Raiden Mei was happy.
She felt quite happy whenever she interacted with the boy known as Kurokami Arata.
Although they had already talked before, the display he showed earlier today strengthened their bond.
He was extremely casual with her.
Unlike everyone else, who either tried to get her attention in overbearing and disturbing ways with zero regards for personal space or her own personal feelings...
Or those who simply kept their distance from her and admired her from a safe distance because they viewed her as a goddess and therefore, stopped her own chances of forming strong bonds.
On the other hand, Kurokami Arata was extremely casual with her.
He treated her with the minimal respect that would be expected between two civilized individuals during a conversation.
He neither craved her attention, not distanced himself from her.
He was neither overbearing, not restrictive. He didn't try to keep her as a lonely idol to be admired. And he didn't try to get close to her with any motives.
He didn't care that she was the daughter of the CEO of Massive Electric Corporation.
He didn't care that her father was Raiden Ryoma.
Or maybe... He didn't realise it ? Maybe he wasn't aware of such a fact ?
After his earlier confession to having memory issues, it wouldn't even be surprising to here that he simply didn't know who she was.
Which was honestly, even better.
It would be much easier to form a genuine bond with someone if both parties met each other as strangers, after all.
And so, Mei was happy.
And the fact that Arata was easygoing and easy to talk to, also helped sweeten her mood. Him helping her out earlier today was merely the cherry on top.
By now, the class was pretty much full with only a few missing students. Maybe they took the day of ? Or maybe...
The door was opened.
And a student entered the classroom.
Kashiwa-sensei looked at her with an unimpressed expression.
Arata's eyes wandered.
That girl was a positioned close to him, the girl that sat right behind him. She seemed tired. She was sweating, she was panting and trying to catch her breath. A clear indication that she had sprinted her way here.
Arata's eyebrow quirked up.
Why would she sprint her way from her home to the school ? Did she live nearby?
Then why was she late ?
Kashiwa-sensei let her come in, with comforting words that said, "I understand. I know what happened earlier today."
The girl panted and plopped herself behind Arata, letting out a sorry whine and planted her head on the table, groaning to signify her fatigue.
Arata, uncharacteristically, leaned back on his seat and looked back at his tired seat neighbour.
Her ears perked up when she heard him speak to her.
"What made you so late today ?" He questioned.
"Huh?"
Her head moved up, raising herself from the table to look at the curious boy that was seated right in front of her.
She panted, then looked at him, then her eyes wandered.
She tried not to meet his gaze.
The reasons for her nervousness was unbeknownst to him.
Arata assumed it was because she was embarrassed for coming so late, after the second class had nearly ended.
In which case, he didn't judge her.
Personally, he wouldn't have been embarrassed about such a thing, but he was no ordinary man. He wouldn't stoop down as to compare ordinary civilian girls to himself.
Their lives were too fundamentally apart.
But he made an effort to understand.
Though, the real reason for her nervous, was not just a single one. She had numerous reasons.
Her being extremely late was one of them, yes. So he was actually right about that.
But aside from that, Arata's gaze made her feel something. She didn't know what it was.
Was it happiness — joy for being noticed by the only boy in Chiba Academy, who was both rich and handsome ?
Was it intimidation — at the overwhelming presence she unconsciously felt when those piercing red eyes stared into her very soul ?
Was it awe and wonder — at those breathtakingly beautiful gen-like eyes that seemed to be glazed with gold, shimmering and moving within the sea of red ?
She did not know.
But she quickly regained her bearings.
"It has that stupid sinkhole...!" She growled as she laid on the table with a lazy and exhausted expression.
"Sinkhole?" He blinked.
"Huh ? Kurokami-san, are you not aware of what happened earlier today ?" She asks, suddenly perking up when she noticed his confusion.
"Why ? Did something happen ?" He quipped.
"Wasn't there a huge crowd today morning or something ?" Although she wasn't there for it, she assumed that was probably a huge crowd in the school thanks to the delays.
"Well, yes..." He grumbled, remembering when they were crowding over Mei.
"They crowded around Rainen because she came late. What does that have to do with anything?" He complained with an annoyed expression, making her blink at him.
"You mean... Raiden-san ?"
"Yeah, her."
Sitting next to him, Mei smiled at him wryly. She could somewhat hear what they were talking about and it seems he spoke her name wrong again.
And he forgot about the sinkhole from earlier today...
"Ah, that makes sense... Raiden-san and I take the same route to get here, after all." She nodded, remembering that crucial piece of information.
"So, what's this about a sinkhole ?" He questioned.
"Ah, right! Earlier today, something weird happened in sixth street! The streets were destroyed and the soil beneath it opened up! Even some of the houses nearby almost suffered some damage and it all had to be blocked off to avoid accidents." She explained, remembering the unpleasant quantity of traffic she was stuck in.
"Luckily, no one got hurt. But the people in that street can't leave their homes to go to work. And repairs will take a few days so that street is completely unavailable."
She now, had to take a longer route to school every day until that situation was fixed by the authorities.
"See! It's all over the news." She grabbed her phone and showed it to him.
He grabbed her phone and looked into it, uncaring about basic classroom etiquette. His eyes wandered across the screen, taking in the information displayed to him.
His eyes widened and he let out a simple, "Oh..."
The street, he recognised.
That broken lamp post, he recognised.
That shattered pavement, he recognised.
His memory was utterly horrible, but he didn't think he was bad at remembering faces and images.
He certainly remembered this image.
It was the same street that he went to earlier today when he sensed the honkai fluctuations in Nagazora.
It was the same street where he was ambushed by a group of honkai beasts.
A street had he personally destroyed on accident earlier today.
...
The honkai beasts were covered by a flash for just a moment, before that purple light disappeared like it didn't exist.
Right after the light disappeared, the Seraph class honkai beasts were quickly decimated, their bodies crumbling and breaking into fragments that disappeared into the air. Dust was forcefully puffed into the air and a hole had formed itself into the street.
To be more precise — a sinkhole.
The pavement shattered below and the earth under it also began to crumble and sink, completely deforming the streets as Arata landed gracefully on top of a lamp post.
...
Observing the property damage he caused, he cringed.
In his personal opinion, that wasn't really a lot of collateral damage. If he were facing a Herrscher or a Mahavidya, the damage would be unimaginably higher.
But he was just facing a group of honkai beasts weak enough for B-Rank Valkyries to deal with.
'Did I really do all that ? Over a bunch of Archangels...?'
He was cringing because, clearly, this was excessive. He overdid things and caused more harm than good, inconveniencing the poor people of Nagazora.
Arata actually had no idea he caused that damage. He heard stone shatter, but he merely assumed the streets had cracked a little. After all, he never bothered to turn around and actually look at the byproduct of his actions.
'That means, the reason why my seatmate was being hoarded earlier today by these simps was... Me... And the reason why this girl is late is, also me...'
He cringed at the thought of causing difficulties to the nice girl next to him. And even more that that, he cringed at the realisation that the cause behind the irritation he felt from his schoolmates' actions was himself.
'Tch... Always me. Screwing things up yet again...' A stray thought leaked into his mind, fuelled by emotions he did not understand and circumstances he never experienced.
"I'm sorry..." He trailed off, making the girl stare at him weirdly in return for his apology.
"Huh? You're sor– what're you sorry for? Why are you apologising?" She looked utterly confused by the randomness of his apology.
Why would he apologize about her running late to school because of a sinkhole in the middle of the streets ? It's not like he created it or anything, right ?
"Oh, uh.. force of, habit. I mean... Are you okay..?" He started to fumble, but he quickly corrected himself and instead chose to question her state of being, asking of she was hurt.
The girl stared at him for a bit, before her expression softened.
Oh, so he was just concerned for her sake? What a kind and compassionate boy.
"Yeah, I'm fine! It probably happened a few hours ago when no one was on the streets! So, no one got hurt!" She reassured, making him absentmindedly nod his head and turn back around, no longer facing the girl.
"Yeah... Yeah, that's right. No one got hurt, thankfully..."
His posture slumped a little and he just felt bitter. He didn't mean to cause a difficulty for everyone, especially not for Mei. All that stress from the random appearance of these creatures have and the possibility of someone trying to awaken Dhumavati have really screwed with his senses today.
He slumped on the desk, face first, and sighed tiredly. This action attracted a concerned look from Mei beside him.
"I need to calm my nerves..."
He too stressed out. To freaked out over nothing. He's letting that paranoia get to him, and that's not a good thing.
Arata blinked as he felt a hand, soft and comforting, slowly place itself on his shoulder. He turned his face to look at his seatmate, the woman whose name he kept mispronouncing.
"Hm?"
"Are you alright? You seem really stressed today..." Her face was creased. You could see the concern in those beautiful purple eyes of her.
Just looking at them made Arata instinctively calm down a little, and he gave her a tired smile in response.
"Yes... Yeah, I'm fine. I just... I didn't sleep well yesterday, and the incident from earlier today just made my head ache, that's all." He brushed her off, bluffing by saying that his head was aching due to a lack of sleep and the noise from the earlier crowd.
"I'll go home and take some rest after class. I'll be fine, Rai- Raiden.. Thanks." He rubbed his hand over his forehead and smiled at her, making her smile wryly back at him.
He didn't mispronounce her name this time...!
"A-alright... But remember to take care of yourself." She reminded him, still wearing that concerned face as she turned back to the board, occassionally looking back at him.
'Liar... You're just like dad. Lying to make others not worry.'
Was Raiden close to Kurokami Arata ? Although she would love to say yes, she is aware that the answer is "no". But Mei has seen that exact same look on her father's face before, and she can tell that he's not really all that fine.