"Well met, Richard Huang," Kufa replied formally and slightly stiffly. I pushed up my gla.s.ses as I regarded him. He maintained a neutral expression, looking neither pleased nor upset to see me. Why did he even bother coming along if he wasn't interested in meeting me? Either that or he was good at concealing his emotions.

"The h.e.l.l?!" In contrast, Miura was all fire and anger. She jabbed a finger right at my chest, but I managed to back away before she could make any physical contact. "You've been here for a month and you didn't come to say h.e.l.lo?! That's so cold of you!"

"Oh, uh…it didn't occur to me."

Miura raised a hand to her eyes dramatically, miming a sob. "Was that all I was to you? A brief, short-lived fling? To be discarded once you were done with me?"

"Yes," I replied seriously. It was the truth, after all. Miura was just another opponent in the high school tournament over a month ago, and I had never regarded her as anybody more than that. She wasn't a friend, just an acquaintance. h.e.l.l, I had a lot more contact with Kureha Franklin, and I couldn't even be bothered to say h.e.l.lo to her because I knew we were never on such good terms to begin with.

As if she had read my mind, Miura giggled while covering her mouth. Lowering her hand, she shook her head.

"If you're looking for Kureha, she's miffed that you decided to waste your time and efforts training her cousin. She thinks that Melina should focus her efforts on training her magic, not trying to learn swordsmans.h.i.+p."

"What Melina wishes to master is not for Kureha Franklin to decide. It's her life, only she has the right to decide what she wants to do. n.o.body else has the right to decide on her behalf…not even her father."

Kufa nodded in approval. "I agree."

"Ugh…" Miura clutched her head and groaned in exasperation. "Why are you guys always so serious? Geez, you ruined the mood!"

"Now, now…" Rossetti raised both of her hands in a placating manner. "It is fine, isn't it? You finally have a chance to meet. I still remember you were looking for him about three weeks ago. Isn't this good enough?"

"Where did you go three weeks ago?" Miura turned on me, her hands on her hips. "We looked for you, but Teacher Einsberg said you applied for leave to take a mission."

"Well…yeah, I did."

"After that, we went on a mission of our own, so we weren't able to look for you afterward." Kufa offered the information indifferently. I nodded, and he continued. "That was about two weeks ago, and it took us a while to return. And last week, we had to focus on theory exams, so we missed each other again. I'm glad we didn't miss you this time."

"We have practical exams today," I remarked, wondering what the theory exams had to do with missing each other, except that the writer completely decided to randomly make this meeting up all of a sudden and had to justify why we somehow missed each other throughout the month or so I had been here.

"Yeah, but unlike the theory exams, which we took by cla.s.ses, the practical exams are more free-flowing. We're randomly a.s.signed to fight each other, regardless of cla.s.ses."

"Heh!" Miura smirked and wagged her finger at me. "If we meet in the arena again today, you'd better watch out! I've improved a lot ever since that match. I won't lose to you so easily again today!"

"That's a.s.suming you're his opponent," Rossetti reminded her, smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt. She of all people knew how fickle the heavens could be.

"All right then…we had best get prepared for the practical exams. We'll catch up again after this. And don't you dare run away! Make sure you meet up again! We're friends, after all"

I was flattered that she thought of me as such after a single match, but wasn't sure how seriously I could take her. Well, I wasn't going to ignore her good intentions, and if she wanted to befriend me, I had no reason to object.

"Good luck."

"You too!"

After exchanging pleasantries, I bade them farewell, and turned back to my overawed charges. Adrian and Melina were watching Miura and the others depart, amazed that I could so easily speak to such legends in their school. Those three were the core members of the representatives of Saint Teresa Academy, part of the team who led them as far as the quarterfinals in the tournament just over a month ago. It was like meeting their idols in real life.

"You two should get going too," I informed them gently, gesturing toward the middle school section. Smiling encouragingly, I showed them a thumb's up. "Good luck! I'll try to be there to watch your matches!"

"Thanks, Brother Richard! We'll do our best!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

The two of them did a pseudo salute, and then ran off in the direction of the middle school buildings. I watched them with a smile, and then turned back to follow Miura and the others. Unlike the theoretical examinations, the practical examinations would not be taking place in the cla.s.srooms. They were instead held within the gymnasiums, which doubled as coliseums. Basically the same as Jing Tian Academy.

Before I could get very far, though, a voice cut through my thoughts.

"I finally found you."

I almost fell over from surprise when the smooth, feminine voice spoke out behind me. Turning around, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the speaker.

It was none other than Nan Gong Zhao Yan.

Unlike Ji Yan, who adopted a doll-like appearance with her twin-tails, pink frilly ribbons, and lots of makeup, Zhao Yan went for a simpler look, merely tying her long brown hair into a ponytail and ditching the mascara altogether. She was no longer wearing the practical suit that she donned last night, and was instead clad in the standard Saint Teresa Academy uniform that was white and maroon. And boy, did she look good in it. Somehow a skirt suited her better, but that was just me being biased.

The air she gave off was also different. If Zhao Yan hadn't possessed the same pretty face that Ji Yan did, I would never have been able to tell that they were twins.

"You aren't in the same cla.s.s, so it was pretty hard to find you."

"Nan Gong Zhao Yan, right? Why are you looking for me?"

Zhao Yan bowed her head slightly. "Excuse my rudeness. You are Richard Huang, aren't you? I wanted to thank you for saving my sister yesterday."

"Oh, that." I almost forgot what happened last night, thanks to the flashback chapter that I randomly inserted before this one. Waving my hand, I scoffed. "It was a total fluke. And don't think too much about it. I was merely saving myself as much as I was helping your sister. There was no way to outrun those Swarm Bats, so I gambled on trying to wipe them out before they reached us."

"That's not true." Zhao Yan settled her steely gaze on me, her warm chestnut eyes strong and firm. "You were completely hidden the whole time. Never mind the Swarm Bats and Blood Bats, even the four of us didn't notice your presence at all. If you had chosen to continue concealing your presence, the monsters would have overlooked you entirely. Yet you decided to break out of hiding and jumped out to help my sister, risking your life in the process."

"Honestly, it wasn't that much of a risk to my life…" Then I stopped, realizing how arrogant that sounded. "I, uh, had ample time to prepare a few advanced spells. I just didn't come out because you guys seemed to have the matter entirely in hand."

"I don't blame you for that. In fact, I'm grateful you decided to stay hidden and prepare a few advanced spells instead. If you hadn't done that, Ji Yan would be in terrible danger…and honestly, I don't think my seniors and I would have been able to dispatch the second wave of Swarm Bats and the three Blood Bats as easily as you did."

"Oh, that wasn't easy, I a.s.sure you." I scratched my head, feeling very embarra.s.sed. "Like I said, that was a fluke. If I hadn't failed…if I didn't prepare those advanced spells and those Bats succeeded in their a.s.sault, you would probably be cursing me instead of thanking me."

Zhao Yan shook her head. "No…anyone who is brave enough to throw himself between my sister and hundreds of monsters deserves my grat.i.tude, regardless of the outcome."

Oh, G.o.d…ladies and gentlemen, we have a genuine Mary Sue here, right in the flesh.

"Are you all right?"

Zhao Yan looked at me in concern while I began wobbling, feeling sick from just being in her presence.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. It's just that I'm allergic to Mary Sues."

"Huh? Mary Sue?" Zhao Yan tilted her head in bewilderment. So there was something that this perfect top scorer didn't know. Lovely.

"Never mind. Anyway, I'm undeserving of your grat.i.tude."

"That's not true."

"Uh, okay. Then…you're welcome." Might as well accept her grat.i.tude since she was offering it, so that she would leave me alone once she was done with thanking me.

However, to my bafflement, she was far from done. Instead, she looked at me with pretty earnest eyes.

"Will you be free this weekend?"

"Um…I guess?" I had no plans for the weekend. I had planned to give both Adrian and Melina a well-deserved break after they completed their practical exams, so there wouldn't be any training sessions this week. Actually, I did plan to play Warhammer 40,000 with Adrian on Sat.u.r.day. We would be going to Dreamers Vault and having a match between my Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus forces and his Blood Angels army. We wanted to test out the new Psychic Awakening rules, especially since I had just gotten my hands on a copy of Engine War. The d.a.m.ned quarantine caused by the Corvid19 had caused me to crave human contact and a proper tabletop game again, after being forced to stay at home and do nothing but write. No ma.s.s releases, though, because I was also trying to write other stories for the future. Sorry. "Probably not Sat.u.r.day."

"That is all right. Sunday will be ideal for me anyway."

This had better not be some ridiculous flag for a date with a beautiful girl who I barely had any interaction with for less than twelve hours in total. The last time I checked, this was reality, not some web novel obsessed with spreading the glory of the mostly overrated harem genre.

"I must apologize for Ji Yan's behavior, and express our grat.i.tude in her place. As thanks, I would like to invite you for dinner. Um, don't worry, my home isn't far from here. It's less than an hour away by train."

Honestly, I would have preferred cold, hard cash, but a homecooked dinner sounded perfectly tempting to me. A free dinner was still a great reward, if I were to be honest, and I enjoyed eating. So I nodded without hesitation. If the Mary Sue traits held true, then I was sure that Zhao Yan would also be a great cook. I mean, look at her. She was the sort of character who could do anything.

"Sure!"

"Good, it's decided then. I'll meet you on Sunday morning outside Chao Café in Cardinal District. Do you know where it is?"

"I have the almighty Google," I told her. "I'll just search it on Google Maps if I have to."

"All right. See you then."

I observed Zhao Yan as she turned away. Now that I put aside my web novel-addled mind and returned to reality, I could see that she wasn't displaying any of the usual lovesick symptoms that all heroines had. The most rampant of which was the tsundere disease where she would go, "it…it's not as if I want to treat you or anything, hmph! It's just polite to thank you for helping my sister, that's all! Don't get the wrong idea!"

Nah, admittedly that wouldn't fit her cool and dignified character. She was more of a kuudere, minus the dere part.

The other symptoms were noticeably absent as well. There was no blus.h.i.+ng, no feigned or genuine shyness. She really just wanted to thank me, nothing more. Come to think of it, Zhao Yan was quite bold, frank and straightforward. She approached me and confidently told me what she intended without stammering or getting embarra.s.sed.

No matter how I looked at it, Zhao Yan was merely viewing me as a person deserving of her grat.i.tude, not a member of the opposite s.e.x. Man, but she was cold.

"I look forward to a homecooked meal," I murmured, feeling a little pleased. After watching Zhao Yan disappear, I then followed after her and sighed when I remembered a more pressing matter in the present. "But for now I had best get this practical exam done and over with."

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