Chapter 13: Magical Girl Working for the Snow King
Children who often skip class know that it’s not bad to skip, but the key is to ask for leave.
Before the afternoon class, Sumu finally made it to the office.
“Take good care of yourself, Sumu. You’ve gotten this sick; next time, let a classmate help you out.”
The counselor looked worriedly at the pink fluff wrapped tightly in a deep blue coat while handing over the leave request.
This girl named Sumu seemed to have always been a bit out of place, and her personality was quite unique. There was even an incident where she was kicked out of the boys’ dorm.
Now, she looked excessively frail, and it seemed like she needed more attention going forward.
Sumu didn’t yet realize that she was constantly seen as a girl and was still trying her best to act like one.
She carefully stretched her hand out from the sleeve, clenched the leave request in her palm, and hurriedly thanked the counselor in a deliberately lowered voice before rushing out, leaving the counselor still in a daze.
Staying even half a second longer might reveal her secret.
After becoming a magical girl, Sumu’s most troublesome change was her long pink hair that fell to her waist and the prominent chest that couldn’t fit into any compression garment.
With Tang Nai’s help, Sumu styled her smooth long hair into a bun and covered it with a milky white beret.
Originally, Tang Nai had planned to help her deal with the trouble of her chest, but Sumu firmly refused, fearing any traces of her life would be left behind.
With her eyes closed, she wrapped bandages around her chest again and again, and after tightening her shirt buttons, she suddenly felt breathless, as if she had become a spring pressed all the way down, poised to ‘pop’ open her poor buttons at any moment.
Fortunately, at this level, she could conceal it quite well by wearing a loose coat and slightly hunching her back.
But Sumu was still not at ease, so she decided to wrap a light blue scarf thickly around her neck, tucking the excess into her collar. Now, even if someone looked at her from all angles, they wouldn’t find any flaws.
However, Sumu never imagined that sometimes over-concealment itself is a significant flaw.
“The girl wearing the mask just now seems very cute; I haven’t seen her before.”
As Sumu walked with her head down, she inadvertently caught the voices of passersby, and her cheeks gradually warmed.
Deliberately hiding can at most only blur her gender, but the standards for gender identification are very complex, and trying to conceal it just by changing outfits is utterly unrealistic.
Whether it was her sparkling azure almond-shaped eyes or her fair, delicate skin, she unconsciously transmitted signals unique to a youthful girl to others.
The loose coat instead created room for imagination, making people curious about what kind of slender figure was wrapped underneath multiple layers of fabric.
Thinking this, Sumu felt a bit regretful; perhaps she shouldn’t have rejected Tang Nai.
At this point, she decided to get an ice cream; dressed like this, she felt like she would suffocate.
Sweat had already soaked the bandaging around her chest, and now it was seeping out from between her skin. At this rate, she would be going to heat stroke even without being sick.
She tugged at her scarf to let some heat escape and walked into the Snow King.
Thanks to it, she could savor a two-yuan cone in her financially tight life!
The clerk was busy with something, facing away from the counter, and Sumu could only see her long blue ponytail swishing back and forth.
“Hello, I’d like a cone, please.”
“What flavor?”
A familiar crisp voice echoed, and when the clerk turned around, both their brains went momentarily blank in a staring match.
After a strange silence, Sumu’s expression turned excited as she pointed at the clerk, about to say her name.
“Lan—mumble mumble…”
Lan Duo quickly covered Sumu’s mouth, a bit hurried and ended up using a bit more force than intended.
Sumu felt a small hand firmly around her neck, while the other hand tightly covered her mask, making it impossible for her to break free no matter how hard she tried.
Having already tightened her chest binding, it was now even harder for her to breathe.
She felt like she was running out of oxygen; she was going to suffocate—let go!
Noticing that Sumu’s face was turning red, Lan Duo finally released her grip, and Sumu immediately yanked off her mask to take deep breaths.
Seeing Sumu about to speak, Lan Duo quickly made a shushing gesture and whispered:
“Please, it’s not work time; you can’t call me that.”
“But I don’t know your name.”
Still catching her breath, Sumu looked at Lan Duo with a slightly aggrieved expression.
“My name is Luo Jialan; just call me that.”
Fortunately, the shop was relatively quiet at this moment, and not many people noticed the commotion.
“By the way, how come you’re here?”
“I was just wondering why you’re here; are you also at Transportation University?”
“Yeah, I’m a freshman this year.”
“…Why are you in the same grade as me?”
Luo Jialan helplessly sighed, pressing her forehead.
This month’s living expenses had already fallen critically due to two incidents, leaving her no choice but to work here.
Anyway, she would have cognitive dissonance after transforming, making it hard for ordinary people to recognize her.
But unexpectedly, she ran into this person.
“By the way, I want a cone, the fresh milk flavor.”
“Cheh, here, two yuan.”
Sumu stared at the oddly shaped ice cream cone, feeling a deep sense of resentment.
Her fingers were about to deform the bottom!
“How am I supposed to eat this? Please make me another one.”
Even facing Lan Duo, Sumu wouldn’t back down on this.
She was paying a full two yuan; how could she accept such a thing?
“Jialan-chan, you can’t be rude to customers.”
A voice came from the back, presumably the manager.
Hearing this, Luo Jialan angrily shoved the faulty cone into the sink, took a deep breath, and then patiently made Sumu a new one.
There wasn’t really a problem; however, Luo Jialan’s expression still looked rather bad.
But service attitude or anything didn’t matter; Sumu just wanted her cone.
She took the cone from Luo Jialan’s hand and eagerly took a bite.
The sweetness instantly enveloped her whole being, accompanied by a refreshing chill penetrating her heart.
Watching Sumu licking the ice cream little by little, Luo Jialan felt an inexplicable urge to fiercely bully this girl.
She just wanted to see her eyes glistening.
“So, why are you working here? Did that guy Tang Nai cut your pay? You must owe her quite a bit, right?”
Upon hearing Tang Nai’s name, Luo Jialan’s action of washing the sink suddenly stalled, her grip unconsciously tightening a bit.
“Exactly, it’s all that dead rabbit’s fault; I can never repay what I owe her.”
“What do you mean you can’t repay her?”
“The literal meaning; this person won’t collect money; she just makes you do some troublesome tasks, and in the process, you end up accruing more debt.”
It really sounded like something Tang Nai would do.
“What kind of tasks?”
“Well, you’ll know soon enough; if you’re lucky, it might be something like promoting a video.”
“What if you’re not lucky?”
Luo Jialan suddenly showed a strange expression, making Sumu break out in cold sweat.
“You really don’t want to know.”
