Kiana shook her head. "No, no, not that kind of like. It's the same kind of like I have for Ryn! I'm going to marry Mei!"
Ryn suddenly felt a weight on his head. He stared at Kiana in disbelief. "Huh?! How long have I been gone? How did you and Mei get to this point so quickly?!"
"Not yet, silly. I'm telling you first. I haven't even told Mei yet."
"No way! If you marry Mei, what about me?"
"Hmm? Didn't you say marriage is monogamous? You're my husband, and Mei is my wife!"
"Idiot Kiana! Monogamy is between you and me! I'm the husband, you're the wife—just the two of us!" Ryn was so angry he butted Kiana's head hard with his own. He wanted to scold her, but couldn't bring himself to. He wanted to hit her, but couldn't bear to.
"Oh... well, I guess there's no choice. I still like Ryn more after all!" Kiana hesitated for half a second before clinging to Ryn and acting spoiled. Though she liked Mei a lot too, since she could only choose one, of course she'd pick Ryn!
"I like Kiana the most too. Come here and give me a kiss~"
"Mwah~"
After a while of cuddling, they packed up several portions of food and headed to Himeko's place.
Mei opened the door to greet Ryn and Kiana. Seeing her smiling like a wife waiting for her husband and children to return home, Ryn felt a strange unease. He wouldn't have thought much of it before, but now Mei's behavior seemed odd.
Ryn subtly moved to shield Kiana behind him. Hmm? This feels like hiding a bell in one's ear, since they live together anyway.
Kiana noticed Ryn's gesture and felt a small thrill of happiness.
She raised the hand she was holding with Ryn, then said to Mei, "Mei, our relationship is over! Ryn and I are true love! Let's not contact each other anymore. I'm afraid Ryn will get jealous!"
???
Three question marks appeared above Mei's head. She then delivered a chop to Kiana's head, saying with a mixture of laughter and exasperation, "You idiot, Kiana, what relationship do we even have?"
"Ah... but Ryn told me that love is just two people liking each other. Mei likes me, and I like Mei. Isn't that love?" Kiana shook her head and took Mei's hand, saying, "Mei, I like you too."
"No, love is a very complicated thing. I really like you, Kiana, but I also really like Ryn... Your relationship with Ryn could be considered love, but my relationship with you is more like family."
"You took me in when I was at my lowest... You saved me when I was most desperate... You became everything to me when I had nothing."
Mei placed the intertwined hands of herself and Kiana in the center, then reached out with her other hand to grasp Ryn's, placing their hands together as well. All three hands were now intertwined. Mei took a deep breath and said firmly to Ryn and Kiana, "Kiana and I, and Ryn—aren't we family?"
"Yes, we're family." "Mhm, family," Ryn and Kiana replied with smiles.
Indeed, the three of them had long been inseparable. What was the point of dwelling on such matters?
"Bronya's coming too!" "Don't leave me out!"
As the three shared a knowing laugh, Bronya and Sparkle emerged, placing their hands on top of the intertwined hands. They had been eavesdropping behind the wall for a long time, expecting a juicy scandal, but it was turning into a scene of sworn brotherhood.
"Mei-jie saved Bronya and is Bronya's everything. Bronya wants to become Mei-jie's family too."
Bronya looked at Mei earnestly. It was Mei's care that had brought her a long-absent warmth, like a mother's love. If she could, Bronya wanted to stay by Mei's side forever.
"Mm," Mei nodded at Bronya. Though not particularly close to Bronya, Ryn had no objections.
"Damn you, Bronya, you little brat! This time, I'll acknowledge you. You're allowed to become part of my family!"
Kiana had always lacked familial warmth, so the more family members she had, the happier she became. Still, she couldn't help but feel annoyed by Bronya. Kiana gave Bronya a hard shove with her butt, nearly sending the petite girl flying.
Bronya almost summoned Heavy Bunny to punch Kiana, but seeing Kiana's blissful smile, she relented.
"Kiana's such an idiot!"
Sparkle, sprawled across everyone's hands, huffed indignantly. "Hmph, you're my only friends. If you all become family, won't I be isolated? No way, I can't accept that! I want to be part of your family too!"
"Yes, yes, we're all family now."
Ryn smiled warmly, looking at Sparkle and Bronya. Though he had arrived in this world with nothing, he now had Kiana, Sparkle, Mei, Bronya—a family.
"But since we've all decided to become family, how can we forget our little housekeeper? Cortana, come out!"
Ryn pulled out his phone, and the Soul Steel material immediately began to transform, morphing into a miniature version of Cortana.
This was a discovery Ryn had made after his Herrscher transformation. By injecting Cortana with a massive amount of Honkai Energy, she could shrink from the size of a tiny USB drive into a miniature humanoid form with a physical body. After all, Soul Steel was essentially composed of countless nanobots, and nanotechnology was reliable.
(Most people probably haven't played Halo, so they wouldn't know what Cortana looks like. Just imagine her as an adult version of Prometheus.)
"But I... I'm not human, and..."
"There's no 'and' about it," Kiana interrupted Cortana. "What does it matter if you're not human? Cortana has always been family to us, hasn't she?"
"Kiana's right. Haven't Cortana and we been family for a long time now?"
Ryn placed Cortana on Sparkle's head and gently enveloped everyone in a hug.
Kiana and Mei joined in, wrapping their arms around Ryn and the others.
"Damn it, watch out for me in the middle! I'm suffocating!" Sparkle gasped, squeezed between Mei and Kiana's chests.
But as Kiana and Mei pulled back their arms, Sparkle was left being hugged only by Bronya.
"Sparkle, Bronya thinks you should lose weight!"