Long-Absent Student Life

Plans are never absolutely perfect. What Ren could do was simply to constantly adjust the direction of his plans, and make the events progress in the direction he wanted.

He wasn't a cunning mastermind, nor was he a heartless observer. Being in the play meant that he needed to be aware that he was a character Inside it.

Click— Click—

In the theater, the sound of the puppet's joints clashing resonated.

After returning, the puppet [Ren] had been standing alone on the stage of the Dominance Theater, performing his solo play.

A crash and burn? No, that was merely the outward appearance. In Ren's view, the gains from this operation were far more important than the so-called Humanoid Machine. He was a Herrscher of Dominance, and what he needed wasn't powerful weapons, or practical tools, but to make up for his own oversights as much as possible.

And this time, an emotional loophole that he himself didn't even notice was exposed, which was a good thing for him, and his greatest gain. Moths to a flame, one careless step and you could burn yourself completely. While Ren had laid a trap for Kiana, he was also like a moth, drawn to the light from that girl.

For a Herrscher of Dominance, emotions were the deadliest poison.

That glimmer of light would confuse his senses, interfere with his calculations, and ultimately have him swallowed by the flames. If things continued on like this, when the Flame-Chasers' sword was raised high, he would be the first to die by it.

Fortunately, this weakness had been exposed ahead of time, and he now had more choices.

Moreover, for Ren, this was an unavoidable crash and burn. But for the Herrscher of Dominance, it was just the beginning of another plan. (yapping)

The puppet [Ren] stopped his performance. Under the gaze of his golden eyes, he opened his arms, bowed in thanks, and then, the curtain fell.

On the stage, the prosthetic eye from Gray Serpent emitted a faint red light. Raiden Mei's katana was stuck in the ground. And in a faraway corner of this city, a girl was constantly searching for the traces of someone. And the drawing tools in her left hand, and the broken, blood-stained hair clip in her right hand, also represented a new choice.

Plans and oversights were often just separated by a single thought.

…

After 'unintentionally' revealing World Serpent's information to Himeko, he finally managed to get rid of that troublesome woman who was constantly hanging around his house. After that, Ren's life finally entered its usual routine. Having many puppets had its disadvantages. He often forgot that he was still a high school student enjoying a wonderful school life.

But looking at the thick stack of homework piled up in front of him, Ren fell into deep thought.

Which genius invented homework, the source of all evil? If they became a Stigmata, he would definitely have a good talk with them about life.

Ren looked around, instinctively wanting to find a tool to help him solve this problem. Unfortunately, the only one in the house he could talk to was Taxue.

"Should I do it meow?"

Never mind. He'd see if he could muddle his way through it at school.

Carelessly stuffing his homework into his backpack, Ren began his student life. As a good student, he had only been to school twice in the past week, and both times he had just been about to start studying when he received a response from the Kalpas Mark. But these were all uncontrollable circumstances. It wasn't Ren's fault meow~

Cough cough, almost didn't switch my voice package.

"Good morning, Jian Yun." The morning breeze was cool, the sun was nice, and a female classmate was going to school with him every day. Could there be anything more comfortable than this?

"Uh, Ren, are you actually awake today?" Looking at Ren, who seemed so energetic, Jian Yun looked surprised.

After quickly recalling, Ren remembered that he had deliberately told a lie to hide the fact that he was different from the puppet. He didn't expect that she'd remember it. "Maybe?"

"What do you mean maybe, if you're awake or not can that be maybe?"

It sure can.

Ren held back the words that were on the tip of his tongue, and didn't say them.

Looking at Ren's odd expression, Jian Yun looked at him suspiciously. After hesitating for a while, she asked, "I heard some classmates say that some boys like to reward themselves. I also heard that doing it too much can cause memory loss. You're not doing that too, right? Sometimes you're listless and don't even respond when I greet you..."

"No, it's absolutely not like that," Ren said with a serious expression. Regardless of whether it was true or not, he could absolutely not admit it in front of a female classmate.

"Okay. Although I don't know what 'rewarding yourself' means, you shouldn't be like they said, Ren. I think... that's not good."

Although Ren knew that Jian Yun was just worried about him, he still felt it was weird, and quickly changed the subject. "By the way, have you finished your homework? Because of some uncontrollable circumstances, I think I need a reference."

"I knew you hadn't done it again. Here, I just so happened to write an extra copy." Seeming like she had already expected that Ren hadn't done his homework, Jian Yun opened her bag, and took out a stack of homework that was neatly divided into categories. It was clear that she had planned this out beforehand.

"Uh, are you sure that you did that by accident?"

"Hmph, what are you thinking? There's no way I'd deliberately write an extra copy for you." Jian Yun pouted and turned her head away, not looking at Ren.

"Okay, thanks." Feeling apologetic, Ren thought about it, and invited her to breakfast at the street corner.

Living in the suburbs, there weren't many fancy breakfast shops like those in the city center. Most of them were ordinary people who got up early and pushed a tricycle to set up their stall by the roadside.

There were only a few simple options, such as soy milk, fried dough sticks, and tea eggs. But Jian Yun, who was eating breakfast, seemed very happy. They walked side by side. She was drinking her soy milk while occasionally stealing glances at Ren's profile, making him feel awkward.

"What's wrong? Not enough to drink?" Saying that, Ren held out his soy milk cup.

Jian Yun was stunned, and subconsciously reached out to take it. But Ren had already taken his soy milk cup back. "Are you stupid? Mine's an empty cup."

"Tch, so stingy." Realizing what had happened, Jian Yun's cheeks turned slightly red. To cover up the thoughts that had just popped into her mind, she took several big steps and prepared to enter the school ahead of Ren.

However, before she could go in, she was stopped by a student who was checking the dress code. "Student, don't bring breakfast into the school..."

"…Okay." In the end, after she finished drinking, they both entered the school gate at the same time.

So, what was the point?