Chapter 15: Maid Cafe Mayhem and Memories

His tears streamed down, snot running freely, as he desperately begged the divine figure before him for mercy.

Yet, in the azure depths of Tian Lanxing’s eyes, there was only icy indifference.

As the spatial rift sealed shut, his piteous wails abruptly ceased.

Only the Abyssal Seed remained, falling solitary to the ground.

Having accomplished her task, Tian Lanxing casually waved a hand, dispelling the restraints on Lin Xiaolu.

‘My senior is so cool…’

Lin Xiaolu gazed at her, utterly dazed.

That performance, in particular, was so convincing.

If she hadn’t known her senior’s true nature, she surely would have been fooled.

“What are you still gawking for?”

Tian Lanxing extended a hand, gently stroking Lin Xiaolu’s head.

“Hurry along now. It’s time to go back and write your self-reflection report.”

“Huh?”

Lin Xiaolu was utterly bewildered.

“Write a self-reflection report about what?”

“A report on how you disobeyed my orders and nearly caused a major catastrophe.”

Tian Lanxing cast a glance at her, though there was no real blame in her tone.

“Still, your courage has grown considerably, and for that, you deserve some praise.”

Lin Xiaolu beamed with delight.

It seemed her senior no longer disliked her quite so much.

Blushing, she nodded vigorously.

“Yes, Senior!”

****

A few days later.

Gu Qing hung up Qin Lan’s call, seething with frustration.

He had originally believed that, with the school’s mole exposed, his undercover days would finally be over.

He had envisioned finally shedding the accursed school uniform skirt, collapsing onto the sofa with an ice-cold beer, and watching some insipid late-night television.

However, a single sentence from Qin Lan shattered his fantasy.

“No, you must continue your infiltration.”

“The waters of Holy Sakura Academy run deep. We’re uncertain just how far the Successors of Dawn have infiltrated, and this teaching director might merely be the tip of the iceberg.”

“Your mission is to remain at the school as Bai Shiyu, ensuring student safety while identifying any other potential threats.”

Gu Qing cursed aloud.

“Protect them? My foot!”

That woman spoke as if she had no skin in the game (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘zhanzhe shuohua bu yaoteng,’ meaning to give advice without understanding the difficulty or consequence, or to speak carelessly from a position of comfort.).

Did she have any idea how utterly disgusting it was to be surrounded by a bunch of snot-nosed kids, constantly addressed as “Classmate Bai”?

He truly wanted to dunk all their heads into a toilet.

Yet, he did not refuse.

After all, his daughter also attended this school, and with him keeping watch, she would indeed be safer.

****

Not long after, Holy Sakura Academy’s annual Academy Festival arrived.

The entire campus shed its previous oppressive atmosphere, becoming noticeably more cheerful.

In the classroom of Class 1-3, a man with a receding hairline stood at the podium, encouraging the students to speak.

“Classmates, the Academy Festival is a tradition at our Holy Sakura, and a splendid opportunity to showcase our class’s spirit. Please, everyone, speak up with any good ideas you may have.”

The classroom immediately buzzed with excitement.

“Let’s do a haunted house! It’ll be absolutely thrilling.”

“How cliché! There’s a haunted house every year. I say we hold an e-sports competition instead; I’ll carry everyone to victory!”

“Please, with your ‘Iron’ rank, you think you can carry anyone? In my opinion, food is the most practical. How about a takoyaki stall?”

Gu Qing rested his head on the desk, propping his chin with one hand, utterly uninterested in the discussions of these little brats.

All he wanted now was for class to end so he could go home and lie down.

Being a high school girl was far more exhausting than battling Abyssal Beasts.

Just as everyone was locked in heated debate, the class monitor slammed a hand on the desk and stood up abruptly.

“I propose we open a maid cafe!”

At this declaration, the entire class fell silent for a moment.

The next second, all the boys erupted in excitement.

“Holy cow, that’s brilliant! I’m a hundred percent on board!”

“Maids! Maids! Maids!”

“Long live the wise class monitor! Long live the class monitor!”

Gu Qianqian, who had been napping at her desk, furrowed her brow, disturbed by the cacophony of wolf-like howls.

A look of disgust crossed her face.

“Vulgar.”

Her voice was soft, yet several people nearby overheard her.

Sitting beside Gu Qianqian, Gu Qing inwardly gave a thousand thumbs-up.

‘His daughter spoke wisely; it was indeed utterly vulgar!’

‘He, a grown man, was expected to wear frilly lace outfits and serve tea and water to a bunch of brats?’

‘They might as well just kill him.’

However, the class monitor, clutching a small notebook, had already begun enthusiastically assigning tasks.

“As for the ‘poster girls,’ they absolutely must be the face of our class.”

The class monitor scanned the room, finally fixing their gaze on Bai Shiyu and Gu Qianqian, who sat beside her.

“It’s decided! Classmate Bai Shiyu, Classmate Gu Qianqian!”

“With the two of you, our class’s revenue is sure to hit a historic new high!”

The boys erupted in thunderous applause.

“Just imagining Classmate Bai in a maid outfit… I can’t handle it.”

“Wuwuwu, to be served by Classmate Bai in this lifetime, I can die without regrets.”

Gu Qianqian’s face instantly darkened.

Gu Qing also nearly lost his composure.

‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Wearing a maid outfit was bad enough, but he was also supposed to be a ‘poster girl’?’

Having finally endured until class ended, Gu Qianqian grabbed Gu Qing, who was about to slip away, and dragged him to a corner of the corridor.

“Hey, I can tell you actually hate wearing maid outfits too, don’t you?”

Gu Qianqian thought that if Bai Shiyu voiced her opposition, given her popularity in class, they might actually be able to change the project.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gu Qing noticed several gazes furtively glancing their way, forcing him to maintain a gentle smile.

“For the sake of our class’s collective honor, isn’t this simply unavoidable?”

After that incident, the GSA had investigated the teaching director’s residence and discovered that the Abyssal secret message had not yet been sent.

It was a unique communication method of the Successors of Dawn, requiring preparation time for each transmission, with the advantage of absolute secrecy, rendering it completely undecipherable by the GSA.

This indicated that Bai Shiyu’s disguised identity might not yet have been exposed.

Since Gu Qing also didn’t know how much longer his undercover stint would last, he decided it was best to maintain his persona as a perfect honor student for now.

Upon hearing this answer, Gu Qianqian’s hopes were dashed.

She had thought this transfer student would have some backbone, just like her.

Instead, she was just another spineless follower.

“Hmph, boring.”

She tossed out the remark, turned, and walked away, leaving Gu Qing to stand disheveled in the wind.

‘Your dad doesn’t want to wear it either, but I’m being forced!’

Preparations for the Academy Festival were in full swing.

The girls in charge of costumes and props had purchased fabric and patterns online, intending to try sewing the maid outfits by hand.

However, while their ideals were grand, reality was stark.

Although sewing had been taught in their usual home economics classes, maid outfits proved far too complex for them.

“Oh dear, how did I sew this crooked?”

“This sleeve doesn’t seem to fit on, does it?”

“It’s over, it’s over, I cut this fabric wrong…”

The classroom was in utter chaos.

Gu Qianqian was also coerced into being responsible for one outfit.

Clutching a needle, she clumsily poked and prodded at the fabric, pricking her fingers several times.

“Hiss…”

Once more, she was pricked by the needle’s tip, instinctively putting her finger in her mouth, her brows knitted in a frustrated frown.

Watching from the side, Gu Qing felt a pang of heartache.

‘Ah, what a silly girl.’

He recalled many years ago.

Back then, he and Su Wanning hadn’t yet become magical girls.

Both were orphans with little money, and whenever their clothes tore, he would mend them stitch by stitch with a needle and thread.

Later, after Qianqian was born, she always loved to play wildly, and her pants were perpetually torn at the knees or covered in mud.

It was also he who, in the dead of night, carefully stitched cute cartoon patches onto her clothes.

These memories, he had thought he had long forgotten.

“Let me try.”

A voice spoke up.

Gu Qianqian looked up, gazing suspiciously at Bai Shiyu beside her.

“You?”

“Mm.”