Living in Izumo, Letting the Honkai Become Great Again Author: I Want to Eat Tangerines
"My name is Kiana."
"Yes, the Kiana you're thinking of."
Kiana had thought this was an ordinary world without the Honkai, until the day she saw the Eight Million Gods wreaking havoc upon the people.
Only then did she realize that the Honkai of this world was the Honkai of Honkai: Star Rail.
And Izumo, where she lived, had long since entered the shadow of nothingness.
This was a world destined to be destroyed.
Upon the utterly devastated earth, Kiana looked up at that pitch-black sun.
"Since Izumo is destined to be unable to achieve victory, then..."
Her azure eyes were dyed gold, and the power of Divine Kiana gathered within her. "There's no harm in making the Honkai live up to its name, right?"
You can have the Honkai of Honkai: Star Rail.
There's no harm in me bringing over the Honkai of Honkai Gakuen too, right?
This absolutely was a parallel world of Honkai Impact 3rd
"This isn't right."
The purple-haired girl in red-and-white shrine maiden robes spoke gently as she guided the white-haired girl in front of her, correcting her incorrect sword-swinging posture hand over hand.
"But this feels so awkward."
The white-haired girl had little patience and couldn't help whining coquettishly at the girl instructing her.
Faced with her coquettishness, the purple-haired girl still felt somewhat bashful. Ever since the day they met, the girl before her had always interacted with her this way.
Yet she unexpectedly couldn't bring herself to dislike it.
But she still hadn't reached the point of being used to it.
"Mei, help me a little more?" The girl lowered her hand and, using the same trick again, hugged Mei's arm and looked at Raiden Mei with eager anticipation. "I'll definitely learn it if we do it one more time!"
"This is already the third time you've said that today, Kiana..."
Raiden Mei sighed.
She had a favorable impression of Kiana and didn't dislike Kiana's little schemes to get close to her. But with not the slightest progress in her teaching, she began to wonder whether she simply wasn't suited to being a teacher.
Kiana was outstanding in every respect. She didn't look like the kind of fool who couldn't learn, so the problem had to lie with herself.
"I'll demonstrate it one more time."
Mei placed her hand on the hilt of the wooden sword, calmed her breathing, and entered the state of Hokushin Itto-ryu.
Teaching Kiana hand over hand hadn't worked. Having Kiana hold her hand and swing the sword hadn't worked either. Perhaps directly demonstrating Hokushin Itto-ryu and letting Kiana figure it out for herself would be somewhat more effective?
This wasn't a spar or a battle, so she had enough time to adjust her breathing and raise her condition to its peak.
Body and mind as one. Grip tight. Draw and strike!
Her consummate slash was as fast as lightning, leaving almost no afterimage to catch. There was no flashy showboating or needless ornamentation, only swordsmanship honed to the pinnacle. Mei once again displayed her peak slash in her ordinary state to Kiana.
Kiana's azure eyes widened slightly as she praised her. "As expected of Mei. No matter how many times I see it, I'm still amazed by how incredible it is!"
To hone swordsmanship to such an almost transcendent level in a world without the Honkai—she truly was worthy of being Raiden Mei!
This was a world without the Honkai.
And Kiana herself was not originally from this world. Her name had not even been Kiana.
Several months ago, she had crossed into this parallel world of Honkai Impact 3rd. Her body was not her original one either, but a new body provided by the system after she crossed over.
Her name was also a new name given to her by the system.
Kiana.
Kiana without Kaslana.
"As long as you work hard, you can do it too."
There was no need for modesty, because her swordsmanship had reached the stage of Menkyo Kaiden long ago.
Even in her free time from running the shrine, she had never slackened in her swordsmanship training. By absorbing the experience of other swordsmanship schools, she continued to improve.
In the field of swordsmanship,
there were absolutely few who could surpass her.
"I'm really clumsy."
Kiana scratched her head awkwardly. She actually wasn't all that interested in swordsmanship; it was merely an excuse she used to get close to Mei.
Not long after crossing into this world, she had seen Raiden Mei at the shrine. The instant she saw Raiden Mei, she immediately understood where she had crossed into.
This absolutely was a Honkai world!
With Raiden Mei present, this was unquestionably the Honkai universe's setting.
But this world seemed to have no Honkai. The Raiden Mei before her wasn't the heiress of ME Company or a famous scientist, but merely a seemingly ordinary shrine maiden.
While getting along with Raiden Mei, she had once asked why Mei had become a shrine maiden. Mei's answer was that this was her family's shrine, and she had inherited it after her father disappeared.
This shrine worshipped Narukami.
Although this Narukami was not that Narukami, and the shrine worshipped only a sword named Narukami, Kiana had immediately thought of the girl's counterpart in Teyvat and the Herrscher of Thunder from the Honkai world.
So this really was the Honkai universe. Even in a parallel world, Raiden Mei still had an inextricable connection with "Narukami."
There wasn't a single Mei who didn't play with lightning.
"No, you're very suited to martial arts."
Seeing her call herself clumsy, Mei could no longer hold back her thoughts. She said dejectedly, "The problem is mine. I've already forged my own path in Hokushin Itto-ryu, but how far one has gone in swordsmanship seems to have nothing to do with whether one is a good teacher."
Knowing something did not mean knowing how to teach it.
Unable to teach Raiden Mei's student no matter what she tried, Mei had begun to doubt her teaching ability.
If not for the strange feelings in her heart, for her unwillingness to let Kiana leave, she might have bowed and apologized, telling Kiana to find another teacher.
"That's not it at all!" Kiana panicked. She absolutely didn't want her own slacking to make Mei doubt herself. "Mei, you've been teaching very seriously. It's me—I wasn't listening seriously."
Raiden Mei, who had been somewhat dejected, froze on the spot. She stared blankly at Kiana before her.
She had doubted her teaching ability and wondered whether her understanding of swordsmanship still had many shortcomings, but she had never suspected that Kiana was slacking off.
Mei's expression was so shocked and bewildered that she truly had never considered this possibility. Kiana felt a burst of guilt under her gaze.
"But Kiana came to me... to learn Hokushin Itto-ryu, didn't she?"
She had met Kiana three months earlier. At the time, Kiana had come to deliver goods to the convenience store, discovered that Mei's swordsmanship was excellent, and pestered her to learn Hokushin Itto-ryu.
Raiden Mei had refused at first. It was only after she could no longer withstand Kiana's relentless pestering, and after discovering through their interactions that Kiana was a very pure-hearted girl, that she had resolved to teach Kiana Hokushin Itto-ryu.
Kiana hesitated as well.
Had her relentless pestering not been intense enough?
So after all these months, Mei truly had never suspected that she had ulterior motives?
Kiana fell silent for a moment. Did she really have to say something shocking like, "I want to drink Mei's **," for Raiden Mei to realize that she hadn't come for swordsmanship, but had come running over for her?
"I just want Mei to teach me a few more times."
She had endured even the dull basics in the beginning for the sake of this moment—for the chance to get closer to shrine maiden Mei.
What she wanted was for Mei to teach her hand over hand!
If she learned too quickly and passed everything in a single try, wouldn't all the tedious training she had endured to get close to Mei have been for nothing?
So that was the reason.
To experience more and build up a foundation before breaking through?
Mei used this reason to convince herself.
She handed Kiana the sword she had used, looking at her with utmost seriousness, as though she had reverted to the strict version of herself from half a month ago. "Use all your strength, Kiana. Let me see how much you've learned."
Kiana took the sword Mei had used. Before she could think much about it, Raiden Mei seriously added, "You must use your full strength. Trust me—even if you learn everything I've demonstrated, I'm willing to continue teaching you more of my experience and help you improve."
"All right."
Kiana didn't know how much she had learned. She only practiced swordsmanship at the shrine, and in front of Mei, she had never seriously performed that slash.
Her attention had been focused entirely on Mei, her mind filled with thoughts of how to unlock more ways of getting close to her.
Imitating the posture Mei had used to hold the sword, Kiana took a deep breath and closed her eyes, recalling Mei's breathing and movements in her mind.
Adjust her breathing, focus her mind, then draw and strike!
Kiana opened her eyes. The motion of her slash and the arc of the blade were identical to Mei's.
This was precisely a draw-and-slash.
With one slash, Kiana unexpectedly felt as though, sword in hand, there was nothing beneath the heavens that she could not cut.
Chapter Two: Named Izumo
How should she put it?
It felt incredibly smooth.
"Beautiful!"
Mei clapped her hands, her eyes shining with praise as she looked at Kiana. "Kiana, you really are a genius."
Mei had taught Kiana personally, hand over hand, and she was certain Kiana had never studied swordsmanship before.
She suddenly understood the feelings of those seniors who had lost to her, watched her quickly master their swordsmanship, and seen her walk in only a short time the paths they had taken for more than a decade or even several decades.
But she felt no jealousy. There was only happiness for Kiana, along with a sense of satisfaction that things were as they should be.
"It's all because Mei taught me so well."
Kiana had not expected to perform the slash so smoothly either. The mark it left in her heart gave her a strange sensation. She savored the state of mind produced by that slash and seemed to understand why Mei continued practicing her sword day after day despite already being so formidable.
This sense of satisfaction and achievement... felt amazing!
"Have more confidence, Kiana. You're a genius—a one-in-ten-thousand genius. I believe you'll reach Menkyo Kaiden very soon too."
Kiana decisively shook her head and said boldly, "I don't want to reach Menkyo Kaiden. I only want Mei to teach me swordsmanship."
"I believe Kiana will catch up to me very soon." Mei praised her earnestly.
Returning the sword to its sheath, Kiana took several steps over to Mei and extended the invitation further. "With such an amazing teacher as Mei teaching me, success is inevitable. But I think that on the road to becoming a master, we occasionally need to balance work with rest."
Balance work with rest?
Mei looked at Kiana in surprise.
Kiana didn't come to the shrine every day. She came about twice a week.
Although she would stay for the entire day, she trained for at most four of those eight hours, and she talked a lot even while training.
Her actual training volume wasn't very high.
Mei didn't dampen her enthusiasm, however. Instead, she asked with a smile, "Then where would Kiana like to go to relax today?"
"How about the new food street? It opened yesterday. I heard the others talking about it, and the reviews were really good!"
"That food street?"
Mei knew which street she meant. After thinking briefly, she nodded. "All right. I'll go change clothes."
Before you continue