"Cough cough cough… so noisy…"
Raiden Mei opened her eyes and looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, her brain still foggy.
"A strange ceiling…"
"Mei… Mei!"
Seeing Raiden Mei wake up, Kiana exclaimed with joy, "You're finally awake!"
Raiden Mei froze for a second as Kiana threw herself into her arms.
"Kiana?" She turned her head to look around. "Where are we?"
"We've already left Changkong City!"
Makes sense.
She'd slept who knows how long, and with Kiana's strength, leaving that monster-filled city would have been easy.
Raiden Mei turned to look at the two women nearby, Theresa and Himeko, and asked Kiana, "And who are they?"
Her memory was perfectly clear. Before she fell asleep, the people beside Kiana had golden and pink hair, not red and white like the two standing in front of her now.
'Levi…'
Suddenly, Raiden Mei remembered the name she'd heard before she lost consciousness.
A flicker of confusion rose in her chest.
'Those two people called out that name… as if they were calling Kiana…'
Raiden Mei looked toward Kiana. At that moment, Kiana was busily introducing Himeko and Theresa.
"This one with the same white hair as me is Theresa. The place we're staying now, St. Freya, is her turf."
Theresa cooperated with Kiana's introduction and greeted her politely.
"Hello, Raiden Mei. Welcome to St. Freya Academy."
Next, Kiana moved on to Himeko.
"This red-haired auntie..."
Himeko gave Kiana a sharp side glance, but clearly, Kiana, completely focused on Mei, didn't notice and kept going.
"This red-haired auntie was someone I ran into in Changkong City while you were asleep. She was piloting a battleship to attack me, but I sank it with a single hit!"
Himeko's hands clenched on their own. She really wanted to punch this girl.
Calling her "auntie" was bad enough, but now she was bringing up that incident too? Did Kiana think Himeko was that easy to mess with?
Himeko slowly raised her hand, but then the image of the Titan units being wiped out in an instant flashed through her mind. She lowered her hand again.
'Fine. I am that easy to mess with.'
She really had no choice. Even though Kiana's medical report didn't show anything unusual, Himeko had personally witnessed that terrifying power of hers.
There was no way she dared to actually discipline her.
If she accidentally made her angry, even Theresa might not have enough time to react and use Judah in time.
Meanwhile, Theresa had also noticed Himeko's strange behavior. Seeing her tense face slowly deflate, Theresa couldn't help but laugh.
After Kiana's round of introductions, Raiden Mei politely stated her own name.
Theresa looked at her, secretly relieved that Mei hadn't gone berserk.
Still, for safety's sake, Theresa brought up the idea of installing a bomb near Raiden Mei's heart.
She explained everything in detail to avoid upsetting her, and also took the time to properly teach both Mei and Kiana what a Herrscher was.
Remembering how she had lost control and become a Herrscher in Changkong City, and the danger and negativity that came with it, Raiden Mei agreed to Theresa's suggestion to have a bomb installed in her chest.
Looking at Mei's beautiful face, Theresa whispered under her breath, "I didn't think she'd agree that easily…"
"I don't want to kill anyone," Raiden Mei said quietly.
She hadn't killed anyone in Changkong City, and she didn't want to kill anyone here at St. Freya either.
Because she had said it before, 'I'm a kind person.'
Raiden Mei looked at Kiana, feeling a faint sense of strangeness.
———
A short while later, Theresa and Himeko left the room.
Raiden Mei called out, "Kiana."
"What is it, Mei?"
Hearing Mei call her, Kiana put down the half-peeled apple in her hand and looked up.
Meeting Kiana's eyes, Raiden Mei asked the question that had been bothering her.
"Levi… who is that?"
"Ah… um, well…"
Kiana froze. She hadn't expected Mei to suddenly ask that.
She stammered, waving her arms awkwardly, her body tilting side to side in panic.
Her eyes darted around, completely unable to meet Mei's.
Seeing her act that way, Raiden Mei's expression grew increasingly suspicious.
Then, Kiana suddenly had an idea.
"Um… I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else!"
Kiana leaned close, speaking mysteriously. "Actually, Levi is the name of my other consciousness… You know how Herrschers have another consciousness inside them, right?"
Raiden Mei nodded.
She understood what Kiana meant. Back when her emotions had spiraled out of control, that "other consciousness" had taken over her body and fought Kiana.
"Can you let her come out? I want to see her."
That request froze the smile that had just returned to Kiana's face.
First of all, there was no "other consciousness." She had just made that up on the spot.
And second…
See Levi?
How the hell was she supposed to make that happen?
Kiana screamed silently in her mind.
Then it hit her, 'Wait! Levi just needs me to issue a commission for him to possess me, right?!'
She immediately tagged Levi in the chat group.
[Kiana: Emergency! Super emergency!]
Levi, who was in the middle of researching "Kiana's Stomach," put down his bottles and jars and replied, [What's so urgent that it's 'super emergency'?]
[Mei wants to see you!]
[…? See me?]
Levi blinked. "She doesn't even know who I am, why does she want to see me?"
As Raiden Mei's suspicious gaze grew sharper, Kiana grew frantic.
[She somehow found out your name… Ahhh! I'm sending you a commission right now, hurry and come help me!]
"…"
[How do I send you a commission again?!]
[Say the target and the reward.]
[Target! Meet Raiden Mei! Reward!…]
When it came to the reward, Kiana froze. She really didn't know what to offer.
She had no money, and she didn't want to waste her precious chat group points.
Staaare~
Raiden Mei's gaze grew even stranger. "Is something the matter, Kiana…?"
"N-no! He's just… asleep! I'm calling him right now!"
Kiana scrambled for an excuse, then quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be "calling" her other self.
In reality, she was furiously typing in the chat.
[I don't know what to give you as a reward! Just tell me what you want!]
Levi joked, [If I said I wanted your panties, would you give them to me?]
Then he began typing another message, [Just grab something random nearby… If there's nothing, even the air around you will do as the reward.]
But before he could hit send, the system automatically received the commission.
At the same time, Kiana's next message popped up,
[Ding! Commission: Meet Raiden Mei!]
[Accept?]
[I'll give it! I'll give you one right now!]
[Hurry up and come save me!!]
[…Alright, alright…]
Even through text, Levi could feel her sheer desperation.
He quietly deleted the unsent joke and muttered, "Coming, coming!"
Closing the chat, he looked at his system interface and tapped the "Accept" button.
"Accept!"
In an instant, Levi's vision blurred as the scene before him rapidly rewound.
And in the blink of an eye, he appeared inside the infirmary again, or rather, possessed Kiana's body just like before.
Levi's blue eyes gleamed as he smiled sweetly at Raiden Mei.
"Hello~ my dearest… Mei~"
[T/N: New novel is up—🔥I Became a Character in Honkai: Star Rail🔥. Enjoy~]