“Phew… I finally managed to fool her.” After confirming that Misaka Mikoto had left the classroom and had no intention of suddenly turning back, Shokuhou Misaki finally let out a long sigh of relief.
She sat back down in her seat and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the glove on her hand.
—It was all thanks to Misaka Mikoto’s usual lack of attention to detail that she didn’t notice Our tension.
The so-called “rumor” did indeed arise because someone overheard the tea party’s conversation, but as the organizer of the tea party, how could Shokuhou Misaki, who holds the title of “Queen,” fail to do even the most basic confidentiality work and easily let others overhear their conversation?
Without saying it was intentional, Shokuhou Misaki did indeed deliberately allow this situation to happen.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?” Seeing her look tired, someone immediately offered her wet wipes, tea, and snacks.
“Were you arguing with Misaka Student just now?”
“No,” Shokuhou Misaki took the teacup and moistened her throat, “We just had a friendly chat, and nothing unpleasant happened.”
The girls around her, of course, did not believe this. They were convinced that something must have happened between the two Level 5s in the few minutes that had just passed.
—Ah~~ It’s not easy to fool them here either. It seems I need to remember to synchronize and correct memory information next time, otherwise, the lost time will be easily discovered.
Shokuhou Misaki reflected silently in her heart.
“Your Majesty,” a student boldly asked, “The rumor says that you declared war on Wuming Student. Is that true?”
—As expected, someone finally couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s false,” Shokuhou Misaki replied with a smile.
A wave of disappointed sighs immediately rose around her.
“The Great Ba Xing Festival is a school-based event,” Shokuhou Misaki continued leisurely amidst the sighs, “So, it should be a showdown between Our Tokiwadai Middle School and A Certain High School.”
“Huh?!!” The tones around her instantly went from low to high.
…
“Damn it, I’ve clarified it, these little girls who love to stir up trouble!” The Dean slammed the table angrily, “They don’t do anything proper all day, always spreading gossip!”
It was hard enough to formulate this year’s Great Ba Xing Festival strategy, and before it could even be implemented, it was already at risk of being ruined. How could anyone not be angry?
As confirmed in the previous meeting, this year was the best, and perhaps the only, opportunity for Tokiwadai Middle School to claim the top spot in Academy City.
It would be a great injustice if their dream were shattered because of a mere rumor.
“In short, we must first blockade the news,” the Dean immediately decided, “We cannot let this rumor spread, especially not to A Certain High School and Lin Wuming!”
A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth, and a rumor is most troublesome because if enough people say it, even if it was originally false, it can become true!
…
“What? Tokiwadai Middle School declared war on me?!” In the Hospital’s office, Lin Wuming looked at Heaven Canceller, who had just told him this surprising news, with a shocked expression. “Did I hear that right? Where did you get this unreliable news, Doctor?”
“Don’t underestimate the Doctor’s connections and intelligence network,” Heaven Canceller said while operating the testing equipment. “Because it concerns you, I was kind enough to tell you.”
“This is obviously fake news, right?” Lin Wuming retorted, “I haven’t offended Tokiwadai Middle School, so why would they declare war on me?”
“Have you really not offended them?” Heaven Canceller asked in return, “Don’t blame me for being nosy, but with your relationship with those girls and your terrible handling of it, it’s really easy to make enemies. Love turning into hate is not uncommon; I’ve seen many such cases in the Hospital.”
Lin Wuming looked over speechlessly. He found that the Doctor was also increasingly fond of joking with him about this matter.
And the worst part was, he was right, so Lin Wuming couldn’t refute him!
Seeing Lin Wuming fall silent, Heaven Canceller continued, “Alright, you don’t have to be really nervous. I don’t think the original intention of the message was like that. Their true goal should be the upcoming Great Ba Xing Festival, and the so-called declaration of war should also be a showdown during the Great Ba Xing Festival, right?”
“It’s the Great Ba Xing Festival again…” Lin Wuming said, “As expected, everyone takes this event very seriously.”
“Of course, after all, it’s a grand annual event,” Heaven Canceller said, “And students are usually very enthusiastic about such activities, aren’t they? On the contrary, Lin Wuming, you have no interest in these youthful activities, which is really unlike a young person.”
“Hehe,” Lin Wuming gave two dry laughs, “I’m definitely not the only one who’s not interested in such large-scale events. Doctor, you can’t generalize.”
“Alright, don’t frown all day when you’re so young,” Heaven Canceller patted Lin Wuming’s shoulder hard, “Perform well during the upcoming Great Ba Xing Festival, and don’t lose to those middle schoolers, and female students at that!”
“Doctor…” Lin Wuming looked over speechlessly, “You also know what the current situation outside is like. Do you really still have the mind to care about a sports festival?”
Without saying that the enemy was at hand, at least a feud had been formed with the Roman Orthodox Church, and the enemy could attack at any time.
Moreover, Lin Wuming knew that Fiamma of the Right had the strength and ambition to start a Third World War.
But now, Lin Wuming had no particularly good way to deal with his right hand…
Thus, it was no wonder Lin Wuming felt immense pressure.
It wasn’t that he presumptuously believed that Fiamma of the Right had to be dealt with by himself, but simply because Lin Wuming knew the original plot and what Fiamma of the Right might do next—at this stage, he was the only one seriously considering this problem.
In this situation, Lin Wuming inevitably thought about how he should respond to this threat.
The so-called “ignorance is bliss”—the two million citizens of Academy City were already immersed in the enthusiastic atmosphere of the “Great Ba Xing Festival,” simply because they didn’t know what would happen next.
But Lin Wuming had already unconsciously entered a “pre-war state” and began preparing for the upcoming battle. Thus, it was inevitable that he would feel anxious.
Heaven Canceller, of course, also saw his psychological problem but didn’t say much.
—After all, with Mental Out by his side, she was the true professional “psychologist,” and Lin Wuming’s psychological problems didn’t need him to worry about.
“All I have to do is take care of your physical condition,” Heaven Canceller muttered, and then, looking at the test results, announced, “Alright, you can be discharged.”
“Really?” Lin Wuming was no longer surprised by this. “As expected.”
