When Mei found Shiraha, he was at the park playing on a swing, he was the one pushing it.
"..."
Mei tightened her small face: "Sometimes I really need to show Kiana whether it's me ignoring Shiraha at school, or Shiraha ignoring me."
There weren't many kids in the park, Mei guessed they'd all been scared off.
Yuna stammered: "It's not the first time I've seen it, but Shiraha's ghost friend is really amazing. The sun hasn't even set yet, and she can still come out."
"Could it be a shikigami?"
Probably not, ordinary people could see shikigami.
Yae Sakura seemed to want to say something, didn't they think this was a serious issue?
Rin stayed silent.
"Your little friends are here."
Elysia sat on the swing, her calves swinging along with the motion, her long hair flowing.
Of course, the fairy lady wasn't a child but she really hadn't played with kids' stuff like this in a long time.
Fun. Enjoyable. Loved it.
"Who cares about them, we've been playing till evening and they only just noticed I was gone."
Shiraha pretended to be dissatisfied, putting a little more force into his push. Though he wasn't old, pushing a swing was easy enough, especially with telekinesis helping.
Elysia's smile was radiant, perhaps because no one could see her, it was a bit more unrestrained.
"Being a ghost isn't so bad, you know, just a few simple movements, and soon the place around me turns into our own little world."
Sigh. Elysia's voice was resigned. Whenever she pushed Shiraha, the kids around them would scatter... though the adults were the ones who got scared first.
Shiraha slowly stopped, letting the swing settle. He let out a long breath: "I don't like that. At least in the park, outside, I want people to look at me."
"Not that I want to be in the spotlight but when I'm out with friends, I hate seeing fear in people's eyes."
Since she was the subject, Elysia remained relaxed, smiling: "Of course, you're the 'World's number one killer'. You definitely wouldn't like that kind of look."
As an assassin, the worst thing was probably being stared at strangely. Especially the members of manticores, their orders came from official channels, yet the officials feared them the most.
But the Manticores didn't need to be whitewashed. It was a genuinely terrible organization.
Shiraha shook his head again: "It has nothing to do with the Manticores, Nee-chan. This is a choice made from the heart. Nobody likes seeing their family feared or even despised by others."
Elysia hummed softly, unable to find the words. Finally, she lightly touched the ground with her toes, leaned back against Shiraha's chest, her pink hair cascading like a waterfall.
After a long silence, Elysia raised her smile once more, as radiant as ever, dazzling.
"Of course, so my little brother, everything in life should be dazzling."
She didn't care if Shiraha was just trying to build favor. Even if it was just for favor, as long as it lasted a lifetime, that was enough.
Many people said that disasters might reveal cracks but Elysia just wouldn't let any disaster happen.
If another disaster came, given her current state... even if it were all fake, she wouldn't live to see the day it ended. So this was real!
"I'm already dazzling enough, something I never dared to dream of in my past life."
Recalling the past, Shiraha's gaze grew distant, though it was strange to describe it that way.
But he quickly snapped out of it, looked at Mei in the distance, and smiled: "Mei-nee, sorry, I'm not really into fighting and killing."
Elysia tilted her head slightly, laughing silently.
Then, when a few other kids came over, she gently draped her slender arm over Shiraha's shoulder.
Shiraha paused, blinking, Nee-chan was getting jealous again?
Not this time. Elysia spoke more seriously: "I know this might sound like a cliché, but Shiraha, this time, you are the protagonist."
Shiraha was stunned for a moment, then smiled knowingly. Of course, he was the emperor of this age!
"Of course, someone as handsome as me is always the protagonist!"
Shiraha paused, then added: "And someone as beautiful as Nee-chan is always the heroine."
Elysia chuckled lightly, released him, and hopped off the swing.
After confirming his Nee-chan was okay, Shiraha prepared to deal with Mei and the others.
"Little Shiraha?"
But his Nee-chan seemed to have something else.
"I'm here—mmph!"
The moment Shiraha turned his head, Elysia bent down slightly and bit his lip.
It was hard, hard enough to hit his teeth and it hurt, but it was also soft, and a little cold. She was cold all over.
Elysia pursed her lips after a moment. Maybe it was because of the ice cream, but the kid's lips tasted a little sweet.
"Ahem okay, go deal with your little friends now."
Elysia clasped her hands behind her back, turned around, her voice floating away, leaving Shiraha only a view of her back and her reddened elf ears.
As for the little friends, hey no longer needed to be dealt with.
Mei and Yuna might not be old, but they weren't stupid either.
Mei's small mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Seeing her most loyal retainer treated that way left her feeling a little unsettled... just a little, like watching her favorite toy being taken away by someone else.
"Hasn't anyone thought about getting him treatment?"
Yae Sakura couldn't understand, she was just a village girl. She didn't even know how to fix a disconnected computer.
Yuna blinked.
If Shiraha kept loving his imaginary friend in the future, Mei probably wouldn't accept it. Shiraha would definitely be pressured to marry, that was scary to think about. Even though she was still young, she'd already seen plenty of forum discussions about this kind of thing.
"Let's go home."
Shiraha spoke, his smile clean.
At least at this moment, even his eyes were clear.
A moment later, he held the little fox in his arms. Rin used her paw to touch Shiraha's lip, it really had been bumped by something. There was no trace of telekinesis just now, no sign of Honkai energy at all.
Really?
This left Rin, who had been sealed away before even being offered up to the Origin, completely baffled. Elysia... Elysia really was mysterious and persistent, wasn't she?
"Let's go home."
Shiraha repeated. Mei was quiet for a moment: "Let's go home. Yuna, we'll take you back first."
When Yuna got home, her mother had just returned as well. Looking at the well-behaved children, the auntie was actually quite warm this time.
After Shiraha and the others left, Yuna's mother turned to look at her daughter, who had quietly gone back to her room: "You can play with them more often from now on."
"...."
Yuna was taken aback.
"But don't let your studies slip either. Because if your grades aren't good, it'll be easy for them to leave you behind completely, and then you might not even have any friends left."
Mom's nagging again. Yuna muttered inwardly.
As for being left behind by her friends, she'd thought about it. But it didn't matter. Even if the young lady abandoned her, there was still the outcast Shiraha... at worst, she'd become a shield, creating opportunities for Shiraha and his imaginary friend, Shiraha would definitely never leave her behind.
The holiday wasn't long. Because the Far East split its breaks into three parts, none of them lasted more than two months.
This year, Raven entered university. Gray Serpent's eyes in the school were reduced to just surveillance cameras, but with Rin around, even cameras weren't entirely trustworthy.
The Elysian Realm crew... wasn't very happy.
"Mobius~ Why are you still so gloomy? Do you miss the kid that much?"
Elysia of the Realm teased.
Mobius was indeed unhappy. She'd finished analyzing Shiraha's physical data, originally intending to help him develop his Stigma's power faster, but...
Shiraha never came.
There was someone in the Realm even more frustrated than her, Sakura.
Her little sister had grown up, looked exactly like her, and spent all her time with a kid.
It seemed her sister had forgotten her, and Shiraha was treating her sister as a substitute for Sakura herself, calling her "Rin-nee" so cheerfully.
But the Elysian Realm crew didn't really need to worry. Shiraha planned to keep them on hold for a while longer, he'd wait until he was old enough to physically visit the Realm before surprising them all.
Then he'd be able to reach Aponia, Su, and even Elysia of the Realm.
...
...
First year of middle school. After some sessions with a psychologist, Shiraha appeared more composed. The class assignments were no surprise, he'd known them long ago.
He, Mei, Yuna, and Kiana were in Class A. Fu Hua was there too...
From a distance, he saw her name at the top of the list, second place. Shiraha still couldn't hold back a smirk.
"Finally finally in middle school!"
A slightly more mature Kiana slung her bag over one shoulder, practically "teary-eyed"...
"Do you really need to be that excited about starting middle school?"
Mei had also changed, a pretty uniform with a skirt, a little cool for September but comfortable, and all the uniforms had passed safety inspections, definitely not too revealing. That was Ryoma Raiden's stubbornness as a father.
"You don't get it, elementary schoolers have so many restrictions on part-time jobs. But middle schoolers can handle over 50% of hourly positions. And by high school, I can even tutor on the side."
Kiana wiped away a non-existent tear.
Shiraha walked behind, his gaze sweeping over the vibrant, youthful crowd. Middle school girls were often already developing, looking much better than those little elementary runts.
Then he paused: "Did you just say 'tutor'?"
Kiana was silent for a moment: "If tutoring pays well, I'll study hard."
Her sky-blue eyes were full of confidence. Kiana believed in her own talent, and she did have talent, if only she could stay awake during class.
The three waited at the entrance for a while until Yuna arrived.
The shy girl came into view from a distance. Naturally, Shiraha waved, he had no friends anyway, so he didn't have to worry about drawing attention with such conspicuous behavior.
"Over here! Yuna!"
"Middle school really is wonderful."
Elysia said lightly, standing nearby, showing no guilt whatsoever for having sent Shiraha to a psychologist because of her earlier actions.
"Indeed youthful, energetic, full of life."
Shiraha agreed. In his personal opinion, middle school was the best part of school life. High school was too stressful, and university lost some of that innocence.
Even middle school puppy love, as long as it didn't go too far, was the most memorable kind.
Once Yuna arrived, she shared some news first: "Shiraha, your first-place spot might be in danger."
Shiraha tilted his head.
First-year middle school material was going to stump me?
During the time he'd been waiting for his psychology appointments, he'd already skimmed through all the middle school textbooks.
Middle school material wasn't hard either, especially if you'd already been through high school and university. A lot of people said their skills faded after the gaokao, but really they just didn't want to review. Reading through once or twice was enough to jog your memory.
"There's a girl in our elementary school named Fu Hua. She studies really hard, went from mid-tier to second place school-wide in just one year."
Chiba Academy was a combined school. If your grades stayed the same, you'd likely have the same classmates from elementary through high school.
That's why Fu Hua hadn't gone straight into Class A initially.
Shiraha nodded: "That's fine. If she's that capable, she can have first place."
Just kidding. Shiraha had his Nee-chan, she could secretly peek at Fu Hua's answers. His grades would never be lower than hers!
Yuna thought about it, Shiraha didn't seem like the type to care about grades anyway.
After all, he didn't even care about cliques, spending all his time with his imaginary sister and the miko.
"Oh, where's the miko and the little fox?"
"Rin-nee is observing modern shrine maidens."
As for Rin, Shiraha slightly opened his bag. A tiny little fox was quietly curled up inside.
Compared to Yae Sakura, who was always on guard, the sweet-talking Shiraha was much more to Rin's liking.
The middle school classrooms were easy to find, the elementary school hadn't had club rooms, so their club had always been in the middle school building.
Class A wasn't far. There weren't many people inside yet, everyone seemed eager.
As Shiraha passed by a certain bespectacled, expressionless, somewhat gloomy-looking female classmate, he stopped.
His tone sounded genuinely puzzled: "Classmate, do you really think you look like a middle schooler?"
Fu Hua adjusted her glasses, her expression puzzled, and didn't respond.
Shiraha couldn't help but mutter: "You look so mature."
Fu Hua's lips twitched again. Elysia followed behind, circling around Fu Hua, thinking: Hua really knows how to have fun!
At that moment, Kiana pushed past Mei, shoved Shiraha away, stuffed her bag into his arms, leaned in, and whispered warningly: "I won't allow you to disrespect Fu Hua!"
Shiraha: ?
Since when were you two so close?
"Fu Hua is frugal and hardworking, she worked at least three part-time jobs a day over break, sometimes even a fourth labor job. In less than two months, she saved up several years' worth of tuition."
"Fu Hua only looks a little mature because she works so hard. Besides, it's just her face, certain other aspects of Fu Hua are clearly still at an elementary school level."
And, Fu Hua really was a workaholic who knew everything, she was Kiana's mentor!