"Student Kiana, as this game's Chief Technology Officer and female lead, I have a few questions I'd like to interview you about."
Kiana rolled over and flopped onto the edge of the sofa, propping her chin in both hands, her two little legs swaying back and forth behind her, like a beached mermaid.
"Ask away, ask away—this lady will hold nothing back and tell you everything!"
she said in a muffled voice, clearly quite satisfied with this kind of "work the mouth, not the hands" job.
Su Yu watched her lazy posture, and his gaze softened.
He didn't go straight for the heavy topics—those about the "Gem of Desire," "Wendy," or "the Anti-Entropy invasion."
He knew that, key to the plot as those memories were, they came bundled with pain.
Tonight the mood was just right; there was no need for knives.
"Then… let's start with something lighter."
Su Yu's fingers hovered over the keyboard.
"Tell me about… St. Freya Academy."
"That place… uh, what kind of existence is it, exactly? When you were all there, besides training and going out on missions, what did you usually do?"
When this name came up, some teasing remarks from players of his past life surfaced in Su Yu's mind out of nowhere—things like "the Demon Den of the Far East," "the factory that churns out Herrschers," and so on.
And there was that meme, too: "Himeko: wakes up from a nap to find the whole class is her enemy." To Su Yu, all of that was business from a previous lifetime, and yet now, of all moments, it suddenly surfaced crisp and clear in his mind.
It seemed this journey down memory lane wasn't only Kiana looking back on the past.
It was also him—a veteran player of many years from his past life—retracing the road he'd once walked on the journey called Honkai Impact 3rd.
At this thought, the corner of Su Yu's mouth curled into a smile.
Meanwhile, beside him.
Hearing those words, "St. Freya," Kiana's movements froze for an instant.
The lollipop in her mouth lightly clicked against her teeth, giving off a crisp little tap.
Those eyes, originally a touch listless, suddenly lit up.
That kind of glow was like someone striking a match in the dead of night, illuminating the warmest, the most boisterous, and the most fondly missed corner deep within her memories.
"St. Freya, huh…"
Kiana took the lollipop out, the corner of her mouth lifting into a wistful smile.
"It was a… very beautiful, very big place, but one with an awful lot of rules."
She flipped upright and sat down cross-legged, and began gesturing animatedly with her hands.
"You know what? There were so many cherry blossom trees there! Every spring, when the wind blew, the ground would be covered all over with pink petals. Sure, they were a pain to sweep up, but they were really, super pretty!"
"How do you know they were a pain to sweep up?" Su Yu asked.
"Uh." Kiana froze for a moment, then laughed it off. "Big cleanup—I swept them during the big cleanups, hahaha!!"
As if she'd ever tell him it was because she got punished with sweeping duty for causing trouble! Nyah, nyah, nyah!
She switched topics in a flash—running away is shameful, but useful.
"And then there was the Valkyrie dorm!"
Kiana's speech sped up, like a child showing off a treasure trove.
"Mei, Bronya, and I shared a room, and there was Auntie, and Teacher Himeko…"
"Mei would grow flowers on the windowsill, Bronya's desk was covered in game cartridges and Homu merch… and as for my bed…"
She scratched her head a little sheepishly.
"Heh heh, it was always piled high with snack bags and comic books, and then Mei would tidy it up for me while nagging the whole time."
Su Yu smiled as he tapped at the keyboard, recording these details so full of the texture of everyday life.
This was the real St. Freya—a home for these girls.
Kiana's voice grew lighter and brighter, and that distinctive girlish sweetness returned to her tone.
She went on describing that school perched on a sea island, speaking of the lawns always trimmed neat and tidy, speaking of the rooftop terrace of the academic building where you could see the most beautiful sunsets.
"The most amazing thing was still that great auditorium!"
Kiana tossed the plushie aside and traced an exaggerated circle in the air with her hands.
"There was this really, really long corridor!"
"Every time that Theresa wanted to hold some medal ceremony or all-hands assembly, everyone had to walk a long way down that path."
"That feeling, how do I put it… it was like going on a pilgrimage. Even someone like me who hates keeping quiet would unconsciously slow down my steps."
Su Yu paused slightly.
Of course he knew that auditorium.
In the script of the future, in that metamorphosis called "Everlasting Flames," this place would become the sharpest knife of all.
But at this moment, he merely lowered his head, focusing on turning every detail from Kiana's mouth into words.
She brought up the absurdly enormous library again, saying she often took long naps in there, only to be smacked awake by Mei with a book because of her snoring.
She'd also mention the little shop at the academy gate—later she found out that the person in charge of the shop was a Valkyrie too, though a C-rank Valkyrie who handled logistics.
After that came St. Freya's cafeteria. The food there was quite good, but she still preferred to pester Mei into cooking for her back in the dorm.
Watching this Kiana before him recount her past with such animated delight, Su Yu's expression turned exceptionally tender too.
It was as if, through these words and these written lines, he had truly seen that carefree, fear-nothing Kiana Kaslana at St. Freya Academy.
These fragmentary slices of daily life were, in the game of that world, perhaps no more than a few lines of text and a few background images. But to the girl before him, they were the one treasure she had clutched tight throughout her wanderings—the treasure called "home."
"But you know, being a Valkyrie isn't all just fighting."
Kiana's tone shifted; her once radiant expression collapsed in an instant, and she scratched at her hair somewhat dejectedly.
"You also have to study those damned theory classes. Stuff like the nonlinear equations of Honkai energy erosion rates, the biological characteristics of Zombie evolution paths… Su Yu, can you believe it? I actually had to sit in a classroom memorizing history books thicker than bricks!"
Su Yu set down his pen and looked at her, asking what he already knew the answer to, a teasing smile welling up in his eyes: "Oh? I heard Kiana is the prodigy of the Kaslana family. Surely a piddly theory class like that would be a perfect-score breeze for you?"
"You! Asking what you already know!" Kiana flushed crimson in the cheeks at once, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She suddenly lunged forward, curled her right hand into a small fist, and gave Su Yu's knee a not-too-light, not-too-heavy thump.
"I'm a woman of action! Action, you get it?!" Kiana plopped back into her spot in a huff, muttering under her breath, "Take those words apart and I know every one of them, but string them together and it's just gibberish from heaven. If it weren't for someone tutoring me, I probably wouldn't even have made it to the threshold of the graduation assessment."
"So who was usually your savior?" Su Yu asked, following her lead.
"That would be Mei, of course—she was always the most patient one."
Kiana answered without a second thought, an air of matter-of-fact pride in her expression.
"Bronya's got a sharp tongue and always called me Dummy Kiana, but as long as I bought her a couple extra packs of limited-edition snacks, she'd help me mark the key points too. And then there was the Squad Monitor—"
At the mention of those two words, Kiana's speech sped up, carrying an undisguised admiration.
"The Squad Monitor was a true all-rounder! It was like she knew everything—no matter how hard a move was, she could learn it after watching once, and she never once dropped out of the top three on the theory exams."
"She was from Shenzhou, with a super-rigorous personality. And let me tell you, I even went out on a mission to Shenzhou once with the Squad Monitor and Teacher Himeko and the others! That was the first time I saw such enormous ruins, and we ran into a really powerful Honkai Beast…"
Kiana stopped short.
As if she'd suddenly remembered something, the words on the tip of her tongue cut off abruptly.
"…Ah, I almost forgot."
"The Squad Monitor… she betrayed me."
She lowered her head, her white bangs falling down to cover her eyes.
The living room fell quiet.
There was only the faint hum of the computer fan, and the sound of distant traffic drifting in from outside the window.
Su Yu glanced at Kiana.
Within his mind, Fenghuang let out an extremely soft, extremely faint sigh. She said nothing, could say nothing, was unable to say anything.
"Ahem, ahem!"
Kiana suddenly coughed hard a few times, then patted her own face with both hands.
"Anyway, that's how it was. Sure, I flunk classes all the time, but this lady scrapes through every makeup exam by the skin of her teeth, flying low and safe! Wouldn't you say that counts as a kind of talent?"
Her face regained its radiance, as though none of what had just happened had ever taken place.
Su Yu knew, of course, that some things aren't so easy to let go of, but Kiana was already doing her best to move forward.
So at a time like this, let him be the one to give Kiana a little nudge of guidance.
"So… what about your everyday life?" Su Yu asked with a smile. "Besides classes, was there anything fun?"
"There were tons of fun things!"
Kiana slapped her thigh.
"For example… sneaking snacks!"
Kiana lowered her voice, as if sharing some earth-shattering secret.
"Back then, Theresa… ah no, the Headmistress, she always loved stashing bitter melon juice and snacks that only little kids eat in her office."
"One time, I lost a bet with Bronya, and the penalty was to go steal Auntie's private stash of limited-edition Homu potato chips."
Kiana covered her mouth, laughing like a cat that had stolen a fishy treat.
"You have no idea how nerve-wracking that night was! We dodged Auntie Himeko on patrol, slipped past the surveillance, and finally, with great effort, snuck into the office…"
"And then!"
She went wide-eyed, her face full of disbelief.
"And then we discovered that Auntie had actually fallen asleep slumped over the desk! And… and there was still that bag of chips clutched in her hand, with drool running from the corner of her mouth! Mumbling, 'Bring me another whole case of bitter melon juice'!"
"Pfft—"
Su Yu couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
The mental image was just too vivid.
The world's most adorable Headmistress, in private, was this kind of adorable creature.
No wonder in this world she'd become Magical Girl Teriri—that was practically playing herself.
"And then?" Su Yu pressed.
"And then of course we didn't manage to steal them!"
Kiana spread her hands, her face full of regret.
"That Bronya, of all things, took the chance to snap a photo of Auntie's sleeping face, saying she'd keep it as leverage. And me… I tried to slip the chips out, and ended up waking Auntie up."
She shrank her neck, as if she could still feel the wind pressure of Judas crashing down on her back then.
"That night… I got punished with fifty laps around the field. My legs were about to break."
Though she said her "legs were about to break," there wasn't a trace of complaint on Kiana's face.
Only a brimming, nearly overflowing sense of happiness.
That was a time of being embraced, of being cherished, of being doted on as a "dummy."
"And there's more!"
It seemed Kiana had opened the floodgates and couldn't stop at all.
"There was also Auntie Himeko! She was fierce as anything most of the time, an absolute devil during training… but the moment she got drunk, she'd turn into a whole different person!"
"She'd cling to us and tearfully complain about why she still didn't have a boyfriend, she'd grumble about the bizarre hairstyles of her blind-date partners, and she'd even… she'd even insist on showing us the sexy lingerie she'd just bought!"
At this point, Kiana's face reddened a bit, but a gentle light flickered in her eyes.
"Back then we all thought she was so annoying, but thinking about it now…"
Her voice dropped low, carrying a barely perceptible tremor.
"If only I could hear her nag just one more time… that would be nice."
Su Yu's hands stopped tapping at the keyboard.
He looked at Kiana.
That girl who was usually all careless and happy-go-lucky was now hugging her knees, her chin resting on them, her gaze a little vacant.
She was reminiscing.
Reminiscing about that place she could never return to, reminiscing about those people she could never see again.
Su Yu reached out across the coffee table and gently took hold of Kiana's hand where it rested at the table's edge.
Her hand was a little cold, but the instant Su Yu grasped it, she turned her hand around and clasped his fingers tightly.
"It's okay."
Su Yu said softly.
"What we're doing right now… is precisely to bring those times back."
"That nagging Himeko, that snack-loving Theresa, that gently cooking Mei… we'll leave all of their stories here in this world."
"That way, they'll never disappear."
Kiana lifted her head and looked at Su Yu.
In those heterochromatic eyes, a glimmer of moisture welled and swirled.
She sniffed, then nodded forcefully.
"Mm!
"You have to make them look cool! Especially Teacher Himeko… you have to bring out her most beautiful side!"
"And… and this lady too!"
Kiana puffed out her chest, returning to her full-of-energy self.
"You absolutely have to make me the strongest Valkyrie! The kind that… can wipe out the whole field the moment she shows up!"
"All right, all right, the strongest, definitely the strongest."
Su Yu agreed with a smile and started tapping the keyboard again.
"But before that… we'd better first record the glorious deeds of Kiana, the Class-Skipping King. This is crucial material for shaping the character."
"Hey! You don't need to write that part down, do you?! It's so embarrassing!"
"No can do—this is for authenticity. Out with it, quick: besides stealing chips, what other naughty things have you done?"
"Umm… does hiding my exam papers under Judas count?"
"…It counts. You really are something else."
The night was tender.
The living room echoed with the tapping of the keyboard and the girl's voice, by turns cheerful and by turns bashful and annoyed.
Those memories of St. Freya were like pearls scattered throughout time, picked up one by one with great care by Su Yu and strung into a necklace called Honkai Impact 3rd.
In this peaceful world without Honkai, they would bloom with a radiance that would never fade.
As they chatted on, Kiana's voice gradually dropped lower.
Perhaps reminiscing was too taxing on the brain and burned up too much energy.
She yawned, her body sliding down along the sofa, and—utterly naturally, as if she'd done it countless times before—she pillowed her head on Su Yu's thigh.
Su Yu's hand on the keyboard paused, and he looked down.
The girl's long silver-white hair spilled across his trousers, like a handful of flowing moonlight.
Her eyes were closed, her lashes long, her breathing even and drawn-out.
That face, which usually carried a touch of stubbornness and silliness, looked exceptionally serene now in her dreams.
Su Yu didn't push her away.
He merely adjusted his sitting position a little, so she could sleep more comfortably.
Then he kept tapping the keyboard with one hand, while the other rested gently on her shoulder, as if guarding some precious treasure.
On the screen, the last line of the document read:
"That was a sparkling stretch of days. Though it was full of noise and trouble, it was the… golden age belonging to Kiana Kaslana."
Su Yu looked at that line, then looked at the girl sleeping soundly on his lap.
[System Notice: Materials "St. Freya Academy Daily Life," "Valkyrie Dorm Anecdotes," and "Theory Class Tutoring" have been recorded. Cognition-linked emotions: warmth, nostalgia, slight melancholy. May be used to fill out game side-quests or character biographies.]
The corner of Su Yu's mouth curved into a tender arc.
"Good night, Kiana."
"In your dreams… remember to go back and visit St. Freya."
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉