473. What is this!?
As Ning Chu gripped the badminton racket again, she felt a wave of unfamiliarity wash over her.
Immediately, she noticed the racket was a tad heavier than she had expected, the handle thicker, and the feel was not quite what she’d imagined. It was certainly not as easy to handle as it used to be.
Walking into the badminton court with the racket in hand, she suddenly realized she was now only a few centimeters taller than the net.
The confidence she had from beating Lily earlier had dissipated by half in an instant. As she looked at Yan Xinya and Lily standing opposite her, and then at Qian Qian, who was still shorter than the net, Ning Chu let out a deep sigh of despair.
Let’s give it a shot; it’s just for fun, after all.
Back in high school, badminton was the only sport she could excel at, and after years of not playing, she shouldn’t be too embarrassing, right?
“Ning Chu! Hurry up!”
Hearing Yan Xinya’s urging, she tossed up the shuttlecock and hit it.
After a few exchanges, she gradually adapted to the slightly heavy racket, and with a bold leap, she swung down hard to smash the shuttlecock.
And sent it crashing right into the net…
With that hit, she immediately felt a mild ache in her arm. Maybe she had overexerted herself a little.
Qian Qian jogged over to retrieve the shuttlecock and excitedly sent it flying toward Lily.
Lily stood there vacant, her eyes fixated on the shuttlecock. She raised her racket, leaned forward, and swung but missed entirely.
This little succubus clearly didn’t have much of an athletic talent. She probably hadn’t played badminton more than a handful of times.
That certainly matched her serene and cold demeanor.
Before long, Ning Chu was gasping for breath, her arm’s soreness intensifying. A thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead, hair plastered against her face, making her skin itch.
Becoming a girl has really hit her athleticism hard!
Other than the slow jog in physical education class, she hadn’t participated in any sports. Now she could truly feel the difference in physical fitness between men and women.
Her slender arms couldn’t muster even a few decent smashes!
And those sizeable br*asts hindered her movements. Even with the support of a bra, her center of gravity always leaned forward.
Her delicate calves definitely couldn’t handle high-intensity jumps and were already protesting.
Although these weren’t entirely due to gender differences—most of it was just her usual lazy self, but Ning Chu certainly wouldn’t admit to being lazy, choosing instead to blame it all on this feeble little succubus body.
“I’m so tired, I can’t do it anymore…”
Ning Chu wiped the sweat from her forehead, panting heavily.
But at least the dream of beating Lily manifested, since that girl was like a sitting duck on the court, her reflexes always a beat too slow to hit the shuttlecock.
As long as she was a little better than Lily~
“Are we done already?” Qian Qian said, somewhat regretfully, as she walked towards the bench with Ning Chu. “Sister Lily totally can’t handle sports~”
“She’s great in cooking and makeup, though. If you still want to play, go ahead with Xinya. I need a break.”
Arriving at the bench where they tossed their coats, Ning Chu picked up her half-drunk milk tea and turned to see the wolf girl and Lily approaching her.
Lily had a hint of dissatisfaction on her face, but that cool expression quickly turned to shock as she hurriedly approached.
“Ah! What dropped?”
At the same time, Ning Chu heard Qian Qian’s surprise and turned to see her crouched down, picking up a large, pill-shaped object from the ground.
It looked a bit familiar…
“What is it?”
“Not sure! I moved Sister Lily’s jacket a bit, and it fell out.”
Qian Qian stood up, curiously inspecting the object in her hands. “It even has a thread attached, what’s this?”
Only then did Ning Chu realize what Qian Qian had picked up, and her mouth twitched as she awkwardly turned her head. “You might want to ask Lily about that…”
This magical girl seemed entirely oblivious to anything like that… unexpectedly innocent.
She was around fourteen or fifteen when she had first encountered such things online.
Lily finally made her way over to them, her tense face clearly showing anxiety as her eyes locked onto the capsule in Qian Qian’s hand, as if ready to snatch it away at any moment.
“Sister Lily? What’s this?”
Seeing that Qian Qian didn’t recognize it, her anxious expression softened a bit, but she also looked a little flustered and embarrassed.
“This is a great thing~” Yan Xinya chimed in, sidling up to tease, “It’ll make Lily happy…”
Before she could finish, Lily stomped on the wolf girl’s foot, making her yelp and hop aside, clutching her foot.
“It’s for massages.”
Lily remained calm as she reached out to take the toy, shyly wrapping it in her palm, her gaze darting around nervously, afraid of being seen by anyone.
“Massages?”
“Mm.” Without further explanation, she put on her jacket from the bench and changed the subject. “Want to have dinner?”
“Dinner this early?”
“I’ll wait for Wen Yang’s match to finish.”
Ning Chu chuckled inwardly as she observed Lily’s forced calmness, feeling a mix of amusement and regret.
It was a pity Qian Qian’s mind was too innocent to notice anything off.
She turned her gaze to the basketball court and just caught sight of Wen Yang leaping for a dunk, triggering cheers from the crowd.
Even without an interest in basketball, she found herself getting excited amidst the audience’s cheers, tugging at Lily and pointing at the court. “Did you see that?! Wen Yang just dunked! So cool!”
Lily looked dazed, being pulled left and right by Ning Chu.
“I also dunked several times earlier~” Yan Xinya leaned in again. “I’m telling you, you had zero reaction.”
Ning Chu completely ignored the wolf girl, still on her tiptoes watching Wen Yang, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “So cool~ right?”
“Ah, yes, yes…”
“I’m going to find Wen Yang; it seems like it’s almost over.”
“Got a boyfriend and forgot your bestie, huh~”
She dashed to the side of the basketball court. It wasn’t long before the match ended.
Wen Yang wiped the sweat from his brow, spotted Ning Chu waving at him on her toes, and quickly made his way over with a smile. “Hey, where were you? I didn’t see you before!”
“I went to play badminton with Xinya and the others.”
Ning Chu slightly wrinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of a refreshing scent emanating from Wen Yang.
“But it’s cool, I saw your dunk!” Ning Chu looked up at Wen Yang, lightly punching his chest with her fist, grinning. “So impressive! You must have stolen a lot of girl’s hearts~”
“Just yours is enough.” Wen Yang casually wrapped an arm around her waist. “Let’s head back.”
“Hey, don’t get so close… you smell like sweat.”
“Then hurry up and let’s shower!”
Ning Chu’s body was nearly pressed up against Wen Yang’s, clearly feeling the pressure against her backside.
Her face turned bright red as she handed him her jacket with disdain, saying, “Your mind’s all over the place; this isn’t helping your case.”
