What Use Is It Explaining All This to Me?

Walking out of the company into the blazing sunlight, Gu Xue instinctively narrowed her eyes and raised a hand to shield them. Once her eyes adjusted to the bright light, she stretched, revealing her graceful curves in full.

The sunlight finally lifted Gu Xue's spirits a little after she'd been feeling listless all this time.

At last, she wasn't constantly thinking about bed anymore.

Now she was thinking about food.

"Come on, let's get something to eat." Gu Xue looked around, but didn't see any restaurants. There was a convenience store every so often, though, and given the time, they'd just have to grab something there.

Mihara Chisa didn't seem too keen on the idea. "I'll take you home," she said softly.

"You've got some nerve." Gu Xue rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. You think this was your fault, but you got to sleep for a while while I stayed up all night, so you feel bad about it? And now I look like I'm about to drop dead, so you're worried I might collapse and want to get me home as quickly as possible?"

Mihara Chisa: "..."

"You really are a handful..." Gu Xue sighed, walked around behind her, and prepared to push her along by force.

"If you really think of me as a friend, then come eat with me. After that, we can each go home. Why do you have to think everything through and keep score? And besides... no matter how awful I feel, you're the patient here. You don't need to worry about me..."

"Wait..." Mihara Chisa seemed to realize what Gu Xue was about to do. She hugged the bag of clothes to her chest and tried to stop her.

"Come on." Gu Xue quickened her pace with a little mischief and pushed Mihara Chisa forward, cutting her off.

Mihara Chisa clutched the bag to her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the pedestrians along the sidewalk and couldn't help feeling they were staring at her. She was mortified.

Gu Xue, on the other hand, was having a great time.

She pushed Mihara Chisa all the way to the nearest convenience store and finally let her go.

As soon as Mihara Chisa was free, she turned and glared at Gu Xue. She hugged the bag to her chest so tightly it looked like it might sink right into her.

"What's wrong?" Gu Xue asked, confused.

"..." Mihara Chisa's face was bright red. She bit her lip, and the bag in her arms seemed to let out a wail of anguish.

Gu Xue: "..."

Oh, right.

"Don't worry, no one can see anything..." Gu Xue murmured, trying to reassure her.

Mihara Chisa kept glaring at her. "Please don't do that again."

Then she immediately turned and walked into the convenience store.

Gu Xue scratched her cheek, feeling a little awkward.

She was confused, too. Normally, she wouldn't act like that...

It had to be the all-nighter that changed her! It had nothing to do with transforming. Her heart was still male, and it absolutely hadn't changed...

After a bit of self-hypnosis—or self-deception—Gu Xue followed her inside.

Actually, if she thought about it, what she'd just done was a good thing, wasn't it?

At least now Miss Mihara would put on an annoyed face instead of giving her the cold shoulder and lecturing her about women's rights like she used to. It made Gu Xue feel like she wasn't a woman or something...

Wait...

Gu Xue sensed something was off...

Never mind...

The two of them browsed the convenience store for a while. Gu Xue bought a chicken curry rice bowl, while Mihara Chisa bought the plum rice balls Gu Xue thought tasted awful. Once Gu Xue's meal had been heated up, they left together.

"Salted plums, huh? You've got the same tastes as an old man," Gu Xue teased.

Mihara Chisa stiffened, holding the small bag in her hand. She seemed about to turn around and go back into the convenience store.

"Wait." Gu Xue grabbed her arm. "I was just kidding. Do you really have to take everything seriously? There's no such thing as better or worse food, or food for different age groups. You can eat whatever you like."

"Really?" Mihara Chisa asked in a tiny voice.

"Really, really." Gu Xue led her to the bench by the entrance, sat down, and opened the lid of her meal.

This kind of convenience-store meal was actually what Gu Xue knew best. After that came oden. When she worked at an animation studio, crunch time often left her with no time to eat. Back then, the priority was finding something quick and easy that would fill her up.

Some people had it even worse. By the time Gu Xue had been in the industry for a while, she could afford a meal that cost over 400 yen—about thirty yuan. A lot of young people, like those who'd just entered the industry, couldn't even afford one of those. They had to buy whatever food was left over and marked down. Just imagine how rough that was.

Well, where Gu Xue was now wasn't much different.

Just as rough.

She took a bite of the chicken curry rice. It tasted about the same as always. The rice was still hard, and the chicken was still delicious.

As she chewed, Gu Xue looked up at Mihara Chisa, who was taking small bites of her rice ball, and asked curiously, "How's your pay here? Is it enough to live on?"

As far as Gu Xue knew, production assistant jobs paid a fixed salary, but it definitely wasn't high. And Kyoto, the provincial capital here, was like Tokyo in that island nation on Earth: prices were absurdly high, and housing and transportation were downright outrageous.

Mihara Chisa looked up. "Do you need money? I still have about..., and if you need it, I can go inside and withdraw it all for you."

She started to get up and head into the convenience store, where there was an ATM.

"Wait." Gu Xue nearly spat out her rice. "Who said I needed money? Don't just blurt out your savings balance like that, especially not down to the decimal point. And withdraw all of it? How are you supposed to live after that? You're making it seem like I helped you so I could demand repayment, and you're so eager to pay me back and cut ties. I'm just making conversation! Just chatting!"

Mihara Chisa looked at Gu Xue. "You wouldn't."

"I wouldn't, my foot. At this rate, someone could scam you and you might not even realize it. Who tells someone their savings balance just because they ask about money? Give that some serious thought!" Gu Xue pulled her back down onto the bench.

Mihara Chisa silently sat down again and picked up her rice ball. After taking a bite, something seemed to occur to her, and a faint blush crept across her cheeks. The sunlight outside was so harsh, though, that it was hard to make out.

After that, she didn't answer any of Gu Xue's questions. She might as well have turned into an emotionless rice-ball-eating machine.

After eating enough to stave off their hunger, the two of them cleaned up their trash and got ready to head home.

Mihara Chisa insisted on walking behind Gu Xue. Gu Xue couldn't talk her out of it, so she let her tag along. Her home wasn't far, anyway.

They didn't say much along the way. It wasn't until they were almost at Gu Xue's door that she started a conversation.

It was a rather heavy topic.

"Are you trying to get revenge?"

Gu Xue asked softly.

She hadn't known Mihara Chisa for long, but she knew she wasn't the type to give up easily. Not everyone could endure three or four years at their old company after being publicly humiliated and slapped. And if she really had given up and been hurt beyond repair, Gu Xue was sure she wouldn't have gone back to work at an animation studio.

Gu Xue believed that Mihara Chisa was capable enough to find a job at an ordinary company if she needed to make a living. Her personality was a little prickly, but there was no denying her ability. She didn't have to work in the animation industry.

"No." Mihara Chisa stopped walking. "I just want to be in a position where I can talk to him as an equal. Then I want to stand in front of him and say, 'I had my faults back then, but you were in the wrong, too.' That's all."

"That's all." Mihara Chisa lowered her eyes and repeated herself.

"I see..." Gu Xue nodded and continued walking.

On this matter, there was nothing Gu Xue could say.

Miss Mihara was proud, stubborn, and refused to give up. She didn't need Gu Xue to say anything.

Gu Xue only hoped that all the effort she'd put in would pay off, and that the final episode of Ore-sama—the first series Miss Mihara had worked on as a production assistant after changing jobs—would spark some discussion.

The two of them soon reached Gu Xue's front door.

"Okay." Gu Xue turned around and pointed to the taxi she'd called with an app. It was now waiting not far from her house. "I'm home. Please go back."

In a way, Gu Xue's personality wasn't all that different from Mihara Chisa's.

Mihara Chisa: "..."

"Don't worry, I'll pay for the ride. You just need to give the driver your address. Remember to message me when you get home." Gu Xue waved at the taxi.

When it pulled up, Gu Xue opened the door and prepared to shove her inside.

"Wait..." Mihara Chisa held the car door and took a deep breath, as if working up the nerve to say something.

"What is it?"

"...Nothing happened between him and me." Mihara Chisa's voice was very quiet.

"Huh?" Gu Xue hadn't heard her.

"...There's nothing between him and me." Mihara Chisa's voice was even quieter.

"Huh?" Gu Xue still hadn't heard her.

"Nothing happened between Narita Kei and me! And nothing happened with the company president, either! Don't listen to what other people say!" Mihara Chisa suddenly raised her voice. Half the street could hear her.

The taxi driver froze for a second, then gave them a knowing smile.

As Gu Xue heard those words, her first thought was that Mihara Chisa really had been in the cubicle when those two young coloring artists had been gossiping.

Her second thought was... Why did she have to shout so loud?! She sounded like they were lovers breaking up. People were going to get the wrong idea!

Seeing the taxi driver's smile, Gu Xue's face flushed red. She forcibly shoved Mihara Chisa into the back seat.

"What use is it explaining all this to me?!"