Bronya
The door to her dorm room slid shut, sealing Bronya inside her own quiet environment. The chaotic noise of the cafeteria faded, but the problem remained.
Her teammates, as predicted, had been useless. Mei had been tuning out the unwanted whispers, while Kiana and Kenji had remained completely oblivious. Of the four of them, she expected herself to place last in terms of social competence.
She sat in her chair and quickly got to work. She bypassed the academy's light firewalls and accessed the St. Freya internal student forums.
If there were any place to search for the source of the "Night Runner" and "Himeko" rumours, this would be the place.
She began with a broad search [Aoyama, Kenji].
The results were... unexpected. Bronya already knew you had to be a little insane to fight against the Honkai, but this was just… she couldn't place it into words.
She scrolled.
[THREAD: AOYAMA-KUN HELPED ME CARRY MY BOOKS!] [THREAD: KIANA-SENPAI'S NEW PARTNER IN CRIME?]
[THREAD: SAW THE TRANSFER STUDENT IN SIM 3! HE IS INSANE!]
[THREAD: HE'S... ACTUALLY REALLY NICE?]
Bronya's fingers stilled. She read through the posts, Kenji's unexpected popularity momentarily shocking her.
["He didn't laugh at me when I dropped my tray..."]
["I asked him a question about 19th-century tactics, and he actually tried to help me study..."]
["He trains harder than anyone I've ever seen. It's kind of inspiring."]
Bronya wanted to bang her head against a wall. Of all the things she could have done to spy on Kenji, she was only now searching the student forums about him? Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Looking through the threads, it surprised her to see that Kenji had interacted with many other students in St. Freya, far more than she expected. She never really saw him with anybody else apart from their team, so this came as a shocker.
And with him being the social idiot that he is, he completely missed all the attention directed towards him. How could he be the subject of this much online discussion and remain, as he was in the cafeteria, so completely unaware?
Her eyes widened as she realised something; she ran a quick, parallel search.
[USER PROFILE: K_AOYAMA]. The profile was blank. No icon. No posts. [LAST LOGIN: NEVER]. She cross-referenced his known mobile activity from his phone. The device's usage was 95% training logs, sim-room requests, and cafeteria menus. He had no social media. He had no forum account.
Suddenly, Kiana calling Kenji an "old man" seemed to be pretty accurate. This annoyed her greatly. He was a former vigilante now turned student; he is a person with a multitude of secrets to his name, and he doesn't even bother to see what others are talking about him?
'Idiot.'
She closed the irrelevant threads and returned to her primary search, this time using the keywords she had cataloged from the cafeteria whispers. [SEARCH: "NIGHT RUNNER"] One result. It was flagged as the single most-trafficked thread on the academy network.
[THREAD: THE NIGHT RUNNER CONSPIRACY (HIMEKO-SENSEI??) - 84,915 Views - 1,248 Replies]
Bronya's eyes narrowed. She opened the thread, and it was worse than she thought. This wasn't just "gossip." This was a full-blown intelligence leak. Her eyes scanned the original post, written by a "Mochi_Naga," and the subsequent replies. They had everything.
***
[OP: Mochi_Naga]:Okay, so am I the only one who sees this? I'm from Nagazora. I was there for the Outbreak. And this 'Night Runner' vigilante was REAL. He had super-speed and super-strength and looked exactly like Aoyama-kun. Now, a 'transfer student' with the same powers shows up right after the 'Runner' disappears? Come on, people!
[REPLY: Rhinedottre_204]:Miki's right!! I saw him myself!! Weeks ago, sneaking out of the training sector at MIDNIGHT with MAJOR HIMEKO! I heard him ask her "not to tell anyone," and she said he "owed her" for it!
[REPLY: Saki_Chan]:^^^ THIS! I saw him sneaking out again last night! He's *always* going to the training sector after curfew!
[REPLY: ValkyrieFan_88]:Oh my god. Himeko-sensei is covering for him. That's why he gets that custom sim room. She's his handler!
[REPLY: KianaFanClub]:Handler? LOL. He's a cute guy, she's a (hot) older woman. They're meeting in "secret" at "midnight". He "owes her." Do the math, you idiots. He's the only guy here, and Himeko is taking advantage!
***
Bronya's hands were rigid on her keyboard. This was a catastrophic failure of information security. She knew Theresa had the means to stop any potential leaks of Kenji's previous identity and powers.
But these students, with their crackpot theories, had successfully and accurately identified Kenji's vigilante past. This was a direct threat to her own mission. If Cocolia ever got wind of this...
She had to contain this. Now. This was still the beginning; the rumours could get worse if left unchecked. It must be extinguished with the cold, hard facts.
She created a new, anonymous account: BurgerGod_24. She began to type, her words precise, clinical, and designed to dismantle the entire conspiracy systematically.
[POSTING IN THREAD: THE NIGHT RUNNER CONSPIRACY [SUBJECT: Debunking the "Night Runner".]
[BODY: Your conclusions are based on flawed, emotional data points. 1. 'Night Runner's' powers (super-speed, strength) are consistent with a high-level, combat-type Stigmata, which Aoyama-san is confirmed to possess. The "correlation" is coincidental. 2. Major Himeko's presence at the training sector at midnight is consistent with her duties as a faculty member and squad commander. Her 'late-night' training sessions are standard procedure for high-potential Valkyries. 3. The "owed her" line, overheard without context, has a high chance of being related to a failed exam or a breach of curfew, as seen in Rina's post. Attributing it to a "conspiracy" or "scandal". Above all, spreading rumours and theories about a classmate is unprofessional. I recommend it be deleted.]
She hit [POST]. She leaned back, confident in her response, while monitoring the thread in real time. Her post appeared. She watched. The thread was silent for ten seconds. Twenty. Then, the replies.
[REPLY: LOL, found Himeko's alt account.]
[REPLY: Who talks like this? This is 100% faculty trying to cover it up!]
[REPLY: They're on to us! BurgerGod_24 is Himeko's hacker! It's an even BIGGER conspiracy!]
[REPLY: They're trying to SILENCE us! This just proves her right! HE IS THE NIGHT RUNNER!]
Bronya's post, her perfect counter, had just been thrown onto a grease fire. She watched, her expression unchanging, as her post was buried under a new avalanche of replies, each one more hysterical than the last.
She may have overestimated her abilities. She forgot to consider one crucial factor when posting online: people hated smartasses.
A vein appeared on her forehead. 'I really hate these idiots…'
/ — /
Kenji
At the St. Freya dorm common. Mei was at the small dining table, phone in one hand, patiently explaining the socio-economic impact of the Second Honkai War. "...so you see, the resulting Honkai-free zone in Siberia was..."
Kenji sat opposite her, his head propped up on his hand, his expression one of profound, soul-deep confusion. "Right, right… Ughh, this is messing with my brain. Why do these people have such weird names?"
"Even if they do, you can't slack off, you know?" Mei said, chuckling.
"I know, I know." He was, in fact, trying, but the dense political history was like a brick wall to him.
Bronya, curled up on the armchair in the corner, was holding a book, and it "looked" like she was reading it. But he can see the faint light of her phone screen on her face, and for some reason she looks like she's… sulking? What could make Bronya—
WHAM.
The common room door slammed open with enough force to rattle the pictures on the wall. Kiana Kaslana stood in the doorway, her face a mask of absolute fury. Her hair was a mess, as if she'd been pulling at it. Her chest was heaving. And in her hand, she gripped her phone.
"Kiana?" Mei asked, startled. "What's wrong? Did you fail your pre-test?"
"Forget the test!" Kiana's voice was a low, dangerous growl that none of them had ever heard before. It was the voice she used when fighting Honkai Beasts, not her friends.
She stalked into the room, her gaze bypassing Mei, bypassing Bronya. Her eyes, sharp and blue and filled with a strange, disgusted energy, locked onto a single target. Kenji.
Kenji, who was just looking up, his expression one of pure confusion. "Uh... Kiana? You good?"
"Don't. 'You good.' Me." Kiana said, her voice trembling with rage. She marched right up to the table and, with a slap, threw her phone down in front of him. The screen was open to the forum thread, specifically to a reply from
***
KianaFanClub. [REPLY: Handler? LOL. He's a cute guy, she's a (hot) older woman. They're meeting in "secret" at "midnight". He "owes her." Do the math, you idiots. He's the only guy here, and Himeko is taking advantage!]
***
Kenji's eyes scanned the text. His confusion only deepened. But he didn't have time to voice his thoughts when Kiana exploded at him.
"YOU!" She yelled, pointing an accusatory finger directly between his eyes. "I can't believe you! You… you whore!"
"Kiana, what are you talking about?!" Mei stood up, her own voice sounding alarmed.
Kiana ignored her, her gaze still fixed on the horrified Kenji. "Are you fucking Himeko?!"
The words dropped into the quiet room like a bomb. Mei froze, her hands covering her mouth. Bronya just sighed and closed her eyes.
Kenji, for his part, had a complete, system-wide crash. His face, which had been confused, cycled through three distinct emotions in less than a second: Bafflement, horror, and absolute, profound disgust.
"WHAT?!" he finally yelled, shooting back in his chair so fast it almost tipped over. "ARE YOU INSANE?! HIMEKO?! That's—that's—NO! That's disgusting! She's terrifying! She threatens to beat my ass like, every other day! NO!"
"Then what is THIS?!" Kiana jabbed her finger at the screen. "It says you've been meeting her at midnight! That you 'owe her' for something! That she's 'taking advantage' of you! It's all over the forums!"
"What forums?! I don't know any forums!" Kenji was bright red, full of embarrassment and panic. He looked at the phone again, his eyes finally registering the other words on the screen. "Wait... 'Night Runner'? What the hell is this?!"
"That's the other rumor, you idiot!" Kiana fumed. "But I don't care about that one! I'm talking about this! You... you're... with... HIMEKO-SENSEI?!" The accusation was so vile to her that she could barely say it.
"Whoa, let's calm down for a second!" Mei finally interjected. "This is just a... a stupid, baseless rumor! Look at him! You're horrifying him!"
"I'm not horrifying him!" Kiana shot back. " I'm protecting him! We cannot let Himeko take advantage and corrupt him with her… Her obnoxiously large tits—!"
"She is not!" Kenji said, finally finding his voice. "This is... this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! I was training late! She caught me! I asked her not to tell Theresa I was using the sim room, and that's what I owed her for! That's it!"
"So you were meeting her in secret at midnight!" Kiana yelled, having only heard the parts that confirmed her theory.
"I... I can't... I am not..." Kenji was sputtering. He looked at Kiana's furious, accusatory face. He looked at Mei's pale, worried expression. He looked at Bronya, who was just... staring at him with her unhelpful eyes.
"Wait, no, that's not the important part," he said, his voice flat with mortification. "I need to tell Theresa and Himeko that people are finding out I'm the Night Runner!" He grabbed his phone from the table and rushed out the door with blinding speed, leaving a heavy, stunned silence in his wake.
Mei was the first to speak. "Kiana..." she said, her voice dangerously quiet. "You couldn't have been a little bit calmer?"
Kiana's righteous fury suddenly deflated, replaced with uncertainty. "...I may have… overdone it a little?"
/ — /
Kiana
Kiana stormed down the main academy thoroughfare, her footsteps slamming against the polished stone floor.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
She hadn't meant to just... explode. But she'd seen the forum thread, and the pieces had clicked together in the worst possible way.
Kenji, her friend—the guy who acted like an old man, didn't know how to say no, and was way too nice for his own good—was secretly meeting their teacher at midnight.
And not just any teacher. Himeko-sensei. Having private training sessions with her was fine; they needed to understand his powers after all. But meeting alone, together, at midnight?
Kiana knew Himeko. She was excellent, strong, and beautiful, sure, but she was also... a lot. She was an adult, a predator (in the cool, Valkyrie way!), and really intense. The mental image of her friend Kenji, who has been in the Honkai fighting business for less than a year, is still confused over a lot of things, being alone with Himeko-sensei...
'She's totally taking advantage of him!' Kiana fumed inwardly. 'He's just a nice guy! He probably doesn't know how to say no! He's gonna hate me now, isn't he? Crap. I'll apologize later. Maybe. After I find the morons who were gossiping and punch them in the face.'
"Kiana, slow down," Mei's voice, stressed and weary, came from just behind her. "Running won't solve this. Kenji is probably already at Theresa's office—"
"I know, I know!" Kiana snapped, not breaking her stride. "He looked so freaked out! And it's all my fault. We have to get there and explain! What if Himeko thinks he started the rumor?!"
"The Bronya calculates a 78% probability that you just made the situation significantly worse," Bronya's monotone voice added from her other side.
"Shut up, Bronya! I was just... ugh!"
Kiana was saved from having to explain herself when they rounded the corner into the main hallway and stopped dead.
The corridor, usually just a busy passage between classes, was packed. Dozens of students were gathered in tight, whispering clusters. The moment Team 7 appeared, the hallway chatter died, replaced by a wave of intense staring.
'Oh, great. A welcoming party.'
"Kiana-senpai! Mei-senpai!"
Kiana's eye twitched. 'And of course, it's them.'
The trio of gossip-mongers—Rina, Miki, and Saki [cite: 1361]—detached themselves from the nearest group. They hurried over, their faces a nauseating mixture of nervousness and a desperate, hungry excitement as they blocked their path.
"Is it true?" Rina asked, her voice a loud whisper that carried through the now-silent hall.
"We all saw the forum thread!" Miki added, her eyes wide. "Is Aoyama-kun really... you know... with Major Himeko?"
"And is he the Night Runner?" Saki pressed, leaning in. "Rina heard them talking at midnight! Is he really the vigilante from Nagazora?"
That was it. The accusation, spoken so casually, so flippantly... They were treating it like fun gossip. They didn't understand. Her friend was in trouble! Kiana's protective instincts, which had been simmering, finally boiled over.
"Shut up!" she roared.
The hallway, which had been buzzing with whispers, fell dead silent. Every student flinched.
"Are you all insane?!" Kiana's voice trembled, but not with guilt. It was righteous, protective fury. "Himeko-sensei is an adult! She's our teacher! And Kenji's... he's just Kenji! You're all just gross for thinking she's... she's taking advantage of him like that! Leave him alone!"
Her defense was so fiery, so passionate, that the students recoiled. It was a 100% genuine (and misguided) defense of Kenji. But Rina, undeterred, pressed the other point.
"But the Night Runner part... The evidence just lines up! And they were meeting at midnight!"
'Crap.' That part was true; she had to deny both accusations while not sounding suspicious.
"He's NOT the Night Runner!" she yelled, but her voice faltered, cracking with uncertainty. "How could he be?! He's clumsy, and he eats too much, and... and his powers are just... You know... his Stigmata, or something!"
"And that midnight thing," she continued, digging her grave deeper as she desperately tried to circle back to the real problem, "that was probably just… training! Stop making it weird! Just leave him alone!"
Kiana stood there, panting, feeling like she'd won the argument. But the crowd wasn't convinced. Her passionate denial of the affair (which confirmed the meeting) and her weak-kneed denial of the Night Runner (which confirmed that) had just validated everything.
The whispering started again, now louder and more certain.
"Did you hear that? 'Stigmata, or something'... she's totally lying." "She confirmed they met at midnight!" "Oh my god, it's true! He is the Night Runner, and Himeko is covering for him!"
Mei, who had been trying to pull Kiana back, just slapped a hand over her own face. "Kiana... no..."
Bronya let out a long, resigned sigh.
"What. Is. Going. On. Here."
The voice wasn't a shout. It was low and cut through the crowd like a greatsword. Every student flinched. Kiana felt her blood run cold. 'Oh, double crap.'
Himeko Murata stood at the end of the hall, arms crossed, her face a mask of cold fury.
She strode forward, the crowd parting before her like water. "I can't even leave for a single mission without you all starting a riot," she seethed, her sharp gaze landing on Rina, Miki, and Saki, who looked like they wanted to run away. "Spreading baseless, disgusting rumors about a Major and a new student? Are you trying to get yourselves expelled?"
She stopped right in front of them. "This 'conspiracy' ends NOW. Our meeting was because I caught him sneaking out to use the training sims after curfew. That's it. And if I hear one more word about this—from any of you—you will all be on toilet-cleaning duty for a month. Am I CLEAR?"
The students nodded frantically, their faces pale.
"Then buzz off."
The crowd scattered in seconds, leaving Himeko alone with the three girls. She turned her fiery, exhausted gaze on Kiana.
"I was just trying to defend you! And him!" Kiana said, wincing. "They were saying gross stuff..."
"And in the process," Himeko sighed, her anger deflating into pure exhaustion, "you fumbled so badly you basically confirmed the other rumor to the entire school. But I appreciate the effort."
"I... wait, did I?"
"Just... come on. Theresa wants to see you three too."
Now that alarmed her. "Actually, I think Kenji probably has everything under control— Ow! Ow! Ow! Not the ear! Mei, help!"
Mei and Bronya shared a look of utter resignation before dutifully following their captive teammate and their furious teacher down the hall.