Zongman: Collecting starts with Shiori

The girl's expression dimmed in an instant, and she said very dejectedly.

"Why do you think I'm kidding?"

Shikimori Feng suppressed his fear that his heart was about to jump out of his chest, and looked at the girl with forced calmness.

"Do you think I'm not worthy of being your friend?"

"What is a friend?"

The girl looked at Shi Shoufeng in confusion.

"Since I became conscious, all I have received is the malice and negative emotions of humans, the hatred of humans wanting me to die. Hey... you said your name is Shiki Shoufeng, right? Tell me, what is a friend? What does it feel like to have a friend?"

"......"

Shiki Shoufeng stared at the girl in a daze. He slowly put down his hands and ignored the girl's warning and approached her step by step.

"Don't come over here again. If you come over here again...I will really kill you!"

The girl warned with a vicious expression.

But Shi Shoufeng ignored the girl's expression. He walked without any pause until he arrived at the tip of the girl's sword.

The girl hesitated for a moment, but finally put down the sword reluctantly.

Seeing this, Shikimori Feng moved closer until he was in front of the girl.

Looking at the girl's somewhat lonely expression, he couldn't help but reach out his hand and stroke the girl's face to comfort her.

"As for me... I won't deny you. I don't have any ill will towards you. If anything... I want to conquer you and treat you as one of my own."

"Conquer...our own people..."

The unfamiliar words made the girl stand there in a daze, and she just let Shiki Shoufeng caress her face gently.

After a long time, the warmth of her palm brought the girl back to her senses, and she looked at Shi Shoufeng with a complicated look.

"Do you think I would believe you so easily? Idiot!!"

Although she said that, the girl took the initiative to put her face close to Shiki Morikaze.

"But... you are the first human being I have ever had a serious conversation with. I don't mind using you to gain information about this world..."

The girl smiled, her face slightly flushed, as if she was very intoxicated by Shi Shoufeng's caress.

Chapter 41 That Innocent Love Talk

After relying on him like a child for a while, the girl chose to leave Shi Shoufeng and sat back on the table.

"This is the first time I've seen a human as strange as you, Shikimori Kaede..."

"Just call me Feng. It sounds weird when you call me that."

Shiki Shoufeng didn't think much of it and just found a table and sat down.

"Then... Feng... where is this place, and why are there so many of these strange brackets? This is the first time I've seen something like this."

"This is... a grave... No, it's a school. The place we are in now is called a classroom. These are called tables and chairs. We usually sit on them to study. There will be special teachers to teach us."

"What a joke!"

There was an incredible light flashing in the girl's eyes, and her voice was mixed with a bit of surprise and confusion. She stared at Shi Shoufeng in front of her, as if she couldn't believe her ears.

Here...there are so many tables and chairs!

The girl looked around in disbelief, doubts surging in her heart like a tide.

"All seats full? Where do so many humans come from?!"

There was a hint of urgency in her tone, as if the edge of her understanding of the world was being quietly pried open.

"I didn't lie to you."

Shikimori Kaede responded easily with a faint smile on his face.

He looked up at the row of light tubes on the ceiling that emitted soft light.

"There are actually many, many humans, more than you can imagine. I can take you to see corners you have never set foot on, and show you things you have never seen before."

"Really...really?"

The girl's voice trembled slightly, and a hint of nervousness unconsciously slipped through her throat.

She swallowed, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes, as well as a glimmer of curiosity about the outside world.

"Of course, you think I would lie to you?"

There was a slight smile in Shikishou Feng's eyes.

"Don't forget, I really want to win you over and become your close friend. My purpose is very simple."

"Well...."

The girl's eyes shuttled back and forth between Shi Shoufeng, with doubts and a bit of subtle expectation. She looked at him carefully, as if looking for the answer from his words and actions. After a long time, she finally nodded slowly, and the compromise revealed a courage to try the unknown world. "Then I will reluctantly believe you this time..."

"Thank you so much... er..."

Shikimori Kaede wanted to respond with a light-hearted joke, but the words suddenly got stuck at his lips.

Only then did he realize that he seemed to know that he still didn't know the girl's name, which made him feel embarrassed.

"that..."

Shikimori Kaede's eyes were slightly apologetic as he gently looked towards the girl.

"how?"

The girl keenly captured the change in Shi Shoufeng's gaze. Her eyes withdrew from somewhere on the blackboard and focused on Shi Shoufeng's face, easily reading the hesitation between his brows.

"Um..."

A look of sudden realization flashed across the girl's face.

"Hey, Feng." She called Shikishou Feng's name softly.

"What do you think would be a better name for me? You see, I still don't have a name of my own. How about I be generous and give you the privilege of naming it?"

After saying that, the girl straightened her back, put her hands on her hips, and put on a proud attitude, but her eyes concealed imperceptible expectation and joy.

Shiki Shoufeng was amused by this sudden request. He slowly stood up. The girl in front of him was a little shorter than him, but she looked particularly charming because of her lovely posture.

Almost instinctively, he stretched out his fingers and gently pinched her smooth cheeks, which seemed to be able to squeeze water out of them.

"Your attitude doesn't look like you're asking for help, right?"

Shikimori Feng said half-jokingly, completely disregarding the other party's elf's identity and giving a direct response to her little provocation.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...!"

The girl was a little overwhelmed by this sudden intimate gesture. She could only protest vaguely. She slapped the troublesome big hand away with her little hand unhappily, and her face was instantly filled with an expression of feigned anger. But the smile at the corner of her eyes and the slightly upturned corner of her lips revealed that she didn't really mind.

"You want me to help you come up with a name? Shouldn't such an important matter be decided by you yourself? After all, it is an important symbol of your identity."

"Well...but...it is...that's right...it's just..."

Upon hearing this, the girl immediately turned her head away guiltily and spoke evasively.

Looking at the girl's appearance, Shi Shoufeng also smiled.

"Oh...~"

Shiki Shoufeng looked at the girl's face which was slowly turning red with a mischievous look, and he stopped teasing her. It is better to know when to stop doing everything.

"Then I'll take on the job of naming you."

"Uh-huh... ahem... isn't that what you're supposed to do."

When the girl heard Shiki Shoufeng's agreement, she couldn't suppress her inner joy, but she immediately reacted and put on that proud little expression again.

Shi Shoufeng naturally saw clearly the girl's little movements, but he did not expose her, but instead asked for advice.

“Is there anything you like?”

"Something you like?"

The girl tilted her head slightly and looked at Shi Shoufeng with a confused expression.

"Feng, what does like mean?"

"Uh... that is..."

Shi Shoufeng regretted asking this question. He felt like he was walking himself into a trap.

“Boom….boom boom boom——!”

Just as Shiki Morikaze was worrying about the girl's name, the school's outer wall collapsed with a loud bang, followed by a series of explosions.

"what happened?"

Shiki Shoufeng looked out the window in surprise.

Then he saw Origami floating outside, holding heavy weapons and continuously shooting at the outer wall. Beyond Origami, Shikimori Feng even saw the figure of Kusakabe Ryoko.

Of course, the girl also saw this scene.

The smile on her face disappeared instantly, and she looked at Shiki Shoufeng with some helplessness and pain.

"Feng...Nice to meet you, but...you'd better leave, otherwise you will be targeted for killing, right? They are also human beings, the same kind as you, right? You probably don't want this to happen..."

Explosions continued to sound, and the area of ​​the entire school was constantly shrinking in the bombing, but it seemed that the girl had the ability to defend herself. At least the classroom where they were staying was still intact at this time, and even the strong wind caused by the explosion did not blow the girl's hair.

Seeing this scene, Shi Shoufeng not only did not leave, he even stood in front of the girl and laughed.

"Well... let me say something a little cowardly. You will protect me, right? Protect me as a friend?"

"friend..."

There was a moment of confusion on the girl's face, but soon she began to choke up.

"But...but I am only hated by humans. They...all want to kill me, but I don't want to hurt anyone. Feng...what should I do?"

"Then let's clear up the misunderstanding and let them know that you don't want to hurt humans. Even though you are an elf, there are humans who are willing to be your friend, and you actually have no ill will towards humans."

“Can you really do this…?”

The girl showed a rare expression of grievance and weakness.

"of course."

Shikimori Feng smiled and wiped away the tears from the girl's face.

"As a first step to commemorate this, from now on, you will be called Tohka, okay? It's a simple and easy to remember name."

"Tohka...?"

The girl seemed to have forgotten that they were still in the midst of bullets and she suddenly threw herself into Shi Shoufeng's arms, holding him tightly with both hands.

"Tohka...Tohka...I have my own name now, Kaede...thank you! Although I don't understand, but if I really have this feeling, I must like Kaede...too, right? I will definitely, definitely, definitely protect you!"

The innocent Tohka looked at Shikimori Kaede with her gem-like eyes, and she spoke words of love that were enough to make one's heart beat faster.

Although maybe in her concept, she still doesn't know what "like" means.

Chapter 42 Fulfilling Promises

But at this time, the fire outside had stopped.

It was not because of anything else, but because the entire school had been almost razed to the ground, and the figures of Tohka and Shikimorikaze were so directly exposed to Origami and Kusakabe Ryoko.

"..."

Looking at Tohka snuggling in Shikimorikaze's arms, with Shikimorikaze's expression looking a little surprised and a little doting, Kusakabe could clearly see that Origami's expression beside him changed for a moment.

"...Found the elf...Kill!"

The moment she finished speaking, Origami gave the command to the display device equipped on her body to use high-speed mobility.

"Origami, wait!"

Kusakabe noticed something was wrong and immediately tried to stop it, but it was too late. Origami did not obey Kusakabe's order. She simply threw away the heavy weapon in her hand, pulled out the close combat spirit lightsaber she carried at her waist, and attacked Tohka at full speed.

“————How annoying…”

Tohka immediately felt the hostility coming from behind her. She frowned slightly and left Shikimori Kaede's arms, and just stretched out her slender little hand -