Li Wu crouched slightly, his gaze fixed on the red track ahead.
The metallic scent of blood from the rooftop, the mechanical drone of the system, the disappointment in Kiana's eyes... all the clamor suddenly receded into the distance.
He lunged forward. There was no other reason than the fact that Kiana had also sprinted right from the start, showing no intention of pacing herself.
The other students testing alongside them were dumbfounded. Even the P.E. teacher widened her eyes, watching the two of them sprint at full tilt from the very beginning, her mind racing with questions.
Kiana, she could understand—her stamina had always been top-tier; a high-intensity kilometer run was nothing to her.
But she had no real impression of Li Wu. Since she didn't remember him, his physical fitness likely wasn't anything special. Was he putting on a show just to grab Kiana's attention?
Ah, youth... no wonder he rejected Raiden Mei. Turns out he's got eyes for another girl.
On the track.
The two were oblivious to the gossip. The teacher's hunch was correct: Li Wu's physical condition was indeed mediocre.
He was usually a shut-in who rarely exercised, and combined with the high-intensity combat from the previous night, his muscles were still aching.
Return by Death only preserved his combat instincts; it didn't improve his physical stats. He was still just a normal human.
To keep up with Kiana, Li Wu was essentially betting his life. He was gasping for air from the first few meters just to barely stay alongside her.
"Hey... slow... slow down... You weren't like this during the previous tests..." Li Wu wheezed through gritted teeth. The muscle strains from last night hadn't healed, making every stride agony.
Kiana remained expressionless, maintaining her pace. She glanced at Li Wu, whose forehead was already beaded with sweat, then accelerated without a word.
To keep the distance from growing, Li Wu had to speed up again, his expression twisting into a grimace.
"Are you... are you sprinting like this from the start just to avoid me?"
"No."
Kiana's response was ice-cold. She turned her head away, refusing to make eye contact.
"What happened at noon was my fault. I'm sorry... I apologize..."
"Save those words for your Raiden Mei, shouldn't you?" Kiana's words were sharp as she rattled off a long sentence without breaking her rhythm. "'Never leave, never stand by, never break a promise'—heh, how is that any different from accepting her? Why are you apologizing to me? Do you want people to gossip about you, Mei, and me too? I'm just an outsider. There's nothing to be said between us."
After her outburst, Kiana sped up again, looking as if she were taking a light stroll.
Li Wu, however, could no longer keep up. He stopped at the edge of the track, bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.
The Kaslana bloodline was simply too powerful. It was like she had no limit. He couldn't catch her.
But if his body couldn't keep up, it didn't mean his brain couldn't.
Li Wu didn't continue running forward; he would never catch her that way.
He stayed where he was and turned around, watching the other students pass him one by one. When that aloof figure finally rounded the track and approached him again, he immediately set off to match her speed.
"You can't shake me. A lap is only four hundred meters. That means in the next few minutes, we're bound to cross paths again."
Having rested for a bit, Li Wu's voice wasn't as weak this time.
Kiana remained unmoved. She ignored him and ran straight ahead.
"If you keep ignoring me, I'll just keep bothering you. Any time, any place—in the name of being a classmate."
Hearing this, Kiana's expression finally flickered. She spoke with irritable impatience: "So your way of apologizing is to force me to accept it and forgive you? And if I don't, you'll just harass me forever?"
"Of course not!"
Seeing Kiana finally engage, Li Wu was overjoyed. He immediately seized the opportunity. "I'm not begging for your forgiveness. I just want you to know one thing."
"What."
"I was wrong."
"...And?"
"That's it. As far as the apology goes, that's where it ends. I had to let you know I recognize my mistake. A wrong is a wrong; I can't defend myself because it was my fault. But a mistake can't just be treated like it never happened. You're the one who suffered for it, so I'll find a way to make it up to you! If you ever have any trouble or difficulty, tell me. I'll help you find a way!"
"I wronged you, so whenever you call for me, I will never back down! I will never run away!!"
Li Wu spoke with absolute conviction, his eyes steady, showing not a hint of a joke.
"Then can you make me—" Kiana froze, looking at his earnest expression. She opened her mouth to say something, but her mood quickly plummeted back into a dead silence. She swallowed the words she had been about to speak.
How ridiculous.
For a split second just now, she had actually hoped Li Wu could help solve that matter.
But how could he?
A normal human, facing the colossal entity of Schicksal, the terrifying Honkai, and the intricate web of family interests... let alone solving it, just standing tall in front of them would be a miracle.
Placing hope in Li Wu was like asking a monkey at a typewriter to produce Hamlet. It was an impossibility that would only force him to choose between breaking his word or dying.
At that thought, Kiana's heart hardened further. No matter how bright or dazzling the light, not a single ray could penetrate it now.
Li Wu, unaware of her internal shift, kept pressing: "Make you what? Say it! If you say it, I'll definitely find a way to do it! If it can make you let go of your grudge, I'll get it done!"
"Is this the same rhetoric you used to trick Raiden Mei into following you so devotedly?"
Kiana scrutinized him coldly, her gaze even more hollow than before, like a withered leaf with no chance of revival. "Whether on the rooftop at noon or right now, Classmate Li Wu, I don't understand where your confidence comes from—thinking you can do things that are fundamentally impossible."
"I am not like Raiden Mei. You cannot help me with anything. I'll act as if I never heard what you just said. Do not come near me again. Furthermore, the only advice I can give you is this: stop trying to do things that are beyond your capability."
As soon as she finished, Kiana accelerated like a rabbit, moving so fast that Li Wu was left in the dust.
The conversation was over.
It was expected. Kiana had no intention of reconciling. However, because of Mei's public confession, Kiana's mental state had flickered, almost causing her to voice her inner thoughts.
Li Wu carefully replayed every word Kiana had said, especially that unfinished sentence.
"Then can you make me..."
Make you what?
Li Wu faintly sensed that this was no longer following the comic's plot.