Su Tong and Su Tong had agreed to meet outside Su Tong's house.

The homeroom teacher had gone out of his way to speak with Su Tong in private, spending ages reminding him to take good care of the girl, be careful when they went shopping, and keep a reasonable distance. They were students, after all; there couldn't be anything inappropriate between a boy and a girl…

In short, he went on and on, doing his best to keep his tone and manner within the bounds of what a normal homeroom teacher might say to a student.

Su Tong could only pretend to listen obediently.

He might not like school, but he respected the old homeroom teacher, a hardworking man who struggled to support his family. So even though his grades weren't great, he always took part in class activities.

That was why the two of them got along fairly well.

But that wasn't enough to convince him to happily accept this assignment.

So when Su Tong stepped through her wrought-iron front gate, escorted by her two little maids, she looked up and saw the boy standing there with a gloomy, annoyed expression.

She didn't seem to mind, though.

After all, there probably wasn't anyone in the world who understood the boy better than she did. His mood, his thoughts—she could tell what was going on in that little head of his just by watching his eyes dart around.

No one knows a son like his mother!

Su Tong had no idea he'd somehow spawned himself a mom. He only felt a murderous aura rising right in front of him, and in his alarm, he instinctively looked up.

And there she was.

It wasn't as scorching as midsummer anymore. The weather had even started to cool, so today Su Tong wore a loose dark-blue sweater with white stripes, a black pair of cropped culottes, dark-gray ankle socks, and little leather shoes. She'd let her long hair down, straightened it, and topped it off with a beret. Then she picked up her blue-and-white piglet bag and headed out.

It was a far cry from the simple outfits she wore to school.

At school, she dressed to suit the setting: a simple pleated miniskirt and white shirt. Even then, her outfit had caused quite a stir among the students in their blue-and-white tracksuits.

Luckily, today was a day off.

After living two lives, she was in her forties or fifties by now. Other people might not think much of it, but Su Tong really didn't want to dress like a little girl and bounce around. Her everyday style leaned more mature.

Just like now.

She waved for her little maids to head back inside. The Xinhua Bookstore was on the shopping street not far from home, so they could walk there instead of driving. And with Su Tong accompanying her, nothing should go wrong. There was no need for the two maids to come along.

The two little maids obediently went back inside. Nia, the silly big sister, kept glaring at Su Tong the whole way, her face full of suspicion.

Su Tong didn't pay her any mind.

His attention was still on Su Tong… but he didn't dare look at her directly. He only stole a quick glance before lowering his head, at least managing to look calm and unbothered on the surface.

But who could say whether a storm of boiling, churning waves was hidden beneath that calm?

No one knew.

Su Tong gave the boy a meaningful look, then immediately put on a sweet smile and raised a hand in greeting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Su Tong.”

“Mm… It's fine.”

The boy thought he'd given a perfectly proper answer, but Su Tong furrowed her brow and wagged her index finger at him.

“No, no. A gentleman shouldn't talk to a girl like that. I'll let you off for not offering to carry my bag, since we're not that close yet—but you should at least have naturally complimented my outfit and told me I look pretty today, right?”

“…”

Was this woman a little too full of herself?

The thought had barely crossed Su Tong's mind before he quickly squashed it.

No. She had every right to be that full of herself.

The girl before him, who shared his name, was both beautiful and cute. She had the playful charm of a young girl, yet also a certain mature, seasoned allure—as if she'd weathered the years. The first was easy enough to come by, but the second… How had this woman combined two such opposite qualities into something so dangerously captivating?

Su Tong couldn't understand it.

Of course he couldn't.

The little boy liked reading all kinds of fantasy novels, but he was still a young man raised on scientific thinking. How could he possibly guess that the soul inside the girl in front of him belonged to his own self, thirty years in the future?

That was just too unscientific.

So all Su Tong could do was blush under Su Tong's teasing and quietly look away.

Then repeat after her:

“Mm… You… do look really pretty today.”

After all, repetition is the essence of humanity.

Su Tong didn't mind that. She nodded in satisfaction… then suddenly looked the boy up and down twice before narrowing her eyes and teasing him with a mischievous smile.

“I do look really pretty, but you, Mr. Su Tong, haven't exactly dressed to match me. If you walk around by my side like that, won't people think you're my little errand boy… or my bodyguard?”

Su Tong's face turned bright red.

Because she was right.

Su Tong wasn't dressed extravagantly. In fact, her outfit was pretty everyday. It was just that she had the kind of presence that could pull off anything—even a sack.

Su Tong, on the other hand, was another matter.

The boy had figured he was only going out to buy a couple of books. Besides, he hadn't wanted this assignment in the first place, so why bother getting ready? He'd thrown on whatever clothes were lying around, hadn't even washed his hair, and showed up to wait for Su Tong looking like a bird's nest.

Now that the two of them were standing together, well… it was a beautiful flower stuck in a pile of cow dung, plain and simple.

As the saying goes, you don't know what you've got until you see it next to something else—and that was even more true when the comparison was with a little fairy as stunning as Su Tong.

The little boy was so mortified he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.

But Su Tong, the big sister, didn't look down on her little brother.

She just reached out and patted the boy on the shoulder, grinning mischievously.

“I get it, I get it. It's you, after all. Of course you wouldn't care about this sort of thing. Don't worry—if you don't know how, your big sis can teach you. I'll turn you into a smooth ladies' man who can charm a whole crowd without getting tied down. You'll conquer City No. 1 High School, strike a pose, and have all the cute girls throwing themselves into your arms. How about it? You can enjoy the dream life with a whole harem~”

Su Tong didn't strike a pose. Instead, he shuddered all over, and when he looked up at Su Tong again, his expression had changed.

If he had to sum up the poor kid's gaze, it would probably be…

[I didn't know you were this kind of person, Su Tong!]

Su Tong's sense of shame had already shattered and blown away in her previous life, and her skin was thick enough to stop bullets. Naturally, she didn't care about the boy's judgmental stare.

She laughed until she was finally done, then tilted her face up toward the 1.85-meter-tall Su Tong and waved a hand.

“All right, all right. I'll stop teasing you… Shall we get going?”

“…Mm.”

Su Tong gave a short, embarrassed reply.

A faint curve appeared at the corner of the girl's rose-colored lips. She turned and pointed toward the nearby intersection, full of energy.

“Then—let's go!!!”

[To be continued]