The sunlight was still warm.
But the atmosphere in the room had quietly grown heavier.
Su Yu didn't press her for more.
He simply wrote everything down in silence, waiting for Kiana to continue when she was ready.
"After that… I chased after Mei. All the way to the rooftop of Chiba Academy."
Kiana's voice was steady, but her pace slowed.
"She was standing by the railing. Her back to me."
A rooftop.
Chiba Academy's rooftop.
The beginning of Honkai Impact 3rd.
The moment Kiana and Mei's fates first intertwined.
How many players had cried over that scene? How many fanworks had been built around that rooftop?
And now, the person who'd actually lived it sat right in front of him—telling him what truly happened that day.
"She wanted to jump," Kiana said. "Or… she wanted everything to end."
"The 'Queen of Thunder' persona was eating into her. She was about to lose control. She'd rather die than hurt even more people."
She fell silent for a few seconds, like she was being dragged back into that despair.
"Then what?" Su Yu asked softly.
Kiana lifted her head, gaze landing on some nonexistent point on the ceiling.
"The moment Mei jumped, I rushed forward and grabbed her hand."
"She tried to break free, but I wouldn't let go. The Queen's power scorched my palm—but I still wouldn't let go."
Su Yu's fingertips trembled slightly.
He knew this scene.
In the game. In the animation. In countless fanworks—he'd seen it a thousand times.
But those had all been images made of pixels and code.
"I told her… I was absolutely—absolutely—not going to let her die."
"When I pulled Mei back up, that arrogant Queen of Thunder appeared."
"And then I headbutted her."
Kiana's mouth twitched, just a little.
"...A headbutt?" Su Yu repeated before he could stop himself, his expression turning complicated.
"A headbutt," Kiana confirmed with a solemn nod—then, without thinking, rubbed her forehead. "Straight into her forehead. I knocked that high-and-mighty 'queen' persona flying with sheer force. It hurt like hell. Both of us got huge bumps."
It really was so Kiana.
At a life-or-death moment, she didn't use some ultimate move—she used the most primal, clumsy, and sincere weapon she had.
A headbutt.
"After that… Mei woke up." Kiana continued, warmth bleeding into her voice. "Her eyes went back to their original color. She looked at me… and she cried."
She paused.
"That was the first time I'd ever seen her cry."
Outside the window, wind brushed through the trees, leaves whispering. Su Yu didn't interrupt—he just listened, recording rapidly.
"After that, we ran. Nagazora had already become a Honkai nest—Dead Ones everywhere, monsters everywhere. We kept hiding, kept moving, trying to find a way out."
"And then we ran into that little runt… Bronya."
At the name Bronya, Kiana's expression turned complicated—nostalgia, but even more helplessness.
"Back then she looked like a scared little kid, just sitting in the ruins, not moving."
"Mei and I—two idiots with a hero complex—picked her up without thinking. Who knew that expressionless little shorty was actually an assassin sent by Cocolia."
"But…" She shrugged. "Back then it was the three of us: one idiot, one rich girl who wanted to die, and one emotionless killer. And somehow we ended up together."
"Looking back… that was probably the earliest shape of our three-person squad."
But the story didn't stop there.
As the concentration of Honkai energy rose, the monsters got stronger.
When they encountered that massive Chariot-class Honkai beast, Kiana was injured protecting Mei.
Blood—the sight and smell of it—triggered the Herrscher persona inside Mei.
"That was the first time the Queen of Thunder fully took over."
Kiana's tone held a faint edge of awe.
"She was like a real queen—overbearing, brutal, and elegant."
"That Honkai beast that had pushed us into a corner… in her hands it was a toy. She tore it apart with her bare hands."
Kiana even imitated the voice—lowering it, adding a melodramatic, cool swagger.
"Go to hell, trash!"
"Yeah," she added. "That was her exact line. It sounds cringe now, but… I can't deny it. It was really cool."
But a Herrscher awakening drew bigger eyes.
Schicksal's Far East Branch detected the abnormal fluctuation.
"The Hyperion arrived."
When she said that, Kiana's voice noticeably trembled.
That enormous shadow.
That red figure.
The one who… changed her fate forever.
"And also…"
She stopped.
That name was like a thorn lodged in her throat—she couldn't spit it out, couldn't swallow it down.
Her body began trembling out of her control. Her breathing, which had been steady, turned sharp and rapid.
Color drained from her face, turning it visibly pale.
A buried wound had been dragged back to the surface.
Su Yu immediately realized something was wrong.
He stopped working, turned to her, and looked at her with a serious expression.
"Kiana."
He said her name with unusual weight.
"If it's too hard, then stop. We don't need to rush. The game can be made slowly. We can fill in materials later."
He didn't need a partner who drove herself insane just to meet a schedule.
And he didn't want to watch her suffer through her memories again.
Kiana bit down hard on her lip until she tasted iron.
The pain pulled her scattered focus back into place.
She shook her head. In those mismatched eyes, something stubborn—almost willful—lit up.
"No… I can."
She took a deep breath, as if forcing all the cold and fear out of her chest, making room for just enough courage to keep going.
"Teacher Himeko… she taught me… you don't run away."
"And I also want… to tell her story properly. One more time."
She raised her head again. Her face was still pale, but her eyes had steadied. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
"Back then… I can't remember the details clearly anymore."
"Maybe because the Herrscher's influence interfered. A lot of it is fragmented—broken pieces."
"But I remember that red silhouette."
"She was wearing that red armor… Vermilion Knight: Eclipse."
"She was alone—holding that greatsword—standing in front of the Herrscher of Thunder."
"They were trading blows."
Kiana closed her eyes, brow drawn tight, as if she could see it again—hear the ship-cleaving blade slamming into the Herrscher's lightning barrier, the deafening roar of impact.
"That was truly… a mortal body pushing against a god's power. Even if the Herrscher of Thunder wasn't fully awakened yet, that pressure…"
"And then… I think I woke up for a second."
She frowned, fighting to grasp a blurred fragment.
"I felt a strange power. And I couldn't control myself—I… crushed the Herrscher of Thunder's wings."
"That feeling…" Her voice went thin. "It was terrifying. Like crushing something living in your hand."
"And after that… it was just darkness."
Kiana let out a long breath, as if finally putting down a thousand-pound weight, her whole body going slack.
"When I came to, I'd already been recovered by the Hyperion. Mei was unconscious. Bronya had been taken back to St. Freya too."
"And just like that… we became students at St. Freya Academy, for reasons we barely understood."
That was the end.
With that, the story of the Third Eruption reached its pause.
Next would be St. Freya—her first real steps toward becoming a Valkyrie—and those brief, warm days she spent with Teacher Himeko.
But Kiana didn't continue.
She stared out the window.
The sunlight was still warm. Pedestrians passed along the street. Everything was calm.
Su Yu watched her for a long moment.
Then he turned back to the computer, typed the last few lines, and saved the document.
He didn't immediately ask about St. Freya.
Outside, the sunlight shifted again. A patch of light crept along the edge of the sofa—landing by Kiana's curled-up feet.
....
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