Talking nonsense

Lin Yu: "All right, hurry up and try it on."

Firefly: "Okay, but..."

Firefly held the wig, unsure where to start. Since this was her first time encountering anything like it, she had no idea how to put on this thing called a "wig."

"How do I wear this? Do I just pull it over my head?"

"Of course not." As he spoke, Lin Yu took something else out of the box.

"You have to put this on before the wig."

He opened the packaging and took out the wig cap that had to be worn under a wig.

"This is called a wig cap. It's used to gather and secure your hair and the wig."

"It's normal not to know how to use it. I'll help you, and you can learn later."

"Okay."

Firefly nodded, sat obediently, and closed her eyes, waiting for Lin Yu to put it on for her.

Without further ado, Lin Yu began helping Firefly put on the wig.

While putting on the wig cap, Lin Yu couldn't help marveling at how much hair Firefly had. There really was so much of it! And it felt incredibly smooth!

Since her hair was long and thick, putting it on was relatively fiddly, but fortunately, he was pretty good at it.

Come to think of it, he had his roommates to thank for that. Over three years of college, they had dragged him along to who knew how many anime conventions.

Along the way, he had learned quite a bit about cosplay. Even his photography skills had been honed by taking convention photos for them.

Once the wig cap was on, Lin Yu picked up the wig, combed it neatly, and began putting it on her.

This wig had been made to match Firefly's hairstyle, only changing her original silver hair to black.

Thanks to a local wig stylist, it had been finished in just two days, and the quality of the finished product was very good, too.

"All done. You can open your eyes now, Firefly."

At Lin Yu's prompting, Firefly slowly opened her eyes. The moment she did, she saw a stranger in the mirror.

She touched the wig on her head, staring at her reflection in a slight daze.

"Is that me?"

Lin Yu wasn't at all surprised by Firefly's dazed look. After all, even a small change could have a huge impact.

It was like keeping the same hairstyle for years, then suddenly changing it one day. Even you might find yourself exclaiming, "Is that really me?!"

"How does it feel?"

Firefly touched the wig again and gave her assessment.

"It feels okay. Just a little strange."

Lin Yu nodded. "As long as it isn't uncomfortable. Feeling strange is normal. It's your first time wearing a wig, after all. I was just like you the first time I wore one."

Hearing that Lin Yu had worn one too piqued Firefly's curiosity.

"You've worn wigs too, Lin Yu?"

"Yeah, a few times when I went to anime conventions."

"Anime conventions? What are those?"

Very curious about this term she had never heard before, Firefly asked Lin Yu directly.

Lin Yu launched straight into an explanation.

"An anime convention is basically an event where people with the same interests get together. Everyone dresses up as their favorite anime or game characters, commonly called role-playing or cosplay, and then they make friends, have fun, and so on."

Listening to Lin Yu's explanation, Firefly came to understand quite a bit.

"So that's what you meant by cosplay before."

"Yeah. To everyone else, Firefly, you're actually cosplaying."

"But I'm just me? How is that playing a role?"

Firefly pouted, clearly unable to understand why everyone thought that.

Lin Yu merely smiled at that. It seemed Firefly still didn't understand just what her appearance meant.

"Let me give you an example. If someone who only existed in a painting suddenly appeared in front of you one day, how would you react?"

Firefly folded her arms and pondered Lin Yu's question.

"Hmm... If it were me, I'd be surprised and wonder whether I was hallucinating or something."

"Exactly! That's how you make people feel right now!"

"When you first appeared in my home, Firefly, I thought I was dreaming. Even now, I still wonder whether I'm caught in the Dream of Ena."

"The shock of a character from a game you play suddenly appearing in reality is like spending ages with your wife, only for her to drop a bombshell on you one day! She's actually a man! That kind of shock!"

"So that's how it is. But what was that example you gave, Lin Yu? I'm having a little trouble understanding what you're saying."

"Uh... No need to dig into that. You just need to understand the point!"

Lin Yu coughed awkwardly and hurriedly changed the subject.

Because even he felt he had no idea what nonsense he was spouting. Bizarre, and without any basis whatsoever! He wanted to slap himself. He had nearly been a bad influence on Firefly!

"Ahem! We're getting sidetracked, getting sidetracked. Let's leave that for now."

"From now on, just wear this wig when you're going somewhere crowded. You don't need it when you're just wandering around nearby."

Firefly nodded as she committed Lin Yu's instructions to memory.

"Okay, I'll remember!"

Once they were done, Lin Yu helped Firefly take off the wig. After putting it back on the mannequin head, he picked up a comb and began combing her hair.

As he combed, something seemed to occur to Lin Yu, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Firefly, are you interested in anime conventions?"

Sitting obediently in front of Lin Yu, Firefly's eyes immediately lit up at the question, and she hurriedly replied.

"Yes! Yes! I'm really interested!"

Lin Yu: "Really? Then I'll take you to one when there's a convention."

Firefly: "Okay! It's a promise!"

Lin Yu: "Yep, it's a promise."

Lin Yu could already picture Firefly's cosplay when the time came.

Cosplaying myself? That's kind of interesting.

Once he had finished, Lin Yu checked the time and realized he was almost late for his part-time job, so he hurriedly started changing clothes and putting on his shoes.

Before leaving, he gave Firefly a task: play all kinds of different games. After all, they were going the hardcore speedrunning route, so she needed plenty of practice.

Of course, another reason was to give her something to do and keep her off the internet for the time being.

Lin Yu knew all too well how the internet worked. Something like this, with no concrete evidence to be found, would lose its buzz in a few days. He could let Firefly go back online then.

He would also have to teach her properly when the time came. Firefly would probably believe whatever people said online, so he absolutely couldn't neglect her education on that front!

Just as Lin Yu was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and turned to Firefly.

"Oh, right, Firefly. I'll register a Honkai: Star Rail account for you. You can play it when you have time. Maybe you'll find some clues about that voice."

"The account is the phone number of the phone I gave you. I wrote the password on a note beside the computer."

Firefly: "Okay, got it. I'll play it."

After giving her those instructions, Lin Yu left home and hurried to his workplace.

He wanted Firefly to play the game about herself for two reasons. First, she might discover something, since it was a place where she had truly lived. Second, he really couldn't find any relevant clues himself.

He had scoured the game and looked up videos offering detailed analyses of it, but he still had no leads whatsoever on the voice Firefly had mentioned.

Sigh... I've really done everything I can. All I can do now is see whether Firefly can find any clues.