His right hand rested on the girl's shoulder, the two of them leaning against each other with an intimacy befitting lovers.
If it weren't for the pistol in Otto's left hand, its cold muzzle pressed against Mei's slender waist, they would have undoubtedly been an enviable, picture-perfect couple.
Inhaling Mei's sweet scent, Otto's lips curled into a smile.
To Mei's eyes, however, that smile was utterly terrifying.
Even for someone as composed and elegant as her, Mei felt her knees grow weak.
It was unavoidable. Anyone would be frightened if a masked psychopath holding a gun smiled at them.
The situation brought back a traumatic memory from her childhood when she was kidnapped by a terrorist group. Even after being rescued, the psychological trauma had forced her to spend three years recovering in a private ME Corp facility.
No matter how many masks she wore now, perhaps her truest self was still that little girl, trembling in a dark room.
Her fear was so intense it began to induce hallucinations. She felt like a fawn with its limbs entangled in a snare, and the sound of footsteps on the narrow staircase was like a blade being sharpened on a whetstone.
The moment the footsteps stopped, she would be gutted.
I can't do anything!
"Don't be afraid. I'm not a bad person," Otto whispered gently into Mei's ear. The man's warm breath tickled her, but it only amplified her fear, as if an invisible hand had seized her heart.
Mei once saw a Shenzhou film about a faction called the Axe Gang. The leader, Brother Sum, though dressed impeccably in a suit, was a complete neurotic. He would gently tell a girl, "Don't be silly, auntie, I don't kill women," only to murder her from behind the moment she turned away.
In Mei's eyes, Otto was no different from Brother Sum.
But where was the Beast who could defeat Brother Sum and save her?
Where was her hero?
Mei's gaze fell, a trace of sorrow clouding her features.
As a Japanese girl living a comfortable life, she had a chuunibyou nature ingrained in her bones.
It was why, in the future, she would utter such dramatic lines as "Roar, my pots and pans!", "One wok, two meals!", and "Wendy, submit to me!"
The halls of Senba Academy were quiet. The students were all in class, oblivious to the fact that the former Raiden Queen was now submitting at gunpoint.
Otto's finger remained on the trigger. If Mei struggled, a slight twitch could be fatal.
I don't want to die.
Even after her father's imprisonment had drained the world of its color, Mei's will to live had never wavered enough to consider taking her own life.
And yet, she was now in the embrace of the god of death.
Otto and Mei walked side-by-side, descending the stairs from the rooftop.
"Where... are you taking me?"
A tremor ran through Mei's voice. Otto had disarmed her of her bamboo sword, leaving her powerless and completely under his control.
"Where would you like me to take you? The restroom, the locker room, the sports equipment storage, or perhaps... the infirmary?" Otto said with a smile, listing places he frequently saw in a certain R-rated game series.
"I want to go to the police station."
When you meet a bad guy, you call the police.
"Haha, no." Otto had no intention of taking her to such a place. As they walked through the school building, his gaze landed on a restroom near the stairwell.
"A men's room in an all-girls school?"
Otto was genuinely surprised. This was outside his realm of knowledge; being a decent person, he didn't typically frequent girls' schools.
"It's for the male teachers and staff. And sometimes they arrange for parents to visit the school," Mei explained timidly. The key to dealing with a psychopath was not to antagonize them, but to treat them like a naughty, misbehaving child.
Class would be over soon. Once the bell rang, other students would discover she had been taken hostage.
"Oh~"
Otto nodded in understanding.
"Has Brother Ryoma ever come by?" Otto referred to Raiden Ryoma as 'Brother Ryoma,' feeling it appropriate given his own seniority.
"Father is usually very busy with work."
Mei's indirect answer was all the confirmation Otto needed.
"The truth is, your father loves you very much. He's a clumsy father, and everything he did was so that you could live the life of a normal person."
It was thanks to Raiden Ryoma's tireless efforts that Mei, born with a natural Stigmata, had been able to live so peacefully in Nagazora City for so long.
The fathers in the world of Honkai were mostly decent men. Oh, except for Otto's own father, Bishop Nicolas Apocalypse.
Mei frowned, slightly displeased. She couldn't shake the feeling that Otto was implying she wasn't a normal person.
"However, and I do apologize to my dear father-in-law for this..."
Otto stopped in front of an empty classroom. He released his grip on Mei's shoulder and walked into the room alone.
This was a perfect chance to escape!
But Mei didn't move. Her beautiful face was scrunched in a frown, puzzled by his words. Father-in-law?
Is he talking about my father?
Mei stood at the doorway of the empty classroom while Otto stood inside, an open door separating them.
"Raiden Mei, I bear you no malice. I came to find you for only one reason."
"I want to save you. And I want to save the millions of people in Nagazora City."
"To do that, I need you."
He tossed the pistol, which he had been using to threaten her, to her feet. With no apparent weapons left on his person, Otto's gesture seemed to drip with sincerity.
"Perhaps you find this absurd. How could an ordinary high school girl be connected to the fate of millions in Nagazora City?"
"But it is the truth."
"Mei, you are no ordinary person. A tremendous power is sealed within you—a power so difficult to control that it will turn you into a demon who treats human lives with indifference. To you, their lives will become nothing more than a statistic."
"So, Raiden Mei."
"I am going to use the lives of every single person in this city to morally blackmail you."
"I need you to step out of your world... and into mine."
(My wife.jpg)
---o---
In front of the school building, Kiana was wiping down a desk. That guy Otto had run off somewhere, and she couldn't just stand by and leave the desk in such a state, so she had to clean it herself.
Seriously, this graffiti is so hard to get off.
If I find out who did this, this lady will beat them to a pulp!
Just then, a timid voice sounded from beside her.
"Excuse me... are you?"
Kiana turned around to see a delicate-looking girl with beautiful black hair looking at her shyly.
"Me? This lady is the new transfer student here, Kiana Kaslana!" Kiana announced, remembering the persona Otto had assigned her.
The black-haired girl bowed slightly to Kiana.
"Thank you, Miss Kiana."
"Thank me for what?"
The girl pointed at the desk and whispered, "That's... my... desk."
Her voice was faint, but Kiana heard her clearly. Her brow furrowed.
"Are you being bullied?"
Looking at the words scrawled all over the desk, it was obvious what had happened.
The black-haired girl timidly replied, "They... they were just playing with me."
"Playing?" Kiana scoffed, her fists tightening. Brimming with a sense of justice, she wasn't about to let this slide. "I'd like to 'play' with them, too. Why don't you take me to them?"
"Right, I didn't get your name. Your hair is really pretty. Is this the famous 'long, straight black hair' of the Far East?"
"Thank you." The girl was pleased by the compliment to her hair, then she softly spoke her name.
"My name is Asakura Miyuki."