26 The imprisonment of Mei's father
{... The president of ME company, Raiden Ryoma has been charged with embezzlement of funds and has been detained...}
"Oh... I forgot about this..."
He muttered as he looked at the news. Although it happened recently, many articles have been written about it, and it is very hard to not be aware of what happened
Today was the day that Mei's father was arrested. From now onwards, her life would take a drastic turn that served as a catalyst to the 3rd Honkai eruption, and subsequently, all events that take place in the game.
To be completely honest, Adam forgot about it… No, it's not like he forgot, but it was more like he placed this event into the back of his head as it wasn't that important.
"But... shouldn't Kiana come only after Mei has been excluded by others for quite some time?" He asked with some doubts to no one in particular.
"Oh well..." He didn't think it mattered, he wasn't weak anymore and his survival was assured. That way, he could now live in a more relaxed way.
...
..
.
"Adam-kun, what happened? Where were you all week?" A random girl asked Adam as he went towards his classroom.
"Ah, it's nothing. I had some personal things to attend to." He replied with a polite smile on his handsome face.
"Kyahhh! He smiled at me!" The girl squealed as she turned towards her other friend, who was looking at her in jealousy.
She didn't ask about his silver hair, because he had already changed them back to blond with the Herrscher of Corruption's biological manipulation.
Although Adam knew that DNA is fragile and should be handled with care, he wasn't particularly concerned. After all, he already had blond hair before the voice of the world reconstructed his body, so it wasn't difficult to alter his hair color back to blond again.
"Haah…" Adam sighed in exasperation.
Sometimes he wonders why he still attends school. There was no point as it would get destroyed later in the Honkai eruption.
Oh that's right, he was going in order to befriend Raiden Mei and get a free ticket to St. Freya Academy so he can learn actual combat skill. Because other than some martial arts and overpowering everything with his unique skills from Tensura, he had no actual combat experience against Honkai beasts or Herrschers.
The Honkai beasts in the black box and Herrscher RIN don't count...
Anyways, It had been 5 days since he saw the announcement regarding Raiden Ryoma's arrest. His week-long break has ended, and now it's time to go to class.
...
..
.
"Children can indeed be quite cruel..." Adam murmured to himself as he saw most of his class isolating Mei,
She sat on her own desk while some of her previous friends were avoiding her and calling her a criminal... She had a gloomy atmosphere around her as some others were surrounding her and calling her unpleasant names while also bullying her.
It seemed that all of her previous friends left her when they heard the news about her father.
Adam shook his head with a wry smile as he saw that 'If they knew that Mei will be the future Herrscher of Origin who could easily destroy the world...' He wondered what expression they would make.
'Should I...?' He hesitated to intervene for a moment I
Indigo eyes met brilliant blue.
"..."
He sighed as he made his choice. After making eye contact with her and seeing her eyes, guilt churned in his stomach for being hesitant.
"What are you all doing?" Adam's impassive voice echoed throughout the classroom as he walked closer to Mei's desk.
The girl who seemed to be the leader and the one who encouraged others to further bully Mei turned to him. "Adam-kun, don't worry. We are just making sure the criminal knows her place." She told him, as that would explain everything.
His eyebrows twitched, "And you are all doing it now? In the classroom? Don't you know that this is against the rules and it could severely disturb other students who actually want to learn?" He asked, looking at them as if they were stupid.
"I-"
He interrupted her, "Maybe I should report this to the principal..." He trailed off in a cold tone, a threat obvious in his voice
Safe to say, they left Mei alone and didn't continue...
Mei looked at Adam and opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it in the end.
Adam looked at her indigo eyes that were looking at him gratefully and nodded his head slightly.
After that, the teacher entered the class to begin the lessons. He noticed that even she was distancing herself from Mei despite trying to curry favor her previously.
…
..
.
It was lunchtime, Adam headed towards the cafeteria in order to find a spot to eat his food peacefully. He always did that as he didn't want to get bothered by annoying girls.
Girls in this world are a lot more attractive than his previous one. An average one here could be a model in his previous world. Still, he didn't have any interest in those ordinary and average girls.
Adam's eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted a good spot.
He walked over to the table and put his food on it.
"Can I sit here?" He asked with a smile.
"Eh?" Hearing his question, Mei looked up at him with a slightly surprised expression "Ah, of course, Adam-san." She said in a flustered tone.
"Thank you." Adam sat down on the chair opposite of her and thanked her.
"... It's nothing. I'm grateful for your help, but why did you sit here?"
He glanced at her "You are not annoying like the other girls, and besides..." He glanced around before turning his attention to her. "I saw that you were alone."
"I see... You're right." She replied with a self-deprecating smile.
Adam pitied Mei, everything suddenly went wrong for her. From a rich and colorful life, to suddenly seeing the bad and ugly side of the world, it must be quite hard to adapt.
"... Sorry, I didn't mean to blurt out such a thing." He sincerely apologized. It was quite insensitive of him, Mei was previously living a life of luxury, but now she is currently experiencing a turn over in her life.
"It's alright, It's true anyway. I lost everything, my father was imprisoned, my friends abandoned me, and my reputation has-" She closed her mouth before she finished. "Sorry, i didn't mean to snap at you like that"
"..." Adam looked at her sad smile and sighed inwardly. "Bottling up you feelings is unhealthy, so you can vent it all out"
She looked up to him with surprise in her indigo eyes. "Thank you" she said, smiling genuinely for the first time since her father went to prison.
He felt a bit guilty for taking advantage of a vulnerable girl. Although he won't make excuses for his actions, the least he could do was become Mei's friend and lessen her loneliness.
He is thinking that because he knows... Deep down, if it was a normal girl who was of no significance, he wouldn't try to help her or befriend her
Adam isn't a hypocrite, he knows that if it was just a side character, he would be indifferent because she/he had nothing to do with him
"Enough with the depressing atmosphere" He clapped his hands. "Let's eat, I believe it will make you feel better" He smiled at her, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.
"Very well. And thank you once again for helping me back there, Adam-kun." She thanked him once more for his previous actions as she started eating.
...
..
.
Mei returned to her mansion with happiness showing on her face. This is the first time since her father's imprisonment that she returned from school without feeling negative emotions
The ME corps' assets were frozen, and all the servants had left, so the mansion became deserted and was left to her to take care of. it's quite scary being alone in such a big mansion, but she needs to get used to it
As she laid in her bed, she recalled how her life changed in a few short days. Her father was imprisoned, then the company's assets and even their bank account were frozen. Although she had some cash on hand, it wouldn't last for long.
After that, the servants naturally left, leaving her alone to survive. She started learning to cook her own meals, and even though her meals were horrible, she still gritted her teeth and ate them as she had no choice.
At school, her classmates and even teachers were avoiding her. The friends she previously thought she could rely on, wanted to have nothing to do with her. When she invited them to eat at the cafeteria, they rejected her saying that they didn't want to associate with her and even started insulting her.
After a few days of that, she started accepting her situation. She wanted to get used to this as she knew that this would keep happening in the foreseeable future, and it most likely wouldn't change
Just when she wanted to completely close off her heart, a boy that was missing from school for a week actually returned and kept her company.
She already knew Adam was special, even before her fall from grace, he seemed indifferent about her status. He defended her and didn't try avoiding her or distancing himself like the others despite being aware of what her father did.
She felt an indescribable emotion in her chest at that....
Her eyes gained a glimmer of hope. She thought that maybe they could become genuine friends, he didn't really care about what others said about her, so maybe-
"Haaah" She sighed and looked towards the ceiling as Adam's figure flashed in her mind.
"Maybe... I should also try..." She muttered.
Unknown to her, her eyes became misty as a few tears started dropping down her face, she felt emotional.
Even though she has been dubbed as the "Queen of Thunder" by most students, she was still a lonely and gentle girl who is trying to mask her feelings through a cold facade.
"I-hic...!"
... And all it took for the dam to burst and unleash those bottled up feelings was a glimmer of kindness and a little hope.
Mei fell asleep peacefully with red eyes and with a small smile on her face, because now, although her reputation is ruined, she has a chance at being happy.
...
..
.
----------
A/N:
Tried to include a PoV of another person without making this an interlude, don't know if this will happen again in the future
I'm not that confident about writing someone else's perspective without making it an interlude, while also making it enjoyable to read
I'm also a bit stumped on what I can write now without skipping straight to the 3rd honkai eruption. Except some interactions, I don't think anything important happened at this point of time in the game that is worth writing about
... Maybe it is time for Adam to visit yet another world, so prepare yourselves
