“Little Bamboo, where exactly are we?”
“Care to guess?”
Miao Qingzhu skillfully maneuvered her car into an open-air parking lot.
“Do you think I’d even bother guessing?”
“I brought you out for some fun.”
Miao Qingzhu found an empty spot that wasn’t strictly a parking space. Unconcerned about potential scratches, and satisfied that she wasn’t obstructing anyone, she simply cut the engine.
“Let’s go.”
“Oh~”
Aya Tone discreetly deactivated the layers of defense he had just activated, then trotted along behind Miao Qingzhu with eager steps.
After all, she was a local magnate, so he naturally had to stick close.
Miao Qingzhu led Aya Tone into a room that resembled a dressing room.
“Fis.”
“Miss, everything is ready.”
A woman, who appeared to be a makeup artist, smiled warmly as she approached, recognizing Miao Qingzhu.
Her gaze then shifted behind Miao Qingzhu. “Is this the little darling?”
“Yes, this is him.”
Miao Qingzhu gave the still-curious Aya Tone, who had been looking around, a gentle push forward.
“Eh?”
Aya Tone blinked, utterly bewildered, and turned his head to look at Miao Qingzhu behind him.
“You’re getting a change of clothes, then we’ll go eat.”
“What I’m wearing now is perfectly fine.”
Aya Tone tugged at his hoodie. ‘It’s perfectly good,’ he thought.
‘It’s loose, and not hot at all.’
‘Most importantly, I can hide my hair in the hood.’
“…It’s the middle of summer, and you’re wearing a hoodie?” Miao Qingzhu finally couldn’t resist scoffing.
While the weather in the Imperial Capital wasn’t scorching, no one wore a hoodie in midsummer, let alone with the hood up.
‘Anyone who didn’t know better would think there was something wrong with him…’
“Nobody said you can’t wear a hoodie in summer…” Aya Tone mumbled under his breath.
However, upon meeting Miao Qingzhu’s predatory gaze, he wisely swallowed the retort he had been about to offer.
“He’s all yours.”
With that, Miao Qingzhu, under Aya Tone’s incredulous stare, pushed him towards Fis.
“Don’t worry, Miss. With such a perfect canvas, I’ll give it my all.”
Fis gazed at Aya Tone in her hands as if he were a precious gem, murmuring, “Truly a born magical girl.”
‘Such a petite figure, and a perfectly delicate face.’
‘And those glimpses of mysterious silver hair.’
Fis swore that in all her years of doing makeup for cosplayers, she had never encountered such a high-quality base.
‘Thank you, Young Miss, for this gift! Miao-men!’
Aya Tone: “???”
‘Did he just hear something outrageous?’
“Little Bamboo! Something’s not right here!” Aya Tone felt a surge of apprehension.
“No! Everything is perfectly right here. Just listen to Fis obediently, and I’ll wait for you right here.”
Miao Qingzhu waved her hand with a smile, signaling Fis to proceed.
“Hey, hey, hey, this is really not right!”
Watching Aya Tone, whose face was etched with horror, being half-coaxed, half-dragged into the changing room.
Miao Qingzhu’s heart already swelled with anticipation for how Aya Tone would look once he emerged in his new attire.
‘Hmph, that’s what you get for calling me out for no good reason.’
Miao Qingzhu’s lips curved into an irrepressible smirk.
It was the triumphant, unbridled smile of someone seeking revenge.
She had thought Aya Tone was in some kind of danger, causing her to rush out of class.
Little did she know, the fellow had merely gotten lost.
And he had called her out without any plan whatsoever.
When she received Aya Tone’s call, she was in the middle of her most crucial combat training class.
Skipping even one session could drastically reduce her final evaluation score, and if the combat instructor was particularly strict…
‘Hmph hmph…’
‘He might as well be sent back for “reforging”.’
‘Now… all she could do was hope the instructor would show some mercy…’
****
Inside the changing room.
Aya Tone’s expression shifted drastically as he stared at the outfit in his hands.
‘Could someone please tell him why they handed him a cute pink mini-skirt and then pushed him into a changing room?’
‘They don’t actually expect him to wear this, do they?’
‘Bro, even if I’m a magical girl, that’s only inside the dungeon!’
‘Giving him a mini-skirt now is worse than killing him…’
‘What should he do?’
Aya Tone gazed at it in turmoil, utterly unsure how to proceed.
Outside, Fis, hearing no sound from within, stealthily pushed open a crack in the door.
She saw the person inside still idly holding the meticulously prepared clothes, not having changed yet.
Impatient, she flung the door open and entered, determined to personally sculpt this unconscious jade.
“W-what are you doing? I’m changing!”
“No! Big Sis, don’t touch there~”
“I-I’ll do it myself, Big Sis, stop! Aaaah~”
“Don’t take this off! That’s my last shred of dignity…”
****
Sitting outside, Miao Qingzhu listened to the intermittent pleas for mercy emanating from within, and couldn’t help but envision Aya Tone’s pitiable, utterly charming expression.
“Haaah…”
She wiped away the inexplicable drool at the corner of her mouth, suppressing the urge to join in.
Yet, the sounds from inside were undeniably enticing.
“What are you looking at!” Aya Tone, clutching the airy hem of his skirt, glared indignantly at Miao Qingzhu, who stood outside the door.
‘Even his magical girl outfit wasn’t this drafty.’
‘We were supposed to be out having fun, so why the outfit change?’
‘Fine, an outfit change is one thing.’
‘But why…?’
‘Did they have to change his underwear too?’
Miao Qingzhu, unperturbed by the furious glare, had already been captivated by Aya Tone, now clad in a pink mini-skirt.
She barely registered Aya Tone’s scolding.
‘He really does look better in a skirt,’ Miao Qingzhu mused.
She had long wanted to put Aya Tone in casual clothes. Despite his undeniable cuteness, he always insisted on wearing that out-of-season hoodie.
Miao Qingzhu still couldn’t fathom why.
“Don’t be mad, I’ll treat you to some food later.”
“I’m not mad, but can we please change the underwear to something more normal? No more briefs, alright?”
The constant friction between his thighs was relentlessly stimulating his nerves, causing Aya Tone to flush crimson.
‘This is just too humiliating…’
Before Miao Qingzhu could respond, Fis interjected, “Absolutely not! Panties are the soul; they cannot be changed!”
‘A magical girl without cute panties is incomplete!’
‘Especially when facing a tentacle monster!’
“Big Sis, please let me off the hook. I have elders above me and juniors below me; wearing this is truly indecent!”
Aya Tone was genuinely terrified of this ‘hooligan woman’; the experience of being forcibly changed had left him with an unforgettable trauma.
‘The technique, the speed.’
‘Truly terrifying.’
Without using magic, Aya Tone’s physical strength was merely that of an average person.
The outcome was predictable.
In but a single turn, his hoodie was deftly snatched into her hands.
Under Fis’s deliberate guidance, Aya Tone was utterly defeated.
“No means no!” Fis had finally found such a perfect ‘toy’; how could she possibly relent?
‘Even an S-class powerhouse wouldn’t be able to negotiate this!’
Aya Tone was instantly suppressed by Fis’s imposing aura. He opened his mouth, but for a moment, dared not utter a word.
He helplessly turned his gaze to Miao Qingzhu.
Yet, as if knowing he would look, Miao Qingzhu simply turned her head away.
“Little Bamboo, you— Ah!”
Before Aya Tone could finish his sentence, Fis pulled him closer.
“You have an excellent base; a simple embellishment will suffice.” Fis retrieved her makeup kit and began rummaging through it.
“And this silver hair, it’s simply a treasure bestowed by the heavens.”
“Madam, please, don’t do this, I’m scared…”
But no matter how Aya Tone pleaded, he was met only with a fervent smile.
‘He was numb…’
Aya Tone offered a wry smile, resigned to accepting what could only be described as a hellish future.
****