Here We Go Again

Another new day.

The sun was shining brightly, the sky was clear, a pleasant morning. It seemed like today would be a cheerful day.

Of course, that was assuming I could ignore the various Empire Commanders I kept running into on the roadside, selling pirated discs, telling fortunes, grilling lamb skewers, selling Tibetan medicine, reselling plastic jade, and so on and so forth...

I just couldn't understand it. With their strength, finding any kind of job would be effortless. Why did they insist on coming out and affecting the city's appearance?

"Because confronting the city management is a very fulfilling thing, it allows everyone to experience the joy of battle," Pandora said, tightly gripping my hand and pretending to be blind.

I suddenly understood. "Oh, so that's how it is... Wait, Lily (now that we're back on Earth, the name should be changed back), how did you know what I was thinking?"

Pandora replied, "Brother just said what he was thinking."

"Uh—really..."

Arriving at school, everything was normal. The students were still playing around normally, the fatty Zhao Hang was still posting GG normally, and I was still lying on my desk sleeping normally. The events of the past few days now seemed so distant to me, as if they hadn't happened at all. Ah, what a happy, normal time!

"A—Jun!" A pleasant female voice suddenly rang out beside my ear. Without even lifting my head, I knew it was Qian Qian's voice. Ever since I returned from the Otherworld a few days ago, this girl had been sticking to me all day. Basically, as soon as she arrived at school, her figure wouldn't leave my sight for more than 10 seconds. It seemed my disappearance last time had really scared her.

Without lifting my head, I reached out and accurately ruffled Qian Qian's hair, then continued to sleep.

"Hey! Please don't treat me like Lily! Also, why are you sleeping as soon as you arrive? Don't you have any energy?"

I mumbled in response, "I've been exercising too much at night these past few days, I urgently need rest."

"What?!" Qian Qian instantly ignited.

"...Lily asked me to tell her stories..."

"Oh..." She cooled down.

Holding a cute little Loli and reading her stories from a book, it sounded like such a wonderful thing to look forward to. But if the book in the little Loli's hand was World War History, the feeling became quite subtle.

Given Pandora's truly special hobbies, far beyond the realm that ordinary Lolis could reach, I made a firm decision after returning from the desert: to launch the "Well-Behaved Pandora Nurturing Plan"!

The first step of this plan was to use Earth's fairy tales (it seemed someone had forgotten that first-year middle school students were already past the age of reading fairy tales) to activate Pandora's Loli heart!

So I gave Pandora some money and told her to go to the bookstore and pick out a few books she liked as a gift for her.

The little one went happily because it was the first time I had given her something.

The little one returned even happier because she was holding a stack of twelve books as thick as bricks: World War History...

My "Well-Behaved Pandora Nurturing Plan" encountered an unprecedented challenge in the very first step.

Just as I was chatting and laughing with Qian Qian, I suddenly heard the gnashing teeth of Sun Yang, who sat in front of me: "Hey, I say, you two, if you want to be affectionate, can you find another place? You're really hurting the hearts of single men like me..."

I turned my head and said, "If you could lose weight, you would have gotten rid of your single life long ago."

"...Stop joking, it's the third year of high school now! I really don't know what you two are thinking, you still have free time at a time like this, even the teacher is turning a blind eye to you..."

Of course, the current homeroom teacher was Pandora's deputy, my trusted general. I estimated that even if I held a bonfire party in the classroom, she wouldn't have any questions.

At this moment, Zhao Hang, who was busy spreading gossip near the podium, suddenly slapped his head and let out a strange cry: "Hey! How could I forget this—there's big news today!"

Everyone booed: "Alright, you, which one of your news isn't big news!"

"This time it's really big news," Zhao Hang wasn't annoyed by everyone's boos. Instead, he crossed his arms and said confidently, "It's definitely the biggest event in the history of this school!"

Seeing Zhao Hang getting serious, everyone knew that this time it was really interesting—under normal circumstances, as long as this fatty spoke in this tone, it meant that something truly interesting had happened.

Seeing everyone's expectant eyes, Zhao Hang looked around smugly...

Everyone who already knew this guy's temper simultaneously lowered their heads and grabbed their stools.

Zhao Hang shrank his neck and quickly said, "No, no, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, we have a new student transferring in today!"

"Ah—" Everyone sighed in unison. This news was really not interesting. Transfer students were quite common. Even though it was the third year of high school and it was a bit strange for a student to transfer in temporarily, it still hadn't reached the level that could interest these guys who were bored to the point of growing mold.

Zhao Hang had obviously anticipated everyone's reaction. He said unhurriedly, "The other party is a beauty~~~"

Bystander A teased, "Perhaps the only thing that's certain is that she's a woman?"

"That's not necessarily true," Bystander B chimed in, "At least from the time of our beautiful teacher Pan Lingling, you can see that the fatty's aesthetic sense has improved to a certain extent."

"You two go stand aside!" Zhao Hang waved his round arms, suppressing the two bystanders who were singing in harmony. "I'm telling you, the person who's coming this time is not only a great beauty, but also a blonde beauty!"

"Blonde beauty?!" The animals exclaimed.

"Foreigner?!" The women exclaimed.

"Crash—" A certain Emperor collapsed.

On the stage, Zhao Hang was still introducing the foreign blonde beauty who had just transferred in, and everyone was listening with great interest.

"Listen to me, she's definitely a great beauty! With gorgeous blonde hair, a noble temperament like a princess, the first time I saw her, I completely fell in love. I've decided, I must win her over before the end of high school..."

Blonde beauty, noble temperament, like a princess, hehe, very good, very powerful...

Sandora, besides Sandora, I really couldn't think of anyone else who could appear at this time and fit these characteristics so well.

"A Jun, why did you slide under the desk?" Seeing me suddenly slide off the stool, Qian Qian couldn't help but be greatly surprised. After quickly pulling me up, she asked with concern.

I waved my hand and said, "It's nothing, I was just startled by the fatty's news."

Qian Qian immediately looked at me with suspicious eyes: "Do you know that blonde beauty?"

I nodded—it was impossible to hide it at this point, otherwise, when Sandora came over later, it would definitely be exposed. Instead of letting Qian Qian think more wildly then, it was better to admit it frankly now.

"Strange, why do I keep feeling like there are suddenly a lot of unusual people around you? Lily is one thing, then there's Lin Xue, and now there's another one—oh right, what's her name?"

"If I'm not mistaken, this time it's Sandora who came over—oh right, she's my... companion!" I finally thought of a way to explain Sandora's identity, so I whispered to Qian Qian.

"Companion?" Qian Qian was startled at first, then immediately thought of my identity as an Esper and quickly lowered her voice to ask, "Like you? Also..."

I quickly nodded.

Qian Qian understood, then smiled sweetly, "A Jun, why are you so nervous?"

Of course I was nervous. Confessing to my girlfriend why I got to know a beautiful stranger, if I wasn't nervous, there would really be a problem.

"Relax! I'm not doubting you, don't we have that much trust between us? It's just that there are suddenly a lot of people around you whose backgrounds I don't know, which makes me very nervous. I always feel like you're going to exclude me from something..."

Listening to Qian Qian's complaints, I also felt a little guilty, because no matter what, I did hide a lot of things from her. It wasn't that I hadn't thought about telling her everything, but I was really worried about whether she could accept my identity. This was different from Lin Xue. Lin Xue was just a normal friend of mine, and I wasn't as worried about letting her know some things, but Qian Qian and I had a closer relationship, which made me much more worried and unable to be as open as I was with Lin Xue.

Just then, the class bell rang, and the noisy classroom quickly quieted down.