At night, Ryn stayed by Kiana's bedside, watching over her.
He had never seen Kiana so furious before, and it had certainly left a deep impression on him.
It would probably feel amazing to be stepped on by Kiana in that state. Pfft, what was he thinking? Ryn slapped himself. How could he have such thoughts about Kiana!
Kiana looked so cute in her pajamas~ It was just a shame about that White Knight: Moonlight battlesuit. That was just something Otto provided in the data space; it wasn't retained in the real world.
However, Ryn had specifically mentioned this to Otto not long ago. Otto said he would install it on the custom B-rank Valkyrie battlesuit he was making for Kiana, which could be activated when the conditions were met.
(White Knight: Moonlight is usually installed on White Comet and can be activated with sufficient energy. This is the origin of the meme that a 3S-rank White Comet becomes Moonlight.)
As for the process of rescuing Kallen, Ryn didn't go into detail with Otto. He just let Otto know that the virtual Kallen had been rescued. Some things were better left unsaid to Otto, otherwise Ryn feared he might wake up one day in Otto's laboratory.
"Ngh..." Kiana groaned softly, then slowly opened her eyes. Staring at the familiar ceiling, she lay quietly without moving.
"You're awake? Is your body okay?" As soon as he said it, Ryn wanted to slap himself twice. Looking at Kiana's current state, there was no way she could be okay.
Because her eyes were now one crystal blue and one golden yellow!
"Ryn?!"
Hearing Ryn's voice, Kiana turned over. Then she frantically started touching Ryn all over, making sure he was whole.
Kiana's body was trembling slightly, and her voice was tinged with tears. "You're okay. Where's the hole in your chest? That wasn't a dream, was it?"
"Don't be nervous, Kiana. Let me explain slowly..."
Ryn hugged Kiana, he could clearly feel her trembling.
"Do you remember the Third Honkai War? I went to the Sea of Quanta... There, I met Seele, became a Herrscher... and received the blessing of the Sea of Quanta.
The Sea granted me a kind of resurrection ability. I can ignore death once every so often... Reviving generates a massive amount of energy, and I can seize this energy to open a channel to the Sea of Quanta, providing Cortana with enough power to activate her Zeroth Power and save Kallen.
At that time, in the data space, the space could have collapsed at any moment. I didn't have time to explain further and had to resort to that plan. Because Cortana and I are of one mind, so...
I'm sorry, Kiana... for making you worry..."
Kiana didn't say anything, just hugged Ryn tightly. She was so afraid that Ryn would be gone forever, just like how Siegfried had suddenly disappeared from her world.
After a long while, Kiana sat up, then knelt on top of Ryn. She grabbed his head with both hands, looking down into his red eyes. Without giving him any chance to refuse, she kissed him fiercely.
She kissed him until he was nearly out of breath before letting go.
"Don't you ever die again... Not even if you can revive! It hurt so much... and I was so scared..."
"I won't... I won't make you sad again."
Ryn took a few breaths, then kissed her back. Their tongues intertwined, madly claiming everything from each other.
————————
Ryn and Kiana snuggled together, just like they used to in Nagazora City, holding each other in bed.
"Is your body okay? Your eyes have even changed color..." Ryn caressed Kiana's face, gazing into her eyes, one blue and one yellow.
"I'm fine... It used to be a little uncomfortable, but I'm used to it now... If it's still like this tomorrow morning, could you get some bandages for me, please?"
Kiana turned her head away, covering the golden eye with her hand. She didn't want Ryn to see her like this.
Although she had been like this since her earliest memories... her stupid old dad told her it was a side effect of a head injury and covered her eye with a bandage.
Kiana didn't know what kind of injury caused it, but she knew that when Siegfried saw her golden eye, his expression was incredibly fierce and grim...
So Kiana would carefully check the bandage on her head every day to make sure it was properly covering her eye. Even after her eye had turned blue, Kiana still wore the bandage.
After three years, it was only when Siegfried finally acknowledged her and told her she no longer needed to wear the bandage that he discovered both of Kiana's eyes had long since become ice-blue...
Since her stupid old dad hated her like this... Ryn would probably hate it too...
Kiana was a little worried about Ryn's reaction, but Ryn held her face in his hands, making her look directly at him.
"Is it an illness?"
"I don't know... maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Aren't you scared of me like this?" Kiana closed her eyes, waiting for Ryn's answer. She was a little scared; she wanted to know his answer, but was also afraid he would be disgusted by her appearance.
"Silly Kiana." Ryn leaned over and gently kissed her closed eyelid. "This is my answer. Kiana, I love you."
"Silly Ryn loves Kiana very, very much~ Kiana is Kiana. No matter what Kiana becomes, I will always love you very, very much.
Besides, Kiana is like a little kitty. A silly kitty Kiana, an energetic kitty Kiana, a fierce kitty Kiana... Thinking about it that way, isn't a kitty with different colored eyes even more charming?"
"Ngh..."
Kiana opened her eyes and looked at Ryn. She saw herself in his eyes. In that moment, his eyes were filled with nothing but her...
*Thump, thump—*
Kiana felt her heart beating faster and faster, the rush of blood turning her face red.
And what Kiana didn't know was that in her own eyes, there was also nothing but Ryn.
Ryn couldn't refuse a girl whose eyes were filled with him, let alone Kiana.
Looking at Kiana, her eyes full of him and her face flushed, Ryn's heart was also pounding. It was one of countless times his heart had been stirred, but this time, there was a different kind of desire.
They kissed again, and then began to caress each other as they kissed. Although they had kissed and caressed each other many times, this time, they both felt that it was different from before.
Gradually, Ryn and Kiana's hands had moved down below.
At that moment, they both stopped, looking deeply into each other's eyes.
"I love you... you idiot Ryn."
"I love you too, silly Kiana."
(Battle Night, N thousand words omitted. Don't ask, the author can't write it.)