Starry night

After watching her leave, Kiana pondered Himeko's previous words deeply.

Honkai... Why does this disaster exist and always take away everything?

Feeling a crisis in her heart, Kiana then went upstairs planning to meet Kouro who was in his room.

But after she knocked on the door of Kouro's room many times, strangely no one answered so she finally opened his room which was strangely unlocked.

"Excuse me~ Kouro! Are you there?"

Kiana went inside and looked around. This was her first time coming to Kouro's room.

There was no noticeable difference between her room and Kouro's other than her room did not have a refrigerator.

She then discovered that Kouro's window was wide open.

After thinking for a moment Kiana thought Kouro might be on the roof.

So she approached the window and poked her head out, she indeed found Kouro lying on the roof looking up at the night sky.

This made Kiana unable to resist asking.

"Kouro, what exactly are you doing up there?"

Without turning to look at Kiana, Kouro then answered in a casual tone.

"I was looking at the starry night view. What's going on? Why are you in such a hurry to find me?"

Kouro did not try to eavesdrop on the conversation between Himeko and Kiana earlier.

Aside from respecting their privacy. He could also guess that Himeko would not tell Kiana any very important news, other than the recent Honkai Eruption.

Kiana did not rush to answer, she went up to the roof and sat beside Kouro while looking up at the starry sky.

"Well... school vacation is coming up, right?"

The high school vacation schedule in Nagazora City was much different from what Kouro knew.

There were a total of three school vacation seasons; winter vacation, spring vacation and summer vacation.

The increase in holidays also meant that the end of the school semester was not far off, which as Kiana had said, meant that school holidays were just around the corner.

"That's right."

"Well then... Kouro, do you have any plans for the vacation?" Kiana asked with a worried expression that made Kouro raise his eyebrows.

"I don't have any plans yet, so why do you ask?"

Kiana looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I want Mei to stay here when vacation time comes. After all, we're all friends. If we all stay together it will be much more convenient to go out and play."

Kiana had such intentions so that she could protect and keep Mei and Kouro nearby in case a Honkai-related accident occurred.

Unfortunately her noble intentions were misunderstood by Kouro.

Hearing Kiana's words, Kouro's originally relaxed expression suddenly became serious and even made him get up and sit up straight.

'Sure enough, this girl is still in love with Mei.'

Kouro did not expect that Kiana would propose that in order to live in the same room as Mei.

He massaged his temples while letting out a long sigh before saying.

"Haah... Kiana, this building is Tachikawa Academy's male dormitory, it's already illegal for you to live here and now you want to invite Mei to live here as well. "

Kouro then continued, "Besides, with Mei's personality, I'm sure she wouldn't want to do such a wrong thing."

"Therefore, please help me convince her!" Kiana said in a pleading tone while cupping her hands together towards Kouro.

Since Aunt Himeko-- well, now she was gone, so calling her Aunt should be no problem.

Since Aunt Himeko had previously said that there was a Honkai Eruption on the outskirts of Nagazora City, then it meant that this City was no longer safe.

Moreover, she also remembered Himeko's words about telling her to survive rather than defeat Honkai.

Now Kouro was unwilling to cooperate which gave Kiana a headache.

She actually wanted to tell Kouro the real reason why she invited Mei but couldn't, remembering how dangerous Honkai was to ordinary people.

Currently there were only small-scale Honkai Eruptions in the suburbs and it was impossible to predict that there would be no possibility of another Honkai Eruption in the future.

This is why Nagazora City is only on alert and has not evacuated its citizens.

As Kiana was racking her brain cells to find a solution, she didn't realize that Kouro was staring at her with narrowed eyes.

In Kouro's eyes, though, he was currently 'wary' of Kiana. He could see the other party's expression and behavior and came to the conclusion that Kiana was not after Mei but was worried about something else.

Perhaps because of the Honkai Eruption he caused earlier?

Although he did not eavesdrop on Himeko and Kiana's conversation, it was still possible for Kouro to guess.

"Alright, I'll try to persuade Mei. She shouldn't refuse. After all, the situation at her house... I've explained it to you before."

Kouro's attitude of changing his mind so quickly caught Kiana off guard.

After a moment, the girl tilted her head and asked with confusion in her voice, "What made you change your mind so quickly?"

Kouro replied, "Because I saw you looking very troubled."

Hearing his answer, Kiana's eyes suddenly lit up and she thought of many things in an instant.

When she wanted to ask Kouro something in the future, couldn't she pretend to look troubled to increase her success rate?

'Hmm, what kind of performance did I do just now?' Kiana thought as she blinked a few times in forgetfulness.

If you don't understand, don't be forced to think, so that the brain cells don't just die.

Kiana chose to give up quickly, her eyes then glanced at the watch she was wearing and she hesitated for a while.

She didn't know if she should tell Kouro about Honkai. If she did, it might scarying the other party.

Especially if the Honkai Eruption turned out not to appear in Nagazora City anymore, it would be embarrassing for her to talk about it.

But once another Honkai Eruption did erupt in the future there would be many things she couldn't explain.

Kouro noticed Kiana's small movements and also looked at the watch she was wearing.

Looking at Kiana's appearance, it seemed like she had no intention of hiding the existence of the watch, so he felt compelled to ask about the accessory.

"Is this the gift Theresa-san gave you?"

"Yes, a special watch."

"Special? A watch that can turn you into Sailor Moon?"

Kiana's eyebrows twitched at his words before replying with an annoyed expression.

"How can it be so exaggerated! This watch is just to detect some special things. "

Kiana let out a long sigh before continuing with a serious expression, "Huh... Never mind, it's not important. Kouro, you must promise me that if one day I drag you to escape and leave the city of Nagazora, you will not refuse."

"Alright."

Kouro nodded his head without question, his gaze then focused on Kiana's watch with an interested expression.

Detecting something special? That must be Honkai Energy. It was very convenient that Theresa had given this as a gift to Kiana.

As expected, St. Freya Academy would not carelessly ignore the impact of the Honkai Eruption and even immediately began to take precautions.

'Besides, is Kiana worried about me now? What a relief.'

Kouro's thoughts flowed in his heart with a calm expression.

"Kiana, it turns out you also have something you're afraid of."

"This woman is not afraid of anything." Kiana replied with her hands on her hips and raised her chin to make a proud posture, causing the corners of Kouro's mouth to curl up.

"If that's the case, then there's no need to run away. Even if something really happens, we can solve the problem together. After all, I'm not a weak person who avoids trouble. So you don't have to worry."

"Do you really understand? I'm just worried... Worried that you'll drag my feet!"

"Don't worry, I won't drag your feet."

Kiana felt that Kouro was deliberately opposing her, and she was really angry.

If Kouro's actions now were a provocation, Kiana could only claim that Kouro had indeed succeeded in provoking her.

Back then, when she was a child, her father could take her very young self to travel and fight Honkai (not to be imitated).

Now it wasn't hard for her adult self to take Kouro and Mei to face Honkai, was it?

Hmph, at that time, she would have to tell Kouro who would be dragging feet.

--

~~Thank you to my editor [dioscuri].