Grown Bigger

At 1:50 in the afternoon, Wuling stood outside the building housing the Star Society's activity room in the Labelle Department.

He had followed the directions Nabomo sent him all the way here.

After checking several times that he had the right address, he put away his phone and went inside.

The building was even quieter. His footsteps echoed faintly through the empty corridors.

According to Nabomo, the Star Society's activity room was the room on the far left of the third floor.

Just as he was about to reach the second-floor landing and continue up to the third, footsteps suddenly sounded overhead.

Tap, tap, tap, tap—

Wuling instinctively raised his eyes, looking up through the open stair railing.

Almost at the same instant, the figure upstairs seemed to notice the movement below and lowered her head to look down through the gaps between the crisscrossing railings.

Their gazes met in midair, catching them both off guard.

Their eyes met in silence for a moment before they spoke almost at the same time, their voices sounding softly through the empty stairwell.

"Senior Danya?"

"Junior Wuling?"

Their greetings overlapped, carrying the same surprise.

"Senior Danya, what are you doing here?"

Wuling walked over to Danya and asked first.

"I came to take part in a club activity. But what about you, Junior Wuling? What are you doing here?"

"What a coincidence. I'm here for a club activity too."

At that answer, both of them fell silent for a moment as the same possibility quietly occurred to them. Then they said the name together.

"Star Society." x2

Well, what do you know? We were right.

Danya was briefly stunned, then couldn't help smiling, a hint of realization and delight in her eyes.

"So, Junior Wuling, you're one of only two new members to join the Star Society in this year's recruitment?"

The answer was practically self-evident.

Wuling nodded lightly and admitted it.

"Yeah, I signed up this week. Today's my first time coming to an activity."

"Speaking of which, didn't you know I was a new member, Senior Danya? I remember we exchanged WeChat contacts before, didn't we?"

Wuling remembered exchanging WeChat contacts after they had all eaten together.

"Well, I usually get up pretty late, so I haven't really checked the group messages. I only came because Nabomo told me there'd be free, tasty food."

Danya waved a hand nonchalantly, a playful smile on her face.

So she only came for the food? Well, that's great.

"But," Danya said, changing the subject. Her gaze grew a little more serious as she looked at Wuling and smiled faintly.

"Even though I don't read the messages, Nabomo specifically told me before that we'd finally recruited new members this year—two of them, even. I was curious who they were, but she wouldn't tell me. I didn't expect one of them to be you."

"That's a pleasant surprise."

"Then who's the other new member besides me?"

Wuling scratched his head.

"I don't know. All I heard from Nabomo was that she seemed to be a girl."

Danya shook her head.

"Nabomo loves keeping people in suspense. She won't tell anyone."

Smiling, Danya started up toward the third floor, her skirt swaying gently with her steps.

"She's deliberately keeping all of us on tenterhooks, insisting on waiting until everyone's here today before revealing it. I only found out early because I know you."

Their footsteps mingled softly in the stairwell as they climbed.

The closer they got to the room, the more the previously silent air filled with snatches of conversation and the faint, sweet scent of snacks.

"We're almost there."

Danya stopped outside the room on the far left. Its wooden door wasn't fully closed, standing slightly ajar.

Wuling stood in front of the door and straightened his clothes a little, his curiosity growing stronger.

Danya raised a hand and gently pushed open the wooden door to the activity room.

"Creak—"

The soft sound of the door opening suddenly rang out.

A tidy, spacious activity room came into view. The walls were painted a soft cream, and several pots of evergreen plants stood by the window.

Long tables were neatly arranged in the center of the room, their surfaces covered with all kinds of snacks, candy, and drinks. It was clear that Nabomo had put real thought into preparing for the new members.

The cookies even seemed freshly baked, giving off waves of fragrance. There was no telling how she had gotten them.

The dozen or so people inside, who had been chatting quietly, all turned toward the door at the sound.

Nabomo, who had been slumped over the table while two girls competed to braid her hair, was the first to brighten. She immediately sprang out of her chair.

"Danya, and Junior Wuling, you're finally here!"

Nabomo hurried over with a look of utter relief. That smile, combined with her messily braided hair, made for a rather comical sight.

She took Wuling by the arm and announced loudly to everyone.

"Come on, everyone, eyes on me! Look at me, look at me! I have an announcement."

"This is our Star Society's new member, Wuling! Let's give him a round of applause!"

As soon as she finished, a dozen or so people scattered applause around the room, accompanied by cheers rising one after another.

"Wow, Junior, you're so handsome! Would you consider getting a girlfriend? I'd be a pretty good choice, you know."

"Don't talk nonsense. A handsome junior like him should obviously have a girlfriend as pretty as me."

"Out of the way. Who'd want a flat chest like yours? Junior, pick me, pick me! Mine are big."

As the unknown senior spoke, she even gave her enormous assets a little shake, making Wuling's eyelids twitch.

They're so enthusiastic. It's a bit too much.

Beside him, Nabomo was dumbfounded.

Wait, I introduced the new member so you could get to know him, not so you could hit on him!

"Could you all show a little restraint? I didn't bring Junior here for you to hit on him. Be careful, or you'll scare him!"

"Pipe down, you flat-chested little loli of a president. If you're jealous, just say so."

As the unknown senior spoke, she casually gave her ample bosom a pat, making it bounce.

"Y-you..."

Nabomo was furious. Nabomo wanted to retort. Nabomo didn't know how to retort. Nabomo fell into thought. Nabomo gave up thinking. Nabomo boiled over.

She was the shortest person there. Even standing up, she only came up to Wuling's pelvis.

But it wasn't as though she had chosen to grow only this tall. Who wanted to be this short? There was nothing she could do about it, though. At her age, she probably couldn't grow any taller and would likely stay this height for the rest of her life.

Seeing Nabomo's face slowly turn from pale to red, Wuling hurried to smooth things over.

"All right, all right, everyone calm down for a moment. Oh, right, President, I heard you recruited two new members this year. Who's the other one besides me?"

Hearing that, Nabomo calmed down a little.

"Well, you'll find out when the time comes. I reckon she'll be here soon."

As soon as she finished speaking, the door was pushed open again with a creak.