As people say, it's always easier when you know someone.

So this whole time, she hadn't noticed the biggest buff this body had—her status as the big boss. It only really hit her after coming to school.

Without exposing her identity, having someone who could look after Luo Xiaotang for Luo Xiaolu was honestly pretty reliable.

Luo Xiaolu patted Liu Jun on the shoulder with relief, then let out the kindly laugh of an older brother figure. Liu Jun's gaze turned firm, like he'd just made some great and noble decision.

The atmosphere was utterly peaceful.

Anyone who saw this scene would probably feel their brain short-circuit. A dignified school administrator was actually bowing and scraping in front of a student. Though in public schools across Sakura Province, a scene like this wasn't all that rare.

"Is it done?"

Zhao Li came back with Luo Xiaotang.

"Y-Yes... it's done!" Liu Jun snapped back to himself and answered.

"Sigh, this child won't say a word no matter what I ask. I can't complete the registration like this."

Zhao Li looked at Luo Xiaotang helplessly, then turned to Luo Xiaolu.

The moment Luo Xiaotang entered the room, she hurried over and threw herself to Luo Xiaolu's side.

"I'll do it." Luo Xiaolu said, as if she'd already expected this.

"Then come with me."

Luo Xiaolu had her little sister sit obediently in the office chair, keeping some distance from Liu Jun, then followed Zhao Li out.

The two walked down the hallway. Then Zhao Li suddenly stopped.

"?"

"Tell me the truth. What's going on with this child? You said she's afraid of strangers, but what exactly do you mean?"

Zhao Li turned to Luo Xiaolu, her expression serious.

When she'd led Luo Xiaotang away just now, the girl had looked like she was desperately suppressing something. She kept a long distance from Zhao Li. If Zhao Li got even a little closer, her whole body would tremble. And during registration, she stammered so badly she couldn't get the words out.

The scariest part was that the child seemed to be trying very, very hard to communicate, yet had no way to do it at all.

This was absolutely not how a normal child should be.

At this point, Luo Xiaolu stopped hiding it.

"It's related to what happened in her childhood. Xiaotang has very severe social anxiety. Other than me, she can't communicate with anyone. She's extremely afraid of strangers," Luo Xiaolu said.

"Ah..."

Zhao Li was clearly startled. Then a look of sudden understanding appeared on her face, only to fade into gloom a moment later.

For a young teacher of twenty-six, something like this was just heartbreaking, okay?

Thinking back to what had just happened, and how hard Luo Xiaotang had tried, Zhao Li suddenly felt an urge to treasure this child with extra care.

"Then how is this child supposed to go to school?"

"That's exactly what I wanted to tell you, Teacher. After Xiaotang finishes registering, she'll need to start school a little later. Just give her some more time. I'll definitely help her become brave enough to attend school!" Luo Xiaolu said.

"Alright. I'll speak to the department head and fight for it."

"I hope you'll keep this a secret for me. If this gets out and the other students find out, Xiaotang will definitely be looked at differently at school. That's something she absolutely, absolutely couldn't bear!"

Ever since leaving the delinquent world behind, Luo Xiaolu had told countless lies with full confidence. But this sentence today—she meant it with complete, utter seriousness.

Nothing was more important than her little sister.

"I understand." Zhao Li looked at the maturity radiating from the girl before her, something no sixteen-year-old should have had, and gave a slight nod. "Once this child starts school, I'll definitely take good care of her. I won't let her suffer even the slightest grievance!"

"Then I'm counting on you!"

Luo Xiaolu gave Zhao Li a deep bow.

As a delinquent girl, she'd never bowed to anyone before.

Zhao Li had no teacher's airs about her at all. She was gentle, considerate, and looked especially dependable. Luo Xiaolu felt sincerely grateful from the bottom of her heart. She believed this person could take good care of her sister.

Zhao Li quickly helped Luo Xiaolu back up and said with a smile, "This is what I should do as a teacher. Besides, we're both fans of Sister Zhoushuren, so of course we should help each other even more!"

"Mm!"

...

After finishing all the procedures, Luo Xiaolu and Luo Xiaotang went home.

This school really did deserve its title as the number one private school in western Chiba. At the very least, it was number one in tuition.

Forty-five thousand per semester was honestly outrageous. Two months ago, that would've been unthinkable. Back then, Luo Xiaolu probably would've trashed it as some dragon-lord school running a straight-up robbery racket.

But for the current Luo Xiaolu... well, it was still expensive, but totally acceptable!

Once they got home, Luo Xiaotang instantly revived at full health and started bouncing around happily.

"Xiaotang's going to school! Xiaotang's going to school!"

"If you were this lively back at school, you could've started tomorrow." Luo Xiaolu laughed and lightly knocked her on the head.

"Starting today, Luo Xiaotang will work hard toward going to school—by playing games!"

It sounded wrong, but somehow it also didn't sound wrong at all!!

That night, Luo Xiaolu uploaded the entire first volume of The Garden of Words in one go.

Its first release was naturally on Penguin Noon Web.

In no time, it stirred up another wave of discussion online.

"Sister Shuren, give me back my lavender!"

"Wuwuwu, I still haven't recovered from July, and now you've already given birth to a second one!"

"Judging by the vibe of the last book, this Garden of Words is probably another lethal dose! Damn, bros, I'll take the hit first!!"

"Fuck, I spent three days drinking in bars, four days clubbing, and slept with five girls. I was finally about to crawl out of depression, and then the new book drops!"

"I know there's poison in it, but I still want to read it, damn it!"

"I really want to quit!!"

"..."

How did reading novels start sounding like drug addiction?!

Luo Xiaolu felt a little horrified.

You guys are not okay!

Wasn't it supposed to be art changing the world? How did you all get trained into masochists?!

Still, The Garden of Words was genuinely top-tier. No wonder it was one of Makoto Shinkai's early breakout works. The artsy sentimentality, the fresh and wistful mood—none of it was missing. Same formula, same familiar taste.

July Was Your Lie had already been written by Luo Xiaolu using Shinkai-style prose on top of the original April base. And now that she was directly transplanting a Shinkai work, that intense flavor would only grow stronger and stronger. The addiction would deepen too. This new strain of literary virus was definitely going to leave all its customers satisfied!

Sure enough, within just one hour of the first volume going up, the word of mouth for The Garden of Words exploded!

Rain scenes beautiful to the extreme. A teacher-student romance quietly sprouting into bloom. Thigh descriptions showing up like crazy, satisfying every fantasy of leg lovers!

And then there was that poem that bombed the entire internet—

Faint thunder in the distance,

clouded skies overhead.

If only rain would come,

it might keep you here.

That night, Luo Xiaolu received a call from Green Leaf.

"Sorry for calling so late, Teacher Shuren. Tomorrow, NB Society will be holding voice actor auditions for the anime adaptation. A lot of voice actors will be there for the selection process. We'd like to ask you to attend as a supervisor!"