I hesitated.
Sure, I'm already fourteen, long past the age of being into robot toys…But Optimus Prime was part of my childhood.
And honestly? I still really want him back.
But Ren XiaoQin—no, Xiao Qin—might be a girl, yet she's one of the most devious creatures alive.Don't be fooled by those red eyes and the innocent, watery look she's giving me right now, like some harmless white rabbit.
The moment the big bad wolf lets down his guard and turns around, that little white rabbit will leap up, bare three-foot fangs, and take a bite that leaves the wolf collapsing in a pool of blood.
A miserable, unknown death.
"I'm not going!" I said firmly. "Even Optimus Prime won't work on me! You said the same thing last time when I walked you to the subway. And what happened? You tricked me! Who knows what stunt you'll pull this time!"
"But—but this time is different!" Xiao Qin insisted, panicking.
"Last time, Haruya only walked me to the subway, not into my home. So I totally forgot about returning Optimus Prime! This time, if I break my promise again, I'll be stripped naked by a furious Haruya!"
"Who wants to strip you naked?!"If I have to undress a girl just to reclaim Optimus Prime, even the old guy himself would object!
And stop talking so loudly—what if someone hears you?
I instinctively glanced at the class leader's seat.
To my surprise, the class leader was slumped over her desk, fast asleep.
That was rare. Did she not get enough rest last night?Don't tell me she had a nightmare because she was being chased by me?
Five minutes after the bell rang, Old Zhang—the language teacher—finally wandered in, late as usual.
No one dared talk once he entered.
The first half of class was torture. I don't know what crawled into Old Zhang today, but he kept randomly calling on students by their ID numbers and grilling them.
Loudmouth got nailed. So did Four-Eyes, the number-one loyal dog.Luckily, he didn't call me.
Halfway through class, Old Zhang stepped outside to take a phone call… and never came back.
The class rep announced we should copy the assigned text and that there'd be a random inspection next period.
Pretty obvious Old Zhang wasn't returning.
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief and started whispering while copying.
I glanced at the class leader again. She looked exhausted. The moment she heard "self-study," she just slumped forward and passed out.
A class leader, the head of all class discipline, sleeping during self-study! She was knowingly breaking the rules! I really wanted to slam the table and shout:
"Shu Sha! Get up!"
But Shu Sha never behaves like this. She must've slept terribly last night.
And since part of that was probably my fault, I didn't bang the table.
Most students were copying the text—especially the obedient girls who never cause trouble.
Obedient girls usually have nice handwriting.
And suddenly, it hit me—this was perfect.
I stood up quietly, walked to the aisle, and paced with my hands behind my back like a teacher surveying the class.
A few students stared at me, stunned.Even the language class rep—a thin, pale guy who once submitted a poetry segment to the campus radio—looked like he wanted to complain but didn't dare, and lowered his head to copy harder.
Xiao Qin tried to whisper something when I first stood up, but I pretended not to hear.
While the class leader was asleep, no one would dare challenge me.
Four-Eyes kept glancing at me suspiciously, but since this was the language rep's territory, he probably didn't want to meddle.
Anyway, all I was doing was patrolling—nothing technically against class rules.
I was simply observing which girls had good handwriting.
When I passed Loudmouth and Little Smarty, I peeked at their notebooks.
"Hey, hey, Haruya, why aren't you babysitting Xiao Qin today? What are you doing here?" Loudmouth asked loudly, completely unafraid.
Little Smarty kept writing without a word, but I knew she wasn't innocent.She once sent a "Friendship on the Court" story to the school broadcast, describing the basketball captain Guo Songtao and the handsome Shen Shaoyi passing the ball like they were flirting.
After that aired, the two guys avoided each other for weeks. When girls came to watch practice, they wouldn't even pass to each other—just to me.
Little Smarty's handwriting was thin, elegant, delicate—just like her."Thin-gold style," I guess.
Loudmouth's writing was big and round.Exactly what you'd expect from someone big in both body and heart.
"Nothing," I whispered back. "Just wandering."
My real target was the class committee.
Gong Caicai, for example, was famous for her handwriting.Back in first year when our fountain-pen contest entries were displayed, her work looked like a blooming peony… while mine looked like a chicken massacre.
She always wrote the blackboard announcements for the literature committee.She sat in the first row near the lectern—prime study-only territory.
On impulse, I stepped up to the lectern, placed my hands on it, and looked down at everyone from the teacher's angle.
Damn—it was crystal clear! You could see exactly what everyone was doing.Even the class leader sleeping in the back row was visible.
So all the times I chatted with Xiao Qin… the teachers definitely saw everything.
They just didn't dare interfere. Especially our homeroom teacher.
From here, I also had a perfect view of Gong Caicai.
She was famous as one of our class beauties, and according to Cao JingShen's "investigation," she had the largest chest in the entire grade—even bigger than the third-year school flower.
Honestly? You didn't need an investigation to notice.
Standing on the platform, her chest looked absurdly huge.If she ever slept in class, she could probably use it as a pillow.
I remembered the first time the history teacher entered class—he lasted five minutes before getting a spontaneous nosebleed.
Guess he'd been standing too close to Gong Caicai's, uh… gravitational field.
You damn old creep! You're forty, you have a wife, and you're nosebleeding over a middle-schooler?
After that, the history teacher never stood on the platform again.He just wandered the aisles, probably terrified he'd go home and be forced to kneel on a washboard.
Anyway—I wasn't here to ogle. I had a mission.
Gong Caicai was rich, beautiful, well-endowed, but surprisingly shy.She was also the class treasurer.When class funds were stolen in first year, she quietly replaced the whole amount out of her own pocket before the culprit was found.
In short, she was exceptional but very timid.
When she noticed me staring at her from the lectern, her hand trembled and she curled into herself even more.
Girl, relax—I'm not here to eat you.
"Hey, study committee," I leaned over the lectern. "Your handwriting is seriously good!"
Gong Caicai froze like a deer caught cheating on an exam.
She glanced left—the language rep quickly pretended to be lost in some daydreaming countryside.
She glanced right—the class leader was still dead asleep.
Realizing no one would rescue her, she finally stammered:
"Th-thank you… m-my hand is okay…"
Uh… I was praising your writing, not your literal hand.But she wasn't wrong—her hands were pale and delicate, like carved ivory.
I'd overheard boys from other classes obsess over wanting to hold her hand.
I needed to move quickly—Xiao Qin and Four-Eyes were both watching me from the back row.
Xiao Qin wasn't saying anything probably because there were too many boys nearby.Her androphobia was probably spiking.
Four-Eyes adjusted his glasses like Clark Kent preparing to transform into Superman.
I decided to cut straight to the point:
"Study committee, I want to ask you something—can you lend me your hand?"
Gong Caicai's mouth dropped open. She alternated between blushing and turning pale.
Seeing the disaster I had created, I hurried to clarify:
"Don't misunderstand! I'll pay you!"