Long Aotian dodged to the side, then swung around and kicked the man. "I can't be bothered to talk to you. You're not worth listening to."
The middle-aged man was sent flying again and hit the ground.
Long Aotian didn't hold back. He rushed over and kicked the man in the head, knocking him unconscious.
There were security cameras in the shop. The creepy middle-aged man could explain himself to the school later.
The noise died down...
Sakura Airi quietly raised her head and glanced over. She saw that familiar face appear once again.
Still shaken by what had just happened, Sakura Airi was afraid and stammered, "L-Long... Long..."
"Hm? Wipe your eyes. They're all red, and it doesn't look good." Long Aotian wasn't angry with Sakura Airi for not contacting him. He handed her a tissue.
Long Aotian's face and the tissue he held out seemed like a ray of light reaching out through the darkness. Sakura Airi froze.
When Sakura Airi didn't take the tissue, Long Aotian looked puzzled. "You don't want it?"
"I do, I do." Sakura Airi snapped out of it and hurriedly took the tissue.
He helped Sakura Airi to her feet.
"Ah!" Sakura Airi cried out as he pulled her up.
"Thank you."
For once, Sakura Airi didn't stammer.
She lowered her head and wiped her eyes. No one noticed that her cheeks were a little red.
Long Aotian didn't notice. He was busy calling the homeroom teacher of Class A, Mashima Tomoya.
"Right, right... Yes, exactly."
After hanging up, Long Aotian turned to her.
"A teacher will be here soon to handle this, so don't worry. Have you eaten?"
"No."
"Then let's go eat together in a bit."
"Okay."
"Airi, did you come to this electronics shop for something?"
"To get my camera fixed." Sakura Airi lowered her head as if she'd done something wrong.
"You need your camera fixed? I can do that. You could've just messaged me. I can fix it for you."
"If you trust me, give me the camera. I'll return it once it's fixed."
"Okay." Sakura Airi kept her head down, sneaking a glance at Long Aotian before handing him the camera. "Here."
Hm? You barely said anything, but you didn't stammer. That's progress.
[ Ding! Interfered with the normal course of the plot.] [Reward: Double Points Card (valid for one day)] Used the Double Points Card. [Points: 5.88 million points → 11.76 million points (I won't show the rest; too lazy to calculate)] [ Ding! Mission complete.] [Reward: 20% of points income] [Buff: Points income increased by 20%]
Well, look at that. I'm a millionaire in points now.
When Mashima Tomoya arrived with two other school staff members, they took the creepy middle-aged man away. Long Aotian explained what had happened, and that was that.
As for why Long Aotian had said, "This is my f*cking meal!"—let's take a look at the replay.
At that moment, Long Aotian had picked up his food in the cafeteria and found a seat.
He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of meat. It smelled delicious.
The first bite—mmm. Eating really was wonderful.
Another bite. Open wide—ahhh...
[ Ding! Danger Sense alert.]
Hm???
Could eating really lead to an accident? Was there poison in the food?
No, it was coming from Sakura Airi's direction.
"Flying Raijin!!!"
ps: Actually, the male lead should've run to the restroom and used Flying Raijin there. That way, he wouldn't have been caught acting strangely on the security cameras or discovered by anyone. But I'm too lazy to write that, so let's just say it makes sense.
Long Aotian vanished from the cafeteria in an instant.
Near the spot where Long Aotian had been eating, two upperclassmen were having a mountain-vegetable set meal.
One of them rubbed his eyes, looking completely bewildered. He said to the other student, "Wasn't there a student sitting there just now?"
"I don't know. Was there?"
"No, look! The food and dishes are still there. He just vanished in a flash."
"He probably went to the restroom, or couldn't finish his food. I told you not to look at that stuff so much. Now you're seeing things."
"Come on! You said we've been eating dirt for almost a month and barely had any meat. That table's empty, and the meal's untouched. It should be fine if we sneak over and grab some meat, right?"
"Uh! That doesn't seem right."
The other student had already walked over and picked up Long Aotian's tray and dishes.
"Hey! Save some for me!"
On the way to the cafeteria with Sakura Airi.
They walked side by side.
"Airi, could you ask me to come along when you take pictures?"
Mostly because of that fight between the red-haired boy and the others the month after next. He really didn't want to watch a pretty girl photograph it in person.
"Ah..." Sakura Airi flustered, lowered her head, and thought for a moment. "Okay."
Hm? Unbelievable. She actually agreed.
Sakura Airi remembered the camera. "Th-then, Long, you still haven't... paid me back the points."
Long Aotian waved his hand. "You don't have to pay me back. It was just a tiny bit of points. What do you want to eat later? It's on me."
"A tiny bit?" Sakura Airi recalled the price tags on the camera and battery. If she remembered correctly, they'd cost around fifty thousand points.
ps: The camera was expensive. Long Aotian had been showing off at the time and said, "I want the most expensive camera."
They arrived at the cafeteria~
Long Aotian didn't rush to get food. His earlier meal was still at his seat, so he planned to check on it first.
Seeing that Long Aotian wasn't getting food, Sakura Airi didn't hurry either. She followed him.
Hm??? Where's my food? I remember this is the right spot!!!
From Sakura Airi's perspective, Long Aotian was standing in front of a set of dishes, looking around.
Long Aotian stared at the dishes in front of him in silence...
You're a real nice guy, aren't you? You even left the dishes for me.
Forget it.
Long Aotian decided to stop thinking about it and eat first. "Airi, let's go get food. It's on me, so order whatever you like."
"Okay." Sakura Airi nodded, then asked in confusion, "Long, is there... something wrong with those dishes?"
"No, nothing's wrong with them. I'm just a little heartbroken."
Long Aotian brushed it off.
"Ah, you're heartbroken?"
Oh, come on~
"It's nothing. Let's eat first."
"Mhm."
Damn it. Just let me catch the culprit. I'll send you to the afterlife.
Sakura and Long finished getting their food and found somewhere to sit.
Eating really was wonderful~
The first bite. Open wide—ahhh...
[Danger alert]
What the hell, don't do this. I'm about to take a bite.
[Hehe, just kidding.]
ps: The author was just being mischievous. Don't mind it.
"Airi, do you not usually eat in the cafeteria?" When they'd been getting food earlier, Long Aotian had noticed Sakura Airi looking around and hesitating over which set meal to choose.
"I-I don't," Sakura Airi said, nodding. She hesitated, then added, "I usually buy something from the convenience store, or buy groceries and cook at home."
"Could I try your cooking sometime?"
Sakura Airi lowered her head and said quietly, "Y-You can."
"Airi, you're actually quite pretty. You don't have to keep your head down or hunch over. You can lift your head and look ahead."
"R-Really?" Hearing that, Sakura Airi raised her head slightly to look at Long Aotian's face, then lowered it again to eat.
Seeing Sakura Airi lower her head again, he decided to eat first. After all, she wouldn't be able to change overnight.
After they finished eating, he said goodbye to Sakura Airi.
"Bye-bye." Long Aotian waved and left.
Watching Long Aotian walk away, Sakura Airi waved and said softly, "Bye-bye."
As for what Long Aotian was going to do, he was going to buy tools to fix the camera. He couldn't exactly demonstrate how to fix a camera with his bare hands.
After buying the tools, he headed back to the dorm.
ps: After eating and buying the tools, he had [11.75 million points] left.
The dorm building housed both male and female students. The boys lived on the lower four floors, and the girls on the upper four.
Long Aotian's room was 402 on the fourth floor. He took the elevator up and returned to his room.
He took out the camera and tools. After a flurry of sparks and clattering, he finally fixed it.
It was already dark. He checked the time. Tomorrow was Saturday, a day off, so it was no problem to sleep in.
Long Aotian came out of the bathroom after taking a shower. "That feels great!"
The camera was fixed, so he'd send Sakura Airi a text and ask when she wanted it.
He took out his phone, found Sakura Airi's contact, and sent her a message.
[Long: I've fixed your camera. Let me know when you want me to give it to you.]
[Sakura: Okay]
??? What do you mean, "Okay"?
Sakura Airi had returned to her dorm. Thinking about what had happened that day, she remembered Long Aotian's handsome face.
Lying in bed, Sakura Airi murmured to herself, "He's really handsome."
Maybe it was because he'd saved her, but Long Aotian had gained an even stronger glow in Sakura Airi's eyes.
Before she knew it, Sakura Airi had fallen asleep.
In her dream, Sakura Airi returned to that scene, only this time Long Aotian was riding a white horse.
He rode up to Sakura Airi, dismounted, and knelt on one knee. He took out a ring box and opened it. "Sakura, I like you. Will you marry me?"
Just as Sakura Airi was about to say yes...
Suddenly, her phone chimed.
Sakura Airi sleepily opened her eyes and picked up the phone that had just rung. "Long... Long sent me a message."
Her eyelids were drooping, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Still half-asleep, she sent a reply.
[Sakura: Okay]
She was probably asleep, right? She'd replied in her sleep?
Whatever. Back to sleep. They'd talk about it tomorrow.
Long Aotian yawned, lay down, and fell asleep.
Like the period at the end of a sentence, the day had come to an end...
Saturday morning
Long Aotian was still snuggled under the covers. Get up early? No chance. He was going to lie in for a while.
Before you continue