The corridor lights in the old apartment building flickered on and off. With a soft click, the security door shut, cutting off the sound of wind and rain outside.
Su Yu's rental wasn't big—your standard one-bedroom, one-living-room setup for a young man living alone.
It wasn't luxurious, but it was surprisingly tidy.
There was no strange odor—only the faint scent of air freshener mixed with a trace of cat litter.
Warm yellow light filled the room, chasing away the cold emptiness.
"No need to change shoes. Just come in."
Su Yu folded up the dripping umbrella and tossed it into the little drip bucket by the door.
Kiana stayed in the entryway.
She scanned the place warily.
TV. Sofa. Shelves stacked with game cartridges and light novels…
There was nothing that looked like Schicksal—no markings, no equipment, no signs of anything "official." It really did seem like an ordinary home.
Everything was suffocatingly normal.
That, more than anything, made Kiana feel lost.
"Meow~"
A soft, sweet cat's cry broke the silence.
"Chongchong," who had been hiding up on the cat tree, poked its head out.
This odd-eyed white cat—one blue eye, one yellow—actually didn't hiss for once. It stepped forward with elegant cat-steps and hopped lightly onto the entryway cabinet.
Tilting its head, it studied Kiana curiously, then leaned in and sniffed her cheek.
Its damp little nose brushed her pale skin, tickling slightly.
Kiana froze from head to toe.
But the next second, the cat rumbled like a tiny engine—purr, purr—and rubbed its fluffy head under her chin on its own initiative.
"…I-it won't bite?"
Kiana's voice shook, but her tense shoulders visibly eased.
"It's called Chongchong. I picked it up off the street too," Su Yu said casually as he took off his coat, the corner of his mouth lifting with a teasing curve. "Looks like it really likes you. Or maybe… it thinks it just met its own kind?"
"Like hell…!" Kiana shot back instinctively, but the suspicion in her words had already thinned by half.
She cautiously reached out.
Since she was still within Su Yu's one-meter radius, her hand remained solid.
Her fingertips touched the cat's soft, warm fur. The sensation—real, alive—traveled from her fingers straight into the coldest part of her chest.
Not like humans.
Humans lied. Humans betrayed. Humans wore masks.
Animals didn't.
The warmth and attachment in this cat's eyes were pure.
"Mm~"
Chongchong narrowed its eyes in contentment, letting Kiana clumsily pet its head.
And on Kiana's face—written over with hardship—something extremely rare appeared: the faintest, almost nonexistent curve of a smile.
In this unfamiliar world full of danger and deception…
This cat named Chongchong seemed to become the first thing she didn't reject.
However.
That gentle moment didn't last long.
Su Yu cleared his throat, about to tell Kiana to come farther inside—
But when he turned back—
He found Kiana standing with her legs clamped together in a very strange posture, her expression snapping from soft to something… else.
A mix of urgency, endurance, and burning humiliation flushed across her face.
"What's wrong? Does the wound hurt?" Su Yu asked with concern.
Kiana bit her lower lip, eyes darting anywhere but his face.
She stopped petting the cat and twisted her fingers together until her knuckles went pale.
"Um… th-that…"
She stammered for ages, her voice smaller than a mosquito.
"What is it?"
"…Bathroom."
Kiana squeezed out the three words with her eyes shut, like she'd given up on dignity entirely.
"Where is it?"
Su Yu blinked, then realized.
Right—after a whole night of chaos, getting soaked and chilled, and drinking milk… nature calling was just nature calling.
"Oh, over there. The door on the left."
He pointed to the frosted-glass door in the corner of the living room.
"Everything inside is clean. Just use whatever you need."
"…Okay."
Kiana looked like she'd been pardoned. She let go of Su Yu's clothes and hurried toward the bathroom, head down.
One step.
Two steps.
Three—
The light screen in front of Su Yu suddenly began flashing like it had gone insane.
[WARNING: Target is leaving anchor range!]
[WARNING: Quantum-state instability countdown initiated!]
Kiana's body jerked hard.
She stopped at the bathroom door, staring as her hand passed straight through the doorknob.
Half her body slid into the door like a hologram… yet she couldn't push it open at all.
At the same time, that familiar suffocating sensation—like her soul was being peeled out of her body—clamped down on her throat again.
If she wasn't close to Su Yu, she couldn't even open the bathroom door.
Let alone sit on the toilet—she'd pass right through it and fall down!
Kiana went rigid, shaking all over.
Not from cold.
But from the kind of despair that was about to grind her dignity into dust.
Su Yu clearly realized the problem too.
He looked at the girl frozen at the bathroom door, her silhouette fading translucent, and felt his vision go dark.
Good heavens—wasn't this system a little too perverted?
This wasn't just "awkward."
This was an execution ground for social death.
"…Um."
Su Yu sucked in a breath, forcing himself to look like a gentleman—though he felt more like a creep than any creep alive.
"Kiana?"
Kiana didn't turn around.
Her back was trembling. Her ears were so red they looked like they might drip blood.
After a long, long time, she finally forced out a sentence through trembling teeth—half sob, half rage, full despair:
"…C-come here."
Su Yu moved stiffly, like a prisoner walking to the scaffold.
As he approached, Kiana's body became solid again.
She finally managed to grip the doorknob.
But that still didn't solve it.
His bathroom was narrow and long.
If Su Yu stood outside the doorway, the toilet was—of course—about 1.2 meters in.
[Friendly System Tip: Based on calculations, if the host remains outside the door, the Valkyrie will face a risk of 'butt materialization failure' while using the toilet. Recommendation: host should remain within the doorframe.]
Grass. (A plant.)
Su Yu internally greeted the system's ancestors for eighteen generations.
"W-what? Why aren't you going in?" he asked, pretending he didn't know, trying to cover the sheer mortification.
Kiana turned around.
Her face was red enough to smoke. Tears of humiliation shimmered in her eyes.
She'd clearly felt the distance restriction too.
She had to… had to let this bastard stand in the doorway.
And the door couldn't even be shut properly.
"Y-you… stand here."
She pointed at the bath mat by the door, her finger trembling.
"Turn around… face away!"
"Cover your ears! Don't listen! Don't turn around! Don't move!"
As she barked out the rules, she shoved herself into the bathroom—and didn't close the door.
Because closing it would cut the distance.
She could only leave it barely ajar, a gap of about ten centimeters.
Su Yu stood like a door guardian with his back to the bathroom, both hands clamped over his ears, and still had to shout loudly:
"I can't hear anything! I can't hear anything! I can't see anything either!"
This absolutely ranked in the Top Ten Most Awkward Moments of Su Yu's life.
He stood outside the bathroom door, back to that half-closed gap, staring hard at the flickering night light at the end of the hall.
The gap was about two finger-widths—any wider and he'd cross that cursed one-meter line.
"The late emperor's venture was unfinished when he passed…"
Su Yu recited the Memorial on Sending Out the Troops in his head, trying to use Prime Minister Zhuge's wisdom to counterbalance the shame.
"This is truly a critical moment of survival…"
A rustling sound came from behind the door.
Su Yu's ears perked up on reflex—then he shook his head hard and kept reciting.
"I was moved by the late emperor's exceptional treatment…"
Water ran.
Su Yu closed his eyes.
"May Your Majesty entrust me with the task of punishing the traitors…"
The water stopped.
Tissue being pulled. Then the faucet running again.
Finally—
The door opened.
Su Yu didn't turn around.
He felt that if he turned around now, both of them would die of social embarrassment.
"Let's go." He cleared his throat; his voice came out dry and hoarse. "Go eat something."
"…Mm."
Kiana's reply was muffled.
Su Yu walked toward the living room, deliberately slowing his pace.
Footsteps followed behind him—not too close, not too far. Exactly within one meter.
They walked down the hallway one after the other.
After the bathroom humiliation-play, the two of them finally made it back to the living room.
That cursed frosted-glass door had turned into a taboo totem between them—neither dared glance at it.
Now, by Su Yu's small coffee table—
They sat facing each other in the most awkward posture imaginable.
No choice. Still because of the damned "one-meter restriction."
Su Yu sat cross-legged on the rug. Kiana curled up on the edge of the sofa, hugging her knees.
Only twenty centimeters separated their knees.
Close enough to hear each other breathe. Close enough to touch.
On the table sat two cups of freshly steeped braised-beef instant noodles.
Plastic forks were stuck through the paper lids, steam curling upward.
That cheap—but irresistibly tempting—industrial seasoning aroma filled the quiet room like it owned the place.
"…Eat," Su Yu said, breaking the silence first. He peeled back the lid and handed her the fork.
"Uh… the 'no-model-kitty combo' only had one left. Just make do with this tonight."
Kiana didn't speak. She only nodded quietly.
She took the fork and lowered her head, white hair falling to hide cheeks that were still burning.
Truthfully, she was already starving.
In Sky City, eating was a luxury.
Sometimes it was bento that had expired days ago. Sometimes bread hard as stone. Most of the time… it was just enduring.
And now this steaming cup of noodles with chili oil and dried scallions floating on top—
To her, it was practically Michelin three-star cuisine.
"Slurp—"
Su Yu, with zero psychological burden, sucked down a huge mouthful with a loud sound.
Kiana's shoulders twitched.
She carefully hooked a small coil of noodles, blew on them, and put them into her mouth.
Scalding broth burst across her tongue—spicy and salty, waking numb taste buds in an instant.
Ack… hot.
But the warmth slid down her throat into her stomach, soothing cramps and pain that had lived there for far too long.
The room filled with nothing but alternating noodle-slurps.
"Slurp…"
"Slurp slurp…"
So awkward.
Unbearably awkward.
Su Yu chewed on a soulless dehydrated beef pellet, ranting furiously in his head.
What was this atmosphere—like a failed blind date where you still had to share a table afterward?
And the person across from him was Kiana Kaslana, who had just been "monitored" through a toilet trip!
He had to say something.
Even nonsense. Anything to stir the air that felt like it had set into concrete.
Su Yu swallowed his noodles, his gaze flicking between Kiana's face and the noodle cup in her hands.
In the end, he forced out a painfully stiff but very "daily life" question:
"So… uh… what flavor of instant noodles do you like?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Su Yu wanted to slap himself.
What kind of question was that? Market research at a convenience store?
Kiana clearly hadn't expected it either.
Her slurping paused. The noodles slid back into the cup, splashing a tiny drop of red oil onto the collar of "Fu Hua's" white shirt.
She stared blankly at the scallions floating on the surface, her eyes going unfocused for a moment.
What flavor did she like?
Back at St. Freya, Mei never let her eat much of this junk food.
Every time she tried to stash a few cups, Bronya would rat her out, and Aunt Himeko would confiscate them—though in the end Aunt Himeko would sneakily cook them at midnight as drinking snacks.
Back then, Kiana always demanded flavors that didn't even exist—like "Honkai Beast flavor" or "Super Spicy Ultimate Deluxe Edition."
"…I'm not picky."
After a long pause, Kiana answered softly, her voice carrying a weariness that didn't match her age.
"As long as… I can get full."
She hesitated, as if that answer sounded too dismissive toward the man who'd taken her in, and added in an even smaller voice:
"Before… I used to toast bread until it was a little burnt."
"Mei… I mean—someone said it was dark cuisine, but I actually thought that crispy burnt taste was pretty good."
When she said "Mei," her voice clearly trembled—like touching a wound—then she immediately corrected herself, trying to hide it.
"Burnt toast, huh…"
Su Yu pretended not to notice, nodding thoughtfully with an "I get it" expression.
"That's an overdone Maillard reaction—Kaslana family's special culinary talent. Normal people really can't appreciate it."
"Pfft—!"
Kiana almost choked on the broth.
She looked up, and in those ash-dead eyes flashed a bit of stunned disbelief.
"You know Kaslana?"
She asked sharply, her hand tightening around the fork.
"Come on." Su Yu kept his face straight, trying to lighten the heavy tone. "Even if there's no Schicksal here, I just happen to know a Kaslana. Good buddy of mine."
"You can call him Kevin. Looks like he's got a permanent poker face, but honestly he's a hopeless noodle fanatic—some white-haired weirdo who'll queue for three hours just for a bowl of noodles."
"Kevin…?"
Kiana froze, brows knitting as she tried to dig through memory.
"You mean… the one in the history books? The first ancestor of the Kaslana family?"
At St. Freya she spent half her time asleep, but it was her family name—she still remembered the name.
But only the name.
In her mind, it was just ink on a textbook. It didn't overlap at all with this man's "noodle maniac."
"Here, he's not some fossil living in a book," Su Yu shrugged and pointed to his computer screen, which was lit up with a desktop image—a big group photo from a New Year's gathering at Golden Courtyard.
"See? Middle of the photo, white-haired guy. These days he's just a normal corporate slave who works overtime and still gets bossed around by his girlfriend."
Su Yu pointed at the Kevin in the photo—cold expression, holding up a peace sign—then pointed at the unfamiliar faces around him.
"And this pink-haired one is Elysia—just a slightly narcissistic girl who likes flirting with pretty girls."
"The masked one is Kalpas—chef at the rehab center next door. Temper's awful, but his beef-and-potato stew is genuinely top-tier."
Kiana stared blankly at the faces on the screen.
She didn't recognize a single one.
But that bustling, everyday warmth spilling out of the photo…
That was something she couldn't ignore.
That "ancestor" Kevin didn't have the killing intent of a warrior in his eyes.
And the laughter you could almost feel through the screen…
"…What is this?" Kiana murmured, confusion flashing in her gaze. "Turning historical figures into neighbors? Is this world… insane?"
It seemed Kiana had already realized—at least a little—that this was not the world she knew.
Maybe that was good.
"Maybe," Su Yu said. His tone turned more serious, his eyes steady in a way that felt strangely reassuring. "But compared to your world—nothing but fighting and sacrifice—maybe this kind of 'insane' is a little more lovable, don't you think?"
"So here, you don't need to keep your nerves stretched tight all the time."
"Kaslana isn't some bloodline cursed with saving the world. It's not a title that demands you sacrifice yourself to be a hero."
"Here, everyone's just… ordinary people. People who argue about what to eat for dinner, and wake up early to fight over discounted eggs at the supermarket."
He grabbed a bottle of iced black tea from the side, twisted off the cap, and handed it to her.
"Here. Instant noodles without iced tea lose half their magic."
Kiana listened, stunned, to descriptions that sounded so absurd they belonged in fairy tales.
It was like the most ridiculous fever-dream imaginable.
But the noodles in her hands were hot. The man beside her was real.
And the smiles in that photo…
They were bright and warm in a way that hurt.
"…Liar," she muttered.
This time, she didn't argue. She didn't demand explanations about those people.
Maybe she was too exhausted. Maybe the noodles smelled too good.
She suddenly didn't want to think about whether it was true.
If this was a dream…
Then let her stay a little longer—just a little longer—in a dream where she didn't have to fight.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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