Girl, You're in Love (Continued)

Of course, the three girls were "B-rank Valkyries," while he was a "B-rank Schicksal Knight."

Although the title felt rather embarrassingly edgy, he still briefly imagined what it might be like to become S-rank in the future.

"Alright, the rank assessment and first practical combat training end here... A little later, your class assignments will be sent to your personal terminals."

Fu Hua lightly brushed the dust from her clothes and smiled at the four of them.

Hearing that they were being assigned to classes, Kiana immediately leaned closer and asked:

"Senior Fu Hua, Senior Fu Hua, how will we be assigned?"

She cared greatly about this. Having gone through the same disaster together, she had already become friends with Mei and Bronya—and, well, Ming Yu too.

If possible, she very much hoped to be placed in the same class as her friends.

"Unless something unexpected happens, all of you will be assigned to my class, so you can simply call me classmate."

Fu Hua replied with a faint smile.

—Naturally, this was so she could follow Otto's orders and keep a close watch on Kiana.

"Yay!"

The white-haired girl naturally had no way of realizing that. She simply cheered happily on the spot.

Ming Yu interjected at just the right moment:

"If I remember correctly, Fu Hua, you're also the class monitor...?"

Because she was far more mature than the other girls her age—or rather, the other girls who at least looked to be her age—Fu Hua had naturally and unsurprisingly become the class monitor.

"Yes, that's right."

"Then... Fu Hua, we'll call you Class Monitor."

Mei spoke up as well.

"Whatever you prefer. Alright, I'll take you to the classroom."

After spending the morning in practical combat with Fu Hua, the afternoon was devoted to regular school lessons.

As the only male student at St. Freya Academy for the foreseeable future, his appearance indeed drew the attention of quite a few female students.

—Ming Yu suddenly understood what those light novels he used to read meant by "everyone in the class is a girl except me."

As for the curriculum, it was not particularly different from that of an ordinary school, aside from some additional basic knowledge about Honkai.

For example, historical incidents that Schicksal had publicly concealed under the guise of various natural disasters could all be understood for what they truly were through the teaching materials here.

Well, Ming Yu had no thoughts on the other classes, but he did have a slight urge to complain about this history course.

The issue was not the course content itself, but the teacher responsible for it...

—A middle-aged man with brown hair, brown eyes, and dark black-rimmed glasses.

That was right. He had to be Welt Yang!

The Second Herrscher of Reason, leader of Anti-Entropy, the man who kept getting back up.

Was that not why St. Freya Academy was called the Far East's den of monsters? Not only were there plenty of Herrschers and prospective Herrschers among the students, but an authentic First Herrscher had even slipped in among the teachers.

Either Herrschers, the Red Raven Immortal, or an academy principal with S-rank strength—this tiny St. Freya truly hid dragons and crouching tigers.

Come to think of it, what had Old Yang infiltrated St. Freya Academy under a false identity to do again...?

It was precisely because the leader was absent from Anti-Entropy for so long that Cocolia, who had been eager to make a move, found an opportunity to begin usurping power.

Perhaps because he could freely alter his appearance as the Herrscher of Reason and had no fixed appearance to begin with, Bronya, who was also part of Anti-Entropy, seemed not to recognize Old Yang at all.

Ming Yu could recognize him only because he was the sole male among all the instructors.

After class ended, Ming Yu did not immediately return to his dormitory.

He opened the system on his personal terminal and found the location of the academy library.

Well, he still had to keep his promise to Yae Sakura.

Considering that Yae Sakura was a shrine maiden from five hundred years ago and was probably not yet used to modern electronic devices, it would be better to let her learn about Kallen through more traditional written books.

Given the nature of a certain Kallen superfan, there definitely would not be a shortage of books about Kallen in the library...

However, just outside the library entrance, Ming Yu was called out by an unexpected voice.

"M-Ming Yu."

Turning around, he saw that Mei had come here as well.

The two of them sat down on a bench beside the library.

"Did Mei need something from me?"

He looked at the somewhat shy girl before him and asked with a soft laugh.

"Um... I still haven't thanked you for what happened at Chiba Academy."

Mei spoke sincerely.

Although she had not awakened until almost the very end, after asking Kiana and Bronya about it, she had gained a rough understanding of what had happened.

He had fought the other her on the rooftop, stopped her from continuing to do evil, and afterward defeated enemies who had apparently intended to harm her.

And then...

Mei's little face suddenly flushed red, and she lowered her head, too embarrassed to speak.

"Mm, it was nothing. The situation was urgent at the time... Uh..."

Ming Yu had clearly remembered the intimate contact aided by Kiana's baseball bat at the same time.

—So Mei knew about it too.

For a moment, silence filled the air.

After a brief silence, Ming Yu was the one who raised the topic again and asked the girl across from him:

"Come to think of it, Mei, can you sense the other personality inside you now?"

—He was still rather concerned about that Thunder Herrscher big sister who had been quiet for several days.

Mei nodded, softly murmured an acknowledgment, and replied:

"Mm... I can feel that she's deep within my consciousness. It's just that she does not seem to have any intention of taking over this body or appearing outside."

Even so, Mei, who believed herself to be the cause of the Changkong City disaster, was still worried:

"Ming Yu... I'm a little afraid that she'll appear again, lose control, and hurt even more people."

"Mm, actually, I don't think you need to see the other personality inside your body as being so evil. Maybe you could try communicating with her..."

Ming Yu said carefully.

Rather, the Thunder Herrscher big sister inside Mei had taken on all the Herrscher power for her, so Mei herself actually had almost no pressure in that regard.

Besides, at the end of the day, it was because Cocolia had first released massive amounts of Honkai energy and created the initial Honkai outbreak that the tragedy in Changkong City had occurred.

The birth of a Herrscher came after the Honkai outbreak.

Without a sufficient concentration of Honkai energy, the conditions for a Herrscher's birth could not be met.

Well, even those Herrschers who had not been naturally born, such as Sirin or the Herrscher of Sentience, had only met the conditions to transform into Herrschers after living in environments and vessels saturated with high concentrations of Honkai energy.

First came the Honkai outbreak, which led to the birth of the Herrscher of Thunder. Then, because of the Herrscher of Thunder's existence, the Honkai disaster spread further and affected ordinary people beyond Chiba Academy.

Besides, based on what he had personally seen and experienced, that one truly did not seem to bear any malice.

In the few appearances of the Thunder Herrscher big sister that he remembered from the original timeline, aside from helping Mei or Kiana fight enemies, she had no other intentions at all.

This Stigmata Personality, who seemed to have such a nasty temperament, might actually be quite simple-minded.

...In a sense, she seemed to be the same type as Dark Seele. Judging from the feedback he had already received in the form of electromagnetic control, she was also the high-attack, low-defense type.

Of course, he still decided not to tell Mei about Cocolia for the time being.

After all, Mei could not yet fully control her own power. Even if she wanted revenge against Cocolia, it was still a little too early at this stage, when she had only just enrolled.

Ming Yu had his own plans regarding Mei and Cocolia.

—More accurately, it was not merely Mei's matter. After all, everything he had suffered in Changkong City could also be blamed on Cocolia.

He would definitely settle this debt with that old witch in the future.

"But..."

Mei was still somewhat hesitant.

Because she feared another incident of losing control, she had never tried to communicate with her other self these past few days, instead keeping a respectful distance.

"Don't worry. If you have concerns, you can bring me or someone else along. Mm, if anything happens, we'll protect you."

Ming Yu suggested.

Of course, he actually intended to use his rewind ability to prevent any particularly bad outcome.

If the Herrscher of Thunder truly came out and caused trouble, he could also use rewind to avoid that future.

"I... I'll try it later. By the way, Ming Yu, what did you come to the library to look for?"

The black-haired girl asked curiously.

In this technologically advanced age, most people chose to obtain the information they wanted through electronic devices and the internet. Those willing to visit libraries had become quite rare.

"Mm... I came here to look for books about Saint Kallen."

Ming Yu answered casually.

"Eh... Ming Yu, are you interested in that saint?"

Mei asked softly.

Thanks to a certain blond man, even outside the field of Honkai, the image of Saint Kallen had long become deeply ingrained among ordinary people as a historical figure. She was known by virtually everyone.

If one had to make a comparison, she was somewhat like Joan of Arc in Ming Yu's original world.

She was not merely a historical figure; she had long since entered people's daily lives, and Kallen often appeared even in some young people's video games.

For instance, in famous globally popular game series like "Kallen Fantasy" and "Fate Grand Order."

Of course, Ming Yu believed that the publishers of those games were definitely companies under Schicksal...

"Mm, after hearing the history teacher's introduction today, I became somewhat interested in that saint's story too."

Ming Yu appropriately dragged Old Yang, the history teacher, out to take the hit.

"Then I'll help you look."

Mei volunteered to help.

"Alright, then I'll trouble you."

Ming Yu did not refuse Mei's kindness.

The two of them then entered the library together.

Very quickly, they found the section dedicated to Saint Kallen.

It had not taken much effort, because—this bookshelf stood right in the very center of the entire library, packed full of books related to Kallen.

It was practically visible the moment one entered, giving off a rather forceful promotional feeling.

"..."

Ming Yu looked up at the densely packed collection of books of all kinds on the shelf before him.

There were biographies based on real history, as well as novels resembling fan-made derivative works.

Then he looked at the authors' names. Hah—Clown Alpha, Clown Beta, Clown Delta, Clown Sigma, and so on.

Ninety-nine percent of those names were also pseudonyms belonging to that certain blond man.

He casually pulled out one of the books, opened it to a random page, and looked at its contents—

"Ah, Kallen—"