Kiana stood in place for quite a while before people finally gathered around to ask after her well-being.
"Kiana, what happened? Are you hurt?"
"Kiana, you…"
However, Kiana, who was still deep in thought, didn't listen to any of it. She asked a girl in the same grade as her,
"Sato-san, what's the name of that upperclassman?" Kiana asked. For some reason, even though she had only seen a back view surrounded by people, Kiana suddenly wanted to learn more about that person.
Fortunately, the other party was indeed very popular at Senba Academy. It seemed that aside from the newly transferred Kiana, almost everyone knew her.
Based on her classmates' descriptions, Kiana barely pieced together an image in her mind called "Raiden Mei." However, people other than her friends still habitually called her by another nickname.
"Raiden Queen"
What kind of person was she exactly? During class, Kiana couldn't help thinking about it. Even if she didn't think about this, she would probably just sleep on her desk or think about other things anyway.
"You're back?" At four o'clock in the afternoon, Kiana returned home on time, but her face was still full of contemplation, which Shun found rather surprising.
Did the sun rise from the west? Even the paramecium had started pondering life?
Something was off… Just seeing Kiana's expression, Shun felt it was at least nine-tenths wrong.
Shun waved his hand in front of Kiana to snap her out of it. "Oi, what are you thinking about? Which girl caught your eye?"
Given Kiana's yuri tendencies, Shun could only guess this way. But who could make a Kaslana so unable to forget?
No way, did Kiana see Raiden Mei today? The more Shun thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, that face was super effective against Kaslanas, it was engraved in their DNA.
"Ouch, what are you doing!" Kiana shoulder-checked Shun away. Was this the turning of the wheel of fortune? Yesterday he couldn't be bothered with Kiana, and today Kiana wouldn't bother with him.
But Shun was an adult after all and had the composure unique to adults.
"Let me guess, you're thinking about a girl, right?"
Kiana, being a young girl, couldn't hide her thoughts at all. The shocked look on her face after hearing Shun's words already said everything.
"I bet your next line is 'How did you know?'"
"How did you know?" The two lines came out at the same time, and the shock in Kiana's eyes grew even stronger.
How do you know everything? Kiana's expression seemed to say exactly that.
"Alright, alright. Yes, I was thinking about someone today, but I'm just a little curious." Kiana's act broke in a second. Knowing she couldn't hide her thoughts, she confessed.
"It's Raiden Mei, right?" Shun said casually, as if it was the most natural thing. After all, it couldn't possibly be love at first sight with Bronya.
What kind of version T0 intelligence was this Shun? Could he even be nerfed? Shun was just scheming. Don't call Ana.
"Y-yes… Do you know anything else?" Kiana looked at Shun, who was already in full intelligence mode, her eyes full of longing for information about Raiden Mei.
"Greek yogurt." Shun nodded teasingly. Even if he were to say something, it wasn't something the current Kiana should know. It would be better to let Kiana investigate Raiden Mei herself later and build the connection that way.
"You don't know? If you don't know then take a… Never mind." A crude remark almost slipped out of Kiana's mouth, but after thinking about it, she held back.
Although Shun was a private detective, he didn't know everything. He probably only knew about Raiden Mei because she was the young lady of the ME Corp. What he said earlier was probably just a random guess…
In any case, Kiana had already convinced herself.
"What? You really are thinking about Raiden Mei?" Shun deliberately put on an expression of "I was just guessing randomly, I didn't expect to actually be right," which further deepened Kiana's suspicion.
"Stop thinking about it, Kiana." Shun patted Kiana's shoulder. When acting, you had to go all the way.
"Why? Can't I even think about it?" Kiana said angrily, clearly very dissatisfied.
"First think about her status and your own position. Although your family might have a little money, Kiana, compared to Raiden Mei's family, it's far from enough."
"Raiden Ryoma is also a total daughter-con. How could he possibly hand Raiden Mei over to you? The key point is you're still a yellow-haired girl who appeared out of nowhere… and a girl at that."
Although he said it deliberately for Kiana to hear, wasn't this also the actual situation? The current Raiden Mei hadn't been bent by Kiana's rooftop confession yet.
The current Raiden Mei was neither the future cooking wife nor the gravity-type player who would say "you are more important than this world" at every turn.
In short, the current Raiden Mei still had quite thick walls around her heart probably thick enough to pilot an EVA. However, if Kiana could be so easily persuaded by Shun, then she wouldn't be Kiana.
As Bronya said in Everlasting Flames: "Kiana is an idiot. Idiots don't give up."
"Hmph, so what? It's just a little wind and frost." After hearing Shun's advice, Kiana instead became even more motivated.
As expected. Looking at Kiana, who had inexplicably become fired up, Shun nodded silently. This was exactly the result he wanted.
Letting Kiana get passionate and build a connection with Mei could reduce variables. After all, he had already torn half the script himself. The plot development was now only for reference. Kiana's move served as insurance.
"By the way, aren't you a private detective? Help me investigate Mei-senpai, okay?" Kiana suddenly used her world-shaking wisdom and said to Shun.
"Me? Investigate Raiden Mei?" Shun almost couldn't hold it in. Did all Kaslanas have such strange thought processes?
"Aren't you a private detective? Please! Do me a favor. At worst I'll pay you." Seeing Shun unwilling, Kiana immediately started acting coquettish.
"Fine, fine, fine. You eat my food, use my things, and now you want something for free? If I hadn't just opened for business, I would have refused without even thinking."
But that was just an excuse. Even if Kiana hadn't said anything, Shun would have gone to investigate anyway. This way, even if he was discovered, he could shift the blame to Kiana. Besides, this was originally within the scope of a private detective's duties.
"Then it's settled!" Kiana jumped up happily, almost hitting the ceiling. Shun wasn't worried about her brain getting damaged she was already stupid enough. It was just that a hole in the ceiling would look bad.
However, investigating Raiden Mei? Where should he start? Shun instantly got into character. Although he had no previous experience as a private detective, his strength strong enough to solo Anti-Entropy was more than sufficient for the task.