In Senba Academy, Nagazora City, Raiden Mei felt the malice surrounding her and could not help but lower her head.
Originally, she had been radiant, the high-and-mighty Queen of Lightning.
But following that news report and her father’s imprisonment, she had become a stray dog that anyone passing by could kick.
The friends who once promised to stay by her side forever had left one by one; the underclassmen who once admired her were now full of disdain; and the elders and teachers she respected were all spewing cold sarcasm.
All Raiden Mei could do was close off her heart like a pathetic child, propping up her textbook to hide her face and escape reality.
The words carved into her desk and the filth that looked like an overturned palette made Raiden Mei’s heart ache, and the dead frog in her desk compartment was nauseating…
“So annoying…
so sad…
why did it become like this…” Raiden Mei’s heart was like a torrential downpour, devoid of sunshine, as purple lightning began to quietly spread within her soul.
“Everyone, quiet down.
This is our new student this year, Kiana Kaslana.
Because of her excellent grades upon admission, she has skipped a grade and joined the second year.
Let’s give her a round of applause.”
The teacher’s voice rang out from the podium.
Even though Raiden Mei was unwilling to react to the outside world, a sliver of curiosity and longing rose in her heart—a longing for the student on the podium to be different from the others.
Raiden Mei lifted her head little by little.
The textbook was still propped up on the desk, but her pair of beautiful purple eyes cautiously peered from behind the cover to examine the person on the podium.
Her long white hair was tied into a high ponytail, neatly fixed at the back of her head.
Her skin was very fair, with a faint pink hue, looking very healthy.
Most eye-catching were her eyes—azure and bright, without a trace of gloom, as clear and pure as the sky, yet like a vortex that would unknowingly pull you in if you looked at them for too long.
“Kiana Kaslana…” Raiden Mei looked at the girl on the podium.
For some reason, she felt as though she had known her for a long time, as if…
if there were parallel worlds, they would definitely be very close in one of them.
“Student Kaslana, please introduce yourself.” The teacher’s attitude toward Kiana was very gentle; after all, who wouldn’t like a good student?
“Kiana Kaslana, from Northern Europe.
I like eating and playing games.” On the podium, the girl’s confident demeanor made Raiden Mei, sitting below, feel like a mouse in a dark corner, peeking at her former self.
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Raiden Mei felt as if the other girl had glanced in her direction, causing her to hurriedly lower her head and shrink back behind her textbook.
“Teacher, I want to sit next to that student.
Is that okay?” Kiana’s words caused the previously noisy classroom to fall silent instantly.
Raiden Mei felt many gazes landing on her.
She instinctively looked up and crashed into the white-haired girl’s gentle eyes.
“She’s so beautiful…” Raiden Mei stared blankly at Kiana, who was right in front of her.
At this distance, she could even smell the faint scent of lavender on her.
“Um…
this classmate, Raiden Mei’s father is…” A classmate wanted to dissuade Kiana, as alienating Raiden Mei had become an unwritten rule at Senba Academy.
“Corruption, right?” Kiana’s light, airy words made Raiden Mei’s heart tense up once again.
She didn’t know how the other girl would view her—would she despise and loathe her like those so-called “classmates,” or…
“This classmate’s name is Raiden Mei, right?
It’s a very pretty name.
Can I sit next to you?” Kiana’s gentle voice was like the morning sun, dispelling the dark clouds in Raiden Mei’s heart.
Although they hadn’t been completely dispelled yet, she figured it was only a matter of time.
“Bu, but…” Raiden Mei was somewhat timid.
What if the other girl regretted it after being ostracized for sitting with her?
During these past few days, Raiden Mei had learned a principle: never hold onto expectations, because you never know when that expectation might suddenly vanish.
“Mm, I’ll take that as a yes.” Kiana pulled out the chair on her own, plopped down next to Raiden Mei, and placed her textbook on the clean desk.
Two desks—one clean and tidy, the other filthy and stained.
This contrast made Raiden Mei lower her head again, and the dark clouds in her heart threatened to gather once more.
“Teacher, Mei’s desk is dirty.
Can we switch it for another one?” Not giving Raiden Mei a chance to withdraw into herself, Kiana raised her hand and naturally used a very intimate address, causing Raiden Mei’s ears to turn red instantly.
“Eh?
Me, Mei?
Student Kaslana, that form of address is too…”
“You can call me Kiana too.
Anyway, I’m going to call you that, and I won’t change it.” Kiana’s words made Raiden Mei add another label to her in her heart: “Does things her own way.”
But…
clearly this kind of personality should be annoying, yet Raiden Mei didn’t dislike it.
On the contrary, she felt a little happy, because she was finally no longer alone.
Even if this friendship might be short-lived, it was enough to comfort Raiden Mei’s battered and bruised soul.
“Um, Student Kaslana, you might not understand…” The teacher still wanted to suppress the matter, but Kiana just kept smiling and repeated: “Please change the desk for Mei, Teacher.”
She was clearly smiling, yet that teacher felt a chill down his spine, as if he were being stared at by something terrifying.
Cold sweat covered his cheeks in the blink of an eye.
“Ye…
Yes!
Quick!
Someone, two of you, go bring a desk up for Student Raiden!” Under the inexplicable fear, the teacher hurriedly directed two students to move a desk.
Even though the others were somewhat reluctant, when Kiana looked over, the terror that the teacher had felt instantly gripped those two students’ hearts, making them scramble out of the classroom.
At this moment, Kiana’s figure was like a deity in Raiden Mei’s heart.
…
[Bond with Raiden Mei has increased significantly.
Obtained 1-cost card: Raiden Mei · Senba Academy.
Please continue to increase her favorability to upgrade.]
The mechanical voice rang out in her mind.
Kiana sat back down, supporting her cheek with one hand.
On the surface, she was listening to the lecture, but in reality, her consciousness had entered her inner world.
On a light blue screen, an interface that any Honkai: Star Rail player would recognize at a glance appeared before Kiana.
It was the deployment interface for the game “Currency War”.
“After so many years, I’ve finally obtained a third card.” Kiana looked at the three character cards on the screen with a helpless expression.
Yes, she was not really Kiana; she was a transmigrator.
In her past life, because she was playing Currency War—without selling the Ever-Flame Mansion, without rolling the gold Owlbert or the gold Trash Can, and without even any Amusement Planets—she had rolled a 1-star Cyrene at level seven.
In a moment of intense excitement, she, having stayed up all night for two days, just died suddenly.
When she opened her eyes again, she had forgotten her past.
She was soaked in a large canister, and outside were a cute little girl with white hair and blue eyes and a seemingly decadent uncle.
In a daze, she was rescued by the two, and then something seemed to happen that caused that cute little girl to fall from a great height.
Her memory recovery could be traced back to the day she received her name.
It was on that day, when she received the name [Kiana Kaslana] from Siegfried, that she remembered everything.
Awakening along with her restored memories was a system called Currency War.
It took Kiana eight years to reach level six.
Relying on her own card and Siegfried’s card to light up the Kaslana Bond, she made her way all the way to the Far East.
Kiana placed the newly obtained card on the front line and put the 4-cost Siegfried on the back line, successfully lighting up the second bond.
Herrscher Bond (2 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 13)
Ability: Collect 13 Herrschers to achieve Finality; Feathering.
Kaslana Bond (2 / 4 / 6)
Ability: Collect enough Kaslanas to achieve Bloodline Awakening.
St.
Freya Bond (3 / 5 / 6)
Ability: Collect enough St.
Freya to obtain the Hyperion.
Now, out of the three bonds, two had finally been lit up, and the bonuses they brought put Kiana’s mind completely at ease.