In Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

Chapter 72: Seele

"Is this the orphanage?"

Kiana and Sirin stopped at the entrance of an orphanage. This was the very orphanage Sirin had told her about after the car accident two days ago.

They had agreed to come here the day after tomorrow.

Sirin had woken her up early in the morning and, while she was at it, handed her the ID card she had managed to get for her.

Sirin's efficiency was truly remarkable.

Sirin glanced at her phone again, cross-referenced the orphanage's name, and nodded. "This is definitely the place."

"Do you want to go inside and take a look?"

Since they were already here, of course they had to go inside and see. It would be best to ask the person in charge of the orphanage if anyone else, besides that guy, was targeting this orphanage.

"Don't worry, I've already made an appointment with the person in charge of this orphanage."

"Of course, we have to go in and see."

Even though Sirin had mentioned that the guy had many enemies, for some reason, Kiana felt that his death, which was supposedly caused by him targeting the orphanage, was inextricably linked.

As everyone knew, orphanages in Honkai were prone to spawning Argent Knights and Seele.

Even though this was Izumo, Mei was here, Sirin was here, Yae Sakura and Welt were here too. Would it be strange for an Argent Knight to show up?

Not strange at all.

There were already two Kianas in this universe, so she wouldn't find it strange even if there were a few more.

After all, Honkai: Star Rail was a part of Honkai.

"Alright, I'll make a call."

Instead of barging in impolitely, Kiana dialed a number. Sirin chatted briefly with the person on the other end before hanging up.

Seeing Kiana looking curiously at the orphanage, she said, "According to the records, this orphanage has been around for quite some time."

"You can tell from the exterior walls," Kiana said, pausing for a moment before turning her head in confusion. "It has been around for a while, hasn't it?"

Sirin nodded, about to say something more, when a middle-aged woman in her late forties or early fifties walked out.

They were the only two people at the orphanage entrance.

The woman saw them chatting at a glance and walked over somewhat nervously. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"We're the ones who disturbed you. I'm Sirin, and this is Kiana."

Sirin's attitude towards ordinary people was much better than usual. "You should have received the first part of the donation I sent to the orphanage. For the remaining part, I'd like to see the children first. I hope you, the director, can understand."

"I understand, I understand!"

The orphanage director quickly led them inside, talking about the orphanage's history and current situation as they walked.

Kiana glanced at Sirin with some curiosity, realizing that the appointment Sirin mentioned was made this way.

"What are you looking at?"

Sirin felt uncomfortable being looked at by Kiana and whispered, "I'm an orphan too."

She was only twelve years old when the disaster of Amatsukami occurred. After a brief period of displacement, she was chosen as the wielder of the Imperial Blades.

Having lost her mother, who she depended on, Sirin harbored a deep hatred for Amatsukami. This resentment extended equally to the blade that recognized her and to Welt, who, despite his best efforts, still caused a huge disaster in the far north.

"I can understand what it feels like to not have parents, and... I might even be luckier than them."

Despite the heavy responsibility of saving the world, she embarked on the path of demon-slaying from then on.

But her mother loved her.

After joining the Blade Masters, she also gained corresponding rights and no longer had to worry about her livelihood or being bullied by others.

As the saying goes.

It was good enough that she didn't bully others.

"Sirin..."

"Seeing pity on your face makes me really uncomfortable."

Sirin rubbed her arm and quickly followed into the courtyard. Kiana, whose hometown no longer existed, was even more miserable than her.

"These children..."

The director and Sirin chatted about games the orphanage played, and children who ran up to them, creating a warm and harmonious scene.

However, Kiana's gaze was already drawn to the girl under the tree who was distributing snacks to the other children.

She had shoulder-length black hair with blue highlights and wore a neat black and blue jacket with shorts. Her smile towards the children was incredibly healing.

Compared to Seele from Honkai Impact 3rd and Seele from Honkai: Star Rail, the character image of the Seele before her felt more like... Fire Moth Seele.

Except for the lack of Stigmata.

"Hello?"

Lost in thought, Kiana's stare was too obvious. The girl on the other side noticed a strange girl in the courtyard. After giving the child who came for snacks some treats and telling them to go play with someone else, she walked towards Kiana and greeted her.

"Are you here to volunteer too?"

The girl's smile was pure and clean.

"Volunteer?"

Kiana glanced at the children in the orphanage in surprise, then looked at the girl in front of her.

Uh... she didn't look like one of the orphanage children her age.

"Ah, I see, you came with the benefactor next to the dean, right?"

The girl suddenly realized and added, "I almost forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Seele. As you can see, I'm volunteering at this orphanage right now."

She lifted the plate in her hand, which still had some small, cute snacks left, and smiled, "Want to try some? I made these at home and brought them over."

Seele... what an unsurprising name.

Kiana returned a bright and friendly smile, "Kiana, you can call me Kiana. The one next to the Dean is Sirin, and she's my friend."

Seele glanced at the purple-haired girl next to the director, who was listening with a silent expression. She proactively pulled her under a tree where it wasn't so sunny and said, "I know the benefactor next to the director. She's a good person. The director was especially happy this morning because the benefactors who used to fund the orphanage suddenly stopped. They couldn't find new benefactors, and no one was willing to promote the orphanage. The orphanage could barely support these children anymore."

Kiana immediately thought of the car that spontaneously combusted two days ago. Besides that guy, no one else would target an orphanage.

"Fortunately, Miss Sirin helped. She donated a large sum of money to the orphanage, enough for them to get through the next few years."

Seele smiled, "As long as they get through this period, the orphanage will slowly get better."

"...It definitely will."

The culprit was gone, and the Blade Masters seemed to hold an unusual position. Kiana's attention to the orphanage should attract some attention, not to mention her large donation.

With the main culprit gone, the orphanage's development should only get better.

"Do you go to school nearby?"

"Yes."

Seele nodded and said, "The school I attend is nearby, so I help out at the orphanage when I have time."

Seeing Seele, Kiana had a general idea of what she had seen at the car accident scene that day.

However, since she and Seele had just met, asking if she had a sister would be too intrusive and easily arouse unnecessary suspicion.

73

Chapter Seventy-Three: That's Right, I Just Like Girls.

She and Seele chatted briefly about the orphanage. Kiana didn't learn much more; Seele mostly talked about the orphanage's affairs.

However, she did mention that she was also an orphan.

"Family? As far as I can remember, I've never met my relatives. They probably perished in that disaster over ten years ago."

"It was the extreme northern region. Over ten years ago, a major disaster struck the extreme northern region, causing many casualties. That disaster worsened the already harsh environment of the extreme north, and even now..."

"Are you also a victim of that disaster?"

Sirin's voice suddenly rang out.

Kiana, who was intently listening to Seele, was startled. It was only when Sirin spoke that she realized Sirin had already finished talking with the dean.

"Me too?"

Seele hesitated for a moment, then looked at Sirin and asked uncertainly, "Miss Sirin, are you also...?"

"What a coincidence."

Sirin said this, but there was no joy on her face at meeting someone from her hometown. She thought back to the disaster over ten years ago.

She looked at Seele again, estimating her age and knowing she must have been just born then.

She probably had no memory of it.

Not having any memory was also a form of happiness.

"I didn't expect to meet someone from my hometown in Changkong City."

Sirin came back to her senses, looked at the girl in front of her, and asked, "Are you helping out at this orphanage?"

"Yes."

Seele was a little nervous facing Sirin. "Because I grew up in an orphanage too, I wanted to help children like us after I came here to study."

"...A very good idea."

Sirin said, pulling out a pen and paper from her pocket. She wrote down a string of numbers and handed it to Seele, "This is my contact information. You can contact me anytime if you need any help."

Seeing this, Kiana took out her phone and said, "Let's add each other as friends, Seele?"

"This... okay, okay."

Seele accepted Sirin's contact information and added Kiana as a friend.

Since it was still early, Kiana and Sirin stayed at the orphanage for the day, experiencing volunteer work alongside Seele.

They got along fairly well and only left in the evening.

They hailed a cab by the roadside and returned to the hotel.

After they left, a well-hidden, modified drone flew back to a silver-haired girl with curly hair standing on the rooftop.

"Sister Bronya, stop looking. They aren't here because of Bulls' death."

Seele, who had also left the orphanage, was now beside the silver-haired girl with curly hair.

"I can tell."

Putting away the drone, the girl called Bronya smiled and said, "Five million at the first move. I never expected there to be such a good bonus for getting rid of Bulls."

From her words, it could be inferred that the girl was the culprit behind the vehicle spontaneously combusting incident two days ago.

Bronya knew they suspected the orphanage when she learned from the director that visitors would be coming today, which was why she had been monitoring them all day.

It wasn't out of fear of being discovered.

It was to see if the other party was the same sort of scoundrel as Bulls; if so, she wouldn't mind continuing to eliminate evils for the people.

However, it seemed the other party had merely guessed that the spontaneous combustion incident was unusual and had noticed the kind people at the orphanage.

"Tone it down a bit, sister."

Seele rubbed her forehead. "I don't want to have to flee a newly stabilized city again so soon."

"Aiya, don't worry, Seele. My skills have improved quite a bit. I won't be discovered again."

"But you said the same thing last time."