The hair just dried by the blow dryer carried a sweet scent—Xiao Lei’s head smelled like a freshly baked milk cake from a bakery, still warm with steam.

As soon as I finished drying her hair, the girl squealed about the heat and dashed off to cool down under the air conditioner, leaving me to wrangle the vacuum cleaner and resume cleaning the secret base.

It was only a quick once-over—hardly what you'd call clean—but time was limited, and I figured I could deal with the rest little by little in the days to come.

Thanks to the A/C, I wasn’t really sweating, but since I had the chance, I figured I might as well take a shower. Besides cleansing the body, a good shower does wonders for the soul too.

“I’ll also hop in for a quick bath. Keep an eye on the laundry in the washer, just wear it once it's done. I’ll be done in a bit, and then it’s time to head out.”

Xiao Lei nodded sweetly from the bed.

Something about how well-behaved she looked set off alarm bells in my head, so I added with a warning glare, “And no peeking, got it?”

She nodded even harder, practically like a woodpecker.

Hot water poured from the showerhead, washing over my face as I closed my eyes, pretending I was strolling through rain, the warmth flowing over my skin and rinsing away the fatigue from cleaning.

Then came the moment in front of the mirror—toweling off—and my face went beet red. My home bathroom didn’t have a full-length mirror like this one.

Technically, this was the first time I’d ever gotten such a clear view of my own body. Not just the embarrassingly prominent chest, but also the belly and even [BLEEP] well, everything. Everything.

…

Hey! Director! That censorship beep just made it worse in every possible way!

Since I had to return to my original body afterward, I didn’t bother drying my hair with the dryer—just enough towel-drying to stop it from dripping. I wrapped myself in a white towel and stepped out of the bathroom.

The cold blast of air-conditioning jolted me back to full alertness.

Xiao Lei was back in Zhao Zhao’s oversized boys’ school uniform, lounging on the bed with her legs propped up and playing on her phone. My body lay beside her, fast asleep.

At a glance, it all looked perfectly normal… but if you looked closer, you could clearly see a blush on her face.

“You really didn’t peek while I was showering?”

She averted her gaze, looking more than a little guilty.

“Of course not!”

“Then why can’t you look me in the eye?”

“Because your boobs are too huge!”

“But they’re not on my face!”

Pressed further, she got a bit snippy and pointed back toward the bathroom.

“I swear I didn’t peek! The bathroom wall’s frosted glass! Even if you press your face right up to it, you can’t see through!”

Wait—you actually did press your face to the glass?!

I sighed, deciding to drop it. There was no evidence, and I couldn’t accuse her based on suspicion alone. Besides, our lunch break was almost over—we needed to get back to class.

I reached over to the bed and erased the name written on the transparent bookmark in Notebook-sama. In an instant, my consciousness was plunged into darkness.

After several seconds, my senses returned. The first thing I felt was the stiff plaster cast and a dull ache in my right leg.

Just a tiny fracture, but still a pain to deal with.

“Whoa! Commander, you’re finally awake! When you disappeared in a puff of light, I thought you’d gone and kicked the bucket!”

I opened my eyes to find Xiao Lei’s face looming close, brushing aside my bangs. The moment she noticed I was awake, she quickly let go.

“Geez, don’t jinx me. I’m the protagonist of a slice-of-life novel—dropping dead isn’t exactly in the script.”

I pushed her head away and sat up, grabbed my crutch, and got out of bed, waving for her to follow.

“C’mon, let’s go. Time’s tight. We’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Wait! Your glasses!”

Xiao Lei chased after me with my painfully unfashionable, chunky-frame glasses (second one) and carefully placed them on my nose, poking it playfully with her finger.

“Oh. Thanks,” I said politely, then realized something. “Wait… when did I take my glasses off?”

The moment froze—her hand, still hovering from adjusting the glasses, went stiff.

“You didn’t… do anything to my body while I was in the shower, did you?”

“Aah! We’re gonna be late for class—let’s go!”

Staaare.

This girl is a terrible liar. Or more precisely, her brain’s just not fast enough to support a convincing lie. With that clumsy dodge, I could practically confirm what she’d done.

And it’s not like she’s innocent, either. Before summer break, she stayed over at my place and took a bunch of questionable photos while I was sleeping. At the underwater Ferris wheel, she even snuck a kiss on my forehead.

Now that I think about it, Xiao Lei’s basically a full-on aggressive carnivore-type girl. Leaving her alone with my body is dangerously reckless.

Wait—her phone. She was using her phone when I came out…

“Let me see your phone.”

“Nope!”

“Then spill. What did you do?”

“I-I-I-I—!”

Her primitive little brain couldn’t come up with a lie in time. She started glitching like a jammed tape.

“You-you-you… never mind. I think I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

I opened the door of the emergency cabinet and peeked outside to make sure the coast was clear. With a deep sigh, I crawled out first. Honestly, having both hands on the tiles of the boys’ bathroom floor gave me a strong sense of internal violation.

Xiao Lei followed, keeping her head down so I couldn’t see her expression.

“You’ve been a girl yourself now, Commander. How can you still not get it? Every girl has one or two secrets. Guys who dig too deep just end up hated, y’know?”

She handed me Notebook-sama, sounding rather aggrieved.

“Let Zhao Zhao come out. I want to disappear. Now!”

Why does she sound like the wronged wife going back to her parents’ house? Why does it feel like I’m the one who messed up?

Also—Zhao Zhao is you!

I wiped the name “Zhao Zhao” off the notebook. The white glow and sparkles returned, and the oversized clothes puffed up as Xiao Lei morphed into a 1.9m gorilla of a man. Just imagining what she might’ve done to my body made my stomach churn.

My expression probably wasn’t great, but Zhao Zhao didn’t look any better. With one hand on his forehead, he looked thoroughly miserable.

“Commander… I’m sorry. I think Xiao Lei may have done something… irreversible.”

Irreversible?!

“AAAHHHH!” I screamed, cutting him off. “Don’t say it! I’m not ready to hear that yet!”

Just the thought of that giant mountain gorilla sucking on my body was enough to send my brain into blue screen territory.

“I… Xiao Lei saw your body lying there motionless and got overwhelmed with excitement.”

“Please control yourself! You promised me you’d rein it in, didn’t you?”

“I tried…”

The shadows deepened on Zhao Zhao’s face, reflecting his inner turmoil.

“But when you split into two, that feeling of affection just… doubled. I couldn’t hold back.”

“…Once my leg heals, I’m going to write your name on the bookmark with a permanent marker and separate you and Xiao Lei forever. Until then, please do your best to behave.”

“So… you’re planning to accept Xiao Lei’s feelings?”

Accept Xiao Lei’s feelings?

I couldn’t imagine what that future might look like.

“We’ll talk about that later. For now, I don’t want either of you to disappear.”

I locked the cabinet behind us and started hobbling toward the door, asking as I walked, “Hey, Zhao Zhao—what is Xiao Lei to you?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he suddenly swept me up in a bridal carry, startling me. “Why a princess carry again?!”

“Your question is too deep. I suck at philosophy and thinking in general—it gives me a headache.”

He took the stairs three at a time—dangerously fast—but thankfully had good balance.

“If I had to answer… I’d say Xiao Lei is another possibility of myself. If I’d been born a girl, I guess that’s how our relationship would’ve turned out.”

Zhao Zhao’s face looked surprisingly serene.

Lately, I keep seeing illusions—Zhao Zhao’s shadow in Xiao Lei, and Xiao Lei’s shadow in Zhao Zhao.

“No, no, no. If that were the case, you’d be in the girls’ campus right there with Haitang.”

“True. That would’ve been rough for you.”

We just barely made it before the bell rang.