Chapter 9: Unadjusted to Her Height

(Part One)

July 23, 2025, Wednesday.

The familiar alarm blares, irritating Cola, who barely slept last night and flips over in annoyance.
The ringing persists.
She forces her eyes open, reaches out from under the cool AC blanket, swipes at the phone screen, and retreats back.
Why couldn’t she sleep?
Because… she shared a room with a cute girl!

Even with Liuli on the couch and Cola on the bed, separated by several steps, her mind ran wild after lights-out.
All night, she imagined Liuli sneaking over, slipping into her bed, maybe even accidentally kissing her in a roll-over.
From Liuli’s behavior, she seemed very interested in Cola—maybe this vampire fanatic would lose control and do something shameless in the middle of the night?

Even as a girl now, Cola figured she wouldn’t say no if Liuli made a move.
But—
Nothing happened!
Cola tossed and turned, unable to sleep, half-expecting Liuli to crawl into her bed.
She only dozed off near dawn, exhausted.

Beep, beep, beep—
The phone vibrates again.
Cola, now with a spark of morning grumpiness, bolts upright to see why this airhead phone is making noise again.
“Ugh… my second alarm…
So annoying…”
She shuts it off, flops back, but despite barely sleeping, she can’t fall back asleep.

It’s 6:30 AM.
The rising sun casts soft light into the room.
A few clouds drift lazily, carried by the breeze.
Unable to sleep, Cola glances at Liuli on the couch.
She’s sprawled out, one arm dangling, drool trickling from her mouth—deep in sleep.

“No sneak attack despite such a perfect chance.
Guess her ‘liking’ me isn’t that kind of liking…”
Cola mutters, recalling last night’s anticipation.
She wants to burrow under the mattress in embarrassment.
If someone could read minds, her social life would be over.
—Not that it’s that dramatic.

Like any modern person, when sleep won’t come, Cola grabs her phone.
Her mind’s foggy, but scrolling is second nature.
First, she checks the weather—back in language school, she always checked for rain.
“High of 30, low of 26… not bad, not too hot…
Sunny, south wind level 3… basically no wind.”
Cola mutters, rolling over, propping her legs up, and holding the oversized phone with her slightly chubby hands, swiping away.

She opens QQ—nobody’s messaged her, which bums her out.
On Zhihu, seventeen or eighteen replies, mostly people joking about revoking her citizenship.
Then Tieba, checking a news thread she commented on—using a VPN, so most replies are just “Shanghai bro, V me 50.”
She flips to the language school’s international student group.
Dead silent, but last night’s flame war lingers.

Same old topics: “Japan’s radioactive, I’m going home,” “Little pink’s brainwashed,” escalating into “If Japan had won, we’d be Qing dynasty” versus “You traitors.”
Honestly, hating on the homeland is common among students here.
Cola used to jump into these fights, finding them fun, but realized they just repeat the same lines.
Boring.
Weirder still, these sworn enemies get along fine at school, some even hang out together.
Purely arguing for the thrill.

“Phew…”
Cola tosses the phone aside, rolls off the bed, and checks her clothes from yesterday—hung under the AC, now dry.
“Grr… cute fangs, red eyes, silver hair, ancient vampires are just perfect… mmm…”

“Talking in her sleep?”
Cola glances at the still-snoozing Liuli, her eyelids twitching.
“No wonder she’s a vampire fanatic, even dreaming about them…”

“Honored Cola-sama, can I… use you freely?”

“Huh?!”
Who’s using who here?!

(Part Two)

8:00 AM.
Cola’s morning routine wakes Liuli, who shuffles to the bathroom.
Her routine’s quick—just face wash and sunscreen, no extra makeup.
Both have packed and are doing final checks.
Cola’s next step is handing the keys to the apartment manager downstairs to complete the move-out.
Utilities will auto-deduct from her bank card.

“Let’s go to Maebashi.”

“Okay, Miss Cola, we leaving now?”

“Yeah… wait, why’re you at the window?”
Cola stares at Liuli, perched on the windowsill, baffled.

“Eh?
Can’t we vampires fly?”

“We can.”

“Let’s fly back!”

“No way.
Tokyo to Maebashi is over 100 kilometers.
I’d die of exhaustion.”

“Eh?”

“Take the train.
You can rest, it’s chill, and we’ll get there easy.”

“Ehh—”

“No matter how many ‘ehs’ you throw, I’m not flying.”

“Are ancient beings just lazy?”
Liuli’s big almond eyes twinkle with a teasing tone.

“You wanna fly, fly yourself.”

“No way, don’t leave me!”

“Then let’s go.
Hurry, main entrance.”

“Can we fly down from here?
It’s not far.”

“It’s broad daylight, too conspicuous!”

“Oh, right…
How do we get down?”

“Walk… to the elevator, ride it down!”

(Part Three)

9:00 AM.
Dragging their luggage, the two reach Akihabara Station.
With iPhones, they can tap in with NFC—no tickets needed, and they can link to Qingguo bank cards.
So much easier for getting around.
Japan doesn’t support QR code entry, and buying tickets during rush hour means queuing.
Ticket machines sometimes spit tickets back out, requiring multiple tries.
Train cards are handy but easy to lose or forget to top up.

When Cola first arrived, it drove her nuts.
No wonder she switched to an iPhone fast—its transit convenience alone was worth the price.

“Miss Cola, how do we go?”

“I’m checking transfers…
F*ck (kuso), too many transfers!”

“How about my route back to Maebashi?”

“Fine, let a local guide me.
I’m done with this crap navigation.”

“Okay, okay…
Let’s take the Yamanote Line from Platform 2 to Ueno!”

“Got it.”
Cola switches hands on her chest-high suitcase, shaking her sore wrist.
“By the way, I’m curious—why are Japan’s ticket gates always open?
Aren’t they worried about fare-dodgers?”

“Eh?
Why think that?”

“Why not think that?”

“Miss Cola, you’re not Japanese, are you?
Oh, right, probably not.
You look Eastern but kinda Western…
Russian?”

“…My citizenship’s Japanese now.
Before, I was always… &@ese.”

“&@ese?”

“Yup.”

“Wow, pure Eastern vampire?
So I’ve got that bloodline too?”

“Kinda…
Wait, you didn’t answer.
Why don’t they worry about gate-crashers?”

“If someone passes without swiping, the gates close.”

“They’re open, though.
Can they react that fast?
Wouldn’t closing and reopening make more sense?”

“Opening’s too slow.
They just close when someone sneaks through—super quick!”

“F*ck, that’s how it works?
I had no idea.”

“Maybe you never saw anyone try?”

“Japanese are pretty disciplined in some ways…”

“How about &@ese?”

“Depends on the situation.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Flexibly disciplined.”

“…Huh?”

“Ahem, &@ese joke.
You wouldn’t get it.”

Cola doesn’t go out much, usually just hitting Akihabara’s electronics street for merch.
Train transfers are a headache.
With Liuli leading, she just follows, feeling much lighter.
Platform 2 is packed, with plenty of foreigners.
Their body odor lingers, a bit overwhelming.

“Train’s at 9:19, nine minutes away.”
Liuli glances at Cola, slumped on her suitcase, worried.
“Miss Cola, you okay?”

“Fine… just too short now.
Weaving through crowds makes me dizzy…”
Cola shakes her head.
Before, she towered over everyone, seeing only scalps.
Now, she’s lucky to see the backs of heads…

“Did you just rejuvenate or something?”

“Rejuvenate?
Uh… kinda…”

“Let’s move up, there’s a vent.
It’ll feel better!”

“Ugh, okay, lead on…”