Happy New Years!
Enjoy!
"That I am to leave Nagazora, immediately,"
The moment those words left her lips I could feel my entire world just shatter into a million pieces. Midori Aki, someone I thought I could rely on in situations like these, was being ordered to leave Nagazora.
Amid the worst possible situation that could be happening.
"I-Is there anything you can do?" I implored as I looked at her with desperation. I couldn't lose her now, not when this nightmare had barely begun. "Perhaps request to stay a little longer?"
Midori just shook her head sadly. "My mission has technically been completed with Raiden Ryoma's position as the head of Massive Electric in jeopardy. It's only a matter of time before a new board member is elected to replace him." A wistful but sad smile grew on her face as she thought back to how this all started.
"I was originally tasked with getting close to the heiress, in hopes that through my connection Schicksal would have the ear of the head of Massive Electric." It had been a bitter pill to swallow when she had received those orders. Here she thought she was getting a career changing mission due to her skills as a Valkyrie only to learn it was because she could pass as a regular highschooler.
"I could not deny their request so before long I stood before the classroom, introducing myself to the class." Looking back she had been barely paying attention to the teacher introducing her to everyone as her main focus was on making sure that she didn't have a scowl on her face.
"I didn't know whether to thank or hate the gods for being paired up with the heiress on the first day to complete an assignment." It was rather hard to decide if she should be angry or relieved how it played out. Should she be angry for how easy this mission was or be happy that it wouldn't take much effort to accomplish?
"However," Admitted the black haired girl. "I was taken back by how kind she was to me. I had expected a rich snobby kid that I would have to try and befriend but in return I met the kindest person that I've ever met."
I nodded my head as I understood where she was coming from. You wouldn't even have known that Mei was the heiress of Massive Electric unless you either knew beforehand or someone told you. The dark purple haired heiress was not one to flaunt her title around like other people in the academy would, a specific olive haired girl came to mind.
"From there it was a downhill battle of me trying not to care about Mei," Midori closed her eyes as she thought to the times she had gone out of her way to avoid being with the girl anymore than she had to.
How she turned down her requests for her to join her table for lunch, turned down her invitations to hang out outside of school, turned down group project offers. The undercover Valkyrie did everything she could think of but in the end it proved all for naught.
"Just something about that girl just drew me in, as if you were in her grasp the moment she flashed that kind smile of hers at you."
"That sounds about right," I joked as I thought back to how easy it felt being in the heiress' presence. Like if all your worries just simply faded away.
"Seems like I'm not the only one who isn't immune to her charms," We shared a quick laugh at that, momentarily forgetting the tense situation that we were still currently in. For just a moment we forgot that this would be our last conversation for what seemed like the last time.
"Did you know that she was the reason why I even joined the kendo club in the first place?" Revealed the undercover Valkyrie. "I hadn't even planned on joining them in the first place, it was just something that I said in order to get closer to her."
"You do kendo?" A surprised Mei asked as the two of them were sitting alone on a table, enjoying their respective lunches. It was rare for the group of people that called Mei a friend to not be present but Midori was glad for any time she was away from them.
Dealing with snobby people like them made her skin crawl.
"When I have time," Midori replied nonchalantly as she poked her lunch with her fork with little interest.
"Are you good?" Mei questioned with a growing interest in her eyes.
Midori was oblivious to the heiress's interest as she stabbed some of her lunch with her fork. "I would like to think I am." The undercover Valkyrie brought her fork up and was about to eat what she had stabbed her fork with.
"You should join the kendo club then!" Mei shouted, catching the black haired girl off guard as she just stared at her dark purple haired friend in surprise. Her mouth was left hanging as her fork hovered in midair as she processed what she had just heard.
"...Eh?
Finishing reminiscing about how she joined the kendo club, Midori Aki just sighed sadly. "The worst thing you could do is get attached to your target, after all personal connections could jeopardize the whole mission. But as my friendship grew with her…"
"I found myself worrying about that fact less and less."
The more and more Midori talked about Mei, the less enraged I was at the circumstances of her departure. A small part of me was still bitter about the timing of all of these but after seeing such genuine care on her face, the only thing I was feeling was sadness now.
"...Have you said your goodbyes to Mei yet?" I asked, all but now convinced there was nothing I could do to have her stay.
My question had her lowering her head down in guilt. "I-I can't bring myself to do it."
"But you know that leaving without saying anything is the worst way you could leave." I told her as I knew simply leaving Mei, now with how the world was slowly turning its back on her, was not a wise decision.
"I know that but I just can't do that to her," Midori lamented. "I won't walk into the kendo training room and tell her that I'm leaving without telling her the whole truth, don't you know what it would look like to everyone else? They would think that I'm cutting her off as her status of heiress is in jeopardy."
I couldn't argue with that logic but at the same time that same logic wasn't a good one to go off of. "It may hurt but both of you will need closure, if not I fear that Mei will think that you're abandoning her because of her status." I tried convincing her to rethink her course of action. I feared that by going through with her plan, Midori could unintentionally destroy her friendship with the heiress.
I watched as Midori wordlessly pulled out a letter from the inside of her jacket and offered it to me. "You don't have to do this for me, I know that I don't deserve it, but could you deliver this to Mei for me. It's not emotional or anything like that but-,"
Before she could go any further with trying to explain what the letter meant, I walked over and tenderly grabbed the letter from her hands. "Don't worry Midori," I smiled assuredly as I placed the letter inside my jacket, making sure not to fold it accidentally.
"I understand."
Midori's green eyes opened wide in shock from my actions, but soon her face scrunched up as I could see tears beginning to build in her eyes as she tried to reign in her emotions. Without saying anything I closed the distance between us and engulfed her in a hug, one that she returned without hesitation.
"We will see each other again, all of us." I vowed to her. "When all this blows over we can all get together again and have a great laugh over it. We can go attend another festival together and Keji can be Keji and ruin whatever you're wearing again."
The two of us separated from our hug as Midori laughed at that memorable experience at the festival. After a few seconds of laughing, the undercover Valkyrie looked at me with a new resolute light in her eyes.
"Until then Haruto Nakamura," She smiled.
I nodded my head. "Until then Midori Aki."
With those last farewells, the both of us faced away from each other and walked forward to our respective paths
For Midori Aki this would be the last steps she would ever take in Chiba Academy as she went back to her responsibility of being a Schicksal Valkyrie.
As for me I would be walking back into an ever changing situation that held an uncertain future.
Whether or not our two paths would cross with each other ever again…
That would be up to the decisions the two of us would make.
I sighed as I turned a corner, the letter inside my jacket felt like it was a dumbbell with the responsibility that it entailed. Giving this letter to Mei was not going to be a fun experience but I knew that I had to do it soon.
The more I put it off the more Mei would hate herself for the sudden and unexpected departure of her best friend.
"Could this day get any worse?" I mumbled to myself as I brought up my phone and checked what errands I had to run for today. Out of all the errands I had to do, the worst one had to be the grocery run that had me not only buying groceries for myself but also for my grandmother.
And just my luck that very errand was the one I had to do today. My only saving grace was the fact that it wasn't a complete restock of groceries, just a few essentials that had run out. With luck it wouldn't take me that long to finish and I could be back in time to pick up Mei with Kiana.
However fate seemed to have other plans for me as the moment I pocketed my phone and was about to make my way to the supermarket, a loud thud echoed in the hallway. There was no-one, or rather nothing that had fallen over to create such a sound where I was at so whatever that had been was super loud to reach where I was at.
Before I could try and think about what I had just heard, what followed was a shout of a very familiar person.
"Mei-senpai!" Hearing both the concern and anger in the Kiana's voice, I could feel my body be filled with terror. Without even contemplating why she would scream like that, I rushed to the only place that I knew the two would be at.
By the time I arrived at the entrance of the Kendo Club, I was treated to a horrible sight. Mei was on the floor, her kendo gear messily scattered around her as tears were running freely down her face.
The heiress was trembling like a leaf as she clutched her bokken like a lifeline, facing away from the kendo club entrance. "No it's not true, he wouldn't do that," She repeated over and over like a broken record.
Standing over her, cradling the poor girl as she glared at the kendo members who were responsible for Mei's current state. "How dare you hurt Mei-senpai!" She angrily glared as I could see in her eyes that she oh so desperately wanted to kill everyone in front of her.
It was only her concern for Mei that stayed her hand.
Across from her a group of kendo club members had glares of their own as they regarded the girl that the Kaslana was shielding from them. "Get out of here! You don't belong here!" The head girl shouted.
Without saying anything I ran as fast as I could to Mei and kneeled in front of the poor stricken girl. "Mei!" I shouted in concern as I placed my hands on her trembling shoulders.
When the heiress looked up at me, a part inside of me died as Mei's broken eyes looked into mine. "H-H-Haruto, y-you don't believe it right?" She begged as more tears fell down her face. "Y-You don't think my father committed those crimes, right!?"
"Of course not," I quickly assured her as I stood up and moved myself in front of Mei and Kiana.
"What's going on here!?" I demanded. I threw a quick look behind me to see Kiana looked up at me with relief as she pulled the crying heiress closer to her. I wasn't sure if Mei had registered my words as whatever had placed her in this state had more than been a devastating blow to her psyche.
But I had a sinking feeling I knew what it was. After all there was only one possible reason why Mei could be in this state.
"Oh looks it's the knight in shining armor," The girls laughed as I refocused my attention on them as I glared at them with renewed ferocity. "Didn't you hear the news? Little miss perfect's daddy confessed to being guilty of all the crimes he was accused of."
Even if I had an idea of what had happened, it didn't make it any better as my stomach began to do jumping jacks at that revelation. What news?! What did they mean Raiden Ryoma confessed to his crimes?!
While I tried my best to control my surprise from showing on my face, it must've shown just enough for the one the girls to step up with her phone. "See for yourself," She faced her phone in my direction as a clip played of Raiden Ryoma on the stand. The backdrop of the video was that of Nagazora's District Court.
Today must've been the first of many hearings as the judge presiding over the case would decide if the man was guilty or innocent of his crimes. However I knew that I was looking at the only time Raiden Ryoma would be up on the stand.
The video began to play as Raiden Ryoma looked directly at the camera facing him. "In regards to the crimes that I have been accused of…" The man took a deep breath before continuing onward.
"Yes they are all true," He admitted, much to the shock of the reporters as you could hear their gasps of surprise. "The crimes of me committing economic fraud, blackmailing international dignitaries, and the experimentation of humans for the sake of increasing my company's wealth are all true."
Multiple cameras flashed as everyone present tried to get more from this unexpected confession from the Head of Massive Electric. Everyone had expected this to be a long drawn out legal battle where the man would fight these accusations with everything at his disposal. They were not expecting him to confess on the first of what should've been his numerous trials.
I too had not expected this sudden outcome. In my eyes Ryoma was the very definition of resilient. If anyone could push their forward in such a hopeless situation I would've expected it to be Mei's father.
"Words cannot convey my sorrow for committing such heinous acts," He bowed his head as if to ask the world that was currently watching this for forgiveness.
"But I know nothing can not clean me of these sins."
My mouth opened in shock as my mind tried to make sense of what I was seeing. What he was accused of…they were true after all?! But that didn't make any sense! Both my knowledge of what went down in Honkai Impact 3rd and my impressions of man did not match the words he said.
I knew something about something was wrong but I wasn't really in the right state of mind to contemplate it with all these sudden revelations being given to me. First it had been Midori's revelation that she was leaving Nagazora, the next was Mei being harassed by the very club that idolized her, and now it was Raiden Ryoma confessing for the whole world to see.
"As you can see Haruto-san that man is the worst that humanity has to offer," The lead girl casted a disgusted look to Mei, who had looked up from her state of crying to see the video of her father confessing that he was indeed guilty of all the crimes he was convicted of.
"And the Kendo Club doesn't deal with criminals." One of the girls in the club yelled out.
"Mei-senpai has nothing to do with that!" Kiana defended as she tightened her hold on Mei.
"And so? She uses his money, so she must've known something about it." Someone argued.
"That's a demented way of seeing it!" I debated fiercely.
"Are you sure about that?" Another questioned as she glared at me.
"Of course!" I yelled with conviction as I internally readied myself for whatever was about to come. With tempers high and no de-escalation in sight, it was only a matter of time before something ugly came out…
And fists started to get exchanged instead of words.
"...You know I just realized something," One of the girls had a light in her eyes that I did not like, especially the smile she had on her face when she looked at Mei. Subconsciously I placed myself in front of the angle that the girl had of my friend.
"Didn't Mei's mother die of medical complications?" Whispers of agreement spread through the club group before she continued on.
"I think that she was the first person that Raiden Ryoma experimented on, she was the beginning of the mad man's quest for power."
!?
I looked at the girl in abhorrence for what she just said. Why would she even suggest such a theory as revolting as that in the first place?!
Behind me I could hear Mei gasp in mortification at the words that were just spoken before she broke down, this time with greater intensity, as she shook her head to convince herself that it was not true. "My otou-san would never do that!"
"Why you!" Kiana's hand clenched into a fist and raised her arm as she jumped to Mei's defense with the intent of breaking the nose of this snobby girl. She was stopped midway by me as I held her back from performing the deed. I knew the girl had more than enough strength to push me away so I knew the only reason I hadn't been pushed away was her concern for accidentally hurting me.
"Don't Kiana," I warned as I too wanted to hurt this girl for her more than insensitive comment about Mei's family. Mocking her father was one thing, mocking her deceased mother was a whole different thing altogether.
Throwing a quick look I could see that a crowd was slowly beginning to build around us and I knew it was only a matter of time before we would have a repeat of the morning. This time I wasn't sure if there was an Ishigami-sensei around to bail us out.
"But-!" The white haired girl tried to argue only for me to shoot her down quickly.
"Think of the bigger picture here Kiana," I threw a worried look to Mei and there was something just fundamentally wrong in seeing such a broken look in her dark blue eyes as she tried to come to terms with everything crashing down on her. "Mei needs more than some petty act of revenge, she needs us now more than ever."
Kiana looked like she wanted to argue but I could see her throw one look at Mei and saw conflicting emotions in her blue eyes. "...okay Haru-senpai," She finally relented as she lowered her fist down.
"Think you can get Kiana? I'll get all of her stuff. After that let's make our way to the chess clubroom, no one will bother us there and we can call for Sato-san to pick Mei up." Kiana quickly agreed with my plan as she went over to the now unresponsive Mei and tenderly held her arms as she helped the heiress up from her position.
"C'mon Mei-senpai, let's get out of here," She whispered gently as I began to collect all of Mei's carelessly thrown possessions. I could hear the girls of the kendo club, the ones responsible for throwing all of her stuff on the ground, trying to provoke us to do something but I ignored them as I finished collecting all of Mei's stuff.
I stood up and saw that Kiana was already guiding Mei in the direction of the chess clubroom, shooting a furious glare at anyone that would block our path forward. It was an effective message that even had the most imposing people present quickly let her pass.
I quickly covered her back as we did our best to ignore the stares that we were getting from everyone as news spread of Raiden Ryoma's trial. All the while Mei had yet to say anything as she was just robotically following Kiana's guidance.
The route to the chess clubroom was long as it was practically on the other side of the school from where the Kendo Club was located. On our journey there, every student stared at us as they whispered not so silently to themselves about the trial of Raiden Ryoma while a few of them even had their phones out to record Mei.
I was so tempted to reach out and swat their phones away with how they were treating the heiress but I knew in doing so would create a commotion and that was not what Mei needed right now. What she needed now was to get away from this madness and collect her thoughts.
So with a heavy heart, I pushed down my anger and focused on making sure we were going in the right direction.
With what felt like an eternity we finally arrived at the doors of the clubroom. Quickly I knocked my hand on the door, praying that Keji was still in there even if we had no activities planned for the foreseeable future.
To my utter relief the door slightly opened to reveal Keji casually eating a pocky stick. "Hey Haruto did you see the news about-ohmygodwhathappenedtoyouguys!?" My brown haired friend shouted in alarm, the pocky stick in his mouth falling out, as he saw the miserable state that Mei was in. Without hesitation he opened the clubroom door for us, quickly ushering us in before he locked it shut.
Kiana guided Mei to the couch and gently sat the despondent girl, trying to comfort the girl but to no avail. I sighed tiredly as I reached up to my hair and grabbed it stressfully. From one bad situation to the next one.
Was I not going to get a single break?!
"I didn't expect Raiden Ryoma to confess to the crimes," Keji whispered to me as he walked up to me, careful to not set off the girl who was still trying to process everything. "They seemed way too outlandish to be true for him."
"I agree but what can we do about it?" I sighed defeatedly at how everything was turning out to be. I thought that somehow or some way I would be able to root myself and be able to stand against the tides of Mei's ostracization from Nagazora's society. With hope I would've been able to help Mei get through this ordeal…
Before she could become a Herrscher.
Though right now it felt as if I was being sweeped up by the current as opposed to standing against it.
Kiana gave the unresponsive girl a quick reassuring hug with some more words before she stood up and walked over to us. "Can't we do anything at all?" She whispered to the two of us.
Keji just shook his head. "A confession in a trial is effectively a coup d'etat, only true definitive proof of him not being involved at all with those crimes will help but the damage has already been done."
"Keji," I asked concernedly. "Can I trust you to-,"
My brown haired club member beat me to the punch as he placed a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. "I'm with you till the end guys. I'm not exactly a very popular person in this little Chiba Academy society we have so I'm not really worried about that. I'm sure Midori Aki would agree with me as well, friends over social status after all."
I cringed at the mention of the undercover Valkyrie as I threw a quick glance at Mei to make sure she wasn't paying attention to us. "Actually…" I motioned them to come closer before I explained what had happened to the one missing from the group.
"Midori has just transferred out of the academy."
Keji and Kiana gave me varying looks of shock and disbelief at my revelation. "You're joking right?" My friend looked at me in hopes that what I had just told them was just a bad joke. "This is some out of season April Fool's joke, right?"
I shook my head as I opened my jacket just a tiny bit, revealing the letter that Midori had entrusted to me. I had planned to give Mei this the moment I saw her, but now? Now I knew if I gave it to her it would make what she was feeling ten times worse.
"I wish it was," As I zipped up my jacket again. "She's left Nagazora all together. I'm not sure where she's going to go but she won't be able to help us now, which I can assure you she wanted nothing more to do."
"W-Why did she leave?" Keji asked while Kiana, who knew of her true identity, had an understanding why our undercover Valkyrie left the city.
"Something about her parents not wishing for her to be associated with Mei," I lied as I looked at Mei who was slowly beginning to get some color in her pale face but still had a fragmented expression. I looked at the two people in front of us with a serious expression.
"And Mei doesn't know this yet."
Kiana sucked in a breath and Keji looked back at Mei in concern as they knew what that meant. "But Mei-senpai will think-"
I looked at the Kaslana sympathetically as I came to the same conclusion not too long ago. "That's why the three of us have to do everything in our power to stand with Mei during this. I'm sure Ishigami-sensei will also help us but it won't take long for everyone here to figure out that they can attack Mei when the teacher isn't present."
"It won't be easy," Keji truthfully told us, having been here the longest at the academy out of the three of us. "You don't know how scandalous and petty these people are yet, it's going to be a shitshow."
"I know," I looked at Mei as both Kiana and Keji mirrored my actions after me. The heiress no longer looked like she was right on death's doorstep but tears were still falling, albeit slower than before, as sobs continued to wrack her frame.
"Otou-san, you're not a monster. I know you aren't," She whispered hoarsely as I felt a pang of hot searing pain hit my heart.
This was all my fault. For in trying to change the future for the better, my very presence made things much worse for her than they should've been.
"But we have to try, for our friend."
A few days had passed after the bombshell that Raiden Ryoma unleashed on the world, and if I thought I had some idea what Mei must've been going through when the allegations were first released to the public, I was dead wrong.
What she had experienced before looked like a tame dream compared to this horrendous nightmare that she was now facing.
News channels that had once been critical but fair about the head of ME Corp were all but now belittling the man, spitting on every accomplishment that Raiden Ryoma had done in service for Nagazora. It was practically impossible to find a channel that had a single positive thing to say about Mei's father.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Mei couldn't even step foot out in public without being harrassed by every single person that was in her vicinity. The paparazzi had her house practically on 24/7 surveillance, if anyone or vehicle left the premises of the manor they would be followed and if it was revealed to be Mei Raiden they would hound her relentlessly for comments or answers.
Her only place of solace was at her house and even then, some people were keen on making sure that not even her home felt safe as a crowd of protestors could always be seen crowding at her manor's front gate, demanding justice even though her father was already in jail for his 'crimes'.
And while the police had been stationed to guard against anyone brazen enough to try and break in, I knew that they wouldn't lift a finger if they saw Mei getting harassed by people. They were just putting on an act.
Though I suppose the only saving grace that I could find in that situation was that the paparazzi and protestors did not choose to hound her when she went to school. A small solace that I knew could only be possible due to Ishigami-sensei.
Yet that solace was very miniscule as it did nothing to sway what I considered to be the worst of Mei's antagonizers, our very own classmates. The worst of her treatment was when she was at school because there she could not run or hide from the snide comments of our classmates.
No better example could be given than Ryne Hinori, who was more than giddy about the revelation of Raiden Ryoma's confession. The olive haired girl would always take any opportunity to rub it in Mei's face of her father's 'crimes' whenever she saw the heiress.
However as opposed to before, public perception was now on her side as most either goaded Mei as well or just chose to do nothing. Unfortunately more people were inclined to be that of the former than the latter.
And that was if she hadn't decided to seek out the poor girl to create a scene, so much so that our usual spot of eating lunch had shifted from seats in the classroom to the chess clubroom where we could take solace in the fact that none were eager to anger the Demon teacher.
Teachers aside from Ishigami-sensei were of no help to us. Actions that would surely catch their attention would instead have them turn a blind eye to it. Classmates seeking to cause trouble had noticed this fact and were more than happy enough to oblige with their intentions.
But while they were eager to commit these acts when teachers were watching, none were willing to do the same when Ishigami-sensei was anywhere closeby. A poor student had found this out the hard way when they had the idea to try and pour red paint over Mei, and to my shame they almost completed the deed.
However it was Ishigami-sensei's timely intervention that he had been able to catch the student's arms, before forcing them to dump the paint on themselves. Humiliated by having the tables turned on them, the student was about to shout profanities at the teacher.
Only for it to die in their throat when the teacher shot them a glare that could freeze hell over. The next day no one could have predicted that very same student being expelled from the academy. Rumor had it that Ishigami-sensei had been so merciless to the student that he had somehow convinced the principal to expel the student.
And thus it was decided that no one should attempt anything under the teacher's watchful eye.
Not to mention he was also strangely very busy for a reason that not even I was privy to beforehand. My curiosity got the better of me during one of those rare opportunities where the teacher was doing nothing and I had cautiously asked what had gotten him in this foul mood.
"I have two…acquaintances visiting soon," He grimaced from even mentioning them. "Despite my best efforts to convince them not to come here, they chose to do so anyway." His scowl grew even and I never felt more sorry for whoever had pissed him off. Though a small part of me wondered what they had done in the past to create such ire from him.
"But that's nothing to concern yourself with, now tell me; how is Mei doing right now?"
As for Mei…I feel as if it would be naive of me to say she was doing okay now. The dark purple haired girl was not one to voice her troubles when asked. She would always simply smile and say 'I'm doing alright' whenever asked by either me, Kiana, or Keji.
But the three of us knew she was not okay, no one would be after being targeted like she had been for the last two weeks. Her words of assurance did not match the dull look in her eyes or the hollow smile she would constantly have.
Not to say the three of us did nothing and sat idly by during those two weeks. We did everything we could possibly think of to try and cheer the girl up. Kiana would try and relay a funny experience she had, Keji tried to coax her with some board games he had, and I even snuck Kuro into school by hiding her in my bag.
Yet no matter what we did, nothing changed. The only thing that would change was her look, for each passing day she looked like she was losing more and more of the will to keep on going. Any mention of her father would darken her already downcast expression.
I knew that Midori's sudden departure was weighing down on her, maybe a bit more than I thought it would have. The bond between the two of them must've been strong, stronger than I thought it had been.
Still the undercover Valkyrie's letter was in my possession, and I knew that I should have given it to Mei already. Surely whatever the letter contained would give the troubled girl the closure she needed…
My biggest fear however was that instead of closure, the letter would further break Mei Raiden and that was something I could not allow to happen. So I held my hand and kept the letter with me, waiting for the right time to give it.
The only thing I could do now was keep praying and praying that somehow, someway, something would change soon.
And it would…though not in the way I intended it to be.
We were walking to class one morning, the three of us were walking with Mei as the usual jeers and insults were directed at the heiress. Kiana's glare did little to stop them as they knew the public all had the same impressions of the Raiden family and knew if the white haired girl tried to stop one of them, others would rise to their defense.
One student in particular threw a baby doll at her, shouting the words 'Baby Killer'. Thankfully Keji had seen it coming and had been able to smack it out of its trajectory before it had hit Mei. Such actions were sadly common these days and after Keji had smacked it out of the air as well as preventing Kiana from trying to pummel the thrower, I checked to make sure Mei was doing alright.
I had turned to face her and the first thing I had seen was her hand clenched into a fist, trembling as if she was trying to reign in her anger. Instantly fear tried to replace my worry for my friend but I pushed it down, chalking up to being a trick of the eyes.
When I looked into her eyes and was just about to ask if she was doing alright. "Are you okay…" the words died in my throat as the next thing I saw was something I wished to be a trick of the eyes.
As just for a split second, a moment so miniscule that a blink would take faster, her usual dark blue eyes glowed with a deathly purple hue before reverting back to their normal colors.
"I'm fine Haruto," She smiled emptily, not noticing the surprise and shock in my eyes at what I had just seen.
"C'mon Haruto," Keji temporarily brought me out of my trance as I rapidly did my best to hide my distress at what I had just seen.
"Y-Yes," I replied shakily as I gave them what I hoped to be a normal reassuring smile. "Let's get going."
The three were none the wiser as we continued making our way to our classroom, ignoring the other insults thrown our way. Yet as we moved forward I casted a worried look to the back of Mei, replaying that scene over and over again.
"It's not true," I tried assuring myself over and over again. "You're just tired from everything going on, yes that must be it."
But deep down inside of me I knew what I had seen had not been a trick of the eyes, and…
I didn't want to think what that revelation was supposed to mean.
"See you tomorrow Haru-senpai," Kiana tiredly said her goodbyes as she entered her apartment, a second later I entered my own apartment. Entering my ole sweet home must've been a relief which it was but for all the wrong reasons.
Walking into my home I tiredy dropped my school bag on the floor, not exactly caring how it fell to the floor. Taking a quick look around I noticed that Kuro was nowhere to be seen and I was glad for that fact.
With how I was currently feeling I feared that I might accidentally lash out on the black feline.
And what was I feeling at the moment?
"Dammit!" I yelled as I punched my hand against one of my shelves in the living room. My fist slightly stinged from the impact but it was incomparable to the tempest of rage and anger brewing inside of me.
I was naive for thinking that simply being there for Mei would change anything. A small part of me believed that I could somehow stop Mei's descent into becoming a Herrscher, that my presence being there at the academy had to have meant something.
Which was all void when I remembered the look in her eyes back at school, eyes that shined with a deathly purple hue as she reigned her anger in from doing something that would not make things better. And while a part of me was proud of Mei for being the better person, a part of me was also terrified.
As I knew what that deathly hue signified.
I didn't know if it was just my mind playing tricks on me but I knew deep down that it was the beginning of it, of the fall that she would go through into becoming the Herrscher of Thunder. It might be the start of a slow beginning but nothing could detract from the fact that it was actually happening.
"Alright Haruto," I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Let's take this time and review what we know about what happened in the original timeline."
Well this sad story all started with Raiden Ryoma getting accused of economic fraud, that much was given to us. What happened after was not gone through in thorough detail, leaving us to try and figure out what had occurred from that up to the point Mei Raiden became a Herrscher.
If trials went anything like it did back in my world, then it was safe to assume someone as rich and powerful as Raiden Ryoma would fight the trial with each step of progression made. He had the resources to do so anyway and he did not strike me as a person to go down without fighting.
I wasn't a lawyer or had any experience with the law by any means but I had watched enough news to know that people of power, like celebrities or politicians, had their trials way after the deed had been done.
Now obviously a scandal implicating one of the most powerful people in the world would not be delayed for long. I had a feeling though that from the time it was announced that Ryoma had been charged with these crimes, it would take at least a couple of months for the trial to reach its verdict of finding him guilty.
And guessing how the public would've reacted to the long process of the trial, Mei would've been treated like an outcast by some, but not the entire public. Rumors and maybe some ill-tidings would've been spread by the people but someone of Mei's status that was pretty much to be expected.
It would just be a normal occurrence for her.
I imagine it would've weighed a bit more on her as they were pertaining to her father but she probably put on a brave face and ignored such rumors in favor of believing in her father.
Each rumor or comment however would be a straw placed on her shoulders. One might not be enough but over time the burden of it would get heavier and heavier as more and more people talked about her father.
Until the day came where Raiden Ryoma would be declared guilty would the effects of such a burden be felt. From there comments would be much more scathing and people would be more open in showing their hostility to the poor girl. The straws that she once had to bear would now become heavy weights for her to carry.
And while Mei was resilient, there was only so much she could carry on her back before all it took was one snide comment to break it.
It was with startling horrification that I realized that with Ryoma Raiden confessing just a day after he was accused of not only the crime of economic fraud, but also of blackmailing and human experimentation…
He had essentially taken out that timeframe of several months that Mei had preserved through and thrusted her right into the pit of despair and darkness that awaited her without warning.
Originally it would have been a gradual, slow descent into that pit. There would've been many opportunities for her to fight back or resist the temptation and it was only when she found herself at the very bottom that she gave in.
Now it was a straight drop into that dark abyss, with no way to fight back or resist as it was only a matter of time before it eventually swallowed her whole.
Sickening was not a proper word to describe what emotions I was feeling right now, but not because of Mei's fast descent into the darkness. A part of me was affected by that but it was not the main cause of it.
For with this knowledge, I had come to an epiphany. For the real reason why this was all happening…
"Was because of you," A small whisper in my heart told me and no matter how much I tried to think otherwise, the facts were so glaringly obvious that I could not turn a blind eye to it.
If I had never come to Nagazora, never attended Chiba Academy, never befriended Mei, she wouldn't be in this mess. Yes she might still have to suffer as a result of her father being convicted of these crimes but it would never be to the extent of what she was experiencing now.
Was it unfair of me to blame myself for Mei's problems? Was it unfair to assume that me not being here in the city would result in a different outcome?
Probably not but as how I was now that didn't matter to me as my rationality continued to devolve further and further.
It's all your fault.
It's all your fault.
It's all your fault.
I was so caught up in my self-loathing that I did not hear the door to my apartment, nor did I hear the footsteps of my visitor as they walked inside, oblivious to what I was going through.
"Haruto?" A familiar voice called out to me but my mind made no move to try and identify who the speaker was. In my embroiled state I did the first thing that came to my mind with no actual thought behind it as I turned to face the visitor.
"WHAT?!" I roared at the speaker, my anger at an all time high as I continued to break further and further by the seams. All I wanted at that moment was to be alone.
My anger however faltered as I saw the concerned look that my grandmother was giving me, who I had unknowingly just lashed out at. "S-Sorry," I quickly replied as I turned my head in shame. "I-I just have a lot to deal with and-"
"I'm not mad Haruto," Any trace of anger my grandmother might've had at my outburst was instantly replaced with worry as she rushed over and tenderly held my cheeks with her hands. "I'm more worried about you, you look like shit."
I wanted to laugh at my grandmother's use of words but everything was still weighing down on me. The guilt of both my actions and the previous days still weighed on me as I averted my gaze from my grandmother's eyes. "It's just about Mei, I wish…I wish I could do more for her right now."
"And you are," She assured me. "Just being with her is enough,"
"It's not," I whispered as I thought back to seeing Mei's eyes light up for that small moment in time. The one thing I was fearing was coming to pass, and despite my best efforts I was just slowing its progression. "There could be so much I could be doing for her."
My grandmother raised an eyebrow to that, "And what more can you exactly do for Mei that you haven't been doing? Be the president of Japan and pardon Raiden Ryoma for his crimes?"
"Maybe?" I replied frustrated, knowing that I had no proper answer for my grandmother's question. "I…don't know anything!"
Unbeknownst to me as I continued to stew in my frustration, the look in her eyes changed. "Alright then how about I ask you another question? Mei's situation won't get any better, we both know this, Kiana and Keji know this, but you seem much more determined in making sure that somehow everything turns back to normal."
Her hazel eyes glinted in curiosity. "Why is that?"
"Who wouldn't?" I replied, hiding the true reason why I was so desperate in trying to make sure Mei didn't progress further into the dark side. "I mean going back to how it was means that Mei won't be treated like this any-"
"You're lying," Her words had me stopping in my tracks as I looked at my grandmother's hazel eyes in shock as she peered into my eyes, looking deep into my soul as she called out my lie. "Or rather you're not entirely being truthful with me, so I will ask again."
"What outcome are you so scared of happening?"
I knew that I had been driven to a corner, I knew that nothing other than the truth was getting me out of here. At the same time however I couldn't tell my grandmother the truth about my knowledge because that would eventually lead to the question of how I would know this in the first place.
Could you imagine the horror?! I told Ishigami-sensei what I knew as the teacher had probably already pieced together my origin. It was not farfetched to think that the Herrscher of Reason, even a clone at that, could do that.
But my grandmother was a whole different story! She was someone that I grew up with, how would she react to the news that her baby grandson had the mind of a grown adult? I did not want her to think that her family was cursed or anything like that!
So I decided that I would take another crack at lying to her, just praying that she wouldn't be able to discern it as false. "I-!"
Just as the words were about to leave my mouth, my grandmother's hand fell on top of my head. My lie died in my throat as I looked to my grandmother with a look of bewilderment, not knowing why she had done that.
"...I know that look anywhere," Her words were both comforting and full of pride as she continued patting me on the head, much to my confusion. "That look where you hold the weight of the world, wage an unseen war that no-one can see, to do what nobody should."
"And before you try and say anything, I know what I'm talking about." She mused as she had a nostalgic smile. "There was a time that I used to work with veterans, helping them get back on their own two feet after the battles they fought for us. And the look in their eyes mirror yours almost perfectly."
Without any resistance from me she pulled me into a hug, resting my head on her shoulder. "Your experience and maturity shows, I could only imagine the upstanding person you were in your previous life."
I gasped at the revelation that she had just dropped. "Y-You knew?" I asked, shocked that my attempts at hiding the circumstances of my birth were seen through by my own grandmother of all people.
"I knew," She admitted as she held me even tighter. "From the moment I first saw you as a baby I knew that you were different from any other baby, your eyes glowed with a light I knew could only come from playing this game we call life."
I could distinctly feel tears beginning to trail down my eyes despite my best efforts to hold them in as my grandmother continued talking to me. "And having watched you grow into this fine man…"
"I want you to know that I could never be any prouder of you…and I know that your mother and father would agree with me."
!
I could feel my eyes scrunch up from that confession as I tried to hold back the dam of emotions from being let loose. Yet despite my best efforts, I could feel something crumple within me and nothing could stop the domino effect from taking its course as my tears ran freely.
Having the biggest secret that I held close to my heart be revealed like this, it should've filled me with dread but during this moment as I held my grandmother and poured out everything that I had been holding in…
All I could feel was this sense of…
Liberation.
Like the biggest weight I had been unknowingly been dragging along all my life had finally been cut free.
I didn't know how long we were in that position for but our hug ended when I had no more tears left to cry with. My grandmother used her hands to wipe any tears remaining on my face as she looked at me with a smile.
"I think this is the first time I've seen you cry this much," She joked as I couldn't help but laugh in return, such a welcome action in this dark time. "The most I've seen you cry is when you were just a little baby and even then, that wasn't much."
"I suppose in hindsight I should've cried more then," I quipped as I used my arm to wipe the last remaining vestiges of tears in my eyes. "Maybe I could've passed for more of an ordinary baby then." Though I had a feeling that wouldn't elude my grandmother to the truth for that long.
"But I do want an explanation on why you're so dead set in trying to get Mei to feel better about the situation she is in." My redheaded relative looked at me with a serious expression. "And don't think you aren't getting out of this."
"Are you sure?" I replied as I knew what exactly I would be revealing to her. Sure maybe the reincarnation thing was a bit sketchy but compared to the whole explanation of the Honkai made the story of being a reincarnated soul as normal as the sky being blue. "It's kind of a very long…and confusing story."
"Trust me Haruto, I've heard some rather outlandish stories in my lifetime." She gave me a look that all but said she was being serious about her statement.
So obliging her I told her about the Honkai, told her about humanity's decade long struggle against the force of nature that had no explanation to how it even came into being. I told her of its herald like servants, the Herrschers. Told her how each one brought a humanity-ending event…
Told her of how Mei was on track into becoming one of those very harbingers of destruction.
After I finished my explanation, I expected disbelief or skepticism from my grandmother. What I was not expecting was her to be nodding her head as if she understood everything I had just said to her.
"Well it's certainly no bedtime story," She admitted, much to my shock. "But it's not the strangest thing I've heard."
"H-Huh?!" I cried out in surprise. What possible story could exist out there in the world that could outmatch that of the Honkai?!
My grandmother was oblivious to my shock as she continued rambling. "Man, my brother-in-law was quite a strange person. Very smart as a scientist and was probably going to be the one to pioneer space travel if his passion for it was anything to go by."
She raised a hand to her chin as she thought back to the peculiar man that had married her sister. "But he did talk about some strange things that one time I was able to get him drunk. Something about 'Sky People' and these little sugar beings that could apparently mess with the fabric of reality itself."
"He may have been really drunk when he said it but he was really descriptive about them so I guess he was telling the truth," The redhead woman just shrugged her shoulders. "Well not like I could ask him anymore about them."
"But I'm getting off-track," She pushed that away as she looked at me with renewed seriousness. "How many people know about this?'
I brought a finger up to my chin as I tried to think of how many people in this city, that I knew of, possessed knowledge of the Honkai. "From who I know only three people have-,"
"About Mei," My grandmother clarified. "Not about this Honkai shenanigans you've somehow managed to rope yourself in,"
Oh that's what she meant. "Same answer, only three-,"
"You're lying," She called me out on yet another lie. Damm she was really good at calling these out. "How many people know what will happen to Mei?"
"...Only me," I silently admitted, much to my grandmother's exasperation.
"Haruto!"
"It's just something that I didn't think would come to pass," I defended as I looked back to the game plan that I originally had when I first met Mei at what felt like a year ago. "I thought that things would've changed enough that I wouldn't have to worry about it."
"And will you tell someone?" She asked.
"I don't think-,"
"Haruto," She interrupted yet again as she gave me a very disappointed look at how I was proceeding with this. "You have to start believing in people, trust in them to take you for your word."
"But how do I know if what I say will even convince them?" I asked lost. How was I going to get people to trust what information I had if what I possessed seemed to be ripped out of a fiction book at the library. "How do I know my words won't make them look at me like I'm some sort of alien?"
"That's an answer only you can determine for yourself Haruto…" Placing a hand on my shoulder, my grandmother gave me what felt like the first glimmer of hope that I had seen in the last couple of gloomy days.
"You just have to take the first step."
However unbeknownst to the both of us, a certain black feline had been listening in ever since I had entered my apartment. From my outburst to my admission of the knowledge that I held of the future, the cat remained quiet throughout the duration of our conversation.
When the conversation finished, Kuro silently stood from her position and walked away.
"I do hope you keep our surprise for you Mei, I put so much thought into it after all," Never before in my life have I wanted to kill someone as much as I did for Ryne Hinori. The olive haired girl currently had a hand covering her mouth as she let out a haughty laugh, much to the pleasure of her group of friends who had pleased smiles on their faces.
With one last round of laughter did finally the olive haired bitch and her posse finally leave. Kiana's glare was so strong that it could've probably burned a hole in the back of their heads, now that would have been something to see.
But such thoughts of satisfying revenge had to wait as I directed my attention to the target of the group's amusement. "Are you okay Mei?" I asked as I kneeled to be on the heiress's eye level.
The dark purple haired girl sat on the floor, the usual despondent look in her eyes as she gave me yet another hollow smile. "...yes I am Haruto." Even her voice did not match her words as it had the emotions of someone too tired to do anything, just going through the motions of day to day activities.
Mei's words did little to assuage either me or Kiana as the white haired girl knelt beside me, worry also written all over her face. It seems she too was growing increasingly concerned over our friend's mental state. "Are you sure Mei-senpai? If it makes you feel better I'll beat them up for you."
"...no Kiana," Not even a crack of that usual smile at the Kaslana's joke could be seen on the heiress's face. Two days had passed since I had seen the purple hue in Mei's eyes and it seemed that ever since, her mental state had continued deteriorating at what seemed like an exponential rate.
"I'm…okay." She said unconvincingly as she looked down to what exactly Ryne and her friends had 'gifted' her. It was a plain white t-shirt that had words painted onto the front of it in big red bold letters.
'You should just go jump off a building, you dirty fake bitch!'
The fact that she hadn't reacted to these words in the slightest was not a very reassuring sight for me."...If you say so Mei," Placing my hands on shoulder in an act of small reassurance, I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
"Kiana, can you help Mei clean up?" I stood up and looked at Kiana. "I'll go and explain what happened to Ishigami-sensei. I'm not sure what will happen but it's something at least."
Kiana nodded as she turned to Mei and, without any difficulty, took the offending shirt off Mei's hands. The heiress made no moves to deny the Kaslana's wishes as she just stared off absently into the distance.
Unwilling to leave my friend in such a state, I walked myself over in front of her and gently pulled her up onto her feet. "Mei," I spoke up as I held up her hands in mine. "How would you like to come over to my house and bake some cookies together with Kiana?"
Even when she did not react to my words or actions in any way, I smiled gently at her as I continued. "Think of it as a break from all of this, we could even invite Sora and Keji over to help bake those cookies you really like. Ayaka-san gave me the recipe for them the last time I was over and you could teach us how to bake them."
I shifted my attention to Kiana who was growing more and more enthusiastic about the proposed idea. "And Kiana can go and buy some cookie cutters, who knows maybe we can shape them in the likeness of Kuro." I gave Mei's hands a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
"What do you say Mei? Does it sound okay to you?"
A brief tense second of silence followed as I feared Mei would turn down the invitation. But to my utter joy and relief, her eyes seemed to regain a small semblance of light in them as she nodded. "...okay."
I smiled in barely concealed happiness as I turned to Kiana, who too had a matching smile as it seemed we were finally making progress. It might not seem like much but it was a step in the right direction. "Kiana I trust you know what to get?"
Kiana pointed to herself with her thumb with great enthusiasm, unafraid to show her elation. "Leave it to me Haru-senpai!"
"Good, I'll notify Sora and Keji about our plans," I gave them a wave of goodbye before I left them to head to the chess clubroom, as it would be the one place where the teacher would be during this time of day.
Walking through the halls of Chiba Academy, the hushed whispers my fellow classmates would direct my way could do nothing to detract the elation I was currently feeling. After days where the only thing that seemed to be seen was a perpetual darkness, finally a small ray of hope was shining through.
It was small, miniscule as a matter of fact, and if we didn't capitalize on it then it would be swallowed up by the darkness once more. Maybe this was our last chance to make a difference, to change the future that loomed overhead.
That made it worth it to fight all the more for it.
I was so caught up with this great development that I hadn't noticed the fact that I had arrived right in front of the clubroom, my hand already on the doorknob as I turned it so I could enter the room.
If I had been able to focus back on the present and not what had happened earlier, I would've been aware of the intense shouting coming from within the clubroom. Judging by the tones in everyone present, the conversation that they were having was not in all the slightest pleasant.
So unaware of that fact, I turned the knob of the door and entered the clubroom.
"Ishigami-sensei, we have another situation with Ryne harassing Mei agai…" I trailed off as the first thing I saw was the absolutely pissed off look on Ishigami-sensei's face. I think this was the first time that I had seen such an expression of that magnitude on his face.
"Haruto," He greeted me. "You've come…." The brown haired teacher paused as he turned his attention to who he had been speaking to and heaved a displeased sigh.
"At the worst possible timing"
I just tilted my head in confusion at his words, unsure what he meant. Following his gaze I turned my head to who he had been speaking to before I unintentionally ruined their conversation.
Or rather I should say his two guests.
For the moment I faced the pair it did not take me long to realize who exactly had my teacher in such a bad mood.
As it was none other than Frederica Nikola Tesla and Lieserl Albert Einstein, the two scientists that basically ran Anti-Entropy.
Oh shit.
As I made eye contact with Tesla's curious light red eyes, I simply knew that I had to be anywhere but here. "I'll just…" I turned around and pointed to the door. "Take my leave." Without waiting for either of them to answer I quickly walked to that door with the intention of getting out before they could say something.
Just as my hand touched the handle of the door, my hopes were dashed when Einstein spoke up. "No stay Haruto-san," Slowly I turned to face the cyan haired scientist. "This is quite convenient for me."
"Oh no I couldn't," I held up my hands and shook them as I tried to get myself out of this situation I gotten into as fast as possible. "I intruded on your guys' conversation, I should leave and let you finish-"
"That conversation wasn't going anywhere anytime soon," The scientist affirmed as she turned towards Ishigami-sensei who merely intensified his glare as a result. "We would've sat here for hours on end without getting anything productive done."
She turned her attention back to me and I couldn't help but shiver at the way her blue eyes looked at me. "But now an opportunity has presented itself, so please…" The scientist motioned to an empty chair that was conveniently sitting between where the two scientists were and where the teacher was at.
"Sit. We've been meaning to talk to you for quite awhile."
Another cliffhanger, and a great one for New Years!
I'll say it again, HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Not much to say in this note as I want to get this out before New Year's, though I know when this gets out some of you will have already celebrated it, so please forgive me for the late update.
Hoped that this chapter was great for you guys, especially the ending as I ended Christmas with a rather depressing ending so I saw it as fitting that the New Year's chapter have what appeared to be a hopeful ending.
Something to start out 2022 with.
Also poor Mei, I hope this was a depressing enough heiress for you guys.
Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them!
Peace!