“Go romance your good bro already! You’re not turning back until the mission is complete.”
The voice on the other end sounded completely matter-of-fact.
“Wait, hold on…” Zhu Niao opened her mouth, stunned.
“You’re not seriously joking, right?”
The voice on the line shot back, “Who jokes about their graduation project?”
“But you’re playing with my damn life here!”
Zhu Niao frowned, fury flaring up from nowhere.
Just one casual action, one accident—and it felt like her entire life up to now had been thrown out the window.
“Who says that? Your life might actually turn out better now than before,” the voice replied, still speaking as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“You know what they say—when you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way left is up.”
It didn’t just feel like her life had been dismissed—more like it had been insulted.
Zhu Niao clenched her fists in frustration and threatened, even though she knew they couldn’t see her:
“You better turn us back, or else…”
“Or else what? You gonna call the cops?”
Zhu Niao realized with a start that there really wasn’t anything she could do to threaten something this…beyond reason.
“I already told you, all you have to do is fall in love, and everything will be fine. Oh, and don’t worry—each of you has a different love target. I’m all about that pure love, after all~”
“……”
“No need to be so grumpy. I did put in some effort for you guys! I even fixed your identities. It’s just—well—I can’t really tamper with the memories of people close to you. I am just a trainee goddess, you know.”
Zhu Niao’s eyes flicked toward the ID card on her nightstand.
The number was different.
The photo was different.
Even the gender had changed.
To strangers, she was now, without a doubt, a girl.
But to someone like Gou Yu, who’d known her for years, she’d basically switched from male to female overnight.
She understood now that this situation couldn’t be undone.
But that smug, careless tone from the “goddess” still made her blood boil.
And what about her family…?
Zhu Niao shook her head.
She didn’t even dare go there.
The voice on the phone—the so-called goddess—continued,
“Alright, alright. Now I have to call your lovely roommates. Honestly, couldn’t you all just live together?”
“Then why didn’t you just send me to the dorm last night to be with them?” Zhu Niao snapped back, completely losing her patience.
“Sending you here makes it easier to develop feelings with your mission target, duh.”
Just as Zhu Niao was about to curse her out, the call ended.
Her newly developed chest rose and fell with her increasingly heavy breaths.
It wasn’t exactly flat anymore—actually quite decent—mostly thanks to all her time playing Azur Lane.
She glanced at the bed, tossed the phone aside, and let her head fall into the messy bedding.
Her entire life was in shambles.
And she still had school tomorrow.
Goddamn, why is the world so cruel?
Irritated beyond belief, Zhu Niao began rolling back and forth on the bed.
A knock came from the door.
She stopped rolling and turned her head toward it, hair a tangled mess.
“What’s with the manners all of a sudden? Just come in already!”
Gou Yu opened the door and immediately paused at the sight.
Zhu Niao, still instinctively sitting in a duck-legged pose on the bed, her smooth shoulder exposed from where her shirt had slipped down during her tantrum.
This was exactly why he knocked.
Taking a deep breath, Gou Yu tossed the clothes in his hand right at Zhu Niao’s face.
“These were supposed to be a gift for my sister. You can borrow them for now.”
Zhu Niao tilted her head suspiciously.
“You have a sister?”
She had never seen or even heard of one.
Could this guy have actually bought those just to make her crossdress someday?
With that shady goddess dropping the whole “romance mission” bomb earlier, even this guy—someone she saw every day—was starting to feel like a dangerous variable.
“…Did you hear anything weird just now?” Zhu Niao clutched the white dress to her chest and instinctively shrank back.
“What weird stuff?” Gou Yu didn’t bat an eye.
“You know, my phone call just now—”
“Oh, your part-time job interview got accepted?”
Gou Yu didn’t miss a beat.
“That dumb thing got accepted ages ago!”
Zhu Niao let out a long sigh of relief.
Thank god her good bro didn’t overhear that damn conversation with the so-called goddess.
“Take a look at this.”
She tossed over the newly changed ID card.
Gou Yu looked at it with a frown as he read through the details.
“The person who turned us into this apparently handled all the paperwork too.”
“Well, at least we’re not undocumented citizens now.”
He tore his gaze away from the ID card, only to see Zhu Niao beginning to tug off her shirt right in front of him.
He froze.
Fortunately, he managed to stop her just before any wardrobe malfunctions occurred.
“Wait—what the hell are you doing?!”
“Changing clothes,” Zhu Niao replied, blinking in confusion.
“You… never mind.”
The sound of the door slamming shut was followed by the sound of Gou Yu fleeing the scene in utter panic.
Halfway through putting on the dress, Zhu Niao finally realized something.
Her cheeks suddenly felt a bit warm.
“Hey, old dog,” she called out, fiddling with the hem of the dress, still finding it a little novel and strange.
“What?” Gou Yu answered from outside the door.
“Do I need to wear a bra too?”
Outside the door, Gou Yu covered his face with his hand.
Then, as if struck by a thought, he said,
“Since that goddess already sorted out your ID, maybe check the wardrobe—see if she left you any clothes too?”
Inside the room, Zhu Niao opened the wardrobe and stared at the colorful array of clothes.
“…There really are clothes.”
“Then take the dress off,” Gou Yu replied, “I still need to give it to my sister.”
“Too late for that, old dog.”
“Why?”
Zhu Niao stared silently at the variety of adult women’s clothes inside the wardrobe.
She didn’t need to think twice—it was clearly that damn goddess’s doing, trying to “foster feelings” between the two of them.
Only the white dress that Gou Yu had brought over could be considered relatively normal attire—though for her, as a grown man, it wasn’t exactly normal either.
“…Hey, what if I just wear men’s clothes again?”
“No way!”
Outside the door, Gou Yu instantly objected, clearly still mentally visualizing Zhu Niao’s new look in that white dress.
“…Oh.”
If old dog says no, then he must have his reasons.
Zhu Niao picked out a couple of the most decent-looking bras and underwear, then watched a video tutorial while figuring out how to wear women’s undergarments for the first time.
At the same time, she officially said goodbye to her boxer briefs.
Outside, just as Gou Yu raised his hand to knock—
Bang!
The door was suddenly flung open and slammed straight into his face.
Rubbing his nose, he looked up—only to freeze on the spot.
The white dress accentuated the doll-like delicateness of the girl standing before him, making her look even more flawless and pure.
From the ankle peeking out from the hem of the dress, to the elegant collarbone exposed at the neckline, to the shy, uncomfortable way she fidgeted from unfamiliarity with the outfit—
And finally, the black bow tied neatly at the back of the white dress.
Compared to all the girls he’d ever met, no matter their style—
She outshone them all, standing apart like something from another world.
But this was his bro.
Silently slapping himself in the heart, Gou Yu hesitated for a long moment before squeezing out a line:
“Does the dress fit okay?”
“I’m not sure… feels a little loose, but it’s not a big deal.”
Zhu Niao lowered her head again, fiddling with the hem of her dress.
“Why doesn’t this even have a single pocket?”
Technically, Gou Yu should be goofing around with Zhu Niao right now, like usual.
But his eyes kept wandering uncontrollably—to those delicate, boneless-looking hands, that slender waist that could be held with one hand, and the gentle, watery eyes that looked nothing like his bro’s.
But this was his bro.
Suddenly, a ringtone chimed from Zhu Niao’s phone.
“Hello?”
“Xiao Niao, I’ve basically figured out the situation.”
It was their dorm leader.
Sounded like that goddess had already called her.
“I think we need to come up with a strategy. Let’s meet at the milk tea shop near the school gate—we’ll sneak out of the girls’ dorm.”
That goddess really was considerate, putting her close roommates into the girls’ dorm.
Seemed like she’d thought this through.
The dorm leader’s voice was unusually serious for once—finally acting like a team leader.
“The thing is, Second’s chest is now the biggest out of all three of us. She’s totally smug about it.
You’re our last hope.”
Damn it.
She really shouldn’t have expected anything better from people who hang out with her.
TTFC, that’s how bros should act if they see Opportunity (to be seized).
Goofy as fck