I Am a Good Person

The seat by the window in the back row was still quiet.

Wuling scrolled through his phone, relaxed and unhurried, showing no intention of leaving just yet.

He was used to leaving a little later, mainly because there were too many people outside right now. The other classes were also getting out around this time, so it was noisy outside.

Wuling usually waited three minutes before leaving. There were generally still people outside by then, but it shouldn't be too crowded, and he could also wait for a message from Aimisi.

But normally, unless someone had nothing to do, he should have been the only person left in the classroom by now.

Wuling turned his head slightly to look at the girl beside him.

Cartethyia, however, still hadn't made a move to leave either.

As it happened, she too was used to waiting for everyone else to leave first, then quietly slipping out last to draw as little attention as possible.

But today was different. Wuling was still beside her.

Her fingertips lightly gripped her schoolbag strap. After hesitating for a long time, she looked at the boy's leisurely manner, and for some reason, her urge to make a quick escape began to waver.

After about two and a half minutes, Wuling looked up and saw that there were barely any people left in the corridor. The earlier noise had also faded away.

He had just finished replying to a message, so he stood up, ready to leave.

He casually glanced at Cartethyia, who was still sitting motionless in her seat, and asked indifferently,

"Aren't you leaving? Class is over, and there's no one outside now."

His voice was light and natural, the casual question of an ordinary classmate.

Cartethyia trembled slightly, as if suddenly startled awake.

She jerked her head up, met his gaze, and quickly lowered it again. The tips of her ears reddened as she hurriedly answered in a quiet voice.

"I, I'm leaving..."

With that, she hurriedly picked up the books on her desk and carefully tucked them into her plain black canvas schoolbag. Her movements were gentle and quick, as though afraid of wasting his time.

Only after putting everything away did she rise and stand quietly beside Wuling, keeping a small, exceedingly reserved distance between them.

It wasn't until Cartethyia stood up that Wuling belatedly came to his senses. He turned his head and gave her a somewhat meaningful look.

She had kept her head down before, and her long hair had obscured her face, making it hard to see. But in that brief moment when their eyes met, he had suddenly realized that the unassuming girl before him was unexpectedly beautiful.

Her skin was fair with a light, cool undertone. Her cheeks had soft, rounded contours that narrowed to a slender jaw, with a trace of baby fat.

Her pale, clear aqua-blue eyes were like a lake where a thin layer of ice had melted. Soft, wispy strands of light golden hair fell at her temples, partly covering her cheeks and making her face seem even smaller.

Wuling looked away and shook his head slightly, casting those bad thoughts out of his mind before setting off.

One behind the other, the two walked out of the classroom.

Wuling walked at an easy, unhurried pace. When he noticed that Cartethyia sometimes couldn't keep up behind him, he deliberately slowed down to wait for him.

And seeing this stirred a warmth in his heart.

All her life, no one had ever been willing to walk with her, slow, timid, and quiet as she was. Everyone preferred lively, cheerful, talkative companions, and she was always the one left alone.

If Wuling had known what she was thinking, he most likely would have said that as long as she was willing to lift her head, they would probably all compete to walk with her.

Neither of them spoke on the way downstairs.

The atmosphere wasn't awkward, though. It was simply quiet, filled with the girl's cautious fluttering and sense of ease.

It wasn't until they left the teaching building that Cartethyia suddenly slowed to a halt.

She tightened her grip on her schoolbag strap, took several deep breaths, and mustered one of the few scraps of courage she had shown in her life.

Wuling noticed the footsteps beside him stop and stopped as well. He looked back at her, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

The moment he looked at her, Cartethyia raised her head slightly. Her gaze was still timid, her eyelashes trembling gently, and her voice was barely above a whisper, gentle yet earnest.

"Thank you... for earlier."

"For the tissue, and for not blaming me for laughing at you... really, thank you."

She spoke each word with complete sincerity, a faint blush on her cheeks and an open, honest look in her eyes.

She knew that, to him, it might have been no more than a small favor that cost him little effort.

But to her, those were the only two acts of kindness and understanding she had received on her first day of school, amid everyone else's indifference and watchful silence.

They had given her dignity in an embarrassing moment and shown her kindness when she had behaved rudely and lost her composure.

Wuling stared at her careful, earnest thanks for a moment, then the corners of his lips lifted slightly. His tone remained easygoing and calm.

"It's all right. It was nothing, so don't worry about it."

It was a simple reply, gentle and frank.

Cartethyia nodded softly, finally feeling completely at ease. The faintest hint of a smile quietly curved her lips.

Wind blew in from outside the door, stirring the wisps of her hair.

Wuling's gaze swept briefly over the red tips of her ears, and the delicate face he had glimpsed when their eyes met surfaced in his mind again. He didn't mention the girl's obvious nervousness, only casually turned to look at the tree-lined paths that crisscrossed the academy and broke the silence.

"Which way do you go to get back to your dorm?"

Cartethyia's eyes shot up. A trace of uncertainty flashed through their misty blue depths, and her long lashes fluttered in a panic before she hurriedly lowered them again. Her faint voice drifted on the wind.

"The e-east district dorms..."

The Labelle Department's teaching building was in the southern part of campus, and the east district dorms were their shared destination, with the same route all the way. Wuling nodded slightly at her answer and spoke naturally.

"We're going the same way, then. Let's walk together."

(A note here: I've set Star Torch Academy to have two dorm districts in total. The Labelle Department and the Tunneller Engineering Department share one, while the Voidmatter Science Department and the Photonic Matrix Energy Department share the other. There's also a cafeteria in each district.)

Those few words instantly sent a warm flutter through Cartethyia's chest. She gripped her canvas schoolbag strap tightly, pressing down with her fingertips, and quietly followed half a step behind the boy.

Now and then, they passed classmates walking together, talking and laughing. Whenever a burst of noise reached her, she would instinctively edge a little farther behind Wuling, like a timid little animal.

Wuling noticed every one of her subtle movements. For some reason, he felt a little sorry for her, so he slowed down and deliberately moved toward the outside, quietly shielding her from the passing crowd.

Cartethyia keenly noticed what he was doing and stole a glance at the boy's profile. Flecks of soft light shone in her aqua-blue eyes, and a small part of her sense of inferiority quietly faded.

She wanted to say something more, but countless words caught in her throat. In the end, they became nothing more than a nearly inaudible breath as she walked quietly beside him along the path covered in golden fallen leaves.

After they crossed a stone bridge, the road forked. The path on the left led to the east district's girls' dormitory, while the boys' dormitory was over a hundred meters straight ahead.

Cartethyia's steps gradually slowed. Knowing they would soon part here, she felt a faint, inexplicable reluctance to leave, but she didn't dare show it in the slightest. She merely stopped at the fork, standing there awkwardly.

Wuling glanced down the road, then turned to the girl beside him.

"This is the girls' dormitory area. You're here."

Cartethyia lowered her head, her long lashes hiding the emotions surging in her eyes. After a few seconds of silence, she earnestly thanked him again, her voice as soft as an autumn breeze.

"Thank you so much for today. Not just for the tissue, but for being willing to walk with me too. Very few people have ever been willing to walk with me."

There was no attempt to gain sympathy in her words; she was simply speaking from the heart. A faint blush spread across her cheeks, and her ears took on a light pink hue, quietly giving away how she truly felt.

"I was going this way anyway. It was nothing."

Wuling smiled faintly, his tone easygoing.

"Regular classes start tomorrow. There aren't many, but you should still head back early."

"I, I understand." She nodded gently, some of the anxiety fading from her face.

"Go back and get some rest. Don't be late for class when you get up tomorrow."

Wuling gave her a gentle reminder.

Cartethyia lowered her eyes and answered softly.

"Mm."

She had intended to say goodbye and head back, but just as she began to move, she heard the boy behind her call out to her again.

"Wait a moment."

Cartethyia instantly went rigid and instinctively looked back. Her misty blue eyes widened slightly, a hint of panic in their confused gaze.

Wuling casually pulled a brand-new, unopened pack of sunscreen from his pocket. It was an extra one Aimisi had handed him earlier.

He had never been afraid of the sun and couldn't be bothered with such little things, so it would only have sat unused if he kept it.

"Military training is still a week away, but it's summer now. You'll definitely be out in the blazing sun during outdoor training."

He held it out to her, his tone natural and open.

"Keep it on hand, so you don't run out of time to buy some later."

Cartethyia stared blankly at the clean, new package in his palm. She froze on the spot, warmth suddenly flooding her chest.

She had never imagined that an ordinary classmate would be considerate enough to think ahead about such a small detail of her military training a week away.

The sudden kindness was so gentle and unexpected that her nose began to sting, and a thin mist instantly gathered in her eyes.

"I can't... Sorry to trouble you so much. I can't keep taking your things."

Cartethyia hurriedly waved her hands and instinctively shrank back a little.

"It's an extra. I didn't buy it especially."

Wuling held it a little closer, his tone relaxed, putting no pressure on her at all.

"It'll just gather dust with me. You can use it."

Seeing the openness in the boy's gaze, without a trace of condescension, Cartethyia held out for a long time before finally raising her slightly trembling hand and carefully taking the edge of the sunscreen package, as though holding something unimaginably precious and kind.

The moment her fingertips touched the cool packaging, the warmth that had gathered in her heart burst forth, spreading through her veins to every part of her body.

"Thank you... really, thank you so much."

Her voice was so soft it carried a faint nasal note. She bowed earnestly in thanks, her expression gentle and sincere.

"It's nothing."

Wuling nodded slightly, his tone as calm as ever.

"Go back and get to bed early. Make sure you're well rested for class."

"Mm!"

Cartethyia clutched the pack of sunscreen tightly, holding it carefully against her chest as though it were a handful of scattered but blazing light.

She gently said goodbye again, then turned and walked toward the dormitory building, her steps far lighter than they had been on the way there.

When she reached the entrance, she couldn't resist looking back.

The soft orange light of sunset covered the entire plane-tree-lined path. The boy stood upright at the fork, and when he saw her look back, he casually raised a hand in a small gesture.

The evening breeze stirred the hem of his clothes, gentle and unhurried.

Then Wuling turned and walked slowly toward the boys' dormitory.

Cartethyia stood there and watched quietly for a few seconds before turning and entering the dormitory building, a faint smile on her lips.

"Poor kid."

As Wuling walked back to his dorm, he couldn't help feeling a little sad for Cartethyia.

Others might not have understood the way Teacher Changli had looked at Cartethyia at the end, but he knew it well.

It was the look one gave someone out of pity.

That look, combined with Cartethyia's clothes, washed pale with wear, and her self-effacing personality, made her circumstances easy to guess.

She's probably a student from a poor family.

That was what Wuling thought.

But clearly, Cartethyia didn't want others to know he was a student from a poor family, which was also why Wuling had given him those things earlier.

Wuling didn't intend to tell anyone else about it. After all, Cartethyia didn't want others to know, and Wuling wouldn't do something so unpleasant.

Of course, all of this was still just his own guess. To be honest, if possible, he would rather his guess was wrong.

In the distance, a blue butterfly rested on a flower petal, seemingly watching silently from afar. But no one noticed even by the time he flapped his wings and flew away.