Chapter 32: The ‘Boy’ in a Skirt

Part One

The employee changing room is pure chaos.
Cola dodges and weaves in the cramped space, with Manager Nayuki hot on her heels.
Liuli cowers in a corner, hands over her head, trembling.
“No fishnet stockings, no fishnet stockings, no fishnet stockings…”

“Cola, behave! Put the clothes on! I dug these out of the wardrobe just for you!”

“No way, I’m a guy! I’m not wearing a skirt!”

“Perfect! That’s the vibe we want, so hurry up!”

“No, no, no! A regular skirt’s one thing, but that one’s way too short! You’ll see my underwear! It’ll blow my cover!”

“A trap’s gotta show a bit more skin than a regular girl to draw attention!”

“I refuse…!”

“Then this long skirt?”

“No way either! Why does a trap have to wear girls’ clothes?!”

“Because dressing more like a girl than actual girls is what makes a trap! How about this bunny girl outfit?”

“No! If someone recognizes me, I’ll get dragged to a hotel by some thugs at night!”

“Relax, just say you’re a girl, and they’ll lose interest!”

“What a hardcore trap fan!”

“Stop role-playing and put it on!”

“It’s not role-playing! Can’t you pick something less revealing?!”

“Then this landmine lolita dress!”

“No skirts, period…!”

“How about a qipao?”

“Those high-slit qipaos are basically lingerie!”

In her frantic escape, Cola thuds into the door, her head spinning as if she hit a solid yet oddly bouncy rock.

“Eh, should I not have come in? Wow, Miss Cola?!”

“Saeko, you’re here! Help me pin her down!”

“Eh? What? N-no, I can’t! She’d overpower me!”

“What’s your 172cm height for then?!”

“Stop, stop, stop… I’m exhausted…”
Cola raises her hands in surrender, collapsing onto Liuli’s lap, panting.
“Ha… huff… I’m done. Wait, dog girl… Saeko, you’re not working here, are you?”

“Y-yes, I’m Inukai Saeko, new hire. Please guide me, senpai!”

“…Huh?”

“She passed her interview yesterday, starting today,” Nayuki explains quickly.

“Eh?! Teacher Inukai?!”

“Liuli…”
Cola eyes her smooth, pale chin, twitching her lips.
“Don’t tell me you know her.”

“Eh? S-she’s our school’s PE teacher… No wonder her back looked familiar that day…”

“Huh? What?”

“N-nothing!”

“It’s Sakuratsuki-san…”
Inukai Saeko strokes her chin meaningfully.
“Oh, I get it!”

“Get what?”

“Nothing, I know nothing!”

“…I feel like you’re thinking something shady.”

“C-Cola, is it okay to talk to a teacher like that…?”

“Outside school, she’s not a teacher, right? Right, Saeko?”

“Just treat me as a regular employee.”

“But why’s a teacher working part-time…?”

“Because… teacher salaries are too low! Tutoring gigs are hard to find, ugh…”

“Don’t cry, what a mess.”

“Cola, stop stalling and change!”

“…I’m not wearing a short skirt!”

“U-um, Nayuki-nee, can I skip the fishnets too?”

“Hah?! Both of you hitting puberty or what? This is work!”

“As a teacher, I think making students wear this isn’t quite right…”

“Huh? Miss Saeko, you don’t want the school knowing you’re working at an underground live house, do you?”

“Sorry! I’m nothing!!”

“Hey, show some spine! What kind of teacher are you?!”
Cola grumbles.

“Sorry, this job’s super important to me!”

“What, owe some shady loan or something…?”

“U-um, how about Cola wears a regular sailor suit, Nayuki-nee…?”

“Sailor suits are too plain! Wait… oh—got it! You two wear matching sailor suits!”
Nayuki straddles her legs, smugly stroking her chin.
“Yup, perfect. Play sisters—one’s the older sister, one’s the trap brother…”

“Why am I the brother?”

“’Cause you’re shorter than Liuli.”

“Such a brutally honest reason.”

“So, it’s settled! Okay, Saeko, you’re with me at the ticket booth. Here, these are for Cola and Liuli. Saeko, your own clothes are fine.”

“No problem!”

“…Liuli, if you were a guy, would you wear a skirt?”

“Eh? W-what? Asking that out of nowhere… I-I don’t know how to answer…”

“Saeko… Teacher?”

“I’d wear it! Money’s no issue!”

“Your standards are so low!”

“It’s not like I’m selling my butt!”
Inukai Saeko declares righteously.

“Ugh… fine.”
Cola reluctantly picks up the sailor suit in front of her.
“I’m just not mentally ready… can I wear it tomorrow?”

“No escaping!”

“…Then, I’ll change later!”

“Why? Time’s tight—the stage bands are already here.”

“Uh, well… changing with everyone watching is embarrassing! Right, Liuli?”

“Eh? Y-yeah… but… I don’t mind if Cola watches me change…”

“Hey!”

“Alright, Saeko and I will step out. You two change.”

“Hey, wait!”

Part Two

Clutching the clothes, Cola faces away from Liuli.
She’s bold in casual chats, but when it comes to something “real,” nerves kick in.
Rustling sounds come from behind—Liuli changing.
When staying at Liuli’s place, Cola always slipped out quietly if she needed to change.
A tiny shred of conscience told her that, as a former guy, taking advantage of a girl’s body to sneak peeks wasn’t right…
Or rather, it felt beneath her dignity!
If she’s gonna look, it should be as a man, openly, confidently, from bottom to top, inside out!
Though she sees nothing now, her mind conjures steamy images.
One of her vampire powers is rear sight—seeing behind her, usually for combat to dodge sneak attacks.
But… it could be used to peek now…
Should she? No, no—she said she’d look openly!
Her mind wrestles.

“Cola… what’s wrong?”

“Ah… n-nothing…”

“Need help?”

“No, I’m good! Uh, why do you seem so close…?”

“’Cause I’m done changing… Mm, it’s a normal sailor suit, like from twenty years ago.”

“Looks good or bad?”

“Pretty nice, clean colors—just blue and white.”

“Blue-white bowl…”

“Mm? What?”

“Nothing, nothing… good it’s not striped… Cough, uh, Liuli, can you step out? I’m… slow at changing…”

“Eh? O-okay, I’ll wait outside. Ten minutes till we start.”

“Got it, ten minutes, alright…”

Cola exhales deeply, watching Liuli leave, finally relaxing.
“Ten minutes… maybe sit for five, should be fine…”

“The clothes are clean, with a faint scent—detergent?
No way these are the manager’s old clothes, right?!
Cola, you’re a noble vampire—how can a skirt make your heart race like stormy waves? This won’t do, the Na’vi will kill you… ugh, my brain’s a mess…”

Finally, with three minutes left, she resolves (mostly out of time), strips off her tracksuit, and nervously slips into the sailor suit, hands trembling as she picks up the pleated navy skirt.

“Um…”
The door creaks open, Liuli peeking in hesitantly.
“Cola, it’s almost time…”

“Wah!”
Cola instinctively buries her face in the skirt, like an ostrich dodging a predator.

“Eh? C-Cola, what’re you doing?”

In that moment, Cola realizes how mortifying this is.
Who buries their head in a skirt?!
It’s like she’s some repressed pervert sniffing it!

“C-Cola…?”
Liuli reverts to formal speech, stunned.

“I’m fine! Just… dust in the air, I sneezed! Haha… air’s so fresh…”

“…!?”

“Don’t look at me like I’m a freak!”

“T-the skirt’s not dirty, right?”

“Totally clean! You think it’s got my drool or something?”

“N-no, I didn’t think that…”

“Alright! I’m dressed!”
Brain on fire, Cola yanks the skirt on like pants—honestly, it’s just fabric, nothing special.

“It’s crooked…”

“Cough, like this?”

“Yup, good. And the shirt… don’t button it all the way.”

“Oh, oh…”

“Necktie’s not tied…”

“Ah, I don’t know how.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Liuli, help me.”

“O-okay, we gotta hurry.”

“Got it…”
Cola watches Liuli approach.
“Thanks.”

“Mm, there you go.”

“So fast…!”

“Mm… looks great, Cola~”

“Really? Whew… what now? Relax or…?”

“Mm… tense or relaxed, just be yourself. I don’t know why a sailor suit’s got you so nervous…”

“’Cause I’ve never worn a skirt!”

“Eh? Your school didn’t have skirt uniforms for girls? Ugh, so jealous…”

“Yeah, my school had loose tracksuits for everyone.”
For once, Cola loves Qingguo’s unisex uniforms…

“I see… Come on, let’s go, time to work!”
Liuli grabs Cola’s wrist, sprinting.

“Ah, w-wait, don’t drag me, I’ll fall, I’ll fall!!”

Character Card

Inukai Saeko: 19 years old, sports college graduate, 172 cm tall, D-cup.