The commoner girl was clearly unwilling. She kept her head bowed, not uttering a single word.
Reflexively, Li Wu's gaze shifted to the second-to-last seat by the window. That was supposed to be Kiana's seat.
Now, it was occupied by another girl. The desk was cluttered with expensive, high-end cosmetics, completely transformed into a makeshift vanity.
Ah. I forgot.
Kiana transferred classes.
If she had still been here, she absolutely would have put a stop to this.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Wu directed his cold, hollow gaze toward the noble students. "...What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious? Who are you to butt into our—!"
The nobles spun around angrily. The moment they realized it was Li Wu, the words died in their throats. They instinctively recoiled, trying to hide behind one another.
But with the wall right behind them, there was nowhere to hide. They could only watch helplessly as Li Wu approached. His face was stoic, his eyes like ice-cold nails piercing straight into their fragile social standing.
There was no doubt about it—with Raiden Mei's current authority, a single word from him could ensure they never raised their heads in high society again.
As Raiden Mei's rumored boyfriend, Li Wu was the absolute last person they could afford to offend.
Li Wu simply stared at the panicked nobles. He didn't speak. His dark brown eyes reflected their terrified faces.
He had memorized all of them. As for how to punish them, he was still deliberating.
Now that he knew Overseer Otto wasn't an enemy, there wasn't a single person in the world who would dare defy him if he gave an order. However, he had no intention of utilizing Schicksal's resources, wanting to avoid further entanglements that might affect his future 'debts' to the system.
"W-we... we were just joking around with her!" the first boy stammered, his eyes darting frantically. "If she wants to come, she can come! If she doesn't, she can just refuse! It's no big deal!"
"Yeah, yeah! It was just an invitation!" the second boy hastily agreed.
A few nearby students couldn't stand the blatant lie and wanted to speak up, but fearing retaliation, they kept their mouths shut.
Li Wu remained silent.
The surrounded commoner girl clutched her arms tightly. She stepped out from the corner, her voice trembling. "They... they were just joking with me. It's fine. The gathering... sounds interesting. I'll go."
Hearing this, the noble boys collectively let out a sigh of relief. The crushing weight on their chests finally lifted.
The victim herself had spoken up. It was completely consensual. Surely, for Raiden Mei's sake, Li Wu wouldn't make things difficult for them now, right?
However, Li Wu simply grabbed the trembling girl's wrist. His tone remained frighteningly apathetic as he asked again, "Is that really what you think?"
"I..." The girl wanted to say something, but finally gritted her teeth and nodded. "...Yes."
"Little Li! You're back!"
Raiden Mei's voice rang out from behind him, sweet and cloying like she was acting spoiled.
Li Wu turned around.
At some point, Raiden Mei had separated herself from the flock of noble girls and walked up to him. She leaned forward, tilting her face up to look at him, her crimson-purple eyes overflowing with a shimmering mixture of anticipation and affection.
"Why didn't you come find me the moment you got back? I've been waiting for you for over ten days! Every single day I wished for you to return. Thank goodness you're finally here. We can go back to how things were... Oh! How about I have them make a poster of you? We can hang it right next to mine! That way, anyone who walks into Chiba Academy will know that we're a match made in heaven!"
She wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, she was dressed in a lavish, aristocratic princess gown.
The hem of the skirt was embroidered with deep purple and gold cloud patterns, exuding an air of extravagant nobility. A pure white flower was pinned to her collar, radiating a heavy fragrance that seemed almost real.
Earrings. A tongue piercing. Heavy eyeshadow. Permed hair. A choker.
And... a purple snake tattoo coiling from the back of her hand all the way up her arm, glaringly conspicuous against her pale skin.
If it weren't for her voice, Li Wu would never have associated the girl standing in front of him with the Raiden Mei from half a month ago.
Familiar, yet utterly alien.
The male teacher's words echoed in Li Wu's mind. Every syllable felt like a knife.
"Who told you to do this?" Li Wu asked coldly.
Raiden Mei tilted her head. The smile on her face stiffened slightly as she asked in confusion, "Do what?"
"The tattoos, the earrings, the tongue piercing. All of this."
"Oh, you mean these?" She giggled. "A friend recommended them, and I thought it sounded fun, so I tried it out! Everyone says boys really like this kind of look. I thought... I thought you'd like me even more when you saw it!"
Her tone was light and breezy. She touched a finger to her vibrantly lipsticked mouth, opened it slightly, and stuck out her tongue. A small metallic stud flashed under the pale sunlight.
"How is it, Little Li? Do I look pretty?~"
"Who told you to do this?"
Li Wu repeated his question verbatim. His voice carried absolutely no fluctuation.
"I told you, a friend recommended it. Why are you asking so seriously? It's not a big deal... What's wrong with you today? You're acting weird," she deflected, trying to change the subject.
In the past, she had rarely dodged his questions, knowing that evasion bred mistrust. Now, every gesture she made was an evasion, and she seemed completely oblivious to it.
"Who told you to do this?"
"A friend."
"Raiden Mei. My patience is limited. I will ask you one last time. Who. Told. You. To. Do. This."
Li Wu's face remained impassive, but his fists clenched involuntarily. A faint, almost imperceptible trace of anger appeared between his brows.
Seeing his unyielding attitude, Raiden Mei realized she couldn't brush it off. She hesitated, glancing behind her.
Soon, seven glamorously dressed noble girls walked up to Li Wu. One of them, whose makeup looked strikingly similar to Mei's, spoke up.
"We recommended it! Mei has such a great foundation, so we thought she should experiment a bit. If she doesn't like it later, she can just take it off. Oh my, please don't be angry, Li Wu! Mei really likes you, that's why she went out of her way to do all this. If she didn't care about you, she wouldn't have even—"
SLAP!
A crisp, resounding slap violently cut off the girl's patronizing drivel.
Immediately following it were six more identical sounds.
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
All seven noble girls now sported identical, bright red handprints on their right cheeks.
Boys or girls—he didn't discriminate.
The noble boys who had been threatening the commoner girl earlier didn't escape either, receiving the exact same marks on their faces.
Li Wu controlled his strength perfectly. It was precisely enough to cause severe swelling without inflicting lethal damage.
"What are you doing?!" Raiden Mei shouted, finally unable to hold back. "I don't care if you hit those boys, but they're my best friends! How could you just hit them?!"
Li Wu's response was a gaze so bone-chillingly cold it made her flinch. She had never seen him look at her like that. It was an alien gaze, as if she had never truly known him.
"...Then how could you indulge the people around you in bullying and hurting the innocent?" Li Wu demanded softly. "Raiden Mei, I am deeply disappointed in you. You know exactly what it feels like to be bullied by the masses. How can you brush it off so casually when it happens to others? Answer me."
"When I was bullied, no one stood up for me!" she retorted angrily. "By comparison, I'm giving their parents jobs! I'm giving them massive sums of money! All they have to do in return is entertain me and act according to my wishes. What's wrong with that?!"
She stepped closer, her tone softening into desperate pleading. "Little Li... are you worried I'll do the same to you? Don't worry! You're different from them. You're the only one I'll cherish with all my heart... Believe me, I love you! I'm only doing this to make our school life more meaningful and memorable! I'm thinking about us!"
Because I was caught in the rain, I must break everyone else's umbrellas.
Raiden Mei's logic inexplicably irritated Li Wu. He had never taught her this. Every time she strayed, he had exhausted himself trying to pull her back onto the right path. Yet, in the end, he could only watch helplessly as she fell from grace, the darkness in her heart expanding infinitely.
"I started out as an ordinary person too. I needed money, and I compromised with reality for it," Li Wu said coldly. "But I would never use that as an excuse to trample on others and take pleasure in it like you do."
"What do you think of people who just want to live peaceful lives? You can look down on commoners if you want, but you have no right to toy with them like bugs. What do you think the students here are? Toys? NPCs in a game that you can just 'compensate' later?"
"You've changed, Raiden Mei. I truly am disappointed in you."
"Stop preaching to me!!!"
Raiden Mei suddenly exploded. Like a bowstring pulled far beyond its limit, she snapped.
She gritted her teeth, glaring at Li Wu with feral intensity. Her breathing grew rapid and chaotic, her shoulders heaving violently.
"Where was all this righteousness when you were off vacationing with another woman?! Did you ever once think about how lonely I was?! I love you more than anyone else in this world! But you? How did you repay me? By sleeping stark naked in the same bed with another woman?!"
"Hah! Hahaha!! Li Wu, do you think I'm a three-year-old child?! You throw me a piece of candy when you need me, and I pathetically follow you around! And when you don't need me, you find some random excuse to brush me off and go sleep with someone else?!"
"Am I that worthless to you?! Speak! I'm telling you to speak! You love preaching so much, don't you?!!!"
Raiden Mei had completely lost her mind.
Her voice tore through her throat, laced with broken, agonizing sobs. Her emotions collapsed entirely like a shattered dam. Regardless of who was watching, she lunged forward, grabbing Li Wu by the collar and screaming into his face, every word dripping with raw pain.
Li Wu didn't resist. He just watched her coldly as she vented her hysteria.
"Tell me!! Why?! I love you so much! I was willing to give you everything... Why... why would you do something like that to me?!"
Tears streamed down her face, ruining her heavy makeup and leaving grotesque streaks on her cheeks.
"Sleeping with another woman... and using 'being targeted by Schicksal' as an excuse... Hah! Hahaha!"
Her laughter sounded deranged, like a knife scraping against her vocal cords.
"Say something! I told you to say something! When you were fucking her, where did that leave me?!"
She clutched his collar so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were swollen, and the vibrant lipstick was smeared all over her mouth. She looked like a crying clown.
Li Wu was momentarily taken aback by the revelation, but he quickly connected the dots. This was the meticulous performance Otto had prepared for him.
Back on the beach in Ireland, he had constantly noticed an exceptionally beautiful woman lurking near him and Ana.
She was taking pictures.Intimate pictures of me and Ana.
"There was a reason for that, and I can provide evidence," Li Wu stated calmly. "However, this matter is beyond your jurisdiction. It has nothing to do with you. Knowing too much will only bring you harm."
"Nothing to do with me? Bring me harm?"
Raiden Mei laughed—a bleak, hollow, devastating laugh.
"You're planning on throwing me away, aren't you?"
"Did my constant clinging finally annoy you enough? You just can't stand it anymore? You're tired of playing the game?"
"Because I'm just awful, aren't I?"
"When I was being bullied, no one cared. Then you showed up. And I thought... I thought someone finally wanted me. I tried so desperately to please you, to accommodate you, to become exactly what you liked! Whatever you said, I listened. Whatever you wanted me to change, I changed!"
She tilted her head up. Her bloodshot, swollen eyes locked onto his, her smile twisting into something monstrous.
"But you still don't want me."
"Makes sense... What the hell am I anyway? A shameless whore. A piece of trash who got dirty water dumped on her and was locked in a bathroom. Only someone like you would pick me up out of boredom to play with. And once you're bored, of course you throw me away. Trash belongs in the trash can, right?!"
"I'm so fucking stupid! So incredibly stupid!"
Her voice began to tremble again, but she bit down hard on her lip, refusing to let more tears fall.
The wind blew across the sports field, gently swaying the poster at the top of the basketball hoop. The 2D illustration of the purple-haired girl continued to smile—gentle, sweet, perfect.
But the real girl standing here was an absolute mess. Like a filthy, abandoned stray cat.
Li Wu's eyes remained completely indifferent. His articulation was perfectly clear as he spoke.
"It has nothing to do with me."
"I am holding you accountable for indulging your inner circle in bullying others. Whether you like me or how you view me has absolutely nothing to do with it."
"But since you've brought it up, let's do exactly as you think."
"Raiden Mei, let's sever our ties here. From now on, we will not interfere in each other's lives."
"You say it so easily, but I gave you everything!" she shrieked, her voice pitching higher, desperately trying to overwhelm his composure with sheer volume.
But obviously, Li Wu couldn't care less about her hysterical screaming.
"I don't quite understand what your 'everything' entails, Raiden Mei. Let's stop here. I will investigate what happened over the past two weeks on my own. I will not take action based on personal emotions."
"As for what you want to do and how you plan to do it, that is for you to consider. Don't talk to me about it. It's useless. I won't believe you."
With a slight exertion of force, Li Wu effortlessly pried her white-knuckled grip off his collar.
He took two steps back. His face was entirely devoid of expression. The faint light reflecting in his pupils was identical to the bleak, rainy sky outside the window.
Raiden Mei froze.
Her pupils trembled violently. She stared at him in utter disbelief, desperately trying to reconcile the boy standing in front of her with the Li Wu she knew.
Once. Twice.
Even though their appearances were identical, their demeanors were worlds apart.