There were only a few people in the class, so it wasn’t hard to remember everyone’s name.
As Ruan Shu was talking and memorizing their names, she distributed the items on her desk to everyone, leaving a little for herself so they could all share a snack together.
Actually, she’d brought some snacks too.
Ruan Shu opened her bag and took out some food, including the small tomatoes and strawberries she’d grown herself.
These two kinds were already ripe—the small tomatoes could even be eaten as fruit, and the strawberries came in two colors, white and red.
The butler had thoughtfully packed them in little boxes for her on her way here.
As she opened the box, the fragrance of the strawberries wafted out.
“Here, let’s eat together.”
She even had her little dried fish!
Just like that, by sharing food, Ruan Shu unexpectedly got along quite well with her classmates on the first day of school.
“Hey, does she want some?”
Ruan Shu was talking about the panda over there—a round, chubby giant panda.
So adorable!
Of course, even though it was a panda cub, this panda was almost as big as an adult in her past life.
“Xiong Yuanyuan is super lazy. She’s still sleeping right now.”
“Yeah, she sleeps through most of the school day.”
“But even though she sleeps so much, when she transforms into human form, she still has two big dark circles around her eyes.”
Ruan Shu: … If a panda didn’t have dark circles, would it still be a panda?
Even though she wanted to go over and take a look, Ruan Shu decided not to disturb it and quietly saved two strawberries and a small tomato.
Then it was time for the second class of the day.
Whether it was luck or not, the second class on the first day of school turned out to be gym.
It was indoor gym, so at least they didn’t have to go out in the cold wind.
The other cubs all seemed to enjoy it, except for Ruan Shu.
She bit her finger in worry, her delicate little face looking all scrunched up.
“What’s wrong? Are you not happy about gym class? Gym is great; we can all play together.”
Ruan Shu glanced longingly at Dora, her cheeks blushing as she whispered.
“I… I’m really not good at gym.”
Dora thought it was something serious and said casually, “It’s fine, it’s just a quick test of our strength, speed, endurance, and jumping ability…”
She sounded relaxed, but as Ruan Shu listened to the list of tests, her eyes began to swim with dizziness.
“This…this much? Are we really doing all these tests today?”
Although she knew that the indoor education here focused on physical strength, did they really have to start so many tests right from kindergarten?!
“Yeah, isn’t it like this every year? Even though we’re a vegetarian star beast class, we can still compete with the top cadets from First Military Academy!”
Such a competitive spirit really wasn’t necessary!
Dora’s attempt to comfort her only made Ruan Shu feel even more burdened.
For the indoor gym class, there were barely fifty kindergarten students across three classes.
Since there were fewer students per class, the number of classes was enormous. With hundreds of classrooms across middle and junior grades alone, it was a vast setup.
Thanks to the large size of the main star, each famous school here occupied a sprawling campus—one school could rival the size of an entire city on Earth.
Of course, the main star primarily hosted two prestigious institutions: First Military Academy and Qiming Star Academy.
Other top-ranking schools were located on other planets.
“Today, on the first day of school, every student must undergo physical tests to record their initial fitness data for the semester,” announced the gym teacher from the front.
Ruan Shu pricked up her ears and listened intently, afraid of missing any details.
Because physical and Jingshen were so highly valued here, gym class was one of the strictest classes, far more rigorous than cultural studies, starting as early as kindergarten.
However, compared to sitting in class all day, the active young cubs clearly preferred gym class, even if it was tiring.
In fact, gym class seemed to be designed to help these cubs burn off their boundless energy.
“Let’s start with a warm-up: three laps around the indoor track.”
Ruan Shu glanced at the indoor track, and her vision darkened.
“Dora, how big is one lap around the track?” she asked weakly.
Dora replied, “I think the teacher mentioned it’s around 2,000 meters.”
Ruan Shu: ………
She hadn’t even started running, and she already foresaw her fate.
At the teacher’s command, all the students surged forward, happily racing off in their star beast forms, excitedly howling and yelping as they went.
The gym teacher nodded with satisfaction. “If nothing else, at least in terms of fitness…huh? Who is that?”
Trailing at the back of the energetic pack was Ruan Shu, who had started lagging behind as soon as they began.
The teacher squinted, realizing that this little one, moving at a snail’s pace, was the slowest he’d ever seen.
“Ahem…that seems to be the new student in Teacher Lu Lu’s class. She seems to have some physical issues, not well-suited for gym activities.”
The gym teacher glanced at the little fluffball with her frail appearance; it really did seem like she wasn’t cut out for sports.
Ruan Shu had already resigned herself to embarrassment; she knew she couldn’t run like her classmates.
But even as she ran alone at the back, she couldn’t help feeling a little downhearted.
As she jogged along, Ruan Shu soon caught up to a slow-moving panda on the track.
It looked familiar.
She took a few breaths, glanced at the panda several times, and tentatively called out, “Xiong Yuanyuan?”
The round-headed panda turned to look at her, responding with a soft grunt.
“You’re falling behind too,” Ruan Shu whispered. She suddenly remembered the two small tomatoes in her pocket. Taking one out, she held it up to the panda.
“Here, the rest of the class already had some snacks today; you’re the only one who didn’t.”
The panda was just so endearing. Running alongside her like this, Ruan Shu no longer felt nervous.
Xiong Yuanyuan stared at the small tomato in Ruan Shu’s hand, then leaned over and gobbled it up in one bite.
Ruan Shu gave her the other tomato too.
With her new companion by her side, she no longer felt anxious or left behind.
Halfway through the track, Ruan Shu spotted Dora the elephant, Narnia, and some of her other classmates standing ahead.
“Awooo!”
“Why are you two so slow?!”
Ruan Shu couldn’t understand their exact words, but she could guess what they meant.
“I’m a slow runner. You all go on ahead; don’t wait for me,” she said, her already heavy breaths growing more rapid with worry. She noticed that the other classes were already way ahead.
Sweat began to bead on her forehead.
She was tired, but she thought she could keep going a little longer.
Instead of leaving, though, Dora and the others came over, and together they lifted Ruan Shu and gently placed her on Dora’s broad back.
Ruan Shu: “???”
Wh-what’s going on?
Then, with Ruan Shu riding on Dora’s back, her classmates all started running again.
They, too, had their own sense of team pride! If little Ruan Shu was too small and weak to finish the run, then they’d help her to the end.
And that was how Ruan Shu ended up being carried to the finish line.
The teacher’s face darkened. “I asked you to run, not to go on a stroll!”
Ruan Shu felt a pang of guilt. “Teacher, they only did it because of me…”
Narnia piped up, “Teacher, just tell us—did we finish the run or not?”
Teacher: …