Shock! Long Aotian's Redemption Plan!

"Ugh," Long Aotian pinched her cheeks together, forcing her lips into a pout. Seeing her face flush a deep crimson, she tried to lower her head, but he held her face firmly in place. Meeting his gaze, she replied, "O-okay."

The moment their eyes locked, the ambient noise of the surroundings seemed to hit a pause button. Everything in her vision blurred, save for that one face, so clear and belonging to him.

The atmosphere was already perfect; should he just kiss her?

"Oh, right," Long Aotian released her, remembering one more thing. "Of course, I'm not telling you this so you can change the current situation. These things are already beyond control, and the nature of the matter is set in stone. You just need to focus on your studies."

"How about this: starting tomorrow, I'll hold study sessions to help you catch up on the material."

"Mm-hmm," Sakura Airi nodded. Thinking of the camera, she muttered, "Long-kun, about that camera... and the photos."

Oh?

"Photos, huh? If there's anywhere you want to go, just let me know and we'll go together. After all, I still want to see Shizuku-idol taking photos in person," Long Aotian teased.

"Ah!" As Sakura Airi tried to bolt, Long Aotian grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, leaning her against his shoulder.

Sakura Airi lowered her head, shyly admitting, "You... you knew all along."

"Duh, I'm not an idiot." Recalling the time at the electronics store when he saw the idol wallpaper on a certain lecherous man's computer screen, he added, "It's quite pretty. If you could give me a few photos of the idol, I'd definitely set her as my phone wallpaper. It's a real pity I don't have a single one."

"Then..." Sakura Airi hesitated for a moment before handing over her camera. "T-there are some inside."

"Huh?" Long Aotian took the camera, confused. "They're in the camera?"

"Yes," Sakura Airi said, as if summoning all her courage. "I'll... I'll pick a few and send them to you."

Oh, that sounds great.

"Alright." Long Aotian began browsing the camera. They were all quite lovely, but he pointed out a few of the more revealing ones: "This one, and this one, yeah, just these few."

Seeing him select the swimsuit-style photos and being teased like that, she turned bright red, looking just like a ripe apple. My, this shy expression was truly adorable.

"Is that okay?"

"O-okay," Sakura Airi whispered, her face still burning. "I'll send them to you in a bit."

He felt a sudden urge to laugh—he didn't know why. He couldn't keep this up, or Sakura Airi might actually break.

He patted Sakura Airi's head, then stood up; it was time to leave.

"Airi, I'm heading out," Long Aotian said as he rose. "Remember, I'll be tutoring you tomorrow, so get ready today."

"See ya~ Bye." Long Aotian walked out the door and waved.

"Bye-bye," Sakura Airi waved back, but then remembered she had to send the photos, so she quickly shut the door.

This girl~ Oh well.

There was a major task to handle today. To facilitate his later movements, he needed to return to the dormitory first.

Back at the dorm, Long Aotian pulled a large, hand-drawn map from under his pillow.

It was a blueprint of the school grounds. As for why Long Aotian needed it? Naturally, he was planning a prison break. That's right, a prison break.

Long Aotian studied the map; hacking the school system to get a laptop was a necessity.

Did you think I'd spent the last half-month slacking off and flirting?

Wrong, wrong, dead wrong.

I was obviously finding time to avoid surveillance, observe the school environment, and plan my escape route.

As for anyone asking why he didn't just buy a laptop at school:

Dummy~ Any electronic device purchased at school is registered. If they get desperate and start checking records one by one, they'd eventually trace it back to him.

Ding! His phone chimed.

He picked it up to check; it was the photos from Sakura Airi. No rush—first, he had to change his wallpaper.

Cough, cough.

Let A be our current dorm building, and B, C, and D be the destinations.

(Map image is above ↑ check the comments on that post.)

Considering there might be surveillance under the dorm building, I've decided to use Flying Thunder God to teleport to the spot near the vending machine that has no cameras (the place where Horikita Suzune and Horikita Manabu met).

Then, I'll use the trees at point 1 to cover the cameras and run to point 2. With [Speed: S+], this should take under 10 minutes.

Reaching point 2, two paths emerge: one across the bridge toward point 4, and another through the forest toward point 5.

The B-C intersection is only accessible via the bridge, which is completely exposed. I can't rule out the presence of people, cameras, or even school staff blocking the way—it's all a gamble.

Point 5 is different; there are no cameras there. While I can't rule out people, it's avoidable. Getting from point 5 to the D intersection requires swimming, but that's no concern given [Swimming] and [Stamina: SS+].

It should take about 10–15 minutes to get from point 2 to point 5.

Departure time: 3:00 AM. Operation name: "Long Aotian's Redemption."

[Long Aotian's Redemption]
Point 1 → Point 2 (5-minute rest) → Point 5 (10-minute rest) → Point D → Buy laptop → Dorm (Teleport back via Flying Thunder God)

With the plan finalized, Long Aotian pulled a set of night-ops gear from his closet, just in case he couldn't wear his school uniform. He also left his phone behind—who knew if it had a GPS tracker—and grabbed a face mask.

Long Aotian put the night-crawling gear away. As for whether he would have the money to buy a laptop later, there was no need to worry.

He could just snatch a phone, log into his software account, and access the money he had earned during his year of hard work outside. If it came down to it, he could just buy a new one to replace it later.

Confirmation complete, Long Aotian prepared to head out for a stroll. After all, with so many points, why not enjoy them?

[Points: 11,750,000 (I'm too lazy to calculate the rest, so it won't be displayed from now on)]

Long Aotian sat in a café, sipping his coffee leisurely while watching the crowd pass by. You have to admit, the girls at this school are quite attractive.

He had been at this school for half a month now, and life was rather mundane. In the anime, a month would vanish in the blink of an eye—was his life going to be the same?

After sighing, Long Aotian picked up his coffee and took another sip.

So bitter... As expected, someone like me doesn't really like coffee. Tea is better; it's more calming.

Just then, a boy with orange-red hair and a girl with black hair walked into the shop, catching Long Aotian's eye.

It was none other than Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Horikita Suzune.

Holy crap, am I entering the plot? I remember this scene being quite interesting, hahahaha! No rush, let me record a video first.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka glanced at Horikita Suzune and said expressionlessly, "Horikita, is this your first time in a place like this? Oh right, you're alone."

"Are you here to mock me? How childish," Horikita Suzune Kaidō.

Seeing the two empty seats in front of them, the pair walked over and sat down.

Looking around, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said to Horikita Suzune, "Like that, for instance—to others, we look like a couple..."

Horikita Suzune remained expressionless, looking at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka as if she were speechless.

"I doubt anyone would think that..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka shook his head, thinking, Thinking about what comes next gives me a stomachache...

"Horikita, what a coincidence," a girl with short blonde hair walked over, turning to smile as she added, "Ayanokoji is here too."

It was the black-hearted Kushida Kikyo. This encounter looked like a coincidence, but it was actually a plan orchestrated by Kushida Kikyo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. However, this performance was destined to fail.

Kushida Kikyo sat down next to Horikita Suzune and asked with a puzzled look, "Do you two come here often?"

"It's just a coincidence today," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly chimed in to play along.

"I see. I always come here alone..." Kushida Kikyo hadn't even finished her sentence.

"I'm leaving," Horikita Suzune's voice cut in as she stood up.

"Didn't you just get here?"

"If Kushida is here, you don't need me, right?"

"No, look, Kushida and I are just classmates."

"My relationship with you is the same," Horikita Suzune said to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, then turned her head to look at Kushida Kikyo. "Besides, you make me very uncomfortable. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Kushida Kikyo blinked and defended herself, "Oh... come on, it really was just a coincidence."

Well, saying that has already completely exposed you.

As it turned out, Horikita Suzune left, and Long Aotian didn't intend to keep watching.

The coffee didn't seem quite as bitter anymore, hahahaha! I wonder what would happen if I sent this video to Sakayanagi Arisu? It's time to leave. Today's outing was worth it. Time to go.

After leaving the café, Long Aotian walked down the street for a while.

Not far away, a few girls were gathered around a beautiful girl with long blonde hair, chatting away.

Long Aotian glanced over. Ichinose Honami, huh? I have to say, her class is quite harmonious, with everyone looking to Ichinose Honami as their leader.

This girl is quite easy to deceive early on. Come to think of it, her family background isn't easy either, or else those scandals wouldn't have surfaced.

If I can give her a hand after graduation, I will. Consider it fulfilling a regret I had about this anime in my past life.

Long Aotian looked for a few moments, withdrew his gaze, and continued walking down the street, intending to browse the mall.

"Hmm?" Seeming to notice the gaze, Ichinose Honami turned her head slightly to look, but only saw a departing back. However, that back felt unusually familiar, and she muttered softly, "An illusion... perhaps?"

"Is something wrong, Ichinose?" a girl asked, looking at Ichinose Honami's strange turn.

"It's nothing."