“What a pain in the ass.”

Su Tong pursed her lips.

She’d dressed up especially for today, hoping to create the perfect scene of an angel descending by her side. But the brat who was supposed to benefit from it had turned her down.

But I refuse?

It was all in vain.

The girl glanced at the few thugs fleeing down below. Resting her chin on one hand against the railing, she lazily watched them disappear at the end of the campus path, then tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear.

It tickled.

Still, there was no need to worry. She’d always been good at adapting, and even a ridiculous situation like this was no big deal.

The only problem was figuring out how to teach the brat a lesson.

The world was like one enormous machine, its gears turning in a chain of cause and effect. The brat had pulled out a voice recorder and some money, thinking he was clever, but he hadn’t considered that Liu Jia had connections. Even if Liu Jia got sent to prison to play drop the soap with his cellmates, he’d be out again soon enough. And then…

Then the revenge would come fast and furious.

Su Tong turned away without a word.

How did she know? Because she was Su Tong—and Su Tong. Back then, she’d done the exact same thing and thought she was clever, too. But half a month later, Liu Jia had cornered her after school with a few thugs and beaten her so badly she’d spent a month or so in the hospital before she could finally leave.

She didn’t want the Su Tong of now to go through that pain, that hurt, that humiliation all over again.

“So hurry up and grow up, brat… Liu Jia’s too small-time for me to bother with. I’ll leave him to you as your mid-stage boss… Don’t disappoint me, okay?”

Su Tong murmured to herself as her figure gradually vanished around the corner of the stairwell.

◆

“Hey, hey, Su Tong, have you heard? Apparently we’ve got a transfer student joining our class today?”

The buzz-cut boy patted Su Tong on the shoulder.

Interrupted while reading a novel, Su Tong turned and stared at him for a second. Then, like a sloth, he slowly nodded.

“Mm.”

“And there’s more! I heard the transfer student’s a total hottie, gorgeous as a goddess, with curves in all the right places. Ehehe, I saw her when I went to the office to hand in our homework. They were talking about her transferring!”

“Oh.”

“What the hell do you mean, ‘oh’? She’s a gorgeous girl, bro! Don’t you have any interest?”

“…No.”

Su Tong replied without a trace of emotion.

“Damn, sometimes I really wonder if you’re even a guy.”

“You can find out for yourself if I’m a guy.”

“…Dude, no homo. I’m not into guys.”

“Then shut up.”

“Oh.”

And that was the end of that.

But Su Tong finally closed his book. He glanced at the buzz-cut boy bouncing around beside him, sighed with mixed feelings, and put the book back on the shelf. Then he said:

“Could you stop getting your hopes up, Cao Bin? Sure, she’s pretty, but what’s that got to do with us? She’s rich—one of those wealthy kids. Even if her grades aren’t great, she’s not going to have anything to do with people like us. Besides, there’s already a guy sitting in front of us who’s handsome, rich, and gets good grades. With a winner like that right in front of her, if you were the transfer student, do you think you’d give either of us a second glance?”

Only then did Cao Bin click his tongue.

“Damn. That’s painfully true.”

“So us frogs should stop dreaming of landing a swan and just rot peacefully in the corner of the classroom, right?”

But Cao Bin scratched his head.

“Come on, I’m not interested in rotting in a classroom corner. You’re practically a sage on the verge of enlightenment, but the rest of us can’t compare… Hey, how do you know the transfer student’s rich?”

“Because I saw her.”

“Y-you saw her?”

“Mm.” Su Tong lowered his eyes. “I ran into her before morning homeroom.”

His instincts resisted, refusing to remember anything about that girl. But his soul had already faithfully laid out every detail of their meeting.

They’d first met outside his home.

At the time, he’d thought she’d probably be his neighbor, and that they wouldn’t have much to do with each other. He just couldn’t explain why her presence felt so familiar—as if he were pushing against the flow of a crowd, setting out with an immense loneliness in his heart, looking up into a darkness that stretched from earth to sky, only to suddenly find a light.

It was warm.

Then, the next time they met, he’d had his arms pinned by thugs and been slapped around, his dignity ground into the dirt. Someone had even spat on him… Had he managed to win any of it back in the end?

He wasn’t sure.

For some reason, in front of her—in front of that calm gaze—he’d wanted to prove something to her. Or maybe he’d just thought, in a childish, chūnibyō sort of way, that he should.

So he’d taken out the voice recorder.

His thoughts drifted, slowly returning to the present.

He gave another small nod.

“Anyway, she’s out of our league. I heard her talking to the principal just before morning homeroom. She didn’t sound like an ordinary student—she spoke like they were equals. And you can tell from her vibe that she didn’t grow up in an ordinary family. I couldn’t recognize the brands or prices of what she was wearing, but the cut and design made it obvious none of it was cheap.”

The wider Cao Bin’s eyes grew as he listened. At last, he slapped the desk, his face full of shock.

“Holy crap. This woman… is terrifyingly powerful!”

Su Tong was already used to his buddy’s way of talking. He nodded, then glanced at the timetable posted on the wall.

“All right, enough with all that. First period is English with Dongfang Bubai. If you don’t want to die, get your English book out—otherwise, you’ll regret it.”

Cao Bin hunched his shoulders as the warning finally sank in. He hurriedly rummaged through the mess of books under his desk, pulled out his English book, and placed it neatly on the desktop.

Just then, the bell rang.

The noisy classroom fell completely silent… Everyone held their breath, waiting for Dongfang Bubai, the menopausal old hag, to arrive.

But she didn’t. The one who walked through the classroom door with the bell was their homeroom teacher, his shiny Mediterranean bald spot gleaming.

He wore his usual smiling-tiger expression. Standing at the podium, he clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention and said:

“Settle down for a moment, everyone. Listen up. We’ve got another new student joining our class today. It’s a bit sudden, but I hope you’ll all get along with her. Su Tong, come in and introduce yourself.”

“Okay.”

The girl walked in from outside with an air of calm elegance, stopped beside the homeroom teacher, and faced the class.

As she turned, her skirt swayed. When she came to a stop, it fell snugly along her thighs, tracing a slender, graceful figure.

“Hello, everyone.” She smiled flawlessly. “I’m Su Tong. Su as in Suzhou, and Tong as in pupil. I used to go to school elsewhere, but I’ve come here because of my father’s job… I hope we can become friends over the coming year.”

But no one applauded.

Perhaps it was the girl’s presence, or some other unspoken reason. The students, who should’ve been welcoming her, sat in total silence, like a flock of startled quail.

The homeroom teacher sensed trouble. He clicked his tongue, trying to ease the awkwardness, when suddenly an idea flashed through his mind.

He turned around with confidence and said with a smile:

“What a coincidence, Su Tong. There’s another student in our class named Su Tong, pronounced exactly the same way. What are the odds?”

“Oh, really?”

The girl smiled with narrowed eyes.

But her gaze drifted toward Su Tong in the corner of the classroom, and she smiled meaningfully.

“Well, that’s… quite a coincidence…”

[To be continued]