"No goals, no desire for destruction, not even any extreme rhetoric or thoughts. Not only is he harmless, but he's actually quite lost. It's like another personality took over the body and hasn't figured things out yet."
"Another personality..." Raiden Mei's heart suddenly clenched. She repeated the phrase over and over, her fingers pinching until they turned pale.
Few people in this world understood the relationship between a Herrscher personality and the host personality better than she did.
The body can only be controlled by one personality at a time. During the takeover process, as long as the controlling personality is unwilling to leave, it's almost impossible for the other personality to seize the body. The other can only watch everything happen silently from the subconscious.
"Li Wu... probably sacrificed his own personality to let the Herrscher personality take over the body. Other than that, I can't think of any other scenario that would allow an ordinary person to become instantly strong enough to make even me feel inferior."
"To think he would go to such lengths for you... Raiden Mei, I take back those rash words I said earlier. Li Wu... is indeed a person worth entrusting yourself to."
Raven paused, walked outside the tent, and gazed into the blurry night, as if seeing a figure bathed in blood.
"Don't expose his identity as a Herrscher. Once exposed, the consequences are unimaginable... You don't want him to face the same situation as you, do you? Hated by people, hunted down, until he's captured by some lab to be a test subject. He's different from you. Raiden Ryoma blocked most of those with covetous eyes for you, but no one will care if he lives or dies. Once exposed, what awaits him won't be as simple as death."
"Alright, I should go fulfill my promise and help clean up the mess. You go back the way we came. No one will bother you for the time being. After all, the people who came to deal with you tonight were all taken care of by that kid..."
After speaking, Raven disappeared into Nagazora City alone, leaving Raiden Mei standing by herself outside the tent.
The night wind rustled, messing up her smooth, long purple hair, and bringing with it the thick scent of blood.
Walking on the street back home, the surroundings were unreasonably deserted.
Dim yellow lights were on in many shops, and the sound of televisions occasionally drifted out from the rooms.
Occasionally, Raiden Mei would stop in front of a closed stall cart, recalling everything that had happened during the day, as if she had had a very realistic dream.
In the dream, she met a knight who only belonged to princesses in fairy tales, cutting through thorns and thistles for her.
But the reality was that knights were also human, and power never came without a price.
Raiden Mei suddenly stopped and looked into the distance. A plastic bag lay quietly on the road, drifting wherever the wind blew.
She hated that plastic bag because it reminded her of herself. It reminded her of how she had approached Li Wu out of a desire for revenge, and how she wanted to find true love because of loneliness.
But she had never defined it, searching aimlessly based on feelings. When she finally found it, she tested it in various ways.
Suspicion, hesitation, deception. To keep Li Wu, she used every means possible. And all those despicable methods only exchanged for Li Wu's seemingly relaxed but actually incredibly heavy promise before he left.
He must have been very scared back then too...
Scared that his own personality would be replaced, scared that he would never wake up again...
In a trance, Raiden Mei had already arrived downstairs at Li Wu's apartment. Through the broken window, she could clearly see the light on in the bedroom.
Only, she could no longer stay inside.
"I will definitely bring you back. I swear." Raiden Mei's voice was hoarse. "Other me, I have something to say to you."
The next day, Li Wu arrived at the classroom early, maintaining a warm, sun-like friendly smile on his face.
The classroom lights were on. In the second-to-last seat by the window, Kiana was reading a book titled "Klingsor's Last Summer".
Today, Kiana didn't leave her long hair down. Instead, she tied it up in a high ponytail. Her silver-white hair fell to her waist, fluttering slightly with the wind blowing from the window, like falling snowflakes, cold yet warm under the sunlight.
After catching a glimpse of the figure at the door from the corner of her eye, Kiana slowly turned her body to face Li Wu, her voice still as cold and calm as ever.
"Good morning. You're early today."
"Early? Looks like I'll have to come later next time. Coming early means waiting a long time for class to start. It feels a bit boring and meaningless."
Li Wu smoothly hung his schoolbag on the chair hook. This scene was noticed by Kiana, and her gaze instantly shifted, frowning slightly.
"Where's Raiden Mei? She didn't come with you?"
"Something happened last night, so I let her go home by herself. She should be coming to school soon!"
Li Wu answered very casually, acting quite enthusiastically.
But it was precisely this unwarranted enthusiasm that made Kiana put down the book in her hand. She walked straight up to Li Wu, her clear blue eyes staring intently at him.
Li Wu pointed to his cheek and asked politely, "Is there something on my face?"
"No," Kiana answered decisively.
"Then why do you keep staring at me? I have an impolite guess. If I offend you, I apologize. Do you... like me?" Li Wu's tone remained friendly. Even with such a joke, his tone was so serious that it felt sincere and refreshing.
Faced with such a sincere question, Kiana's face still showed no emotion. The emotions in her eyes were like stagnant water as she stared blankly at the stranger that was Li Wu.
"If you could act more awkward and flustered, maybe I would seriously consider it. Right now, it's impossible, because you're weird."
"Weird? May I ask what I did wrong?"
Li Wu cast a sincere look at Kiana, hoping to get an answer from her.
Kiana paused, then spoke faster: "On the contrary, you do many things very well—so well that it feels jarring. You didn't rush into the classroom with breakfast in your mouth right at the start of morning study. You didn't throw your bag on the desk and sigh deeply upon entering. And you weren't lying on the desk listlessly playing with your phone. Not only that, but you speak very politely and with a sense of propriety. You are refined and courteous. If you can maintain this appearance, I would highly recommend you for the next Campus Festival's Temperament Contest."
Kiana said it all in almost one breath, without pausing.
Li Wu tilted his head and asked in confusion, "Do you know me very well?"
"Know you well? ...Maybe a little bit. Just occasionally, I say occasionally, you do things... that make people very curious," Kiana said softly.
"Mhm. But people always change. Isn't it good to be polite? Shouldn't students be like this?"
"From the perspective of universal values, society, teachers, and even more standpoints require students to be like this. Erase those flaws unsuitable for management, hide sensitivity, suppress anger, mask exhaustion with a smiling face, and face everyone with vigor and sincerity."
Kiana calmly recited all the student standards that Li Wu had in mind.
"But what textbooks explain are just perfect products of an assembly line. People in real life shouldn't be like that. Being perfect in every etiquette is not the you I know. It's not Li Wu."