Shin Honkai Impact(Remake): Crossing Stars

第2章 - Broken Princess

Mei's POV

It has been a few days since that incident. Raiden Mei had sleepless nights ever since. She could not understand why would a person be kind to her after all the ostracism she went through. For her, it was something that she could not understand.

I, Raiden Mei, laid in my bed as I gaze at the ceiling in a daze, wandering between the wakefulness and sleep. My sleep has been stolen from me by that transfer student that I can't stop thinking about.

"Namae wa Ikari Shirou. What about you?"

Ikari Shirou-kun....

My mind wonders between two possibilities; he is just like everyone else, or ...he was really different. I can't help but think about it that way. Could he truly be different? All my life I've been longing for genuine warmth.

My mother died when I was young, my father was arrested due to the embezzlement of funds from our company. Why would he do that? I don't understand anything anymore....
I thought that if I had become the heiress that he wanted me to be, then he would love me and treat me like his daughter instead of a heiress.

Then, yesterday when I was checking his closet, I found the Mr. HOMU costume that my instructor used to wear. He taught me kendo and the ways of the sword. I realised that my father was the one acting as my trainer for a long time...

He would find time from his work at ME and would pose as an instructor to spend time with me...

"...Father..."

My lips quiver as I hug myself in my large bed, sleeping alone. I have no need for such a large bed since I sleep alone, but I can't help it. There is no one in the mansion. I'm all alone in this large mansion. Thinking such things, I cry myself to sleep.

... My consciousness sinks to the depth from which there is no coming back.

...A mansion on the hill where the bustle of the Academy city cannot reach.

...An isolated island surrounded by large trees.

...After I close my eyes, I come to realise that it feels like being in a prison all this time rather than the warm feeling of a home.

—

———The next morning, I am walking towards the place that made my life a hell. Ever since after my father's arrest, I've been alone and isolated from everyone else, discriminated by those who once looked up to me.

It feels ironic. The same classmates who used to swarm around me and shower me with attention, now give me the cold shoulder and ignored my existence as much as possible.

The fact that I lost my position as a heiress is the reason for this new environment.

If I'm being honest, it's both a relief and a pain. Relief because I did not want that much attention, and pain because everyone left me alone at my lowest. They were only being friendly to me because I had a high position and my appearance.

"This world is rotten to the core."

I feel as if someone whispered something to me. A shiver passes down my spine. I look around frantically to locate the source of the sound only to find nothing. Dismissing it as a mere figment of my imagination, I start my walk to Chiba Academy.

The Raiden mansion is located on the edge of the city, on a hill. On the hill, there is a forest that seems like a rather out of place in an urban area. Depending on how you look at it, the Raiden residence could be seen as a gate built at the entrance to that forest.