After returning to the classroom, Fu Hua wore a troubled expression. Why did Nagazora feel so unsafe?
Was there something unclean in this city?
At lunchtime, as she headed to the club, she spoke up directly: "I feel like the Honkai-related matters aren't over yet."
After saying that, she noticed several people staring at her strangely.
Mei's expression was subtle, but she nodded seriously: "What else did you find?"
Fu Hua was suspicious, more than one person had told Mei that recently.
But after investigating, they couldn't find anything wrong. Some had even gone out of their way to observe Fu Hua, and they'd all come to the same conclusion: this girl's luck was just a little uncanny.
"On my way to school, I noticed similar situations in the surrounding school districts." Fu Hua paused, thinking it over. "And I also spotted a lot of delinquents."
Speaking of delinquents, Shiraha thought of Raven, wondered how her studies were going and whether she'd been working hard.
"Delinquents, huh…" Kiana chimed in. "They're definitely a pain, but a few beatings usually set them straight."
In the Far East, those labeled as "delinquents" rarely had any good among them. Aside from a few unlucky ones who just went along with the crowd, most were genuinely… delinquent.
Mei muttered a few words as well, then waited for Fu Hua to continue.
"In the other campuses, I came across quite a few people being bullied. I noticed that those people… more or less had traces of what you call Honkai energy on them."
Fu Hua felt quite complicated about this.
Honkai incidents happened in every city, but their frequency wasn't high.
Yet in Nagazor, whether because of the Me Corp research institute or some other reason, everything seemed to occur more often.
"Useless peacekeepers."
Mei complained softly.
The peacekeepers in the Honkai world, much like those in most movies and TV shows, seemed useful, but no one really knew how.
She started rubbing her hands together again, until they were hot and red, then slammed the table as she stood up: "Everyone! The Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp is about to do something more meaningful!"
She raised one finger to the sky: "What progress can we make just sitting here?"
The ceiling light flickered as she raised her hand. She sniffled, but with so many people in the club, she wasn't scared.
The others didn't have time to process Mei's speech, Shiraha stared blankly at the ceiling. Was there something wrong with the electromagnetic field?
Yae Sakura's throat moved..... it seemed Shiraha wasn't the only one who needed exorcism.
Shiraha snapped back to the moment: "So what's Mei-nee planning to do?"
He'd been a little nervous at first, but looking around, Kiana, Fu Hua, Yae Sakura, Rin… and Yuna there to round things out, Shiraha figured he didn't need to worry too much.
The Herrscher of Void could be handled with one punch. The Herrscher of Thunder… three punches at most!
"Everyone, this city's peace can only be protected by us!"
After saying that, Mei rubbed her hands again, she felt she was close to figuring out the rhythm to make static electricity behave.
Yae Sakura understood immediately: "You want to be a ronin, a wandering knight-errant?"
In her era, there were many ronin. Some were good, some bad, but at least in name, they all roamed to do good.
Mei thought for a moment, her eyes lighting up: "Ronin? Right, that'll be the practical activity for the Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp!"
The Hokushin Ittō-ryū her family practiced originated from a ronin back in the day.
What was his name? Hokushin Mei.
That's why her father named her Mei, hoping she'd live up to that name. This kind of naming was quite common in the Far East.
Take that Uchiha Sasuke, for example.
Yuna asked quietly: "But we haven't been training Hokushin Ittō-ryū for a while now, have we?"
Mei's expression didn't waver: "Hokushin Ittō-ryū is outdated. That style no longer fits this era. As its inheritor in the new age, it's my duty to upgrade it."
"So no matter what methods you use to fight in the future, don't forget.... you're all inheritors of Hokushin Ittō-ryū!"
Though she wasn't yet a menkyo kaiden, Mei felt she already was, or at least close.
After all, her dad had no one else to pass it on to.
Yuna nodded vaguely.
Fu Hua lowered her head, saying nothing, joining Hokushin Ittō-ryū? That would be embarrassing.
"Ahem." Mei lowered her hand. The ceiling light was still flickering, worryingly close to shorting out.
"Back to business. There are far too many delinquents in the school districts these days. Very few can turn themselves around like that one senpai did and sincerely strive upward."
"The founding purpose of our Hokushin Ittō-ryū is to fight for justice and vanquish evil!"
Really? Shiraha was genuinely skeptical, wasn't it about challenging the strong and surpassing yourself?
He said nothing, just felt that things were about to get interesting.
Yuna stammered, a bad feeling creeping in: "A-and then?"
Mei thought for a moment, then looked at Kiana and Shiraha: "Our club has six people... we can split into three groups. Rin-nee will take one person, and Kiana and I can each take one."
Shiraha gently reminded her: "Actually, it's seven."
Though the club wasn't large, its combat strength was quite solid, Fu Hua, Yae Sakura, and himself made three full-powered fighters.
If pushed, they could even go all out with Rin!
But unless necessary, Shiraha planned to turn Rin into a little pig, a Herrscher of Corruption didn't need grand ambitions or high initiative.
Mei paused, naturally glossing over Shiraha's comment.
"After school today, we'll gather at the club. Shiraha and I will print flyers and post them at every school in Academy City."
It sounded like a lot of work, and it really was.
Academy City was located on the outskirts of Nagazora, covering everything from preschool to advanced tech institutes, six combined elementary-through-high schools, ten universities, and various research facilities.
All in the setting materials, a quick search confirmed it.
Then Mei looked at Kiana. Kiana was silent for a moment: "I really don't get commission."
Mei shook her little head: "Is there a discount?"
Her allowance was running low.
Lately, Kiana had been going out to work all the time, which had brought a bad influence into the household.
Though her dad said he didn't care, as long as his daughter was happy, the reduction in her allowance was very real.
Kiana was quiet for a long time, her expression complicated: "There is... when the boss isn't around, I can give you 20% off."
She could actually go as low as 40%, but this was her first time doing this kind of thing, so she wasn't very smooth yet.
"Great, we'll print during the second break. There are six schools nearby. To make sure every floor sees them, we'll need about…"
Mei looked up, calculating.
Seeing Mei's brain beginning to overload, Shiraha chimed in from the side: "Six hundred sheets should be enough."
Academy City did have a lot of people. According to incomplete statistics, about several hundred thousand students lived there.
These students were spread across six schools, that is, twelve grade levels, and ten universities.
It certainly sounded like a lot, but pick any densely populated city in Shenzhou, and the student population there would be over a million.
Among them, Shanghai had over 2 million, and the capital had over 3 million.
And because Nagazora's Academy City was especially well-developed, almost all of the students were concentrated here.
Mei counted on her fingers: "A color print costs about two-fifty. Six hundred sheets, twenty percent off, that's about twelve hundred…"
Hearing that number, Mei's heart gave a little tremble.
Fighting for justice was certainly expensive!
"If you're going to print, I'd recommend doing it now, six hundred sheets isn't a small number."
Kiana, who already had work experience, offered a helpful reminder.
"You might even have to skip class."
Mei started to waver again, skipping class was still a bit too much for a good student like her.
"But you can give me the money, and I'll print it for you."
Kiana held out her hand, looking righteous and noble.
Unlike Mei, who just did the math on paper, Kiana knew that with an order this big, she could go straight to the boss and ask for a discount, maybe even pocket two hundred in kickback.
As for the afternoon classes… she'd skip. Worst case, she'd get Shiraha to tutor her at night, just losing an hour or two of sleep.
No big deal.
At this point, Shiraha hadn't yet realized how serious the situation was.
It wasn't until the second break, when Kiana was carrying a stack of flyers as high as her chin, that Shiraha realized just how much work Mei's spur-of-the-moment idea would bring everyone.
Mei still hadn't realized the scale of it. She looked at those flyers with a sense of shared pride, she hadn't told her little group yet.
First, do the work. Then, brag.
"The workload after school is no joke, does the club offer travel subsidies?"
Kiana sidled up to Shiraha.
Mei's side was too crowded, it wasn't convenient to ask there.
Shiraha was silent for a moment: "There should be."
Though usually, those travel subsidies were something Mei and Shiraha had come up with to take care of Yuno.
But now that Kiana was added to the mix, if she asked for one, Mei would just have to grit her teeth and pay up.
"Good to know."
"Then this afternoon, I'll get someone to cover my shift, and I'll cover theirs tomorrow."
Kiana returned to her seat, satisfied.
Shiraha flipped through the flyers. Raiden Mei's name was printed the largest, after all, it was her surname that made this activity viable in the first place. Below it, in slightly smaller font, read "Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp."
The content was basically about combating injustice and upholding righteousness, anyone with related issues could come to the club for help.
Elysia rubbed her chin: "How bad can these delinquents really get?"
Shiraha sorted the flyers into about five stacks: "Bad enough to be executed."
Elysia gave a slight question-mark expression.
"Though because of juvenile protection laws, they can't actually be executed. But it's precisely because of those laws that almost every country has too many villains protected under the label of 'delinquent.'"
Shiraha explained briefly.
Shenzhou had them too, but very few, there, the pressure was mostly academic.
In places like the Far East and the Americas, school bullying was truly at its peak.
Elysia didn't doubt it, having come from the Previous Era, she'd seen all sorts of things.
"But posting flyers is nice."
She naturally steered past that unpleasant topic, work hard when it's time to work, and when relaxing before and after, don't dwell on such heavy matters.
"Exactly, when the time comes, for efficiency's sake, I'll definitely be in a group with Nee-chan."
Shiraha understood his Nee-chan's meaning instantly. The two had spent so much time together that they'd picked up some of each other's ways of thinking.
Elysia was looking forward to after school.
And after school, things went just as she'd guessed.
Posting flyers didn't really require special grouping, usually two people would work on opposite sides of a hallway, going up floor by floor together.
Kiana and Fu Hua were a pair. Yuna and Shiraha were a pair. Yae Sakura and Mei were a pair.
Yae Sakura didn't trust Mei on her own, and Mei didn't trust Kiana being paired with Shiraha.
"Hokushin Ittō-ryū Youth Training Camp, combat injustice, uphold righteousness."
Someone stood behind Shiraha, watching this little kid paste a poster on the wall, right next to the grade rankings, a very conspicuous spot.
"Did your teacher allow you to post this here?"
"Our club president's dad is on the school board!"
Oh. That's fine then.
Chiba Academy was the easiest. Elysia still had a bit of novelty about it.
After they finished posting at Chiba Academy, Shiraha, carrying tape and posters, met up with Yuna. The three of them let out a collective sigh.
"Next school, I guess."
"Will the other schools agree to this?"
"They should. I've heard that the founding of Academy City is closely tied to ME Corp's rise. These schools probably all have ME Corp investment."
The overall workload was heavy, after all, schools couldn't be built too close together; they were usually separated by a few streets.
Yuna walked along the street, occasionally glancing back at Shiraha. He walked with confidence, not particularly lively, but not acting mature either.
She spoke softly: "Shiraha, do you like cherry blossoms?"
"They're alright, pink and tender, never unpleasant to look at."
Shiraha looked into the distance, toward a famous cherry blossom street in Academy City, the winter cherry blossoms.
They were in full bloom right now, the pinkish-white petals clustering thickly on the branches, quite beautiful.
Without realizing it, they'd already spent a good while into their first year of middle school.
Yuna continued, her voice carrying a gentle girlish quality: "There's a lovely legend about these cherry blossoms."
Shiraha suddenly spoke: "The Three-Year Sakura?"
Yuna blinked, then nodded, so even a boy like Shiraha paid attention to romance-based urban legends?
Shiraha looked thoughtful: "Then let's pick some, I'll give them to Nee-chan."
After all, he never found small gestures like this troublesome, especially if they could earn a little affection.
Elysia's lips curved.
Shiraha continued in his mind: If I preserve them for three years, that'll be around the start of high school, when the Herrscher of Thunder is supposed to appear in the story… I'll make a few extra sets, build as much favor as I can before anyone notices, who knows, it might come in handy later.
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