“June 13th, 1998.” The girl in front said, then gave a gentle smile. Eric Bennett only now realized that this girl was the future owner of the grocery store. Back then, she was a charming woman in her thirties, but now she was just a vibrant girl of about twenty. It seemed she had inherited the family business, taking over the grocery store. A sense of familiarity welled up in him—at least, for the inexplicably returned-to-eleven-years-ago Eric Bennett, she was the first person he could recognize.

“Oh right, little brother who doesn’t even know what day it is today, your high school entrance exam is in three days, isn’t it? You need to keep a relaxed mindset. But seeing how you can’t even keep track of the date, you must be a top student in your class, right? While you’re working hard, remember to rest every now and then.”

“Mm... huh? What, the entrance exam!?” Eric Bennett was still sorting through the chaotic thoughts of suddenly returning to eleven years ago. Hearing the future lady boss’s encouraging words, he blurted out in confusion.

“Top student?” A few girls who had just entered the store turned their gaze to Eric Bennett when they heard this, then exchanged glances and all broke into faint, mocking smiles.

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Chapter 2: Just Meeting Again

Eric Bennett found himself unable to tell anyone around him about what he had just experienced. Could it be that, because his future self was nostalgically walking down this street eleven years later, sighing over how things had changed, the timeline overlapped with his self from 1998, and so his thoughts—or perhaps his very soul—instantly traveled into his current body? Or maybe, he had been reborn in this unique way into his own body!?

Just a moment ago, he had still been in the winter of 2009. Xia Hai City, located in the inland western basin, has a temperate continental climate, with distinct seasons and large temperature differences between day and night. Now, it looked to be around six o’clock after school. In the winter of 2009, with a cold front passing through, it got dark early, and by this time the stars and moon would already be visible. Combined with his mood at the time, everything felt stifling and gloomy.

But now it was the summer of 1998. Six o’clock for these just-dismissed middle schoolers seemed to signal the start of the day. In the inland west, summer days didn’t get dark until around eight o’clock. By then, it would be dusk, with the sky covered in the glow of the setting sun. At this moment, a red sun hung at a slant of about thirty-five degrees in the sky, bathing everything in golden light. The buildings were coated in a warm hue, all familiar from his memories, though they no longer existed in the present. Now, reflected in his brown eyes, they felt especially real and dear.

Looking at the group of girls in front of the grocery store laughing at him, he couldn’t help but feel they looked familiar.

Soon, those too-young yet somewhat familiar memories began to surface in his mind. Right before him were his classmates from the first year of junior high, the most prominent girls’ clique in the class back then.

When the group laughed at the mention of him being a “top student,” two of the girls glanced at him indifferently, then shifted their gaze to some stationery items nearby. These two girls were William Clark and Linda Clark, a pair of twins who were the stars of the entire grade—not just for their beauty, but also because they looked so alike that it was hard to tell who was the elder and who the younger. Even boys from the high school section pursued them.

Eleven years later, he had little contact with his junior high classmates. He’d only heard that these two once-popular girls—one now worked at a telecom business hall, the other had married a young white-collar worker in IT—were both living ordinary, unremarkable lives.

Another girl, who didn’t show any mocking expression like the others, was named Olivia Harris. She was the class monitor at the time—well, also now—one of the top students, with a delicate and beautiful appearance. She was always cold and distant, and as the monitor responsible for checking each group’s homework every day, she was somewhat feared by the class. Secretly, though, she was the perfect dream girl for many adolescent boys.

Of course, he almost forgot to mention: Eric Bennett’s grades were always at the lower end of the class, even the whole school—a real underachiever. In Xia Hai No. 3 Middle School, this level was nothing to speak of in the whole city.

Looking at the sixteen-year-old Olivia Harris, already so elegant and extraordinary that people dared not look at her directly, Eric Bennett seemed to recall something important. But with all the shock and information he was processing, his heart was still pounding, and for the moment, he just couldn’t remember what it was.

Olivia Harris had her reasons for not joining the others in mocking Eric Bennett. First, her status in the class was always lofty, and she disdained such ridicule. Second, although Eric Bennett was a low-key student, he was always well-behaved in every way. His slightly messy, soft hair and gentle looks were exactly the type that good girls liked, and Olivia Harris was no exception. After three years of junior high together, she had developed a bit of a fondness for this unremarkable Eric Bennett—at the very least, she didn’t dislike him.