Every student who skips class knows that it’s not the absence that matters, but the excuse.
Su Mu made it to the office just before the afternoon classes began.
“Take good care of yourself, Su Mu. You’re really sick. Next time, just have a classmate pick this up for you,” the counselor said worriedly, handing over the leave of absence form to the pink bundle tightly wrapped in a dark blue coat.
This girl named Su Mu always seemed to be an outsider, with a rather unique personality.
She had once caused a commotion by walking into the boys dormitory and getting kicked out.
Now, she looked excessively frail.
It seemed she would need more attention in the future.
Su Mu was still unaware that she was being seen as a girl and was trying hard to play the part.
She cautiously extended a hand from her sleeve, clutched the leave of absence form in her palm, and after thanking the counselor in a deliberately low voice, she hurriedly left, leaving the counselor still in a daze.
Staying even half a second longer could have exposed her.
The most troublesome change after becoming a magical girl was the pink hair that fell to her waist and the conspicuous bulges on her chest that no amount of compression could hide.
With Tang Nai’s help, Su Mu coiled her smooth long hair and covered it with a creamy white beret.
Tang Nai had originally planned to help her deal with the trouble caused by Nao, but Su Mu sternly refused, fearing that it would leave more traces of her life.
After wrapping her chest tightly with cloth and fastening her shirt buttons, Su Mu felt short of breath, as if she were a spring pressed to the bottom, ready to “pop” and send those poor buttons flying at any moment.
Fortunately, at the moment, as long as she wore a loose overcoat and slightly stooped, she could perfectly conceal them.
But Su Mu was still not reassured, so she wrapped her neck thickly with a light blue scarf, tucking the excess part into her collar.
Now, even if someone observed her from all angles, they wouldn’t find any flaws.
However, Su Mu never expected that over-compensating could itself be a huge giveaway.
“The girl in the mask just now looks really cute. Why haven’t I seen her before?”
Su Mu, walking with her head down, inadvertently caught the passers-by’s conversation in her ears, and her cheeks gradually grew warm.
Deliberately hiding at most could only blur her gender, but the criteria for gender determination are very complex.
It was really wishful thinking to try to conceal it by changing clothes.
Whether it was her sparkling azure almond eyes or her fair and delicate skin, they would unconsciously send out signals unique to young girls to others.
The loose overcoat, on the contrary, created an imaginative space, making people curious about what kind of slender figure was hidden under the layers of fabric.
Thinking this way, Su Mu began to regret that she should not have refused Tang Nai.
Now that it has come to this, go get an ice cream first.
Dressed like this, it’s almost suffocating.
Sweat had long soaked the chest-wrapping cloth and was still seeping out from between the skin.
If this continued, she would get sick from the heat even if she wasn’t ill.
She tugged at the scarf to let out a little heat and walked into Snow King.
Thanks to it, she could taste a two-yuan cone in a financially strained life!
The shop assistant had her back to the counter, busy with something, and only her long blue ponytail could be seen swinging back and forth.
“Hello, I’d like a cone, please.”
“What flavor?”
A familiar, clear voice rang out.
When the shop assistant turned her head, the two people staring at each other fell into a brief blank.
After an eerie silence, Su Mu’s expression became excited.
She pointed at the shop assistant and was about to say that name.
“Lan… mmm…”
Lando quickly covered Su Mu’s mouth, a bit flustered and using a bit too much force.
Su Mu only felt a small hand firmly wrap around her neck, while the other hand tightly covered the mask.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break free.
Already feeling constricted by the chest wrap, she now couldn’t catch her breath.
I’m suffocating, I’m suffocating, let go!
It was only after noticing Su Mu’s face turning red that Lando let go.
The former immediately took off the mask and gasped for air.
Seeing Su Mu about to speak again, Lando quickly made a shushing gesture and whispered,
“Please, it’s not working hours now. How can you call me like that?”
“But I don’t even know your name.”
Su Mu hadn’t recovered yet, her face still flushed red, and she looked at Lando with a hint of grievance.
“My name is Luo Jialan. You can call me that.”
Fortunately, the store was relatively quiet at this time, and not many people noticed the little drama here.
“By the way, how come you’re here?”
“I’m the one who can’t figure out why you’re here. Are you from Jiaotong University too?”
“Yeah, I’m a freshman this year.”
“…Why are you and I in the same grade?”
Luo Jialan helplessly held her forehead and sighed softly.
Her living expenses for this month had already been severely depleted due to two incidents, forcing her to work here.
Anyway, she would have cognitive impairment after transforming, and ordinary people wouldn’t recognize her.
But she didn’t expect to run into this guy.
“By the way, I want a cone, vanilla flavor.”
“Tch, here you go, two yuan.”
Su Mu gazed at the oddly shaped ice cream and sensed a deep grudge from it.
Her fingers were almost deforming the cone below!
“How am I supposed to eat this? Make me a new one, please.”
Even in front of Lando, Su Mu wouldn’t give in on this matter.
I’m paying two whole yuan; I can’t be fooled with something like this.
“Jialan, don’t be rude to the customers, okay?”
A voice from the back room came out, seemingly the shop owner.
Upon hearing this, Luo Jialan grudgingly stuffed the discarded cone into the sink, took a deep breath, and then patiently made a new one for Su Mu.
There was no problem with that, except that Luo Jialan’s expression still didn’t look good.
But service attitude and all that didn’t matter; I just wanted the cone.
Su Mu took the cone from Luo Jialan’s hand and eagerly took a bite.
Sweetness instantly enveloped her entire body, accompanied by a cool sensation that gradually seeped into her heart.
Watching Su Mu take small bites of the ice cream, Luo Jialan inexplicably felt an urge to fiercely bully this girl.
Just to see her eyes brimming with tears.
“So, why are you working here? Did that Tang Nai dock your wages? You don’t owe her a lot, do you?”
Hearing Tang Nai’s name, Luo Jialan’s movements in cleaning the sink suddenly paused, and the force on her hands unconsciously increased.
“Yeah, it’s all because of that damn rabbit. Once you owe her, you can never pay it back.”
“What do you mean you can never pay it back?”
“Literal meaning. This girl doesn’t accept money. She just makes you do some troublesome tasks and then piles on a few more debts in the process.”
It sounds like something Tang Nai would do.
“What kind of tasks specifically?”
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough. If you’re lucky, it might be something like promotional videos.”
“What if you’re not lucky?”
Lando suddenly had a strange look on her face, which made Su Mu break out in a cold sweat.
“You don’t want to know.”