You Shouldn't Have Laid a Hand on Kiana / The Art of Forging a Blade

Able to appear by my side...

That was wonderful.

"It was all what I should have done." With her hands held as she thanked her, Kiana said somewhat awkwardly.

Mei shook her head. "Kiana, no matter what happens in the future, I'll always stay by your side and accompany you."

The words she had spoken had come back to her from someone else. Kiana finally realized just how devastating those instinctive words of hers had been.

No wonder Mei had fallen silent when she heard them.

"...Yeah! We'll always be together."

If we leave, we'll leave together. If we stay, we'll stay together, Kiana couldn't help thinking.

The negative emotions in her heart had vanished. Mei relaxed and smiled. It was only after watching the slightly flushed Kiana for a while that she noticed their intimacy seemed to have crossed the boundary between friends.

What kind of friends held each other's hands while talking, then looked into each other's eyes and said they would always be together?

Th-this... how was this any different from a confession?

Mei's face reddened when she realized it belatedly. But her tolerance had ultimately been trained up, so she didn't let go of Kiana or pull away as if startled.

Instead, she pretended nothing had happened and said, "I hope Miss Yae knows Miss Sirin. I know you really want to hear about her."

"...No, it's nothing like that."

Kiana's face grew even redder. Had she really been that obvious? She wasn't... All right, fine, she had been a little obvious. The more she thought about her dream of becoming One-Punch Kiana, the more excited she became, and the more impatiently she waited.

"Sirin should make her move in the next few days. I believe that once she went back, she would definitely start preparing payment for the treatment."

She only needed a little time.

After all, other people couldn't kill a Kishin without allowing the curse to invade them, then turn its power into a convenient, portable crystal.

She understood the reasoning, but there was no way to avoid feeling anxious and missing her. It wasn't impatience—it was anticipation!

Seeing the look on Kiana's face that said she trusted Sirin, Mei couldn't help asking, "She started preparing immediately after returning? That seems unlikely. News of the Honkai appearing is more important. Besides, haven't you and Sirin only met twice?"

"We've only met twice, but we clicked. And there's the Honkai, too. The Honkai is important, but I also believe she won't go back on her word. She'll take my matter seriously. That's my intuition."

"Intuition, huh..."

That really was a universal explanation.

But was Kiana a little too quick to trust others?

It wasn't that she had anything against Sirin.

It was just that the priority of a debt was obviously lower than that of a Honkai disaster.

If she had to guess, she felt Sirin was probably still investigating the traces of the Honkai and the effects it had caused.

She would probably return with the payment after investigating everything, while also asking Kiana for more information about the Honkai.

That was what a normal person would choose.

But Sirin clearly wasn't a normal person.

So half an hour later, she saw an uninvited purple-haired girl at the shrine, along with a pink-haired girl who had come with her. The latter wore a black robe similar in style to the one Tanaka Nao wore.

"Kiana, I came to see you."

When Sirin entered the shrine and saw the two of them, she greeted Kiana directly.

"And Raiden Mei. We haven't seen each other for a few days. What urgent matter did you need me for?"

"Sirin, Yae Sakura? Why are you here? Could it be..."

Kiana was so startled when she saw them that she rubbed her eyes. She had just been thinking that Sirin would take a few more days to come find her.

She hadn't expected Sirin to come today.

And she had even come with Yae Sakura.

With Yae Sakura...

Right, Sirin had mentioned Yae Sakura to her before. They had known each other in the past.

So when Yae Sakura had told Mei to wait earlier, she hadn't meant that she was busy. She and Sirin had been on their way here, planning to meet and talk in person?

"Of course I'm here to fulfill my promise." Sirin turned to Yae Sakura and said, "This girl said she had arranged to meet you again, so she came along."

"Kiana, long time no see." After entering the shrine, Yae Sakura no longer avoided the matter. She lifted the brim of her hat and looked at Kiana. "I came back alive."

Mei: "???"

Ignored, Mei looked at Kiana, who had instantly become the center of attention. She was practically about to have question marks pop out over her head. So this was Yae Sakura, the person who had come with Sirin.

That alone was surprising enough.

She hadn't expected there to be something even more astonishing.

What did "I came back alive" mean?

Had something happened between her and Kiana that Mei didn't know about?

"Welcome back." Kiana extended a hand toward her and smiled amicably. "Then from now on, we'll be friends."

Sirin clicked her tongue. Before Yae Sakura could approach, she stepped forward, seized Kiana's hand, and pulled it toward herself.

"I'm your friend too. Why didn't you reach out to me?"

Kiana looked dumbfounded. "But weren't we already friends?"

"Then why didn't you reach out before?"

Because the atmosphere was right, of course.

Yae Sakura had said it like that. Kiana couldn't just smile and nod, could she? Wouldn't that be too cold?

That fox clearly cared about it.

"Yesterday, we met someone from your organization. She told me that you had conveyed my decision to the Command Center." Mei walked over to Kiana's side and stared at Sirin. "May I ask what decision that was?"

"Obviously, a decision that benefits you."

Seeing her expression, Sirin didn't indulge her. She released Kiana, planted her hands on her hips, and said sarcastically, "Young people these days really don't know how fortunate they are. If I'd had a senior like that helping me back then, I wouldn't have ended up in this state."

Mei didn't care about her sarcasm. She merely turned her head and glanced at Kiana.

Kiana thought Mei wanted her to ask, so she tugged on Sirin and asked, "So what exactly was the favor? Are you going to give me the full story?"

"It really is a good thing for Sirin." Yae Sakura suddenly joined the conversation. Looking at Mei, she said with some guilt, "I'm sorry, Miss Raiden. I took Narukami away without your permission earlier."

"You don't need to apologize to me. My father asked you to do that." Mei's first sentence accepted Yae Sakura's apology, but her tone abruptly changed in the next. "But why did you injure Kiana? And in such a cruel way?"

Kiana, who had been watching from the side, was startled. She hadn't expected herself to be involved too. She stared at Mei with widened eyes, then looked at Yae Sakura.

"Mei, don't. It wasn't her fault. She tried to persuade me to give up for a long time. I refused, kept pestering her, and even ambushed her, so she had no choice but to act."

That fox really had hit hard. It had hurt for a long time. But to say it had all been Yae Sakura's fault was going too far.

Yae Sakura hadn't wanted to attack her at first.

Mei raised a hand to stop her and suppressed the chill in her voice. "I know. That's why I'm asking why you had to do it in such a cruel way."

"You don't have to take her side." Sirin placed a hand on Kiana's shoulder and pulled her over, clearly enjoying the trouble. "Who makes friends by beating someone up first, then saying, 'I want to be your friend—do you agree?'"

Kiana slapped Sirin's hand away. "Don't stir things up. That's not what happened."

Yae Sakura, however, nodded with utmost seriousness and looked at Kiana apologetically. "It was indeed my fault."

"Why are you acting like that too?" Kiana rubbed her forehead. "You already apologized at the time. Besides, I was the one who went too far and ambushed you. You only slapped me because I almost took Narukami back."

It had only been that one move.

Yae Sakura had moved just once, yet it had hurt so badly that Kiana had nearly wished she no longer had that hand. Fortunately, the excruciating pain hadn't lasted too long. Otherwise, she really would have cursed Yae Sakura eight hundred times.

"My apology then was not sincere enough. Besides, I said at the time that if I returned alive, I would formally apologize to you and Miss Raiden."

Aside from their promise of friendship, she had come mainly to apologize.

"And... I also failed your trust." Yae Sakura bowed to her and said, "I failed to persuade him as I promised."

"Um..."

Kiana cautiously glanced at Mei. Of course, she knew Yae Sakura was referring to getting Raiden Ryoma to contact Mei.

"You mean my father replying to me? You don't need to apologize to me or Kiana for that. The Thunder Calamity broke out the day after Narukami was stolen."

Mei knew about this too.

Kiana had told her about it that day. After finding out, Mei had even wondered whether her father might return and contact her.

"He's stubborn. It's normal that you couldn't persuade him. I don't care that Narukami was taken, and I don't care that he didn't contact me."

Knowing where her father was and knowing that he was alive had already made Mei care much less about the matter.

"You shouldn't have used such a heavy hand on Kiana."

"...I understand. I've always felt guilty about it. I'm sorry, Kiana. I didn't think it through when I attacked you. I must have caused you a lot of trouble, didn't I?"

Had this matter been blown out of proportion?

Kiana hurriedly waved her hands. "Let me say it again. I've already forgiven you, so stop worrying about it."

"You've forgiven me, but I haven't forgiven myself. The harm I caused you is already done. I was in a hurry to leave, and I used too much force..." Yae Sakura paused, then said, "Sirin said you wanted to collect Cursed Swords, so I spent these past two days using other swords to hunt Kishin and forged this Cursed Sword. I hope you'll accept it as my apology."

The Particulars of Forging a Sword

"...There's no need, is there?"

She hadn't expected Yae Sakura to come with Sirin. Aside from muttering a few times on the day they met about how harshly Yae Sakura had hit her, she hadn't thought about her again.

Judging by the sword she was carrying, Yae Sakura definitely wouldn't be returning Narukami before Amatsuyu.

"I hope you'll accept it."

Yae Sakura took the extra sword from her body and handed it to Kiana.

Kiana had originally thought that since Yae Sakura was carrying two swords, the other one would be Narukami, meaning she had returned to give it back.

She hadn't expected it to be a gift for her.

"I'll accept it, but don't bring this up again. If you agree, I'll take it."

How should she put it? She had pestered someone endlessly, only to be pinned to the ground in return. That counted as a bit of a dark history.

Whenever someone mentioned it, she would awkwardly remember what had happened that day, as well as her own helplessness.

From her perspective, Yae Sakura had only been forced to subdue her because she had pestered her until she couldn't take it anymore.

"No problem."

Only then did Kiana relax. She accepted the gift Yae Sakura had given her as an apology, then glanced at Mei's reaction.

Mei nodded at her.

If Yae Sakura had sincerely apologized, Mei wouldn't keep harping on it. She had been so aggressive because she wanted to see Yae Sakura's reaction and find out whether she had done it deliberately.

Kiana was too easy to deceive.

She didn't want Kiana to trust someone she shouldn't, only to be hurt afterward.

"Then let's continue discussing that 'decision,'" she said.

That could count as turning the earlier unpleasantness into the past and letting go of the theft of the sword along with everything that had happened afterward.

[Cursed Sword (A+): A Cursed Sword forged at the cost of fifty-six Kishin lives. The conflicting powers within it are mixed together, causing a 10x erosion effect to the wielder when used.

Special Effects: Hundred Ghosts (This sword can contain the power of one hundred Kishin. Each Kishin provides a 5% damage bonus), Entanglement (Releases the curse within the sword, temporarily increasing all attributes by 300%. During the effect, the erosion effect is doubled, and the wielder continues to suffer the curse's erosion.)]

[Recycle: The fusion of multiple powers results in losses. Recycling this equipment will yield only 38,000 Honkai energy crystals.]

Judging only by its effects, this weapon was pretty good. With everything stacked, it could reach 500%, and there was also a 300% boost to all attributes afterward.

But on closer inspection...

Good grief. The 10x erosion effect doubled again after activating the active skill, making it a 20x erosion effect.

How many people could withstand such an absurd negative effect?