The day passed without any major occurrences.
After Kiana and I walked out of class, we quickly found Bronya and Mei who were already waiting for us at the lockers.
Mei seemed somewhat morose as she leaned on her locker, the glances from countless students at her clearly affecting her still.
While it seems that my confession plan managed to prevent her from being called a snob or an arrogant person, it definitely did not stop people from still gossiping about her being the daughter of a fraudster.
I just felt it was somewhat ironic.
Most of the rich kids at this school had parents who did less than savoury stuff anyways.
What made them think they were any better?
Was it just something like a trend that spread due to jealousy of Mei's extraordinary status even by their standards?
My thoughts were interrupted as Mei spoke.
"Can we go home now?"
"No Kendo Club?" I asked.
"You trashed the clubroom, remember?"
"Oh yea… kinda forgot about that. Let's go back then."
Pretty sure that Mei didn't want to spend too much time at school anyways.
After all…
I glanced at the group of people standing a small distance away.
That group that used to be her 'friends' didn't seem to want to come close to her anymore.
I wonder if this had changed her mind about continuing to go to school?
As we began to leave however, I noticed that Kiana was in a slight daze.
"Hey. What's wrong with you now?"
"Huh?"
Kiana's eyes cleared as she shifted her gaze from the floor to me.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You look like a zombie. Don't tell me you got sick from raiding the kitchen last night?"
Hearing that, the white haired girl hurriedly defended herself.
Maybe a bit too quickly though.
"There's no way a Kaslana would get sick just from a bit of food! I'm just not feeling the greatest right now!"
"Mind sharing?"
"I, in fact, do mind very much." Kiana spoke as she looked away.
"Hmm.. is this about the confession?"
"NO! That is impossible!!"
Yea… it was definitely about the Mei confession. And Kiana didn't even know about the Bronya one either.
Yikes.
I put a hand on my chin as I faked some sort of contemplation.
"Would Ms. Kaslana wish for me to confess to her as well? Maybe I should call her my pookie be-"
Kiana hurriedly shut my mouth with her hands.
"Stop!"
She looked at Mei and Bronya, then at the onlookers before letting out a sigh of relief.
No one was paying too much attention to us.
Kiana glared at me with a dirty look.
"Don't you dare call me pookie bear again!"
"Or else?"
"Or else… or else…"
Steam came out of Kiana's head for a moment as her brain went into a mode that she rarely accessed.
Thinking mode.
It seemed something finally clicked at some point as her expression brightened.
"Or else, I'm going to tell Bronya and Mei about that secret stash you talked about!"
A dramatic pause followed. Mei and Bronya looked over at this time, clearly hearing the commotion that Kiana had made.
Mei blinked while Bronya tilted her head to the side.
"Go ahead." I shrugged nonchalantly while ignoring it. "I'm not afraid."
"What? Aren't you supposed to be flustered now and beg for me to not do it? That isn't what I saw from K-drama!"
I gave her a deadpan look.
"Don't the main leads usually try and act cold and cool instead?"
"I dunno? I'm just coming up with nonsense honestly."
I sighed.
"If I were anything, I would probably be that Chinese CEO who goes, 'Woman, you're playing with fire' when being threatened like this."
"In a sense, Subject Gojo is a CEO though."
"Go get my coffee, Bronya."
"The Bronya will ensure that Gojo will get pure espresso."
Off to the side, a small smile appeared on Mei's face as she watched us banter and make fun of each other.
Perhaps in her mind, she thought that things wouldn't be too bad if it continued like this.
—--------------------------------------------------------
Two weeks passed by in a flash.
Bronya, Kiana and I constantly searched through the city for any signs of abnormal Honkai activity.
However, even though Cocolia had taken over ME Corp, there was nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
No Honkai incidents.
No zombies around.
No more spying attempts.
It was almost as if Cocolia had given up on her actions and she was content with just having ME Corp in the palm of her hand.
In spite of that, all of us knew that things were not as simple as that.
I couldn't shake the feeling that this peace was temporary. You know the phrase after all.
This was merely the calm before the storm.
Wait…
I accidentally made a pun again.
I didn't even try this time.
Moving on…
Mei's situation at school fortunately didn't deteriorate as badly as I thought it would.
Due to the fame that I just found out I had not too long ago at school along with my confession, Mei seemed to not be dragged to the lowest rungs of the school's hierarchy.
I didn't enjoy the fame I had, but it was quite convenient in the end.
Who knew I would be looked at as a tall, silent, cold, powerful, mysterious, etc. etc. etc. prince of Chiba Academy?
Thus, Mei was still being excluded, but it did not go into the full blown bullying that I knew kids were capable of.
That was good.
After all…
I don't know how well I'd react to that.
My temper isn't the best in the world y'know?
Now, in the middle of the night once more, I stood in front of a massive skyscraper.
There was a huge sign that wrote 'Massive Electric Corporation' on the front while many guards stood around the perimeter.
As of now, I felt that I had trained enough.
I don't want to let this ticking time bomb stay in my backyard for too long. I would regret it if I didn't do anything about it soon.
Plus…
Mecha…
Here I come baby.
I giggled slightly as a dream bubble of me driving a gigantic mecha through the skies appeared.
"Gojo. You're hogging all the fun to yourself again!"
Ah… the dream bubble popped.
When I looked at the speakers however, I was stunned.
"Why are all three of you here?"
Kiana, Mei and Bronya stood in front of me. They were dressed in easy to move around clothing as they were clearly prepared for battle.
Mei even had a real katana with her.
A look of concern appeared on my face.
"Since you guys are here now, you might as well come along. But Mei, are you sure you want to follow? You've never been in a real fight like this before."
The spars we had were very different from real combat.
She would be facing people who would try to actually grievously harm her here.
Though, maybe there would be an order not to kill Mei, considering Bronya told me that Cocolia wanted Mei alive.
"This… is related to my father…" Mei faintly squeezed out. "I can't sit back while everyone protects me like I'm some sort of baby. I can fight too!"
A hint of lightning appeared around her as if to affirm.
A smile appeared on my face.
I see that the Herrscher was being quite receptive as well wasn't she?
"Alright then."
I clapped my hands as I got ready for combat.
"Let's go."
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give powerstones and comment if you liked it. Please review as well if possible
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