"It's been so long since I last set foot in St. Freya… and yet, it seems nothing here has changed at all."
After the aircraft landed, Wendy, helped out of her wheelchair by Lynelle, let out a soft sigh.
"You know, I almost forgot—you're also a graduate of St. Freya, aren't you, Wendy?"
Lynelle chuckled and gently patted Wendy's head.
"Now that you're back, does it feel like revisiting an old haunt?"
"Not really. I've actually kept in touch with Teacher Theresa privately all along, so it doesn't feel unfamiliar, but…"
Wendy suddenly puffed out her cheeks. "If I remember correctly, doesn't Lynelle also have plenty of 'good friends' here?"
"Ahaha…"
Lynelle guiltily averted her gaze. "Y-yeah, that's true… Eek—that tickles!"
Suddenly, Wendy pinched the soft flesh at Lynelle's waist, making her squirm and shrink back sensitively.
"Hmph… you dummy, Lynelle."
Wendy let out a light hum. "Let me make this clear—if any of your other friends are the kind of troublemakers with questionable habits, I won't stand for it, okay?"
"Uh, well…"
Lynelle's mouth twitched.
If that was the standard… then Kiana, who was always clinging to Mei and consistently ranked near the bottom academically, would probably be seen as a "bad student" in Wendy's book, being the studious type she was.
"By the way, Wendy, since it's been a while since I've been back to St. Freya too, I'm thinking of doing a surprise check on the dorms of those guys. Gotta scope things out first and see if they've been studying properly lately."
Thinking about what might unfold next, Lynelle promptly decided to temporarily break off from the exchange group and go solo, hoping to avoid any potential stormy confrontations.
"How sneaky, Lynelle… Well, hurry back. Don't forget we have our own mission to handle."
Wendy didn't suspect Lynelle's motives—after all, even back in the Oceania branch, Lynelle often played little tricks like this to tease her, and Wendy would usually turn around and use them to "surprise" Ragna.
Let's just say her relationship with Ragna was truly one of… affectionate mother-daughter bonding (or so it seemed).
"Heheh… I'll be off then?"
Lynelle waved and vanished on the spot.
Watching her leave, Wendy seemed to relax a little, then quietly activated her airflow radar, scanning the St. Freya campus for a certain white-haired student.
After all, during some of their… quirky recreational activities, Lynelle had mentioned that her closest friend at St. Freya was a certain "white-haired fluffball."
Combined with historical records about Lynelle's dear friend Sirin during the Second Honkai Eruption… honestly, Wendy was feeling a bit of pressure.
So, she decided to go scope out this white-haired fluffball first—at the very least, she couldn't let Lynelle get taken advantage of by some shady character!
Wendy was suddenly fired up with determination!
--+--
Meanwhile, completely unaware that she had inadvertently turned Wendy into a combustible mess, Lynelle had already sneaked into the "dorm" where Kiana and the others lived.
Of course, calling it a dorm was a stretch—this was really Himeko's villa.
Besides Kiana and her two friends, Himeko also lived here regularly, while Theresa split her time between here and her office—after all, the Oath of Judah had a sleep mode, so Theresa wasn't particularly picky about where she slept.
"Whose room should I check first… Mei's room is usually tidy, and if I leave any traces, she'll definitely notice."
"Bronya's door is usually locked when she leaves the villa because she's downloaded a bunch of R-18 games on her computer…"
"Obviously, the best choice for exploration is Kiana's room—it's always a mess, and she never locks her door!"
Drawing on her thorough understanding of the trio, Lynelle quickly settled on her target and deftly made her way to Kiana's door.
Even though she hadn't been back in half a year, Lynelle was still very familiar with the location of Kiana's room.
After all, she'd spent a rather memorable and milestone kind of night here—in more ways than one.
So even with her eyes closed, she could find her way into Kiana's room.
She even knew that just inside the door, to the left, was a huge pile of messy textbooks—sometimes even blocking the entrance.
Expecting Kiana to tidy that up was simply asking too much.
So, to avoid altering the room's original layout, she should lift her leg high to step over the book pile after opening the door… Wait, where are the books?
Lynelle, feeling a draft under her skirt after lifting her leg, stared blankly at the clean, tidy entrance.
Did I enter the wrong room?
Lynelle leaned in slightly to check the room number.
No, this is definitely Kiana's room.
Must be the way I opened the door.
Lynelle closed the door, took a deep breath, and opened it again.
The neat and orderly room greeted her eyes.
"Did… Kiana switch rooms with someone else? But no, all the stuff in here is clearly Kiana's. Did Mei recently help her clean up?"
After pondering for a moment, Lynelle decisively ruled out the possibility that Kiana had suddenly reformed herself.
Don't ask why—let's just say she had full confidence in Kiana's habits at this stage.
"Alright, seems she's dodged a bullet this time. Guess I'll just have to check on her studying progress then…"
Lynelle walked over to Kiana's desk, picked up a notebook at random, and started flipping through it.
A few seconds later, she quickly flipped back to the cover.
"Whoa, whose notes are these? They're pretty detailed. I can't believe Kiana's borrowing notes to study now. How praisewor—thy?"
Staring at the elegantly written "Kiana Kaslana" on the cover, Lynelle felt as if her brain was being trampled by a runaway plot.
Refusing to believe it, Lynelle picked up another notebook—same handwriting, same name.
Lynelle slowly held her head in her hands.
"Oh no, did I transmigrate again? How is this goofball studying on her own?!"
Just as Lynelle was questioning her reality, Kiana and her two friends, having just finished class, had already arrived at the sports ground.
Because this year's Valkyrie exams had a public demonstration aspect, the assessment mechanism was different. Before the observers from the Oceania branch and the soon-to-arrive Schicksal headquarters team arrived, Theresa had already arranged for them to complete their written exams.
"Hey, Kiana, look over there."
Mei suddenly nudged Kiana beside her.
"See that little sister in a wheelchair over there… I don't think I've seen her before. Do you recognize her?"
"Aunt Himeko said the Valkyries from the Oceania branch would arrive today, right? St. Freya only has so many people. If she's a new face, she's probably from Oceania, isn't she?"
Kiana's voice held little surprise, but she glanced curiously at Bronya beside her.
"But, dummy Bronya… why are you staring at her so intently?"
"...It's nothing."
Bronya was silent for a moment.
"It's just… her hairstyle… reminds me of a little sister I once had."
"Anyway, she seems to have trouble moving with the wheelchair. I'll go over and help her."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.