That Pufferfish... is she really this restless?
The boy, who had just beaten the Pufferfish into submission this morning, narrowed his eyes as he saw the golden glow in Kiana's.
Fully-charged crimson feathers rose from his feet, and golden chains extended from the void, winding like serpents.
The Key of Binding, Oath of Judah.
The Key of Consciousness, Fenghuang Down.
These two Divine Keys, both slated to be dismantled, could restrict Honkai energy and deliver a mental shock to a target, respectively. They were extremely effective against the Pufferfish.
And then—
"Hey, hey, hey, Ah Li, what do you think you're doing?!"
The girl, only one of whose eyes had turned golden, saw the Divine Keys instantly materialize, and her expression immediately darkened.
Uh oh.
Seems it's not the Pufferfish.
The boy recalled that the Pufferfish's names for him had always been "Servant" and "Traitor." He had no idea what his future self had gotten up to with the Pufferfish while retrieving Cecilia's soul, but she seemed exceptionally fixated on the title "Servant." When she had amnesia, she wanted him as her servant; after regaining her memory, she just called him servant directly.
"Did you... hack Sirin's account?"
Feeling that the girl before him was unexpectedly acting more like the Void Drifter, the boy pondered for a moment before asking.
"This power... I think my other self must have shared it with me."
The girl, who had inexplicably obtained a portion of the Herrscher of the Void's authority, raised a hand and scratched her cheek.
This morning, after Li Zihan had knocked Sirin unconscious with a single blow from Fenghuang Down, Kiana had heard her other self's voice just before she herself woke up.
"I command you, my other half, to keep a close watch on my serv—"
Before she could finish the sentence, she had completely passed out.
To be honest, K423 felt that her other self's performance was rather pathetic, so lame that it could rival the Herrscher of Erosion that Li Zihan had told her about before.
However, based on the context, Miss K423 was certain that she had been about to say "keep a close watch on my servant." After that, Kiana had discovered a power within her body that she never had before. She had tried to activate it a little later on and confirmed that it was a power related to space. Thinking a bit further, it wasn't hard to guess that this was the power her other self had left for her to keep an eye on Ah Li.
My other self is a little too obsessed with Ah Li, the girl thought.
And then—her gaze towards Li Zihan turned hostile.
This guy really was a playboy. Even when he went to Siberia during the Second Honkai War to collect his "mother's" soul, he hadn't forgotten to flirt with her other self.
"I was wondering how she could have woken up so quickly."
The boy, who had just beaten the Pufferfish down, shrugged and dismissed Fenghuang Down and the Oath of Judah. "But... speaking of which, why would your other self suddenly share her power with you? This development feels a bit off."
"Who knows?"
The girl, now certain that the future Li Zihan hadn't reined in his behavior much either, walked up to the boy and smiled. It was a very friendly smile.
And then—she shot out her hand without warning and gave the soft flesh of his waist a vicious twist.
This bastard went and messed with another girl in the future!!
"Hiss—"
Although he didn't actually find having the soft flesh of his waist twisted to be painful, Li Zihan cooperatively made a pained expression and sucked in a sharp breath.
"I-Is it that painful?"
Seeming to be startled by his reaction, Miss Kiana instantly let go of his waist, her voice a little frantic.
Is it because they're blood relatives? The boy, who had been pinched on the waist by a jealous Ana before for being too close to Rita, looked at the flustered girl and thought, This girl's reaction is almost identical to Ana's. They're both so adorably goofy.
"Of course it hurts."
The boy, who in reality felt no pain at all, pouted, his expression aggrieved. If he were to act pitiful in front of Ana, he could probably get an apology and some comforting out of it.
Unfortunately, Miss Kiana, with her current mode's IQ, wasn't as ditzy as Ana.
She narrowed her eyes, recalling the battle scene triggered by Mei when she had first met this guy. Back then, Li Zihan had, without a moment's hesitation, slit his own veins with a dagger at the start of the fight, letting his blood flow freely just to test a Stigmata.
A guy who could cut his own veins without hesitation... would he cry out in pain from something like this?
After figuring this out, Miss Kiana couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Ah Li, you're such a terrible actor."
Kiana, whose knowledge had mysteriously recovered for some unknown reason, was clearly not as easy to fool as Ana. She scoffed, expressing her disdain for his performance. The contrast between his past and present actions was too great; it was laughably fake.
You'd have to be a complete idiot to believe he's actually in pain!
"Is it that fake?" the boy, who had always had an extremely high tolerance for pain, asked with a shrug.
He had spent his entire childhood in Albion. In a godforsaken place like that, anything could happen. Getting into dirty fights with other magi over research materials, being chased by a passing Phantasmal Species, being thrown into a Divine Beast's den by Zelretch... If you were afraid of pain after living in that kind of hellish environment, you'd have to be a ghost.
"Very fake," the girl named Kiana said with great seriousness, which made Li Zihan feel a little hurt. "Anyone who could be fooled by that acting must be incredibly dense."
Somewhere else, Miss Ana, who was sharing her experiences at Chaldeas with the members of the Snow Lotus Squad, suddenly sneezed.
The boy who had once used this exact trick to fool Miss Ana found his gaze starting to drift away awkwardly.
"Alright, enough of this."
Noticing that it was getting late and that if they kept dawdling, their already insufficient date time would get even shorter, Kiana grabbed Li Zihan's hand. She started pulling her lover towards the arcade, complaining as she ran.
"Because you were late, a lot of my original date plans have been ruined."
"Now it looks like we can only squeeze in as many as we can."
"My apologies for that." The boy, who had actually been busy doing things with Rita in his Reality Marble, looked up at the darkening sky, his gaze growing even more distant. He and Rita had gotten a little too carried away.
"It's already very late now. If we really have a lot of things we want to do, it'll be hard for us to get back to the dorms before curfew."
"Shouldn't we consider postponing the date?"
"Not an option."
The girl, who had been stood up on her very first date, shot Li Zihan a glare. Then—she opened her mouth and stated the reason why the date could not be postponed.
"Mei is coming back tomorrow. When that happens... we can't be 'boyfriend and girlfriend' anymore." As Miss Mei's best friend, Miss Kiana didn't want her to know about her relationship with Li Zihan.
"Then... after we finish the date, where are we staying?" the boy, sensing that this date would last well into the night, asked.
At that, Miss K423, who had been jogging along, came to a sudden halt. She turned and glared at Li Zihan, a vibrant blush covering her charming face.
"There are some things you shouldn't make a girl say out loud!"
Author's note:
ps: Miss Mei is still on the way.