Could it be that he's nearby?

Now, should I say thank you?

However, Senior Lin Yu had helped her at the risk of getting expelled, so just saying thank you... wouldn't that make her look like an ungrateful ingrate?

Raiden Mei, who had no idea what to do for a moment, happened to freeze right then due to her inner turmoil.

Meanwhile, after completely ignoring the system that was still yapping away, Lin Yu looked at Raiden Mei's troubled expression and continued speaking to her.

"Besides, there's something fundamentally wrong with the school not doing anything about bullying."

"Those little brats messing around only ruin Chiba Academy's atmosphere—it's you today, but can you guarantee others won't become victims tomorrow?"

"But... other people are different from me. After all, in their eyes, I'm the 'criminal's daughter'."

"Different my ass."

Spouting such crude words, a flash of disgust crept onto Lin Yu's face.

"You actually think these people are putting you down because of some 'criminal's daughter' label?"

"Don't overthink it. These pieces of trash just like finding excuses to bully others. There are only two reasons you're getting bullied."

"They're rotten animals, and you just happened to expose a weakness. That's all."

Listening to Lin Yu's words, Raiden Mei felt that while his phrasing was a bit rough, it certainly made sense.

Even if she were still the young miss of ME Company from the past, she could only guarantee that she wouldn't become a victim.

Yet with such perpetrators existing within the school, there were bound to be other victims.

"Plus, I have to point out—being this spineless is one of the reasons you get bullied."

After a moment of thought, Lin Yu let out a helpless sigh.

"The Homu Sword Saint accompanied you for Kendo practice and got you the Menkyo Kaiden for Hokushin Itto-ryu, yet you don't use the power in your hands—if he knew you were still as cowardly as before, he'd probably die of anger."

"Wait!"

Upon suddenly hearing this name that hardly anyone knew, Raiden Mei immediately asked with urgency.

"Senior Lin Yu, do you know the Homu Sword Saint?"

The Homu Sword Saint—this was the moniker of Raiden Mei's kendo master.

Well, calling it a moniker, he was actually just a man wearing a Homu mascot suit.

And not long ago, Raiden Mei had faintly suspected that her kendo master was most likely her father.

How could Raiden Mei possibly stay calm now, after hearing a name known only to the two of them in the Raiden family from Lin Yu's mouth?

"Know him? Maybe."

Uttering these ambiguous words, Lin Yu suddenly raised his head to look at the overcast sky.

"Or rather, of the people in Changkong City, how many don't know Raiden Ryoma?"

He really did know!

After Lin Yu spoke those words, a hint of joyous delight surfaced on Raiden Mei's face.

Yet the narration, which had just paused for a moment, popped up right on cue.

Oh! Deceiving an innocent girl with ambiguous words! This is the classic opening move of a sea king!

Coupled with the fact that the Homu Sword Saint is her father, you're implying ambiguously that you're a close acquaintance of her dad, invisibly closing the distance between the two of you!

Looking at Raiden Mei's thrilled expression, a cold sneer involuntarily rose in your heart—hehehe, so easy to fool!

...Give me a break, I'm looking at the sky right now.

What do you mean by looking at her with a cold sneer? It's one thing for you to pull all sorts of antics with this narration, but are your eyes completely blind now too!

"What exactly Mr. Raiden was put in for, I don't know. But regardless of whether he's a criminal or not, I doubt he'd want to see his daughter being bullied every single day after he entered prison."

"Actually, I don't expect you to instantly change your mindset and directly throw hands with those pieces of trash, but the thing is, sometimes you just need to put on a bit of presence to deter those petty people."

Watching Lin Yu maintain his head-up posture, Raiden Mei, who had already completely regarded him as one of her own, immediately nodded happily at him.

As for why Lin Yu was keeping his head tilted up at a 45° angle—did that even matter?

To Raiden Mei, she knew she had gained a dependable companion, and that was enough.

Affection surging! Surging! Surely, it will only take a few more words for you to make this target your captive! Thinking about how simply this girl has regarded you as a companion, you once again involuntarily let out a ho-ho-ho cold laugh.

...Whatever, I can't even be bothered to roast you anymore.

Gazing at the dark clouds in the sky, Lin Yu simply chose to ignore the narration.

As for why he was looking up at the sky...

--Duh, staring right into someone's eyes while lying makes it way too easy to give yourself away.

After finishing their conversation, Lin Yu and Raiden Mei temporarily parted ways.

Though Raiden Mei felt a pang of reluctance, she still chose to follow Lin Yu's words and returned to class alone first.

As for Lin Yu, he hadn't forgotten what his 'assignment' was.

After finding Kiana's classroom and observing the knowing, mocking expressions of a few girls, Lin Yu instantly felt that something was amiss.

"Senior Lin Yu, are you here looking for Kiana again today?"

"What a pity, though—she asked for leave today."

Something came up?

That marsh-mallow only had Siegfried left as family, and Siegfried had gone missing, so what kind of emergency could possibly make her suddenly ask for leave.

Running off to play... that's probably unlikely too.

If she really wanted to go play, this person would most likely have just skipped school straight up. Would she bother with the formality of asking for leave?

Strange, too strange.

Surely it couldn't be that Siegfried, a man whose whereabouts were completely unknown, happened to be in Changkong City and happened to be spotted by Kiana, right?

Are there really that many coincidences in this world?

That morning

After resting enough in the infirmary, those girls who had been piled up like garbage by Lin Yu at the school gates glared at each other with venomous hatred in their eyes, instantly realizing the thoughts within their companions' minds.

"That violent freak Lin Yu actually made us make fools of ourselves in front of the whole school, all for that bitch Raiden Mei!"

"Damn it! She's already a criminal's daughter, that guy must have a broken brain to even think about helping her right now!"

Seeing the expression on the ringleader's face grow increasingly terrifying, another girl chimed in with unconcealed bitterness.

"But regardless, starting today, we can't treat Raiden Mei with our past attitude anymore."

"Lin Yu is unreasonable, and he's a transfer student. Hitting people will at most get him a few disciplinary marks; the school won't make him drop out easily."

"You didn't forget..."

"Shut up! Of course I remember!"

At that, recalling a certain matter, the corners of this girl's mouth suddenly curled up wildly.

"Hmph, someone gave us enough funds back then to put pressure on Raiden Mei, and the worse her mood got, the more money we got."

"I figured back then that Raiden Mei's criminal father must have provoked massive outrage, which is why someone planned to use this method to disgust his daughter."

"And now, since someone has messed up those adults' plans... why should we stupidly go toe-to-toe with that idiot Lin Yu ourselves?"

"Once we tell those people about this, they'll definitely come over to deal with Lin Yu and Raiden Mei. By then, watching Lin Yu get severely beaten up will only make that little slut Raiden Mei's mood even worse."

"And when that time comes, they will be the ones regretting it, feeling tormented—wondering why they ever chose to go against us in the first place!"

Chapter 15. Could it be that he's nearby?

Upon learning that Kiana Kaslana hadn't come to school today, Lin Yu contacted Rita right away and passed the situation along to her.

He had no intention of stupidly roaming the streets to search for people; after all, he had connections up top—now that he had joined an organization, he might as well make use of its conveniences.

Soon, however, he received a message.

According to Rita's feedback, Schicksal's intelligence and information departments were currently battling Anti-Entropy for control of the surveillance equipment.

And quite awkwardly, Schicksal's information department personnel had deployed in full force, only to get completely crushed in electronic warfare by Anti-Entropy.

So in the end, she expressed very tactfully that counting on those colleagues to support Lin Yu in this aspect was practically impossible.

You aren't surprised upon learning this outcome. When all is said and done, you've understood from the very beginning that a person must ultimately rely on themselves.

Ah, while that is indeed true, you've already said that line once.

Sigh, pressure from above, unreliable teammates... Otto really thinks highly of me.

Putting away his phone, Lin Yu very decisively chose to ditch class.

He hadn't come to school to experience high school life in the first place; when it came down to it, he only had two reasons for coming to Chiba Academy.

Making Raiden Mei's mood a little better, and keeping a tight watch on Kiana Kaslana.

The better Raiden Mei's mood, the more delayed the Third Honkai Outbreak would be.

And the later the Third Honkai Outbreak erupted, the higher the probability of Schicksal seizing the initiative in Changkong City.

Otto was no good guy.

Yet he was still somewhat better than Cocolia.

If Raiden Mei went to Schicksal, Otto would probably use her as nourishment to feed K423. If she went to Anti-Entropy...

Considering Wendy, Patmat, and all those things, Lin Yu wouldn't find anything surprising about whatever crazy stunts Cocolia pulled.

As for whether Raiden Mei's life or death had anything to do with him... if he could save her, he'd lend a hand on the side, that's all.

As for the reason to keep a close eye on Kiana, it was even simpler.

This was a mission assigned to him by Schicksal... oh, according to Rita's phrasing, 'Lin Yu' had chosen to participate in this mission of his own accord.

Right now, he was the sole surviving operative planted by Schicksal around K423. If something were to genuinely happen to K423 at a time like this, ruining Otto's plans, could a petty man like that let him off?

Troublesome, truly troublesome.

Walking down the street, Lin Yu only felt a splitting headache right now.

Lacking support from Schicksal teammates and having zero leads, he could only rack his brain and think about where K423 might wander off to.

Heeheehee, having conquered Raiden Mei, you can no longer suppress the inner urge, intending to make a move on your next target.

Based on your understanding of K423's personality and this handsome face of yours, surely it will only take a couple of moves for you to easily capture that pure and flawless maiden.

By then, even if the two of them meet and learn the truth, they will surely...

Could you please not? I'm quite busy here.

Instead of helping me daydream these non-existent plots, you'd be better off giving me a tiny hint, alright?

System?

Sys?

Discovering that the system had temporarily gone offline just like that, Lin Yu looked up at the sky, which was threatening rain, and let out a long sigh.

Objectively speaking, he had to thank the system.

After all, if not for the system's hints and rewards, he would have died at the hands of that little girl earlier.

Yet when push came to shove, a person really had to rely on themselves after all.

No choice, time to get moving first.

K423 loved to play around so much; thinking about it, he probably could only check places like the commercial street and amusement parks to find her.

..