In the afternoon, the students outside the window exuded an air of youthfulness, but inside the teachers' office, it was quiet.
Rin lightly brushed her long hair, waiting for her prey to take the bait.
Knock, knock!
"Sensei, I'm coming in."
"Mmm~ Come on in. Be gentle, now. There are still people next door."
Her pink lips curled. Rin's voice was husky and alluring, as if she were craving something. A mechanical heart icon flashed faintly in her pink eyes.
Ah, this... isn't this teacher a little improper...?
Doubt flickered in Fu Li's eyes as he pushed the door open and saw Sakurajima Rin looking at him with a beaming smile.
Hmm... a white blouse, a black suit jacket, black stockings...
It was a very normal outfit for a teacher, carrying an air of authority without lacking a uniquely feminine charm.
To be honest, in that moment, Sakurajima Rin gave him a strong sense of deja vu, reminding him of Makima.
Noticing Fu Li's appraisal, Sakurajima Rin's lips curved into a captivating smile, and she patted the seat beside her.
According to her favorite human novel, "Overbearing Female CEO and Her Peerless Little Wolfdog", the first step to winning someone over was to make them curious about you.
And now, by casting her bait, she had successfully attracted Li.
Fu Li looked at the stool that had already been prepared for him and, feeling no sense of embarrassment, sat right down.
However, just as he was about to speak, his gaze inadvertently caught sight of a fountain pen on the desk.
The pen was extremely exquisite; a single glance at its intricate craftsmanship told you it was of considerable value.
But what shocked Fu Li the most was the Anti-Entropy insignia emblazoned on it.
Fu Li's pupils contracted violently. He thought he finally understood the source of his earlier conflicting feelings.
A teacher who appears out of nowhere, an Anti-Entropy insignia, and Raiden Mei on the verge of awakening.
This woman... she must be one of Cocolia's people, sent to observe Raiden Mei.
A surge of vigilance rose in Fu Li's heart, but it relaxed just as quickly. Any and all schemes were meaningless in the face of absolute power.
If he wanted to, he could imprison the woman before him at any time, tie her up in his lab, and let Snakey thoroughly interrogate her.
"Sensei, was there something you needed me for?" Fu Li asked, feigning a relaxed tone, but the muscles beneath his clothes were already tense.
Sakurajima Rin revealed an alluring smile and began her explanation. "It's like this. The reason I came to teach here was actually at the request of Miss Raiden Mei's father."
"He asked me to look after student Mei, but I heard that some unpleasant things have happened at the school, and that she seems to have been bullied in the past."
"So I was thinking, as her best friend at the moment, perhaps you could do me a small favor and tell me what student Mei has been through."
Sakurajima Rin knew that Fu Li did not have a good impression of the current radical faction of Anti-Entropy. Therefore, if she wanted to maintain a good image while posing as someone from Anti-Entropy, she had to align herself with the conservative faction.
Sure enough, upon hearing her identity, the wariness deep in Fu Li's eyes dissipated slightly, though a thick layer of suspicion remained.
He's so adorable ♡
The heart icon in Sakurajima Rin's eyes flashed for an instant. Saliva pooled in her mouth, like a fox that had just seen a roasted chicken, her craving undeniable.
She had once wanted to become Fu Li. But now, what she wanted to do was to eat Fu Li, piece by piece, to understand every single structure of his body with perfect clarity.
"Is that so?" Fu Li, oblivious to this, nodded. After a moment of elegant silence, he spoke.
"You're not wrong. When I first arrived, Mei-senpai was indeed being ostracized. But that's not the case anymore. She's doing very well now, she's made new friends, and she's slowly emerging from the shadows."
"Oh, I see." Sakurajima Rin nodded, her expression one of relief, but her heart was a little sour.
After their conversation, the two, each with their own ulterior motives, had a better grasp of the other's situation.
In Fu Li's view, verifying whether Sakurajima Rin was a conservative or a radical was simple. He just needed to observe whether she tried to disrupt Mei's life or protect it.
If she tried to disrupt Mei's life to trigger a Honkai Eruption ahead of schedule, he could confirm she was a radical. If she protected her, it meant she was a conservative.
Sakurajima Rin's plan, however, was very simple. As the weaker party, she just needed to find a way to make the powers behind World Serpent and Schicksal clash, then follow Eden's lead and fish in the troubled waters.
When the time was ripe, she would backstab Eden and seize the fruits of victory for herself.
However, this train of thought came to a screeching halt not long after she started walking home with Fu Li.
"Sensei, you live in this direction too?"
Looking at the moving company van parked below the apartment building, Fu Li gave Sakurajima Rin a strange look.
Sakurajima Rin, however, was completely unfazed. Instead, she smiled and dangled a key in front of him.
"That's right. I live in number 13. What about you, student Fu Li?"
"...Number 14."
Well, I'll be damned. First Rita, now Sakurajima Rin. This small apartment building was housing a pair of sleeping dragons.
He had no idea if the people from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy would start a fight when they met.
"Well then, Sensei, I'll let you supervise their moving. If you need any help, be sure to call me."
"Mm, I will. Student Li, you should hurry back and get some rest."
"Okay."
Fu Li waved and turned to walk towards his room. He had no intention of helping her; he had plenty of his own things to attend to.
But suddenly, Fu Li's pupils contracted. His steps faltered, and he nearly tripped over his own feet.
There, in the hallway, a slender figure was hugging a large cardboard box. The contents looked heavy, making her struggle visibly.
Short green hair, a white lab coat with a hint of green, and that familiar eyepatch.
K-Klein?!
By the time Fu Li came to his senses, he had already placed a hand on the petite figure's shoulder. The girl with the eyepatch turned her head and tilted it to the side.
"Hello? Can I help you?"
"Ah..." Snapping back to reality, Fu Li felt a wave of embarrassment. He looked at the hand on her shoulder and instantly retracted it as if he'd been electrocuted.
It was all his fault. The moment he saw the girl, his mind went back to the past. But Klein was already dead in this world, gone forever in that laboratory.
The girl in front of him must be like Himeko and Murata Himeko—an alternate-timeline counterpart of this era.
"Ahem..." Fu Li let out an awkward cough, his face flushing slightly. "It's nothing. You just look a lot like a friend of mine. If you don't mind, could I help you?"
"Help me?" The girl thought for a moment and flashed a bright smile. "If you don't mind, of course you can."
Seeing that smile, Fu Li's heart ached even more. The Klein he knew would never smile like that.
However, he wouldn't go back on a promise. He readily began helping this "Klein" carry her things upstairs.
But what he didn't notice was that the moment he passed by her, the smile on her face vanished. She turned her head and met the ugly expression of Sakurajima Rin, flashing her a provocative grin.