Theresa learned about Kiana's situation at noon and immediately set out from St. Freya Academy, which was quite a distance from Nagazora. By evening, she had arrived in the city. After reviewing the surveillance footage from the main thoroughfares of Nagazora, she managed to obtain several pieces of vital information.
Along the way, the petite Theresa naturally caught the eye of some kindhearted women who, mistaking her for a lost child, wanted to help her find her way home. Theresa eventually had to produce her identification to settle the matter, and fortunately, no further incidents occurred.
These minor setbacks didn't bother her; Theresa had encountered them often enough in the past. Eventually, she had made it a point to bring Major Murata Himeko along whenever she traveled. She hadn't this time, however, because the fewer people who knew about Kiana's situation, the better.
At this moment, Theresa was feeling quite fortunate that she hadn't brought Major Murata Himeko along. She had discovered that the young Kiana had seemingly sneaked into a male dormitory to live with the only boy there.
This was undoubtedly a scandal, and as the saying goes, "family scandals should not be aired in public." Theresa was already calculating whether she should make the "bad guy" who had seduced her adorable niece vanish from the face of the earth.
Her niece certainly wouldn't be so lacking in principles. There was no way Kiana would just meet some random boy upon arriving in Nagazora for the first time, fall in love at first sight, and move in with him. How could she be so brainless?! That boy must have had ill intentions.
Weaving through the streets, Theresa headed toward the dormitory location she had identified. Standing before the entrance, she took a deep breath, suppressing her internal dissatisfaction for the moment, and prepared to ring the doorbell.
However, she soon realized that not only was there no doorbell, but the lock on the front door was broken as well. It appeared to have been cleverly concealed; one wouldn't have noticed the damage without looking very closely.
While she felt a slight spark of joy at being able to slip into the dormitory without alerting anyone, Theresa also felt a wave of intense worry. If the front door of this shiny-looking building was actually broken,
did it mean the place was nothing more than a facade golden on the outside but rotten within? Perhaps the rooms inside were abandoned, covered in dust and cobwebs. How could Kiana live in a place like this!
Theresa's resentment toward the fellow who had seduced Kiana grew even stronger.
Inside the dorm, Kiana heard a noise and poked her head out into the hallway. When she saw that the visitor wasn't Hua Yi but a stranger, she panicked and pulled back, silently hoping her movement hadn't been noticed.
Kiana didn't jump out to demand the intruder's identity. Instead, she began to think frantically. Having spent the entire day in a state like a Salted Fish, she finally had enough energy to use her brain.
Could it be that Tachikawa Academy sent a dorm manager?
No, that's not right. Judging by the stranger's appearance, she didn't look like a manager or a teacher; she looked more like a student. However, Kiana didn't think someone of that height could be a high schooler. At most, she looked like a middle schooler maybe even an elementary school student.
What on earth is an elementary schooler doing in a high school dormitory?!
After grumbling internally for a moment, Kiana sent a text to Hua Yi, who should have finished classes by now. She told him that a brat had broken into the dorm and that, as an illegal resident, she couldn't show her face. She urged him to get back as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Theresa didn't enter the hallway; if she had, there would have been no hiding the damaged door to Kiana's room. Instead, Theresa stepped onto the stairs and headed up. She didn't seem interested in knocking on every door,
choosing instead to check the higher floors first. Theresa assumed the boy living there wouldn't be on the first floor. This assumption gave Kiana and Hua Yi some much-needed time.
A few kilometers away, Hua Yi was chatting with Raiden Mei as usual, tasting the increasingly delicious snacks she made. He glanced at the message on his phone and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Seeing this, Raiden Mei, who had been sitting beside him with a faint smile while watching him enjoy the results of her hard work, couldn't help but ask, "Did something happen?"
"At my dorm... Well, the whole situation is a bit complicated. I'll explain it to you in detail tomorrow, but I have to head back now. Sorry."
"It's all right."
Raiden Mei watched Hua Yi leave. The reason she only watched him go rather than seeing him to the school gate like a close friend was because Hua Yi never took the normal path. After all, Chiba Academy was an all-girls school; Hua Yi couldn't afford to be exposed.
If she walked him to a corner of the campus and watched him hop over the wall, the scene would be incredibly awkward. Being the cultured and sensible person she was, Raiden Mei settled for watching him go.
Hua Yi's departure didn't leave Raiden Mei feeling relieved; instead, she felt a sense of loss.
Raiden Mei wasn't the type to grow bored of people. Increased contact with Hua Yi hadn't made her weary of him. For her, chatting with him, practicing swordsmanship, and watching him eat her carefully prepared treats every evening after school were things that brought her immense joy. She had grown accustomed to his regular arrivals. Now that he had suddenly left early, it felt strange.
When she thought about it, Hua Yi was always the one taking the initiative to visit her. Perhaps she should find an opportunity to look for him instead. Chiba Academy was a girls' school, after all, and Hua Yi jumping over walls to get in and out was somewhat risky.
Furthermore, who had sent that text? She had recently looked into Tachikawa Academy and hadn't heard anything about a new male student transferring there, let alone living with Hua Yi.
That meant the one who sent the message was likely a girl, right? If it were a teacher or someone of that nature, they wouldn't have sent a text in an emergency they would have called him directly.
Honestly, Raiden Mei was quite curious about the sender and the content of that text.
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