lately, especially after all the dirty jokes floating around. She didn’t really like how it was used.

[Come on, he’s been holding this giant secret and refuses to say it… that’s totally tsundere, right?]

[I don’t think that counts…]

[When he meets Fa Ning and doesn’t reveal he’s Seventeen—isn’t that tsundere?!]

[You guys are too much…]

[Remember that scene when he cussed out the people who hated him, but still saved them in the end? Tsundere or not?]

[…Fine. Whatever makes you happy.] Gao Ling relented.

[See? You lost the argument, so now you’re being a sore loser.]
[But seriously—Yuan’s character reminds me of Snape. Remember when he said “look at me”? I spiraled for a whole week. This might be another moment like that.]

[We don’t even know the whole story yet! For all we know, he could’ve been handed over because he betrayed the demons. Maybe they had every reason to want him dead.] Gao Ling replied.

[Then we’ll find out later.] Someone replied with a crying-laughing emoji.
[You sound super tense, by the way. But hey, you’re a big brain—when you said “handed over to the humans”… whew, that was kinda hot.]

[Yeah! That phrase totally sparked something. Imagine the demons giving up their general to the humans, tied to a chair in restraints, drugged…]

[Holy crap, stop! You’re turning this into smut! The manga said he was executed, not… whatever that was!]

[It was a slip!] Gao Ling replied, blushing furiously as she slammed the chat closed.

A bunch of degenerates with nothing but filth in their heads.

Goddamn idiots.