Kiana said it with complete seriousness, which made Elysia a little uneasy, was she actually serious?
After speaking, Kiana returned to her seat, opened her textbook, and prepared to pay attention, maybe tutoring really does pay well?
At least the hourly rate was decent?
"Little Shiraha, are you going to the rooftop at noon?"
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, then looked up: "It's time Kiana learned how treacherous the world can be."
Elysia didn't smile much. She loved being favored, especially such blatant favoritism but Little Shiraha's friends didn't seem to like her much.
Mei was actually fine, she was a bit chuunibyou, but Kiana already had an adult's way of thinking... at least it seemed that way.
She said softly: "But your little friends seem to have some opinions about me."
It was all because Little Shiraha was too flirtatious, girls everywhere, one after another, lining up to care about him, worry about him, fuss over him.
"Let them be. I can't cry in front of them anyway. Even good kids have their own troubles."
Shiraha sighed and rested his head on the desk.
Elysia pressed her tongue against her teeth. She'd wanted to respond, after all, to Little Shiraha, she was a close friend who knew him inside out, someone he never needed to hide anything from.
But at that moment, she vaguely sensed something. Elysia wasn't stupid, many of Shiraha's tactics were ones she'd used or thought of before.
She dropped the playfulness: "Little Shiraha, you've never cried in front of me either."
He'd never even shown weakness. Realizing that made her feel a little strange.
Shiraha: ....
He shot back: "Is there anything in my life right now worth crying over?"
Elysia let out a long "oh," suddenly realizing, she'd almost forgotten, Little Shiraha's life had been smooth sailing.
"Actually, the hardest time in my life was Siberia, when Nee-chan, without my consent, took it upon herself to give me everything."
Elysia made muffled sounds, not knowing what to say. At the time, she really hadn't wanted to drag things out any longer.
A beautiful woman like her always had a few days each month when she felt especially melancholy or impulsive.
She couldn't hold Little Shiraha back forever.
Shiraha lay on the desk, glancing at the clock. Feeling the time was right, he deliberately let out a long breath and pulled the dozing little fox out of his bag, his tone wistful.
"I wonder what Rin-nee's doing. Nee-chan's been acting weird lately too."
"Did she get her head stuck in a door and mess up her brain? Why care so much about what other people think?"
He muttered to himself, then, taking advantage of being human, unceremoniously woke the little fox. In her dazed little eyes, he placed her on the desk, face to face.
Rin blinked twice.
Elysia blinked twice too.
"I don't care about other people." Elysia tried to defend herself, the reason she'd been sighing like that was because of him.
What she cared about was her little brother's future, not other people's opinions.
But it was also unlikely that Elysia didn't care about others' views.
Shiraha sighed again.
At that moment, Rin seemed to catch on. She pressed her little paws against Shiraha's cheeks, trying to secretly use her powers to make his emotions more extreme.
At the very least, to lower his affection for Elysia.
"You can't complain about me for this in the future."
Elysia said, laying down a disclaimer.
Shiraha sighed again, he'd answered this question too many times.
But his once all-powerful Nee-chan, worried that she might affect his future, had become hesitant and indecisive... which was actually... kind of nice.
Shiraha kept his expression unchanged, his emotions particularly intense in that moment. He rubbed the fox's head again.
Time quickly came to lunch break. Shiraha naturally stood up, ready to head to the club.
But this time, Kiana had learned her lesson, no, she'd always been smart. After school, she dashed out immediately but didn't go straight to the rooftop.
Instead, she leaned against the classroom door, one leg slightly bent against the frame.
Just as Shiraha turned left toward the club, she grabbed his arm with perfect timing.
Kiana said confidently: "I knew your nee-chan would make you break your promise."
Elysia: ?
Before she could react, Kiana was already dragging Shiraha by the arm toward the rooftop.
But then Elysia thought about it, she had been hoping Little Shiraha wouldn't go to the rooftop, so Kiana wasn't wrong.
Too bad little Kiana was too sharp, she'd caught that. Otherwise, Elysia would have gladly led her little brother to bail on this.
Meanwhile, Mei was still saying goodbye to her friends.
Soon, two figures appeared on the empty rooftop. Kiana looked as cool and handsome as ever. Shiraha sighed and sat down to the side. Kiana was about to sit down too, but Shiraha shielded the spot.
"Nee-chan is—"
Kiana plopped down anyway, very rudely.
Shiraha: ....
Elysia: ....
Elysia was now completely expressionless, no trace of playfulness left.
"Shiraha, I've found a really good doctor recently, you should come see them with me."
Kiana got straight to the point.
As Siegfried's daughter, she'd heard him talk about Shiraha's situation more than once.
The guy was simply mentally ill.
Some might say, "But Shiraha's friend can eat things!" Siegfried would just ask: Shiraha could make Siberia flourish, why couldn't he make food disappear into thin air?
Shiraha was quiet for a moment: "Uncle Ryoma already found me one."
Kiana answered quickly, her sky-blue eyes unusually serious: "He found you a psychologist, not a psychiatrist."
Shiraha narrowed his eyes, his expression suddenly a little dangerous.
"Kiana, your thinking is more extreme and dangerous than I imagined."
This girl had high initiative, while others only muttered to themselves, she seemed to have already taken action.
"Indeed, truly an evil little brat by nature."
Elysia nodded from the side.
Kiana shook her head and pulled a small pouch from her pocket: "Over the past month or so, I've been working with Fu Hua, picking up all kinds of jobs, and saved up quite a bit."
"Shiraha, you should privately see some other doctors. Uncle Ryoma is a good person, but he's also a high-ranking member of Anti-Entropy."
"To others, a 9-year-old, almost 10 using his abilities under this mental state is probably fine. But when you eventually lose your nee-chan, you might not be able to handle it."
Kiana understood this state well, her dad had seemed to lose someone very important to him and had spiraled for a long time.
He'd even become completely useless during that period.
Shiraha was a sensitive person. He seemed cheerful, knew how to joke, and was mature but Kiana didn't think he'd survive losing his nee-chan like that.
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, looked up at his Nee-chan, and was just about to smile and pass along a signal—
Kiana reached over again, straightened his head, and forced him to look at her.
Shiraha smiled helplessly: "Kiana, you should learn to understand my situation."
Kiana: ....
If I could understand a mentally ill person's thoughts, I'd probably be mentally ill myself.
Shiraha paused for a moment, shook his head to get Kiana's hand off, and instead pressed his palms to her cheeks: "Kiana, actually, you have a ghost friend too."
Kiana stared into Shiraha's eyes for two seconds.
"Thanks, I don't need one."
Kiana understood, she used to give people the best things she could think of as blessings too.
But a ghost friend was something she really didn't need.
Shiraha's lips twitched: "You'll understand eventually, though your friend isn't exactly a good person."
Sigh. Shiraha stood up. The wind on the rooftop wasn't strong, it was cool and pleasant.
Facing the breeze, he said: "Kiana..."
"Do you feel happy when you're working?"
Kiana was quiet for a moment, then nodded: "Yeah. I need money. I'm afraid Dad will fall apart again. I'm afraid of being homeless again. I'm afraid people will only care about your talent, and that you'll end up like Dad, completely broken."
She rarely thought too much. Maybe Shiraha was well-liked by Uncle Ryoma, but Shiraha was sick.
Could they really just keep putting that off?
Shiraha was quiet for a moment. He looked at his Nee-chan, Elysia's lips twitched, her expression blank as she stared back at him.
Without hiding from Kiana, he said: "Shouldn't Nee-chan be happy for me?"
Elysia's voice rose slightly: "Because Nee-chan got her head stuck in a door and her thoughts have been weird lately and my little brother said he wouldn't blame me."
Anyway... Little Shiraha had told her that morning that she didn't need to care so much about what other girls thought.
Because she was also a girl who needed someone to care about her.
Shiraha looked back at Kiana, whose expression had grown even more complicated.
"Kiana, I'm happy too. I need my Nee-chan. As for the reason, I believe love doesn't need a reason."
"But I appreciate your kindness. I should get to the club, or Mei will start muttering again."
He waved his hand, took two steps, then paused and turned back to reach out to Kiana.
"Come on, let's go together."
Kiana stared at Shiraha's other hand, then finally sighed.
Fine, maybe she'd been too hasty. Treating him would have to be gradual. Maybe she could start by replacing that imaginary friend's place.
"I'll become your best friend."
Kiana said softly. This promise had nothing to do with Kaslana, honestly, Kiana didn't really care about Kaslana glory right now.
But Shiraha had stood by her back then, so she'd look out for him. That was Kiana's principle.
Shiraha replied casually: "That's going to be hard."
Elysia's lips were just about to curl up when she suddenly realized, her voice shot up: "It's going to be hard?"
So it was still possible?
Shiraha quickly soothed: "Just kidding, Nee-chan, you're the most special."
Though he didn't understand why a nearly-10-year-old kid had to deal with relationships between women every day, but maybe that was the price of becoming a king.
Kiana clenched her fist over her heart: "It's okay, compared to this beautiful world, clearly someone who's been isolated needs me more."
Kiana's emotions were always simple and direct but not incapable of complexity. At least right now, she believed her friend Shiraha really needed her.
Copycat Elysia echoed: "It's okay~ compared to this beautiful world, clearly you are more~ important~"
Shiraha was silent for a moment, deciding to ignore his Nee-chan for a few minutes.
They walked down from the rooftop.
The club was quiet. Fu Hua was there too.
Even the workaholic, on the first day of school, at noon, chose not to work.
The door opened again. Shiraha peeked cautiously inside, Mei had already finished lunch.
"Why are you so late today—"
Before she could finish, Kiana's little head popped in too. Mei's face stiffened.
Shiraha explained: "Had some things to take care of with Kiana, got held up."
Kiana visibly relaxed when she saw Fu Hua, like she'd found an ally. After greeting Mei, she squeezed into the club and huddled beside Fu Hua.
On the surface, they got along fine.
At that moment, Fu Hua was frantically scrolling through her phone: "Where's my gear?!"
"Where's my +15 arm guard?!"
"Who touched my account?!"
She'd lost her appetite. She'd fought through the worst RNG odds to grind those levels and items.
Why were they suddenly gone?
Kiana glanced over: "Oh, that game? I've got a +16 one. If you want it, Fu Hua, I can trade it to you."
If she wasn't a minor and could do cash trades, Kiana would've asked around, how much did those items sell for in the chat channels?
Kyuu~
Rin curled up quietly on the desk. She hadn't found anything about the Elysian Realm on Fu Hua's phone, though she did find plenty about Schicksal.
As for those gear and items?
Hmph, just a little payback against a MANTIS.
At that moment, Shiraha walked over, naturally picked up the little fox, and returned to his seat. He had a heavier load, he had to feed his Nee-chan, feed the fox, and feed himself.
Three concurrent operations.
After Shiraha finished eating, Mei tapped the table: "Shiraha, you've been slacking off lately."
Shiraha blinked, had he?
"We agreed to talk with Fu Hua about Honkai at noon but you went off with Kiana doing who-knows-what."
The bond between us is fading, a third party must be involved. Mei recited that silently in her heart.
Kiana!
Are you really trying to take my little brother away?
Yae Sakura sat at the edge of the club, leaning by the window.
After slowly getting familiar with everyone, she could joke around too. She glanced at Shiraha and Kiana: "It's fine, Shiraha probably had his own business. Doesn't look like he went off to sneak a kiss or anything."
Shiraha: ....
Miko, is that really something you should be saying?
Mei tapped the table again: "Now it's time to discuss important matters, everyone be serious!"
This was a big deal related to Honkai and it was Fu Hua who'd brought it up. This might be Honkai intel even Anti-Entropy wasn't aware of.
Fu Hua had already been soothed by Kiana's +16 gear. She pulled herself back together.
"Nagazora seems to have these monsters lingering in quite a few places." Her voice was very soft. "They get dealt with quickly, but in the area where I live, rumors like this pop up every so often."
She paused, not dragging it out any longer: "I recorded it."