First afterschool

Lín Jìng tried to pick a spot to stand on, but this was complicated by potentially conflicting considerations. Lín saw the graceful-looking Katsuya with her very assertive proposal to gather as a group as slightly intimidating, so she tried to put someone else between herself and the kitsune, preferably the biggest person in the group. On the other hand, she wanted to get between Rikishi and Hanami, to shield the former from the latter's gaze.

All of these contradictory priorities resulted in doing a lot of silly dance-like shuffling. Thanks to the magical boost of confidence that she never bothered dispelling, she could maintain a stiff upper lip throughout most of the sequence, but the demeanour was beginning to crack. Ultimately she settled on a point next to the culprit and decided on an answer that would solve two issues in one go.

"Sorry, I have some unfinished business to discuss with Riki-chan when this is over, so maybe some other time," she moved her gaze from Katsuya to Rikishi, trying to appear assertive and nonchalant.

Panties. Panties. Yep, those are also panties. More panties. Hanami rifled through the box's contents, and though her eyes lingered on some of the saucier articles longer than she cared to admit, she finished the search quickly and placed the lid back on. She picked up the box and carried it under her arm.

Hanami thought about Katsuya's invitation. She'd merely intended to settle into her dorm room after returning the panties, so she didn't see a reason to reject the offer. "I wasn't really going to do much after this, so count me in. How about we meet up at the café in an hour's time? By then, all the panties will be back with their rightful owners. Who's in?" Lin-Jing made her plans clear, so Hanami mainly looks to the others. "Don't worry about money. Bowl cut will pay for everything." She side-eyes Rikishi with a death glare, as if daring him to claim otherwise. She's still not over how he exposed her undergarments to everyone.

It's a testament to Hanami's interest in torture that Rikishi is more afraid of her than he is of the 7-foot-tall dragon girl holding him by the shoulder. Katsuya absorbs most of Sumeryu's attention, since the foxgirl is terrifically cute. Also, if she looks at Hanami, she'll notice all the girls' underwear and have a miniature freakout. She squeezes Rikishi's shoulder to avoid all of the princess-related temptations in the vicinity. Hanami, Lin, Luna, Katsuya, all terrifically princess-adjacent.

"I think it would be nice to go somewhere together! Maybe a restaurant?" Sumeryu agrees with Katsuya.

Don't freak out, Sumeryu!

"Rikishi will be too busy to help you with your restaurant visit," says Lín Jìng, trying to sound menacing (which is easier said than done given that her natural personality is much quieter than that of the others), glancing at Rikishi and Hanami, trying to maintain ambiguity about whether she's joining in intimidating Rikishi, trying to keep Hanami off, or both.

"A cafe sounds nice, or maybe a cake buffet..." Luna's sweet tooth was showing. Along with the day's ordeals done and the time being late, Luna would have to put off the forest investigation for tomorrow. A bit of relaxation was in order before returning to her dorm for a hot bath.

"The cafe!" Konomi remembers why she came here in the first place. "I wanted to check out the cafe the culinary club was setting up. Let's go there."

Ibuki thinks that she has seen a few yokai themed cafes even in the human world and wonders how an actual yokai cafe would be like

On the one hand, it's disappointing that Lin won't be joining, but on the other...

"We will miss you when we celebrate, but I admire your dedication to justice, Jing-san," Sumeryu says to the Triad Princess, smiling and giving a thumbs up, while she holds onto Rikishi with the other hand.

"Sure, we'll go there," she agrees with Konomi, trying not to look at her. Konomi is terribly cute, and the temptation to kidnap her and run away to a tower is terribly strong.

"And a cake buffet sounds lovely!" Eeeeeee they're all going with her! Will they let her pay for them?

The dragon girl's mind is running in circles, such that she doesn't say anything else and appears heroically stoic, in opposition to her actual feelings of being overwhelmed by cuteness.

Hanami looks at Lin Jing curiously but ultimately relents. She can't fathom what the yasha even wants from Rikishi, but it's not her concern. "Fine, take Bowlcut-sempai if that's what you want. I hope you're not trying to learn his tricks..." She smirks.

"Seems like the café is the majority opinion. Alright, we meet there in one hour!" Hanami exclaims. She's looking forward to sitting down at a nice, normal café with everyone. Little did she know...

"Why would I? His tricks do not compare to yours on the lasciviousness gauge," Lín Jìng smirks in return. "Thanks. See you all around later."

She then grabs Rikishi by the arm and drags him towards the mall's clothing and accessories section, while searching something on her phone with her other hand. Once the duo lose sight of the rest of the forming clique, Lín addressed Rikishi without losing sight of her goal.

"Enough is enough! You've been claiming ignorance of the theft, even though we all know you caused this string of missing items. That damn tengu already claimed Ao-chan as her lover, while I can't even brag of getting his tie because of you. And since it's all your fault, you're going to help me show everyone that I can obtain something even cooler, and keep helping me until I find something better."

Going through the accessory section, she grabs a pair of narrow, thin-rimmed glasses, then telekinetically shoves Rikishi into the nearest fitting room and immediately follows inside.

"Riki-chan! We're going to gradually turn you from this . . ." she shows him a photo on her phone.". . . to this . . . " she slides to a different photo.". . . and then you'll be at my beck and call to show off as I need, or else next time instead of downplaying the issues with your poor impulse control and getting you out of your restaurant punishment, I'm not only going to join in on the others' justice-seeking, but I'm also going to encourage them to do their worst!"

"What's hard to understand?" Lín Jìng looks at Rikishi sternly, glances back at the closed curtain of the fitting room, then measures him with an appraising look. "You are going to undergo a radical make-over, and when necessarily you will undergo transformations every morning, becoming the hottest piece of arm candy in the academy," she slides closer to his side, taking his arm in hers, "rival to Kartikeya's beauty, one to overshadow Ao-chan's popularity and make half the academy squee on sight."

Lín Jìng gives him a stern side glance. "And you will do everything I say, or else."

"Good. Then listen carefully. You've already proven yourself a cad, but I'm not going to try to reform you - cads have their charms. But you need to look the part. And learn to wrap your scandalousness with a bit more finesse.

So here's the plan. I'm going to provide you with the looks. And maybe advise a bit about how to accessorise. I'll also use my psychic powers to give you hints if you're unsure what to do in a given situation. Or a . . . nudge if you decide not to do it.

But you still need to pick an archetype and maybe a pseudonym you'd be known by in your new persona. What archetype do you think you can pull off best? The bespectacled bastard? The princely, chivalrous pervert? Perhaps the bearer of stoic eyeglasses with a cool demeanour and a hidden soft side? The badass bookworm? Or maybe you have an idea of your own. But it's got to be something that will make others swoon over you. What will it be? Consider what you're actually good at that will help you fit into the archetype.

Also, would you rather wear elegant beauty?" she shows a photo on a phone."Or a more devil-kind-of-boy, disheveled kind of cuteness?" she slides to another."Take a pick, but choose wisely, for you will be wearing that face and filling that role every day.

Oh, one more thing: what kind of youkai are you anyway with powers like that? I'm a yasha, by the way. Lín Jìng, in case you missed it."

She adjusts her position to make sure that he can't just dart past her out of the fitting room.

Lín Jìng sighs, "I was hoping for a bit more media literacy, but maybe you're just not familiar with the right genres, which is why those terms flew over your head. Fine. I'll try to explain archetypes from the ground up. "

Her tone actually changes to a more casual, patient one, without judgement or criticism.

"If I recall correctly, you're a fan of Perilous Adventures of Magical Idols or something. Now, I'm not sure about that specific work, but usually they have girls of different types that have different appealing aspects. At a guess, it might include the genki type; the tall and beautiful but cool and aloof type; the humble but confident, elegant and traditional type; perhaps the short and bratty type; and likely one or more tsundere types. Now, different readers may fancy different types, but generally there's a wide acknowledgement that the more widely known types are often more fancied after on average.

Now, you're a Mujina, you've got a reputation for turning into beautiful women, but clearly neither of us seems particularly interested in you doing that. I'm also unsure how good your Mujina transformation abilities are, but that's no obstacle - I can help you with the actual transformation. But to do that, we need to agree on what type we'll be trying to make out of you.

I'm willing to be pretty flexible and help you out as much as I can - I'm interested in you succeeding in pulling this off, after all. Any type will do so long as it causes a lots of blushes and a few nosebleeds among the gentler half of the academy. So, out of the various types of boys that get fancied a lot, which type would you rather try to become?

Maybe once you achieve that you finally will no longer have a reason to resort to stealing of others' undergarments," the final sentence was the only one delivered with a hint of sternness in her voice.

Lín Jìng becomes thoughtful.

"Well, I wouldn't beat secrets out of people because it's unsubtle and because I do not want to beat people without being provoked. So you're right that I wouldn't change that part of my behaviour regardless of capability.

On the other hand, I would just bluntly approach and make moves on the likes of Ao-chan if I had something approaching Sumeryu-kun's confidence when everyone is watching. Judging by the occasional state of your nose - and this is done without probing your mind on the matter - really doubt you don't want the benefits of attraction you'd get if you pull off the extreme reimaging of yourself. I do think there may be some similarities between us and the difficulties we face.

But I'm suggesting you should have some sort of input into how to approach the matter, even if I insist that you do proceed one way or another. While I admit I'm pushing you into this because you got caught and are now at a disadvantage, unlike others I'm not holding a grudge."