Dream

"Hello!" Kiana shouted.

She didn't know how she got here. It looks exactly like China Academy but there's no one around.

In fact, ever since she entered here, she hasn't seen anyone.

"Kiana…" She heard a familiar voice.

"Hello?! Who is it?!" She ran in order to find the voice.

"Kiana.." She kept hearing the voice.

After reaching the end of the corridors, she saw a closed door.

"Kiana…"

Hearing the voice inside, she touched the door knob and opened the door.

"Huh?" To her surprise, there was no one in the room. It's just a simple bed and a mirror.

Standing in front of the mirror, she has this strong urge to look at it and to her surprise, after seeing her reflection, she couldn't move.

'What?' She panicked and tried to move but to no avail.

"Kiana, is that all you can do?" She saw her own reflection talk but instead of her usual blue eyes, her reflection has gold.

"Not only you can't save your friend. You're even shaking in fear because of him." She continued with an arrogant smile.

"Just fall and let me take over your body. It belongs to me anyway. Do that and I'll rid that fear of yours." Her smile grew deeper.

She can't say anything. Her mouth won't move!

"Don't you get it Kiana?" The original reflection of hers turned into Asakura Mizuki, "I love you but you didn't save me. You're a monster." 

After hearing her, the reflection once again turned into Daniel staring at her….

"NO!!"

—

"Hah.." Snapping her eyes open, Kiana quickly sat down and panted.

"What was that..?" She couldn't remember it fully. She only recalls the part about the mirror.

"I think I should take a break for a while." She said a wry smile.

Standing up, she goes through the fridge to find two cups of instant noodles and prepares to boil it.

As she was heating the water, she turned the TV on to see something shocking.

"The president of ME Corp Raiden Ryoma has been charged off.."

Her eyes glued to the TV. She can't believe what's happening.

"Mei-senpai…"

Immediately putting the seasoning on the heated noodles, she hurried eating to go to Chiba Academy.

What? She needs to eat before she goes.

—

"Shit….." Feeling the weird atmosphere around Chiba Academy, Daniel tried shrinking his presence as much as possible.

He saw the news earlier, how Raiden Ryoma was charged with various crimes.

He did remember reading it in the original.

So it's this time?

"Raiden Mei must be having the time of her life now." He chuckled in sarcasm.

He didn't know the timeline of these events nor does he think it's still the right one, but one thing's for sure..

The Third Eruption is close.

As he was thinking, he saw Raiden Mei coming outside of their building with a gloomy look and no surprise,

Her 'friends' are now looking at her with contempt and disgust.

Seeing this, Daniel couldn't but help but sigh. He feels sorry for Raiden Mei with these friends of hers.

Then again, he did hear that girls have different ways of treating friendship compared to guys.

"There's that criminal." One of her former friends spoke.

Raiden Mei ignored this and continued walking. She's been experiencing this since earlier and is in a hurry to get home.

She needs to find out what happened.

Seeing that her taunts didn't work, the girl hurriedly walked towards her and tripped her.

Raiden Mei was going to fight back. As a kendo practitioner, she knows how to fight even without her shinai.

Compared to these sheltered girls, she can easily take care of the situation.

Of course, that's what is supposed to happen.

Looking at the familiar white haired girl in front of her, she said in surprise.

"W-What?" When did this girl come here?

"Seriously? It's early in the morning and you guys are making trouble again." Hearing a familiar voice, she turned to see the janitor Daniel walking towards them with an annoyed face.

"You kids," He pointed to her former friends, "It's break time, so do that." 

"What?! You're just a janitor! How dare you order us?!" One of the girls spoke out. Although complaining, she sneakily came close to him.

Noticing this, Daniel was about to speak before Kiana best up into a punch.

"Hmph, bullying Mei-senpai just because of false charges? How can you call yourself her friend?" She raised her fist.

Seeing her threats didn't work, she gave Raiden Mei a one last glare before storming off with her friends immediately following her.

"Are you okay Mei-senpai?" Kiana said with a worried look. Despite this, she's already grinning inside due to her entrance.

'Hehehe, Mei-senpai must be mesmerized by me.' She laughed with a silly look.

Seeing this, Daniel facepalmed. Is she seriously letting her thoughts now?

"Ignore her. Although she's creepy sometimes. She's a good person." He bonked her head which earned a 'hey' from Kiana.

Seeing their interaction, Mei was surprised but also saddened. She could see that their friendship is genuine despite their bickering.

She was envious.

Noticing her sad expression, Daniel cleared his throat and offered.

"If you want, we could go with you. I'm on a break anyway and this little girl right here is just slacking off." He didn't forget to slander Kiana.

Hearing this, she wanted to kick his shin. In her brain, this is basically Daniel asking Mei for a date.

Also, she's not a little girl!

"That's…. Thank you." Raiden Mei was about to refuse but seeing their eyes, she accepted.

It's not like she has anything to do aside from going home.

Going with them shouldn't be bad.

—

Alright, it's bad.

Looking at the two of them arguing, Raiden Mei held her forehead.

They are currently walking towards the ME Corp. She was planning on going in a car but seeing the two, she decided to just join them.

Speaking of them, it was just supposed to be a discussion about video games.

Kiana said something about Homu being the best only for Daniel to turn his head in disgust.

Saying, "Why do you people like that dumbass looking rabbit with a smiley face?"

After hearing it, Kiana was furious and quickly demanded to take it back.

She's not going to lie. She, Raiden Mei, is also offended by what Daniel said.

Her favorite is Homu, to the point that her training coach wears a Homu costume for some reason once in a while when training her.

"And that's why Senator Armstrong said that "It's nanomachines son! And proceed to beat the living out of the cyborg." He finished while mimicking the character's tone.

"That's… actually sounds good." Kiana, surprisingly agreed.

"I know right." Daniel said smugly. It's a pity that this world only has the same type of game franchise.

Kallen Fantasy, Homu Gear and whatever that has both Kallen and Homu on it.

As Raiden Mei is hearing this, she sighed wryly. These two are just weird huh?

While walking around, they noticed a motorcycle rushing towards them and when they were close, one of the guys riding brought a bat and swung it.

*Woosh*

Grabbing Mei's back collar. Daniel pulled her towards him to avoid the swing.

"Okay? That's pretty nasty." He casually commented while looking at the group of bikers surrounding them.

"Seriously? Attacking teens like that?" 

"Quiet kid, just hand over the ME Heiress and we'll pretend that you and that girl over there aren't with her." The bike leader threatened.

Kiana was angry hearing this. As she was about to go and teach this guy a lesson, Daniel held his arm in front of her, signifying her to stop.

"Why sir? Raiden Mei didn't do anything wrong. Even if you hate her father. She didn't deserve what you're going to do with her." Daniel said.

Hearing this, the biker gang laughed together as if mocking him.

"K-Kid, if you're going to pretend to be a hero. Do it somewhere else. Big boys have better things to do." Calming his laugh. The leader of the gang replied.

Looking over Raiden Mei, although she wasn't making any moves. It was obvious that she's scared.

Not just that, but it looks like she's having a shock. Like it already happened to her before.

Seeing that they didn't reply. The bikers came closer with weapons in hands.

"Are you seriously doing this in broad daylight?" Daniel asked with an incredelous look.

"So what? Her dad is a criminal. No one would care what we do." After the leader spoke, he was immediately punched by Kiana, sending her tumbling backwards.

"I'm too lazy for these talks. I'll just beat you all up." She said angrily. On one hand, she's really mad at these people who are threatening them and on the other, it's also a way to fix her impression with her Mei-senpai.

Daniel stood in front of Mei and snorted. She's right, these guys can't be reasoned with.

Daniel and Kiana looked at each other and nodded. Whoever takes on the least will pay for today's lunch!