Honkai, Kaslana's Way of Survival

"Sure."

Kaino nodded, crouching down to poke the armored man in front of him.

"When the time comes, we'll bring you a portion, set it right in front of you, and let you watch us eat it bit by bit."

"What, doesn't just thinking about it make you feel happy? Excited?"

"Alright, alright, stop wasting time with those two. Let's go eat already. Both Seele and I are hungry."

Red Seele floated away from Blue Seele and drifted over to Kaino's side as she spoke.

"Alright, let's go. Bella, you don't need to return to Honkai Ball. We can just walk there."

After recreating a dead-knotted chain around the two armored men, Kaino stood up and spoke.

"According to those two, Houmu Happy Restaurant isn't far from here."

More than ten minutes later.

"Phew, so this is Houmu Happy Restaurant? There's a huge Houmu head on the sign, but the interior decorations look like a bar no matter how I look at them."

Standing before the restaurant's glass doors, Kaino examined the furnishings inside.

"Why not go in and see? If those two lied to us, we can just go back and get revenge on them."

"That makes sense."

Kaino nodded and pushed the door open, stepping inside.

The wind chime on the door rang pleasantly.

Similar People

"Welcome, everyone."

The waitress polishing glasses behind the bar greeted them as they entered.

The waitress wore a short-sleeved uniform beneath a work-style pinafore dress. Her light gray hair was tied into a single spiral ponytail behind her head. She was around five feet tall, and her voice sounded adorably childish.

Kaino fell silent as he looked at the little girl.

Setting aside how vaguely familiar her voice sounded... was this place employing child labor? Would there be a reward if he reported them?

No, forget it. He was an illegal stowaway without identification himself. Getting caught would not be worth it.

No, wait. Did Xiao Shi, as an arbiter, count as a police officer?

"You can find yourselves somewhere to sit first—Rita, customers are here!"

After saying that, the little girl went back to polishing her glasses, showing absolutely no intention of serving them.

She might be short, but she sure had quite the temper...

"Seele, Bella, let's go... Huh, Seele, what's wrong?"

Kaino turned to lead Seele and the others to a table, only to find Blue Seele staring blankly at the waitress with her mouth slightly open.

Kaino waved his right hand in front of Blue Seele's eyes, his gaze puzzled. "Seele?"

"Ah, ah... Brother Kaino? Sorry, Seele got distracted."

Seele snapped out of it, clutching the front of her dress with both hands, her voice carrying a trace of apology.

"It's fine, it's fine. There's nothing to apologize for. Let's find a seat first."

As he nudged Seele forward, Kaino shot Red Seele beside him a questioning look.

"That little girl looks exactly like Bronya, Seele's big sister."

Red Seele shrugged, sounding helpless. "Seele's just like that. She hasn't seen her in so long that whenever she sees someone similar, she gets stunned."

Kaino rubbed his chin and nodded. "That's pretty normal, isn't it?"

If he suddenly saw someone who looked exactly like his sister, he would be stunned too... though he did not even know what his sister looked like now.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Rita, a staff member here. It's my pleasure to serve you."

Apparently having heard the little waitress, a charming woman with long brown hair emerged from the kitchen. Smiling, she greeted Kaino and the others.

Kaino and the two Seeles froze on the spot.

After hesitating for a while, Kaino could not help but ask:

"Um, Miss Rita. Let me confirm something first—do you happen to have a sister who runs a swimsuit shop?"

Kaino had seen plenty of people who looked alike across different worlds, but people who looked exactly alike within the same world, he really...

Hopefully Miss Rita here or that swimsuit shop owner was not some kind of clone.

"A sister who runs a swimsuit shop? Rita is unaware of such a person. But the world is so vast that it would not be strange for there to be one or two people who resemble each other, would it?"

Rita smiled and shook her head before continuing, "What would you like to order?"

Even if you said that, the moles beside your eyes were in exactly the same place.

But seeing that she did not want to continue discussing the subject, Kaino did not press the matter further.

"Since this place looks like a bar, let me ask before ordering—can we order something like fried rice here?"

"It's decorated like a bar because of our personal tastes, but this really is Houmu Happy Restaurant. Here, this is the menu."

Kaino took the menu, flipped through it a few times, then handed it to Seele and Bella.

"What do you want to eat? Pick for yourselves."

"For Seele, the Houmu Kids' Meal will do."

"Master, I have no need to eat. Honkai energy alone is enough to sustain my activities."

"You should still eat a little. Eating isn't just about filling your stomach; it's also about satisfying your appetite... How about some cake?"

Bella nodded.

As Kaino took back the menu, he looked at Red Seele. "What about you? What do you want?"

"Hmm... the extra-spicy Houmu set. I like spicy food."

"Alright."

Handing the menu back to Rita, Kaino gave her a slight smile. "Miss Rita, eight extra-spicy Houmu sets, one Houmu Kids' Meal, and one cheesecake. Thank you."

Rita's smile cracked a little, and her tone was somewhat uncertain. "Eight extra-spicy Houmu sets?"

"Yeah, eight."

Kaino nodded as though it were only natural, then smiled apologetically. "I eat a bit much. Sorry for the trouble, Miss Rita."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Please add a serving of charcoal-grilled dried fish... Honkai Beasts all like this stuff, right?"

Little Chuang had been kept inside the Honkai Ball for nearly a day. Though it was quite spacious inside and had plenty of food, it was time to let it out for some fresh air.

Rita nodded stiffly, then took a deep breath and turned around.

"Bronya, stop wiping the glasses and come help me in the kitchen."

The little girl behind the bar, who had been polishing glasses, sighed helplessly. After shrugging, she followed Rita into the kitchen.

"Kaino... does your brother really eat that much?"

Blue Seele's eyes widened as she looked at Bella again, momentarily unable to tell which one of them was the Honkai Beast.

"I hadn't been getting much exercise these past few days, so I restrained myself a little. Now that I'm done with a job, of course I need to eat a big meal."

Kaino spread his hands, wearing an expression as if this were perfectly obvious.

All Kaslanas were like this.

If anything, the fact that he usually restrained his appetite made him the odd one out among the Kaslanas.

It couldn't be helped. During those years at the Orphanage, he had to learn to control how much he ate. Otherwise, he and Theresa would have eaten the Orphanage into poverty.

"Anyway, just wait a little while. At least your food should be ready soon."

Picking a nearby table, Kaino sat down and propped his cheek up with one hand, lying across the table as he waited in boredom.

He was still somewhat concerned about the Yae Sakura he had met earlier. More precisely, it was what she had said at the end that bothered him.

Though he had proven through practice that leaving this world was not difficult, she should not have known about his abilities. In other words, by her judgment, it would be difficult to leave this World Bubble through conventional means.

Although Kaino did not know what the conventional way of leaving a World Bubble was, that did not stop him from drawing a conclusion from Yae Sakura's words—this World Bubble had something unique about it.

Yet he had no idea what that unique quality was, which was really irritating.

"Jingle, jingle, jingle."

As Kaino was thinking, a somewhat familiar chime of wind bells rang out, followed by a crisp female voice.

"Boss Rita, one hot—huh, Boss Rita isn't here?"

Kaino subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the restaurant entrance.

A girl dressed in cool, light clothing, with long golden curls, pushed open the door and walked in. Her gaze swept across the restaurant with some confusion.

Thoughts on Going Premium (and Losing Readers)

This isn't an April Fools' joke.

Honestly, I thought my application to go premium on Thursday afternoon wouldn't get approved, but it somehow passed...

Anyway, as the title says, this book is about to go premium.

It's my first time putting a book behind a paywall, and I don't really know what to write, so I'll just ramble a bit.

Although the outline for this book had been prepared, I actually tore it up and redid it several times. The main reason was that I changed the female lead from the artificial intelligence Prometheus to Black Seele, so I temporarily added a beach arc.

(I know my preferences might be a little weird, but a emotionless artificial intelligence like Bronya is incredibly appealing. Of course, in the end, I still lost to Seele's cuteness and the judgment of the world. Tearful eyes Snicker)

Ah, speaking of which, I'm ashamed to say that Li Sushang was never considered as the female lead from the start. (Though I did write a discarded Li Sushang chapter that I personally felt pretty good about. I'll release it for free as a side story later.)

After all, having them fall in love just because one of them fished the other out of the sea would be a bit... well, too much. (It makes perfect sense for Black Seele, who had been bored for a year, to develop a favorable impression of the protagonist, but Kaino wouldn't just develop feelings for Black Seele out of nowhere.)

After this arc is finished, we'll officially return to the main world. Of course, I'll also casually set up a few plot threads along the way. (They were all in the outline from the beginning.)

And like the synopsis says, aside from the prologue, there won't be much angst.

So if you don't like this arc, please don't delete the book! We'll be going back soon!

Next, let me clarify a few things.

To start with, this book had been confirmed to have a single female lead: Black Seele. There would be no shipping wars or harem—later on, Black Seele and White Seele would separate, and there would be no NTR or anything like that... between people, that is. (Something like the protagonist taking Bella, perhaps, might still happen.)

Having a single female lead was inevitable. I simply couldn't imagine what kind of stimulation a child with Kaslana blood, raised by Otto, would have to receive before opening a harem.

Secondly, although there was only one female lead, that didn't mean Black Seele was the only one who liked the male lead—for example, Li Sushang—but there would be no romantic involvement. Nothing physical, either.

Lastly, the protagonist was truly a native of this world, and every character appearing in this story was also from Honkai Impact 3rd. (Of course, due to certain butterfly effects, a few individuals would be significantly strengthened. You'd probably be able to guess who in the next volume.)

That was all?

Lastly, I wished everyone a happy April Fools' Day—not as the ones being pranked.

Ah, I almost forgot. Since the first day after going premium depended on first-day subscriptions, Friday's update would be moved from the early hours of the following day to eight that evening. (Hedgehog Cat's evaluation system was similar to Genshin Impact's; a new day refreshed at either four or six.)

Then again, I didn't know what recommendation slot I'd end up getting, so I wouldn't ask for votes for now. (I had no saved chapters left, and I couldn't really mass-release updates, so I wouldn't be opening bounties either.)

Lastly, please support the first-day subscription?

Ridiculous. I casually wrote 800 words just for a premium-launch note. If this were a novel chapter, I'd have to struggle with it for anywhere from half an hour to a full minute.

Thank you all for your support!

(Come to think of it, Hedgehog Cat didn't allow leave slips on the last day of every month. I'd wanted to use the monthly free leave slip.

I'd use it next month, haha.)

Durandal

White denim shorts, a sleeveless tank top in shades of blue and teal, along with a white sun-protection jacket and orange sunglasses. Aside from the tank top she had to wear as a woman, the blonde girl's outfit was somewhat similar to Kaino's.

But that wasn't worth paying attention to.

Kaino stared at the blonde girl, his gaze traveling up and down her figure.