Xina's Lifeline!

After two laps, the first phase of morning exercise—running—was complete, though for Fu Hua, these two laps didn't even count as a warm-up.

But! For Xina, whose physical fitness was abysmally poor to begin with, it was no less than torture.

The moment her first foot crossed the symbolic finish line, Xina didn't want to move another step.

Her knees went weak, and with a thud, she collapsed to the ground, dry heaving.

"Xina, are you okay?!" Fu Hua bent down, gently patting Xina's back.

Okay? Did she look like someone who was okay right now?

Though she wanted to throw that question back at Fu Hua, Xina had no breath to answer, still struggling to steady her breathing.

"Huff... huff... huff... cough cough cough..."

It wasn't until she'd lain on the ground panting for seven or eight minutes that Xina's breathing finally slowed a little, barely making it through the worst of it.

Thinking there might be more training ahead, Xina had never felt such profound despair. She flopped onto the ground with a look of utter hopelessness, taking on the shameless posture of someone declaring, "I'm lying here today, and that's that."

Even after Fu Hua spent ages coaxing her from the side, she refused to roll over.

Watching Xina stubbornly refuse to budge, Fu Hua let out a long sigh. But soon, after quietly tweaking the schedule in the backend, she stood up and said, "Fine, take a moment to recover first. Anyway, today's PE class. After breakfast, when class starts, I'll take you to the gym for the next phase of training."

"What? PE class? Isn't this morning weapon practical training?" Xina twisted her limp body with difficulty, turning her head to stare at Fu Hua in disbelief. "I remember clearly—this morning is weapon operation class. How could it be PE? How?!"

"The weapon practical training teacher... is... uh, sick. Yes, sick, so it's been changed to PE!"

Fu Hua, who was terrible at lying, seemed to have a giant embarrassed character written on her forehead. She pushed up her glasses and stammered out her answer to Xina.

"Huh? You mean the teacher who was using one hand to press down a heavy machine gun and playing it like a pistol the day before yesterday is sick today?"

Seeing Fu Hua's flustered expression, Xina seemed to understand everything. She glared fiercely at Fu Hua and snapped, "Class monitor, do I have some kind of grudge with you? To treat me like this! You you you... you're simply... you're simply inhuman!"

"Cough cough cough..."

With her lie exposed, Fu Hua coughed dryly, her face reddening as she looked away, pretending to admire the scenery.

Watching Fu Hua's expression that screamed "I know I'm wrong, but I'm definitely not changing," Xina ground her teeth in fury. If she weren't outmatched, she'd make Fu Hua know what cruelty meant!

Struggling to her feet, Xina trudged back inside with a sour face to wash up. At breakfast, she'd just picked up her chopsticks to grab a piece of fried egg when she heard Kiana cheering excitedly beside her: "Hey, weapon operation class turned into PE! I can play tennis with Mei again! Awesome!"

"!!!"

Hearing the word "PE," Xina's brow furrowed, and her appetite vanished instantly. She wanted to put down her chopsticks and leave, but remembering how hard Mei had worked to cook breakfast early in the morning, even in a bad mood, she had to finish what was on her chopsticks.

Forcing down her irritation, she choked down one fried egg, set down her chopsticks, and left the table with a cold face.

Staring at the glaring "PE" on the schedule, Xina decided she had to save herself!

"Principal~" Xina plastered on a full smile as she found Theresa sitting on the sofa in the living room reading a manga. She eagerly refilled the teacup in front of Theresa with... green... something that seemed to be juice squeezed from some plant.

"Xina, what's wrong with your voice?" Theresa stared at Xina oddly, pressing a hand to her forehead and asking suspiciously, "Are you sick?"

"..." Sick? I'm dying!

After a few silent complaints, Xina continued speaking to Theresa in a syrupy voice: "Um... Principal, do we have any missions today? Could you assign me one? I really can't stand..."

"Mm, can't stand being idle even for a day. Only doing missions makes me happy!"

Phew, that was close—almost let it slip...

Xina patted her chest, silently praising her quick thinking.

"(⊙o⊙) Huh? You actually want to do missions?" Theresa picked up her bitter gourd juice, eyeing the beaming Xina suspiciously. She felt something was off, but... couldn't put her finger on it.

"Yes, yes, yes, missions." Xina nodded frantically like a chick pecking rice.

"Oh, I see."

Under Xina's gaze—filled with admiration, reverence, awe, and respect—Theresa's vanity as principal was thoroughly satisfied.

She flipped through the mission list and finally dealt a crushing blow to the expectant Xina: "I just checked. There are no missions suitable for you."

"Ah..."

Hearing this unfortunate news, Xina froze on the spot like stone, but then she thought of another lifeline!

"Thanks, Principal. I have things to do, so I'll be going now..."

With that, Xina turned and headed toward her last hope—Teacher Himeko's room.

Watching Xina's retreating figure, Theresa lounged comfortably on the sofa, gulping down her bitter gourd juice. "That kid, what's she being so mysterious about today?"

"Teacher Himeko~ Teacher Himeko~ Teacher Himeko!" Xina knocked urgently on Himeko's door.

Right now, this was her only lifeline. Only this woman could save her from PE class.

"Come in."

A few seconds later, Himeko's voice came from inside the room.

Just as Xina pushed open the door, ready to throw herself into Himeko's arms and beg to spend the day in her office catching up on culture class, the door was opened from within.

But... the one opening the door wasn't Himeko.

The person opening the door...

It was Fu Hua.

"No, wait—class president, why are you here too?" Xina stared at Fu Hua in disbelief, instinctively stepping back to the door to check if she'd gotten the wrong room.

"Xina, as class president, is there a problem with me reporting to the homeroom teacher?"

You make a fair point. I'm completely speechless!

"Sorry for the interruption..." Xina grimaced and turned to walk out the door.

Perfect. Now even the last straw was gone.

"Fu Hua, why did Xina leave? Did she have something to discuss?" Himeko sat at the vanity, lining her eyes as she asked Fu Hua.

"Hmm..." Fu Hua thought it over carefully, then shook her head. "She didn't say."

Dejected, she walked downstairs, not even aware of when she'd stepped out of the villa.

Just as she was at her wit's end, a flash of inspiration struck her!

"Right! How could I forget her!"