I then felt someone poking me from behind.

  Once, twice, thrice.

  It felt familiar.

  Although Gong CaiCai was also standing from a position where she could poke me, she didn’t have the guts to do it. Even if she forced herself to poke me once, she would immediately apologize.

  For people I know very well (like my dad), I could tell who the person is simply by their footsteps. My body was already familiar with this uniform poking motion.

  Who else could it be other than Xiao Qin. She poked me like this when she was behind me at the flag raising ceremony, and she also poked me like this when I was helping her buy bread from the school store. One day, I’ll have to poke her back.

  I had no idea when Xiao Qin got behind me. Gong CaiCai was like a mouse who had just seen a cat and quickly scuttered away.

  For some reason, I really liked Xiao Qin’s attire.

  She didn’t have any accessories on her head other than a straw hat.

  It wasn’t as exaggerated as Luffy’s hat from One Piece as it had short brims. It looked cute and it was more of a short brim straw hat.

  The straw hat partially covered her from the sun and created sections of light and shadows on her white skin.

  The sunlight shining on her face made her two cheeks red.

  She pursed her lips up into a smile as if she had a good dream last night.

  Since the class leader instructed everyone to wear their class shirts, Xiao Qin also wore the white t-shirt.

  It wasn’t really because she listened to the class leader, but because she knew I would wear it. So if she also wore it, it would seem like we would be in matching couples outfit.

  But the 40 or so people coming are all wearing the same t-shirt, so there’s no way it counts as a matching couples outfit…


  As expected, the t-shirt was tight around the bust for the class leader and Gong CaiCai, but for Xiao Qin, it was like a gentle breeze running over a flat meadows.

  It basically meant she had no breasts.

  I thought it was better to be natural. I wouldn’t like it if she insisted on wearing padded bras.

  What was strange was that Xiao Qin was wearing a pair of jeans.

  Ever since she came to 28 Middle, Xiao Qin rarely wore trousers (she showed up one the first day in a skirt), unless it was school regulated pants.

  Jeans were even more rare, I don’t think Xiao Qin has ever worn them in front of me.

  But the first time we met up after three years (what I thought was going to be a duel), Xiao Qin was wearing her current pair of jeans when she confessed to me.

  It’s only been a semester, but it felt like a lifetime. Way too many things happened in the last couple of months.

  I never thought I would miss Xiao Qin’s jeans. Maybe I have a jeans fetish?

  Even if Xiao Qin had nice curves on her legs, it wasn’t as stunning as the class leader whose legs looked like a model’s. But I’ve been staring at Xiao Qin’s jeans for a while now…


  “My mom will scold me if I get my new jeans dirty…”


  At the time, when I obstinately considered Xiao Qin a boy, those were the words she said to me when she knelt down and apologized to me.

  The words kept playing back in my mind.

  Times have changed. Xiao Qin now works hard to become more like a girl. She would probably do anything I tell her to do like kneel down and apologize.

  But this wasn’t the Little Tyrant that was in my mind! It wasn’t the once invincible fella, where did you go?

  It wasn’t that Xiao Qin treated me badly, but I felt she was using her own methods to slowly chip away at the person I spent my childhood with.

  At the same time, it was chipping away at the opportunity I had to defeat the Little Tyrant fair and square.

  I then realized I originally wanted to become friends with the Little Tyrant.

  I would defeat him or at least reach his level of strength. Then he would change his views on me and call me strong.

  However, this idea was mercilessly shattered.

  An unknown attack knocked the Little Tyrant down.

  Like a shedding cicada, the reborn Xiao Qin stood up from inside of the Little Tyrant’s dry and cracked body as she shook off the pieces of the Little Tyrant that still remained on her shoulder.

  I still had trouble viewing Xiao Qin and the Little Tyrant as the same person, it was more like a reincarnation.

  More than once, whenever Xiao Qin has spoke or acted overly effeminately, I’ve had the urge to shake her by the shoulders and ask where the person from her childhood went and why she was becoming less like him.

  I know my thoughts are laughable and I know this isn’t Xiao Qin’s fault. The fault lies with me, but deep down, I still miss the far from perfect and hardly enjoyable childhood.

  What remains in my memories was the image of the Little Tyrant kicking me into a pit then turning around and running away/

  I really wanted to jump up and pull him down to let him have a taste of the dust and dirt at the bottom of the pit.

  The one who was pulled down by me was the poor Xiao Qin who only wanted me to love her.

  The Little Tyrant disappeared into the void after he defeated me. I had no way of looking for the traces he left behind on Xiao Qin.

  I like Xiao Qin wearing more neutral pants and I like that she covered her eyes with the straw hat. That way I can somehow see Xiao Qin’s past life when I look at her.

  Eh, we were supposed to have a happy outing, so why do I feel sad.

  And why do I like it when Xiao Qin dresses more gender neutral. Is it because deep down I actually do have homosexual tendencies and the one I love is actually the Little Tyrant?

  This is too pitiful, I actually got affected by Ai ShuQiao and performed a psychoanalysis of myself. Also, the psychotic Fang Xin once said the one I love most will die… his prophecy really came true: the Little Tyrant no longer exists in Xiao Qin.

  “Ye Lin classmate, what’s wrong.”


  Xiao Qin tilted her head and asked with a puzzled expression after I stared at her for a while without saying anything.

  “Are you hungry? I brought the love filled bento.” Xiao Qin pointed to her canvas bag, “I’ll let you eat it once we get on the bus.”


  Ah, why did I have to imagine the scene of the Little Tyrant making me a love filled bento? I have to be broken. I’m probably broken because I’ve interacted with Peng TouSi for too long.

  From a different perspective, should I be glad the Little Tyrant is a girl? Otherwise I might have walked down the gay path. Is it possible that on the day of the duel under the tree I was actually planning to beat him up, then take off his clothes and violate his ass?

  No, no, I’m already messed up enough. It’s all Xiao Qin’s fault, she hasn’t fixed her gender recognition issue and is now spreading it to me. I’m not even sure whether or not I wasn’t Xiao Qin to be a boy or a girl anymore.

  Xiao Qin didn’t take the usual route today, so I don’t know which way she came from.

  Niu ShiLi was also shocked when he discovered Xiao Qin suddenly appeared.

  “Huh, when did Xiao Qin get here? How come I didn’t see…”


  Eunuch Cao, who had also just arrived, cupped his hands together and greeted her: “Please excuse me for not greeting the master’s wife. Please forgive me.”


  Everyone knows Eunuch Cao calls me master. So when he publicly called Xiao Qin master’s wife, it was a hint Xiao Qin was my girlfriend. But everyone treated Eunuch Cao’s words as nonsense, so no one really believed him and thought Xiao Qin and I were only childhood friends.

  Xiao Qin, who still couldn’t talk to boys the same age, hid behind my back and made you want to protect her.

  But Xiao Qin wasn’t weak, she was probably stronger than me…


  Niu ShiLi bought a lot of root vegetables and some medicine yesterday. He was in a good mood ever since he arrived, then he said to Xiao Qin:

  “Xiao Qin, you look very healthy and energetic today, nothing like a sickly person.”


  Before he finished, Xiao Qin clutched her forehead and stumbled back like she had a heatstroke.

  I sighed with regret in my mind about the Little Tyrant’s passing and extended an arm to Xiao Qin.

  Xiao Qin gratefully accepted my offer and grabbed my arm, but she didn’t act intimately in front of the other students.

  As students slowly began to arrive, I checked my watch and it was almost 8:20.

  A van then pulled up next to the bus stop. After the doors opened, a slightly fat man jumped out and pulled out a few boxes of frozen meat from the vehicle.

  “Hey (cousin), be careful. If you damage it, what am I going to eat once I’m on the mountain?”


  Loud Mouth’s voice came from inside the van. She stood up from her seat and supported a long haired girl with sullen eyes slowly off the van.

  Who else could it be other than Zhuang Ni, the one who gives everyone else a headache and loves women but hates men.

  The class leader told everyone to quiet down, so she could do the attendance. But everyone thought it was a field trip and not actually a lesson, so they only lowered their voice a bit and kept talking among themselves.

  As for teacher Yu, once everyone completed their joke, they pretty much treated it like he wasn’t there. Every time they had troubles, they would go and talk to the class leader, and teacher Yu was happy with that.

  But this time, when Zhuang Ni descended, the one rumored to have a dark lineage, when she swept her empty eyes in front of her, every place it passed immediately turned silent.