Four hours later.
At the far end of the corridor in Arc City's Police Headquarters, the last investigator tucked a folder under his arm and walked out.
The door clicked shut behind him, crisp and clean, and the corridor fell quiet once more.
Dr. Mei stood up from behind the desk, walked over to the blinds, and pulled the curtain down a couple of slats, cutting off any prying eyes that might be lurking out in the hallway.
She turned around, one hand braced on the edge of the desk, the fingertips of the other pressed against the spot between her brows.
"They're finally gone."
She looked over at the two people sitting on the sofa.
Su Yu was leaning against the armrest, with Kiana seated less than half a meter away from him.
"I'm well aware that your background is anything but ordinary." Dr. Mei's gaze landed on Kiana, lingered for two seconds, then drew back. "But subduing dozens of armed thugs with your bare hands—one of you two had better give me a reasonable explanation."
Kiana's eyes drifted up to the ceiling.
Su Yu cleared his throat. "Mei, about this whole thing..."
"You, keep quiet for now." Dr. Mei raised a hand to cut him off, her gaze never leaving Kiana. "I'm asking her."
Kiana tugged the brim of her cap down, hiding half her face. "...I've trained."
"Trained." Dr. Mei repeated the word, her expression complicated. "I'm seriously starting to wonder whether the end of science is cultivating immortality."
Su Yu chimed in, "Mei, the way you put it—everyone knows the end of science is clearly theology—"
"Shut up." Dr. Mei picked up the document on the desk and rapped it against the tabletop, producing a crisp smack. "You give me an even bigger headache than she does. An ordinary person, charging off to go toe-to-toe with dozens of armed criminals—what's in that head of yours? Instant noodle seasoning packets?"
Su Yu shrank his neck in.
Beneath the brim of Kiana's cap, the corner of her mouth twitched.
Dr. Mei sighed and spread the document open on the desk.
"Never mind, let's get down to business first. Lewis's side has already buried the news. The SWAT team folks already held you, this white-haired Vigilante, in a fair bit of awe to begin with—every single one of them has a mouth sealed up tight as a lock. Not half a word will leak out."
"And the official classification of the incident?" Su Yu asked.
"Lewis led the team, the white-haired Vigilante assisted, and through coordinated inside-and-outside action they wiped out an armed mob gang." Dr. Mei flipped a page of the document. "Arc City hasn't seen a major case like this in years. The hostage, Murata Ryusuke, came out completely unharmed—this amounts to a huge boost of face for the Arc City police. The brass wants to hand out commendations in a big way: Lewis gets promoted to Chief of Arc City's Police Headquarters, and Kiana is to be awarded a Second-Class Merit."
"Second-Class Merit?" Su Yu raised an eyebrow.
"You think that's too little?" Dr. Mei pushed up the frame of her glasses. "Honestly, if all the credit were tallied to her alone, even a Special-Class Merit wouldn't be overstating it—but that would be far too conspicuous. A tall tree catches the wind; you of all people understand that principle."
"I do."
"Parcel out a portion of the credit, let a whole group of people share in the rewards. That way everyone's a grasshopper on the same string. Those higher-ups who get promoted off the back of this achievement will naturally become Kiana's umbrella of protection."
Dr. Mei closed the document.
"A fair trade."
Su Yu nodded. "With you handling it, I've got nothing to worry about."
"Cut the flattery." Dr. Mei shot him a look. "What you ought to be worrying about is that bargain-basement father-in-law of yours."
"Ryusuke? How's he doing?"
"Sent to Arc City First People's Hospital. Mostly external injuries, some scrapes on his lower back, but his mental state is surprisingly good." Dr. Mei pulled out another document and glanced at it. "The first thing he asked when he came to was where you were. The second was what that white-haired girl's name is."
The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched. "He's not thinking of presenting Kiana with a banner of gratitude, is he?"
"More serious than a banner." Dr. Mei's face was expressionless. "He told the nurse he wants to adopt her as his goddaughter."
A muffled grunt came from beneath the brim of Kiana's cap.
Su Yu turned his head to glance at her. The tips of her ears were flushed bright red.
"And Himeko's side?" Su Yu drew his gaze back.
"Himeko's at the hospital keeping him company." Dr. Mei put away the documents. "She asked me to pass along a message to you. Thank you."
"Mm."
Dr. Mei walked to the door, placed her hand on the handle, and looked back at the two of them.
"Su Yu."
"Yeah."
"Next time you pull a stunt of heroism like this, give me a heads-up in advance." She pushed the door open, and the corridor light spilled in. "That way I can have first-aid plans and lawyers ready ahead of time—and if you really do get yourself killed, I can notify Kevin to come collect your body."
The words were anything but polite—the kind of griping and scolding that passes between old friends. Mei had been swamped from the moment she got dragged into this whole affair, frazzled all the way until now.
But she also knew that saying something like "don't take this kind of risk again" was useless—a stubborn blockhead like Su Yu would never listen. Even Kevin couldn't talk him out of anything, let alone her.
She and Kevin both understood perfectly well that Su Yu's temper was as hard as a stone in an outhouse pit.
"Thanks, Mei."
"Spare me. You'd better think hard about how you're going to face the interrogation from that wealthy lady backer of yours. The head of the workshop she invested in went and staged a one-man-cavalry rescue of his father-in-law—if I were Eden, I definitely wouldn't be sleeping tonight."
Mei rolled her eyes at him.
The door closed.
The sound of footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away.
Su Yu stood up and stretched.
"Come on, let's go home."
Kiana didn't make a sound, just followed him out.
Out the front gate of the police station, the night wind rushed at them head-on, carrying the damp heat unique to Arc City in July.
The streetlamps cast the two figures' shadows onto the ground, one long and one short.
Su Yu hailed a car and gave the address.
Kiana sat in the back seat by the window, her face turned toward the glass, her whole body curled into a small ball.
Su Yu got in and sat down beside her.
Neither of them said a word the entire way.
Outside the window, Arc City's nightscape streamed past.
The neon lights of convenience stores, the white smoke rising from roadside barbecue stalls, the delivery riders waiting at a red light at the intersection.
This city was no different from when Kiana had first laid eyes on it two months ago—safe, bustling, and full of ordinary people who had no idea what Honkai even was.
They were home.
Su Yu fished out his keys and opened the door. Kiana followed in behind him, walked straight over to the living room sofa, sat down, scooped up the Homu plush sitting there and hugged it to her chest, then buried herself in the gap between the cushions and the doll.
The air conditioner's cold draft droned on.
Su Yu went to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, set it on the coffee table in front of Kiana, and sat down beside her.
"What's wrong?"
Kiana didn't answer.
The Homu plush was hugged a little tighter, her two arms squeezing a dent into the round white blob.
"Kiana?"
"You've got the nerve to ask me what's wrong?"
Her voice was muffled behind the doll, hard to make out clearly, but the suppressed flare of anger came through plain as day.
Kiana had been in a bad mood the entire way back. Earlier, at the abandoned factory, Su Yu had assumed his little sneak-off to play out the one-man-cavalry father-in-law rescue hadn't angered Kiana—after all, in front of Ryusuke, she'd even called him "Senior Brother."
But now it was clear: that had plainly been because there was an "outsider" present, so she'd given him some face.
The moment she got home, it was time to assert her standing in the household.
Su Yu figured he was probably the first Host in history to be put through an interrogation by the very cat he kept.
He opened his mouth, originally intending to say something lighthearted to smooth the atmosphere over. He'd even already composed in his head some flippant line like "See, I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"
But then he saw Kiana's hands.
Those hands were gripping the Homu plush's ears tightly, every single finger trembling faintly.
The line he'd already prepared got swallowed back down.
"Do you have any idea what those dozens of armed thugs represented?" Kiana lifted her face out from behind the doll. Her eyes were red, and there was a sheen of moisture clinging to her lashes.
"They meant that the instant any one of them squeezed a trigger, you'd have died right there! You'd have—"
She clenched her teeth.
"You're an ordinary person—why would you go and do something like that?"
"Kiana—"
"I'm not finished!" Her voice rose, and she flung the Homu plush down onto the sofa. "Couldn't you have waited for me? Couldn't you have just made a phone call and told me, let me go save him? Why did you absolutely have to charge in by yourself?"
Su Yu fell silent.
"If something had happened to you, I'd vanish right along with you." Kiana glared at him, the moisture in her eyes welling up thicker and thicker, yet she refused for the life of her to let it fall. "What you're carrying on your shoulders isn't just your own life."
She paused.
The sound of her breathing was clearly audible in the room.
"And the most important thing is..."
Her voice dropped lower.
"I don't want to go through it again."
When that word "again" came out of her mouth, it was as if it had caught on something.
Su Yu looked at her.
He knew what was pressed down beneath that word "again."
"Losing someone important because of my own powerlessness." Kiana lowered her head, her hair falling down to hide her expression, her voice so small it was almost inaudible. "I never want to again."
All that was left in the living room was the sound of the air conditioner running.
Su Yu, who had been leaning back against the sofa, sat up straight.
He looked at Kiana's bowed head, at the white strands of hair scattered over her shoulders, at the fist clenched on her knee.
He didn't joke around anymore.
"I'm sorry."
Kiana didn't look up.
"You think one 'sorry' settles it?"
"If that's not enough, I'll say it again." Su Yu scooted a little closer to her. "I'm sorry."
"Saying it a hundred times won't help."
"Then I'll say it a hundred and one times."
"Su Yu, can't you be a little serious for once!" Kiana snapped her head up, and the tears finally flung themselves out of her eyes, streaking across her cheeks and splashing onto her knees.
Su Yu's hand reached out.
He didn't wipe away her tears, nor did he pull her into an embrace.
He simply opened his palm and laid it on the sofa cushion between the two of them.
Palm facing up.
Kiana stared at that hand.
Her lips pressed together, the tears still falling, but she paid them no mind.
She turned her face away, not looking at Su Yu's face, nor at that hand.
"I don't want it."
Su Yu didn't withdraw his hand.
"Liar," Kiana muttered under her breath.
Then her hand lifted off her knee, hesitated for a moment in the air, and came down.
Five fingers rested in Su Yu's palm.
Su Yu's fingers closed, wrapping around hers.
She gave a tug.
The force was very light—light enough that not even a cat could break free.
Given the gap in strength between her and Su Yu, if she'd truly wanted to pull her hand away, Su Yu wouldn't have been able to touch so much as the hem of her clothes.
She didn't pull away.
"I know why you went." Kiana's gaze settled on their two clasped hands, her voice muffled. "To you, Sister Himeko overlaps with the way Teacher Himeko was in that world, doesn't she? You didn't want to watch her lose her father too."
Su Yu's fingers tightened a little. "Mm."
"You and Teacher Himeko are the same kind of person."
As Kiana said this, the corner of her mouth curved just slightly, impossible to tell whether she was smiling or crying.
"For the sake of other people, you won't cherish yourselves at all."
"Do you have any idea how worried I was rushing over there?"
Kiana's fingers tightened, with enough force that even the bones of Su Yu's fingers let out a faint protest.
"If something really had happened to you. If you really had..."
She couldn't go on.
She bowed her head, white strands of hair hanging down on either side of her cheeks, droplets falling one by one onto her thighs.
"It wouldn't have happened, because I trust Kiana."
Kiana lifted her head.
Su Yu was looking right at her, and in those eyes there was no teasing, no grinning mischief, none of those wisecracks he habitually used to defuse the mood.
"You're the female lead of my game. You're also the strongest Valkyrie in my heart." He held Kiana's hand. "I knew you'd definitely come to save me. Right?"
Kiana glared at him, her eyes still red.
"Quit trying to sweet-talk me."
"How am I sweet-talking you? I'm just stating the facts, aren't I?" At last a trace of his usual punchable tone crept back into Su Yu's voice. "Miss Kiana is this amazing—dealing with these petty little thugs is a breeze for her, isn't it? As for me, Senior Brother—the moment I think of you being there—"
He gave a little laugh.
"—it feels like I instantly possess the strength of a hundred people."
Kiana's body went still.
Her pupils dilated slightly.
The strength of a hundred people.
Long-sealed memories surged into her heart, replaying in Kiana's mind as though they were events from a past life.
The rooftop of Senba Academy.
The setting sun dyeing the floor a tangerine orange.
Mei standing before her, a corner of her long purple hair lifted by the wind.
Back then she'd been grinning as she tugged at Mei's hand and declared loudly—
"As long as I've got Mei with me, it's like having the strength of a hundred people!"
When she'd said that, what had she been feeling?
Pride.
Reliance.
The bone-deep conviction that as long as this person was by her side, she could weather any difficulty.
And now, someone had spoken those very same words to her.
She lowered her head, looking at her hand clasped together with Su Yu's.
Had she become someone Su Yu could rely on?
Had she become his source of confidence?
Had she made him proud?
She wanted to ask it aloud.
But her lips moved, and the question circled once on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed it back down.
Because she looked up and glanced at Su Yu's eyes.
There was no need to ask.
The answer was written in those eyes, clear as day.
Kiana's nose stung.
She blinked hard a couple of times to force back what was welling up, drew a deep breath, then gave Su Yu's hand a firm squeeze.
"No way."
Su Yu was taken aback.
"Huh?"
"Forgiving you like this would let you off way too easy."
Kiana let go of his hand.
Before Su Yu could even react, she'd already toppled over completely.
The back of Kiana's head landed solidly, smack onto Su Yu's thigh.
"Sssss—"
Su Yu bared his teeth.
This girl's skull was like an iron ball; the impact left his thigh tingling and numb.
But he didn't dare say so.
Kiana turned her face toward the side of the sofa's backrest, the back of her head pointed at Su Yu.
"Your punishment is to be this young lady's pillow. For one hour."
Her voice was partly muffled by the fabric of the backrest, coming out thick and low.
Su Yu looked down at her.
From this angle, he could see her white hair spread across his leg, exposing a small stretch of skin on the nape of her neck.
The edge of the collar reflected the living room light.
Her ears were flushed completely red, red as a boiled shrimp.
Su Yu couldn't help it—he laughed.
"Forget one hour, a whole day is fine by me."
"Shut up. No talking during the punishment."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Kiana didn't speak again.
Su Yu raised his hand and let it settle on top of her head.
His fingers slipped in among those white strands, combing through them again and again in the direction of the ends.
Her hair was softer than it looked.
The scent of shampoo mingled with the lingering city air carried in on the night wind.
Kiana's shoulders relaxed, bit by bit.
The clenched fist loosened.
Her breathing grew long and even.
From outside the window came the sparse sound of cars on a distant street.
The living room's lightbulb occasionally emitted a faint crackle of electric static.
The glass of water on the coffee table had gone completely cold, fine droplets condensing on its sides.
Su Yu's hand didn't stop.
Eyes lowered, he watched Kiana lying on his lap, watched her breathing gradually grow steady, watched her curled-up body slowly unfurl.
She'd fallen asleep.
The Homu plush slid off the edge of the sofa and tumbled, rolling onto the carpet.
The air conditioner's cold draft blew over, and Kiana's exposed toes curled in.
Su Yu reached over the back of the sofa for that blanket, unfurled it one-handed, and draped it over her.
Kiana rolled over in her dream.
Her hand groped about until it found the one Su Yu had resting on the sofa's armrest, grasped two of his fingers, and clutched them in her palm—as though they were some precious treasure—holding on tightly and refusing to let go.
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