A Full Day

Today was the first holiday since arriving at school.

By the time Mu Tianchen got up, it was almost noon.

Though it might seem like he was wasting time sleeping, this lie-in was well worth it to him.

Right now, he felt extremely clear-headed—he hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time since coming to this school.

He planned to grab lunch at the cafeteria first, then head straight to the library to spend the whole day there. Well, no, half a day to be precise.

The cafeteria had a rich variety of dishes, with meal sets at all price points on display. Mu Tianchen hesitated for a moment, then directly ordered a free wild vegetable set.

It wasn't because he wanted to save those points; he was just purely curious.

The senior had mentioned before that the wild vegetables were terrible, and he wanted to taste them for himself.

After getting his meal, Mu Tianchen walked straight to the back corner seat.

As he walked, a few upperclassmen shot him strange looks when they saw the set in his hands. Mu Tianchen could feel it—mostly contempt.

He was wearing the uniform of a lowerclassman, easy to identify. As upperclassmen, they definitely knew that new students were all given 100,000 points at the start.

With that many points, why would anyone eat a free meal set? It hadn't even been a week since the new semester started.

Either he'd blown through all his points in a spending spree and had no choice but to eat the free set, or he'd figured something out and was deliberately saving points.

They were more inclined to believe the former. Very few people caught on to the trick this early.

Even if they did, they wouldn't skimp on such a small amount of points to eat a free set. After all, even the most expensive meal didn't cost much—it was nothing compared to luxury goods.

Mu Tianchen ignored their stares, sat down at his chosen seat, and took a bite of the wild vegetable set.

How to put it? Aside from being all vegetables, the taste was actually pretty good. It seemed the school put real effort into the food preparation.

They didn't half-ass it just because it was a free set. As for why the seniors thought it was terrible, it was probably because they ate it so often they got sick of it.

No matter how good something is, eating it every day will make you hate it eventually. That's normal.

After finishing, Mu Tianchen followed his original plan and headed straight to the library, getting up to leave.

But what Mu Tianchen didn't know was that among the upperclassmen who had been staring at him, one seemed quite unique.

"Vice President Nanyun, he's gone," a girl beside him reminded.

"Mm."

"I don't get it. Why were you watching him? Isn't he just some idiot who blew all his points right away? What's so special?"

"Normal people would inevitably feel uneasy if many people stared at them. Even if they pretended to be calm, it would unconsciously show in their body language. I didn't sense that from him."

"In that case, should I send someone to keep an eye on him in secret?"

"Not for now. If he really is what I think he is, he'll expose himself sooner or later. For now, we need to focus on Horikita Manabu."

"Fine."

Nanyun Ya stared at Mu Tianchen's retreating back and slowly curled the corner of his mouth.

The library wasn't far from the cafeteria; he arrived in no time.

After entering, Mu Tianchen asked the librarian where the light novels were and headed straight to the fourth floor.

On the fourth floor, rows upon rows of bookshelves came into view, as if he had stepped away from the noise of the world. Mu Tianchen's heart calmed down naturally—it was very comfortable.

Looking around, he noticed many books he couldn't even find back home, which made him very happy. Even the books he'd read before seemed a third thicker than the versions he'd seen domestically.

Curious, Mu Tianchen picked one up and flipped through it. "So the ones I read back home were all censored versions!" he realized with sudden clarity.

After filling in the missing plot points, he instantly understood why they were cut:

Most of the removed content was stuff unsuitable for minors. No wonder it wasn't released—back home, the controls on that kind of thing were pretty strict.

The "holy light" that often appeared when watching anime was the best example.

Though Mu Tianchen strongly disliked this practice, always thinking it was overprotective and counterproductive, he wasn't the one who made the policy and had no power, so he could only vent in his head.

Grabbing a few books he liked, Mu Tianchen found a seat by the window with a nice view and sat down.

Flipping through the books he enjoyed, he soon sank into the world of the stories, and time slipped away without him noticing.

Only after finishing all the books in his hands did Mu Tianchen snap back to reality. He checked his phone—it was almost closing time—so he decided to leave.

Every time he finished reading, Mu Tianchen felt like he'd gained a few close friends. That was why he loved reading—compared to real life, the friends in books let him be more himself, free and unrestrained.

By the time he left the library, it was already evening. Mu Tianchen planned to head straight back to his dorm; he still had some food there to tide him over.

Walking along the road, he glanced around and couldn't help but be drawn in by the scenery.

Kodo Ikusei High School, bathed in the sunset glow, was beautiful. Everything on campus seemed coated in layers of gold, dazzlingly bright.

The buildings were golden, the ground was golden, even the pedestrians on the road were golden under the light.

Especially the man-made lake, which perfectly reflected the beauty of the sunset, blurring the line between water and sky, attracting many students to take photos.

Mu Tianchen changed his mind on the spot and found a suitable spot nearby to sit down.

The sunset was fleeting, but the beauty of this moment was captivating. Why not stay a little longer?

In the past, he had been outstanding, attracting many classmates to befriend him. Surrounded by their constant praise, he had numbed himself, always believing everything he did was right.

When faced with well-meaning reminders from a few friends, he always thought it was no big deal and didn't take it to heart. The people around him also mocked them, and so, after repeated failures, those people gradually drifted away from him...

At first, there wasn't much of an impact—after all, he had plenty of supporters, and he didn't lack for those few.

It wasn't until later, when Mu Tianchen sensed something was wrong, that it was already too late. Quantitative change had led to qualitative change, causing that collapse...

Now he was slowly coming to understand: without absolute strength that truly earns everyone's admiration—

So-called leaders are nothing but dogs held hostage by the crowd at the moral high ground! And worse, dogs without any freedom of choice!

The sunset had already faded. It was time for Mu Tianchen to head back.

Returning to the dorm and lying down on the bed, his phone suddenly chimed, showing a new message.

Opening it, he saw it was from Kushida:

[Classmate Mu Tianchen, do you have time tomorrow? Let's meet on the rooftop.]

Remembering that he had indeed agreed to her request earlier, Mu Tianchen decided not to refuse. He replied:

[Alright, I'll contact you before we meet tomorrow.]

After confirming that Kushida had received it, Mu Tianchen slowly put down his phone.

His stomach was already growling. He'd grab a simple meal, wash up, and then sleep. Today had been fairly fulfilling...