Magical Girl Grey Moon’s initial plan had been to meet Zhou Huanan directly in her transformed state. After all, he had confessed his liking for Magical Girl Grey Moon, and she harbored a desire to witness his surprised reaction. However, upon careful consideration, the fear that surprise might morph into fright led Magical Girl Grey Moon to descend in front of a public restroom, seeking a discreet place to revert to her civilian self.
This time, though, she found herself hesitating at the entrance of the men’s public restroom. She turned her head, her gaze drifting to the pink-labeled women’s restroom, and a peculiar thought struck her: entering either one now felt like a transgression.
Ultimately, after an internal struggle, Grey Moon opted to go behind the public restroom, where she dispelled her transformation.
Following this, she proceeded to the pedestrian street, where she encountered Unohana Ren and some events transpired, but she successfully managed to rendezvous with Zhou Huanan.
Leaping out from behind Zhou Huanan, Liu Li exhaled a quiet sigh of relief. She looked up at Zhou Huanan’s profile from close quarters, an unconscious smile blooming across her face.
‘Lately,’ she mused, ‘it seems I’m happy just by looking at him.’
“Didn’t you mention on the phone earlier that we were going to buy that new game that just came out?”
“Mmm, it’s the sequel to the co-op game we’ve been playing,” Zhou Huanan replied, “with super-doubled content. My foolish younger sister probably can’t be relied on for this one.”
As Liu Li inquired about their next destination, Zhou Huanan nodded, explaining their plans, and led her to the entrance of a game store. Gazing at the shop sign, a thought formed in his mind.
‘This way,’ he schemed, ‘I’ll have a perfect excuse to invite Liu Li over to my place to play games for the entire next month.’
‘Hehe~ Plan complete~’
The glass automatic doors glided open, and Liu Li followed Zhou Huanan inside. The moment she stepped through, her eyes sparkled with childlike wonder, as if she had stumbled upon a trove of countless treasures.
Liu Li, who once adored gaming but had lost touch with the industry for a while, was now captivated.
Confronted by shelves laden with countless unfamiliar and novel games, she felt a surge of excitement and impatience. She picked up a popular title displayed near the entrance, and, gazing at the characters on its cover, she exclaimed with delight, “Isn’t this ‘Call of Duty 21’? I haven’t played since the sixteenth installment. I wonder how the latest one is.”
“Don’t bother buying it,” Zhou Huanan advised, “it’s utterly terrible.”
Liu Li let out a small, disappointed “Oh” and set the disc back down. Zhou Huanan gently draped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her deeper into the store. Throughout their browsing, Liu Li’s curiosity was piqued by one game after another.
Other patrons in the game store, particularly the lone otaku buying games, couldn’t help but notice Zhou Huanan accompanied by a beautiful, adorable “female friend” who also happened to love gaming.
They gnashed their teeth, green with envy, silently cursing this “winner in life.”
Liu Li, however, remained utterly oblivious to their stares, eagerly picking up a pink-covered title from a shelf.
“Th-this… this is the latest release from ‘Alice Mansion’!!” she gasped.
“It’s decided! This is the one I want~”
Liu Li clutched the game tightly, unwilling to let go. Zhou Huanan, witnessing her fervor, felt an urge to playfully quip about who had truly come to buy games.
‘Besides,’ he thought, ‘Liu Li’s small, dilapidated rental apartment doesn’t even have a proper gaming setup, does it…?’
Zhou Huanan remained silent, choosing not to interrupt Liu Li’s joyous immersion. After all, once she realized this detail, she would discover that her newly purchased game could only be played at his house.
‘Not to mention,’ he mused, ‘what she’s buying now is an explicit game.’
‘And then…’
Zhou Huanan could already envision it: when Liu Li finally started playing her game, he would be right there beside her, engaging in “indescribable activities” that would perfectly synchronize with the on-screen content.
‘At that point, his wife would be playing an explicit game, and he would be playing with his wife.’
‘Heh~’
The mere thought made Zhou Huanan unable to suppress a smile.
Selecting the game he had pre-planned from the shelf, Zhou Huanan led Liu Li to the front counter to check out. The explicit game in Liu Li’s hand was a bit pricey, but Zhou Huanan was unconcerned. After all, his salary as a captain at Banjao was quite generous, guaranteeing at least twenty thousand a month.
Just then, Liu Li pulled out her phone, attempting to pay before Zhou Huanan.
This unexpected gesture made Zhou Huanan’s eyelids twitch.
“What are you doing!?” he exclaimed.
“I-I also bought something I wanted this time,” Liu Li stammered, “it wouldn’t be good to pay separately…”
“Absolutely not.”
Zhou Huanan, allowing no room for refusal, snatched the phone from her hand and, despite Liu Li’s anxious expression, slipped it into his pocket.
He felt compelled to instill a more grounded financial perspective in the young woman.
“Did your idiot manager give you severance pay before you left? Even if you have money, don’t spend it so recklessly, or you’ll quickly run through it all, no matter how much you have.”
“Mmm, oh…” Liu Li mumbled.
Liu Li displayed a seemingly contrite expression, and only then did Zhou Huanan feel at ease enough to pull out his own phone and offer it to the cashier. The young man at the counter stared at Liu Li and Zhou Huanan as if they were extraterrestrials. The guy was one thing, but this girl was not only beautiful and well-behaved.
She was also actively offering to pay for games for her boyfriend, even selecting an exorbitantly priced explicit game for him!?
The counter attendant found this utterly unacceptable. Gloomily, he bagged the two games together and them to Zhou Huanan, only to watch the beautiful girl with long, black, straight hair eagerly take the shopping bag.
“Then I can at least carry the bags, right!” Liu Li insisted.
“Alright, alright,” Zhou Huanan conceded with a smile, “I can’t win against you.”
The girl was even actively helping the guy carry things—was the world turning upside down?
A torrent of unspoken curses assailed the clerk’s mind; he almost wished someone would put him out of his misery to make a spectacle for the pair. Other players in the store also cast hostile glances at Zhou Huanan.
The collective resentment of all the single people in the game store was almost palpable.
Zhou Huanan sensed the growing discomfort. He looked down at Liu Li, hesitated for a moment, then gripped her wrist and swiftly guided them away from that contentious spot.
“Don’t walk so fast…” Liu Li panted, breathless from being pulled onto the street. She clutched the bag, her face flushed with a charming, slightly naive expression after running a few steps.
Zhou Huanan mumbled an apology but didn’t release her hand, stealing a glance at Liu Li.
He noticed that she didn’t seem to mind.
An impulsive urge stirred within Zhou Huanan. Having just been mistaken for a couple by so many people in the store…
He no longer wished to merely hold her wrist, but longed to intertwine their fingers, just like a real couple.
As he wavered, Liu Li leaned slightly closer to him, almost as if her body was embracing his arm. This left Zhou Huanan unsure whether to push their ambiguous relationship further, and he shyly looked up at the sky.
Liu Li, carrying the games, felt Zhou Huanan’s grip on her wrist, particularly the slightly firm pressure.
Waves of pure happiness surged through her heart. Liu Li lowered her head, her face flushed, and pressed her body closer, not wanting Zhou Huanan to see her expression.
‘It would definitely be embarrassing,’ she thought, ‘and I’d be laughed at…’
Counting the cracks between the bricks on the ground, Liu Li’s face grew even redder, and a touch of guilt gnawed at her.
‘Actually… I really want to hold hands.’
‘But I’m also so worried,’ she mused, ‘afraid that if I actively try to hold hands, it might be too much for Zhou Huanan. Between “bros,” holding a wrist is understandable.’
‘But holding hands…’
‘No matter how you look at it, it feels like crossing a line.’
‘Besides, Zhou Huanan likes Magical Girl Grey Moon, right?’
For a moment, the light in Liu Li’s eyes dimmed. She tried to convince herself to be careful not to overstep, while leaning as close as possible to the person she liked, even if it was just a fleeting “experience card” of intimacy.
The profound sense of security emanating from her heart was undeniably real.
‘Indeed,’ she thought.
‘I still want to fully transform into Grey Moon, to become the person he likes, to become a Magical Girl who isn’t lacking in courage—then that phrase, “I like you.”’
‘I’d probably be able to say it effortlessly then.’
Meanwhile, Zhou Huanan also snapped out of his reverie.
Gazing at the tranquil, delicate profile of the girl beside him, feeling her gentle weight on his arm, his heart stirred. He found himself thinking that such a peaceful life wasn’t bad at all.
The Magical Girl in the sky was, for him, an unattainable dream.
But his “bro” of ten years was, in fact, a girl, and she had recently become increasingly beautiful—now truly held within his grasp.
And her innocent face gave him the distinct feeling that if he took his eyes off her for even a moment, she would be snatched away by other boys and led astray into some dark alley.
Zhou Huanan couldn’t help but grip Liu Li’s slender wrist even tighter, leaving a vivid red mark on her fair skin, until Liu Li couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
Only then did he realize his mistake and release his grip, apologizing profusely.
Liu Li was startled, but then offered a reassuring smile, telling him it was fine, despite the shocking red handprint left on her pale, delicate wrist—a mark that looked genuinely painful.
At this point, Zhou Huanan’s life had found its definitive direction. This girl.
She was the wife he didn’t want to, couldn’t, and wouldn’t let go of.