Changelog /
19/06/2024 - Changes have been made to a minor detail of a major plot point to reduce contrivance.

Rei awoke to the shrill cry of his phone screaming at him to accept an incoming call. Without opening his eyes, he struggled to find where his phone was before grabbing it and swiping up to receive the call.

"Rei-senpai!" It was Kiana's voice, but she seemed distressed. "Something really bad happened!"

"What thing?" he groggily replied.

"It's about Mei-senpai! Check the news!"

"Okay…"

He got up and rubbed his eyes before slowly walking to the living room. The TV was on, and he switched it to the news channel.

Raiden Ryoma accused of economic crimes and fraud totaling 9.55 trillion yen

"…Oh. Oh no…"

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It was big news. Very big news.

Everyone was talking about it or at least knew. How could they not? The news of Ryoma's crimes was everywhere. On television, on social media, and even radio. Even the other channels on TV were interrupted by the breaking news, ensuring that everyone within Japan would know immediately.

And of course, everyone had an opinion on it. A vast majority of the views were negative towards Ryoma. Typical CEO of a large conglomerate, they would say in regards to the fraud. They all said that they had already known something was up with him. After all, what was a CEO if their portfolio didn't have a sprinkling of fraud?

The Raiden Estate was inundated with people surrounding it. A portion of the crowd were reporters who were keen on getting a response from Ryoma despite him declining to comment, but the rest were all angry citizens who were furious. None of them were sympathetic in any way, and some even wanted to kill Ryoma. A few police officers stood in front of the gates of the estate to stop people from breaking in, but even they didn't seem too passionate about their assignment.

But of course, when people didn't get the answers they wanted from Ryoma, they turned to the next best thing.

His daughter.

Mei was in a nearby park when the news broke out, so now she was stuck in a park surrounded by people whose hatred toward Ryoma now spilled over onto her. To say it was a terrible situation would be an understatement. It was bad enough that she was worried sick about her father, and now she had to deal with crowds of people who were screaming bloody murder for something she didn't do.

…

So she did the only thing she could do, and she ran.

She ran as fast as she could, using as much of her strength to push through the increasingly angered crowd of people, and ran away. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't care. She just wanted to be alone.

She accidentally bumped into someone and they almost fell. She slowly looked up and saw who she had run into. She quickly realized she had been extremely lucky.

"Mei! Are you okay?" Rei asked. She didn't reply immediately, and she immediately hugged him tightly.

"P… Please… help… I don't want them to keep chasing me…"

"Why? Why would they chase you?"

"They-" She choked on her words. "They think I was an accomplice… They yelled at me… They… They…"

She hugged him even tighter. "Please, do something! I don't want them to keep chasing me… I just want to be left alone!"

"But… I don't know how…"

"Can… Can I stay at your home? Just for a bit…"

"M-My apartment? Are you sure?"

Mei nodded.

Rei took off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over her hair to make her less noticeable. He then quickly walked away with her, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Thankfully for the both of them, nobody seemed to bat an eye, and they managed to arrive at Rei's apartment without much trouble.

As soon as Rei closed the door behind him, Mei hugged him tightly again and buried her face into his shoulder. He was about to ask her to let go so he could move, but he then heard her sobbing. He had never seen her be this vulnerable before.

He moved over to the sofa and they sat down before he hugged her.

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'Rei' looked at Makoto. He knew she didn't have long to live. The euthanasia procedure was to be performed in 15 minutes, and after that, she would be gone.

They gazed into each other's eyes, sorrow overflowing from their hearts. They both knew that once he stepped out of the room, they would never see each other again. This was the time for them to exchange their final words with each other, and they didn't even get to physically touch due to tight isolation procedures for patients suffering from Honkai infection.

…

"Do you believe in reincarnation, Makoto?" he asked.

"Not really…" she replied.

"Me neither. But… it's a bit comforting to think about in a way. I wonder if maybe sometime in the far future, we will return to this world… and maybe our fates would be the same yet more fortunate…"

"I guess it is somewhat comforting…"

"Maybe…"

…

"Rei, please promise me something. That you will live your life to the fullest even when I'm no longer by your side. I don't want to drag you down."

He remained silent for a long time before replying. "I… I don't know if I can. You've done so much for me, and I don't know if I can ever fill the hole in my heart after you go…

"But… I'll try my best, Makoto. I promise. I… I love you."

"I love you too, Rei…"

'Rei' looked at the clock on the wall, and Makoto did too.

"It's almost time, Rei," she said with significant sadness.

"Time moves so quickly…"

"Yes… Yes it does…"

'Rei' took a picture out of his pocket. It was a picture of their first kiss. He placed it on the bed Makoto lay in so that she would be able to remember their one most precious memory in her final moments.

"Goodbye, Makoto…" he said between sobs.

"Goodbye, Rei… May we meet again…"

Makoto cried as well.

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Rei realized he was sleeping and opened his eyes. "Huh…?"

He looked around. He was still in the living room. Mei was sitting beside him on the sofa, blankly staring at the TV. He wondered how long he had fallen asleep for, and looked out the window. The sun was still out, so either he had taken a short nap, or he had slept through the night and it was already Sunday. He went to check his phone. The clock displayed 15:48, and it was still a Saturday.

With that information gathered, he looked at Mei again. She continued to watch the news with a blank expression on her face as the news reporter continued to talk about the accusations against Ryoma.

"Mei? Are you feeling any better?" Rei asked.

She shook her head. She watched the reporter finish her reporting before talking again. "No… My father would never do this… he wouldn't…"

He didn't know how to comfort her.

…

The news then switched to a report of the large crowd still gathered around the Raiden Estate. He had never seen a scandal regarding a CEO gather this much vitriol before.

"I want them to go away…" she muttered.

"How will you go home, Mei?" he asked. "With all the people around the estate…"

"I… I don't know…"

She turned toward him after a long pause. "Can… Can I stay here? For a bit…?"

Rei's face reddened. "Y-You sure?"

She nodded. "Please…?"

"…Okay. But where will you sleep?"

"I'll just sleep on the sofa…"

"But the sofa isn't very comfortable. Why don't you sleep in my bed instead?" He realized he was making an outlandish proposition and immediately tacked on an additional condition. "I'll just sleep on the sofa."

"R-Really?" Her face reddened. "O-Okay then…"

She hugged him. "Thank you, Rei…"

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Despite the recent accusations, the show must go on. School started as usual as Monday rolled around.

Rei walked to school with Mei. He hoped that their classmates wouldn't treat her as if she had a hand in the fraud case, though his hope didn't seem to be holding up well as people in different classes who were walking by seemed to be sneering at her.

When they walked into the school courtyard, they felt a bunch of pebbles hit their faces. Someone had thrown them at them. It was a terrible sign of things to come, and that was made more apparent when one of their classmates suddenly dragged Rei aside.

"Hey you! Why are you friends with that Raiden bitch?"

"Say that again?" He glared at him, anger rising in him.

"I said, why are you friends with that Raiden bitch?"

"Why do you think she deserves to be called that?"

"Because she had a hand in that fraud case, that's what!"

"She did nothing wrong."

"And how do you know that? Did she tell you she's innocent? That's what all criminals say. Maybe she is just tricking you so she can-"

"SHUT UP!"

The boy blinked before cackling. "Ha. Of course! Why am I even talking to you, anyway? Your loss."

He then walked away, leaving Rei to seethe. He couldn't believe that people would turn on Mei so quickly and with zero thought. It wasn't logical.

"Mei-senpai! Rei-senpai!" A familiar voice came running towards them. A mixture of anger and worry was on her face.

"K… Kiana…?" Mei mumbled.

"I can't believe it! They're all saying horrible things about you, Mei-senpai!"

"I… I knew it…" She looked down. "Maybe… maybe they're right…"

"No, they're not!" Rei immediately snapped back. "They're all jumping to conclusions! I know you did nothing wrong, Mei! Don't believe them!"

"And if they say anything else bad about you, I'll make sure they'll regret it!" Kiana puffed her chest.

Mei cried a little. "T… Thank you…"

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Unlike the incident in the courtyard, in the classroom things were quite the opposite. Nobody was willing to mention Mei or the Raiden family, or even look at Mei at all. It was preferable to bullying, but it still wasn't great.

Until recess came along.

"Ryoma is definitely guilty! I know that!"

"I can't stand to see Mei anymore. She's a stain on our school!"

"Why is she even allowed to study here anyway?"

"I'm surprised she still has friends, that criminal."

"Maybe they're also accomplices?"

Mei buried her head into her desk, trying not to listen to the people talking behind her back, and trying to not cry because of it.

"Mei? Are you okay?" Rei asked. She did not respond.

"We have to do something!" Kiana said. "We can't just let them keep saying these things behind her back!"

"But how?"

Someone suddenly yanked Mei from behind, and Rei and Kiana immediately stood up.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Kiana yelled.

"Oh, nothing, just teaching this criminal some manners," he said before shoving Mei forward, causing her to hit the desk. She didn't say a word or retaliate. The others behind him giggled.

"Criminal? She did nothing wrong!" Rei clenched his fists.

"Hah, 'nothing' he says! Can't you tell, you dimwit? She's obviously his accomplice!"

"I don't even know why she's not expelled yet!"

"I can't believe people are still defending her!"

"ALL OF YOU!" Rei furiously shouted. "Nobody on the news said that Mei was implicated in the fraud! Why are you all jumping to conclusions?"

"Maybe they haven't figured it out yet," someone said.

"Yet there's no evidence that she's an accomplice!"

"Not yet. But there will."

"And how do you know?"

"Listen, Komeiji," the boy from this morning spoke up. "We already know the Raiden bitch is a criminal. You won't gain anything by helping her cover her crimes. So instead of ruining your meager reputation even further, how about you sit back down and be a good student?"

"Why you little-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Kiana suddenly grabbed a chair and lifted it into the air, poised to strike the person in front of her. "YOU WILL NOT CALL MEI-SENPAI A BITC-"

"ALL OF YOU, STOP THIS AT ONCE!" The principal had heard all of the commotion and was there to put an immediate end to the altercation. His stern presence alone was enough to silence the entire class. "You are all seeing me at my office one by one after school. Do you all hear me?"

Everyone gulped. "Yes, principal."

Thankfully for the rest of the day, nobody dared to continue insulting Mei again.

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Today is a terrible day, Rei thought as he knocked on the door to the principal's office.

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him before sitting down in the chair, facing the principal.

"Good evening, Komeiji Rei. I believe we have a few things to discuss," he said with a stern tone.

Rei nodded.

"Regarding the incident during today's first recess… can you tell me what happened?"

He quickly explained everything that happened during the recess, and he additionally included some details about what happened when he and Mei arrived at the school this morning. Namely, the hostility of their classmates. The principal, thankfully, seemed largely sympathetic towards Mei.

"I see. I understand that you don't want Miss Raiden to be accused of something she didn't do, and your classmates are in the wrong for harassing her. However, I suggest you refrain from getting into further altercations with your classmates, and instead focus more on comforting Miss Raiden."

Rei nodded.

"You can leave now."

"Thank you, principal." He stood up and left the room, closing the door behind him. He saw Kiana sitting beside the door, waiting for her turn.

"Aw, come on!" Kiana pouted. "It's already my turn?"

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Nighttime.

"Is everything alright, Mei?" Rei asked, still worried about her after the incident in the school.

"I… I don't know…"

He looked at the TV. It was set to the news, and it was showing the trial date for Ryoma, the first of many. The news reporter was conveniently standing outside the Raiden Estate, and the angry mob surrounding it seemed to have largely dispersed.

"I think it will be safe for you to return home tomorrow," he said.

"But… I don't want to go… Not yet…"

He was perplexed. "Huh? Why?"

Mei hugged his jacket tenderly. "I… I feel alone… Remember what I said when we first met…?"

He nodded. "You said that everyone only wanted to be friends with you because… because you're the heiress of ME Corp."

"Before… It was just a bad feeling I had, but now, now I realize… they didn't really care about me… they only wanted to get close to me because of my status…"

Tears were welling up in her eyes. "But you… You were different from all of them, Rei. You were the first person who saw me as myself… You're… You're the first true friend I ever had in… forever…"

She hugged his jacket even more tightly. "I feel safe around you, Rei… I don't feel lonely when you're around… and I… I want to stay with you…"

Rei slowly hugged her back. He didn't expect her to say something like that. "I… I see…"

An awkward silence passed.

"Rei… can I ask you a question? Do you… Do you think my father is guilty…?"

"I… I don't know. Objectively, I don't have an opinion, but… I hope he isn't guilty. For your sake."

"Really…? Then… if he is indeed guilty… Do you think our classmates are right? That… that I'm also a criminal…?"

"No… no, they're wrong. Don't let their words get to you, Mei. Even if your father is guilty, I still believe you did nothing wrong. You don't deserve to be treated like that."

"I…" She hugged him tightly, tears flowing freely from her eyes. "T-Thank you, Rei… I…"

She trailed off and began sobbing uncontrollably.

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The incident from yesterday immediately stopped anyone from attempting to harass Mei any further. Everyone simply ignored her, and at most, they would only glare at her. It was still much more preferable to yesterday, however, and it gave Mei some respite while she was still worrying about her father.

The trial dates rolled over, and as expected, Raiden Ryoma fought tooth and nail in court with his best lawyers. Over a few weeks, the case slowly leaned in favor of Ryoma, and it seemed like the charges against him would be dropped soon. Mei was cautiously relieved, and she felt much better than before.

Tuesday, a week later. The morning sun lazily shone on the concrete forest below. Rei and Kiana accompanied Mei as usual as they walked to school, but what happened as soon as they entered the courtyard was something nobody could have ever predicted. A crowd of people stood in front of them.

Mei braced, fully expecting them to all attack her for her "crimes", only for them to all bow and say in unison, "We're sorry, Miss Raiden."

Silence.

…

"You are all a bunch of liars," Rei hissed. "All of you. You turned on Mei when the accusations of his father committing fraud came up. It was just allegations, yet all of you already assumed that not only was her father guilty, but that she was an accomplice! And now, you wanted to say sorry, not because you are actually sorry, but because you wanted to take advantage of her father's still-intact economic and political status! You just wanted to befriend her again for your selfish gain! Do you think Mei will forgive you with such a hollow apology?"

"And what makes you think you can talk on her behalf?" someone in the crowd snapped back.

Mei finally spoke up. "…He's right. I can't accept any of your apologies."

The crowd gasped.

"I always felt that everyone just wanted to be friends with me because of my father, and not because they really wanted to know me. It was just a hunch, but after what happened last week…" She shook her head. "I can't trust any of you anymore."

The trio passed through the crowd and wordlessly entered the school building, leaving everyone else flabbergasted.

"You're so cool, Mei-senpai!" Kiana said as she hugged Mei, whose face was slightly red.

"U-Uhm… Well, I wouldn't have the courage to say how I felt if Rei didn't say what he said first…"

"Huh? Really?" Rei chuckled a bit before scratching the back of his head. "I was just saying what I felt was right…"

Mei giggled. "I… I can't thank both of you enough…"

"There's no need to thank us!" Kiana puffed her chest in pride. "We will always protect you, Mei-senpai!"

Mei smiled. Things almost seemed normal again.

…

"Anyway, what about my prize?"

"P-Prize?"

Kiana pouted. "You promised that we'd go to HOMULand last week!"

"Oh…"

"Kiana," Rei began. "Didn't you say Mei didn't need to thank you?"

"Well, yes, but… uhm… uh… HEY!" She stomped on the floor in annoyance as he laughed.