Morning.
The morning sun had just risen, and the weather was bright and clear.
Upon waking up, Rimuru felt refreshed.
A Slime didn't need sleep, but sleeping still felt good.
Years of human habits couldn't be changed overnight, and Rimuru had no intention of changing them anyway.
Today, Rimuru planned to go to school. As for why—
It all started with a phone call from her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Jacqueline, last night.
As soon as the call connected, Mrs. Jacqueline's gentle, kind voice came through.
She spoke softly, asking about Rimuru's "illness," and subtly reminded her that final exams were only a couple of days away.
If Rimuru felt a bit better, she hoped she could try to come in for the finals.
However, Mrs. Jacqueline also made it clear that if she truly felt unwell and couldn't attend, it was completely fine.
That tone, that concern, made Rimuru feel a little embarrassed.
What a good teacher in the U.S.!
Forest Hill Elementary School.
As soon as Rimuru stepped into the classroom, she heard several familiar voices.
"Did you guys hear about what happened on Broadway on Saturday?"
"Tch, who doesn't? Something that big?"
"That yellowish-brown villain was crazy strong—he could lift a car with both hands and jump several stories high. Super scary!"
"Wrong! No matter how strong that yellowish-brown villain was, he still wasn't as strong as that green-skinned monster. The green one had way more strength and hit harder."
"What yellowish-brown, what green? That's so unprofessional. My dad said the yellow one is called Abomination, and the green one is called Hulk. But neither of them is the strongest. The strongest is the Silver Armored War God! Abomination and Hulk are no match for him!"
"The Silver Armored War God is so cool! I really want a mech just like his. Then I could also defeat monsters and save the world!"
"The one who'll wear the Silver Armored War God mech is me. You could at most be Iron Man."
"I don't want to be Iron Man. He's too weak!"
Listening to the childish chatter of her classmates, Rimuru was speechless.
What did they mean by "you could at most be Iron Man"?
Poor Iron Man. This was probably the worst slander Tony had ever suffered.
The victor is king, the loser is villain—this principle applies everywhere, across time and cultures.
Rimuru couldn't help sighing. Public opinion was truly unfriendly toward Tony right now.
Even little kids thought Iron Man was weak and didn't want to be him.
No need to mention the attitude of politicians—survival of the fittest had always been the rule.
After all the setbacks, the Stark Industries Expo probably wouldn't even be held.
And at the military committee hearing in Washington, Tony definitely wasn't going to pass easily this time.
Where would this future lead? Rimuru grew more curious.
Just as she pondered, Mindy—who had been slumped over her desk like she had no will to live—suddenly had her eyes light up. Her pretty face filled with disbelief.
Mindy flipped over, sprang from her seat, and in a few steps dashed up to Rimuru.
"Silv—"
Shh!
Before Mindy could finish, Rimuru covered her mouth and smiled, giving her a small nod.
Once Mindy confirmed Rimuru's identity, she burst with excitement, cheering loudly.
"Hello, Mindy, my name is Rimuru Tempest. Just call me Rimuru!"
But Mindy didn't care about introductions. She immediately linked arms with Rimuru and chattered nonstop.
"Silver Rimuru, so you're Rimuru?! That's so cool—I'm so happy! I've always heard classmates talking about a beautiful, cute classmate named Rimuru, and I was kind of unimpressed. I didn't expect Rimuru to be you! Boo hoo, if only I'd known sooner!"
"Rimuru, you don't know—when I saw your fight with the Hulk, it was SO cool! I really love your Wind God! Rimuru, can you show me your Wind God? Please!"
Mindy instantly turned into a chatterbox, like she'd been possessed by Little Spider—talking nonstop.
Rimuru felt a bit helpless. Strictly speaking, this was only their second meeting.
Mindy was way too familiar!
"Okay," Rimuru replied casually.
"Rimuru, you're the best—I love you!"
Smack!
Mindy suddenly kissed Rimuru on the cheek, stunning Rimuru for a moment. Her face flushed slightly.
Western cheek-kissing customs were truly wonderful!
Seeing the intimacy between Mindy and Rimuru, the classmates were all stunned.
Who was Rimuru?
The universally acknowledged most beautiful girl in class, though she'd only attended a few days before taking sick leave.
Mysterious.
And Mindy? She was even more interesting.
Though she was also cute and pretty, she was completely different from Rimuru.
She hadn't even been in class for a week, yet she'd almost beaten up all the classroom bullies.
She was practically the boss of the class now.
But what classmates couldn't understand was—
Why were Mindy and Rimuru so close?
Did they know each other from before?
Were they… childhood friends?
As for Miss Mei Dai—cough cough—Peter Parker, his expression was complicated.
He had trusted Rimuru so much, but it turned out Rimuru had tricked him or was on the way to tricking him!
He now knew that all that talk about "balancing yin and yang," "harmony of heaven and man," and how his cultivation would regress if he didn't cross-dress—was all nonsense!
In Peter's eyes, Rimuru was just a mischievous little devil disguised as a beautiful girl—dark as coal on the inside!
What upset Peter the most was that Rimuru had even turned those photos of him wearing women's clothing and acting cute into memes.
That was already awful enough.
But even more hateful—she had spread them all over the internet!
AAAHHH!!
Every time he thought about it, Little Spider wanted to scream, crawl under his blanket, and cry his eyes out!
One wrong step leads to a lifetime of regret. He was truly foolish—truly!
What was even worse was that some classmates knew about Miss Mei Dai.
And to Peter's horror—
His rival, Thompson, had even formed a Miss Mei Dai Fan Club, and most of the boys had joined.
Every day, hearing his classmates gush about how cute Miss Mei Dai was made Peter break out in goosebumps.
Was he supposed to tell them that Miss Mei Dai was him, and he was Miss Mei Dai?
What Miss Mei Dai?!
If he said it, the shock might be… larger than anything!
Before, he had been the group's top chatterbox—texts, photos, memes, everything flowed naturally.
Now, he didn't even dare speak in the chat.
Rimuru had not only tricked him, she had ruined the very joy of browsing the Water Skirt forum.
And meme wars? Even sadder.
Whenever there was a meme battle, it was always Miss Mei Dai memes—boo hoo, he wanted to die!
Where was the most basic trust between people? Facepalm! So fierce! Tears flowing everywhere!
Peter Parker was furious—and the consequences would be severe!
This was also why he hadn't even called Rimuru during her "illness."
Unless Rimuru apologized properly, he would never talk to her again.
He—Mei Dai, cough, Peter Parker—was serious!
Seeing Little Mei Dai, Rimuru's beautiful eyes sparkled.
"Hi, Peter, long time no see!"
Peter's face instantly flushed red, and he stammered, "L-long time no see!"
...
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