Hachiman blinks then looks around, yet he can only see darkness as far as his vision goes. He looks down to himself, only to widen his eyes as he sees him wearing admiral clothes with a scabbard hanging from his belt.
"What…?" He whispers as he holds the scabbard in hand and draws out a sword, which looks like a simple sword with no special design added, yet the cross guard is painted in black.
"…Nice sword." Just as he was about to put the sword back into the scabbard, a creepy voice echoes right next to his right ear.
"Finally… Found you."
Hachiman snaps his head to the right, only to see a hazy visage of a person that is clouded in darkness. He squints his eyes to try and get a better look on the figure yet the figure disappears, making him look everywhere with panic.
"Wake… Up." The voice echoes again, yet this time from below. Looking down, he sees a face of a quite normal man with wrinkles grinning at him… Though, he has no eyes, only an empty socket.
Hachiman screams as he gets flung upwards, making him close his eyes. When he opens his eyes again, he sees a white ceiling instead of darkness.
"Ah, you're awake. Let me just send a quick message to the Principal…" He hears a female voice next to him, prompting him to look and see a nurse typing away on her phone.
"Wh-where… Am I?" He hoarsely says then smacks his lip, "Water…"
"Ah right! Here you go." The nurse quickly grabs a paper cup then fills it with water before giving it to him, all the while typing without looking away from her phone. He downs it in one go then places the cup on the drawer next to him.
She turns her phone off then stuffs it into her pocket, "So, as a quick intro, welcome to Schicksal's Far East Branch, home to the Valkyries-in-training who will fight an enemy called the Honkai who can create minions to fight on its behalf when they have graduated." She smiles at him, though he can see it doesn't reach her eyes.
"…What?"
"Well, you'll get the full details from the Principal… Or from those two young ladies outside of the door!" She sweetly says before shouting at the end as she glances at the door, prompting an eep sound to come.
The door opens, revealing Kiana and Mei dashing into the room, "Hachiman! You're awake!" Both of them latch onto him, with the latter taking his left side while the former decides to get onto his bed to hug his front.
"I-I'm so so so sorry Hachiman! I didn't, never wanted to hurt you or anybody else!" Mei cries into his shoulder, with the tears soaking into his patient clothes and sniffles.
"Don't you dare go doing that stunt Hachiman! I-I thought you were a goner after Mei-Mei-Mei did that!" Kiana tightens her hold onto him as she cries out, though not as hard as Mei.
Hachiman freezes before his eyes dart to Kiana then to Mei, "Am… I really that important to you two…?" He whispers, not having the courage to say it out loud.
Both of them whip their heads away from his shoulder to glare at him, "Of course you are important! You are my first true friend I made in a long time!" Kiana resolutely says as she balls up her hands, "Don't you dare doubt that!"
Mei rapidly nods with some of the tears flying off from her eyes, "That's right! You and Kiana are the ones who helped me when I needed it the most while everybody else betrayed me back at school!"
His mouth hangs open as he processes their words, then his eyes start to glisten, "Thank you… Thank you…" He keeps repeating those words as tears drop onto his lap.
"Sorry to interrupt your feelings but the Principal is calling for you." The nurse slides her phone back into her pocket as she says, "Those two should know the way there. So, bring him to her."
"Buzzkill…" Kiana quietly whispers as she glances at the nurse with venom in her eyes, though she soon looks at him, "Come on Hachiman, we need to go see her." With Mei reluctantly nodding.
He raises one finger at them, "Where are my clothes?"
"Ah don't worry. The Valkyries here are used to people walking in patient clothes. So just quickly go." The nurse makes a shooing motion at them as she figuratively throws them out.
Hachiman blinks then quickly hides behind Kiana and Mei as he sees the people here, "All of them are girls!" He screams.
Mei blinks before awkwardly looking away, "I thought you knew, Hachiman…"
"Hell no! No one told me anything!"
Kiana cracks her knuckle, "If anybody tries to steal Hachiman away…"
"Kiana no!"
"Kiana yes!"
Hachiman just face palms, sighs then mutters, "Just… Let's just go to the Principal…"
"This is the Principal office."
Hachiman looks up to see 2 big wooden doors in front of him that just screams somebody important. He looks at Mei then at Kiana.
"I am not going to get eaten alive right?" He asks.
Both of them look at him funnily, "No. What made you think that?" Kiana asks back with a blank face.
"…Nothing." He shakes his head before knocking on the door.
"Come in!" A high pitched female voice answers, prompting him to push the door open.
Hachiman expected lots of things when he pushed the door open but nothing could have prepared him as he sees a short female with white hair wearing a nun clothing, sitting behind a desk.
The female looks up then smiles, "Ahhh, the boy has finally awaken after three days!" She gets up then walks to him, "I am the Principal of the Far East Branch, Theresa Apocalypse."
He doesn't say anything as he gazes at her, then he raises his right hand before putting it on top of her head. He gives a light rub of her head, feeling the silky smooth hair running through his fingers.
"Komachi…" He whispers as he zones out, though he zones back in when he feels a slap at the back of his head, "Ow." He rubs his head with his left hand then looks back to glare yet falters as he sees both Mei and Kiana glaring at him.
"Hachiman~ you do realize that she isn't your sister, right?" Mei sweetly says, though he can hear some venom in her words.
Hachiman blinks before looking back to see his right hand rubbing Theresa's head, with the owner closing her eyes as she relaxes into the feeling.
"Oh. Oh." He quickly takes his hand off of her, prompting her to open her eyes then blinks at him.
"For a youngster, you sure are a daring one." Theresa chuckles.
He coughs while blushing, "Sorry about that."
"No worries. I know I am the cutest being in the whole wide world. So it's understandable that you couldn't contain yourself from patting me."
Hachiman's mouth quickly fires words that his brain couldn't stop, "My sister is the cutest being in the whole wide world."
The atmosphere drops a few degrees Celsius after he says those words. He gulps while backing up from the smiling Theresa that promises a world of pain to him.
"Oh reeaallly? I am not the cutest that you have ever seen?" She sweetly asks, making him sweat even more. He looks to Mei and Kiana for help, yet both of them ignore him by looking somewhere else.
"Traitors," He quietly hisses out before turning his attention to the one responsible for decreasing the temperature and still decreasing it.
Hachiman fake coughs, "I stand my ground that my little sister is the cutest being in the whole wide world."
"Oh? Care to show me a picture of her?"
"Here."
He walks to Kiana, who is holding his phone that miraculously survived everything that had happened, then grabs his phone from her. He shows her the pictures of Komachi doing various events.
Theresa squints her eyes at the phone, "Hmmm, I'll admit that she is cute but not as cute as me!"
"That's narcissistic."
"It's not if it's true!"
"No, it's still narcissistic."
Kiana and Mei glance at each other then to the duo who is now engaging in childish banter. They shrug at the same time with a clueless look, not expecting this turn of events.
*A...N*
Debate on cuteness. Anyway on to the comments!
XianYun - thank you for the praise
calderoneric758 - why not?
Renashi-RE012 - thanks for your concerns, but I am way too used to this since every doctor I went (private and public) in malaysia have all come to nothing. So, expect a message from my sister if I'm no longer here. Also yep
BorderLand - thanks for enjoying this story of mind. That should probably be explained in the next chapter (I hope)
GoldStar77 - *thumbs up* and 8-man is an avid LN reader so he will eventually catch onto the clues. Keyword eventually.
Alt Zero - here you go
