"Good morning!"

"Oh, morning!"

I greeted the owner of the coffee shop who often came early in the morning. I headed towards the second private room, but suddenly realized that someone was in the first private room. Who could be inside at half past six?

"Hello, may I ask... um!"

The forced smile on my face quickly turned into surprise.

"President, it's you again?"

"Ah... no, well..."

Tengong blushingly sat inside, but had to confess.

"In fact, I couldn't find a suitable partner, so..."

"So you came here to look for a partner?"

Faced with my pressing question, Tengong simply nodded without denying.

After a moment of silence, I made a suggestion.

"President, actually at the beginning of the school year..."

"What's the matter?"

She found my sudden change in attitude strange. I bit the bullet and explained my predicament.

"Tengong, please be my partner!"

I bowed ninety degrees and pleaded.

"Please!"

Tengong smiled faintly. When I looked up, Tengong blushed and said.

"Um, is it okay? Like dating..."

"Date?"

I was puzzled by her slip of the tongue, and Tengong realized her mistake and quickly added.

"No, as partners, it's not impossible. Remember, don't hold me back!"

Seeing Tengong agree, I happily replied.

"Yes, President!"

Not done yet, Tengong continued seriously.

"By the way, come to the training ground near the playground tonight..."

I interrupted her.

"I know, to the north. I go there every evening."

Tengong sighed, sounding almost pleading.

"Good to know, be there at 6:00 sharp tonight."

"Okay."

I agreed eagerly.

"Also, don't call me president, just call me Xun, it sounds better."

I was momentarily stunned, then quickly agreed.

After leaving the coffee shop, I went to find Yuanhui happily. When I told him what had happened, he just made a motion like he almost collapsed.

"Dear me, of all people, why did you choose that dinosaur?"

Before I could gloat, Yuanhui poured cold water on me.

"If I'm not mistaken, you've become her slave, right?"

It turned out to be true, because that scoundrel lured me in from the beginning and completely disregarded my immunity to any beautiful girl's charm.

"Tsk," I sighed in frustration, "why does this always happen?"

Taking advantage of my temporary bewilderment, I asked my high school graduate classmate Yuanhui.

"Who is that girl up front?"

Due to my emotional state, I almost revealed the fact that I like girls... even though it was already a fact!

Yuanhui looked puzzled.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to hate girls?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the girl over there, then smirked. Just as I was about to explain, he gestured for me to hush and then continued.

"Hehe, I've figured it out."

"Trust me, you have no idea, so don't guess recklessly!"

Yuanhui looked enlightened, leaning over towards me.

"You used to not care about the school beauty..."

"No, I definitely didn't mean that!"

Before he could continue, Xia Tian interrupted him and said,

"I'm asking you, what's her name? With your interests, you must know, right?"

Yuanhui was taken aback at first, then smiled and said,

"Looks like you understand me best. Alright, she's 19 years old, and her name is Heitong, she's in the same class as us!"

After that, he stared at me for a long time, making me question him unintentionally,

"What's wrong with my face?"

Yuanhui, with a strange expression, said,

"Your face doesn't show the excitement I expected!"

I smiled and replied,

"You haven't reached the level to make me burst into laughter yet."

Yuanhui, feeling mocked, said unconvincingly,

"Just because a girl is beautiful doesn't mean she's a meal ticket."

"What do you mean?!"

My face turned serious, but he continued to mock me,

"Look at you, with two earrings on your ears, eyes as big as a female celebrity, and you walk at night with a feminine charm. Aren't you afraid of being harassed?"

Faced with his sudden provocation, I thought for a moment and said,

"Do you still want to spend this Christmas like before this year?"

Yuanhui didn't answer but directly said,

"Watching movies or playing games at home with you!"

After saying these words, Yuanhui thought carefully again: yes, he's still a virgin after all this time.

Finally, he ended up crying in my arms, his voice choked with tears, rushing to me and saying,

"Brother, let us swear here today, I wish you..."

At that moment, I was filled with mixed emotions, and before he could finish, I punched him hard!

Yuanhui was crazily bleeding!

...

"Is everyone here today?"

The burly and round-faced teacher, Mr. Flandre, came to me early in the morning, looking at me contemptuously and said,

"...including someone like you."

"I was here all day yesterday, okay!"

I retorted angrily, and besides, is it really fun for him to always bring up the past and call me a savage?

I didn't back down, and we stared each other down, on the verge of a fight. But he seemed more confident in his physical abilities.

"Want to continue, little one?"

He enthusiastically flaunted his muscular physique, making me feel almost impossible to defeat him... or is it?

Mocking him, I provocatively challenged,

"Come on, bring it on if you dare!"

"You... ignorant little punk, today you'll show everyone who really rules here!"

"Oh, I intend to!"

We squared off, and other students excitedly watched us. As my seniors, they knew Mr. Flandre's strength well, so they were particularly interested in me challenging him.

Mr. Flandre lunged straight at me, not wielding his fist too forcefully, seemingly underestimating me.

Despite being smaller in stature, he seemed to want to end the fight with one punch!

"Nice idea, just too slow!"

I swiftly ducked down and delivered a sweep kick from behind, sending Mr. Flandre off balance. I then sat on his back, grabbed his head, and forcefully smashed it towards the ground.

"Hehe, quite a quick reaction, but unfortunately, your strength is far from enough to harm me."

With that said, he nonchalantly got up, brushed the dirt off his body, and smiled menacingly.

"Well, it's time to get serious now!"

In the academy, only on nights when there is not a single rustle of the flying grass, would one hear the hair-raising faint sounds that are as bone-chilling as the chains of hell trapping souls, making it difficult for the students to fall asleep.

However, according to the school principal, the school has never built any underground spaces like basements since its establishment, so the vibrating ground has become the most unimaginable event in the whole school, until…

"Ouch!"

A white light flashed in the infirmary, and a sour, slightly numbing sensation shot up from the base of my thigh, causing noticeable twitching pain on my face.

"Huh? What time is it now?"

Out of habit, I reached for my pocket as if I would normally take out my phone to check the time, but this time, I pulled out a note with the teacher's handwriting on it - 'Students cannot be so unruly, so I have confiscated your phone!'

"Tsk, I know Mr. Frand is a teacher, but confiscating my phone is a bit too much, isn't it?"

Forced to comply, I decided to first return to the classroom and then try to get my phone back later, and if that didn't work, maybe sneakily...

"Pat! Pat! Pat!"

Just then, there came the sound of sneakers on the floor at the door, faint but very clear.

"Hmm? It's class time now, why would someone dare to move around the school so casually?"

This immediately puzzled me because, you see, no one, not even the school principal, can move around outside without Edward's permission during class time, let alone in the most stringent area on the first floor!

Anyone who dares to walk around during this time must not be easy to deal with, I thought to myself, unconsciously swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Slowly, I approached the door of the infirmary, and by now, the sounds had become particularly loud, as if in a hurry. Ah, could it be... a funeral at home?

Impossible!

At the next moment, I swiftly vetoed that idea, for heaven's sake, not even in the event of a funeral would this cursed school allow you any free time during class to take a day off, and I was simultaneously cursing those education authorities in my mind.

It seemed unlikely to hide, as I could already hear the soldiers' shoes stepping on the ground behind me…

Could it be…

With a swift step, I burst into the garden. Normally, this place is off-limits, students are not allowed in, but now, in my heated state of mind, nobody could stop me, let alone with no guards around.

If I seemed odd like this, then it was even more odd that such a secretive forbidden place had not a single guard!

In less than ten minutes, I reached the end of the garden, but strangely, there was no sign of Yukari or any of the other secrets I had imagined.

Finally, the forest path also led to an end, but there was still no trace of the tunnel I had expected.

Ah. Was this all just a walk?

Having lost my purpose, I decided to lie down among the bushes and enjoy the precious leisure time, even forgetting the fact that I had trespassed into the forbidden zone.

Crack!

In the dense bushes, it seemed like a brightly colored branch brushed against my shoulder and started to move, causing the ground below to slowly sink, the wire above to derail, and finally fall completely.

As soon as I landed on the ground and before I could react, Yukari pinned me down with a swift move, grasping the joint of my arm to immobilize me.

"Tell me, what's your purpose in tracking me here?"

Yukari's voice echoed in my ear, but I couldn't move as she had me restrained.

"Heh, if I say I was just intrigued and followed you out of pure interest, would you believe me?"

"Believe you? Yeah, right!"