After sitting down and putting her bag away, Lin Lin folded her hands and sat there all prim and proper.

Mm...

Honestly, it felt pretty good.

The girl held her head high and puffed out her chest, feeling very pleased with herself. For a moment, she was even extremely satisfied with how well her hair had turned out this morning.

Come to think of it, now that she was a beautiful girl...

If she just sat here all tall and graceful, then read seriously for a while, she'd definitely become a beautiful sight in the classroom, right?

What, you're asking where the “tall” part comes from when she's only 155 cm?

Out of the corner of her eye, the girl casually glanced at her deskmate beside her—her mortal enemy, the top student, a towering 180 cm tall.

Uh...

Compared like that, it really did seem... kind of hard to call herself tall...

No, impossible.

It had to be the angle.

Also, where was that commentary even coming from? Why were weird thoughts still drifting through her head now, like some absurd bullet comments suddenly popping up?

This...

Had she streamed too much?

Ahem, that wasn't important. She could just find another angle.

Like, for example, she looked pretty cool right now?

She'd just snapped back at the class delinquent girl too. Now that she thought about it, yeah, that was pretty impressive.

Didn't that instantly establish her aloof beauty image?

She could already feel quite a few classmates looking her way. Heh heh heh~

Those looks had to be full of admiration, affection, or maybe the desperate urge to shout, "Lin Lin, can we be friends?"

Ahh, being a beautiful girl really was such a burden. Hohoho~

Just as Lin Lin was basking in her own good feelings, suddenly...

Faintly, she seemed to hear... the class whispering among themselves.

"Eh... say, that girl sitting next to Gao Liang looks kind of weird..."

"Yeah... and she even talked back to Sister Han Kui just now. Wow... she's got guts. I think her name is... Lin Ling?"

...

No, wait, this...

First of all, my name is Lin Lin, okay? Can you not tell your n's and l's apart?

Ugh—

No, something was off. What were these whispers coming from out of nowhere?

Th-this-this... this wasn't just her hallucinating, right?

Could these actually be her classmates' opinions of her?

Huh? How was a beautiful girl like her getting reviews like that?

"She's pretty cute, but she's so gloomy and introverted. Sometimes she even seems a little unhinged. Just kind of a weird person."

"Mhm, mhm. The way she is... if she were a little more normal, she probably wouldn't be so isolated. What a shame. Her personality's the problem."

"Chuachuachua!"

...

"Eh, did you hear that? Sounded like some weird sound effect."

"Ah... I think I did. Eh, that Lin girl looked over here. Keep it down, keep it down!"

Feeling Lin Lin's resentment-filled stare, those chattering classmates hurriedly shut their mouths, then held up their books upside down and pretended to study seriously.

The corner of Lin Lin's mouth twitched.

This...

The acting skills in this class were seriously terrible.

She swept her gaze around the classroom again, looking at the eyes currently turned toward her. Most of them were pretty much the same as those gossiping students.

There was no admiration in their eyes. No affection either. Instead, there was more...

Confusion. Puzzlement. The kind of look people gave a weirdo. Or else...

They just didn't care at all.

This...

Lin Lin instantly wilted. She drooped over her desk, her head hanging low. The confidence she'd just built up from becoming a beautiful girl and thinking she could coast on her looks shattered on the spot.

Wh-Why...

Why had she become a beautiful girl and still...

Still ended up like this?

From the looks of it, her reputation in class wasn't very good. She was obviously pretty, but her personality had issues...

Was that really the kind of evaluation she'd gotten?

And she was usually gloomy too...

Could it be that even though the world line had changed...

She still had no friends at school?

A famous quote from Teacher Bai Yansong floated into her mind on its own...

"No way? No way? No way?"

No way she'd turned into a beautiful girl and still not have a single friend in class, right?

How could that be?

Heh.

And so, the girl began to wait patiently.

Clinging to the belief that "a beautiful girl like me would definitely have friends no matter how bad my personality is," she began her patient operation of "waiting by the stump for friends" the moment morning reading ended.

I refuse to believe not a single person will come talk to me during break. I'm obviously this pretty.

The girl nodded confidently, then began glancing at the clock hanging in the classroom from time to time.

Ten minutes left...

Mm, everyone's still sitting in their seats? Looks like they're all chatting where they are.

Come to think of it, people in front and behind each other do become friends pretty easily. The people around me should come talk to me in a bit.

Nine minutes left...

Why did the person in front of me run all the way to the other corner of the classroom to play with someone else?

Mm...

Someone come over and hang out with me too...

Seven minutes left...

Heh, my friends must've gone to the bathroom. No need to panic. They'll probably come say hi in a bit. It is still early in the morning, after all.

Four minutes left...

I'm panicking, I'm panicking. Did my imaginary friends fall into a toilet pit or something? Why is no one coming to talk to me? Am I really a lonely loser?

One minute left...

I...

I...

Lin Lin sat there blankly, falling into despair.

No, there was no hope left. Only one minute remained. How could anyone in this world still come talk to her now?

Heh...

Forget it. Accept reality...

"Um, Lin Lin?"

Suddenly, Gao Liang, who had just come back from the hallway, tapped Lin Lin on the shoulder.

Lin Lin froze.

In that instant, a fierce struggle and resistance erupted in her heart.

Two little armies in her head pulled back and forth—one representing "I refuse to accept that I'm still a friendless, socially anxious shut-in loser," and the other "I don't want anything to do with my archenemy for life." In the end...

Like she was grabbing onto the last life-saving straw, Lin Lin lifted her head, eyes brimming with tears.

Ah, right, of course. Gao Liang was her deskmate after all. Deskmates naturally ended up a little closer.

Besides, in this life she was already a girl. That whole thing with Xiao Ling probably didn't count anymore, hahaha...

There was really no helping it. Even if she hated to admit it, having a friend was better than having no friends, right?

Classmate Gao Liang, I'm counting on you. Please just say good morning to me! Onegaishimasu!

"Um..."

Gao Liang pointed at the narrow aisle between the front and back desks and said, "Can you let me in?"

"Tch—"

Eh?

Gao Liang watched helplessly as the girl's expression changed in an instant. She'd looked all soft and adorable just a second ago, so why was she suddenly full of disdain?

Speechless, Lin Lin stood up and moved aside, making room for him to pass.

After sitting back down, it wasn't until the class bell rang that Lin Lin...

Finally accepted reality.

This...

Wasn't this exactly the same as her previous life?

Damn it!

She was still grinding her teeth in frustration when Gao Liang poked her again.

"Um, the homeroom teacher said to go to her office after class."

"Y-you freaking can't bring me even one piece of good news?!"