Akeno Himejima looked at Qin Xiao, then at Koneko Toujou, and became a little curious.
They had clearly only met once.
So why was Koneko showing such a strong emotional reaction toward Qin Xiao?
Although Koneko's face didn't show much, Akeno could tell that she felt very guilty.
"Qin Xiao-kun," Akeno said with a gentle smile,
"I heard from Koneko that you're a transfer student who just arrived at Kuoh Academy, right?"
"That's right," Qin Xiao replied.
"But may I ask who you are?"
"My name is Akeno Himejima."
"Nice to meet you, Himejima-san."
"I'm also very pleased to meet you, Qin Xiao-kun."
The two exchanged greetings politely.
But both of them understood—
these were just surface-level courtesies.
Each person was wearing their own social mask, and there was a quiet mutual understanding of that.
Rias had already noticed that Qin Xiao was guarded toward her.
But that was perfectly normal.
After all, he had saved Koneko yesterday, and today she had already come looking for him.
Anyone would naturally become cautious.
"Himejima-san, Toujou-san, and this… classmate," Qin Xiao said calmly.
"I came here today to complete my enrollment procedures, so I still have many things to do."
"I'll take my leave first."
After saying that, he bowed slightly.
Then he walked straight past Rias, without giving her any chance to respond.
Rias froze.
Did he just… ignore me?
She was the campus idol queen of Kuoh Academy.
In the Underworld, she was also the famous princess of the Gremory clan, known as the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess.
Yet today—
someone had completely ignored her.
"Oh my~," Akeno said with a playful smile while watching Qin Xiao's back.
"What an independent junior we have."
Rias frowned slightly.
"Akeno… does he not even know my name?"
"Well, that's because you never told him, President."
"I didn't?"
"No, you didn't~"
"…Alright. I guess I was a bit too impatient."
Rias nodded helplessly.
After thinking about it, she realized she really hadn't introduced herself.
Only Koneko remained silent.
She watched Qin Xiao's back quietly, seemingly lost in thought.
As the school's idol queen, Rias and Akeno attracted attention wherever they went.
With Sona appearing earlier and now Qin Xiao, many students had already gathered nearby.
Looking around at the crowd, Rias decided to leave.
Akeno and Koneko followed her.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiao headed straight to the faculty office building.
As a transfer student, the first step was to meet his homeroom teacher, who would then bring him to the classroom.
Thanks to the system, everything had already been arranged.
Inside the office, the teacher naturally recognized Qin Xiao as the transfer student.
After a brief greeting, the teacher led him to the classroom.
Qin Xiao's class was second year.
Not first year like Koneko.
Not third year like Rias and Akeno.
But the same grade as the original protagonist.
When they arrived at the classroom, the teacher stepped onto the podium and clapped once.
The class immediately fell silent.
"This is a transfer student from overseas."
"I'll let him introduce himself."
"Qin Xiao, come up."
Qin Xiao stepped forward.
"Hello everyone."
"My name is Qin Xiao."
"I'm a transfer student from China."
"I'm very happy to become classmates with all of you."
It was a very simple introduction.
After all, Qin Xiao had already worked in society for three years.
He naturally wouldn't act too flashy.
At the very least, he didn't want to create bad relationships with his classmates.
After all, school bullying was one of the most notorious aspects of Japanese student life.
He wasn't afraid of it.
But he also didn't want unnecessary trouble.
"Alright," the teacher said.
"You can sit in the last row by the window. That seat is empty."
"Okay."
Qin Xiao nodded.
The seat pointed out by the teacher was at the very back of the classroom, next to the window.
Compared to Chinese classrooms with 40–50 students, this class only had about 20–30 people.
So the back row had several empty seats.
In Japan, every student had their own desk and chair, unlike China where two students shared a desk.
There was noticeable space between students.
Qin Xiao sat down and placed his bag inside the desk.
Then he took out the textbooks he had received in the office.
After looking through them briefly, he couldn't help thinking:
Compared with China, Japan's curriculum level was much lower.
"Alright everyone, today we will study…"
The teacher quickly began the lesson.
But Qin Xiao ignored most of it.
Although the subjects were slightly different from what he had learned before, the differences were small.
After merging with Enkidu's inheritance, his memory and comprehension had improved greatly.
He didn't have photographic memory yet—
but reading something twice was enough to remember it.
While the teacher was lecturing, Qin Xiao looked around the classroom.
There were over twenty students in total.
But only three boys.
The other twenty-plus were girls.
And those three boys were all seated in the middle or back rows.
The classroom perfectly demonstrated the meaning of "overwhelming female majority."
Soon, the class ended.
The teacher didn't delay dismissal and quickly left with his lesson materials.
After class ended, none of the students came over to talk to Qin Xiao.
In Japan, even students tend to have their own social circles.
Unless there is a special reason, people rarely welcome someone outside their group.
Because of this, Japanese schools often have a unique social rule:
If you don't belong to a group, you become completely alone.
Students who fail to fit into a circle are often isolated or excluded.
Many cases of school bullying start this way.
But Qin Xiao didn't mind at all.
In fact, he preferred it.
He didn't want too many unnecessary relationships.
For him, the most important thing right now was to increase his strength as quickly as possible.
Only by becoming stronger could he deal with the dangers that might appear in the future.
"Hello."
"My name is Momono Hanakai."
"Hm?"
Qin Xiao raised his head.
Standing in front of him was a beautiful white-haired girl.
Even though she wore a school uniform, the two massive "headlights" on her chest were almost impossible to hide.
As expected of the High School DxD world.
Even a random girl who appeared was a heavyweight beauty.
At that moment, Momono Hanakai's face was slightly red.
She looked exactly like a ripe peach, just like her name suggested.