Dark clouds hung heavy outside the window, whipped by fierce gusts of wind that made the windowpanes rattle with a clattering din. Amidst the howling wind came the plaintive cries of tree leaves. It was the final class of the morning, and our classmate Lu Mingfei sat slumped at his desk, staring out the window at a plastic bag lofted high by the raging gale. He felt like that very plastic bag—out of place with everything around him, utterly isolated and helpless. On the windowsill, a moth fought desperately against the wind, clinging for dear life and beating its wings in a futile effort to withstand the tempest. Lu Mingfei desperately wanted to lend a hand, but opening the window now meant exposing himself to the fury of the storm, so he abandoned the thought.
Just an aisle away sat Uesugi Erii, who, wearing headphones and listening to music, was idly fiddling with her toy bear as she waited for the bell to ring.
A sudden torrent of rain poured down, fat raindrops drumming a loud yet muffled rhythm against the glass. Some students, caught outdoors during P.E. class and unable to make it back before the downpour, were soaked clean through.
The moth fluttered frantically a few more times before a falling droplet struck it, shattering its fragile body and sending it tumbling from the windowsill. Like duckweed in a tempest, it was utterly alone, stripped of its last straw of hope, with only death awaiting it.
"Starving to death, all Lu Mingfei's fault." Erii glanced over at him. That morning, they had bumped into each other at the school gates; terrified of being late, Lu Mingfei had sprinted and dashed right into Erii's arms, knocking away her breakfast and sending his own crashing to the ground.
"Ding-a-ling, ding-ling-ling." At the sound of the class bell, the students bolted from the classroom like rabid hounds—or rather, off-leash dogs. Situated on the fifth floor, the highest level of the teaching building, if they didn't run fast enough, the cafeteria would be crammed to absolute suffocation by the time they arrived. The students could never understand why a school that charged such exorbitant tuition fees couldn't even spare the funds to expand the cafeteria. Where on earth was all that money going?
The only two people who hadn't rushed out of the classroom sat rubbing their rumbling stomachs, exchanging glances. Looking utterly exhausted, Lu Mingfei stared at Erii and asked, "Why aren't you going to the cafeteria?"
She answered by sliding a notebook over to him: "Yesterday when Lu Mingfei showed me around the school, he didn't take me to the cafeteria. I don't know where it is."
Lu Mingfei scribbled a rapid reply, his handwriting rivaling the wild cursive of Zhang Xu: "I don't have an umbrella. If it starts raining, I won't be able to get back. No rush."
Actually, he had checked the weather forecast that morning, only to find that his umbrella had been taken by Lu Mingze, who left earlier. As for Lu Mingze's umbrella—well, forget it, it was falling apart. Lu Mingze had probably taken the good one on purpose so he could share it with some girl who forgot hers.
"I can take Lu Mingfei to the cafeteria."
"Don't Japanese students usually bring bento boxes?" Lu Mingfei clearly didn't want to go out with Erii. It wasn't that he thought she would drag him down; on the contrary, she was far too dazzling, and heading out together would inevitably draw gossip. Besides, sharing a single umbrella meant the stares of onlookers alone could tear a pathetic loser like him to shreds.
"But Lu Mingfei knocked over my breakfast this morning. He owes me lunch to make up for it." Erii gazed at him earnestly, handing over her notebook with a slight blush, still seemingly dwelling on their collision that morning.
"No way. My breakfast was ruined too, so we're even."
"Is Lu Mingfei trying to bully me just because I'm a newcomer with no one to back me up?" Erii picked up the notebook so he could read what she wrote, then raised her smartphone. It displayed the school forum: in just a single day, the membership of the fan club for Erii, the campus belle, had skyrocketed to a terrifying number, forming a tripartite standoff with the deeply entrenched fan clubs of Su Xiaoqiang and Chen Wenwen. Including Liu Miaomiao, who spent her years entering every piano competition imaginable, all four of Shilan Middle School's campus belles were now in Lu Mingfei's class.
"My good ancestor, have mercy. If you really post on the forum that I'm bullying you, your fanatical followers will toss me out into the rain within five minutes." Lu Mingfei made a pleading gesture.
"Then come with me to the cafeteria."
"Not going."
"You're going."
"I'm not." The two reached a deadlock.
Erii stood up and tried to pull Lu Mingfei out of his seat. With a stubborn look on her face, her stance was clear: she was going to drag him up and make him lead her to the cafeteria.
Chen Wenwen was so much better. She would never do something like this. Even "Little Heavenly Queen" Su Xiaoqiang wouldn't resort to it. Yet Lu Mingfei had no way to refuse—it was indeed true that he had knocked over Erii's breakfast, and it was equally true that he had been assigned to show her around the school but had only taken her to the Literature Club.
Reluctantly, he stood up. "Let's get one thing straight: if people misunderstand, I'm taking zero responsibility." Truth be told, he really didn't want to go to the cafeteria with Erii, especially on a rainy day. Sharing an umbrella meant someone would definitely snap a photo and post it on the forum. Whether he went or not, Erii's rabid fans might well come over and tear him limb from limb.
"I wouldn't want it any other way," Erii wrote in her notebook.
"?" The Eldest Miss was misusing idioms again.
The two walked out of the teaching building side by side. By the time they finished arguing, the rain had eased considerably.
Erii opened the umbrella, only to find that Lu Mingfei was a little taller than her. She had to hold the umbrella higher so it wouldn't block his line of sight, but her arm grew sore quickly, forcing her to switch hands every so often.
"Your arm's going to get really sore like that," Lu Mingfei asked, looking at her comical posture.
"It's fine, I guess." Erii shifted the umbrella to her left hand.
To keep Lu Mingfei from getting wet, their bodies were pressed close together. Even though it was already September, the weather still called for short sleeves. Pressed against each other, Lu Mingfei could distinctly feel the soft warmth of her arm and her steadily rising body temperature. He looked at her and noticed a faint flush spreading across her delicate face.
Seeing this, Lu Mingfei reached out to take the umbrella. "Let me do it." Inevitably, his hand brushed against Erii's. Her face flushed crimson in an instant, and she looked up at him with a smile, her eyes curved into crescent moons, brimming with light. Looking up just in time to catch her shy expression, Lu Mingfei froze. *So beautiful.* It wasn't the spirited and dazzling charm of the "Little Heavenly Queen," nor the gentle purity of Chen Wenwen, but it struck right at the heart of his personal preferences. He realized that Erii's looks truly matched those of an anime campus belle. At that moment, he finally understood what Qian Zhongshu meant by "the third kind of supreme beauty." He kept telling himself that beauties were disasters, raging floods and fierce beasts, and that he must never be seduced by mere looks.
Erii grabbed his sleeve. "I'm hungry, let's hurry."
"Slow down, watch out for the puddles. Your shoes will get wet." Lu Mingfei sounded like an anxious father worried about his daughter playing in the water.
Erii covered her mouth and smiled. He must have been staring at her in a daze just now. Turning her head away with a radiant smile, she made Lu Mingfei's heart skip a beat all over again. *A smile like that could probably chase away the storm clouds,* he thought.
Lu Mingfei reminded himself that he had to stay calm. She was the newly crowned campus belle, someone whose influence had exploded in a single day. Such a person could never have anything to do with him. *I'm just fulfilling a task assigned by the teacher,* he told himself. Yet he saw Erii hopping and skipping through the puddles, hitting every single one dead center and sending splashes flying. To keep her from getting soaked, Lu Mingfei had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow along, worrying every step of the way whether his shoes would get soaked.
"Hey, hey, what's going on over there? So sweet!" Two girls returning from lunch in the cafeteria spotted them.
"Isn't that Uesugi Erii?" the short-haired girl said, taking a lick of the ice cream in her hand.
"No way! Snagged that fast? How many guys are going to be crying their eyes out?"
"Hold my ice cream for a second, I'm taking a picture." The girl in the short skirt handed her ice cream to her best friend.
The long-haired girl took it and gave it a lick.
"I want a bite of yours later, too." The short-haired girl didn't seem to mind her friend's sharing.
Hearing their conversation, a mischievous smile crept onto Erii's face.