"I am indeed very familiar with her, but now is not the time to trouble her."
Welt shook his head. Until he had a clear grasp of the current situation, it was better not to inform Theresa. After all, her side… wasn't completely secure either. There were numerous spies within St. Freya. Even his past self had managed to blend in for a long time before being discovered. It seemed St. Freya really needed to establish an intelligence department, but… that probably wouldn't be very effective either.
Recalling those past events, Welt once again shook his head with a sense of helplessness.
The walls of St. Freya were high, but for this group, climbing over them was as easy as turning over one's palm. Moreover, after they vaulted the wall, no alarms were triggered.
There were, in fact, alarms nearby, but Welt had manually intervened with them. They had traveled a long way to get here. By his calculations, it was now an hour after the students at St. Freya had been dismissed from class. Plus, this section of the wall was rarely visited by anyone. He remembered that in the past, whenever he wanted to slip out of St. Freya unnoticed, this was the spot he always climbed.
Thinking about it now, for him, a teacher, to be leading the charge in wall-climbing… if anyone found out, they would surely laugh at him, right?
"Let's wait here for a bit. They haven't arrived yet," Welt said to the group, looking at the empty surroundings.
"Oh, okay. I'll play some games for a while then."
March 7th nodded and pulled out her phone to fiercely grind Honkai 3rd. This game was getting more and more addictive!
Wende saw Stelle also take out her phone, and Dan Heng silently watching him. He decided to put his own phone away. Forget it, he'd keep watch with Dan Heng…
He had wanted to send Wendy a message to give her a heads-up, but on second thought, a "surprise" was probably better at a time like this.
---o---
"Kiana, school isn't out for the holidays yet. Are we really going out?"
Wendy looked around hesitantly. She saw that besides the four of them, there was no one else around. This path seemed very secluded…
"Of course! The newest Homu manga is being released today! If we're any later, it'll be sold out!"
Kiana nodded at Wendy with a serious expression. Nodding in agreement right alongside her was Bronya.
As a loyal fan of Homu, she absolutely had to get her hands on the latest personally-signed edition of the manga! She had already sent people to line up at the comic book store in advance. As long as nothing went wrong, they should be able to get the manga as soon as they arrived!
"Miss Mei…"
Wendy looked helplessly at Mei, who seemed just as resigned. Was this really okay?
"Actually… I didn't really want to go out either. After all, climbing walls is something Kiana usually does, but…"
Mei scratched her cheek, a little embarrassed. In the winter air, her fair face was slightly flushed, though it was hard to tell if it was from the cold or from a hint of shame.
"The bookstore next to the comic shop is getting the newest cooking guide today. I heard it has a lot of dessert recipes from Shenzhou…"
"Ah, this…"
Wendy suddenly felt that she shouldn't have joined them to climb the wall and skip school. But on second thought, they had already come all this way. It wouldn't be right to turn back now. Besides… she had never climbed a wall or skipped school before, had she?
If that was the case… did she really have to climb this wall today?
---o---
"Joachim, since he is the future you, is it really necessary for me and Chicken Coop Hair to tag along?"
Outside St. Freya Academy, Tesla swung her red pigtails and wrapped her cashmere coat tighter, looking at Joachim with a puzzled expression.
"If he really is the future me, then he must have his own considerations. And… what happened in the future, and why did he leave his home to become a member of the Astral Express… I imagine many things are involved. Regardless of the reason, we should go and see for ourselves," Joachim said, shaking his head. He looked at the wall before them and frowned.
There were footprints in the surrounding snow and marks on the wall from being climbed. They must have already arrived.
"Let's go over."
Einstein very proactively climbed onto Joachim's back.
"You! What are you doing?!"
Tesla watched this scene in astonishment. She… how could she just climb onto Joachim's back like that!
"Do you think the two of us can get over this wall with our physical condition, my dear Dr. Tesla?"
Einstein said with resignation to the shocked Tesla. They had come in a hurry and hadn't brought any assistive tools. With the frail bodies of scientists, they probably couldn't climb it if they tried until they died…
"Dr. Tesla, let's just go over first," Joachim said, also shaking his head helplessly at the high-strung Tesla. He then scooped her up in a princess carry.
"! You son of a—!"
Amidst Tesla's startled cry, Joachim easily vaulted over the wall and landed lightly on the ground before setting Einstein and Tesla down.
"You… you could have at least given me a warning before picking me up…"
Straightening out her slightly disheveled clothes, Tesla looked at Joachim with a faint blush and a dissatisfied expression.
But at that moment, Joachim's attention was not on Tesla. His gaze was fixed gravely on the man standing before him.
"You're here."
"Yes. It seems a lot has happened in the future."
"Indeed. Especially for you."
Welt gazed at his still-young past self and spoke calmly.
Although, he didn't think of himself as that old now. Just a bit more mature.
"Uh… am I hallucinating? Why are there two Uncle Yangs? Is he Uncle Yang's twin brother? No, that's not right, he looks so young… Could he be Uncle Yang's son?"
March 7th stared blankly at the two identical Welts. Besides the fact that her Uncle Yang had a more mature and steady aura and appearance, they seemed to be no different.
"March, be quiet."
Dan Heng whispered a reminder to March, indicating that other people were present.