The cherry blossoms themselves weren't particularly noteworthy, since Nagazora had its share of urban legends, a few students were out collecting petals here and there.
Yuna carried the stack of flyers, following behind Shiraha.
"Excuse me, are you two a couple here to collect cherry blossoms?"
A girl came over, holding a few petals in her hand, her gaze shifting between Shiraha and Yuna.
Yuna froze.
Shiraha didn't turn around: "Nope, but Yuna and I are good friends."
Yuna nodded, not particularly disappointed. After all, she didn't really spend much time with Shiraha at school, even less than Kiana did.
Most of the time, she was part of Mei's little circle, while Shiraha was the oddball who sat alone by the window. Yuna had learned long ago not to expect too much.
Shiraha finished gathering a few blossoms as his Nee-chan leaned in, her long hair spilling over his shoulder, her starry eyes curving as she gazed at those tiny pink-white petals.
Only then did Shiraha turn around to look at the girl who'd approached.
She had standard black hair, which, come to think of it, wasn't that common in the Honkai world. Looking closer, she wore the standard school uniform and knee-high socks, looking clean and neat.
But there were some bruises on her fair face.
Shiraha paused for a moment, then, like handing out a flyer, pulled one from his stack and offered it to her:
"If you're being bullied, you can come to Chiba Academy, Middle School Division, Building 1, second floor, the Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp club room."
He gave a thumbs-up, pressing his hand to his chest: "Raiden Mei, the young lady of the Raiden family, will have your back."
That was probably what Mei meant, anyway.
Yuna nodded vigorously beside him: "Mm-hmm, our club president is really amazing, she even has a dedicated samurai guardian."
The girl with the bruises blinked, she didn't seem too introverted: "Will it cost a lot of money?"
Shiraha thought for a moment: "I don't think so. The Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp is committed to resolving all injustices, we want to turn everything unpleasant into what we hope it can be."
Though he could've said, "Your allowance probably wouldn't even catch the young lady's attention."
But with Yuna right there, he'd behave a little more gently and maintain his image.
The girl's mouth fell slightly open, her eyes reflecting Shiraha's smiling face, sparkling, she looked genuinely convinced.
Shiraha shook the flyer in his hand: "We're planning to put these up at all the nearby schools today. We'll take care of every issue that comes our way."
"Have faith in the power of young people."
Though Mei's execution power was questionable, Kiana's and Fu Hua's were definitely reliable.
Yuna felt she should do something too. She reached out: "By the way, what's your name? Have you been treated unfairly or ganged up on at school recently?"
Normal campus disputes weren't really their concern, but multiple people ganging up on one, that wasn't justice.
Though if enough people were involved, it might become justice by sheer numbers, but that was a twisted logic, because in current human society, everyone's moral baseline was at least somewhat above rock bottom.
The girl hesitated for a moment: "My name is Asakura Miyuki."
Shiraha, who'd been carefully packing the cherry blossoms nearby, paused. Elysia, who was helping, glanced at him: "You've heard that name before?"
Shiraha nodded, but glanced at the girl and shook his head slightly. He traced a few words on the back of Elysia's hand, signaling that he'd explain when they got home.
Elysia narrowed her eyes but didn't press, she just rested her chin on Shiraha's shoulder and watched him pack the petals.
After he finished, he stood up. Yuna and Miyuki had already finished their conversation.
Shiraha extended his hand: "My name is Shiraha... no surname."
It was possible in this era to not have a surname.
Though having no surname was very rare, much like having one in the Previous Era was rare, no one really knew why the two civilizations developed so differently.
Miyuki hesitated for a moment, but she didn't seem shy, she reached out and shook his hand, her smile radiant in a strangely… brilliant way.
Shiraha added: "If you're being ganged up on at school, or harassed by people from outside, feel free to come to us."
As for the social aspect afterward, he added: "Being isolated is a lot better than being bullied."
Using himself as an example might not be the best, but Kiana's way of life was also fairly self-sufficient, though neither was ideal.
Miyuki's eyes glistened: "I'll definitely come tomorrow!"
Wait.... why did just a brief exchange make her eyes look so glistening?
Shiraha, who prided himself on managing micro-expressions well, had a bad feeling about this.
After parting ways with Miyuki, Yuna walked beside Shiraha, her voice full of amazement: "I didn't think anyone would actually respond to Mei's plan."
Shiraha's lips twitched as he glanced at her.
Yuna quickly explained: "I'm not badmouthing Mei, it's just that the plan feels… way too out there."
Shiraha shrugged: "No need to explain. When it's just the two of us, you can be a little bolder, after all, I'm isolated too. I get it."
Yuna was about to defend herself further, but then thought, he's right, Shiraha is isolated too. She didn't need to pretend so much.
At that thought, her shoulders, which she always tried to keep held high, relaxed a little.
"If you're tired, Yuna, you can head home. Nee-chan and I can handle the rest."
Shiraha reminded her gently.
Though there was a club subsidy, Uncle Ryoma didn't raise Mei to be extravagant, the subsidy Mei fronted definitely wouldn't match the hourly wage of a part-time job.
As sad as that sounded, if Mei wanted something, Uncle Ryoma would never refuse… sigh, such a controlling old man, even if she wanted the most expensive phone, she had to get his approval.
Yuna quickly shook her head: "No way, I am a little tired, but I don't hate doing this."
She thought for a moment, her cyan eyes blinking, then added: "Of course, I don't hate what happened before either."
Shiraha asked curiously: "Including the two years of swordsmanship training that went nowhere?"
Yuna was silent for a long time: "I don't hate that either. Even though Mei is always full of whims, she's like a big sister, she always looks after the younger ones, and she leads by example in a lot of things."
Most importantly, Mei trained alongside them, so Yuna didn't mind.
Shiraha turned to look at Yuna a couple more times. Sure enough, people can train, but they can't overtrain, look at Yuna, such a well-behaved, shy kid, and now even her head's gone a little funny.
The school nearest to Chiba Academy was Tokiwadai High School… no need to be surprised, Academy City was originally a homage to A Certain Magical Index, so some shared elements were only natural.
Shiraha walked up to the guard booth and stood on tiptoe.
"Hello, my name is Shiraha, a first-year middle schooler at Chiba Academy…"
Before he could finish, the guard waved him in, signaling the kid could just go ahead.
Shiraha stood there for a moment: "That was surprisingly easy."
The workload was still considerable. Shiraha and Yuna each took one side of the teaching building, about ten minutes per building.
Around two hours later, the sky had gone completely dark. After Yuna called her mother to let her know she was safe, she sat down with Shiraha beneath the cherry blossom street.
"Maybe our club will be swamped with visitors tomorrow."
Yuna, who'd been bullied throughout elementary school, guessed.
"I think more people will see us as a joke."
Shiraha handed her a drink.
Elysia sat beside them, legs together, she didn't dislike Yuna. After all, the girl had clearly been isolated and bullied in the past, and that made her a bit pitiable.
Shiraha continued to gaze at the cherry blossoms by the roadside. A breeze blew through, and a few petals landed on his shoulder.
Elysia, while leaning on Shiraha for support, reached out to try to touch the blossoms.
No luck, without standing up, she couldn't reach. She shook her head and naturally leaned against Shiraha's shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?"
Shiraha was silent for a few seconds.
"Thinking about copyright division."
Elysia: ?
Shiraha didn't elaborate. Elysia just assumed boys had jumping thoughts, she'd seen online that boys often thought about all sorts of strange things.
But Elysia wouldn't know that the protagonists of Three-Year Sakura were Kiana and Asakura Miyuki. The timing lined up, a girl's feelings would be buried for three years, then randomly choose a lucky recipient… that was Asakura Miyuki.
But this was from Honkai Impact 2nd. That manga had been assigned to HI2, just as no one noticed that the Gun Girl Z arc had been reassigned to HI3 after it became popular, with even some HI2 scenes removed.
Shiraha reached out, closing his fingers gently, the fallen cherry blossom was caught between his fingertips.
His smile was bright: "Then this world is even kinder to ordinary people."
If Three-Year Sakura existed here, it meant that ordinary people in this world, in the process of becoming Honkai zombies, could still struggle and resist.
Just like Miyuki, which meant that Yuna, when the time came to transform into usable combat power, wouldn't have to worry about being damaged in the process.
Elysia didn't understand either. She brushed her moist lips against Shiraha's cheek: "Mr. Omnipotent One, can you not speak in riddles?"
Shiraha didn't answer, this was hard to explain. So he stood up: "I just think that the girl I personally invited today must carry new possibilities within her."
Elysia: …
Yuna looked up, but when she realized Shiraha wasn't talking to her, she lowered her gaze again.
"Time to go home, Yuna." Shiraha smiled brightly and reached out his hand: "I'll walk you."
"Oh." Yuna nodded blankly.
Her gaze had always been like that, maybe because of her childhood, or maybe it was just how she was born. Her eyes were always somewhat hollow; her pupils and the surrounding iris were so close in color that they looked monotonous.
Yuna's home was quite far, but thankfully, the subway was still running.
There weren't many people on the train. Yuna curled up in her seat, leaning slightly against the window, occasionally swaying with the motion.
"Get some good rest today, Yuna and don't forget to eat dinner."
Shiraha thought about Yuna's family situation and decided to walk her all the way home.
Yuna nodded quietly, her curled-up body swaying again, then leaning slightly to the left. Shiraha didn't seem to mind, so she stopped moving.
The lights were on at Yuna's house. The doorbell rang, and they could hear hurried footsteps inside.
Then,
"Today, why are you so…"
The reproachful tone came to an abrupt halt. Shiraha spoke apologetically: "Sorry Auntie, there was a lot of club activity today. I hope we didn't delay your dinner."
He looked a little nervous. For some reason, Yuna, standing beside him, suddenly felt like smiling, so Shiraha wasn't so different from her after all. He got shy and nervous around adults too.
That made her own shyness feel much more reasonable!
"It's fine." The auntie was quiet for a moment, looking at Shiraha: "Was it just the two of you at the club activity today?"
She knew a bit about the rumors surrounding the big families in the Far East, like how Shiraha was being raised almost like a biological son. She could roughly guess.
"Yeah, Mei-nee went with Rin-nee, Kiana with Fu Hua, and Yuna with me. There was a lot to do today, so we split into three groups."
Shiraha looked exactly as he had a year ago, just as well-behaved. The auntie didn't dare keep him long and politely saw him off.
Shiraha and his Nee-chan walked down the dark street, both with their hands clasped behind their heads in sync, looking quite relaxed.
Elysia lowered her hands first: "Sometimes I have to admit, Little Shiraha, you're right, having a certain identity makes everything so much easier."
"I thought everyone knew that."
Elysia puffed out her cheeks and rubbed Shiraha's little face: "Are you saying everyone else is an idiot?"
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, a subtle smile on his face. He said nothing, but it seemed like he'd said everything.
The people of the Previous Era might not have been idiots, but they certainly weren't particularly clever either, and they lacked that execution power.
The dimples on Elysia's face reappeared as she gave a helpless smile.
"But that's alright, this era has already shown the greatest kindness."
Even something as despairing as Honkai erosion could be transformed through emotion, just like Asakura Miyuki.
Shiraha lowered his hands, then raised them high, pretending to grasp the stars in the sky: "I'm no idiot."
The next moment, Elysia reached out and placed her hand over his, their fingers interlacing, hers slightly cool.
"The only thing missing now is age, Nee-chan. I want to go check out World Serpent."
If even Honkai erosion had a chance of turning around, Shiraha felt that deeper contact with World Serpent was necessary.
Rin, who'd been dozing off, suddenly perked up, finally!
Was her "enduring hardship," "cute-selling for survival," and "pretending to be bribed by childlike charm and tasty food" finally about to pay off?
Elysia pointed at Rin. Shiraha's smile didn't waver, it didn't matter. He definitely wouldn't bring Rin along; he'd find some excuse to have Yae Sakura entertain her for a while.
Or maybe he'd fatten Rin up nice and plump first, then bring out Sakura, just like Otto's body, fully human-like and lifelike.
"But for now, let's go home. Tomorrow's going to be busy too."
They'd have to deal with school bullying cases. Asakura Miyuki's tragedy should be stopped at its source, and after that, no innocent people should have to die.
First, take care of your own business. Then, handle what's around you. Finally, deal with the world at large.
Shiraha pressed his lips together, Otto's available cards should be fewer than in the original story, but his own cards were growing more numerous by the day.