Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Luo Chen from the parallel world may have had his memories merged with the Luo Chen of this world, but both memories still failed to recall anything particular about his classmate, Yuan Shawu. The current Yuan Shawu was a far cry from what little he remembered of the original.

However, this did not prevent him from indulging in the pretty picture. How fortunate he was to have her as a schoolmate. She was this beautiful in the sports uniform, so what would she look like in a prettier dress? Would she not be a goddess?

Luo Chen was terrible with women. It was not like the opportunity rarely presented itself to him. It was not like he could not bathe his eyes in their beauty. It was his lack of guts to strike up a chat with them.

To Luo Chen’s slight surprise, this little beauty actually took the initiative to greet him!

“Luo Chen, I did not know we took the same bus!” Yuan Shawu’s smile was like the friendly girl next door.

She knew his name! Luo Chen hurriedly sifted through his memory. Was the Luo Chen in this world actually connected to this little beauty?

If he did, that might be a problem. In his previous life, he thought himself as one of the brightest people in the world, yet he was single all the time. As he aged, he was forced to go on blind dates. Therefore, he soon developed a fear of family reunions.

In this world, Luo Chen was merely a second-classed high school student with a plain appearance, poor grades and he was most definitely not tall. Luo Chen was not sure if his cheats and talents alone could make up for the shortcomings of such a person. Fortunately, he had the golden finger of “a library of Planet Aqua Blue novels in his brain,” enough to make him a great writer in the world. Without it, his future would have most certainly been bleak.

Luo Chen was certain that one should start a relationship as a high school student. Girls would all be in their best condition. Upon stepping into society, single lady would decline exponentially.

When it came to courting girls, only witty young boys would be winners for life. They would look for girls who came from higher society and cling onto them for life — girls who were of similar standing as Lady Zhao. If they succeeded, they would have nothing to worry about in their future.

Even if they failed to make it last forever, they have had their wonderful moments with these high-quality girls. They had nothing to lose. Upon stepping into society, they just had to look for girls beneath them…

Luo Chen could not find anything in his memories that were related to this beautiful young junior. He smiled awkwardly, scratching his head, “Hello, who are you?”

Both Luo Chens were single and shy. He was awful at dealing with girls, pretty ones especially. It took every fibre in his body to look as aloof as possible.

Yuan Shawu was highly experienced in dealing with such men. The nice smile on her face did not grow any fader and she said, “I’m Yuan Shawu. We’re in the same class. Don’t you recognize me?”

When Luo Chen heard the name, “Yuan Shawu,” his memory banks went to work. All that came back was a gloomy girl who was hardly worth mentioning. She did not have any friends. She did not even go to the bathroom in pairs.

As nobody noticed her existence, nobody bothered to cause any trouble to her. If you did not know that a person existed, how could you put that person in your crosshairs, easy as a target they might be?

Compared to her, Luo Chen was in a far more miserable situation. The school could care less about enforcing discipline. Bullying incidents were neither controlled nor contained. Students resorted to various despicable methods, fighting for the throne. Coincidentally, mobster novels were one of the most popular genres on the Internet, such as “Young And Dangerous.” [1] In this “cultural desert,” there were no hidden forms of power to stem the flow of this poison. Hence, it had greatly influenced the high school environment, which was already terrible with discipline, to begin with.

Luo Chen was one of the victims of this culture. He was that errand boy who often had to buy his bullies lunch.

“You are Yuan Shawu? Oh, I’m sorry. My brain just short-circuited for a moment,” Luo Chen jerked upright.

He was still having trouble processing his vision.

The girl in front of him was brimming with energy. Nobody could possibly ignore her presence. How could she be the Yuan Shawu from his memories?

And when was she this beautiful?

If she was this pretty, some influential guy would have already set his sights on her. It was common for those gangsters in campus to force themselves upon pretty girls. They could resort to blackmail, or anything of the sort.

And so, Yuan Shawu started to chat with Luo Chen. She seemed to have maxed out socializing stats. Even an introvert like Luo Chen quickly got comfortable talking to her.

Luo Chen never once had an acquaintance of the opposite sex, let alone a respectable friend of the opposite sex. He now felt that he had one, and they were resonating like never before.

Did this make him the protagonist of this world? His first day transmigrating to this world, and a beauty from his class had already approached him. Was this the beginning of a wonderful harem?

As he thought of this, his heart started dancing a jig of joy, even if his face remained as calm as the surface of a lake. He would have to make a good impression of himself here. It was not that he had fallen in love with Yuan Shawu at first sight. Like other men, he was an animal focused on the survival of the fittest. When a man is placed before a beautiful girl, they could not help but start fantasizing about it. Would sparks fly between the two of them in the future? The good kind?

He was an old scholar who had long been cursed by loneliness. Now that he was a high school student, he had vowed to himself that he would strike up a relationship as soon as possible. It would be a massive waste, if he did not do so!

Luo Chen started to review his current circumstances. He was an orphan, and there were no parents around to force him into a relationship. With a long sigh, he realized that people would never appreciate something until it is lost forever.

Yuan Shawu and Luo Chen walked together, laughing all the way to the entrance of “Ranked Number Thirteen” high school. Luo Chen’s smile faded almost immediately when he saw three boys in the same uniform. The first one held a cigarette in his mouth.

These were the three yobs who regularly picked on him…

Luo Chen could not care less if he was alone to get pummeled. Now, he was concerned about the safety of his newfound friend, the little beauty Yuan Shawu.

Translation Note:

[1] “Young And Dangerous”(古惑仔) film series is a collection of Hong Kong films about a group of young triad members, detailing their adventures, dangers, and growth in a Hong Kong triad society. The series is based on a popular comic book series known as “Teddy Boy.”