Yang Mo raised her index finger again, pointing toward the top of the statue. She asked Chisuzu beside her, “Do you remember? Chisuzu, you stayed up there when you ran away from home.”
“Of course I remember.”
Chisuzu raised her head, looking up at the statue with her.
Yang Mo began to smile with a hint of nostalgia, staring at the statue as she recalled the situation back then. “Back then, Sister looked like she was actually going to fight you. It scared me to death.”
Chisuzu agreed. “Me too. Even if we hadn’t fought, I was originally prepared to end up living on the streets.”
“I never would have imagined that Sister’s relationship with you could become this good later on.”
“Though it’s not actually that great even now.”
It was only after saying this that Chisuzu remembered why she had been looking forward to meeting Yang Mo. It was because she wanted to tell her everything that had happened at Yang Xia’s school.
Looking back, the way she and Yang Xia would communicate had perhaps been predestined from the moment she abandoned her ‘domestic robot’ disguise. Therefore, she did not regret conveying her true feelings to Yang Xia, whether it was back then or today.
Just as Chisuzu was about to ask Yang Mo if she wanted to hear about today’s events, Yang Mo beat her to the punch.
“Right, speaking of Sister, how did you actually manage to convince her?”
Chisuzu thought to herself, ‘Since you asked so sincerely, I shall show mercy and tell you.’
“Hmph, then listen closely as I explain in detail.”
She crossed her arms proudly and began to recount everything that had happened that day from the beginning.
First was the matter regarding Yang Xia’s friend, Aimei, who surprisingly wasn’t affected by stealth magic. Yang Mo didn’t have a clue about that either.
“Even I have to track the magic on the paper scraps to avoid being affected. How did she do it?”
Then there was the matter of Yang Xia. Chisuzu told Yang Mo that Yang Xia had kindly treated her to a meal. This was somewhat hard for Yang Mo to believe.
“She was willing to buy you a meal even though you followed her to school without permission? Sister is surprisingly generous this time.”
Regarding the reason for not going to the aquarium, Chisuzu lied and said that Yang Xia really did have an appointment with a friend but felt embarrassed to back out midway. According to Chisuzu’s story, after her own passionate persuasion, Yang Xia finally realized that her younger sister was more important than her friend.
Hearing this, Yang Mo puffed out her cheeks and said, “Hmph, that’s more like it. Obviously, an invitation from a sister is much more important than going to karaoke or whatever.”
Although Yang Xia didn’t want Yang Mo to know about her hobbies, Chisuzu judged that it didn’t matter if she told her, so she secretly informed Yang Mo anyway.
“What’s the point of keeping something like that from me?”
Yang Mo had the exact same reaction as Chisuzu when she first heard it.
Then she questioned, “And she said she couldn’t find friends with the same hobbies? Isn’t that just because she’s unwilling to talk about it?”
Chisuzu hadn’t expected her to hit the core of the problem with one question. The real reason Yang Xia had refused her invitation lay right there.
On this issue, she was willing to say a few good words for Yang Xia.
“Perhaps it’s not that she’s unwilling, but rather she’s afraid that after saying it, she’ll receive a cold or even shocked reaction. I can understand that—worrying about what others think.”
“I get it too,” Yang Mo said, rubbing her chin. “After all, even Chisuzu gets shy when people stare at her.”
“While you’re not wrong, that conclusion is a bit too one-sided…” Chisuzu sighed.
Seeing this, Yang Mo tilted her head and asked, “In that case, do you have some other troubles?”
“Of course.”
Before her voice had even faded, Chisuzu put her hands behind her back and took light, brisk steps, spinning half a circle as she walked a few paces ahead of Yang Mo.
One more step back would be the fountain pool and the statue reflecting blue and green light. She stood there, smiling with her arms open as if showing her whole self to Yang Mo, or perhaps reminding her: ‘Stop looking at the thing behind me; look at me.’
“Do you think I’m a boy or a girl?”
Yang Mo looked at Chisuzu as she asked the question. Before her eyes was clearly just an ordinary girl dressed in a maid outfit—or rather, a girl far cuter than ‘ordinary.’
So she answered, “A girl?”
Chisuzu shook her head and put her hands back behind her.
“Actually, I’m neither.”
She slowly closed her eyes and explained, “Because I’m a doll. Dolls don’t have genders. So at first, I was troubled too. What kind of eyes should I let others see me with? Which side should I choose for myself?”
“And now? Have you decided?”
Yang Mo simply asked the question; it was impossible to tell what she felt about the matter.
To her question, Chisuzu replied, “Mm… you deserve some of the credit. Anyway, for now, I want to try being a girl.”
As she spoke, Chisuzu opened her eyes.
Although part of her speech wasn’t the truth, it was indeed filled with the worries and decisions she had faced over these past few days. It had taken a great deal of courage to finally say these things.
However, after she opened her eyes, what she saw was Yang Mo pinching her own chin, her eyes spinning wildly as if she had fallen into a mental brainstorm.
Chisuzu didn’t understand.
Yang Mo maintained this state of deep thought for quite a while. Only when her eyes cleared did she ask the next question.
“But Chisuzu… don’t you have them? Breasts. Even if they’re only a little small.”
Chisuzu fell silent for a long moment, the upward curve of her lips immediately beginning to distort downward.
“Did you really have to bring that up right now?”
Not only did Yang Mo fail to stop in time, but she continued relentlessly, “Are you sure you weren’t a girl from the beginning? I mean, you even have that, which is…”
“I’m begging you, please shut up.”
Chisuzu said this not just for the sake of her own mental health. It was also because she had once wondered if a copyright warning would bring about the destruction of this world. She felt that if she chose to let Yang Mo continue speaking here, she might receive a different kind of warning altogether.
After Yang Mo timidly mumbled, “Oh… sorry…” the atmosphere that Chisuzu had carefully built for her confession was declared shattered.
On the way back, the resentment in her heart toward the Doll Witch deepened further.
‘In the end, this is all that person’s fault! Why did she have to install these unnecessary parts on me!’
That unreliable creator had caused a mountain of trouble for Chisuzu based on nothing but her own interests. At this point, Chisuzu had decided she would absolutely never forgive her.
After that night, everything went on as usual for the next few days.
Using the backend of the communication board, Yang Mo helped Chisuzu look into the affairs of the Support Association.
She asked: if an ordinary person defeats a Malice through special means, can you still issue a reward to them as usual?
The answer she received was affirmative.
It seemed that Chisuzu’s plan really was possible to achieve.
Just as the two were so happy they were about to high-five, Yang Mo’s phone suddenly received a call. The name displayed on the screen was Yang Xia.
“Hello? Yang Mo?”
“What’s wrong, Sister?”
“Yang Mo… I’m sorry. About going to the aquarium this weekend… I might not be able to make it.”
“What… did you say?”
Yang Mo’s eyes widened and she froze on the spot, as if struck by a bolt from the blue.
Listening from the side, Chisuzu couldn’t help but let out an incredulous “Huh?”
It was currently Friday afternoon, less than one day away from the Saturday aquarium trip.