"There's no going back. There's no going back anymore."
Zhang Zhaomu's face was full of sorrow. "I can never look at you with the same innocent eyes again."
Chen Zhenzhen was so annoyed she laughed, and was even a little speechless. "So it's my fault now?"
"Wasn't it you who insisted on giving me a makeover?"
"Don't!" Zhang Zhaomu waved his hands wildly. "Don't talk. Right now, your voice doesn't match how you look in my head. Let me get used to it."
Chen Zhenzhen rolled her eyes, but his reaction made her less embarrassed than she had been at first.
A hint of happiness she was unwilling to admit to even welled up inside her.
So... I really am pretty good-looking, right?
She should have been more confident to begin with.
Ever since she was little, people around her had praised her for being a good-looking child. In elementary school, the little boys had either given her lollipops every day or tugged her braids out of the blue to get her attention. One way or another, people had always been flocking around her.
Even when she had just started middle school, she had received several love letters in a single day.
Then she had met Zhang Zhaomu.
In Chen Zhenzhen's eyes, Zhang Zhaomu was an impressive person.
What middle schoolers considered impressive was simple: being good at studying, fighting, or making friends, for example. But Chen Zhenzhen didn't think Zhang Zhaomu was any of those.
At first, when they weren't very close, Chen Zhenzhen had always seen Zhang Zhaomu sitting quietly alone at the back of the classroom, eating alone in the cafeteria, and sneaking off campus alone to have fun. He had looked lonely as hell, yet he had always seemed happy.
Only after getting to know him had Chen Zhenzhen discovered how rich his inner world was. His mind seemed forever filled with wild, unbridled ideas, and he would come out with all kinds of outrageous remarks that people their age could never have come up with.
He never seemed troubled by negative emotions. Given his upbringing, it would have been normal for him to lead an unhappy, gloomy life, yet he had somehow pulled a stubborn, sun-facing flower straight out of the mud.
Hanging out with him was always a novel experience, and Chen Zhenzhen didn't think anything could make her happier.
So going without other people's compliments was no big deal, and putting away those pretty little dresses was no big deal either. Being unkempt was a compliment, a joy only carefree, easygoing people could understand.
Of course, Chen Zhenzhen knew some of Zhang Zhaomu's opinions were wrong. As they grew older, she could often sense his immaturity in certain respects, but that didn't conflict with her thinking he was impressive. Few people in the world could live the way he did.
For her, he was the only one.
"All right, I'm more or less used to it now."
Zhang Zhaomu's voice interrupted Chen Zhenzhen's thoughts. "At most, I'll just have to see you as a girl from now on."
Chen Zhenzhen: "?"
"So you never saw me as a girl?"
Zhang Zhaomu answered without much conviction. "Not entirely. Your gender is a fact, after all... It's a pretty subtle thing. A normal girl wouldn't hang around with me every day like you do."
"So that's changed now?" Chen Zhenzhen pressed.
"Just look at you..." Zhang Zhaomu's gaze drifted down of its own accord. "Chen Zhen, your new skin is a pretty drastic change. It's like Garen suddenly got an Ahri cosplay skin..."
That curious analogy nearly made Chen Zhenzhen snap.
What? I used to be a burly man like Garen in your eyes?
She couldn't help clenching her fists, but a stronger feeling inside her made her struggle to suppress the urge to beat him to death. "So... do you think the change is too drastic, and you'll just stop playing Garen altogether?"
"I wouldn't go that far." Zhang Zhaomu rubbed his chin. "Come to think of it, chasing people down and hacking at them with a giant sword while looking like Ahri sounds pretty cool. Wait, why do I get the feeling there's something more to what you're saying?"
"There isn't!" Chen Zhenzhen turned her head away.
Zhang Zhaomu looked at her and suddenly laughed. "You didn't duo queue with me last night. If you chicken out again tonight, I'm going to come downstairs and call for you."
"You wouldn't dare. My mom would beat you to death," Chen Zhenzhen muttered, her expression relaxing a little.
"True. Then, to make up for it, let's pull the same trick this weekend, fool your mom, and go have a good long battle at the internet café!"
Chen Zhenzhen pursed her lips. "We... we'll see."
He had seen through her little mood again. He was obviously such a carefree person, so how was he always so perceptive at times like this?
Anyway, no matter how his appearance changed, and no matter how her own appearance changed, everything else absolutely had to stay the same.
They still had to play games together for a long, long time, talk about all sorts of random topics, and do all kinds of boring but fun things together.
That alone couldn't change.
"Oh, right." Zhang Zhaomu glanced at Chen Zhenzhen's long, shapely legs. "It's been bothering me for a while. Didn't you forget to put something on?"
"I told you, every single piece of the outfit I picked out for you is crucial!"
"Heh." Chen Zhenzhen sneered to herself. His ability to adapt really was as strong as ever. Just a moment ago, he had been hung up on her new skin, but in the blink of an eye, he had completely accepted it and was even pushing his luck.
"You mean white stockings? I didn't buy any."
"No, you did. Come on, take them out."
"I really didn't buy them. Dream on."
"Fuck!"
Zhang Zhaomu wailed, "Without white stockings, this outfit of yours has no soul!"
"I really can't accept wearing that so-called filthy soul of yours on my legs," Chen Zhenzhen said coldly. "All right, you've had your look. I'm changing back now."
Zhang Zhaomu paused. "You're changing back? Don't you look pretty good like this?"
"I'm not used to it. I feel like everyone will stare at me." Chen Zhenzhen covered her chest without thinking.
She usually wore especially loose T-shirts and always copied the way Zhang Zhaomu used to hunch his chest and tuck in his neck, so it hadn't been too noticeable. But this shirt... was a little too showy on her.
"Hmm." Zhang Zhaomu spoke teasingly. "Doesn't that mean I'm the only person in the whole school who's seen you dressed like this? A girl who seems ordinary to everyone else is actually baby-faced with... ahem, a pure and sweet beauty. Thinking about it that way, it suddenly feels great to have you all to myself."
"Have your head!" Chen Zhenzhen finally couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed the soft flesh at Zhang Zhaomu's waist and gave it a vicious twist.
"Ow! Fuck!" Zhang Zhaomu's voice went out of shape. "I was wrong, I was wrong! I'll stop running my mouth!"
Chen Zhenzhen let go, fuming.
Zhang Zhaomu rubbed the sore spot, his face pinched with misery. "Chen Zhen, you really went hard on me."
"Serves you right! You're not allowed to say those four words!"
"Which four-ow, I know, I know! Stop pinching me!"
Zhang Zhaomu sprang away like a rabbit. Only when he was a safe distance away did he say aggrievedly, "I didn't even finish saying it. I only said two words..."
Besides, it's the truth! There's no more fitting description!