***
— Her father was a world-famous electromagnetic physicist, and under his influence from childhood, MEI also harbored the desire to become a researcher.
Working tirelessly toward her established aspirations, focusing on absorbing knowledge and expanding her learning, she wasn’t particularly concerned with things around her, even though such behavior seemed to earn her the nickname “bookworm” in other people’s eyes.
However, recently, that popular transfer student from Europe, who was even called a prince at Senba Academy, seemed to have taken an interest in her.
MEI had occasionally seen glimpses of that boy named Kevin dominating the basketball court.
But whenever he approached her, he would become extremely shy — a very bashful big boy.
She didn’t dislike this, as being surrounded by boys was quite a novel experience for MEI.
Sitting on one of the roadside benches commonly found throughout Senba Academy, MEI stared intently at her laptop screen, her fingers tapping the keyboard at varying speeds, occasionally showing expressions of contemplation and distress.
Even a genius couldn’t escape the troubles of writing papers, especially since what she was writing was a paper on quantum mechanics, something extremely important to MEI herself.
In this process, she needed to spend considerable time deliberating and pondering.
Time slowly passed, and she could feel the dim afterglow; the summer evening breeze was very comfortable and peaceful, which was why MEI chose to do this on a roadside bench rather than in the library or at home.
Enjoying this atmosphere, but even as absent-minded and focused as MEI was, she noticed something.
Someone was watching her…
When she realized this, MEI instinctively thought it was that big boy who had been pestering her.
But when she shifted her gaze behind her, what met her eyes was a delicate and beautiful face.
Unusual pink hair swayed in the summer breeze, and she could see that the hair’s owner took very good care of it. Bright azure eyes contained a hint of amusement, complemented by pink lips that gradually curved into an arc.
What a very cute girl, her first impression was like a fairy emerging from a field of flowers.
Looking at this unknown girl with pink hair who had appeared behind her at some point, MEI couldn’t help but feel such admiration and praise in her heart.
And in this brief moment, the unknown pink-haired girl smiled and raised her slender arm, greeting her:
“Hi~”
— Starting with a greeting, Jiang Qiao immediately pulled out 【Elysia】 signature move.
Although it was an old trick, it had to be said that this move was very effective!
Although MEI, who was hit with this, wasn’t directly infected by the yuri aura, she was still somewhat bewildered.
The current her wasn’t the mature romantic Dr. MEI from later, but as her appearance suggested, she was a very innocent girl who was extremely slow when it came to emotions.
However, worthy of being the future Dr. MEI, she quickly regained her composure and asked:
“Is there something you need from me? Judging by your clothes, you shouldn’t be a student at Senba Academy, right?”
She didn’t consider herself to be particularly charming, at least not enough to make such a cute girl stare at her.
“Oh my, I guess I should have changed into a Senba Academy uniform before coming, right? Hmm… if that were the case, it might be 【Elysia】 first time wearing a school uniform. Hmm~ Senba Academy’s uniform is quite nice too.”
“…”
She seemed to be an extremely lively type, just like her appearance.
Silent MEI watched the girl in front of her talking to herself and made a preliminary judgment.
…But she didn’t seem to harbor any malicious intent.
“How rude, could someone as cute as 【me】 possibly look like a bad person?”
She saw through me?!
MEI was somewhat surprised. Meeting those azure and bright eyes, she suddenly had the strange feeling that she might have no secrets in front of those eyes, as if even the color of her undergarments was crystal clear.
However, thinking more carefully, she hadn’t really intended to hide or be overly cautious anyway, so being seen through was quite normal.
“Well then~ Let’s start with introductions. I’m Elysia from Fire Moth, and as you can see, I’m a beautiful girl as gorgeous as a fluttering flower.”
“…Fire Moth?”
Hearing this name, MEI was obviously unfamiliar with it.
“It’s normal that you don’t know about it. Have you seen movies? You can think of Fire Moth as one of those secret organizations lurking in the world’s shadows, beneath public awareness.”
“How about it? Doesn’t it sound very interesting?”
The thought process of this pink-haired girl was clearly hard for her to follow. Hearing this last statement, MEI couldn’t help but think — could this person be a chuunibyou who’s come to play with me using settings from her imagination?
“Really, I’m not lying, it’s all true~ Look, I even have a Fire Moth badge~”
Like a magic trick, 【Elysia】 pulled out a badge from somewhere and waved it around. The specially-made Fire Moth badge in her hand was very exquisite, even bearing the number 1, looking quite unique.
It was indeed very exquisite, but seeing this number 1 made MEI even more suspicious.
“This number 1, it wouldn’t be the organization member’s ID number, would it?”
If Jiang Qiao answered yes, she would probably really have to classify this strange girl as a chuunibyou.
In recent years in the Far East region, this type could be said to be quite common.
“You guessed right, but you’re probably thinking — this organization called Fire Moth actually only has me as a member, and 【Elysia】 is actually a chuunibyou, right?”
“Based on what you just said, it’s hard for me not to have such thoughts.”
MEI didn’t avoid the topic and was quite frank.
And 【Elysia】also nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, those things do sound unconvincing.”
“Then—”
“Let’s have something more convincing, shall we?”
The pink-haired girl chuckled softly. Being very close to MEI, she leaned near this very composed intellectual girl, and her somewhat light tone instantly made the originally calm Dr. MEI’s ears turn red.
Even her cheeks took on the color appropriate for a shy girl, and combined with those glasses, she looked incredibly cute.
No matter how wise or composed she was, the current Dr. MEI was still just a girl.
And as just a girl, how could she withstand 【Elysia】 approach?
At this moment, MEI’s heart was in complete chaos.
Regarding the Fire Moth that Jiang Qiao mentioned, she was actually very interested.
After all, that kind of secret organization from movies, wasn’t this exactly the perfect place for researchers to showcase their abilities?
She might even learn about secrets hidden beneath the world.
But now, such thoughts had completely vanished.
Whether 【Elysia】 was a chuunibyou or not, she didn’t know.
But at least now MEI could be certain.
This person beside her…
— was definitely a flirt!