Day after day, day after day...
Her brain no longer felt anything for that phrase. The desensitization symptoms left her paralyzed in this meaningless, stagnant life. Sometimes she even thought... maybe this wasn't so bad?
Having an ordinary life was a dream beyond reach for many. Why was she so unsatisfied?
If she chose to pursue the excitement she craved, could she be guaranteed to get what she wanted?
It was a meaningless thought; she didn't even know why she was obsessing over such things.
In the end, it was just her own cowardice. She didn't dare give up her current life, yet she thirsted for unexpected change... Hmm... a bit like a chuunibyou fantasizing about the world suddenly ending and becoming a "Chosen Child" while living in their own delusions all day...
...So stupid.
She heard the bell for the end of class, but she didn't join the impatient students who couldn't wait to whisper about what to eat for dinner or which internet café to go to. She didn't rush to pack her things to go home. She sat properly in her seat, pretending to listen intently, because the teacher hadn't dismissed them yet.
"I haven't dismissed the class yet!" The teacher threw a piece of chalk at the head of an eager boy, criticizing him with a sour face. "Every single one of you thinks only of playing. Can't you learn from her?"
The teacher was pointing at her. She quietly took notes, seemingly indifferent to the praise.
Others would calm down, no matter how frustrated they were, after seeing her. Because she was a genuine "top student"—or rather, a top student who played the role so well that there were no flaws.
Perhaps "lie" isn't a good word, but when a lie is told a thousand times until you even believe it yourself, the lie becomes the truth.
Did she not want the class to end? Of course not. She wanted to go home and turn on the TV to watch the 8:00 PM dramas. She only cared about her grades for the sake of the status, not for self-improvement. Who would want such boring things to take up their private time?
However, this face saved her from a lot of trouble.
The teacher spent another five minutes finishing the last problem before dismissing the class. Only then, amidst the cheers of her peers, did she slowly begin to pack her books, put them in her bag, and follow the crowd out of the classroom.
She had half an hour before her mandated time to be home. she could only stay out for a short while.
But this short time was a rare period of freedom she could control. Like a sunflower buried in darkness all day finally seeing the brilliant sun, she would certainly try her best to enjoy it.
She walked to the ranking list for this month's exams. Without needing to search, she saw her name in a familiar position.
Middle of the pack—unremarkable.
Actually, this rank was on the higher side. In the dozen columns, she was near the front of the first column, but she knew this was still just "average."
How many people in the world could get this score, and how many who got this score... became famous?
Her eyes moved upward. The name in first place had remained unchanged for years. That person named "Mei" sat like a great mountain, crushing commoners like them beneath it, allowing no room for resistance.
But she wasn't there to look at Mei. She was looking for another name.
It didn't take long. Right below Mei name, the character "Lin" was written clearly in black and white.
"...Why?"
She muttered to herself, dissatisfaction brewing in her heart.
She paid more attention to this second-place Lin than to the first-place student.
People often say no one remembers second place—unless they are always in second place. Mei was always first. She believed Mei was an absolute genius; there were even rumors of Mei going to Mu to participate in world-class academic seminars to publish new discoveries.
She was envious of Mei—talented and unrestrained, the kind of person she had always longed to be.
But what was with this Lin?
His score was always right behind Mei. Had it been anyone else, she wouldn't have been surprised, but Lin score was consistently only ten to twenty points lower than Mei. Never more, never less.
He was doing it on purpose.
She hated people like that—possessing what she craved but couldn't have, yet treating it as if it were nothing.
Lin was the most special person at Chiba Academy, yet he was the one person no one wanted to mention. He was like a ghost—the kind that would scare you half to death if you actually encountered him.
He was moody, he got into fights, and he radiated a gloomy aura all day long. No one even knew what he looked like; he used masks and hoodies as his outer identity.
After staring at that loathsome second place for a long time, she slowly withdrew her gaze. It was then that she saw a fleeting figure at the corner.
Hoodie, mask...
She jolted. An emotion she rarely felt surged within her. After glancing around, she grabbed a baseball cap that someone had left on a windowsill, pulled it over her head, and followed stealthily.
It was almost time to go home, yet what was she doing? Stalking someone she had no connection to?
She followed the hooded man. She noticed he was walking in a direction different from most people, heading toward the nooks and crannies that her parents described as being infested with "social dregs" like cockroaches.
Could he actually be a delinquent in private? Extorting, robbing, and...
A top-tier student with a dark, solitary personality who seemed to hate the light—it was possible he would do such things, right?
This act of wantonly speculating on the dark side of others made her heart feel refreshed. If Lin really was a guy doing shady things, it would satisfy her long-standing imagination of a life beyond the dull and tedious.
Soon, without realizing it, she arrived at a place she would never have come to before.
By the time she noticed, the scenery had changed. Trash, cigarette butts, and fierce-looking thugs appeared at the corners from time to time, and the road ahead grew narrower and gloomier...
The hooded man turned another corner. This time she suddenly snapped to her senses and turned to leave, only to have her wrist grabbed by a rough, large hand.
"Yo, yo, yo, little lady, are you lost?"
Obscene snickering rang out. She swallowed hard and saw that several strangely dressed men had blocked the small path back. The hooded man she had followed all the way here was among them.
She had indeed found an "unexpected" person and some "unexpected" things. Except, that hooded man was not Lin.
"Hey, did she see us when we were 'delivering the goods'?"
Delivering the goods?
Oh no.
She realized this was a very bad situation.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the man holding her had a bag of white powder in his other hand.
"Who knows? But just to be safe... hehe, little lady, are you interested in trying something 'happy'? I guarantee it'll make you feel a kind of joy you've never known before~"
In the worst possible way, she had shattered her own boring daily life.