Jiang Cheng curled his lips, completely unfazed, and once again coated his fingers in dust.
"So what if you're a little kitten? I'll draw another big turtle on your face. A big turtle..."
"Mm—!"
Before he could finish, his outstretched right hand—and his mouth—were forcibly covered.
Because of the height difference, Kiana's little hands couldn't grab both of his at once, so she simply threw herself at him and pinned his hands down with her knees.
She half lay on top of him, looking as amiable as a delinquent girl who was about to start bullying someone at school.
"If I can't win an argument with you, I can just shut you up and attack you all by myself, right?"
She smiled brightly, but the flames of revenge were clearly burning in her deep blue eyes.
"Listen up—Jiang Cheng is the super big dummy!"
Kiana looked down at Jiang Cheng, who was pinned beneath her—though in truth, he had no intention of resisting. A victor's aura surrounded her.
She freed one hand, picked up some dust from the ground, and fiercely started drawing on Jiang Cheng's face.
One turtle.
Two turtles.
Three big turtles.
"Hahaha! Now you're a dummy too!" Kiana laughed triumphantly, her deep blue eyes shining like a little cat that had just stolen a fish.
Only after half of Jiang Cheng's face was covered in turtles, one big tortoise layered on top of another, did she finally let go, satisfied. She raised her chin so high it nearly pierced the sky.
"Heh-heh!"
Kiana looked like she'd won a great victory.
"Say something! Why'd you go quiet? Weren't you so smug just a moment ago, you stu—pid—Jiang—Cheng?"
She drew out her mocking words.
"Why is the great Kiana pinning you down now, and you're just sitting there in a daze..."
"That all?"
A few breezy words slipped from Jiang Cheng's newly freed lips and landed precisely in her ear.
Kiana hadn't even figured out what he meant when—
In the next instant, Jiang Cheng wiped the turtles off his own face and reused the dust, swiftly smearing a streak across her right cheek.
"—!!!"
She blankly touched her face and looked at the dust on her fingertips, her pupils contracting sharply.
A tide of embarrassed fury surged upward from her neck, as if a dam had burst. Her little face, pale just moments ago from her low spirits, now visibly—
Flushed red, grew hot, and started steaming!
Kiana turned red as a boiled shrimp, her composure bursting like a popped balloon. She exploded on the spot.
[Warning! Warning!]
It was as though an artificial voice rang out in Jiang Cheng's mind. Against a ridiculous musical score, he stared at the face before him, red enough to drip blood, and suddenly realized he might have taken things a bit too far this time.
"Uh, can we make peace?" he said, in a truly pathetic voice.
As expected, she covered his mouth again.
For the next half hour, Kiana never stopped her mentally victorious attacks. To make sure Jiang Cheng was absolutely unable to fight back, she even shoved him to the ground, climbed on top of him, propped herself up with one hand, and clamped the other over his mouth as she stubbornly repeated her string of dumb insults again and again.
Jiang Cheng never fought back.
Only the Third Herrscher's lightning in the sky above flashed more and more frequently.
Half an hour later.
Pinning Jiang Cheng down while drawing turtles—and making sure they looked convincing—had taken its toll.
Kiana could barely lift her arm.
She was panting hard, her chest heaving like a bellows. She looked so exhausted she might fall apart.
After adding one last big, round turtle to his face, she collapsed beside him on the dirt without a shred of ladylike grace. She gazed up at the sky, which looked like a yin-yang hot pot, and gasped for breath.
That had been satisfying.
But what if... what if Jiang Cheng used his speed to make a fool of her again?
Wouldn't that mean he could cover her whole face in drawings, and she wouldn't be able to hit back?!
Aaaah, this was so frustrating!
Why hadn't she learned this kind of taunting before? The kind of thing that could make you stronger in an instant! Stinky Old Man hadn't taught her any of this useful stuff. He'd just snuck off by himself...
—Whatever.
She closed her eyes, already prepared for Jiang Cheng to retaliate with all sorts of tactics.
Jiang Cheng was such a big meanie!
The biggest meanie in the whole world!
He wouldn't even grant such a simple wish—even though she'd taken so many hits protecting him!
Warm sunlight fell on her hot, flushed face. With exhaustion stripping away all her defenses, she looked less cold and lost, and more soft and sweet.
"—Do you feel a little better?"
PS: Please toss me some votes.
Jealous of herself?
The humiliation had come without warning.
Kiana's eyelashes fluttered as she narrowed her eyes.
Jiang Cheng lay on the dusty wasteland, and after being knocked down, he had simply stayed there.
"We successfully got Mei out of the city, so Nagazora hasn't been destroyed. We saved hundreds of thousands of people."
"If you're out of strength, I can carry you—just like you carried me earlier."
"I think I'm pretty strong now~"
There had been no taunts like she'd expected, and he hadn't made her keep stubbornly fighting back and calling him a dummy like one herself.
All he offered was comfort, as cheap yet precious as the summer breeze blowing in from the horizon, soothing enough to make her feel at ease.
Kiana let out a long breath.
She remembered why she'd suddenly brought up Mei-senpai and Jiang Cheng's relationship, why she'd insisted they talk things out for no reason, and why she'd put in so much effort.
"Trust, huh..."
It really was something both precious and commonplace.
Like diamonds.
Artificial diamonds were so cheap they were no different from stones by the roadside. But those extraordinarily rare ones, found only in the most unlikely places and unique in the whole world, could easily fetch a price high enough to make your jaw drop at auction.
Kiana gazed at the sky.
The evening light laid a filter over the heavens, making them seem like a blazing rose garden. Every petal shone brilliantly, so romantic it made her feel dazed.
The clouds were beautiful.
Even more beautiful than the aurora she'd seen in Siberia.
Who knew if the next time she looked at the clouds, she'd be alone again, lying on the ground all by herself.
The wind swept gently over the weathered wasteland, carrying away some of the scorched tang of lightning.
"...Thank you."
Her voice was as gentle as a breeze brushing her face.
Jiang Cheng hurriedly turned his head, but all he saw was her dust-covered face, gazing peacefully at the sky above.
Her long, curled lashes fragmented the light into countless flecks of gold, as if melting the glaciers in her eyes into seawater.
The light seemed to favor her especially. Her translucent silver hair and white lace caught the light and shadow in crisp relief, making her exposed skin look almost transparent.
Like an ice field in the far north.
The moon's distant, cool glow—so pure that no one dared touch it.
When the carefree girl suddenly grew serious, just looking at her was enough to make your heart race.
"If you don't want me to carry you this time, then I'll owe you one. You can ask me to repay it anytime... anytime," Jiang Cheng said softly.
Kiana's sudden sadness, the way her eyelashes drooped like withered petals, had never escaped his notice.
If Kiana hadn't risked her life to protect him several times, he probably would have had to give up on this side-story scenario long ago.
So he didn't want to become someone who simply stood by without a care.
He really hated seeing Kiana wear that downcast expression. Just like he'd hated it back when she was the Void Drifter.
Did he hate it?
Actually, he liked it—liked it a lot. Kiana in her casual state was truly beautiful. What he hated... was the sadness on her face.
He wasn't exactly good with people and didn't know how to make Kiana genuinely happy.
It wasn't as if he could just go drag Siegfried back right now.
But even if he did bring him back, the problems would only get more complicated—why had Siegfried left? What had happened to his arm?
That information would crush Kiana. She couldn't handle the mystery of her own past right now.
Siegfried couldn't bear the responsibility of being an anchor alone. In fact, as her father, he shouldn't be involved at all. He was too entangled in what had happened before to ever be separated from it.
That was why he'd used a childish, silly game to pull Kiana out of her sea of sadness.
Even letting Kiana pin him down had been part of the plan.
A prank without consequences was just one-sided bullying. Getting chased and beaten was the true joy of it.
"Phew..."
"Haa..."
As he looked up at the sky, he suddenly felt glad.
Even though half of it was blocked, the sky was an astonishingly clear blue, with golden threads glimmering between the clouds.
That morning, when he and Cyrene had lain together on the rocking chair, they'd seen an equally beautiful sky.
The magnificent clouds would always be there. But if the person you watched them with died, they'd be gone for good.
Raiden Mei touched her lips. At some point, her face had become wreathed in sunset clouds even more brilliant than the evening sky.
Her pale, smooth skin and flawless face—everything any woman would envy—only made the rising blush harder to hide.
[What's there to get excited about?]
The moment she heard the voice in her mind, the flush on her face deepened.
"This was Cheng-kun's first time!"
[But I'm you too, aren't I? And I thought you'd be the one who cared... This is your first time~]
"That doesn't matter."
Raiden Mei clenched her fists deep inside.
[Aren't you embarrassed?]
Before you continue