"What kind of look?"
"Like... she was looking at a stray cat that had just crawled out of a dumpster."
"Cough, cough, cough—" Su Yu actually choked on his own saliva this time, laughing wildly while coughing.
"What are you laughing at! What's so funny!" Kiana's face turned completely red instantly, like a ripe tomato.
"Sorry, sorry... the mental image is just too strong." Su Yu wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing and waved his hand. "And then? How did our Miss Kaslana handle this awkward situation? Did you jump down handsomely and say 'Yo, beauty'?"
Kiana's expression became quite colorful, looking as if she had swallowed a bitter melon.
"I... I was stunned."
Her voice dropped an octave instantly.
"Then my foot slipped, and I planted face-first right off the top of the wall."
"Right in front of Mei?"
"...Pretty much."
Kiana buried her face in her palms in self-abandonment, her voice coming out muffled.
"The bread flew away, my skirt also... anyway, it was humiliating beyond belief."
"Mei was standing right there at the time. She didn't say a word, she just looked at me coldly as I lay sprawled on the ground. I'll never forget that look as long as I live."
"What kind of look?"
"It was..."
Kiana suddenly raised her head, trying hard to mimic an expression that was high-and-mighty, disdainful, and pushed people a thousand miles away.
"It was probably a look that said—'Is there something wrong with this person's brain?'"
Su Yu slapped his thigh, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten his back.
"Stop laughing!" Kiana, turning angry from embarrassment, grabbed a nearby throw pillow and smashed it at him. "It was really awkward, okay! My debut was completely ruined! She didn't even say a single sentence to me back then; she just put away her book, turned around, and walked away!"
"Didn't say a single sentence?" Su Yu caught the pillow, reining in his smile slightly.
"Mn." Kiana's tone became a bit downcast. "I only found out later that during that time, Mei had just gone through some things... Her father's company ran into trouble, and she was being isolated by others at school."
"The Eldest Miss of MEI Corp turned into a plague god the whole school avoided overnight. Everyone was isolating her, bullying her. Back then... she was very lonely."
Su Yu's fingers returned to the keyboard, recording these heavy background settings. He was clear on the general plot and flow, but these minute details were things not even written in the original Honkai works.
"So, does this count as... friendship forged through conflict?"
"I guess so." Kiana nodded. "I crawled up from the ground in a sorry state, and she walked away coldly."
She smiled. This time it was a sly smile carrying a hint of pride, like a child who had discovered a rare treasure.
"But I only found out later... that book she was holding in her hand that day was actually upside down."
"...Upside down?" Su Yu paused.
"Right."
The smile in Kiana's eyes deepened.
In that moment, she seemed no longer to be the Herrscher vessel burdened with sin, but just that somewhat sharp-witted idiot.
"Holding that book was just a prop for her. Her mind had long since drifted off to who knows where; she was just using the book to cover her face while she spaced out."
Her voice became very soft.
"So I think... maybe when she saw me that day, her heart wasn't completely unmoved, right?"
"An idiot falling from the sky with a slice of bread in her mouth—no matter how you put it, that has to be a little more interesting than those people who treated her like she was transparent or pointed fingers behind her back, right?"
Su Yu stopped typing.
He turned his head to look at the girl beside him.
The sunlight plated her white hair with a warm edge, and those heterochromatic eyes were filled with a gentleness named nostalgia.
In this moment, the pain regarding the Herrscher, regarding destruction, and regarding atonement seemed to vanish.
All that remained was an ordinary girl thinking of someone important to her.
"What happened next?" he asked softly. "How did you two become friends?"
Kiana fell silent for a while.
"That is... another story."
The slight sweetness in her voice dissipated, leaving only bitter dregs.
She turned her head to look at Su Yu, her eyes holding a plea.
"Um... can we save that for later?"
Su Yu glanced at the System panel in the corner of his vision.
[Main Mission Progress: 2% → 3%]
[Material Collected: Senba Academy Terrain, Raiden Mei First Encounter Event (The High Mountain Flower and the Idiot Stray Cat)]
Although the progress bar moved like a snail, at least it was moving.
Pushing too hard would be counterproductive, especially with something that involved tearing open old wounds.
"Okay."
Su Yu nodded.
"Then let's chat about something else? For example, what was daily life like at Senba Academy?"
....
That afternoon, after telling the story of how she met Mei and supplementing it with some details about daily life at Senba Academy, the two ate lunch and rested for a while.
Kiana sat on the sofa holding Chongchong, her gaze falling on the sky outside the window.
It was as if she were looking through that patch of blue, gazing at another distant world.
Su Yu didn't rush her; he just sat quietly within the 1.2-meter range, continuing to type his code.
Kiana didn't ask how to write code, nor did she ask how to turn such stories into part of a game.
Because asking would be useless. She had tried to find something recognizable on Su Yu's computer screen, but seeing those complex software programs and the dense mass of various codes, Miss Kaslana directly chose to give up.
She watched Su Yu's serious and focused appearance, watching his small habits of frowning at times and relaxing his brows at others.
For some reason, she felt a little sweetness in her heart.
This was a peaceful world without Honkai and without Valkyries.
By the same token, there were none of the people Kiana knew, nor her important partners.
However.
There was still an "idiot" willing to work hard for her sake.
Kiana looked at his side profile. Somehow, it reminded her of the afternoons when Mei first started learning to cook.
somewhat clumsy, but very serious.
She stroked Chongchong's fur, feeling that warmth.
"Su Yu."
She suddenly called his name softly.
"What's wrong?"
Su Yu stopped typing on the keyboard and looked at her.
Kiana had wanted to ask him if there was anything else she could help with. But when the words reached her lips, she remembered what Su Yu had said before they started working.
"Actually, at Senba Academy, there is one more story, one I've never told anyone before."
"Oh?"
"If I absolutely have to give that story a name."
Kiana paused. To her, it wasn't that distant of a memory.
Even as the one who experienced it personally at the time, aside from feeling regret for that girl, she hadn't been too deeply affected.
But it wasn't until a certain night while wandering in Arc City, when she woke up with a start from a dream, that she realized it.
For Kiana Kaslana, that was perhaps the beginning of her life named "Regret."
"Then let's call it—'The Three-Year Sakura'."
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