[Sixth simulation commencing... World correcting...]

"You totally forgot. You said last week you wanted to with me—"

Jiang Yueming unobtrusively stepped back half a pace, putting distance between them before the girl could finish speaking.

The stares and murmurs around them had already become conspicuously impossible to ignore. Some people were stopping in their tracks, whispering to each other; others pretended to be just passing by but moved slower than a turtle.

"Classmate Xia, you're too close." [TL: If you are confused here you are kind of meant to be so don’t worry too much lol.]

Jiang Yueming looked helplessly at Xia He as he spoke.

Based on what Xia He had said, they had only exchanged a few words during hall monitor duty last week. They couldn't even be considered friends.

Was it really necessary for her to get this close just to return a book? Did she not realize how much trouble her charm could bring him?

Xia He gave a sly smile. "Are you blushing?"

"A little," Jiang Yueming rolled his shoulders, his face not red at all. "I'm a rather shy person."

"Bragging."

Xia He's smile grew even brighter.

Ever since she had first appeared, she had maintained an air of being very close to him, a familiarity that suggested they had known each other for a long, long time. Jiang Yueming was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with his memory. Had they actually known each other for ages, and were even on pretty good terms?

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you. You said last week you'd take me out to have fun this weekend."

"Really? Truly?"

Would Jiang Yueming be the type to proactively invite someone out for fun?

Well, no.

He had indeed asked Dong Ziyang to go to internet cafes many times, but that was about it.

Aside from the routes to those few internet cafes, Jiang Yueming could only be described as a stranger to the rest of this city. A bona fide shut-in otaku.

"Of course it's true. You want to go back on your word?"

"That's not it... it's just," Jiang Yueming tilted his head and frowned, "I really don't remember ever saying that."

The girl let out an annoyed "Hey. Isn't that just another way of saying you want to back out?" She wagged a finger in front of him. "Let me tell you—no can do. You have to go out with me this weekend. Anyway, aren't your parents off traveling? Won't you be bored at home all by yourself?"

Jiang Yueming froze again.

"How do you know my parents are away?"

"You told me."

Xia He answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, looking at him without blinking.

Now Jiang Yueming truly began to doubt whether his memory was faulty. Xia He had described it perfectly; his parents had indeed gone traveling.

"Well? Got nothing to say now, huh?" Xia He leaned in a bit closer. "Then it's settled. This weekend, you're taking me out to have fun."

"I—"

"No backing out."

She cut him off, waving her finger in front of him. The red string on her wrist swayed gently, its small silver bead glinting.

Looking at that red string, Jiang Yueming suddenly had a strange feeling. He felt as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Not today, but earlier. Yet he couldn't remember.

"Fine." He sighed. "Where do you want to go?"

Xia He's eyes lit up instantly, like two newly ignited stars.

"You really agree?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No." Xia He smiled, her brows and eyes curving like crescent moons. "Then it's decided. Saturday at 9 AM, meet at the school gate."

She took a step back.

"Don't be late."

Then she turned and walked briskly toward the stairwell. After a couple of steps, she looked back and waved at him.

Sunlight fell on her face. Her smile was very sweet.

Jiang Yueming stood there watching her figure disappear into the crowd, scratching the back of his head.

What had just happened?

How had he ended up agreeing to go out on the weekend with someone he barely knew?

"Hey!"

A voice exploded from behind him, making him jump.

Dong Ziyang had appeared out of nowhere, his chubby face right next to his ear, eyes wide and round.

"You—you—what's going on with you and Xia He?!"

Jiang Yueming was startled by him and edged away.

"Nothing's going on. Just returning a book."

"Returning a book?" Dong Ziyang wore an expression that said, "Do you think I'm stupid? Does returning a book require getting that close? Does returning a book require making weekend plans to go out? Does returning a book require—"

"You heard all that?"

"Obviously, I was standing right at the door!" Dong Ziyang was so worked up his face turned red. "Xia He! The eldest daughter of the Xia family! Invited you out for the weekend! What kind of crazy luck did you step in, you dog?!"

Jiang Yueming rubbed his ear.

"I don't know what's going on either."

"You don't know?" Dong Ziyang stared at him. "You're telling me you don't know?"

"I really don't know." Jiang Yueming frowned. "She said I promised her during hall monitor duty last week, but I have absolutely no memory of it."

Dong Ziyang paused.

"Hall monitor duty? You and Xia He did hall monitor duty together?"

"She said she's from Class One."

"Class One?" Dong Ziyang scratched his head. "That's not right. Last week's hall monitor duty wasn't Class One. It was our class and Class Three."

Jiang Yueming was stunned.

"What did you say?"

"I said, Class One wasn't on hall monitor duty last week," Dong Ziyang looked at him. "Are you sure you're not remembering wrong?"

Jiang Yueming lowered his head doubtfully, trying to recall.

Faces flashed through his mind: a tall, thin boy, a girl with braided pigtails who always looked down. The three of them carrying a trash bin toward the back of the campus.

‘Then… Then… Then what happened? Strange, why can't I remember?’

The faces in his memory gradually blurred, as if someone had laid a thin layer of mosaic over them. Features melted into patches of color, silhouettes dissolving into the background.

Soon, he could no longer make out those faces at all.

Then suddenly, he saw a face of absolute clarity. It was as if it had been implanted into his memory by editing software. Everything around it was grainy noise and blur, yet that face alone was high definition.

It was Xia He.

She was walking with him across the empty sports field, her long hair flowing. Amidst those countless strands, she turned her face to him and said: “Take me out to play next week.”

He said: “Okay.”

"Hey, it really seems like..."

Jiang Yueming raised his head. In the instant he looked up, he seemed to catch a glimpse of something flickering through Dong Ziyang's pupils.

It lasted less than half a millisecond, so fast it was nearly imperceptible.

But in the afterimage burned onto his vision, Dong Ziyang's pupils had transformed into something else in that instant.

A black background, green 0s and 1s, a dense torrent of data cascading down like a waterfall.

"Seems like what?"

Jiang Yueming stared at his best buddy hesitantly for several minutes, looking him over from left to right, but saw no further anomaly.

"...Seems like I did hall monitor duty with Class Three."

Dong Ziyang's tune had suddenly changed.

"What Class Three? You were on hall monitor duty with Class One last week."

"Huh? But you just said..."

"Ah, forget that!" Dong Ziyang waved his hand. "First things first, you dog, tell me how you even got to know Xia He."

Just as Jiang Yueming was about to explain, the class bell suddenly rang.

The students around them filed back into the classroom. He had no choice but to let it go and wait until after the next class.

Before returning to the classroom, driven by a strange impulse, he turned back to look down the hallway.

He seemed to see an afterimage—a phantom with a high ponytail—running toward him, silently shouting while clutching a Chinese textbook, trying to convey some message.

Jiang Yueming blinked. The apparition vanished.