While slurping instant noodles, I kept thinking how to get Xia Xi to go to school with me without a fuss.

I pictured her cold face back in her room. She really didn’t want to go back, did she? To her, school was a monster.

No good. I couldn’t think of a single way.

My head ached a little. Even the noodles tasted bland.

If I just drop some hollow “life advice,” she’ll kick me out like today. But besides talking, what else can I even do?

Drag her to school by force?

If that worked, Auntie Cai would’ve done it long ago.

What should I do?

“Ugh, I got nothing!”

I tugged my hair in frustration, then finished the noodles in a few bites. I leaned back, my back against the chair.

“Why does it have to be me? That girl’s not even my anything. And it’s not like she listens to me.”

I kind of regretted agreeing. But I only grumbled in my heart.

I’d said yes. So I could only bite the bullet.

Wait… hold on…

It doesn’t have to be me. There’s someone better.

I grabbed my phone and opened my contacts. Only a few numbers. I tapped the top one, the one I called the most.

Beeep… beeep… beeep…

After a while, the call connected.

“Hello, this is Jinmu.”

“Editor-sama, I need something.”

Yep. I called Miss Jinmu. If school was a monster to Xia Xi, then Miss Jinmu was her literal nightmare. Let’s see which one scares her more.

“Is it work-related?”

“Uh… no. But it’s super important.”

“I refuse.”

Miss Jinmu cut me down without mercy.

“Come on!” My voice went up a notch. “Please. It’s really important.”

“My, it’s rare to hear Chidori-sensei begging so sincerely.” She paused. “Fine. Say what you need.”

“It’s about Xia Xi…”

“Xia Xi?”

“Ai-Loli-sensei.”

“Mm. Go on.”

“Turns out she’s my classmate. But…”

I kept it short and laid it all out. I stressed how she was bullied at school and didn’t want to go. I even leaned on my wording to paint her as a helpless, pitiful girl, hoping to poke Miss Jinmu’s sympathy. “…So, Miss Jinmu, could you come help talk to her? Make Xia Xi go to school.”

I talked until my throat went dry. Her voice stayed icy. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m hanging up.”

“W-wait! You haven’t said if you’ll help.”

“Sigh…”

She let out a sigh over the line. “It’s bad enough I’ve been stuck overtime at the editorial department all day. Why should I sacrifice my off-hours for this?”

“Call it a good deed for the day! People who do good are the cutest.”

“Wha—! Flattery won’t work on me!”

She still answered in that cold tone. “Fine. I’ll go. After I get off work.”

“Thank you so much! Do you need the address?”

“No. I know Ai-Loli-sensei’s current place. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

Beep.

I did a little fist-pump to cheer myself up, then headed out to Xia Xi’s place again.

Auntie Cai looked surprised to see me. “Zong Jun, you’re here again? What’s up?”

“I want to try again. Talk to Xia Xi properly. Get her to go to school.”

“It’s late. Tomorrow’s fine too.”

I bowed my head a little. “Please let me talk to her again.”

She smiled and nodded. “You kid… Auntie’s really glad you care this much. Go on up and find Xiaoxi. Do you need a key?”

That line flashed me back to earlier, when I walked in and saw Xia Xi in just her panties. My face heated a little.

“No need, Auntie. I’ll just knock.”

I went in, headed straight upstairs, and knocked on Xia Xi’s door.

Her voice came from inside. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Zong Jun.”

The door swung open. Xia Xi stood behind it. “Took you long enough. If you’re paying with your body, at least act like it!”

“…Can you talk like a normal person?”

She grabbed my arm and dragged me in. “Get in. If you don’t serve me right, I’m not letting you go.”

…

I wisely kept quiet.

Her room was pitch-black. Looks like after Tian Yao and I left, she killed the lights again.

I flipped on the lights, and she still complained. “It’s too bright. How am I supposed to work?”

She only grumbled once, then grabbed a laptop for me. She pressed the power button, then hooked up a new graphics tablet.

A graphics tablet isn’t a pen display. A pen display shows what you draw on the screen. A tablet only shows it on the computer monitor.

She swept a pile of clothes off her desk and onto the floor. Then she set the laptop down, worked a wireless mouse, and opened her line art. It was all black-and-white. No color yet.

“You pick screentones. Lay the base colors. I’ll color the clothes myself. Easy, right?”

“I don’t get it…”

“Hopeless. I’ll show you once.”

She called me an idiot, then took over the mouse.

It did look straightforward. Her software had tons of screentones to pick from. Screentones set mood or silhouette for backgrounds. On characters, they add depth. It’s a practical trick.

Base colors use the fill tool. But raw fills look ugly. For proper sheen, you need gradients—different values of the same hue. For a total newbie like me, that’s too hard. So she told me to leave that part to her.