Time passed, and the world reached the final month of 2013 — December.
The Honkai outbreak in Nagazora City, originally scheduled for February 2014, had occurred several months earlier than expected. As a result, Shun currently had almost nothing urgent to do.
Every day he supervised Mei's studies in electromagnetic physics, went to tease Theresa from time to time, occasionally brought Seele and Fu Hua over to Himeko's place to get familiar, played games with Kiana, and finally spent his days properly with Ana.
As for the wedding date, Ana had set it on December 24th. Although the families of Schicksal did not believe in any particular religion, they had been influenced by the strong cultural atmosphere since childhood, so December 24th was also considered a good day for them.
Right now, however, Shun faced an imminent problem that had been giving him a headache for the past few days.
That was… Kiana's birthday had arrived.
Kiana's birthday was December 7th. As an old Honkai Impact 3rd captain, there was no way he could forget it. The problem was what gift he should give her.
When he had discussed it with Theresa these past few days, Theresa had naively suggested giving Kiana the gift Cecilia had prepared back then — "Princess of Winter."
"But this outfit, Bianca can't wear it anymore either. Who knew she would grow so fast!" Theresa had said.
To put it plainly, she simply didn't want to use her brain, so she thought of casually giving the outfit that contained Cecilia's love for the real Kiana Kaslana to the current Kiana.
"I'm confiscating this outfit." Shun stored "Princess of Winter" into the Cosmic Juggernaut, planning to send it to Bianca on December 7th in the form of an anonymous email.
This was originally a belated birthday blessing meant solely for her. Along with the outfit, Shun had also taken "Guardian of the Moon God" from Siegfried's hands.
This too had been prepared for the real Kiana Kaslana. Unlike Theresa, however, Siegfried still did not know Bianca's true identity.
Shun planned to tell him the truth after Siegfried completed the trials in the Elysian Realm, so that Siegfried wouldn't overthink things.
It was worth mentioning that Siegfried had undergone trials from three Flame-Chasers in the Elysian Realm: "Deliverance" Kevin, "Decimation" Kalpas, and "Daybreak" Kosma.
This naturally couldn't compare to Mei, who had accepted trials from all Thirteen Flame-Chasers, but when Siegfried left the Elysian Realm, he would surely become the strongest person in the current world.
In short, although Shun had harshly scolded the unreliable pair of Siegfried and Theresa, to be honest he himself didn't know what to give Kiana either.
If Theresa and Siegfried were like the incompetent duo, he probably wasn't much better… The most serious gift he had given in two lifetimes was still the Tea set he had bought for his university roommate.
As for Ana, Mei, and the others, they had already come up with ideas long ago. Shun didn't want to ask what they were. After all, a gift should reflect one's own feelings — it was best to think of something himself.
If Shun asked Kiana, she would only say that she was very satisfied with her current life and didn't want anything. Kiana was really too easily satisfied.
However… Shun thought as the "Princess of Winter" appeared in his hands again. Since they were blood-related sisters, things should be neat and complete.
Shun quietly left the room he shared with Ana. It was already late at night and Ana had probably fallen asleep long ago. He had been unable to sleep because he kept thinking about these things.
With a single teleport, Shun arrived at Theresa's house and pulled Theresa, who was wearing pink rabbit pajamas, out of bed.
"Ah, Shun, what are you doing… You're about to marry Ana soon, we can't!…" Theresa's face turned red the moment she woke up and she kept shouting in panic.
Strangely, she didn't summon Judah to give Shun a "World's Cutest Heavy Strike," but Shun naturally wasn't paying attention to such details right now.
He knocked on Theresa's head to wake her up properly and incidentally knocked some sense into the tumor-like lump on her head.
"What nonsense are you spouting in your sleep? Wait until you've actually grown up before saying that!"
Theresa sat on the bed for a good while before coming back to her senses… She let out a long breath and patted her completely flat chest.
"Thank goodness, it was just a dream… I thought…" Theresa stopped halfway through her sentence, and Shun was too lazy to ask.
"So, why did you run over here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping with Ana?"
Listening to Theresa's complaining tone, Shun had the feeling that she wasn't just annoyed at being woken up so late.
"Have you prepared Kiana's birthday gift yet? And Bianca's? How can someone your age sleep so soundly? Their birthdays are in just a few days."
After hearing this, Theresa immediately let out a long sigh. "Don't even mention it! My head hurts the moment you bring it up! Besides, Bianca's birthday is listed as January 1st." Theresa thought: She had finally managed to have a nice dream to relax after all the daytime stress, and now he had come to interrupt it again.
"Other people might not know, but don't you know? I already secretly asked Rita. She prepares an early birthday gift for Bianca every year on December 7th. Can you guess why?"
Shun didn't spell it out. It was enough to let Theresa know that even Rita knew Bianca's true identity. If even Rita could give Bianca a gift on her actual birthday, how could her aunt fail to do so?
Sure enough, once Rita was used to pressure Theresa, she instantly stopped feeling sleepy.
"Then… then what do you think we should do!" Theresa had no solution, but since Shun had come to find her, it meant he definitely had an idea.
"Heh, I do have a way, but I need your help. How about we team up and give the gifts to the two sisters together?"
When Theresa heard this, she thought it was great. She already knew Shun planned to handle it himself. From their previous collaborations, she understood Shun's style of doing things.
He would either completely hands-off or do everything personally. Since he had actively pulled her in to help this time, it meant he intended to get involved himself.
"Then tell me, what should we do?"
"It's simple, Theresa. Do you still remember the outfit I confiscated?"
"Princess of Winter?" Mentioning that outfit made Theresa feel a bit embarrassed. If Shun hadn't scolded her awake, she might have really casually given away the outfit that contained Cecilia's feelings for Kiana.
"What I mean is, I want you to find the best tailor you know…"
"And have them make another set of outfits suitable for the two sisters, right?" This time, Theresa figured it out herself without needing Shun to remind her.
"Mm, you can be taught." Shun nodded, satisfied.