With class about to start, the hallway seemed rather empty.
Perhaps for that reason, there was no beloved rooftop scene. They had simply moved away from the classroom.
Xu Nuo didn't resist.
He let her pull him along, looking down at the small hand gripping his wrist.
Her nails were meticulously trimmed and coated with a layer of glittery pink polish. A bracelet adorned her wrist, and her style looked quite fashionable.
She was nothing like the girl in his memories.
The timid little girl who always followed him around, wearing two braids and a plain dress.
They were practically two different people!
Yes.
Xu Nuo remembered her.
Or rather, it would have been strange if he'd forgotten. She was the girl next door from his childhood, the legendary childhood sweetheart.
Childhood playmates were always hard to forget.
But that was about it.
When Xu Nuo first heard her name, he'd assumed she was someone else with the same name. He hadn't thought of Classroom of the Elite.
So,
he hadn't paid her much attention, though he'd occasionally looked after her.
Then Xu Nuo began to show his talents. His name spread across Tokyo in just a few years, and he made a fortune. Naturally, he moved away.
After that,
they never saw each other again.
He'd thought she was just a fleeting passerby in his life. He never expected they'd meet again here...
Xu Nuo's thoughts shifted.
The Karuizawa Kei standing before him was undoubtedly dazzling.
Her fluffy, soft golden hair was tied in a high ponytail with a scrunchie, falling to her waist and shimmering like honey in the sunlight.
Her violet-blue eyes glistened, her long lashes fluttered, and her features were adorable and delicate.
Yet her air was deliberately bold.
She'd secretly rolled up her originally knee-length skirt a little, so it barely covered the middle of her thighs, revealing a pair of long legs in black knee-high socks.
This outfit
perfectly captured the image of a fashionable girl going through her rebellious teenage phase.
Mm...
She was like a little hedgehog, fully armed and ready to protect herself with her spines at any moment.
So cute~
At the same time,
Karuizawa Kei gazed at the boy who'd once lived next door. His perfect face left her dazed, while a pleasant scent slowly filled her nose.
"Gulp..."
Heat spread to the tips of her ears. The girl's gaze lingered on his thin lips, and her throat bobbed slightly.
With a face like that so close,
Karuizawa Kei was utterly dazzled. She couldn't resist.
He...
was still exactly the same as when they were kids, from that face to that pleasant scent.
"Mm..."
After a long while,
Karuizawa Kei blinked, as if she'd only just come back to her senses. Her face instantly flushed bright red.
Ahhhhhhhhh...
Kei—
How could you do that?!
Staring at someone like that would make them think you were a pervert, wouldn't it? It's all because that face is too unfair...
She secretly looked up and saw no unusual expression on Xu Nuo's face. Only then did she relax. She nervously glanced around.
Thank goodness. Nobody saw, either.
Then Karuizawa Kei summoned her courage and raised her head.
She wanted to ask him.
Whether he still remembered.
Whether he remembered that plain, unremarkable crybaby.
If possible... maybe... she could even go out with him... He'd protect her, wouldn't he?
That's right... Exactly!
However,
fate loved to play jokes at moments like this.
Ding-a-ling!
The shrill, urgent class bell rang, dousing the courage Karuizawa had only just mustered like a bucket of cold water.
"Oh no! We're going to be late!"
"Quick, quick!"
Students appeared in a hurry at the other end of the hallway, rushing in twos and threes.
This sudden turn of events
left Karuizawa Kei's mind completely blank.
The hand gripping Xu Nuo's suddenly sprang away as if burned, and panic surged through her.
What should I do?
What do I do now? Should I keep going?
But...
Just as she was torn between her feelings, so anxious she nearly bit her tongue, Xu Nuo said nothing. He only looked at her calmly.
Strangely enough,
his gaze soothed her anxious, conflicted heart.
"Tch...!"
In the end,
Karuizawa Kei squeezed a small, fierce-sounding noise from her throat. Pretending nothing had happened, she put her hands on her hips, raised her chin, and glared at him.
"You—you'd better not leave after school!"
After dropping this utterly unthreatening threat,
Karuizawa Kei turned on her little leather shoes like a startled rabbit and rushed into Class D without looking back, leaving only a faint trail of fragrance behind.
The hallway fell quiet again.
Watching her retreating figure, Xu Nuo lowered his eyes slightly.
"What are you doing here?"
Suddenly,
a cold voice sounded behind him.
He turned around and saw Class D's homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira. The aloof teacher stood there expressionlessly, a stack of lesson plans in her arms.
Clearly,
she'd seen what had just happened, but didn't care.
That was fine, too.
It saved him the trouble.
Xu Nuo shrugged, with no intention of answering.
Seeing this,
Sae Chabashira couldn't be bothered to press him. She glanced discreetly at the camera and prepared to head straight back to the classroom.
Just then,
as if remembering something, Xu Nuo's lips curved slightly. "I need an Anonymous Account, Chabashira-sensei. How many points would that cost?"
His voice wasn't loud.
But what he said was like a depth charge, stirring up a storm in someone's heart.
"?!"
Sae Chabashira abruptly stopped in her tracks.
Her brown-gold eyes, usually tinged with weariness and indifference, contracted sharply.
She stared hard at Xu Nuo.
Her gaze was so piercing it seemed she wanted to dissect him completely.
An Anonymous Account?
That term—
for a first-year student who'd only just enrolled and hadn't even fully grasped the point system, it was absolutely, utterly beyond his reach.
How... did he know about it?
In an instant,
countless possibilities and suspicions flashed through Sae Chabashira's mind, raising a cloud of doubt.
Was it a coincidence? Had he heard about it from some upperclassman? Or was this guy... not as simple as he seemed?
Could it be...
That clumsy self-introduction yesterday had been an act?
Did I draw an SSR?!
Once the thought surfaced, it couldn't be stopped. It grew wildly inside her like weeds.
"Phew..."
Sae Chabashira took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil within her. She studied the boy before her again. His flawless face still wore a calm expression, and she couldn't detect any sign of lies or nervousness.
This guy...
wasn't joking.
Sae Chabashira's mind raced. It took her a full three seconds to absorb the shock before she quickly made the decision that best served her interests.
This was a hallway, not a place to talk.
"After class."
"Come to my office."
She practically ground the words out through her teeth, keeping her voice extremely low as if afraid someone might hear. There was an urgency in her tone, a need to get to the truth.
With that,
Sae Chabashira didn't look at him again. She composed herself and strode into the classroom, her expression cold.
"Hoh—"
Xu Nuo shrugged and followed at an unhurried pace back to the classroom.
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