She turned her head to glance at William Carter, then followed William Carter's gaze out the window, where a motionless cicada lying on the windowsill caught her eye.

　　"Mm!"

　　Classmate Emily Thompson was drawn to the cicada.

　　She put down the nail clipper and reached her hand out the window.

　　Outside the window, Ethan Miller slowly released the hand pressing down on the cicada, smiled, and said to William Carter, "She's really pretty... just too distracted in class, just like the kids I meet at school."

　　William Carter also smiled a little.

　　Emily Thompson caught the cicada and brought it inside, Ethan Miller ran out again, and William Carter withdrew his gaze.

　　Suddenly, he sensed something and glanced toward the front row.

　　John Walker was turning his head to look back. He wore glasses during class, which made him look quite refined. He often hosted school events, and William Carter guessed he must have had quite a few fangirls in his first and second years.

　　While playing with the cicada, Emily Thompson turned and quietly asked William Carter, "We're off for the holiday tomorrow, where are you going to hang out?"

　　"I don't know."

　　"I'm going to have mutton soup, along with a few from dorm 106. The guys are Michael Bolton and Peter Scott. Are you coming?"

　　"Drinking mutton soup in this hot weather?"

　　"Yeah, it's an old brand, right next to my house. It's about to close down and switch to selling crayfish. If we don't have it now, we'll have to wait until winter." Emily Thompson couldn't help smacking her lips. Only during English class would William Carter chat with her. "It's super tasty. One sip warms you from your mouth all the way to your stomach, so fresh. Are you coming?"

　　"I'm not going."

　　"Oh."

　　Emily Thompson had expected this and didn't try to persuade him further.

　　William Carter glanced forward again and noticed John Walker looking back once more.

　　"Knock knock!"

　　The English teacher tapped the desk, glanced at John Walker first, then swept her gaze over everyone below, reminding them, "If you want to date, wait until after the college entrance exam! It's just one more month—can you focus on your studies? It's almost time for battle, and sharpening your weapons now will do you good!"

　　John Walker looked a bit embarrassed.

　　After class, Emily Thompson took the cicada out to the corridor, where a ginkgo tree's branches stretched inside.

　　"If you fly into the classroom again, I'll take you home and roast you to eat!"

　　She placed the cicada on the ginkgo tree.

　　Then that cicada chirped outside the classroom all afternoon.

　　At nine in the evening, the bell rang.

　　Emily Thompson slung on her already-prepared bag, walked to the back, and changed the countdown to the college entrance exam on the bulletin board. When she turned around, John Walker was changing the one on the front blackboard.

　　Emily Thompson tugged at the corner of her mouth.

　　What a pain...

　　Then she took a deep breath and headed to the English teacher's office.

　　……

　　The evening in the neighborhood was especially cool. The small-leaf banyan was a perfect spot to relax. Old men carried tea into the pavilion to play chess, while old ladies gathered to play mahjong. Opera, square dance music, and raspy old voices mixed together, making for a lively scene.

　　There were also many stray cats chasing and darting about.

　　As William Carter was about to enter the building, he heard two clear voices coming from the trash can in front of the entrance.

　　"A terrifying being in the south has awakened..."

　　"Really?"

　　"Really! Sigh, more and more great monsters are waking up these days. Who knows when His Highness will awaken? It's really worrying!" The voice sounded very old and grave, full of concern for the world.

　　"I heard a little rumor."

　　"What rumor?"

　　"Why is that human just standing there?"

　　"Who cares what he's doing!"

　　William Carter slung his backpack over one shoulder, rummaging inside for something, his brows gradually furrowing in impatience.

　　Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two little monsters.

　　One was a strange-looking feline, its strong forequarters and lush fur making it look especially fierce; the other was a round, chubby, upright-walking big mouse, a bit like Totoro from the cartoons. Both were about the size of an ordinary stray cat, but because of its rounder shape, the big mouse actually looked a bit larger.

　　The gray cat was rummaging beside the trash can, where there were many takeout boxes.

　　The round mouse sat motionless on the stone steps, with a small pile of what looked like freshly scavenged cotton balls beside him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I forgot who told me, but apparently His Highness was probably tricked by humans and got sealed!"

　　The gray cat paused, then said seriously, "Don't believe those rumors, it's impossible! Whoever spreads such lies must have bad intentions. If you spread rumors, you become their accomplice!"

　　The round mouse was quite frightened.

　　Fortunately, after saying that, the gray cat continued rummaging, glancing at William Carter in the process. Seeing that William Carter wasn't looking their way, it quickly pulled out a perfectly good fried chicken drumstick in a paper bag.

　　"Humans are so wasteful. Such a nice chicken drumstick, not even a bite taken before throwing it away!"

　　"Today's haul is really good!"

　　"Yeah, smells great! Here, you eat it."

　　"Let's wait until there are no people around..."

　　At this point, William Carter realized he couldn't hear anything more, so he resentfully slung his backpack back on and went upstairs.

　　Thinking of the clueless Ethan Miller, and comparing the two...

　　William Carter shook his head.

　　He just didn't know who this 'His Highness' was.