A large majority of electricity supplied to the island of Honshu came from Honkai reactors, a relatively recent technology homegrown by Anti-Entropy to cope with the significantly increased energy demands of their new mechanized weapons for defense against the Honkai. Its significantly increased efficiency outclassed even the best nuclear reactors and has seen the reactor being adopted for power generation in places aligned with Anti-Entropy. The technology was so significant that even Schicksal made it their mission to replicate the reactor, thus resulting in mass adoption worldwide.
The adoption of the Honkai reactor was not without opposition, however. The well-known dangers of Honkai radiation led to mass protests throughout many countries, opposing the use of such dangerous methods to power the world, especially a method that humanity had still not yet fully understood. In response, the safety protocols and containment procedures in Honkai reactors are extremely strict to the point of rivaling even the strict protocols used in BSL-4 laboratories. This has led to a 0% failure rate despite its mass adoption for several years.
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Another week had passed. Rei felt he was fitting in more.
…
Lunchtime, again.
Kiana shuffled through her bag for a few minutes, her movements getting more frantic until she grabbed the bag and turned it upside down out of desperation. Everything that was in her bag, which included 3 textbooks and a notebook, fell straight onto her face, causing a few classmates to snicker.
Still, she had no luck.
"Come on!" She pouted. "I forgot my lunch!"
Mei, hearing this, decided to help her out and share some of her bento with her. She held out her bento box to her, and Kiana's eyes immediately lit back up again.
Mei smiled. "I'm not particularly hungry today, so you can have some of my bento-"
She snatched the box from her hands.
"…if you want."
Kiana excitedly opened the purple bento box and started drooling at the sight of Mei's cooking, and without hesitation, she started eating.
Mei watched in horror as Kiana proceeded to consume the entire contents of the bento box within 30 seconds.
"It's sooooo gooood!" she exclaimed with her mouth still full. With her eyes seemingly having stars in them, she then held Mei's hands and took a deep breath.
"Mei-senpai! I love you!"
Time seemed to stop as everyone struggled to process what Kiana had just said. Murmurs immediately broke out between the other classmates. Touki, who was sitting in the far corner, looked to be seething in rage and jealousy. Rei stared at her. Mei's face immediately became very red as she opened her mouth to say… something.
"Y-Y-Y-You can't just say that Kiana…!" she stammered, unsure of how to respond to such a sudden confession.
"Why not?" She tilted her head in confusion. "Are you saying that because you already love Rei-senpai?"
"H-H-Huh…?" Both Mei and Rei exclaimed, flabbergasted. "W-We aren't in a-!"
"I know!" Kiana seemed to get more excited. "We can all be in a relationship with each other! We can even marry-"
Both Rei and Mei ran away out of pure embarrassment, leaving a very confused Kiana behind.
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Rei had gotten well acquainted with Mei and Kiana by this point.
Ever since Kiana transferred to Chiba, he noticed that she wasn't great at paying attention. Instead of listening to the teacher or writing notes during class, she would doodle on her books, to the point of said books being trashed from all the pencil marks obscuring the contents of the pages; or she would just sleep.
As for her academics…
Rei knew some people back in his hometown who would refuse to pay attention in class but could still easily ace tests.
Kiana wasn't one of them. She would frequently score single digits in her tests, but that was still an overstatement considering that her points come from guessing multiple-choice questions.
Although Rei and Mei would often attempt to help Kiana out with her studies, it did not seem to help whatsoever. And because Kiana seemed to be very prone to saying and doing dumb things, often the studying session would end with Rei and Mei furiously blushing, and Kiana having learned nothing at all.
This time, however, Kiana, either by sheer luck or by some sort of divine intervention still unknown to everyone, somehow scored full marks on a test.
"I did it!" She excitedly showed off her test paper, which showed 30/30.
"Hurray for Kiana!" Both Rei and Mei exclaimed.
"So, when do I get my prize?"
"P-Prize?" Mei asked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Of course you have to give me a prize!" Kiana pouted while putting her hands on her hips.
Meanwhile, Rei took a look at her test paper, only to realize that something was off.
"Hey… isn't this my handwriting?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Kiana asked.
"Yeah…" Mei said, slightly disappointed. "This is Rei's handwriting… I don't know how it happened, but you should tell the teacher."
"Does that mean I don't get a prize?" Kiana dejectedly asked.
Rei and Mei nodded their heads.
"Hmph!" Kiana suddenly perked up and grabbed "her" test paper from Rei. "Then there's no way I'm going to tell the teacher about this!"
"Kiana," Rei began. "You have to, otherwise-"
"Komeiji Rei!" The teacher called him to get his test paper, and lo and behold, he got a 0 on the test, though the handwriting looked a lot like Kiana's.
He sighed before showing "his" test paper to Kiana with a disappointed look on his face.
"So…" Kiana asked. "Do I still get a prize?"
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Schicksal and Anti-Entropy had been at odds with each other ever since the latter was established, and this manifested in several ways, such as espionage, patent infringement, and in extreme cases, full-blown corporate warfare. This well-known conflict between the two largest anti-Honkai organizations resulted in a major pushback by world governments when it came to implementing Honkai reactors into the power grids, as they were worried a conflict between them may result in a reactor sabotage that could potentially irradiate an entire city. This concern resulted in both organizations, by some miracle, forming a truce, ensuring that they would not attempt to fight each other if it had something to do with a Honkai reactor.
While the pact has held for quite some time, many people remain anxious and wonder if the truce will someday be broken.
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Touki had enough. He wasn't going to let some stupid redhead or that white-haired girl get in his way.
As Mei walked up the stairs to return to the classroom, he seized the opportunity to approach her, and with absolutely zero hesitation, he made his confession.
"Mei! I like you!"
Mei looked blankly at him. There were several occasions where people confessed to her, and this was another case. She shook her head, feigning some sadness. "Sorry, Touki. I don't feel the same way."
…
Touki clenched his fists and left wordlessly. Mei felt uneasy. She felt that something bad was going to happen, and decided to follow him just in case.
…
Touki stomped down the hallway, anger building up within him as he searched for his target. It didn't take too long to find him sitting in the classroom, reading a book. He immediately grabbed Rei by the collar with so much force that his uniform started to tear.
"What the-!" Rei was interrupted with a slap to the face.
"You little shit!" Touki yelled at him. "You took my Mei away from me! Do you not remember what I said?"
"What…?"
"I said, if you get between me and Mei, you will regret it for the rest of your fucking life! And now… I'll make sure you will."
He punched his face, causing him to stumble to the floor, dazed by the hit. He tried to get away but was immediately grabbed by the collar again. Touki pushed him against a wall with so much force that the back of his head hit the wall, and he felt his ears beginning to ring. Rei then felt another blow to the head, and then another, and then he couldn't feel anything anymore.
…
"…he okay?"
"W… …ppened?"
"Qu… …all an amb…!"
"R…!"
"…ke up!"
"Rei! Wake up!"
…
The first thing he felt was a terrible headache, followed by aching across his body, and the smell of antiseptic.
He slowly opened his eyes. A blurry blob of white was visible, which slowly became clearer and more defined the more he blinked his eyes, and he came to the realization that he was in a hospital bed.
"You're awake."
He looked to see someone wearing a white robe.
"Wh… What happened…?" he weakly asked.
"Well, you got punched several times in the face, and your head hit a wall multiple times."
"Oh…" He remembered that Touki told him something about 'regret' before his memory went blank.
"You should be fine, though. CT scans showed nothing out of the ordinary. Just a mild concussion. The headache will be annoying, but it will go away in a few days.
"Right, you have visitors. You want to see them now?"
"S… Sure…"
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Mei rushed into the room as soon as she could. "Rei! Are you okay? Are you feeling well?"
"Just a headache…" he muttered. "W… Why are you crying?"
"I… I'm sorry, Rei…"
"Huh…?" He was confused. "Why are you sorry?"
"Because… I caused this…"
"Why do you say that? You weren't the one who punched me."
"Touki… he confessed to me on the stairs just moments ago… I told him that I didn't reciprocate his feelings, and I… I didn't expect him to get angry like this… If only… If only I said yes, you wouldn't get hurt…"
"Mei…"
She continued to cry.
"Mei, listen to me." Rei grabbed her arm to get her attention. "It's not your fault. It would have happened either way even if you didn't reject him. I think things would have been even worse if you didn't…"
"You… You think so…?" Mei sniffed.
He nodded.
"I… I see…" She wiped the tears off her face. "I'm… I'm just glad that you're okay… You're the first true friend I ever had… and I don't want you to get hurt…"
Something about what she said made Rei feel warm on the inside. "I'll be fine," he assured her.
The door suddenly slammed open, interrupting their moment.
"Rei-senpai!"
Kiana ran to hug Rei, which was more akin to a squeeze.
"K- Kiana, let me go… I can't breathe…" He tried to wriggle out of her hug, though it was unnecessary as she mercifully broke off from the hug. Her face turned from one of relief to anger.
"Who did this to you? Was it that creepy guy with blue hair?"
"You mean Touki…?" he replied.
"I'll teach him a lesson!" she exclaimed as she cracked her knuckles. "I'll make sure he will never mess with you ever again!"
Mei shook her head. "Kiana, please don't…"
"Why not?"
"It'll only make things worse," Rei added.
She stayed silent before looking down, seemingly disappointed. "Awww…"
"Still," he continued. "Thank you for looking out for me, Kiana. It means a lot."
"Really?"
She then hugged him tightly, squeezing the air out of his lungs again. "Yay!"
Mei giggled as Rei struggled to get out of Kiana's arms.
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Rei was discharged from the hospital just in time for Monday. He was rather reluctant to return to the classroom, but after some encouragement from Mei and Kiana declaring that she would protect him, he got over his apprehension.
The first thing he saw when he stepped into the classroom was that Touki's seat was now empty.
"I hear Touki got expelled!"
"Really?"
"I still don't know why he wasn't expelled any earlier. He's creepy, especially when around Mei."
"He's always been like this."
Rei breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down in his seat. Not only did it mean he wouldn't be at risk of getting any more punches to the face, but it also meant that Mei wouldn't have to deal with him.
He prepared for the rest of the school day as usual.
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2 months later
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Exam season.
It meant everyone was cramming for the inevitable, except for Kiana, who seemingly had no idea what exams were, or that they were something she needed to prepare for. It did not help that her academic performance was already poor from the start.
Despite her seemingly hopeless situation, Rei and Mei tried their best to help her study. It was a difficult task, involving lots of hard work, furious blushing after Kiana continued her routine of saying suggestive things, and occasionally having their notes messed up by her doodling for some reason. Still, for them, seeing Kiana managing to remember something from their studies was already a massive achievement.
Time was against them, however, and it wasn't long before the first term exams came and went, and with that, came the scores. Rei and Mei excelled in every subject, but as for Kiana…
…
She managed to just barely get a passing grade in all of her subjects.
After checking that the handwriting was indeed hers, Rei and Mei repeated the same sentence they said a few months prior, but this time, deservedly so.
"Hurray for Kiana!"
They both hugged her.
"So where is my prize now?" Kiana asked excitedly.
"…Oh. We forgot to think of one…" Rei said.
"Sorry…" Mei added, and Kiana pouted in annoyance. "Is there anything you'd like?"
"Hmm…" She thought long and hard before a lightbulb lit up above her head. "Aha! I want to go to HOMULand with both of you!"
"HOMULand?" Rei asked. "Aren't the tickets really expensive?"
Mei stared at him.
"Huh? Mei? Why are you looking at me like that?"
She pouted.
"I don't get it-" Rei then realized he was looking at the heiress of the Massive Electric Corporation. "Ohhh. Right…"
She smiled. "How about we go there on Sunday, Kiana?"
Kiana jumped in excitement. "Yayyyy!"
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Friday night.
Rei was in bed, sighing as he looked at his phone screen. He had typed a message meant for Mei but couldn't bring himself to send it.
Is it too soon? It might be. It has only been a few months after all…
His thumb slowly and hesitantly approached the "Send" button before he closed his eyes. It wasn't a good idea, but maybe, just maybe, he thought, I should take the chance.
Should I?
He lowered his phone to his chest.
Do I like her?
He thought about it for a long while. He couldn't deny that he had feelings towards her, no matter how much he tried to forget about it.
But of course, why would she have any reason to like me, anyway? She's the heiress of ME Corp, and I'm just some random guy who moved here only a few months ago…
…
He remembered something Mei said when he was in the hospital.
"I'm just glad that you're okay… You're the first true friend I ever had… and I don't want you to get hurt…"
Did she mean anything more? He wondered. No… no, she only considered me a friend, that's all, there's nothing more to it…
He raised his phone and looked at the unsent message. He wanted to know what Mei felt about him, and he tried to muster the courage to press the "Send" button.
But he couldn't.
He deleted the message before throwing his phone onto the other end of his bed and burying his face into his pillow, screaming at himself for thinking about these things.
It took a long time before he fell asleep.
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The tree appearing in his dreams was like a party trick at this point.
Something was off this time, however. The blue branch wasn't the only branch that was of a different color. There were now three others, colored red, green and purple. The red branch was opposite the blue branch, and both the green and the purple one were right next to the blue one.
Curious, he decided to peer into the green branch first.
…
He saw Nagazora City. Or at least, what was left of it. He didn't know what caused it. Already he felt an immense unease, but he pressed forward anyway. He focused his attention on the rooftop of the ruins of Chiba Academy.
…
Mei sat on a ledge, her legs dangling over the destroyed streets of Nagazora City below. She was sobbing, crying harder than ever before. She had done so much damage and killed so many people, and there was no fixing it, nor was there any escape from the horrible reality she was in. She was the one at fault for all of this, there was nothing more to it.
In this precious moment of lucidity, she had to act quickly. At any moment, the murderous being in her could reawaken once again and cause even more destruction. She didn't want that. So she had to stop her, and she only knew one way.
She shifted herself closer to the edge and fell…
"MEI!" Rei screamed out before throwing himself forward, his hand outstretched. A dull pain from hitting the floor kicked him out of whatever dream he was having. He blinked a few times before he let out a sigh of relief, thankful that it was just a nightmare.
…
But what if it wasn't just a nightmare?
The yellow tree had kept appearing in his dreams on many occasions by this point, and it was the only recurring dream he had. He felt something was off about it. The fact that the tree only appeared just when he moved to Nagazora made him even more suspicious and uneasy. He wasn't sure if what he just saw was a nightmare or a premonition.
No, no, it's not real… it's just something made up, stop worrying about it, it's not real…
…But was it?
He got back into bed, but he couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.