Sirin stares at Kiana with wide eyes before raising her arm to her, "I-I am… I don't know what…"

Kiana snickers, "What to say? Honestly, I've moved on from that. I did what I had to, survived it all, and finally… Found the two people who I…" She stops leaning against the spear and stands straight, though she glances at Hachiman and Mei, "Want to protect."

Sirin opens her mouth but doesn't say anything while her hand lifelessly falls to her side. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in, "Kiana… You have to know that… The Honkai is amplifying your feelings for them since it can't do anything else…"

Kiana blinks before opening her mouth, but then closes it to mull over her words. Sirin holds her breath as she silently watches, then finally, she speaks.

"And?"

Sirin sighs, "I had a feeling that you wouldn't understand…" She looks up, "The Honkai… Manipulates you to feel strong emotion for somebody, be it hate or love basically, then waits for the perfect moment to kill them… So that you will show a gap in your mental defenses then it will breach and take control of you."

Kiana blinks then her eyes twitch, "So… The Honkai is aiming for them… Huh?"

Sirin looks back down as she feels a murderous aura surrounding Kiana, "Kiana, calm down or so help me I will knock you out again!" She shouts, prompting Mei and Hachiman to quickly come over.

"Kiana, are you ok?!" Mei pounces on her then checks all over her body like a worried mother, "Don't –"

Kiana giggles before hugging Mei, prompting the latter to yelp, "Awww, a worried Mei is a cute Mei! Also, I'm fine."

Hachiman quietly moves to Sirin side while watching Kiana squeeze the life out of Mei, "What were you two talking about?" He quietly asks without looking at her.

Sirin glances at him before silently snapping her finger, "…Kiana needs your and Mei's help more than ever."

He slightly widens his eyes before squinting at her, "What do you mean by that?"

She slightly shakes her head, "Not here… Also, you better make up your mind on them."

"…How did you know?"

"Just a wild guess."

He turns to look at her with annoyance in his eyes, "I told you that I –"

She turns her whole body then glares at him, "You're lying." She softens her glare then quietly says, "They are probably the first people that want to be with you right?"

"Y-yeah," Hachiman automatically replies then slightly cringes as he hears his own tremor in his voice.

Sirin sadly smirks at him, "Then… We aren't that different."

"…What do you –"

He abruptly cuts himself off as he sees Kiana launching herself at him, "Hachiman! How dare you bully Mei!" She slams into him, which sends him and her crashing to the floor.

"That isn't what I meant Kiana!" Mei quickly walks over to them with a worried expression, "He didn't bully me or anything!"

Kiana slowly lifts her head up to look at Mei, "Get in here." Before the latter could say anything, her arm gets grabbed then pulled, making her stumble and fall.

Sirin blankly looks at the trio slowly devolving into wrestling with Hachiman getting teamed up on, "…Maybe I should stick around to help him," She absently mutters before looking at the door as she hears footsteps rapidly approaching.

The door opens with a bang, prompting the trio to freeze as they slowly turn to look at the door to see Komachi and Bronya looking at them with an unamused and blank expression.

"…Big bro, I know I gave them th and all but… Really?"

"Subject Hachiman likes to play around without concern of his surroundings."

Hachiman quickly gets up with his cheeks red while looking like a mess, all the while ignoring Bronya's words, "Komachi, I can explain that -"

"Wrestling with Hachiman! Want to join?" Kiana springs up while grinning as she cuts him off, also looking like a mess. Mei slowly gets up with redden cheeks and fidgets.

Komachi sighs, "Maybe some other time…" She abruptly bows then begs, "Please… Can't we go save mother and father?"

Sirin sighs before walking closer, "I told you, we can't." She glances at the trio, more specifically Hachiman scratching his head while looking away, "We are perfectly safe in here and we just need to wait it out."

Komachi doesn't move but loudly says, "Even so…! I can't bring myself to let them die out there…!" She lifts her head slightly to look at Sirin, "Please… I can show you where their workplace are and –"

"I am not going on a rescue mission."

Komachi bites her lip before zooming over to Hachiman, "Big bro, please convince her to save them!" She puts her hands on his chest then looks at him with glistening eyes.

Hachiman clicks his tongue before looking away, "Komachi, we already discussed this –"

Komachi tightens her grip while looking down and resting her head on his chest, "I know! I know… But… Whenever I think that they died and I could have saved them… I -" She stops as she feels a hand on her head, prompting her to look up and see him tiredly looking at her.

He sighs, "Fine… I can never win against you…" Then looks at Sirin with a tired expression, prompting her to roll her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, just because I understand why you didn't put up any resistance. Again. Since she's your little sister, still won't change my answer," Sirin grumbles.

Kiana pokes him at the back, prompting him to turn his head, "Didn't you say that you hate them?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Hate is a strong word but I most definitely dislike them. Decent people but terrible parents."

Mei puts her hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look at her and see the concerns in her eyes, "You don't have to force yourself to like them, Hachiman…"

Kiana nods in agreement, "Yeah! You're allowed to hate anybody who messes with you… I think there is a quote I can use here… Um… Ah! The blood is thicker than water but is thinner than love!" She beams at him.

Hachiman blankly stares at Kiana, "Which light novel did you rip that from?"

Her expression quickly changes into a pout, "I didn't steal it from a light novel! It's a manga, thank you very much."

"Ah, I think I know which one…" Mei chimes in before putting a finger to her lip, "…I forgot." She sheepishly scratches her cheek while still holding his shoulder.

"It's from that –"

"Alright! Fine, I'll go rescue those two," Sirin loudly groans, interrupting Kiana from talking, "But I can't do it since I am still low on energy."

Hachiman blinks before disengaging himself from them, "I… Think I can help with that." He goes over to grab the sword on the bed then comes back. He slowly unsheathes the sword.

"I just need to stab or slice you with this."

Sirin raises an eyebrow at him before pointing at the sword, "What? That sword can replenish my energy?"

Kiana blinks before glancing at Sirin, "Are you not going to question why you need to be stabbed or sliced?" She dumbfoundedly asks.

Sirin shrugs, "Not the weirdest thing I've done or heard," She emotionlessly says with a slight shiver.

Hachiman facepalms then sighs, "I meant that my power I got from the sword is – you know what? Just experience it for yourself." He walks closer to Sirin, who impassively stares at him.

She shrugs then holds up her hand, "Here. Stab my hand." And Hachiman does that.

He closes his eyes then falls down onto the floor while Sirin blinks before moving her arm, "Huh… I feel weird."

Her arm freezes in place, prompting her to widen her eyes, "The fuck? I can't move my hand!" She struggles to move her hand but fails, making her grit her teeth, "Hachiman, are you doing this?!"

He suddenly gets up, scaring Kiana who was poking his cheek, "Yep." He smirks, "My power is called "The Puppeteer", a lame name really, that lets me… Connect my soul to another person, with the sword as the medium, and control their body while sharing my senses, energy, whatever, with that person. According to the bastard spirit in the sword."

He loses his smirk, "But, the person can kick me out whenever they want, so this is basically trust… Something I actually didn't expect to say and mean it."

"So… Your choice, Sirin."


*A...N*

Nothing to say. Anyway on to the comments!

calderoneric758 - um... I'll try?

1stCanigia - *REDACTED*

Alt Zero - same here reader, same here. Here's to hoping I can survive until my family are dead first at least

BorderLand - yeahhhhhhhhh righttttt

DrackNath - lmao, also who knows, that may or may not happen lol