After the weekend break, Ethan still hadn’t recovered mentally. He carried his gloomy thoughts and weariness into the new week.

On Monday morning, Ethan was rather surprised to see that the students at Harmony High were no longer talking about the Felix Hoang case.

Now, everyone was focused on discussing the dengue fever outbreak. They also complained about the school health staff taking their temperatures right at the gate. A few students had already been sent home to rest after showing signs of a fever.

Just as Ethan began to feel a bit relieved - no longer the center of attention like before - a new problem came looking for him.

“Ethan! Can you help me with something?”

A cute girl, probably from class 11A, ambushed Ethan as he was lining up for food at the cafeteria.

“Can you do me a favor?”

Her cheeks flushed pink as she shoved a small rectangular box into his hands. The packaging was as adorable as its giver. The bottom of the box was still slightly warm, and a delicious aroma of freshly cooked food wafted from it.

“I worked really hard to make this bento of love for Royce. Can you give it to him for me?”

“No way. Why me? Just give it to him yourself.”

“But you’re his best friend! If I don’t ask you, who else can I ask?”

“That’s none of my business. You deal with it yourself.”

Ethan quickly handed the bento box back to the girl from 11A. Ever since Royce started sticking to him, he had been roped into acting as an unwilling delivery service for all the gifts from his fangirls.

But not once had Royce ever accepted those gifts. And every time, it was Ethan who had to return them to the sender. Worse yet, the girls never wanted to take them back. Instead, they would react dramatically to the rejection, leaving him to waste time soothing their wounded pride.

That was why he had decided to reject them outright from now on, better to shut it down early than deal with a mess later.

“Hmph! You’re so annoying, Ethan! You’re totally gonna be single forever!”

The girl from 11A shouted at him, making him jump. Then she flounced away, leaving him in the middle of the cafeteria with a bunch of curious eyes staring his way.

At first, reactions like these had been nerve-wracking. The side effect of such drama was that everyone around would look at him like he had done something terribly wrong.

But now? He was used to it.

Taking his tray from the cafeteria worker, he found a seat by the window. He placed his food down and began counting in his head from one to ten.

He only made it to three before Royce showed up at his table.

After finishing their lunch, Royce suddenly asked:

“Tifa or Aerith?”

“Huh?”

“From Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Which girl do you pick, bro?”

“Tifa.”

“Heh, I knew you’d go for the girl with the ‘beautiful soul.’”

“Uh, Aerith has pretty eyes too, but I prefer Tifa’s wine-colored ones.”

“No, bro! I wasn’t talking about her eyes. I meant her soul.”

“…Wait. If soul isn’t the eyes, then what is it?”

Blinking in confusion, Ethan had no idea what Royce meant.

The latter smirked mischievously, flashing a particularly suggestive grin.

“Haizz… You’re still so innocent, bro.”

Even when being cheeky and playful, Royce still looked effortlessly handsome.

Meanwhile, other guys could try their hardest to dress neatly and act refined, and they still wouldn’t look half as good as him.

Life was so unfair!

“I pick them all: Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Jessie. Every single one is gorgeous.”

At this point, Ethan was starting to suspect that the most charming guy at Harmony High School actually liked 2D and 3D girls more than real-life ones.

During their lunchtime conversations, Royce talked extensively about the games he had played. But strangely enough, he rarely discussed gameplay or storylines. Instead, his main focus was always the graphics, especially the design of female characters.

“Hey, Royce! You’ve got a billiards match with the 12th graders tonight, right? We’re betting on you.”

A group of boys, clearly not the studious type, walked past their table, calling out to Royce. Their interruption effectively cut off his solo conversation about game girls.

Royce turned to Ethan with a grin.

“Bro, wanna come watch me play tonight?”

“No, I have to study.”

“Study for what?”

“The beginning-of-year assessment. You forgot?”

“Ohhh… Wow, that’s new information for me.”

The school and teachers had been reminding students about the test since the start of the year. Yet somehow, the information had completely failed to enter Royce’s brain.

“Do you even know how many subjects we’re being tested on? Or when the exams are?”

“No clue, bro. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Tomorrow. Math and Literature in the morning. Have you studied at all?”

“When would I have time for that? Listen: at 4 PM, I have Kickboxing practice. At 7 PM, there’s the billiards match with the 12th graders. At 9 PM, I have a Online game with the 10th graders. Then at 11 PM, I have plans to go out…”

Ethan was horrified by this insane schedule.

“…At 11 PM?! Who the hell are you hanging out with at that time? Ghosts?”

“Take a guess, bro.”

“So… you’re really not planning to study at all?”

“Since when have I ever studied?”

Royce declared this with absolute confidence.

The next morning, he yawned the entire way into class, looking half-asleep as he strolled in to take the test.

Judging by his sluggish posture, it seemed like he had not skipped a single activity from his ridiculous schedule the night before.

Yet, while everyone else was tense and anxious, Royce’s attitude toward the test was completely relaxed.

Not only that…

He finished his exam before everyone else and was the first to submit his paper.