Mei: I've Never Had Such a Wonderful Start!

No matter what these people said about her, she wouldn't care.

At Senba Academy, the only two people she cared about were her ex-boyfriend, Su Moqian, and that outrageously annoying little white-haired dumpling!

Raiden Mei could more or less guess what Kiana would say after taking Su Moqian away. It would be something along the lines of asking him to date her.

"Girls these days are so childish. They've barely known Moqian for any time at all, and they're already rushing to date him?"

"They don't even know much about him. They just see how outstanding and perfect he is, so they want to get to him first?"

At that moment, Raiden Mei couldn't help thinking back to the time before they started dating, when they were still just childhood friends.

Even back then, there had been plenty of childish girls with their heads in the clouds about romance hanging around Su Moqian, chattering away like bugs!

Unfortunately for them, no matter how hard they tried to win Su Moqian's favor, bugs were still bugs. They couldn't escape being crushed.

In the end, she, his childhood friend, had emerged victorious.

Herrscher of Thunder: "Wait, Mei, aren't you being a little too extreme? The Honkai hasn't even begun, so how can you—"

The Herrscher's voice did nothing to interrupt Raiden Mei's train of thought. By then, she was completely lost in her own world.

"Kiana really is just like those girls. When it comes to knowing Su Moqian, that little white-haired dumpling doesn't hold a candle to me!"

"No matter how much Kiana begs, there's no way Su Moqian would agree, right?"

Raiden Mei thought this with a satisfied smile.

But when she opened her eyes, she saw Su Moqian and Kiana walking side by side toward the classroom door.

At first glance, they didn't seem particularly close. But after watching them for a moment, it felt like nothing more than playful bickering between a couple.

"W-what's going on?"

Raiden Mei stared at the scene before her in disbelief.

"Normally, after someone asks the other out and gets rejected, they'd act like strangers. They shouldn't be fooling around like this..." Raiden Mei murmured.

Soon, she noticed the gift box in Kiana's hands.

Raiden Mei recognized it. It came from a flower shop near the school.

"Moqian... gave her flowers?"

Raiden Mei's pupils narrowed, and she unconsciously took half a step backward.

"Get rid of Kiana... get rid of her..." Raiden Mei's expression darkened by the second.

Apparently sensing the powerful shift in Mei's emotions, the Herrscher of Thunder couldn't help saying,

"Hey, Mei, don't be like this. You're scaring me..."

When a host's emotions spiraled completely out of control, it could have a serious effect on the Herrscher Core and even risk triggering a rampage.

Meanwhile, as Su Moqian walked toward Mei, he suddenly noticed that something seemed off with her mood.

"Strange. Who could've made Mei this angry? They deserve to die!"

Su Moqian stopped fooling around with Kiana and began to think carefully.

Given how seriously Senba Academy was taking bullying these days, surely no one would dare cause trouble anymore...

So why was Mei so angry?

"Hm? Moqian?"

When he suddenly stopped paying attention to her, Kiana called out in confusion.

She was just about to punch Su Moqian when a chilly voice suddenly rang out:

"You must be Kiana Kaslana, right?"

Kiana turned toward the voice and saw a purple-haired girl standing at the classroom door, looking at her with "deep affection."

"Mei remembers me after all. This must be fate bringing us together!"

Thrilled that Mei had called her by her full name, Kiana grabbed Su Moqian and hurried over.

Seeing this, Raiden Mei knitted her brows.

"Oh? This little white-haired dumpling has guts. She didn't run away—she's actually coming over to me?"

Raiden Mei knew she no longer had the right to manage Su Moqian's private life.

But she was still his childhood friend, and it was her responsibility to keep him away from the poison of bad women!

After finding herself an excuse, Raiden Mei narrowed her eyes.

"Looks like I'll have to put this little white-haired dumpling in her place!"

While Raiden Mei quietly considered how to make her move, Kiana had already hurried up to her.

Smiling brightly, she held out the gift box in her hands.

"Mei, this is for you!"

Kiana's gesture left Mei stunned. She asked in confusion,

"This is... for me?"

Kiana nodded earnestly.

"Of course! We all believe in you, Mei! There are cosmos flowers and plum blossoms in here. They symbolize purity and strength."

"We believe that's exactly the kind of person Raiden Mei is, so we chose these flowers for you~"

"You all?"

A flicker of uncertainty crossed Raiden Mei's face, and she glanced unconsciously at Su Moqian.

"Actually, Kiana asked me to come outside because she wanted to be friends with you but didn't know how. So she came to me for help," Su Moqian explained with a smile.

"So... so that's what happened?" Raiden Mei murmured.

She'd never imagined that was the truth. She'd misunderstood them just now!

"I knew someone as obviously good-hearted as Kiana would never steal someone else's man!"

At the thought, Raiden Mei breathed a sigh of relief, and the coldness in her expression quickly melted away.

"Kiana is so pure and innocent. There's no need to worry about anything, even if we become best friends, right?"

Mei: I've never had such a beautiful start!

Realizing that she'd misunderstood everything earlier, Raiden Mei felt nothing but gratitude toward Kiana. She couldn't help speaking from the heart:

"I'm sorry, Kiana. I misunderstood you earlier."

"Huh?" Kiana was taken aback.

She didn't know what Raiden Mei had misunderstood, but judging by her expression, she clearly thought better of her now. So Kiana quickly said,

"It's okay! We're friends now, after all..."

Before Kiana could finish, Raiden Mei said,

"So you're a human being after all~"

Until then, Raiden Mei had never considered the little white-haired dumpling a human being.

"Huh?"

Kiana was completely dumbfounded this time. She cried out,

"Then what did you think I was before?!"

"Hahaha, all right, don't worry about the details, silly," Su Moqian said with a laugh, trying to smooth things over.

"No!" Kiana suddenly turned to Su Moqian, insisting, "The details are important, okay?!"

Su Moqian smiled and asked, "Oh? So you're not denying that you're silly?"

"Su Moqian! I'm not!"

Mocked, Kiana's ahoge twitched. She bared her little canine teeth and pounced at Su Moqian.

But Su Moqian deftly used a cloud-hands technique to deflect both of Kiana's paws.

Then he seized the opening at her abdomen and thrust out a palm, stopping it a steady centimeter from Kiana's lower belly.

After stopping, Su Moqian smiled and said,

"Kiana, you lost again. Just admit you're silly already."

Seeing this, Kiana pouted. "Tch, I lost again?"

"All right, loser. Go back to class."

Su Moqian withdrew his hand and turned to head into the classroom.

But just then, Kiana's lips curled into a grin. She tensed her entire body and pounced on Su Moqian like an octopus.

"Su Moqian, take this!"

Caught in Kiana's tight embrace, Su Moqian immediately tried to break free.

But Kiana's monstrous strength left him no room to build momentum, and he couldn't fight back. In the end, he lost his balance and Kiana threw him to the floor.

"Stupid Kiana! Y-you're fighting dirty!" Su Moqian shouted from underneath her.

"Hehe, what I said before was just a question. I never admitted defeat!" Kiana said, grinning triumphantly.

Both of them were sprawled on the ground. Kiana's legs pressed close against Su Moqian's neck and chest.

At the same time, she grabbed Su Moqian's right arm and put him in an armbar.

Watching the two of them play-fight, Raiden Mei unconsciously clenched both fists.

For some reason, a thought suddenly occurred to her:

"Could it be that I'm actually the outsider here?"

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Raiden Mei broke out in a cold sweat. She quickly shook her head and said,

"No, no, no. This has to be an illusion. It has to be!"

In the end, Su Moqian was so bad at dealing with ground grappling techniques that he had no choice but to tap the floor with one hand to signal his surrender.

"Hmph, I win this time!" Kiana said smugly as she got back to her feet.

Su Moqian stood up with a helpless expression. "Damn you, Kiana. You tricked me and caught me off guard."

"This round doesn't count. I let my guard down—I didn't see it coming."

Kiana lifted her chin, unconcerned. "I don't care! I won fair and square this time!"

Unable to stand being left out any longer, Raiden Mei stepped right between them.

Standing in front of Su Moqian, Raiden Mei smiled and made conversation. "Kiana, anyway, thanks for giving me these flowers."

Seeing Mei speak to her first, Kiana's face lit up with a smile again. She pointed at Su Moqian beside her and said,

"Hehe, it was actually all Moqian's idea. Don't forget to thank him too, Mei."

At that, Raiden Mei turned to look at Su Moqian.

So it really was Moqian's idea?

She'd actually suspected that such a thoughtful gesture was probably something Su Moqian had come up with.

But she'd just said such awful things to him, so she hadn't dared to be sure.

But even so, Su Moqian was still willing to treat me so sincerely?

Seeing the surprise in Raiden Mei's eyes, Su Moqian smiled and leaned close to her ear.

"I don't know what your plan is, Mei, but I believe in you, and I'll do everything I can to help."

As he spoke, Su Moqian glanced toward Kiana, indicating that he'd kept his identity hidden from her.

"Moqian..." Raiden Mei bit her lip, a hint of tenderness appearing in her eyes.

That was right. Given how well Su Moqian knew her, there was no way she could keep everything from him.