The homeroom teacher spent the first few minutes of class spewing meaningless drivel.
This was exactly as Li Wu expected. In this world, the children of powerful figures—whether they were transferring schools or winning an award—always received this standard, NPC-style praise.
But to his ears, these words were incredibly grating. "Share in our joys and sorrows"? "Move forward hand-in-hand"?
The slogans sounded nice, but the moment real trouble started, these people would run faster than anyone else. He'd be lucky if they didn't kick him while he was down, let alone "support" him. If they actually cared about supporting one another, why hadn't a single person stood up when Raiden Mei was being bullied?
They were nothing but hypocrites who looked down on anyone without power.
Li Wu glanced at Raiden Mei. Her brow was furrowed, and her hands were instinctively clenched into fists.
As expected, it's not that easy to let it all go...
Li Wu let out a soft sigh and turned his attention back to the teacher on the podium.
"Now, please give a warm round of applause to welcome our new student to the family. She will now introduce herself." The teacher nodded toward the door and stepped aside to stand quietly by the podium.
Amidst a wave of enthusiastic applause, a girl with short hair and a very peculiar outfit walked up to the front.
She was dressed entirely in shades of brown. Her gait was sharp and disciplined. Despite it being the height of summer, she wore an out-of-place trench coat and a baseball cap pulled low over her short, auburn hair.
She was bundled up tight, yet her long, slender, snow-white legs were on full display, with only her ankles covered by bluish-black socks.
She didn't look like a student at all; she looked more like a private investigator.
Auburn hair? Pink eyes? And that face...
Li Wu felt like he'd seen her somewhere before. She looked a bit like Kiana, but different.
Where have I seen her?
As Li Wu searched his memory, the girl on the podium spoke.
"My name is Anna. Anna Schariac. I come from the Schariac House, one of the three Great Houses of Schicksal. I am an A-Rank Valkyrie of the Snow Lotus Squad. My specialties include hand-to-hand combat, various firearms, and frontal assassination..."
Anna delivered her statement with a blank expression, her tone as flat as it could possibly be.
If Kiana's speaking style was an unmelting block of ice, Anna's was a slab of pig iron.
Dry, hard, and rigid.
Wait, hold on. Wasn't the transfer student supposed to be an Anti-Entropy cyborg? Why is it Anna?
And are you serious with that introduction?
What kind of student transfers schools and gives a book-report-style speech about their combat experience and killing techniques?
Can't you mention some normal hobbies? And what the hell is 'frontal assassination'?! Frontal assassination just means you're playing Dynasty Warriors—charging through the front door and killing everyone in sight! What part of that is 'assassination'?! You're not an Assassin's Creed character!
There were too many things to nitpick; Li Wu didn't even know where to start. Is there any other 'pure' human in this world besides me? Why does it feel like everyone is a 'manga trope' person?
He thought Raiden Mei was already a handful, but he hadn't expected another "pro" to show up.
In the game lore, Anna was born into the Schariac family and underwent Honkai combat training from childhood. She became a Valkyrie at twelve, was promoted to A-Rank at sixteen, and served as the captain of the Snow Lotus Squad.
But she wasn't supposed to show up this early in the manga. Even when she did appear, it was only a minor role; Li Wu remembered drawing a silhouette of her back once and then never touching the character again.
Just as Li Wu was reeling from his internal monologue, Anna dropped a massive bombshell:
"Finally, I should mention that I am the fiancée of Kiana Kaslana. I ask that everyone maintain an appropriate distance from my betrothed. My introduction is complete."
"..."
"..."
After a brief, stunned silence, the class exploded. Every pair of eyes turned toward the beautiful but stiff face on the podium. A torrent of gossip and questions filled the room.
"For real? Kiana's fiancée? But aren't they both girls?"
"What century are you living in? You think girls can't be together? Schicksal solved that technical problem decades ago. Girls can even have children together now!"
"I can't believe it! Pure 'Yuri'! And with Kiana! I have to tell my bestie about this!"
"A betrothed? No wonder Kiana rejected my bro. I guess the daughters of Great Houses don't get to date for love like us; they've got pre-arranged marriages..."
The discussion grew louder and louder. The teacher shouted for order several times, but he couldn't suppress the noise. He stomped his feet in frustration but was ultimately helpless. He couldn't afford to offend most of these students, so he could only watch the chaos unfold.
The noise only stopped when Kiana suddenly stood up. The entire class felt like someone had hit the mute button; the room went dead silent.
Kiana glared at Anna on the podium, her gaze freezing. She clutched her textbook so hard the pages wrinkled. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," Anna replied.
"Why are you looking for me?"
"To attend school and study with you."
"Who sent you?"
"Information. Restricted."
No matter how Kiana questioned her, Anna only provided the most basic, robotic responses.
The conversation between the two didn't hold a single trace of the romantic tension or shyness one might expect from a betrothed couple. There was only an extreme, chilling distance.
"I hope that's all it is." Kiana noticed the surrounding gazes becoming increasingly heated. To avoid further scandal, she suppressed her many questions and sat back down to continue reading.
Taking the chance, the teacher rushed back to the podium and waved his hand. "Student Anna, since you're new and an old acquaintance of Kiana's, I'll arrange for you to be her desk-mate!"
As he spoke, the girl currently sitting next to Kiana began to get up, ready to yield her seat.
This was what everyone expected. Li Wu included.
The "fiancée" part might have been a deviation from the manga, likely caused by some character's personality shift changing the world's progression, but it made sense for them to sit together.
However, to everyone's shock, Anna rejected the teacher's suggestion.
She walked down from the podium. Her steps were steady and heavy—the result of years of combat training. She seemed to carry a gust of wind with her as she marched straight toward the back of the classroom.
She stopped right next to Li Wu.
Her eerie pink pupils scanned him mechanically, confirming that the target matched the data in her files. She then pointed at the boy sitting next to Li Wu and said:
"I am sitting here."
Li Wu: ???
Hey... lady? Do we even know each other? What do you mean you're sitting here?