Kevin Chase pulled up to the school in his supercar. As he got out, his striking good looks, combined with his distinct Asian features, immediately drew the attention of countless high school fan-girls. Following the signs, Kevin searched for a good while before finally reaching the office for transfer student registration. He saw two girls standing by the entrance, their backs to him, discussing a boy who was inside the office.
"Excuse me, could I get by?" Kevin greeted the two girls.
"Oh, sorry! Of course," the girls said, a little embarrassed as they made way.
"Thanks," Kevin replied with a polite smile and entered the office with his file.
"Your records are incomplete. There's no immunization certificate, and we absolutely must see your academic transcripts," the teacher inside was saying to the boy.
"Please take another look. I'm sure everything you need is in there," the boy said, taking off his sunglasses and looking directly at the female teacher.
Thanks to the Rabbit Talisman, it wasn't just Kevin's speed that was enhanced; his reaction time and perception were heightened to a corresponding degree. He could clearly sense that the teacher's expression was slightly off. Moreover, the few pages the teacher was holding were obviously insufficient for a school transfer, especially compared to the thick file Kevin himself was carrying.
"You're right. Indeed, it is all here," the teacher said, surprisingly offering no further argument and proceeding to process the boy's paperwork.
'Is that mind control or some other ability?' Kevin wondered. 'Are there really this many supernatural beings in this world? I just got to school and already ran into one. I don't know if my three active Talismans can even counter something like that. I remember the Horse Talisman can negate magical harm to the body, but I can't guarantee it would work against mind control. If I get controlled, I'm screwed. Better to lay low for now. If only I had the Sheep Talisman, the one that enhances soul abilities and can even achieve astral projection, then I wouldn't be afraid of this at all.'
Kevin thought this to himself, pretending to be oblivious as he queued up behind the boy to submit his own documents.
The boy finished his registration and left. Kevin, acting as if nothing unusual had happened, handed over his file. His paperwork was complete, so the process was quick. When Kevin turned to leave, he noticed one of the two girls from earlier was still standing by the door.
"Hi, I'm Kevin Chase, from Shenzhou," Kevin said, walking up to the girl with a smile and extending his hand.
"Hi, I'm Bonnie," Bonnie replied, shaking his hand.
"So sorry to bother you, but I just got here. Could you possibly tell me where the restroom is? The layout of schools here in the West is quite different from back home."
Truthfully, Kevin didn't want to make such an awkward first impression by asking for the restroom. But he couldn't help it; he had a naturally poor sense of direction, and he'd spent a while looking for the office, so he really needed to go. Plus, having just encountered a suspected supernatural being, Kevin didn't dare secretly use the Rabbit Talisman to scout for the restroom. Asking for directions was his only option.
"Follow me," Bonnie said with a slight smile and led Kevin to the restroom entrance. There, they saw the boy from the office and the other girl making way awkwardly near the men's room door.
"Thanks, Bonnie, I'll head in first."
"Excuse me, just need to get past," Kevin said, first thanking Bonnie, then excusing himself past the awkward pair before entering the restroom.
Kevin had just stepped into the restroom when the boy followed him in. After relieving himself, Kevin checked his class schedule and went out to find his way. The two of them ended up heading in roughly the same direction, arriving together at the history classroom. Kevin saw Bonnie and the other girl were also there, so he greeted Bonnie and found an empty seat.
During class, the teacher talked about Virginia joining the Confederacy in 1861, and how the people from northwestern Virginia disagreed with the traditional Southern loyalists, and so on. Kevin had zero interest in any of it. After all, America's history was so short; if he wanted to study history, he'd rather go back home and delve into his own country's thousands of years of culture – that was far more fascinating.
And so, Kevin muddled through the morning's classes in a daze. As the last class before lunch was ending, he remembered that while he had just arrived in this world today, this world's "Kevin Chase" had recently lost his last relative. It wouldn't be right not to visit the grave and pay respects. So, he decided to go to the cemetery after class to see this distant uncle he'd never met.
Kevin drove his supercar to the cemetery, relying on navigation. It wasn't actually far, but because Kevin was worried about getting lost, having a car meant that even if the navigation led him astray, he could quickly correct his course.
The Mystic Falls cemetery wasn't particularly large, but Kevin, being directionally challenged, had no choice but to park outside and start walking up the hill, slowly searching. He found it relatively quickly, though—after all, in a foreign cemetery, his uncle was likely the only one from Shenzhou, with a Shenzhou-style tombstone and inscribed with Shenzhou characters. (I won't tell you that Kevin secretly used the Rabbit Talisman's speed to find the tombstone.)
Looking at the tombstone, Kevin didn't feel much of anything. Perhaps it was because he hadn't fully settled into this identity yet; this distant uncle felt more like an NPC, a plot device to bring him here. Another reason was that Kevin had also been an orphan in his previous life, growing up in an orphanage. In his past life, Kevin hadn't possessed any outstanding qualities—average in studies, looks, everything. So, to be honest, familial affection and even deep friendship were somewhat foreign concepts to him.
He hadn't even managed to express a couple of token sentiments when a strange, thick fog suddenly rolled in over the hill. Kevin didn't dare recklessly use the Rabbit Talisman and immediately started running downhill. Well, being directionally challenged, Kevin got lost again. The place was already unfamiliar, and the fog made it impossible for him to get his bearings.
Kevin could only run blindly, trying his best to head downhill. Suddenly, he saw a girl on another path ahead of him stumble and start to fall. The fog in the area was getting thicker. Kevin had to speed up, moving at a normal person's sprint, and managed to grab one of the girl's hands, preventing her from falling completely to the ground. Unfortunately, her other hand still hit the ground and got scraped.
"Are you okay?" Kevin helped the girl up and realized it was the same girl who had been with Bonnie that morning.
"Are you following me?" the girl asked, her voice laced with suspicion. After all, when the fog had rolled in, she'd felt like someone was watching her.
"No, I just saw you about to fall," Kevin explained. Suddenly, he sensed someone moving nearby, at a speed far exceeding that of a normal person. Though, compared to Kevin with his Rabbit Talisman, it was small fry – not even as fast as Kevin could move using the Talisman.
"Uh-huh, right. You just happened to be taking a stroll in the cemetery," the girl said, clearly unconvinced.
"Yes. My uncle passed away recently. I came from my home country and couldn't make it to his funeral, so I'm here now to pay my respects."
"And if you say someone was following you, could it be that classmate behind you?" Kevin explained, while also noticing that the boy had appeared behind the girl, to his own right. A normal person might not have even noticed someone else was there. (When Kevin helped Elena up, he was holding her left hand, then let go and stepped back a bit, but their general positioning hadn't changed much; they weren't face-to-face.)
"I'm so sorry, that was very rude of me. This fog has me completely disoriented," the girl apologized, looking behind her.
The boy must have heard their conversation and walked over.
"Are you two alright?" the boy asked.
"We're fine. Did you happen to see this classmate on the hill earlier? She said it felt like someone was following her," Kevin said. Having witnessed the boy's speed, he wasn't as afraid of him anymore. After all, if it came to a fight, Kevin was confident he could easily grab the girl and make a run for it with his own speed.
"No, I was here to pay respects to my family. I was just passing by and saw it looked like someone fell, so I came over to check," the boy said, frowning slightly.
"There were birds on the hill earlier, and then the fog got really thick all of a sudden. The whole atmosphere for a moment felt really eerie, like something out of a horror movie I've seen. Maybe I was mistaken," the girl said. She also recognized the boy, and after he explained he was there to pay respects to his own family—she herself had recently lost her parents—a wave of empathy came over her, and she started to make excuses for him.
"I'm Elena," the girl said, seeing the atmosphere was a bit awkward and deciding to introduce herself.
"I'm Stefan," the boy added, stating his name.
"I'm Kevin Chase, from the distant Eastern country of Shenzhou," Kevin said, seeing the situation and introducing himself as well.
"I know. We were in history class together. Bonnie mentioned you to me," Elena said.
"And English and French class," Stefan added.
"Do either of you know the way down the mountain? I'm a bit lost here," Kevin said. 'I didn't even know I was enrolled in French class,' he thought. 'Looks like Stefan doesn't have any ill intentions towards Elena for now. So, you two can just get all lovey-dovey over there. I'd rather find my way down the mountain and get something to eat. I'm actually feeling pretty hungry right about now.'