At 7:00 AM, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains.
“Ring, ring, ring!”
The alarm went off.
“Ugh…”
Lin Lu rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, wanting to sleep for another 5 minutes.
“Wait, that’s not right!”
Lin Lu snapped his eyes open.
Today was an 8:00 AM class.
He couldn’t oversleep, he had just been lectured last night; if he was late again, it would be a disaster.
Lin Lu scrambled to sit up, but a sudden, sharp pain shot through the top of his head.
“Ow—!”
He was yanked back by a strange force, feeling as though someone had given his hair a violent tug.
Lin Lu collapsed back onto the bed, clutching the back of his head, his mind a complete blank.
“Ouch…”
Lin Lu slowly braced himself to sit up again.
He turned his head and froze.
Silver hair was scattered across the bed.
Because of his sudden movement just now, several strands had even been pulled out and left on the pillow.
“Huh?”
He—she—slowly lifted a hand.
Staring at the slender, fair fingers and long joints that clearly didn’t belong to him, he fell into a stunned silence.
He felt upward—there were two high peaks…
He felt downward—it was gone.
Everything was gone…
“I…” Lin Lu spoke, his voice trembling.
The sound was clear and melodious, “Where is my brother?!”
The brother who had stayed with him for 19 years, the brother who greeted him every morning when he woke up, was gone.
In a daze, Lin Lu seemed to see his little brother growing wings and slowly flying toward heaven, saying: ‘Don’t worry about me, brother. Though I am gone, I have exchanged myself for a beautiful sister for you. She will take good care of you in my place…’
‘Stop it!!! Not this, please!’
Lin Lu stood up, clutching his head.
The quilt slid off, revealing the T-shirt he was wearing—it was clearly one size too big.
He had put it on after his shower last night.
It used to be a loose-fitting pajama shirt, but now it was practically a dress.
Stepping off the bed, he stumbled.
His bare feet hit the floor, and he staggered—his center of gravity had shifted, and he would have to relearn how to walk.
He leaned against the wall as he entered the bathroom.
He flipped the light switch and looked into the mirror.
The person in the mirror was unrealistically beautiful.
Waist-length silver hair fell messily over her shoulders.
Her crimson eyes were slightly misty from just waking up, and her features were as delicate as a character from a dress-up game.
Her skin was smooth and fair, like that of a young lady who lived deep within a manor, never touched by a single gust of wind or a ray of harsh sunlight.
“…” Lin Lu stared at the person in the mirror.
“Beautiful, who even are you?”
The person in the mirror looked back at her with an equally complicated expression.
Lin Lu took a deep breath, turned back into the bedroom, and began to search.
On the bed, under the pillows, on top of the wardrobe, behind the curtains—she even emptied the trash can to check.
There was no Bat.
There wasn’t a single trace of any Bat.
As Lin Lu rubbed her chin, wondering where that culprit of a Bat was hiding, she noticed an extra Silver Bracelet on her wrist.
‘What’s going on? Is this some “Grandma in the Bracelet” trope? I woke up from a dream to find that I’ve become Xiao Yan herself.’
“Hey?” Lin Lu shouted at the bracelet, “Miss Bat? Lilith? Whatever your name is—come out!”
Silence.
“You’re going to do this the hard way, huh? You stinking Bat, get out here!”
Silence.
“If you don’t come out right now, I’m going to shave my head! Silver hair this long would sell for a lot of money at a hair salon!”
Still silence.
Lin Lu stood there for a full 30 seconds.
Then she looked down at herself, back at the mirror, and then around the empty room.
“So…” she muttered, “that stinking Bat turned me into a girl and then bailed?”
Birds chirped outside the window, and the cries of breakfast vendors rose from the street below.
Everything in the world was normal, except for her.
‘Scumbag Bat!!! You’re not even going to take responsibility for me!’
“Fine.” Lin Lu nodded, her tone surprisingly calm.
“Fine.”
What else could she do?
She had to accept reality…
It was just a tragedy for her school-beauty girlfriend, the overbearing female CEO, and the pure girl-next-door… though those were all just fantasies, of course.
She walked to the wardrobe and pulled the doors open.
Inside was nothing but men’s clothing.
T-shirts, jeans, hoodies, and jackets—all bought for a guy who was 1.78 meters tall.
“…I’ll be a ghost before I can actually wear these.” Lin Lu looked over the clothes in the wardrobe and shook her head with a headache.
“Even if I could, it wouldn’t work… it’s all men’s clothes…”
Lin Lu stood before the wardrobe, plunged into a major life crisis.
Just as she was wondering how to solve her clothing problem so she could go outside, her eyes were drawn to a garment box in the corner of the wardrobe.
“That’s…”
Lin Lu took the box out and opened it.
Inside was a pure white, luxurious Lolita-style outfit, complete with a wide-brimmed hat decorated with white roses.
Lin Lu suddenly remembered.
She had mentioned going to an anime convention before, and Zhang Liang had sent her a cosplay outfit.
However, because he didn’t know her size, he had bought it too small, so she had never worn it.
“Well, this solves my immediate problem…” Lin Lu sighed.
She never expected that after escaping cross-dressing for the convention, she would be forced to wear it now that she had actually become a girl.
5 minutes later…
“Fine,” Lin Lu said, blushing as she faced the silver-haired girl in the mirror.
“At least if I go out like this, people will think I’m a cosplayer instead of a girl who just escaped a kidnapping…”
Though, her chest still felt a bit uncomfortable…
Lin Lu picked up her phone, preparing to head to the mall to buy some clothes.
The screen lit up, displaying the date and time.
[Wednesday 7:45 AM]
Below that was a WeChat message from Zhang Liang: [Zhang Liang: You up? Linear Algebra is at 8:00 AM today, don’t forget!]
Lin Lu stared at the message for 3 seconds.
Was she supposed to go to class looking like this?
Silver hair, crimson eyes, and dressed in a high-end Lolita outfit—the professor’s first reaction would definitely be “Student, you’re in the wrong classroom,” not “Lin Lu, you’ve arrived for class.”
Moreover, her student ID still had a photo of her as a guy.
She also thought about how, even aside from class, what would she do if her sister called or if they met?
Say she was actually her own girlfriend?
What a headache…
Lin Lu stayed silent for a moment, then opened her phone and began to search:
[Things to note when a girl buys clothes for the first time]
[How to choose women’s underwear sizes]
[What to do if you suddenly turn into a girl]
There were quite a few search results, but none of them could solve her current problem.
As Lin Lu scrolled, a news notification suddenly popped up:
[Breaking News: Abnormal magical fluctuations detected in the Business District this morning—Starlight Magical Girl Group has been dispatched to investigate.]
Lin Lu glanced at it and swiped it away.
“Abnormalities every day, but a Shadow Beast almost never actually appears,” she grumbled, “They’ll probably just investigate and call it a day.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her phone vibrated again.
It was another message from Zhang Liang: [Where are you? Don’t tell me you fell back asleep! The professor said there’s a pop quiz today!]
‘I can’t even get through the classroom door, so how am I supposed to take a quiz?!’
Lin Lu thought for a moment and replied: [Lin Lu: Stomach hurts. I’ve been in the bathroom all morning. Can’t make it.]
[Zhang Liang: …Seriously?]
[Lin Lu: Seriously. I’m still squatting over the toilet right now.]
[Zhang Liang: Alright, then get some rest. I’ll explain it to the professor for you.]
[Lin Lu: Thanks.]
She grabbed her wallet—it contained her ID and student ID.
While she certainly couldn’t use them now, she took them just in case.
She also took some cash and pushed the door open.
‘Time to head out!’
Destination: Commercial Street.
Mission: Buy clothes.