“Hahahahahaha— I’m dying! Hahahahahaha—”

“What are you laughing at?! No laughing!”

Li Mo grabbed a wad of napkins from the table, crumpled them up, and hurled them hard at Liu Shishi across from her.

Then she noticed Zhang Wanting beside her was holding back a laugh too, so she grabbed another napkin and smacked her with that one as well.

This was all Tang Zhe’s fault, that dumbass. Whenever he sent voice messages, he basically shouted into them. Li Mo had never expected that on the rare occasion he did send one, it would be this kind of hysterical roar. Even with her phone volume turned down, the two girls across from her still heard every word loud and clear. She was dying of secondhand embarrassment on the spot.

“To be honest, don’t think you’re hiding it that well. The only reason you haven’t fully blown your cover is because Tang Zhe is way too dense. Seriously... pfft.”

“You’re still laughing?! Are you done yet or what?!”

Fuming, Li Mo took a huge gulp of the lemon tea on the table, only to get hit by the sourness so hard her face nearly twisted out of shape.

Still Tang Zhe’s fault. All because he said she’d gotten fat. Now she didn’t even dare order milk tea at a milk tea shop, and she didn’t even dare add syrup to her lemon tea.

“But seriously, Li Mo, you’re actually super obvious most of the time. The second you’re around Tang Zhe, your whole personality turns completely girly. The fact that he’s never gotten suspicious is honestly amazing.”

Mm. As expected, Zhang Wanting was the best. Once she said she’d stop laughing, she really stopped, and even started talking seriously.

“That’s because we grew up together. He’s known since we were kids that I was a boy, so even if he thinks I act kinda girly now, he’d never actually think I’m a girl.”

Li Mo stirred the lemon slices in her cup with her straw, but thinking carefully about Tang Zhe’s weird behavior over the past few weeks...

“Hm? Since you were kids?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Crap. She forgot the most important part.

It wasn’t until Zhang Wanting questioned her that Li Mo remembered that when she was little, she really had been treated as a boy. But in other people’s eyes, that wasn’t the case at all.

“He was really wild as a kid. Like, insanely wild. My dad was scared he’d bully me, so he told people I was a boy. Then I just got used to it.”

“And then you just kept pretending to be a boy all the way until now? You’re so weird.”

Liu Shishi muttered under her breath.

“You’re the weird one!”

Still, it looked like she’d barely managed to patch up the lie. Thank god Liu Shishi, as class monitor, didn’t ask anything even stranger, like about school records or something.

Even though it had been changed now, it hadn’t been changed before. If Liu Shishi’s memory had been even a little better, Li Mo would’ve had no way to talk herself out of this.

“I’m weird, you’re weird, so the two of us should cuddle.”

“Quit it. I’m replying to messages.”

Using one hand to mash Liu Shishi’s lovestruck face away and block the incoming lip attack aimed at her cheek, Li Mo struggled to reply to Tang Zhe with her other hand.

“I’m not hooking up with her or anything. She just wanted to talk to me about something. I’ll head back to school in a bit.”

In a bit.

Yeah right. Only an idiot would believe that.

Tang Zhe definitely wasn’t buying her nonsense. Li Mo’s mom had very clearly told him that Li Mo had gone to the central plaza with the class monitor to get milk tea.

In that case, he might as well head over there and hit up an internet café nearby. It was only a few bus stops from school anyway. He could play for two hours, then head back to campus. And while he was at it, he could catch her in the act. Maybe he could even drag that guy back as gaming slave labor and make him help with the event.

He’d specifically spent money just to meet the entry requirement for the event dungeon. There was no way that money was going to waste.

Poor Li Mo had no idea Tang Zhe was already on his way over. She was still happily chatting away with one pervert and one new friend, dumb as could be.

“Oh right, Li Mo, did you change your name?”

“Huh?”

Zhang Wanting’s sudden question caught Li Mo completely off guard. Just a second ago, she’d still been chatting with Liu Shishi about the super pretty girl who’d been sitting behind them earlier.

“I didn’t change my name.”

The name didn’t match.

“But when I went to the office before to help Teacher Zhu sort materials, I saw that the second character in your name was mo, like foam. But I remember it used to be mo, like stranger, right?”

Wow. She’d literally just been thinking how lucky she was that nobody had asked about this.

“Ah, yeah... right. Since it was the final year before the college entrance exams, I guess they were still using the old records before. My parents probably told the school to change it back now. I never changed my name. It’s always been this name. Hahaha...”

Half coaxing, half bluffing.

“Momo is cute, and your name is cute too. As expected, you’re still the best. Come here, let me cuddle you~~”

“Oh, screw off. Weren’t you just saying black stockings and long legs were the best thing ever?? Get lost, get lost. My mommy told me not to play with trashy girls.”

Using the same method as before, she smacked the pervert away again. Sure enough, her parents had been right. Hanging around a female hooligan like Liu Shishi meant there was always a chance of getting assaulted out of nowhere.

How was a lifeform like this even allowed to exist in the world?

“Hmph. That just means your horizons are too narrow. Your big sis here isn’t trashy. I’m just affectionate.”

“Momo, your hair’s a mess. Big sis will redo your hairstyle for you.”

“Don’t make excuses to try and take advantage of me. No thanks.”

“I’m joining too. Your bangs are a mess. Just looking at them is triggering my OCD.”

To Li Mo’s surprise, Zhang Wanting came over too, grinning as she joined in. This time Liu Shishi was oddly generous. The two girls got up and wandered behind Li Mo, then started fussing all over her head with their hands. Li Mo protested in every possible way, but her body was much more honest and didn’t struggle much at all.

Well, really, the moment she tried to resist, Zhang Wanting hit her with a sharp “Don’t move!” and a merciless knock on the head, which instantly made her behave.

Sigh, whatever. She’d just let them do it. Anyway, she’d have to fix it back later when she put on the wig before returning to school. Once she got back and took the wig off, her hair would still be a complete chaotic mess.

“Hm?”

But just as the two of them were enthusiastically going wild on Li Mo’s hair, her phone rang again.

Tang Zhe.

Without suspecting anything, she picked up right away and pretended to sound a little impatient.

“What?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m outside talking to Liu Shishi about something.”

Oho, the boyfriend’s calling.

Since they were right behind her, the two gossip gremlins had already started making noise the second Tang Zhe’s name showed up on the screen. Li Mo could only roll her eyes helplessly. Liu Shishi was one thing, but she hadn’t expected Zhang Wanting, who seemed so reserved and aloof at school, to be this much of a gossip too. Girls really were this kind of creature. Impossible to understand, impossible to understand.

“My ass. Your mom told me straight up you came to the plaza to drink milk tea with her. Where are you? What’s so good about milk tea anyway? Come game with me. I need you to carry me. I haven’t done a single event run yet.”

“Huh??”

Since when had Ms. Wang gotten this good at selling out her own daughter one move after another??

“When did I ever come drink milk tea with her??”

“Holy crap? Don’t tell me you really got together with her?? You’re seriously not enough of a bro. You hid something like this from us. It’s not like we’d do anything to you. Seriously.”

He couldn’t accept this. Why the hell could even Li Mo get a girlfriend?

“What are you even talking about? I told you, I’m not dating her. What exactly are you misunderstanding here?”

Li Mo felt wronged. Why would this idiot believe her mom, who only ever sold her out, but not believe her? Seriously...

“Exactly, exactly. Li Mo already has someone she likes. I, Liu Shishi, am not the kind of person who steals someone else’s love. So don’t worry.”

By now, Liu Shishi had pieced together what they were talking about from Li Mo’s side of the conversation and Tang Zhe’s earlier voice message, so she frowned at the phone and added that line.

Liu Shishi, you idiot, you’re making it worse!

“No, that’s not—”

“What? You’ve got a secret crush on some girl? Damn, and I didn’t even know? You’re seriously not enough of a bro. I can’t believe you really betrayed the bros and the game. Man—!”

“No... I don’t... actually, it’s... ah...!”

Li Mo was going insane.

For fuck’s sake! Why were jealous guys even more unreasonable than girls?!