"...?"
Hearing what Mr. Yang said, Kiana blinked at him and swallowed the food in her mouth.
Tilting her head, she asked, "Who are you?"
Seeing that she didn't seem to be pretending, Mr. Yang suddenly fell silent.
Back when Elysia first appeared on the Astral Express, he had already imagined that he might meet people from the past again in this world.
Yesterday, when he saw the spirited Kiana in the Ancient Sea, he wasn't surprised at all. He had even imagined many different ways they might meet again.
But he had never expected it to be like this.
She seemed to have no memory of him at all.
Suddenly, Mr. Yang realized something and looked at Kiana.
Could she be Kiana from another bubble world, one in which he had never existed?
Watching her frown as she seriously tried to remember because of what he had said, Mr. Yang felt that his guess was probably correct.
The Kiana before him wasn't the Kiana he knew.
After sorting out his thoughts, Mr. Yang spoke again.
"It's nothing. I heard about you from Levi. I didn't expect we'd have the chance to eat together today."
"Oh, oh."
Before she could figure anything out, Kiana was interrupted by his words. She nodded and said nothing more.
So he'd heard about me from Levi.
I thought he was one of the teachers from St. Freya or something.
That "classmate" almost made her head explode.
To be honest, even now, Kiana still hadn't learned the names of all the teachers who taught her.
Part of the reason was that she had only enrolled a few days ago.
But the bigger reason was that she slacked off in class all day.
She was either chatting in group chats, sleeping, or reading manga she'd borrowed from Bronya.
Given her results from the last assessment, her teachers didn't bother restricting her too much.
To them, a good student like Kiana having a few privileges was perfectly normal.
Besides, if they accidentally upset her and made her unhappy, setting aside the possibility that she'd simply skip class and disappear entirely, even if she just whispered a few words into Theresa's ear, they'd have a hard time.
Still not full, Kiana continued eating gracefully.
Just then, Dan Heng, who had gone to call Stelle for breakfast, returned with her.
Seeing that more than half of the breakfast was already gone, Stelle looked at March 7th, who had just put down her chopsticks and was wiping her mouth, with a slightly resentful look.
"Why didn't you tell me you were calling me for breakfast?"
If she'd known earlier, she'd already be full by now.
She could've even had everything while it was still hot.
Now the food had long since lost the warmth it had when it was first served.
Eating it now, Stelle felt like something was missing. It didn't taste nearly as good.
After wiping her mouth, March 7th threw the tissue into the trash and looked at Stelle in confusion.
"And you are?"
"...?"
Come on.
She'd only been joking. Was March 7th really going to cut ties with her?
Ignoring Stelle, March 7th saw that Kiana had also finished eating and pulled her away.
"Come on, let's go take a walk around town."
Before Kiana could react, March 7th grabbed her wrist and dragged her outside.
Leaving Stelle sitting there all alone.
She didn't mind.
After finishing breakfast, she planned to stay in the group chat all day.
She wanted to see what interesting thing Levi would come up with today.
———
Meanwhile...
"I'm alive again."
After finishing the staff meal Asta had sent him, Levi sat on the steps outside the Alchemy Commission, holding his stomach.
[Levi: Thank you so much!]
[Levi: Without this meal, I don't know what I would've done.]
[Asta: It's only one meal. No need to thank me.]
[Asta: By the way, are you on the Luofu right now? I have something I'd like to ask you.]
[Elysia: What a scheme!]
The newly awakened Elysia sighed.
Everyone in the group except me has eight hundred tricks up their sleeve.
[Elysia: @Levi, Go ahead, refuse her. Let me see!]
'You ate Asta's meal and still want to run?'
'Be a good little errand boy!'
[Asta: ...]
Seeing what Elysia said in the group, Asta didn't know how to explain herself.
She had genuinely only just remembered this.
"I should've waited a little longer before bringing it up."
Asta sighed helplessly.
In the end, she simply hadn't thought it through enough.
Mainly because this was a group chat.
If she still had to think constantly about how to phrase every sentence the way she did while managing the space station, it would be exhausting.
She didn't want chatting casually in the group to feel like she was still at work.
"The rich lady wants to ask me for help?"
Instinctively filtering out Elysia's barking, Levi blinked at Asta's message.
[Levi: President of the Asta Fan Club: Le 'Gentleman' Vi! At your service!]
Seeing Levi's message, Asta's expression became difficult to describe.
Of course she knew what he meant by "Fan Club."
The Herta Space Station actually had one.
It was a fan club dedicated to Madam Herta.
And she herself happened to be its president.
The people on the station just didn't know that.
After all, the fewer people who knew about something like that, the better.
Although, as the acting station chief, she was quite popular on the station,
she was nowhere near Madam Herta's level, where a dedicated fan club could naturally form.
Mainly because no one had ever thought of organizing one.
Until today.
Her own "Asta Fan Club" had officially made its debut.
Instead of immediately replying about the favor she wanted to ask, Asta first asked him about the club itself.
[Asta: May I ask how long this club has existed? And who are its members?]
[Levi: This club has existed since the day I was born! As for the members... that's a secret.]
He couldn't exactly say that every member was Levi.
Morning Levi.
Noon Levi.
Evening Levi.
Late-night Levi.
And himself...
Le 'Gentleman' Vi.
[Asta: ?]
She naturally understood why the members were kept secret. The club she ran also operated anonymously.
The reason she typed a question mark was because of his answer about when it was founded.
Judging from appearances, unless Levi belonged to a long-lived species, he should be about the same age as she was.
Wouldn't that mean...
"The club already existed when I was born?!"
The corner of Asta's mouth twitched.
She felt Levi was fooling her.
Who starts a fan club the moment the person it's dedicated to is born?
At that moment, the internet surfing expert, Fire Moth's strongest warrior, Mobius's illegal test subject, and self-proclaimed love expert, the pink chubby lady, appeared.
[Elysia: You still don't get it?]
[Get what?]
[Elysia: What Levi means is... from the day he was born, he existed just to be your fan.]
[Asta: !!!]
[Stelle: Wow!]
[Lumine: Sweet, sweet, sweet!]
[Kiana: Wait, am I the only one who finds this kind of nauseating?]
'That's way too corny.'
Had Levi reached the end of the pervert path and decided to switch over to cheesy pickup lines instead?
Looking at the chat before her, Kiana moved her lips.
For some reason, seeing him like this made her feel annoyed.
After thinking about it for a while, she reached a conclusion.
She just didn't want to see him living a good life.
Everyone in the group already knew Asta was rich.
And Asta herself had confirmed it.
If Levi actually managed to win Asta over, wouldn't that be a one-step rise to the top?