The next morning, Little Loli drifted into the classroom like a lazy cat in morning mist, then folded over her desk like a fallen leaf.

The room buzzed like a flock of sparrows; every chirp circled yesterday’s exam.

Joanna toyed with her phone like a pebble skipping across a pond. “Xiaoxue, how d’you think you did, huh?”

Drowsiness weighed first, like fog over a lake. Then her lids cracked, and a delicate face bloomed inches away like a peach blossom.

Lively brown eyes darted like squirrels; short dark-brown hair swayed behind her like willow twigs.

“Mmm~~ whatever~~ I won’t do badly,” she murmured, voice soft as warm milk.

Golden pupils flickered once like fireflies, then shut again like shutters at dusk.

“You’re getting more like a little lazy pig,” Joanna sighed, pinching her cheeks, pale and springy as tofu.

She slipped back to her seat like a reed settling after wind.

The homeroom teacher entered hugging a stack of white sheets like cold snow. Every gaze stuck to the paper like frost to glass.

He wore no expression, a stone mask beneath winter sky. Hearts sank like stones into a well.

“For this exam, only ten made top one hundred,” he barked, voice like dry thunder. “Only three in the top fifty!”

He smacked the list onto the desk; the slap cracked like a split bamboo rod.

“We’re a key class, not like the others. And this is what you bring?” His scolding rattled on like hail against tiles.

He pushed up glasses sliding down his nose like melting ice. “Now, I’ll hand out scores. Thirty-seventh in the grade, Zhu Jinhan. Congrats on topping the class. A class monitor should lead. Applause.”

He clapped first, a metronome setting the beat, and the class followed like a tide.

The monitor rose and walked up, steady as a pine on a windy ridge, and took the paper.

“So that’s our monitor’s name,” Little Loli whispered, curiosity fluttering like a moth to lantern light.

“Forty-fifth in the grade, Joanna! Applause!”

“Heh,” Joanna curled her lip at Little Loli like a fox baring a grin, then strode up and back, steps quick as drumbeats.

—Tsk, you dared act smug at me. Watch me get you back, thought one black-bellied loli, smile sweet as honey and sharp as a needle.

“Uu… uu…” Little Loli suddenly burrowed into her arms like a hedgehog, sobbing so soft it was mist on bamboo leaves.

Only Joanna caught it, the silver-bell tremor hidden in reeds. Panic hit first, hot as a spark.

“Xiaoxue, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me,” she said, tossing her sheet aside like a hot coal and crouching by her like a guarding cat.

Her hand stroked Xiaoxue’s hair, gentle as palm over a fledgling’s back.

“Uu… Nana bullied me~~,” Little Loli sniffled, twisting like a ribbon in wind; golden hair spilled over the desk like honey.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Xiaoxue, forgive me,” Joanna blurted, words scrambling like chicks.

“All right, I was teasing,” Little Loli turned her face and flashed a sugar-sweet smile, like sun breaking through rain. “I don’t care about exams anyway~~”

“Oh yeah? You dare play me? Time for a lesson,” Joanna’s worry flashed to heat, a spark to flame.

Her hand darted toward certain still-growing buns like a bold sparrow after seeds.

“Yah!” Little Loli squeaked, cupping her chest and scuttling to the corner like a startled rabbit.

“Seems you’ve been developing,” Joanna measured with her fingers, grin crooked as a crescent moon.

“I hate you!” Little Loli squeezed her eyes shut, blush pooling like ripe cherries, ready to drip.

“Forty-sixth… let me see…” the teacher called, then froze like a statue under frost.

“Forty-sixth, Xiao Qianxue!”

Faces around the room bloomed and wilted like a field hit by sudden wind; those once smug stared at the floor like cranes hiding legs in water.

Little Loli slipped from the corner, smoothing her clothes like a cat licking its fur. She took the paper, glanced at it with a cool tilt, then tossed it into the trash like a dead leaf.

“Xiaoxue, lucky us, our ranks are neighbors!” Joanna beamed, excitement fizzing like soda.

“Meh, meh~~,” said the golden-haired girl, flopping back onto the desk like a sun-dazed koi.

Many saw it; the teacher saw it most. Heat climbed his face like a slapped palm-print.

“That’s all for the top fifty. Next, those in the top hundred…” He pushed up his glasses, trying to press his mixed feelings down like putting a lid on boiling soup.

“Ou Xiangyang, one hundred thirtieth.”

Pfft. The sound slipped from the back like a bubble from mud.

Ou Xiangyang looked toward the rear. A golden shape lay shaking on a desk like wheat in wind, and a silver-bell laugh drifted like windchimes.

Damn it. His fists tightened, knuckles white as snowcapped stones.

From the dance’s slap to today’s mockery, pride throbbed like a bruised drum. He could barely swallow it.

“Just wait. Give me a chance, and I’ll crush you,” he hissed to his palm, breath cold as night dew.

“That’s everyone’s scores,” the teacher concluded at last, voice even as a calm pond. “One student surprised me. She could’ve done even better.”

He let the words hang like a single chime, then dismissed class.

The bell hadn’t cooled, and papers were already held up like little flags, kids comparing like trading cards in summer shade.

“Such children,” thought a pair of gold-bright eyes, glittering under fringe like coins at riverbed.

To her, future and grades were as silly as paper boats in rain. But don’t forget, she’s still a soft-voiced, tender-bodied, easy-to-topple Little Loli—wait, who said easy to topple?!

Afternoon drifted in like warm tea steam, and PE rolled around.

Joanna all but shoved Xiao Qianxue into her changing room like a gust pushing a door, then shut it with a bang like a drum.

“Nana, you—” The cherry lips had barely opened when her bestie sealed them like a stamp on silk.

A nimble tongue tapped, then slipped past like a fish through reeds, tangling and claiming like ivy.

“Mm! Mmm!” Words tried to grow, but bloomed into muffled sounds, shy orchids in shade.

With her “help,” the golden-haired loli finally wriggled into her PE uniform, cheeks pink as peach fuzz.

“Next time, I won’t let you get away with it,” she huffed, hands on hips like a tiny general, though her lips were reddened like bitten petals.

“Then try me~~,” Queen Nana purred, gliding behind like a shadow, then breathed by her ear like night wind.

“Uu…” Little Loli melted again, brave for three seconds, then soft as tofu in broth.

Joanna combed her hair, strokes smooth as a jade comb through silk, while jasmine scent curled in the air like a quiet moon.

“Quit it~,” she protested, voice sweet enough to lure crime, sugar dripping into tea.

After a while, everyone gathered on the track like geese on a lake.

“Good, all here,” the PE teacher said, voice steady as a drumline. “In a bit over a month, we’ll have the sports meet. We start practice and pick our athletes now…”