Page 12 – ‘Her’ Secret Base

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Translator: Author: Original Source:
MJCross Cat’s Glasses SFACG
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At the end of the last chapter, I already had a bad feeling that something was about to go down—an ominous sense that the author was up to no good.

Because of that, I made sure to be extra cautious. Before entering the bathroom, I checked to ensure no one was following me.

Once inside, I even inspected every stall.

Feeling secure with all these precautions, I took off my glasses, turned on the faucet, and rinsed my face with water.

And yet—

“Uwaaa!”

Just as I wet my face, an exclamation rang out right next to my ear, the voice hovering somewhere between masculine and feminine, making it impossible to determine their gender.

I felt like I’d just been completely blindsided.

Even without turning around, I knew exactly who that voice belonged to—after all, it was who I once had a crush on.

But seriously, where the hell did this tricky little minx come from?!

I checked this whole bathroom inside and out—so how did he just spawn behind me like some kind of refreshable dungeon mob?

“Well, well, what a coincidence… Rin—uh, I mean, Tan Rinka…-san?”

Even though I was still facing the sink, looking through the mirror, I could see his beautiful face slightly distorted.

“A girl? Huh?” Still caught in confusion, Tan Rinka glanced at my water-splashed face, then at my oversized glasses lying on the sink.

His delicate brows furrowed as he struggled to put the pieces together.

He tapped a finger against his tilted head, deep in thought, looking rather troubled.

Even knowing he was a guy, I had to admit—these series of actions were ridiculously cute.

“Wait… Kai?! Hang on—y-you were a girl all along?! And such a beautiful one at that…?!”

His thought process finally reached a conclusion, his cheeks lightly dusted with pink.

He was probably recalling my past confession, now rewriting the entire scene in his mind.

In his imagination, it must have become the story of a dashing “crossdressing prince” confessing to a beautiful “trap heroine,” creating some kind of refined, unconventional campus love story.

“Stop right there! I am, without a doubt, 100% male.” I waved my hand to dispel whatever weird scenario he was cooking up in his head.

“This is an all-boys school. I just have a slightly feminine face, that’s all.”

Didn’t I hear this line somewhere before… Now I’m the one saying it?

He shook his head in firm disagreement, his long black hair swaying with the movement.

“It’s not just a little! Kai—Kai-chan is the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen!” He sighed, his voice carrying a hint of frustration as he mumbled under his breath, “Meanwhile, I’m just slathered in makeup and skin care products, nothing but cheap, artificial glamor…”

People who lack something always understand its value better than those who have it.

The things I had struggled with all my life were exactly the things Tan Rinka had always wished for.

I had the urge to pat his head, but then I remembered—he’s an adorable guy. That felt a bit too sus, so I held back.

“Don’t say things like that. The ‘girl’ I once liked was no shallow, artificial beauty. Do I seem like the kind of guy who only cares about looks?”

I wasn’t just trying to comfort him.

Tan Rinka wasn’t just outwardly attractive—his personality was honestly great too. He was easy to get along with, considerate, playful in just the right way, and always knew how to lift the mood.

Even though I hadn’t known he was a guy at the time, I had genuinely enjoyed his company.

Guess it’s true—no one understands men better than men.

Whether it was my words or his own self-adjustment, he quickly snapped out of his slump. The ever-smiling school beauty was back.

He hopped onto the sink, swinging his legs as he curiously picked up my thick-rimmed glasses, examined them, and then put them on.

These glasses—so unfashionable they could practically have spiral swirls over the lenses in a manga—were my ultimate disguise tool. The moment he put them on, the school beauty was instantly downgraded into a village auntie.

“So heavy… And these are totally just clear lenses?! Kai-chan, you’re so pretty, but you’re hiding behind these lame glasses? What a waste!”

Huh? Why did my name suddenly become “Kai-chan”? Is it because this face of mine triggered some weird sense of affection?

“No, no, no—I have zero intention of crossdressing. If I don’t hide behind these, how am I supposed to live normally?”

This school is not normal. It’s a twisted, hormone-fueled hellscape. Who knows how many perverts lurking here are on Zhao Zhao’s level? If my true face were exposed, I might actually get screwed.

Look at Rinka there, dressed in a short skirt showing off his long slender legs, criminal actions had never been this tempting.

“Dressing like that every day, and you’ve been at this school for a year without getting screwed? That’s honestly a miracle.”

Faced with my rather inappropriate question, Rinka scoffed coldly.

“Hmph, the ones who want to screw me aren’t even bigger than me. What gives them the right?”

“Shut up! Your entire character is falling apart!”

“Ahem, ahem… Kai Onii-chan, what do you mean by ‘screwing’ exactly?”

“Actually, never mind—you’re still off-character.”

“Kai-chan, seriously~ You were a lot nicer to me before I rejected you!”

Well, yeah. Before I knew you were a guy, I was actually trying to date you. How could my attitude possibly be the same now?!

“More importantly, where did you even come from? I checked the stalls—there was no one here!”

At this, he hesitated briefly before replying, “Ah, about that… Since I now know Kai-chan’s secret, it’s only fair I trade a secret of my own. You see, this old school building originally had separate boys’ and girls’ restrooms. But when it was converted into an all-boys school, the girls’ bathrooms were removed. So where do you think this one went?”

All the staff here at this school are male, so naturally, there is no need for girls’ restrooms.

Though the students had already investigated this when we first enrolled.

“Aren’t they just storage rooms now?”

“Yes—on floors one through four. But on the fifth floor? That space was turned into the student council office. There’s no storage room there.”

I dramatically leaned back in an exaggerated Japanese drama reaction: “MASAKA! (Could it be…!)”

He jumped down from the sink, spun around mischievously, and somehow produced a brass key in his hand.

“Exactly! That’s the one! The mysterious door to the fifth-floor women’s restroom is hidden right here in the men’s restroom! So, can our dear Kai-chan find the path to the secret garden of girls? Let’s wait and see!”

Rinka spoke with the tone of a variety show host. He pushed up his large-framed glasses and handed the key to me… Are you some kind of escape room NPC? And what on earth is this “secret garden of girls”?

Luckily, this wasn’t much of a puzzle—in fact, the answer was pretty obvious. After walking around the empty men’s restroom, I quickly focused on the floor-to-ceiling cabinet at the end of the four stalls, labeled “Fire Hydrant.”

There was no doubt this was a fake fire hydrant. For starters, a normal fire hydrant wouldn’t have a key lock like this, and the cabinet itself was a whole size larger than any standard fire hydrant.

“This is way too easy…”

I inserted the key, turned it, and the mysterious door to the women’s restroom appeared—though given its size, it was more like a “dog hole” leading to the women’s restroom.

The cross-dressing pretty boy said in a prideful tone, “Go on in and have a seat! Kai-chan, this is my proud secret base~”

“Your secret base? Here?!”

A cross-dressing boy using the women’s restroom as his secret base? He who took pride in this somehow started to give off a stench in my mind.

“Of course, it’s been remodeled! It’s not a women’s restroom anymore!”

Because of the door’s size, I had no choice but to crawl in. Fortunately, the wall wasn’t thick, so I could stand up quickly.

Just as he had said, this women’s restroom had been completely transformed, with no trace of its original purpose left.

The interior was decorated like a girl’s bedroom: floral white wallpaper, a red-and-white checkered carpet, a pink girly bed, a clothing rack filled with dresses, a simple shower, and a vanity table cluttered with bottles and jars.

The room was bursting with girlish vibes, and to me, it felt like an alternate fairytale world.

The appearance of such a room in an all-boys school was indeed baffling, making one wonder just what kind of background Tan Rinka had. An ordinary person couldn’t possibly carve out a secret base like this in a school.

Come to think of it, sometimes his outfits in the morning and afternoon were slightly different. Was he changing in this room? Looking at all the colorful dresses, I couldn’t help but feel that staying here any longer might trigger some very bad scenarios…

Rinka crawled in after me. Watching such a “beautiful girl” crawl on the ground like a dog, my adolescent brain couldn’t help but conjure up some dirty thoughts, like putting a dog leash on him…

But his long hair was dragging on the floor, and with the men’s restroom just outside, I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit dirty.

“I was just eating lunch here earlier, and when I went out, I saw you washing your face.”

“Lunch? Oh right, I haven’t eaten yet.” His reminder snapped me back to reality—I’d come up to the fifth floor specifically to have lunch.

Figuring that Zhao Zhao should have bought the bread by now, I fared goodbye to Rinka and prepared to leave.

“Actually, I made plans to have lunch with a friend. He should be coming up soon.”

He said with regret, “Ah, what a shame. I was hoping to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Kai-chan here~”

Rinka, who had just crawled inside, immediately turned around and began wriggling back out through the dog hole.

Even though I knew he was male, the way his butt stuck up in the air felt unnervingly provocative—those legs were so round, or rather, that butt was so… long.

“Don’t forget to keep this a secret for me, okay?” I said, though I doubted he was the gossiping type. Still, it felt necessary to emphasize.

“Relax! And you better keep the secret base under wraps too, got it?”

The awkward tension from the ‘confession incident’ seemed to be dissolving.

Sure, getting emotionally duped by his cross-dressing act was pretty rough, but… I realized I still couldn’t bring myself to dislike him.

I stared at his face, which looked plain with the large-framed glasses, and wondered if I should write his name in the notebook. This had probably been his wish all along.

He handed the large-framed glasses back to me, fidgeting with his fingers. “Kai-chan, when you confessed to me… I was really happy. If I were a real girl, maybe I would have said yes.”

“…”Crap, my heart’s racing! Right now, I hold the divine power to turn that “if” into reality…

All I need to do is write his name, and I’d gain an adorable girlfriend—a Tan Rinka without the Babylon Tower.

How perfect would that be?

Just then, someone else walked into the restroom, interrupting my daydream.



 

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