After taking a shower, Jiang Han returned the tracksuit she had borrowed earlier to her younger sister, Jiang Zhenling.
Because of all the running and squats, the tracksuit was soaked with sweat. Jiang Han felt rather embarrassed, but her sister accepted it graciously.
"Some lavender essential oil should get it clean." Jiang Zhenling tossed the tracksuit and pants her sister had worn into the laundry basket.
"Sorry for the trouble." Jiang Han smiled sincerely.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, Jiang Zhenling called out to her:
"By the way, Han."
"Hmm?" Jiang Han turned back and saw that her sister looked a little serious.
"Are you free tonight? We haven't gone out for barbecue together in ages," Zhen Ling said, her eyes flickering.
Barbecue... A special Korean barbecue dish involuntarily surfaced in Jiang Han's mind, its mouthwatering, sizzling aroma almost wafting toward her. She wanted some, but she had work tonight. With a regretful sigh, she looked at her sister pitifully.
"I have work tonight."
"..." Jiang Zhenling folded her arms and bared her teeth for some inscrutable reason. "Tuesday?"
She had plans to go out with Cen Jing on Tuesday. Jiang Han shook her head. "I'm meeting someone on Tuesday."
"Wednesday?"
"...Uh, well, I'm meeting someone on Wednesday, too." Jiang Han lowered her head, embarrassed to meet her sister's eyes. She and Cen Jing had made plans for two days.
After a long silence, Jiang Zhenling's voice came from beside her:
"Then let's go another time, when you're free."
After chatting with her sister a little longer and saying she should have some time next week, Jiang Han went back to her room and dozed for a while. Then she got up, changed, and headed out yawning, bound for the tutoring center.
The fishing village looked a little desolate in the morning. Jiang Han was increasingly convinced that Cen Jing was the best witch she had ever met... Was she a witch or a sorceress? Working from midnight to six in the morning, then going to the tutoring center at eight, and staying there until classes ended in the afternoon—put together, that schedule was almost enough to crush her.
Lately, it had been making her back ache...
Cen Jing was right. She should slack off a little more sensibly. Witches lived a ridiculously long time, so why did she have to work as hard as a human?
Jiang Han let out a couple of silent wails, then remembered that "witches don't deny being human." That made things awkward.
Even the tutors seemed to be slacking off a little on Monday. Usually, Jiang Han would find Cheng Yu, the tall witch tutor, reading in the hall while she waited for her, but today the woman was nowhere to be seen.
Jiang Han walked into the hall and spotted the Fox Witch, Li Li. After greeting her, she sat down beside her. "Morning, Li Li."
Li Li stared straight ahead without responding.
"Ahem. Miss Li Li? Miss Fox?" Jiang Han raised her voice a little, drawing the attention of the witches seated in the hall.
She made an apologetic gesture to them, then frowned at Li Li.
The Fox Witch was staring ahead like a person in a vegetative state.
Jiang Han had to lean closer. Just as she was about to call Li Li's name again, she suddenly heard a faint melody and singing:
[...To keep your promise is so foolish...]
...Where was the music coming from? Jiang Han's expression stiffened.
At that moment, Li Li noticed Jiang Han beside her and turned to look at her. The music stopped as well.
The witch wore an inexplicably serious expression. She looked at Jiang Han, fell silent for a moment, then asked:
"What is it?"
"The music..." Jiang Han shook her head and asked, curious and confused, "Was there music beside you just now?"
How had she done that? Jiang Han thought of three possibilities.
First, a modification of the level-one Illusion Sound Spell from the Illusion School.
Second, a modification of the level-one Message Spell from the Transmutation School.
Third, the level-two Magic Alarm from the Abjuration School. That spell could record sounds. There was a parable about a witch from the East who rode a cow that recited Buddhist scriptures, then mooched food and drink—but the other witches eventually discovered that she had merely modified a Magic Alarm into an attached spell...
While Jiang Han's thoughts ran wild, Miss Li Li nodded. "So that's what you were curious about."
Jiang Han nodded too, showing that she really was curious.
Then Miss Li Li raised both hands to her golden hair, moved them twice, and took off the pair of fluffy fox ears.
She took them off.
Took them off.
They really came off!?
Staring at the fluffy ears, still twitching after she'd removed them, Jiang Han fell silent for a couple of seconds. She tilted her head left, then right, looked at Li Li's golden hair, and pondered before asking:
"Headphones?"
"Mm, headphones," Li Li replied after a brief delay.
...What the hell, headphones! Jiang Han nearly shouted. She stared at the fox ears in Li Li's hands in disbelief, then stammered:
"So... um, what did you make these headphones out of?"
By now, Jiang Han's mind was in such disarray that she could barely get her words out.
After she asked, Miss Li Li's expression blanked for a moment. In a perfectly ordinary tone, she answered, "My ears."
Oh, right. You used your own ears to make headphones... Mm-hm... Hm!? What did you make them out of?
Jiang Han's eyes widened and her mouth hung half open. She tried to put together a response, but couldn't manage to say anything.
"Look." Li Li leaned a little closer, swept aside her golden hair, and showed her the spot where human ears would normally be. There was soft fur there, along with something that looked a little like the protruding, heat-dissipating parts of human ears.
Then Li Li pointed with her right hand at the pair of fox ears in her left.
"These are my ears." Holding one in each hand, she reattached the pair of... "ear"phones to her head.
Jiang Han was so shocked she nearly peed herself. The witches sneaking glances over from the hall wore matching expressions of "what the hell?" and "what on earth?" as they watched Miss Li Li stroke her fox ears.
"At first, I wanted to use my father's mother's ears to make a test pair..." Li Li said enthusiastically, pitching her product. "Unfortunately, she wouldn't let me, so I had to use my own. What do you think? Want me to make a pair for you, too?"
...What did you say? Jiang Han took a deep breath, then pressed a hand to her chest and asked calmly:
"If the experiment failed, would you lose your ears?"
Miss Li Li looked at Jiang Han strangely and answered matter-of-factly, "Of course I'd lose them. What else?"
What else!? What the hell did you mean, what else... Jiang Han breathed rapidly, still not having accepted this reality.
Miss Li Li continued:
"I can regrow them quickly with magic. It just hurts a little when you cut them off. You have to drink two jin of liquor."
Tsk... Two jin.
Jiang Han didn't know what to say, or whether she ought to envy the regenerative power of fox ears.
She thought about it seriously. Ordinary witches could take out their Witch Eggs and sell them, so wasn't it only natural and normal for a Fox Witch to sell her fox ears?
As if!
No way! She couldn't accept it! Jiang Han crossed her arms in an X, rejecting the offer to buy a pair of cute fox ears.
At that moment, Cheng Yu walked in through the tutoring center's entrance, wearing a peculiar outfit.
The very tall witch glanced around the silent hall in confusion, then looked at her two students and bit her lower lip, puzzled again.
"Sorry, I'm a little late today. What happened here?" Miss Cheng Yu asked as she approached.
Because of Cheng Yu's height, Jiang Han had to tilt her head back even when standing to see her face.
"Nothing," Jiang Han answered.
"Mm, I don't think anything happened either," Miss Li Li replied naturally.
Before you continue