An Unexpected Encounter in the Changing Room

Too much happened yesterday, and I ended up going to bed early, so today I was surprisingly well-rested.

On a normal day, I’d stay up until midnight before sleeping—not because of homework, since Taolisi High’s assignments were usually done by eight. I’d spend the rest of the time gaming or catching up on the latest anime, because that’s the normal high school life I pursued.

“Mom, go back to sleep. You don’t need to see me off.”

I waved at my sleepy mother and grabbed the bento I’d made last night from the fridge.

I don’t have a sister, older or younger, so naturally there’s no warm homemade bento waiting for me in the morning.

And just like in light novels, a girlfriend making me a bento only happened in my dreams—in reality, Ling Yan would never do that.

“Mm, I’ll catch a bit more sleep. And take care on the road, don’t forget your bento.”

Mom couldn’t help reminding me before heading inside, and I nodded helplessly, signaling for her to go back to bed.

She was already exhausted, yet still got up to nag me. Maybe every mom in the world was like this.

I stepped out the door and looked at the sky. It was hazy, with only a few soft rays of morning light filtering through the thick clouds.

It was six in the morning. At Taolisi High, school time wasn’t until eight, so it was still very early.

But I was leaving now because I had to prepare for swim team practice. That way, when the members arrived, they could start training directly. If I waited until they came, there wouldn’t be enough time for breaks after practice. This was the first thing I did as the new manager to earn their acceptance.

I quietly crept to the stairwell, poked half my head out, and peered downstairs while pricking up my ears.

I still remembered yesterday’s incident with Ai Xi vividly, so I had to be careful to avoid meeting her. Though I knew it was unlikely—after all, I hadn’t run into her in two years.

But as the saying goes, better safe than sorry. Being cautious couldn’t hurt.

After a short while, when I didn’t see Ai Xi or hear any doors opening or closing, I breathed a sigh of relief and sprinted downstairs as fast as I could.

Once I was out of the neighborhood, my nerves relaxed. Even if I ran into Ai Xi now, it wouldn’t matter—I could just say my house was on this route too.

As for her coming to my place? I’d said “next time if there’s a chance.” When that would be was entirely up to me.

Having reasoned out all potential accidents and excuses, I walked toward school in a cheerful mood, facing the morning breeze.

“Yo, Zhou Chen, you’re here. Someone actually got here before you today—now that’s a first.”

“Good morning, Uncle Wu. But someone being earlier than me isn’t that strange. Maybe they have business. Don’t make it sound like I’m some kind of weirdo.”

“Haha…”

The school gatekeeper was joking with me, as had become a daily ritual.

Speaking of which, when I first started as swim team manager and came this early every day, he’d even listed me as a suspicious person.

But now we’d almost become friends—I was the first person he talked to every day.

After greeting Uncle Wu, I went to the classroom, put away my stuff, and headed to the swim team advisor’s office to get the key to the pool.

But the key wasn’t there. Had someone arrived before me?

No wonder Uncle Wu said someone was earlier. This really was strange. Who could it be?

If only it were Ling Yan… No, better not. Right now, the last thing I wanted was to be alone with her.

I sighed. Why had things come to this? If I hadn’t encountered the events two days ago, I would have remained in the dark and not had all these worries.

Even if Ling Yan suddenly broke up with me, I would have at least happily enjoyed the time leading up to it. But now, I was living in constant fear. Though we hadn’t broken up, this state of mind was practically unbearable.

Fretting inwardly, I cautiously walked through the already-open pool gate and entered the changing room. The lights were on—someone was here.

Whoever it was, I needed to change first before preparing for practice, or my uniform would get messy.

But as I got closer, I realized the lights weren’t from the girls’ changing room, but the boys’.

What was going on?

Had I forgotten to turn them off yesterday? I remembered turning them off.

Could it be someone wanted to swim? But no one was allowed to use the pool without authorization except for swim class and team members.

I approached the door, gently pushed it open, and peeked inside. I had to see who it was.

But then, the scene before me made me wonder if my eyes were playing tricks—

A girl in a school swimsuit had her face buried in a piece of clothing, heavy breaths echoing in the silent room.

“I… I can’t hold it anymore… Just yesterday’s wasn’t enough, no matter what… Hehehe…”

Muffled, broken murmurs seeped from the clothes.

Who was it?

Because her face was buried, and several team members had the same hairstyle, I couldn’t tell.

I regretted only ever staring at Ling Yan. If I’d observed every member closely every day, I’d be able to identify them now.

I stared intently at the girl’s lithe body, racking my brain. At least it couldn’t be Ling Yan.

After all, Ling Yan had full, round breasts and firm, long legs. This girl’s chest was firm but smaller, and her legs were nice but not as long…

Wait, was this really the time to be thinking about that? Shouldn’t I be stopping her from doing something so dangerous?

And that jacket—it was definitely mine. I was the only guy on the swim team.

As I thought, something clicked. Yesterday, Xiao Lu said she’d take my jacket home to wash, and I’d indeed noticed it missing from my locker.

Given the situation, the girl had to be Xiao Lu. But why would she do this?

I thought of the manga and anime I’d seen. A girl doing something like this fell into two categories: liking the person or simply liking the dangerous act itself.

Xiao Lu couldn’t possibly like me, so there was only one answer left: Xiao Lu was actually a secret pervert!

I felt something inside me shatter. First Ling Yan, now Xiao Lu. My wonderful, happy high school life wasn’t about to end like this, was it?

And now, what should I do? Should I silently back out and pretend I didn’t know? Or make a soft sound to kindly alert her?

I thought about it. Surely Xiao Lu wouldn’t want anyone to know her secret. I could relate.

So I gently closed the door and was about to retreat, planning to take this secret to my grave, when suddenly, a chorus of cheerful laughter came from outside—the team members had arrived!

Damn! I hadn’t realized I’d been thinking for so long. Half an hour had passed in a flash.

What now? Panic flooded my mind.

It was too late. If I went out now, not only would the members see me, but Xiao Lu would too. She’d noticed the commotion outside—I heard her close the locker and her footsteps approaching.

I had to hide. But where?

With wolves ahead and tigers behind, I was trapped.