It's just The Sims, how did it become my ideal love story?

Chapter 30 Is He Special?

Jicheng No.1 Middle School is considered to have quite good sports facilities in Jicheng.

The entire playground consists of a flagpole, a rostrum, a football field covered with artificial turf, and a 400-meter running track.

It also includes badminton courts, ping-pong tables, and six basketball courts on both sides. It's quite a large facility.

I've hardly ever used them myself. I was lucky if I could play basketball or badminton with others occasionally. Most of the time, people went in groups, so they didn't need me. There were no female or male protagonists like in Japanese anime who would take pity on you and invite you to play together.

Everyone was simply immersed in their own happiness, so who cared about you, this nobody who had let yourself go? Looking back, Gu Huai really did have a sense of déjà vu.

The procedure for physical education classes remains the same.

The PE teacher, wearing a whistle, gathered everyone together and then pretended to do a warm-up activity. Why do I say it was just a pretense? Because when it came time to actually run laps, everyone experienced stomach aches and cramps—no one could avoid it.

After the warm-up, the boys and girls would run laps together, and that's when the most common thing would happen. Many girls would approach the PE teacher with a slightly shy expression and ask for leave with reasons that the boys wouldn't accept.

After running the laps, you'll find that the girls either drink water or eat spicy snacks, and those who were teased by boys will chase after them all the way down the corridor.

While running laps, Gu Huai assessed his current physical condition. To be honest, although the points added to endurance and strength weren't many, they still had an effect.

I hardly feel that feeling of being out of breath while running. I'm rather thin and look a bit malnourished, but I don't seem to feel any strain at all.

Running on the familiar plastic track that smells of plastic, the wind blowing in my face is like the breeze of eighteen years old.

As Gu Huai ran, he saw Cai Yan, who didn't need to run, on the playground.

Gu Huai glanced at her, but it didn't really mean anything. After all, looking back to this age, he realized that there weren't many girls in his class who were worth taking a second look at.

But she noticed her own gaze and then glared at herself.

What did I do to offend her? Why is she getting angry for no reason, just like later?

Then Gu Huai ran around even more smugly. In reality, you're my team leader and I can't do anything to you, but in the simulation, do you think I can put up with your temper?
Cai Yan had no idea what was wrong with the boy. She glared at him, but why did he act like he was being rewarded, puffing out his chest and straightening up? He must have some kind of weird fetish. Ugh, it's infuriating!

However, after that day, he didn't seem to take the initiative to talk to me or anything. Just like he said, he didn't misunderstand what I did for him as any other kind of relationship, and thus didn't harass me.

This was clearly his own idea, but when he brought it up and actually did it, she felt very strange, unnatural, and awkward.

I can't quite describe the emotion, but without realizing it, this boy, whom I had never paid attention to before, has been appearing in my sight more and more frequently.

After finishing the laps, all the students gathered again. Cai Yan looked at Gu Huai, who was standing to her right. He seemed quite relaxed, not as strained as she had imagined.

He stood there calmly, his body upright.

It looked rather unusual, especially comical in the crowd. But why did it look different from the other boys? Unlike them, it wasn't joking around, making childish little gestures, or cracking vulgar jokes.

Damn it, what's so special about him? He's not handsome, but he's tall enough. He'll grow taller someday, so why bother? What does it matter to me whether he grows taller or not? I'm not his mother.

"Okay, disband!"

I didn't hear anything the PE teacher said during the session; I only heard the final "dismissed."

The girl realized she had been staring at him for a long time, and quickly turned back just as he seemed about to turn around.

It's crazy.

She was staring at an ordinary-looking boy.
Her friend next to her looked at her strangely, "Hey Yan Yan, why is your face so red? Are you having heatstroke?"

"It's nothing, I'm just tired from running."

"Didn't you get your period and not go running?"

"Oh, I said I got tired of watching the boys run."

"???"

"Oh, it's so sunny! I'm going to get a tan! Let's find a shady spot, quick!"

I pulled my friend away, wanting to get a little further away, otherwise I really felt a bit out of control and couldn't manage it.

Just sitting on the steps under the big tree, my gaze casually swept around, and I easily spotted that figure. It was strange; I would never have noticed it before, we'd barely exchanged a few words, and had no interaction whatsoever.

Just because of this one thing, how come I see him everywhere?
Is that Chen Pinyan?
When did they become so close? They're always seen with their arms around each other.
"Hey, did you hear?"

The girl next to me suddenly spoke up.

"Huh? What?"

I quickly averted my gaze. This feeling of being afraid of being discovered secretly watching someone is strange; my heart races, and my face involuntarily flushes. Yet, inexplicably, I don't feel repulsed; instead, I even feel a strange sense of comfort.

Fortunately, the girl didn't notice Cai Yan's unusual behavior all day.

She pointed to the basketball court on the playground and said, "Chen Pinyan invited the boys from the fourth class next door to play basketball. A lot of girls went over to cheer them on. Do you want to go and watch?"

"Ha, a basketball game? Then Gu Huai..."

It was almost blurted out.

The girl next to him asked curiously, "Gu Huai what?"

Cai Yan quickly explained, "No. I just saw Chen Pinyan and Gu Huai together. Does he play too? I don't think I've ever seen Gu Huai play basketball."

"Who cares about Gu Huai? He's a big, dumb guy, always quiet and doesn't talk much. He doesn't have any friends. I've never even seen him play basketball. Why are you so worried about him?"

"I wasn't worried! I was just curious. We all thought he was a strange person before, someone who didn't have much presence, but isn't it strange that he suddenly wants to play basketball? So I just asked casually."

"Was that really just a casual remark?" The girl looked at Cai Yan suspiciously.

Cai Yan nodded matter-of-factly, "Of course, what kind of person do you think I am? I'm definitely a sucker for good looks. You think I'd be interested in a guy like that? Do you think I'm starving?"

"That's true. But do you want to go check it out? It's very lively over there."

"I'm not really interested in basketball," Cai Yan said. The girl next to her looked a little disappointed, but Cai Yan immediately changed the subject.

"But if you really want to see it, then I'll go with you."

"What's wrong? Let's go, let's go, there are so many people, we won't be able to see anything if we get too crowded."

Gu Huai had not anticipated that so many people would pay attention.

It was clearly just a friendly match between classes, maybe not even a proper competition. But quite a few people had gathered around, many of them girls.

It wasn't just people from their own class; there were also some faces from the neighboring Class 4. Chen Pinyan even smiled and said to Gu Huai as if she were taking credit, "Impressive, right? Getting so many people to cheer us on. Do your best, maybe a girl will confess her feelings to you after the game."

Gu Huai felt that such a possibility was unlikely. What was more likely was that the more people he called out, the more people would see him make a fool of himself.

"Let's forget about that. What about the people from Class Four?"

"You're here? Oh, over there, I'll go say hello."

After speaking, Chen Pinyan walked towards another direction on the court. Gu Huai was accompanied by three boys from his class. He recognized them, but didn't have a strong impression of them. After all, he hadn't been very close to his former classmates since the class reshuffle, and only had a basic recollection of them.

Gu Huai saw Chen Pinyan approach a group of boys from Class 4, chatting and laughing, seemingly very familiar with them.

Chen Pinyan even put her arm around a guy who was about 1.75 meters tall, but much more handsome. They looked in her direction and said something.

The handsome boy, who had been smiling, immediately changed his expression, and his eyes turned gloomy.

At this moment, the boys next to Gu Huai were still talking.

"Hey, who's going to guard against Su Yiming? He's probably their class's ace."

"I won't go. He's pretty good at basketball, and I heard he often plays pickup games outside."

"real or fake?"

"Seriously, I even checked his Douyin account. He often plays alone. I'm not going to embarrass myself; so many people are watching."

Gu Huai suddenly seemed to understand something, as if Conan's light flashed through his mind.

He turned to look at the group, "Who is Su Yiming?"

Several boys looked at Gu Huai in surprise, "You don't know Su Yiming?"

"Do I have to know him? He's not the dean of students."

"Uh"

For a moment, they couldn't really refute him, and they all looked at Gu Huai strangely, until someone said something.

"That's Su Yiming, the one Chen Pinyan is holding."

"That's it."

Gu Huai nodded and said nothing more.

When Chen Pinyan finally returned, he looked ready to fight and said to the others.

"It's settled, we can start right away. Oh, and let's discuss the tactics before we begin."

Before he could even finish saying the word "tactics," his gaze had already fallen on Gu Huai's face; there were just too many flaws.

Gu Huai spoke directly.

"Is Su Yiming on the other side very powerful?"

"Uh, yeah, what's wrong?"

Chen Pinyan's rhythm was interrupted, and she was caught off guard, so she subconsciously asked a question.

Gu Huai nodded, "Alright, I'll guard him. You guys do your best."

The other three boys were stunned, unable to believe it.

"Damn, Gu Huai, you're so brave?"

"I really misjudged you before, you're a real man!"

Only Chen Pinyan was completely bewildered. She had already prepared her lines on how to persuade the boy to defend against Su Yiming, who was most likely to embarrass him. Why did he make this request himself?

What's going on when things are going so smoothly that you start to feel uneasy?
Not only that, Gu Huai came over and patted him on the shoulder, giving him a strange, sunny smile.

"If I defend against the opposing team's big man, you should be able to score a lot of points, right?"

"I'll try my best."

"Well, come on."

Gu Huai walked towards the court cleanly and neatly, as easily as if he were going to the toilet.

Chen Pinyan found it all very strange.

I'm clearly following my own ideas, but why does everything feel different from what I expected?

Among the onlookers.

The girl said to Cai Yan, "And Su Yiming too! I heard he's both handsome and skilled at basketball. Now we'll get to see him."

Cai Yan didn't even glance at the boy.

She simply looked at the boy who had silently walked to the center of the scene.

He seems to have really changed a lot, like he's a completely different person. How could he have dared to perform in front of so many people before?
But why do this now? He doesn't even know he's watching, and he's not even making eye contact with him.
In the past, Cai Yan would have definitely thought that the boy was making such a fuss just to attract the attention of an ignorant girl and to show off his childish self.

However, this interpretation doesn't apply to Gu Huai at all.

He's not one to show off, nor is he good at it.

This made her inexplicably look forward to what he was going to do and to what extent he could do it.

A white dove flew hurriedly across the bright blue sky, the wind whipping the treetops, the leaves rustling and swaying like wind chimes.

A moment of silence fell over the basketball court as the two sides faced off.

then.

"start!"

Two young figures leaped high in the center circle, stretching their hands toward the sun, toward the white clouds, toward their vibrant eighteen-year-old youth.

……

(End of this chapter)