Far East Region, Nagazora City.
On a weekend day, inside a cold drink shop near Chiba Academy, two young men sat facing each other.
"Lucius, how come you had time to find me today?" Kevin asked, holding his drink in one hand as he questioned the young man across from him. "Didn't you say a few days ago that you were going back to your hometown?"
The young man sitting opposite him had black hair with gray eyes, his bangs streaked with a touch of white highlights. Even by Kevin's standards of good looks, he was extremely—or rather, very—handsome.
Lucius, an exchange student from the Shenzhou Region, was one of the few people in Nagazora City whom Kevin could call a close friend.
Well, the kind where they could call each other "dad" as a joke.
After the entrance exams, Kevin's parents had arranged for him to enter Chiba Academy, where most students came from upper-class families in Nagazora City. As an exchange student from Shenzhou, Lucius would normally need to return to Shenzhou after completing his studies.
Kevin had thought it would be difficult to meet again in the future, but unexpectedly, Lucius had called not long ago saying he wanted to meet. And so, here they were now.
Lucius didn't directly answer Kevin's question. Instead, he looked him up and down with a strange expression on his face.
That gaze made Kevin feel uncomfortable.
"Lucius, what are you looking at?"
Lucius looked at this friend he had known for several years and let out an almost inaudible sigh. Without answering his question, he said:
"After the graduation exams, I was indeed planning to return to Shenzhou."
"It's just that a friend of mine recently encountered quite a troublesome matter. I want to help him, but I can't make up my mind, so I wanted to consult other people's opinions."
Kevin took a sip of his drink and looked straight at Lucius.
"Uh... Lucius, the friend you're talking about—isn't that you yourself?"
"It's not." Lucius flatly denied it.
Kevin understood. The friend Lucius was talking about was most likely himself.
"So you asked me out today to ask me questions?"
Lucius nodded.
"Alright, for the sake of you treating me today, this brother will tell you everything he knows." Kevin shook the drink in his hand and asked with considerable curiosity, "So what's the matter?"
Lucius didn't beat around the bush. He placed his arms on the table, put his hands together against his chin, and recounted the matter in detail.
"It's like this. I recently learned some information by chance, information concerning a close friend of mine."
"This friend is about to embark on an extremely tragic path. If I leave it alone, there's a high probability he'll end up with his family destroyed and everyone dead. In the end, everything he loves and everyone who loves him will die."
"When that time comes, he'll be left alone wandering the world in loneliness. Even though he'll have no motivation to continue living, because of a promise, he won't even be able to seek death."
"He can only wander the world like an empty, walking corpse, constantly looking forward to the end of his life."
Hearing Lucius's words, Kevin inexplicably felt a strange sense of familiarity rise in his heart.
He suppressed the odd feeling in his heart and asked Lucius, "Simply put, you have a friend who's about to encounter danger?"
"You could understand it that way." Lucius didn't object but went along with his words. "At this very moment, I have an opportunity to save that friend, but I can't bring myself to make the decision."
Looking at the conflicted expression on Lucius's face, Kevin roughly guessed what kind of problem Lucius might have encountered.
—Most likely, a friend had encountered pyramid schemes, fraud, or something like a cult.
This wasn't uncommon in the Far East Region. Not long ago, someone whose family was destroyed by a cult had shot and killed a councilman associated with the cult right there on the street.
Now, perhaps Lucius's friend had also encountered similar troubles, and Lucius just happened to have an opportunity to pull this friend back, but doing so might put him in danger himself, hence the conflict.
Sure enough, the next moment Kevin heard Lucius say, "I have a way to pull that friend back and prevent him from falling into that tragic ending, but my method might not be accepted by him and could even lead to him completely breaking off with me."
Looking at the conflict on Lucius's face, Kevin nodded internally. He completely understood now.
Just as he thought—Lucius most likely had a friend who had gotten involved with pyramid schemes or cults or something like that.
People controlled by these things usually undergo drastic personality changes. After being brainwashed, they won't see those trying to save them as acting in their best interest.
They might even be hated by them!
It seemed Lucius was also struggling with this issue. However, the excellent values Kevin had formed since childhood told him that he absolutely couldn't give up on helping a friend just because he might be hated for it.
So after thinking it over, he said to Lucius, "Why not try talking to him? If you're really friends, he should be able to listen to what you have to say."
Lucius looked straight at Kevin, then shook his head.
"I understand his personality. Even if this could help him avoid that tragic future, there's a high probability he won't agree."
"So Kevin, if you were in my position, what would you do?"
Kevin answered this question without even hesitating.
"If I'm certain that friend's tragedy will really happen, then of course I'd choose to save him, even if he might hate me for it."
Kevin's expression suddenly became serious.
"Just like if I knew you and Su were about to step into danger—even if I might be misunderstood by you, even if I might be hated by you—I would still choose to save you."
"So Kevin, is that your answer?"
"Yes, that's my answer." Kevin said solemnly. "If you're going to save that friend, I can also contribute. After all, you're my close friend too."
"Go ahead and do it! Even if you'll be hated for it, as long as you believe what you're doing is right!"
Hearing Kevin's answer, Lucius let out a soft sigh.
"Since that's the case, I can completely firm up my resolve."
"Thank you very much, Kevin. I won't feel confused anymore. Just like you said, even if I might be hated by that friend, it's better than watching him fall into eternal suffering."
Kevin felt a bit embarrassed and was about to say some modest words when he saw Lucius pick something up from the floor and place it on the table.
It was a briefcase with a metallic luster, the silver-white case engraved with a moth-like emblem.
Lucius pressed his hand on the surface of the case. The moment his palm touched the case, electronic patterns spread along its surface.
"Click."
Accompanied by a crisp sound of mechanisms engaging, the case opened.
Kevin looked inside the case.
He found that in the center of the case, a syringe filled with green liquid lay quietly.
"What is this thing?"
"Something to save that friend of mine, to save this world destined for destruction."
"Lucius, when did you become so chuunibyou?" Kevin took it as Lucius making some adolescent proclamation. "But seriously, what is this thing? It looks quite high-tech."
Lucius picked up the syringe from the center of the case and said to Kevin with a smile, "Kevin, come here for a moment."
"What for?"
Kevin didn't know what Lucius was going to do but subconsciously leaned his head forward.
The corners of Lucius's mouth gradually curved upward as his fingers gripped the syringe from the briefcase.
Before Kevin could react, he jabbed it into the side of Kevin's neck.
"Psshht!"
The syringe's built-in pneumatic pump began operating, instantly injecting the green liquid inside into Kevin's body.
"Lucius, you..."
Feeling the sharp pain at his neck, Kevin was about to say something when his consciousness was suddenly overwhelmed by drowsiness.
"Thud!"
Kevin collapsed.
Looking at Kevin sprawled on the table, Lucius put the syringe back in the briefcase and said with a sigh:
"Since you've said so yourself, Kevin, then to change your tragic fate in the future, let's make things a bit harder for you in the present."