Chapter 1

Tokyo Sakura坂 Private Academy.

It was now the beautiful month of May, the time when cherry blossoms were in full bloom. In the courtyard of the academy, a famous spot for confessions, a young couple stood beneath the largest cherry blossom tree.

"Um... Fujiura-kun, hello."

The girl lowered her head, her cheeks slightly flushed. She fidgeted with her fingers and asked in a soft voice.

"Can I ask you something? Is the love letter in the shoe box written by you?"

—Who are you, miss...?

The boy really wanted to ask, but considering his current identity, he suppressed the urge to blurt it out.

To explain, it was all because of his own doing. Just last night, he, a "white-collar worker" from the bustling city of Huaxia, accidentally traveled through time and possessed the body of a Japanese high school student named "Fujiura Fuyu."

Even though he had traveled through time, Fujiura Fuyu's mind seemed to have been excavated by a bulldozer, leaving only a few core memories intact.

Since he became aware of his new identity last night, he had very little information about the young man named "Fujiura Fuyu"...

Fortunately, this "Fujiura Fuyu" had a good habit of writing diaries.

Well, regardless of whether he was a decent person or not, the few diaries left by the original owner of this body at least provided him with some personal information about Fujiura Fuyu, which was a relief in a dire situation.

(Who is this girl? There's no information about her in Fujiura Fuyu's diary... What's with the love letter in the shoe box? Why wasn't this important matter written in the diary!)

He couldn't help but scrutinize the girl in front of him. She was probably less than 150 cm tall, a head shorter than him.

Her slender figure made her look particularly petite, and her long, smooth black hair was tied into two braids below her ears. She was a girl with a simple and endearing appearance.

Her face was flushed, and her jet-black eyes, like onyx, hid a hint of nervousness. Her body was tense, and she occasionally glanced up at him furtively.

"Um... I saw the signature on the letter, Fujiura-kun."

Her face grew even redder, and her fingers were tightly intertwined.

"I know about you, Fujiura-kun, but I never thought you would write to me... someone like me..."

Due to her shyness, the girl's eyebrows drooped lower and lower, and her face turned as red as a boiled egg.

—What is she trying to say?

Fujiura Fuyu was completely at a loss, but he could only stand there dumbfounded. He couldn't just leave at this moment, could he?

"Sorry, um, I'm not good with words..."

The girl spoke hesitantly, her voice broken and intermittent.

"I really appreciate it, Fujiura-kun, because you wrote to me so sincerely... That's why I asked you to come here... I need to make things clear."

"Is that so...?"

Fujiura Fuyu finally couldn't take it anymore. He let out a deep sigh and said, "So, can you make it shorter, like twenty words or so?"

"Okay, twenty words? I, I can do that!"

She suddenly looked up and met Fujiura Fuyu's gaze directly.

"Fujiura-kun, if you don't mind, we can, um, go out!"

What?

Fujiura Fuyu was taken aback.

Honestly, he didn't even know who this girl was, and she was proposing to go out with him.

"Phew!"

She let out a long breath, as if she had used all her courage to say those words. Then—

"I, I... that's all I wanted to say. Please take care of me from now on!"

She turned around and fled like a rabbit, never once looking back at Fujiura Fuyu.

"Wait, wait...?"

Fujiura Fuyu wanted to ask her name, but she had already run away.

(What the heck is going on here?)

Thinking about it, he frowned and glanced behind him, then said calmly, "You two, stop hiding and come out!"

As he spoke, two figures emerged from behind the bushes. They were two boys, one tall and thin, the other short. Their hair was covered in leaves and mud, and they held small branches as cover.

"Fujiura, you bastard!!!"

The one in front was a guy with glasses, who pounced and grabbed Fujiura Fuyu by the collar.

"You, you, what did you do?"

"What did I do?"

Fujiura Fuyu looked at the guy, who had a disheveled appearance, with a wrinkled school uniform and a messy hairstyle. From the diary, he guessed this was one of Fujiura Fuyu's friends, with a surname like "Shimamoto." For now, he would just call him "Glasses."

"Fujiura, I trusted you so much, and you were about to leave the group... Do you want to become a popular guy? Damn, you traitor..."

Glasses was shouting and making a fuss, clearly very agitated.

"Also, why did A-class's Uguisukusa come? We agreed to put the letter in Amano Sayaka's shoe box, what do we do now? This is getting out of hand."

"What do you mean?"

Fujiura Fuyu realized there was something strange in Glasses' words.

"At this point, you're still pretending, 'Punishment Game'! You didn't forget, did you?"

Glasses shouted, waving his arms like a noisy monkey.

"What punishment game?"

Suddenly, Fujiura Fuyu understood why he felt something was off earlier.

"Wait, this 'Punishment Game'... It's not the kind where you have to confess to a girl, is it?"

He thought of something and his tone became a bit strange.

"Yep, that's the punishment game."

The other friend, whose name was probably Nagano Naoto, was short and had a small face, looking like a middle school freshman. Since it was lunchtime, Nagano was sipping a vegetable juice from a carton and muttered, "We agreed that whoever lost four times in a card game would have to confess to Amano Sayaka... Well, since Amano is a famous 'heartbreaker' in the first year, getting rejected was a given, so we called it a punishment game..."

"Hey, Fujiura, did you really put the letter in Amano Sayaka's shoe box? If so, why did Uguisukusa come instead of her?"

Glasses shook Fujiura Fuyu's body. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and glared at Fujiura Fuyu.

"Tell me, did you put the letter in the wrong place?"

The letter was written by Glasses, but because it was a "punishment game," the signature was Fujiura Fuyu's.

"Maybe... I guess so!"

Fujiura Fuyu, lacking memories from the previous day, could only respond vaguely.

—And, the girl was named "Uguisukusa."

"Damn, I didn't write Amano Sayaka's name in the letter, and it was only signed by Fujiura. No wonder Uguisukusa thought it was for her!"

Glasses was filled with regret.

"It's so unfair. If even a gloomy guy like Fujiura can get a girlfriend, maybe I can too. Damn, I should have put my name on the letter."

The guy was radiating a strong desire for a girlfriend and looked at Fujiura Fuyu with a resentful expression.

"By the way, what are you going to do next, Fujiura?"

Nagano, after squeezing the empty carton and throwing it in the trash, asked, "Uguisukusa from A-class agreed to go out with you. What do you think?"

"Think? I don't have any particular thoughts right now."

Fujiura Fuyu yawned.

"Let's see what happens..."

He was exhausted from studying the diary all night and had little interest in this matter. As a穿越者 (穿越者 means "time traveler" or "穿越者"), adapting to his new life in this body was more important.

"I think, even though it was a punishment game, now that it's happened, you might as well try dating Uguisukusa for a while. It could be a nice memory from your youth."

Nagano said honestly.

Fujiura Fuyu was about to say something when a sudden ringing sensation hit his consciousness.

Sss...

Sharp pains shot through his brain.

"I...?"

He tried to speak but felt dizzy and weak, almost falling to the ground.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

Glasses quickly supported him.

"Hey, Fujiura, you look really bad..."

"Yeah, you don't look right. Maybe you should go to the infirmary?"

Nagano also noticed his condition was not good.

"No... I'm fine."

Before he could finish, Fujiura Fuyu felt a blackness envelop his vision and lost consciousness.

###

"There doesn't seem to be any major problem, it's probably just anemia."

After the examination, the beautiful teacher in the infirmary sat down. She leaned back in her chair, her slender legs in black stockings crossed under her short skirt.

"Of course, for safety, Fujiura-kun, I still recommend you get a check-up at the hospital..."

"I understand."

Fujiura Fuyu sat up and nodded slightly.

"Alright then..."

The teacher continued calmly, "I have some things to take care of, so I'll be out for a bit. By the way, you can skip this class and rest here."

"Okay."

Fujiura Fuyu, too lazy to return to class, lay back down on the infirmary bed.

There was something strange and puzzling. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could sense a white light flashing in his consciousness.

(Damn! Ever since I fainted, something feels off...)

"Ding!!"

A short, sharp sound echoed in his mind.

【Apocalypse副本 System Activated...】

Fuzzy text floated in his consciousness.

Fujiura Fuyu blinked in surprise.

He noticed that his mind contained some strange information.

【System Connecting... Please remain calm during the connection process. Do not be overly nervous or resistant. Note: This product is not suitable for people with heart disease, pregnant women, or children...】

What the hell?!

What is this "Apocalypse副本" all about?

Despite the confusion, Fujiura Fuyu remained calm.

"Is this the legendary system hack?"

His tone was laced with doubt. Just then, a new message appeared.

【Apocalypse副本 System Connection Successful... Loading, please wait】

A loading icon appeared in his consciousness, showing 0%.

"Buffering?"

He stared at the progress bar.

In the next second, the bar shot to the top, and 0% turned to 100%.

【Apocalypse副本 Loaded Successfully... Locating...】

【Location: 'Tokyo'... New副本 Loading】