Elysia suddenly spoke up. "Shiraha... have you ever had a girlfriend before?"
Shiraha's expression stiffened.
Elysia laughed lightly, her voice crisp and bright, eyes sparkling with mirth. "Here I thought, with all those smooth lines rolling off your tongue, you must've been some playboy in the MANTIS in your past life. Turns out you're just a big-talker after all."
But this made more sense.
When would someone from the MANTIS ever have time for romance?
"Have you?"
Shiraha shot back.
After a brief silence, the two of them naturally... glossed right over a topic that was a little painful for both.
"So what's your plan going forward? That Natasha already joined the club."
Elysia attempted to steer the conversation back on track.
Shiraha leaned back against the bed, then crawled forward a couple of steps, his eyes burning with fervor. "Nee-chan! You've always been my idol!"
Elysia: ....
Oh. Right. I almost forgot, the very first label you gave me was 'Intel Elysia.'
This transparent state really was convenient in so many situations.
"First, we figure out what they're after. Then we see if we can squeeze any benefits out of them. Or, more directly..."
Shiraha sat up properly, sinking into recollection. "Natasha looks like she's got decent combat ability. Maybe we can try buying her off."
Elysia didn't understand. "How can you tell she's got combat ability?"
They hadn't spent that much time together. Maybe half an hour total, and a big chunk of that was walking with a teacher to secure an activity room for the Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp.
Shiraha was prepared. His expression was confident. "That's the telepathy between top-tier assassins."
He'd fully immersed himself in his Manticore identity now, even though he didn't know a single assassination technique.
Elysia felt utterly dazed. Assassins have something like that?
Well... maybe they did. After all, Kalpas could read someone's uniqueness from their gaze or aura, and that was specific to warriors and killers.
"Then I only have one last question." Elysia raised a single finger. "Shiraha, are you absolutely certain you were a top-tier killer in the past?"
Elysia didn't like the Manticores, but that didn't mean she was ignorant of their peak combat composition. When it came to figures in the Fire Moth who were important enough to shift the tide, she knew most of them.
Shiraha's expression should have stiffened. But this time, he simply shrugged. "I believe I was the number one killer in the world."
Elysia laughed again, this time, the laughter stretched a little longer.
At dinner, Ryoma Raiden had clearly already learned what the two children had been up to at school. He sat in the head seat, his chopsticks holding a piece of fried tofu, paused above his small bowl.
"Shiraha. Are you curious about Hokushin Ittō-ryū?"
Shiraha paused. Not particularly.
He felt like in the Honkai world no, the entire Honkai multiverse, technique wasn't that important. Brute force was king. Raw power reigned supreme. Higher level meant actually higher.
But seeing Ryoma's expression calm, yet carrying a hint of expectation, he nodded.
"Curious. The sword style seems really impressive." Shiraha paused, then quickly added with regret, "But Dr. Tesla told me to focus on my psychokinesis. Not to bite off more than I can chew. No divided attention."
Maybe swordsmanship would have its day in this world. But Shiraha hadn't lost his mind, he wasn't about to abandon brute-force psychokinesis in favor of learning the blade.
He was a transmigrator. Theoretically, a prime candidate for honing mental powers.
Ryoma's expression froze. Tesla-sensei said that?
Well... never mind, then. He'd originally wanted to assume the role of master and openly teach the two children. He quietly shoved the piece of fried tofu into his mouth, chewed a couple of times, and said nothing more.
The following day.
Noon.
Mei walked with a bundle of wooden swords slung across her back, her steps light, her mood clearly excellent.
Shiraha followed along, still pondering which class Yuna was in. Why couldn't he find any trace of her? It was as if she hadn't even enrolled yet.
They pushed open the door to the training room. Someone was already inside.
The Raven was sprawled across a desk, hood pulled over half her face. From the side, she looked like a body bag, lying atop the table in perfectly peaceful "death."
Mei's footsteps unconsciously softened. "Natasha-senpai? Natasha-senpai?"
The prodded Raven let out a bleary murmur. So sleepy. Studying is so hard.
She lifted her head sluggishly, stared hollow-eyed at the two children, then woodenly averted her gaze, like someone who hadn't fully woken up.
Shiraha sat down beside her, asking curiously, "Did you skip class again?"
The Raven didn't answer. She rubbed her eyes hard, then looked at Mei, the club president in name. "Does our club have any activities?"
She knew way too much about clubs now. Yesterday, Grey Serpent had crammed her full of club knowledge, from tea ceremony clubs to Go clubs to light music clubs. Every operational model had been drilled into her. There'd been moments she genuinely wanted to die.
The only thing left to worry about was whether these two brats were just going through a passing phase.
"Drinking tea."
Shiraha answered decisively.
Raven: ....
Mei immediately countered, "It's to save the world!"
Raven: ....
I'd rather have the tea.
But she still played along with Mei. "Is there some part of the world that needs our saving?"
In case these two really were just acting on a whim, she needed to find something concrete or at least fun to keep them hooked.
Mei sank into thought.
"Actually..." She began hesitantly.
The Raven started at the same time. "Actually..."
Shiraha blinked. He looked at one, then the other.
Mei was a good club president who accepted wise counsel. Mei told herself this in her head... but this time was different.
"This world is nowhere near as peaceful as it looks. There are warriors who trade their souls to demons to fight against evil. And there are wicked girls with adorable faces who want to destroy everything."
She straightened up, hands planted on the desk, expression dead serious.
Uncle Welt had emphasized not to expose Honkai directly, so Mei phrased it this way.
The Raven: ....
I'm guessing you're talking about the Second Eruption.
But this was exactly what she wanted to hear.
She probed, "By 'wicked girl,' do you mean the kind with deathly pale skin and purple markings all over her body?"
Mei paused. That doesn't sound right. She replayed the blurry footage in her mind. The girl named Sirin... she hadn't had any obvious purple markings on her body.
Her recollection was correct. There really hadn't been any.
Mei spoke with earnest gravity. "What are you talking about? I'm not describing some movie plot. I'm telling you, very seriously, this world truly has evil beings who want to destroy everything."
Raven: ....
Her expression turned subtle. But she quickly reverted to her original plan, saying with an apologetic air, "Alright, alright. To make up for my rudeness, this map can be my apology gift."
She pulled a map of Nagazora from inside her jacket and spread it flat across the desk. This map was different from the ones sold on the market. The information was far more dense, yet upon closer inspection, every area remained remarkably clear and easy to read.
Mei's gaze instantly grew solemn. With this map in hand, she felt as if they were in the middle of negotiating something incredibly important, like generals pointing out troop deployments across the land.
Elysia's expression also turned a shade more serious. "Well, well. Talk about a pillow delivered right as you're dozing off. Now we don't even need to search for a map, we've got one ready-made."
"When we pinpoint their location, I'll mark it right here for you, Shiraha."