September 1st, the first day of school at Silver Mountain High School.
Ye Chuan topped the freshman class with perfect scores in both exams, while An Shiyu enrolled in the academic department of Silver Mountain High School with upper-middle grades.
This morning, sunlight streamed in through the window, drawing a straight line of light across the bedside. In the shadows by the bed, Ye Chuan was sleeping soundly. Beside his pillow lay a small orange Charmander, emitting soft snores.
A sound came from the balcony. A girl with a Rowlet perched on her head climbed in through the window. Seeing that Ye Chuan hadn't gotten up yet, she sat by the bed and then reached out a slender finger to touch Ye Chuan's cheek.
"Ah Ye, it's time to get up."
Ye Chuan frowned slightly and turned over to hug Charmander.
"Today is the opening ceremony! Aren't you the freshman representative, Ah Ye? Don't sleep anymore!" An Shiyu took off her shoes, climbed onto the bed, and then reached out to push Ye Chuan.
Ye Chuan groggily half-opened his eyes, directly reached out and pulled the girl in front of him into his arms, murmuring, "Charmander, let's sleep for another ten minutes."
"I'm not Charmander," An Shiyu struggled a few times, her pretty face slightly red. Finding that Ye Chuan had fallen asleep again, she puffed out her cheeks slightly.
Ye Chuan's arm around her wasn't too tight. An Shiyu lay on Ye Chuan, her feet in white knee-high socks curling slightly. Her eyes glanced around somewhat guiltily, seemingly with no intention of leaving at all.
An Shiyu lay motionless in Ye Chuan's arms like a doll, not forgetting to murmur softly with a red face:
"It's not my fault, Ah Ye suddenly hugged me."
Ten minutes later, the alarm clock rang—
Ye Chuan opened his eyes, looking at the familiar ceiling. He sat up and stretched. "It's rare not to have to train this morning. I had a good sleep."
After washing up, he went downstairs and saw a familiar figure in the kitchen, busy wearing an apron.
"Morning, Shiyu." As soon as Ye Chuan spoke, he noticed An Shiyu turning her head away, stammering,
"Morning."
Just as Ye Chuan was feeling a bit strange about An Shiyu's odd behavior, Rowlet on the nearby dining table bounced twice and opened its wings towards him. "Hoo!"
"Morning, Rowlet too," Ye Chuan smiled slightly and patted Rowlet's head.
Breakfast time was quiet, a bit eerily so.
Ye Chuan put down his chopsticks and then looked at An Shiyu. "What's wrong? You've been acting strange since just now."
"N-nothing," An Shiyu blinked her eyes and said.
"You like to grab your skirt and straighten your back when you lie," Ye Chuan said leisurely.
An Shiyu lowered her head and found that her hands were indeed subconsciously clutching her skirt, and her back was involuntarily straight. She immediately lowered her head and muttered softly, "It's all Ah Ye's fault."
"My fault?"
Before Ye Chuan could finish asking, An Shiyu picked up the rice spoon and kept adding rice to his bowl.
"Wait, one bowl is enough for me!"
"Boys at this age should eat more."
"Are you feeding a pig?!"
A while later, Ye Chuan, his stomach full, walked out of the house with An Shiyu. Looking at the girl humming a little tune beside him, Ye Chuan still didn't ask the specific reason.
Arriving at Silver Mountain High School, the two walked to the bulletin board, which was also surrounded by many students. The list on the bulletin board showed everyone's class assignments. Ye Chuan's eyesight was good, and he quickly found his name on the list for Class 1 of the Pokémon Department.
"I'm in Class 3 of the Academic Department." Because the Pokémon Department and the Academic Department were separate, An Shiyu found her name on another list.
"Class 1 of the Pokémon Department is on the fourth floor, and Class 3 of the Academic Department is on the first floor." Ye Chuan looked at the map. The first to third floors were mostly academic classes, while the fourth and fifth floors were for the Pokémon Department.
"The floors are a bit far apart," An Shiyu seemed a bit dissatisfied with her assigned class.
"If you miss me, you can come up anytime," Ye Chuan said with a smile. "If it's really not convenient, I can also go down."
"Who, who said I'd miss you!" An Shiyu stuck out her tongue, made a face, and then turned around.
"I'm going to class."
"Oh right, Shiyu, this hair tie." Ye Chuan pointed to the hair tie on his wrist. "I kept forgetting to say, here, I'll give it back to you now."
"It won't work if you take it off. You have to wear it until it breaks," An Shiyu held out a finger. "This is my most treasured one. Taking it off before enough time has passed will bring a curse."
"Are you a witch? This thing even has a curse?" Ye Chuan tugged at the elastic hair tie and had no choice but to say, "Alright, it doesn't get in the way anyway."
"Remember that!"
"Okay, okay."
Arriving at Class 1 of the Pokémon Department on the fourth floor.
As soon as Ye Chuan walked into the classroom, he saw a familiar face.
"Ye Chuan!" A boy who was talking to someone else saw Ye Chuan, his eyes lighting up. He immediately jogged over, his face flushed with excitement.
"We're actually in the same class! What a coincidence!"
This person was naturally Gu Qi. Ye Chuan hadn't expected it to be such a coincidence. He said, "Congratulations on successfully getting into Silver Mountain High School."
"Hey, your seat is over there." Gu Qi pointed to a window seat not far away. "The standard protagonist spot, how does it feel?"
"I'm not the protagonist. I prefer a seat closer to the front," Ye Chuan walked to that seat and put down his backpack.
"Well, it's randomly assigned after all," Gu Qi said, clenching his fist and extending it.
"My youthful romantic comedy is finally about to begin!"
"Even if there are many girls in school, you might not necessarily find a girlfriend, right?" Ye Chuan thought for a moment and said,
"There was even a guy in some country who studied at an all-girls school for three years and still ended up single."
"Don't burst my bubble! You have a girlfriend, so you don't know the pain of us singles," Gu Qi said sourly.
"I don't have a girlfriend," Ye Chuan clarified.
"Stop lying. Look at you, you're even wearing a hair tie. And you're still trying to fool me?" Gu Qi pointed to the hair tie on Ye Chuan's wrist.
"This is just a good luck charm someone gave me..." Before Ye Chuan could explain, Gu Qi rolled his eyes.
"A guy wearing a girl's hair tie on his wrist just tells other girls that this guy has a girlfriend. It's a popular thing to do these days."
"Is that so?" Ye Chuan looked at the hair tie on his wrist, not knowing what to think.
Just then, a middle-aged man walked in through the door. As soon as he entered, he loudly shouted, "Has Ye Chuan arrived yet?!"
"Isn't that Teacher Jiang? Could he be our homeroom teacher?"
"No way, isn't there a gentler homeroom teacher?"
"What's he doing here? Looking for that Ye Chuan?"
The students nearby whispered among themselves, but most of them didn't know who Ye Chuan was. They only knew that this person had not only defeated Teacher Jiang but had also enrolled with perfect scores in both the practical and written exams.
At this moment, Teacher Jiang spotted Ye Chuan in the classroom and quickly walked over.