There were plenty of maple trees on campus. By late autumn, their leaves had turned golden.

It really was colder this year than in previous ones.

As Yuyang made his way back to the classroom, he could only tuck both hands into the pockets of his school uniform and follow his memories toward the long-familiar sophomore building.

But all along the way, he couldn’t shake the deep sense that something was off.

It came from the stares around him—or, more precisely, from the girls looking at him from every direction as he passed the flower beds below the school and walked by the other classrooms in the building.

“……”

Honestly, he hadn’t felt this uncomfortable in his previous life.

He hadn’t paid attention back then. But now that he was even a little aware of it, he could feel just how ridiculously many eyes were on him.

People peeking over from the windows on different floors was one thing.

But even when a few girls came walking straight toward him, the moment they saw Yuyang’s face, they’d bashfully look away, blush, and hurry off.

Do they really think I’m some kind of rare animal…?

So whose bright idea was it to pick a school heartthrob, anyway?!

Well… there’s really no helping it. Even without the title of ‘Qifeng No. 1 High School’s School Heartthrob,’ Bai Yuyang’s looks alone would’ve made him the hottest guy in school.

The neighbors had been calling him handsome since he was little. For some people, that might’ve just been polite praise, but for Yuyang, it couldn’t have been truer.

Maybe in the past, Yuyang would’ve secretly enjoyed the attention. But now, he could only ignore the stares—or, really, feel a little bothered by them.

Because the only girls on his mind now were those few.

He didn’t want to make another choice in this life.

Yuyang sorted out his thoughts and tried to figure out how to avoid them as much as possible in the days ahead.

As he considered all the possibilities, Yuyang reached the door of Class 4, Grade 11.

He stopped and listened. The classroom was loud and rowdy. Clearly, class hadn’t started yet, and everyone inside was going wild.

Yuyang put a hand on the doorframe and was about to push the door open when he suddenly hesitated without thinking.

Inside this classroom… apart from Qingyu, there was another girl who’d liked him before he was reborn.

And she was the girl Yuyang had chosen at the end of his previous life.

He’d already made his choice, and the two of them were supposed to officially start dating the next day. Who knew he’d suddenly travel back in time before they even got together?

So how was he supposed to face her…?

Ah, forget it. He was worrying over nothing. Judging from what he’d seen of everyone so far, she probably didn’t have any memories of her previous life. He’d just have to take things as they came. There wasn’t much else he could do.

Yuyang gritted his teeth, tensed his arm a little, and pushed open the classroom’s front door.

The door creaked open, and for a brief moment, the classroom fell silent.

Then everyone looked up in unison. When they saw who’d come in, they immediately relaxed and went back to chatting and laughing.

A boy by the door complained.

“Whoa, hey, class monitor! Why’d you come in so quietly? I thought it was our homeroom teacher. Nearly scared me to death!”

Oh, right. Yuyang remembered. I was class monitor in high school, wasn’t I?

But he wasn’t about to hold back. “Do I have to make a big entrance? Should I just kick the door open?!”

The boy in the front row grinned. “That’d be even worse, class monitor. You’d look like the head of year barging in for a surprise inspection!”

“So if the door’s closed, I can’t come in?!”

Seriously? Quietly walking in was wrong, and making a scene was wrong too. How had he used to get into the classroom?

Another boy in the front row asked, looking confused.

“Why’re you acting so weird today, class monitor? Who walks in through the front door? Just use the back!”

“Oh, right! Fang Liang, if you’d said that earlier, I would’ve understood.”

It was like a circuit that’d been shorted for ages suddenly started working again. Yuyang remembered a whole lot of details about high school.

Seriously, four years at university had made him forget so many of high school’s unwritten rules.

The two boys in front exchanged a glance, both baffled. Why did the class monitor seem so out of it today?

After dealing with them, Yuyang looked around the familiar classroom.

Everything was just as he remembered. He’d even drawn the blackboard display at the back himself.

Qingyu was already back at her desk. She met Yuyang’s eyes, gave a little huff, and turned her head away.

Seriously… what is this little girl getting mad about every day?

Sure enough, Luo Hao came over to Yuyang just then and said awkwardly,

“Um… Brother Yang, I’ve got a favor to ask. I hope you can be generous enough to make an exception…”

“Haozi, if you want to borrow my math homework, just say so. Don’t beat around the bush.”

“Brother Yang, you get me! Please let me copy your homework! I’ve still got two whole worksheets blank. I’m doomed!”

“I really have no idea what you did all vacation…”

Yuyang took the shoulder bag off and thought for a moment, then pulled a file folder out of it.

“Look through the homework in there. If you find it, then I did it. If you don’t, then I didn’t.”

“?”

Luo Hao froze. Wait, Brother Yang—you don’t know whether you did your homework or not?

He really didn’t.

It’d been so many years. Yuyang couldn’t remember the details. He only vaguely remembered where he’d put his homework. Still, he’d usually been pretty diligent, so it should all be there.

After handing the homework to Luo Hao, Yuyang added a few words of advice.

“Haozi, don’t copy too much. Try to work out whatever you can yourself. When the college entrance exams come around in a couple of years, you’ll thank me.”

“Awesome! I’m already thanking you, Brother Yang! You’ve rescued your bro from the brink!”

He clearly hadn’t listened.

Whatever. Yuyang wasn’t planning to say much more about it right now.

Ever since a moment ago, Yuyang’s gaze had kept drifting toward the windows.

The girl he knew so well was sitting over there.

If he remembered right, she sat in the third-to-last row by the window.

Her name was Mo Sishi, and she was in Class 4 too. If there was one title worth mentioning, it was that she’d later be chosen as Qifeng No. 1 High School’s school belle.

Yuyang sat in the second-to-last row, which made her the desk in front of his.

Only after seeing Luo Hao off did Yuyang look directly her way.

Just as expected, she was sitting there quietly…

Sunlight slanted through the window and fell across her face, revealing a pair of beautiful…

I can’t see a thing, hello?!

Mo Sishi had long, smooth black hair that fell past her waist. But right now, her bangs were so long they almost covered her beautiful eyes.

She’d also tied her hair into a ponytail and wore a pair of utterly unflattering black-rimmed glasses with plain, non-prescription lenses.

It was her disguise… a way to hide her looks.

And Yuyang knew all too well what she really looked like.

When she brushed her bangs aside and took off her glasses, that was when Mo Sishi’s beauty shone through—so dazzling, it seemed able to rival the bright moon.

Yuyang also knew exactly why she dressed like this and hid her appearance.

As he sifted through fragments of memory, Yuyang headed back to his seat. Instead of going around the back, he deliberately walked past her desk.

He didn’t stop until he was seated at his own desk.

Mo Sishi still didn’t look up. She sat there alone, writing in the math workbook on her desk in her neat handwriting.

Just as I thought… you don’t remember anything either, do you?

............