Chapter 35 : Choices

I walked back to the classroom and I noticed some changes. First, some of my classmates are acting weird. Second, there are some weird paintings on Raiden Mei's desk.

I sighed and shook my head. "Can't you guys at least wait before the school ends? If you do it now, the paint on the desk won't dry before she comes back. Seriously, you guys are such an idiot," I told them while picking up a towel to wipe all the paints from her desk.

"And the smell is not something I want to experience while listening to what the teacher is teaching. So, do you mind?" I asked the people around the class by looking around. And some shook their heads. I guess those are the culprits.

There are many awful words written on the desk. Like, "criminal's daughter", "go die", "shameless", "bitch", and so on.

"Mind if I ask where you guys got the paints?" I asked without looking up from wiping the paint. It was a good thing we had warm water and some soup in the class. There might still be some smell left but this is still bearable.

"From the art room," one of them answered. "Figured," I sighed.

Although the desk might still be a little wet, I guess it is better than wet paint. I must say I am surprised the rest of the class didn't outcast me just because I side with Raiden Mei. Guess I was wrong about that.

A little while later, Raiden Mei arrived and noticed that her desk was a little wet. Albeit confused, she doesn't seem to mind it and sits at her place before another class starts. But I think she noticed the smell of the paint and looked around the class. But stopped after the teacher arrived.

The class went on just like that. And all the teachers acted as if Raiden Mei was not in the class. Usually, they asked her some questions and praised her a lot, I mean, a LOT when she answered them correctly. But now? They didn't even bat their eyes when she tried to ask what she didn't understand about the lesson.

She is smart, yes. Not as smart as MEI from my previous life but this girl is smart nonetheless. But, it doesn't mean she understands all the lessons taught here at the school. During the past two weeks I arrived at this school, I noticed she paid undivided attention to the lessons and asked whenever she didn't understand the topic. So, although she is smart, there is much hard work behind it too.

The school ended and I am now on my way to my part-time job. As usual, it was just a boring day without any conflict. It has been a while since I last practiced kenjutsu and I have a feeling that I am getting rusty.

Today is just another one of those boring days. With nothing that happened at the cafe, I am now on my way back home. It would be great if something interesting happened.

… I shouldn't have tempted my fate. I walked into the robbery scene. And surprise, surprise. It was Raiden Mei who got robbed. With a bag of groceries in her hand, she looked absolutely terrified. Didn't she know that this is not a good time to buy groceries? And this route has a bad reputation for many robberies.

"Sorry for intruding on your business. Please carry on," I said and turned around, preparing to leave. But wait… I wonder what Mother will say if I just let the girl get robbed. She will get disappointed in me, right? Okaa-sama too. I bet Father will tell me to leave the girl and my safety is more important.

"You, give me your wallet too," I heard the voice from behind and it looked like he was aiming at me with a gun. With a gun… He is aiming at a Kaslana with a gun. Is he an idiot? We Kaslana can handle the bullets shot out from a normal gun. I was shot with live ammo when I trained with my Mother. She wanted me to dodge the bullets. Is she crazy?! Good thing I helped KEVIN when he tried to make his own fighting style. And that was also when Father and Mother argued… again.

"Sigh, I really don't want to deal with this right now," I sighed.

I can quickly disarm him and beat him up. Well, instead of thinking, I should do it now. Today's dinner is Luna's French onion soup and I don't want to be late for that.

I walked toward him with my arms up as if I was going to give him my wallet. When I got near him, I grabbed the gun with my left hand and pushed it to the right while my right elbow slammed directly to his chin. It is not practical and dangerous, I know. But hey! As long as it works

And… the man is down. I will just lay him on the ground while taking the gun from him. I turned my head to look at the girl but she is already out cold.

I have two choices. First, wait until she wakes up and misses my onion soup. Second, carry her back to my home and arrive just in time for the onion soup. I guess I don't even need to think. Of course, I am choosing the second one. It is already 8:30 P.M and Luna's kitchen is closed at 9. I have 10 minutes to carry her and rush toward my home. I'll just piggyback her.

And thus, carrying a girl who passed out because of her scary experience, I arrived at my home.

"Welcome home, Master," I heard Luna's voice coming from the kitchen.

"Luna, prepare the onion soup!" I screamed while carrying Raiden Mei into my room and dropped her onto my bed. Great, now I have to sleep on the couch.

「Urien… She has stigmata on her.」 I suddenly heard the other man talking to me. He was silent these days and the first thing he did after being silent for two weeks was to drop a bomb on me.

『Are you sure?』 My eyes suddenly turned cold. There is only one reason why stigmata would appear naturally on a person's body.

「Yes, she has been branded by the Honkai to become a Herrscher in the future.」 I could hear the other me sighing and it is really, really rare.

『Then, there is only one thing I should do.』 Yes, there is only one thing I should do. Just like what I did to my beloved. Just like what I did to any other of their kinds. Just like how I made my friends do when I became one myself.

My hand slowly approached her neck to choke the girl that looked just like a dear friend of mine from my previous life.