Please Turn Me into a Real Girl!

(Bai Ziye)

I did not know when I fell asleep.

I crossed my legs and held my tablet while leaning sideways on the bed, waking up in a rather uncomfortable posture.

My neck hurt as if it were being pulled, ouch, I could not even move it.

This was a stiff neck.

A-Yao did not return all night, nor did he send me a message.

That guy, to actually spend the night over at Heat Haze's place... Did he use his female identity to take advantage of someone?

I rubbed my aching neck and got up to wash up, unable to lower my head while brushing my teeth or rinsing my mouth, which was extremely painful. Applying a hot compress with a towel did not help at all, so after thinking about it, I took out the Star Crystal and let its dark golden radiance melt into my body.

As soon as I turned into Miluno, my neck stopped hurting immediately and my whole body felt much lighter, truly a cure that worked as soon as the "medicine" was applied.

Sure enough, I did not have to worry about a stiff neck at all with a magical girl's physical fitness.

Even if A-Yao came back, I could cancel the transformation at the very first moment, but the pain from the stiff neck would also return, so it was better if she did not come back yet.

After washing up, I habitually turned on the television, then went to the kitchen with hot milk to mix myself a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

Ding-dong--

Knock knock knock!!

As a result, before I could even warm my seat, the doorbell and urgent knocking came from outside the door.

It was probably A-Yao coming back.

Thinking this, I casually canceled my transformation and stuffed the Star Crystal back into my wristband.

"Coming! Why are you in such a rush, are you rushing me to my grave?"

I opened the door only to not see any pink magical girl, but instead a group of unfamiliar men and women, totaling seven or eight people. They held high banners that read "acting on behalf of heaven" and clutched photos where A-Yao's face had been turned black and white with an X drawn over it, standing in the hallway in front of my door with malicious looks on their faces.

"...What are you people doing? Is this hallway a place for parades?"

"Cut the crap, hand that pig-head over! I know he's with you!"

Good grief, a single sentence ruined my good mood from early in the morning.

With such a big thing happening yesterday and internet public opinion blowing up, I had guessed that someone would come to make trouble sooner or later, but I did not expect them to arrive so fast.

"First of all, he is not here. Secondly, even if he were, you have no right to take him away. I don't know where you got some gossip from, but this is a society ruled by law. The only thing that can convict my bro is the law, not a mob of unorganized rabble like you."

I rebuffed them with a cold face.

Even without transforming, the combat experience and awareness I had accumulated made me much better at fighting than an ordinary person, and this was the source of my confidence and assurance.

"You say he's not here, so he's not? Do you dare let us search inside?"

"Search? What do you take yourselves for?"

The leader reached out to push the door, only to find that he could not push it open at all because I was blocking it.

He threatened again: "Kid, you'll regret shielding this fat pig!"

Behind him, someone else was holding a phone and filming my face.

"Hmph, planning to manufacture public opinion to attack me? Try it if you can, and see how much support your actions can get. By the way, trespassing in a residential home faces detention of up to fifteen days."

I stepped aside by half a step, and the righteous youth leader who was exerting force against the door tumbled forward into the entryway.

"...You just wait for me!"

"Yeah, I'm waiting."

Seeming truly afraid of being detained, he crawled backward out the door, and then stood up with the support of his subordinates.

After all that fuss, they turned out to be a bunch of cowards.

I had even thought there might be a chance for legitimate self-defense and to throw a couple of punches to vent.

I sighed and reminded them: "I have recordings here too. No matter how they are edited, the original files exist, and everyone's faces are captured clearly. Rumor-mongering and personal attacks are also illegal. If you still plan to do anything under these premises, I'll be happy to accompany you."

Not only were there cameras in the hallway, but there was also a smart peephole on the security door.

The footage of the time they spent blocking the door was all recorded. Even if I really ran into any trouble, I could just have A-Yao ask Luer for help later, since such matters also fell under part of the cleanup work.

"...Let's go."

The leader guiltily glanced at the peephole on the door, then frowned and led his people away. When I looked next door, A-Yao's front door had been spray-painted with vicious curses by that group.

"Sigh, what kind of people are these?"

I was pondering going downstairs to file a complaint with the security guards when a little head with long pink hair poked out from the corner on the other side of the hallway. Despite wearing sunglasses and a mask, such a conspicuous hair color was really hard not to recognize.

"Yezi..."

It was A-Yao, or rather, Ceruno.

She looked at me with eager eyes, having witnessed my entire standoff with those angry youths.

I scratched my head and waved at her.

"Dork, come inside first."

"I'm sorry for implicating you in this kind of matter."

As soon as she stepped inside, she hurried to apologize before even taking off her shoes.

Although I knew she was A-Yao, I still could not bear to see a girl show such an anxious little expression.

What are you apologizing for? If you treat me as a bro, don't say such distant things. It always feels weird when you act polite with me, and besides, this mob of rabble cannot amount to anything—they ran off just from being scared a little.

Ceruno shook her head.

"Yezi, you don't know, it's very troublesome to mess with them. It's not enough just for you to be in the right; they wouldn't dare confront you head-on offline, but their voices are loud online."

"No matter how loud the voices are online, what can they do? Did it affect me eating my meals? Once people calm down, it will all become a joke, and life goes on just like before."

I was not a primitive person disconnected from the internet, and I knew all the tricks of those people, but I still remained indifferent.

"I didn't think Yezi you would have such guts. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't even have the courage to open the door."

Ceruno had a petite figure, her height only reaching my chest, and this sparrow-like build made me instinctively want to pat her head.

Yet after hesitating, I only placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine, I'll do what you can't do. But when facing monsters, don't you still need to protect me?"

"Yezi..."

She looked at me with a deeply moved expression, and then straightened her face into a serious one.

"...You're right, I really do need your help!"

"Oh? Just tell me what you want me to do."

Ceruno pressed a hand against her chest and said with a serious expression: "Yezi, please turn me into a real girl!"

...It was over.

My bro's head had gone wrong.

After turning into a magical girl, she planned to become a real female?

Was it the status gap between their two identities that made her feel despair toward her male self?

At this very moment, as her only good bro, I had to say something.

"Ceruno, calm down first."

I pressed down on her shoulders, made her sit on the sofa, and earnestly advised: "The angry youths from just now were only a small minority, and this wave of public opinion will pass eventually. 'Sun Yao' will be able to appear in people's visions normally one day, so you don't need to give up on yourself so early... I mean, you can still turn back into Sun Yao and be yourself again!"

"Huh? Yezi, where are your thoughts wandering off to? I am definitely not giving up on myself here."

Ceruno, however, pushed away the hand I had placed on her shoulder.

"This is just a promise with Miss Heat Haze."