Please, Do That to Me

After class, Walter called the two students who had been standing as punishment over to him. He addressed them earnestly, "I know History of Honkai is a dull subject, so I can turn a blind eye when you two zone out in class. But you can't distract the other students, right? Let's put this behind us. I don't want to see it happen again. All right, you can go."

Kiana cheered in relief and started to dash out of the classroom. When she saw that Sheng Jiu was still standing there, she hurried back and tugged at his sleeve. Sheng Jiu gently shook his head at her, then turned to Walter. "Sir, have we met before?"

Walter stared at Sheng Jiu in surprise, studying him for a long moment before saying, "I'm fairly sure this is the first time we've met. You must be mistaken."

After thinking it over, Sheng Jiu smiled and replied, "You're right. I must have been mistaken. We'll be off, then. Goodbye, sir."

"Mm. Off you go."

"Hey, I'm asking you—have you met Mr. Walter before?" At the dinner table, Kiana eyed Sheng Jiu suspiciously. He slowly swallowed his last bite of pasta and said, "I'm not sure either. I just get a familiar feeling from Teacher Walter, but I can't really describe what it is."

Bronya, sitting nearby, said with certainty, "I understand. Mr. Walter must like Alahato too, so that's why he feels familiar to you!"

"..."

That afternoon, everyone stood in neat rows before their instructor on the training ground. Major Murata Himeko looked at the group of young hotheads and said coldly, "A new week has begun, and your B-rank Valkyrie assessment is coming up. I don't want you demoted to Support Valkyries because you failed the combat training. That's a job for cowards. Understood?"

"Understood, ma'am!" everyone answered in unison.

"Good. You have five minutes to change into your training suits and assemble here!" With that, Himeko turned and walked out of the training ground without looking back.

"Hey, what are we supposed to do now?" Sheng Jiu stopped Kiana just as she was about to cling to Yae Sakura and act coy.

"Let go of me! Hurry and change into your training suit. If Aunt Himeko loses her temper, it'll be a real mess!"

Sheng Jiu entered a very, very small changing room. It had originally been set aside for the academy's staff, and compared with the enormous women's changing room, the men's room was truly shabby. He took out the training suit Theresa had prepared for him and changed into it.

It was a set of lightweight, sky-blue armor that looked like a trench coat covered in armor plates. It fit him perfectly, offering excellent comfort and mobility at the cost of reduced protection.

When Sheng Jiu came out in his armor, he quickly drew the girls' attention. His striking looks and well-fitting outfit had already captivated some of them, and a few girls who didn't even know him had started slipping him their phone numbers.

"Hey, I didn't take you for someone with such good taste. You even picked armor that's almost the same as mine." Kiana strode over to Sheng Jiu with a smug look, showing off her outfit.

At first glance, Kiana's armor looked seven or eight tenths similar to Sheng Jiu's. But hers was mostly khaki, with an extra black cape at the back. Her black undersuit outlined an almost perfect figure, especially those long legs beneath her black leather pants...

"What are you looking at? Don't tell me you want to wear matching outfits with me." When Kiana noticed Sheng Jiu staring at her without a word, she came over with a mischievous grin to tease him.

Only then did Sheng Jiu snap out of it. He swallowed and grinned just as cheekily. "You caught me, Miss Kiana. I actually picked armor like yours on purpose. I think we'd look great in matching outfits."

Kiana's face turned as red as a tomato. "Y-You're being a pervert! Believe me, I'll kick you all the way to the North Pole in a minute!" Sheng Jiu blurted out, "Please, do that to me!"

They both froze. Kiana's face reddened again, visibly. Sheng Jiu had no idea why he'd suddenly said that, and he lowered his head in embarrassment. Kiana dashed over to Yae Sakura and threw herself into her arms. "Waaah, Yae Sakura, look! He's bullying me!" Yae Sakura patted Kiana's back while looking at Sheng Jiu with an amused, helpless smile.

Sheng Jiu could only smile wryly too. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't mean to say that?" "Bronya has serious doubts."

"..."

The five minutes passed quickly. Everyone stood before Himeko in their assorted armor. Himeko glanced at the watch on her wrist. "Four minutes and fifty-four seconds. Hmph, I'll let you off this time for making it on time." She then took out a box of ping-pong balls. "There are twenty balls here. Come up one at a time and pick one. You'll have a combat training match against whoever has the same number as you. The loser will do 500 push-ups!"

Sheng Jiu looked down at the ping-pong ball in his hand, marked number 13, then glanced at the chaotic crowd, unsure where to start. Just then, he felt a murderous aura behind him. He turned and found Kiana staring at him with a sinister smile. "I saw it. You're number 13, right?"

"W-What are you going to do...?" Sheng Jiu retreated two steps nervously. Kiana raised her left hand with a benevolent smile. The ping-pong ball in her hand clearly read "13."

"Come on. I'll teach you a good lesson." Watching the pair from outside the crowd, Himeko's lips curled up slightly. "Kiana, you and the new guy, get ready. You'll be in the first combat exercise."

"Couldn't be better. Come on, you sleazebag!" Kiana dragged the long-faced Sheng Jiu into the armory.

On the training ground, the others cleared a large space. Sheng Jiu gripped a training katana about a meter long, while Kiana stood opposite him holding two training pistols. Sheng Jiu nearly cried. "That's cheating! How can you use guns?"

Kiana giggled. "What's wrong with that? It doesn't break any training rules. You can use one too, if you know how. If you were fighting Bronya, that big brainiac could even use Heavy Trooper Bunny—'Heavy Trooper Bunny 19C, target locked...'—Anyway, shut up. The match is about to start. I won't kill you!"

At Himeko's signal, Kiana's expression instantly shifted from carefree and playful to sharp and focused. She aimed at Sheng Jiu and fired four shots in rapid succession. Four training rounds flew toward him.

"The handsome guy's a goner! What a shame. I thought he'd be impressive!"

"What's surprising about that? It's his first class, after all. Getting crushed isn't embarrassing. Weren't you crushed by Class Monitor Fu Hua in your first class?"

"Shh, keep your voice down!" Outside the arena, a girl named Rin whispered to another girl named Eno. They were sure Sheng Jiu was about to be hit by all four training rounds and end up flat on the ground, giving a big GG...

Sheng Jiu dusted himself off as if nothing had happened and called to Kiana, "Come on, keep going! Why'd you stop?"