"Uh, hello..." Kiana began, defaulting to politeness. A second later, she tossed it right out the window.
"Wait, that's not right! How are you—" Kiana's eyes widened in disbelief.
This is a dream, right? Xu Xi is a person in Shu's dream, right? So why can I have a full-blown conversation with someone inside his dream?!
"Perhaps your first question should be why you are able to enter my brother's dream in the first place," Xu Xi offered helpfully, her posture and tone flawlessly perfect.
"Oh, right, why can I..." Kiana's eyes lit up in a moment of clarity. She pondered the question for exactly one second before cracking the case.
She jabbed a finger dramatically at Xu Xi. "This is all your doing, isn't it?!"
"Yes," Xu Xi affirmed with a slight nod, her expression utterly placid.
Kiana lowered her hand, sucking in a sharp breath. Hiss...
She had admitted it so bluntly that Kiana didn't know whether she was simply shameless or completely unafraid. In fact, Xu Xi's dead-serious demeanor made Kiana feel like her own theatrical accusation had been embarrassingly out of place.
Gotta read the room.
Ahem. Clearing her throat to regain some semblance of composure, Kiana adopted a serious expression and turned her gaze to Xu Xi, who had already turned back to watch the tiny, distant silhouette of Shu in the garden.
"Why did you bring me here?" Kiana asked her first real question.
This could no longer be dismissed as a simple dream. The girl was right; being able to enter someone else's dream was already deeply weird. Now that a dream-person was not only sentient but also talking to her, there was no way she was letting this opportunity slip by. Kiana had a gut full of questions.
"Because you and my brother sleep together, your intimate contact, combined with your own nature as an 'outsider,' made you special enough to trigger this dreamscape," Xu Xi explained succinctly, her words simple enough for even Kiana to immediately grasp.
But that just raised even more questions.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'outsider'?" Kiana's eyes were wide and blank. "And why did you say 'also' an outsider? Don't tell me Shu is one too?"
"Correct," Xu Xi hummed again. "You and my brother came from the same place, and you entered this world in a similar fashion. Therefore, calling you both 'outsiders' is accurate. However, your fundamental natures are still intrinsically different."
Xu Xi's posture didn't shift in the slightest.
"In relation to this world, you are an undeniable outsider, an intruder. There was never supposed to be a place for you here. But due to a series of accidents not worth recounting, you appeared."
Wow, that must have been some accident, Kiana thought, managing a strained smile.
"So... what kind of accident was it, exactly?"
"My brother pulled you in... Or rather, because you refused to let go of his hand even while unconscious, this world was forced to reserve a place for you."
Back then?
Could she mean back in that frozen wasteland? When she had grabbed Shu's wrist right before that giant black monster's dying attack sucked them away?
Phew, thank goodness. Her body hadn't failed her at a critical moment. Otherwise, she might have lost Shu all over again...
For a split second, Xu Xi's gaze flickered over Kiana's face, catching the mixture of relief and lingering fear in her expression. When she looked away again, her hand resting on the windowsill had tightened into a half-clenched fist.
"So if I'm a useless intruder, what's Shu? Does he have some kind of secret identity?" Her moment of relief passed, and Kiana's excitement flared up again.
Xu Xi completely ignored Kiana's choice of words.
"This world is an illusion, born from obsession and fantasy. It has become a cage—separate from the real world, yet still tethered to it. And my brother is its one and only prisoner."
Xu Xi lifted her eyes, giving Kiana a sidelong glance.
"You are his stowaway cellmate."
Kiana's mind exploded. ?!!
She knew it!
This had to be the work of the Honkai! That damn Honkai had fabricated this entire prison just to corrupt Shu! Good thing this genius young lady was here, sharp as a tack, and saw through this sham from a mile away!
Kiana clenched her fists, righteous fury burning in her chest. Now that she knew this place was a trap, escaping was the top priority! She had to act now. "Then how do we get out?"
"The world will change naturally once my brother's cognition shifts. It's no different from the dreamscape created by the Herrscher of Sentience you once encountered."
This is the same as Sirin's dreamscape?!
"Are you serious?" Kiana was skeptical. "Everything here feels so real. How could it be the same as Sirin's dream world?"
"That is the nature of the Authority of Dream. The more a host has seen, the broader their knowledge, the more realistic and logically consistent their dreamscape becomes. The dream sustained by my brother's mind and cognition is a world indistinguishable from reality."
"Shu is that powerful?!"
"HE. IS. VERY. POWERFUL>!"
Kiana raised an eyebrow, a strange expression on her face.
"So..." she drew out the word, carefully choosing her next ones. "That means... if we want to get out, we have to make Shu genuinely believe that we can get out, or... that we don't exist?"
"Correct," Xu Xi's voice returned to its previous flat calm, as if that sudden burst of intensity had been a complete illusion.
A troubled look crossed Kiana's face.
Making Shu believe that he—and she—didn't exist... How in the world was that even possible? How does a person negate their own existence? And how could she make Shu believe she didn't exist?
Run away from home?
Kiana immediately decided that was a terrible idea. She had a feeling the moment she stepped out the door, Shu would drag her back and... she'd never see the light of day again.
She recalled that night with Rice Cake—just letting go of his hand for a second had triggered such a strong reaction from him. Kiana had no doubt Shu was capable of something like that.
In fact, he'd almost done it back in the Fire Moth, when he tried to lock everyone in the base while he went off to face the enemy alone. Though, to be fair, that one had been Otto's idea.
Besides, even if Shu couldn't catch her, running away wouldn't solve the core problem. The goal was to make Shu think she didn't exist, not that he just couldn't find her.
Kiana was stumped, but that was fine. She could just ask the other genius in the room.
"So..." Kiana rubbed her hands together, a hopeful grin spreading across her face. "Little Sister Xi, you must have a solution, right?"
Xu Xi finally turned her head fully, looking directly at Kiana. "My brother has a documented history of mental illness and requires long-term medication."
"..." Kiana fell silent.
"But I've never seen Shu take any medicine," she replied.