Sakuraba Hi hung up the phone and stretched his body.
He glanced at his phone wallpaper—a photo of the three of them.
In the picture, they were dressed in strange costumes, posing in bizarre ways.
He gently pressed the phone screen, and the static wallpaper came to life.
Sound accompanied the movement:
“To prevent the world from being destroyed,”
“To protect the world’s peace,”
“To carry out the evil of love and truth,”
“The cute and charming villainous characters:
“Musashi,”
“Kojiro.”
“We are Team Rocket, traveling through the Milky Way! A white hole, a white tomorrow awaits us!”
“Meowth, that’s right!”
***
This was from last year on XiÇŽoyè’s birthday.
At his sister’s request, he and Yue had cosplayed as Team Rocket from Pokémon.
He was Kojiro, Yue was Musashi, and Xiǎoyè was Meowth, the cat-like villain Pokémon.
Looking at the grinning XiÇŽoyè in the photo, he couldn’t help but smile.
However, his concern returned when he remembered that Xiǎoyè was about to leave home.
Ever since the operation in the Mediterranean Sea ended, Xiǎoyè had been angry with him.
At the same time, the communication system for Thanatos had been modified and encrypted following that mission.
When he and Yue were discussing how to obtain intelligence from Thanatos, Xiǎoyè happened to be watching an anime called Spy x Family on TV.
Feeling inspired, she had volunteered to go to Thanatos as an undercover agent.
He and Yue had immediately rejected the idea, but Xiǎoyè, who already held a grudge against them, refused to listen this time.
No matter what they said, she insisted on trying.
In his and Yue’s eyes, XiÇŽoyè was just a throwing a tantrum like a child, but they couldn’t ignore her feelings.
There was no other way.
Who else would look after their troublesome younger sister?
So, despite the mountain of trouble waiting for him to handle back in Japan, he had to travel all the way to the United Kingdom to interact with the Principal of Thanatos.
****
“Student Kobayashi Mirai, after saying all this… I think you should realize the problem here, right?”
In a meeting room at Thanatos, the small old man sipped his tea, his face filled with helplessness.
As a Professor of the School Discipline Department, he had no idea how many times he had talked to this girl.
The previous occasion was because Kobayashi Mirai had skipped class for two whole days in one go.
“Is falling in love also a violation of school rules?”
Kobayashi Mirai replied casually, fiddling with the longsword in her hand.
Lin Yu glanced at her.
Compared to the old man’s frustration, she looked relaxed and at ease, as if they were just there to chat and drink tea rather than being caught and lectured for breaking school rules.
From the moment they were brought to the meeting room until now, the old man in front of them had been rambling for nearly half an hour.
Lin Yu also felt a bit helpless.
To be honest, he hadn’t done anything.
The rule-breaking was entirely Kobayashi Mirai’s doing…
But since a girl had confessed to him in front of everyone, he didn’t have the heart to tell the old man he was innocent right in front of her.
Noticing Lin Yu’s gaze, Kobayashi Mirai looked back at him.
Just as she was about to say something, the old man spoke up again to stop her.
“I don’t care if you’re in a relationship, but as a girl, running to the boys’ dormitory in the middle of the night to shout loudly… that is somewhat improper, isn’t it?”
The old man sighed and continued, “Furthermore, this is your fifteenth violation since enrollment. Although the Vice Principal is very indulgent toward you… you should at least show some restraint. By now, probably the entire school knows about this. If I don’t give you some punishment, the School Discipline Committee will be nothing more than a decoration from now on.”
‘Fifteenth violation?! Young lady, you’re a repeat offender! Impressive!’
Lin Yu marveled to himself, wondering if he was the fifteenth person she had confessed to.
However, thinking about it, confessing to fifteen people seemed a bit unlikely.
Kobayashi Mirai looked at Professor Bangkok and chose to ignore his teachings.
Holding the scabbard, she tapped Lin Yu’s shoulder with the hilt of the sword.
“What do you think?”
She looked at Lin Yu with a smug expression.
Before he could speak, she added dismissively, “But I suppose it doesn’t matter. Either way, you don’t have the right to refuse me.”
Lin Yu was a bit dazed by the voice coming through the translator.
He really wasn’t sure what Kobayashi Mirai’s goal was.
In any case, it probably had nothing to do with actually falling in love.
“Kobayashi Mirai! Don’t go too far.”
Seeing the girl completely ignore him, Bangkok finally lost his temper.
He tried his best to put on an angry face, but to Lin Yu and Kobayashi Mirai, the old man’s anger looked rather comical.
“Fine, fine, fine, I know I was wrong, Professor. I’ll reflect on myself. Since we’ve talked for so long, I imagine you must be tired. Get some rest early. We’ll be leaving now.”
Kobayashi Mirai apologized without a hint of sincerity, pulling Lin Yu along as she prepared to leave.
“The Vice Principal protects you, but the Principal won’t. Don’t force me to take this matter to the Principal.”
The old man was starting to get frantic.
His voice echoed through the meeting room, but in an instant, Kobayashi Mirai, who had just been in front of him, vanished into thin air.
Lin Yu was left behind to stare awkwardly at him.
Downstairs, Kobayashi Mirai, who had used Bituan to leave, was also stunned.
She had clearly intended to take Lin Yu with her during the Bituan… but now, there was no one around her.
Confused, she had no choice but to teleport back.
Returning to the meeting room, Professor Bangkok was somewhat surprised by her return.
She helplessly stuck her tongue out at the Professor, then looked at Lin Yu again.
“Let’s go, let’s go. I’ll use Bituan to take you down.”
Lin Yu was already somewhat used to her using superpowers to suddenly disappear and reappear.
At this moment, he could only nod dumbly at the girl’s suggestion.
Seeing this, Kobayashi Mirai came over and grabbed the corner of his clothes.
The next instant, just as Kobayashi Mirai had expected, they successfully appeared at the base of the black building.
“Alright, alright, how troublesome,”
Kobayashi Mirai complained, stretching while holding her sword.
The translated Chinese came through his earpiece.
Lin Yu thought for a moment and asked, “Can I ask why? Why did you… confess?”
He really couldn’t find a better way to phrase it.
“Because you rejected me last time. I’ve been at the school for seven months… and you’re the first boy to reject my invitation,”
Kobayashi Mirai said, looking at him.
“Is this revenge?”
Lin Yu asked again.
“Maybe. Regardless, you don’t have the right to refuse this time,”
Kobayashi Mirai said with a shrug.
Lin Yu looked at her helplessly.
Her face still wore that indifferent expression.
A stalemate ensued as neither spoke, and the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Suddenly, Kobayashi Mirai leaned in closer to Lin Yu.
“Then let me ask you one more time. Was the person who hugged me you?”
Stared down by Kobayashi Mirai’s dark eyes, Lin Yu instinctively averted his gaze.
“I really don’t know who you’re talking about. Sorry… And if you’re only confessing for that reason, then I think you shouldn’t waste such a good opportunity.”
Hearing this answer, Kobayashi Mirai chuckled softly.
“What, do you not want to be my boyfriend?”
Perhaps out of a guilty conscience, Lin Yu still didn’t dare look her in the eye and kept his head down.
“It’s not that, but I need to know the reason,”
he replied after thinking for a long while.
It was nearly midnight.
The two of them stood in the pitch-black night of Thanatos.
The surrounding buildings had all gone dark, yet they were still here, barely managing to communicate using an artificial intelligence translator.
‘This is truly bizarre,’ Lin Yu thought.
“You say you don’t know, so let me change the reason. You did pull out my sword last time; you have to admit that at least, right?”
Kobayashi Mirai said, waving the sword in her hand.
Pulled out her sword?
What kind of reason was that?
In an instant, numerous questions popped into Lin Yu’s head:
‘Do Japanese people also watch A Chinese Odyssey? Is she the Zixia Fairy, and this sword can only be pulled out by her and her destined one?’
Filled with doubt, Lin Yu reached out again toward the Cherry Blossom Longsword.
Kobayashi Mirai did not refuse and handed the sword to him.
Lin Yu took it.
Just like last time, he easily unsheathed the blade.
He didn’t feel anything strange about it.
Kobayashi Mirai didn’t say a word, only watching him with a gentle smile.