“Honestly, Xiaotong just treats me like free labor.”
Zhao Dandan’s tone carried a few traces of grievance.
“Sorry, Dandan-jie. I really can’t manage everything by myself. Later I’ll treat you to a meal to make up for it—Yurou and Ning Mu, come along too.”
Cai Xiaotong comforted her older cousin while conveniently inviting Bai Yurou and Ning Mu as well.
The two of them did not refuse. After all, they had originally agreed to go out and play for the entire day.
“That’s more like it.”
The grievance on Zhao Dandan’s face vanished in an instant.
The speed of that change made one cannot help but suspect whether the earlier sadness had been faked.
“Let’s go, Yurou, Mumu. I’ll take you to the changing room of the anime convention.”
She stood up and walked in front of the two young girls to lead the way.
Bai Yurou and Ning Mu, following behind her, synchronized their steps and followed.
It was actually a bit tacit.
The two of them walked side by side, and even the rhythm of their strides was exactly the same.
Should I deliberately walk a bit slower?
Seeing the identical pace of the two of them, Ning Mu felt a bit awkward.
Every time Ning Mu faced Bai Yurou, she did not know what to do.
She knew that it was actually not Bai Yurou’s fault. It was Lin Ye who had voluntarily sacrificed his life to save this young girl.
But she had never been able to let go of Lin Ye’s death.
This resulted in her indeed not really wanting to interact with Bai Yurou, because every time she saw her, she would think of her deceased older brother.
If I do that, will it make Bai Yurou think I hate her?
She knew this young girl also felt very guilty and wanted to obtain the forgiveness of her family.
If she showed deliberate distance, she would definitely be very disappointed.
Even though she still felt rejection toward Bai Yurou in her heart, Ning Mu still could not help but consider things for her.
In the end, Ning Mu still decided to maintain the current rhythm.
On the other side, Bai Yurou secretly glanced at Ning Mu with her eyes.
This girl she used to see every day could not even become friends with her now.
She was no longer Lin Ye.
Perhaps she should treat the other party in the manner of treating a stranger, just like how Ning Mu treated her—this was probably the best choice for both of them.
After all, after the funeral they had already become strangers and should no longer appear in each other’s lives.
This encounter at the anime convention was purely an accident.
However, Bai Yurou still could not help wanting to get closer to Ning Mu.
This perhaps had a part that was due to her own guilt.
But more than that, Bai Yurou clearly knew in her heart—
It was because of the liking Lin Ye held deep in his heart toward Ning Mu.
So she decided to follow the thoughts in her heart.
Even if Ning Mu rejected her, she would still step by step change the impression she had in Ning Mu’s heart and become her good friend, her good best friend.
The part of accompanying her that I, as Lin Ye, did not finish, let me make up for it as Bai Yurou.
Amid the respective careful thoughts of the two of them, Zhao Dandan led them to the entrance of the changing room.
“This is the changing room. You two should be able to find the way back, right? If you can find it, then I won’t wait for you.”
After receiving affirmative replies from the two of them, Zhao Dandan let out a breath of relief.
“That’s good. Xiaotong is really something. The moment I arrived, she started exploiting me and made me watch the booth for her. Now there’s finally nothing for me to do. I still haven’t properly walked around the anime convention yet.”
Zhao Dandan spoke as she dragged her long yellow hair and left alone, leaving only a back view.
The two of them walked into the female changing room. Inside, it was packed with people.
Everywhere were cosplayers facing mirrors applying makeup and adjusting wigs.
The two of them weaved through the crowd for quite a while before barely finding an empty small room where they could change.
“You first, or me first?”
Ning Mu asked.
“You first.”
Bai Yurou declined.
“Alright.”
Ning Mu did not say much more and directly walked into the room, leaving Bai Yurou alone outside the room.
Actually, if possible, Bai Yurou thought it would not be a problem for the two of them to change together.
After all, she was a girl now, so it should be fine.
But her current relationship with Ning Mu was that of strangers.
If she really said those words, Ning Mu would probably deduct quite a few points from her impression of her.
So in the end, she still let Ning Mu change first.
After about ten-odd minutes, Ning Mu finally opened the door of the room.
“Take a look at how this outfit of mine looks right now. I don’t know this character, so I don’t know how accurate the effect is.”
Bai Yurou saw the Ning Mu in front of her and fell into shock.
Ning Mu stood at the doorway of the room. She still kept her waist-length straight black hair.
The ends of her hair were neat and smooth.
At the position of her left temple was pinned a large red flower hair ornament, eye-catching and gorgeous.
The red contact lenses she wore reflected a cold luster under the light.
Her entire person exuded a kind of cold and elegant dignity.
She was wearing a black outer coat with a red collar.
The skirt was dark red with a diagonal checkered pattern, the length covering past the knees, and the hem was decorated with black ruffles.
The only thing that felt a bit out of place was that she was still wearing that pink rabbit hair clip.
Bai Yurou had clearly just seen a Shirosaki Noah who seemed as if the real person had arrived, and now she was given another Nikaido Shiro.
Were the cosplay accuracy levels of the girls around her all this high? Except for Zhao Dandan.
“What’s wrong? Is it not accurate enough?”
Ning Mu saw Bai Yurou frozen in place and asked in confusion.
“N-No, it’s very accurate. The character you’re cosplaying is called Nikaido Shiro. If you search for her photos online, you’ll know how accurate it is. It’s simply like the real person. But that hair clip……”
“That hair clip is something I will not take off, even if it might make my cosplay less perfect.”
Ning Mu knew what Bai Yurou meant and explained.
Bai Yurou knew this hair clip was the one Lin Ye had not had time to give before his death. She had not expected her to attach such importance to it.
Bai Yurou did not ask further and then changed the topic.
“Since you’ve finished changing, then it’s my turn now.”
Bai Yurou spoke as she took her bag and the still-unopened cosplay costume Cai Xiaotong had given her and took the opportunity to enter the room.
Hearing this, Ning Mu only stepped sideways and yielded the doorway of the small room, allowing the young girl to enter.
The room was very small. The full-length mirror directly in front occupied nearly a quarter of the space.
In the corner sat a small chair. By the doorway stood an empty clothes rack that had been worn white.
Plastic bags and clothing scraps were everywhere on the floor, messy.
This small room was clearly something temporarily provided for anime convention cosplayers to change in.
For the young miss Bai Yurou, the environment here was actually not that good. From childhood to adulthood, she had never changed clothes in such a dirty room.
But ever since fusing with Lin Ye, she was no longer so delicate and pampered.
If it was a bit dirty, then it was a bit dirty. She would just make do and adapt.
Bai Yurou hung her bag on the empty clothes rack, then began to remove the pure white dress she was wearing.
That dress was also gently taken off by her, folded, and placed on the other side of the clothes rack. Next was opening the cosplay costume.
Bai Yurou dug out a nail clipper from her bag and used the small knife end to neatly cut a line on the plastic packaging.
The packaging opened with a sound.
A pink-and-white wig, a black beret, a black-and-white intersecting shirt and white shorts, as well as several white flowers that needed to be put on the hair and clothes by herself.
As expected, after seeing that Ning Mu’s cosplay was Nikaido Shiro, she had already guessed it.
The one Cai Xiaotong wanted her to cosplay was precisely the protagonist of Magical Girl Witch Trial, Sakurauba Ema.