The room went quiet.
"Everyone who rejected Miyuki's confession… disappeared."
Chongchong seemed frightened by the chill radiating off Kiana. The cat let out a small meow, jumped off her knees, and vanished into the darkness beneath the sofa.
"Miyuki… liked girls," Kiana said softly.
"She would confess to the girls she liked. If they accepted, she'd be happy. If they rejected…"
She didn't continue.
But Su Yu already knew how that sentence ended.
"The missing girls…" he said slowly, "they all turned her down."
Kiana's eyes narrowed slightly.
"There were already several victims."
"I don't know whether they were alive or dead," she said, voice low and cold. "But I knew that if I didn't stop Miyuki, more people would be hurt."
"So you went after her?" Su Yu asked.
"No." Kiana shook her head.
"She came to me."
"That day was my birthday."
As she recalled it, the corner of her mouth lifted into a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
"It should've just been an ordinary day. Mei-senpai still saw me as a stray little wildcat that barged in. I didn't have friends at Chiba Academy either."
"I even got chewed out by that strict dean again—said Chiba Academy was where young ladies belonged, told me to watch my mouth and my manners… and never be late again."
"I'd planned to just find some random place and get through the day."
"But that night, Miyuki asked to meet me. Said she had a gift for me."
Kiana's voice drifted far away, like she was remembering an old dream.
"She said there was something important she wanted to tell me. I knew it might be a trap… but I went anyway."
"Why?" Su Yu asked.
"Because…" Kiana paused.
"Because I wanted to hear it from her own mouth."
Her lips curved slightly—still bitter.
"I wanted to know if the girl I once saved… had really become a killer."
"That night, I waited for Miyuki at school. She was holding a sachet."
"That was the 'Three Years of Sakura' she'd made… over three years."
Su Yu looked at Kiana and suddenly asked, "So… was that a confession?"
"Don't interrupt," Kiana glared at him. "You're even worse at reading the room than I am."
"I just thought you looked like you were suffering," Su Yu smiled. "We're talking here. Let me have some participation, alright?"
Kiana shot him a look, and somehow, the heaviness in her chest eased by half.
"Yeah," she said. "It was basically a confession."
"And how did you feel?" Su Yu asked.
"What do you think? Showing off someone's feelings like it's some trophy isn't something I'd do," Kiana replied.
"Spoken like an upright Miss Kaslana."
"Hmph."
Kiana's mouth twitched up.
Then she continued, "But I rejected her. And I asked her—were the missing girls her doing?"
"She snapped."
"Honkai energy erupted inside her and turned her into a… monster."
"She screamed and charged at me, yelling, 'Why won't you accept me? Why are you rejecting me too?!'"
"She rushed in and hugged me—tight. So tight. That wasn't the strength of a normal girl."
"I realized then: she'd already been corrupted by Honkai. There was no saving her."
Kiana inhaled hard, as if the memory still pressed on her lungs.
"That embrace…"
"Was heavy. Crushing."
"Like she was terrified I'd abandon her."
"And in the end… I fired."
Her voice was so light it seemed like smoke—something a breath could scatter.
"When she fell, she was still clutching the sachet."
The room was silent enough to hear a heartbeat.
"She looked at me, tears in her eyes, and she whispered—"
"'Kiana… happy birthday.'"
"I… picked up the sachet."
"It was covered in blood. The petals were dyed red… but I still kept it."
"I thought… at least someone should accept her last gift."
"If someone back then had been willing to look at her—if I hadn't just treated her like an ordinary victim—if I'd noticed sooner that something was wrong…"
"But—"
"I didn't do anything. I even… ended her myself."
Kiana shuddered. Like a criminal waiting for judgment, she lifted her head, those mismatched eyes flashing with grief.
Back when she was wandering in Sky City…
She kept thinking—
If she'd been faster. Just a little faster.
Would everything have turned out differently?
"Am I… really that awful?" she whispered.
"I was supposed to save her… but I… with my own hands…"
Su Yu didn't answer.
He simply reached out and placed his palm gently on top of her head.
That stubborn cowlick that usually stuck up proudly was drooping now, listless.
"You saved her," Su Yu said.
His voice was steady—certain.
"In that alley, you were the only person who reached out a hand to her."
"And you ended her suffering."
Kiana froze.
From this distance, Su Yu could clearly see the long-accumulated gloom packed deep in her eyes.
"The ones who turned her into a monster were this damned world—the cold bystanders—the perpetrators."
"And you… in a tragedy that was already inevitable, gave her the last shred of dignity."
"Accepting that sachet was the greatest salvation you could give her."
He pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket, drew one out, and handed it to her.
"That sachet… do you still have it?"
Kiana sniffed, shook her head, her voice thick and nasal.
"No. That was… from my last life."
"Mm." Su Yu nodded, then put a smile back on his face—like the heaviness from a moment ago had never existed.
"Then let that story rot in the script called Honkai Impact 3rd."
"As for now—"
He pointed at the wall clock.
"Miss Kaslana, as your 'owner,' I'm obliged to inform you that it's almost dinner time."
"If you don't want to drown in sadness until your stomach acid goes wild, I recommend you wash your face and decide whether we're having braised beef… or cola chicken wings."
Kiana stared at him blankly.
That crushing past—so heavy she could barely breathe—was turned over, rough but gentle, by the lightness of his words.
"Bug. Move."
"?"
"You don't want to waste your precious trial experience card on sad solo brooding, right? Or do you want to come to the kitchen and witness Chef Su Yu's skills with your own eyes?"
Seeing her still dazed, Su Yu turned and headed for the kitchen.
Kiana hurried after him like a little tail.
Those thirty minutes of free activity in a peaceful world were priceless to her.
And right now, she really did need something—anything—to shift her focus.
For example: using the Kaslana "god tongue" to evaluate Su Yu's so-called cooking.
"Su Yu," she said. Her voice was still a little hoarse.
Su Yu paused mid-motion as he took eggs from the fridge and looked over. "Yeah?"
"…Thanks."
The girl lowered her head and rubbed hard at her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Thanks… for listening to all this messy stuff."
"Don't get sappy," Su Yu waved her off, cracking an egg against the rim of a bowl like it was nothing.
"If you really want to thank me, then don't smash the plates when you're doing the dishes later."
Soon, the kitchen filled with the roar of the range hood and the sizzling of hot oil.
That noisy, human warmth gradually filled the hollow left behind by the words Three Years of Sakura.
Su Yu watched the eggs in the pan begin to set—when the system panel popped up with a new window.
[Main Quest Progress: 5% → 6%]
[Materials Collected: Asakura Miyuki Character File, Full "Three Years of Sakura" Incident Record]
[System Comment: Oh dear~ Host, that head-pat finisher is so practiced it hurts to watch. High-quality tragic core detected—material score UP! Reward: Full set of high-end kitchen knives.]
"This damn system," Su Yu cursed silently.
"It's only generous at moments like this."
It was basically telling him outright—
He'd be making a living selling emotional pain from here on out.
....
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