“I… I was…”
Ning Dongli blinked in panic, completely at a loss for how to explain.
Especially when she looked at An Yu’s slightly puzzled face, she became even more tongue-tied.
“Hm?”
An Yu stared at Ning Dongli in mild confusion and tilted her head slightly.
“Ah… anyway, it doesn’t matter!”
Ning Dongli shook her head vigorously. There was no need to explain it clearly.
She could just brush it off!
“Really?”
An Yu blinked calmly, her soft voice carrying a trace of doubt.
Seeing this, Ning Dongli nodded rapidly.
“Mhm, mhm, it’s not important at all! It’ll be fine in a minute!”
Ning Dongli spoke at lightning speed, clearly desperate to skip over the topic.
After all, she couldn’t possibly tell An Yu straight out that she had been so nervous about seeing her that she had slapped her own face, right?
That would be way too…
“Mhm.”
In any case, she couldn’t let An Yu find out what had happened.
“Never mind that—let’s go to my room first! The outfit I prepared for you is in there!”
An Yu’s eyes were half-lidded, the amber pupils still holding a faint hint of confusion.
Still, if Ning Dongli said it wasn’t important, then it wasn’t important.
She reached out and gently poked Ning Dongli’s cheek. It was still soft and bouncy, just as pleasant to touch as always.
No problem, then.
“Okay.”
“Mhm, mhm! Let’s go!”
Ning Dongli gave an awkward little laugh, then took An Yu’s hand and led her toward her bedroom.
An Yu followed obediently, trailing behind Ning Dongli until they reached the room.
“Mm…”
Feeling the warmth of the hand in hers, Ning Dongli couldn’t help feeling a little nervous.
She had bought matching outfits for them to wear together.
Even though An Yu had already agreed to go out with her, she still felt anxious.
She was afraid An Yu might not like her choice.
But no matter how she thought about it, those worries were completely unnecessary.
What made Ning Dongli nervous was always her own fear.
Ning Dongli took a deep breath.
“Okay. An Yu… this is the outfit you’re going to wear.”
She opened the closet and pulled out another set of clothes.
An Yu looked over curiously.
Aside from a few small accessories and a wig, the most eye-catching piece was a long dress in shades of blue and white.
It was accented with black bows.
An Yu had never worn anything like this before; it felt rather novel.
Worth noting was the unused whiteboard placed beside the clothes.
“Ah, that’s also part of the cosplay!”
Noticing An Yu’s gaze, Ning Dongli quickly explained.
“So… this is what I’m supposed to wear?”
An Yu looked calmly at Ning Dongli, her voice soft.
“Mhm, mhm, that’s the one!”
Ning Dongli nodded, watching An Yu with eyes full of anticipation.
Even though she knew An Yu wasn’t the type to mind, she was still scared An Yu might dislike the outfit and refuse.
Past experiences had left Ning Dongli instinctively cautious.
Even when it came to An Yu, it was the same.
“Okay, got it.”
An Yu nodded and agreed without the slightest hesitation.
After all, she had already said yes. No matter what the clothes were, there was no way she would refuse at this point.
Besides, Ning Dongli looked really excited.
With an expressionless face, An Yu reached out and, under Ning Dongli’s bewildered gaze, slowly untied the string of her own dress.
The motion was gentle and completely natural, as if she didn’t mind that someone else was right there.
An Yu was taking off her dress.
“W-wait, An Yu!”
Ning Dongli hurriedly covered her eyes with one hand while waving the other frantically at An Yu.
An uncontrollable blush spread across her cheeks.
“W-what are you doing!”
Seeing Ning Dongli’s flustered reaction, An Yu tilted her head in confusion.
“Changing clothes.”
“Wha… why are you suddenly taking your clothes off!”
“Because I need to change?”
A hint of puzzlement crept into An Yu’s voice.
She thought that if you needed to change clothes, you should take the old ones off first.
Otherwise there was no way to put on a dress like this.
“That’s not the problem at all!”
Ning Dongli instinctively took a few steps back.
Her hand couldn’t completely cover her eyes, and through the gaps she saw that An Yu’s dress still hadn’t been fully removed.
“An Yu… just—just stand still and don’t take it off!”
Her pretty face grew redder and redder, her voice trembling more with every word.
If she spoke any slower, An Yu’s dress would have already fallen to the floor.
Maybe even something her own sister had never seen would be revealed right in front of her.
Ning Dongli swallowed hard, her throat feeling strangely dry.
“Why?”
“There’s no why!”
An Yu’s cool, puzzled voice was instantly cut off by Ning Dongli.
She couldn’t let An Yu keep going like this. How could she take her clothes off right in front of her?!
If she did… Ning Dongli was afraid she might…
“Hm?”
An Yu stared innocently at the increasingly embarrassed girl, still not understanding why she wasn’t allowed to change.
Oh well.
Whatever Ning Dongli said, she would do.
“Y-yes… yes… just like that!”
Ning Dongli stammered out instructions.
“You… you wait until I leave the room before you change! Don’t change right in front of me like this!”
Why did she feel like An Yu didn’t even see her as a person?
Was she just some kind of household item or decoration to her?
Ning Dongli waved her hands in a fluster as she backed toward the door.
Anyway… I’m leaving first, An Yu! You keep going!
Her hand trembled as she grabbed the doorknob, pressed it down quickly, and slipped out of the room as fast as she could.
It was as if some terrifying beast were inside.
An Yu found this impossible to understand.
“Hm?”
She felt like Ning Dongli was acting a little strange.
What could possibly make her so anxious?
An Yu had no idea that perhaps the strange one was actually herself.
Ever since the moment she had transmigrated, An Yu had fully accepted her current identity.
So whether it was wearing a dress or stockings or anything else, she could accept it without the slightest difficulty.
In her eyes, she and Ning Dongli were both girls. Changing clothes in front of another girl was no big deal.
No matter what, she couldn’t realize that it was her own behavior that was making Ning Dongli act so strangely.
“Whatever.”
An Yu blinked, turning her gaze back to the clothes.
“Time to change.”
With that, she slipped off the dress without any hesitation or fuss.
The System Lady watched everything and suddenly had a strange thought.
Recalling the way Ning Dongli had run out red-faced earlier, the System gradually realized where things had gone wrong.
This Host of hers… seemed to possess a rather peculiar charm.