Warm Days

In the boundary between illusion and reality, a faint presence reached out its hands. In this pitch-black, lightless place, translucent, light feathers tumbled and rolled in the air like withered leaves, finally landing in the palm, like a dilapidated object on its deathbed.

She gazed curiously at the feather she held in her palm; its crimson color had faded to a dull gray, and the consciousness that should have existed within its core had fallen into slumber, its power, a mixture of its own and other properties, possessing a subtle aura.

The Herrscher is very curious.

As a newly formed consciousness, the Herrscher of Reason huddled in a vast yet narrow corner, embracing her self. She was not ignorant, but still very curious about the existence of this Udu-dust.

Refutation.

That is, things that shouldn't exist.

Udu-dust gave the Herrscher of Reason a strange sense of closeness; to her, who was only recently born, it was an inexplicable presence that resembled a family member.

Therefore, although the Herrscher of Reason responded highly to the commands given by the Honkai, she did not choose to annihilate them in a domineering way.

In reality, the power that Udu-dust possessed, which did not belong to her, also determined that she could not reach this ending for the time being.

The link with Fu Hua was easily severed, but the resilience and strength of the other link contained a warm and vast power, like the ocean.

That person's... soul.

Very special.

This assessment might not be surprising to Herrscher, since only humans with inherently special souls possess the potential to bear such power.

As the Herrscher of Consciousness, she could understand that there were still distinct differences and significant disparities between the two.

The fact that a normal Herrscher needs to rely on a core to indirectly establish a link with their powers in order to use them properly, while Su Qing'an can purely bear half of the essence of her powers with just her own soul, reveals many problems.

Udu-dust, who has established a life-or-death pact with such an existence, will not suffer any damage that threatens the source until the former perishes.

Her fingertips gently stroked the surface of the feather, and the touched area emitted a soft yet firm white light, isolating it from the forbidden realm.

It'll be soon.

No matter how special or powerful he is, as long as there is a fatal flaw in his heart, the power to control his consciousness is enough to exploit that slight weakness and completely defeat him.

Until then, just wait patiently.

Clutching the feather, the girl extended her self-awareness infinitely, continuing to fulfill the obligations she had been given.

This unfair war, which began with the slow accumulation of people Sleeping Sickness, was thus fully launched.

I don't know when it happened, but the sound of wind and snow disappeared from my ears.

In the fleeting moments of hazy consciousness, the subtle noises and whispers gradually dispelled the ambiguity.

"Manager."

"Store manager?"

"Su Qing'an? Wake up!"

His eyelids slowly opened as he heard the familiar voice, and the first thing he saw was that impressive white hair. He unconsciously rubbed his temples and followed the swaying ends of the hair to look at that face.

Her exotic, delicate features were tinged with a natural air of aloofness; her deep blue eyes, as blue as the sea, were fixed on her own face; and her lips moved slightly in a smile.

She was a very beautiful girl. The first thing you see when you wake up is a beautiful girl of that caliber. From a scientific point of view, it would make you feel happy and relaxed.

Unfortunately, the act of taking a picture of his sleeping face with his phone, combined with his words of calling for him to Awakened, seemed rather inappropriate.

Su Qing'an looked at Kiana helplessly. He glanced around and realized that he was in the back seat of the bus, not far from the next stop. This was probably the reason she had been woken up.

Kiana sent the photos from her phone to a group chat called "St. Freya Slacker Group," and stared at the endless stream of messages popping up.

[Alloy Bronya: Xiao Su, looks good.]

[Seele Fulei: Brother, it's beautiful.]

[Satou Yunona: Post more.]

[Mei: Add one.]

[Murata Himeko: Add one.]

Theresa: Add one.

[Nishikujo Sara: plus one.]

[Kambara Yuu: plus one.]

After a strange repetition, almost all the lurkers in this odd group started to surface.

[Fu Hua: Did he not sleep well last night?]

After seeing it, Kiana took a picture of the boy rubbing his eyes, looking a little sleepy, clicked send, and replied:

I don't know, but it's probably because of the weather.

[Today in Canghai City, the temperature and sunshine felt perfect for sleeping. It was even easier to fall asleep in the swaying bus, with air conditioning and pleasant lighting.]

Finally, she aptly concluded:

So the store manager must have been secretly playing games yesterday, <(￣ˇ￣)>

Then, it was accompanied by an emoticon that would definitely leave someone speechless.

[Fu Hua: I'll log into his game account and check his online time.]

Su Qing'an gazed at the upturned lips of her lips and said softly:

"Kiana, you're not allowed to post my photos on the school forum, or I'll tell Mei about how you told Rita her measurements last time."

The girl's smile vanished, she pursed her lips, and uttered her outrageous statement with righteous indignation:

"Don't be so stingy, store manager. Your photos in women's clothing have been all over the forum for ages. What's a few sleeping pictures compared to that?"

The boy wondered if there was something wrong with his memory, as he had absolutely no recollection of ever dressing as a woman.

If Kiana hadn't spoken with such conviction, and if he hadn't felt any sense of insecurity, Su Qing'an would have instinctively concluded that she was exaggerating. He asked:

"Women's clothing?"

Kiana looked at the stopped bus and the open doors, grabbed the boy's sleeve, and walked to the platform, complaining:

"Are you out of your mind from sleeping?"

"It was just recently, don't you remember? It was when you and the Class President went on exchange programs and you covered for her at the social event."

That photo is still on the forum's homepage.

The boy silently unlocked his phone with his fingerprint and skillfully logged into the forum. He stared at the black-haired beauty on the homepage, who made almost all the girls in the entire St. Freya Academy pale in comparison, and felt an overwhelming urge to succumb to her charm.

Su Qing'an could indeed recognize herself, but wasn't this setting of a beautiful woman in a wheelchair, frail, abstinent, and with a cold and aloof demeanor, a bit too strange?

The boy's memories began to resurface. He vaguely remembered that it was to help Hua take the blame, and apart from that, he couldn't find any other reason why he would obediently cooperate with this disguise.

"What are we doing here again?"

Kiana glanced at Su Qing'an, who was looking up at the blue sky, and felt something was off. She nudged him with the gift bag in her hand and asked:

Are you a Slowpoke?

Su Qing'an sat on a bench at the bus stop and asked earnestly:

What is Slowpoke?

The girl explained:

"A Pokémon that looks like a complete idiot."

Su Qing'an felt that she had grasped the key point:

So you're not actually an idiot?

Kiana, in a serious tone:

"He's just an idiot."

Then the boy tapped her on the head as revenge and asked:

"What are we going to do? Buy coffee beans? Or go to the movie theater and bookstore?"

Kiana said quietly:

"It's not that it's impossible, but I feel like I'd get beaten up by the Class President if I went alone with the store manager, so I'd better not."

Su Qing'an said earnestly:

Hua isn't easily jealous, but let's just leave it at that.

So if you really don't get jealous easily, why did you say "never mind"?

Are you henpecked?

The white-haired girl suppressed her urge to complain and explained:

"Since school's on holiday recently, everyone came to Canghai City for a while and we're planning to get together and have some fun."

Su Qing'an felt the aftereffects of her afternoon nap gradually disappearing. Her previous memories were like a stone slab obscured by mist, the words and records on it were not clear, but now they were back to normal.

The final exams at the St. Freya Academy ended a week ago. Having overcome her grief over her parents' passing, she chose to return to her home in Canghai City.

Originally, Su Qing'an was supposed to act with Fu Hua, but she had to go to her old residence in Mount Taixu first. In addition, in order to prevent him from having nothing to do during the summer vacation, Sister Himeko built a new coffee shop on the street near her home, so he asked Kiana to come and be a tool to help open the coffee shop.

Su Qing'an said softly:

"Unfortunately, the motorcycle is still in Changkong City."

Kiana recalled the Kawasaki H2R the boy had ridden and said softly:

"That car absolutely cannot be used for traveling in Canghai City."

Su Qing'an thought about Shenzhou's traffic regulations and said regretfully:

"It's true that it can only be used occasionally when dealing with Honkai missions."

The girl twirled a stray hair from her forehead and asked in confusion:

"Manager, have you gone crazy from playing games?"

Kiana, while complaining in the group chat that Su Qing'an was acting strangely and suggesting that Fu Hua give him physical therapy, sighed:

"Don't overlay reality with the setting of Honkai fantasy world, or my character will become a beautiful girl who can fight monsters with dual pistols."

"If I'm unlucky enough to end up as the protagonist, I'll probably have to deal with the loss of both parents, the apocalypse, and some Kamen Rider antagonist/ally dynamic. If they're going to turn on me, they might even make it so that the BOSS turns out to be my own backstabber. No matter how you look at it, it'll be a tragedy."

She opened Honkai Impact 3rd, claimed the monthly card, and without any emotional reaction, did a single pull for a Golden Legend item. She glanced at the speechless boy and added insult to injury:

"You're so vicious."

Su Qing'an was both amused and exasperated. He didn't know why he had blurted out such bizarre and unrealistic words; it was truly a bit of a case of adolescent delusions.

However, compared to chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), the things Kiana conjured up in her mind in an instant show that the purity of both is completely comparable.

The boy glanced at the girl's profile. Through the shadows cast by the drooping branches, he gazed at the boundless sky and the distant city of towering skyscrapers. For some reason, he chose to respond seriously to the joke.

"Then I'll take your place as the lead actor."

Kiana completed Fu Hua's request for a proxy draw, and after thinking for a moment, she said:

"You'll save the world for me, and then shine brightly?"

Seeing her somewhat excited expression, Su Qing'an knew that this girl was probably having a fit of teenage angst, so she smiled and played along:

"Yes, I'll save the world for you, and then I'll shine brightly."

The girl patted his shoulder seriously, adopting a bossy attitude, and said:

"Then I'll leave this task to you. I'll just relax and play games."

After speaking, she glanced at the group chat without a care in the world and chose to start a frenzy of repeating grades.

[Contact me for a 10-pull, 10 gold items: Today is Su Qing'an's birthday. Forward this message to ten groups, and nothing will happen, you might even get kicked out, but today really is Su Qing'an's birthday.]

Then came the extra reading, led by Bronya, Seele, Fu Hua, and others. She watched with satisfaction as the group chat was flooded with messages, then put her phone away so the boy wouldn't have a chance to see the extra reading messages.

Kiana straightened her pleated skirt and cheerfully muttered:

"I'll see Mei soon!"

Looking at the couple's space linked with someone, Su Qing'an flipped through the photo album and felt a strange sense of novelty.

From ordinary aquariums, amusement parks, and zoos to various restaurants we visited together, as well as all sorts of beautiful scenery and travel photos, the hand-holding and hugging, and even every expression and movement, all seemed so natural yet so unfamiliar.

His gaze lingered on one of the photographs.

--The girl wiped the cream off her lips with her fingertips, her expression indifferent, but her cheeks slightly flushed.

Because it was so cute, the initial sense of unease was strangely washed away by even stronger emotions.

Su Qing'an looked at the number of days the couple's space had existed and murmured:

"Has it been almost half a year already?"

Time flies!

Kiana glanced at his phone screen, feeling the overwhelming sweetness of their relationship. She thought that aside from Yuno, who would genuinely enjoy shipping them, most people would feel a sudden lack of warmth in their hearts. She murmured to herself:

"Yeah, yeah, ever since you two got together you go out to play Tiāntiān. You only come back for necessary exams, otherwise you're always showing off your love."

After speaking, the girl felt a little discouraged again:

"How can I still get a perfect score? I was paying attention in class, but I still failed. Now my mom video calls me every day to force me to study."

Su Qing'an continued flipping through the photos, as if he had found a treasure that shouldn't exist, and felt a secret joy. After hearing Kiana's complaint, he said:

"I think your uncle taught you to specialize in one subject, because you seem quite skilled at riding horses, yachts, flying planes, and riding motorcycles."

"Furthermore, does your idea of 'listening attentively' mean sleeping on your desk and listening with your ears?"

"Your aunt has worked very hard in every way."

Kiana remained silent for a moment, feeling guilty, before speaking seriously:

"I'll definitely try harder next time, I definitely will."

The next second, a cold, unintentional voice, seemingly unrelated to the demon, reached his ears.

"No need for next time, my lovely niece. Cecilia asked me to bring the test papers and homework."

Theresa delivered a chop to Kiana's head. She was wearing a cool summer outfit with HOMU pattern printed on it, and her exposed fair skin looked like milk in a porcelain bowl under the sunlight. However, due to her figure and youthful innocence, there was not a trace of nausea.

She adjusted her sun hat, looking every bit the relaxed vacationer, and gave him a genuine smile.

"After today, Himeko and I will personally tutor you properly."

Murata Himeko walked slowly over, took off her sunglasses, revealing her beautiful face. Compared to Theresa, who looked like she was wearing children's clothes, her curvaceous figure exuded a more mature woman's charm.

The woman stretched, but as the one responsible for driving all the way to Canghai City, she was nowhere near as energetic as Theresa had been reading comics in the back seat, after getting out of the car.

Upon hearing this, she merely stroked Su Qing'an's hair for a while under his speechless gaze, then casually contradicted him:

"Leave this troublesome matter to you, Headmaster. I want to enjoy my well-deserved vacation."

Under Kiana's gaze, which instantly filled her with godlike reverence, Himeko added insult to injury:

"Let's go out and have fun together. Kiana can stay at the coffee shop by herself, and Mei can tutor her with the AI she made. It can also keep an eye on things."

Mei is the technical advisor for the group behind the academy. Although she looks almost exactly like Mei, you can tell from their demeanor and figure whether they are the same person.

Kiana, who possesses the ability to discern dimensions, felt no pressure at all, but at this moment, the white-furred ball of fur felt utterly hopeless.

The ever-stylish and confident Nishikujo Sara walked beside her. It seemed that during her leisure time, she no longer insisted on wearing her usual white coat, but instead wore casual clothes, with a faint smile on her face.

She observed Kiana's changing expressions and found them extremely interesting.

As the School Doctor, Nishikujo Sara has a great fondness for students who are so healthy that they don't need to bother her at all.

Unfortunately, when it comes to grades, Himeko, as the homeroom Himeko, and Theresa, the school principal, have the absolute say.

So she just patted Su Qing'an's head, expressing her disappointment.

The boy was somewhat used to it; not only these two, but also Theresa, Fu Hua, Seele, and even Bronya liked to touch their hair.

Although the reason is unclear, it's become commonplace.

"Where is Hua?" he asked.

Himeko sighed, expressing her helplessness at the thought that her son was no longer under her mother's control.

Su Qing'an was speechless. This person had clearly already secretly found several styles of wedding rooms and countless wedding plans, and was very happy to see the relationship between the two of them develop. She even personally arranged and approved her vacation trip.

"Himeko."

"Um?"

He continued:

"Actually, I think you should occasionally sit in on Teacher Shara's acting classes; it would be very helpful for you in similar situations."

Then Himeko smiled and pinched the Himeko's cheeks for three minutes.

Kiana briefly forgot her tragic experience and enthusiastically filmed it, then posted it in the group chat.

[Alloy Bronya: I envy Aunt Himeko.]

[Seele Fulei: I want to pinch my brother's cheeks too.]

[Satou Yunona: Post more.]

Yuno's speech, as always, went straight to the heart and was concise and to the point.

[Lin Xinchán: Add one.]

Then came a series of additions of one.

Kiana looked at the reactions in the group chat, nodded in satisfaction, and typed:

"Is everyone ready?"

"A birthday gift for the store manager."