Chapter 1 The Man

The man who burst into the classroom looked to be in his twenties or thirties. He had a strange short haircut, a topknot, and wore a blue long-sleeved tracksuit. He exuded a bizarre aura.

Soon after his entrance, another man, who appeared to be a little younger, also came in.

This second man had a refreshing brown short haircut and wore a red sleeveless tracksuit. Overall, he seemed to be a more normal person.

[Side Quest Triggered]

The system voice sounded as the two men walked into the classroom one after the other.

Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi opened the quest log and saw an instruction that read: [Before the end of the morning's classes, drive the Prince and Imoko out of the school].

"The Prince... and Imoko?" Little Tan muttered as he looked at the quest.

"Their full names are Prince Shotoku and Ono no Imoko," Feng Bujue explained, seeing the confused look on his face.

Brother Jue knew these two; even without the quest prompt, he knew their names and other related settings...

"Eh?" Little Tan was stunned. After all, he wasn't very familiar with *Hiyori*, he only knew..."Another famous historical figure?"

"Whether they're famous or not... and what their historical image is like, doesn't really matter," Feng Bujue continued. "Don't forget, this is the *Hiyori* universe. No matter how lofty the original characters were... in this kind of gag manga world, they'll become idiots."

"Mm..." Little Tan grunted, and the figures of Basho and Sora flashed in his mind.

"Ya~ ho~" Just then, the one in the blue tracksuit spoke up again, "Hello, everyone~ I'm Prince Shotoku. Today is 'School Experience Day'. Because the court ordered it, I couldn't refuse, so I brought Imoko here to play with everyone... or rather... to experience school life~"

"It was clearly a rule you spontaneously added yesterday on a whim..." The one in the red tracksuit instantly exposed the Prince's nonsense at lightning speed.

"As you can see, that's how it is," the Panda Teacher said from the podium, continuing their words. "They're people from the court, so it's not easy to refuse them. Please bear with it, everyone."

"What's with the court..." Little Tan muttered. "Speaking of which, is the era setting and political system in this world a bit messed up?"

"It's good that you know it's messed up..." Feng Bujue said. "Look at the Prince's outfit, a collection of ancient, modern, Eastern, and Western styles; what else is there for us to worry about..."

"Well then..." After a few seconds, the Panda Teacher looked at the Prince and Imoko and said, "Please sit in those two empty seats in the back row."

"Okay~~" The Prince replied to the teacher with his catchphrase, walking down with a very cheerful gait.

Imoko shook his head helplessly and followed with a sigh.

"Mm..." After they were seated, the Panda Teacher said, "Students, please turn to page twenty-two of your textbooks. Last time we talked about..."

The teacher began to lecture as usual. For the top students, the following content was clearly transmitted into their ears; for the slackers, they could only hear "buzzing buzzing buzzing--"

"Hey! Hey! What's your name, classmate?"

Feng Bujue was still wondering how to complete this quest when the Prince took the initiative to talk to him.

Whether it was a coincidence or a system arrangement... the Prince and Imoko's seats were on Feng Bujue and Xiong Ji's right-hand sides, respectively.

"Kosuke Kindaichi," Feng Bujue said, turning to look at the Prince.

"Oh, it's Kindaichi-kun, haha..." The Prince smiled innocently. "Hello~ How old are you this year?"

"None of your business, old man," Feng Bujue replied with a very nasty attitude.

"O...old man..." The Prince's expression twitched, and he lowered his head, trembling. His face fell into shadow, and he muttered, "These...these kids are getting less and less cute..."

"And also, old man," Feng Bujue's taunts had only just begun, "what's that strange smell on you?"

"Y...you actually bring up such a question to my face..." the Prince exclaimed. "What strange smell? There's something wrong with your nose, you brat!"

"You won't admit it..." Feng Bujue replied coldly, then turned his head to look at Imoko behind him. "Hey, big brother over there, this old man has a weird smell, right?"

"Of course, he always has," Imoko replied calmly, propping his cheek with one hand. "Probably because he's not wearing underwear."

"I see," Feng Bujue said upon hearing this. He used his acting skills to create a look of extreme disgust and contempt, casting it towards the Prince. "Heh heh..."

"'Heh heh'?" The Prince covered his face with both hands, a mixture of shock and anger. "This...this kid...what is that look! Damn it!"

"Prince, I told you to change that habit a long time ago. Now even I'm losing face with you," Imoko added insult to injury from behind the Prince.

"Shut up! You bastard, Imoko!" The Prince replied unhappily. "You know I adhere to the 'no underwear unless necessary' principle!"

"That's exactly why I told you to change it... that kind of inexplicable principle..." Imoko said with narrowed eyes.

"Um..." Before they could finish speaking, the Panda Teacher had turned around and said to them, "Prince, although strictly speaking you're not here to attend class, please don't disturb the other students from listening, okay? You're talking too loudly, and the content is terrible."

"Eh? Is it my fault?" The Prince replied aggrievedly.

"Idiot..." Imoko appropriately stabbed him in the back again.

............

The first class quickly passed.

As the bell rang, the nerves that Feng and Wang had relaxed for a moment immediately tensed up again.

The triggering of the side quest did not mean the interruption of the main quest.

With Xiong Ji having been arrested nine times, the two players could not afford to lose.

"Like this...you keep an eye on Xiong Ji, and I'll take care of the Prince," Feng Bujue said, running up to Little Tan as soon as class was over. He lowered his voice and continued, "I'm more familiar with their character settings. As long as I make good use of Imoko, this potential 'teammate', it shouldn't be difficult to force the Prince to leave." When he said this, he seemed to feel a little uneasy, so he added, "Um...if something happens on Xiong Ji's side that you can't handle alone, just give me a hand signal or call me, and I'll come over immediately."

"Understood," Little Tan replied. "The main quest takes priority."

"Meow--"

The two had only said a few words when Meowmi's scream rang out again.

"Okay, I have to go..." Little Tan said, his eyes already turning toward the direction of the scream.

"You go for it, and I..." Feng Bujue looked towards the Prince and Imoko. "Time to act."

With those words, the two went their separate ways, heading towards their respective targets.

"Ah~ I'm a little hungry, Imoko." Brother Jue had just walked over to the Prince and Imoko when he heard the Prince say, "When do we eat lunch?"

"The first class just ended. It's still a long time until lunchtime," Imoko replied.

"Eh?" The Prince looked surprised. "But I'm so hungry~"

"Didn't you have a good breakfast, Prince?" Imoko asked.

"Because I was really looking forward to the 'school lunch', I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon," the Prince replied.

"But..." Feng Bujue interjected at the right time, "Our school... doesn't provide lunch. Students bring their own bento boxes."

"Nani!" The Prince jumped up from his seat. Two seconds later, he fell to the ground in an *orz* position. "W...what am I even here for today..."

"Hey... is the essence of 'School Experience Day' actually 'School Lunch Experience Day'..." Imoko retorted.

Despite saying that, Imoko sighed a few seconds later and took out a cloth wrapper from his desk. He unwrapped it as he said, "Ah... I can't help it. No matter what, it's not good for your body to not eat anything for so long. In any case, let's eat an onigiri first."

"Wow!" The Prince jumped up again, his eyes shining. "Imoko... you actually..." In that instant, he seemed to realize something again, and his moved feelings instantly turned into resentment. "...you actually brought a bento?"

"Yeah, I investigated beforehand; this school doesn't provide lunch," Imoko replied calmly.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!" The Prince grabbed Imoko by the collar, shaking the latter as he shouted.

*Slap-*

Imoko decisively smacked the Prince's bear face and replied, "You were the one who proposed to come. You should know this kind of thing better than me, idiot!"

"Bu--hee--" The Prince uttered a strange interjection. "You called me an idiot again! How many times a day do you have to call me an idiot before you're satisfied!"

"About ten times..." Imoko replied in a low voice. "And, do you even want the onigiri?" As he asked this question, he had already unwrapped the cloth wrapper and opened the lid of the bento box.

"Yes!" The Prince said, grabbing an onigiri and taking a bite.

But after chewing a few times, he showed a disappointed expression again. "What's going on? There's no filling in this onigiri..."

"Can you go die, Prince?" Imoko replied calmly.

"If you want filling..." Feng Bujue continued, "How about this..." As he said this, he picked his nose with a cat paw and then casually stuck the lump he dug out onto the onigiri in the Prince's hand.

"Ah--" The Prince screamed in terror. "T...this kid!"

"It's a little salty, at least, and it makes the taste more mysterious and layered," Feng Bujue continued, as if nothing had happened. "The color also gives people a bright feeling, right?"

"Damn it!" In the next second, the Prince seemed to have reached the end of his patience. He immediately threw away the onigiri, shouted, and pounced towards Brother Jue.