Today was the first holiday since Mu Tianchen had arrived at school.
By the time he got up, it was almost noon.
It might have seemed like he'd wasted the morning sleeping, but to him, that lie-in had been well worth it.
He felt incredibly refreshed. He hadn't relaxed this much in a long time—not since coming to this school.
He planned to have lunch in the cafeteria, then spend the whole day there—no, more accurately, the afternoon—at the library.
The cafeteria offered a wide variety of dishes, with meal sets at all kinds of price points. After a moment's hesitation, Mu Tianchen ordered a free mountain-vegetable set.
It wasn't that he wanted to save the few points. He was simply a little curious.
An upperclassman had mentioned before that mountain vegetables tasted awful, and he wanted to try them for himself.
After picking up his meal, Mu Tianchen headed straight for a corner at the back.
As he walked, several upperclassmen glanced strangely at the set in his hands. He could feel their eyes on him, and most of all, he sensed their contempt.
His lower-year uniform made his status easy to identify. As upperclassmen, they surely knew that new students were given 100,000 points at the start.
With that many points, why was he eating a free meal? It hadn't even been a week since the new school year began.
Either he'd gone on a spending spree and blown through all his points, leaving himself no choice but to eat the free set, or he'd figured something out and was deliberately saving his points.
They were more inclined to believe the first possibility. Very few people figured out what was going on so quickly.
Even if they did, they wouldn't eat a free meal just to save such a small number of points. After all, even the most expensive set wasn't that costly compared with luxury goods.
Mu Tianchen ignored their stares, went to the seat he'd picked out, and took a bite of the mountain-vegetable set.
How should he put it? Aside from being all vegetables, it actually tasted pretty good. It seemed the school put a lot of care into preparing the food.
They hadn't just thrown together the free meals because they cost nothing. As for why the upperclassmen thought they tasted bad, they'd probably just gotten sick of eating them so often.
No matter how delicious something was, eating it every day would eventually become unbearable and make you hate it. That was only natural.
After finishing his meal, Mu Tianchen got up and headed straight to the library as planned.
What Mu Tianchen didn't know was that one of the upperclassmen who had been watching him was rather unusual.
"Vice President Nagumo, that student's left," a girl beside him pointed out.
"Mm."
"I don't understand why you were watching him. Isn't he just an idiot who spent all his points right away? What's so special about him?"
"When people are being watched by so many others, they inevitably feel uneasy. Even if they pretend to be calm, it shows in their body language. I didn't sense any of that from him."
"In that case, should I have someone keep an eye on him?"
"Not for now. If he really is what I think he is, he'll reveal himself sooner or later. For now, we still need to focus on Horikita Manabu."
"All right."
Miyabi Nagumo watched Mu Tianchen's retreating figure and slowly curled his lips into a smile.
The library wasn't far from the cafeteria, and he reached it in no time.
Once inside, Mu Tianchen asked the librarian where the light novels were and headed straight to the fourth floor.
Rows of bookshelves came into view. It felt as though he'd stepped away from the clamor of the world, and his mind grew peaceful. It was wonderfully relaxing.
As he looked around, Mu Tianchen found many books that weren't available back home. He was delighted. The books he'd read before also seemed about a third thicker than the versions he'd seen back home.
Curious, Mu Tianchen picked one up and leafed through it. "So the versions I read back home were censored!" he realized.
After catching up on the missing scenes, Mu Tianchen immediately understood why they'd been cut:
Most of the omitted scenes were inappropriate for children. No wonder they hadn't been published. Censorship in that area was pretty strict back home.
The "holy light" that often appeared when he watched anime had been the clearest example.
Mu Tianchen was unhappy with this practice and had always thought it was overprotective and ultimately harmful. But he wasn't the one who made the policies, and he had no power to change them. All he could do was complain to himself.
After picking out a few books he liked, Mu Tianchen found a seat by the window with a nice view.
He opened one of his favorite books and soon lost himself in its world. Before he knew it, time had quietly slipped away.
Only after he'd finished all the books in his hands did Mu Tianchen come back to himself. He checked his phone and saw that the library was nearly closing, so he decided to leave.
Whenever he finished a book, Mu Tianchen felt as though he'd gained a few confidants. That was one reason he loved reading. Compared with people in real life, the friends in books made it easier for him to be himself and do as he pleased.
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 that could tide him over.
As he walked, he looked around, and the scenery caught his eye.
Advanced Nurturing High School looked beautiful beneath the evening glow. Everything on campus seemed to be gilded, shining brilliantly.
The buildings were golden, the ground was golden, and even the people walking along the paths were bathed in gold.
The artificial lake was especially striking beneath the sunset. It perfectly reflected the evening sky, blurring the line between water and sky. Quite a few students had come over to take pictures.
Mu Tianchen changed his mind on the spot, found a suitable seat nearby, and sat down.
The sunset was fleeting, but its beauty was captivating. Why not linger a little longer?
He used to be outstanding, with countless classmates eager to be his friends. With so many of them constantly praising him, he'd become blinded to himself and started thinking that everything he did was right.
When a few friends tried to offer him well-meaning advice, he always thought it was no big deal and brushed them off. The people around him mocked those friends, too, and after failing time and time again, they gradually drifted away from him...
At first, it didn't make much difference. He had plenty of supporters, and he could spare those few.
By the time Mu Tianchen realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Small changes had accumulated into something irreversible, leading to that collapse...
Now he was beginning to understand. Without the absolute strength to earn everyone's genuine respect:
A so-called leader was nothing but a lackey held hostage by the crowd at the moral high ground! And a lackey with no choice in the matter!
The sunset had faded, and Mu Tianchen had to head back.
Back in his dorm, he was lying on his bed when his phone suddenly chimed. A new message had come in.
He opened it. It was from Kushida:
[Mu Tianchen, are you free tomorrow? Let's meet on the rooftop.]
Remembering that he'd agreed to her request earlier, Mu Tianchen didn't plan to turn her down. He replied:
[Sure. I'll contact you before we meet tomorrow.]
After confirming that Kushida had received his reply, Mu Tianchen slowly set down his phone.
His stomach was already rumbling. He'd have something simple to eat, wash up, and go to bed. It had been a pretty fulfilling day...
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