Class time wasn’t much of a concern for now. There were very few people on campus. Most students were gathered at the stadium for PE, and almost no one was out and about.

It was perfect for a shut-in like Ye Chang'an to wander the campus as if he were touring a scenic spot.

He wanted to see what kind of school Qianqian lived and studied in. He also wanted to see Yan Ye’s school. But Xiaoxian said the middle school division was on another campus. It was right next to the high school, but it was still quite a walk.

As for the other one, Cinderella, who was still in her second year of middle school, the Yajun Junior High School she attended was even farther away.

It was a co-ed school. Not some elite academy, and definitely not the kind of school packed with genius top students. That much was obvious from the fact that Cinderella could study there.

To sum it up, it was a very down-to-earth junior high. The students were ordinary, but they were nice and gentle. In other words, it was a little plain.

And even at a school like that, she still couldn’t move up and had to repeat a year... Cinderella really had it rough.

The name Yajun also revealed the school’s hopes. It wasn’t blindly chasing advancement rates. It cared more about moral education, or rather, raising students to be refined and gentle.

And Cinderella truly lived up to this description: bad at everything she studied, number one in being cute and kind.

So in a different way, she counted as the school beauty too—the dumb-cute mascot type.

Ye Chang'an had no way of knowing that when he and Gu Qianqian missed each other, the distance between them wasn’t on the X-axis, but the Y-axis.

What had him even more flustered now was... class was about to end!

The bell for the end of third period in the morning was about to ring. Chang'an turned and fled. He really didn’t want to be stared at by a crowd of girls. He had to find a place to hide, fast.

It was only a ten-minute break anyway. He just had to endure it.

Honestly, this school visit had been way too poorly thought out. Back then, Chang'an had already started backing off a little. He was ready to come again next weekend instead. Then Xiaoxian appeared behind him, took his hand as if no one else existed, and led him into the campus.

At the time, it had felt amazing, sure...

But now that he thought about being alone in a completely unfamiliar all-girls school, his whole body was breaking out in goosebumps.

It wasn’t social anxiety. It was just... the habit you develop after staying shut in for too long. You start relying more on the few familiar people around you.

And beyond that, opening up your social circle becomes really hard.

He’d also become bad at talking to strangers, especially bad at dealing with other people’s eyes on him—especially girls’ eyes!

Not to mention a whole school full of girls. Why did that feeling weirdly resemble a zombie siege?!

Of course... Chang'an absolutely wasn’t saying girls were zombies or anything. Girls were soft, sweet-smelling, and cute. They had nothing to do with zombies. But the pressure they gave off was strangely just as intense.

Five minutes... five minutes left.

Chang'an had to make a life choice.

First option: hide in the bathroom!

Yeah, right. They were all girls’ bathrooms. Hide my ass.

Wait, no... there was a men’s restroom over by the faculty office building. He’d run into a balding vice principal there this morning. What, were boys supposed to just hold it in at this school...? That was terrifying to think about.

Second option: find an empty classroom.

There had to be spare activity rooms in the school. That much was certain. The school had all kinds of clubs and events.

Sometimes Chang'an, who had dropped out, would envy those students. They could join clubs with friends, or spend their youth sweating it out on campus.

But there was no helping it. Chang'an barely had any friends.

His legs had already started moving before his thoughts caught up. He searched for a shelter that could protect him, and for some reason, his heart was pounding with excitement.

What was with this normie-style idea of hiding from girls...?

In light novels, there were always male leads like that. A bunch of yandere girls would be obsessed with them, so they had to hide.

But when they got caught later, it usually just turned into some embarrassing flirty game anyway.

Seriously... why even bother hiding in the first place? It just made people jealous.

There was absolutely no way Chang'an was going to run into some clingy yandere beauty chasing after him.

But every now and then, he still longed for a girl like that. A girl who would love you with all her heart, as if loving you were the whole meaning of her life.

A girl who would even give up her whole life for you.

Almost the instant that thought appeared—

for some reason, a violent throb burst from his heart. Chang'an suddenly stumbled. Even the world around him seemed to shake. He lost his balance, dropped to his knees, and clutched at his throat.

It felt like something there was burning. Chang'an could only cough loudly, trying to ease the pain.

Only after a very, very long while... did that suffocating agony finally fade away.

What... was wrong with him?

His heart felt hollow. Just now it had hurt, but now it felt even worse than pain, as if something were missing, or forgotten... something important.

Or someone.

It was too late. The bell rang through the entire school.

Acting on pure instinct, Ye Chang'an saw a door standing open ahead of him and rushed inside. Then he slammed it shut and gasped for breath...