In the Far East, Nagazora City.
It was the weekend. Inside a dessert shop near Chiba Academy, two boys sat across from each other.
"Mu, how come you had time to come see me today?" Kevin asked, drink in hand, looking at the boy in front of him. "Weren't you saying a few days ago that you were going back home?"
The boy sitting opposite him had black hair, gray eyes, and a streak of white in his bangs. Even by Kevin's standards, he was a solid nine out of ten in looks.
Mu—or rather, Li Mu—was an exchange student from Shenzhou, and one of the very few people in Nagazora City Kevin could truly call a close friend.
The sort of close friend where they could casually claim to be each other's dad.
After the entrance exams, Kevin had been placed by his parents into Chiba Academy, a school attended mostly by the children of Nagazora City's upper class. As for Mu, as an exchange student from Shenzhou, he would normally have to return there after completing his studies.
Kevin had assumed it would be hard for them to meet again in the future. Yet not long ago, Mu had called, saying he wanted to meet him once. And so they ended up here.
Li Mu did not answer Kevin's question directly. Instead, he looked him up and down with a strange expression on his face.
That gaze gave Kevin the creeps.
"Mu, what are you looking at?"
Li Mu looked at this friend he had known for years and let out a nearly inaudible sigh. Rather than answering, he said,
"After the graduation exams, I really was planning to go back to Shenzhou."
"It's just that... a friend of mine recently ran into something extremely troublesome. I want to help him, but I can't make up my mind, so I wanted to hear someone else's opinion."
Kevin took a sip of his drink and looked straight at Li Mu.
"Uh... Mu, this 'friend' you're talking about... isn't it actually you?"
"No," Li Mu denied flatly.
Kevin understood immediately. The so-called friend Li Mu was talking about was probably Li Mu himself.
"So you asked me out today because you want my advice?"
Li Mu nodded.
"Fine. Since you're paying today, I'll tell you everything I know," Kevin said, shaking his drink lightly, curiosity written all over his face. "So what happened?"
Li Mu did not drag it out. Bracing his elbows on the table, he laced his fingers together and rested them beneath his chin before slowly beginning his explanation.
"It's like this. I recently learned something by chance—something concerning a very close friend of mine."
"That friend of mine is about to step onto an unbelievably tragic path. If no one stops him, then more likely than not, his family will be destroyed, and in the end, everything he loves—and everything that loves him—will die."
"When that time comes, he'll be left all alone, wandering the world in solitude. Even if he no longer has any reason to live, because of a promise, he won't even be able to seek death."
"He'll be forced to drift through the world like an empty shell, constantly longing for the day his life finally ends."
For some reason, as Kevin listened to Li Mu speak, a strange sense of familiarity welled up inside him.
Suppressing that odd feeling, he asked, "So, simply put, you have a friend who's about to run into danger?"
"You could say that." Li Mu did not deny it. Instead, he continued, "Right now, I have a chance to save that friend, but I can't bring myself to make the decision."
Looking at the conflict written across Li Mu's face, Kevin felt he had roughly figured out what kind of problem his friend was dealing with.
Most likely, one of Mu's friends had gotten involved in a pyramid scheme, a scam, or maybe some sort of cult.
That kind of thing was hardly rare in the Far East. Not long ago, there had even been someone whose family was destroyed because of a cult, and that person had gunned down a councilman tied to the cult right there in the street.
Now, perhaps one of Mu's friends had fallen into something similar. Mu just happened to have a chance to pull that friend back—but doing so might place himself in danger, which was why he was hesitating.
Sure enough, Li Mu said in the next moment,
"I have a way to pull that friend back and stop him from falling into that tragic ending. But the method I want to use might not be something he can accept. It might even cause him to completely cut ties with me."
Seeing the hesitation on Li Mu's face, Kevin nodded inwardly. He understood now.
Just as he had thought: one of Mu's friends had probably been ensnared by something like a scam or a cult.
And people under the control of such things usually changed drastically. Once they'd been thoroughly brainwashed, they wouldn't believe the person trying to save them had their best interests at heart.
They might even hate them for it.
Mu was clearly struggling with exactly that question. But Kevin had grown up with a solid moral compass, and that told him one thing clearly: you could never abandon a friend just because you might end up being hated for helping them.
After thinking it over for a moment, he said to Li Mu, "Why not try talking to him? If he's really your friend, he should be willing to listen to you."
Li Mu looked straight at Kevin, then shook his head.
"I know his personality. Even if it would spare him that miserable future, he probably still wouldn't agree."
"Then, Kevin—if you were in my position, what would you do?"
At that question, Kevin answered without the slightest hesitation.
"If I were certain that tragedy was really going to happen to that friend, then of course I'd choose to save him, even if it meant he'd hate me for it."
Kevin's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Just like if I knew you and Su were about to walk into danger. Even if you misunderstood me, even if you ended up hating me, I'd still choose to save you."
"So, Kevin, that's your answer?"
"Yes. That's my answer." Kevin spoke solemnly. "If you're going to save that friend, I can help too. You're one of my closest friends, after all."
"So do it. Even if you end up being hated for it, as long as you believe what you're doing is right."
Hearing Kevin's answer, Li Mu let out a soft sigh.
"In that case, I can finally commit to my decision."
"Thank you, Kevin. I'm not lost anymore. Just like you said—even if that friend might hate me for it, that's still better than watching him fall into endless suffering."
Kevin looked a little embarrassed. He was just about to say something modest when he saw Li Mu lift something from beside his feet and set it on the table.
It was a metallic briefcase, silver-white in color, engraved with a moth-like insignia.
Li Mu pressed his hand against its surface. The moment his palm touched the case, streams of electronic lines spread across it.
Click.
With a crisp mechanical sound, the briefcase opened.
Kevin leaned over to look inside.
At the center of the case lay a syringe filled with a vivid green liquid.
"What is that?"
"The thing that will save my friend," Li Mu said. "The thing that will save this world, which is fated to be destroyed."
"Mu, since when did you get this chuuni?" Kevin dismissed it as one of Mu's dramatic delusions. "Seriously though, what is this? It looks pretty high-tech."
Li Mu lifted the syringe from the center of the case and smiled at Kevin.
"Kevin, come here for a second."
"What for?"
Kevin had no idea what Li Mu was planning, but instinctively, he still leaned closer.
The corners of Li Mu's mouth slowly curled upward as his fingers tightened around the syringe.
Then, before Kevin could react, he drove it straight into Kevin's neck.
Thnk.
The syringe's built-in pneumatic pump activated, instantly injecting the green liquid into Kevin's body.
"Mu, you—"
Feeling the sharp sting in his neck, Kevin had barely begun to speak before an overwhelming wave of drowsiness swallowed his consciousness whole.
Thunk.
Kevin was down for the count.
Looking at Kevin slumped over the table, Li Mu returned the syringe to the briefcase. After a moment, he let out a sigh and said,
"Since that's what you said, Kevin... then to change the miserable fate waiting for you in the future, I'll just have to make the you of today suffer a little first."
Join here to read ahead.
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Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 120)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 100)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 100)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter89)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter86)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter63)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter75)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 53
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 57
From Junkman to Wasteland 35
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 26
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 27
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 26
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 26
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