There was still some time before class, and as soon as Wu Shen sat back down, Aki Tomoya and Nishimura Hideki approached his desk.
It seemed they had arrived at school during the time Wu Shen and Utaha went to the rooftop.
"Wu Shen, when did you get to know Yukino Yukinoshita? I really admire you—being able to have the Snow Goddess approach you personally."
"That's right, you're too distant not to tell us such explosive news. I just saw you and Kasumigaoka exchange a few words at the entrance too. What exactly happened?"
They saw what happened just now? Wu Shen thought he was about to face the righteous judgment of the FFF Brigade, but then he found that the two of them weren't very indignant, and their mouths weren't shouting things like burn him at the stake, death penalty, or I can't believe you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, have betrayed the revolution!
"Uh… aren't you going to punish me according to custom?" Wu Shen asked tentatively.
What about the glorious tradition of the FFF Brigade that was promised?
"My only home is the two-dimensional world; real-life girls cannot move my heart," Aki Tomoya said with disdain, pushing up his glasses.
Meanwhile, Nishimura Hideki was stammering, looking a bit guilty.
"Actually, I've been thinking of trying to leave the group recently… so I'm not qualified to carry out any punishments."
Noticing Hideki's strange behavior, under repeated questioning from Wu Shen and Aki Tomoya, he finally mustered the courage to tell the truth.
"Hideki, you're going to leave the group? Which girl at school caught your eye?" the two asked curiously.
"It's not a student from school—it's a player I met in a group while playing an online game. Her online name is 'Neko Hime.' She's gentle, healing, and very cute. I plan to confess to her soon!" Hideki clenched his fists, eyes full of determination.
After listening for a while, Wu Shen finally understood—Hideki had fallen in love at first sight with a player from his online game and planned to propose using the in-game marriage system.
"Online games, Hideki… you'd better be mentally prepared. There are quite a few 'shemales' online these days." Wu Shen recalled his own experiences playing online games back in Tianchao and kindly advised him.
Whether he believed it or not, at least it would give him some psychological buffer.
"Shemales? S-surely not?" Hideki clearly hadn't considered this possibility, his expression flustered.
"Who knows? Maybe in the game she's a cute girl who ends her sentences with 'meow' to be adorable… but in reality, she might be a big, burly man picking his feet," Wu Shen sighed.
"Ah! Don't say anymore! I won't listen! I won't listen! I believe Neko Hime must be a cute, beautiful girl!!" Hideki shook his head violently, as if trying to shake off the horrifying mental image.
Just the thought that the cute cat-eared girl in the game might actually be a hairy man with broad shoulders picking his smelly feet made Hideki's soul tremble.
"As a friend, I won't say anything else. In short, whether you decide to confess or not, be mentally prepared. Reality is often cruel." Wu Shen patted his shoulder, leaving the rest unsaid.
While Hideki was still reeling, Aki Tomoya leaned close to Wu Shen and continued to ask, "Speaking of Yukino and Kasumigaoka, which one are you planning to choose, you lucky guy?"
"Actually, you two misunderstood. I don't know Yukino at all. She came to me just to talk about some class matters. As for Kasumigaoka, I was just relaying what Yukino told me."
Wu Shen concocted a perfect excuse. In reality, though, he still had no idea why Yukino Yukinoshita had approached him earlier.
"Then, hypothetically, if you had to choose one of the two?" Aki Tomoya's gossipy curiosity still wasn't satisfied.
Even Hideki, who had just been on the verge of a mental breakdown, leaned in to hear Wu Shen's answer.
"…Kasumigaoka, I guess?" Wu Shen finally gave in under their burning, expectant gazes.
The sight of Wu Yi's flickering form was still vivid in his mind, and he couldn't bear for her to vanish inexplicably. As for Yukino… he didn't know her well enough yet, and she probably wouldn't have a daughter from the future showing up.
…Probably. For some reason, he still felt a faint, uneasy worry.
"I see, it seems Wu Shen prefers pantyhose over over-the-knee socks."
"Hmm, that's an eye-opener. So that's your preference," Hideki nodded.
"I say, how did you two even come up with such a ridiculous reason?"
"Haha, just kidding, don't mind it."
They joked around for a while, and soon it was time for class.
If he got caught reading novels during class, it'd be game over. And during breaks, Aki Tomoya and Hideki were often nearby, making it risky.
It wasn't until lunchtime—when his two friends and the other classmates went out to eat—that Wu Shen finally found the chance to read Utaha's novel.
Wu Shen had always been confident in his reading speed, but seeing the pages filled with dense Japanese characters, he couldn't help scratching his head.
It turned out that there was a big gap between speaking fluently and reading/writing fluently.
He could generally understand the content, just at a slower pace, and there were some unfamiliar characters he didn't recognize, so he had to pull out his dictionary to look them up.
Because of this back-and-forth, what should have been a ten-minute read took the entire lunch break just to finish the first chapter.
Still, because the story itself was good, he didn't feel the same pain as doing homework.
When school ended in the afternoon, as he walked down a quiet path, Utaha suddenly appeared beside him and asked, "How was it? What are your thoughts after reading it?"
"Sorry, I've only finished the first chapter," Wu Shen admitted.
"Only finished the first chapter?" Utaha looked puzzled. "But weren't you reading it all afternoon? How could you be so slow?"
A typical light novel volume had about 80,000–100,000 characters, with each chapter averaging more than 20,000. Reading only one chapter in an entire afternoon was absurdly slow.
"My reading and writing skills aren't that great yet. I've only been here for a little over half a year," Wu Shen explained.
"I see. You speak so fluently, I almost forgot you're an international student from China." Utaha nodded in realization, then lowered her head in thought.
The two walked in silence for a while before Utaha suddenly asked, "Wu Shen, do you have time after school tomorrow?"