While Little Loli finished getting ready for the pool, the boys’ locker room on the other side was a hive. All the boys squeezed into the open space, heat rising like steam from wet tiles. Ou Xiangyang stood before them like a ringleader under a buzzing light. “When the PE teacher calls free activity, you all splash Xiao Qianxue. As big as you can, as hard as you can. There’ll be plenty of benefits after.”
Many boys kept silent, but Ou Xiangyang’s cronies fanned the sparks like bellows. “Once it’s done, the boss won’t forget your cut.” “Do as told, and you’ll eat well and drink deep.”
Most in class had money and backing, though a few had earned their way by grades. The bullies, used to throwing weight, went for soft persimmons and squeezed hard. “Listen up. If you don’t do it, you’ll taste bitter fruit later.” Under that shadow like a storm cloud, the boys caved.
It wouldn’t be just one or two doing it, they thought, so no one would get singled out. Splashing their goddess with a crowd felt like mischief, not malice. They were only first-years, minds still green like spring shoots. Soon they reached a grim consensus and set a quiet signal. A pack rolled out of the locker room like a wave, surging toward the pool.
At the pool, the PE teacher stood on the diving platform, counting heads like beads on an abacus. In the girls’ line, one gap looked like a missing petal. “So only one student isn’t here,” the teacher murmured. Then a golden phantom finally arrived, late as sunset sliding over water. Braiding hair wasn’t easy; Little Loli had almost cracked, then called her mom to learn the pattern. Xiao Qianxue’s arrival drew every eye as if a magnet skimmed over iron filings.
The boys behind nearly let their eyes drop out like marbles; you knew why. Even the teacher’s gaze drifted, taking a few guilty peeks. The girls wanted to swallow Little Loli whole, envy burning like pepper on the tongue. Skin pale as a porcelain doll—every girl’s dream under pool lights. The scene went delicate and tense, boys’ stares blazing while girls’ stares sharpened like knives. As the star of it, Little Loli kept her face cold as winter stone, no blush, no flutter. Try to make me blush? Not even close, she thought, a crisp bell inside.
“Ahem, ahem!” The teacher coughed hard, trying to hold the storm with a whistle cord. It didn’t help much. “Everyone, split boys and girls, then start warm-ups!” Little Loli didn’t want that front row. Behind her, eyes could pin her no-man’s land and prickle the skin. Urgency first, action after—she slipped to the last row during the shuffle. The boys’ gazes swung back like sunflowers, even front-row boys twisted their necks to look. The scene was almost comic, but Little Loli wore her ice-queen mask. I’ll endure. Don’t laugh. If I laugh, the Ice Goddess persona shatters.
Soon everyone slipped into the water and began merry, messy aquatic chatter. Some used the cover to ogle beneath the surface, bubbles hiding shaky sins. Each swam 100 meters once, and Little Loli’s swimming skill wasn’t lit. Her pace sat in the middle, like a leaf drifting down a mild stream.
The PE teacher checked the watch and saw fifteen minutes left, then waved. “Free activity!” She turned and walked into the lounge, a door closing like a thin curtain. The boys quietly formed a ring, stones dropped around a lone island. Unaware, Little Loli rested at a corner of the pool. Her school swimsuit pinched and chafed, so she didn’t want to roam like a lost fish. Resting by the edge felt best, and that fit someone’s plan like a key sliding home.
One of Ou Xiangyang’s henchmen shouted, “Everyone, do it!” The shout snapped Little Loli’s eyes open, expecting a game, not a squall. What met her was endless water, waves thrown like sheets in a storm. Her dynamic vision caught every crest and every boy’s heated face. She could dodge easily, but it would be impossible to explain in a single heartbeat. A girl doing all that in one second? That would look like a ghost trick. So she chose to endure. Wave after wave crashed toward Little Loli, fierce as a pack of hounds. More than twenty boys poured on the splash, a harsh battery of water. Even Little Loli’s sturdier body struggled to stand in that rain, never mind a normal girl.
She turned her back and took the hits, shoulders tight like a drawn bow. Her braid fell apart; golden hair lay slack, clinging to her like wet silk. It made her look pitiful, fallen like a drenched sparrow on a ledge. She covered her face with both hands; no one could see the mask beneath. About half a minute later, the teacher, led by the class rep, hurried over and saw the chaos. In that half-minute, no one tried to help Xiao Qianxue; some wanted to, but fear nailed their feet. Everyone wanted to see the goddess with her shine torn off, a cruel curiosity.
The teacher leapt into the pool and blocked the last surge of water. The front-on shock hit hard; she almost toppled like a reed in wind. “Stop! All of you, stop!” she roared, anger rippling like heat. One wave had almost undone her; Little Loli had eaten that for half a minute.
“What are you doing?” she shouted again, and the boys froze, hands dripping. Splashing now meant splashing the teacher; that carried weight like a stone in the pocket. With them still, the teacher rushed to check Little Loli’s state. Her eyes had gone faintly red, goddess gloss washed away to raw skin.
“Are you hurt?” the teacher asked, voice soft as a towel. Little Loli shook her head. “Being alone feels really lousy...” She wouldn’t cry over this, but saying it didn’t hurt would be a lie. “Why not go rest? I’ll handle it here,” the PE teacher said, hand warm on her back. “O-okay...” The answer reached every ear, broken like a string plucked too hard. She was shaken, half real, half acted. After the brief exchange, Little Loli climbed out slowly, water trailing like silver threads. She sent the class rep a grateful glance, then staggered toward the locker room.
Watching that small, fragile back, a boy muttered, “Did we go a bit too far?” Others nodded, guilt rising like smoke from damp ash. The girls blushed and dropped their heads, shame pricking like thorns. At the pool exit, Little Loli paused, eyes cutting toward Ou Xiangyang feigning innocence. Her mouth curled into a sly arc, then she slipped into the tunnel’s shadow.
