Chapter 54: The Maid’s Debut and a Fragmented Past

The boys were all dressed in well-fitting attire, prompting Qin Dong to clap her hands.

“Maids, follow me inside.”

“Alright! Excellent!”

“Whoo—”

Amidst the boys’ excited shouts, the girls also entered the classroom.

Only Zhong Tian remained in the corridor, waiting.

“Zhong Tian, aren’t you changing?”

The few girls walking to the door looked at Zhong Tian.

‘Well, the maids are going in, so it’s perfectly normal for me, as a butler, not to go in with you all,’ he thought.

Although these thoughts ran through his mind, Zhong Tian certainly couldn’t voice them aloud, so he found himself in a difficult spot, stammering,

“I…”

“Zhong Tian will change after us.”

Qin Dong stepped in to explain, just in time.

Jiang Nanjin poked her head out from the classroom door, teasing,

“Hee hee, Zhong Tian is just shy, aren’t they?”

Zhong Tian nodded quickly, effectively agreeing with Jiang Nanjin’s assertion.

The onlookers seemed somewhat surprised.

Someone as ‘aloof’ as Zhong Tian was actually shy about such a minor matter.

‘Unexpectedly endearing,’ they thought.

The girls accepted this explanation and went into the classroom to change into their maid outfits.

Zhong Tian remained outside, waiting with the crowd of onlookers.

Everyone was filled with anticipation, except for Zhong Tian.

The girls took considerably longer to change than the boys—about ten minutes later, the classroom door opened.

A series of black and white figures emerged from the classroom.

The maid outfits were long-skirted, covering them quite thoroughly, yet the cinched waist design added a great deal of charm to the conservative dresses, highlighting the girls’ slender figures.

Unlike traditional maid costumes, the apron portion of these outfits featured more elaborate ruffles and small bow decorations, making them appear both cute and vibrant.

Worn by girls of varying styles, these maid outfits seemed to take on different temperaments, instantly captivating everyone’s attention.

Immediately, whistles and exclamations rang out, nearly echoing throughout the teaching building.

A few of the girls were not quite accustomed to such a lively atmosphere; Lin Han and Qin Dong, in particular, blushed and averted their gazes.

Only Yu Naixi remained perfectly at ease.

She looked at Zhong Tian, a half-smile playing on her lips.

“Zhong Tian, it’s your turn now.”

A chill ran down Zhong Tian’s spine, but his expression remained impassive as he secretly gritted his teeth and entered the classroom.

He retrieved the maid outfit lying flat in its box and spread it out on a desk.

He gazed at it for a long while, finally sighing as he unbuttoned his school uniform.

‘At least it’s better than the EVA combat suit from last time,’ he mused.

As his clothes slipped off, he felt his face flush, standing almost naked.

Changing in the classroom brought a strange, inexplicable sense of shame.

He quickly picked up the maid outfit from the desk and swiftly donned it.

****

Outside the classroom, the corridor buzzed like a marketplace.

The few butlers and maids had drawn the attention of everyone in the hallway, with even students from neighboring classes rushing over to watch.

“Class Three’s butlers and maids are absolutely stunning! Ah, why doesn’t our class have so many handsome guys and beautiful girls?”

“We’re not bad either!”

“Chen Chenchen and those Wu brothers are truly so handsome, wow!”

“I think Long Tao’s physique is quite alluring…”

“Right? Right?”

“Yu Naixi is the best! Yu Naixi is the best!”

“Stop being ridiculous! Zhong Tian is the best! Zhong Tian is the best!”

“They haven’t even come out yet, have they? Why are you shouting? Are you sick?”

“Little brother, your aggression is a bit much.”

……

As the crowd clamored, the door to Class 3-2 silently opened.

A figure in black and white slowly stepped out, hands clasped in front, and stood poised at the classroom entrance.

This non-traditional maid outfit became merely an accessory to the stunning beauty of the girl before them.

Her cool, elegant demeanor transformed its ‘moe’ elements into an aura of grace and refinement, making her seem truly like a maid from the British gentry.

This caused the fervently discussing crowd to fall silent.

But it was only for a moment before a tidal wave of cheers instantly swept through the teaching building.

“Wow—!”

“Wow—!”

“Wow—!”

“Is ‘wow’ all you can say?”

“What, are you a frog syndicate?”

“It’s like a symphony of frogs out here.”

“You’re so noble, dare you say it’s not beautiful?”

“Well, it certainly is beautiful.”

Listening to the fervent shouts around him, Zhong Tian silently took his place among the maids.

Having been tempered by the previous anime convention, he could now maintain a relatively calm composure while wearing a maid outfit in a crowd.

“Your face is a little red, Zhong Tian,” Yu Naixi teased, standing beside him.

Zhong Tian instinctively touched his face; it did feel somewhat warm.

‘Is it that obvious?’ he wondered.

“Do the clothes fit well?”

“Yes.”

“No problem at all.”

“Alright then,” Qin Dong checked the time on her phone.

“It’s getting late, everyone change back into your school uniforms and prepare to go home.”

“Okay!”

****

At five in the afternoon, as the dismissal bell rang, the clamor flowed with the crowds from the teaching building towards the school gate, and the building gradually quieted.

Zhong Tian, who disliked mingling with crowds, chose to leave later, leaning against the corridor wall and gazing abstractly at the people below.

Li Jianren hadn’t left yet either.

Seeing no one else in the corridor, he walked over to Zhong Tian’s side and, mimicking him, looked down at the crowd.

“Why haven’t you left yet?”

“I’m staying in the dorm tonight anyway, so I’m not in a hurry.”

“No evening self-study tonight, aren’t you going home?”

“It’s too far, I’m lazy.”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to walk back.”

Li Jianren smiled, then turned his back to lean against the wall.

“Taking a taxi is tiring too.”

“How is taking a taxi tiring?”

“Mentally exhausting.”

Zhong Tian was momentarily speechless, wanting to flick his glasses frame, but realizing he wasn’t wearing any, he instead tapped his forehead.

Li Jianren didn’t dodge, allowing Zhong Tian to touch him.

“Why didn’t you resist?”

“Mentally exhausting.”

“Pfft—Alright, alright, I’ll take it that you’re just mentally exhausted.”

Zhong Tian chuckled, returning his gaze to the crowd below.

As he watched, he remembered something about Yu Naixi.

“By the way, Ren, do you know about Yu Naixi’s situation?”

“Hmm?” Li Jianren countered.

“What about her?”

“I feel like she seems very familiar with me…”

“Huh?”

Li Jianren tilted his head to look at Zhong Tian, his face etched with confusion and disbelief.

“Old Zhong, is there something wrong with your head?”

“Huh?” Zhong Tian, suddenly ‘dissed’ by Li Jianren, felt utterly bewildered.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Yu Naixi, isn’t she our middle school classmate? She was even your deskmate, how could you forget that? Are you getting senile?”

‘Middle school classmate? Deskmate??’

Zhong Tian grew even more bewildered.

“No way… my middle school deskmate… was her?”

Zhong Tian tried desperately to recall, but found he couldn’t remember his middle school deskmate’s appearance for the life of him.

He couldn’t even recall the faces or names of other classmates besides Li Jianren, or anything that happened in middle school.

He only remembered that in middle school, before he began impersonating a girl, he had encountered a lot of trouble.

But what specific troubles, Zhong Tian had no recollection at all.

This feeling was incredibly strange.

It was as if all his middle school memories had been condensed into a single, generalized sentence.

And before this, he hadn’t realized it at all.

This…

“Jianren, tell me about my middle school days,” Zhong Tian quickly grabbed Li Jianren’s shoulder, speaking somewhat losing his composure.

“Especially about Yu Naixi!”

“Huh? I don’t remember much either, you know I wasn’t really paying attention to class affairs back then,” Li Jianren said.

“I just remember you had short hair back then and weren’t impersonating a girl, and we had a pretty carefree time.”

“I recall you and Yu Naixi had a pretty good relationship, and there were even rumors that you two were a couple… well, maybe, I’m not certain.”

Zhong Tian released his grip, took a step back, his brows furrowed deeply.

If what Li Jianren said was true, then he shouldn’t have forgotten that period of his memory!

How could his recollections have become like this?

‘Could it be that I used my ability one day, and a side effect caused my memory to become like this?’ he wondered.

‘Or perhaps…’

He considered a possibility.

Yu Naixi also possessed special abilities.

She had modified his and Li Jianren’s middle school memories.

If this conjecture was true, then the seriousness of the matter far exceeded his initial expectations.

He needed to find a way to verify it, and also figure out Yu Naixi’s purpose in doing all this!

Zhong Tian looked up at Li Jianren, only to find him frozen in place, motionless as a statue.

His vacant eyes stared at something behind Zhong Tian.

Zhong Tian followed his gaze, but only saw a flash of golden light.

****

“Being too clever isn’t always good, Zhong Tian.”

Golden light flickered in Yu Naixi’s eyes as she looked at the two figures frozen before her, shaking her head.

“Making you forget was also for your own good.”

Yu Naixi reached out, gently stroking his long sideburns, as if lost in thought.

‘Delete the cognition: [Zhong Tian suspects Yu Naixi is an ability user].’

‘Delete the cognition: [Yu Naixi is a middle school classmate].’

‘Delete the memory: [Discussed middle school past with Li Jianren in the teaching building after school today].’

‘Delete the memory: [Saw Yu Naixi in the teaching building after school today].’

‘Delete…’

She continued to modify, but a nosebleed gushed out without warning.

A sudden wave of dizziness washed over her, and Yu Naixi stumbled back a couple of steps.

Using her last reserves of energy, she restored their motor functions, then staggered quickly down the stairs.

Fighting off the dizziness, she reached an deserted corner of the teaching building.

She sank to the ground, panting softly, her consciousness gradually pulled into the swirling, distorted world before her eyes.

‘Still couldn’t… clean it up completely…’

Ultimately, she could not resist the dizzying sensation and closed her eyes.

****

Zhong Tian blinked, looked at Li Jianren leaning against the wall, and felt a strange, inexplicable sense of incongruity.

He then asked,

“What were you just saying to me?”

“I said I was mentally exhausted.”

“Oh, right…”

He felt as if he had forgotten something he wanted to say.

“I’ll head back first then.”

“Alright, alright, see you later.”