I Look Forward to That Day

It seemed to be because she hadn't transformed yesterday.

Or perhaps for some other reason.

When she woke up in the morning, her whole body wasn't aching like it had been the past few days.

That feeling of being stuffed into a sack and beaten with clubs had actually disappeared.

Of course, maybe she had simply gotten used to it.

That didn't sound like a good thing.

What did getting used to being beaten mean?

It meant she had been beaten often enough.

Chen De sat up in bed.

No cracking sounds.

No protests from her knees.

No strike from her spine.

It was unnaturally quiet.

She froze for a second.

Then reflexively headed for the sink.

Self-inspection.

A daily routine that never changed.

More important than checking her answer sheet before handing in a final exam.

She stood before the mirror.

Took a deep breath.

And looked up.

The person in the mirror looked at her.

And she looked at the person in the mirror.

Then her mind buzzed.

Her ash-white hair now fell to her chest.

She looked even more—how should she put it—than she had the day before yesterday.

Petite.

Cute.

Exquisite enough to look like a figurine.

The kind of limited-edition, translucent-part, fully painted figurine.

Her eyes were changing too.

At some point, a faint layer of blue had spread through her originally black pupils.

Like ink dripping into bottled water.

Or like someone had adjusted her hue in Photoshop.

Chen De slowly clenched her hand.

Then she turned her head.

Qubi was crouched on the edge of the sink.

Licking its paw.

Looking utterly peaceful and content.

"Qubi."

"Hmm?"

"Explain what this means."

Chen De pointed at the mirror.

Her expression was anything but friendly.

Qubi's paw paused.

It glanced up at the person in the mirror.

Then lowered its head and continued licking.

"It looks pretty good."

"Did I ask whether it looked good?!"

Chen De took a deep breath.

She recalled everything that had happened over the past week or so.

At first, she had kindly wanted to see whether a cat was injured, offering it some humanitarian concern.

Then the cat started speaking human language.

Then came some so-called practical interview.

A cloud of black mist had nearly sent her straight to the afterlife.

And just like that, she had been dragged aboard the pirate ship known as magical girls.

Only after boarding did she discover the ship was leaking.

Only after it started leaking did she discover there were no life jackets.

And only after finding no life jackets did she discover the captain was a cat.

After spending more than a week with it.

She had finally figured it out.

This cat was scheming to the extreme.

It never mentioned a single word you didn't ask about.

And even when you did ask, it only told you half the story.

The other half was either used to plant landmines or charge you later.

"Five days ago, you lied to me about some midpoint."

Chen De counted on her fingers.

"Then you went on about the acceleration of interference."

"And now?"

"What new excuse are you planning to come up with this time?"

Qubi finally stopped licking its paw.

Its emerald eyes blinked twice.

"Don't get too worked up. I know this situation is indeed a little hard for a normal person to accept."

"You call this a little hard to accept?"

Disbelief covered Chen De's delicate little face.

"You told me before that I wouldn't keep changing after reaching the midpoint."

"I said the rate of change would gradually level off."

"Level off?"

Chen De leaned closer to the mirror.

She pointed at her ash-white hair.

"This is leveling off?"

"The day before yesterday, my hair only reached my shoulders."

"Now it's long enough for twin ponytails."

"Fast-growing hair doesn't mean the changes are drastic."

"Then what does mean the changes are drastic?"

"Height."

Chen De immediately fell silent.

She lowered her head and looked at the height of the sink.

Then she looked up at where she stood in the mirror.

Although the patches were still there and other people couldn't tell.

She knew perfectly well.

"How tall am I now?"

"About one meter fifty-three."

Chen De's eyelid twitched violently.

"What height did you tell me the midpoint was?"

"One meter sixty-three."

"So after passing this so-called midpoint, I got another ten centimeters shorter."

"Objectively speaking, it was 9.8 centimeters."

"Is there any point in arguing with me over that 0.2?!"

Qubi's tail curled in slightly.

"Calm down first—"

"I am very calm."

Chen De's voice was terrifyingly steady.

"I just want to ask one question."

"Go ahead."

"When will it finally stop?"

Qubi fell silent for two seconds.

To Chen De, those two seconds felt longer than waiting for her college entrance exam results.

"Soon."

"How soon is soon?"

"Based on your current rate of interference—"

"Stop beating around the bush."

"One number."

"Between one meter forty-eight and one meter fifty."

Chen De's expression froze.

One meter forty-eight.

She silently did the math in her head.

She had originally been one meter seventy-five.

Rounded up, one meter eighty.

Now she was one meter fifty-three.

The endpoint was one meter forty-eight.

Rounded up—

She might not even be able to keep one meter fifty.

"You just said between one meter forty-eight and one meter fifty."

"That's right."

"So there's still a chance I'll get even shorter."

"Theoretically, there's still room for fluctuation of one to two centimeters."

"Room for fluctuation? Do you think I'm a stock?! My height doesn't need to fluctuate!"

Qubi flattened its ears slightly.

"But the good news is that you're already close to the end."

"What's the bad news?"

"The endpoint may be a little shorter than you expected."

"How little is a little?"

"That depends on your body's final adaptation result."

"You may end up looking even smaller than you do in your magical girl form."

Something in Chen De's mind snapped.

She braced herself against the sink.

Her knuckles turned white.

"Qubi."

"Hmm."

"You mean—"

"From now on, even when I don't transform, I'll look almost the same as after I transform?"

Qubi said nothing.

But those emerald eyes said two words.

Yes.

Chen De slowly straightened up.

She looked at the delicate little girl in the mirror, with ash-white hair and blue eyes.

No.

That was her.

She had once been a strapping man, one meter seventy-five—rounded up, one meter eighty.

He was now hurtling toward 1.48 meters at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Qubi."

"Mm."

"How much longer can the patch last?"

"The patch only alters how others see you."

"But the smaller your real body gets, the greater the gap from the image locked in by the patch, and the harder it becomes to maintain."

"Speak plainly."

"The patch might not be able to cover for you anymore."

Chen De felt like the sky was falling.

Not metaphorically.

Physically—because he had gotten shorter again, and the ceiling really did look higher.

"So my current situation is—"

He began counting on his fingers.

"My height is shrinking."

"My hair is growing."

"My eyes are changing color."

"My sex is changing too."

"The patch can't cover it anymore."

"And none of this can be stopped."

"That's a very accurate summary."

"What good is praising me?!"

Chen De slapped the bathroom counter.

The impact made Qubi bounce.

"Qubi."

"Mm."

"When you chose me back then, you knew this would happen, didn't you?"

Qubi's ears twitched.

"I knew the direction of your compatibility, but I couldn't predict the exact extent either."

"Couldn't you have told me in advance?"

"If I had, you wouldn't have signed."

"So you deliberately concealed it!"

"I prefer to call it—selective disclosure."

Chen De stared at Qubi for five seconds.

Those emerald-green eyes were clear to the bottom.

So innocent, like a suspect at a crime scene pleading not guilty.

"Qubi."

"Mm."

"The day I reach King Tier."

"Mm."

"I'll personally stuff you into a washing machine and spin you three times."

"I look forward to that day." Qubi flicked his tail.

Chen De took a deep breath.

Then let it out.

Then inhaled deeply again.

Then exhaled again.

After four rounds of diaphragmatic breathing, he finally suppressed the urge to flush the cat down the toilet.

He looked back at the mirror.

The person in the mirror looked back at him.

Long ash-white hair.

Bluish eyes.

A small 1.53-meter frame.

If someone who did not know him saw him, they would probably think he was some junior high school girl.

They would never connect this person to a 1.75-meter-tall male high school student.

Never.