Kiana stepped in front of Raiden Mei, reaching out to grab her hand and halting her attempt to wipe the desk. The latter froze, stunned by the sudden, unhesitating intimacy.
So, is she going to start now, too?
Raiden Mei lowered her head, her eyes stinging. She shouldn't have harbored any expectations. She waited silently for the storm of abuse to break over her.
Then, Kiana spoke. "Who did this?"
She scanned the classroom, eyes burning with rage. No one spoke; the students were stunned. They never imagined anyone would stand up for Raiden Mei at a time like this.
The only reason Kiana hadn't snapped the previous few days was due to her fabricated identity. Her status as a refined lady from Northern Europe, coupled with her striking foreign looks, had intimidated them. People in the Far East often looked toward the Western world with a certain yearning. When she first transferred, everyone wanted to be on her good side, so the bullying was kept out of her sight.
However, after a few days, Kiana's wild nature began to surface. She didn't fit the 'noble lady' mold at all. Furthermore, her constant hovering around Raiden Mei made the others give up on befriending her. They began to view her as being on the same level as Mei. If nothing changed, the cold shoulder treatment would soon begin for her as well.
To them, this was the price of failing to fit in.
No one answered Kiana. Her brow arched. She patted Mei's hand to reassure her, then returned to her seat and pulled out her baseball bat.
"Kiana, what is the meaning of this?" With the desks obscuring their view, the others didn't immediately notice her weapon. Thinking she had backed down by returning to her seat, they crowded around, closing in aggressively.
Raiden Mei was the target; anyone who spoke for her was an outcast. Now, the exclusion had arrived.
Tsukishiro Reiko held her head high, looking down on this country bumpkin from who-knows-where. At first, she had been furious that the class swarmed around Kiana like she was some Northern European princess. That social niche used to belong to Raiden Mei. After Raiden Ryoma's imprisonment, Reiko—who led the bullying against Mei—became the class celebrity. Her parents even praised her behavior at home. It all went to her head.
Seeing Kiana align herself with Raiden Mei made Reiko ecstatic. But just as she reached Kiana, she saw the girl unhurriedly draw out that gleaming bat. Reiko froze as if someone had squeezed her throat.
Ignoring them, Kiana shot a glance at the crowd and walked toward the back door. Someone tried to grab her, but Kiana slapped their hand away. A sharp cry of pain followed as the hand visibly began to swell.
No one dared block her path after that.
Kiana reached the back door, shut it, locked it, and swung the bat.
Bang!
She smashed the door handle clean off. Then, she cut through the crowd to the front door and did the same. Seeing the classroom transformed into a sealed room, she nodded with satisfaction. Now, no one could run.
"I'll ask one more time," Kiana said, returning to Mei's side and rhythmically tapping the bat against a desk. "Who did this?"
The group of bullies stammered, too terrified to speak. Smashing a metal door lock with one swing carried significant weight in the eyes of ordinary people.
"Heh, you lot really are just trash," Kiana shook her head. she walked up to Tsukishiro Reiko.
"W-what do you want?" Reiko barked, though her legs trembled violently.
"What do I want?" Kiana raised the bat high and slammed it down. The solid wood desk—a point of pride for Chiba Academy—collapsed instantly.
Bang!
"Speak!" Kiana glared at the surrounding students. "Who did it? If no one opens their mouth in one minute, I guarantee none of you are walking out of this room!"
At that, several of the weaker-willed students collapsed to the floor, their legs giving out.
"It was her! It was Tsukishiro Reiko!" Someone finally broke under the pressure, pointing a finger. "And Meiling, Chiho, Yoko..."
Five girls were pushed forward.
"Oh, so it was you guys," Kiana narrowed her eyes.
"M-my father is an executive at ME Corp..." Reiko stammered. "You... you can't..."
"So you're a thief's daughter, too?" Kiana sneered. She pointed the bat at Raiden Mei's desk. "Go wipe it clean. Do it, and I won't hit you."
"W-why should we..." One girl tried to protest, but Kiana's bat came down again, shattering another desk. The protests died instantly.
The five girls, trembling, walked to Mei's desk and began to scrub. The entire class watched in terrified silence. If she could shatter a solid wood desk, she could certainly crack a skull without much effort.
At their core, these bullies were only capable of picking on the weak. Faced with actual power, they were silent. In this locked room, Kiana with her bat was the absolute authority. Bullying is rooted in violence, and that violence is nothing but a paper tiger when confronted by a superior force.
Even if you brought in a gang from the streets and showed them Kiana shattering a desk in one hit, they'd think twice before drawing a weapon. People know when they're outmatched.
"It... it's clean," Reiko whispered ten minutes later, her voice shaking.
"Apologize," Kiana said without looking up.
"We're sorry!" The five bowed in unison.
"Am I the one whose desk that is?" Kiana glared. "Where's your brain?"
"I... I'm sorry..." They turned to Raiden Mei and bowed, though the resentment in their voices was clear.
Raiden Mei stood there, dazed.
"Now, get some paper and pens," Kiana commanded. "Leave your home addresses."
"The Raiden family doesn't care to bicker with children," Kiana's gaze swept over them. "But 'to fail to teach is the father's fault.' Someone will be visiting your parents."
"Kiana, we..." Someone tried to speak, but Kiana's sharp look silenced them.
Kiana wasn't actually going to get physical at school. Having survived on the streets for years, she had her own code. Getting into a public brawl would only cause more trouble, and she was here to solve Mei's problems, not create new ones. Instead of fighting in class, it was better to visit their homes at night and ask the parents how they raised their children.
Under Xia Yu's "misguidance," Kiana had seamlessly categorized their respective backgrounds as something akin to the Mafia or the Yakuza. Naturally, she acted the part. How else was she supposed to keep these people in line?
Class was already in session. A teacher was knocking impatiently on the door, but the broken lock made entry impossible.
After collecting the five addresses, Kiana gave them a "friendly" smile. "If we show up and find out these addresses are fake, you know the consequences."
She tucked the paper away, grabbed Raiden Mei's hand, and headed for the back door. She kicked the door open with a single blow, dragging Mei along as she skipped class right under the nose of the dumbfounded teacher at the front door.
Raiden Mei was completely bewildered.
What does she mean, the Raiden family doesn't care to bicker? Is there anyone left in the Raiden family besides me and my father?
She never imagined Kiana would stand up for her. Yet, in her heart, hadn't she fantasized about this? Fantasized about someone kicking down the door, defeating the bullies, and taking her on a grand escape from this cruel world?
She had reached out for help countless times, only to receive more stones thrown at her or cold indifference. Now, someone was pulling her away from that suffocating environment. Even as she ran, Mei kept her eyes fixed on Kiana's back, as if trying to etch every detail of the girl into her soul.
"Phew, finally out," Kiana said, pulling her into a small alleyway outside Chiba Academy. "Why do they build that school so big anyway?"
"Kiana... you..." Mei looked at the back of the girl with the twin braids. "Why did you help me?"
"Hmm? I just didn't like the look of them," Kiana turned back with a brilliant smile. "Don't worry, I'll take you with me tonight to visit their elders and ask how they educate their kids! How can the daughter of the Raiden family be bullied like that?"
Kiana, fully immersed in the persona of a mob heir from the movies she'd seen, said excitedly, "It wouldn't be right if we didn't break a few of their limbs!"
For a drifter like Kiana, breaking the legs of some idiots didn't carry much psychological weight; she just didn't want to do it in front of a crowd. Besides, Acheron had analyzed it for her: those people had signaled their children to bully Mei just to distance themselves from the Raiden name. In Kiana's eyes, they weren't innocent.
But for a sheltered, "good girl" lady like Raiden Mei, this was a bit much to process. She really wasn't a mafia princess.
"Besides, I promised your aunt I'd take care of you."
"...Aunt?!" Raiden Mei was utterly lost. "What aunt?"