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Join the ServerThis is a dream. It has to be.
When the phone alarm went off, Lin Qingqiu jolted awake. He instinctively raised his hand and looked at his slender arm, the faint hair on it, the barely visible veins. He let out a long breath of relief.
So he hadn’t really turned into a cute girl in a school swimsuit…
Out of habit, he reached for the phone on the nightstand and grabbed a soft ball of fur instead.
He froze. He turned his head and saw Black Cat lying on the nightstand, utterly bewildered, with his hand clamped over their head.
He quietly pulled his hand back.
It was just an ordinary black cat. Last night had been a nightmare, nothing more.
“Good morning, meow! My Valkyrie!”
“……”
Lin Qingqiu pulled the blanket over his head in despair.
“The cost of transforming was bigger than I thought! You only lasted ten minutes before you passed out!” Black Cat nudged their head toward the lump under the blanket.
“Maybe I should give you special training? Until the gate to the Demon Realm opens, you’re the only one in this city who can protect it.”
“Modern technology is useless against demons. Only magic works on them! And you’re the only magical girl we have!”
Black Cat kept yammering. Lin Qingqiu got out of bed with a blank face, picked the cat up and set it to one side, and pulled his phone out from under its butt.
He glanced at the time and walked straight out of the bedroom.
“Where are you going?”
“To wash up. Then school.”
“There’s nothing worth learning at that crappy vocational school! Come save the world with me instead!”
“……”
Lin Qingqiu ignored them and headed for the bathroom.
He shut the door and locked it. While he was using the toilet, he looked down at his little brother and breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that the transformation was gone, he was back to just over 1.7 meters, and his faithful companion of so many years had returned!
Last night he’d genuinely been afraid he’d be stuck as a delicate, soft little girl forever.
Sure, that form was cute. But as a man, he’d rather have her as his wife than as himself… though he’d have to wait a few more years for that.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
He sighed and walked to the sink. He was about to brush his teeth when his eyes caught on the mirror and stopped.
He touched his cheek without thinking. His fingertips met smooth, soft skin. He pushed up his bangs, which had grown past his eyebrows, and bared his forehead.
“The pimples are gone…”
He was a night-owl otaku, and it showed. His skin was pale but never good: always a few stubborn pimples, heavy dark circles, a dull complexion. Now every flaw had vanished overnight.
He looked good!
He felt a little smug. He’d never have guessed that transforming into a magical girl once would leave him a clean-skinned, fair, handsome boy.
“Black Cat.” He was in a good mood but didn’t show it, biting back a grin as he opened the bathroom door and looked out. “Is this the magic? My skin cleared up.”
Black Cat was sitting dutifully outside the door, not peeking at the Valkyrie while he washed or used the toilet. They nodded.
“It’s the magic power! It remakes your body. Otherwise you couldn’t handle it, and you’d pass out in under ten minutes like last night.”
So he’d keep getting better looking?
In that case, being a magical girl wasn’t totally unacceptable, was it?
The corner of his mouth curled up despite himself. “How about I give you a name? It’s not great to keep calling you Black Cat.”
“After all, only girls can carry magic power,” Black Cat added.
“???”
Question marks floated over Lin Qingqiu’s head. “I’m a guy.”
“Right! That’s why the magic is remaking you into a girl~”
His composure collapsed. “You never told me that!”
Black Cat’s tail drooped pitifully. “I told you that you were the future Valkyrie… You know a Valkyrie can’t be a man. Why else did you fight it so hard last night?”
I thought that was just the title for when I’m a magical girl!
“Qingqiu~ I actually have a name, but if the Valkyrie wants to give me one, that’s fine too~”
“Little Black.”
“So lazy!”
Right then, all Lin Qingqiu wanted was to kick that big face. Did he look like he was in the mood to name a cat?
His brief good mood plunged straight to the bottom of an abyss. Wearing a blank face, he finished washing up, went back to his room, and shoved the red gem into the very back of his drawer.
“You have to carry it with you!” Black Cat objected at once. “What if you run into a demon?”
“I’m never transforming again.”
“If you get caught, with something that big…”
Before Black Cat could finish, Lin Qingqiu silently put the gem back in his pocket.
This cat had exactly one way to scare him, and it was always that same line!
If he ever did run into a demon, he’d throw Black Cat into the demon nest first. Let them find out about those huge tentacles for themselves!
Lin Qingqiu’s grades were bad. Compared to the top students who got into regular high schools, he was one of the leftovers who ended up at a vocational school.
The school was out in the county’s suburbs. Since a direct bus ran from his home to the campus, he’d skipped the dorms and commuted.
The bus stop outside the residential compound was already packed with students in school uniforms. As a vocational school student, he wore regular clothes.
He leaned against the billboard at the stop, looking at the novel that had updated last night on his phone. But he was too irritated to read, even his favorite one.
Black Cat trotted along at his feet, chattering nonstop. “The world’s about to end. Why bother going to school~”
“You’d be better off transforming and getting used to it, so you don’t pass out after ten minutes in a real fight.”
“I’m from the future, but I’m a creature made of magic. I can’t fight. I won’t be able to save you when the time comes.”
Lin Qingqiu turned away with a headache. He’d always liked quiet. Even alone, he never felt lonely. And now a talkative cat had stuck itself to him.
The worst part was that he couldn’t get away from it. All he could do was let the words go in one ear and out the other.
“Qingqiu! Have you had breakfast?”
He was already sick to death of Black Cat, and hearing this voice made him sigh even harder.
He lifted his head and said flatly, “Morning.”
“Why the long face this early?”
The speaker was a boy a little over 1.8 meters tall, one hand in his pocket, with a slightly delinquent air.
He had clean, short hair and a messenger bag slung over one shoulder. The moment he stepped into the bus stop, he flung an arm around Lin Qingqiu’s shoulders, cheerful as a golden retriever spotting its owner.
“I got a meat bun and soy milk on the way. Want some?”
“No.”
“Fine, starve… Hey, Qingqiu, did your skin get better? Let me touch it.”
“Get lost.”
This was Wang Chen. In truth, he’d known Lin Qingqiu for only about a month. Lin Qingqiu genuinely couldn’t understand how someone could be this naturally friendly, and he had no idea how to deal with it.
He turned his face away in distaste, moving his eyes off Wang Chen’s sunny grin. But then the black cat popped back into view.
“This guy’s pretty good-looking~ Hey, smile a little. Show some basic respect for a handsome guy!”
Wang Chen on the left, Black Cat on the right. All he could do was stare at the road.
His life was a complete mess…
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, What Are You Looking At? That's My Wife! is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : What Are You Looking At? That's My Wife!
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