No Time

School's a great place. I never noticed, but the teachers are nice, the classmates are friendly, and best of all, Xingxing goes here!

The skies are bright, the grass is shining, the birds chirp when Xingxing's presence graces the world. To me, he's like the light of the world who just shines so brightly. Fortunately, he has long bangs that cover up his cute face, so nobody has taken notice of him yet. And it will forever be that way since I won't let anyone get close to him!

Right now, in the auditorium, the principal, the man who designed that ugly yellow limousine, is giving a speech. Unlike in our school, the speech is actually motivating and mentions a point system. When you earn enough points, you get to skip classes and not do assignments. This school enforces early military training and points are either earned through donating, helping teachers or getting the highest score in tests or military training courses. The younger kids, only need to do basic exercises unless their parents sign a permission form to make them practice with higher level classes. The middle schoolers learn basic martial arts and do basic exercises as well. The permission form for higher level classes refers to us too. The high schoolers go full-on with the military training and it's rumored to be even more difficult than an actual army training. Majority of the kids here, 87%, get their parents to donate so they can earn enough points to skip military training course classes. They usually take the military course lessons till middle school usually and skip out on the high school ones. But they still have to go and participate in listening to instructors and watching others who are taking the course class. There was plenty of information regarding complaints of kids who were in that class, so I easily memorized the information. The military courses start in the second semester, and there are four semesters. And this year, there will be more participating students due to the principal talking about how this would help stay students safe from being targetted potentially. The parents bought that and enrolled their kids in the military training course this year higher than ever.

The principal apparently gives this speech everytime a newcomer arrives. After his speech ended, he gestured to us so that we could introduce ourselves. Introducing ourselves in front of more than 2,000 students... We can deal with it, and the aristocratic kids can too, but I wonder how it was for the scholarship students? How was Xingxing like? I'll probably look it up later.

Jing Ge took the microphone and headed up to the podium. His tall stature and handsome beauty could be seen on the screen behind him. This place could honestly be a stadium. Well, it kind of was actually.

"Hello, I am Shui Jing," he said with that smooth and comforting voice.

The principal, a young man who has eyes that just seem to smile, nodded delightedly and asked, "Yes, student, which grade and class are you in? What are your hobbies?"

Jing Ge didn't hesitate as he answered, "I am in grade 12 and my classroom is 12A. My hobbies are martial arts, shooting, playing musical instruments, reading, and cooking."

Yup, that sounded about right. Jing Ge really shouldn't have mentioned those first two hobbies. The principal is kind of nervous. And about his hobby of cooking, Jing Ge is strangely good at cooking. We officially have two moms in the house now.

"Thank you, student, now for the other students. You four, ah, three? Where is the last one?" the principal asked confusedly.

I stepped up, grabbed the microphone and faced the crowd with boldness.

"To answer the principal, our 2nd brother is currently lost on school grounds. I am Shui Lai, an 8th grader in class 8A. My hobbies are hacking, parkour, shooting, buying sports cars, sword arts, and archery. Nice to meet you all!"

Ha, if Jing Ge mentioned all his hobbies, I would surely do the same. The principal looked a little more frustrated since the whole assembly conversation he prepared wasn't going as intended.

Xiao Bing headed my way and reached for the microphone. I swerved out of her way with a backflip and threw the microphone in the air. I caught it with a point of my index finger and smirked at my little sister.

But lately, Xiao Bing has gotten a lot better with controlling her anger and other emotions. Yu Ge especially praised her for that. And as always, it's the painful truth that somehow, a little girl is many times stronger than me.

Xiao Bing rushed over and lashed out a hidden weapon from her hair. Damn, her hair clips are always sharp to the point of drawing blood. I was distracted while dodging it and she swerved and stuck her dainty little foot out.

I, of course, didn' trip. I gracefully jumped as soon as possible and landed on my feet. But unfortunately, the microphone was already in her hands and the hair clip was back in her hair as well. Xiao Bing really liked the hairclip because Yu Ge had gifted it to her. It was a thin silver hairpiece that he made himself. There were several small diamonds attached to it and it looked like clear dewdrops that just landed on a glistening little flute. Yea, the hairpin also doubled as a really sharp whistle that could tear your ears out with one blow... Having experienced it first hand, I knew it was a terrifying weapon.

"Hello everyone! I'm Shui Bing from grade 5, class 5A. I like martial arts, archery, shooting, chemistry, reading, cosplaying, and making friends! Nice to meet you!" Xiao Bing cheerfully said to the stunned crowd. No doubt that the "chemistry" meant making poison.

Not having expected such a fiasco to happen, the principal was very pale currently. "Well... that certainly was an interesting introduction! For Student Shui Yu, we will, unfortunately, have to postpone his introduction. Everyone dismissed!"

Ai, the reactions of the students were amusing, to say the least. They calmly formed an amiable look on their faces and went out in uniformed lines. The preschoolers looked adorable as they tried to do the same but kept looking back at us with wide eyes.

I guess my introduction wasn't so much of a bang as I wished it to be. And Yu Ge is still shrouded in mystery to the other students. Anyways, since school would soon be over, we all grabbed our backpacks and ran out of the building and used parkour to cross over many students' heads. Since we already revealed our skills, there was no point of hiding them anymore.

The school was crammed as students no longer were quiet like before, but like regular kids, laughing and talking. We had to squeeze our way through to Yu Ge's classroom.

When we made it in, the classroom was full of students packing notebooks and utensils while sneakily glancing towards the back.

Yu Ge was seated at the back corner next to the window. He was sleeping peacefully, using his arms as pillows. He opened his eyes immediately as he sensed our footsteps. Yawning silently, he motioned for us to come closer.

"Did it go well?" he asked.

"Well, we don't have to hide our skills anymore. Xiao Lai has made sure of that," sighed Jing Ge.

I protested, "Xiao Bing took part in it too!"

"It's because you wouldn't hand me the microphone!" Xiao Bing pouted.

"Alright, it doesn't matter. Let's go home. And Xiao Bing, could you share some dark chocolate with me? I feel rather tired." Yu Ge didn't blame me and lightly smiled at our antics.

I pressed an app on my phone and pushed the icon that would bring my sports car to the school.

Yu Ge ate the dark chocolate bar in tiny bites while listening to our stories of how our day went.

We got out of the school at the same time as the other students and waited for my car to come and pick us up. I saw Xingxing and other scholarship students waiting early for the ugly yellow limousine.

After getting a nod from Yu Ge, I rushed over to Xingxing who was startled as he was suddenly hugged from the back.

"Ah, Lai, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Coming over to see you~" I responded.

"Fine. Anyways, about your introduction... what to say... it was... interesting. I didn't know you did all types of fighting styles. And your sister seems better than you at fighting."

"Nonsense, I went easy on her. And you aren't surprised?" I asked with a probing tone. I would prefer for Xingxing to not be freaked out because of my hobbies.

"You're my friend. It's not like you would hurt me anyway. Just help me train when it comes to the military training courses."

Haha... I don't know whether I'm supposed to be happy or disappointed that he called me "friend". I've been trying to make gentle advances and subtle suggestions to him but either he's way too dense, doesn't notice them, or is trying to ignore them.

"True. Xingxing, you don't need to wait for that ugly limousine. Why don't you ride with us? Our car's coming soon."

"You guys have a chauffeur?" Xingxing asked.

"Nope, it's on auto-mode!" I cheekily grinned.

With that, Xingxing was successfully reeled over as I promised to explain to him how it worked. Xingxing definitely is perfect for me, I found out not too long ago that he also liked sports cars. We really are a match made in heaven!

The red sports car came to pick us up and we first went to Xingxing's house first to drop him off. Wanting to badly see my future in-laws, but ultimately not being able to, is a horrible feeling you know?