The words of the girl calling herself Noshiro did not resolve Lu Chen's confusion; they only gave him more questions.
Noshiro held his hands with both of hers and smiled faintly: "Whatever happens, accept it with a calm heart. Why don't we start with me, your girlfriend?"
Why does this feel like getting amnesia after saving the world? Lu Chen said helplessly, "Even if you say that, I still feel uncomfortable."
"You can take your time. How about we treat this as the first time we've dated?" At this, Noshiro's face blushed again. "Do you have any dating experience in your memory?"
"No," Lu Chen answered without hesitation.
"Then, in your impression, what should a newly established boyfriend and girlfriend do?" Noshiro was leading him on, a small devil stirring in her heart. Such good luck.
Lu Chen paused. "At the very least, they wouldn't stay over at the guy's house the same night."
Noshiro suddenly tightened her grip, a tone of non-negotiable insistence in her voice: "That is non-negotiable!"
"There's no need to go that far, is there?"
"This is, this is... Right!" Noshiro's eyes flickered, and she suddenly thought of something. "You have amnesia. Do you know where you live?"
"That... I really don't," Lu Chen scratched his head.
Noshiro let out a breath of relief, clapped her hands together, and smiled. "In that case, I will be imposing on you tonight."
The school's curriculum was very peculiar. There were only two classes in the morning, each lasting fifty minutes, with a half-hour break in between. When Lu Chen heard about the half-hour break, he blurted out, "Shouldn't it only be ten minutes?"
"No way! The academic requirements here aren't burdensome. It's mainly for everyone to enjoy a pleasant campus life," Noshiro explained. "There's still plenty of time. Do you want to go for a walk outside?"
Lu Chen felt a sense of incongruity for the first time. He instinctively felt that school shouldn't be such a relaxed place. Hearing Noshiro's suggestion, he pondered it. "Alright, I need to get used to campus life."
"Do you want me to accompany you?" Noshiro asked gently.
Lu Chen hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. "I want to walk alone."
"Our classroom is on the second floor, the far left." Noshiro extended her right hand, removed the small, feminine wristwatch from her wrist, and handed it to Lu Chen. "The next class starts in eighteen minutes. Be quick."
Lu Chen took the watch, which still held a trace of the girl's warmth. He said nothing, put the watch in his pocket, and left.
Noshiro rested her chin on her hand, staring blankly at the blackboard, and whispered in a voice barely audible, "Commander…"
Lu Chen realized another astonishing fact: after walking the hallways for so long and occasionally glancing into other classrooms, he hadn't seen a single male student. Although there was one flat-chested girl he almost mistook for a boy.
Had he arrived at an all-girls school? If so, why was he allowed in? Even though he had lost a lot of his memory, Lu Chen's gender was undoubtedly male; that couldn't possibly be wrong.
He wandered aimlessly in the corridor, and when he reached the corner of the staircase, he instinctively looked up and spotted a door left ajar—the door to the rooftop.
Lu Chen hesitated for a moment, then decided to go up to the rooftop. The view would be better, and he might gather more information.
Stepping onto the rooftop, Lu Chen stood by the railing and looked down. He finally understood what the campus looked like.
The entire academy was a massive ring. The teaching building he was in was on the outer rim of the ring, and all the buildings were situated on the periphery. The inner side of the ring was segmented and connected by small paths, with each section being a sports area—a track and field, tennis courts…
In the center of the academy was an anchor-shaped fountain, but Lu Chen was too far away to see it clearly.
He turned to look behind him. Not far away was the academy wall, beyond that was a wide road, and then a continuous stretch of various buildings—residential blocks, shopping malls with billboards… extending to the horizon.
"Is this a bustling city?" Lu Chen murmured to himself. This was not unexpected. Where else would it be if not in a city? A secluded island, perhaps?
But one thing he couldn't figure out was why the sports facilities were built in the center of the academy. Shouldn't the teaching building typically be set away from the roads and residential areas?
Forget it. Compared to the other bizarre aspects of this place, this was a minor issue. Maybe the architect was eccentric, or perhaps the road saw very little traffic. He watched for a while and only saw one black sports car pass by slowly, so slowly that he heard no noise.
Squeak—
The rooftop door suddenly emitted a jarring sound. Lu Chen immediately turned around and saw only a flash of red vanishing down the staircase. Lu Chen didn't rashly pursue. He asked cautiously, "Is anyone there?"
There was no answer.
Lu Chen quickly passed through the rooftop door, went down the stairs, and entered the second-floor connecting corridor. He looked around. Girls were moving back and forth, dressed in clothes that were revealing, innocent, or overtly suggestive. He didn't know where to look.
Are the girls here all that open? Can some of those outfits even be called clothes? Lu Chen stared down at his shoes. It was too hard to find the person he saw just by a flash of red. Furthermore, he didn't know if the person was intentionally tracking him. The rooftop door was open, and anyone could have gone up. Maybe the person just wanted some fresh air but was embarrassed to run into him, the only male.
Lu Chen suddenly thought of something, quickly looking up. Although many girls were passing by, and he could faintly hear them whispering to each other, everything appeared so normal—which was the greatest anomaly of all.
Why were they ignoring him? No, some people's gaze did briefly linger on him, but it was like looking at any ordinary person; their attention quickly faded. It was not the reaction one would have to an obvious anomaly.
It wasn't that Lu Chen was full of himself, but he was undoubtedly an outsider in this environment. Yet, no one paid attention to this outsider. The girls were acting like NPCs in a game, going about their business without caring what the player was doing.
Realizing this, a chill ran down Lu Chen's spine. He held his breath, cautiously weaving through the crowd, but still, no one paid attention to his movements. This only solidified his belief: there was a serious problem with this school.
Ding-a-ling!
A sharp bell rang, startling Lu Chen. He immediately realized it was the bell for the next class. The surrounding girls began to file into classrooms. Lu Chen took a deep breath and returned to his own classroom.
Sitting in his seat, Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, still shaken. He desperately wanted to run, but he didn't know how. After much consideration, he decided to stay put for now, waiting until he figured out the truth before making a move.
"What's wrong? Why are you sweating so much?" Noshiro's gentle voice sounded in his ear. The girl handed him a handkerchief. "Wipe yourself off with this."
Lu Chen immediately grabbed Noshiro's hand as if it were a life raft. Feeling the softness of the girl's hand and her intimate tone, Lu Chen was certain: she was different from the others. She was a living, breathing person.