Chapter Text
“Ge¹, we’ll be late!” Bailu shouts from the car. Dan Heng hurriedly puts his shoes on, taking the keys from the table and runs out the door.
“Sorry, Bailu. Give me a moment.” He replies as he locks the front door. Dan Heng runs to his car, getting into the driver’s seat. The engine starts, and the car moves.
“Geez, I told you to set an alarm! I thought you weren’t coming today,” Bailu nags.
“Me, not coming? Nope. I have a job today, can’t skip.” Dan Heng pats his little sister’s hair.
“Didn’t you work yesterday? How many jobs do you need?” Bailu tilts her head in curiosity. Dan Heng chuckles softly.
“Well, you’re turning 11 soon. I want to give you the best birthday ever,” Dan Heng says with a smile.
“I don’t get you, but thanks! … Y’know, speaking of which, I never see Heng-ge celebrate his birthday. When do you do that?”
Dan Heng’s grip on the wheel tightens.
“Normally when you’re asleep. I don’t want to wake you up for things like that.”
Bailu’s words were left unsaid when the car stops in front of her school.
“I’ll get going now, ge! See you after school! Love you!” Bailu gets out of the car and waves at Dan Heng, who waves back. After ensuring she enters the building, he starts driving to his school.
————
Dan Heng walks through the hallway, his eyes glued to his phone screen. A series of digits appear on the top of the screen, with a dollar sign standing before said numbers. Dan Heng switches tabs to a search bar, eventually scrolling through multiple job application websites he had browsed the night before. A light slap falls on his shoulders, and he turns his head to see one of his friends, Stelle.
“Stelle.” He greets her with a glare. Stelle smiles back at him. “So cold in the morning? Went to your class just now and didn’t see you. Never knew Mr. Head of Council could narrowly avoid being late. Who did you learn that from?”
Dan Heng turns his phone off and slides it in his pocket, turning to fully face his grey-haired friend. She wears the school uniform messily, having some parts of her shirt tucked out of her.. pants? Dan Heng looks back up and meets her eyes with a confused expression. “Why aren’t you using your uniform?”
Stelle tilts her head and laughs. “I switched with Caelus. He’s walking around in a cute little skirt, wouldn’t that be good material to promote our school?”
Dan Heng returns her remark with a disgusted look. Stelle crosses her arms and sighs.
“I meant that as a joke, obviously! My skirt hasn’t been washed yet. I got permission from Professor Welt to use some pants, and I got off with a warning. Anyways, wanna search trash cans with me? I heard from someone that this group of rich kids have been throwing their money in them recently.” Stelle smiles at him.
“I have to pick up my little sister. Also, who told you that?”
“Me, of course! Where else would she get such valuable information?” A bubbly voice appears from behind Stelle, revealing March. Her bright smile makes it hard to ignore her presence. Multiple students passing by look back at her, or more specifically her extremely noticeable pink hair.
“March, what’d I tell you about dying your hair?” Dan Heng swiftly moves to the side to avoid March’s extremely deadly ‘pat on the back’ attack. She retracts her hand and places it on Stelle’s left shoulder, supporting herself.
“What’d you mean? Vice president Bronya dyed her hair, and the girl standing next to me dyed it grey as well! Why are you only pointing me out?” March pouts and leans her body on Stelle, her bangs moving to the side.
“The vice president and Stelle dyed their hair an achromatic colour, meanwhile you’re walking around like a pink flamingo. You haven’t told Ms. Himeko, right? Have you not gotten dress coded?” Dan Heng pinches his nose bridge. March shoots him a bright grin and raises her thumb, index finger, and middle finger in front of her face.
“Only thrice!”
“......”
Dan Heng turns away from his friends without answering, walking as the bright pink haired girl behind him spouts insults and curses him in the hallway.
–
The first period for class is self-study. Normally, the homeroom teachers would take this time to discuss class-related matters. The students either sleep or play games if the teachers don’t go to class. Unfortunately for Dan Heng’s class, their homeroom teacher is persistent and won’t let them slack off.
A stack of papers drop on the teacher’s desk in front. The students all groan, except for Dan Heng and a few others. He sits in the very back of the class right next to the window. His head rests on his hand as he stares at the scenery outside absentmindedly. The school gate can be seen from the view, with a bright blue sky and various trees. He listens to the teacher’s ramblings, but his surroundings gradually get quieter until he can't hear anything.
He watches as the clouds move slowly in the sky, and spots a small black cat jumping through the walls of the school. Judging by its size, it seems quite young. He closes his eyes, almost falling asleep.
“So, President of the Student Council– what do you think?”
A voice snaps him out of his trance. He opens his eyes and moves his gaze from the window to the teacher in front of the class. Putting his hand down, he sits straight and says, “I don’t see a problem. However, I suggest we utilise the second session of morning self-study for our own purposes. Afternoon self-study as well.”
Dan Heng’s classmates close their eyes and silently thank him for not sacrificing their slack time. Even though he was the Council President, he’s still aware of how little time they have to relax. The teacher, finding it hard to reject him, silently accepts his proposal.
“Very well. In that case, I’ll be going now. Don’t forget to do your schoolwork. Remember, your class secretary took time and effort to write down a to-do list in the groupchat. Don’t let a good kid’s efforts go to a waste.”
The “good kid” who talked shit about the homeroom teacher in a separate group chat: “........”
After the class greets the teacher goodbye, a few students walk up to Dan Heng’s desk.
“Thanks, bro. You really saved us there.” A male student with short, black hair says. A girl with braided hair and glasses nods passionately.
“I agree! If we had to spend almost two hours listening to the teacher talk about how Romeo and Juliet symbolises the relation between river water and sea water again, I’d rather die..”
Another student with a flower clip shivers at her statement. She crosses her arms and comments, “You still remember that?”
“It’s too memorable!! Who even comes up with something like that? That type of thinking needs actual talent..” The one with the glasses puts up both hands in an act of defending herself.
Dan Heng’s classmates continue talking, but he stays silent. In truth, he’s not close with anyone from his class. He’s confident the majority of them are kind with him just because he’s the Council President. In fact, he knew they had another group chat without the teacher but didn’t add him in fear of him snitching. He understood how they felt, so he was never bothered by it.
Sometimes he likes to listen to their banter. His classmates remind him a lot of his own friends. Thankfully, compared to the other classes, his class was categorised as one of the better-behaving classes, with calmer students and decent grades. Most teachers walk through the door happily rather than dreadful.
The sounds of his classmates once again drown out into silence. He buries his head in his arms and closes his eyes.
‘I want to go home..’
–
Dan Heng unexpectedly fell asleep. His classmates talked for a little before noticing the Council President they were complimenting had fallen asleep.
“Hey. Is he asleep?” The male student with black hair says. The other students stop talking and observe the person in front of them. Upon not seeing any physical movement, they switched to whispering.
“Yeah, he is. Damn. Wasn’t expecting the president to fall asleep..” Another student with red hair whispers. A blonde girl beside him slaps his head lightly.
“Stupid.. It's self study. If it were a normal lesson, I doubt he’d fall asleep.” She says softly. Another student with long black hair looks at them before sighing and pushing them all away from his desk.
“Come on. Let’s not bother him.”
–
As soon as the bell rings, the students all sit down as it marks the end of the study session. A few minutes later, the teacher walks in. The teacher uses rimless, rectangular, and thin glasses whilst holding a book in his right hand. His hair is a dark purple colour with a golden laurel leaf decorating his left side. He fixes his glasses as he makes his way to the teacher’s desk. Upon putting his book down and looking at the classroom in front of him, he notices a head of black hair in the back of the class lying down on the desk.
“Is that Dan Heng?” The teacher asks the class. The students look around frantically, not knowing how to answer. A student nervously raises his hand. The teacher waits for him to speak.
“Y-yes, Professor Ratio. He fell asleep earlier during-” Before the student could continue, Ratio cuts him off.
“Yes, thank you. I don’t need an explanation. Don’t wake him up, he can skip my class if he wants to.” Ratio says in what sounds like an annoyed voice. The students all immediately shut up and discreetly pull out their phones.
-
Free us from the hands of the school! (Class XI-2) (28 members)
Xiyangege: Damn, the big boss is pissed!!!!!
Mingming: I hate having math as the first subject. Mom, pick me up T-T
Xiaosheng~: tbh, I don’t think Prof Ratio is mad
Xiyangege: | Replying to Xiaosheng~ | ..crazy. You’ve surely gone crazy.
Yujin: No, I think Dongsheng is right. Plus, Prof Ratio always speaks like that..
Yujin: The president always gets good grades. Even if he was awake, it wouldn’t really make a difference
Mingming: So what you’re saying is, prof is calling us stupid?
Yujin: Somewhat, yea
Xiyangege: …….
Xiyangege: Death to all math teachers!!!
Woohoo: Death to all math teachers!!!
King Tu: Death to all math teachers!!!
Xiaosheng~: Hey, don’t spam
Xiaosheng~: Yujin is right. President always gets good grades. Pretty sure prof was being genuine when he said we dont have to wake him up
Ling’er: Still, I’ve never seen president so tired before
YUTIE: | Replying to Ling’er | Is that really any of our business?
Ling’er: | Replying to YUTIE | Hi, good kid.
YUTIE: | Replying to Ling’er | ……
Mingming: Lingling-jie is right. I really want to get to know Dan Heng-ge, but he’s so scary ( ･᷄ὢ･᷅ )
Xiaosheng~: Considering we’re gonna be stuck with him for a year, we should warm up to him
a² + b² = c²: Focus on the lesson!!!!!
Woohoo: shit, the devil appeared!
King Tu: why did we let him in our groupchat again?
Xiyangege: fuck!! The class captain!!
(Xiyangege, Woohoo, and 6 others have gone offline.)
-
Dan Heng slowly opens his eyes, being greeted by the bright sun and a whiteboard full of formulas. He blinks in confusion before looking at the clock.
‘... Class started 20 minutes ago.’
He hurriedly puts on his reading glasses. As he makes out the formulas on the board, he sighs in relief when he recognizes them as the material he learned a week prior. He takes off his glasses and rests his head on his palm, looking out the window once again.
He’s never slept in class.
Neither has he ever woken up late before.
Which was weird, because for some reason he did today. As he closes his eyes, a brief image of his phone appears. On the phone was a chat history with a string of numbers sent by the other person.
He opens his eyes and suddenly feels in a worse mood than before.
He lets out a heavy sigh, taking out his notebook and focusing onto the board once again.
————
In the blink of an eye, lunch break came. Dan Heng closes his notebook and puts down his pen. As he walks towards the door, a classmate stops him in his tracks. He looks at the black-haired classmate who was at his desk earlier.
“Do you need anything?” He asks. The black haired classmate shakes his head and extends his right hand.
“My name is Wu He². I know it’s kind of late, but let’s get to know each other.”
Dan Heng stares at the hand in front of him before shaking it. He looks at his classmate and smiles, “My name is Dan Heng.”
His classmate retracts his hand and laughs for a little. “Of course you’re Dan Heng, who else wouldn’t know you in this school?”
The two talked for a little bit before they had to seperate. After the small talk, Dan Heng learned something about his classmate. Wu He mainly took science, however he actually wanted to take a sports related career. According to him, he only chose science because he’s better at it than art.
The small interaction put Dan Heng in a significantly better mood than he was this morning. It meant his classmates weren’t entirely afraid of him.
On his way to the canteen, he ran into March. March told him that since Stelle and her brother Caelus were called for a club meeting, they couldn’t attend lunch. Dan Heng silently nods. They found a bench to sit on near the corner of the room.
“Soo, how’s your new class doing it for you?” March says as she bites into her burger. Dan Heng rests his hand on his palm as he taps the table with his other hand, “Not so bad.”
March swallows her food and smiles, “That’s good. I thought you’d have trouble mixing in since no one you know is in that class.”
Dan Heng doesn’t reply. After a few minutes of talking, March notices the person sitting across her wasn’t eating. She puts her burger down and points at Dan Heng with annoyance in her eyes.
“Hey. Where’s your food?”
Dan Heng looks at the empty space in front of him. He vaguely remembers last night.
“Only prepared enough food for Bailu last night.” Dan Heng silently answered. March retracts her hand and puts it down. She sighs and softly scolds him, “You need to eat. How would Xiao-Bai³ react when she sees her brother become Skinny-Heng?!”
Dan Heng chuckles softly at her remark. He nods silently. Seeing this, March picks up her burger and continues eating. The two continue lunch break in a comfortable silence, sometimes bringing up small topics. After what felt like only a few minutes, lunch break was over.
“Hey, can I come over to your house for a while today?” March says as she’s cleaning up her trash.
Dan Heng stays silent before shaking his head. “Can’t today. Parents will be back in the evening.”
Hearing this, March’s movements stop. She looks over at Dan Heng seemingly scanning his face. Dan Heng could hear her grumble a few words, but couldn’t make them up.
She waves goodbye to Dan Heng and the two seperate.
————
As soon as the school bell rings, Dan Heng goes to his car without waiting for his friends. He had already told them beforehand, however he still felt a little bit guilty. Today, he’s picking up his sister from school since they both have to be there for dinner with their parents. An uneasy feeling starts to swell in his heart. As he starts the engine, he quietly takes out his phone.
He scrolls through his contacts and finds the same number that had sent him a text the night before. Holding his breath, he presses the call button.
Beep..
Beep..
Beep..
Hello! The person you are trying to call is currently unavailable. Please leave your name and your message shortly after the beep.
Beep!
Dan Heng remains silent, letting the voicemail run. After what felt like hours, he hung up.
As expected, his mom didn’t pick up again.
————
“Heng-ge!”
A cheerful voice greets Dan Heng. He opens his arms and accepts his little sister’s embrace. Her bright smile instantly cleared up the dark clouds above him.
“Hi, Bailu.”
He waves goodbye to Bailu’s teacher and opens the door for Bailu. She gets in the front seat and straps the seatbelt. Dan Heng closes the door and gets in the driver’s seat.
“Gege, why didn’t you pick me up from Hook’s house?” Bailu swings her legs back and forth. Dan Heng stays silent for a few seconds before replying, “Mom and Dad are coming back from the airport today.”
“Ah-” As soon as Bailu hears that, her legs stop swinging. Dan Heng notices his sister’s expression sink. He doesn’t say anything.
“How long will they be staying at home?” Bailu asks. She fidgets with her hands nervously. Dan Heng pats her hair.
“Don’t think about it too much. We’re just eating with them, they’ll probably be gone tomorrow.”
Bailu leans into her brother’s touch. The drive home was quiet, but the tense atmosphere stayed. When Dan Heng sees another car in the driveway, he prepares himself for the worse.
After parking the car, he holds Bailu’s hand and walks to the front door. He holds his breath and pushes the handle, being greeted by the same, cold living room. Near the sofa lies multiple suitcases and a bag of souvenirs. He hears the sound of plates from the dining table, and he can feel Bailu’s grip tighten on his hand. He carefully walks inside, seeing long black hair seep from the corner.
With Bailu trailing behind him, he walks into the dining room and sees his parents sitting in pristine and luxurious clothing. They didn’t seem to notice him until he greets them, “Mom, Dad. Welcome back.”
The woman puts her utensils down and looks up, her face brightening up upon seeing her son and daughter. “Lengzai⁴! Xiaomei⁵! It’s been so long, come here! Sit down.”
She invites them to sit. Dan Heng glances at himself and shakes his head, “We’re still using our uniform. It’s dirty.”
“Aish, who cares about that? Just sit down.” The woman motions them to approach the table. Hesitantly, the two take their seats beside their parents. A tense atmosphere lingers in the air, however the woman seems oblivious to it.
“How was school for you guys? Lengzai, you just started the school year right? Are you planning to sign up for the student council?” The woman takes a sip from her wine glass. Bailu looks at her confusingly as she silently bites her lip. Dan Heng looks at her indifferently,”It’s been three months since school started, Mom. I signed up for the student council last year, and I’m president now.”
As if ignoring her previous remark, she claps softly. “That’s good, my Lengzai is so smart. How about you, Xiaomei? Have you made any friends?” Bailu smiles in an attempt to lighten the mood, “Yes, mom. I do. Her name is Hook.”
The woman smiles brightly at her statement, “That’s good! When did you meet her?”
“The science fair.” Bailu replies.
“Ah, when was that?”
“Three years ago, mom.”
“Weird, why can’t I remember you meeting her?”
“Probably because you didn’t attend.” Dan Heng answers for his sister with a sharp tone. The tense atmosphere once again returns. He could feel a piercing gaze from the silent man sitting at the table, and a surprised look from the woman.
The woman picks up her fork and smiles but avoids eye contact, “O-oh.”
The rest of the dinner continues in silence. Bailu finished her food early, so she went to her room to wash up. Dan Heng sits silently with a full plate in front of him. The woman stares at him and his plate before asking, “Lengzai, what’s wrong? Is the food not to your liking?”
Dan Heng stays silent. The woman appears more nervous.
She taps the table a few times before stopping. A bright smile appears on her face and she looks at Dan Heng enthusiastically, “I forgot, Lengzai. Did you get the money I sent yesterd-”
Before she could finish her sentence, a wine glass was slammed on the table. Dan Heng clutches the glass and stands up from his chair, ignoring the look of shock on the woman’ face.
“I’m going upstairs.”
He walks towards his room, unresponsive to the calls by the woman. As soon as he steps in, a loud and deep voice calls out to him “Dan Heng.”
In a split second, he slams the door and blocks it with his own body, fearing the man who called for him. After a few seconds of silence, he lets out a deep breath and falls to the ground, back still blocking the door.
————