Healing Himeko

The next day, in his room, Kouro was seen packing some of his clothes.

He also packed some mementos and photos of his parents into a suitcase.

Of course for some rather sensitive things like weapons, Kouro put them in his inventory, he brought a suitcase just to look normal.

After finishing packing his things, he then left his room.

He then headed for the living room, where he saw Kiana and the others.

"Kouro, we made lunch for you." Kiana handed him a large lunch.

He accepted it with a smile, this was probably the last time he would eat Kiana and the others' cooking.

"I'm leaving, everyone! Good bye!"

Kouro was seen running away without looking back as if running from something.

Staring at his back, Kiana and the others wore sad expressions and clenched their fists.

Seeing them like that, Himeko just shook her head, "There's no need to be sad like that, this isn't a breakup. Schicksal and St. Freya's academy have a cooperative relationship, we'll meet him again sooner or later. "

Their expressions improved slightly, even Himeko saw the fire of determination in their eyes.

"By the way, miss, who are you? Are you a newcomer?" Kiana asked looking at Himeko with a sparkling light.

Kiana's eyes were like this when she saw a beautiful girl.

"Huh? What do you mean Kiana, it's me Himeko."  Himeko said with a confused expression.

"EHHH!!!" Kiana, Mei, Ayame, even Bronya looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Is there something on my face?" she touched her face.

Ayame hurriedly took out a small mirror and pointed it at Himeko's face.

Seeing the reflection of the mirror, Himeko seemed to widen her eyes and touched her face several times.

"This is... Me? Why is my face getting young?!"

They all stared at the direction where Kouro ran off to before realizing something, they looked at each other and nodded, "CATCH HIM!"

As if hearing their shouts, Kouro suddenly ran faster like being chased by a ghost.

No one realized that Kallen was looking at this scene with a pensive expression, she seemed to remember something.

__

Midnight, in the living room.

The lights turned off with only the sound of the news on the TV, Himeko sat on the sofa with a dreamy expression, no beer can in her hand as usual.

The deep-rooted pain in her body had disappeared since that day, but after not feeling that pain again she just felt empty.

That pain before had always been a reminder of the reason why she fought to become a Valkyrie, and for a reminder of that day...

The day her comrades died fighting against Herrscher.

She recalled the words of one of her surviving comrades, 'A gray-white-haired man with bright purple eyes saved me.'.

Thinking of this, he somehow remembered the man in the red suit.

"...Was it him?"

She still remembered the murderous aura that man exuded.

But if it was true that he was the one who saved her companion, then she would really be grateful even though that man was very dangerous.

Himeko then thought of Kouro, this person also had purple eyes, although it looked like a coincidence, she felt that the man had a certain connection with Kouro.

"...Himeko-san? " someone's voice sounded from behind her.

Hearing someone calling her, she spontaneously turned her head, "Mhn? Kouro, you haven't slept yet?"

Kouro was seen scratching his head with an embarrassed expression before sitting next to Himeko.

"I couldn't sleep. "

After saying that, Kouro was silent and stared at the TV with Himeko who was also silent.

A few minutes later Kouro who did not take his eyes off the TV then asked, "...Himeko-san, I've joined the Schicksal organization, do you have any advice as a veteran Valkyrie? "

"Don't be arrogant, always be calm, talk less and listen to your seniors more. " Himeko quickly replied.

Kouro's mouth twitched before commenting, "...Shouldn't you have said that to Kiana?"

Himeko smiled slightly at his words, "Indeed."

Glancing at Kouro who occasionally opened his mouth before quickly closing it again, Himeko quickly asked, "You didn't just come here to ask that, did you, Kouro?"

Hearing her question, Kouro visibly sighed before standing back from the TV and looking at Himeko with a serious expression.

"Himeko-san, I actually couldn't sleep because I felt sad parting with you."

'What?! What is this? Why would he suddenly say something embarrassing like that?!' her face looked flushed.

Kouro then seemed to kneel down like someone who wanted to propose and searched for something from his pants pocket with a nervous expression mixed with seriousness.

Seeing him like that, Himeko's eyes rolled, her face reddened and even emitted smoke, 'Wait isn't this too soon? No other steps first like dating? Why did he propose to me right away? b-but marrying him isn't bad either, no, no, wait! '

Kouro then took out something from his pants pocket and showed it to her, "Himeko, I hope you can accept this. "

"No! Wait! My heart isn't ready yet!" Himeko stood up with a flushed face and clutched her chest.

"Huh?"

"What?"

The two of them looked at each other in confusion.

"So... You don't want to accept this... " Kouro said with a sad expression.

"N-no, let me take it. " Himeko quickly took the thing.

As an adult, she had a thicker face so she could get through this situation without looking embarrassed.

But even so she felt annoyed, her hands were clenched into veined fists which Kouro did not notice because of the darkness.

Fortunately it was only for a moment before returning to normal, Himeko sighed, she understood she was also wrong for thinking so lewd.

By the way, the object shown by Kouro was not the thing Himeko was expecting but a potion containing a sparkling blood-red liquid.

"What is this?" Himeko looked at the potion curiously.

"Trust me this potion is good for your body" he did not explain anything just told her to drink the unknown potion.

No matter what, being told to drink something strange is suspicious right? So Himeko opened the lid of the potion and tried to smell the aroma.

Her current action could also be said to be risky as there was a possibility that the scent of the potion had a certain effect.

She did not smell anything, this liquid was definitely odorless.

"It's not an aphrodisiac, right?" said Himeko suspiciously.

From the news she saw on TV, usually the perpetrators give aphrodisiacs that have been mixed into drinks or food, or worse directly force the victim to drink the aphrodisiac before being raped.

Of course, the victim is male, but now does Kouro want to do the opposite?

"After being together for more than half a year, do you really not trust me that much?" Kouro wore a sad expression.

Well... Indeed, other than being dense as a rock and loving to joke around, Kouro was not that bad to do such a bad thing.

She recalled her companion's words, 'once you've felt that, you can't go back...'

Actually even though this potion was an aphrodisiac, she didn't mind, after all Kouro was the one who saved her life because of Honkai's corrosion, giving 'it' to him didn't seem bad...

'No! What are you thinking Himeko!'

Himeko quickly shook her head, she really wanted to bury her head into a hole for thinking such a lewd thing.

She disappeared all her lewd thoughts and smiled sadly, after all how could Kouro like an old woman like her.

Feeling sad and upset at the same time, she downed the potion in one gulp.

"It doesn't taste bad, like strawberries..."

Right after saying that, Himeko held her head, she felt heavy, her vision blurred, she dropped the potion.

"This potion... Does it contain sleeping pills?... " After saying that Himeko closed her eyes with a bit of disappointment and relief?

The effect of the potion was actually real which was to nourish the body, after all it was a Health potion and the quality was no joke which was the highest quality [Transcendent] moreover it had been modified by Kouro using the authority [Death and Life] at the expense of his HP and SP.

__

[Item: Health potion]

[Rarity: Transcendent]

[Type: Item]

- Restores 90% of the user's HP.

- Gives a slight permanent effect for increased healing factor.

- Slightly extends the user's lifespan.

__

After seeing Himeko completely asleep, Kouro finally let out a sigh of relief, his plan had worked.

All of Kouro's embarrassing behavior earlier was to lower Himeko's alertness and make her drink the potion.

Of course, the plan wasn't just to make her drink it, otherwise, Kouro wouldn't have bothered to do such an embarrassing thing.

His main purpose for making Himeko faint was to upgrade her stigmata and improve her lifespan.

This was his last chance to heal Himeko completely.

After all, once he managed to cure her, he could directly escape to Schicksal.

...

"I hope Himeko doesn't hate me after this... "

 After muttering like that, Kouro approached her and looked at Himeko who was fast asleep.

Himeko was currently asleep on her back on the sofa wearing only thin black pajamas, seeing that beautiful scene, he only glanced over before carefully removing her clothes.

After removing the soft, fragrant trophy, he then gently turned Himeko's body to the prone position.

Of course, Kouro did it all without the slightest dirty thought crossing in his mind.

Seeing the stigmata mark on her back, Kouro unceremoniously touched it and an interface appeared before his eyes.

__

[Stigmata: A-3410]

[Rarity: ★★★☆]

[Type: Stigmata]

Gives a physical enhancement of about 150%

Increases Honkai's energy control by 150%

-'side effect' absorbs vitality excessively.

-'side effect' reduces the user's lifespan significantly.

(Can be upgraded)

__

Kouro looked at the interface for a moment before frowning, he already knew that Himeko's stigmata had certain flaws but he did not expect it to be this severe.

Kouro quickly pressed the plus sign below the interface.

[500,000 coins are needed to upgrade this stigmata. Are you sure you want to upgrade this stigmata?"]

Kouro glanced at his coins.

[Coins: 3,453,876]

This was his total coins after he used them to upgrade Kallen and buy the potion.

'Start upgrade!'

The stigmata on Himeko's back suddenly glowed, but unlike Ayame, it enveloped Himeko's body completely.

At the same time Kouro used his authority [Death and Life] and then give Himeko his own vitality to replace the vitality she had lost.

[HP: 24,600/26,600]

[SP: 6,943/8,320]

[HP: 14,240/26,600]

[SP: 4,943/8,320]

His HP and SP were rapidly decreasing, Kouro's body looked pale but he bit his lip hard until it bled, he had to focus, the slightest mistake would be fatal to Himeko.

'I swear I will definitely change her destiny!'

Thinking of Himeko's sacrifice in the future, Kouro's eyes became more determined to change fate, he remembered that man who was the same as him but was helpless before fate.

[HP: 2,079/26,600]

[SP: 2,943/8,320]

Seeing that his HP and SP were near critical and still decreasing Kouro quickly used 'Status recovery'.

[HP: 26,600/26,600]

[SP: 8,320/8,320]

HP and SP continued to decline due to using the [Death and Life] authority, it seemed Himeko's vitality was really wasted a lot to shorten her life.

Kouro who was currently focused on healing Himeko, did not realize that there was someone who was looking at him furtively.

After a few minutes later, his HP and SP finally started to decline slowly before stopping.

[HP: 8,678/26,600]

[SP: 1,456/8,320]

Under his feet were several empty potion bottles to replenish his HP and SP.

He then drank another health and SP potion with a numb expression.

After that, he then let out a sigh of relief, he put all the empty potion bottles away before looking at Himeko.

Himeko was currently undergoing a change that would be called in xianxia novels 'Challenging the sky'.

Himeko's face had turned ten years younger, her skin was jade-white and looked soft like a baby's skin.

Kouro rubbed his eyes several times with an expression of disbelief.

'Damn it! The [Death and Life] Authority is really amazing! The regeneration effect of this power is enough to make one younger. Hmm... With this power can I heal Bronya?'

Well... Let's think about it later, he was already feeling very tired.

Kouro put Himeko's pajamas back on and carried her to her room before going to his own room under Kallen's gaze.

Kallen did not say a word from the start she just watched him before furtively returning to her room.