Chapter 88 : Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Educating the New Housemate

Looking at Dongli Yiren, I noticed her demeanor from the initial shyness when the senior brought her here to the lack of basic courtesy when meeting me, a fellow freshman.

Perhaps there were indeed unavoidable factors, like her gender transformation, which must have impacted her greatly and required time to process.

But did I really need to keep catering to her?

Compared to Quan Xiuzhu, she felt different.

At the very least, she hadn’t even said a single “thank you” so far.

Though, I think she did say “sorry” once.

In any case, if she didn’t realize this and continued acting this way, it’d feel like I was bending over backward just to watch her make a fool of herself.

That wouldn’t do.

“You’re asking me? Could you maybe say it again in a more polite tone? After all, this is something seniors usually take you to get.”

“This… could you please tell me where to pick it up?”

Clearly, after a moment’s hesitation, the lure of “free” overcame her pride.

Whatever prompted her to say “please,” it seemed this housemate was still reasonable probably.

“Of course. Let’s go now. Do you know how to use the phone? I mean the one issued by the academy.”

“I do.”

Dongli Yiren nodded.

As expected, living in this modern society, even a new phone was easy to figure out for young people after a bit of tinkering.

“You don’t need to come with me. Just tell me where it is, and I’ll go myself uh I mean, I don’t want to trouble you.”

“But I’m free anyway. Are you sure? Do you even know how to get there? It’s not exactly close.”

“I’ll take the bus. The senior who brought me here used it, and I know it’s free,” Dongli Yiren nodded again, politely declining.

“Alright then. I hope you don’t run into any creepy seniors on the way,” I said with a smile.

I’d assumed the senior who brought her came by broom since she left that way, but apparently, they took the bus.

It didn’t matter to me.

If she didn’t want me to go with her, I wouldn’t insist.

Clinging to her might make things worse, or maybe she was concerned about the whole boy-girl thing?

Whatever it was, I’d let her be.

My initial excitement about a new housemate was fading fast after this interaction.

It seemed I was pretty bad at making friends, even when I was proactive.

“C-Creepy seniors?”

Suddenly, Dongli Yiren let out a startled yelp, nearly making me jump.

I hadn’t expected her to react so strongly and successfully spooked.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

I looked at her, and she seemed like she was having some kind of trauma response.

Had she already encountered a creepy senior?

No, she probably had like the one who brought her here.

“N-No… nothing… I was just wondering, are there a lot of creepy seniors in the academy?”

Dongli Yiren instinctively denied it but asked in a slightly trembling voice.

“Hm? Probably a fair amount,” I said, noticing she wasn’t faking her reaction.

I hadn’t actually met any creepy seniors myself well, not ones who were creepy toward me but that didn’t stop me from teasing her a bit.

“Besides, a lot of seniors in the academy are very interested in freshmen who used to be boys but became girls. You should be careful. You’re pretty easy to spot, and those creepy seniors have sharp eyes.”

As I said this, I thought of Senior Ying Shiqian and the others.

I’d hidden it so well, so how did they figure it out?

“W-Well… maybe I won’t go out…”

After some thought, Dongli Yiren stopped in her tracks.

“What? Are you that scared of creepy seniors? If I may ask, have you…”

“No! I haven’t been… I mean, nothing happened!”

Before I could finish, Dongli Yiren cut me off.

Her sudden rebuttal made things awkward for both of us, and she seemed to realize her reaction was a bit much.

Wasn’t that basically admitting it?

So, she’d already been messed with by some senior.

I wondered if they’d tested her “depths.”

She was a freshman, so probably not, right?

“Alright, how can you pass up free stuff? I’ll go with you,” I said, standing up from the sofa, brushing the wrinkles from my clothes with a smile.

“If you come with me, I won’t run into creeps?”

Dongli Yiren asked, still a bit worried.

“There’s two of us, and I know spells.”

As I spoke, I tugged at the Badge on my chest.

Was it my imagination, or was there already some curve there?

The change was happening faster than I expected visible after just a few days.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“This is one of the four-piece sets, the Badge. It has a solidified spell on it. You haven’t picked yours up yet, so you wouldn’t know, but I have one. With an offensive spell, other seniors will be a bit wary. Don’t worry,” I said with a smile.

I knew full well that older seniors likely had more powerful spells and protective magic.

The solidified spell on my Badge might not be enough, and I hadn’t even tested its power yet.

But for comforting Dongli Yiren, it was sufficient.

At that moment, Dongli Yiren stared intently at the Badge on my chest.

I instinctively covered it with my hand.

Her gaze was a bit too intense.

“Ah… s-sorry, I was just looking at the Badge…”

Dongli Yiren quickly realized her behavior was rude and apologized, her face flushing slightly.

She’d only wanted to gain that power quickly.

If she got the four-piece set, she could learn spells and protect herself.

Maybe even get revenge?

Was that possible?

“You can’t do that! It’s rude, even if it was a misunderstanding!”

I scolded her, then glanced at her chest in retaliation.

She was a girl now, so I could look back.

But it was still so flat.

When hers grew, I’d have to check them out myself.

I’d keep that thought to myself for now revenge could wait.

“Sorry, sorry, please take me there,” Dongli Yiren apologized again.

If she’d only cared about the free items before, now she had another reason to get them.

It was the first extraordinary power she could access before the semester started.

It was also her means of self-protection.

She didn’t want to miss this chance over something trivial.

“Ugh, what am I going to do with you? You just said you didn’t want me to come along,” I said, crossing my arms and teasing her.

Now that she was asking me, I could afford to be a bit playful.

I could see her desire for the Badge.

Having it meant accessing extraordinary means.

Combined with her reaction to “creepy seniors,” I had a rough understanding of her now.

“Sorry, I was too immature earlier. So… shall we go?”