Noticing Kiana's gaze—one so cold it could freeze bone—Li Wu could only try to decline. "I think I'll just do it myself slowly. It's not that much anyway, ha... ha ha..."
"What does it matter? Isn't mine yours? After all, we..."
Raiden Mei deliberately trailed off there, leaving the sentence hanging.
Every classmate, Kiana included, knew what she had gone through the night before, which had sparked such a drastic personality shift.
Previously, they could only speculate vaguely, but by using such a calculated ellipsis, Mei had instantly magnified the room for imagination by a thousandfold.
What exactly happened between those two last night?
What kind of experience could turn Raiden Mei into a completely different person?
The possibilities were far too tempting to ignore.
Scritch—
The sound of a fingernail dragging across a book's title page was sharp and clear, enough to make one's skin crawl.
Li Wu looked around frantically, his eyes finding nowhere to settle.
She's being way too forward!
Li Wu was dazed. By speaking this way, Mei was clearly shoving him onto the grill to be roasted. He didn't care about the other students, but he felt Kiana's intensely hostile gaze. She looked at him like he was an insect; she hid it well, but a sliver of disgust and revulsion still leaked through.
The Kiana of this world wasn't some "Kiana-Tuna-Paramecium"; she was a top-tier student figure similar to Dr. MEI. She hated nothing more than those who lacked a sense of shame.
"Let's talk about these things once we're away from school, okay?" Li Wu relented, desperate to calm the storm.
Raiden Mei beamed, her voice clear and loud enough for the entire classroom to hear. "Alright! Let's talk about it when we—get—home!"
She put heavy emphasis on the word "home," making sure the Kiana in the corner heard it loud and clear. She might as well have written "We're living together" across her forehead.
[Kiana Kaslana's remaining favorability toward you has decreased.]
[Kiana Kaslana finds your filthy behavior shameful. She hopes you can maintain your integrity and not choose to degrade yourself.]
"???"
Slander! This is pure slander!
Mei and he had done absolutely nothing last night. Just surviving had taken every ounce of his effort; how could he have had the energy for anything illicit?
**[Friendly reminder: Due to Raiden Mei's deliberate linguistic guidance, the guard level of all female students toward you has been raised to the maximum. All classmates now believe you are a sex-crazed demon who spends every night with Raiden Mei engaging in various positions and kinks, including ****.]**
[Please fill in the **** yourself.]
No need to fill it in, I get the point. I'm never clearing my name, am I?
[Correct. Your name is now firmly etched into the hearts of all your classmates.]
Just as Li Wu was at a loss, the final bell rang.
Without a moment's hesitation, Li Wu packed his bag at lightning speed and dragged Raiden Mei out of the classroom.
Only once they were gone did the room become lively again, with students openly discussing their confusion.
"Do you think... Raiden Mei's father, the CEO of ME Corp, is coming back? Otherwise, why would she be so much bolder than before? We won't be purged, will we?"
"Hard to say. It was on the official news. It wouldn't make sense if he could just walk out. My family has internal info; unless someone with even higher influence posts bail, Raiden Ryoma is staying in prison for life!"
"Yeah, I agree. It's not ME Corp giving her this confidence, it's..."
The student speaking glanced toward Kiana. The truth was left unspoken.
Because they spoke so softly, Kiana couldn't hear them. Even if she had, she had no heart to argue.
She packed her bag and left the room, heading straight for the mountain behind the school—usually a spot for couples to tryst. However, since it wasn't evening yet, very few people were there.
When Kiana arrived at the back mountain, the four students from the rooftop incident were standing properly under a tree. Like mice caught by a cat, their faces were grim and their bodies tense. The muscular boy, despite being in a cast, had not dared to be absent.
"Speak. Why did you do something only terrorists would do? Time bombs, trying to sneak them into a classmate's bag... regardless of what Raiden Ryoma did, Raiden Mei has committed no crime. And the threats against Li Wu... do you simply not value human life at all?"
A mountain breeze blew through, making her silver-white hair flutter like wandering shadows. Kiana's gaze was sharp, her cold face looking every bit like a presiding judge delivering a verdict.
One second, two seconds.
Ten seconds passed, and still no one spoke.
Kiana's eyes narrowed as she took two steps forward. "What, brave enough to do it but not to own it? You have murderous intent but lack the courage to admit it? Who do you think you are? What do you think you're doing?"
"If Raiden Mei is guilty, let the Far East authorities handle it. Does she deserve to be targeted by you in such a disgusting way? Do you think you're Batman in Gotham? The Justice Supermen protecting Nagazora City?!"
The wind swept by, light and shadow shifting. On Kiana's face, there was only deep shadow. Her azure eyes were as cold as the arrival of winter, like snowflakes falling on skin, chilling to the bone.
Finally, the commoner boy summoned his courage, raised his head to look directly at Kiana, and took a step forward. Feeling it wasn't enough, he took a few more, took a deep breath, and shouted his explanation: "Our methods might be wrong, but our intent is right! Raiden Mei... she has to die! Only if she dies can everyone else live in peace! I didn't want to hurt innocent people; I wanted to protect them!"
Seeing someone take the lead, the sole noble girl stepped forward as well, clutching her chest with teary eyes, looking incredibly pitiful. "Yes! Raiden Mei must die. It's a secret known only to a few. Kiana... I know you're from the Kaslana family and look down on us minor nobles from this remote place, but please don't stop us, because we truly are considering the safety of the entire city!"
The other two noble boys chimed in with similar rhetoric. They withheld the specific term "Herrscher," simply stating their motivation was pure. If Kiana asked about the "secret," they would reveal she was a Herrscher vessel then.
Based on their understanding of Kiana, she would likely acknowledge their logic. She might not help, but she would at least turn a blind eye.
These "pure and lofty" families loved to act this way. They didn't want blood on their hands, yet they had to maintain their precious self-esteem. They left the dirty work to the people below. It couldn't be helped—that was the lot of minor nobles.
However, just as the three nobles were feeling smug about their tacit conspiracy, Kiana spoke the truth directly: "Because she's a Herrscher, right?"
"Yes! Because she's a Herrscher, she has to die! Once she loses control, the entire Nagazora City will be leveled by the Honkai Eruption that follows a full descent! It's recorded in the textbooks—the exact same thing happened in New York decades ago! And ten years ago in Siberia..."
"A Great Eruption is too terrifying. There are tens of millions of people in Nagazora. Once the Honkai erupts, the consequences are unimaginable! No matter what, Raiden Mei cannot be allowed to live... I know it's cruel, but for the sake of our families and friends, someone has to step up and be the villain!"