Chapter 153: “Without a bath towel… how am I supposed to dry myself properly…”

Su Xiaoxiao pondered while using both hands  the clump of foam on top of her head.

Unknowingly, she shaped two white foam ears for herself—like cat ears sprouting from her head.

‘Maybe I should just borrow one from Lian? Wearing new clothes on a wet body would defeat the purpose, right?’

Su Xiaoxiao was about to reach for the doorknob when her hand froze in midair.

What if… what if Lian is in the middle of changing her skirt right now? Bursting in like that wouldn’t be good.

Su Xiaoxiao patted her own cheeks.

‘What am I even thinking…’

Knock knock…

Before opening the door, she knocked first.

From outside, Hua Ruolian responded immediately:

“Xiaoxiao? Is there something I can help with?”

“Uh… um, about that…”

Hearing Hua Ruolian’s voice, Su Xiaoxiao realized she was actually nervous.

She felt off today—her heart kept thumping wildly, like a little deer crashing around inside her chest.

She gently cracked open the bathroom door just a sliver.

Her petite body shyly hid behind it, only poking her head out.

“Um… do you have a bath towel?”

“Ah! I completely forgot about that. Let me think… I usually use it alone, so I don’t have any spares prepared… How about… how about I go to the balcony and give you the face towel I usually use to wash my face?”

“No, no, no—that’s not good. That’s your face towel. I’m going to use it to dry my body. If you could just lend me your bath towel for a bit, that would be perfect.”

“But… but I just used the bath towel to dry myself earlier. Giving it to Xiaoxiao now feels a little… not quite right…”

“Hm? What? You just used it to dry your body? You only got your skirt wet, so… what part did you use it on…?

No, no—don’t think about irrelevant stuff like that! As long as it can dry me off, any towel is fine.”

Su Xiaoxiao’s cheeks grew hotter and hotter.

She blamed it on the thick steam filling the bathroom.

“It’s okay. I’m using it to dry my body too. Or… do you actually have mysophobia, Lian? Ah, but don’t worry—I’ll wash myself thoroughly. Not to brag, but my body is pretty clean.”

“That’s not what I meant, I…”

Hua Ruolian had already finished changing into her skirt. She hesitated for a moment while holding the bath towel, then quickly turned toward the balcony.

“Then I’ll wash the bath towel first and give it to you!”

“Eh—then the bath towel would still be wet…”

“I’ll wring it out really well! If that doesn’t work, I’ll use the hairdryer.”

Su Xiaoxiao gently touched the foam cat ears on her head and nodded half-understandingly.

‘If there’s a hairdryer… why not just blow-dry my whole body…?

Ah no—wait, this is a bathroom. Using an electrical appliance like a hairdryer here is dangerous! —Kids, be careful, okay!’

A short while later, after handing over the freshly washed and wrung-out bath towel, Hua Ruolian pressed a hand to her chest, her face faintly flushed as she sat down on the edge of her bed.

‘Xiaoxiao really is so adorable. She’s just like an innocent little child—making cat ears out of soap foam on her head while taking a bath. So cute. Is she really a third-year high-school student?’

Meanwhile, the Su Xiaoxiao who had just received the bath towel was caught in an extremely complicated internal struggle.

Simply holding something that belonged to Lian made her mind restless.

It was like the pure, innocent feeling of a girl experiencing her first love—happy just from having their homework notebook placed next to hers.

‘Actually… becoming a girl… isn’t as bad as I imagined… right?’

“Yaah!”

All of a sudden, the bath towel she was holding slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor.

The soft, fluffy fabric playfully brushed against her skin.

A never-before-felt sensitivity shot through her body like an electric current, causing her to let out an involuntary娇 little cry.

‘Ah, damn it! Adapting isn’t going this smoothly at all! This is nowhere near enough! A girl’s body is way too troublesome!’

At the same moment, several kilometers away—at home.

According to this station’s report, at around 8 a.m. today in the central commercial district of Tantan City, tens of thousands of theater premiere flyers rained down from the sky.

This is suspected to be an illegal promotional activity by a certain organization. Local police have already received reports and are heading to the scene. Our reporters will continue to follow up…

In the living room, Su Xiao Zi was crunching away on potato chips she’d dug out from her brother’s room—hidden well, but still discovered by her expert snack-finding skills.

She happened to glance at the TV and caught a news segment, causing her to pause and fix her gaze on the screen.

It was Tantan City’s local news channel—the one that always sent reporters when there were abnormal incidents, major disasters, or serious crimes in the city, then broadcast the information to the public.

Normally she’d just glance over it while listening to what was happening elsewhere, but this time the words “Tantan City Central Commercial District, Luohe District” on the screen made Su Xiao Zi immediately set down her chips.

Tantan City was divided into concentric rings outward from the center. Luohe District was within the first ring—the very area where Su Xiao Zi lived, studied, and went about her daily life.

The scene behind the reporter on screen was the mall they usually went shopping at together. Those iconic neon lights made it instantly recognizable.

Just as reported, the sky was visibly filled with fluttering flyers scattering like confetti at a university event, blanketing the entire mall plaza in a thick layer—with no sign of stopping.

There were no hot-air balloons or airships visible in the sky, leaving no clue where the flyers were coming from.

Printed on each flyer was the name of a theater troupe no one had ever heard of.

Though called “flyers,” the paper only contained a few large lines of text:

At sunset, a dark and elegant round-dance theater performance will soon take the stage in this city.

The dead puppets will spread their wings and dance to their heart’s content.

Dear [Honored Guests], please be sure to arrive on time.

In the bottom right corner was a complex emblem—like some kind of crest.

The little night who was watching TV alongside her narrowed her eyes.

She removed her butler tailcoat, pulled her cap lower, immediately stood up, slung the large cello case from beside her over her back, and said:

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“Wait—wait! Is this something the Bloodkin did?”

Su Xiao Zi hurriedly grabbed her wrist and asked.

“Yes. And the situation is worse than usual. I recognize that emblem—one of the ten great legions of the Bloodkin: the Round-Dance Theater Legion. They possess the most bizarre combat power among them. Their legion commander is an extremely arrogant queen. We have to take this seriously.”

Shiver… shiver… queen?

Even though she looked like a girl barely over 1.6 meters tall, she was incredibly strong.

By all rights, with the Orderly barrier in place, even noble Bloodkin shouldn’t be able to enter. But if they’ve truly found a way to break through, we’ll need reinforcements. I’m going there first to assess the actual situation.

“Okay. Keep in contact. If needed, Tina and I will provide immediate support.”

“Understood. This is a serious crime notice directed at us. While I’m gone, Second Miss, please protect yourself at all times.”