"What are you looking at?! You're the one, aren't you? The guy who dragged Andy to this sleazy place to fool around!" Mai's displaced anger came without warning.
Cloud blinked, pointing at his own nose. "Me? I'm just an innocent bystander here!"
"Don't you dare deny it!" Mai wasn't listening to explanations. Her wrist flicked, and her folding fan snapped open with a sharp whoosh.
"Try this! Butterfly Fan!"
With a fierce cry, the white fan transformed into a deadly streak of light, cutting through the air toward Cloud's face!
Holy crap! She just attacks without warning?!
Cloud's pupils contracted sharply. His combat instincts—honed since transmigrating—activated instantly.
His body reacted before his mind caught up.
His head tilted slightly. The fan grazed past his ear and embedded itself deep in the wall behind him, the handle still vibrating.
That was close!
Cold sweat broke out across Cloud's body. This woman was actually trying to kill him!
But before he could catch his breath, Mai had already closed the distance like an elegant, lethal fire-swallow.
A knife-hand strike wreathed in scorching heat sliced toward his neck.
"Ninja Art: Dragon Flame Dance!"
The air before Cloud's face distorted from the intense heat.
At this critical moment, a long-absent system notification rang in his mind.
[Ding! Detected high-potential 'Bond' target: Mai Shiranui!]
[Generating character template...]
[Name: Mai Shiranui]
[Title: The Alluring Kunoichi]
[Combat Rating: B+ (Can reach A at peak condition)]
[Charm Rating: SS (Growable)]
[Bond Potential: SS+]
[Note: Establishing deep bonds with high-potential targets yields unexpectedly generous rewards!]
[Affection System activated!]
[Target: Mai Shiranui]
[Current Affection: -50 (Furious—you're just a target for displaced anger)]
[Side Quest Issued: First 'Experience' with the Shiranui Style]
[Objective: Survive Mai Shiranui's attack and turn the unfavorable situation around.]
[Rewards: Source Points x2,000, Skill "Shiranui-Style Body Techniques (Beginner)," Random Affection Increase.]
Holy crap! This works too?! Getting into a fight unlocks a new system?
Cloud had no time to complain—Mai's attack was already in his face.
He didn't dare hold back. Pushing off with his feet, he slid backward half a meter, barely dodging the knife-hand.
Cloud grabbed a sturdy metal serving tray from the table and held it across his chest.
CLANG!
A heavy impact. Cloud felt tremendous force transfer through the tray.
His entire body—chair and all—skidded back several meters until he crashed into the counter.
"Hssss..." He shook his numbed arms, looking at the clear footprint now imprinted on the tray. His heart pounded with lingering fear.
This girl's leg techniques were no joke!
"Quick reflexes!" Mai's attack had missed, which surprised her, but her assault only intensified. "See where you can run!"
Her figure blurred like a phantom as she closed in again.
"Lady! Stop, stop, stop!" Cloud shouted desperately while fumbling behind the counter. His hand closed on a red metal canister, which he aimed at Mai.
"Come any closer and things are gonna get ugly!"
Mai paused at the sight of the red canister. What kind of hidden weapon is this?
She watched as Cloud expertly pulled the safety pin, aimed at the wooden floor planks that her Dragon Flame Dance had set ablaze, and squeezed hard.
PSHHHHHH—!
White dry-powder foam gushed out, instantly smothering the small flames.
The entire restaurant fell into deathly silence.
Mai: "..."
Andy: "..."
All the customers: "..."
Cloud held up the fire extinguisher, face perfectly innocent, and blew on the nozzle. "Told you—let's talk this out instead of playing with fire in a restaurant! Fire safety is everyone's responsibility. Look, you've damaged the floor. That's gonna cost money to fix."
Mai's pretty face cycled through shades of red and white. In all her years in the fighting world, she'd never seen anyone use a fire extinguisher to interrupt a battle!
What was this supposed to be? Ninja Art: Fire Extinguisher Technique?
"You... you scoundrel!" She stamped her foot in frustration.
"How am I a scoundrel? I'm a civic-minded hero who put out a fire!" Cloud stood his ground righteously, then looked her up and down with a very professional tone:
"But speaking of which, miss—that outfit of yours... the ventilation must be excellent, right? Don't you get cold wearing it in winter?"
"Pfft—" A customer nearby couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Mai's cheeks instantly flushed crimson—from anger, from embarrassment, or both.
This man had not only interrupted her attack, but he'd actually dared to mock her clothes in public!
"You... what nonsense are you spouting?! This is the traditional ninja garb of my Shiranui school!"
"Just telling it like it is." Cloud shrugged, set the extinguisher on the counter, and spread his hands.
"Besides, I really don't know your boyfriend. I'm just an ordinary citizen passing through South Town who wanted to eat a burger."
"Look at my burger... it was just a child! And now it's gone cold!"
He pointed at the pathetic half-burger on his plate, his expression one of profound grief.
After this series of absurd maneuvers, Mai's full tank of fury was forced back down, stuck halfway, extremely uncomfortable.
She looked to Andy for help, hoping he'd say something.
Andy finally stood up and walked between them. He said to Mai: "Mai, stop making a scene. I really don't know him."
That confirmation was the last straw.
Mai completely petrified.
So she'd gotten the wrong person all along?
And in front of all these people, she'd fought a stranger and then been "educated" by him with a fire extinguisher?
In an instant, embarrassment, shame, indignation, grievance... a cocktail of emotions flooded her heart.
She looked at Cloud's half-smiling face and wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
"Hmph!"
In the end, all those emotions condensed into one heavy snort.