Chang Hansui lowered her head, looking at the embarrassed version of himself on the screen who was also lowering her head, then glanced at the outfit she was wearing in reality.
A cute pink-and-white magical girl outfit, black tights wrapping around her legs, wearing a skirt that sent a chilly breeze up whenever the wind blew.
The short hem swayed gently in the wind, as if mercilessly mocking his shattered masculine pride.
An overwhelming wave of embarrassment surged from the top of her head.
‘No way… A grown man in his twenties like me, wearing such a cute little skirt? And black tights? And high heels? If any of my old coworkers from the construction site saw this, or if my old man found out, I might as well just find a block of frozen tofu and slam my head into it until I die.’
“No… This is too embarrassing. I need to find a place to hide and study this damn phone first.”
Chang Hansui clutched her skirt hem, wobbling on her slender high heels as she stumbled through the dust and slipped into the mall that had been evacuated due to the monster alarm.
Once inside the first floor of the mall, she made a beeline for the restroom.
However, standing before the restroom signs, Chang Hansui froze.
On the left was a blue male sign, on the right was a red female sign.
Chang Hansui’s brain began a frantic tug-of-war: ‘Um… I should go into the men’s room, right? After all, my soul is that of an iron-boned man.’
‘But… I’m a girl in a skirt right now. What if there’s some pervert hiding in the men’s room to avoid the monster? Manly… manly virtue… purity. I need to protect my purity. Wait, if I go into the women’s room, doesn’t that make ME the pervert?’
‘Even though I’ve become a magical girl, I still need to uphold manly virtue.’
And so, in the empty mall corridor, a magical girl with a waterfall of light beige hair, so beautiful she seemed unreal.
Was blushing furiously, looking panicked, darting back and forth between the men’s and women’s restroom doors, swaying left and right.
If it weren’t for the fact that the monster attack had driven everyone out of the mall, there would definitely have been a kind-hearted cleaning lady walking over, handing her a pack of tissues and gently reminding her:
“Sweetie, don’t worry. Our mall provides toilet paper for free.”
After a full minute of mental struggle, Chang Hansui gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, and ultimately surrendered to the little skirt she was wearing, diving headfirst into the women’s restroom.
Locking the innermost stall door behind her, Chang Hansui collapsed onto the toilet seat, letting out a long sigh of relief.
Safe.
Just as she caught her breath, Chang Hansui remembered something.
Based on her experience playing online games, if a character stood completely still, they might be flagged as AFK.
Even if no one reported her, when running dungeon raids in MMOs, staying motionless would cause the system to judge you as playing passively.
At best, you’d get kicked out; at worst, your account would get banned for a day.
With that thought, Chang Hansui quickly cupped the phone in both hands, her thumb starting to swipe randomly across the virtual joystick on the left side of the screen.
While swiping, she lowered her voice and gritted her teeth: “Hey hey hey, you damn sheep, what’s the big idea? Come out and talk.”
As soon as she spoke, specks of blue-white light gathered in the restroom stall, and the chibi sheep fairy actually plopped itself down comfortably on Chang Hansui’s shoulder.
“Oh, don’t be mad.”
Ice flicked its fluffy tail.
“After all, you’re the first boy who can become a magical girl. Considering the incompatibility between your body and soul, as well as various conceptual instabilities, this is the best compromise.”
It pointed at the phone screen: “Your current existence in reality is more like a manifestation of an ‘urban legend.’ So, we had to let your conceptual avatar bear all of this on the battlefield. And since my abilities happen to lean toward networking and stream-of-consciousness, you’re the most compatible person for me.”
Chang Hansui listened and felt like she was catching onto something.
That speech carried a familiar ‘civil engineering sales pitch’ vibe.
As long as you’re willing to work hard and endure!
Three years as a junior, five years as a project manager!
“Compatible? So you’re saying no one was compatible before?”
Ice, having its cover blown, put on a ‘what are you gonna do about it’ shameless look.
“Baa baa baa~~! That’s right! Because my abilities are too abstract and stream-of-consciousness, I couldn’t find many magical girls willing to contract with me. The rare one or two who barely met the conditions would take one look at my complete lack of experience mentoring newcomers and just walk away without even acknowledging me.”
“You’re one harmful fairy, you know that?”
“Hahaha, well, contracts can’t be revoked. Let me share some hot knowledge with you… Things are super competitive in the Fairy Realm these days! To keep fairy employment and unemployment rates looking good! For the three years after graduating from magic school, fairies count as ‘fresh graduates,’ entitled to independently seek contractors and legally live in the human world.”
Ice hopped around:
“But once those three years pass, if they still haven’t found a job, they get forcibly sent back to the Fairy Realm! And branded with the label ‘flexibly employed’! If they ever want to come back to the human world after that, they’d have to go through those bloodsucking intermediary agencies! But… but no agency would ever take a washed-up fairy who graduated three years ago with zero work experience!”
“…You’d better be talking about fairies.”
“So! Even if I have to scam, swindle, threaten, or bribe, even if it’s a guy, I’m contracting and staying on the human side! Baa baa baa baa baa! Baa!”
“Alright alright, stop bleating.”
Chang Hansui held up the phone, listening to the sounds of battle coming from it, and watched the screen.
“Hmph, you damn sheep. Since you seem to have at least some ability, I’ll let it slide for now. Let me help Mizuki Hana deal with the enemies first.”
At that moment, the atmosphere on the battlefield was locked in a stalemate.
Mizuki Hana gripped her silver sword, panting as she put distance between herself and the Steelback Man and Left Hand Monster.
And all three of them, at this very moment, had their eyes fixed on the newly appeared magical girl not far away.
The three of them had no idea what this never-before-seen magical girl was doing.
First, she stood completely still in place (Chang Hansui was agonizing at the restroom entrance).
Then, as if she’d suddenly had a seizure, she started pacing left and right on the spot, twitching back and forth, even sprinting in place against a wall like a maniac (Chang Hansui was randomly mashing the joystick in the restroom to avoid being flagged AFK).
Even the Left Hand Monster was stunned, turning to look at the Steelback Man: “Boss, is this girl mentally challenged? Should we even keep fighting?”
The Steelback Man shook his head: “Even for weirdos, there’s a code of honor! We don’t fight idiots!”
Mizuki Hana stepped forward.
“Hmph. Enough talk.”
She launched another attack, but injured as she was, her two fists couldn’t match four hands.
With the tank-and-DPS duo’s seamless coordination, she quickly fell back into the disadvantage in the prolonged battle.
But just as Mizuki Hana was about to give out.
That seizure-prone magical girl in the distance suddenly stopped her twitching footsteps.
The light returned to her pupils.