"Is it Miss Yashiro?" Noticing that something seemed to have happened, Aoyama Nanami returned to her usual expression and asked cautiously.
"Mm, it seems the matter I've been keeping an eye on has yielded results. I need to head out right away, so I'll change clothes first."
"And," Sakurakoji Talent glanced back at her, a faintly wicked look appearing on his face, "since words can't make you understand, it looks like I can only make you accept it with facts. Just you wait!"
"?" Looking at the tightly shut door, Aoyama Nanami tilted her head in confusion. Then her expression abruptly changed, and she hurried to the door and pounded on it.
"Young Master, you can't do this!!"
Image: "Crossdressing Form", location: "Images/1755175895-100446961-113723551.jpg"
Volume One: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies: Who Crossdresses This Hardcore?
Ignoring her knocking entirely, Sakurakoji Talent opened the wardrobe, casually took out an outfit, and quickly changed into it.
He had no time to dawdle. He still had things to do afterward.
Seeing that the door had been locked from the inside and receiving no response to her knocking, Aoyama Nanami anxiously paced back and forth outside, not knowing what to do.
She did not know why she was so anxious. Perhaps her serious nature simply could not accept such a thing. Or perhaps she did not know what expression she should wear when facing Sakurakoji Talent after his "transformation" was complete. Or maybe it was just because she did not know whether she should call him Young Master or Young Lady afterward.
Sakurakoji Talent did not make her wait long. In less than three minutes, he pushed open the door and walked out.
Aoyama Nanami, who had been biting her nails, subconsciously looked over. Then... there was no then.
The sight before her, something she had never seen before, left her completely stunned. Unlike the disgust she had imagined before, all that remained in her heart was the shock of being overwhelmed by pure beauty!
His exquisite, beautiful facial contours were softer than usual. Compared with the usual Sakurakoji Talent, he now seemed to possess an added layer of maternal radiance. His long silver-white hair seemed to shine with holy light from another dimension, while the women's clothing on his body fit him perfectly, as though it had been custom-tailored for him—because it had.
"Well? Not bad, right?" Seeing her widened pupils and speechless shock, the transformed Sakurakoji Talent wore an unsurprised expression.
He had said it before. Once she truly saw it, she would understand too.
Before truly supreme beauty, everyone was forced to submit. Clothing was merely a tool he used to explore more possibilities. Aoyama Nanami lacked artistic and aesthetic cultivation, so she found it hard to accept, but he had been accustomed to such things since childhood.
This had absolutely nothing to do with being a pervert or having impure motives. It was simply a pursuit of beauty!
Aoyama Nanami stared blankly at the person before her for a long time without speaking. She only felt that he was so unfamiliar, as though she had met him for the first time today.
After a long while, she asked with a confused expression, "Are you... Talent Young Master?"
"Who else would I be?"
Sakurakoji Talent was speechless. Had this matter dealt such a huge blow to the girl? Why did she even have to ask something so obvious? Had she lost even her basic ability to judge?
Hearing his confirmation, Aoyama Nanami suffered an even greater blow and clutched her head in agony.
This has to be fake, right?!
Although she had spent the past few minutes mentally preparing herself, when reality truly hit, it still shattered every expectation she had.
How could someone be this beautiful?
She had originally been fairly confident in her appearance, but compared to "her"—she felt like nothing more than an ugly duckling from the countryside. Sakurakoji Talent's transformation had smashed her dignity as a woman to pieces with one hammer blow, scattering it all across the ground.
No matter how handsome or attractive Sakurakoji Talent had been before, she knew in her heart that he was the opposite sex, so she had never felt inclined to compare herself to him. But now things were different.
If a woman like this really existed in the world, watashi... Aoyama Nanami represented countless women everywhere in declaring utter despair.
At the same time, though, she found it somewhat unbelievable. She now seemed able to understand a little of what Sakurakoji Talent had said before. Before this work of art that transcended gender, there was not the slightest impure thought in her heart—only appreciation and admiration for beauty itself.
"Hello? Are you okay?" Sakurakoji Talent waved a hand in front of her face.
"I'm fine..." Aoyama Nanami came back to her senses, then suddenly noticed something important. "But Talent Young Master, what happened to your voice?"
She realized that his voice seemed different from before as well. His originally androgynous tone had become even more... delicate and gentle?
"Since I'm already crossdressing, isn't changing my voice common sense too?" Sakurakoji Talent smiled faintly, his gaze conveying the meaning of, You understand what I mean, right?
"I see." Regardless of whether that truly counted as common sense, she could only say she understood now.
Reality had just slapped her hard across the face. Even if someone told her that art was an explosion now, she would force herself to understand it.
"There's one more thing..." Aoyama Nanami looked somewhat hesitant. "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Young Master, I feel like you've gotten shorter?"
Compared with how he had originally been nearly a head taller than her, he now visually seemed much closer to her eye level, though he was still a little taller than her.
"Oh? You noticed?" Sakurakoji Talent narrowed his eyes, acknowledging her perceptiveness before explaining with complete seriousness.
"You know, men are generally much taller than women. Since I'm already crossdressing, slightly changing my height is perfectly reasonable too, right?"
"Reasonable my ass! That's not how this works, is it?" Aoyama Nanami stared at him in horror. Seeing how confidently he spoke, she had nearly accepted what he said.
"How did you even do that?! Can height be changed too?"
"Tch, so I still can't fool you?" Sakurakoji Talent clicked his tongue.
"Of course you can't! How could something like that be so easily brushed off?!" Aoyama Nanami's expression was vivid and complex, making it impossible to tell whether she had seen a god or a ghost.
"Simply put." Sakurakoji Talent scratched his hair and explained helplessly, "Have you ever heard of the Bone Shrinking Technique?"
"...I think I have. It seems to be some kind of ancient Chinese martial arts technique?" Aoyama Nanami answered uncertainly.
"That's exactly it." Sakurakoji Talent nodded. "When I was young, I was especially curious and wanted to try learning all kinds of things, so I invited a master skilled in this art to teach me at home."
"To put it plainly, it's a special technique that uses flexibility to dislocate bones and alter one's body shape."
"After some training, I couldn't shrink my entire body down into a child like that master could, but simply changing my joint connections to make myself look a little shorter wasn't difficult."
"What do you think? Pretty convenient, right?"
???
After hearing his explanation, Aoyama Nanami only felt utterly bewildered. Rather than feeling the clarity of having the clouds part, she felt as though her entire worldview had shattered across the floor.
No, what exactly are you even talking about?
Would any normal person learn something like this? And wasn't this usage a little wrong too?
For the sake of crossdressing, you even incorporated an ancient technique that was practically lost? Who crossdressed this hardcore?!
Aoyama Nanami's head felt dizzy. She braced herself against the wall beside her to keep from falling, feeling that whenever she was around Sakurakoji Talent, she seemed to be constantly losing common sense...
Image: "The One I Think Looks Best", location: "Images/1755262253-100446961-113727680.jpg"
Volume One: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies: Damn It, Was This Your Real Purpose All Along?
"Ah, I don't have time to keep talking with you. I have other important things to do, so I'll be going."
After checking the time, Sakurakoji Talent hurriedly set off. If he delayed any longer, he might miss it.
Fortunately, unlike in anime, where a few lines of dialogue somehow wasted dozens of minutes, although the two of them had said quite a lot just now, less than five minutes had actually passed.
Aoyama Nanami still leaned against the corner of the wall, paying no attention to his departure. She needed time to process the impact she had just received.
Taking the elevator down to the first floor and walking through the entrance hall to the door, Sakurakoji Talent found Yashiro Ichiyo's car parked there, quietly waiting.
"Sorry for the wait." Sakurakoji Talent opened the door and got in.
"Not at all. I had only just finished preparing the car myself." The head maid shook her head, not the least bit surprised by his different attire. "Young Master, I've placed the things you requested in the back seat."
Sakurakoji Talent glanced at the other seat, where the desserts he had asked her to prepare were sitting.
"Good. Let's go now, and make it quick. Otherwise, we might not make it in time." Sakurakoji Talent nodded and gave his next instruction.
"Understood."
Yashiro Ichiyo slowly started the car. Once she entered the main road, she immediately accelerated and sped away, unconcerned with whether she might exceed the speed limit.
Although she did not know what her Young Master intended to do, she believed that he would not act recklessly. Therefore, carrying out the task he had assigned was the only thing she needed to do.
The luxury sedan passed through the city's complicated traffic network and entered the highway. With the car's performance and her superb driving skills, they reached their destination in just over twenty minutes.
"Young Master, it's just ahead."
"Mm, stop here. I'll get out and walk over."
Sakurakoji Talent picked up the gift bag beside him, lightly stepped out of the car, and headed toward the park ahead.
The moment he reached the park entrance, he saw the distant figure sitting alone on a swing. He smiled in relief. It seemed he had not arrived too late.
He cleared his throat, adjusted his voice, and walked straight into the small park.
On the stone sign beside the entrance were several prominently written words—Fuchu City Baba Higashi Park.
The reason Sakurakoji Talent had rushed all this way so urgently was naturally related to his treatment points. In other words, a certain character would appear here.
Ever since he began investigating such matters a month ago, he had marked locations around Tokyo Metropolis where possible characters might appear and conducted a certain degree of investigation.
Some characters had pitifully little information in their original works, only fragmentary details such as times and locations, making them difficult even to investigate—like the person appearing today.
Thus, he could only arrange for someone to watch this place in advance and notify him once they discovered a lead.
Fuchu City was a city under Tokyo Metropolis's jurisdiction, only twenty kilometers away from Tokyo. It was closer than Chiba was to Tokyo Metropolis, so it naturally fell within his plans.
As it happened, he knew of a character who would appear in this city.
The reason he had changed into this outfit today was not specifically to let Aoyama Nanami understand his preferences. Rather, he had deliberately prepared to appear before her in this form—this was his real purpose.
As the number of people he knew gradually increased, he increasingly felt that his danger level was continuously rising, especially after the previous Starry incident!
Since then, he had been thinking about how to advance his progress while reducing the possible danger surrounding him. Then he came up with this method: if I directly crossdress and pretend to be a woman, you can't possibly have any extra thoughts about me, right?
By approaching them with another identity, the points he gained would still belong to him, but the risk would be cut in half.
He only wanted to mooch off some points. He did not actually want to get caught in some Shura Field. Even if something really went wrong later, he could simply disappear from the world. What could anyone do to him then?
Even if their appearances were similar, their height, gender, surname, and name would all be different. Surely no one would think they were the same person, right?
Besides, everyone knew that Ashiri, his only younger sister, looked completely different from him. Even their hair colors were different. His disguised identity could not possibly have anything to do with him.
Thinking of this, Sakurakoji Talent could not help praising his own cleverness. I'm seriously too smart!
Looking at the little girl on the swing in the distance, who had been sitting there for over half an hour with a dejected expression, looking pitiful and heartbroken as though the entire world had abandoned her, Sakurakoji Talent smiled confidently.
I'm telling you, kids starved for affection like this are the easiest to handle. As long as I use a few little tricks later, I'll definitely get a huge amount of emotional points from her. The risk is low too, far better than dealing with other normal people!
Fortunately, it was not raining today. He strode up to her with his head held high, put on what he considered a flawless and friendly smile, and asked gently in a falsetto voice, "Little sister, did something happen? I noticed you've been sitting here for quite a while."
Shiina Mahiru raised her head of light brown-gold hair and warily looked at the person speaking to her with caramel-colored eyes.
At first glance alone, she was startled by the other person's appearance.
That silver-white hair was so pure that it did not contain even a trace of another color. Her lovely face was even more well-proportioned than Mahiru's own, and those crimson red eyes seemed capable of shining straight into her heart. In short—how could anyone in the world be this beautiful? Had an angel descended to her side?
Though puzzled, Shiina Mahiru still answered politely, "Sorry, I'm fine. Did I disturb you by sitting here? Then I'll leave right away."
"Ah, no, wait!" Seeing her rise to leave, Sakurakoji Talent quickly raised a hand to stop her.
This isn't how the script goes. Why is the prey running away after just one line?
If he really let her leave, he would be left wanting to cry without tears.
"Ahem, I was just a little concerned. You didn't disturb me, so don't worry about it." After persuading her to stay, he continued, "You look so upset, so you must have encountered something unpleasant. Let big sister take a guess."
"Judging by your age, you should still be a middle school student. You're so cute that you probably aren't troubled by being unpopular, since humans are all obsessed with looks."
"You don't have any obvious injuries, and your clothes aren't damaged, so you probably haven't been violently bullied by a school delinquent who got angry because an upperclassman who liked you confessed to you either."
"Then at your age, there should only be one thing that would make you rather sit here alone and worry instead of going home. Did you argue with your parents?"
Shiina Mahiru looked at the smiling person before her in surprise. She had not expected her to guess so accurately, though the earlier analysis felt somewhat strange.
"This has nothing to do with you, big sister." After her surprise faded, Shiina Mahiru turned her face aside and replied coldly.
What a textbook line. Too bad I came here specifically for you today. Don't think such a harmless line can make me back off, Sakurakoji Talent thought to himself.
Image: "Shiina Mahiru", location: "Images/1755262322-100446961-113727683.jpg"
Author: Did you expect her to appear so quickly? Of course, I had actually planned to write about her before anyway.
Volume One: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies: Desserts Are a Universal Comforter
Before you continue