These Dangerous Girls Placed Me Into Jeopardy

Pig-man? Director? Helper?

...No, what the teacher just said was definitely zhu (third tone) ren (second tone).

In my mental dictionary, matching that pronunciation, there should only be one word: “Master.”

Although I’ve always been interested in maids, because voice lines in games are usually in Japanese, hearing the Chinese version of “Master” all of a sudden left me completely unprepared...

Well, now that I think about it, it actually sounds pretty good in Chinese too.

...

No, no, no, no, no!

This isn’t the point! The issue here is the address!

Why the hell am I suddenly being called Master?!

Teacher Lily Yang actually called me Master?

This has got to be a joke, right?

Looking utterly dumbfounded, I pointed at myself and foolishly repeated, "Master... called me?"

And then it hit me—this was a language trap! Normally when you say something like that, the other person will take advantage of it by saying, “Yeah, I’m your master.”

But unexpectedly, Ms. Yang didn’t even have the slightest hint of joking around. With a completely straight face, she said, "Of course I’m calling you. You are my Master. We’ve already signed a Master-Servant contract."

“Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean we’ve ‘already signed a Master-Servant contract’?! I don't remember signing anything like that!”

As I frantically objected, the teacher’s face also twisted into an expression of horror. She clutched her mouth with one hand and pointed at me with the other.

"You... you... just now didn’t you—"

But before she could finish, the library door creaked open.

It was one of the students who usually did evening self-study in the library with me. She looked vaguely familiar, but honestly, we’d never spoken before.

The girl with glasses and a short ponytail glanced at me and Ms. Yang sprawled on the ground, pushed up her glasses with her index finger, and asked, "Excuse me, is something wrong?"

Before I could react, Ms. Yang immediately replied, "Ah, nothing, we just accidentally bumped into each other."

Quick reflexes, natural expression changes, and lying smoothly without a second thought—Ms. Yang really seemed adept at handling situations like this.

"Your clothes?"

"Uh..."

Oh, right. Ms. Yang had torn my clothes earlier...

"I reflexively grabbed him when I tripped just now, and accidentally ripped it... Ahaha, uniforms these days really are poor quality, huh..."

"...I see. Then I’ll help pick these up. Over there—Ethan An, could you come and help too?"

"Uh, o-oh! Coming!"

Being called by name so suddenly made me stiffen up. I hurriedly stood and rushed over to help gather the scattered papers.

She... actually knows my name? That’s pretty rare.

I always thought only teachers knew the names of invisible nobodies like me.

Since she knew my name, it only seemed proper for me to know hers too, right?

With that thought of courtesy, I peeked up at the girl’s head while gathering the papers.

Ignoring the titles floating above people’s heads for now, the name written below hers appeared to be correct.

[Reincarnating Childhood Friend]

[Rainie Bai]

"......"

Rainie Bai, huh... Strange name.

The title was even stranger.

What did "reincarnating" mean? And whose childhood friend was she supposed to be?

Come to think of it, she definitely wasn’t from my class.

I hadn’t realized that outside of my own class, there were still such bizarre titles floating around.

Also, her title was blue.

So these titles really did come in all sorts of colors...

Whatever, obsessing over this definitely wouldn’t lead to anything good.

Better to pretend I hadn’t seen anything. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Rainie Bai placed the scattered documents back on the service desk. I placed the ones I gathered there too.

"Ah, it’s fine now. I’ll handle the rest. You two can go back to reading."

"Okay, got it. Thank you for helping, An."

Rainie Bai didn’t mention the incident with Ms. Yang at all.

Was she pretending she didn’t notice?

Or... was it that only I could see the teacher’s transformation?

Judging from the nonsensical words Ms. Yang had blurted earlier, the second possibility seemed more likely.

Only I can see it... just like with the titles.

Had I really awakened some kind of ability?

Maybe after evening study ended, I could ask Ms. Yang.

She seemed to know a lot.

"It was nothing. Thank you too, Bai."

I politely returned the courtesy.

But somehow, that polite reply seemed to spark a problem.

Rainie Bai suddenly raised her head sharply, staring piercingly into my eyes, and asked, "You... know my name?"

"Uh, uh? Um, you’re Rainie Bai, right...? Did I get it wrong?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa—what’s with that reaction?!

Don’t tell me it’s like with Ms. Yang—that there’s actually some hidden name again?!

"No, my name really is Rainie Bai... but how do you know it? You don’t know me, do you? You’ve never asked me directly either.

So that means you heard it from someone else?

And why would you be asking about my name?"

Rainie Bai pressed closer and closer, forcing me back until I bumped into a bookshelf, unable to answer.

"Uh..."

Why the hell are both of them like this?!

Ms. Yang was like this, now Rainie Bai too!

It’s just calling someone’s name, what’s the big deal?! I even got it right!

Looks like from now on, not only titles, but even names had to be used cautiously...

"You—"

"Quickly sit down and read quietly, okay?"

Just when I was at a total loss, Ms. Yang stepped in at just the right time.

Rainie Bai obviously still had more she wanted to say, but she clicked her tongue, turned away, and headed toward another bookshelf.

Phew~ Saved by the teacher.

Before she left, Rainie Bai gave me a long, complicated look—impossible to describe—before turning away to pick out another book.

I pulled out the continuation of the manga I’d been reading yesterday and sat back in my usual seat.

There were six seats on each side of the library’s long table.

Normally, I sat in the innermost spot, and Rainie Bai usually sat diagonally opposite me—the farthest seat from mine.

But today, for some reason, she sat right across from me!

She flipped through a few pages of her book, raised it, pretending to read...

But her eyes clearly weren’t on the pages.

Stare...

Today, weirdly enough, the only people here for evening study were just me and Rainie Bai.

Usually there were four or five others.

Why the hell did they all skip today?!

Stare...

I say, could you please read your book properly?

Why are you staring at me?

Is there something on my face? Flowers blooming or something?

Stare...

"............"

Teacher! Someone’s staring at me nonstop!

Why are you looking at me like that?! I’m not some rare animal, okay?!

All I did was say her name!

Was that really such a big deal?

And she knew my name too!

She was allowed to know my name, but I wasn’t allowed to know hers?

How is that fair?!

Huff... Seriously, it’s infuriating.

Aaaaagh, this is so frustrating!

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to pour out all the insane crap that had happened today.

I’m so done!

Of course, if I could really scream, I wouldn’t be Ethan An.

At most, I could only vent in my heart.

Fine, if she wanted to stare, let her stare.

I’d just pretend I was being watched by a mannequin.

After a lifetime of being ignored, being watched so blatantly felt unbearably awkward.

I couldn’t concentrate at all.

I had no idea people's stares could feel so sharp.

Maybe the phrase “killed by a glare” wasn’t just a metaphor...

Or maybe I was just too neurotic.

Either way, it was pure agony.

After a while, though, the irritation mostly faded.

Time really could heal everything, huh...

Emptying my mind, tossing all the chaotic thoughts aside, not thinking made everything easier.

There’s truth to that saying: "fools are blessed."

All I needed was a good night's sleep, and tomorrow everything would be fine again!

Yeah, just sleep soundly tonight...

Sleep soundly...

Little sister.

Ahhhhh! I totally forgot about that!

Wasn’t the whole reason I came to the library to avoid going home?!

How could I forget something so important?!

If Serena sneaks into my room again tonight, there’s no way I’m getting any sleep!

I'm screwed—I'm seriously going to develop a nervous disorder at this rate!

Clutching my head, I let out a silent scream, terrified of what awaited me after evening study ended.

The only thing I could do now was pray that Mom or Dad had already come home...

My chaotic thoughts swirled again.

I felt like my hair was turning gray on the spot...

That’s when a small folded note slid across the table into my view.

I lifted my head.

There was only one person nearby—obviously it was Rainie Bai who passed it over.

Probably another question about how I knew her name, right?

Give me a break already! Enough with the questions!

Grumpily, I unfolded the note.

But the message wasn’t what I expected.

Instead, it said:

...What the hell?

Such a random, contextless question.

Dreamed of ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) what?

I didn’t even sleep last night!

Well, unless you counted getting knocked unconscious by a flying object yesterday...

But even then, I hadn’t dreamed about anything.

Frowning deeply, I looked back up at Rainie Bai.

She stared at me intently, glasses off, ponytail untied, pure anticipation burning in her eyes.

That’s when I realized—

she was actually really pretty.

She had this fresh, girl-next-door kind of charm.

Clearly, she was hoping for a positive answer.

But I genuinely hadn’t dreamed of anything.

And I couldn’t lie—not even to avoid disappointing her.

In the end, I could only silently shake my head.

Immediately, the color drained from Rainie Bai’s face.

She went ghostly pale, clutching her book tightly, trembling slightly.

Her teeth bit into her lip as if struggling to hold something back.

Finally, she slumped over the table, burying her face in her arms.

Whoa, whoa, is she crying?!

Until evening study ended, Rainie Bai didn’t lift her head once.

The moment the dismissal bell rang, I instinctively stood and reached toward her.

I had no idea why I moved.

It felt like some unseen force was pushing me forward.

I walked over to her side, gently patted her shoulder, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"...Sniff sniff..."

The sound of sniffles answered me.

Rainie Bai hurriedly wiped at her tears, grabbed her bag without even looking at me, and rushed out of the library.

She really cried...

I didn’t understand what the hell had happened.

But I was left with a heavy, guilty feeling gnawing at my chest.

Some primal instinct screamed at me to chase after her, to reach out and grab her hand.

But in the end, I didn’t chase her.

I just stood there, frozen.

For some reason,

I had this gut feeling—

even if I chased her now, I wouldn’t be able to catch her.

Was it my answer that made you cry?

Why does a “stranger” like you feel so familiar to me?

Rainie Bai... just who exactly are you?