The Fallen Prophet

"Wait, this isn't black!" Shangguan Che sat up abruptly, rubbed his eyes, and stared intently.

The "pitch black" from a moment ago was actually studded with tiny, shimmering points of light, like a handful of crushed diamonds scattered across black velvet, swaying gently as if caught in a breeze.

He slapped his forehead, caught between laughter and tears: "Look at my brain, I almost forgot the Earth is round. How could I see land forever? Of course, I'd see the starry sky!"

That starry sky was much brighter than what he saw from the mountaintop back home; even the faint light band of the Milky Way was visible, and the stars were as dense as a bustling market.

He lay on the bed, propping his chin on his hands to stare at it, counting the belt of Orion one moment and searching for the Big Dipper the next, forgetting even his hunger.

"So, transmigrating comes with a 'VIP seat for the stars'? Score!" The more he looked, the more excited he became. He sat cross-legged and tried to push his "line of sight" further—the starry sky grew wider, the points of light more numerous, until his eyes went wide.

The excitement of the night hadn't faded, and the next morning, he woke up before his alarm even went off.

The moment he opened his eyes, his first instinct wasn't to reach for his phone, but to "activate" God's Eye—sure enough, that brilliant starry sky was still there, putting him in a great mood.

"Today I need to study the points, and maybe go to the cafeteria to try a different window!" He hopped out of bed, humming while he washed up, not even caring about the faint dark circles under his eyes reflected in the mirror.

It's normal to feel a bit groggy right after waking up the next day.

After getting up, Shangguan Che waited a while before seeing the system's email notification.

[For every day you avoid expulsion, you will receive one chance to draw an item. Most are common items; the probability of extraordinary items is extremely low. All drawn items can be stored in the system space.]

He tapped open the new email and scanned it, his brow instantly furrowing: "A draw every day I don't get expelled? This isn't school life, it's a survival challenge!"

He rubbed his chin and muttered: "Does the school see us as nuisances to be eliminated at any time? Could it be that personal points really hit zero and you get expelled?"

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached, so he waved his hand to stop thinking about it. "Whatever, I'll pull one to test the waters. My luck can't be offline forever!"

He silently chanted "Good Luck" and tapped the draw button with his fingertip—a flash of light appeared on the screen, and an item card slowly unfolded.

The moment he saw the contents, Shangguan Che nearly jumped off the bed: "A triangular bayonet? A common item? You call this a common item?!"

He stared at the item details: "Alloy steel forging," "three-sided blood groove," "rotational assassination."

Shangguan Che's mouth twitched repeatedly: "My youthful daily life, you must hold on! Don't veer into a hot-blooded battle anime right at the start!"

After muttering to the air, he focused his mind, and the bayonet instantly appeared in his palm—the heavy feel, the cold metallic luster, and the prismatic blade looked inherently vicious.

Shangguan Che weighed it, then tried a flick, and with a crisp "click," the blade snapped open neatly.

"Hiss..." He sucked in a cold breath and quickly returned the bayonet to the system space. "Better let you gather dust in there. I don't want to get expelled for carrying a controlled weapon right after enrolling!"

Shangguan Che clutched a cheap loaf of bread with slightly wrinkled edges and ambled into the classroom.

The packaging crinkled with a "rustle" under his fingers. The half-eaten bread was still in his pocket—after all, the food at the free window was tasteless, so bread was more filling.

The classroom was already filled with people, gathered in twos and threes, whispering about yesterday's entrance exam or guessing what today's lessons would be.

He scanned the room; the girl with long black hair on the left was still holding a book with a plain cover, her eyes lowered as she read intently, barely noticing the movement around her.

In the seat to his right, a girl with red hair was gripping her pen, staring at her textbook with a hint of nervousness. It was Sakura Airi, whose voice had been so soft during yesterday's self-introduction.

Shangguan Che hesitated for two seconds, then decided to build a rapport with his seatmate.

He shoved the bread bag into his desk and gave Sakura Airi a friendly smile:

"Hello, Sakura-san, I'm Shangguan Che. I might not have spoken clearly during yesterday's self-introduction, but we're seatmates from now on. Please take care of me."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, offering a handshake.

"Ah... hello, Shangguan-kun!" Sakura Airi clearly hadn't expected him to initiate a conversation. Her eyes widened slightly, and she put down her pen in a panic, carefully extending her hand to give a light shake. "I, I'm Sakura Airi. Please take care of me too."

As his fingertips touched the girl's soft hand, Shangguan Che's heart skipped a beat for no reason, and he quickly scolded himself: What are you thinking! Pull back!

He released her hand nonchalantly and found a topic to keep the conversation going: "I wonder if you have any hobbies, Sakura-san? I quite like reading novels, both foreign and domestic."

In truth, he had been too busy pondering his and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's self-introductions yesterday, and everyone else's had gone in one ear and out the other. Now, he had to fish for common ground.

Sakura Airi's cheeks flushed slightly, and her voice remained airy, as if she were afraid of disturbing something: "I, I don't have any particularly impressive hobbies. Just... just like taking some photos, taking pictures of scenery and things like that."

"Photography?" Shangguan Che's heart stirred.

Generally speaking, introverted people rarely volunteer a "display-oriented" hobby like photography. Combining this with the character profile he vaguely remembered, Shangguan Che instantly had an idea.

Shangguan Che pulled out his phone, shook the screen, and deliberately put on an "what a coincidence" expression:

"What a coincidence? I've self-studied some photography techniques. I'm not an expert, but I understand basic composition and lighting! We can exchange tips later. By the way, why don't we add each other on social media? It'll be easier to send photos and discuss them."

As he said this, his heart beat a little faster—after all, this was the first time he had actively asked for a stranger's contact information with an "ulterior" motive.

Fortunately, Sakura Airi didn't overthink it and said nervously, "Is that really okay? Sure."

She fumbled through her bag for her phone, nearly hitting the wrong password while unlocking it, and after a bit of a struggle, she pulled up her QR code for Shangguan Che to scan.

Seeing the "Friend Added Successfully" notification on his screen, Shangguan Che quietly breathed a sigh of relief—finally, he'd secured his first friend!

Just then, the bell rang, its sharp tone cutting off their conversation.

Shangguan Che immediately put away his phone and smiled at Sakura Airi: "Class is starting, let's talk later. I need to pay attention; this is the first class of high school, after all, I can't let my mind wander."

The first period was Japanese, and the teacher started explaining classical Japanese grammar right away.

Shangguan Che looked at the dense kana in the textbook and compared it to his "white" level of Japanese proficiency, feeling his head throb.

He could understand simple conversations, but when it came to complex grammar and obscure vocabulary, he still had to rely on guessing.

Shangguan Che frowned, scribbling key points into his notebook while struggling to keep up with the teacher's pace, muttering to himself, "Language is definitely my Achilles' heel. I need to grind through practice questions and get my Japanese up to speed as soon as possible."

After finally making it to the end of class, Shangguan Che stretched his back. Hearing a classmate nearby mention that the next period was history, he suddenly felt a spark of interest:

"I heard history class in Japan is different from what they teach back home. I should listen in and see what the differences are."

But the moment the bell rang and the teacher opened the textbook, the lecture immediately dove into the "Jomon period" and "Yayoi period."

Shangguan Che stared at the unfamiliar place names and events in the textbook, his hands flipping through the pages with increasing speed, thinking anxiously, "Why is it all Japanese history? What about world history? Hurry up and turn to the world history section!"

His movements were a bit too vigorous, creating a loud "rustling" sound. Just as he finally found the "World History" index and was about to feel relieved—

He suddenly heard a faint laugh from his left—like a feather brushing against his ear, barely perceptible.

Shangguan Che whipped his head around, locking eyes with a girl with long, black hair.

The girl's gaze was cold and clear, carrying a hint of undetectable playfulness, just like the classic "ice queen" archetype found in anime.

Shangguan Che froze for a second, a string of chuunibyou lines involuntarily popping into his head: "Is this the ice queen of the anime world? Could this be the trickery of fate..."

"Don't you think staring at a beautiful girl is a very impolite thing to do?"

Before Shangguan Che could finish his internal monologue, the girl's cold, clear voice reached him, acting like a bucket of cold water that instantly doused his chuunibyou fire—though it didn't cure it entirely, it at least brought him back to his senses.

Shangguan Che realized he had been staring for quite a while and quickly averted his gaze, offering a sincere apology: "Oh, sorry, sorry. I was just spacing out a bit. It was rude of me, I apologize."

Yet, he muttered in his heart, "You were the one who laughed at me first, so why are you turning it around and blaming me? Whatever, it's probably pointless to argue with an ice queen."

He took a deep breath and refocused his attention on the textbook, starting from the first page to study Japanese history in earnest.

After all, since he had transmigrated here, he couldn't just become a bottom-tier student, could he?

But after reading only a few pages, he realized something was wrong—the world history recorded in this textbook was completely different from what he had learned before!

The timelines of certain historical events were scrambled, and even the biographies of some major figures had been altered.

"You've got to be kidding me," Shangguan Che couldn't help but wail internally. "I was hoping to play the part of a little prophet by knowing 'future history,' but it looks like that trick is useless here! As expected, you can't judge the history of a transmigrated world by conventional logic..."

Complaints aside, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep reading; after all, if he wanted to avoid being expelled, his grades were likely the key.

Shangguan Che cheered himself on internally while diligently taking notes on the key points.