Chapter 5: You

He didn’t bother recounting the events along the way—he had reached the classroom door.

For some reason, the classroom, which usually felt so close to the school gate, now seemed impossibly far; this was a sensation he’d only ever felt after school, yet now he felt it on his way in.

The world had changed so much, Ye Xuan sighed unconsciously, then reached for the door—until the next second.

“Click!”

A boy with a bandage over his right eye yanked the door open and burst out, his face furious as he slammed it shut and roared at the closed door:

“Sarutobi, you’ll regret this!”

“Bang!”

The door shuddered violently; Ye Xuan could even see chalk dust falling from the frame. He stood frozen, breakfast still in hand, unsure whether to enter.

At that moment, another boy’s shout came from inside:

“Tobirama, I’m the Hokage!”

Ye Xuan: “.”

There are so many classic Naruto moments—why must you pick this one?

One day the door will break entirely because of you.

Inside, the sound of chairs and desks scraping echoed as someone mimicked taijutsu combat; Ye Xuan sighed and knocked on the door.

“Wait!”

Rapid footsteps came from inside.

“Let me finish the hand seals! Si—Wei—Shen—Hai—Wu—Yin.”

Ye Xuan pushed the door open without expression, just in time to see a boy wearing a Hokage hat frozen mid-seal; the classroom was a mess.

Desks had been arranged into the shape of a Hokage office, the blackboard covered in Konoha symbols, and even a few explosive tags stuck to the ceiling.

Of course, they were paper copies.

“Uh… I was going to finish the seals before opening the door.”

“You know, today’s Wednesday—our Hokage faction’s turn.”

The Hokage-hat boy awkwardly lowered his hands.

“I know.”

Ye Xuan’s lips twitched slightly—he was in this class; how could he not know?

Because everyone in class watched too many anime, and each preferred different ones, they’d formed factions after lengthy negotiations: each weekday rotated to the largest faction, and if school was held on weekends, it became free-for-all.

Death Note, Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Fairy Tail, Fox Spirit Matchmaker… you could say that in today’s tech age, short videos let you finish all the classic scenes of a long anime in just an hour.

The people who invented short videos and their voiceovers were geniuses.

“If you haven’t finished the seals, won’t your body suffer backlash?”

“Should I call the medical team?”

Ye Xuan said this with a straight face.

“Pfft.”

The classroom erupted in stifled laughter; the Hokage-hat boy’s face turned bright red as he stammered:

“N-No thanks.”

Ye Xuan walked to his seat with his breakfast, and as he passed, he casually straightened the crooked Hokage hat.

“Mind your hat, Third Hokage.”

The classroom burst into laughter; the Hokage-hat boy covered his face and crouched down, then hurriedly organized others to restore the desks and erase the Konoha symbols from the board.

They were experienced now—once Ye Xuan arrived, class would start soon.

The “Tobirama” outside had long since vanished.

Unsurprisingly, he was probably from another class; but to like Tobirama? That’s niche—realistically, if he’d awakened an ability, he’d likely be perfect for backstabbing and taking the blame.

“Ye Xuan!”

A boy with round glasses leaned over from the back row; unlike others, he wasn’t wearing flashy anime costumes, only a red tie around his neck—possibly a Conan replica.

His name was Li Wen, the class’s “all-knowing.”

In this class, whether it was which two students were dating, the teacher’s phone number, exam scores, holiday dates, how many people in the whole school had awakened abilities, what those abilities were, who obtained dimensional treasures, or which world the treasures came from—you could find out everything from him.

Ye Xuan got along fine with him; though he disliked how Li Wen flaunted himself after learning everyone’s grades, he still liked him when he announced holidays before the teacher and confirmed them correctly.

Well, before the system awakened.

Now that everyone had awakened systems, school had become interesting.

Right now, he looked at Ye Xuan with curiosity.

“Why are you wearing ancient attire today? You always wear the uniform.”

“Are you cosplaying someone?”

“Sort of.”

Ye Xuan placed his breakfast on the desk and replied casually.

Li Wen’s eyes lit up.

“Who are you cosplaying?”

“Don’t say it—looks really cool. The fabric texture, the sword scabbard craftsmanship…”

He pulled out a notebook from nowhere, watching Ye Xuan’s outfit as he scribbled notes.

“Wang Quan Baye.”

“Wang Quan…”

Li Wen paused, then suddenly understood.

“Oh, the one from Fox Spirit Matchmaker! No wonder it looked familiar!”

Others in the classroom turned their attention toward them.

“Is Ye Xuan cosplaying the one from the Bamboo Industry arc? Wang Quan Fugui’s father?”

“Yeah, yeah, the one with Dongfang Huai Zhu.”

Ye Xuan ignored the chatter, opening his breakfast bag; Li Wen wouldn’t let up, leaning close and whispering:

“Hey, where’d you get this outfit? Looks high-quality—must’ve cost a fortune.”

“Custom-made.”

Ye Xuan spoke as he bit into a bun.

Li Wen wanted to ask more, but the bell rang—he reluctantly returned to his seat, though his eyes kept glancing at Ye Xuan, clearly planning to extract more info after class.

Ye Xuan looked out the window—the sunlight was perfect. This school life? Not bad.

“Damn, almost late!”

As Ye Xuan sighed, the door kicked open and a boy in a purple T-shirt stormed in.

He carried two backpacks; one flew through the air in a perfect arc and landed precisely on a back-row seat. He slid into the chair beside Ye Xuan and reached out:

“Ye Xuan, give me a bun!”

“Here.”

Ye Xuan pushed the plastic bag of buns toward him.

Chen Hao, nickname “Hawkeye”—not for any deep reason, but because he was one of only three in class to awaken an ability: his vision matched that of an eagle, able to clearly see scenes hundreds of meters, even kilometers away.

But this ability was useless at school—his grades hadn’t improved because of it; not because it didn’t help, but because the correct answers had nothing to do with him.

If no temporary ability-suppressing devices had been developed for the college entrance exam, this ability would’ve been extremely useful.

“Dead Hawkeye, running like that, you wanna die?!”

A boy in uniform panted in behind him, berating Chen Hao; then, after finishing, Zhang Yu’s eyes locked onto Ye Xuan’s buns and he reached out:

“What about mine?”

Ye Xuan handed him the other bag:

“The soy milk’s at the bottom—don’t spill it.”

Zhang Yu took the breakfast, then noticed Ye Xuan’s outfit—he blinked, then gave a thumbs-up:

“Nice! Today’s look’s awesome!”

Chen Hao, stuffing buns into his mouth, mumbled:

“I was gonna ask—Ye Xuan, who are you cosplaying? That sword looks pretty cool.”

“Wang Quan Baye.”

Ye Xuan didn’t even know how many times he’d said it.

“Who’s that?”

Chen Hao’s clear eyes showed confusion.

“The guy who’s too weak to take the team out farming and only survives two rounds.”

Zhang Yu explained while chewing.

“Ohhh.”

Chen Hao nodded, then looked at Ye Xuan with puzzlement—as if wondering why he’d cosplay a noob.

“.”

He couldn’t even argue.

(End of chapter)