Ch. 96 - Isn't She Already Basically a Girl...

When I carried the freshman into a women’s boutique, I immediately felt dozens of eyes turn toward me.

Well, of course, they would stare—the outfit on the girl in my arms was way too eye-catching.

Thank goodness she had been unconscious. If she had been awake, it would’ve been a social-death level disaster.

“Oh, a freshman? Here to pick out clothes?” Even with my bizarre situation, the senior staff didn’t hesitate to come over and recommend outfits.

“Um… could you pick something for her? Something cheap, please. I don’t have much money.” I pointed at the petite girl as I gently set her down.

Seeing her up close… aside from the criminally revealing outfit, she was actually really cute. 

And to be honest, she looked too young to be in such clothes.

It was hard to imagine her being college-aged.

“Helping her, huh? Sure~ I’ll pick the best outfit for her.” 

The shop senior sounded a little too enthusiastic.

“W-Wait! Cheap! Something cheap! I really don’t have the money!” I quickly corrected her. If she grabbed the most expensive dress here, I’d be ruined.

If that happened, I’d run for my life.

“Hey, relax~ Since she’s a freshman, I’ll make it free,” The senior winked. Then lowered her voice. “And little freshman—she’s new, right? Probably dragged straight here from somewhere. Give me that lingerie she’s wearing once she changes, and you get a full outfit for free.”

“Uh—”

The way she looked at me was wrong. A set of worn lingerie in exchange for a whole outfit? What was she going to do with it?

Collect it…?

That thought alone made me shiver. But… it didn’t cost me money, and this girl definitely didn’t want to wake up dressed like that.

I was doing her a favor.

Absolutely. Definitely. A good deed.

“…What? You don’t agree?” the senior teased.

“No, no! I agree! Of course, I agree. B-But you’ll have to undress her yourself…” I said quickly.

“Hey~ haven’t met such a considerate freshman in a while~ Don’t worry, I’ll be very gentle helping her change into our best dress.”

I stared at her, feeling like I had just enabled something terrible. That poor freshman—whose name I didn’t even know—had just escaped one wolf den only for me to deliver her straight into a tiger’s jaws.

A guilt pang stabbed me. But it was quickly drowned out by my curiosity to see the outcome.

Luckily, the senior’s methods were professional—well, aside from copping a bit of a feel. Nothing too outrageous.

She dressed the girl like she was posing a ball-jointed doll, turning and posing her with frightening skill. If I hadn’t stopped her, she probably would’ve tried another ten outfits.

A tragic fate, really.

And… judging by the twitch at the girl’s mouth, she had already woken up. She just refused to face reality.

In the end, I physically dragged her out of there to put an end to it.

Once we reached a bench by the street, I gently set her down.

“Alright, you can stop pretending. Carrying you was exhausting,” I sat beside her and spoke quietly.

The moment I finished, the girl finally opened her eyes.

“S-Sorry…”

Her voice was soft and sweet, like she was afraid I might bully her.

She kicked her little legs weakly and used her hands to push herself upright on the bench.

“I—I didn’t mean to pretend to be asleep… I just…”

“I know, I know. But when did you even start faking it? I never noticed,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“I… ever since that senior carried me downstairs, I…” Her voice trailed off as she lowered her head even further, like she was in some kind of personal confession, whispering things under her breath.

“Huh? Since then?”

My eyes went wide. I hadn’t expected her acting to be that good. I genuinely thought she had fallen asleep—or that the senior had cast some sleep spell on her. Turned out she was pretending the whole time.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sor—”

“Alright, enough. No need to apologize like that,” I told her. “Pulling you out of that mess was my responsibility. I’m the one who goes around the campus finding lost freshmen and helping people like you survive the rough start. Don’t worry. You’re already away from that senior.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder. With her delicate dress and tiny frame, who would’ve guessed she used to be a boy?

“…Thank you… thank you… but… I heard them say you’re a freshman too?”

“Tsk… don’t worry about the details. I just got here early to get used to campus life,” I waved it off. “Anyway, back to the main point. Let me introduce myself. I’m Yang Yuehan—just call me Yuehan. You?”

“I… I’m Guan Qiuling…”

“Guan Qiuling, huh…? Hold on, let me check something.” I pulled out my phone right away, matching her name against the system to see which steps she still hadn’t completed.

“Mm…”

After digging around for a bit, I finally found her file. Took me long enough. The photo was even her old male ID picture. That meant she hadn’t even applied for a student ID yet.

But honestly? Even in that old photo, she still looked pretty petite. A cute boy like that must’ve been popular with the girls.

Now she had turned into a little loli… probably even more popular.

“Hey, this is you, right? I just want to confirm so I don’t mess up the records.” I handed my phone to her.

“Y-yes…” Qiuling peeked at the photo and immediately lowered her head, embarrassed. It was her old picture as a boy—being confronted with it like this had to be mortifying.

Was there anything more awkward than this? Probably not… at least not for her.

“Alright, looks right. And… wait—what? You don’t even have your enrollment registered? Only a Dome-entry record? What the hell did that senior even do with you?” 

I stared at the tiny loli in disbelief.

“I… I don’t know… I was just standing there and then she just… she just… wuuu…”

Boys weren’t supposed to cry easily—but something must have hurt her enough to break that.

“Whoa—hey! Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Don’t cry, please? I won’t ask. I won’t ask anymore.”

I panicked immediately. I had zero resistance to crying girls—and even though she used to be a boy, that didn’t help me at all.

This wasn’t a boy anymore.

She was a full-on girl now, emotionally and physically.

Just what kind of messed-up “guidance” had that senior given this cute kid?

It took a long stretch of coaxing before she finally calmed down.

Actually… I could tell she had found a safe place to let everything out, so at some point, I simply let her cry until she had vented it all.

“Feeling better? Don’t be scared. Let’s go. We should finish the procedures before dark. You don’t want to sleep on a street corner tonight, right?” I asked softly.

This freshman named Guan Qiuling… her senior was unbelievably irresponsible. She dragged the kid straight into the Witch School, didn’t register her enrollment, hauled her back to her villa, and shoved a mana core into her.

Everything else? Left undone.

She really had dumped all the workload on me.

That senior was way too cruel.

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