69 Herrscher met Herrscher

15 minutes later.

With Helios' extremely fast speed, it didn't take long for them to return to St. Freya Academy.

Then, Helios landed on the private hangar of St. Freya Academy.

After the aircraft managed to land, Kouro and Ayame released their seat belts first and got off Helios with Ayame following behind Kouro.

"Whoa!!" Ayame became mesmerized at the view of St. Freya Academy from behind Kouro, especially with the bright sunlight shining upon the large, palace-like building that they could see from afar.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kouro remarked.

"Un!" Ayame happily nodded her head.

After a while, Theresa also got out of the aircraft before walking in front of Ayame with large strides as she spread her arms.

"Youkoso St. Freya Gakuen! (Welcome to St. Freya academy!)"

After her declaration, Theresa then informed Ayame about the ground rules and gave her a spare key to an extra room inside Himeko's house.

"For further details, you can inquire to Himeko-sensei. Ah, she's the one with the red hair over there."

After she finished, Theresa hurried over to her office to make a report about today and also Ayame's recruitment documents.

Not far away from the two's position, Himeko, Mei, Bronya, and Kiana were waiting for them with Kiana waving her hand at Kouro's direction.

"Kouro! Over here! Here!"

Noticing them, Kouro led Ayame towards them and approached them.

Mei and the others smiled in relief when they saw that Kouro has returned safely.

__

1 hour before Kouro and the other two came back.

Inside Himeko's house, in the living room, you can see Mei, sitting languidly on the couch, seemingly worried about something, and beside her are Kiana and Bronya who are playing a HOMU Fighting game.

"Ahh!! I lost again." Kiana grumbled as she stared at the screen that shows that her character lost.

"This is Bronya's 100th win." Bronya remarked with her usual blank face.

"Let's play one more time! This time, I'm sure I will win!" Kiana declared, obviously not giving up.

Another 45 minutes later.

"This is Bronya's 154th victory, and also Subject Kiana's 154th defeat. Subject Kiana is really stupid." Bronya says while keeping a straight face.

"Hey! Who are you calling stupid!?"

After saying that, Kiana put down her joystick and leaned on the couch, looking up, before abruptly saying, "Ahh... If only Kouro was here..."

Bronya's movements stopped instantly and she put down he joystick as well, "Subject Kouro has also promised to Bronya that he will play the HOMU Fighting game together with Bronya."

Then, they both sighed and looked at each other, then to Mei who is still sitting on the couch, lost in thought.

Seeing Mei like that, Kiana scratched her head roughly and couldn't help but curse Kouro, "Hahh... Why does he always push himself, can't he just rest a little longer?"

Despite saying that, Kiana wasn't too worried about Kouro because that guy, from what she saw, is a very strong person.

Bronya remained silent at Kiana's complaint.

The room became awkward from the silence for a while, and just as Bronya opened her mouth.

*Bam!*

The front door was suddenly opened with Himeko running inside while gasping for air, Mei also snapped out of her stupor and looked at Himeko with confusion visible from her face, Kiana and Bronya shared the same expression.

*Hu!* *Hu!*

After catching her breath, Himeko said straight away.

"I have news regarding Kouro and Theresa. A few minutes ago, Theresa informed the Academy the she and Kouro have completed their mission safely and are now on their way back."

Hearing that, the confusion from their face were replaced with happiness and relief, and before Kiana and Bronya could ask, Mei quickly stood up and asked Himeko where the apron that Kouro and Theresa would lend is.

(E/D: Apron - the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded, or maintained.) (P.S. You learn something new everyday.)

Himeko was helpless and told her where it is, after that, Mei immediately rushed to the location, leaving Kiana and Bronya dumbfounded.

They exchanged a look before quickly following after Mei, Himeko observed the three of them before shaking her head with a sigh before she also followed behind them.

__

At the present time.

Mei searched Kouro from top to bottom worriedly and put on a relieved expression after finding him 'unharmed'.

The only problem is, even though Kouro has no visible injuries, his clothes were torn and had several holes on them from his battle with Herrscher Ayame.

"Yo, everyone. Looks like you waited for me for quite a while." Kouro joked and was immediately returned with a chop on the head by Himeko.

"Itta! (Ouch!)" Kouro touched his head where Himeko hit him.

Seeing his act, Himeko just said evenly, "We were all her worried about you, Kouro. And you come back saying that?"

"Well, sorry about that." Kouro smile wryly while scratching the back of his head.

Himeko only sighed, "Well, at least you came back safely." She could see from the state of Kouro's clothes how badly he was actually injured, it's just because of his ridiculous regeneration rate that his wounds healed quickly, not even leaving a trace.

While listening to their conversation, Kiana noticed Ayame behind Kouro and asked, "By the way, who is that girl, Kouro?"

(E/D: I was like, "Phew! He's saved, for now.", but then Kiana be like "I'll ruin you!".)

"Ah... Her? Let me introduce you, she is my childhood friend, and also the Pseudo-Herrscher, Akimitsu Ayame."

Ayame then stepped forward a little shyly and introduced herself "H-hello, my name is Akimitsu Ayame, but you can call me Ayame as well, just like Kouro."

Hearing that Ayame was also a Herrscher surprised them all, Kiana and the others looked at her and Mei back and forth before landing their gazes at Kouro.

"What?" Kouro felt a little strange being stared at with that look, so he asked.

Kiana and the other two shook their heads.

Kiana thinks Kouro is great because he could save Ayame who also turned into a Herrscher like Mei earlier.

Himeko think if all men have special abilities that enables them to tame a Herrscher.

(E/D: That would explain why men is more susceptible to Honkai corruption. The will of Honkai probably wants to annihilate every men that could possibly hinder it's plans/goal.) (P.S. It's just a joke. Not canon, for those who don't know about Hoyoverse.)

Whereas Bronya only thought that it was expected of Kouro.

Cocolia, who was watching from afar using Bronya's biochip, increased her impression of Kouro and raised his threat level.

Mei also heard that Ayame was a Herrscher and she felt a little happy, finally she has find a friend of fate, however, she could somehow feel a sense of crisis after Ayame was introduced as Kouro's childhood friend.

(E/D: Pretty weird feeling happy over someone turning into a Herrscher. But is also makes sense because she found someone who experienced the same.)

This feeling stemmed from her Herrscher persona that warned her that Kouro might be stolen from both of them by this woman, Mei just ignored it and didn't think much of it.

Mei then introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Raiden Mei, you can also call me Mei. Just like you, I was also a Herrscher."

"Ehh!! You're Raiden Mei? That 'Raiden Mei'!?" Ayame exclaimed in surprise.

(E/D: They went to the same academy, right? How come she doesn't know the former most 'popular' girl?)

"Yes... Judging from your reaction, and from your uniform, are you also a student of Senba Academy?"

"Y-yes... I'm from class 1-2." Ayame replied nervously, after all, who wouldn't be nervous when talking to the very charming and elegant Mei.

"Hahaha... You don't need to be so stiff when talking to her." Kouro reassured Ayame while looking at her.

"Yeah, you don't need to be so nervous, Ayame-chan." Mei said softly.

"O-okay." After that, she turned her head and looked at Kiana, Bronya, and Himeko, "And you guys?"

Kiana introduced herself by placing her hands on her waist and raising her chin, "Hmph! Hm! My name is Kiana Kaslana. My goal is to become the strongest Valkyrie of all time."

(E/D: My cute tuna! Ahhh!) (P.S. Yes, I simp.)

"Huh." Himeko sighed helplessly at Kiana's introduction, she looked at Ayame and also introduced herself, "My name is Murata Himeko. I will be your teacher in this academy, you can call me Himeko-sensei."

"Bronya Zachik, nice to meet you, Subject Ayame."Bronya introduced herself briefly while still keeping her blank face.

After they introduced themselves, Himeko then observed Kouro's state and said, "Kouro, you better change your clothes. It would be really bad if others see you dressed like that."

Kouro also observed her clothes, torn with traces of blood, dirt and other stains, it was really uncomfortable to look at, so he said his goodbye to them and went to his dorm first to take a shower and change his clothes.

Himeko and the others stared at Kouro's figure until he was out of their sight, "That Kouro, he always ignores his own circumstances and doesn't pay attention to his surroundings."

"Ano..." Ayame spoke out while looking at Mei.

"Yes?"

Ayame took a deep breath before asking in a curios, with a slightly jealous, tone.

"Are you Kouro's girlfriend?"

Somehow after Ayame said that, the atmosphere around them suddenly became tense.

(E/D: Next chapter, War. Just Kidding.)