"Come to my office after school."
The Chinese teacher adjusted his glasses, knocked on Li Zhu's desk, and spoke in a cold voice.
"…Ah, yes."
Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Zhu looked up, only to meet the teacher's frosty gaze. Quickly lowering his hands from behind his head, he lowered his head in embarrassment.
The entire class turned their curious eyes toward him. Seeing Li Zhu's flustered expression, the students of Class 1-D erupted into laughter.
After Class
"Li-kun, so even you space out in class sometimes?" His deskmate, Kazama Kaoru, asked teasingly.
"I was just lost in thought," Li Zhu replied with a wry smile.
"Damn, Li Zhu, skipping out on a Chinese lesson? You've really got guts now."
A tall and slightly burly figure suddenly approached from behind and put him in a headlock, exuding a strong alpha male presence. Li Zhu didn't even need to look to know who it was.
Kira Haga.
Seated at the very back by the door, he was an athletic recruit who had attended the same middle school as Li Zhu. But he wasn't just some sports jock—back in middle school, Kira Haga had never once fallen out of the top three in academics. That was why Sakura Academy had given him a special admission offer.
Excelling in both academics and athletics, Kira was a rare talent outside Sakura Academy. But within this prestigious school, he was merely average.
"My neck's gonna snap—let go first."
The original Li Zhu had been nothing more than a nerd—a creep obsessed with studying, utterly clueless about anything else, and absolutely horrible at sports. His frail body was even weaker than that of an average student.
"Heh heh."
Kira Haga scratched his head, standing there like a big, goofy gorilla.
"Good morning, Kazama-kun."
"Good morning, Kira-kun." Kazama Kaoru responded politely.
After greeting Li Zhu's deskmate, the three of them started chatting about recent school events—though, in reality, Kira did most of the talking.
As a member of the Athletics Department, his upperclassmen always shared school gossip after practice. Compared to bookworms like Li Zhu and Kazama, his intelligence network was far more extensive.
While they chatted, Li Zhu subtly glanced at an empty seat—the third-to-last row by the window.
That was Sakurai Yuko's desk.
"Did she take the day off? Where did that little background character go? Is she planning to cause trouble again?"
"It was just a failed confession! There are plenty of fish in the sea—why obsess over me, of all people?!"
Then, he shook his head.
"Wait, she's the heroine. She has the protagonist to save her. She's not gonna die—so why am I even worried?"
As a side character, interacting with a heroine was already dangerous enough. Every time he went out of his way to secretly help her, he had to be extremely cautious, afraid someone would catch him in the act.
"Does she really think her disguise is foolproof? She's naïve, clueless, and spends all day whining 'uwu~'. Meanwhile, countless scumbags are drooling over her, thinking with their lower halves… And she doesn't notice a damn thing."
"Do you have any idea how much suffering I've gone through to protect you?!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
"This little airhead—how dare she confess to me?! If I could, I'd get down on my knees and beg her to stay the hell away from my life!"
"Li-kun? Why do you suddenly look like you want to bite someone's head off?" Kazama asked, concerned.
"…Nothing, just remembered something depressing."
Li Zhu waved his hand dismissively, pretending it was nothing.
Just then, the school bell rang.
Kira reluctantly returned to his seat.
Even though he had plenty more juicy gossip to share, he had no choice but to wait until after class.
At lunchtime, Li Zhu went to the teacher's office to get scolded by his Chinese teacher.
In the afternoon, he endured yet another set of dull, repetitive lessons.
As a side character, life was simple and uneventful—as long as he avoided the protagonists, his daily routine was just like any other normal high school student's.
Li Zhu had played this game before.
That's why the daily lives of side characters felt especially meaningful to him.
After all, in the game, one or two short sentences in the background dialogue could completely define a side character's entire life.
Back then, he hadn't even known who else was in the protagonist's class.
Anyone who wasn't an important character didn't even have a face in the CGs—only the protagonist and a handful of key side characters were ever depicted.
Take Kazama Kaoru, his deskmate, and Kira Haga, his childhood friend.
Neither of them had ever appeared in the game.
They didn't even have names in the game's story.
They were merely background nobodies—not even side characters.
And as for Li Zhu himself?
According to the game's original script, he was already supposed to be dead—as of yesterday evening.
If the game had followed its normal storyline, Li Zhu would have kidnapped Sakurai Yuko by now, the protagonist would have arrived just in time, and Li Zhu would have died—jumping off a building in despair.
That would have been the end of his story.
The fate of a minor villain—a pathetic and miserable demise.
…
"But I'm not dying that easily."
Li Zhu muttered to himself as he walked toward the school gate.
After School
Since most students at Sakura Academy came from wealthy and powerful families, the school gate was lined with luxury cars.
Even someone like Li Zhu, who knew nothing about cars, could recognize some of the expensive brands parked in neat rows.
Personal drivers and butlers stood beside the vehicles, patiently waiting for their young masters and ladies to be dismissed.
But Li Zhu didn't take the main road.
Instead, he took a side path that led to a quiet back alley, not far from the school.
It was a route his mother had insisted on—because hardly anyone from school ever passed through there.
Just as he arrived, he heard the buzzing of an electric scooter, accompanied by his mother's cheerful voice.
"Ah Zhu! Look at this! I got a new electric bike! Picking you up from school is gonna be so much easier now!"
Riding up on a brand-new scooter, Ri Saiko—his mother—beamed with excitement.
She talked about the bike, but her eyes were filled with nothing but joy at seeing her son.
Even the wrinkles formed from years of hardship seemed to soften.
"…Mom, didn't you say you were gonna buy a bicycle? Where'd you get the money for an electric scooter?" Li Zhu asked, playing along with a surprised expression.
"Heh heh! I didn't sell the bicycle—I bought this with my own salary!"
"…Your salary's that high? Is the job too exhausting?"
"It's not tiring at all! Speaking of which, your principal is such a kind man. Not only did he give us a free home, but my job is super easy, and my boss is wonderful! No more worrying about being yelled at or having my pay docked!"
Ri Saiko sighed happily.
"You should really thank your principal someday."
"…Yeah, yeah, I got it, Mom. You've said that a hundred times already."
Li Zhu grumbled in an annoyed tone.
But deep inside…
He felt warmth.
And a newfound reason to stay alive.
"Damn it, Mom… you better not grow old too fast."
"At least let me repay you properly someday."