(1)
Lunch break at Little Town Second Middle School.
The melodies of Bandari played over the school’s intercom, and soothing, making one feel as if they were sitting in a hospital that was about to close for the day.
An Jing, who had no desire to go downstairs for a walk, leaned against the windowsill at the back of the classroom. She looked down, watching the hazy rain and mist drift across the playground.
“An Jing?” She suddenly felt someone gently poke her back. When she turned around, she saw the Health Representative, whose face was covered in quite a few freckles and acne. “Do you have a moment?”
“Ah… yes. What is it?”
The Health Representative somewhat sheepishly held up a purple, hard-covered Classmate Memory Book and handed An Jing a particularly beautiful ballpoint pen decorated with a feather. “Could you fill this out? It’s a Classmate Memory Book.”
“Oh, even you bought one.”
“Actually, a lot of people have bought them… especially today.”
“Is today some kind of special day?”
“I don’t know either. When I came to school this morning, I saw a lot of people lining up to buy them.”
“Oh.” An Jing flipped open the book the girl handed her. “Fortunately, there aren’t too many sections to fill out…”
“You don’t have to fill in the parts you don’t want to,” the Health Representative said, waving her hands nervously. “Just… whatever you feel like writing is fine…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Let me see… wow, a lot of people have already signed it. Even Xiao Ying wrote in it.”
“Yeah. All the girls have finished, so now I’m moving on to the boys. Because… because An Jing seems easy to talk to, I… I came to you first…”
“Ah, I see, I see.” An Jing interrupted her somewhat awkward explanation. “It won’t take much time to write anyway.”
“If you bought one too, I can sign yours.”
“Sure. Mine is in my desk drawer. I’ll give it to you in a bit.” An Jing nodded gently. “By the way, let the guys like Ah Qiang sign it as well…”
As An Jing spoke, she took the feathered pen, leaned over the windowsill, and began writing quickly in the Classmate Memory Book.
The upper half was all personal information. Although it was much simpler than the one Zhu Ying had bought, it was still quite detailed.
An Jing didn’t understand why she had to fill in this seemingly trivial information when just a name should suffice — the funniest part was that every Classmate Memory Book required a gender to be filled in.
‘Are they worried that when they see this name in the future, they won’t remember if the person was a boy or a girl?’
An Jing didn’t quite get it, but she was never good at saying no to others, so she dutifully filled in the blanks.
However, the final “Message” or “Comment” section left her a bit stumped.
‘Hmm… what kind of person is she…’
“You… you can just write whatever comes to mind.” The expression on the Health Representative’s face was a mix of anticipation and nervousness, though her words sounded like she didn’t care much — perhaps she just didn’t want to make things difficult for An Jing.
“Let me think.” An Jing didn’t want to be dismissive. She scratched her head and finally squeezed out a few sentences from her heart, scribbling several lines on the paper.
“Are you finished…?”
“Uh, yeah, all done. This was the best I could come up with. I hope you don’t mind.”
The Health Representative didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she took the book and glanced at it. “You always seem very easy to talk to, but being too easygoing isn’t always good, so you should try being difficult once in a while…”
“Ahem, well, something like that.”
“Thank you.” She hugged the Classmate Memory Book to her chest and gave a sincere, tight-lipped smile. “So, you want me to sign yours? I can do it right now.”
“Sure.”
An Jing walked to her desk and pulled out her own memory book, which featured a beautiful girl on the cover. Compared to the other one, hers didn’t have many “fill-in-the-blank” questions; it had more blank lines for free-form writing.
“Huh? Only Zhu Ying has signed it?”
“Yeah. It’s still early anyway, so I’m not in a rush,” An Jing said, scratching her head. “Or rather, I kind of forgot about it.”
“Hmm… then I’ll write in it for you.” The girl scratched her cheek shyly. “Could you not look while I’m writing?”
“Uh… sure.” An Jing turned around and saw Zhu Ying walking around with her own black memory book, which featured a skull on the cover, looking for people to write messages. “Xiao Ying, how many people have signed yours so far?”
“Ten or more! Jing, are you just starting to look for people?”
“There’s no need to rush. Isn’t there still plenty of time?”
“I’ll feel more at ease if it’s finished early!”
An Jing rolled her eyes. She felt that Zhu Ying had simply found a “new toy” and couldn’t wait to play with it.
“Um, An Jing, I’m finished.”
“Oh, that was fast.”
“I’ve already signed quite a few, so I can write quickly. Only the final message took a little time…”
“What did you write?”
“This…”
“Uh… ‘Classmate An Jing is a very easygoing boy. Although he looks like a girl, he has a powerful tenderness that is unique to boys.’ A powerful tenderness unique to boys? What even is that?”
“It’s… it’s just a feeling.”
“Okay, thanks.” An Jing didn’t press further. She felt that writing a unique message for everyone was probably quite difficult. For a Health Representative who wasn’t very close to her, being able to come up with those few sentences was probably already a decent effort.
“Hey, An Jing! Have you not signed mine yet?” Sun Wei suddenly popped up out of nowhere. “Hurry up, sign it!”
“Holy crap, you bought one too?”
“This one has a stainless steel cover. Cool, right?”
“…I’m surprised you even found one like that.”
“This way, I can guarantee it won’t break.”
“The cover won’t break, but I can’t say the same for what’s inside — ” An Jing’s lip twitched. “Besides, don’t you think it’s heavy?”
“It’s not heavy! In a crisis, I can even use it to hit people. How cool is that!”
“…So you only cared about its ‘multi-functionality,’ right? Forget hitting people; you could probably use it as a cutting board for vegetables without any issues.”
“Stop talking and just write. I think I’ve finished with all the guys. Next, I’m going to make my move on the girls!”
“They probably won’t be very willing to sign it.” An Jing’s eyelid flickered as she pointed to a corner of the first page. “Why did you stick a dried booger right here?”
“Damn! When did that get there!”
“Please, have some personal hygiene!”
An Jing sat down helplessly and handed her own book to Sun Wei as well. “Hurry up. You sign mine, I’ll sign yours.”
“Got it!”
“Don’t get any boogers on it!”
“Shut the hell up!”
(2)
Without anyone realizing it, the lunch break had turned into a mass Classmate Memory Book signing event. Everyone was busy moving around, catching whoever they could to ask if they had signed their book. Sometimes, the same person even ended up signing a book twice.
Even though it was only April and a cold rain was falling outside, it felt as though the summer of graduation had already arrived.
Once An Jing sat down, she wasn’t able to get back up. She signed who-knows-how-many memory books in one go, to the point where she, who usually couldn’t even remember her own zodiac sign, was now mindlessly and rapidly writing “Libra” in every zodiac column.
By the end, she had even started omitting the word “Sign.”
“Sun Wei, what are you doing?”
“Ahem… Zhou Zhao? I’ve finished with the boys’ side. How about I start the girls’ side with you — “
“Sure!” Zhou Chao, who had turned into a girl today and hadn’t changed back yet, readily agreed. She blinked her bright eyes and nodded with a light smile.
In fact, she had been proactively signing memory books for the boys since a moment ago, and she had even helped some shy boys invite a few girls to exchange signatures.
Zhu Ying couldn’t help but glance at her. The smile on that girl’s face didn’t look fake, and the boys surrounding her were clearly unable to keep their eyes off her.
‘This guy is completely enjoying it.’ An Jing helplessly covered her forehead. Just as she was about to look away, she saw Zhou Chao naturally wrap an arm around a girl’s shoulder, leaning in close and laughing intimately — the two looked just like best friends who had known each other for years.
Furthermore, their faces were practically touching!
An Jing’s lip couldn’t help but twitch. ‘He certainly isn’t letting anything go to waste. He’s taking full advantage of his current state.’
Undergoing a Transformation into a girl was an extremely distressing matter for An Jing, but for “Zhou Chao,” it seemed like a joyful event.
This was likely because he didn’t have the worry of being unable to change back. He figured that once he grew tired of playing around, he would just turn back into a boy anyway.
An Jing didn’t feel envious; she just instinctively felt that what he was doing wasn’t a good thing.
If this Transformation business couldn’t be explained by science, then one could only believe there were gods in this world. If Zhou Chao turning into a girl named Zhou Zhao was a punishment in itself, then were his current actions considered an act of defiance against the divine?
An Jing shook her head. For a split second just now, she actually thought it was quite good for this playboy to turn into a girl; at least he wouldn’t go around harming other girls anymore.
But then she reconsidered. Perhaps by using a girl’s identity, he could harm even more girls — and because they were both girls, things might become exceptionally complicated when the time came…
“This guy is really something…” An Jing sighed softly just as Zhou Chao, having finished signing Sun Wei’s book, walked over to her desk and blinked suggestively.
“What do you want?” An Jing’s mind was still full of the male version of Zhou Chao, so she didn’t react much. Instead, she kept her eyes half-lidded, looking like she didn’t even want to spare him a second glance.
“Classmate An Jing, do you want me to sign for you? Of course, you have to remember to leave a comment for me too, okay?”
“Can you talk normally for heaven’s sake? I can’t stand that disgusting tone…” An Jing’s eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head.
“Haha! Don’t be like that. Honestly, I haven’t spoken like this since graduating elementary school.” Zhou Chao laughed loudly. “Being a girl has quite a few conveniences. At least when I act cute or coy on purpose, people don’t find it strange.”
“To me, it’s incredibly strange. How are you… seemingly having so much fun with this?”
“I’ve already changed anyway, and it’s not like I can’t change back. I might as well play around while I’m still a girl. This is a precious life experience.”
“Watch out, or you might not be able to change back.”
“I think that’s impossible. My situation is probably different from yours.”
“…I hope so.” An Jing curled her lip, propped her chin on her hand, and pushed her Classmate Memory Book forward. “Here, hurry up and write.”
“No problem.”
“Don’t write ‘Zhou Zhao.’ Write ‘Zhou Chao’ for me!”
“But I’m a girl right now!”
“That is — so — gross!”