Chapter 27: Exchanging Contact Info

Watching from the shadows, Shinji suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe he had taken the prank too far. He hadn't expected the poor girl to actually start crying. He couldn't bear to watch a girl cry, and with a soft sigh, he appeared in front of Lily in an instant.

Lily, who had been sitting with her head down, quietly sobbing, suddenly noticed a pair of shoes appear in front of her. She looked up and saw Shinji.

"Come on. I'll take you out of here."

Shinji didn't say much more, simply reaching out his hand toward her.

Lily blinked, confused and disoriented, her thoughts clearly jumbled. But after a moment of hesitation, she reached out and took his hand.

Shinji didn't use Kamui or Flying Thunder God. In front of Lily, he simply led her out of the wilderness on foot.

...

Halfway through the walk, Lily used her free hand to wipe away the tears still lingering on her cheeks. She felt a little embarrassed that Shinji had seen her crying.

"...Did you know I was following you?"

She suddenly asked. After all, there would have been no reason for him to come back for her if he hadn't noticed.

"Yeah. I noticed right from the start."

Shinji nodded honestly.

"I figured..."

With everything that had happened, Lily wasn't really surprised anymore. No wonder he had been taking such a weird, winding path while she tried to follow him...

"Um... thanks."

She mumbled, a little shy.

If he hadn't come back, she really would've been stranded out there with no way back.

"No problem. But next time, don't go around following people. What if you get kidnapped and don't even realize it?"

Shinji gave her a gentle warning.

"I wouldn't just follow anyone! It's only because you wouldn't tell me, so I had no choice..."

Lily pouted.

"No choice, huh? But I'm just a B-Class rookie ranked 4th. It's not like I'm that important to the Blizzard Group. Why go to all this trouble?"

Shinji genuinely didn't understand. No matter how strong he really was, hardly anyone knew his true capabilities. From the outside, he was just B-Class Rank 4. Sure, it made sense for the Blizzard Group to want to recruit him, but Lily acting like she had to go this far felt like a stretch.

"..."

Lily hesitated for a while, then finally admitted,

"That's on me. I wanted to handle this properly for Lady Blizzard... I was hoping she'd praise me."

"I see..."

Shinji was left speechless. Now that he thought about it, it made sense. Yeah, this girl really was Fubuki's little fangirl. She admired her deeply and had even joined the Blizzard Group voluntarily.

That lotus flower hairpin on her head... yeah, it kind of said everything.

"I'm just telling you now, don't bother. I'm not dumb enough to give you guys my home address. That's just asking for the Blizzard Group to come knocking and start trouble."

Shinji stated bluntly.

"It won't be like that. As long as you take the initiative to greet Lady Blizzard and accept her invitation, not only will no one cause you trouble, it'll actually bring you great benefits."

Lily quickly shook her head.

"Accept her invitation? So what she wanted to talk to me about was inviting me to join the Blizzard Group, right?"

Shinji asked casually.

"Ah..."

Lily froze, realizing she'd accidentally let it slip. She instinctively covered her mouth, but it was already too late.

Since the truth was out, she gave up trying to hide it.

"Yes, Lady Blizzard thinks you have a lot of potential, so she's planning to invite you to join the Blizzard Group. But she hasn't been able to find you, which is why I came to gather information about you."

"I see. Well, I refuse."

Shinji turned her down without even pausing.

He'd have to be seriously bored to join the Blizzard Group. There was nothing in it for him, and worse, he'd have to play second fiddle under someone else's command. That didn't appeal to him at all.

"Wait, don't be so quick to reject it! Don't you know how many benefits come with it?"

Lily rushed to explain.

"There are many factions in the hero world. It's hard to survive alone. For example, if you want to climb the ranks, rival factions might try to stop you. You do understand that, right?"

"I do. But I still refuse."

Shinji's tone left no room for negotiation.

Lily grew even more anxious.

"That's not all! If you join the Blizzard Group, Lady Blizzard can guarantee your rise among the top B-Class heroes. Otherwise, you'll struggle just to move forward."

She wasn't exaggerating. The top B-Class ranks were already locked down by the Blizzard Group. Anyone who refused to join would find their path to the top completely blocked.

Even if you challenged someone at the top, it wouldn't be a simple one-on-one. You'd have to fight the entire Blizzard Group. Unless you did something truly outrageous, something that made the Hero Association fast-track you to A-Class without having to defeat Fubuki, there was no other way forward. But how many B-Class heroes could actually manage that? For most of them, it was a dead end...

"Got it."

Shinji gave a slight nod.

At that moment, they arrived at a residential area.

"This should be far enough, right? I'm heading off."

Lily thought he had finally changed his mind. Smiling, she said,

"Right. If you decide to visit the Blizzard Group later, or if you don't know the way, I can take you there."

"Hold on. I just said I understand, not that I agreed to join."

Shinji corrected her immediately.

"Also... sure, I was the one who took your hand earlier, but are you going to let go now? I kinda need to head home."

He looked down at his hand, still tightly held by Lily.

Only then did Lily realize she had been holding hands with a guy all this time. She had been so focused on persuading him about the Blizzard Group that she hadn't even noticed. Flustered, she let go in a hurry, her face flushing a deep red.

"S-sorry... Wait! Why are you still refusing to join?!"

She quickly snapped back to the main issue.

"I've explained more than once. It's just too much of a hassle. And I'm used to doing things my own way."

Shinji replied casually.

"If you're really set on this... just don't say I didn't warn you. Lady Blizzard won't go easy on you. Every single person who's refused her invitation has regretted it."

At this point, Lily didn't know what else to say. She had already laid it all out for him. All she could do now was make things clear.

"Think it over. If you change your mind, you can contact me anytime."

As she spoke, she pulled out her phone.

Seeing this, Shinji asked,

"Are we exchanging contact info now?"

Lily's face showed a flicker of awkwardness at the question, and she quickly clarified,

"Don't get the wrong idea! This is purely so I can reach you if necessary. I absolutely don't have any other intentions!"

===

Please vote for Bonus Chapters.

500 Power Stones = 5 Bonus Chapters

1000 Power Stones = 10 Bonus Chapters

You can also read advance chapters here:

www. patr eon.com/OberonLA