Chapter Three: I Fear I Have Traveled to a False Yue

After breakfast, Su Mo set out with Shiori and Kotori. Kotori was still a middle school student, while Shiori was in the same class as him. Since their routes differed, the three parted ways at a certain alley, leaving only Su Mo to accompany Shiori to school.

Even now, walking side by side with Shiori Itsuka, Su Mo could hardly believe he had actually crossed into another world. Facing the feminized Shiori Itsuka, he always felt a peculiar sense of unease.

He, Shiori, and Kotori shared no blood ties. Shiori had been adopted into the Itsuka family from a young age, while Su Mo himself had suddenly been taken in by the Itsuka household five years earlier. Of the three, Shiori always played the role of the elder sister, caring for Su Mo and Kotori, single-handedly managing all the housework, making her beloved by all. Even Kotori held Shiori in great respect and always listened to her.

All this, Su Mo had furtively observed over the course of a morning.

As for himself, Su Mo still couldn’t quite find his footing—unsure of how to approach Shiori and Kotori, or what their attitudes toward him truly were. This unsettled him greatly, making him suspect the so-called ‘Main God’ had landed him in a most troublesome situation.

Lost in thought, he and Shiori finally arrived at their high school.

—Metropolitan Raizen High!

This newly established school, only a few years old, boasted facilities beyond imagination—unquestionably the premier high school in Tenguu City. Gaining admission was no easy feat.

Following Shiori, Su Mo entered Class 4 of the second-year cohort.

Today was April 10th, the first day of the new academic term.

There were around forty students in the class, most of them strangers. Fortunately, second-year classes were reshuffled; otherwise, facing a roomful of familiar faces, Su Mo wouldn’t have known what to do. At this time, the island nation’s education system was much like that of old Huaxia: first-year students attended all courses together, while second-year students were sorted into arts and sciences classes.

Though class had yet to begin, many students were already present. Some were delighted to find friends in their new class, while others sat bored at their desks. In any case, everyone was striving to adapt to the new environment.

Thus, someone as taciturn as Su Mo didn’t seem particularly out of place.

He soon found his name written on the blackboard.

Consulting the seating chart, he discovered his assigned seat—in the back row by the window. Wasn’t this the seat reserved for protagonists?

He never imagined he would one day sit there.

As Su Mo found his seat, a voice suddenly called out from behind.

“Itsuka Su Mo?”

A voice he’d never heard before. No—besides Shiori, could anyone in the class possibly know him?

Su Mo turned around in disbelief. There he saw a slender girl with shoulder-length white hair—her face as exquisite as that of a doll, her features flawless, yet utterly devoid of expression. She gazed at him with ice-cold eyes, unblinking.

“Hmm?” Su Mo’s eyes flickered with puzzlement at her appearance. “Do you know me?”

In response, the expressionless girl tilted her head, staring at him as if in disbelief.

“You don’t remember?”

“???” Su Mo scratched his cheek, utterly bewildered.

Seeing Su Mo fall silent, the girl showed no particular disappointment. She quietly sat down behind him—it was worth noting that Su Mo’s seat was the second-to-last by the window, and the girl’s was directly behind his.

She settled into her seat, withdrew a thick stack of textbooks, and, unfazed by the noisy classroom, calmly began to read. Her diligence was truly admirable.

Su Mo, meanwhile, sat stiffly, mind racing through the girl’s cryptic words.

She clearly knew him, yet he had no memory of her whatsoever.

What on earth had the Main God arranged for him?

Why was this world so different from the Date A Live he knew? He couldn’t help but clutch his hair, nearly driven mad by frustration.

As Su Mo brooded, he suddenly heard Shiori’s voice beside him.

“I can hardly believe Su Mo-san knows Origami-san!” Only then did Su Mo realize that Shiori’s seat was just to his right.

Shiori covered her mouth and chuckled softly, as though she’d discovered something amusing. “Origami-san is our school’s pride—a super-genius whose grades have always topped the year. Her mock exam scores are among the nation’s very best, and her athletic performance is likewise outstanding. Coupled with her beauty, she’s extremely popular here.”

Then, her tone shifting to one of wonder, Shiori continued, “But Origami-san is usually very aloof. Students privately call her ‘Permafrost’—almost no one can get close to her, and I’ve never heard of her having any friends. I never expected she’d initiate a conversation with you, Su Mo-san. Could it be you two have met before?”

“Why do you also think we know each other?” Su Mo couldn’t help but retort.

Yet, thanks to Shiori’s prompt, Su Mo finally recognized the identity of the icy girl.

So, it was Origami Tobiichi.

A true master—my apologies!

Any Date A Live aficionado would know: because of the Tenguu City fire five years prior, Origami Tobiichi lost both her parents. The disaster was caused by Kotori Itsuka’s powers running amok upon becoming a Spirit. From that moment, Origami developed a deep-seated hatred for Spirits, eventually joining the Anti-Spirit Team as an AST operative.

By a twist of fate, the protagonist, Shido Itsuka, would later travel back in time with Kurumi’s time-manipulating powers, comforting Origami after the loss of her parents. For Origami, drowning in despair, Shido became the most important person in her life, which explained the series’ famed reversal of romantic pursuit.

Origami’s nickname, ‘Master,’ stemmed from her unrivaled tactics—whips, cat tails, frilly skirts, and all manner of eccentric approaches, earning her the reputation of a textbook romance expert.

Within Date A Live, Origami, except for her obsessive pursuit of Shido, was cold to everyone else. Why, then, had she taken the initiative to speak to him?

Moreover, from Shiori and Origami’s behavior, it seemed they were not particularly familiar with each other. This gave Su Mo a headache—the plot had gone completely off the rails. Any advantage he might have had as a transmigrator was gone, and he began to doubt his very existence.

Perhaps he hadn’t really transmigrated at all!