Chapter 21: There Are Only Zero Times and...?

Sunday, at An Ran'er’s apartment.

At this moment, there were only one word in Li Nuo’s mind.

Regret.

He regretted agreeing to join her band in the first place. He regretted impulsively agreeing to dress as a girl yesterday. As expected, acting on impulse was a terrible idea.

Right now, he was sitting nervously in front of a mirror. Like a doll, he let An Ran'er sit beside him and do his makeup and styling.

The girl worked excitedly on his face. While applying eye makeup, she leaned even closer. The warm breath from her lips and the faint milky scent coming from her body made Li Nuo's face turn red. Sitting in front of the mirror, he felt extremely uncomfortable. He bit his lip and simply closed his eyes tightly.

However, this only made the girl unhappy.

"Stop keeping your face so tense. It's hard for me to do your makeup like that."

"Huh? Sorry..."

Hearing her complaint, Li Nuo quickly relaxed his face, though he still didn't dare open his eyes.

To him, time seemed to pass incredibly slowly. He felt anxious and impatient.

After what felt like forever, he finally heard An Ran'er snap her fingers.

"Done."

Only then did Li Nuo slowly open his eyes. Looking at himself in the mirror, he froze.

"This is... me?"

The person in the mirror had fair, smooth skin. A pair of bright, lively eyes sparkled with energy. His small and cute nose and cherry-like lips, lightly colored with pink lipstick, gave him a pure and charming appearance.

If before he had merely looked somewhat like a girl, then with this light makeup on, he had become a genuine beautiful girl.

The only flaw was his short brown hair, which made him look a little less cute than he could be.

"Hmm? Feels like something is still missing."

As she spoke, An Ran'er searched through a nearby cabinet. Soon, she pulled out a fluffy sky-blue wig.

"Emm, let's use this one."

While Li Nuo was still staring blankly at the mirror, An Ran'er called out,

"Stop daydreaming, idiot."

"Do I still need to do something?"

Only then did Li Nuo come back to his senses.

"Of course. I'm putting a wig on you. What girl has hair as short as yours, dummy?"

As she spoke, she placed the wig on his head.

Li Nuo muttered under his breath, "I wasn't a girl to begin with..."

"Be quiet."

Ignoring his complaint completely, An Ran'er held his head steady and focused on fixing the sky-blue hair.

The messy and fluffy wig gradually became soft and smooth under her careful hands. After that, she styled it neatly.

"Alright, that's it."

She put down the comb and hair ties, looking very satisfied.

After hearing that, Li Nuo raised his head and looked into the mirror again.

The person in the mirror now had long, silky sky-blue hair falling straight over his shoulders. Besides two cute candy-shaped hair clips, there was also a small strand of hair sticking up on top of his head, whether intentionally or not, making him look adorably silly.

With this hairstyle and his current face, no one would believe him even if he insisted he was a boy.

Forget other people, even he felt a little attracted to the person in the mirror.

"Hey, idiot. Haven't you stared enough yet?"

Seeing him frozen again, An Ran'er waved a hand in front of his face. Li Nuo scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Classmate An... I didn't expect your makeup skills to be this good..."

Resting her chin on her hand, An Ran'er carefully looked him over and nodded with satisfaction.

"They're okay. The main reason is that you already have good features. I only gave you light makeup, but it turned out surprisingly well."

Being praised by her made Li Nuo blush slightly.

"Then... then this should be enough, right? Can we leave now?"

"Nope."

"Huh? Why?"

"You still haven't changed clothes."

As she spoke, she searched another cabinet and pulled out a pure white dress with lace trim on the skirt. Handing it to him, she said,

"Go put this on and see how it looks."

Holding the white dress, Li Nuo felt resistant inside.

"Can I not wear a dress?"

"No!"

An Ran'er immediately rejected the idea. Her reason was simple.

"You'll have to wear dresses during performances in the future too. Better get used to it early."

Left with no choice, Li Nuo obediently went into the bathroom and changed into the white dress.

When he finally came back out, it was An Ran'er's turn to be stunned.

Standing before her was clearly a pure and beautiful girl with long sky-blue hair and a flowing white dress.

The girl's fair hands were placed uneasily in front of her. Her delicate face was slightly red, making her unbelievably cute. Anyone who saw her would have the urge to give her a kiss.

"Classmate An... this should be okay now, right..."

The "girl" parted her red lips slightly and asked softly.

Hearing the question, An Ran'er finally snapped out of her daze. She hurriedly looked away and pretended to examine the surroundings.

"Uh... y-yeah. It... it looks pretty good."

At this moment, Li Nuo lowered his head and looked at the dress he was wearing.

"Classmate An... this dress... it isn't..."

An Ran'er's expression changed slightly. She immediately knew what he wanted to ask and quickly explained,

"Don't get the wrong idea. I bought this dress recently. I've never worn it before."

"Oh..."

After hearing her explanation, Li Nuo finally relaxed. For some reason, though, he also felt a tiny bit disappointed.

Checking the time on her watch, An Ran'er said,

"It's about time. Let's go."

After leaving An Ran'er's home, Li Nuo felt uncomfortable the entire time as he walked down the street.

He had worn girls' clothes before at conventions and cafés, but nobody had stared at him like this.

Maybe it was because he hadn't worn makeup back then and had only stayed in places where such outfits were normal.

Now, being constantly watched by people around him felt very strange.

After all, he was a boy wearing girls' clothes.

That made him even more nervous. He was terrified that someone would suddenly walk up and expose him.

With his head lowered, he followed behind An Ran'er at a slow pace. He kept glancing around anxiously, and the more afraid he became, the slower he walked.

An Ran'er was checking her phone while walking ahead. When she finally looked back, she realized Li Nuo had fallen far behind.

She quickly walked back and stood in front of him.

"Are you a turtle? Why are you walking so slowly?"

"But..."

It wasn't that he wanted to walk slowly.

Whenever the wind blew under his dress, the cool feeling around his crotch made him afraid to walk too fast.

"No more excuses. At this speed, we won't get there before dark."

As she spoke, she grabbed his hand and started walking quickly.

"W-Wait..."

The moment An Ran'er held his hand, Li Nuo became nervous.

This was the first time a girl had ever held his hand.

Feeling the softness of her palm and the slight coolness of her skin, the restless anxiety in his heart gradually calmed down.