In the corner, Sirin watched Shiraha whispering to the air, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
Then she turned her head away, looking out the window. Footsteps echoed from the hallway.
A moment later, Ryoma Raiden pushed open the door, swept his gaze across the room, and finally landed on Shiraha with a helpless expression.
He'd never imagined that the well-behaved Shiraha would do something like this.
Siegfried had come too. He glanced at "Kiana," who had her back turned and head lowered, not daring to meet his eyes, and his lips twitched.
"Kid… you—ah, forget it. You did well this time."
He opened his mouth, as if to say something more, but swallowed the words.
"You kids head out first, don't worry about what happens here."
For once, Siegfried didn't pick a fight.
Shiraha nodded, quickly pulling Sirin and Miyuki out of the nurse's office.
Sirin never once looked directly at Siegfried. And… Siegfried completely understood.
Kids always acted like that when they'd done something wrong. He'd scared his own family plenty when he ran away from home back then.
A few minutes later, the three left the room. The nurse's office seemed to be well soundproofed.
Miyuki glanced back uneasily: "Will you two get in trouble when you get home?"
She'd thought it was just going to be a kids' scuffle, but Kiana had been so ruthless that those kids still hadn't woken up.
Shiraha shook his head: "That's not what matters. What matters is whether those people will still bully the weak when they wake up."
Miyuki looked back at the room again, but your parents are here.
If things went as expected, the adults would scold Shiraha and Kiana, tell them to behave in school from now on.
Then it'd be over. She knew how this worked.
Shiraha pulled the two of them down to sit on the hallway floor, forming a small circle.
He lowered his voice: "I'll use my own methods to keep an eye on them. If they still have bad intentions, we'll give them another beating."
Sirin rested her chin on her hand, her eyes bright: yes, yes, root out evil completely. Hopefully Shiraha won't change even when he grows up.
She had her reasons for being ruthless. If retaliation against bullying was already this harsh, what about worse things? Human experimentation? Simply tormenting test subjects?
Miyuki seemed about to say something, but she wasn't exactly a saint either, after a moment's hesitation, she relaxed completely: "Mm-hmm!"
"Oh, right, are you a boarder or a day student, Miyuki?"
"Still a day student this year."
"Day student, so you should be fine this afternoon. But tonight, if those guys wake up and come back to school…" Shiraha paused: "If anything feels off, find a place to hide. We'll come find you tonight."
Out of caution from his pre-transmigration knowledge of the plot, Shiraha didn't trust those people to change. After all, when Kiana had beaten them up in the original story, they'd responded by pulling a gun on her.
Miyuki nodded again.
Shiraha kept muttering: "When we get back, Mei-nee will definitely be curious about what we did. No need to hide it from her. If those people try to get revenge, then Kiana, me, Mei-nee, Rin-nee… and Yuna—actually, Yuna can sit this one out. She's not that strong, and her hits don't hurt much."
Besides, Yuna was innocent enough, a single-parent family couldn't handle too much trouble. No need to drag her into this.
Just then, noise came from the door, someone was about to push it open.
Shiraha's voice quickened: "Oh, and, when Uncle Ryoma and Siegfried come out, we don't need to make excuses. I don't think we did anything wrong. But we should still act obedient."
He looked at Sirin. Sirin lifted her chin: you expect me to bow to Siegfried?
Shiraha pushed her head back down: "These are necessary sacrifices. If Sirin doesn't want to, then don't say anything, just hide quietly behind me. Your eyes are a little noticeable, but I'll handle it."
Sirin seemed oddly fragile right now.
Not in appearance, but… the fact that Siegfried hadn't noticed her was already suspicious.
As for Siegfried, though Shiraha often ragged on him, in 2010, his strength was unquestionable.
As for Shiraha pushing her head down, Sirin was annoyed for a moment, but didn't say anything. After all, even friends roughhousing in the past had done similar things.
It's just that those friends were all gone now…
Sure enough, it was Siegfried who pushed the door open. Shiraha instinctively moved in front of Sirin, he still wanted to win her over.
Siegfried opened his mouth.
"Sigh.... why did you come to this school to fight people?"
He looked at the girl with bruises behind Shiraha and roughly understood.
"Forget it, this should be settled now. Just don't lead Kiana astray."
He said this with a perfectly straight face.
"Kiana"… remained silent, head down, fingers clutching Shiraha's clothes from behind.
That made Siegfried's heart sink: bad. From the looks of it, this really was Kiana's idea.
"Go back to class. You two don't need to worry about this anymore."
Shiraha looked up: "No, Miyuki's parents aren't here. When those kids' families show up, the teacher will probably make her apologize just to keep things calm."
There was over an 80% chance of that happening, few people liked to meddle in affairs that didn't concern them. Most secretly wished everything would run smoothly without causing trouble for themselves.
Siegfried clicked his tongue: "Don't underestimate your uncle!"
"Don't worry, if this girl gets bullied again, you can look at me with all the contempt you want."
Shiraha's expression stayed unchanged, he still shook his head.
That made Siegfried awkward for a moment. He'd been about to grandly take responsibility and mend fences with the kid.
But the kid didn't trust him, clearly, they just didn't get along!
A few minutes later, Ryoma Raiden also came out. In theory, someone at his level shouldn't have this much free time, but once you reached a certain level, you actually weren't that busy.
He even had time to fly to America on short notice to help set up a scene, completely ad hoc.
Ryoma Raiden said helplessly: "Go back to class, I'll handle the rest."
Then he shot Siegfried a flat look: old man, can you please teach your daughter properly? Don't corrupt my Shiraha.
"But—"
"Don't worry, your Uncle Ryoma isn't the type to let his own people get the short end of the stick."
Ryoma was confident about that, after all, he was a master swordsman. To say he had no backbone would be a lie.
Shiraha nodded obediently, which made Siegfried feel like lighting up a cigarette. The kid's favoritism was way too obvious.
Finally, Shiraha exchanged a glance with Miyuki: "We'll come find you tonight. If they still dare to bully you, I'll bring Mei-nee along too."
Miyuki nodded again, and now even Ryoma Raiden felt a little down: what? You don't trust me either?
With the preliminary Tokiwadai matter handled, Shiraha muttered to his Nee-chan as they left: "Nee-chan, you should still stay here a while, I don't trust those people."
He trusted Ryoma Raiden, but many people flattered their superiors and looked down on others. He wasn't sure how seriously Uncle Ryoma would take an outsider.
Better to be a little overbearing.
"Who are you talking to?"
Sirin's voice drifted from the side.
Shiraha explained simply: "My Nee-chan. Some people say it's just delusions, but I decided not to trust them."
He paused, emphasizing: "I only trust what I see."
Sirin seemed half-convinced as she looked at Shiraha's serious profile.
Elysia naturally didn't refuse, even if such a small thing was troublesome, she liked it. It made her feel like she could still be helpful.
And with plenty of time, being sloppy about even a small matter would make a beautiful girl a little unhappy, this was much better.
With things temporarily resolved, Shiraha let out a breath and looked at Sirin: "You haven't come out for a long time."
Sirin stood at the school gate, looking back at the building: "But I've been watching you all along."
Shiraha: ….
Don't say such scary things.
He shook his head and reached out his hand: "Do you still think this world is hell?"
Sirin was quiet for a moment, then took his hand: "I just find it ironic. Those people back then told me the same thing, they said my sacrifice had meaning, that we were being abused and experimented on for everyone's sake."
Of course, Shiraha wouldn't understand. He was too young, though he seemed gentle, he lacked experience. A gentle but useless little thing.
Shiraha pressed his lips together: "I knew you were easy to trick."
"Why would you believe words like that?"
"Maybe the progress of an era does come with sacrifices, but people who don't even respect those sacrifices, how could they ever put in the effort for the sake of progress?"
"We haven't really talked much before. Let me tell you about a sister of mine, her name is Mobius. She's also called an evil scientist by others."
Shiraha pulled Sirin along, not back to school, but to a milk tea shop by the roadside. He bought two drinks, and the two of them sat under a cherry blossom tree, chatting slowly.
Mobius's story was simple. Shiraha wasn't trying to tell Sirin about her tragic past, he just wanted to say: Sirin, you're really easy to fool.
"Mobius-nee is a good person. Even though she's an evil scientist, she's always respected life, she'd never joke about someone else's."
"I've already learned a little about your past, Sirin…" Shiraha paused: "I want to say you're naive, but that's okay, naivety is never a mistake. The mistake belongs to those who take advantage of naive people."
Sirin was silent, not speaking.
"What are you going to do?"
Sirin held her milk tea. She still wasn't ready to give up on destroying the world, but for now… she'd wait and see.
If an adult said this to her, she'd think they were just spouting empty words, drawing big pictures. But Shiraha was too young.
She wanted to see if he'd be assimilated by this world, changed by it.
Shiraha didn't answer immediately. He thought for a moment: "I met Theresa a while ago. She's a nun, an S-rank of Schicksal, apparently. She's very easy to talk to."
Sirin was silent for a moment, then nodded.
That hypocritical nun… she was indeed a good person. She always said grand, righteous things, but she was also kind, Sirin wouldn't deny that.
"Since Sirin knows Theresa too, that makes it simpler." Shiraha smiled: "I think there are probably plenty of people in Schicksal as gentle as her. I've also met an A-rank Valkyrie, Ragna. In the chaos you caused, she still stayed kind."
Sirin's expression didn't change. She didn't care much about the chaos Shiraha mentioned.
Shiraha held his milk tea, not having taken a sip yet.
"I just feel that the mistakes of Schicksal's Overseer shouldn't be shared by everyone."
"This might make you unhappy, but Sirin, you also caused chaos."
Sirin's tone was calm: "Are you going to kill me?"
Compared to people with normal morals, Sirin's current mindset was a bit extreme.
Still, for a more malevolent being, she was already doing fairly well.
Shiraha didn't react strongly to that comment. He shook his head: "Your past mistakes, Nee-chan took responsibility for them."
"The destruction from your chaos, Anti-Entropy took responsibility for that. In Siberia, no one died or starved because of it. Nee-chan's efforts will make sure everyone there has enough to eat, and no more children will be bullied."
"Though I've been in the Far East this whole time, from the news online, I can see that order there is slowly stabilizing. Cocolia's been helping too, and that's a good thing for her as well."
Sirin looked impatient. This kind of unasked-for kindness made her uncomfortable, especially when someone brought it up right in front of her.
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, noticed Sirin's milk tea was empty, and handed his own over to her.
He said softly: "Sirin, I think we're friends. Even though we haven't known each other long, being friends doesn't need much of a reason."
That made Sirin's expression soften. She took the straw and started sipping the second cup.
"As a friend, if you do something wrong, of course I'll help make it right, no one got hurt in that incident, after all."
"Likewise, as a friend…" Shiraha paused, then pivoted: "I hope Sirin can read a little more."
Sirin: ?
Are you trying to compare knowledge with me?
She'd already gone through all sorts of specific knowledge from the Previous Era.
Shiraha continued: "At least become a little smarter, have your own thoughts, so you won't be fooled so easily."
She shot back: "Where am I easily fooled?"
Shiraha's tone was helpless but crystal clear: "You're listening to me so earnestly right now."
He looked at her seriously: "I'm not lying to you, but we've only known each other for a few days."
Sirin: …
She couldn't argue with that.
She was quiet for a long time, her golden eyes fixed on the milk tea in her hands.
"Maybe I really am easy to fool."
Her head hung low, her gaze somewhat… shadowed?
"But Shiraha, you shouldn't have told me—"
Shiraha cut her off: "But this time, you really weren't fooled. Everyone knows, Shiraha never lies to his friends!"