Chapter 35: A Request for a Date

After organizing the ribbons, Lin Jin’an held them in her hand and asked,

“Do you want me to help you put them back on? But from what I remember, everyone had already taken them off by the time I was in school. Having these on would take a lot of time to put on every day.”

“Then don’t bother.”

Li Xingya shook her head.

This suited Li Xingya just fine.

She never liked such troublesome clothing.

“Then… what about this?”

Lin Jin’an picked up the pleated skirt on the bed.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you in a skirt.”

“No skirts.”

“Huh?”

Lin Jin’an was taken aback.

“Why… the Starseeing Academy design is quite nice. The uniforms themselves are redesigned every six years to keep up with aesthetic trends.”

Lin Jin’an didn’t understand the reason for Li Xingya’s resistance.

She handed the pleated skirt to Li Xingya.

“Give it a try?”

“No.”

Li Xingya pushed Lin Jin’an’s hand away.

‘Skirts are too flimsy.’

‘They feel very unsafe.’

‘I’ll just wear pants.’

Li Xingya looked down at her white pants.

“Color-wise, they match my uniform pretty well, don’t they? The overall look is like a boy’s uniform.”

‘ “Li Xingya” is “Li Xingya.”‘

‘I am me.’

Li Xingya thought that when it came to dressing style, it was fine to follow the preferences of her previous life.

Seeing Li Xingya so stubborn on this matter, Lin Jin’an shrugged.

“Alright.”

She didn’t choose to force her.

Just…

Just that Lin Jin’an silently stepped back two steps.

She carefully looked at the current Li Xingya.

The current uniform was similar in overall layout to the style when Lin Jin’an graduated, with at most some differences in color and small decorations.

Looking at the current Li Xingya, Lin Jin’an felt as if she saw her former self.

If she had to talk about the difference…

‘Maybe this uniform looks cuter on Li Xingya?’

‘Really cute.’

“Ugh, Xiaoya!”

“Waaah!”

In Li Xingya’s eyes, Lin Jin’an suddenly rushed over and hugged her tightly.

This girl even kept rubbing her head on top of Li Xingya’s!

“Xiaoya, how can you be this cute? I really can’t resist! Let me hold you for a bit, just a little while. If I don’t recharge on some Xiaoya energy, I’ll definitely die.”

“W-wait.”

In Lin Jin’an’s arms, Li Xingya looked a bit troubled.

‘Too tight.’

‘Holding too tight.’

‘Xiaoya energy and so on… isn’t that childish?’

Forced to be pressed against Lin Jin’an, Li Xingya felt very uncomfortable.

She pushed Lin Jin’an’s shoulder.

“Please, please let me go… I’ll get angry if you keep this up.”

“It’s okay. An angry Xiaoya is also cute, so please go ahead and be angry at me.”

Li Xingya: “?”

‘Lin Jin’an always manages to say something outrageous at certain moments.’

‘Is it because of her frequent and proper idol career? Is Lin Jin’an too repressed?’

“Xiaoya, why not just stop being an idol?”

“Huh?”

“How about becoming big star for me alone?”

Lin Jin’an looked down at Li Xingya in her arms.

“Your big sis will raise you well, raise you into a very fine adult.”

‘A very fine adult?’

That statement is quite questionable.

After all, in Li Xingya’s eyes, Lin Jin’an herself couldn’t be considered a fine adult.

‘Stealing a sixteen-year-old girl’s toothbrush and all.’

‘If Lin Jin’an raised me, I’d probably end up mysteriously losing a pair of underwear every few days.’

Just thinking about it made Li Xingya’s back feel cold.

Seeing Li Xingya in her arms not speaking, Lin Jin’an looked a bit sad.

“You don’t want to?”

“No.”

“…You really rejected decisively.”

“Well, it’s you after all.”

Li Xingya smiled.

‘If it were Meng Yiqiao who wanted to adopt me, I might actually consider it?’

Facing Li Xingya’s response, Lin Jin’an also smiled.

‘Still makes no effort to hide her dislike of me.’

Lin Jin’an let go of her embrace.

Freed, Li Xingya straightened the wrinkles on her top, then picked up a one-piece bow tie.

“This, can you help me put it on?”

She turned around, lifted her black hair, facing away from Lin Jin’an.

Soon, Li Xingya heard rustling sounds from behind.

While putting on the tie, she took the opportunity to ask,

“By the way… my sister went to work. How did you get in?”

“By using the passcode.”

Lin Jin’an’s fingertips brushed through Li Xingya’s hair ends.

“060915. Jiang Chiyue only uses that one password. She was born on September 15, 2006.”

“Then in a few days, it’ll be her birthday?”

‘Today is September 11th.’

“Yeah. Have you prepared a gift for her?”

As the bow was tied at the collar, Li Xingya let her hair down.

“No—what do you think I should give her that she’d like?”

“Well… as long as it’s from you, I think Jiang Chiyue will like it.”

Lin Jin’an was still stroking Li Xingya’s hair.

“After all, you’re so cute.”

Li Xingya tilted her head.

‘What does this have to do with being cute?’

She thought to herself.

Li Xingya also remembered the phone call Jiang Chiyue made in the living room back then.

“Can’t you come back around mid-month?”

“Alright.”

“I understand.”

A total of three short sentences.

If mid-month is Jiang Chiyue’s birthday, then that call… could it be to the yet-unmet cheap parents?

Unexpectedly, Jiang Chiyue seems to care quite a bit about her birthday.

Li Xingya was very indifferent about birthdays.

Since she could remember, she had never eaten a birthday cake, and on her birthday, no one had ever said “Happy Birthday” to her—though debt collectors had come to her door a few times.

But precisely because of this experience, a thought inexplicably arose in Li Xingya’s heart.

‘Since the cheap parents can’t come back,’

‘maybe I, as the younger sister… should help my sister celebrate a birthday?’

‘After all, we live together and see each other every day.’

‘Celebrating a birthday to improve our relationship a bit wouldn’t hurt me.’

“Li Xingya.”

“Yes?”

Li Xingya snapped back to reality.

“Thinking so hard, what are you thinking about?”

Li Xingya shook her head.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing, huh?”

Lin Jin’an’s voice sounded light and airy.

“Do you want to know what Jiang Chiyue likes?”

“……I do.”

Even though Li Xingya pretended not to care about anything, when Lin Jin’an turned the topic to Jiang Chiyue’s preferences, she still couldn’t help it.

‘A tsundere.’

Lin Jin’an smiled, pressing Li Xingya’s shoulders to turn her around.

The two faced each other, a mischievous glint in Lin Jin’an’s eyes.

“If you want to know, how about going on a date with your big sis tomorrow?”

‘Xiaoya,’

‘you don’t want Jiang Chiyue to not receive a satisfactory gift on her birthday, do you?’

Li Xingya’s eye twitched.

She was at a loss with Lin Jin’an.

“Lin Jin’an… are you finally going to make a move on an underage girl?”

Li Xingya said in despair.