Chapter 52: Moonlighting as a Temporary Guide
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 52: Moonlighting as a Temporary Guide
"Thank you..."
"Stop with the 'thank yous' already. Try to be more optimistic," I interrupted. Now I finally understood how people felt when I kept thanking them—it really was a bit annoying.
"Ah... sorry. I just don't know how else to... anyway, the way I am now..."
"Well, as thanks, why don't you give me your contact info?" I continued with a slight smile. "The more friends you have, the more paths open up to you. Let's be friends, how about it?"
"Thank you... for wanting to be my friend..."
"Why are you thanking me for that too? Do you seriously not have any friends?" I asked, lightly supporting her as we prepared to leave. She looked so pitiful and helpless, like she’d just been violated—which, in a way, she had. She’d been bullied by a Senior Sister the moment she stepped into the Academy.
"I really don't have many friends. The others were just classmates..."
"Why do you sound so jaded, like you've given up on the world? You've only turned into a girl; it's not like you've been castrated. But since you don't have any friends, I'll let you in on a little secret: a girl's pleasure is dozens of times greater than a boy's~"
I leaned in close and whispered with a mischievous grin. I hadn't actually experienced that myself, but that didn't stop me from messing with her. It was just talk, after all.
If she ever came to me one day to call me a liar because a girl's pleasure is actually hundreds of times greater, then I’d know she’d tried it. Then I could ask her if she’d been doing naughty things all by herself. See? Checkmate.
Quan Xiuzhu’s face flushed bright red at my words, and she looked completely flustered.
"I... you... I'm not going to try that!"
"I'm just telling you. I didn't say you had to try it. Unless... you actually really want to?"
"No! Not at all!"
I didn't push her further after hearing her response. I hadn't expected Quan Xiuzhu to have a bit of a tsundere side. Maybe I could try to nurture that trait in her.
Even though the tsundere trope felt a bit dated to me, trends always come back around. Who knows? Maybe being a tsundere would become popular again.
"Alright, alright. We still haven't added each other. Where's your phone?"
"Um..."
Quan Xiuzhu pulled her phone out of her pants pocket. I was actually shocked—the phone had survived all that?
But as soon as I took it, I realized something was wrong. "Not this phone. The one the Academy issued."
"The Academy issued one?" Quan Xiuzhu asked, confused.
"You didn't get it?" I asked, equally confused.
"Was I supposed to? I only know that I..."
"Okay, okay, let's not bring up painful memories," I interrupted before she could continue. I was honestly furious at the Senior Sister who had scouted her.
How irresponsible! To just dump someone here after registration and leave them to their own devices?
"Okay..."
I led Quan Xiuzhu out of the alley, though we exited from the opposite side. I didn't know my way around perfectly, but I had a general idea of where the registration point was.
It shouldn't be far.
Surely that Senior Sister wouldn't have dragged her that far just for some Witchification play?
"By the way, it's evening now. Are you hungry?" I turned to ask.
"I'm... okay..." Quan Xiuzhu seemed preoccupied with her phone, only following me because I was leading her.
However, once I mentioned food, the realization seemed to hit her. She got hungry fast, even if she tried to act tough.
Unfortunately, her stomach wasn't as stubborn as her mouth.
The sound was faint, but I heard it.
"Don't force it. If you're hungry..." I looked around. This street was different from the one I’d walked down earlier; there weren't many places to eat.
"Forget it, I still have some snacks. Use these to tide you over." I handed her the bag of snacks I was carrying. The grannies had stuffed them into my hands while we were chatting. I’d only eaten one and had planned to save the rest for a late-night snack in my dorm.
"They're a bit cold, is that okay?"
"No... thank you."
"I told you, no need for thanks. Honestly."
I handed her the bag, keeping only the one I was currently eating. Looking at her, I wondered how long she’d been starving.
Surely it hadn't been that long?
When I finally led Quan Xiuzhu back to the registration point, I found that the Senior Sisters were still there. It looked like they were stationed there around the clock.
After all, no one knew when a Senior Sister might show up with a "recruited" New Student.
"Quan Xiuzhu, are you sure you registered here?"
"Yes." Quan Xiuzhu nodded firmly. It seemed she had a clear memory of being forced to come here.
"And you didn't get a phone. So, after you finished registering, that Senior Sister just... uh... she didn't do anything else?"
"No."
"So irresponsible! Seriously." I acted indignant on her behalf. Since she had already registered, I took her straight to the counter to claim the phone.
"Hello, Senior Sister~ I'm here to help my friend pick up her phone. The Senior Sister who guided her here just vanished after registration. I'm so sorry for the trouble."
"Mm, go ahead. Just don't take more than one." Seeing my polite attitude, the Senior Sister agreed. While they weren't super strict about the phones, they couldn't just let people take extras. No matter how many phones they had, they couldn't afford to waste them.
"Thank you, Senior Sister~"
After giving her a sweet thank you, I spoke up again. "Um, Senior Sister, we're both New Students. Where can we go to charge these phones?"
"Charging? Go get your Room Card. You should be able to do it in the dorms," the Senior Sister said bluntly. She clearly had no intention of helping us charge them there. I’d been hoping for a freebie, but no luck.
After saying goodbye to her, we continued with Quan Xiuzhu’s enrollment process.
I didn't give up, though. After asking several more Senior Sisters, I finally found a kind-hearted one willing to give the phone a quick charge. It wasn't much, but it was enough to turn it on.
"Here, your phone. The Academy System inside is very important; you probably won't be able to survive your studies without it." I handed the phone back to her. "I've already added myself as a friend. If anything happens, you can message me directly. I'll reply as soon as I see it."
"Thank you." Quan Xiuzhu took the phone, though she still seemed reluctant to part with her old one.
"What's wrong?" I noticed her looking at her old phone with a sense of urgency.
"There's no signal..."
"No signal?" I instinctively looked up. Even from here, the massive rift in the distant sky was hard to miss.
Looking at it now, though, the rift seemed almost entirely repaired.
Had the old phone signal vanished again?
"Yeah... I can't contact my family..."
"That's normal. The Academy would never let you leak information about this place. You understand that, right? The outside network can't find anything related to the Witch Academy. Your old phone is basically a brick now. Try the new one."
"Can the new phone contact the outside world?"
"Unfortunately, no. But it works perfectly fine within the Academy." I shook my head, crushing her last shred of hope. I could see the light die in her eyes.
"Don't be sad. The Witch Academy is a great school. We were bound to encounter the Transcendent world eventually. The Academy just puts us on a different path. Maybe you should give it a chance."
"But... but it wasn't supposed to be like this!" My words seemed to hit a nerve, and Quan Xiuzhu shouted instinctively.
"Hey! Keep it down! Do you want everyone to watch you like a side-show?"
"Um... sorry... I'm sorry..."
Quan Xiuzhu snapped out of it and quickly covered her mouth, reining in her emotions. It seemed her self-regulation was actually quite good; at least she accepted the reality quickly.
She didn't try to kill herself, and she didn't have a total breakdown.
I guess for someone who just turned eighteen, the idea of death is still too heavy a burden.
After that, Quan Xiuzhu and I slunk away to go collect her Room Card. It was almost night, and she couldn't exactly sleep on the street.
The thought of what might happen if some random Senior Sister "picked her up" was a little too terrifying to contemplate.