The next day at school, Kiana, Bronya and I were sitting at a table in the canteen.
Mei's class wasn't over yet due to the teacher holding them back for a bit longer, so the three of us were just waiting for her now.
In the meantime however…
"Hit." Kiana said with determination on her face.
Bronya handed over a card to Kiana.
An ecstatic look appeared on her face. With a huge grin on her face, she shouted out. "Hit again!"
Bronya raised an eyebrow, but she handed over the card anyway.
When Kiana looked at the four cards she had in hand, she smugly said, "I'll have another hit!"
"You sure?" I asked. "If you go over twenty-one with five cards, it's triple to the dealer."
"Hmph. I'm a hundred percent sure!"
Bronya looked at the cards in her hand as she handed another card to Kiana… and then…
She placed them flat down on the table.
"Hahaha! Blackjack with five cards! You need to give me three nuggets now Bronya!!" Kiana's voice rang out loudly.
There were a few stares from other classmates, but they quickly looked away.
Bronya let out a sigh as she handed over the nuggets on her plate to Kiana. She held her two cards in hand though as she looked at me.
"Subject Gojo. Please open your cards."
I obeyed.
And revealed two As.
Bronya's face was pale as she revealed the cards in her hand.
It was a mere nine and ten of spades.
"Subject Gojo, didn't you say that you have to reveal your hand if you got a blackjack?"
"Meh, I just didn't feel like it."
I could see the annoyance appear on Bronya's face.
Kiana was happy with her nugget winnings at the moment, but she took the time to ask, "What type of Blackjack is this anyways? The version my dad played wasn't like this."
"It's Chinese Blackjack. I read about it somewhere and it seemed fun."
"The Bronya interprets it as Gojo finding it from a cultivation novel."
I smiled. "Yeah, whatever you say, secretary." I got up from my seat. "Help me look after my seat for a bit. I'm going to the washroom."
Two 'Yea's were the answers I got in return.
I did my business in the washroom quickly and got out.
However, as I was returning to the canteen, I heard a commotion going on inside.
I quickened my pace a bit, since I was a busybody as all of you know. I just couldn't resist watching some juicy drama if it was going on as long as it wasn't related to me!
But when I did my reentry, any smile that was on my face was wiped off.
A group of students, a mix of guys and girls, were standing in front of the table where I was at.
And the commotion?
That was Kiana and one of the girls having a shouting contest.
I seemed to have arrived near the end of the argument as one of the guys was about to start throwing hands.
I had no worries about Kiana defending herself but still…
The guy tried to throw a sucker punch at her, and Kiana got into a ready position. But she didn't need to do anything.
My grip was clamped onto the guy's wrist, not letting it move even an inch further.
Gasps filled the hall as soft murmurs suddenly began.
"What the hell?"
"How did he appear there? He just popped into existence…"
"Wasn't he on the other side of the room just now?"
The guy who threw the punch, some no name who I didn't even bother reading his name tag for info, seemed to be in shock for a moment. He tried to pull his arm away from my hold, but it was about as fruitful as throwing an egg at a rock.
I ignored him, instead looking at Kiana.
"What happened?"
Kiana opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted by one of the girls who was in that group.
"Gojo Satoru? Sorry about this, but I would just request for you to not be friends with Rai-"
"Shut up."
The girl and her gang froze.
And then I just gave them a side eye.
"I wasn't talking to you."
After that, I stopped paying attention to them as I asked Kiana again. "What were you about to say, Kiana?"
A roar came from beside me as the guy I was holding shouted out, "HEY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME HOTSHO-"
I squeezed.
And the result?
"AURRGH! LET ME GO! PLEASE! I-IT HURTS!!!"
It was actually quite funny seeing his arrogant demeanour be crushed into specks of dust, crying out for mercy from the person he was mocking just now.
How… pathetic really.
At this time, Kiana suddenly made a move.
She swiftly kicked the guy in the head, knocking him out cold.
"Don't waste time on this guy any further, Gojo. These guys wanted us to stop hanging out with Mei."
I raised an eyebrow, letting go of the guy who was knocked out by this time. "Really? That's quite upfront of them." I shifted my gaze over. "Anything you guys want to add?"
The group took a step back in tandem as they held onto each other, their entire body shivering.
"P-please…" One of the guys forced out. "We were paid, okay?! Someone paid us!"
"Paid?" My eyes narrowed.
"Y-yea! S-someb-body told us t-that we could g-get 50000yen if we d-did this."
I took a step closer to them.
"Who?"
But I didn't get a reply.
They were out cold on the floor at this time.
I clicked my tongue. Were they so easily frightened to pass out like this now?
It was at this moment that Kiana elbowed me.
"Hey… Maybe cut out the glowing eyes thing a bit next time?" She gestured with her eyes to the rest of the students who were pale as snow at this time. "You can get pretty scary, y'know?"
I blinked. "Oh… I might have gone a bit too far…"
"You think?"
"Whatever. It'll be fine. These guy-" I froze and looked at both Bronya and Kiana. "Wait. Has Mei not arrived yet?"
A realization seemed to occur to all of us as we realised the gravity of the situation…
Could these guys… be a distraction?
"Gojo! Let's go now!" Kiana immediately blasted off. I pulled the the back of the uniform to stop her.
"Stop. I can teleport remember?"
"Oh yeah. Hurry up then!"
The both of us disappeared from our spots, causing the students who were stunned in fear to gasp again.
It seemed that their worldviews have been shattered at this time.
However, one person was left out of the teleportation.
It was Bronya Zaychik.
She was merely standing there, staring at the location Gojo stood at previously and then at the group of people on the ground.
A hint of uncertainty filled her eyes, but she quickly squashed them before she realised something too.
"The Bronya… seems to have been left behind now."
—-------------------------------------
Kiana and I arrived near Mei's class with my teleportation through Blue.
It was faster this way since her class was in the other block.
Kiana struggled out of my arms, dashed to the door of the class first, and then shouted out, "Mei! Are you oka-"
But she suddenly shut up.
I caught up a second later and sighed.
No wonder Kiana was stunned.
In the class right now, laid the prone bodies of many students.
Some of them were likely Raiden Mei's friends and some of them might have just been casual acquaintances.
That wasn't the thing that my eyes were glued onto however.
Instead, it was Mei…
She stood in the middle of the class…
Her eyes glowing…
With purple marks covering her right arm…
And a pure Honkai, shaped in the form of a wing right behind her.
She slowly shifted her gaze over to us, a cold yet satisfied smile on her face.
"So you're finally here, Gojo?"
Her grin widened.
"Shall we dance next?"
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give powerstones and comment if you liked it. Please review as well if possible
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