Resting on a clean paper napkin directly in front of her was the golden pastry Chen had gifted her.

Huawei hovered over it, a small magnifying glass from her pencil case gripped tightly in her hand as she examined the baked crust from every angle.

Yue leaned over from the adjacent desk, staring at her best friend in absolute, secondary embarrassment. "Lu... are you seriously dissecting a pastry? Just eat it, it looks delicious!"

"Shh, Yue! Keep your volume down," Huawei aggressively whispered back, using her mechanical pencil to poke the flaky dough to log its physical elasticity.

"I am scanning for hidden variables. According to Chapter 3 of the romance novel you provided, the male lead frequently introduces high-calorie baked goods to trigger a biological endorphin rush in the heroine. This forces her to develop a psychological dependency on his presence."

Huawei narrowed her eyes. "I am currently evaluating if this pastry contains addictive romance stimulants."

Yue let out a long, heavy sigh, resting her chin in her hands. "It's just sugar and custard, Lu. There are no mind-altering romance chemicals in a high school cafeteria bun."

"A good scientist never leaves a hypothesis unverified," Huawei declared righteously, making a neat note in her leather-bound notebook.

When the lunch bell finally chimed, Huawei concluded her preliminary physical scans and decided it was safe to ingest the pastry to observe its chemical and nutritional effects on her body.

She took a tentative, clinical bite.

Her ruby eyes instantly widened. Her logical brain momentarily froze.

It was incredibly delicious. The custard was perfectly sweet, and the pastry melted instantly.

As she happily devoured the rest of her research sample, she was so entirely focused on processing the flavor metrics that she failed to notice a tiny drop of yellow custard getting stuck right on the corner of her lower lip.

Across the desk, Yue was casually eating her own lunch box. Glancing out the window, Yue's eyes sharpened.

She spotted a familiar school uniform walking across the sunny courtyard below, heading straight toward their building.

A massive, mischievous smirk spread across Yue's face.

She produced her dark sunglasses from her pocket, sliding them onto her nose with one finger.

"Hey, Lu. Target sighted out the window. Your 'Subject Chen' is heading this way. Ready to activate your avoidance matrix again?"

Huawei choked slightly on her final bite of pastry, her head whipping around to look out the window. Panic flared in her chest.

"System alert!" she gasped, frantically trying to shove her notebook back into her school bag.

But she was too late.

Before she could even slide her chair back to flee, the classroom door slid open with a sharp clack.

Chen walked into the room, holding a textbook he needed to return to a classmate. As he turned to leave, his eyes locked onto Huawei's vibrant purple hair. His face instantly lit up with that bright, excited smile.

Keeping their "friends first" agreement in mind, Chen jogged straight over to her desk to say a quick hello. "Hey, Huawei! Glad I ran into—"

Suddenly, his voice cut off. He stopped right in front of her desk, leaning in slightly.

His cheeks flushed a light pink as his eyes tracked down to her mouth. He raised a hand, pointing a finger toward her face.

"Ah, Huawei... you've got a little bit of custard right there on your lip."

At his words, Huawei's internal database hit an absolute, flashing red alert. A massive text box exploded in her mind:

CRITICAL TROPE DETECTED: The Food-on-Face Custard Trap.
Success Rate: 98%.
Immediate consequence: Male lead will reach out to wipe it off with his thumb, creating a localized heart rate spike and mutual blushing.

'System warning! He is initiating the Thumb Wipe Trope! Defend the perimeter!' Huawei screamed internally.

Before Chen's hand could even lift an inch off his side, Huawei reacted with the lightning-fast reflexes of a panicked data scientist.

Refusing to allow a cinematic moment to breach her defenses, she snatched a single paper napkin from her desk and violently slammed it against her own face.

She didn't just wipe it gently.

Driven by pure survival adrenaline, she aggressively scrubbed and rubbed her entire mouth, lower jaw, and chin with the napkin like a maniac.

She aggressively buffed her skin until her lower face turned a bright, unscientific shade of crimson, completely destroying any chance of a cute, romantic atmosphere.

Chen stood entirely frozen in place, his hand hovering in mid-air and his jaw slightly open.

He stared at her in utter bewilderment, completely baffled as to why the school idol had just launched a physical attack against her own face with a piece of paper.

Slowly, Chen lowered his hand, taking a cautious step back. "Uh... okay. I guess you got it. See you later, Huawei!"

He shook his head, thoroughly confused by her behavior as he quickly exited the classroom.

Huawei dropped the crumpled napkin onto her desk, panting heavily as she gripped her mechanical pen. Her face was still bright red from the friction, but her ruby eyes shone with victory.

Yue slowly lowered her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose, staring at her best friend in absolute awe. "Wow, Lu. You just defended your virtue like you were fighting off a zombie invasion. Very smooth."

Huawei slammed her research notebook flat on the desk, clicking her pen with a triumphant snap.

"The perimeter was successfully defended, Yue! Log it in the books as a major tactical victory against the trope matrix!"