"Just share the Shamash she said, you're supposed to share with your siblings, what can go wrong with being a caring brother for once?" He asked himself sarcastically.
He did his best to dodge the incoming bolts of electricity being shot at him by his best female friend.
He hadn't realized that Mei felt so strongly about his lack of obvious hatred towards the other students deep inside. But it wasn't as if he could really do anything about their feelings. If being Kiana's brother told him anything, it was that the more you tell someone they're wrong or what they should or shouldn't do, the more they drag their heels in. Changing others wasn't an easy or simple process. All he could do was disparage them from actively bullying Mei and getting others to empathize with her. He didn't want to bother her with what he was attempting to do when she also already made it clear she was trying to move on from them.
It wasn't as if he really liked them, but he was different from Kiana. She would have judged them on their thoughts and refused to give them a chance, the loner being who she was. As for him, he saw that they still had families they loved, friends they had fun with. For the ones who were adamant on what they felt on Mei, he made sure to properly threaten them to stay away from her and keep their opinions to themselves, for the rest...it was a work in progress to get them to see Mei as the cute, caring girl with great cooking skills.
Emphasis on was, most likely. A pit formed in his stomach at realizing that most of the school except for his sister had probably not survived the Honkai Energy Mei was releasing. And who knew how much further out people were being infected as well.
He needed to snap Mei out of it and reunite with his family, all the while fending off Honkai zombies and beasts.
Easy. Haha...
He slid across the rooftop and summoned a grey baseball bat with black highlights and smacked a bolt back at Mei. Despite the plain appearance, the bat was made of soulium, which is why he could pull it out of nowhere and have confidence in using it as a weapon.
"Kevin! What's going on!" A new voice came out while a series of loud bangs echoed out. Landing next to him, he didn't need to look to know it was his sister.
"Mei hit her limit to put it bluntly, and worst of all, she's become the next Herrscher." He said grimly, as Mei looked down with an uncharacteristic haughty look.
"I never thought we'd actually face a Herrscher...let alone one that was our friend."
He knew how she felt. Until now, Herrschers were just a threat in the distance that Kevin knew about. He figured he might face one, but not like this.
"Then Kevin...what should we do? Herrschers are like Honkai Beasts but worst right? But this is also Mei-senpai..."
He understood her hesitation. It became another story entirely when the one you're fighting was human, not even bringing up their face being that of someone you know and love.
"If there are any rules about how we're supposed to deal with Herrschers, then we'll have to break them! We still have more days ahead of us with Mei as far as I'm concerned!"
Kiana took a look at his face and nodded resolutely. "Okay then! Let's snap this brother stealing girl out of her rage!"
"Hmph. Finally done talking now are you? But for such insulting words, you'll be first." Energy condensed into a lance before striking toward his sister. Quickly, he jumped towards it with his bat held horizontally in front of him to take the blow. While he was still thrown back behind Kiana, it gave her the chance to rush forward with the Shamash in hand, firing towards the orbs of lighting to shatter them and keep them from being used as projectiles.
"Don't hold this against me Mei!" As he finished skidding across the rooftop, he feared his hand back with the bat and threw it forward. It shot forward spinning like a disk before curving around to the side, forcing the floating Mei to move forward lest she get hit.
It hadn't been too long since Mei became a Herrscher. He could tell she was still building up energy. If they worked fast enough, they could keep the disaster to a minimum while also keeping the battle from becoming too hard.
"Oi! Mei-senpai! I won't be able to give you my blessings if you keep this up!" Kiana jumped to the roof of the school entrance and fired off hazardly. 'Feather' like energy shields moved to defend Mei as her attention was captured.
"Your presence annoys me with every word you say girl." Mei's face was moved into a scowl.
"But if it distracts you, it's worth it!"
"!"
Damnit Kiana! The point of a sneak attack is to not alarm the target! He cursed his sister inwardly as he hurriedly caught the bat mid air and swiftly moved to bash Mei.
"Did you really think that would work!" Lightning covered Mei's hand as she stopped the bat with hardly any problem. Electricity flew into Kevin's body, but he still pressed forward even while in pain.
"Then how about this!" Kiana wielded the Cleaver of Shamash and smashed through Mei's shields like glass and sent her right off the rooftop and instantly changing the form back into pistols.
"Mei!" Instinctively, he dropped his weapon to grab her hand.
"...Ke...vin...?"
As he gripped her hands as hard as he could and watched her eye colors return to normal, Kevin somehow felt as if this was the reason why they met.
If they were fated to meet so that Kevin could bring Mei back from the darkness, he would stay by her side to do it as many times as necessary.
—
"You alright Mei?"
"I...why did I...I-I'm sorry-!" He hugged the girl even as she struggled to leave his grip. "Stop! I can still feel- feel all that energy inside me! If I lose control again I'd rather die than harm you-!"
Mei cried and thrashed, pushing Kevin weakly with both hands, trying get away from him, but her hands had lost strength and hit Kevin's chest. Kiana looked at the older girl sympathetically.
"Don't throw your life away Mei. That's not what your father would want, and it's not what your friends would want either. Maybe instead of dying, just date me instead until you find a reason to live?"
She stopped trying to flee from Kevin, but sobbed out tears as she laid her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him.
Hopefully, those tears were not in response to his question. In fact, he had no idea why he blurted that out and deeply regretted it. Talk about bad timing. He hoped she didn't hear him or would forget in all the chaos.
"Hmm. Well, given the situation, I guess I can let this go." Kiana put away the Shamash and crossed her arms. Though the relieved look on her face betrayed her words.
After giving Mei's hair one last stroke, he stood up with her. "We should start moving. With all the Honkai energy around, Nagazora must be plagued by beasts. We'll be safer on the outskirts of the city until Anti-Entropy or Schicksal take them all down and rescue the survivors."
Mei rubbed away her tears and nodded. "Um, on our way out, is it possible to visit my family home? There are things I can't leave behind, and if we're going to be fighting, there are things left by my Father that can help us out."
Kevin instantly agreed, which made Kiana agree. It wasn't a bad idea to get supplies. He and Kiana didn't have anything they couldn't replace later on in their apartment, so it wouldn't be too much of a detour. And honestly, getting herself some belongings to soothe her mind wouldn't be such a bad idea after having turned into a Herrscher. If she can still relapse and transform, it would be important to keep her psyche steady.
"Then on our way to your home, Kiana and I can give you a better idea of what's going on. Kiana, you and I can take turns taking point and explaining to Mei, any problems?"
Kiana shook her head. "No problem here. Let's get going!"
"Father wherever you are, please watch over us." Mei sat on her knees and picked up the last sheathed katana with both hands while bowing. Attached to her hip were more swords that used to occupy the horizontal stands in front of her. "I take these blades in the hopes they protect us. I'm sure those days we trained together were in case a disaster like this ever struck. I won't forget the lessons you taught me in that silly costume of yours."
Kevin leaned against the dojo wall as he held two duffel bags on him. Kiana was filling up another four for her and Mei. Thankfully, Mei wasn't really attached to too many things that she wanted to bring, whether she was playing it strong, or honestly not attached, he didn't know, but she did bring pictures of her and her father, so at least it told him she wasn't pretending to not care for the sake of making their journey easier or that it was a good thing they were in the digital age. It normally wouldn't be a good idea to have so much clothing and supplies when they also needed to fight zombies and beasts, but he and Kiana were stronger than normal people, and Mei had also seemingly shown a greater amount of strength than she usually did on the way here, so he figured worst came to worst, they would just ditch a bag or two.
"Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz."
He felt his phone vibrate and hurriedly took it out. When they checked their phones at the school, service was completely out and they couldn't access the internet or text anybody, so he wondered if the notification was a sign they were back on. He had sent texts out to the other contacts on the phone waiting for a signal to go through to let them know their situation.
HoyoDiablo: got the SOS, Honkai disasters are hitting all over the eastern hemisphere. Eden and I ended up in a sticky situation and had to get picked up by a battleship owned by St. Freya. Ely met up with us too. Should we get the Valks to pick you up, or is your family still hiding Schicksal?
MoonSistaHomu: you guys aren't injured right? and try to resist the urge to seduce any of the Valks especially if Teri is there!
SongofParadise: We're just fine, and don't worry, he hasn't been seducing anyone at all, though he's been eying one of the older Valkyries.
KindbutBeautiful: Eden and I have been hanging onto his arm and kept him from seducing that gorgeous woman though~. It's been really fun and hard sleeping together like that 3 but it had to be done to keep him from throwing his chastity away
HoyoDiablo: I told you I wasn't looking at her like that!
HoyoDiablo: also that never happened Ely you serial liar!
MoonSistaHomu: all of you die
MommyHomu: Are you two still okay? The disaster has me a little busy, but I can come meet up with you really quickly!
MommyHomu: Also, have you been making sure to treat that Mei girl right! Don't let my advice be in vain!
MommyHomu: If you can, please remember to bathe and change your clothes!
MoonSistaHomu: idk if we need you urgently, but it would help if you picked us up at the outskirts of the city. We haven't really made a plan beyond that point. Also, Mei-senpai's house has enough clothes for us.
Smiling at the messages, he sent a quick reply before putting his phone away.
He looked over to Mei, who now rose from her kneeling position and unsheathing the katana to reveal a black blade with a small inscription on the sword close to the hilt. She breathed deeply before moving swiftly to slice shadow enemies, familiarizing herself with the katana passed down in her family and the additional weights. Breathing deeply again, she sheathed it and attached it to her hip before turning to him.
"Kevin, I know you have that bat of yours, but it might be better if you use one of these." She laid her hand onto the many blades attached to her hip. "I'm using the Kagehide, but you can take any of the others. Kiana-chan's already taken the Rosefinch blade."
He took a moment to think about it before nodding. "Sure. I doubt you'll end up using all those in battle unless you intend on holding them between your fingers and in your mouth." She cracked a smile before turning to let him take one of the blades. Mission accomplished Kevin. You'll make sure she doesn't get depressed if you keep that up.
He pushed off the wall and took a look at them. Some of them were blades that were made traditionally, but others were made using technology similar to Schicksal weaponry. But all of them were clearly well made and equal to each other. The ones made or mixed with Soulium were dismissed and ready to be summoned at any moment by Mei. In the end, he picked three up. A normal blade with blue imprints, a black uchigata mixed with technology, and a blue greatsword.
"Ah, that sword is the Amemura. The other is the Vorpal Sword Type-11. I believe Father said it was capable of releasing something stored within, but he didn't give me precise details. The last one on your back is called Nitro Crystal, but I'm not sure if there's anything special about them." He attached them on opposite sides and the greatsword on his back, feeling rather comfortable all things considered. "If you want to take a look, Father also had some guns stored here as well. Some of them were rather advanced, like the ones Kiana-chan used earlier."
Was your dad preparing for war or something? He bit the question back, not wanting to bring Mei's mood down and not knowing the fine line. In the end, he followed Mei and was surprised to see that like with the swords, there were traditional guns and advanced guns that clearly used Honkai energy and not ammunition.
He tossed the ones designated as Hyper Railguns to Mei and took Blaze Destroyer and Light and Shadow for himself. "Never know when you might need those. You learned how to use these before?"
She nodded. "Father taught me when I was younger. I'm not sure I'll be very proficient, but I'll be able to make due."
He bit back the regret. It was probably good on her father for not just leaving weapons his daughter understood nothing about in the house, but he was really hoping to be able to teach her himself.
Biting back the image of helping Mei aim and secondary intentions aside, he nodded. "Then we should be ready. Kiana's just packing up some last extra clothes for you two."
Mei nodded before moving to stand beside him. "...Kevin...can I ask you a question...?" She sounded hesitant.
Please be a question that can be answered confidently he thought to himself. Mei had taken the general explanation of the Honkai rather well, but he really didn't want to be the one to explain the Herrscher business. In fact, he would much rather throw that job onto someone else in order to be her emotional support and therefore be associated with something not so negative as being the bearer of bad news. "Course you can. You never need to hold back around me and Kiana."
"This disaster that hit the city...it's my fault isn't it?" Kevin looked at her. Despite putting on a strong face that wanted the truth, it was obvious the answer would affect her deeply. Hoo boy.
"It's not your fault, and you don't need to blame yourself. The culprit of all this is the disaster called the Houkai. Even if it didn't use you, it would have used someone else."
"Then... can I still live like an normal girl?"
He stayed silent for a moment and thought honestly on how to answer this. Truthfully, this disaster changed many things, and not just Mei's destiny. He and Kiana likely could not have continued their normal lives past graduating high school even before the disaster, but now that it's happened, he's not certain they would be able to continue hiding. And if Mei went to live as a normal girl, then it's very likely that their paths would never really stay close. He was a Kaslana. Standing aside to live a normal life when there was a battle to be fought didn't sit right with him. As a Herrscher, Mei also probably needed to be watched closely, but if it were known to any organization that she WAS one, it's hard to predict how far they would go.
But if he was also being honest, he didn't want to separate from Mei at all. His heart told him that otherwise wasn't an option.
"I think...that no matter what, things will turn out alright in the end. I don't know if you can live like a normal girl, but I know that you can still live every day happily and enjoy the things you've always done. I'll eat whatever food you learn to make and spar with you whenever you want to stay disciplined. I'll read books and movies that you enjoy so we can talk about them and go on walks with you when you want to touch grass. Because as long as we're together, we can eventually be alright whatever may come."
He could tell that she turned her head to look at him, but he said nothing more and didn't look at her either. He's never said something so damn embarrassing before. The closest thing to this was the brotherly oath he made with his best friend when they were younger that they would destroy the Honkai and be each other's best man for their weddings. He really wanted to crawl under a bed and die from saying all that. Sure, he talked all about Kaslana honor and pride and the mission, but that was entirely different from both of those other things.
"..." He heard Mei giggles and closed his eyes and internally groaned. "Then...Kevin...will-" as curious as he was on what she was going to say, Kiana walked in with the duffel bags all ready, completely oblivious to the moment she just interrupted. As it was, he took it as a good deed on her part, unintentional as it may have been, mostly because he might actually be eternally dead inside from how Mei took his answer.
"Alright! I think I finally got us everything we might need! From portable chargers to snacks to clothes and tumblers for water!"
"Then one last check, Mei, you sure you don't want to bring anything else? I didn't notice any other pictures in frames you left behind, but I figure you should take another look around." He forced himself to look at Mei, putting aside the earlier talk and trying to return to his serious state.
Mei shook her head with a smile. "It's okay Kevin...I think I have everything I need already."
With both hands, Kevin cleaved a Honkai beast in two using the Vorpal Sword. Holding it in reverse grip, he pulled out the Blaze Destroyer and shot the Honkai zombies swiftly, not bothered by the heat ignitions of each blast. He left most of the Honkai beasts to Kiana and Mei. It may seem cruel to make a girl fight those monsters, but he thought it was better than having her put the infected humans out of their misery. While she was technically trained in martial arts to fight other humans, it was an entirely different story to sink your blades into their flesh and pull a trigger pointed at them. At least with Honkai beasts, there's less hesitation while also getting used to what it means to battle the honkai. Her enhanced strength was helping her keep pace with Kiana, and as long as she wasn't surrounded, he didn't think there was a need to worry about her taking a bad hit.
Kiana, of course, wasn't having any trouble either. Using the Shamash would eat at her energy and stamina, so to better pace herself, she was using the technological guns Artemis' Guardians that was passed down to her from Teri and their parents. She kept close to Mei and shot any that came behind her and on the opposite side of wherever she was holding her sword.
"Hey Mei! You know anywhere closeby that we can rest at?!" He shouted over the battlefield. He continued to use Blaze Destroyer on low settings, finishing off the humans with as few injuries to their bodies out of respect. "It's starting to get dark, it'll take another day or two to get out of the city!" They've made good progress today, really good progress, which could probably be attributed to the many cars they purposed. Not too far, the wreckage of one such car from when a honkai chariot crushed it could be seen.
Mei sheathed Kagehide and with a deft hand, sliced a chariot in half along with another chariot's arm off before shooting it with a Hyper Railgun. "I think there's somewhere closeby, but we should probably take care of all the...enemies...first."
"Then let's finish them off! I'm tired of all these small fry!" His sister complained lightly. But he knew that deep down she was worried for their friends. Since leaving Mei's family home, they didn't really have the luxury to keep in contact.
With a frown, he took the broad sword on his back with one hand and slammed the flat side of it into the zombies around him, giving him an opening to finish them off with one shot to the head.
He was glad the roof let them leave without needing to fight. He wasn't sure if Mei could handle that when he had a hard time himself dealing with these strangers.
"Project Bunny, terminate enemies." For a second, he wondered if he was hearing things, but the sound of multiple projectiles being launched set off his instincts, and he used Light and Shadow to pick off missiles aimed at him and Mei, letting Kiana protect herself with the body of a honkai beast.
"Hey! Who and what was that for!" Kiana shouted as she pointed out her gun.
"Targets have escaped uninjured, preparing another barrage promptly."
"Brat! I'll kick your ass if you pick a fight with us! We're obviously still human!"
In front of them lied a young girl, younger than any of them. Behind the floating drill haired girl was a floating robot with a missile launcher arm and a beam gun in the other. Her face was emotionless as she didn't hesitate to count them as enemies.
It was obvious to him that she was no normal girl by any means, but if they didn't have to fight, then they shouldn't.
The mecha pointed an arm at him and prepared to fire, only to put up a shield as he fired to ice it's weapons.
The icicles plunged directly into the shield of the mecha, and the mecha's arm flicked hard, and pieces of ice fell to the ground. Bronya stretched out her hand, and a string of missiles spewed out from the missile launching port towards Kevin, and he narrowed his eyes before using Nitro Crystal to block them off. He grunted as he slid backwards and prepared himself to completely ice the robot and force the girl to calm down.
"Hold on! There's no reason to fight! I don't know if you know exactly what's going on, but you're probably trying to leave the city right? Why not come with us? We carry food and water, and there's safety in numbers, right?" Mei stopped Kiana and sheathed her sword. "I'm sure this situation is making you do your best to protect yourself, but you can trust us to help you."
Kevin was a hundred percent sure she was so nonchalant because of the girl's age, because nothing else explained how she could ignore all the missiles fired at them. Or maybe the ease at which he and Kiana protected themselves led her to believe it wasn't that big of a deal.
Still, he agreed with her. "As long as you don't try and shoot us again, we can travel together with no problem. My little sister over there is Kiana, and I'm Kevin."
"And I'm Raiden Mei, it's nice to meet you." She walked up with a kind smile and leaned forward to shake the girl's hand, as if the mecha wasn't even there.
The girl paused and looked at them before nodding as the robot vanished. "My apologies for firing on you three, Mei-neesama."
"Then, will you give us your name?"
"...Bronya Zaychik."
Kiana scoffed. "Are we really going to just forget that she nearly killed us? What the hell was that for! Normal humans would have died from that!"
"Project Bunny had detected odd Honkai signatures from all of you. As such, you were considered potential hostiles."
"What even is with that! Just use your normal eyes you brat!"
To be honest, he understood Kiana's feelings as well. But with that poker face of the young girl, it was hard to figure out what she might have been really thinking.
"She's still a young girl Kiana-chan. It wouldn't be right to ignore her and leave her alone in this city with all the monster." Mei frowned and defended the girl.
He had a feeling this wasn't going to be smooth, and interrupted. "Both of you make good points, and while we can't really trust her, we can't just ignore her now that we know about her. We need to find a place to rest anyways, so why don't we get to know each other while we rest?" Unfortunately, he didn't think he could keep himself between Mei and the girl, but he had a pretty good idea of wherever that robot was hiding, so if she ever brought it out, he would release his internal constraints and completely shatter it unlike what he was planning earlier.
Still, he wanted to give the girl the benefit of the doubt. Her mecha would be a great help against the larger Honkai beasts and if it had a radar, they would be able to get away with fighting less and conserving their energy while taking less risks. And maybe, deep down, he wanted to believe that this girl wasn't so bad inside. Sure, she had a super advanced robot, which meant she was from AE or Schicksal or otherwise, but if she stayed near them, it would be easier to keep an eye on her and even endear them to her.
"Project Bunny detects an odor from all subjects. There is a hot spring nearby that can be used if cleared of enemies."
Mei took a second to sniff her clothes. Kevin had no idea what it smelled like, but between the crackling Lightning from earlier the day, all the sweat and smoke, he figured the three of them and even Bronya did not smell great.
"Ah, Mei-senpai and Bronya smell like puke and things that make me want to puke!" Kiana covered her mouth as she snarked to the two.
"E-eh? Really!?" She took another sniff before seemingly deciding that Kiana was right and hugged her knees as she crouched down in shame. "Aaaah~. My skin feels rotten too. I just want to die. Letting myself smell like this in front of..."
"Bronya believes that Kiana should get her nose checked. While odor can be detected, it is not what can be considered unbearable. Subject Kiana is also sweatier and gives more odor in comparison to Mei-neesama."
Ah, great. The girl picked a favorite already.
He sighed and decided to walk over to where the robot was leading to the hot spring. He hoped that Kiana wouldn't pick fights with the new girl too much. Maybe the theme park on the edge of the city would calm them down when they reached it.
Somewhere, somehow, he was sure his best friend was feeling the same difficulties as him in being the lone male around women.
AN: Several Easter eggs and References per the usual. Last chapter and in this one, the Theater of Thunder, which was about canon Mei and Kiana, were taken as references for Mei and Kevin's meetings. While not 1 to 1, they still match up.
For poetic reasons, Kevin ended up being the reason Mei went postal and became a Herrscher much like Kiana did when she was injured in front of her in the Nagazora manga. The GGZ Kevin LN and Honkai mangas are referenced, along with every weapon shown having existed in the Honkai series and made by ME Corp, with the technical exception of the Katana Kagehide, who's name is based on the Plasma Kagehide said to be made by Mei's father from the game as his magnum opus and meant to be the nameless katana Mei used in APHO.