Two minutes later.
Center stage.
Kiana stood there stiff as a plank of wood, both hands death-gripping the hem of her clothes, eyes absolutely refusing to look at the audience below.
Su Yu wore the expression of a man who had lost the will to live, yet was still somehow forcing himself to maintain a polite smile.
Only Griseo remained perfectly composed, as if everything happening around her was simply none of her business.
"Come on, come on, no need to be nervous~"
Elysia floated over, and the sweet, honeyed fragrance drifting off her instantly enveloped all three of them.
She held the microphone out toward Su Yu.
"How about a quick introduction for everyone? These three look like... quite an interesting group, don't they?"
She deliberately drew out the last syllable, her gaze drifting back and forth between the three of them.
Finally, her eyes settled on Griseo, the shortest of the trio.
Elysia gave the little painter a sneaky wink, her expression looking very much like she and Griseo were co-conspirators in some secret scheme.
Griseo blinked.
She thought back to the full box of limited-edition paint-flavored candies that Sister Elysia had slipped to her yesterday.
That was... hush money.
And also... a performance fee.
And so, this honest little painter quietly sidled up against Su Yu's leg.
She reached out one small hand and gently tugged on the hem of his trousers.
Then she reached out the other hand and tugged on Kiana's sleeve.
The motion was so practiced it was almost heartbreaking.
Elysia seized the moment instantly, letting out a dramatically exaggerated gasp:
"Wow——! Look at that! Look at that natural chemistry!"
She spun toward the audience, her voice shooting up a full octave:
"Could it be... you three are a happy family of three?!"
Good grief! She wasn't even pretending anymore! There was even an inside-man component to this setup?
"BOOM——!"
The audience below exploded.
"Holy crap! They have a daughter this big already and they're that young?"
"They're way too well-matched!"
"Family of three! Family of three!"
Faced with this tidal wave of misunderstanding, Su Yu and Kiana's reactions were nothing short of textbook synchronization.
"We're NOT!!!"
In perfect unison.
Even the pitch of their denials, the frequency of their hand-waving, and the "what on earth are you talking about" look plastered across both their faces — completely identical.
Elysia blinked, then immediately burst out laughing behind her hand.
"Oh my, oh my~ Even your denials are perfectly in sync~ What a pair of adorable... ahem, friends~"
The audience was equally tickled by this reaction — so perfectly that of an oblivious couple (?) — and waves of good-natured laughter rolled through the crowd.
Kiana's face was now genuinely, thoroughly, catastrophically red.
From the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears, steam practically rising off her. She shot Su Yu a furious glare that said everything: This is YOUR fault! YOUR fault for dragging me here!
Su Yu looked equally helpless.
He glanced at Elysia, his expression clearly reading: Okay, that's enough. Keep this up and the kid's going to spontaneously combust.
Elysia seemed to receive the signal.
She quit while she was ahead, snapping her fingers. The pink stage lighting abruptly shifted into a sleek, tech-tinged blue.
"Alright, alright, jokes aside~"
"Since you're already up here, let's play a fun little game!"
She swept a hand dramatically toward the screen, where several large characters had just popped up — [Homu Knowledge Encyclopedia Quiz].
"The rules are simple! Buzz in and answer questions about Homu Land!"
"And the winner will receive Homu Land's signature souvenir——"
A spotlight slammed onto the side of the stage.
A massive, fluffy, pink shape slowly rose into view.
"Ta-daa! The Super Ultra Supreme Limited Edition Giant Houmei Plushie!"
The plushie was a full person's height.
Its pink fur shimmered under the lights, its big eyes were dopey and utterly adorable, and it hugged a little heart to its chest.
It was, in a word... the ultimate weapon forged for the destruction of every girl's heart.
Kiana, who had been in the depths of a social death spiral just moments ago, saw that plushie.
And something in her eyes changed.
A pink Houmei — that was one of the Homu series plushies, right?
If Bronya were to see this...
That little stone-faced gremlin would absolutely light up like a Christmas tree, wouldn't she?
The floodgates of memory swung open.
She remembered back at the dorms in St. Freya Academy.
Bronya, always wearing that blank, expressionless look, sitting on the couch with a Homu plushie tucked in her arms, playing video games.
"Stupid Kiana, stop trying to take Bronya's Homu."
"This is a limited edition. If you get it dirty, you're paying for it."
For all her complaining, every single time Kiana felt sad, Bronya would quietly press the Homu plushie into her arms without a word.
That soft, squishy warmth.
A plushie that had kept them company through countless nights.
It carried more than just Kiana's memories.
If... if she could win this and bring it back to give to her...
Kiana's mind conjured up a vivid image: Bronya hugging this giant plushie, face still perfectly blank as always — but with the corners of her mouth just barely, barely curving upward, murmuring quietly, "Stupid Kiana. Not bad this time."
"Bronya..."
Kiana whispered to herself, her hand instinctively curling into a fist.
Su Yu had said it.
As long as the game was made. As long as everyone could come to know them.
Someday... there might be a way to go back.
Or maybe even bring the people from that world over here?
She didn't know how Bronya was doing right now.
Had she woken up yet? Was Cocolia still giving her a hard time?
But still...
As a big sister who was older than Bronya. As that little gremlin's companion.
Now that she'd laid eyes on such a rare Homu...
She absolutely had to win it!
And on the day they finally reunited, she'd hand it over herself!
She'd say: "Look! This is a Homu from another world! Only a genius like me could ever get her hands on one!"
"I want to enter!"
Kiana snapped her head up and stepped forward, her voice booming loud enough to make Elysia jump.
"This competition! I am going to WIN it!"
She clenched her fist, radiating the unmistakable aura of someone who would accept no other outcome.
"Oh? Now that's some spirit~"
Elysia gave a satisfied nod.
"Then that's a yes? Mr. Su Yu, you have no objections either?"
Su Yu looked at Kiana, who had gone from zero to fully ignited in about three seconds, and didn't quite know whether to laugh or cry.
This girl. Just a moment ago she looked ready to pick up the entire stage and run for it under cover of darkness — and now she'd flipped to full battle mode in an instant?
Still...
He looked at her eyes — those eyes that had lit back up again.
Su Yu suspected she'd thought of someone important.
Elysia casually pulled a few more audience members up onto the stage at random.
While the staff were setting up the answer buzzers, she switched off her microphone and drifted soundlessly over to Su Yu's side, light as a butterfly.
"Su Yu-chan~"
She leaned in close.
Close enough that Su Yu could clearly catch the sweet fragrance she wore — something like peach and wild rose layered together.
Close enough that the warm puff of air as she spoke brushed lightly past his ear, sending a ticklish shiver down his neck.
Su Yu instinctively tried to lean back, but Elysia extended one finger and pressed it lightly against his shoulder.
"Don't move~"
She dropped her voice low, and woven into her tone was a trace of something — subtle, barely detectable — like a quiet grievance.
"You know... you really keep people at arm's length, don't you."
"?" Su Yu blinked, genuinely confused.
"I've heard all about it, you know."
Elysia glanced sideways at Kiana, who was cracking her knuckles in eager anticipation, and her gaze grew a shade more thoughtful.
"You went to Kevin. You went to Mei. You even helped Ah Hua sort out the dojo situation."
"But when you were in trouble — why didn't you come to Elysia?"
Miss Pink Elf puffed out her cheeks.
"It makes Ellie feel like... you don't really consider me a friend. And that makes me a little sad, you know."
Su Yu froze.
He looked at Elysia, who was just inches away.
In those eyes that always seemed to speak volumes, the usual teasing and mischief were completely gone. In their place was something unmistakably genuine — pure, undiluted concern.
And the faintest hint of... hurt. The kind that comes from being shut out by a friend.
It landed squarely on Su Yu's conscience like a punch.
But he was also helpless.
He could hardly say: If you'd come bouncing over a month ago, your sparkling pink energy would have reduced Kiana to ash on the spot.
Because for the Kiana of that time, even the most genuinely pure goodwill from the outside world could have struck a raw nerve.
Getting Kiana to the point where she could step outside, where she could go to an amusement park — it had taken him an enormous, winding detour to get there.
"Ellie, I..."
Su Yu opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words.
"Shh——"
Elysia raised one index finger to her lips and cut him off.
The mischievous smile returned to her face.
"No need to explain~ A girl's intuition is never wrong."
"Kevin keeps that ice-block face and won't say a word, but I can see it."
"Her eyes... that look of someone who's been hurt but still wants to trust people — that's not the look of some reclusive martial arts master."
She glanced over at Kiana, who was staring at the giant Houmei plushie with barely-contained drool, and the curve of her smile softened into something genuinely warm.
Su Yu's heart gave a sharp thump.
Of course.
Nothing got past this woman's eyes. Absolutely nothing.
"Her background is complicated, isn't it?"
Elysia turned back to Su Yu, her gaze clear and perceptive.
"That's alright. Whoever Su Yu-chan wants to protect is automatically a friend of Elysia's."
"I can see it — you want her to live happily. You want her to find her place in this world."
"I don't know why you suddenly decided to make that game, but I believe in you, Su Yu. You're not just messing around."
She reached out and gave his shoulder a light pat.
"In that case — allow the all-capable Miss Pink Elf to lend you a hand!"
"There are so many pairs of eyes in that audience right now. Think about it — isn't this the perfect opportunity to put you and Kiana in the spotlight, and lay the groundwork for your future game?"
Su Yu looked at the girl standing in front of him.
On this loud, chaotic stage, in this world full of noise and pretense.
Her kindness was pure as crystal, without a single crack.
Just like her in-game inscription — her True Self.
Unwavering. From beginning to end.
"...Thank you, Ellie."
Su Yu drew a slow breath and said it from the bottom of his heart.
"Hmph~"
Elysia tilted her chin up proudly, and switched her microphone back on.
The vibrant, irrepressible Elysia was back in full force.
"Hold the thank-yous for later~ If you end up losing the quiz——"
"There's a punishment round, you know?"
Watching Elysia's grin, Su Yu was suddenly overcome by an extremely ominous feeling.
This woman... she's not saving up for some massive ambush, is she?
But before he could think it through any further.
Kiana was already waving at him from across the stage, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Su Yu! Su Yu! Get over here! The competition's starting! For Houmei! Let's GOOO!"
Watching that energetic silhouette, Su Yu let out a helpless sigh — yet the corner of his mouth curved upward all the same.
Fine.
Whatever comes, comes. We'll handle it.
As long as Kiana's having a good time...
Even if Elysia drops a trap on us, so be it.
However.
As it turned out.
Putting a white-haired airhead who had barely attended school in her life — and who had poured every last skill point into "Gun Kata" and "eating" — into a trivia quiz competition was, in itself, a colossal mistake of historic proportions.
And on top of that.
"Next question! In episode 32 of Homu's Big Adventure, what item did Homu use to defeat the Great Demon King Houmei——"
Elysia's voice was sweet and laced with enthusiasm.
"I know! It's a bomb!"
Kiana slammed down the buzzer with complete confidence — despite never having watched a single episode of Homu's Big Adventure in her life.
"Incorrect! The correct answer is [A Frying Pan Full of Love]~"
"HUH?! You can use a frying pan as a weapon?!"
"Next question! What is Homu's favorite snack flavor?"
"Pizza flavor!"
"Wrong! Wasabi chocolate!"
"Who in their right mind eats something like that?!"
Ten minutes passed.
The scoreboard on the big screen was a crime scene.
[Team Passerby A: 30 points]
[Team Passerby B: 40 points]
[Happy Family Team (Su Yu's group): -10 points]
That's right. Negative.
Not only had Kiana gotten answers wrong — she had also been docked points by a laughing Elysia for "contempt of court" after ranting that the questions were rigged.
"We're doomed, we're so doomed..."
Kiana stared at that glaring negative number, bouncing on her heels like a cat on a hot tin roof.
Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead, and her previously perky ahoge had drooped completely.
She fixed her gaze on the giant pink Houmei plushie, her eyes burning with refusal to accept defeat.
So close... it's right there.
All she had to do was win it, and she could already picture it — Bronya's little stone face, clutching this plushie, desperately fighting back a smile she absolutely refused to show.
But now...
"...Sister Kiana."
A small hand tugged lightly at Kiana's sleeve.
Kiana turned around and met Griseo's gaze — those pale violet eyes that seemed to reflect the inner workings of anyone they looked at.
"Is that plushie very important to you?"
The little painter tilted her head, voice soft, yet cutting cleanly through all the surrounding noise.
"Your color... has become very anxious. Like a piece of drawing paper that's been crumpled up."
Kiana paused.
Her first instinct was to deny it, to put on the air of someone who absolutely did not care about some childish toy.
But when her gaze drifted back to the plushie, every last bit of that bravado dissolved before she could get a single word out.
That stupid Bronya would definitely want this Homu from another world.
Still so small she hadn't really grown up, yet always performing the role of a composed, mature adult.
An assassin, and yet she'd stop dead in her tracks the moment a Homu came into view.
And yet... and yet, once upon a time, they had been enemies.
"Yeah... it really is."
Kiana took a slow breath, and the anxious fire in her died down. Her eyes gradually softened.
"Because... I have a friend."
The girl dropped her gaze, fingers fidgeting a little self-consciously with the hem of her clothes.
"She's a kind of annoying little gremlin. Always wearing a deadpan face, calling me Stupid Kiana, and always using that big robot of hers to bully me."
"But..."
Kiana looked up at the plushie, and a fond smile curved across her lips.
"She's my most important companion. She's the person I'd trust to watch my back."
"She loves Homu more than anything — back at the dorms, all it took was buying her one Homu piece of merch and she'd be happy for days."
"Even though I can't see her right now..."
"I want to win this first, and then someday... when we meet again, I'll shove it right in her face and give her the fright of her life!"
At that, Kiana laughed.
That smile held within it a quiet hope for the future, and an unshakeable certainty that the reunion would come.
Su Yu, watching from the side, felt something stir quietly in his chest.
When he'd first found her, her whole world had been consumed by the nightmares of the past — by Himeko's death, by the shadow of the Herrscher of the Void.
But now, she was talking about someday.
She was working toward a future reunion.
That meant... that shattered heart was healing, piece by piece.
As long as there's hope, a person can keep going — and live beautifully at that.
"I understand."
Griseo nodded.
Those eyes of hers — usually carrying a faint air of detachment — now reflected the image of Kiana's hope-filled smile.
"...Then leave it to me, Sister Kiana."
Before Kiana could even process what "leave it to me" was supposed to mean——
Elysia's voice rang out again:
"Alright! This next one is the big one! Listen carefully——"
"In The Homu World Encyclopedia, page 108, in the entry describing the creature known as the [Great Dango Demon King] — what fraction of its body length is its tail?"
What kind of question is THAT?!
Kiana's vision went black. She could practically feel her CPU frying.
Who memorizes something like that?! This is pure sabotage!
However.
The instant Elysia finished speaking——
Beep——!
The buzzer went off.
So fast that the motion left an afterimage.
Everyone stared in stunned disbelief at Su Yu's side of the stage.
There was the blue-haired little girl — the one who had been quietly standing there this whole time, barely registering as a presence — with her hand pressed calmly on the buzzer.
No expression. Eyes perfectly still.
Like someone ringing their own doorbell.
"Two-thirds."
Griseo said, her tone completely flat.
"And the tip of the tail has three black bristles."
The entire venue went silent.
Even Elysia blinked, then looked down at the answer card in her hand.
"Answer.... completely correct! Ten points!"
"Next question! What year was Homu Land founded?"
Beep——!
"1998."
"Correct!"
"Next! What food does Houmei hate most?"
Beep——!
"Green peppers, and carrots."
"Correct! Correct! Completely correct!"
The next five minutes.
Were nothing short of a one-sided slaughter.
Or rather — a solo performance called "Griseo's Recital."
No matter how obscure the question, no matter how niche the content.
The moment Elysia finished reading — sometimes even before she finished — the buzzer would sound right on cue.
And then the little girl would deliver the correct answer in a voice completely devoid of drama.
"Oh— oh my god..."
Kiana stood beside her, mouth hanging wide open — wide enough to fit two fists.
She stared, dumbfounded, at this tiny creature who barely came up to her waist.
Was this really the same little loli who just draws pictures?
This is a walking, breathing Encyclopedia, isn't it?!
That memory... that reaction speed... is this actually humanly possible?!
"Stop staring, your jaw's about to hit the floor."
Su Yu shrugged, wearing the expression of a man who found this entirely unsurprising.
"Forgot to mention — on top of having her art skill maxed out, Griseo's memory is straight-up broken. How did you think she drew all those comics in the first place?"
"Almost every question came straight from The Homu World Encyclopedia."
"As luck would have it, while she was waiting for that blockhead Kosma to finish studying, she picked up the whole set to kill time and read it cover to cover."
"She... she read the whole thing?!"
Kiana's eyes went wide.
"That massive collection of books?! And she memorized all of it?!"
"So this... this is what it's like to be a genius?"
As the most notorious academic disaster in St. Freya Academy's theory courses, Kiana felt she had just been annihilated from a higher dimension.
Not only insanely talented at art, but also a photographic memory genius...
This kid was the ultimate "other people's child," wasn't she?!
"Not quite."
Su Yu sighed and mercilessly burst that bubble.
"Her grades are actually not that impressive. You could even say she's got some serious subject imbalances."
"Her talent only shows up for things she actually cares about. Like drawing. Like color theory. Like... extremely niche lore settings."
Su Yu glanced sideways at Kiana, a slightly wicked smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
"Kind of like you, actually."
"Make you recite the Valkyrie Code of Conduct and you go blank. But ask you to name every item on that one pizza place's menu and I'd bet you can do it backwards."
"That's called... selective talent."
"Hey! Su Yu!"
Kiana instantly exploded, puffing her cheeks out like a dumpling.
"Are you calling me stupid in a roundabout way?!"
"My thing with food is — that's survival! That's respect for cuisine! It has absolutely nothing to do with selective talent!"
While the two of them bickered.
The final "Answer Correct" chime rang out.
And the scoreboard had flipped completely.
[Happy Family Team: 100 points]
A runaway lead!
"Congratulations! The winner of today's quiz is——the Su Yu Team!"
Elysia led the applause, and a cascade of confetti streamers rained down from above.
Staff members carried the giant pink Houmei plushie over.
"Here you go, Sister Kiana."
Griseo accepted the plushie — it was so large it nearly swallowed her whole.
She turned around and held it out to Kiana.
The little painter's face was as unreadable as ever, but deep in those violet eyes, there flickered a tiny point of light that could only be called happiness.
"...It's yours now."
Kiana looked at the plushie standing before her — taller than herself.
In that instant, every snarky remark she'd been saving up simply vanished.
It was as if the whole world had narrowed down to that single adorable pink Houmei.
She shot out both arms and pulled the plushie into a fierce hug.
So soft.
So big.
Like being wrapped in a warm embrace.
Kiana buried her face into the plushie's pink fur and breathed in deeply.
It was nothing but cotton and fabric.
But in this moment, through this plushie.
She could almost see a familiar face — always so expressionless, yet so well known to her.
That little face, maybe right now, was wearing a look of surprise. Those grey eyes staring at her. And then, quietly: "Stupid Kiana. You actually won."
"Thank you."
Kiana hugged the plushie, her voice catching just slightly.
"Thank you, Griseo."
"And... thank you, Su Yu."
She lifted her head, eyes glistening at the corners — but her smile was brighter than any sunlight they'd seen all day.
"Just you wait, Bronya."
"I'm definitely coming back to find you — and I'm bringing this with me!"
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