Hearing Kiana's words, Mei took a step back.
She frowned, looking at Kiana with a guarded expression.
She had been waiting here obediently the whole time.
She hadn't done anything at all.
Why should she be the one to get hit?
"Sorry, I refuse," Mei said coldly. In front of outsiders, she once again donned the mask of the aloof Thunder Queen.
Only in front of Otto would she temporarily remove the mask she used to protect herself.
Kiana, meanwhile, looked at her with a complicated expression.
While holding Asakura Miyuki's body, a thought had crossed her mind.
If Raiden Mei didn't exist, would Miyuki still have turned into a monster?
Kiana stared at Mei, knowing full well that she was just throwing a childish tantrum.
She raised her right fist, but halfway up, she let it fall.
Her fist had lost all its strength.
This was Kiana's kindness.
Venting her anger on others just wasn't her way.
Otto had told her that Raiden Mei was being persecuted by Cocolia, that none of what was happening to her was her own choice.
She, like Asakura Miyuki, was supposed to be an ordinary high school girl. Both were just victims in a tragedy, marionettes on the strings of fate.
But... Asakura Miyuki's death just hurt so, so much.
The young girl was lost.
Like a lone boat adrift on a vast, misty sea with no direction, she could be swallowed by the silent depths at any moment.
Kiana and Mei stood in silence.
Neither of them moved.
The two whose fates were supposed to intersect were now like strangers.
(My wives.jpg)
Otto let out a soft sigh.
He bent down slightly and, to Kiana's cry of surprise, swept her up in a princess carry.
"Otto!? W-What are you doing?"
Kiana flailed her arms in the air. She never would have expected Otto to just pick her up like this. Mei was also stunned into place.
Ignoring Kiana's struggles, Otto carried her past Mei and walked directly into his own room.
Then, he tossed Kiana onto his bed.
He forcefully pulled off Kiana's outer jacket. Her eyes were somewhat vacant as she watched his actions.
Is he... going to take me, right here?
But there's someone else right outside...
Yet, Kiana didn't try to stop him.
Whatever.
I'm tired.
Just take it.
It's just a few years earlier than planned, anyway.
Stinky old dad, you're going to be a grandfather.
Kiana stared up at the ceiling. So this was Otto's room. The layout was pretty similar to hers.
Her jacket was thrown on the floor. The Three-Year Sakura sachet was placed on the bed. Kiana turned her head, reaching out as if to grab it, but her fingertips stopped short of touching the dried bloodstains on its surface.
Soon, only her sleek White Comet battlesuit remained.
But Otto didn't stop.
The White Comet armor was stripped away. For some reason, Otto felt a strange familiarity with this armor.
It came off rather quickly.
Perhaps every man is a natural-born prodigy when it comes to undressing a girl.
Kiana simply stared at Otto.
Her long, white hair fanned out across the bed, like a pure white flower in full bloom.
Otto gazed at the flawless Kiana. He lifted his hand and picked her up again.
Kiana looked at him, completely confused.
Otto didn't stop. He carried Kiana into the bathroom and gently placed her in the bathtub.
Water began to fill the tub.
The beautiful body that could drive a man to madness was gradually submerged. Otto knelt beside the tub, looking at Kiana.
"Take a hot bath."
"It will help you calm down."
"The Kiana I know doesn't just swing her fists at others without reason."
Otto gently stroked Kiana's head.
"Okay."
Kiana replied softly, but she seemed to want to say more.
"What happened to Asakura Miyuki is not your fault."
Her mutation had happened long before Kiana ever arrived in Nagazora.
"This is all the Honkai's fault. The Honkai is the source of everything."
"The Honkai creates tragedies. The Honkai guides despair. The Honkai is a trial that humanity must overcome."
"If we don't defeat the Honkai, tragedies like this will happen countless more times."
Asakura Miyuki was one of the lucky ones; she had Kiana to grieve for her.
When the Honkai descends upon others, their entire families are usually wiped out.
If you don't want tragedy to repeat itself, you must sever the root of the tragedy.
"And the mission of Schicksal and its Valkyries is to protect humanity and defeat the Honkai."
"Defeat... the Honkai?"
Kiana knew what the Honkai was. Siegfried had taught her a little about it, but she had always seen Honkai Beasts as its main manifestation. To her, fighting the Honkai meant fighting beasts; she had no real sense of what a "Honkai disaster" truly was.
Now, for the first time, she did.
"I will lead you, lead all of you, lead every Valkyrie, to defeat the Honkai. To fight for all that is beautiful in the world," Otto declared.
The Will of the Honkai wants me eliminated. Then there can be no peace between us.
"Okay."
Kiana acknowledged.
Her fists should be aimed at the Honkai, not used to vent her anger on others.
Just as Otto said.
Fight for all that is beautiful in the world.
Otto ruffled Kiana's hair again, his eyes on the water that now covered her up to her chest.
"For your Valkyrie qualification assessment here in Nagazora... I'm thinking of giving you a failing grade. Is that okay?"
Otto had said that if Kiana performed well in Nagazora, he could waive her Valkyrie training and examinations.
But the reason he was failing her now wasn't because he was dissatisfied with her.
It was because his expectations for her were so high.
Otto realized that Kiana couldn't skip this foundational education. To let her do so would be irresponsible.
"Okay."
Kiana agreed.
"Then you soak for a little while longer and calm yourself. I'll be waiting for you."
Otto said gently. He stood up, about to leave.
But he heard a splash. He turned back to see Kiana looking as if she were about to stand up. Seeing him turn, she quickly hid her body back under the water.
Honestly, you weren't trying to cover up at all just a moment ago.
Oh well, I've seen enough anyway.
(Paramecium.jpg)
Otto said with a smile, "If you're inviting me to join you, I don't mind. But I'm not retracting that failing grade."
Kiana shook her head. She raised a hand and pointed at the water in the tub.
"You filled it with cold water. It's a little chilly."
Otto's expression froze. So that's why there was no steam. I filled it with cold water. This wave of cooling Kiana down was a bit too literal.
He turned back around as if nothing had happened, walked out of the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.
Otto looked toward the entrance of his room, where a head was peeking in through the open doorway.
It was Raiden Mei.
"Come in," Otto beckoned to her.
Mei entered the room. She glanced toward the bathroom, from which the sound of water could be heard, and said softly, "Mr. Otto, you shouldn't be so rough with a girl."
She had seen how forcefully Otto had treated the girl and thought he was going to do something to her.
And right in front of her, no less.
(Mei: |MO)
But now it seemed she had misjudged Mr. Otto.
"Understood."
Otto nodded, indicating he had heard her.
Whether he would actually change his ways was another matter entirely.
"Mei, don't take what she said earlier to heart. She's been through something, and her emotions are a bit unstable," Otto said.
Mei recalled the white-haired girl's attitude toward her and asked curiously, "Did... something happen?"
A sense of unease crept into her heart.
She had caused her father's imprisonment, and now...
"It's not your fault."
"It's all the Honkai's fault."
"Because of the Honkai, she had to personally free her best friend from her suffering."
"So, Mei, you must never, ever lose to the Honkai."