As for Su Yu, who was currently being held in her arms...
His expression was subtle.
There was some awkwardness, some helplessness, but mostly a sense of novelty.
How should I put this?
Being princess-carried by a young girl who looks a whole head shorter than yourself...
This perspective is actually quite unique.
Is this what they call 'a little bird relying on a person'? Although I'm the bird...
Kevin looked at Kiana, his face wearing that complex expression that said, 'I leave my brother in your hands.'
"Um... I'm counting on you to take care of Su Yu. Don't drop him."
"...Mmh." Kiana responded with a muffled sound.
"If you need any help, call anytime." Kevin added, his gaze landing on Su Yu's face, which looked dead inside. He then twisted the knife, "I meant call me, not Su Yu."
"I know."
Kiana turned around holding Su Yu, as if carrying some precious trophy, and walked toward the direction of the old residential district.
"Um," Su Yu spoke up cautiously, "Can you put me down first?"
"No."
Kiana refused decisively, her voice still carrying a hint of grievance that hadn't yet dissipated.
"Why?"
"Because earlier when you grabbed me, I told you to let go." Kiana's voice was muffled. "And you didn't let go."
Su Yu opened his mouth, finding himself rendered speechless by this sentence full of childish revenge.
What is this? Karma?
"...Fine."
He sighed in resignation and gave up the struggle.
Behind them, Kevin and Mei stood in place, watching the retreating figure of that 'Beauty Saving the Hero' scene gradually fade away.
"Kevin," Mei spoke up.
"Hmm?"
"Say, isn't that 'cat that fell from the sky' Su Yu mentioned... a bit too special?"
"Don't ask." Kevin rubbed his temples, watching the retreating figures with a twitching corner of his mouth. "I want to know the answer too. But I have a premonition that knowing it might reshape my worldview."
*
Meanwhile, Su Yu, who was being princess-carried, was experiencing a biological 'Social Death'.
"Kiana..."
"What?"
"Can you walk a bit faster? At a speed where... people can't see my face clearly?"
"What's wrong?"
"People are watching... and there are so many of them..."
Kiana glanced around.
Indeed, several passing university students had stopped in their tracks, pulling out their phones, their eyes filled with the look of 'Holy crap, what kind of god-tier plot twist is this'.
A white-haired young girl princess-carrying a 1.8-meter-tall uncle—no matter how you looked at it, this scene looked like the filming set for some prank video.
"Let them look." Kiana's tone was matter-of-fact, even carrying a hint of pride. "They don't know us anyway."
"But I know myself! My social image! How am I supposed to survive in this neighborhood in the future?!"
"What social image? Aren't you just an otaku? Otaku don't have an image to begin with, right?"
"How do you know that?!"
"I saw all those figurines and game discs in your room, idiot."
Su Yu hung his head weakly, allowing himself to be carried by this girl of immense strength through street after street, accepting the baptism of passersby's gazes.
Finally, under his repeated protests—mainly the threat of not buying her 'Happy Water'—Kiana finally relented.
"Fine, fine, so troublesome. I'll change positions."
Kiana rolled her eyes and put him down from her arms like she was unloading cargo. She then crouched down and patted her shoulder.
"Get on."
And so, the princess carry turned into a piggyback.
Although it didn't look as outrageous, still—
"Mommy, Mommy, why is that big brother being carried by the big sister? Are his legs broken?"
A little girl with braided pigtails tugged at her mother's hand, pointing curiously at them, her voice so crisp the entire street could hear it.
"Baby, this is called 'women holding up half the sky'. You need to learn from that big sister and be just as amazing in the future."
The young mother answered with a beaming smile, her tone full of educational significance.
Su Yu's face turned green then white, wishing he could stuff his head into Kiana's hood.
Even more fatal were the passersby along the way—
There was an uncle giving a thumbs up, his expression meaningful: "Young man, your family status is worrying."
There was a couple covering their mouths and snickering, their eyes saying: "Bro, you've got it good."
There were even a few old men squatting by the roadside playing chess. One of them looked up at them, sighed, and said, "Young people these days... their physical fitness really is getting worse with every generation. Still have to rely on a girl doll to carry him."
Su Yu felt his Social Death progress bar skyrocketing, about to go off the charts.
"Put me down," he whispered.
"No," Kiana replied without looking back.
"Really, put me down. I can walk by myself—even crawling back is fine—"
"They don't know us anyway."
"But I know myself!"
"Do you care that much about your image?" Kiana's tone carried a teasing note. "Even though you throw your underwear around."
"I—I do not! That was to find something!"
Su Yu tried to refute, but a sense of powerlessness forced him to shut up.
The night wind blew past, carrying the chill of early autumn.
Kiana carried Su Yu on her back, walking step by step toward the neighborhood entrance. Her steps were steady, her breathing even, as if the person on her back had no weight at all.
Lying on Kiana's back, Su Yu could smell the faint scent of laundry detergent on the girl—it was the lavender-scented one he had just bought yesterday. He could also feel the warmth of a living person coming from her back.
This guy's back... although thin, it wasn't bony or uncomfortable.
And...
It was unexpectedly reassuring.
"What are you thinking about?"
Kiana's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Nothing." Su Yu hurriedly retracted his gaze. "Thinking about tomorrow's work."
"Liar."
"...How do you know?"
"Because you sighed just now. That kind of... sigh like an old man."
Su Yu fell silent.
He had indeed sighed, but not because of work.
Forget it, let's not think about it.
Let's just go home first.
The entrance to the neighborhood stairwell came into view.
Just then—
"Yo!"
A familiar voice came from ahead.
Su Yu looked up and saw a red-haired woman standing at the stairwell entrance, holding a few cans of beer in her hand, a gossipy smile on her face.
Himeko.
She stared blankly at Kiana carrying Su Yu, her eyes widening into circles, as if she had seen a wonder of the world.
"Ho, it really is the Little Junior Sister down from the mountain."
She looked Kiana up and down, her tone full of amazement.
"This strength... definitely a practitioner."
Then her gaze landed on Su Yu's right leg, which was wrapped like a rice dumpling. Her eyes instantly became meaningful, carrying that ambiguity peculiar to adults.
"Su Yu—"
She dragged out her voice.
"You didn't go out fooling around behind your Little Junior Sister's back, get your legs broken by her, and get dragged back, did you? Is this the aftermath of a domestic violence settlement?"
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