“Hm? So you’re finally starting to believe us, senior?”

It was Monday afternoon. Zhao Zhao and I were on our way to the secret base when we got stopped by Senior Li Jianlian.

“Believe? I wouldn’t go that far. Let’s just say I’ve got no better options.”

He looked haggard, leaning against the third-floor stairway railing, no lunchbox in hand, just sighing into the hallway.

“Over the weekend, a few more students working part-time got publicly reprimanded by the school. Don’t you think that’s weird? People have been doing part-time jobs for ages, but now it’s like everyone’s getting caught all of a sudden…”

“It’s the Inspection Team,” said a cold voice.

We turned to see Yan Liuzhuan walking up from the second floor, same signature deadpan face like we all owed him money.

“Yo, Old Yan,” I greeted him. “Inspection Team? What’s that? Don’t tell me the student council has a department just for busting kids who work part-time?”

“No. It’s not something we organized.”

He pushed his glasses up and continued, tone flat as ever:

“It’s a team made up of teachers. They patrol the streets during off-hours, and students are even allowed to anonymously report others.”
Senior’s frown deepened. “Teachers are way worse than the student council. They actually remember your face. Unless you’re doing some back-office gig, it’s way too easy to get caught. And those jobs are so rare.”

“The Inspection Team’s targeting people like you, senior—third-years. If you get caught, it’s gonna be a mess. For now, it’s best not to work at all.”

Having delivered his buzzkill of the day, Yan Liuzhuan headed back upstairs. As he passed by me, he gave me a long, knowing look.

He probably already figured out what I was up to. And since he didn’t stop me… I guess he’s tacitly giving his blessing?

Looks like even cold-blooded Yan Liuzhuan has a human side after all.

Senior pressed his hands together like a prayer. “That’s how it is. I’m out of options, so I’ll leave it to you two.”

Desperate people pray to gods, Buddhas, or even Satan. Right now, senpai was one of those people—pushed into a corner, clinging to whatever strange cult magic Zhao Zhao and I were selling.

Or rather, he didn’t believe us so much as he just really wanted to know what the hell we were up to.

Zhao Zhao clapped me on the back, nearly knocking my crutch out from under me.

“Leave your job hunt to me and Commander!”

…Ow.

“I thought we were going to some kind of manga café?! What are we doing in a hotel—what the hell, 78 yuan for two hours?!”

After school, Zhao Zhao and I hailed a cab with senpai and headed to the Tianping Commercial District. We checked into a hotel and got a room by the hour.

It was Tianping, so the outrageous prices made sense. Sort of.

“Chill, senpai. This is all part of the plan. Like Zhao Zhao said before, Kamehameha only hires girls.”

“But how are you gonna—wait, you’re not seriously thinking of turning me into a girl—?”

Knock knock.

A quick knock on the door cut him off. Zhao Zhao entered, bringing Xiao Lei with him. She gave me a playful wink.

“Commander, I brought Xiao Lei.”

If we were going to pull off a proper divine grift, Xiao Lei was a must-have.

Zhao Zhao had booked the room next door so I could write his name on the bookmark in the bathroom. As for Xiao Lei’s girls’ school uniform—that came from Rinka’s secret base. The underwear was her own. Zhao Zhao, in a rare burst of foresight, had left some spare sets of clothes there just in case.

He also pulled out a second set of girls’ clothes, which should be for senior’s. Since we had no idea what body type he’d end up with post-transformation, we went with oversized and loose-fitting.

Zhao Zhao laid the outfit on the bed.

“Wait… isn’t that the girl who came for the buffet that time?”

Senior recognized Xiao Lei from when he worked at the buffet restaurant. He looked surprised.

“Yup. She’s the one we mentioned—the divine emissary of the Church of Bishoujo.”

“That’s me.” Xiao Lei struck a pose, arms folded, eyes closed, trying her best to look like an enlightened saint.

Senior gave us the “you’ve got to be s̲h̲i̲t̲t̲i̲n̲g me” face. “You’re telling me this is your divine emissary? You guys aren’t part of a cult, right?”

“Well, technically she’s Zhao Zhao’s cousin. But yeah, she’s the divine emissary too.”

As a god (apprentice), appointing an emissary should be well within my nonexistent divine jurisdiction.

“Oh, she’s his cousin? Now that you mention it, they do kinda look alike…”

Xiao Lei snapped, “Huh?! How do we look alike?!”

Well… probably the red-dyed streaks in their hair. Either way, senior didn’t question the cousin part.

“Wait. Your whole plan to sneak into the café and get me hired… don’t tell me it involves crossdressing?!”

He stared at the girl’s outfit with a complicated look, clearly in the middle of an inner struggle between survival and dignity. I wondered—if I just nodded now, would he really slip into those clothes without protest?

Without the dark circles under his eyes, he was actually pretty handsome. And handsome guys do tend to look good in drag, right? (Okay, maybe not.)

Of course, I wasn’t cruel enough to make him do that.

“That is an option, sure, but if we were going with that, we wouldn’t need the divine emissary. Remember what we said? You’ll actually become a girl.”

I gave Xiao Lei a cue with my eyes. She raised an arm and launched into a full-on overacting monologue.

“The god I serve takes pity on the lost lambs who suffer misfortune. Rejoice! A new life awaits you, a divine revelation of beauty and blessing!”

“…There are really gods in this world?”

There are. Though they’re kinda messed up in the head.

“You’ll believe it once you witness a miracle!”

Xiao Lei pulled out a moonstone from her side pouch and handed it to senpai, then shoved him—along with the girl’s outfit—into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

I called out through the door, “Don’t forget to unbutton your shirt just in case.”

“…In case of what?”

In case you end up very well-endowed and pop a button, obviously.

Everything was going according to plan. I wrote his name into the Bishoujo Notebook with a pencil.

A bright flash of white light illuminated the frosted glass of the bathroom door.

“WHOA—seriously?! I actually turned into a girl?!”

Senior who was turned into a girl exclaimed from inside the bathroom.

Her voice was soft and syrupy sweet, the kind that sticks to your ears—textbook “moe.” Like the shy, flustered girl next door.

No idea what she looked like yet, though.

“See? I told you! Now do you believe us?”

“I—wait—can I still change back?!”

“Of course. This is only temporary.”

“Amazing! My skin’s so smooth. Is this what boobs feel like? Oh—wait, they got firmer?!”

Why does she sound so experienced?

Zhao Zhao dropped into a dramatic crouch like a wounded tiger, trying to peek under the bathroom door. Xiao Lei promptly kicked him in the gut, sending him rolling across the floor.

The notebook’s mentality calibration takes time to kick in. When someone first transforms, their original mindset still dominates. And, well, groping the boobs is kind of a default male reflex.

Senior was no exception.

“Ahem. I know you’re curious, but could you please get dressed soon? Zhao Zhao already scheduled your interview. We should get going…”

The bathroom door cracked open, and a blushing, transformed senpai peeked out.

Li Jianlian’s messy black-and-white hair had turned into long, flowing locks down to her waist. The white strands were now grouped in sections, alternating clearly with black—almost like deliberate highlights.

In a small voice, she asked, “…How do I look?”

She probably wasn’t asking about the clothes only with her head out—she was probably asking about her looks.

“You look great.”

Xiao Lei, however, scoffed at my answer. “Don’t ask Commander stuff like that. He says the same thing to everyone—because, let’s be real, no one’s ever gonna out-pretty him.”

…

“Uh, is there… no bra inside this outfit?” she asked, now fully out of the bathroom, one arm still across her chest.

We’d picked an oversized batwing top and baggy jeans from Rinka’s base—clothes meant to hide shape. But even so, the shirt, originally worn by male Rinka, was being stretched tight across senpai’s chest.

We thought she'd turn into a flat-chested type, but surprise—she was stacked. Her hand couldn’t even cover half of it, and what little peeked out from under her arm… let’s just say, she could give Lei Meow Meow a run for her money.

“Well, we didn’t exactly know what size you’d be post-transformation. How could we have prepped a bra in advance? Want to go buy one now?”

“…More spending?”

Okay, so she’s frugal. Can’t really blame her—we’re all broke kids here.

I reassured her, “The job pays over a hundred yuan an hour. Treat it as self-investment for the interview, one day of work and you’ll make that back easy.”

Well that still seems to not beat freelance modeling gigs, though it’s not every day you meet a guy like Tony Yang…

Senior took a breath and nodded, resolving herself.

“Got it! First order of business—buy a bra!”