When I finished bathing and, following Tang Xiaolu’s instructions, used every skincare product in the bathtub, then changed into a nightgown and came out of the bathroom, more than half an hour had passed.
“Here.”
Tang Xiaolu, who seemed to have been waiting outside for a while, handed me a carton of milk.
“Little Mushroom bought it. Drink it and your chest will grow.”
“Little Mushroom?”
I subconsciously glanced toward Cang Xingyao, who was washing clothes at the sink.
She cheerfully flashed a playful peace sign in my direction.
“By the way, do you always shower this fast?”
After I greeted Cang Xingyao and took the milk, Tang Xiaolu teased, “At this speed, I’d say you beat 99% of the girls in our dorm, huh?”
“Huh?”
I picked up my phone from the desk and glanced at it.
“Thirty-five minutes… is that considered fast?”
Since I was now facing a girl’s body, I had spent most of the time during that shower spacing out and letting my thoughts wander.
Besides, setting aside all those skincare products, girls taking a bath—especially ones with long hair—really is much more troublesome than guys.
After becoming a girl, my hairstyle was that classic “long, straight black hair” you see in anime.
Not only did it reach past my waist in the back, but the front had that cute “princess cut” with long side bangs.
When wet, the overall weight was very noticeable.
Just applying shampoo, rinsing, then conditioner and so on took me over twenty minutes.
The girls’ dormitory at Heijiang No. 3 Middle School had the classic “six-person, two-bathroom” layout.
The two bathrooms were adjacent, with a sink area outside that could accommodate at least four people at once, and beyond that was a small balcony for drying clothes.
At our school, evening self-study ended at 9:30 PM, lights-out was at 10:30 PM, and in between we had an hour to shower and do laundry.
If everyone took about as long as I did, I felt that the evening shower time was a bit insufficient.
Of course, I knew some girls would go back to the dorm to shower after dinner in the afternoon, but… anyway, a half-hour shower in my mind was still extremely time-consuming.
“Just kidding.”
Seeing my confused expression, Tang Xiaolu let out a giggle.
“Unless it’s a thorough skincare routine, most girls in our dorm take between twenty to thirty minutes. I was just surprised you managed to match the average speed of a normal girl. It’s your first time as a girl… I thought you’d be a bit slower.”
Actually, it was already slow enough.
I returned the skincare products to Tang Xiaolu, put my own things back in the storage box, sat down in my spot, and started drinking the milk.
Earlier, when faced with all those bottles and jars, I had been completely clueless.
I just closed my eyes, dumped shampoo and body wash over myself, and rinsed off without doing any real “cleaning.”
Even so, after the bath, having slathered myself with lotion and body milk, I felt soft and fragrant—a world of difference from the guys’ side, where they just splash water and do zero aftercare.
“Thanks.”
After finishing the milk, I went to the sink and expressed my gratitude to “Little Mushroom” Cang Xingyao, then washed my underwear and hung them on the balcony.
“Did you guys see the news? A few days ago, a girl from No. 2 Middle School next door climbed over the wall to leave school because she wanted to eat a sausage. She happened to run into city leaders inspecting the school, and instantly several cameras were pointed at her.”
“Ah? Really? Was that girl that unlucky?”
“Seriously. She was still wearing her No. 2 Middle School uniform. She had just bought the sausage and was eating it on the roadside when a reporter caught her on camera. That photo went viral. The girl’s cheeks were stuffed, and she looked totally innocent facing the camera—super cute!”
“Ahaha… comparing that, I feel like our school is better. We can go out and buy whatever we want anytime, and the teachers aren’t strict.”
“Yeah, yeah. After all, we’re the Colorful Bird Experimental School. A lot of our school rules don’t match the mainstream, but they also demand higher self-control from students…”
Just like the boys’ dorm, before lights out, the girls who had returned to bed chatted about various news and daily topics while playing on their phones.
The entire dorm was filled with a cute atmosphere.
Since I wasn’t “close” to these dorm girls yet, and didn’t know exactly what “Xiao Yao” was like in their eyes, I could only pretend to be in a “bad mood” today and lie in bed playing on my phone.
Just like in the real world, my online identity had “adaptively” changed to female.
A simple check of my social media revealed several altered traces.
For example, a few months ago, I had a conversation with a netizen on a game forum about the game’s story.
Back then, the netizen casually asked, [You read the story so carefully—are you a girl? I’m used to skimming.]
I replied, [No, I’m a guy. I just usually take my time reading the text.]
Now, that reply had been modified to: [Yeah, I’m a girl, but online gender is just for show. If you want, I could be an old uncle too.]
There were many such “adaptive modifications.”
At this point, I also believed that my male identity had been completely erased.
“Lights out is at 10:30. The supervisor usually starts checking rooms from the first floor at 10:00, and she’ll reach our dorm around 10:20.”
As I was flipping through the chat logs on my various social accounts, Tang Xiaolu spoke to me using her Magical Girl ability.
“After lights out, we can sleep for an hour or two, then get up after midnight. From the balcony, follow the camera blind spots to leave school—I know the route. Just follow me.”
Whether by coincidence or not, Tang Xiaolu’s bed was right next to mine.
Entering Dormitory 315, there were three beds on each side.
My bed was in the middle on the right side, with the headboard facing the bathroom.
Tang Xiaolu’s was at the far right, near the bathroom, with the headboard facing the dorm door.
Our headboards were right next to each other.
“Okay.”
Even though I wanted to tease her—she looked like a kid eager to show off a new toy to a new friend—I held back.
Thinking about how cruel the Magical Girl situation could be, I didn’t say anything else.
I pulled my soft little blanket closer and scooted a bit toward her.
“Ah! Lulu and Xiao Yao are whispering secrets again! Stonewalling everyone!”
At that moment, the other girls in the dorm noticed Lulu and me “whispering” and protested loudly, “Serious objection!”
“Yeah! Objection! Unless you two get married tomorrow and treat the whole dorm to a wedding feast!”
“Right! Wedding feast! I want the kids’ table!”
“Huh…?”
Faced with the dorm girls’ teasing, Lulu and I almost simultaneously exchanged glances and then shared a knowing smile.
‘What a disaster-filled life.’