Chapter Volume 1, 1 - Being struck on the head by an unknown flying object

Volume 1, Chapter 1: Being struck on the head by an unknown flying object

TL: flarewk

2nd Revision: The Hallway Hobo, flarewk

I’m an ‘invisible person’ in class.

How would I put it, it’s just that I have a very low kind of presence, only when the teacher did roll-call would my name be finally spoken.

My seat was in the second to last row near the windows, also called the ‘main character seat’; yet I wasn’t receiving any sort of treatment like a main character should have been in the first place. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have the kind of atmosphere that those male main characters do, or maybe it’s because I didn’t like to look outside the windows like they do……..

Ahh, this wasn’t considered to be a form of grumbling at all, it’s merely describing my current situation.

My name is An Jun Cheng, born in the year 2000. My birthday is on the 1st of January, so I’m 17 years old this year, and a second year student at Qiang Shui High School.

Looks being normal, at least not disgracing my parents; within my short black hair there’s a lot of white hair mixed in messily, and from a distance you would think that my hair is greyish. The huge amount of white hair is hereditary, and it wasn’t just my imagination, or even not more because of me mast**bating too much.

My name comes from the saying ‘If you, a gentleman treat me sincerely, I too won’t treat you with naught as well’. It’s a name given to me by my grandpa. The meaning is that if someone else was to be sincere with me, I must not let down the other party’s sincerity in return, and must properly repay them.

A pity was that your grandson doesn’t have any friends at all………grandpa……….

Cough cough, I’ve accidentally entered into a pessimistic mood……..always thinking about the negative side of things was one of my habits as well.

Even though I’d always been loning by myself, I still couldn’t possibly look out the windows in a daze. So the way of entertainment that I chose was to read manga or light novels, and when I’m at home I’d also watch anime or movies. About games, I didn’t really play much of them, and rather than playing games by myself, I belong to those kinds who would rather watch Let’s plays instead.

Normally on the weekends, I’d either be sleeping at home or whiling away my time watching movies. If you were to label me as an ‘otaku’, perhaps I could be considered as one. But I didn’t go and collect any figurines or whatnot, and I didn’t have much interest in cosplay either. So at most, I could be considered as a fake-otaku?

Well, in any case, I was just that kind of boring person.

Once again confirming onto my own’s sorrowful traits, I sighed as I closed my completed manga.

The time was 8.45 pm, and because there was a self-revision session, I was still at the school’s library.

Although a large portion of schools cancelled their systems of night self-revisions, our school still preserved them, since a huge amount of our school’s students went home after school, so dormitory facilities weren’t even being built yet…But even though there’s night self-revisions, it’s still a little different from normal self-revisions. This was because of the ‘grading’ system.

Of course, it’s in accordance to china’s tradition. Students were graded according to their exam results, and if you ranked within the first 100 positions in the overall exams you may not need to participate in the night self-revisions. If ranked from 100 to 200 instead, you can only return home after staying from 6 pm to 7.30 pm, but if you rank below 200………you would have to despairingly stay up till 9 pm.

This was brought about by the school to motivate the students, since most people didn’t want to stay in the school until 9 pm.

And since I happened to be ranked in the 201st position, I needed to stay for the entire session of the night self-revisions till they ended.

But, even though these night self-revisions may seem very taxing to other students, in contrast, it’s quite all right for me.

This is because our school library kept a collection of manga and light novels in a corner, and when I found out about it last semester, I had often immersed myself there. Ah, as expected, rather than using my phone to read the electronic version, it was better to hold the real book, as it gave off a better distinct feeling.

But night self-revision didn’t mean that you had to stay in a classroom, so long as you handed in a note from the librarian to the homeroom teacher every other day, it was enough to prove that I’d participated in the night self-revisions already.

The people who did it like this other than me numbered four more in total, but they weren’t classmates from my class, and I didn’t attempt to get to know them at all, since it’s common knowledge to remain silent in the library, right?

I originally thought that there would be a much greater amount of people who came to the library, but including me, it’s just five people in total. Maybe other people felt that it was the same no matter where they stayed……..but if they ever found out that there were light novels and manga to be read at the library, the library would then probably be extremely packed. But, no one ever asked me about it……..my interpersonal relationships were still as terrible as ever huh…….

Also worth mentioning was, the librarian was a female teacher who wore a pair of spectacles, her name’s Yang Li Li. She looked to be roughly 20 plus years of age, and she had long hair that covered most of her face, but please don’t imagine that Yang-laoshi is extremely beautiful, because I’d seen Yang-laoshi’s looks before, and how do I put it……..nngh, it was slightly horrifyingly disgusting, so there was no possibility of me developing any sort of student-teacher relationship like from light novel scenarios.

Yang-laoshi probably wasn’t married yet, because if she was already married then it would be impossible for her to work overtime in the library until 9 pm……..also, 80% of the reason why she wasn’t married would likely to be attributed to that face of hers…….even I who wasn’t a supporter of outer-looks couldn’t accept it at all.

Cough cough cough, saying it that way was a little too dishonorable already……..I’ve sinned, I’ve sinned indeed.

Seeing that the night self-revision session was almost over, I placed the book back onto the shelf, and walked towards the counter to acquire the signed note from by the teacher herself.

Walking to the front of the counter, I lowered my voice as I called out the teacher.

“Yang-laoshi.”

“Mm? Oh, Jun Cheng huh, you’re here to get notes signed, right?”

Yang-laoshi glanced up to look at me, as she took out her phone to look at the time, and correctly guessed the purpose of me approaching. It’s because Yang-laoshi and I were already rather acquainted, so she always called out my name directly like that. Occasionally I’d even be requested by the teacher to help carry some stuff and whatnot as well. Although I didn’t have any friends, getting along with teachers still wasn’t that bad; even the homeroom teacher treated me quite well……..although it’s also plausible that it’s because she’s worried that I’ve been isolated……….

“Yep.”

“Mm, got it, hold on for awhile.”

Yang-laoshi then simply tore out a piece of paper from her notebook, and afterwards folded it into many small sections. The tearing sounds were a little noisy in the library that was filled with silence. The teacher finished tearing quite a few pieces of notes in a moment, afterwhich she then wrote names and chopped them one after another. She probably prepared other people’s signed notes at the same time as mine.

But unexpectedly, Yang-laoshi actually handed all of the signed notes to me in the end.

“Here, take all of these.”

“Ehh? All to me?”

Even though I thought that those notes were prepared for other people, she actually gave them all to me in the end…….

Having that many signed notes meant that it was alright for me to not go to the night self-revisions, but it can’t be that the teacher was silently encouraging me to stray from night self-revisions, right………..

Nonono, it definitely wasn’t like that. Why would a teacher do something like that? It must be because she found it too troubling to write for me every time, so she might as well give out a bunch in one shot, probably. She trusted me on this! She trusted that I wouldn’t stray away from classes, that was why she did this.

And since the other party was so willing to trust in me, I couldn’t let them down either, that way I could live up to my name.

“Mm………..you know what’s the meaning of this, right. Recently, it’s not too safe at night, so with these notes you won’t be needing to come for night self-revisions.”

The f***! She really wanted me to stray from classes huh!

Plus what’s with her reasoning too? Not too safe at night? What was there to be scared of by such a manly person like me……….although it’s indisputable if there was a homicidal maniac appearing at night and so on, but recently there wasn’t any such news like that, right?

Can it be………ah, I got it.

The teacher must have been thinking of wanting to skip classes.

Yeah, there was only five students in the library in all, and as long as she could dissuade us five, Yang-laoshi could then get out of work earlier!

So it was like that~ I got it, Iiii gooot ittt, Teacher, I won’t expose you about this, alright~ who knows, Yang-laoshi being so anxious about getting off from work, maybe it was because she finally found a boyfriend.

After I clearly figured this matter out, I silently nodded my head twice and took the signed notes from the teacher’s hands.

“Gyaahh!”

When I took the notes from her I accidentally brushed against Yang-laoshi’s hands, and as a result the teacher mysteriously screamed, and even retracted her hands with lightning fast reflexes, which made the signed notes scatter around the floor in the end.

This sort of reaction that happened when touching a youthful bishoujo actually occurred when in contact with a “youthful” female teacher………I wasn’t the least bit delighted at all.

“S, sorry, Jun Cheng, static electricity probably occured just now…….”

Yang-laoshi apologized as she hastily squatted down to pick up the signed notes.

“Ah, it’s fine, and it’s alright for me to just pick them up.”

I also squatted to pick up the notes, but the uncertainty within my mind still swirled around. Static electricity, huh? But why didn’t I feel anything at my side?

After I checked all of the signed notes, I placed all of them into my pocket, and bowed towards Yang-laoshi before leaving the library.

Before I left, I heard the murmuring sounds of Yang-laoshi: “………Or is it better if I put on some gloves instead……..”

“………”

I’m really not very clear on what exactly Yang-laoshi was worrying about, had her menopause arrived in advance maybe?

When the bell rang, it was just perfect that I’d reached the school gate entrance, with the security-dàye opening the gates after hearing the bell ring, and I became the first person to leave the school thereafter.

I took out the signed notes from my pocket, and briefly counted the total number I possessed on-hand.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A total of 8 pieces, which meant that I wouldn’t need to attend night self-revision sessions for 8 days huh………but, about staying at home, I also don’t think that I had anything to do there either………

“Mm………what the hell is this?”

When I was confirming the number of signed notes that I had, I suddenly realized that the back of these signed notes seemed to have something drawn onto them.

I, who was a little curious, then readied to look for a place to piece these together to see what kind of imagery it is.

Walking to the nearest park’s bench and sitting down on it, I put the notes together piece by piece, and very easily formed out the correct corresponding image thereafter.

It seemed to be a pentagram………no, looking at those texts on top of it, it seemed to be written backwards. Then that means, it’s an inverse pentagram?

Nngh, I remember that inverse pentagrams seemed to signify satan or demons and whatnot………it couldn’t be that Yang-laoshi was a believer in some evil cult, right? Now it seemed that things were starting to become a little troubling……..

Just when I was thinking about what to do next, a series of air-breaking sounds resounded into my ears. I turned around confusedly, and just when I had turned around halfway, something like a shooting star struck the side of my head!

The sudden, ferocious impact made me collapse straightaway, and as a result, my head hit onto the inverse pentagram that I’d just pieced back together.

What happened next was that an extremely blinding light shone directly into my eyes!

Dizziness and loss of vision made me instantly fall into unconsciousness.

………..

“Waah, oh shit, oh shit! I’ve actually dragged a normal person into this!”

“Who asked you to be that rash, let me see here……….luckily, this person merely fainted, there shouldn’t be any big issues at all. Just leave him be, and let’s first collect back our magic tool.”

“Oh………huh? It’s gone!”

“What?”

“The Taijitu Demon Warding Mirror is gone!”

“Mm? How could the magic tool simply vanish without a trace, look carefully for it again.”

“I’ve looked already! It’s really gone!! Also, the connection that I had with the magic tool has already been cut off!”

“How can it be? Cutting off connections between a magic tool and it’s owner, would only mean the absolute destruction of the magic tool………but, how can a Taijitu Demon Warding Mirror be so easily damaged?”

“But, I really can’t feel it at aaall! Sobsobsob, whuat shud I do noww…………grandpa will definitely scold me to death now……….”

“Haahh………..in any case let’s head back first, we’ll think of a plan when we’re back.”

“Sobsob……….Mn………..”

Footnotes:

Qiang Shui High School = it directly translates to “Water Gun high school”; so far there’s no explanation on it’s naming as such yet.

edit: shui qiang (水枪，in reverse) discreetly means masturbation, lol. Coin that up with a school name, you’ll know that this author is an old veteran already.

What’s an old vet you ask? Someone who’s very experienced, it’s referring to a driver who drove passengers around (老司机), showing them the Way of XXX.

XXX refers to adult content.

If you, a gentleman treat me sincerely, I, equally won’t treat you naught as well = An Jun Cheng (font-highlighted the meanings mapped to his name, ‘An‘ is his surname, which can be interpreted as ‘being a quiet person’)

Taijitu Demon Warding Mirror = What I know about this mirror that it reveals the truth like the lens of truth in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time games. It’s based on ancient chinese mythology though, so if you want to know more about it just google the term.

Glossary:

-laoshi = a honorific suffix, this meant ‘teacher’

bishoujo = term for extremely beautiful girl

-dàye = a honorific suffix, this meant ‘respected elder’ , and the MC used it onto the security guard as he thought of that elderly person as a VIP to let him away from the “gloom” which was his school night self-revisions