Honkai Double Traverse, Bringing Cyrene to Honkai Impact 3rd

Seeing everyone inexplicably sigh over Kiana's tragic fate—

I feel like if I revealed the truth now, I'd become the clueless third wheel in some romance novel.

And compared to those truths, being declared the fiancée of a five-hundred-year-old antique who planned to force a marriage on her... might not be so bad after all? At least that would turn him from a major villain into a minor one.

If Kiana kept her hair in a single ponytail, she'd actually look exactly like Kallen. She'd just need to look a little more resolute, with a more serious expression.

—No, wait!

Why am I even thinking about this?

Jiang Cheng strode forward without hesitation and clapped loudly, with no regard for manners, shattering the atmosphere around them.

"Clap—clap—clap!"

"Everybody, stop! Stop right there. Don't keep letting your imaginations run wild and making up all this nonsense. That guy Otto isn't just some simple scumbag like a pedophile. He's the ace of scumbags. Sure, he's done plenty of really low and stupid things, but he's not so low as to stoop to that. He's the kind of super-scumbag who's the complete opposite of those people on Epstein Island."

Jiang Cheng rattled off the whole thing in one breath. Before those sky-blue eyes could finish widening in shock, he pointed straight at her.

"There's no engagement or anything like that involving Kiana. Siegfried fled with Kiana because Otto had subjected her to human experimentation!"

—???

Kiana's eyes widened. Her azure pupils contracted to pinpoints in an instant.

The people present gazed at the boy's pure, utterly unclouded eyes. The sorrowful atmosphere that had filled the place finally burst under crushing pressure—

"Jiang Cheng/A-Cheng/Cheng-kun..."

"You said..."

"What?"

Everyone's voices had gone hoarse.

No matter how ragged their voices became, or how distorted their usual tones sounded—

All they could do was look at Jiang Cheng as he nodded gently.

"That's right."

"Kiana was never engaged to anyone. Siegfried's departure had nothing to do with Schicksal, either."

Jiang Cheng raised a finger with a serious expression. "Stop imagining things. Let's not drag any sleazy bedroom drama into our world. It'll only make everyone miserable."

The truth had come out.

But instead of reacting right away, everyone present fell silent.

The whole world seemed utterly still.

Cyrene had only just managed to join the conversation. Before she'd had a chance to say more than a few words, she curled up like a cat and used her height to hide behind Jiang Cheng.

Her expression? Her posture? Her movements? Everything was hidden in shadow, impossible to see.

—Only her heart, pounding wildly, gave her away.

Raiden Ryoma, who had come here on business, slowly pushed up the bridge of his nose, though he wasn't wearing glasses.

He was so calm that it seemed he had only just arrived and hadn't been involved in anything that had happened before.

Raiden Mei, who had first imagined Kiana's background and misled everyone present, had bowed her head so low it looked as if she really wanted to bury it in the ground like an ostrich. Her plump toes curled inside her wooden sandals, tightening again and again, while an enticing flush crept over her arches.

As for the true subject of all this—Kiana.

The girl had begun to tremble. A wave of mortified red surged up from her neck, as if a dam had burst. Her little face, pale just moments ago from her low spirits, was now visibly turning red and hot.

Her long silver-white hair still covered her face, but it was no use now. If anything, the crystalline sheen made the flush showing through even clearer.

Even the tips of her ears had turned red.

She was like a steam engine heated to its limit, hissing and puffing nonstop. Jiang Cheng could almost see steam rising from the top of her head.

Though, for some inexplicable reason, her eyes held a hint of exhaustion that seemed the opposite of excitement, there was no denying that Kiana was worked up to the extreme.

"If I say you're right about what you were thinking, is there still any hope?" Jiang Cheng asked cautiously.

But—

All he could see was Kiana suddenly turning around and sprinting off in no particular direction. In a matter of seconds, she'd put a kilometer between them, and she was still running.

"This lady... This lady must be dreaming! I absolutely did not fail again!"

"Nothing happened today!"

"I'm going back to bed!"

She threw out just those words, then bolted like a headless fly, as if she'd unearthed some brand-new reserve of strength. In an instant, she'd covered nearly a kilometer.

"If you're going back to bed, at least take the road to your room! You're running straight down the street!"

Jiang Cheng could barely resist commenting.

But after the greatest public humiliation of her life, Kiana clearly didn't care about that anymore.

She ran headlong in whatever direction she happened to be going, alone, as though she meant to run right out of this world and escape somewhere no one knew her.

"Beep-beep—!"

A shrill sound reached her ears.

Bright white light followed close behind.

Kiana turned at the sound without thinking and saw the broad front of a truck hurtling toward her.

It's a truck.

Kiana's mind registered the fact a little late.

Unlike the sedan that had crashed into Jiang Cheng, even she would probably get hurt if this truck hit her.

But her body stayed frozen in place, like the heroine in one of those cheap short dramas whose legs were always useless. Her long lashes drooped.

"Phew."

"Haah..."

All she had to do was rise onto her toes and run out of the way, then keep fleeing for her life, escaping all that embarrassment...

Was it really embarrassment?

Was embarrassment truly the reason she wanted to run away?

She'd finally gotten news about Stinky Old Man from Jiang Cheng, only to find out once again that it was wrong. She still hadn't found him.

Did Stinky Old Man leave because he cared about me and had no choice? Or... did he abandon me?

...I'm so tired.

Kiana lamented deep in her heart.

How long has it been since that snowy day?

She couldn't remember anymore. Maybe it was simply because she didn't want to look at a calendar or recall the day he disappeared...

She'd woken up in a warm bed. She'd gone to sleep with Stinky Old Man the night before. She'd just rubbed her bleary eyes and called out, like she always did, "Dad, what are we eating today?" But when she opened her eyes, the person who'd always been there was gone from the cabin. At the tightly shut door, only two rows of footprints remained, already fading.

She'd waited until late at night. He hadn't come back.

She'd waited until the next day. He still hadn't come back.

"Why did this happen?"—But she could scream herself hoarse, and no one would answer.

"Did I do something wrong?"—But no matter how she asked, all she could see was the empty snowfield.

She wanted to search for him. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, so she ran around frantically. But the heavy snow had already buried everything, leaving not even a footprint behind.

—He was gone.

She couldn't even fix whatever she'd done wrong, because she had no idea what her mistake had been. All she could do was keep correcting herself, keep trying to make amends, and pray he would appear again... She crossed the snow alone, carrying hope with her to city after city. She'd search at the other end of the world, if she had to; she'd go to the ends of the earth.

Disappointment.

Disappointment.

Disappointment.

No matter what she did, she couldn't find him. Neither science nor the supernatural could uncover a single trace.

Endless anticipation, endless disappointment. Even the most cheerful, outgoing heart couldn't withstand that forever.

Every Christmas, she watched other children walk into the supermarket with their parents, point to the gifts they liked, and tell them what they wanted.

The girl pressed against the window, whose breath fogged the glass and who had to wipe it clean with her little hand—what could she have been thinking?

Like a rat in a basement, she spied on other people's happiness through the cracks, sensing a warmth that didn't belong to her.

Just because Jiang Cheng had shown her unconditional trust, she'd given him a hand without thinking, working tirelessly for him no matter the cost.

—Was it really only because she wanted to help people?

He'd be so disappointed if he found out. The person who'd helped him all this time wasn't some selfless hero.

She really didn't want to see that.

She didn't want to see any disappointment in Jiang Cheng's eyes.

Kiana simply closed her eyes, letting her body relax and stretch out completely in the overwhelming white light.

Then, before the impact she'd been expecting arrived, a warmth far too great swept over her from the side. Like a natural hot spring, it quickly spread and enveloped her whole body.

"Kiana, if something's making you unhappy, could you... try telling me?"

...That's Jiang Cheng's voice.

"If you don't want to... fine, I'll owe you one more. Otherwise, I'm drawing a turtle on your face."

As annoying as ever.

She hated how he rushed over. Hated how he kept calling her a big idiot. Hated how he...

Understood my feelings better than anyone.

"I can carry you on my back a few more times, too. As many times as you want. I'm a lot stronger now. I can even stop a speeding truck with one hand."

"So please, tell me."

Her innermost feelings, never spoken aloud, were understood without her permission.

The person she'd never encountered before, the one she'd only spied on from afar, like some despicable rat, was now truly...

"I really don't want to see you sad. I really, really don't. Not for any reason."

—Sad because of me.

PS:

For Kiana's state in the following scene, I took some inspiration from Void Drifter. Kiana at this point hasn't yet been healed at St. Freya for three years, and she hasn't met friends like Raiden Mei, Bronya, Himeko, or Theresa, so I made her a little more extreme. The reason she's so focused on anything related to the Kaslana family, even wild rumors, is that she's still on her quest to find her father.

Still, I won't get as overly flowery as before. If you think this level of melodrama is too much, I'll revise it later.

—How tragic.

The girl who craved love more than anything, the girl who longed for warmth more than anything, the girl who'd fight Honkai Beasts with her little body just to receive love.

For no reason at all, she'd lost the fatherly love she'd always believed would last forever. She'd lost the one person in this world who'd ever given her starved heart something called love.

In the end, all she could do was keep chasing, like a donkey turning a millstone, with someone dangling a carrot over her head.

?54. Kiana Cries, Mei Plays Favorites? (7)

But.

He was still talking.