Honkai Double Transmigration, Taking Xilian to Honkai Impact 3rd

Even though he was facing someone who had brought this upon herself, he still nagged her like a father.

"..."

She couldn't help it; she wanted to chase after that warmth.

Like a moth with no regard for its own life, she flew toward the light of the fire.

"..."

How could she describe this feeling? Perhaps even Kiana herself couldn't say for sure.

She simply opened her eyes, just as she had in that lonely little wooden cabin in Siberia in her memories—surrendering to the warmth enveloping her body, she slowly looked out at the world.

It felt as if she had returned to the past.

—But this time was absolutely different from that day!

Kiana blinked, her vision blurring with tears, yet she still saw him clearly before her.

Jiang Cheng's hair was as messy as if it had just been ravaged by a storm. The new clothes he had put on not long ago were stained with dust. Even his posture as he held her was far from the standard template of a hero saving a damsel—he had simply rushed to scoop her up by the backs of her knees, his other hand pressed against her back, holding her in a semi-suspended embrace.

With Jiang Cheng's current strength, saving someone from beneath the wheels of a truck should have been simple.

—It definitely wasn't because he was incapable that he looked so disheveled.

Kiana was inexplicably certain of this.

Then why was it like this?

...Ah.

She saw the lingering panic in those golden pupils, the soft gasps of breath escaping his lips.

—It must be because he was too nervous.

Because he was too nervous, he had fumbled even such a simple task.

Because he was too nervous, what should have been a dashing rescue had turned into a mess.

—That is already enough.

A smile bloomed involuntarily. She gazed at the firelight in the snow, watching it ignite bit by bit within those dazed eyes.

"Don't be so hurried next time, anyway, this Miss wouldn't have any problems just from being bumped."

"This Miss is very strong, you know. Even a Titan Mech couldn't beat me, so a truck is just a small case."

She didn't want to squirm, didn't want Jiang Cheng to realize that she didn't actually need to be held, craving the warmth of this moment—even so, Kiana still proudly lifted her chin.

Hmph, she looked just like a haughty little white kitten, acting as if this Miss were the best in the world.

Jiang Cheng, however, only lowered his head and said softly.

"You must be very tired, Kiana."

It was a very light voice, as if someone were touching a long-healed wound with a soft feather.

Kiana's pupils trembled.

"You've walked such a long road all by yourself; the wind must have been cold, and the path very steep. You could leave your cat with someone you know, but you could only keep searching for Siegfried yourself."

"No matter which country you went to, you couldn't find him; no matter where you went, you couldn't find him. Whether searching at random or following your memories... this must have been an incredibly bitter, incredibly long journey. To be able to make it here, you are truly, truly amazing."

Jiang Cheng spoke very earnestly, every word deliberate, as if he had hesitated for a very, very long time.

Kiana stared at him, stunned.

Her eyes were shimmering, overflowing like a pond stirred up by a mischievous child. Jiang Cheng's blurred face was reflected in the distorted ripples, though his features were hard to distinguish.

The grievances that had been buried deep in her heart, the ones she had faced alone while wandering in the past for who knew how long—grievances that could have been resolved with just a little venting—were, for some reason, stirred up by this simple sentence.

She couldn't... she couldn't suppress it any longer; no matter what, she couldn't suppress it so carelessly anymore...

...It's all your fault.

"Wuu..."

The tears broke their tether completely.

They slid down Kiana's cheeks like pearls, falling to the ground and stirring up small, almost invisible ripples.

"Wuu... wuu-wuu..." She buried her face in Jiang Cheng's chest, her shoulders shaking violently.

Everything from the past, at this very moment—

Everything, everything—

—Had burst its banks.

Jiang Cheng carefully used his energy to support Kiana's body, but once he had done so, his remaining hand hung stiffly in mid-air.

—What should he say?

He wanted to offer comfort, that was beyond doubt, but he didn't know what to say—that last sentence had already exhausted his entire emotional repertoire.

Being able to discern that Kiana's state was wrong in the heat of the moment, and while blocking the truck, connecting it to the previous discussion about Siegfried—that he could pull off this series of actions was purely a miracle blessed by the Path. Without the keenness of "The Hunt," he would never have realized that Kiana's emotions were actually on the verge of collapse, ready to give up on herself at any moment.

As for what to do next...

It wasn't written in the manual!

"System, since you call yourself the 'Valkyrie Strategy System,' you should have a strategy guide, right?"

[Due to a severe lack of energy, this function cannot be activated. Please provide energy as soon as possible, Host.]

[The only thing that can be confirmed is that Kiana is in urgent need of tenderness—the tenderness of Raiden Mei or anyone else.]

Jiang Cheng suddenly realized why the bond between Raiden Mei and Kiana was so deep. It turned out that back then, when Kiana caught the hand of the Raiden Mei who was about to jump, she herself had also been pulled back from the edge of the abyss by Raiden Mei.

In the end, he could only clumsily yet carefully place his hand on Kiana's head, stroking her like a ruffled, aggrieved little kitten.

It was clearly a silver-white as cold and clear as the moon, yet it lacked any sense of distance. It was as if the entire expanse of cold, glazed moonlight was right there within reach.

Under the sunlight, every strand of hair was so crystalline and translucent, yet the sensation of touching them was unexpectedly soft.

...So smooth.

"I clearly... shouldn't be feeling sad anymore..."

A voice laced with sobs came intermittently from his embrace, along with muffled, nasal-toned accusations.

"Bad Jiang Cheng... dummy Jiang Cheng... you big idiot!"

Kiana's thin shoulders trembled in his arms like a butterfly teetering in a storm, impossible to soothe no matter how warm the embrace.

"You clearly never participated in anything... why do you know everything... why can't you hide anything..."

"Why did you come running over... why did you have to come at this exact moment... why..."

Question after question.

Sob after sob.

For the first time, the girl did not choose to wipe away her tears; for the first time, the girl did not let the cold wind freeze them into ice.

—She wept wantonly.

"Please, cry as much as you want," he said softly by Kiana's ear.

"At least for today, my embrace can be a place for you to cry, and at the very least... I believe in you."

"I'm not good at saying moving things. I can only say that I will believe in you without reservation—Kiana, if you need anything, as long as it doesn't involve the lives of Xilian and Mei, I will give it my all. Of course, the enemies who will hurt you in the future are already my enemies; I view them as inevitable foes. The time you took a bullet for me, you already suffered all the hardships you were meant to endure," Jiang Cheng's voice was calm. "So, you don't need to worry about anything anymore."

"Wuu wuu wuu wuu..."

"Sob... sob... wuu ay ay ay ay ay ay... wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu..."

Kiana's crying did not stop; following Jiang Cheng's gentle voice, it grew even louder, as if she wanted to shed all the tears she had accumulated over the years in one go.

"Why... why be so gentle..."

"Is it gentle?"

"...Isn't this gentle?"

Kiana clutched his shirt tightly, soaking his clothes with salty tears. Jiang Cheng tried to shift, but her hands gripped him so hard that she wouldn't let him leave even an inch.

Jiang Cheng wanted to say it wasn't gentle.

He was just doing what a person ought to do.

Even setting aside his perspective as a player, he had been saved by Kiana more than once.

He was simply returning the tenderness he had received from Kiana without reservation, never expecting that these two sentences alone would make the girl cry like this.

Just how starved for love was this girl who hadn't met Raiden Mei and hadn't even entered St. Freya?

—Crying; this should have been a scene from the future.

In that timeline that never came to pass, after she killed Himeko, after she killed the teacher who cared for her, it was only while wandering in Nagazora City and seeing Himeko's phantom that she would shed such tears.

But what difference did it make?

Carefree—was she truly just carefree?

Even though she later received Theresa's promise that she only needed to become an S-rank Valkyrie to learn the whereabouts of Siegfried, what had been honed over three years was nothing but a Paramecium.

The girl seemed truly, naturally simple-minded, yet the Void Drifter had always existed.

It was only after the disillusionment that the girl's true essence was revealed.

Was it truly that she didn't care about the father who would serve her burnt pizza, the father who had left her to wander the world alone searching for him for so long, or was it that...

—She had already despaired?

Because she was completely desperate, she closed off her heart, refused to think, and refused to understand the world.

"If it was because I inadvertently did something wrong that caused you to leave without leaving a single message, then—"

"I'll just stop thinking about it."

As long as she didn't think, she would never be wrong.

As long as she didn't feel the world, she wouldn't be in pain.

Sadness was a luxury, for long-term disappointment only wore down a person's heart, leaving it numb.

Just how long a journey must one endure to turn the intelligent young lady of the North, that Void Drifter, into this seemingly dull and foolish appearance?

Careless, perhaps it could also be understood as not caring about anything in the world. Because he didn't care, he was rough, and his actions could be sloppy.

...He didn't care anyway.

But Jiang Cheng didn't care about these things at all. Even if he could know, he wouldn't care. Even if he could understand, he would never understand. The only thing he cared about was—

"Kiana."

His voice was calm as he spoke seriously to Kiana, "I will tell you all the truth."

"I once thought that telling you the truth would be too much of a shock, so I presumptuously decided not to tell you for now, and to wait until the day I thought you could bear it."

"But the truth is, when I made that choice, I placed myself in a higher position than you. But the problem is, do I really have the right to do that? Do I really have the right to dangle a carrot on a stick in front of you, making you run in circles until you're strong enough to eat it..."

Soft fingertips gently pressed against his lips.

It was like a curse; every time he tried to say something, he was always interrupted.

Jiang Cheng's gaze fell, and he saw the source of the softness—it was Kiana's fingers. She, who was about to learn the truth, had personally covered his mouth.

"Am I not suitable to know the truth right now?"

She asked in a low voice, her throat a little hoarse, as if she had swallowed all her sobs.

"..."

"—Don't lie, Jiang Cheng."

Kiana stared intently into his eyes, enunciating each word with great seriousness.

"You are not suitable."

He shook his head and said without hesitation.

"I previously said Mei was the protagonist of a hot-blooded manga, but in reality, it's you. Because only protagonists have the most chaotic, strange, and twisted backgrounds. Regarding your background and matters concerning Siegfried, I really want to tell you. I can also guarantee that I don't want you to walk the bumpy road of constant loss that I saw. But the reason I didn't tell you before was because you absolutely cannot handle this fact right now, truly... I promise..."