Senba Academy.
After binge-watching the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies of Star Wars in one go, Raiden Mei suddenly felt that she must have some kind of wondrous, undiscovered ability.
She imagined that one day, like Neo in The Matrix, a mysterious figure would appear to unlock her potential—someone like Harry from Kingsman, dressed in a sharp suit and armed with all sorts of high-tech gadgets.
And she, under the watchful eyes of all, would transform and accomplish something world-shaking, like saving the world.
The point of this story wasn’t how she would save the world, but the gazes of others as they watched her back.
In that moment, everyone would stare in awe at her magnificent figure.
Just thinking about that feeling was—super cool!
But this fantasy was merely a tool to escape reality, a shameful act of avoidance.
No matter how much she fantasized, a fantasy would never become real.
The cruel reality remained.
After seeing a newspaper article about her father, Raiden Ryoma, being imprisoned for corruption, and after making countless phone calls that went unanswered, the trajectory of her life changed completely.
In the past, she was the star of the school, the reigning Queen of Thunder.
Now, she was just a stray cat that anyone could kick.
The only thing she could do was shrink into a corner of the classroom, her hands gripping a book tightly to hide her face.
It was as if doing so could ward off the endless nagging from her teachers, the scornful glares from her classmates, and their jeering curses.
It’s so annoying.
When will this life ever end?
I’m almost at my limit…
Just then, a light shone from in front of her, like a bolt of lightning splitting thick, dark clouds.
Someone had forcefully pushed open the classroom door.
Leading the group was a stylish young man with silver hair and black-framed glasses, dressed in a proper black uniform.
Following close behind were: a navy-blue-haired girl leaning on a scythe with a bit of a delinquent vibe; a dragon girl in a full military uniform; a blonde, blue-eyed girl holding a staff and wearing a thick hat; and a blue-haired girl with spiral pigtails in a green knee-length dress, carrying herself like a proper young lady…
Their composition was, to put it mildly, an eclectic bunch.
“Hey, who are you?” The teacher, who had been in the middle of a lecture, saw the strangely dressed group and pointed at them, about to kick them all out.
Chiaki caught the teacher’s pointing hand.
With a slight squeeze, a push, and a pull, what should have been a confrontation was smoothly turned into a friendly handshake.
“Hello, teacher.
We’ll only need a few minutes of your class time.
Please wait outside for a moment, thank you.”
“Oh, okay.”
The young man’s smile was so gentle it was hard not to feel a sense of goodwill.
However, the teacher facing him was drenched in a cold sweat.
The pain radiating from his hand quickly soaked his back, and he had to clench his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.
The only thing he could do was quickly withdraw his hand and run outside to call for help from other teachers.
While the students in the class were still wondering if this was some kind of TV show, Chiaki was already standing on the lectern, his blade-like gaze sweeping across the room.
All the students fell silent.
The aura of this sudden intruder was too powerful.
Though he looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, he exuded the air of a great hero who had been through countless battles, making it impossible to meet his gaze directly.
“Raiden Mei.
There is no more time for you to waste in school.
The world is facing a crisis of destruction.
The organization needs you.”
Chiaki walked steadily to Raiden Mei’s desk, his voice stern and resolute, his tone clear and powerful enough for every student present to hear his every word.
Huh?
Is he calling my name?
Raiden Mei’s mind went blank.
She suspected she was dreaming; otherwise, how could something like this suddenly happen?
Or was it…
was she being pranked right now?
Like one of those popular prank shows in the Far East.
“Pranking the Fallen Ojou-sama”—a title like that would surely attract a lot of viewers.
But he was too dazzling.
The person before her was simply too dazzling.
His silver hair was neatly styled, and he wore a long black coat over a white silk shirt.
His eyes were a rare gray, and his aura was as sharp and cold as a sword.
The sheer pressure of his presence made Raiden Mei’s legs feel weak.
It was a good thing she was sitting, or she would have already collapsed to the floor.
Her first instinct was to refuse these people of unknown origin.
But when the silver-haired dragon girl in the military uniform came before her and placed a heavy, English-style sword in her hands—a sword she knew from its weight alone could not possibly be a fake—she couldn’t bring herself to say a single word of refusal.
And Chiaki’s next words shattered all of her psychological defenses on the spot.
“Comrade Mei, you have suffered.
Everything you have endured until now has been the result of persecution by our enemies.
Are you ready to take up this sword and teach those bastards a lesson?”
Raiden Mei was a chuunibyou.
And the one thing a chuunibyou loves most is the idea of Heaven bestowing a great mission upon a chosen individual.
Therefore, resolving Raiden Mei’s inner turmoil was actually quite simple.
All one had to do was convince her that all the suffering she had endured—the hardship on her mind, the fatigue of her body, the starvation she felt—was merely a preliminary trial.
To that end, Chiaki had arranged a special, theatrical invitation just for her.
I know you might not be willing to trust us, but what if we handed you a weapon and invited you to save the world?
Clearly, Raiden Mei was buying it completely!
“I…
I…”
Raiden Mei was stunned.
She had never felt like this before.
She felt as if all the spotlights in the world were focused on her, like a thousand suns.
She felt like she was about to be burned to a crisp, but so what?
She was like a moth drawn to a flame.
Even knowing that chasing the fire would lead to death, she was determined to burn brightly within it.
I will either be reborn in the cleansing fire, or I will die a magnificent death in its scorching embrace!
—o—
She followed the group.
They walked in circles around the city for several hours.
As time passed, night began to fall, and the flashing neon lights cast mottled reflections on the damp streets.
Her legs grew incredibly tired, and her steps became unsteady.
The sword in her hand felt heavier and heavier from being held for so long, its hilt feeling unstable in her trembling grasp.
This sword…
is so heavy!
Was this thing even designed for humans?
And why have we been walking around the city for so many hours?
Doesn’t our organization own a single car?
She wanted to scream these questions, but she didn’t dare ask.
Perhaps this was another test for her.
Hang in there, Raiden Mei!
You can do it!
After another hour of walking, when she truly couldn’t go on any longer, she couldn’t help but ask, “By the way, are we heading to the secret base?”
“No, we were planning to go to your house first to regroup,” Chiaki said.
“…My house isn’t this way,” Raiden Mei replied after a long silence.
“Is that so?
How troublesome.” Chiaki turned his head to look at Kiana and smiled faintly.
“So this is what you meant when you said you knew the ‘general location’ of Mei’s house?”
Kiana: “Uh…
well, my ‘general location’ might have been off by a tiny bit.”
“Your ‘error’ could be the size of Tokyo itself,” Chiaki said, at his wit’s end.
“So, where are we right now?”
“I don’t know,” Kiana said, giving the classic answer.
“I think we’re lost.”
Chiaki: “…”
Raiden Mei: “…”
So we’ve been walking in circles for hours, not to shake off enemies or go to some secret base, but because you guys…
WERE!
LOST?!