Chapter 3: Staying up late is bad if you'll attend your first day of class.

"Uwaaa... look at his eyebags! So dark and heavy!" someone whispered to his seatmate yet Hong Yue can still hear them. After all, he's just sitting right behind them.

"Yes, yes. Look at his hair! So long! It almost covered his head whole! I bet he got piercings he's hiding behind his hair!" another one said as they peeked at him yet not really a secret since Hong Yue can see them.

"You're right! Look at his scary expression! He's definitely a delinquent!" another one said.

You're really not hiding your criticisms, ne? Hong Yue thought as he rested his arms on his table and buried his face between them for him to sleep. He's seated at the last row and at the last chair just beside the open window where the curtain is fluttering every time the autumn breeze blows. The cherry blossom petals were drifting with the wind and flew through the window before they settled on his head.

"... pft." Someone said and immediately covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" they all laughed as they looked at the dry and wrinkled petals on my hair.

... I know. This anime-ish scene failed. Hong Yue thought as he left the petals on his head and continued to sleep. His face pasted on his table is burning in shame. So much for anime-ish scene. He thought and sighed.

The door opened and the teacher came in. "Where is he... student Hong Yue!" she called when she spotted Hong Yue. "No sleeping in class!" she said. She knows him since they had met in the administration building earlier when she happened to be there after he enrolled. "Come up the front. Introduce yourself!" she told him. "And tie your hair up!" she added as she stepped into the podium.

Everyone turned to him. Hong Yue slowly moved and the petals slipped off of his hair that gently waved and caressed his fair cheeks that're still flushed from embarrassment. He raised his gaze and his eyeglasses slipped down his nose in which exposed his crystalline brown eyes. "Yes." His lips pursed as he spoke before he sat up straight.

"Woah..." they all muttered under their breath and sharply inhaled as they watched him rose from his seat and slowly walked towards the podium. Every sound his shoes make is like the drum beating inside their chest. "He's beautiful." They exclaimed as they watched the sunlight slip between the curtains and fall on him.

Hong Yue suddenly paused before the podium. "Hm?" the teacher said when she saw him just standing there.

... eight steps. So tiring. Hong Yue thought when the sunlight hit the lens of his eyeglasses.

Thud. "'thud'?" they muttered and saw Hong Yue suddenly toppled over. Their eyes widened in shock. "AAAAH!!! Teacher, he suddenly collapsed!" they exclaimed as they watched Hong Yue slowly fall on his back. "Ah – " they muttered when they saw a pair of arms caught Hong Yue before he fell. They turned and saw Lan Xing, who was near Hong Yue, caught Hong Yue before Hong Yue's body could hit the floor. His chair was the one that fell instead after he abruptly stood to catch Hong Yue.

This shoujo manga scene! They exclaimed in their mind as they stared at the two. The hero saved the beauty scene! They added.

However, reality is definitely different from fiction.

Lan Xing who saw Hong Yue's eyes are in circles. "..." this guy's quite heavy. My arm is going numb... he thought when he felt his arm started to shake. Even if he exercises, but after all, he acted in an impulse.

Dizzy... Hong Yue thought as he saw blinking lights inside his mind. "Bleaurgh!" he cried as he retched. "Ugh..." he groaned when the smell made him feel even more nauseous. Crap. I forgot I slept at 5 AM today and went to school 6 AM to enroll. I only got one hour of sleep... he thought as he slowly closed his eyes. '

Everyone who saw Lan Xing's clean shirt was stained with unspeakable liquid. "..."

Lan Xing who only went to save a person but ended up being vomited. "..." I will never help anyone again... he tiredly thought.

The teacher immediately covered her nose and looked away. "... he looked pale and sick. Take him to the infirmary." She told Lan Xing.

Lan Xing who not only was vomited on but still had to bring the one who vomited on him to the infirmary instead of him taking a shower on their dorm. "... yes." He was forced to nod. He looked at Hong Yue and didn't know where to put his hands and feet because of the vomit on his clothes.

"Yuck..." their classmates said and frowned in disgust as they covered their nose.

Lan Xing's face was covered in dark lines. He ignored them and, since he can't carry Hong Yue up front, he carried him on his back. Fortunately, he was now mentally prepared to carry someone unlike earlier.

Under everyone's gaze, Lan Xing carried Hong Yue out of their classroom and walked towards the infirmary which is on the first floor.

Infirmary.

"... you can borrow the shower and the spare shirt in the cabinet." The nurse told Lan Xing and pointed the bathroom with her thumb while her other hand is pinching her nose to not smell Lan Xing.

Lan Xing who was unjustly wronged. "..." he silently glanced at Hong Yue who was sprawled on the patient's bed before he went to bathroom and took off his top. Then, he washed himself before he took a white T-shirt from the cabinet before he went outside. "What was wrong with him?" he asked the nurse as he walked beside Hong Yue's bed.

"Overfatigue." The nurse answered as she attached an IV to Hong Yue. "Just a day of rest and a balanced meal will restore his strength." She explained.

Lan Xing stared at Hong Yue whose eyeglasses were removed. He looked paler than he last seen him this morning.

"Are you his classmate?" he heard her asked.

He nodded. "Yes." He answered.

"Do you know his roommate?" she asked again.

"... me." He unwillingly answered.

She smiled. "Then, you have to take care of him." She said. "He looked thinner than he should. He must always be staying up late and eating an unbalanced diet." She told him.

Lan Xing who remembered the rumors about Hong Yue. "... yes." He was forced to answer.

She kindly smiled at him before she went to the side and searched in the internet. Lan Xing saw the familiar site and familiar book cover. It's the online novel his classmates , no, the entire school is crazed about - The Rainbow in the Shade of Leaves.

Meanwhile, Hong Yue who was pretending to be sleep. "..." there goes my supposed-to-be cool entrance. QAQ a tear fell from his eye and he truly fell asleep.