The morning sun streamed through the window of Room 403, falling on Natsukawa Sosuke's face. He slowly opened his eyes, and the last function module he completed last night appeared in his mind. The feeling was wonderfully strange—knowledge of programming was like an instinct he had long mastered, and the muscle memory when his fingertips touched the keyboard was incredibly natural, as if he had been coding like this for years.
"System divine power, kid." Natsukawa slowly sat up, muttering to himself, "However, while knowledge can be directly obtained through the system, the problem-solving mindset still needs to be slowly honed by myself."
Today was Sunday, nearly a week had passed since the opening ceremony. During this week, Natsukawa diligently attended classes during the day and continuously refined his forum data collection program after school. As he expected, the classroom atmosphere in Class D was plummeting below the horizon like a rocket, with the classroom full of a vibrant and chaotic scene as if everything was erupting.
On the first day of school, everyone still pretended to be attentive, taking notes. But as the days passed peacefully, more and more people began to relax their guard. Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki, sitting in the front row, had already started secretly exchanging comics during class, and occasionally playing his new handheld game console; students in the middle rows boldly played on their phones under their desks; girls shared interesting daily anecdotes using chat apps under their desks; even Hirata Yosuke, who usually behaved impeccably, was spotted dozing off by Natsukawa during Thursday's math class.
"Truly, their eyes have been deluded by this false paradise." Natsukawa recalled how, during Friday's sociology class, even Class teacher Chabashira turned a blind eye to students openly sleeping below the stage, simply lecturing mechanically as if completing a task unrelated to herself.
Today was Sunday, with no classes scheduled. Yesterday, Natsukawa had cooped himself up in his dorm all day, so it was time to go out for a walk and relax. He didn't want to go bald by 30. After washing up and changing into casual clothes, Natsukawa decided to wander around campus, going wherever his feet took him.
In April on campus, the cherry blossoms had begun to fall, their pink and white petals dancing in the wind, covering both sides of the sidewalk. Natsukawa walked aimlessly, letting his thoughts drift. He thought of the twenty million debt, the system's capabilities and limitations, and also the "old faces" he had met this week—Ayanokoji, who always had dead fish eyes; Horikita, who was cold as ice and marched to the beat of her own drum; Kushida, the sunny and cheerful cherry bomb; and Sakura Airi, the girl he met at the electronics store who always kept her head down.
"Sakura is so cute~ ᕕ(◠ڼ◠)ᕗ"
As Natsukawa was thinking, his steps had unconsciously led him to a relatively secluded area. The buildings here looked quite old and seemed to have been abandoned.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, the corner of his eye seemed to catch an unusual movement—behind a bush not far away, a figure was squatting with their back to him, furtively peering towards the abandoned school building.
Natsukawa instinctively wanted to avoid trouble; after all, he didn't want to approach random strangers. But the person's mumbling made him stop.
"Shizuku-chan... Shizuku-chan... Shizuku-chan..."
The voice was low and fervent, repeating the same name over and over.
Natsukawa's heart skipped a beat—wasn't this the stage name Sakura Airi used as a gravure idol? He immediately realized the seriousness of the situation: Sakura's idol identity had been discovered by a crazed fan?
He quietly moved behind a tree and looked in the direction of the person's gaze—it was indeed the abandoned school building. Natsukawa guessed that Sakura might have accidentally included the school building as a background while taking photos there, thus exposing her location, and was then found and tracked down by a fan from this school.
"WOC, doxxed," Natsukawa muttered under his breath. He decided not to alert the obsessed fan yet, but instead to go around to the other side of the school building and find an opportunity to go inside and check the situation.
After walking along the wall for a while, Natsukawa found a half-open window. He looked left and right to confirm no one was around, then propped his hands on the window frame, kicked off with his feet, swung through the air, and cleanly climbed in. The light inside the building was dim, and the air was filled with the smell of dust, clearly indicating it had not been used for a long time.
Natsukawa tiptoed down the corridor, trying to find Sakura's whereabouts. Just as he turned a corner—
"Ah!" A short scream rang out.
Sakura Airi stood at the corner, her face visibly flustered. She was wearing a loose jacket, but the edge of a swimsuit was faintly visible underneath. Traces of unremoved makeup remained on her face, her hair was a bit messy, with a few strands clinging to her cheeks, which were flushed from fright. Her large eyes, usually hidden behind thick glasses, were now wide open, like a startled fawn.
"S-sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Natsukawa quickly raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "I'm Natsukawa, from Class D. We met at the electronics store before. There's a suspicious person outside constantly muttering 'Shizuku-chan,' and I was worried someone might be in danger from a stalker, so I came in to check."
Sakura first hurriedly retreated two steps, clutching the front of her jacket tightly with knuckles turning white from the force. Her legs trembled slightly, looking as if she might bolt at any moment. But when she recognized Natsukawa, her tense body relaxed slightly, though Sakura herself might not have noticed. However, realizing her current predicament, the girl's cheeks immediately flushed crimson, like a ripe apple.
"Na-Natsukawa-kun..." Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, her gaze flickering, never daring to meet Natsukawa's eyes.
Natsukawa noticed her shoulders trembling slightly, clearly indicating she was quite startled. He maintained a safe distance and said gently, "So you're Shizuku-chan. It's nice to meet you, even if the way I learned your name isn't very formal."
"No... it's not... My name is... Sakura... Ai... ri. Shizuku... Shizuku is my stage name."
"Oh, my apologies, Sakura-san, it's a pleasure to meet you. Using a stage name... are you a celebrity?"
"No... not really, just a blog idol who often posts photos online."
"That's still impressive. I didn't expect Sakura-san to have such an amazing side to her."
"N-nothing of the sort."
"Sakura-san, why have you been staying in this place?"
"I... I originally had some more photos to take outside, but when I got to the door, I suddenly felt an uncomfortable gaze on me... so I haven't dared to go out."
Natsukawa noticed her shoulders trembling slightly, clearly indicating she had been quite startled. He maintained a safe distance and said gently, "Your feeling is very accurate; there is indeed someone outside who seems to be an obsessed fan of yours. Let's not rush out yet; we'll wait here for a while. Maybe that person will leave if they don't find you."
Sakura nodded softly and cautiously sat down against the wall. Natsukawa also sat opposite her, maintaining his distance to avoid making her feel pressured.
"Na-Natsukawa-kun, why are you here?" Sakura asked softly after a while.
"I was just walking around, clearing my head with a stroll," Natsukawa smiled. "After coding for a long time, my brain needs a break. I didn't expect to end up in such a secluded place."
"Co-coding?" Sakura looked up slightly, a hint of curiosity flashing in her eyes, but she quickly lowered them again.
"Yeah, it's a small hobby of mine." Natsukawa didn't elaborate, instead asking, "Do you often come here to take photos?"
Sakura nodded gently: "Hardly anyone comes here... it's very suitable for taking photos that... won't get me recognized." Her fingers unconsciously twirled a strand of red hair, making circles. "But when I was taking photos today, I had a bad premonition..."
"Being an idol isn't easy," Natsukawa sighed. "You have to constantly hide yourself from fans and avoid real-life encounters."
Sakura lowered her head: "Na-Natsukawa-kun, can you keep this a secret for me? I don't want too many people to know about this, especially my classmates... if they knew I was'Shizuku'..."
"Are you worried that everyone will look at you differently?"
Sakura was silent for a moment, then softly hummed in affirmation.
"Don't worry, Sakura-san," Natsukawa paused. "I promise you, I will absolutely not tell anyone."
"After all, this is your personal privacy."
"And if you don't want me to bring this up again, I can pretend nothing happened. Of course, if you ever need help or just want someone to talk to, I'm always here."
Sakura looked up, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back, just silently lowering her head.
The two chatted for a while longer, and Natsukawa noticed Sakura gradually relaxing. Although her speech was still intermittent, she could at least express her thoughts relatively fluently. This was a huge improvement compared to the situation at the electronics store where she could barely speak.
"It's about time; we should figure out how to get out." Natsukawa stood up and looked at the sunlight outside. He patted the dust off his pants. "That fan might have left, but we'd better still be careful."