[TL: The start of this is our protagonist reading her novel (felt this was needed it confused tf outta me.]

Even though Senior Qianzhi always looks impatient with everyone.

She even scared off a lot of classmates who wanted to get close to her.

But why…

Why does she always secretly smile at me in private?

That smile, with a faint sense of stealing, won’t leave my heart.

It tormented me day and night, until that day after school.

One by one, the classmates in the classroom left.

In the end, only Senior Qianzhi and I remained.

We clearly hadn’t agreed on it beforehand.

But I could tell what she meant from the smile she gave me during break.

Wait for me after school.

I thought it was just my gloomy fantasy.

Because I was afraid of being pointed at by other classmates, I even came up with more than a dozen excuses in my head for staying behind.

I was practically prepared to die for it!

But Senior Qianzhi was actually waiting for me.

The ceiling lights in the classroom and the warm sunlight from the window both fell onto Senior Qianzhi.

It made her silhouette look like a sculpture full of artistic aura.

A bit of dust in the air became visible in the sunlight.

Some of it danced irregularly right in front of Senior Qianzhi.

I didn’t dare look at Senior Qianzhi’s face.

So I could only stare at the dust particles in the air in front of her.

But even so, my peripheral vision kept drifting toward Senior Qianzhi.

From time to time, playful sounds came from the corridor.

They made the tip of my heart tremble.

I was afraid it was someone from our class coming back because they forgot something in the classroom.

If someone entered the classroom right now, would I still have the courage to stay with Senior Qianzhi?

“Um… Senior Qianzhi, are you also on duty today?”

Maybe those eyes had already tortured my mind to the limit.

Because the usually gloomy me actually, for once, took the initiative and spoke to that dazzling figure.

Thankfully, before school ended, I’d already greeted today’s duty student.

I even swapped our after-school duty dates on purpose.

Otherwise I wouldn’t even have a reason to open my mouth.

“Why do you call me ‘senior’?”

“Huh?”

Under the sunset, the sun was a rosy yellow.

Even the light it cast felt like it had changed intensity, not as glaring as daytime.

I felt like Senior Qianzhi was the same.

Right now she was smiling.

The feeling she gave was completely different from daytime, like she’d become a different person.

It was still the same face, so cute it was hard to look at directly.

But it gave an entirely different impression.

More magnificent than an icy snowfield a thousand meters above sea level, is snow and ice melting under sunlight gilding the mountains.

Senior Qianzhi right now was like that.

Ten times more dazzling than usual.

It caught me completely off guard.

But Senior Qianzhi’s first sentence made my brain, already nearly crashing from nerves, completely go limp.

Yeah.

I really had been calling her ‘senior’ in my heart all along.

But why?

Just as I was squeezing my last brain cells trying to figure out how to answer, senpai seemed to read my thoughts.

“We’re classmates in the same class, so why call me ‘senior’?”

“Because… because Senior Qianzhi always gives me a very mature feeling, and you’re really pretty, you don’t look like a high school student at all. But why do you always smile at me?”

Ah, I’m done.

I actually said what I was thinking out loud.

My damn brain, why can’t you be a little more useful?

“Ara, so Zhenye-kun always knew. Then why do you look away every time and pretend you didn’t see?”

Senior Qianzhi didn’t look flustered at being exposed at all.

Instead she narrowed her eyes and stepped forward two more steps.

I instinctively backed up.

Then I fell back into my seat with a thud.

With one hand she braced the back of the chair.

With the other hand she pressed on the desk.

Her whole body boxed me into the tiny seat in the corner of the classroom.

Her golden hair fell down from beside her ear.

One strand even landed on the tip of my nose, tickling so much I wanted to sneeze.

I didn’t need a mirror to know my face was definitely bright red right now.

But at this moment I couldn’t care about being embarrassed.

I could only use my last bit of strength to peel my gaze away from her eyes.

Only then could I leave my brain a tiny gap to think about how to carry on this hard-won conversation.

“Zhenye-kun, you really, really want to know, don’t you? Why I always treat you like this?”

I nodded without thinking.

I could even smell the faint fragrance unique to Senior Qianzhi.

It was a bit like fermented sweet rice wine mixed with osmanthus blossoms, but there were other notes too.

It was hard to describe, but it was refreshing.

The sudden valley that appeared in my view also made my mind go hazy.

Wait, was Senior Qianzhi’s uniform collar always this low?

Did she pull it down on purpose?

No no no.

It had to be because the weather was too hot.

And since everyone in class had already left, she loosened her collar a bit.

As for me…

In Senior Qianzhi’s eyes, someone like me should be no different from an insect.

But who would arrange to meet an insect-like existence after school?

In her eyes, what kind of existence am I?

A feeling rose in my chest like I was being played in senpai’s palm.

But somehow I didn’t hate it.

I even felt a faint trace of anticipation.

It’s coming!

* * *

In the classroom, Fang Tong unconsciously clenched the page in her hand tighter.

From her years of being immersed in 2D, she knew this answer would likely decide this book’s quality and direction.

If it was a straight confession, it would probably be the classic plot where the boy forgets his own past kindness to the girl, the goddess descends from the heavens to help the male lead remember, and then the two of them get clingy together.

If it was a string of absurd lines, or some shocking twist like ‘actually that day I was sitting on the bench too’, then it was probably the author going off the rails to write something funny for toilet reading, and later it would definitely have a lot of comedy elements.

If it dodged the topic, or even talked around it, that was the most scheming way to handle it.

Then you’d have no choice but to keep reading.

And honestly, that kind of handling was what Fang Tong hated most.

You’re the one who came over to tease Zhenye and start the topic, and now you only flirt without explaining, huh?

It’s kind of like pulling your pants down to take a dump and then not wiping.

“Classmate Fang, why aren’t you turning the page?”

Right before Fang Tong was about to reveal the answer, a warm breath suddenly came by her ear.

“Ah!”

The tiny hairs in her ear stood up.

Fang Tong was so startled she nearly jumped out of her seat.

That gentle voice almost made Fang Tong think Senior Qianzhi had crawled out of the book.

When she came back to herself, she realized it was her deskmate Chu Xinxi.

At some point Chu Xinxi had leaned over.

Her gaze was still on the novel in Fang Tong’s hands.

“Sorry, Classmate Fang, did I scare you just now? I couldn’t help reading along for a bit. When you didn’t say anything, I thought you didn’t mind. I’m really sorry!”

Seeing Chu Xinxi lower her head to apologize, looking at a loss, Fang Tong let out a long breath.

She flattened her heaving chest.

She glanced at the still-noisy classroom.

Then she pressed down the panic in her heart.

‘I thought Shang Jing ambushed me again.’

Every time she read, it was easy to enter a flow state.

Mainly because the first tens of thousands of words of this book were basically all long-distance staring from Senior Qianzhi and Zhenye’s inner angst.

It was way too padded.

It was basically flooding-level padding.

No wonder it only had a traditional-Chinese version, who would read this on the mainland?

But Senior Qianzhi really was written as mysterious and cool.

With a ‘I already bought it anyway’ mindset, Fang Tong still read on out of curiosity.

Fang Tong waved her hand to show she was fine.

Seeing that Chu Xinxi’s eyes held only curiosity and no disdain, Fang Tong suddenly got interested.

She leaned closer and whispered.

“Chu, do you know why I haven’t been turning the page?”

“Why?”

Chu Xinxi showed just the right amount of curiosity.

‘Yes, yes, yes, that’s the look!’

As the most transparent presence in the five-person clique, having someone suddenly show curiosity about her ‘specialty’ was that kind of senior lecturing, oh no, senior guiding junior pleasure, you get it?

‘Who would’ve thought an extrovert like Chu Xinxi would be interested in this kind of novel too.’

Thinking that, Fang Tong suddenly sat up straight.

It startled Chu Xinxi.

But seeing the serious look in Fang Tong’s eyes, Chu Xinxi also became solemn without realizing it.

“It’s obvious the plot has reached a critical stage. Based on Senior Qianzhi’s answer on the next page, there’s at least an 80% chance we can define what kind of book this is.”

Fang Tong raised her index finger seriously and spoke with emphasis.

“Define? You mean if you read the next page, you can guess the rest of the plot?”

“Not exactly, but I can at least catch a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Just treat it as the book’s style or tone. That way, even if you can’t fully guess where things go next, you can still guess most of it.”

“Then wouldn’t it be very boring? No wonder you weren’t turning the page.”

“No no no!”

Fang Tong waved her raised index finger.

“Quite the opposite. This kind of guessing is also a kind of fun. Of course, if the plot later breaks away from my guesses, that’s even better. But generally those are ‘god-tier weirdos’ plots, the kind meant for people who watch chaos for fun.”

“Like you’re playing a long-distance mind game with the author?”

Chu Xinxi completely put down the Chinese textbook in her hand.

She rested her cheek on her palm and thought for a moment.

Then she asked with a slightly uncertain tone.

“Exactly! I didn’t expect you, Chu Xinxi, to have such high comprehension in this area.”

Fang Tong’s eyes lit up.

She excitedly patted Chu Xinxi on the shoulder.

“Is that so? I was just following your train of thought, Classmate Fang.”

Chu Xinxi’s shoulder trembled almost imperceptibly.

But Fang Tong, caught up in excitement, didn’t notice.

“Don’t sell yourself short. If you’re interested in this book, I can lend it to you.”

“No no, you haven’t finished reading it. How can you lend it to me?”

“This is the joy of sharing. How about this, if you don’t mind, we can read it together.”

Imagine the Sun God getting infected because of her, oh wait, liking light novels, then escaping being an extrovert and becoming an otaku, joining the big 2D family…

‘It gives a kind of angelic strange thrill, and if I think more I won’t be able to hold it in!’

“No no, I’ll just memorize the text. Classmate Fang, you should be careful too. Don’t let the teacher catch you.”

Seeing Fang Tong’s eyes flickering bright and dark, Chu Xinxi suddenly felt a chill up her spine.

She hurriedly waved her hand.

She was clearly a rule-abiding good student.

But she wouldn’t point fingers at behavior that conflicted with her values either.

That perfectly measured sense of distance really was worthy of the Sun God.

Seeing that Chu Xinxi truly didn’t plan to keep reading, Fang Tong could only rein in her urge to share and put her eyes back on the book.

Then she turned the page that decided fate.

[But no! You have to guess it yourself, I won’t say it on my own. Today I wanted to ask you to eat crêpes together. There’s a newly opened crêpe shop on the school’s back street. I’ve wanted to go for ages! Zhenye-kun, do you want to go with me?]

‘Damn it! This is exactly the kind I hate most. You’re playing coy with me here, huh? Then why the hell are you always secretly staring at me? If I were Zhenye, I’d grab Qianzhi and take her on the spot. I’d have to slap essence all over Qianzhi’s face and tell her it’s a bootleg and the Chinese lettering was actually just stuck on.

Or I’d force her to eat crab sticks every meal from now on, except the ‘crab’ character would be stuck on too. I’d also make her kneel on the ground and sing ‘Conquer’ for me, and then she’d realize she doesn’t hate it, and after that she’d even start begging me to do it again… Cough, cough. Okay, I thought too far.’

“Um… Classmate Fang, what does ‘god-tier weirdo’ mean? What kind of person counts as one?”

Right when Fang Tong was fuming, Chu Xinxi poked Fang Tong’s arm with a capped marker pen and asked.

‘Huh?’

Fang Tong didn’t expect Chu Xinxi to care about that.

‘As expected of a good student, she really didn’t know what it meant. Does she spend too little time online? Why does it feel like a grandma from the last century?’

“Well… it’s something you can only understand, not really explain. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, it’s hard for me to make you get it. It’s hard to put into words. If I have to say it, it’s like this kind of reply. This Senior Qianzhi is kind of giving off that ‘god-tier weirdo’ vibe.”

As she spoke, Fang Tong spread open the page and tapped Senior Qianzhi’s answer.