The evening breeze blew up the fallen leaves on the grass, and when it brushed past the back of Van's neck, it stirred up a slight shiver.
Van shrank his shoulders and pulled the collar of his school uniform tighter by a bit.
'Is the weather getting colder? Or is someone talking about me behind my back?' Thinking of this, Van cursed a certain cabbage-head in his heart one hundred and eighty times again.
After walking out of the school gate, Van, just like usual, came to the supermarket to buy some ingredients and prepare dinner.
Whether it was the convergence of the world lines, or the guidance of fate.
When Van picked up some eggs from the discount section, he heard the sound of small collisions coming from behind.
Indigo-purple hair tips swept past the edge of his vision, followed by the dull sound of ingredients falling onto the tiles.
The Thunder Queen who fought for humanity in the previous life was now flusteredly chasing after the runaway carrots and bell peppers.
Looking at the bell pepper that fell on the ground, a wave of familiar memories surged up in Van's heart.
Recalling the bits and pieces of interaction with this young lady in his past life, Van adjusted his mood and walked up.
"Classmate, here, your bell pepper." Van reminded Raiden Mei like a passerby, not showing any extra expression in order to lower his presence.
"Ah! Thank you." Reminded, Raiden Mei hurriedly placed the ingredients in her hands properly, thanking him while taking the bell pepper from Van.
"You're welcome."
After saying that, Van prepared to leave, but was suddenly called out by Raiden Mei. "Classmate, um…"
Van stopped at the sound, his heart drumming. Was he recognized?
But after a second thought, he felt it shouldn't be. After all, it's a 'concept-level' curse. It shouldn't be so easily broken.
But to be honest, for Van, he could hide his identity from many people.
But in front of Raiden Mei, who had been with him through so much in his previous life, he really didn't want to lie.
Just as Van was hesitating, the other party shifted the topic, softly saying, "Classmate, thank you for your help. Judging from your school uniform, we should be from the same school. Would it be convenient for you to tell me your name?"
Van smiled and shook his head, while placing the eggs into the shopping cart, silently stepping back a bit, "It was just a small favor, nothing worth mentioning. As for my name… just treat me as a passing-by Kamen Rider, alright?"
After saying that, Van turned and left.
As the sun set in the west, Van carried a plastic bag with ingredients in one hand while humming a slightly sorrowful tune.
Just as he entered an alley, he heard hurried footsteps coming from behind.
Turning his head at the sound, Van saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The setting sun shone on the cobblestones of the alley. Raiden Mei was leaning against the wall, panting slightly.
Maybe because she had been running intensely, her indigo-purple long hair was a bit messy from the wind, with some unidentified petals from the roadside sticking to the tips.
There were mud spots on the sides of her sneakers, clearly from crossing over flowerbeds and taking a shortcut.
"Classmate, please wait a moment!" Sweat-drenched bangs stuck to her forehead, and Raiden Mei's always overly calm eyes showed a rare trace of panic.
"Have we… seen each other… somewhere before?"
Van, "I…"
Just as the atmosphere was about to freeze, an energetic shout came from not far away.
"Mei! So you were here!"
Kiana's arrival interrupted the conversation between the two and eased the awkward mood.
"Mei, how did you suddenly disappear? Bronya and I looked for a long time. Didn't we agree to have a little get-together tonight… oh right, Mei, who is this classmate?"
Kiana looked warily at the handsome boy in front of her, as if trying to see through his intentions with her eyes.
But as she looked, the wariness on Kiana's face was suddenly replaced by confusion, "This classmate… you look really familiar?"
As if recalling something, Kiana's eyes suddenly lit up, "I remember now! Aren't you the guy who sits behind me?"
Raiden Mei's fingertips unconsciously rubbed the handle of the shopping bag and said confusedly, "Same class? But why don't I have any impression at all?"
"Come on~ Mei~" Kiana shook her phone. Her lock screen wallpaper was a silly selfie of her hugging Mei, "Isn't it always like this in anime? Every class has a background character A, so it's normal you don't remember!"
Saying this, Kiana suddenly leaned close to Van. A unique fragrance belonging to young girls rushed over, "By the way, background character A classmate, why were you with my Mei? Could it be… you like her and want to confess?!"
Thinking of this, Kiana felt a mountain of pressure. If it were an average-looking guy, it'd be fine, but who knew this guy would actually be unexpectedly good-looking.
Kiana was really afraid her Mei would impulsively agree because of hormones.
Kiana's nonsense made Raiden Mei's face blush in embarrassment, "Kiana, you misunderstood. I was the one who took the initiative to find this classmate…"
"Huh?" Kiana looked completely shocked, "Mei, don't tell me… No way! Mei! Not that kind of thing!"
Watching the chaotic Kiana, the helpless Raiden Mei patiently explained the whole situation.
"So, Mei, what you mean is that this classmate helped you pick up something earlier, so you wanted to catch up to thank him, and there's nothing else between you two, right?"
Raiden Mei's affirmative answer made Kiana let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness there's nothing between Mei and that boy. Otherwise, how would she live in the future?
Indeed, a future without Mei is not the future she wants.
Just in case, Kiana planned to warn that handsome boy to stay away from her Mei.
But the moment she turned around, she found that the boy had already left at some unknown point.
'Left already?'
Well, that's good, at least he knows his place. Saves me the trouble of lecturing.
However, when Kiana turned around again, seeing Raiden Mei still looking confused in the direction the boy had left.
Kiana hurriedly grabbed her hand and changed the topic, "Ah~ Mei! If you don't return to the dorm to prepare dinner soon, Bronya won't be able to wait!"
Raiden Mei smiled and tapped Kiana's head with her finger, "I think the one who can't wait is you, right? Let's go then~"
Watching the two of them gradually walk away, Van stepped out from the shadows of the alley and waved toward their backs.
As if sensing something, Raiden Mei, being pulled by Kiana, suddenly turned back and looked toward the alley.
But unfortunately, there, aside from the gradually fading setting sun, there was no one.
[T/N: If you're liking this story, I just started a new one: "Pokémon: Gardevoir Harem with Tag System." As evident from the name, a Pokemon fanfic, OP MC and OP system, check and throw some Powerstones while you are at it. Have a great read 🥳]
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