Chapter 1: Darkness of the Rainfall (1)
On July 2006, 7, Typhoon Dandelion made landfall, bringing torrential rain to the city.

The raindrops hit the outer wall of the teaching building with a crackling sound, flowed down along the wall, and finally gathered in front of the eaves, forming a curtain of raindrops.

Lu Mingfei stood in front of the rain curtain, staring blankly at the various luxury cars parked in groups of three or two in the playground.

Just a dozen minutes ago, the eaves of the teaching building were crowded with students from Shilan Middle School who were wearing school uniforms and were watching to see if their cars had arrived on the playground.

But as the rain got heavier, white foam-like splashes of water appeared on the playground, and it was no longer possible to tell which car belonged to which family.

The boys simply plunged into the rain and wandered around in the crookedly parked private cars.

After half of the cars paddled away, the remaining girls easily found their own cars. The cars came and went together as if they had made an appointment.

In the blink of an eye, the playground became empty, with only a few cars left standing alone in the rain, their wipers and yellow headlights swaying.

"Hey, it's been almost a month since I returned to this world, and I still haven't gotten used to being a middle school student."

In the sky above Tokyo Bay, in order to avenge Eri, Lu Mingfei exchanged his life with Lu Mingze, but was defeated by Herzog who stole the blood of the White King.

I thought I was going to die, but I didn't expect to be reborn in the world of Japanese comics.

"I reread the first year of high school in Hyouka, the second year of high school in Oregairu, and the third year of high school in Jikkyo. I finally graduated from high school, but I traveled back in time and had to start from the third year of junior high school again."

The rain was pouring down, and the sky blue school flag of "Shilan Middle School" was trembling stubbornly against the background of the sky in the force 10 gale.

Lu Mingfei knew that none of the remaining cars were coming to pick him up, but sometimes he couldn't help fantasizing, imagining that one of the cars would suddenly rush into the playground, break through the rain and silence, stop in front of him, and then someone would get out and open the passenger door for him.

It could be his parents, whom he has never met as far as he can remember, or it could be a flamboyant girl with red hair and high heels.

But imagination is always just imagination. There will not be his parents in these cars, nor will there be some red-haired and high-heeled queen. There will only be parents or drivers waiting for their own children.

At this point in time, even the useless senior brother has only been in Kassel for two years, and Nono doesn’t even know which high school he is a school bully in.

The red Ferrari would not drive into my life until three years later, just like the plot in The Matrix, opening another door in my life.

……

Lu Mingfei inexplicably recalled a famous quote he had read in some book: "Rain is when clouds fall into the water."

I can't remember clearly if these were the words. It seemed to be written by a blind writer from Argentina. His name was Bo something, just four words. It was a poem from a collection that Chen Wenwen gave him to read when he was secretly in love with her.

Lu Mingfei didn’t know whether Yun Luo had fallen into the water or not, but if the rain didn’t stop, he would be soaked to the skin…

He really wanted to call his uncle and aunt and try his luck. It wasn't that he thought his uncle or aunt would come to pick him up, but he felt that in such a heavy rain, his uncle and aunt would not leave Lu Mingze in the rain.

If they were going to drive to pick up Lu Mingze, maybe they could take a detour and take me with them.

But he doesn't have a mobile phone now. His first mobile phone was a black Nokia N96 that was sent along with the admission letter from Kassel College.

A few years later, Nokia was eliminated from the market and Apple became synonymous with high-end mobile phones. But in 08, it was still very cool to have a Nokia N96.

At that time, only a few people in Lu Mingfei's class, such as Zhao Menghua and Su Xiaoqiang, could afford Nokia N96.

Zhao Menghua usually puts his cell phone on his waist. His cell phone bag is a SwissGEAR calfskin half-covered style. When he puts the phone in, the "NOKIA" logo and lens module will be inadvertently exposed, just like the imperial envoys in ancient times who deliberately put the gold medal of immunity from death on their waists for fear that others would not see it.

Some people always like to say that Zhao Menghua is the "second Chu Zihang", but Lu Mingfei feels that their personalities are very different.

The senior brother with facial paralysis would not show off like this. His personality is more like being cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He usually keeps a low profile, but will bring you to show off at critical moments. He is commonly known as a repressed and reserved person.

The rain showed no sign of abating. Lu Mingfei sighed, thinking that it was no use waiting under the eaves any longer, so he decided to go back to the teaching building to see if he could run into any classmates he knew, borrow their cell phones, and call his uncle and aunt.

The teaching building was so dim that it seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep. Only the small lights in the corridors stubbornly emitted a cold light.

Lu Mingfei walked from the first floor to the second floor. Most of the classrooms had their lights off, which meant that everyone had left.

With such heavy rain, I’m afraid there are only a few people left in the whole school.

I went up to the third floor and saw a classroom with a light on in the darkness. A girl was standing outside the classroom with her schoolbag on her back, holding the two straps tightly in her hands. She stood on tiptoe and dropped down, and the silver Hello Kitty hairpin hanging on the end of her long hair swung straight up.

He acted furtively, worried and afraid, as if he was preparing to do something big that he didn't want anyone to know.

"Liu Miaomiao? That's good, I finally met someone I know. Do you have a cell phone? Can you lend it to me to make a call?"

The girl was obviously startled by the abrupt voice. She took a few seconds to turn around. After seeing the person in front of her clearly, she almost couldn't help swearing.

"Lu, Lu Mingfei, you want to..."

Liu Miaomiao glanced at the classroom door behind her, held back the rest of the sentence, and whispered in a low voice:
"What are you doing at school? Why haven't you gone home yet?"

"It's raining heavily outside and I can't go home. So I wanted to borrow someone's phone to call home."

Lu Mingfei said this in one breath, without asking why Liu Miaomiao hadn't gone back yet.

When he was downstairs, he saw her family's black BMW sedan. Its huge "angel eyes" were shining in the rain.

"Do you have a cell phone? Can you lend it to me to make a call?" Lu Mingfei asked again.

Liu Miaomiao grabbed the shoulder strap of her schoolbag and suddenly stopped talking.

She and Lu Mingfei were classmates, but they were not very familiar with each other. In every class, there were always a few people who not only had different interests and hobbies, but also had different survival modes in the class social circle.

The glamorous people will be surrounded by the crowd just by standing there quietly, while the unknown people can only rely on being poor and lowly and playing the role of a clown to barely gain the qualification to enter the circle.

Liu Miaomiao is undoubtedly the former, and Lu Mingfei is the latter.

But Liu Miaomiao is not such a stingy person. Even if it is just a classmate she is not familiar with, she is always willing to lend her phone to make a call.

However, the lock screen of her phone now is a photo of Chu Zihang, which was taken secretly during the school sports meet and she hasn’t had time to change it.

Lu Mingfei looked at Liu Miaomiao who had not spoken a word, and for some reason he glanced into the classroom. Through the transparent glass window, he saw a familiar figure in the lighted classroom and instantly understood everything.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt that he had a pretty good affinity with Chen Wenwen, Liu Miaomiao and the others, perhaps just a little less so than Zhao Menghua.

Whether it was Chen Wenwen or Liu Miaomiao, it seemed that I had encountered them both at the humble moments of their lives.

In the girls' restroom, I ran into Chen Wenwen, who was dumped by Zhao Menghua, looking embarrassed and pitiful; here I also saw Liu Miaomiao, who was hiding beside the classroom door, trying to pretend to meet Chu Zihang by chance.

When I was in high school, everyone in the class knew that the beautiful piano player Liu Miaomiao had a crush on Chu Zihang, just like everyone knew that he had a crush on Chen Wenwen.

But in the end, neither Liu Miaomiao nor he got what they wanted. After Liu Miaomiao gave herself to Zhao Menghua, who was the "second Chu Zihang", she was dumped by him, and Chen Wenwen was also snatched away by Zhao Menghua.

Damn...why do I suddenly feel that Liu Miaomiao and I are a perfect match?

However, at this point in time, Liu Miaomiao was still in the third year of junior high school, just like herself. She would have to wait until the summer vacation to be promoted to the first year of high school and meet Zhao Menghua and Chen Wenwen.

It’s not that I think you are not worthy of Senior Brother with facial paralysis, it’s just that Senior Brother doesn’t like people. Lu Mingfei sighed in his heart.

"Liu Miaomiao, if you don't have a cell phone either, I'll go find... Brother Chu to borrow one."

Lu Mingfei saw that Liu Miaomiao seemed reluctant to lend him his phone, so he didn't say much and gave her a way out.

Ask Senior Brother Chu to borrow it?
Liu Miaomiao suddenly looked up, blinked, and looked at Lu Mingfei with some surprise.

Could Senior Brother Chu be referring to Chu Zihang?
She pursed her lips, and before she could finish the question, "Are you familiar with Senior Brother Chu Zihang?", she saw Lu Mingfei walk straight around her and walk to the door of the lighted classroom.

It seems like walking towards a grand stage.

　This is my first time publishing a book, and I still have a lot to learn. Please guide me if I don't understand anything. You are welcome to ask questions.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)