5 Will you come again?

Actually before Kouro met Mei, he firstly go to the administration building of Senba academy and go to the archive room then sort out the information of the students in Senba academy.

Kouro found some guards on patrol, but... There were fewer than he expected.

It seemed that in retrospect this was not surprising since it was almost impossible for anyone to think of committing a crime against the academy.

Well... However, this was in his favor so he didn't complain, Kouro first went to the headmaster's room to retrieve the master key, then nimbly passed the guards without being seen before arriving at the archive room.

It was not practical to search for Mei blindly without getting any information, especially since there were other things he wanted to confirm.

Due to the large number of students at Senba academy and the limited time, it took quite a while, but in the end he was able to find information regarding Raiden Mei's dormitory.

However, Kouro did not expect to be discovered by the other party while he was sneaking around.

Moreover, as Kouro sorted through the archives, he had confirmed that apart from Mei, Kiana and Bronya were still not students of the Senba academy.

It was possible that Kiana was currently still looking for her father in Europe, but as for Bronya... She would probably only be here after a while.

While thinking about this, Kouro's movements halted slightly.

Why did the Third Eruption happen and why even though he knew about it, he not to choose to stop the Third Eruption?

There were many major factors as to why the Third Eruption happened.

But the main factor lies in the evil person he mentioned earlier, Cocolia.

Cocolia is one of the members of Anti Entropy, she used to be a soldier from Russia.

She wants to awaken the 'Herrscher' Stigmata that Mei was born with.

That's right, the reason why Mei's mother died was actually not because of cancer, but because she was corroded by the Honkai energy that appeared because of Mei's Stigmata.

Mei being in danger because she couldn't control her Stigmata made Ryoma who didn't want to lose someone he cared about again. He had no other choice but to make a deal with Cocolia to implant the Herrscher Gem 'Gem of Conquest'.

The gem serves to absorb Mei's Honkai Stigmata energy and prevent her from losing control.

This is what made Raiden Ryoma not fight back when he was arranged by Cocolia to go to prison because he owed her a favor.

However, Ryoma did not know that Cocolia planned to awaken the Mei Stigmata which resulted in tens of millions of casualties.

The reason Cocolia did this was for one of her adopted daughter who disappeared into the 'Sea of Quanta'.

Kouro speculates that Cocolia's motivation for doing this heinous thing comes from her agreement with the 'World Serpent'.

Although it is only speculation, Kouro does not want to deal with the 'World Serpent' which is a very ancient and dangerous organization.

In the end, he was still too weak to change someone's destiny.

__

"Sorry to remind you of such a sad thing." Kouro said.

Kouro's apology made Mei half-bow, wait for the other party to scold her and leave sadly.

Mei raised her head at the silence of the other party, she silently looked at Kouro who looked genuinely sorry.

Mei then smiled, compared to the polite smile before, her smile now looked a little emotional.

"It's okay, aren't you planning to turn around and leave here? As you can see other than my beauty, I don't have much value."

Seeing Mei sitting alone in a remote corner of the classroom and with faintly visible sadness, how could Kouro possibly let this happen?

"Not much value? Why do you think that? Is it because other people say so and you take their word for it?"

Hearing Kouro's statement, Mei's expression was a little confused, it was the first time someone had said that to her so she didn't know how to reply.

"They're wrong Mei! Why do you listen to those who don't value you? I'm sure to those who do value you, you are priceless to them. "

Kouro recalled Kiana, Bronya, and the other characters who became irreplaceable friends to Mei. For them too, no one could replace Mei.

"Mei-san... I knew from the start what happened to your father, but that didn't change my intention to meet you and I'm relieved about that. Because even though we just met, I'm confident in my judgment, you are priceless, Mei-san. " Kouro said with a serious expression and his fists clenched tightly.

Kouro's voice had a serious tone but if you noticed there was a bit of emotion in it.

After all if viewed objectively, Mei as one of the protagonists in this world who has a noble goal such as saving the world is indeed very important and priceless.

Of course those people don't know that, but judging from Mei's gentle and tolerant nature, how could they alienate her so easily?!

After Kouro said that, there was a moment of silence between them which made him feel awkward.

'What... Did I say something offensive to her?'

Kouro became a little panicked, he quickly memorized every word he said while waiting for Mei's reaction.

"...That kind of statement shouldn't be appropriate to say to a girl you just met for the first time. You can make them misunderstand, you know!"

Kouro heard Mei's statement which sounded calm, but he could feel positive emotions from it.

"Ahem... But I'm a little happy. Because of that, I won't tell the guards that you snuck into Senba academy without permission." Mei said with a loose smile.

Her smile now looked more natural and no longer like before it almost blended with the soft yet equally cold moonlight.

"Huh? Were you originally planning to take me to the police station?"

Kouro looked surprised, was this the Raiden Mei he knew?!!!

The Raiden Mei in the game, even if touched while the favorability is still at the initial level, she will only launch a lightning attack of 100,000 volts and put the captain or player into suspended animation.

Then when her favorability level is full, Mei will act like a virtuous wife, a man's dream.

Why did the Mei in front of him even carry a bad personality?

Seeing Kouro's astonishment, Mei seemed to feel like she was violating the other party's trust so her face showed a hint of embarrassment.

"You don't need to be so surprised, I just want the security department to be more skillful and vigilant in guarding the school. Don't let boys into this school so easily."

"But come to think of it there are only a few boys now, besides the possibility of other boys entering the girls' school is almost zero, so rest assured I won't report you."

"That's .... Really thank you very much"

Kouro was actually serious.

After all, being reported for sneaking into an all-girls school for no apparent reason, he would probably be punished or at worst go to jail.

Seeing Kouro quickly express his gratitude somehow made Mei laugh.

This made Kouro quickly understand that the other party was just deliberately teasing him --perhaps.

How long had it been since Mei had chatted with others and made jokes, or even made jokes that made her laugh?

Mei's gaze blurred for a moment remembering the past.

Then she looked at the boy who was deliberately keeping his distance from her, not too close and not too far away since he appeared.

Seeing this, Mei thought Kouro was a considerate and thoughtful person.

"If you planned to make me happy, then you've succeeded, but I can't offer anything but thanks."

If a few months ago, Mei, who had just undergone a change, would have been worried that the other party would approach her for a specific purpose, just like her former classmate who wanted to benefit from ME's company through her.

Mei was also worried but there was an important difference.

Now the girl was worried that the other party was overestimating herself, as she had almost lost everything.

She is no longer the young lady in ME's company, has no money, no power, and she is not even loved by her father.

Mei currently had nothing of value.

If it was something she still had, Mei was willing to give it away.

Hmm... If Kouro was not a dense man and still had symptoms of Gynophobia then surely Mei would not have thought of this.

Well... But no matter what, Mei who had been experiencing feelings of loneliness for a long time really wished there was someone she could talk to, even if that other party was like the previous 'Fake Friends', she would still talk to them.

"Reaping a happy smile from a beautiful girl like you is already a good gift, but it's getting late and the temperature is getting colder." Kouro said while hugging his own body and shivering slightly as the cold wind blew towards him.

"I think you should wear thick clothes so as not to catch a cold, so go back to the dormitory, I also have to go back to my dormitory now."

Kouro didn't know what Mei was thinking, although in his heart she was not a stranger, but Kouro still kept a distance in dealing with the other party.

Kouro had indeed spent a lot of time in the archives earlier and now it was late at night which was not suitable for chatting.

For the first time having someone she could talk to without the need to hide secrets made Mei's eyes quickly dim.

But then she felt the concern in the other party's words, which gave Mei some hope.

"Will you... Come here again...? Ah?! It's not that I want you to keep chatting with me! I just feel you're really good at pleasing a girl!" Mei said with a slight blush.

Mei didn't even dare to say directly that she wished Kouro could chat with her next time.

Kouro felt that his previous words might have formed a not-so-good image in Mei's heart.

Well... This is not surprising, Kouro does look like a Playboy for being able to say the previous things without feeling embarrassed.

However, strangely Kouro did not feel any disgust in the girl's eyes, feeling little confused Kouro still answered her question.

"Are you still going to sit here tomorrow?"

"...Um!"

"Then I'll see you tomorrow night, because these two days are the weekend, so I have a lot of free time."

Kouro lied a little, he had to go to the ME company tomorrow for an internship, then after returning from the internship to complete the Daily Quest, If he rushed tonight, he would be a little busy later.

Will Mei find out?

Perhaps, after all, Kouro mentioned that he was an intern at the ME company in his self-introduction.

But right now the girl didn't say much and just nodded heavily, only that Kouro didn't notice that Mei's eyes were shining a little full of anticipation.