Detective at Noble Male Academy (4)

04

[I get it now — the top student is a fetishist. He's obsessed with that jacket because he lost it and got it back!]

[Good thing he doesn't know you wore it. Otherwise I'd be wondering whether he caught your scent and let the little head take over from the big one!]

'...'

[People have their seven emotions and six desires; the moon waxes and wanes.]

'What?'

[Don't overthink it — he's just sexually repressed.]

[Who was he thinking about when he finished? There must be a specific person.]

'...I don't know.'

...

Lying under the bed, unable to roll over, unable to move, with nothing to face but that armchair — Ji Yue had no choice but to keep his eyes shut until it was over.

Even so, he couldn't block out the sounds.

His tightly closed eyelids trembled like pale white butterflies.

Even his fingers had gone rigid. He really wanted to beat that person senseless and throw him into the sea.

—

[This is absolutely an adults-only novel.]

The System said it in a tone laden with meaning.

'None of my business.'

Ji Yue tossed a pebble into the lake.

The weather was warm today, and he'd put on shorts that left his cream-colored calves bare.

—— Standing by the water, gazing at his reflection, skipping stones .gif!! Anyone who saw this would think a beautiful boy had descended from myth to play with the lake (hot) (hot)

—— Looks like he's in love — did his boyfriend make him mad?

—— Don't go making up romances, the campus belle has always been single (sobbing) (fist)

[Today's plot event from the source novel: F1 agrees to an interview with the School News Society, leaves a crowd of reporters and photographers waiting outside, and has a tender, intimate moment with the top student in the changing room.]

'Today we're going with the School News Society to film an interview with Yan Min...' Fu Dao said much the same thing as the System, then suddenly added, 'Why are you dressed like that?'

'Mind your own business.'

'Oh.' Fu Dao laughed. 'Do you know Yan Min?'

'No.'

Ji Yue denied it.

He'd seen him the day he tailed him — which was as good as never having seen him at all.

The members of the School News Society had arrived early and were watching the photography club carry in their equipment piece by piece. Among them was one strangely dressed figure.

Low ponytail, beret, black face mask, oversized glasses, the most ordinary black knit top and shorts — only the calves showing.

Despite looking like a frumpy college student and being thoroughly suspicious, the News Society students recognized him immediately —

The campus belle.

—— The campus belle, desperately trying to become invisible — he's going to tail the top student again, isn't he? Wait, he's interested in F1 too (sobbing) (sobbing)

—— Wearing such short shorts today?? (hot) (hot) (tongue)

—— The interview subject is Yan [Min], and the top student is a News Society member on site... somehow I feel like the campus belle is going to have his hands full...

'Sorry, I knocked your things over.'

The silver-haired young man bent down to pick up the voice recorder that had fallen, and set it on the table. The interview room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, so he kept his voice low.

Ji Yue was deep in thought, working out how to slip into the changing room undetected.

After a moment, he realized someone was standing beside him, stiff as a wooden post.

'It's fine.'

Si Jing's gaze met his and immediately slid away.

He lowered his eyes again and said, 'Are you in charge of filming today? I'll coordinate with you. I'm Si Jing, from the News Society.'

'I know. You can go get ready.'

Ji Yue was cold-faced with everyone — even now, wearing the disguise of an ordinary bystander, he couldn't change that. He was like a haughty wild animal.

Si Jing took the printed report Ji Yue handed him, then suddenly asked, 'What do you usually do at school in the evenings?'

'Editing.'

'You're very diligent. I'll learn from you.'

'Thank you.'

[Has he figured something out?!]

'I didn't leave any trace.'

[You left the moment he went to shower, so no one saw you and you didn't leave anything behind.] The System said. [But having a voyeur witness the entire time he was doing things to that jacket — given the top student's stubborn, cold, and fearless-of-authority personality, he will absolutely come to settle the score with you.]

'Ji Yue, come over here!'

Fu Dao called him over to adjust the camera angle. The host was going over the script, while others rearranged the sofa and chairs. Only the main subject had yet to arrive.

Yan Min.

This interview was one of the promotional events for a commentary book Yan Min had co-authored with a professor on the island. The president of the News Society sighed nearby: 'So young and so learned — with his family background he'll definitely go into politics. Will he even have time to write things like this once he's chairing the assembly? I heard he originally didn't want to do the interview, but agreed out of nowhere yesterday. Ah — he's here. Wait — where did Ji Yue go?'

Thud.

The changing room door clicked shut with a light touch, and a flash of cream-colored calves disappeared inside.

The young man strolled in, seemingly unaware that anyone else was present.

Ji Yue quietly tucked himself behind a row of lockers and waited for the plot point to unfold.

According to the source novel, a top student would walk in before long, and the two of them would be all over each other in the changing room — embracing, pulling, clinging.

Photographs like that were probably what the client wanted, even if it wasn't exactly forced love.

The young man moved at an unhurried pace from the front row of lockers toward the back.

The sound of a locker door being opened drifted over.

No other footsteps?

Maybe the top student was already in here — he really hadn't spotted him earlier.

Ji Yue hugged his knees to his chest, a trace of wariness crossing his face, and quietly swiveled his eyes to the right. The aisle was empty, so he eased his head out for a look.

For most of his time at the male academy, Ji Yue carried himself with an icy hauteur that made it seem like the whole world owed him a billion — but right now, his movements and expression made him look vivid and furtive, like someone who was one second away from being grabbed by the scruff of the neck and hauled up.

Yan Min, completely oblivious, was methodically straightening his collar in the locker mirror.

The next second, his hands went still.

[What's happening, what's happening — did someone paralyze F1?!] The System panicked.

'Too far away. Can't see clearly.'

Ji Yue scooted his backside forward by the tiniest increment.

Yan Min lowered his head, as though turning something over in his mind. Then his hands moved to the buttons at his collar, and he began undoing them one by one, from top to bottom.

Very slowly, he pulled off his dress shirt.

[You couldn't tell he was built like that when he had clothes on. What happened to that shirt — why does he suddenly want to change? He's not going to take off his trousers too, is he?]

Ji Yue had no desire to look at Yan Min's body, but he didn't want to miss the moment F1 and the top student were in the same frame. He held his breath and waited, ready to activate the camera in his glasses at any moment.

Yan Min changed into a black dress shirt, eyes downcast as he fastened his cufflinks, and as he did so he began walking toward the back row.

Shouldn't he be heading toward the door?

Ji Yue had no choice but to duck back into hiding as fast as he could.

The footsteps didn't slow for a single beat — closer and closer —

'Bang!'

A locker in the front row suddenly made a noise.

A red ball dropped to the floor and rolled away with a rumble.

A mouse?

Yan Min frowned and stopped.

At that moment, a knock came from outside the door: 'Senior Yan Min, are you ready in there?'

[That was terrifying — he almost found us!]

The System shrieked.

'The filming went smoothly today, don't you think?'

After the shoot wrapped, Fu Dao handed Ji Yue a cup of tea.

Fu Dao seemed to have something to say. Ji Yue didn't want to ask. He picked up a stack of papers and went to pull a few sheets free — distracted as he was, he nicked his finger on the edge.

[Let F1 and the top student meet again!] The System was flipping through the source novel and suddenly burst into tears. [Where is this key plot event? Why hasn't it happened yet?? What on earth went wrong???]

Ji Yue paid no attention to what the System was doing. The interview room was on the first floor of the Library; stepping out, he caught the smell of fresh ink from new books, which reminded him of his unfinished art history assignment.

Detective by trade, student on the side — he could manage both.

On the twelfth floor of the Library, behind towering shelves, lay the art history books Ji Yue needed — but when he walked over and looked, the one he wanted on the third shelf was already gone.

The robot librarian said: 'No borrowing record. I'm afraid someone just took it.'

Ji Yue settled for another volume and sat down to work on his assignment.

In a corner of the reading room that the sun never reached, a few tables and chairs had been set out. One was already occupied by a young man with defined, refined features and a scholarly air — that is, if you didn't look too closely at those lead-gray eyes of his.

[F1 isn't going back to Flower House? That's rare.]

Any other time, Ji Yue would have put on his glasses and quietly photographed Yan Min at length. But today he had an assignment to hand in. He had already returned to his default indifference toward the world — he pulled his gaze away and sat down somewhere far from F1.

Ji Yue kept his attention on the third shelf of the bookcase, betting that someone would return the finished copy before long.

Had someone just passed by over there?

He set down his book and followed. At the third shelf, a man's hand was sliding a book back into place. It was exactly the one he needed: 'Lower City Art History 2390–2470.'

He reached out to take it — and was stopped.

Yan Min had caught him by the wrist.

Ji Yue followed Yan Min's gaze down to his own left hand — a small cut on his index finger was seeping blood.

'What happened to your hand?'

Yan Min bent his head and studied the wound. Bright red blood, not yet oxidized, welled slowly to the surface.

'You injure yourself easily,' he added.

Ji Yue had no interest in answering Yan Min's questions. He took the book and left.

'Ji Yue — see you later.'

The farewell came from behind him, delivered in an ordinary tone.

Ji Yue ignored it and didn't look back. He turned over their first encounter in his mind: he had never told Yan Min his name. But the F4 always had ways of learning everything about everyone.

A control freak, as expected.

[You didn't want to say your name in front of F4 — were you trying to reduce suspicion?]

'I don't make a habit of introducing myself.'

The System burst out laughing.

[You should be careful! He looks like a detached young man who loves philosophy, literature, and growing flowers — but underneath that, he's an unstable obsessive. Yan Min is sensitive to wounds because he's a Dom. I seem to recall you have a clotting disorder?]

What did 'Dom' stand for? Ji Yue didn't ask. He also didn't want to bring up the other matter — once he finished his assignment, he planned to go find Yuwen Qing.

The Library was utterly silent.

Yan Min stood behind the bookshelf, turning the pages of an old book with his other hand — still in the art history section. The faint smear of blood his thumb had picked up, he drew to his lips.

Leaving the Library, Ji Yue headed for the top students' Café to buy a sandwich.

'Why so quiet now? You had plenty to say a moment ago.'

'Hey, lowlife — you're really asking for it.'

In the distance, just short of the Café, the silver-haired young man was being shoved around by a group of people, not making a sound.

[Classic plot beat from a noble F4 novel: the top student gets bullied!]

The System began reciting the source novel in a flat monotone: ['A few of them laughed and said they were going to teach him a lesson — someone from the lower city had no business showing up at Imperial Male Academy.

One person watched it all happen and didn't step in to stop it. In that moment, Si Jing hated those people with everything he had. He swore he would make them pay.']

'Hm? And then?'

[From the look of things right now, that bystander is you.]

Ji Yue looked left, looked right — there was no one else.

'Wow, Ji Yue, is that you?' One of the boys spotted Ji Yue shaking his head back and forth like a rattle-drum and called out, 'Sorry you had to see this — just pretend you didn't, yeah? I'll come find him another time.'

Not only did they stand down, they made an exaggerated bow in his direction.

Ji Yue had no idea what was going on. He looked toward the top student in bewilderment.

Beneath sweat-damp silver hair — bruises, cuts, blood. A pair of downturned eyes gazed quietly at him, as though there were a thousand things they wanted to say.

[Just because you look like you saved him doesn't mean he doesn't resent you — you look like you're in league with those people.]

'...Thank you.'

The young man's voice was low and hoarse, as though coughed up from somewhere deep in his throat.

'You don't need to thank me. I didn't do anything.'

'How can I repay you?'

'You don't need to. Goodbye.'

Ji Yue turned and walked away. That kind of material was already in the source novel.

—

BBS Forum...

HOT POSTS

Topic: The guys who jumped the top student today ended up as wallpaper for the campus belle

0: Campus belle... do you even know that everyone lets you have your way?! Don't you know it's dangerous to step in like that out of nowhere?! (gritting teeth)

1: Why were those guys jumping the top student — too much time on their hands?

2: This is going to make the campus belle think our school culture is terrible!

3: Exactly, exactly — we're all pure-hearted, helpful male academy students!

4: Uh... actually the top student provoked them first...

5: Hasn't he always kept a low profile? Why is he suddenly picking fights?

6: Maybe something got to him these past couple of days — trying to get the campus belle's attention? Or maybe he's just so repressed he was itching for a fight? (confused) (confused)

7: The one minute the campus belle paused for him while he was getting jumped — he'll be savoring that until he's old. He'd smile in his coffin (angry) (angry)

8: Top student, be honest! In those ten seconds you spent watching the campus belle walk away — were you thinking about how to repay him, or about how to *him? (sobbing) (fist) (fist)

9: Rating time — last week in Flower House the top student deliberately let the campus belle walk into his arms [photo]

10: He's so calculating... I'm done. Though the campus belle didn't seem to react at all — still the same Cold-Faced Kitten

11: Has the top student considered that he's such a big guy — what if he breaks our campus belle?????!

12: Where exactly were his hands placed — tell me tell me tell me tell me

13: Why does the campus belle like this kind of rough-looking guy... there's nothing good about him, does he actually like him? (sobbing) (fist)

14: Hard to say — he never gets that flustered, heart-racing look, but then at night he's secretly sneaking around keeping tabs on the top student... by the way, during today's interview, he was watching Yan [Min] the whole time

15: And he snuck into the changing room... the two of them came out one after the other...

16: ??? Did I miss some plot development — what stage are we at

17: The top student was the third one out...

18: ????

19: Why did the campus belle go looking for Yuwen [Qing] again? Yuwen [Qing] is apparently at school tonight — nothing's going to happen, right?