Chapter Nine
-Xiao Lan-
I've always had a question.
Do you remember how Shaohan and I traveled through time? Yes, the annual sect competition is about to begin. As one of the top eight in the previous competition, Henghe Sect needs to send representatives to the competition venue in advance. I am the sword cultivator representative of Henghe Sect, and Shaohan is the talisman cultivator representative. The two people traveling with us are a ghost cultivator representative and a medical cultivator representative.
While resting on the road, the ghost cultivator representative and I were checking our communicators when we saw a short joke posted by Linglong Wattsakara Mengyue. We immediately hit it off and decided to bring the joke to life. As for the target of the prank, it was of course Shaohan!
As the saying goes, being a jerk is fun for a moment, but a disaster awaits. So when Shaohan woke up to find her head covered in leaves, she sneered and immediately decided to show them what a real disaster was like. Her specialty was fire and lightning talismans, so she had a particularly large number of them. She casually reached into her pocket, without even looking, and a fire and lightning talisman rained down on her…
Then we traveled through time.
Since the Fire and Thunder Talisman was aimed directly at me and the Ghost Cultivator representative, there's no reason she couldn't have traveled through it if I could. The Healer representative was quite far from us at the time, so it's possible she didn't travel through. If she didn't, I hope she immediately contacts the Sect Leader and tells him that we've disappeared from the cultivation world.
Well, I've gone off on a tangent.
So what I mean is, where exactly has our dear ghost cultivator representative gone?
"That's a good question," Shaohan guessed. "Maybe it accidentally fell into Beika Town?"
"..." I typed out a string of ellipses, then sincerely suggested, "Shaohan, return all the comic books you borrowed from Teacher Wu. Have you already switched channels to some dead elementary school detective?"
"Just kidding—just kidding." Shaohan waved her hand with a smile, then comforted me, "It's okay, she's quite capable. This place is a bit difficult to navigate except for the language barrier, currency, unfamiliar surroundings, and lack of food, but otherwise, it's alright."
I stared at her, posing the existential question: "Isn't this difficult enough?"
"Language barrier, currency barrier, unfamiliar territory, and no food—isn't that difficult? Don't forget she's a big eater! She's only been gone a few days and she's already eaten all our steamed buns!"
Shaohan: "...That's true."
Angela: "But she's a 16-year-old, able-bodied person with hands and feet. Do you really expect her to starve to death? If all else fails, she can go to the cemetery and make a deal with the ghosts. For example, she can fulfill one of their wishes and offer it as a sacrifice in exchange."
I quipped, "This must be stealing the offerings."
My debate with Xiao Lan on whether ghost cultivators would starve to death in another world came to an end, because Maki came over and told us that we could get ready to go back to the classroom, as Teacher Wu had brought a new student over.
"A new classmate?"
“Yes, new students.” Maki nodded. “There have been quite a few transfer students these past two days.”
I became interested in the "new classmate" Maki mentioned. I quickly pulled Shaohan up from the ground, telling her not to dawdle and to hurry up and see what the new classmate looked like. Could it be the ghost cultivator representative we've been longing for? Ah, if that's the case, we're so lucky!
“You know what?” Shaohan reluctantly stood up, symbolically brushed the dust off her clothes, and mocked me, “You’re just like a first-grader rushing to the zoo to see the monkeys.”
"Don't tell me you're not curious, Shaohan. Don't you hope the new classmate will be her? And why is it monkey again?"
The result, of course, was a huge disappointment. I sat in my chair, staring intently at the new student following behind Teacher Wu—a boy with dark circles under his eyes, giving off a timid and hesitant vibe.
"Alright, Yuta." Teacher Wu patted him on the back. "Introduce yourself to everyone."
To be honest, as soon as You Tai entered the classroom, I had a strange feeling about it. I subconsciously looked at Shao Han, and clearly, she had noticed something odd as well. She frowned slightly, exchanged a glance with me, and we both nodded knowingly.
—This new student has a problem.
Even more reacting than us were Maki and Thorn, who were sitting in front of us, and Panda, who was sitting next to us. Panda's fur stood up all over its body; Maki stood up from her chair, looking at Yuta warily. Her left hand was on the table, and her right hand reached for the long sword that she had been keeping on the back of her chair; Thorn had her right hand on her collar, her legs slightly apart, and her wary gaze was fixed on Yuta.
"What's going on, Satoru?" Maki frowned. "Does he have a cursed spirit attached to him?"
Oh, so it was carrying a cursed spirit. I suddenly realized: no wonder I had a strange feeling.
I felt relieved and quietly calmed the restless sword in my storage bag. Although Yuta was carrying a cursed spirit, he was someone brought by Teacher Wu, so there was no problem. I secretly glanced at Shaohan, who also relaxed. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she immediately crossed her legs and comfortably leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed.
"It's alright, it's alright, Maki, Thorn, Panda, sit down," Gojou Satoru reassured them. "This is Yuta, our sixth first-year student. He's really strong. Come on, Yuta, introduce yourself to everyone."
Yuta's full name is Otsuki Yuta. He sits in front of Panda and next to Maki. Before leaving, Teacher Wu specifically told me and Shaohan to take Yuta for a good walk around the school after class and introduce him to the school's buildings.
As for the lecture given by the special theory teacher after the introduction of the new classmates, I didn't listen because I was playing with Shaohan and passing notes.
Teacher Wu asked us to introduce the school to You Tai, probably because Shao Han and I were the only two who hadn't openly shown our wariness. Introducing the school to You Tai might help him integrate into the group. But Teacher Wu, despite all her calculations, didn't anticipate that Shao Han and I, after more than two weeks at school, still didn't really understand the school's layout, only knowing the "dormitory," "classroom," "playground," and "cafeteria"!
[What should we do?] I wrote on a small piece of paper, [What should we do? How should we introduce ourselves later?]
Shaohan, however, took it all in stride. "It's alright," she waved her hand dismissively. "There's always a way out. You just need to introduce the cafeteria, classrooms, and dorms; leave the rest to me. Solving this will be a piece of cake!"
I blinked twice, giving her a pair of starry-eyed looks of adoration.
...I knew I shouldn't have believed Angela Yu's nonsense.
That wretched Yu Shaohan! After I finished introducing the classroom, dormitory, and cafeteria, she stood there with her hands on her hips, head held high, like a smug rooster, under my "next turn" gaze and Yi Gu You Tai's puzzled look—"I forgot."
"...?"
"I said I've forgotten what the rest of the place is like. Perhaps you could visit the principal? Oh, dear, by the way, the principal's office is to your left; it's a small, dark room. Good luck!"
...What kind of weird persona is she putting on today? What's wrong with her again?
I clenched my fists, feeling betrayed. And to make matters worse, the culprit who had deceived me gave me a smug, "That's all there is to it" look. Yi Gu You Tai stood frozen, head bowed, awkwardly unsure what to do with his hands.
"Ignore her." I rolled my eyes at Yu Shaohan. "She didn't take her medicine again today."
"But we just transferred here, so we're not very familiar with anything here... We only know the places I just showed you. If you really want to know, since we've almost finished our classes this morning, we can have a... spontaneous adventure?"
“It’s really hot today. Be careful not to get heatstroke if you stand in the sun all the time.” I pointed to the side and walked towards the shady eaves first, followed closely by Yu Shaohan and Yi Guyou. “Let’s go hide in the shade over there for a while.”
"Ah, um, okay... then I'll leave it to you..."
Yi Gu You Tai's voice was very soft. He was very reserved, and I couldn't hear him clearly unless I listened carefully. Yu Shao Han poked the ticklish spot on my waist: "You scared him."
Who scared him? I rolled my eyes and mouthed to her, silently threatening: If you're looking for death, I can send you on your way for free.
Angela Yu pretended to roll up her sleeves: Come on, who's afraid of who!
I pouted at him: Then you do it.
"You two really have a good relationship," Yuuta suddenly said, startling Shaohan and me from our silent banter. "Huh... huh?" Shaohan and I exchanged bewildered glances. "What?"
“You two have such a good relationship,” said Yigu Yuta, his tone tinged with envy. “After all, if you weren’t close, you wouldn’t be able to banter like this. You two seem very relaxed when you’re together…” Seeing that we were staring at him, he began to stammer, “Um…did I say something wrong?”
"You're right." Shaohan crossed her arms and nodded seriously. "No, we do have a pretty good relationship. Your feeling is quite accurate."
"No." I rolled my eyes at Shaohan and denied it. "Correction—it was originally. We used to have a very good relationship, but now Shaohan and Yu Shaohan are going through an episode. Please allow me to distance myself from her, OK?"
"Xiao Lan, what did you say!" Yu Shaohan lunged at him, baring her teeth and claws, completely disregarding the presence of You Tai beside her. "Say it again?"
"Hey? Who are you, miss? How do you know my name? I don't know. What are you talking about, miss?"
"..." Yuta Ekiku, watching us fool around, suddenly couldn't help but burst out laughing. Shaohan and I stopped what we were doing and exchanged a glance. Laughter is contagious, and Yuta Ekiku's laughter gradually spread to us. Although we didn't know what he was laughing at, we soon found it amusing too, and the three of us ended up laughing together.
As we were laughing, the door next to us suddenly opened. A woman in a white coat, a cigarette dangling from her lips, poked her head out and stared at us, who were still grinning foolishly.
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