Meisha

Meisha had a head of jet-black shoulder-length hair and large, sparkling brown eyes. She possessed the fair skin typical of women from the snowy north, save for a faint blush on her cheeks. She always wore a reserved smile when introducing herself, a quintessential trait of an oriental beauty. In truth, long before noticing her looks, the very moment one heard her voice, one could boldly conclude that she was a beauty.

Ryuseki looked the girl up and down, whom he had not noticed that morning, and saw that she was dressed in a pink long-sleeved shirt with a tender white gauze outer garment. On the bottom, a purplish-black short skirt paired with snow-white long stockings and black uniform shoes perfectly highlighted her slender legs. Her attire was elegant, her temperament was fine, and her deportment revealed her exquisite upbringing. Taking a few more gazes at her, one would find themselves drawn to her, and deep within their heart, an inexplicable urge would arise to abandon everything for her.

"Where do you want to sit? There are only two empty spots left," the head teacher asked with a smile. "Whose side would you like to sit next to?"

"Here, right here! Come to my place!" The spiky-haired boy from just now looked like an excited monkey.

Meisha nodded and smiled in response to the spiky-haired boy before walking down the podium, and that boy was overjoyed. Unluckily for him, Meisha did not choose to sit next to him, but instead walked straight toward Ryuseki.

"Your name is Ryuseki, right!" Meisha walked up to Ryuseki with a smile. "We'll be desk-mates from now on, please take care of me." She put down her schoolbag and sat in the seat next to Ryuseki that had previously belonged to Kikka You.

"Ah? Yeah!" Ryuseki only came back to his senses when she sat down.

"This is the notebook you dropped on the ground earlier!" Meisha handed the notebook Ryuseki had dropped that morning back to him, then tidied up her textbooks to prepare for class.

The head teacher even leaned over the windowsill to take a look at this new student as he left.

"All right, students! Please take out your books. We'll start the 'Biographies of Contemporary Figures' class now!" A somewhat plump, middle-aged man began to lecture on the podium.

Thus, everyone began to take out their "Biographies of Contemporary Figures" textbooks.

"Students, today we are on the third lesson of our 'Biographies of Contemporary Figures'. Today what we are going to talk about is the world's most famous explorer---Bu Chun Ernie!" The plump, middle-aged teacher spoke with great zest.

"Bu Chun Ernie: a world-famous explorer, he ventured alone through all kinds of dangerous places, and he once escaped alive from the 'Time Tunnel' in the Devil's Triangle. He has written very famous exploratory articles, and his exploratory articles were once even included in elementary and middle school textbooks. I believe you must have studied the articles he wrote before, too!" said the plump teacher.

"That's right! We studied the text he wrote called 'Devil's Triangle---Time Gate'!" That spiky-haired boy stood up, deliberately showing off in front of the newly transferred student Meisha.

"Student Wang usually doesn't speak up at all! Why is he so enthusiastic today?" The plump teacher saw right through it with a smile, and then said, "Well! What you said is very correct! Now, the female student wearing glasses in front of Student Ryuseki, you answer and see what other contributions Bu Chun Ernie has made. See how you've been keeping your head down! Answer and let's see!"

However, no one stood up. Ryuseki's new desk-mate Meisha gently patted the girl wearing glasses whom the teacher had called upon. Yet that girl never dared to stand up and answer the question.

"You don't need to tap her!" Ryuseki said to Meisha. "Her name is Xu Haoran, and she's our school's famous teacher-frightened student! She suffers from a rare psychological condition called 'Teacherphobia'. She's afraid of teachers to the extreme!"

"Oh!" Meisha softly replied. "Still, how can that do?"

"Zhong Xian! I'm so scared!" The bespectacled girl named Xu Haoran tightly grabbed a girl named Zhong Xian beside her. This girl must be her best friend! Judging by the look of it, she trusted Zhong Xian very much.

"Don't be afraid! Xu Haoran! Stand up!" Zhong Xian gently said.

In fact, that plump teacher also knew that Xu Haoran did not dare to get up and answer questions. It was just that he believed students should not be like that, and he wanted to train her!

"Hang in there! Xu~ Haoran, I believe you can definitely do it!" Meisha gently patted Xu Haoran on the shoulder.

This single move gave Xu Haoran a tiny shred of courage, and Xu Haoran actually stood up.

At this time, everyone's focused gazes fell upon this shy, bespectacled girl. After all, it was quite rare for her to stand up during class.

Even Ryuu Mufei turned around and cast a meaningful gaze at the shy girl.

This was something completely unexpected to everyone, because in past classes, Xu Haoran wouldn't even dare to stand! Although this time she merely stood up and said nothing at all, it was still a kind of progress for her. This should probably be thanks to this newly transferred student Meisha, right!

"All right! You can sit down now!" The plump teacher signaled for Xu Haoran to sit down, the corners of his mouth lifting into a faint smile, and then he resumed lecturing.

Inside the classroom, the teacher was giving a lecture, the students were listening to the lecture, outside the window the wind was blowing, leaves were flying, and bugs were chirping.

Then, before he knew it, a class of Ryuseki's passed by!

As soon as class ended, the crowd surrounded Meisha, asking this and that! Especially that bespectacled girl Xu Haoran from just now. The moment the teacher left the classroom, it was as if her personality had shifted; she suddenly opened up, completely losing the tension and constraint she had just felt.

"Thank you so much for your encouragement!" Xu Haoran said to Meisha with a nod.

With no other choice, Ryuseki could only go to the sports field to chat with Lin Yingbin and Ryuu Mufei! After all, Ryuseki wasn't the type of person who liked to crowd around bustling scenes.

Before he knew it, it was time for school to end. When school let out in the afternoon, while Ryuseki was tidying up his things, everyone said goodbye to Meisha as they left, and afterwards Meisha stopped Ryuseki.

"Can we walk together? We live quite close to each other."

The way Meisha tilted her head and smiled looked extremely pretty, and such looks were simply as though she had been favored by the heavens.

Faced with Meisha's invitation, Ryuseki lost all conscious ability to refuse and could only nod in agreement. Even Ryuseki himself did not know why he had inexplicably agreed, but he could sense a charm on Meisha's body that made her difficult to resist. Yet Ryuseki understood that this was not because Meisha was pretty, but rather stemmed from other reasons. After all, judging solely by the degree of cuteness, Kikka You possessed a cuteness that did not lose to hers, yet she lacked this miraculous charm.

Even so, all the way along Ryuseki did not utter a word, only minding his own way forward as if no one else was around.

"I saw the contents inside your notebook! I'm sorry for peeking at your notebook without getting your permission!" Meisha smiled with an apologetic expression and stuck out her tongue.

"It doesn't matter, you've already read it anyway." In reality, Ryuseki's heart still gave a slight shudder when he heard that she had read it.

"Have you and Kikka You been close since childhood?" Meisha asked, following closely behind Ryuseki's pace. "But why did she move away?"

At the mention of this, Ryuseki's mood instantly plunged to freezing point, and the events that had happened a few days prior flashed vividly before his eyes. He looked at Meisha with a dejected expression. "Because she has already passed away, in a car accident not long ago."

With that, Ryuseki continued to keep his head down and walk forward in silence.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry." Meisha stood there and bowed to Ryuseki, saying apologetically, "I didn't know she passed away, excuse me."

"You don't need to say sorry to me; I never had the qualifications to accept it anyway."

Ryuseki sighed, quietly walking toward his home, the afterglow of the setting sun casting upon their receding figures.