The next day, early in the morning.
The homeroom teacher of Mei's class looked at the awkward expressions of the students below and spoke with a hint of embarrassment herself.
"Hello, everyone. Um... I know we've been changing teachers a bit frequently this semester, but actually, we will be welcoming another special lecturer, who the school has specifically hired from the United States."
"Her name is Pardofelis. Let's please give her a round of applause."
The moment he heard that name, Fu Li felt like his world was falling apart.
"What? Pardofelis? What the hell is this?"
Fu Li couldn't be bothered to look at the smug face Kiana was making at him. He just whipped his head around, and the sight of the figure on the stage left him stunned.
The newcomer had the exact same appearance as the Pardofelis he knew so well, but she was dressed in a professional teacher's suit and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, giving her the air of an intellectual beauty.
Although she didn't look much older than them, her temperament completely silenced the previously noisy students.
As if noticing Fu Li's gaze, Pardofelis turned her head and gave him a polite, yet elegantly distant, smile.
It was the kind of smile one gives to a complete stranger.
Yet, this simple smile made Fu Li feel an inexplicable sense of discomfort, so much so that even Mei, sitting beside him, sensed that something was wrong.
She looked at Fu Li with concern and gently nudged him.
"Hey, Li, are you okay?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing."
Feeling the nudge, Fu Li snapped back to reality. When he looked back at the stage, Pardo had already begun her formal self-introduction, as if nothing had just happened.
Am I dreaming?
Fu Li secretly reached down and pinched his thigh. After feeling the sting of pain, he reluctantly forced himself to accept this reality.
Subsequently, his mood slowly calmed, and his reason finally balanced out his emotions, allowing his brain to start thinking again.
Fu Li began to observe Pardo discreetly.
Just like with Klein, this Pardofelis looked identical to the one he knew, but her personality had also undergone a subtle change.
The Pardo he knew was supposed to be a cuter, somewhat ditzy, and silly girl. This one, however, appeared composed and intelligent, showing no signs of stage fright.
Of course, the most important difference was that this Pardo had no cat ears or tail. This was the biggest distinction.
And in his perception, this Pardo was indeed a frail girl, perhaps even weaker than an ordinary person.
But what is this situation? Another alternate timeline counterpart?
Did miHoYo's modelers get lazy again and just reuse another character's model?
Fu Li was lost in thought, completely unaware that to outsiders, he had been staring at the new teacher for a long time—so long that even Kiana was giving him a look of surprise.
As his deskmate, Kiana crumpled up a piece of paper and gently tossed it at him, giving him a warning glance that finally made him look away.
However, he only averted his gaze; his mind was still elsewhere. It wasn't until the bell rang, signaling the end of class, that he came to his senses.
Watching Pardo's departing back as she gathered her textbooks, Fu Li hadn't even prepared himself to go talk to her when Kiana's hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Hey, you idiot, Fu Li, what's with you? You were staring at the new teacher the whole time."
Kiana looked at him suspiciously, then blurted out the question in her mind. "You... you don't have a crush on Teacher Pardo, do you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? How is that possible?" Fu Li subconsciously denied it, but then felt a twinge of guilt.
He remembered that in the previous simulation, he and Pardo had, in fact, become a couple.
The problem was, he wasn't sure what was going on with this Pardofelis. Was it really just lazy modeling by miHoYo, or was there another reason?
But right now, more important than finding the truth was figuring out how to fool the two girls in front of him.
"Then why did you look so out of it? Is it because you know her?" Mei asked with concern.
Unlike Kiana's teasing tone, Mei's words seemed to hold a bit more urgency to know the truth.
"Um... I do, actually," Fu Li said, his brain slightly overloaded. He could only fabricate a lie on the spot. "Actually, I think I met Teacher Pardo back when I was in Shenzhou."
"It was just... I was little back then, so my memory is a bit fuzzy... Seeing her again so suddenly just now gave me a... very strange feeling."
A strange feeling?
Kiana and Mei exchanged a look, both a little surprised.
However, compared to Mei's bewilderment, a flash of understanding appeared in Kiana's eyes.
When she saw Fu Li's reaction just now, her own heart had trembled for a moment. She thought about how she might have the same reaction if she were to suddenly see her stinky old dad one day.
But... was the relationship between Fu Li and Pardo really the same as the one between her and her father?
Although both Kiana and Mei wanted to probe further, seeing Fu Li's obvious reluctance to say more, they couldn't help but swallow their questions.
What none of them knew was that in the teachers' office next door, Pardo had officially met with Sakurajima Rin, and both of them were now exuding undisguised hostility.
"What are you doing here?" Sakurajima Rin gritted her teeth, looking at Pardo in disbelief.
"Mhm, is it so strange?"
Pardo gave a faint smile, placing her documents on the desk. In a voice that only the two of them could hear, she said softly, "Surely you didn't think I'd actually be trapped on Raven's little island, did you?"
"That must be a real disappointment for you. Go back and tell Eden that I won't do anything out of line, so there's no need to worry."
---o---
At five o'clock in the afternoon, the school bell rang.
"Hey, are you really going to talk to Teacher Pardo?"
"Yeah, that might not be a good idea. Why don't we go with you?"
Looking at the two girls' worried expressions, Fu Li shook his head and sighed. "This is about something from my childhood. So, I want to handle it myself."
The meaning behind his words was clear. Mei and Kiana couldn't press the issue and could only watch as Fu Li went to the coffee shop across from the school to wait for Teacher Pardo to come out.
"What do we do?" Mei looked at Kiana, feeling a bit helpless.
"What else can we do? We can only wait and see if Li is willing to tell us later."
Although Kiana and Mei could be boisterous at times, they were both well-behaved girls. They had no intention of spying and both headed back to their apartments.
As for Fu Li, he waited for two hours before he finally saw Pardo's figure emerge.