'It can't be him then.'
The thought crossed Mio's mind immediately, and she lost all interest in Renji.
Not that she had much to begin with, but it would have been good to finish her mission quickly and efficiently.
There was nobody remotely dumb enough to come out and say that they had killed a noble, even if it was to show off to women.
That was a far stretch that could get one and their whole family sentenced to death by the authorities.
So by him taking this action, she immediately understood that not only was Renji dumb beyond belief, but he also wasn't their target.
The real target had managed to change his name and still get into the Academy, though she didn't know his new alias at all.
That person was smart and cunning, plus he was probably wearing a face changer as well as a voice changer, though it had to be of a very high grade given that she hadn't detected anyone actually wearing one right now.
The technology would need to be top-tier to fool her trained eye.
Renji simply couldn't be compared to that guy.
"I understand," she said, her cheeks taking on a flush of pink.
She was obviously acting, playing the impressed maiden. "Then you shouldn't go around and tell everyone that… you'll immediately get a target on your back."
"I only tell pretty women…" Renji said smoothly while pushing back his green hair with what he probably thought was a cool gesture.
It made her wince internally at the cringe.
Regular Academy boys really acted like they were in movies, thinking cheesy lines actually worked.
"I see," she said neutrally.
Just then, Kōya kept his chopsticks in his bowl, signaling he was finished. A maid approached them immediately to collect his plate with practiced efficiency.
"Thank you for the meal, Renji. I appreciate it," he said politely.
He didn't want to ruin Renji's flirting session when he was obviously "in there" by Renji's standards.
The maid arrived and Kōya stood up, and Renji waved at him with an encouraging grin.
"Sure, sure…"
With that, Kōya began walking out of the Cafeteria.
Renji turned back to Mio, ready to continue his charm offensive, only to see her slurping down every bit of her meal in one go.
Her chopsticks moved with mechanical efficiency, the rice and chicken disappearing at inhuman speed.
She dropped her plate with a soft clink, and the maid came scurrying back to take it.
"Thank you for the meal, Renji-kun… Gotta run," she said while standing up and walking quickly toward Kōya's retreating form.
She also glanced at Misora discreetly as she passed. However, in that split second, Misora's eyes met hers directly.
Mio felt like she was staring at a demon.
The intensity in those eyes was inhuman. She was a leader of one of the Order's elite forces at the age of twenty, even though she had spiked her documented age down to eighteen so she could enter the Academy.
But for all her experience and skill, Misora was very powerful and she still felt suppressed by this girl who was obviously younger but far scarier than her.
It was especially terrifying that Misora had also mastered the mouthing technique that assassins from the Order used.
The poison didn't even damage her at all… she'd drunk it like it was regular juice.
'Follow my Knight…' Misora mouthed to her, the words were as clear as day.
Mio continued forward without breaking stride, catching up with Kōya who looked at her with mild surprise.
"Oh, Mio… what's up? Weren't you eating with Renji?" he asked.
She blinked innocently.
"Oh… I finished up quickly. I told you I wanted to spend time with you, not Renji-kun," she said with a smile.
Somehow her tired eyes made it cuter, giving her an endearing sleepy quality.
"It's rude to leave Renji like that."
"I already apologized," she said smoothly.
Kōya glanced back at Renji, who was giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up from his seat with a huge grin.
It seemed like Renji had set him up intentionally.
"I see… then how do you want to spend time together?" he asked.
She looked at him, studying his expression. He was genuinely clueless about her intentions.
'So Kōya has zero to no experience with women…' she could see it clearly now.
A man who was experienced with handling women would act much more free when a woman was throwing themselves at them, like Renji did.
'Either that or he's genuinely not interested.'
They left the Cafeteria together, walking side by side. Just as they were about to exit through the main doors, someone bumped into Kōya hard.
They hit the ground with a soft thud.
Kōya blinked as he looked down and saw Miyuki sprawled on the floor. She was on her ass, and her beautiful blue hair glimmered under the hallway lights.
She had been holding a water can, and the water had doused her uniform completely, soaking through the fabric.
"Miyuki?" he asked while leaning over with concern. "Sorry… I should have been watching where I was goin—"
Just as his hand was about to touch her shoulder to help her up, she flinched violently.
She raised her own hand instead, and the water that doused her clothes slowly floated off in suspended droplets. It entered a trash can nearby with a soft splash, controlled perfectly by her water affinity.
Then she pulled herself up without his help, refusing to look him in the eye.
She still remembered how her brother had warned her with absolute finality.
"I-I…" she stammered badly, her voice shaking. "D-don't refer to m-me as Miyuki anymore and d-don't speak to me again."
Her stuttering was severe, worse than usual.
"W-we are not f-friends… a h-high noble such as m-myself cannot be f-friends with a c-commoner like you."
Even though she was hiding her face behind her hair, both Kōya and Mio could see the tears dropping onto the ground… clear droplets that splashed against the polished floor.
Without warning, she ran away from the Cafeteria, her footsteps sounding as she fled. Kōya didn't react externally as his expression remained neutral.
It was probably her brother's orders, and there was nothing he could do about that family dynamic then Mio took his hand gently, her fingers wrapping around his.
"Forget about that… Come on…"
She pulled him along, and they walked down the hallway together.
There was a timer on their phones showing the end of their lunch break which was five minutes remaining.
She took him to a certain staircase, looked around carefully to see if anyone else was coming in this direction, then dragged him along with purpose.
"Where are we…?"
She pressed her finger to her lips. "Shhh."
They crossed into another flight of stairs, ascending higher into the building then there was a door locked with a heavy padlock, clearly marked as restricted access.
She immediately brought out a master key from her storage ring and forced the thing in, the lock clicking open.
She pushed the door open, revealing a place that existed in every manga and anime.
The school rooftop.
The view of ALI from the rooftop was amazing, sprawling out before them like a miniature city.
She closed the door behind them with a soft click.
"What do you think…?"
On the sides, flowers were being grown in decorative vases, adding splashes of color to the otherwise utilitarian space.
They looked amazing… carefully tended despite the restricted access. The roof itself had safety railings and good ventilation with fresh air flowing freely.
One could even see the big buildings of the Academy complex from this vantage point, and she pulled him along to the railing, overlooking the whole school.
He looked at the view, and his breath caught in his throat.
There were students on the ground below, looking like ants from this height.
But most of all, the view here was more than nice… it was breathtaking.
"It looks amazing," he said honestly. "Really amazing, but why did you bring me here…? And do we even have the permission to be up here?"
"You worry too much, Kōya-kun," she said cutely, her tired eyes crinkling with amusement. "We have the permission to be here… I rented some time here, after all."
"Bought?" Kōya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If you have enough Individual Points… you can buy anything in ALI," Mio explained, leaning against the railing. "You can buy good scores… you can buy over the teachers to your side… hell, you can even buy the whole Academy if you have enough. But you need Individual Points. I simply rented time here for us."
In reality, she hadn't spent anything at all in renting this space.
She was merely using the fact that Headmaster Tenma owed the Order to the fullest. The only reason they could operate here at all was because the Headmaster knew about them and allowed it.
And that was because he owed the Order his life.
"I see…"
"As for why I brought you here…" Mio said as she leaned off the railing, turning to face him directly.
"I like you, Kōya-kun."
The moment she said that, she looked at his face with a fake blush coloring her cheeks.
She was expecting anything… if he was one of those virgins with no game, then he would be surprised by this confession and stutter then she could wait a few days, and they would most probably start dating.
And while they were dating, she would use this opportunity to learn everything about him while finding a way to kill Misora.
Kōya blinked, contrary to her expectations.
"I see…" he said simply.
He really didn't know how to react to this information.
'System, does she really like me?' he asked internally, grateful for the System's existence in times like this.
「Kamemori Mio is interested in you greatly for personal reasons, but if we're talking about liking you romantically… then that is at 0%」
His lips pursed slightly, and then he sighed. She looked at him with confusion flickering across her features.
Who reacted like that when a pretty girl confessed their feelings?
He pushed back from the railing and began walking toward the door with long steps.
"I'm glad to hear that," he said politely, then closed the door as he entered back inside the building.
Mio looked at the door with twitching eyebrows, her professional composure cracking.
"Is that how they react to a confession…?" she muttered, pressing her palms together so hard that some bones cracked audibly.
And then in her eyes, the world became shadowy.
A figure crept up behind her silently… it looked like her except for the fact that it was made out of purple shadow.
"Would you like me to give you tips on how to conquer a man's heart?" the shadow asked in a voice that was hers but not hers.
She shrugged the shadow's hand off her shoulder roughly.
"The last time I took your advice, we broke that one in half quite literally," Mio said as she began walking to the door.
The shadows began to disperse like smoke. "Don't worry… I'll handle this myself, Avatar, and don't think of taking over my body."
The shadow chuckled but faded away.
…
Kōya walked through the hallway with his eyes on his phone, scrolling through content. Apparently there was an article about IP and its complete uses, and he was reading it with interest.
Then a pair of glasses clattered to the ground right in front of him.
He looked around and saw a pink-haired girl fumbling for the pair of glasses with exaggerated movements.
With each fumble, her breasts jiggled like balls and the motion almost hypnotic in its deliberateness.
He was about to walk past, recognizing the obvious setup.
「New Missio—」
'I'm not interested…' he said flatly. 'Can't you see she's doing it on purpose?'
「You have been given a new mission」
「Give Heroine: Mirei Tsukishiro her glasses」
「Reward: 500 F.P」
He sighed deeply, then walked over and took the glasses from the ground before extending them to her.
"Here are your glasses."
She took them with delicate fingers and smiled before wearing them, adjusting them on her nose.
Her pink hair bobbed as she looked into his eyes directly, and then they began spiraling with an unnatural pattern.
"Ah… thank you very much~" she said sweetly, her voice carrying a musical quality.
「Bloodline Skill: Succubine Beauty is being used on you」
「You are being entranced by her beauty」
「Skill: Mental Resistance has stopped the effects of Succubine Beauty」
He looked at her in the eyes for a moment longer, completely unaffected then he began walking in the other direction without another word.
'What was with the author and giving heroines the power to enslave people…? Goddamn,' he thought as he walked toward class.
This world was becoming more troublesome by the day.