Chapter 5

A loud siren woke me up. I looked through the room with half-closed eyes. Finally, I found my phone and switched off the alarm clock.

"Right, I need to go to school."

Today was the fourth day I was trapped in this world. Yesterday, I went to the school of the previous owner. I met friends of this body and sat through all the lessons while talking to them on the breaks.

I also walked home with Joanne. She was dubbed as a "childhood friend", thus, it was a bother to walk with her. She lived close to my temporary home and knew a lot about the previous owner of this body. It was God's miracle that helped me to not fuck up and arouse any suspicion.

"I need to stop bitching and get through this. Whatever is happening to me, I will return to how things were before." As I psyched myself up, I slapped my cheeks lightly and went to do my morning routine.

Even if I was feeling over the edge yesterday, it was a productive day. It gave me a few more insights as to what happened to this body's owner.

First of all, he went on a path of a "bad" ending.

Joanne was most likely taken by another man. Since she was MC's childhood friend, it was relatively hard to lose her, yet this guy managed to do it.

I still had my doubts if it was her having sex on one of the videos. But the way she acted hinted at this. And I think it wasn't long ago.

Secondly, Elle and Jet gave a weird vibe as well. I assumed that they fucked behind this guy's back, but I wasn’t sure for the moment.

And lastly, this guy was beaten by the antagonist. And that made me think of the things I read in the guide previously. If the protagonist didn’t establish himself as a force to be reckoned with, he would be stepped on.

His childhood friend would be stolen, the friends he made in the Birchland High would betray him, and his first love would be unattainable as well.

But it was of little meaning to me, as I didn’t invest any feeling into the relationship with these girls. The troubles with these girls would belong to this body, not me. Sure they were good-looking, but as far as I saw today, almost every girl in this school was a good-looking one.

Most importantly, my main goal was to lay low until I woke up. I didn't have time to repair the love life of this body. It wasn't about girls, friends, or family. It was all about me, returning back to my world, to "reality".

With such thoughts, I came to the school for the second day. Sitting through the lessons while talking to Jet and occasionally to the girls, it was almost time for the last lecture.

"Oh, now that I remember it, your crush will teach the last lesson of the day," Jet nudged me with an elbow.

"Hm, crush?" I was a bit confused.

"Don’t try to pretend. I'm talking about the teacher of literature." Jet insisted

"But I don’t remember it," I said as I shrugged.

"Teacher Rose, Rose Carr, you don't remember her?"

I shrugged once again.

"Maybe you forgot her and your love for her," he grinned.

"Maybe, and maybe I wasn’t in love in the first place?"

The bell rang, and everyone who went out returned to the classroom. The last one who entered was a woman in her twenties. As she entered, most of the boys that were nodding off on previous lessons fixed their eyes on her. And some girls made displeased faces.

She had short, raven black hair that was swept on her right side. She wore a black knee-length pencil skirt that hugged her hips tightly, in combination with a loose-looking blouse. I think the blouse was one size larger than needed, but it still couldn’t hold her abundant breasts. It looked like the buttons would pop out anytime soon. A little black choker finished her outfit.

She wore close to no makeup. Although with her white skin and red, plump lips, she still looked beautiful. Perhaps she was the only one who could compete with Joanne in terms of looks and fight for the place of the first beauty.

However, with the way she looked, she resembled a hostess or a college student that looked for a quick hookup, rather than a teacher. But that was her main point in the design. While she looked like an easy woman, she was in fact, very pure and introverted.

Well, at least it was like this in the game.

As she sorted her documents, she looked at me and flashed me a smile.

"Student Erlig Grimes, I see that you made a full recovery. If you are feeling unwell, you should remember to rest at home," she said with a soft voice, "Now, back to class." She started scribbling something on the blackboard as she began her lesson.

I opened my textbook when Jet lightly punched my shoulder.

"See, you have a special relationship," he said as he smirked.

"It's because I was injured," I rolled my eyes at him. But he was technically right. Rose was one of the key figures in the school. And maybe she was the only one who could help me. She was learning psychology and literature in her college years. Perhaps she can give me an insight into what happened to me.

The lesson soon ended, and everyone started leaving the classroom. It was a bit strange as it was only the fourth lesson that lasted for about an hour. In "reality", In my high school, the only time I had less than 5 lessons was on a Saturday. But the contents of the lessons here, differentiated from the ones I remembered.

Anyway, I had something more important than thinking about studying. I quickly gathered everything and stuffed it into the bag.

As I went after teacher Rose, I heard Joanne calling me from the back. "Erlig, wait a second."

"I'm sorry, I remembered I've got stuff to do," I waved to her and went after teacher Rose.

"Good luck, big guy." After I exited the classroom, I heard Jet shouting.

"Yeah, I will need all the luck I saved for my life," muttering this to myself, I soon caught up with Rose.

"Student Erlig, do you have any questions about the lesson?" She said while turning to face me. Her boobs, pressed by the studying material she held in her hands, looked even bigger.

"Uhm, yes, I have some questions, they are not about the lesson, but I can't think of no one more suitable than teacher Rose to give me answers." It was a do-or-die situation.

She once again showed me a gentle smile "Then, we should talk in my office."

According to the game, in this school, every teacher had their own office. As it was one of the most prestigious schools, and the main purpose of Birchland High was different from the usual schools, the insides were far from normal.

School staff offices were in the tower-like thing in the school. The higher you were, the higher your standing in the school was. For example, the principal appointed by the board of directors sat at the top, while basic teachers were at the bottom. Plain and simple.

Walking for a minute or so, we reached her office. It was a common office room. With a worktable full of paperwork and a pc. Chair, couch, and shelf with studying materials. Behind the table were big windows.

"You can sit on the couch and wait for me. I'm busy with the work right now," Rose quickly went to her desk and started sorting her documents, "I'm sorry that I can't talk to you, Erlig, I'm sure you have a serious question, and I also want to ask you how are you feeling…" She looked up at me with the same gentle gaze. I guess this was a "special" relationship Jet talked about.

"I understand everything, teacher Rose, you can take your time." It wasn't ideal for me, but I couldn't force her to talk.

"Hehe, and why are you so serious? I thought we were closer than this, teacher thing, Erlig," she chuckled and continued her work.

I wanted to ask what she meant by closer, but seeing her work, I closed my mouth and started thinking.

The way she was right now was nothing like how she was during the lesson. In the game, despite being a beauty who looked like you could easily push her, she still tried to look thorny on the outside to ward off men. Her name, Rose, suited her. In my opinion, she had a contradictory personality that was unreal in the real world.

So right now, I was thinking, what relationship I had with her. She acted ambiguously. It was either friendship or lovers in the game. However, I couldn’t judge this situation with the game rules. Right now, I felt that it was more than real.

Her scent, the scent of flowers that permeated this room, made me relaxed.

"Erlig, are you here?" I came back to my senses as teacher Rose was waving her hand before my eyes. She was now sitting on the couch near me.

As I blinked a few times and turned around to look at her, she smiled.

"I called you a few times, but you still didn’t respond."

"Uh, I'm sorry, teacher Rose."

She puffed her cheeks slightly and looked down. "What, teacher Rose? Just call me by my name like always. After all, we're friends."

"Uhm, alright, teach… Rose." So we are friends? Saves me the trouble. I rubbed my eyes with my palms trying to concentrate on the dialogue. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to upset you. It's just... I'm missing some of my memories."

"Ah." she looked shocked after I said it.

"No need to exaggerate. Back at the hospital, they said I'm alright, and the memories will return naturally. I only forgot about some minor things."

She held my hand and leaned over. Looking at me with upturned eyes, "This is the thing that I wanted to ask you, how are you feeling? Are you alright? And how did you get in the fight in the first place?"

"I don't remember how I ended up in the hospital." I shook my head and tried to gain some distance from here. Maybe it was great getting fawned on by a woman, but I didn’t like it when people intruded in my personal space.

It may have been too obvious of a move. She blushed a little as she restrained herself, she released my hand and sat properly.

She fake coughed, probably to hide her embarrassment "You've never been a boy who loved fighting. You always were studying quietly and acted more mature than everyone. So how come you were in a fight? It's so strange."

"I don’t think that it matters. After all, I'm fine."

"It does matter!" she furrowed her thin eyebrows, "You were probably the only boy in school who pursued something different. It's almost like you don’t belong here," she took my hand in hers again, but now it was a more moderate move. "Please, promise me. That even when you find out who fought with you, you won't fight again."

I was almost hundred percent certain that the one who beat this body up was the antagonist. If it was just a game, I could've easily made this promise, but right now, I didn’t know what the hell was happening to me.

"I promise, I won't." I felt her emotions being transmitted through the heat of her small hands. Being stared at by an idealistic woman so intently, I couldn’t help but make a shallow promise.

"That’s good." Rose smiled and released my hand.

She then asked me if I already caught up with the classes and if the lessons were hard to understand. In the beginning, I felt somewhat awkward, but after talking about school for some time, I eventually relaxed and dropped my guard.

"Look at the time, we talked for so long, and I still didn’t hear what you wanted to ask," exclaimed Rose

"You're right. I forgot about it as well." I went with the flow of conversation and made another white lie. How could I forget about something that occupied my mind constantly?

"We still have some time, so what was it? Is it about a new book?"

"Not really. Rose, do you know about virtual reality?"