After parting with Yilisi, Bai Ye had no choice but to tuck away her reluctance to leave.

She still had plenty to do. She couldn't afford to dwell on the sadness of their parting.

Bai Ye had come to Maple City for something important: to retrieve her weapon, the Radiant Moon Spear.

The Radiant Moon Spear was a cavalry lance, specially made for Bai Ye by An Jieli. Back when An Jieli led the knight order as the Black Night Knight, this was the very lance she used.

Though An Jieli had given the lance to Bai Ye, the two had a bit of a falling-out six months ago. As a result, the Radiant Moon Spear had been left in a dungeon outside Maple City, where it had remained ever since.

An Jieli didn't mind. She didn't want Bai Ye going to war anyway, so it didn't matter whether Bai Ye had the Radiant Moon Spear or not.

But after making up with An Jieli, Bai Ye had wanted to retrieve the lance. After all, An Jieli had made it especially for her. She couldn't just leave it behind.

For the past six months, though, An Jieli hadn't let her leave the palace, so retrieving the Radiant Moon Spear had been put off until today, when Bai Ye finally had the chance to get it back.

“Come to think of it, if I'm going into a dungeon, I should get some gear ready first.”

Before going to retrieve the Radiant Moon Spear, Bai Ye had a few preparations to make. First, she returned the carriage to the rental shop, then set out to find an armor shop and pick up some equipment.

“Hmm, this one will do.”

Bai Ye picked an armor shop, but before she could even go inside, she heard some strange voices coming from within.

“Heh-heh-heh. Little miss, your hands are so soft.”

“C-customer, please don't do that!”

Bai Ye froze. This had to be some thug harassing an innocent young woman. She needed to hurry in and stop it.

But what puzzled her was that both voices coming from the shop belonged to women. And one of them sounded very familiar—almost like one of her friends.

Bai Ye scratched her head. She was starting to guess what was going on inside.

“What are the odds?”

As she wondered, she quietly slipped into the armor shop and peeked inside.

Sure enough, what was happening inside was exactly what Bai Ye had imagined.

“It really is that girl!”

A red-haired girl stood inside the shop. Though she was a girl, she wore a lavish, flashy set of men's clothes.

Bai Ye knew her. Her name was Meijie, and she was one of Bai Ye's friends.

Meijie had no idea her friend had seen everything she was doing. She was still completely focused on teasing the shop assistant.

“Little miss, give me a kiss and I'll buy all the armor on this half of the wall. How about it?”

“C-customer, please stop joking around.”

“Joking? I'm not joking!”

Meijie wasn't joking, of course. She was very seriously flirting with the shop assistant.

Though Meijie was a woman, she was attracted to women—and had become the spitting image of a lecherous young nobleman.

Her status as both a woman and a noble meant people rarely turned her down when she pushed her luck. Just like now: she kept holding the shop assistant's hand. The girl looked uncomfortable, but still didn't pull away.

“Little miss, you know I'm someone important here in Maple City. Why would I lie to you? Just give me a kiss, and I'll buy everything on this half of the wall. Heck, I could buy the whole shop and give it to you!”

The shop assistant gave a wry smile. Of course she knew who Meijie was. Otherwise, why would she let Meijie hold her hand like that?

Because of Meijie's noble status, the shop assistant didn't dare speak too harshly. But asking for a kiss was going too far. She was straight—how could she possibly do something like that?

The shop assistant was in a bind. Fortunately, her troubles were about to end.

“Hey! Let go of that girl!”

A silver-haired girl entered the shop. She walked straight up behind Meijie, intent on stopping her from harassing the shop assistant.

“Tch, who is it? Can't you see I'm—”

Meijie was annoyed at being interrupted. Whoever had the nerve to ruin her fun was going to get a good talking-to.

Meijie turned around with a dark look on her face. But the moment she saw who was standing behind her, all thoughts of scolding them vanished. It was a girl—a breathtakingly beautiful silver-haired girl!

“Gulp…”

Meijie swallowed. She'd seen plenty of pretty girls, and had even gotten up close and personal with quite a few of them. But no one had ever made her heart clench like this girl did.

This silver-haired girl was unbelievably beautiful—so beautiful Meijie couldn't even put it into words!

She stood there with perfect poise, so lovely she hardly seemed of this world. If someone said she was an angel God had sculpted by hand, people would probably believe it.

Meijie had completely forgotten about the shop assistant she'd been teasing for so long. She had only one thought now: she had to get to know the silver-haired girl in front of her!

“You really haven't changed at all—”

Before Bai Ye could finish, Meijie grabbed her hand.

“Hey, gorgeous, what's your name? How old are you? If you don't mind, how about I take you out for a meal?”

“Huh?”

Bai Ye stared at Meijie's reaction in surprise. Then she remembered that she looked different now. Meijie had no idea who she was.

Bai Ye had planned to see Meijie while she was in Maple City anyway, and she hadn't intended to hide how her body had changed. But with so many people around, this wasn't the right place to reveal her identity.

She thought it over, then said to Meijie,

“You want to take me out for a meal? Sure. I know a nice restaurant. Want to go together?”

“Oh!”

Meijie hadn't expected her pickup line to work so well. The silver-haired girl looked so cool and aloof that she'd thought she'd have to work for it.

So when she heard Bai Ye's answer, she nodded emphatically without a second thought.

“Sure! Of course I'll come with you.”

Seeing how readily Meijie agreed, Bai Ye couldn't help shaking her head. She really hadn't changed at all—she still couldn't resist a pretty girl.

“All right. Follow me.”

Bai Ye led Meijie out of the armor shop, turned this way and that, and ended up taking her into a small alley.

She wasn't actually taking Meijie to a restaurant. She'd just made up an excuse to get her somewhere quiet, where she could reveal who she was.

“Hey, gorgeous, weren't we going to get something to eat? Why are we here?”

Meijie's imagination started running wild. The silver-haired girl had brought her to such a secluded spot—did she want to do something naughty with her?

No way. They'd only just met! This was way too thrilling!

“The meal was just an excuse. There were too many people around back there, so I made up a reason to bring you here.”

Meijie froze at Bai Ye's words. Had she guessed right? Did the silver-haired girl really want to do something naughty with her?

The thought brought a lecherous grin to her face.

“Heh-heh~ You could've just said so! Why not come back to my place? Well, it's not too late now. Come on, I'll take you home…”

As she spoke, Meijie reached out with a wandering hand to pull Bai Ye close.

But Bai Ye didn't indulge her. She slapped Meijie's hand away.

“Meijie, my face still looks at least halfway like it used to. You really didn't recognize me? You aren't doing this on purpose, are you?”

“Huh? What do you mean, halfway like it used to? What are you talking about?”

Meijie looked completely baffled. The girl was speaking the Empire's common tongue, so why couldn't she understand a word?

“Sigh… Take a good look at my face, then look at my hair. Do you know anyone else who was born with silver hair?”

At Bai Ye's words, Meijie rubbed her head.

“I do know someone with silver hair, but he's a man. He should be in the Royal Capital right now… Wait, come to think of it, you do look a bit like him.”

“I—”

Bai Ye pressed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. Meijie could think just fine when she was flirting with girls, so why did she turn into an idiot the moment anything serious came up? Had she used all her brains learning how to pick up women?

“You idiot! It's me, Bai Ye!”

“…”

Meijie froze for a few seconds, trying to process what Bai Ye had said. Then she let out a scream that nearly shook the alley.

“What?!”

Her eyes went wide. She could hardly believe her ears. The breathtaking silver-haired girl standing before her was actually her good friend, Bai Ye!

All right, she had to admit it: just looking at her face, the girl did bear some resemblance to Bai Ye. But could someone explain the two “mountains” on her chest?

Were they padded bra inserts?

“Y-you've got to be kidding!”

Meijie couldn't accept it. She was starting to doubt her own eyes, convinced that everything happening in front of her had to be a hallucination.

“Y-you must be messing with me! How could Bai Ye turn into a girl?!”

Looking at Meijie, Bai Ye realized that unless she gave her something more convincing, she probably wouldn't be able to accept the truth anytime soon.

She thought for a moment, then spoke slowly.

“Your favorite novel is *Blueberry Shock*, right? When you were eleven, you went all the way to the neighboring town by yourself to get the author's autograph at a signing, didn't you?”

“H-how do you know that?!”

Meijie stared at the silver-haired girl in alarm. Hardly anyone knew about that. As far as she could remember, she'd only mentioned it to Bai Ye once, by accident. Could this girl really be…?

“Then your father found the signed book and scolded you for it. He even tore it up, didn't he?”

“O-okay, that's enough…”

Meijie clutched her chest. That was a wound that had never healed.

“If you even know about that, then you really might be…”

Meijie eyed Bai Ye suspiciously. She was starting to believe that the silver-haired girl in front of her really was Bai Ye.

“Still don't believe me? Do I need to tell you another one of your secrets?”

“No, no!”

Meijie hurriedly waved her hands.

“I believe you, okay?!”