"Nobita! Nobita! Get up! You'll be late for school!"
Doraemon looked at the still-sleeping boy with a helpless sigh.
Day after day of urging, the same scene played out daily.
He had only been good for a few days before reverting to his old habits; when would he ever get rid of his bad habit of sleeping in?
"Ugh, I know!"
Hearing Doraemon's shouts, Nobi Nobita unhurriedly got up, dressed, and washed, his calm face showing no pressure.
With the Punishment Stand Gadget, what was there to fear? Even standing all day was fine.
And when he slowly arrived at school, he was, as usual, late again.
"Nobita, you're late again! Go stand in the hallway for punishment!"
"Yes!"
Hearing Terakoya Eiichirou's angry scolding, for the first time, he felt incredibly relaxed, as if a hair had fallen into the ocean, causing no ripples.
He went to the hallway to stand for punishment, directly implementing the method Doraemon had taught him yesterday, and his legs once again became as hard as stone.
"Heh heh heh! This feeling is so great; I really don't feel tired at all.
Listening to the sound of reading, Nobita comfortably leaned against the wall to rest.
He was even bored enough to secretly play cat's cradle, which was one of his few perfected crafts, so much so that he could be called a grandmaster of cat's cradle.
"Damn it, I'm going to be late again. I hope that guy Nobita can cover for me!"
On the other side of the hallway, Giant, also late, slowly poked his head out from the stairs, anxiously tugging at his backpack strap.
A big chunk of a person moving at a snail's pace.
At least he still had some shame, unlike someone who had long become accustomed to it.
"Hey, that's!"
His excited eyes fixed on the yellow-shirted boy at the classroom door, and he quickly ran over.
"Report!"
"Giant, why are you late too? Go stand outside for punishment."
"Okay, teacher."
Giant stood next to Nobita with a relaxed expression, his face beaming with joy.
Indeed, adversity reveals true friendship; Nobita was his true friend.
When standing for punishment, the more people, the merrier.
One person would feel very embarrassed, two people wouldn't care, and as for three people, he couldn't even imagine; they could play 'Fight the Landlord' at the door.
"So sour! This is exhausting me. There are still two classes left; how am I going to get through them?"
"Nobita, haven't you felt anything after standing here for so long?"
Half an hour later, Giant, whose legs were numb, shook his heels, his face full of bitterness.
Looking at Nobita, who was playing cat's cradle with a calm expression, he tapped him on the shoulder in confusion.
"No way! I'm not tired at all. I wouldn't mind standing all day, and I'll never be afraid of punishment standing again."
"You didn't use one of Doraemon's gadgets, did you? Please, can I borrow it too?"
Giant was unusually humble, and Nobita's old habit of getting carried away with pride resurfaced.
Listening to the plea, he moved the Medusa's head and aimed it at Giant: "Since you put it that way, I'll help you this once."
A strange light shot out, and Giant's feet hardened into stone, feeling nothing; the numbness from before completely disappeared.
"Wow, this thing is really convenient."
"Heh heh heh, isn't it?"
Closing the wooden box, Nobita moved the gadget aside and continued to show off the cat's cradle in his hands.
Meanwhile, Giant, looking at the Medusa's head, began to have different thoughts.
If he had this gadget, he would never have to fear punishment standing again, and he could also help others avoid the trouble of punishment standing.
Of course, solving this trouble would come with a fee, and he could also properly educate children who didn't listen to him; it was truly a good thing.
"Tell others about this; it's a hundred yen per use, and then I'll quickly have endless pocket money."
Giant laughed foolishly, his thoughts very simple, like the monkey who ate peaches after freezing the Seven Fairies in the Peach Garden back then.
There were still students who were punished by the teacher every day, and there were also people from other grades; he would directly monopolize the resources of the entire school, and then everyone would have to look to him.
...
...
After school.
"Giant, this is my stuff; you can't steal it!"
"Less nonsense, what I want is mine! Take this punch!"
The wind whistled from the punch, and Giant, who changed his mind faster than flipping a book, beat Nobita until he was unable to care for himself.
"Haha, tasted the bitterness, have you?"
Hugging the Medusa's head, Giant walked away after beating him.
Despite receiving help, he suddenly turned hostile after school, and the pathetic Nobita once again lay on the ground, bruised and swollen.
"Nobita, are you alright? You were bullied by Giant again; you're really a handful."
Shizuka and Nobi Hiroshi passed by, and seeing Nobita, who was breathing more out than in, kindly helped him to the infirmary.
After the last experience, Tian Mei had been completely disappointed in Nobita, but she still forgave him, as they were childhood friends.
Although childhood sweethearts can never win against a fated encounter.
"Thank you, Hiroshi, Shizuka."
Nobita smiled gratefully. Although Hiroshi competed with him for his future wife, he usually helped him a lot.
It came from an inexplicable paternal love, but Nobita did not perceive this layer of care, only having a love-hate relationship with Hiroshi.
"Alright, Nobita, rest here and then go home. We're leaving first."
After kindly applying medicine to Nobita, Nobi Hiroshi then pulled Shizuka away.
He had promised to go today, and his wife was waiting for him at home; he couldn't keep her waiting too long.
To prevent him from being bored alone, he specifically threw a book onto the hospital bed.
He grabbed it casually, seeing it was a comic book and not thinking much about it.
"Oh, why am I the only one who's unlucky?"
The wound hurt, and Nobita's facial muscles twitched. He looked up at the ceiling, feeling depressed.
He reached out and picked up the young female school doctor's romance comic.
He only read it out of boredom, but the content of the book immediately caught Nobita's eye, and he read it with great interest.
The female protagonist in the comic was also a fool, and her appearance was ordinary, but no one ever bullied her.
Instead, she received sympathy and support from various male leads, eventually transforming into a strong woman.
The same situation, placed on different people, merely a distinction of gender, divided good luck and misery into two stages.
"Unfair! Why don't I have such good luck? Is it because I'm a boy?"
Nobita angrily threw the comic book, his fingers tightly clutching the bedsheet.
Recalling his own experiences, whether it was having things snatched by the strong Giant, or being treated as a sleeping idiot by everyone.
Who says boys must be physically strong?
Who says boys must be smart?
The more he thought about it, the more miserable he became. Nobita tremblingly sat up, railing against the injustice of reality.
He felt the power of the T0 version.
"What if... I became a girl?"
A bold idea emerged from his mind. Nobita stared blankly at himself in the mirror.
Just like in the comic, if he became a girl, would he also be favored by the goddess of luck and then turn his life around?
"Perhaps, I can try."
The rebellious idea rapidly swelled. Nobita endured the pain, immediately jumped out of bed, and ran towards his home.
To become a girl, only one person could help him.