“Whew… finally changed.”

After days back in skirts, Dongfang Chen felt a hitch in his chest, like a bird snagged by brambles. Boys’ cloth scratched like bark, not cloud-soft.

Thump-thump-thump!

Footfalls hammered the hall, like a drumline rolling in a storm.

“Huh? What’s that sound?”

“Pervert spotted! Go die!”

“Hah?”

Bang! The changing-room door flew open, like a dam bursting under floodwater.

A small blonde figure stormed in, eyes like drawn blades. Her fury crackled like dry straw catching fire.

“Eh? Xia—”

“You sneaked into my Master’s changing room. I won’t give you a chance to live!”

“W-what?!”

Dongfang Chen’s eyes blew wide, panic rising like cold tide up his spine. He’d forgotten to tell Kaka he could turn into a boy.

In Kaka’s eyes now, he was a creep who’d slipped into a girl’s changing room, a shadow with dirty hands.

“Pervert, go die! Awooo!”

Kaka bared her “fangs,” a little wolf flashing ivory, and lunged like a shooting star across black water.

A dogkin girl’s pounce-and-bite was lethal, a trap springing in tall grass.

They say every year, thousands who try to molest dogkin girls end their bloodlines, like branches cut from a tree. Dongfang didn’t dare meet her head-on.

He slipped aside like wind slipping through reeds.

“Don’t run! Awooo!”

Kaka missed and snarled, small hands clawing like hawks diving for prey.

“N-no! Kaka, it’s a misunderstanding!”

“Hm? How do you know my name? Doesn’t matter! Steal my Master’s underwear, and I won’t forgive you!”

“Ugh!”

Kaka moved too fast, lightning on a short fuse. Dongfang twisted with everything he had and barely dodged those snapping teeth.

“It’s really a misunderstanding! Kaka, I’m Yue Liuyi!”

“Woof! You dare impersonate my Master! I’ll eat you this time!”

Hearing her beloved Master’s name used so casually, the little blonde’s tail went ramrod straight, like a golden banner in a gale. She looked like a tiny, vicious golden wolf.

“I really am Yue Liuyi! R-right! At last night’s story time, I fed you little cookies… remember?”

“Huh? Little cookies… how would you know that? Don’t tell me—”

Hearing him name last night’s secret, Kaka froze, like a deer caught in moonlight.

“Yeah… Kaka! This is… one of my disguises. I really am Yue Liuyi.”

He raised both hands in surrender, like laying down spears before a shrine.

…

After a bit of explaining, Dongfang Chen finally untangled it all and proved he was Yue Liuyi.

“Woof? Master can switch between boy and girl? That’s amazing, like changing masks under lantern light!”

“You think it’s amazing? Mostly, it just causes trouble, like tracking mud into a clean house.”

Against his fears, Kaka didn’t hate his boy-self. Relief washed him cool, like shade after noon sun.

“Kaka doesn’t think it’s trouble. It’s cool, like a hero stepping from fog!”

“But it confuses people. If it’s not necessary, I’ll avoid turning into a boy.”

“Woof? Master, you changed because you need to do something?”

“Mm… I’m buying medicine for Little Rose. Kaka, while I’m out, can you watch the shop?”

“Woof, of course! Leave it to me!” She plopped down neatly, tail swishing like a metronome.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t mistake me for a suspicious guy, okay?”

“Woof! Kaka has your scent down pat, like a song stuck in my nose!”

Leaving the Moon Post Bookstore to Kaka, Dongfang Chen stepped out with a heart light as paper.

…

“Man… it’s been a while since I went out in boys’ clothes.”

He walked the street and forced his stride to square out, like a pine standing straight, hoping not to draw eyes.

The Moon Post Bookstore sat by the edge of town in the Winterwood District. The pharmacy he needed lay nearer the glassy heart, in the office district.

It was still morning. The streets flowed with people, a mild tide under soft sun. Last night’s violent rain was a spent thunderhead.

He crossed an old stone bridge, worn smooth as river bones. At his ear, water chimed bright as bells on a breeze.

A battered work truck rattled past, a scarred beetle crawling to mend storm wounds.

Residents heaved water-stained sandbags from their doors, like lifting dull boulders, then swept away the rain’s footprints.

“Thinking about it… it’s been a long time since I came this way.”

At a fork, he stopped. Forward was the pharmacy, a straight road like an arrow.

Up the side path lay Saint Stonehorse Middle School, his old haunt, a hill of memories under dusty sun.

Would the familiar view bloom again, like spring grass through last year’s ash? He wanted to look. The wish tugged like a kite string.

But he shook his head, a leaf refusing an easy breeze, and walked on.

“Buying medicine for Little Rose matters most.”

Through rain-washed Linelor City, bright as rinsed jade, Dongfang Chen drifted toward the city’s office district, a forest of glass and steel.