Lee woke up to darkness and the sound of soft breathing next to her. For a moment, she didn't know where she was — then she became aware of an arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
Kiana was a mess. She had somehow ended up sideways on the bed, hugging Lee like a body pillow and drooling all over her own pillowcase.
Lee grimaced. Great.
Carefully, she pried herself free, untangling Kiana's arm with the slow, deliberate precision of someone defusing a bomb. Somehow, impossibly, Kiana didn't even twitch.
She sleeps like a brick. Lee thought to herself, reaching for her phone on the nightstand.
6:30 AM.
Lee blinked. I never wake up this early… why do I feel so good?
No grogginess, no aches, not even the faint tiredness she'd grown used to living with. In fact, she felt better than she could ever remember feeling, clear-headed, full of energy, like she could run a marathon right now if she wanted.
"Abundance, huh?" she whispered to herself. It made sense. Pathstriders were always depicted as being healthier, prettier, practically glowing with life-force. If Wuxia had taught her anything, it was that the more 'internal energy' you had, the better you looked.
She smirked faintly at her reflection in the black screen of her phone.
I could probably claim to be a jade-like beauty at this point. Shame I don't have a childhood friend about to embark on a forbidden cultivation path after discovering an ancient artifact…
She slid quietly out of bed, stepping carefully so as not to wake Kiana — who was still dead to the world.
A soft ding appeared in the corner of her vision.
[System: Achievement Unlocked! "Disappointing First Night" — Sleep together with a romantic partner for the first time without having sex. +200SP]
Lee stared flatly at the pop-up.
…She's not a romantic partner. At all. That doesn't even count!
[System: (≧▽≦) Kiana is a romantic target! You've already been using the Romance-o-Meter on her! ]
That was you, not me.
[System: Details, details~]
Lee dragged a hand down her face.
I'm going to pretend you don't exist for the next hour.
She considered taking another shower but dismissed the idea, too much noise, she didn't want to risk waking Kiana and suffering from complaints about how early in the morning it was. She also considered raiding Kiana's dresser for another set of clothes, then decided against that too. She was about to go out and buy clothes anyway, no need to resort to pilfering, and what she had on was fine anyways.
Lee wandered into the kitchen, tugging lightly at the hem of her shirt as she looked around.
It didn't take long for her to notice something strange.
Every single cabinet was empty. Not just neat, completely empty. Bare shelves, save for a single value pack of plastic cups, a matching bundle of cheap cutlery, and the gun case from yesterday.
Lee blinked. I'm not sure what I expected, but definitely more than this.
The pantry wasn't much better.
She opened it to find a shrine of instant foods. Instant rice, instant oatmeal, instant curry packs, instant mashed potatoes, and various other instant foods. And then there was the noodle shelf — ten different brands, ten different flavors, all neatly stacked like someone had been collecting them, which she probably had been.
Lee stared at it for a long moment.
She really lives like this, huh?
She reached for a cup of noodles at random and turned it over in her hand. It was some off-brand shrimp flavor with a mascot so cheerful it was unsettling.
I can't decide if this is endearing or depressing.
Deciding to eat some real food, Lee set out early.
The door clicked shut behind her, and her stomach sank.
Oh no.
She froze for a second. She had been locked out. No keycard. No contact information for Kiana. No way to get in.
Great start.
"System?" she muttered under her breath.
[System: (˶˃⤙˂˶) I thought you said you weren't going to contact me for the next hour…]
Thanks for that reminder, she thought. Open the Shop please.
[System: Opening Shop panel! ✧]
Lee scrolled to the School Supplies tab. She bought a pen, a gimmick one that always returned to your pocket, and the cheapest notebook she could find, a diary with a large pink heart on the front.
She flipped open the notebook, scribbling a note: "Left before realizing I was locked out. Going to run some errands. Should be back around 4–5, hopefully after you return from school."
After sliding the note under the door, she paused.
Wait…
She pulled another page out and wrote: "Please write your phone number on this paper and leave it outside in case I get back before you arrive."
She realized she had nowhere to store the notebook.
Of course… The Shop might have a backpack.
She opened the School Supplies section again, scanning for backpacks, then remembered the system inventory.
System, how does the inventory work?
[System: •ᴗ• Correction! You mean the Romance Inventory.]
Whatever. How does it work?
A translucent panel appeared. A square box labeled "Upload" sat in the center, with an array of smaller squares to the side.
Lee shoved the pen and notebook into the panel. They slid neatly into place, the pen wobbling a little in one of the smaller squares.
Okay… that's solved.
She took a deep breath, adjusted the straps of her bag, and stepped away from the apartment building.
Lee wandered a little, letting her thoughts drift, before realizing she didn't even have a map. Yeah… deciding to get started this early might have been premature, she thought wryly.
She walked along the quiet streets until spotting a café with a small Wi-Fi sticker on the window. It was closed. Of course, almost all stores were probably still shut. It was only 6:30 AM.
She pulled out her phone, squinting at the screen as the time edged closer to 7. Sitting down on the sidewalk in front of the storefront, she tapped into the public Wi-Fi, opened Maps, and started searching.
HT&T store opened at 10 AM. Great, that's a three-hour wait.
Next, she searched for something to eat. The only place open was a Mc-Homu, which opened at 6. She frowned slightly but shrugged. Breakfast is breakfast.
"System," she said quietly, "can I pin a location on the Romance Map?"
[System: (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) Yes! But Mc-Homu? That's hardly a romantic spot.]
Lee rolled her eyes. Kiana might not agree with you. She'd probably think Mc-Homu is a perfect place for a date, cheap, fast, and practical. Not exactly the EQ of a genius, but still…
She pinned it anyway, clicking on the grey outline of the building and naming the pin "McDonald's knockoff." She paused for a moment, then added another pin for HT&T. Clicking on it, she noticed the Romance Map actually offered turn-by-turn directions, car, public transit, walking, and biking. Walking would get her there in under eight minutes.
She set off, following the directions. Soon enough, the storefront came into view. It matched the map image almost perfectly: an exact copy of a McDonald's, except the iconic golden arches were replaced with a large yellow Homu.
Stepping inside, Lee realized she hadn't eaten at a McDonald's, ehm, Mc-Homu since she was a little kid. There were almost always better options, and she hadn't really cared for breakfast in general, but she hadn't eaten much yesterday.
Still, she ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel. It was… just okay. She shrugged and connected her phone to the free Mc-Homu Wi-Fi, figuring she might as well use the time to plan out the rest of her errands.
She ended up pinning an outdoor goods store for a backpack and travel/survival supplies, a sports supply store where she could hopefully find a weapon, and a clothing store. All of them opened at 10 AM, leaving her with nothing to do but stand around and wait.
Lee decided to look into fighting gyms. After checking rental prices, she realized it wasn't necessary. All she needed was an empty space free of people and cameras. An empty alleyway would work just fine.
It was now 7:42 AM, and she still had nearly two hours to kill. Sitting in the back of the almost completely empty Mc-Homu, she leaned on her table and prepared for another serious thinking session.
What do I actually know about the third eruption? Not much. Ryoma's arrest was the initial spark, and during that time, Cocolia had been releasing Honkai energy. After Ryoma went down, almost all of Mei's classmates turned on her. She wasn't exactly likable in her ice queen persona, and the bullying and shunning she faced from former friends, some probably paid by Cocolia to make her life miserable, only made things worse.
It's kind of depressing. The first Herrscher was traumatized by the first eruption, experiencing the death of the entire city of Berlin, before each person who died became a part of himself. The second, Sirin, went through human experiments and the deaths of all her friends in succession at the hands of the scientists of Babylon Labs before succumbing. And then there's Mei. Her Herrscherization seems… kind of trivial in comparison. Imagine all the Herrschers in a room: "I witnessed a city die." "I lost all my friends to cruel experiments." "I was bullied." Funny, in a grim sort of way, if it hadn't resulted in an actual city getting wiped out.
Would the eruption happen today? Probably not, Mei could probably hold out for at least a few days before throwing a fit. The Escape from Nagazora City comic started after the initial eruption had already occurred. Presumably Mei was in her Herrscher form when the eruption had occurred, probably killing everyone, before reverting back to her crybaby form, trying to commit suicide, being saved by Kiana, and then becoming Herrscherised again when Kiana almost died.
There was also Bronya, it was never explained how exactly Bronya went from Cocolia's side to traveling through the ruins of Nagazora with Kiana and Mei. At least, not that I remember. However I am pretty sure they only met in person after the eruption had already started.
So, the ambient Honkai energy was probably gradually increasing, and Mei was presumably being bullied right now, so what do I do?
The ambient Honkai energy is probably building slowly, and Mei is presumably still getting bullied. So what do I do? Nothing. I can't really do anything except stick to my plan and stay out of the way, at least until after the eruption starts, so things play out like they did before.
I'm hoping it'll work out. According to Aponya, fate is real in this universe, and even if I nudge events a little, something as important as Kiana saving Mei during the third eruption is bound to happen.
Bronya's going to change sides no matter what. She's only with Cocolia because Cocolia is trying to save Seele, not because of any duty or familial love. After millions of deaths and Cocolia's failure, Bronya has every reason to leave. Maybe she doesn't officially turn until Hyperion and Schicksal reinforcements show up, giving her the perfect opportunity. Still, as long as the events unfold the same way, it doesn't really matter.
The loud slurp of my straw as I drained the last remnants of my large soda echoed in the quiet café. I stood, tossed the cup into the trash, and checked my phone. Only 7:52. I sighed, sank back into my seat, and downloaded the top-rated gacha game onto my phone. This was going to be a long wait.