When Shooting Stars Fall: Chapter 1

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Xavier

01 | Distant Stars

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This is already the hundredth time I sneak a glance at Xavier.

First turn your body, pretending to look at the wall clock at the back of the classroom, then let your gaze drift inadvertently to his face.

You have to suppress your pounding heartbeat, avoid meeting his gaze, otherwise you'll end up like right now—being caught by him.

Pretending to look nonchalant, I smoothly move my gaze away from those and turn around.

According to the first law of Cosmic Attraction: when you look unwittingly at someone, there's a 98.8% probability that he's also looking at you.

So who knows, perhaps I’m the one who caught him.

In my heart, I tell myself that to comfort myself.

---

Looking back to three years ago, the day Xavier first came to my Academy, it was a rare sunny day.

That was the 214th year after Philos's birth, and the 214th year since the disintegration of Earth.

I heard from the teachers who were born during Earth’s era that we had replaced the extinguished Earth's core with a powerful artificial core. The broken and scattered tectonic plates were tied together by it so that they would not drift away in the cosmos.

So, aside from more , more cloudy days, and a little more difficulty traveling between plates, there is no difference between our current planet and our native planet Earth.

I have never been to other places on , and the Academy is located on a very small plate. Unlike those of us who were brought to the Academy as soon as our Evol awakened, Xavier is the only student who transferred here.

Maybe it's because the sunlight was too bright that day, or maybe it was because of something else, but I can always recall the way he looked the first time he .

Tall, skinny, and wearing a loose , his eyes were light blue, like the sky that day.

Just like that, he walked into the classroom with a wooden sword on his back, glancing at the seating chart and walking to the last row by the window, before sitting down without a word.

Calm and pristine, like a beam of light.

In the days after that, aside from “thank you” and “excuse me”, he and I had no other interactions. My understanding of him was also only through my classmates’ word of mouth.

Word passed around that he doesn't live in the Academy because his family background isn't that simple. Many people have also seen him surrounded by a group of bodyguards. The more they speak of it, the more outrageous and mysterious it sounds.

Yet the more mysterious he is, the more curious I am about him.

Curious about what he's thinking when he's zoning out in class, what he listens to all day while wearing those earbuds stuffed into his ears, why he transferred here, where he learnt his swordsmanship, how he's so skilled at it, how high his IQ is, and how he's able to score the highest in class despite clearly not listening to the lessons.

I was so curious to the extent of sometimes wanting to take advantage of the times when he was asleep to secretly use my Evol and with whatever sweet dreams he was having. It's a pity that whenever I reached out my hand, for one reason or another, I always ended up pulling my hand back.

It was only after that I came to understand that this type of curiosity and is actually called a “crush”.

I thought that he and I would always be separated by an invisible layer of cloud, coexisting on our own, until one day our astronomy teacher mentioned the topic of celestial bodies, and inadvertently mentioned that there would be a once-in-a-century meteor shower next month.

On a planet like this, where even sunny days are hard to come by, there can actually be a meteor shower, and it's even a .

If I can see it with someone I like, then this will be a life lived with no regrets.

Shen Xinghui

01 | Distant Stars

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This is already the hundredth time I sneak a glance at Shen Xinghui.

First turn your body, pretending to look at the wall clock at the back of the classroom, then let your gaze drift inadvertently to his face.

You have to suppress your pounding heartbeat, avoid meeting his gaze, otherwise you'll end up like right now—being caught by him.

Pretending to look nonchalant, I smoothly move my gaze away from those and turn around.

According to the first law of Cosmic Attraction: when you look unwittingly at someone, there's a 98.8% probability that he's also looking at you.

So who knows, perhaps I’m the one who caught him.

In my heart, I tell myself that to comfort myself.

---

Looking back to three years ago, the day Shen Xinghui first came to my Academy, it was a rare sunny day.

That was the 214th year after Philos's birth, and the 214th year since the disintegration of Earth.

I heard from the teachers who were born during Earth’s era that we had replaced the extinguished Earth's core with a powerful artificial core. The broken and scattered tectonic plates were tied together by it so that they would not drift away in the cosmos.

So, aside from more , more cloudy days, and a little more difficulty traveling between plates, there is no difference between our current planet and our native planet Earth.

I have never been to other places on , and the Academy is located on a very small plate. Unlike those of us who were brought to the Academy as soon as our Evol awakened, Shen Xinghui is the only student who transferred here.

Maybe it's because the sunlight was too bright that day, or maybe it was because of something else, but I can always recall the way he looked the first time he .

Tall, skinny, and wearing a loose , his eyes were light blue, like the sky that day.

Just like that, he walked into the classroom with a wooden sword on his back, glancing at the seating chart and walking to the last row by the window, before sitting down without a word.

Calm and pristine, like a beam of light.

In the days after that, aside from “thank you” and “excuse me”, he and I had no other interactions. My understanding of him was also only through my classmates’ word of mouth.

Word passed around that he doesn't live in the Academy because his family background isn't that simple. Many people have also seen him surrounded by a group of bodyguards. The more they speak of it, the more outrageous and mysterious it sounds.

Yet the more mysterious he is, the more curious I am about him.

Curious about what he's thinking when he's zoning out in class, what he listens to all day while wearing those earbuds stuffed into his ears, why he transferred here, where he learnt his swordsmanship, how he's so skilled at it, how high his IQ is, and how he's able to score the highest in class despite clearly not listening to the lessons.

I was so curious to the extent of sometimes wanting to take advantage of the times when he was asleep to secretly use my Evol and with whatever sweet dreams he was having. It's a pity that whenever I reached out my hand, for one reason or another, I always ended up pulling my hand back.

It was only after that I came to understand that this type of curiosity and is actually called a “crush”.

I thought that he and I would always be separated by an invisible layer of cloud, coexisting on our own, until one day our astronomy teacher mentioned the topic of celestial bodies, and inadvertently mentioned that there would be a once-in-a-century meteor shower next month.

On a planet like this, where even sunny days are hard to come by, there can actually be a meteor shower, and it's even a .

If I can see it with someone I like, then this will be a life lived with no regrets.

🇬🇧 English

01 | Distant Stars

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This is the hundredth time I sneak a glance at Xavier.

You must first pretend to look at the clock on the classroom wall. Then your gaze can slowly drift to his face.

You have to calm down your beating heart and do your best to avoid his gaze. Otherwise, you'll be like me–caught red-handed.

Pretending to be nonchalant, I shift my gaze away from those tranquil eyes and turn around.

According to the First Law of Cosmic Attraction, when a person unwittingly looks at someone, there's a 98.8% chance it's because he's looking at you too.

Perhaps I caught him red-handed as he stared at me.

That's what I tell myself, in any case.

---

Three years ago, when Xavier first arrived at the Academy, it was a rare, sunny day.

It was the Year 214. Two hundred and fourteen years have passed since Philos's birth. It also means 214 years have passed since Earth's demise.

Our teachers, born during the Age of Earth, said we had substituted Earth's extinguished core with a powerful, artificial one. This core holds fragmented landmasses together, preventing them from scattering into the starry sea.

So aside from more dust, more cloudy days, and cumbersome travel between tectonic plates, our planet isn't much different from the Earth of years past.

My feet have never touched the soil of other places on Philos. Our Plate where the Academy is located is quite small. Also, unlike us, who were brought here after our Evol awakened, Xavier was a transfer student.

Perchance it was the splendid sunshine—or something else-but I can always vividly recall the first time I saw him.

He was tall, skinny, wearing a white school uniform. His eyes were a shade of light blue as pretty as the sky that day.

Xavier entered the classroom with a wooden sword strapped to his back. He glanced at the seating chart, walked to the last row by the window, and sat down without a word.

Serene and precise like light itself.

Since then, other than "thank you" and "excuse me," he and I barely talked. I got to know him through my classmates' words.

They say he doesn't live on campus because his family background is complicated, and many people have seen him surrounded by bodyguards. These rumors get even more outrageous and mysterious the more they are passed around.

Yet the more enigmatic he is, the more curious I am about Xavier.

I wish to know his thoughts when he's staring off into space during lecture, what he's listening to when he wears earbuds, where he goes to hone his swordsmanship and how he's talented in it, and how high his IQ is because he's always the top of the class despite clearly never paying attention during lecture.

There were times when I noticed him sleeping. I tried using my Evol to resonate with his dreams. But whenever I do, I get too nervous and fail.

After that, I realize quite belatedly that this curiosity of mine is actually a crush.

I always thought Xavier and I would continue like this, coexisting yet separated by a wall of mist. But then, during our astronomy lecture, our teacher mentioned a once-in-a-century meteor shower happening next month.

Seeing a meteor shower on a planet where clear skies are a rarity... It's even a once-in-a-century event.

If I can see it with someone I like, then I can die without regrets.

🇨🇳 简体中文

01 | 远星

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这已经是我今天第一百次不自觉瞄向沈星回了。

先转过身，假装看教室后面的挂钟，然后目光再不经意地飘到他的脸上。

一定要按捺住鼓噪的心跳，避免和对方的目光撞上，否则就会像现在这样——被他抓了个正着。

装作若无其事的样子，我的视线平滑地从那双波澜不惊的眼中挪开，转回身来。

根据宇宙吸引力法则第一条：当你不自觉地看向什么人时，有98.8%的概率是因为他也在看你。

所以说不定，是我把他抓了个正着。

我在心中这样安慰自己道。

---

回想起三年前，沈星回刚来到我所在的学院的那天，是一个难得的晴天。

那是菲罗斯星诞生的第214年，也是地球解体后的第214年。

听出生在地球时期的老师们说，我们用一颗能量强大的人造星核替代了已经熄灭的地核，碎裂四散的陆地板块有了它的牵系，才不至于飘散在宇宙中。

所以，除了尘埃大一些，阴天多一些，板块间穿梭不便一些，我们现在的星球和地球故土没有什么区别。

我没去过菲罗斯星上其他的地方，学院所在的板块也相当小。而和我们这种Evol刚觉醒就被带来学院的人不同，沈星回是唯一一个转学过来的学生。

也许是那天阳光太好，又也许因为别的，我总能想起他第一次闯进我视线时的样子。

高高瘦瘦，穿着宽松的学院白衬衫，眼睛是浅蓝色的，像那天的天空一样。

他就这样背着把木剑走进教室，目光在座位表上扫了一眼，走到靠窗的最后一排，一声不吭地坐下。

平静又利落，像一束光。

之后的日子里，除了“谢谢”和“借过”以外，我和他几乎没有其它交流，对他的了解也只限于同学间的口口相传。

传说他不住在学院是因为家庭背景不简单，还有不少人看到过他身边围着一圈保镖，越传越离谱，越传越神秘。

而他越神秘，我就对他越好奇。

好奇他上课发呆的时候在想些什么，整天塞着的耳机里听些什么，为什么要转学到这里，哪里学的剑术，怎么这么厉害，智商有多高，为什么明明不听课还总是能考第一。

甚至有几次我还想趁他睡着的时候，偷偷用Evol共鸣一下他到底做了什么美梦。可惜每次伸出手去，最终都因为这样那样的理由收了回来。

后来我才明白过来，这种好奇和犹豫不决，原来叫作“喜欢”。

本以为我和他就会像隔着一层看不见的云雾般继续相处下去，直到某次天文课上老师讲到了宇宙天体时，无意中提到了下个月有一场百年难遇的流星雨。

在这颗连晴天都很少见的星球上，竟然有流星雨，还是百年难遇。

如果能和喜欢的人一起看，那就此生无憾了。