With the morning classes over, Raziel was trying to find a quiet place to eat his lunch.
Upon arriving behind the academy plaza, he found a wooden bench beneath a large tree, with only a few students nearby.
He sat on the bench and retrieved a neatly packed box from his storage ring, containing a well-prepared meal made by Clarice.
As Raziel started to eat, his thoughts involuntarily drifted to his earlier interaction with Sylfi.
He couldn't ignore her hostile attitude, so to avoid any conflict, it was better to stay away.
The girl would eventually grow even closer to Erick, meaning Raziel would only attract trouble by being anywhere near her or any other relevant heroine.
'I need to break off this engagement quickly,' he thought to himself, taking a small sausage and eating it.
Raziel was hoping that his father wouldn't go against his decision.
"Sigh... I just have to avoid trouble. It's not that hard, right?" Raziel asked to himself, sighing.
"Sometimes trouble ends up finding you, no matter how hard you try to avoid it."
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice echoed beside Raziel, startling him.
When he looked at the person who had said it, his eyes widened in disbelief.
The voice belonged to a beautiful girl with sparkling pink eyes that matched the color of her short, flowing pink hair. Her delicate white skin accentuated the enchanting aura she exuded, making her seem as if she had stepped out of a painting.
However, Raziel was not interested in admiring her beauty. In fact, he wanted to run as far away from there as quickly as possible.
"Oh, sorry for scaring you. It wasn't my intention," the girl apologized, making a cute expression and sounding like an innocent girl.
A brief silence formed between them until Raziel finally said, "D-don't worry, it's fine."
His answer made the pink haired girl flash a bright, enchanting smile that would make any man intoxicated just by looking at it.
"Well then, pleased to meet you! My name is Anya Beltremont, and yours is Raziel Harvestead, right?" The girl said in a friendly tone.
She seemed like a very easy person to talk to, and her cute face was incredibly convincing. However, Raziel already knew who this girl was, which made him feel uneasy.
Anya would be the one who, in the future, discovered how to use the rainbow stone to cure Mana Evaporation, the same disease that afflicted Clarice's mother.
Moreover, later in the plot, she would become a major figure in the Gravantia Empire, making all the healers on the continent dependent on her.
Almost every hospital across Éden would be under her control, dominating the market like a true business titan.
This should surely be considered incredible and amazing, but there was just one thing that made such an outstanding person dangerous.
Her personality.
This "incredible" girl was, in reality, a cunning manipulator. She had taken over all her family's businesses, often using Erick as her underling.
Not only that, but she usually pretended to be kind and innocent, even though her actions were often more merciless than any villain in the game.
In the game, there's a scene where she ordered a minor villain to be tied to a strange machine that began breaking his femur in an excruciatingly painful way.
After this, she threw him into a monster zone to be eaten by Butt Suckers, forcing him to face a fate that was surely worse than death.
Although Anya was one of the main heroines in the game, she was a menace to her enemies, and even her allies were not free from the grip of her sociopathic tendencies.
Of all the heroines, she was the only one Raziel never wanted to meet, but for some reason, she approached him voluntarily.
'I need to get out of here fast,' Raziel thought, desperately searching for an escape route.
Anya noticed Raziel's nervousness and furrowed her brows slightly, as if trying to figure out why he was acting this way.
"Did the cat get your tongue?" she asked playfully, thinking he might be enchanted by her beauty.
"I... I need to go do something, if you'll excus—"
As Raziel was about to get away, Anya suddenly grabbed his right arm and pulled him back onto the bench.
He even tried to escape from her grasp, but who would have thought such a small and thin girl could be so strong?
The poor boy found himself stuck with this crazy girl.
"How evil to leave a cute girl like me all alone... woo~ you've hurt my heart," Anya said, feigning a cry.
Raziel couldn't help but be impressed by her shameless attitude. She was really a skilled actress.
As someone battling alone in the shadows against all her siblings for the position of family heir, it was understandable that she had become so skilled.
He recalled that, at this point in the lore, Anya was still using her younger brother as bait to distract the attention of the other siblings from herself.
"N-no, it's not that, I really need to do something... now please let me go."
She insisted on holding him back, replying, "Let's chat a little. It wouldn't hurt to chat a bit with me."
"With you? I'd rather jump off a cliff!" Raziel snapped, growing more irritated by her persistence.
The pink-haired girl was shocked by his response, even letting go of him in the process. Seizing the opportunity, Raziel threw his empty lunch box into his storage ring and ran away.
With Raziel already far away, Anya's expression shifted from confusion to a devilish grin.
His reaction was quite strange, if not amusing, which made her very curious about the reason behind it.
'So this is Sylfi's fiancé, huh? Interesting.'
* * *
After managing to escape from Anya's grasp, Raziel sought refuge in his classroom. Fortunately, a few students were inside, providing the perfect cover for him to hide for a while.
Anya was a natural actress who wouldn't risk breaking her persona in front of others. The more people around, the safer Raziel would be from falling into her schemes.
He still couldn't figure out why she approached him, especially since, according to the timeline, Anya should have only appeared at the start of episode four, after Erick had already killed Raziel.
Canonically, Anya should never have interacted with him.
'I hope she never tries to get near me again. I have enough problems to solve, and she's someone I want to keep my distance from,' he thought, taking a book from his storage ring to read.
A few minutes passed, and Raziel was already flipping through the pages of his book, fully focused on it.
As Raziel became absorbed in the book, a voice suddenly echoed behind him, saying, "I've read that book before. If I recall correctly, the protagonist dies."
This made Raziel's blood boil in anger. The moment he turned to curse the bastard who gave the spoiler, he froze.
Before his eyes, an annoyance stood there, smiling innocently.
"..."
"..."
A heavy silence formed between them until the person spoke.
"We meet again, what a coincidence."
"Get out!" Raziel said, his voice tight as he tried to maintain his cool.
The girl put on a surprised expression once again, her cheeks puffed out like a spoiled child, clearly displeased by his reaction. She didn't understand why he was acting so mean and demanded to know the reason for his rudeness
"What's your problem? Why are you being so rude?" she asked, her tone displaying frustration.
"..." Raziel stayed silent, ignoring the pink-haired girl beside him, hoping she would eventually lose interest and leave him alone.
The other classmates present were already whispering among themselves, wondering what Anya wanted with him, as they knew very well how popular the girl was.
And they had never seen her being so clingy with anyone.
A few more minutes passed, and Anya was still bothering him like an annoying bug, which made Raziel toss his book back into his storage ring and decide to find another place to stay.
To his misfortune, Anya refused to give up and followed him. They crossed nearly the entire academy grounds, only stopping when Raziel, out of breath and fatigued, could go no further.
"Huff!... Huff!... What the hell do you want with me!" Raziel snapped, anger rising as he glared at her, breathing heavily.
She then put on a dramatic crying face, saying, "Why are you acting like this? I don't remember doing anything bad to you! You're such a bully!"
"Me, a bully? Says the narcissistic sociopath! Isn't there anyone more interesting to chase instead of me? Maybe a certain bright guy with an addiction to fig—" Raziel froze, realizing he'd said too much.
Upon hearing that, Anya's eyes widened, and she trembled slightly. The girl now understood why he avoided her so much.
He was aware of her true personality, or perhaps even more than that. The realization made Anya's expression change in an instant, her "sadness" replaced by a cold, unreadable demeanor.
Already knowing he had messed up, Raziel didn't hesitate. He turned and ran away without looking back, his heart pounding in his chest.
'Shit, why couldn't I keep my damn mouth shut? I should've stayed as far away from that witch as possible!'
In that moment, Raziel desperately wanted to find the most crowded place possible. However, his bad luck showed itself, as they were in a very isolated part of the academy.
At the same time, a chilling feminine voice echoed behind him, "Heh~ Why are you running, my dear Raziel? I swear I won't do anything to you."
Raziel was just three meters away from turning the building corner, his last shred of hope, when a loud howling sound erupted behind him, announcing just how screwed he was.