"You're back."
Tesla stood at the entrance of Raiden Mei's living room. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned to see Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei, who had finally returned from the Mementos. She greeted them with a strange expression.
"Did something happen, Dr. Tesla? Did the blood choker fail, and Rita and Fu Hua escaped?"
Ren frowned slightly and asked the small, red-haired, twin-tailed doctor.
Dr. Tesla wasn't resting in the living room, but was instead standing at the doorway as if she were being punished, with no intention of going inside. Plus, the strange, undisguised expression on her face... Clearly, while Ren and Mei were exploring and fighting in the Mementos, something unexpected had happened in the Raiden residence.
"It's not that serious, but it does have something to do with Rita—you should go in and see for yourself."
Tesla's cheeks tightened. She nonchalantly raised her crimson exoskeleton arm to cover her mouth, trying to put on a natural and profound expression. Then, she took two steps to the side, completely clearing the entrance to the living room for the newly returned Ren and Mei.
"..."
Dr. Tesla's strange behavior left Ren and Mei a little confused, but the answer was clearly in the living room ahead.
Ren sensed for a moment. Hare and Seele were in their respective rooms. The Schariac blood chokers on Rita and Fu Hua showed no signs of being broken or failed. In fact, the reaction from the blood chokers was coming from a dozen meters away, which meant that Rita and Fu Hua were also in the living room.
In that case, at least nothing dangerous had happened in the Raiden residence.
With a slight sense of doubt, Ren crossed the threshold of the living room and looked around. He saw Fu Hua sitting upright like a sculpture, Dr. Einstein sitting at the table and looking at him expressionlessly, and... Rita, smiling radiantly and instructing a beautiful, unfamiliar, white-haired girl?
The girl's long, white hair was tied into a neat ponytail, falling to her waist like a soft cascade of pure moonlight. Her face was exquisite, and her delicate, well-proportioned body was clad in a light grayish-blue dress. At a glance, it was as if he had seen the noble and elegant princess of the moon descend to the mortal world, giving him a sense of pure, stunning beauty.
After noticing Ren's entrance, the white-haired girl, who was like a moon princess, shifted her gaze from Rita to Ren, who was standing at the entrance of the living room.
The moment her eyes locked onto Ren, a look of pleasant surprise appeared in her clear, sapphire-like eyes. However, she then looked away in a slight panic, not daring to make too much eye contact with him.
"—Kiana?! Why are you here?!"
Just as a sense of familiarity was rising in Ren's heart, a suppressed cry of surprise came from beside him.
Looking at her friend Kiana, who had appeared uninvited in her living room, wearing a dress from her closet, with her hair tied in the same ponytail as hers with a hair tie from her drawer, and with the faint scent of the same brand of fragrant body wash as hers floating in the air, Mei felt her vision go black.
"Mei... Um, I... I came to see you..."
Kiana's eyes darted around guiltily. She greeted Mei in a weak voice. However, before she could finish, Rita, who was standing elegantly beside her, coughed lightly. Kiana's body suddenly straightened, and her previously casual and scattered tone instantly became elegant and dignified.
"Mei, I came to thank you in person, especially Mr. Ren Amamiya. Thank you for saving me the other day. If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid I would have ended up in some unimaginably terrible situation. Thank you so much."
Reciting the elegant lines she had just learned, Kiana's face bloomed with a bright, heartfelt smile. She awkwardly lifted the hem of her light grayish-blue dress and gave Ren and the stunned Mei a proper curtsy.
"So you're Kiana... This should be our first official meeting."
After hearing Mei's name for the white-haired girl, Ren realized her identity. Looking at her more closely, her signature white hair and blue eyes, and her exquisite face, did indeed bear some resemblance to Kallen, another female member of the Kaslana family. No wonder Ren had felt a slight sense of familiarity.
In the past, although Ren had known of Kiana Kaslana's existence, his knowledge of her was limited to labels like "Raiden Mei's friend" and "Siegfried's daughter." He had only barely met her a few days ago.
But because Kiana had been about to vomit a rainbow unique to beautiful girls the moment she was rescued from her mecha prison, and because Hare couldn't stay in the real world for long at the time, Ren had immediately transferred from the real world to the Mementos after achieving his goal, and hadn't been able to have any conversation with her, or even get a clear look at her face.
Now, talking to her face-to-face, Ren found that the real Kiana seemed to be a little different from what Mei had previously described to him.
It wasn't that he suspected Mei of deceiving him in this matter. He could see that there was something strange in Kiana's eyes when she looked at Mei, just like how Bronya sometimes looked at Seele. It was clear that Kiana was a genuine lesbian.
But what Ren found strange was that when Kiana looked at him, she would occasionally become like Seele when she looked at him, full of a reserved kindness... When he and Mei had been on a movie date, Kiana's tone on the phone to Mei had been like that of a cuckolded lover, which didn't seem like an act at all. But now, when she was facing him, her "love rival," her attitude was excessively gentle.
Even if he was indeed her savior, her attitude towards a former, one-sided love rival whom she had hated shouldn't be so gentle and open. But that wasn't the strangest thing.
Most importantly... although the plan to kidnap Kiana had been devised by Otto, Rita Rossweisse was undoubtedly the one who had carried it out. She had orchestrated the kidnapping, and if Ren hadn't arrived in time, she would have almost succeeded in transporting the kidnapped Kiana back to Schicksal headquarters.
Faced with the kidnapper who had kidnapped her a few days ago, Kiana's attitude towards Rita was undoubtedly too calm. Before Ren and Mei had entered the living room, Kiana had seemed to be listening silently to Rita's earnest teachings, like an obedient student.
This was a little too strange...
"Rita, what did you do to Kiana?"
Having been personally kidnapped by Rita, it was impossible for Kiana not to have any complaints. From her outward behavior, it was clear that she was a little afraid of Rita, but her IQ shouldn't be at the level of a paramecium. In that case, it must be that Rita had used some unknown inducement on Kiana without his knowledge.
"Rita was merely fulfilling her duty as Master Ren's maid, providing a thoughtful change of clothes for the travel-weary Master Ren... Please don't mind, Miss Mei. Rita is confined to this residence and cannot move around, so I had to temporarily borrow your clothes, which are of a similar age and figure, for Miss Kiana to change into. Since Miss Mei was not at home, I have already asked Master Raiden Ryoma for permission."
Faced with Ren's questioning, Rita maintained a proper, elegant smile. She placed her hands on her lower abdomen and bowed slightly, giving Ren and the still-stunned Mei a reasonable explanation.
"It's true."
Dr. Einstein finally finished her bread. She casually wiped her mouth, then propped her elbows on the table with her hands clasped together, and nodded at Ren with a blank expression, verifying the accuracy of Rita's statement.
After hearing Dr. Einstein's confirmation, Mei's purple, gem-like eyes became a little vacant. She felt a little light-headed.
Although Mei was the young lady of the Raiden family and the future heir to the Raiden residence, the current head of the Raiden family was undoubtedly Raiden Ryoma.
Most of the dresses in Mei's closet had been bought for her by Raiden Ryoma. And because of her personality, Mei rarely participated in the various gatherings of Nagazora City's high society, so she had barely worn any of those dresses.
With Kiana's careless and untidy personality, it was really possible that she would accidentally ruin Mei's clothes. Faced with Kiana, the daughter of his friend Siegfried and also a good friend of his own daughter, it was very reasonable for Raiden Ryoma to temporarily lend Kiana a dress that he had never even worn once for an emergency.
But even though it was reasonable, Mei herself still found it a little difficult to accept this shocking reality.
"Pfft—"
Tesla, who was standing at the doorway and covering her mouth, could no longer suppress her laughter. A muffled laugh came from under her crimson power arm. It was clear that she had anticipated this scene and had been looking forward to it for a long time.
Both Tesla and Einstein had met Kiana before and knew her impatient and bold personality.
Now, watching Kiana put on a show in front of Ren, whom she had a crush on, and act like a refined young lady, with her good friend Raiden Mei, whom she used to be very clingy with, standing beside her... how could Tesla hold back her laughter at such a chaotic scene? Even the corners of the usually expressionless Einstein's lips had curved into a faint smile.
"I talked with Rita for a while. Although I haven't completely forgiven her for what she did, I also learned that she was just following orders, and the real person who wanted to kidnap me was that bad guy named Otto Apocalypse. Instead of hating the already captured Rita, finding a way to deal with that Overseer is what we should really be doing."
Kiana spoke slowly and seriously to Ren. It was clear that these were the words that Rita had taught her, but on second thought, Kiana felt that there was some merit to this statement.
"Kiana, you..."
A somewhat distorted expression appeared on Mei's delicate face. Watching her good friend, whom she knew inside and out, pretend to be a refined and dignified young lady in front of her, no longer chasing after her like she used to, but instead turning her attention to Ren, whom she had previously treated as a love rival, with a burning gaze, Mei herself couldn't quite describe what she was feeling right now.
Mei really wanted to expose Kiana's disguise as a dignified young lady, but her excellent moral upbringing stopped her from doing so.
Therefore, Mei couldn't do anything at the moment, and could only stand aside and silently watch Kiana with her eyes.
"You want to defeat that Otto too? That's a good wish, but... you're not a Persona user yet, are you?"
Ren looked at the dignified and beautiful, white-haired girl, Kiana, again. According to Mei, Kiana had not awakened the power of a Persona. Even if she had a common enemy in Otto Apocalypse, it would be difficult for her to add much to the Phantom Thieves' strength at the moment.
"I-I can work hard! If I work hard, I can definitely become a strong Persona user like you and Mei!!"
Kiana clenched her fists, her tone filled with a strong passion, and her eyes serious as she responded to Ren.
She had already learned everything about the power of Personas from her father, Siegfried.
Having witnessed the fighting styles of Persona users like Raiden Mei and Rita, and with the cool figure of Ren when he had saved her, how could Kiana not feel a sense of longing for the identity of a Persona user?
However, even Siegfried didn't know how to become a Persona user. He only knew that the method to awaken the power of a Persona was definitely in the hands of the Phantom Thieves, like Ren and Mei.
If Kiana wanted to become a Persona user, she could only learn the way to awaken her power from Ren.
And Kiana herself had no negative or resistant feelings about this.
To be able to become a Persona user, and to be able to naturally get closer to Ren, deepen their relationship, and even possibly join his team and spend every day with him and Mei—how could there be such a wonderful thing in the world where you could have your cake and eat it too?!
"Becoming a Persona user is not something you can achieve just by working hard, but..."
In the real world, it was naturally difficult to awaken one's own Persona power through conventional means. Only by going to an otherworld like the Mementos would it be possible to awaken one's own mental power without hindrance.
Kiana had expressed her desire to become a Persona user, and she had a common enemy in Otto Apocalypse. Her attitude towards Ren, her savior, was no longer filled with the resentment of a cuckolded lover. Therefore, Ren was willing to give her a chance to join.
Halfway through his sentence, Ren turned to look at Mei. Kiana had a history of obsessively pursuing Mei. If he wanted to let Kiana join the Phantom Thieves, he had to ask Mei, her good friend, first.
"..."
Mei's eyes were vacant as she stared at Kiana's figure, as if she had lost all reaction to the outside world.
"...But, let's have you try first, anyway."
Seeing that Mei did not object, Ren fell silent for a moment, then nodded at the excited Kiana, deciding to give her a chance to become a Persona user.
Of course, just being able to become a Persona user was far from enough. If Kiana's obsessive feelings for Mei, directly or indirectly, affected the stability of the Phantom Thieves, then Ren would not hesitate to kick her out of his team.
If a new member could not strengthen the team's overall strength, but instead lowered the team's morale, then there was no need for them to exist.
"Yay!!... Ahem, I mean, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I will do my best not to disappoint you!!"
After getting Ren's approval, Kiana seemed to see a wonderful future where she and Mei were embraced by Ren on both sides. A blush of excitement appeared on her pale, delicate face. She clenched her fists in excitement, so overjoyed that she was about to jump up.
It wasn't until she heard Rita's casual cough beside her that Kiana's body stiffened. She forced herself to calm down and, with a curtsy, gave Ren a seemingly proper reply.