The photo showed a white-haired, blue-eyed girl — by any human standard of beauty, extraordinarily good-looking.
But looking at the photo of this girl, Cecilia only felt a strange sense of familiarity. She was quite certain she had never seen this girl's face anywhere before.
And so Shigure Kira watched as Cecilia fell into deep thought staring at the photo of Kiana she had shown her.
Could it be that Kiana actually had some connection to Teacher Cecilia?
Shigure Kira's blue eyes were filled with curiosity, and she felt the fires of gossip burning fiercely within her.
"Teacher Cecilia?" Shigure Kira asked tentatively.
"Ah… sorry, I got lost in thought." Cecilia smiled with a slight apology.
"So — Teacher, do you actually know Kiana?"
"Kiana… that's a lovely name. If Kevin had been a girl, I'd probably have given him that name..." But then she shook her head and said: "Unfortunately, I don't know her."
"So she's not connected to you..." For some inexplicable reason, Shigure Kira felt a twinge of disappointment.
"Not necessarily." Cecilia suddenly said.
"Hm?"
Shigure Kira looked at Cecilia and found that her smile had disappeared, replaced by a look of deep and genuine puzzlement.
"This child gives me a familiar feeling. And she looks far too much like Kevin — if Kevin had been a girl, this is probably what he would have looked like..."
Seeing Cecilia lost in thought, Shigure Kira had a flash of inspiration and thought of a possibility. She said with great enthusiasm: "Teacher Cecilia — what if she's your long-lost daughter or something? Like, what if you were carrying twins back then, and one just… didn't get picked up at the hospital?"
"Pfft!" Cecilia covered her mouth and laughed. "Kira, how many primetime soap operas have you been watching lately? I'm perfectly clear on how many children I was carrying."
"So it's not that!" Shigure Kira deflated slightly. "True enough — how could that kind of TV drama plot possibly happen in real life. But if she's not your daughter, how could she possibly look so much like your son? It's not like he turned into a girl or something, right?"
"Nothing that bizarre could happen. Kira — we're in the sciences. We deal in facts."
"I know, I know, Teacher… I was just joking~"
Suddenly, a bold new idea flashed through Shigure Kira's mind.
She snapped her gaze back to Cecilia, her expression one of sudden alarm: "Teacher Cecilia — what if, what if Mr. Siegfried did something unforgivable to you?"
"Hm?"
Watching the surprise on Cecilia's face, Shigure Kira slapped her fist into her palm with a look of dawning realization: "That's it — it must be! I always felt he wasn't entirely trustworthy!"
Shigure Kira admitted to herself that she harbored a somewhat complicated animosity toward Mr. Siegfried, born largely from her own greedy attachment to Lady Cecilia — yes, she often had rather shameless thoughts.
Lady Cecilia was someone who could have been her mother, or so Shigure Kira had always felt.
But she only wanted an extra mother — she had no plans for an extra father at present. And so Mr. Siegfried was, in her eyes, very much in the way.
Listening to Shigure Kira's confident theorizing, Cecilia let out a sigh.
Then she raised her hand and gave the top of her head a gentle knock.
"Kira — what use is your imagination?"
Cecilia said without the slightest doubt: "Siegfried would never betray me. So that possibility doesn't exist from the very start."
Looking at the conviction on Cecilia's face, Shigure Kira understood there was simply no room in her teacher's mind for the concept of Siegfried cheating.
Wah! The envy is killing me!
Shigure Kira gnawed on her imaginary handkerchief internally, her animosity toward Siegfried growing even greater.
Then suddenly, another flash of inspiration struck her, and yet another bold theory materialized.
She snapped her gaze back to Cecilia, her expression peculiar: "Teacher — since Mr. Siegfried would never betray you for some random fox spirit, is there any possibility — and I do mean possibility —"
"That without your knowledge, some strange degenerate woman did something unforgivable to him? And if that really did happen, he'd probably be too afraid to tell you directly, right?"
Cecilia understood what Shigure Kira was getting at. She was suggesting that without her knowledge, some unscrupulous woman had taken liberties with her husband!
At the thought of this possibility, the smile on Cecilia's face began to slip — because she realized this possibility didn't seem entirely impossible.
An image floated into her mind: a cave that no detection instrument could find, several scantily clad women...
Smack!
Cecilia pressed a hand sharply to her forehead and shattered the image in her mind. The warmth completely drained from her expression.
The moment she entertained the possibility that Siegfried might have been violated by some unscrupulous woman, she felt an enormous weight pressing down on her head — her brain felt ready to explode.
Sensing the atmosphere suddenly turn ice cold, Shigure Kira asked very carefully: "Teacher Cecilia? Are you… are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Cecilia replied softly, reaching for her communicator with slightly trembling hands. "I'll just ask him directly."
But after producing the communicator, Cecilia froze, her expression conflicted.
"Err… Teacher?"
Cecilia's lips trembled slightly. She said with a pained awkwardness: "I… don't know how to bring it up."
Was she supposed to call him up out of nowhere and just ask: 'Siegfried, were you ever violated by some strange degenerate woman'?
How on earth was she supposed to say something like that?!
And furthermore — if it was true, that experience must have been an utterly horrific trauma for Siegfried.
If she came right out and asked so bluntly, wouldn't that be like driving a blade directly into an old wound?
"Teacher, you can try asking indirectly!"
Hearing Shigure Kira's suggestion, Cecilia's eyes brightened.
"Right — that's an approach."
"Tomorrow is the weekend. That gives me a natural excuse to drag Siegfried out for a walk, and I can probe carefully then."
Cecilia was just about to put away her communicator when her eyes swept across her well-behaved son's name in her contacts list, and she stopped.
She suddenly thought — since this girl had appeared in Nagazora, and her son was also in Nagazora, might they have met?
With that thought, she sent Kiana's photo along with a message.
[Cecilia: My dear son, Mommy is thinking of coming to Nagazora to see you~]
[Cecilia: Have you happened to see this child in Nagazora?]
[Cecilia: Image]
Austria. A large house.
Morning. Sunlight poured in through the antique windows and illuminated the bedroom.
On the wide bed, a girl with long white hair was sleeping soundly.
The sunlight fell across her delicate features like light brushing over a perfect piece of white porcelain. Where it touched her long hair, a platinum-gold quality was reflected, each strand seeming to glow with its own inner light.
The room presented a scene of extraordinary beauty.
Provided one ignored her sleeping posture — curled around a pillow like an octopus seizing its prey.
The girl before us was, of course, Kiana, who had returned to her family home not long ago.
Ring ring ring ring!!!
Suddenly the alarm clock on the nightstand went off, its sharp ringing startling the birds outside that had risen early to forage, sending them flapping away in a fright.
Dazedly, Kiana opened her eyes — but quickly closed them again, pressing the pillow in her arms over her head.
"Just… let me sleep a bit more… just a little more..."
Ring ring ring ring!!!
But it was evident that the antique mechanical alarm clock had no convenient voice-command off function. It continued its clamor regardless of Kiana's words.
Ring ring ring ring!!!
A grid pattern appeared on Kiana's forehead, and her face scrunched with displeasure.
She reached into the blanket beside her, produced a hammer, rolled over, and smashed the alarm clock to pieces.
She tossed the hammer aside and went back to sleep hugging her pillow.
At this point, a different voice sounded in Kiana's mind.
"Kiana — you should get up and exercise."
"No… just let me sleep a bit more." Kiana murmured drowsily.
"I told you, you can't stay up too late playing games..." The voice in her mind seemed rather exasperated.
But by now, Kiana had already fallen asleep again.
Suddenly, her eyes twitched — and in the next instant, snapped open.
The previously azure irises were now suffused with a deep crimson.
After opening her eyes, 'Kiana' moved with practiced efficiency: got up, washed up, got dressed.
Then began preparing breakfast with extremely skilled culinary hands.
By the time Kiana's own consciousness woke from sleep, she was greeted by the sweet fragrance of milk.
She blinked — and found herself sitting at the dining table with a hearty breakfast laid out before her.
And at the very front, a freshly made caramel pudding sat waiting. The sweet milky aroma was coming from right there.
Seeing this inexplicable scene, Kiana didn't feel the least bit strange about it. Or rather, after all this time living together, she had completely gotten used to it.
Having taken back her body, Kiana picked up the spoon. The other resident of her sea of consciousness said: "Thank you, Kuro."
"You're welcome, dear Kiana. Thank you for taking me in — consider this my contribution to the rent."
"Ah… you really don't have to do that! I'll handle lunch — what kind of noodle soup are you in the mood for?"
"Can we not have noodles?"
"Then… how about toast pizza?"
Kiana had found that having an extra consciousness in her mind wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Unlike herself, whose skill points were almost entirely dumped into combat, Kuro's skill sheet was nothing short of terrifying.
Cooking, gardening, cleaning, sewing, handicrafts, hairdressing... Kiana had yet to encounter a skill Kuro didn't know — she could even help with her math homework!
Kiana felt that thanks to having such an all-capable housekeeper, she was increasingly evolving in the direction of a completely useless person.
But the thing that made her happiest of all was, of course, being back home and finally free from eating Mei's cooking!
She scooped up a spoonful of pudding and put it in her mouth.
"Mmm mmm mmm... this feeling. I'm too happy."
As her cheeks filled, Kiana felt like she might cry. Having experienced Mei's god-slaying cuisine made her appreciate the bliss of eating something genuinely delicious all the more deeply.
"What kind of life have I been living all this time?!"
Kiana realized that ever since Lucius had ruined her life, she had almost forgotten what normal food tasted like. That rascal always found some reason or another to drag her over for meals.
"Decided. I'm staying here for a good long while."
She made up her mind: before the script started advancing again, she was going to hunker down right here.
She had already sacrificed so much in the fight against the Honkai — was it so wrong to enjoy herself for a bit?
"But Kiana — weren't you worried about your parents discovering what you look like now? What if they suddenly came home?" Kuro asked.
In response to Kuro's concern, Kiana was full of confidence: "Impossible. Absolutely impossible. When I messaged them a few months ago, Dad and Mom were still wrestling with giant anacondas in the Amazon rainforest. At the rate they travel, it'll probably be another year before they make it back."
Though as she thought about it, Kiana's mood began to cloud again. She still hadn't figured out how to explain her current situation to her parents.
She thought it over, and an image emerged in her mind.
Mom and Dad finally finish their trip. They come home loaded with luggage, push the door open — and find not their son, but the person she is now.
With expressions mixing three parts suspicion, three parts shock, three parts disbelief, and ninety-one parts complete worldview collapse, she would say sweetly: Mom, Dad — you may have lost a son, but now you have a daughter, and I can still take care of you in your old age…
"— Wah!"
Kiana buried her flushing face in both hands, steam practically rising from the top of her head.
"Absolutely not — they absolutely cannot find out! If that happened I'd have no choice but to move to the moon and spend the rest of my days there!"
Just thinking about it made Kiana feel deeply distressed. Even the caramel pudding in front of her seemed to have lost some of its sweetness.
But Kiana only brooded for a short while before tossing the problem aside.
"Mom and Dad won't be back for a while yet. I'll leave solving that problem to future me!"
With that thought, the pudding in front of her seemed delicious and inviting once more.
She knew there would eventually come a day when she couldn't put it off any longer — but wasn't that day still a ways away?
As someone who never tormented herself with anxiety, Kiana was very practiced at dumping her worries onto her future self.
"Kiana — someone sent you a message yesterday. You might want to check it when you have a moment." Kuro suddenly reminded her.
And so Kiana set down her spoon, picked up her communicator, and prepared to see who had messaged her.
"Hm… Mom?"
Seeing who the message was from, Kiana wasn't particularly surprised. Those two always sent her photos whenever they arrived somewhere new.
"Let me see — how far along are they in their trip?"
Kiana casually opened the message. A photo materialized before her eyes — herself, with caramel pudding crumbs at the corner of her mouth.
"EEK!!!"
Kiana's hand jerked, nearly dropping her phone. All the color drained from her face instantly.
"Could it be that Mom already knows my identity, and is looking at me right now?"
In a state of intense anxiety, Kiana realized it wasn't her current self in the photo — it was an image from when she had been gathered with the others some time ago.
Kiana's expression immediately shifted to indignation. "Who's trying to destroy me?!"
And very quickly, she noticed the message attached below the photo.
She scrolled down with trembling hands, and saw——
[Cecilia: My dear son, Mommy is thinking of coming to Nagazora to see you~]
Clatter.
Kiana's hand shook, and her phone dropped to the floor.
She sat in her chair completely motionless, as though even her breathing had stopped — like her very soul had been extracted from the world, leaving behind only an empty shell.
"Kiana? Kiana!" Kuro called out urgently.
But Kiana didn't respond to Kuro's calls.
A gentle morning breeze drifted in through the window, settled on her body, and applied the most minuscule of forces.
Kiana's body shifted slightly, then toppled lifelessly to one side.
Thud.
"Kuro… my life… might be over..." Kiana lay helplessly on the floor, eyes vacant, like a limp pile of cotton. Faintly, a tiny little ghost seemed to drift out from the corner of her mouth.
"Kiana! Don't scare me!" Kuro cried out in alarm.
"Heh heh… it's all over… my life is all over..."
Watching Kiana reduced to a grey and lifeless state, Kuro bounced anxiously around her sea of consciousness. Then suddenly a flash of inspiration struck: "So why not ask the amazing Lucius? He should have some idea, right?"
At those words, a flicker of life returned to Kiana's eyes — and quickly the light in them blazed brighter and brighter.
She slammed a fist into her palm: "Right! I still have my good buddy Lucius!"
Kiana suddenly remembered: her good friend was a little abstract as a person, but he always found some bizarre way or another to solve problems.
And so she opened her communicator and sent out a distress call.
[Lucius, help me!!! My life might be over!]
Some time later, Lucius sat down across from Kiana at the dining table and, without ceremony, snatched a sandwich from in front of her.
"I was scouting locations all night and still haven't eaten breakfast. Let me get something in me first."
"You really don't treat yourself like a guest, do you!" Kiana remarked, then pushed the unopened carton of milk beside her toward him.
Once Lucius had finished the sandwich and drunk a few mouthfuls of milk, Kiana laid out the situation of her identity being on the verge of exploding.
"Lucius, what should I do?" Kiana asked miserably.
Lucius said plainly: "My recommendation is to just come clean."
As the root cause of all this, Lucius actually didn't mind in the slightest whether Siegfried and Cecilia found out about Kiana's situation. And the reason?
Heh… the rice has already been cooked. Knowing won't change anything!
Kiana looked at him speechlessly: "I feel like my dad is going to beat you..."
To this, Lucius said with complete indifference: "It's fine — I can promise not to fight back. As long as he doesn't kill me, it's manageable. I have plenty of revival shots, but they shouldn't be wasted either..."
"No!"
"Hm?" Lucius was mid-bite on his sandwich when he noticed Kiana's expression had, for some reason, turned completely serious.
"Lucius — I actually… genuinely thank you for ruining my original life trajectory."
Lucius froze, sandwich still in his teeth. He reached over and pressed his hand to Kiana's forehead. "Strange — doesn't feel like the fever damaged anything."
Kiana swatted Lucius's hand away, shot him a look, and said: "If my original life trajectory was every person I knew and loved dying, leaving only me to wander through a lonely journey of fifty thousand years — then I'd prefer that kind of life to be ruined as thoroughly as possible."
"Of course, if your methods were just a little more humane, I'd be even more moved."
Finally, she sighed, her expression absolutely resolute: "So… if Dad really does start hitting you — I'll take the beating with you!"
Lucius quickly finished swallowing his sandwich and sighed: "You've said all that, good friend — what else can I say? Alright, let's go come clean to your mom and dad right now."
However, upon hearing Lucius's words, Kiana immediately cried out: "No — absolutely not!"
"They'll find out sooner or later." Lucius urged. The sooner they came clean, the sooner he could bring Cecilia and Siegfried on board.
"But I'm not ready yet — give me a little more time." Kiana grabbed his hand with both of hers, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Lucius — help me. If Mom and Dad find out, I'll have to spend the rest of my life on the moon."
Lucius didn't understand why she was so insistent, but he didn't refuse.
Or rather — in order to keep the savior he had chosen in a healthy and stable state of mind, so she could help him bring Finality to her knees, he had never once refused one of Kiana's requests.
"Alright then. I happen to have a plan that kills several birds with one stone — not only will it solve your identity problem, it'll also let us take care of the Second Honkai War's storyline at the same time."
"What kind of plan?" Kiana asked curiously.
"I'm planning to send Mr. Siegfried and Lady Cecilia on a wonderful journey. A second honeymoon, so to speak."
"A journey — what are you going to do?" Kiana became even more puzzled.
Lucius said candidly: "I can't tell you right now. I'm afraid you'd kill me if I did."
At that, Kiana's expression shifted. She looped her arm around his shoulder and asked suspiciously: "Lucius — you're not planning to do something reckless again, are you?"
"Good friend, how can you look at me like that?" Lucius felt his character was being questioned. "Don't you know my scripts are always wholesome, sunny, and full of positive energy?"
But after he said that, Kiana trusted him even less.
"Alright, alright — I promise. No one will get hurt."
With Lucius's promise, Kiana finally believed him.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" she asked.
"You can share their locations with me, right? Share Lady Cecilia's and Mr. Siegfried's locations."
"I can do that, sure — but what are you going to do?"
"I told you already — this is a sunny, joyful little trip. The tour bus is about to depart, so naturally I'm going to go pick them up and bring them along!"
After leaving Kiana's house, Lucius sent a message to Mobius.
[Doctor, are the experimental materials ready?]
Very quickly, Mobius replied.
[Already ready.]
[Sending you the location — just head straight there.]
[— Location]
Shortly after, following the location Mobius had sent, Lucius arrived at a parking space inside a logistics company.
The surrounding spaces had all been cleared. The only thing remaining was a single itasha — a pain-stricken vehicle painted with a massive portrait of Elysia's face.
But unlike most itashas, the vehicle before him was a hundred-ton heavy-duty semi-truck.
As a veteran driver holding a Class A commercial license, Lucius climbed nimbly into the truck, then reached into his pocket and produced a plastic sign, which he placed in the most visible position on the front windshield.
The sign read clearly: DESIGNATED VEHICLE FOR ISEKAI REINCARNATION
Vroom. Vroom vroom.
As the engine roared to life and ignition completed, the heavy truck was like a great beast rousing from hibernation, radiating a mighty and ferocious aura.
Lucius gripped the steering wheel, and pressed the accelerator.
ROAAARRR——
The truck shot forward instantly. The sweet smile on Elysia's portrait on the side of the vehicle seemed to overlap perfectly with the smile on Lucius's face in the cab.
---
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