The mechanical entrance gate shuts itself behind me with a beep sound as I walk into a white, square room, which is actually shaped like a box if you look from the outside, well, at least from where I walk in.

"Please step forward pass the yellow line."

Someone speaks out from the speakers, and it seems like they're behind the black tinted glass on my right side watching me. It is a one way mirror because I cannot see anything through the glass. Only my mere reflection of my existence.

And I obliged. Begrudgingly and exhausted.

I tippy-toed pass the yellow line under the well-ordained, transparent floor made of plastic that has a couple of holes and metal layers underneath it. You could even snuck your finger in those.

After the interrogation, Himeko straight up asked me to go through this section of the camp. I obviously relented, much to my unwillingness to step into this. Not like I'm going anywhere with all the foot soldiers or whatever army waiting outside of this exit in front of me.

Quite literally, did you know that the interrogation tent where we were at is surrounded by electrified walls? The only way in and out is through a password-locked gate, and the closed path afterwards divides into two ways: One leads to this box, and the other leads to somewhere. But I think both just lead to outside.

"Oh, I'll be waiting.", was what Himeko said to me as she took the different route instead, carrying the documents along with her. Leaving me alone in this empty, white space.

A creaking sound comes from above and I look up. A pipe slowly makes its way down on top of my head. There's a droplet of liquid falling down onto my forehead from the hole. I jerk back and quickly wipe it off.

This is just... water?

"Stand still, please."

What the hell is this-

"Agh!?"

Huge bursts of cold water flows down from the pipe, washing my hair, body and my entire attire until I'm wet. The water keeps spraying down like I'm in a carwash. It never seems to end.

Though a couple of moments later, it stops as I try to control my breathing. Drenched, hair and clothes have become heavy and dripping with water, my fatigue's gone as I am now wide awake.

I use my hands to wipe away the liquids off my face and eyes. That only helps a bit. In fact, I think I've worsened it somehow. Some of it entered my mouth as I spit it out. At least it's not bitter...

"Hey..." My voice is shaky from the cold. I call out the guy, the security, whoever is behind the glass with slight fury on my face. "Hey, let me out of here!"

As the pipe retreated back to the ceiling, they still didn't answer. I was about to yell at them again, maybe even bash the glass so they could notice, but I immediately look down as soon as I heard another noise coming from below me.

The metal layers beneath hissed and slid open, revealing numerous fans-

"...!?"

In an instant, I take a sharp breath and closed my eyes as the blades rotate at such a speed that I feel like the wind is pushing me upward as my hands and my hair lift themselves.

It lasts within five seconds until the fans are turned off. My freezing, soaked body and clothes have now been dried and cleaned. I am no longer wet, yet the shame remains still.

As my breathing returns to normal, I open my tired-looking eyes. I gradually smooth my now-spiky black hair back to its original look.

"Clear! "

As soon as he speaks that, the gate in front of me slides open with a beep. I waste no time to walk out of this obnoxious room.

With the angry look on my face, I stop and turn to the side. The redhead is leaning on the side of the wall, arms crossed with a hand holding the sling of my satchel while smirking at me.

"What?" I glare at her.

"What? I said I'll be waiting." Himeko pushes herself away from the wall and toss my bag to me, I catch it easily. "The canteen's right this way, champ."

As she jerks her thumb to the aforementioned place and proceed to move towards it, I stand motionless and glaring at her back until my hunger insists me to follow her.

I survey the unfamiliar area around me as I go. There are countless tents placed on the right section, and I can see people walking around here and there. That could be their main camp to hold operations, or something.

And on the left side, a little distance away, the same massive battleship I had missed seeing up close during the warzone, is stationed proudly on an empty field. The size of it is baffling and unreal.

Soon we find ourselves in front of many tables and seats covered by the large cloth above to serve as a shelter. A couple of people in strangely made military outfits are eating their different meals on their respective seats while carrying on some incomprehensible chats.

I'm presuming they're security guards waiting for shifts because some of them have their bulky gear on.

What interests me, however, is the fact that the majority of them are females, with fewer males.

Himeko tells me to take my food at the counter across from where we stand as she's gone off to take an empty seat. I weave to the counter, take a clean divided stainless steel tray and pick my food.

Lining up from left to right: There's tuna (no, I'm not putting another tuna into my stomach), chicken wings, a couple of vegetables which I won't name one by one, and beans.

Beans.

Pinto bean soup...

...

After picking my food, I walk back towards where Himeko is sitting. She notices me as I approach her.

"Oh hey, where's mine?" She says playfully, and innocently.

"Well, you didn't ask, miss."

"A boy like you should know that- my goodness, that's a lot of beans."

Himeko trails off in surprise as I laid my tray down, her eyes widens slightly at the soup that has been separated and poured on three different containers. Leaving the rest of the two for already-cooked carrots in bits and a chicken.

"I'm hungry, miss." I sit down and she blinks at me. "You told me I'd been knocked out cold for more than four hours, my brain just automatically went urgh, you know."

I devoured a scoop of beans after I said that. Man, this is a good bean.

"I...get that you're hungry." She raises a brow. "But why beans?"

I did not respond. I take another spoonful of these lovely, delectable beans and lose myself in their sweet and raw textures in my mouth.

The Major ends up looking rather perplexed. "Alright then."

As I chew my food, a thought crosses my mind. I believe I should ask this woman where we are right now and anything important, et cetera et cetera.

I swallow down the meal and gaze at Himeko. "By the way, miss, where are we?"

"Vijamaa, that's around fifteen kilometers south from Lahti. We set this small settlement up as our main op since this place is relatively and surprisingly Honkai-free."

"Oh." I bite a piece of a carrot.

I now know where I'm at. That explains why there's a wide-ass field out there.

"So uh, where exactly are you taking me?"

"Well, to the far eastern branch. Shenzhou, to be exact."

That's literally countries away...

"Now," She leans forward and places her hand on the table. "speaking of kilometers, quote-unquote."

"..." I stopped chewing. I know where this is going.

"Haha, apologies." Himeko obviously noticed my look and heartily laugh at it. "Is your name just 'Kilo', and nothing else?"

I nod quietly, "Quite a dull name, doesn't it?"

"No, no, I don't think that's dull." She shakes her head.

Of course it is, you literally can make fun of me just by using that.

"Every name has its meaning."

"Sure miss, my name literally means "thousands" based on the wikipedia." I say before I bite the meat of the chicken wing, and my expression slightly dissolves.

Urgh, it's surprisingly salty.

I set the chicken back down, leaving its sorry existence, scooping a mouthful of bean soup to cleanse the filth in my mouth.

"Not by definition, Kilo." Himeko once again shakes her head. "My point is that names are the important key of the start of who we are. Like, it can become one of the main drives to move forward. And...sometimes, a name may not always have any significance. But you can make it important to yourself if you so desire."

I look into her orange eyes for a few moments before looking around and returning my attention to my food. I had something in my mind, but I couldn't find the right words to say to her. So I just throw it away. It's not worthwhile saying anyway. Not when I recall my parents' heinous error that led me in this predicament.

I inwardly shake my head.

"...Going philosophical, miss?" I jest, eating my food. "Is that something every Valkyries need to do?"

Himeko scoffs, "Nope. Just something I got used to."

Something she used to? How old is she anyway?

"Captain Marie! Please wait!"

Amidst the few people walking around, we turned to the side to see Susannah Manatt outside of the canteen, dressed in a different set of purple outfit and sporting an unfortunate-looking bandage wrapping around her head, approaching the ever-stern-looking woman, Marie.

Marie frowns after she sees her partner skids to stop in front of her and immediately performs a salute. "What are you doing out here? I told you to take a rest at the med-camp."

"Um, f-forgive my recklessness, Captain. But I am already fully healed! Ready to take on another mission, ma'am!"

Susannah's eyes have a blaze in them that seems impossible to extinguish. That is, until she lets out a quiet scream and clutches her injured head as if she has suffered a brain freeze.

"S-sorry, Captain. I just..." She seems to be struggling with words, but after a second, she manages to look straight to the taller Captain and her eyes. "I just want to say that... thank you for saving my life, Captain. I mean, both of our lives!"

She completes her confession. The Captain sighs and shakes her head, signs of mild amusement on her face. That doesn't last long, however. Her face returns to the cold look, but the ice is now a bit cracked.

"No. Your act of bravery is the reason why we're still here. Hold it onto your hands and don't ever lose that." Marie affirms strongly, yet sincerely. "I'm glad that you're my partner for this operation. Even if it's temporary."

"..." Susannah looks like she's about to cry.

"I will report to the Overseer of your hard work - You've done a great job." Marie pats her shoulder and walk pass the orange-haired Valkyrie, who is trying so hard to hold her tears back but ends up snorting.

"Th-Thank you, Captain!" She delivers another salute to Marie, before her pain starts to rub off her as she yelps and holds her head once more.

Well, that was a touching scenery, for sure.

Before I can return to eating, Marie did a double-take on me and abruptly stops her track. Our eyes accidentally meet each other as mine goes wide and I hastily break eye contact with her, finding my food to be interesting again.

Is she coming towards me- She is coming to me. I can feel the soil around me vibrating with each of her angry steps. Then she slams her hands on the table causing my tasty bean soup to spill out of the tray and dirties the table. Why did she do that?

"What are you doing here?" She eyes me down like a hawk would at its prey. I slurp another spoon of beans after a quick glance at her towering body. Marie shifts her focus away from munching me, visibly annoyed, and toward Himeko.

"A thorough explanation would suffice, Himeko."

"He's coming with me." The redhead said plainly with a smile on her face. Marie is ready to say something, but instead she gives a harsh sigh.

"For the love of- First Nagazora, and now this? Are you mad?" Marie frowns.

"You weren't at Japan dealing with a Herrscher of all people." She say rather dismissively with her hands raised. A word she'd spoken intrigued me as I glance at her for a second. "After all, they're just kids."

"And him?" Marie points her finger without wasting a time looking at me.

"A kid, as well."

Hey.

"He could be working with the enemy, based on what we know. Do you not think this is suspicious?"

"Based on what, your wild assumptions?" Himeko raises a brow at the angry Valkyrie. "Come on, Miss Marie Kujou-"

"Don't. Call me that."

The air around me suddenly changes - Marie's words were like a giant bird ready to kill her friend with her talons. The tone of her voice had a mixture of rage, anguish, and remorse in it. Her complex facial expression definitely supports this. Although I'm personally unconcerned, there is no denying that this Marie woman has a checkered past.

"Marie." The redhead breaks the silence as she crosses her arms, her tone also serious. "He's a boy who have gone through tough times. And besides, we have his background, nothing weird about him, and we already got something from the site, no?"

"..."

Here I am sitting and munching my remaining beans while they stare down each other before one of them breaks the ice-

"Fine." The blue-haired Valkyrie pushes herself from the table and turns her face at me. "You're free to go."

And there she goes, walking somewhere else.

I blink and fix my gaze to Himeko. The red-haired woman is absentmindedly staring at Marie's figure.

" 'A really good girl'." I quietly repeat her words from before. "What's her history that got her so worked up?"

Himeko looks at me as if I've grown a second head before smiling playfully. "That was two adults talking. You shouldn't worry about that too much."

I roll my eyes at her. Right, fair enough.

"So, Miss Marie is not part of your team, correct?" I ask as I take a bite of the juicy carrot. I'll be over with my meal in a minute.

"True." She nods. "Captain Marie is the leader of her own squadron - the Bohemian Squad."

I snicker at the name but choke on my own food right away as it enters the wrong pipe. Thankfully, I didn't put a mouthful of carrots. I should have brought a drink, dammit. I feel like my throat around is burning.

"You alright? You want me to get you water?" Himeko looks concerned, but I wave my hand.

"N-No, I'm fine." Comes another hack and cough. I swallow hard to try to clear my throat, it somehow helps. "That sounds like a football club."

Or she's secretly a fan of Queens.

Himeko shrugs, "She picked it herself."

"Right. And all of these people are with her?" I ask while circling my finger around.

"No, they're actually personnel from HQ sent to assist her on this mission."

"So uh, where's her team?"

"Right now? Well... they're away." Himeko says while adjusting her position to make herself comfortable. "Usually a Valkyrie squadron consists of three members minimum and one leader. For the Bohemian Squad, they're lil' bit special. There's 'Immortal Blades', but that's another story for another day."

I absorb Himeko's tiny knowledge she gives to me as I nod understandably.

"Susannah is actually from a different team. I dunno how she got in with Marie. Perhaps she needed some help."

"Then why didn't Miss Marie just ask her other teammates before the sortie?"

"Dunno...Just my two cents, kid." Himeko gets up and flexes her arms up to ease her sore muscles as she moans lowly. "They don't get along well... maybe. Never seen them working together in my couple missions with Marie. They probably don't like each other."

That's very ironic. Why the hell even formed a team in the first place?

I bite the last piece of my meal. The chicken hasn't moved from its last spot as it was pleading with me to devour it.

"You're not gonna finish that?" Himeko asks and I shake my head with a "no" as I stand up.

I am sorry, but I am not putting another poison in my stomach. Not with how salty and how distasteful the meat is.

"I'm already full. So, Miss Marie is a sort of lone wolf type of girl?" I reason with her, and immediately asks the next question.

"Heh, you're asking too many questions, Kilo." Himeko says, finding it quite amusing.

Whoopsies...

"I'm s-sorry, I've been locked away from the outside world for four, maybe, many months." I try to make my voice as low and apologetic as possible, making me look like an innocent, little child. "Can't help but wonder what's going on..."

"Don't worry about it. You can ask me more of these stuffs once we get back."

I follow the good lady to a jeep, an officer who waits on the side of the vehicle walks to greet Himeko. He prompts us to enter the topless jeep, taking us to the big, white, futuristic battleship-cruise I mentioned earlier.

Though, a radiant light comes from the corner of my eyes causing me to halt my steps, and look to the side. As soon as I do that, my blood runs cold. I see as the orb is held captive inside a transparent cylinder tube and being carried around like an animal being trapped.

"Kid?"

They placed the orb in a dark, confined, and empty metal box with no light, carefully enclosing it with a hatch. No one is on its side. No one to talk to. It is being there alone with nothing.

"Hey," Someone puts a hand on my left shoulder and I turn to Himeko with a frown on her face, a worried look. "You're sweating. Are you okay, Kilo?"

I shake my head, "I'm... fine."

With a sheepish smile on my face, Himeko slowly nods, we pick back our pace to the jeep. We enter the backseat as the officer takes the wheel.

As we get closer, I can see its detail more clear now. The first thing that catches my eyes are four massive turrets with three barrels on each side, mounted on the front and the rear of the aircraft. The second thing is the long, I mean, looong-ass head of the aircraft. And third, and probably the last, are the lights in some spots of the ship - to what I'm guessing to prevent collisions from the ground, and the fact that it is still nighttime gives it more reason to turn them on.

My eyes still glue at the enormous vehicle casting its shadows under us. Jesus, how big is this thing?

Himeko has a proud expression on her face as she glances my way, and her right arm resting on the door adds to her pride, "Fascinated?"

I nod in a dumbfounded manner. I almost cannot her voice due to the winds and the loud noise.

"Look over there, and there!" She points to the back and the front of the giant, blue-ish auras glowing on either side. I realize quickly that there's actually no landing gears, anywhere I look.

The aircraft is floating on this vast field.

"Leonov Anti-Gravity engines, those are the bad boys that help the ship to fly and keeping it stabilized." Himeko explains in a simple manner. I remain speechless, gawking at what's in front of me right now.

Himeko giggles when she looks at my face. Soon, we reaches under the floating battleship and a large hatch opens down. The officer drives into it with the help of blinking lights on the side of the entrance door. We safely enter the cargo with a small bump upon entering.

We hop off the car after the officer brakes it. I expected the interior ship's walls and ceiling, especially this cargo, to be filthy with pipes protruding from every nook and cranny. There's less of it, actually, everything looks clean and smooth. I can see the lighting and my blurry reflection on the white floor. This area itself is considerably vast. Several armed futuristic vehicles are neatly parked on the sides, and individuals working on them stop and respectfully greet Himeko.

"Much appreciated, Tom."

"Anytime, ma'am."

Himeko bids goodbye to the officer and he does a quick salute. He does a turn and drives his jeep out. The hatch slowly rises back up and shuts the entrance with a fizz.

"Splendid aircraft..." I mutter as I walk beside Himeko straight to the elevator.

"Yup. They literally modified it from a normal carrier to an amphibious warship."

"I beg your pardon?" I narrow my eyes at her and she arches her brow as I don't understand the difference.

"Well, the difference is subtle. Much bigger in size, and holds more passengers. Baby can pack a punch too."

So it's an assault carrier on steroids.

We finally reach to what looks like an elevator after taking the stairs up. The door made of glass hisses, splitting itself in a diagonal way and we walk in.

As the door shuts itself, the Major presses a button on the side panel and the elevator takes us up with an audible machinery sound followed by a blinking sound that occurred in each three seconds.

Yes, I counted that.

Large pipes and balconies on the side have now obscured the view of the lit-up cargo. I would not have noticed the mechanics standing around doing their work if it hadn't been for the purple lights positioned in strategic locations.

...

...

...

I scratch my arm and clears my throat. "This is a long elevator, miss."

"Mm." Himeko smacks her lips without turning at me. "You'll get used to it."

Well, the battleship is large so that's a given.

We continue our silence once more. Until, Himeko glances behind me.

"Four months of being a survivor, huh?"

I smile as I look straight at Himeko's eyes, "Yes, miss."

"Ah, actually, it's not four months, but three."

I raise my brows, surprised. "Really?"

"The earthquake hit Lahti on May 11th, and it's currently August 21st so- three months." Himeko informs and I nod absently. "It's mind-boggling that you're still alive. How were you able to get through all that?"

"Well..." I look to the side, avoiding her glare for a bit before looking at her again with a small smile. "Lucky, I guess?"

She folds her arms and I continue. "I hid for my life, miss. Scavenging what I could find."

I adapted myself to that terrible situation. It was me and myself alone. No one was willing to help or helping each other anyways.

"That so? Is acting also one of your traits of survival as well?" Himeko asks me, and I am thrown aback by that.

She must have read Marie's reports at some point.

"More or less." I still keep smiling. "Miss, if you knew about it, why didn't Schicksal come in to rescue?"

I question, quickly changing the topic, as I frown at her.

"We tried." She nods solemnly. "But there was a strange electromagnetic barrier holding us off from going in that town. Whole network was cut out and we can't contact the people inside. Nobody can get in or out. That is, until today."

Now this makes me curious.

"Is the barrier caused by Honkai?" I ask further.

"No," She shakes her head. "Something else entirely."

Although it doesn't ultimately concern me as I am now free from the clutches of that town, that is certainly an interesting testimony coming from the Major.

Himeko then turns to me, a pity look on her face as her eyes show signs of guilt. "I apologize that we couldn't do anything in our power to help you... I'm deeply sorry for your friends."

My lips curl down as soon as she says that and my brows twitch.

"I..." don't "miss them."

Himeko glances back with furrowed brows for a second as my voice croaked. For a brief moment, her face changes to that of a chary. Or perhaps it is just me.

Ignoring her as she turns back, I attempt to distract myself by staring at those pipes and lights as we move up. I'm not sure how long have we been going up or how many beeps I've heard throughout the ride along with the machinery noises, which made me question why they didn't put background music to block these irritating, mind-numbing sounds? I would gladly install two sets of Mihotech speakers and play some songs of the 70s and the 80s in this elevator, such as A-ha's hit song, "Take On Me" or even the famous, mystical "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" to help the passenger relax, and feeling at ease as it takes you up to the heavens. Maybe even put random jazz you may find on the internet. However, because it is not my responsibility and beyond my power to do so, I will leave it at that.

I lick my lips, my mouth is filled with a hollow thirst. When was the last time I drank? I can't recall. I've been bopping my head unconsciously to the rhythm of those three-second beeps. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, it goes on and on. The wait is constant that I can even hear my heart beating a calm motion, and the notes will stay in my head rent-free. It will never leave, not until I say it can as it has made me doubt my own existence, my own sanity. It's never-ending. It doesn't make sense. None of these make sense at all.

"Captain on the bridge! "

I blink.

A feminine sound coming from somewhere announcing our arrival, or rather, Himeko's. The elevator door opens and we walk out. With its large glass in front of us, the bridge section has a great view of the outside. From where I am, I can see three operators on three different terminals arching in separate directions on the far end down in front of us.

On our left and right, a set of stairs heading down to the lower level, where many individuals with Schicksal attires sit and work on their own computer terminals in two separate rows each. Naturally, they all came to a halt and saluted Himeko.

"Welcome to Hyperion, Kilo." Himeko gestures to the sight.

Hyperion. Such a grandiose name for a glorious-looking battleship. There is one thing bothering me though.

" 'Captain'? I thought your rank was a Major?"

Himeko smirks, "In here, that's Captain Himeko to you."

I narrow my eyes. What does that even mean? Shouldn't it be Major-Captain or Captain-Major?

"Captain." One of the crew members down there called. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yep! Take us home, boys and gals."

"Roger that." She nods, adjusts her headsets while pressing a few buttons on her computer before speaking to her microphone and out through the speakers. "Attention, all personnel: We are about to take-off in thirty seconds. Hyperion protocol: four-six-point-nine-zero in effect-"

"Wind scale is normal. Weather's clear. Over."

"All systems are operating normally."

"-Increasing Anti-Gravity power engine output to forty percent."

There comes the soft chatters. I look around as the crews are performing a final check of the ship's systems, engine, and weather conditions etc., as well as informing others on signals and codes of terms that I am unfamiliar with.

The ship gently rises after 30 seconds, and I feel as if gravity is pulling my body down once more. Himeko doesn't seem to be bothered by it, as I assume she's already got used to it for god-knows how long.

"Kilo. You might wanna..." Himeko trails off and she points with her finger at the metal bar in front of us. I can see she's holding it with two hands but wh-

Oh.

I move a step and grip it with one hand. As I return to look out the window, the view outside begins to change; the forests have vanished, and all I see now is the green terrains of Finland. The head of the futuristic battleship begins to slowly tilting up in a small degree.

"Thrusters at seventy-percent power."

"Ready to launch in three...two...one."

Behind us, there is a faint, perceptible boom. I instinctively hold the bar with my other hand as I feel my body being pulled back. Himeko gives me a look and giggles wholeheartedly at my fearful expression. Of course, I roll my eyes at her and try to ignore her look.

"Never rode a plane before?"

"It's my first time on a sky... in a flying dreadnought, no less, miss." I admit honestly and she laughs once again.

"We're gaining altitude." I heard one of the members saying as the ship manages to pass through the clouds, and the head of the returns to face forward. "Decreasing thrusters..."

I can feel the massive ship slowing down, and I'm no longer being force pushed by gravity as I wiggle my legs to get rid of the anxiety left in my heart while staring at the horizon, along with the stars and the clouds.

"Thirty-nine-hundred...forty-hundred...aaand forty-one-hundred feet." One of the men on the left flexes his arms up. "We are A-OK!" and ends it with a loud yawn that even reaches Himeko's ears as she throws a glance down at him.

"For goodness sake, Pat, have some decency." The guy on his side shakes his head.

"Shut up. I didn't get much sleep." Pat says with a tired and snarky tone.

" 'Cuz you're watching Papriko-Papprika."

"Ey, Jian, it's the last special episode and it's two hours long, and they aired it live!"

"You can always just watch the vid."

"And miss the thoughts of the fans on how great the show is?" Pat throws his arms, bewildered. "It lacks the feeling, my dude."

Other people mildly stops and give them a sidelong glance as they become immersed in their chats.

"Yes, but-"

"If you don't stop, I will personally throw you guys off board." Himeko says with a snap as she puts her hands on her hips. Her face looks scary as if they could feel her wrath scorching behind them. "Patrick, get up your ass and go grab some coffee."

"Y-yes, cap." Patrick removes his headsets, clumsily gets up and walk his way to the another section behind that I cannot see, so I assume he goes to the corridors of this ship. Jian guy quickly looks back at his monitor and continues his work.

How lively.

"So, what do you think?" Out with her stern look, Himeko asks nicely beside me.

"Impressive." I pause and stare out of the window again while nodding in awe. "Very nice."

"Hm." She smiles, obviously satisfied.

"How long till we get there, anyway?" I ask while fiddling with the sling of my bag.

"With this speed?"

When Himeko taps the small terminal located on the railing, a hologram screen appears, displaying the complete globe map, the coordinates we're at in the upper left corner, and a green point symbol going towards the blue marker with dotted lines, which I believe is Shenzhou. A countdown display right above the blue marker shows me the answer already.

"An hour and a half." She states the obvious.

"Pardon me, Captain."

A new womanly voice arises as I hear the steps of someone climbing up the stairs from my right, I turn my attention to it.

Long brown hair, a pair of red eyes, she's a bit shorter than Himeko and her countenance is a small, permanent scowl, not as bad as Marie's. Although, that doesn't take away from the inherent, striking beauty of her mature face that would make men and women fall over within a heartbeat.

"Here's the report you requested." The woman hands her a datapad and Himeko kindly takes it.

"Thank you." Himeko says. Without looking at both of us, she gestures her arm from the brown haired lady to me, "Kika, this is our current guest of Hyperion for today, Kilo."

Himeko then moves her gesture from me to this Kika lady. "Kilo, say hi to Miss Kika Mushoku, the Vice Captain of Hyperion and my advisor."

Another Japanese.

Kika extends her arm, with a prominent, polite smile on her face. "How do you do, young man."

"Very well, thank you, Miss Kika." I reach her hand, shakes it with a slight nod and a smile. "And you?"

She giggles in a lady-like manner while she's shaking her head side to side, leaving me confused.

"You talk to a lot of people, don't you?" She says, "Don't try so hard to be polite."

"..."

The side of my lips twitch as my smile falter a little at her... rather charming remark of me. I let go of her hand, but she still keeps staring at me with her red eyes. What is she thinking? Why is she treating me like I am an impertinent fool? Is this how she greet every single person she first met?

What a weirdo...

"Generators stable... No faulty systems... Ai-chan is handling the database well as always." Himeko mumbles as she nods to herself while skimming through the pages in the pad. Suddenly, she stops scrolling and immediately frowns at the screen.

"We're running out of beers!?"

I cast a sidelong glance at Himeko. Her sophisticated, level-headed aura around her has faded, who I am seeing right now is an ordinary woman worrying about the lack of alcohols.

Himeko looks up to Kika, eyes wide. "Do we still have some Heineken left?"

"Unfortunately not, ma'am." Her advisor shakes her head. "We still have a couple of Guinness in the bar."

"Screw Guinness." The panicked Captain is now disgusted as her expression leaves a scowl. "Tell Alfred to fill up the beverages as soon as we are on the city."

"Understood, Captain."

"Alright..." Himeko huffs as she gives the tablet back to her Vice Captain, she then looks at me. "Go with Miss Kika to medbay."

I frown, "Why?"

"Juuust an immediate inspection, of course. Don't worry- We won't hurt you."

That's honestly convincing. I should go with this strange lady whose lovely comment of me helps my first impression of her, and hopefully she drags me down to the corner of the ship and treat me some sweets.

I roll my eyes, nodding solemnly. "Fine."

"Please follow me."

Clutching the tablet on her chest, Kika steps down the stairwell and I trail behind her, exiting the bridge section. She takes me to the corridors as we weave to the right. Crew members wander past as we pass through intersections. Every doors we pass, there are always plaques on each of them, I'm starting to believe we're lost... I am lost. No less with this lady. I'm starting to feel hemmed in. Our footsteps echo through the hall. My eyes keep repeatedly drawn at the metal flooring and to the back of Kika as we seem to be walking in circles.

"Is something wrong?" Kika glances behind while we're walking, I immediately look away.

"No, just... wondering." I trail off, but quickly gives her a question out of paranoia. "Are you also a Valkyrie, miss?"

I receive a giggle from her and then she gives a short answer, "I was."

"..."

Is she toying with me?

"We're here."

Oh, thank Christ.

We come to a halt in front of yet another automated entrance. The words "Medical Bay" are engraved into a metal plaque on the side of the door.

"I'll come pick you up, just stay there even after you're done." Kika takes a keycard from her pocket and swipes it on the keylock. "Try not to be scared with the doctor, she's-"

BOOM!

As soon as I heard a clear explosion sound coming behind that door, I quickly take a few step back, eyes wide. Followed by that, a muffled scream can be heard from the other side of that. Kika, remains still near the door, has a qualifier smile formed on her lips as she casts a sidelong peek.

"...an eccentric person." She walks away and I merely stares at her fleeting figure.

The entrance of the Medical Bay slides open. I take a precautious step as I walk in, I can hear someone cussing something loud with a foreign language that I cannot interpret.

"Zum Donnerwetter! Ich bin so verdammt dumm! Idiot! IDIOOOT!"

The door closes behind me as I move closer. Whatever this girl is talking about, I can already tell that she's extremely pissed.

As I am fiddling my bag, I take the small liberty to survey the room. It's certainly spacious, with lighting illuminating the area. Four pods lining up on my right. A computer across the room, a chair built for patients to rest and get checked with the operatory lights in front of me, which makes me wonder why this person uses dental lights, of all things.

I hear a hack from my left. The first thing I see is smoke that is dissipating with a person coming out of it. She stops waving her hand furiously and freezes as soon as she sees my figure awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.

"Scheisse."

Again, another word that I can't understand.

"Hi...?" I wave my hand with a fake friendly smile.

The woman is wearing a jaded, unbuttoned, dirty lab coat that would strike fear to any clean freaks around in the vicinity. She has an unkempt and messy, long blonde hair with a green-colored clover pin on the side of her hair, a pair of crimson eyes that are obscured because she's wearing white googles. Just like her coat, her face and her hair, even the googles have several black spots.

-And this is getting weird. She's staring at me for like a minute now and both of us are not moving an inch.

"Uhm..." I start to speak, breaking the silence. "I come here for checkup?"

"Oh!" She lifts her googles up to her forehead. "Checkup!?"

Did she just repeat my word- Whatever. I nod tentatively with a broad smile.

"Yes, checkup."

"Ja, Ja! Right this way, if you please." She moves to the computer, mashing the keyboard as the desktop pops out a window. I warily follow her and stops a few meters away.

I take a peek on the left side of the area I haven't seen. A couple of random chemistry equipment on the desk and on the cabinet: Flasks, petri disks, pipettes, and so on... A large magnifying lens stands near the desk on the wall, pointing at an unknown object, some type of little gadget, that has been destroyed by the thick smoke seeping out of it.

"I... believe an introduction is necessary, doctor?"

"-Kilo, your name, yes?"

"...Yes."

She swipes her dirty hands after typing the keyboard. The strange doctor turns and moves towards me. Slowly eating away my safe distance between me and her as I back up in a reflex.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Alvara Klee, call me Alvy, Klee, whatever you wanna call me." She stops in front of me and gauging my face as she tilts her body left to right multiple times. "Hold still, now."

With an audible pop, she clasps her hands on my cheeks out of blue. Because of our differences in height, she has to tippytoe up. My shoulders jerk up, and my entire body goes into high alert. I can only stare in dismay as this woman touches and pinches my jaw, chin, eyebrow, forehead, and nose... She doesn't let any portion of my face get away from her forceful fingers.

"Ow." My left bruised cheek burns as I yelp.

"Bit puffy... healthy skin... Do you feel slight pain?"

"Yes." and internally.

"What is this bruise you have?"

"I got punched."

"Wooow." She nods to herself, "Nice black hair."

This doctor even rubs my scalp, confusing and endangering me even further. She then pulls out a penlight from her breast pocket, turning it on with a click, then pinches out my left and right eyes with her other hands. Rather aggressively.

"Uh-huh... " She finally lets go and takes her penlight away as I instantly look away, blinking a few times. "Nice brown eyes you have!"

I furrow my brow at her compliment that feels empty to me after what she did.

She grasps my right hand, much to my utter disgust, and lifts it up. The foreign woman taps my wrist lightly with her two fingers, asking me if I can sense it, I nod in response. She goes to my other hand and does the same process. Then, she backs away to her computer and typing the keyboard once again. She mumbles about something before turning to me again with a smile beaming on her face.

"Take off your clothes."

A horror on my face as my blood runs cold, "What?"

"Clothes. Off."

"..."

The doctor rolls her eyes, paces towards me. "I have no time."

"H-Hey, wait!"

I fight to wriggle out of her hold by gripping her hands as she grips the edge of my shirt. However, she has shown to be somewhat stronger; her prowess is beyond my comprehension. She quickly removes my slightly torn off shirt, along with my bag as it drops to the ground. I defend myself by raising my arms, wary of this threatening woman.

She hums as she circles around me while clutching my shirt on her hips. The doctor examines my entire physique from head to toe. I can't help but be extra cautious whenever she's behind me, as my breathing becomes labored.

I feel violated.

"No Stigmata... Das ist interessant."

Alvara stops in front of me, crosses her arms. I narrow my eyes in a small sense of curiosity.

Stigmata?

"Unless."

The doctor slowly gazes down to my bottom. I immediately realize it as my eyes go wide.

"No, NO!" I swat her hand away before she can reaches my pants and retreats until my back hits the wall, arms raised still. "Crazy woman, I swear! I would NOT hesitate to slap your face!"

"Sheesh, sich beruhigen." She waves her hands rather sarcastically. "Alright, alright... Just, please answer this." She clears her throat, "Do you have Stigmata under there?"

"What the hell is that? More importantly, I want my shirt back."

Alvara clicks her tongue, throws it to me and I catch it. As I put on my shirt and slings my satchel back, she types her keyboard for a few seconds and a hologram shows up in the middle of the room. I see pictures of red tattoos with intriguing and complex designs floating in front of me. Some images are explicit, so to speak, the tattoos are mostly on back of random women's back, some are on the chest areas, and others that I do not want to explain any further.

"And these are Stigmatas?"

"Ja! You have it?"

Not that I recall the last time I check myself in the mirror. Truth be told, that was a week ago or two... Maybe it's on my butt that I didn't see it. No, no way it's on that part of all places.

I'll just have to say no since I am not going to be humiliated by this woman again.

I shake my head and she sighs dejectedly, typing more information about me to the computer. The hologram vanishes also. I do have a lingering interest of these Stigmatas, but that would mean I have to engage a conversation with her.

"Miss Alvara, what is a Stigmata?"

"..."

No answer. I sigh.

"Miss Alvara," This time I say much louder. "Can you tell me what is a Stigmata?"

"Oh!" Alvara quickly turns, the edge of her lab coat flies as she does so, and points at me with a finger. "To fight Honkai with superpowers." Aaand she turns around again.

That doesn't completely answer my question, woman.

Before I can get any info out of her, the door opens and Kika returns to pick me up with an all-knowing smile.

"Are we finished?" She asks nicely.

"What do you think?"

I throw my hand at the doctor who is now going back gimmicking her ruined gadget.

"Hm. Oh, Klee~~"

"Huh?" The aforementioned doctor stops and whips her body around, a grin on her face as soon as she sees Kika peeking her head on the room. "Na, Kika! alles gut?"

"Perfectly fine, Klee. Have you done examining this little, green boy?" Kika says with a mocking tone and I cast a glare at her.

"Oh, Ja. He's OK!"

"Thanks. See you around!"

There's my cue to leave, I guess. I skip out of the medbay straight away, Kika's funny, little smile is still there, fueling me even further.

"I don't want to go in there ever again."

"Hehe."

With the Vice Captain leading, I make my way back to the bridge of Hyperion. The change in the background outdoors greets us as we exit the passageway. The dark, gloomy nights and twinkling stars have given way to a stunning orange sunset.

"Hey, you're back." Himeko, still on the podium above, smiles at our arrival as we climb up the stairs. "What's wrong with your face, Kilo?"

"...Nothing."

"Yeah, Doctor Klee can be quite the handful sometimes." The Captain gives a nod of acknowledgement.

Oh, for sure...

"Haha, she does that all the time, even with the newcomers."

And please stop laughing, Kika.

I sigh internally. Diverting my attention to the sun. My concerns were scorched away by the dazzling, beautiful star.

Slow and steady as Hyperion flies, I see skyscrapers erected from the horizon. The landmarks, doubled by the color of orange, has made this an unforgettable sight to behold.

"Soukai City." Himeko says. "We're gonna arrive soon."

"Are we going to land right in the city, miss?" I say with a small smile.

"No, silly." She chuckles at my attempt at humor. "You'll see when we get there."

After descending down a thousands of feet, Hyperion floats steadily on the outskirts of the city, confusing me with a sense of interest as to why we didn't land on the water or the ground near the main city.

The ship, instead, parks above a man-made remote island. Among the many interesting structures around, the very noticeable one is the cathedral (that I had mistaken it as a castle) surrounded by the lakes with a short bridge that leads to the square area in the middle, a parterre on the opposite side of where we at, and last, but not the least, a long bridge connecting the island with the vast city of Soukai.

The crews and Kika bid farewell as Himeko takes me to the Hyperion's deck and gets on a helicopter. The seat is uncomfortable, quite sturdy, for my taste. The rotors spins, and the engine creates a defeaning, annoying sound. As I am sitting on the passenger's side, I can't make out what the pilot and Himeko are talking about at the front. All I can see is just their moving mouths and hand movements.

After a few moments up in the air, the copter finally descends and touches the grass. As we exit the vehicle, I take a glance around the new location that will probably serve as my new "home". I need to familiaze myself with this place as soon as possible. Otherwise, I would be lost and stumble upon some forbidden areas that might as well be deathtraps.

"Welcome to St. Freya Academy." Himeko says as we begin to walk to some place.

Academy - This is a school?

"Not as cool as your lovely Hyperion, miss."

"Hahaha! Someone might scold you to oblivion if she's here right now."

She then points at the landmark of the place - the Church and explains the whole area for me. Some few others that I already guessed right, such as the parterre. But she tells me there's a library a few meters from here, and I can see it from the horizon.

I nod at every piece of knowledge I gather along the way. She tells me there's the dormitory behind us. Multiple four-stories buildings. Though, it is quite a unique case for St. Freya and for the Valkyries as each squadrons have their own rooms respectively and the members live together. I admit it's very cute and, quoting what Himeko says, it's efficient for them to know better as a team.

Well, and this place is an all-girls school. Which I don't find it stressful, honestly.

As long as you don't put me in a room with them...

And, uh, we're walking miles away from it, by the way. Why?

"Shouldn't we be walking to the dorm, miss Himeko?" I jerk my thumb back.

"Nope, not there. You're staying with me and with the 5th Squad."

"Why, are they special kind of special?"

"Sort of." She grins.

"Then where is it?"

I look around, waiting for the surprise. She points out the structure in front of us, and I stop for a second. It's not a mansion, not a futuristic house with giant windows, but an ordinary looking two-story house that is not interesting at all.

My expectations were thrown right under the bus. So much for the "special kind of special".

Himeko pulls out a keycard, places it near the lock's sensor, and twists the doorknob while I ascend the wooden steps.

"I'm home!"

Himeko walks into the house, she pauses for a bit, glancing about on the ground before continuing on. When I watch her take off her shoes, I imitate her by removing both of my dirty sneakers lazily with my feet, and pushing them aside. The hardwood floor made a small creak as we walk. As we turn right from the hallway, right before the staircases that leads to the second level, all we see is blackness, with only a few rays of light coming in from the french window.

"Huh, guess they're not here..." Himeko whispers as she flips on the light switch beside her.

Now I can see everything. It's a huge combination of a living room and dining room that's adjacent with the kitchen. On the yellow-orange wall, there's a rabbit clock grinning down on us, as well as a selection of charming photographs. A large, white shelf serving as the room divider, has odd items on the upper rows and several books on the bottom row. You can still see through both of the area between the gaps. A comfortable-looking cyan three-seater lawson sofa, a flat screen TV, a little table between them, and a large pink looped-pile carpet on the floor can be found in the living room area.

The dining room has the wooden table with six seats, and the kitchen part is like your everyday kitchen room, I guess. With multiple cabinets and a fancy fridge. A counter table separates both of them.

Not as grand as I hoped for, but it's not as bad as the exterior. The atmosphere has the sense of "alive" feeling with all the furniture around, so there's that.

"Uhh..." Himeko groans behind me, fist balled on her forehead. "I'm pretty sure there's still one room left...goddamit, I'm gonna check upstairs first, stay put."

The redhead turns heel to the hallway and goes upstairs with thumping footsteps. I walk to the center of the room while still glancing around to see some more stuffs I'm missing.

I've gotta be acquainted with this house, I need to make myself comfortable. This is my new home; an unknown territory that I will share with others. Whoever they are, I just hope they won't be as bad as...

I huff, rubbing my temples. I'm starting to feel sleepy. Maybe I should lay down on the couch, and get a shuteye for a minute or two. Himeko will wake me up anyways, I don't have to worry too much.

I take my purse off as I walk up a step to the sofa. Placing it immediately on the fabric without whether caring that I'll ruin it with stains.

"-like Miss Himeko has come home already."

"Bah. She didn't even close the door!"

I heard voices. Not Himeko's. Two new, strange voices. One of them is very, very loud. I slowly gaze at the hallway as I heard footsteps coming in.

"Yeah, that's weird. Shouldn't she be a little late today?"

"Who cares, she's prolly drunk again and thought it's already morning or somethi-..."

My brown, dark eyes meet her bright blue orbs. She freezes as soon as she sees me, her look befuddled at a random stranger who has come to her resident. Though, I quickly open my mouth for the usual greetings before any sort of misunderstandings happen.

However, the latter problem hits me a bit faster.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

She suddenly screams. I scream, as well. No, it's not because she's yelling at top of her lungs that an interdimensional connection has formed spiritually between her and me, causing my physical part of my body mainly my brain on major alert, resulting an automatic trigger command to yell in fright. This statement does not happen in real life, and only serves as a comedic purpose that you'll see in anime, manga and tv shows. It is pure fiction.

I scream because this girl storms towards me in a ridiculous speed, jumps, raises her legs and dives in for a dropkick.

"Gah!"

I cough out air and my body slams back to the floor. The back of my skull hits the wood with a loud thump. Everything is spinning, I can see double layers of the ceiling above. I wish that kick could knock me out cold instead. The agony residing behind my head is awful, unbearable.

It doesn't end there. While my entire world continues to not make any sense as I groan, my right hand is grabbed by someone before I could check my head for any wounds. The next thing happens so fast, she's grabbing my arm up and twisting it a bit, preventing me from moving any portions of my hand and forcing my body to slide to the side. I yelp in pain, try to pull away using my other hand but I couldn't reach it. I end up patting my immobile arm instead, rendering me useless.

"Kiana!"

"Don't worry Mei, I've got the thief!"

"I...not a thief...!"

"Shut up, thief!"

My cry was unheard. I kick my legs on the floor as I continue to struggle to break free. The surging adrenaline cloaks the pain on my head away. My body spasms at every directions but it's not working. Maybe I should try to claw her with my right hand, as it's near her face.

"OW!"

Another yelp leaves my throat again. She bit one of my fingers as I attempted to scratch her face. There must be something I can do, anything to get out of this!

"What's going... Kiana, hey!" Himeko's voice can be heard and I think she's rushing to us based from the loud steps. "Kiana! Let him go!"

Himeko pulls her away. And I finally escape the death grip. I grasp my right arm, hissing sharply. Thank god, it's not broken. I slowly, painfully lift myself up to sit on the floor. As soon as I did that, my head throbs and I rub the back of my skull to ease the pain away.

"Kilo," I hear Himeko coming to my side, she kneels beside me. "Come on, show it to me."

Leisurely, she grasps my hand away to check the condition. I can feel her touching my hair, and I take a sharp breath when she touches the injury in a tender way possible.

"No bleeding... It's alright, you're okay."

Do I look like I am okay?

"It's still hurts..." I grumble.

"Mei, go grab an ice pack." Himeko says, still holding my body, in case that I ever fall.

"I-I'm on it."

One of the girls says in a soft tone. I can't see their faces or their characteristics. I don't exactly really care that much anymore after the whole ordeal. I keep staring at the floor, frowning, trying to suppress the ache.

I hear the fridge opens and closes in a short time. A running water. I hear another steps on the floor coming in close.

"Miss Himeko."

"Thanks." The redhead grabs the ice pack, and slowly puts it on my head.

I recoil forward, my shoulders slightly jump from the cold...a burn? I don't know anymore.

"Stop moving around."

"I-"

"Kilo-"

"J-Just, just, please give me that."

I nearly snap as I snatch the pack from her, and apply it to myself, slowly, gently. I endure the burning sensation around the back of my head. Himeko blinks away the surprise look on her face before looking up. Presumably to the girl who kicked me.

"Kiana." She speaks quietly, yet with a trace of sternness.

"I thought he's, well..."

"Here."

I was too entranced by my injury that I fail to notice a girl has knelt beside me - In a strange way; she folds her legs underneath her thighs - offering me a glass cup of water. I stare at it, then both of her hands holding the glass, and then looking up to see her face.

"Uhm... it's just water." She says, a bit timidly. I quickly raise my hand, grasping the cup.

"...Thank you." I say softly. I drown the water in one gulp. The tension washes away, in an awesome wave. I hand the empty glass back to her as she nods, gets up and goes to the kitchen once more.

I slowly get up on my feet. Himeko sees this, immediately helping me by grasping my shoulders.

"You sure you're alright?" She asks.

"Yeah..."

I'm tempted to roll my eyes. I reluctantly switch my focus of the people in front of me.

They're wearing casual clothes with different vibrant colors each. My gaze first caught at the most interesting people among the group, and also the shortest person. She has gray hair that has been cut and neatly combed into two drill-like ponytails on each side. Those matching pairs of gray eyes and her cold, stoic look already tell me a story that I shouldn't look in too deep.

And she has been staring at me critically while hugging that yellow, fierce-looking bunny doll for the last two minutes I can't help but shudder at the thought of her criticizing me over my lack of composure before. Then, my eyes widen slightly at her prosthetic legs. Metal materials. How did I think it was stockings for a sec? Did I hit my head too hard?

The second one, the tallest girl, the one who gave me the water. The prettiest of all. A long, dark purple hair that flows down to her waist. This wasn't the girl who assaulted me. Not with those two indigo orbs staring at me with innocent and concern look. With a tiny bit of fear.

Last one is, of course, the girl who kicked me. Her frontal, savage prowess betrays her slender-looking body. Her face, on the other hand, exudes optimism, bravery, confidence and... something else that I can't point it off. Her messy hair is tied two big braids hanging behind her back.

That...white hair of hers.

"..."

"W-what are you looking at?" She frowns a bit and I look away.

Girl, you best pray that I wouldn't get a brain damage.

"Enough, Kiana. Care to explain why you suddenly attacked this boy?" Himeko crosses her arms.

"...I thought he was a bad guy." The girl blushes and scratches her cheek. "Dressed like one, too."

Given the fact that I am a random stranger who pops out of nowhere in their house, I honestly can't blame them for being super cautious. I am wearing messy clothes, shirts and all. However, this white haired girl, Kiana definitely should think twice before dropkicking the person over. I can't bring myself to fathom why you choose violence head on.

"That doesn't mean that you should straight up attacking people."

"Sorry..."

"Don't apologize to me - apologize to him." Himeko points my miserable existence.

Kiana's eyes, at first, is looking elsewhere, then she gazes directly at me after. "I'm sorry..."

Her voice was cracked. I can't tell if she does mean it or not. Embarrassed? Totally.

I up my hand in a quick gesture. Showing her that I'm alright. Maybe. Still though...

"Okay, then, listen up." Himeko claps her hands and gets everyone's attention. "Everyone, this is Kilo. He's, well... You guys remember the news in one of Finland's town, Lahti?"

She questions the girls. Kiana looks like she's having hard time reminiscing as she scratches her head awkwardly. The shorter girl, on the other hand, seems like she already knows the answer but doesn't want to give her stand for some reason.

"Um, Miss Himeko, if I may." The tallest girl raises her hand, shyly says, Himeko nods her to continue. "The earthquake caused by an unknown anomaly and the entire area got forced lockdown... that's from three months ago. Prior to our recruitment from... Nagazora, is that correct?"

Huh, this girl is quite knowledgeable. I don't know why she shivers on that Naga-thing though.

"Bingo." Himeko snaps her fingers. "Kilo, here, is one of the folks."

"Huh?"

Wide eyes are staring at me the moment after Himeko dropped the bomb. I try my best to make contact at the girls, but I keep gazing away on random occasion. Probably because of my injury as I'm still holding the icepack.

"Wait, so, wait-wait," Kiana moves her hands wildly and points her finger at me. "He was in that town for THREE months?"

"Mhm, Kilo will be staying with us from now on. He doesn't have any Stigmatas, so he's not a fighter- Therefore, he's not a Knight."

That must be an equivalent title to a Valkyrie.

I move the pack to my sore cheek, I wince a little as Himeko continues to speak.

"And therefore, Kilo won't be attending in a class at St. Freya-"

Thank you, Jesus. I perk up at that with a quick smile on my face.

"-so he will be in our care. I expect you to please be nice with him and, well, don't just randomly kick him every time you see him."

The slender girl's face reddens. Though, their eyes are still looking at me with a sense of wonderment.

"Now, before I forgot, time to introduce yourselves to this young man."

The tallest girl takes the lead, straightens her posture, smiling sincerely. "Pleased to meet you - I am Mei Raiden." and ends with a polite bow, which shocks me inwardly at how well-behaved she is combined with her friendly demeanor.

This is the third Japanese female I've met in the previous couple of hours, possibly the fourth if you count Marie by her surname which sounded very Japanese-y.

"Bronya Zaychik." The shortest girl only nods and says shortly. A foreigner, could be Russian. How do you even spell or pronounce her last name? I may have to call her Bron, maybe Bronie. Something short and memorable. But that goes through over my head, as the little girl's stare is utterly jarring to me.

Third, but not the last-

"Name's Kiana Kaslana! Make sure you remember that!" She points to herself proudly as if she has forgotten the pain she inflicted upon me.

I roll my eyes at her before giving them a small nod and a wide smile. "My name's Kilo."

"..."

"..."

"It's just Kilo." Please stop with this weird silence. "No surname. Pleasure to meet all of you." I still smile all the way.

I was expecting them to ask me why, but luckily they did not. Himeko then places her hand on my shoulder breaking the awkward tension.

"Alright! I'm sure he's tired and needs some rest. You'll get to know more about him tomorrow. Now let's get you to your room." She guides me to the stairs, passing the curious looks of the girls.

"My bag is on the couch." I whisper.

"Don't worry, I'll buy you a new one."

"But my stuff is in there."

"No worries, I'll get it out. Oh, and Mei, please don't go anywhere. You and I will have some shopping to do!"

Our figures vanish to the second floor.

The following day. I'm lying sideways on a nice single bed. As my eyes open with a few blinks, the first thing I see is the brown ladderback chair and a plain study desk with some items on it. The sun streams in through the closed top-hung window. I rise slowly and take a seat on the edge of the bed. My injury has healed. I do not feel any pain when I rub the back of my head. I am lucky that I'm not experiencing any severe headaches.

This room is...uh, well, is sore-looking, per se. Since the only accessory are just the clock ticking on the wall, no computer, shelves are empty on the corner. Furnitures are just this desk and the white sliding-door wardrobe behind my corner. If I have time, I need to redo all of this mess.

Speaking of the clock, it's already six o'clock in the morning.

I slowly push myself up, yawning while grooming my bed hair down, walking to the desk. There's a note stamped on the polished wood written: "- Here's your artifacts! New shirts and pants in the wardrobe!" with a smiling emoji at the end of it.

After looking over the white clean towel, wrapped bar of soap, and still-wrapped new toothbrush, TRESemmé shampoo, toothpaste, and JnJ's foamy face wash for men, I was a little perplexed. Then I head to the wardrobe to grab my new, fresh outfits.

I slide the door and find just what I'm looking for. Two plain polo shirts, which are from the same brands, but different in color: plain green and navy blue with vivid light hues. I smile to myself, grateful they didn't choose any dark or black colored clothing for me. One pair of jeans is black, while the others are white and gray. There's also three sets of colorful boxers.

Brilliant.

I choose the green shirt and black jeans, hang them on my shoulder, take the bathroom supplies, stack them on the towel on my palm, and go out. Eager to get rid of the filthy clothes I'm wearing right now.

I thought I would have a little trouble finding the bathroom, as the doors are all the same up here. I was wrong. I can find it after a few walks in the hallway easily. A question crosses in my mind as I wonder why there's only one bathroom installed in this house, at least on the second floor. It's also shut, and I sigh before knocking on the door.

No response. I knock again just to be sure. A moment later, I'm now positive there's nobody in there. I push the door, peeking my head in. No one is in here, no sounds of running water anywhere behind the sliding tempered glass door on the side as I presume the shower and or the bathtub are in there based on the big, square shadows behind it.

I enter, twist the door lock and begin my morning routine.

I start by taking a shower - I twist the handle, the faucet spreads out water. Warm water washes my hair and my skin. I've not been taking a bath for months - The water blast yesterday is NOT what I call a proper shower - I deeply yearn this. I am thankful to Himeko and, possibly Mei, for choosing this fantastic shampoo and face wash products. Although the soap feels rough on my skin, I shrug it off and try to enjoy it. I just wish I could listen to music while doing this, like I did back in the usual years in my own, clunky, room.

After many minutes in the brief paradise, I turn off the shower, clean myself with the towel, wear myself a new boxers and head towards to the sink. Squeezing the toothpaste on the blue toothbrush, I place the paste down on the table and brushes my teeth while looking at myself on the oval-sized mirror.

There, I notice that my hair has become long, covering both of my ears and hindering my eyes even though I'd already trim it short myself a few weeks ago. I can't help but to be irked at the revolting sight of myself. It's off-looking for my taste. I have to go to a barber in the city as soon as possible.

I'm taking my sweet time as my mouth is filled with cold, but fresh sensations. Front, side, inner tooth - everything. I need to clean the germs that was hibernating in my oral for... Urgh, when was the last time I brush my own teeth?

Spitting the paste out, I lean down as I turn the sink on, cold water running from the faucet and I put it in my mouth, gurgle it around for a good second to rinse it out, and then spits it out on the sink drain.

I am now finished. Smiling to myself, I pull out one of the drawers to place my bathroom items. However, my face broadens as I see that it's occupied. Really occupied. No space to put there. I switch to another drawer, and I've gotten the same results. And another one, and another one...

I huff, genuinely annoyed. Nowhere to put my stuff in. I suppose I should take everything back into my room, I guess.

I hang the wet towel on my arm, my right hands now are full, and my left hand is left with three fingers: middle, point and my thumb from grabbing my shampoo bottle. My limbs may be packed, but I have no problem opening the door.

As I gently pull the door-

"Ouch!"

"Gweh!?"

It suddenly swings wildly open, the edge of the door hits my forehead causing me to stumble backwards but I thankfully didn't fall.

"Amagad! I'm so sorry!" The person is panicked, to say the least.

While rubbing my forehead with my fingers as I wince, I take a peek to that person.

How surprising, it's Kiana Kaslana.

"H-Hey, are you okay, you're not seeing stars, right?" She says worryingly, her eyes are a bit red as like someone who just woke up.

No, all I see is just a white haired brute who barged in without even waiting or knocking. I want to comment her extreme behavior, but that would just leave me in a bad image.

"Morning... Kiana." I smile a little through my aching forehead. I almost couldn't hide my groan.

"Oh, uh, g'morning."

Still holding up a smile, I walk past her side to the hallway while she's saying that. As I go back to my room, I instantly drop my act, rolling my eyes at the whole happy-little accident.

After adjusting myself, I head down to the first floor, not before I spare a glance at the bathroom for a reason. As I walk down the steps and head to the living room, a nice tasty aroma enters my nostril and, with a snap, my stomach grumbles quietly and I feel immense hunger. I see Mei's back on the kitchen wearing a pink apron and Bronya in the living room watching a cartoon of sort as I just heard a comedic sound effect going off.

They are all wearing white double-breasted jacket coats with brown skirts which I assume that's their school dress code. Weird design, it almost looks like a chef jacket, but after everything I've seen, I'll just accept it as normal.

"Good morning, Kilo." I can see her smiling at me while taking a second to glance behind.

"Good morning to you, Mei." I smile pleasantly at her, walk towards the dining table and pulls a chair. "Good morning to you as well, Bronya!"

"Good morning, subject Kilo."

I come to an immediate halt after pulling my chair forward as the floor creaks, my butt is several inch on the chair, turning my head and raising my brow at Bronya who greeted me with such an emotionless voice. Her eyes are still gluing at the TV.

Did she just call me a "subject"...?

"Ah, Bronya addresses other people like that, even to me." I turn my gaze back to Mei, who is still preparing the food with an awkward laugh. "There's nothing to be fret of."

"Oh, okay..." I finally sit down on the chair while still processing the words as I blink several times.

No one on this god-forsaken earth calls others like that.

"Say, Kilo, have you seen Kiana around on the way down?" Mei asks and my face somehow falters down after hearing the name. Thank goodness she has her back on, otherwise she would probably ask why and it could probably raise unnecessary misunderstandings.

"Uhh, yeah, actually. I saw her going into the bathroo-"

"-GAAAAAAHHHHHH!?"

An audible scream echoes from above as both of us looks up with wide eyes. After a moment, the purple haired girl sigh.

"She did it again..." She mutters as though this is normal. Afterwards, I ignore it and look around the room.

"Where is Miss Himeko?"

"Well, I think she was in the bathroom with Kiana."

What does she mean-... Ah, I see.

I purse my lips, taking a peek at the clock on the wall above the TV through the gaps of the shelves. It's already six-fifty, almost seven.

"Breakfast ready!" Mei says enthusiastically before delivering a plate and a bowl to me. "Here's yours, Kilo."

As she sets both of them down on the table, a powerful, raging waves of appetizing smell throws me in an inviting way. On the plate, a steamy white rice with a grilled fish that had cooked nicely. Its texture and color are looking flavorful and beiged delightfully, its proportions are enough to quench one's hunger.

The bowl, a soup of a kind, filled up and ends five inches away from the edges, those tofus had been chopped piece by piece and with the added greens on the dark brown liquid. When the steam enters my nose... my god, I would kill anything just to get the taste of it.

Adding the top on the cherry, she places down a mug of hot, steamy chocolate milk, and I absolutely adore choco milk.

I suck a good amount of air into my lungs. I try to distract myself by looking at Mei who's still setting down the meals on the table in a quick and professional manner like a five-star waitress.

"Lemme help you, Mei." I rise from my seat, but Mei looks surprised.

"Wha- Oh, no, no, it's okay. I can do it myself." She puts up a hand before going back and forth around the kitchen

That short reply just makes my desire to be plummeted down, that I should just sit tight while waiting for the others to arrive. Bronya turns the television off and walk to the table as she sits down beside me.

For some reason, I tense at the fact she's choosing to sit next to me. I keep staring at the food, utensils, the tissue, anything to get rid of this overflowing anxiety that is building up.

Is she looking at me? This question repeats itself in my brain multiple times. I dare myself to take a small glance at her. She's just a kid - what could possibly be bad about her?

I turn my neck to the side - and I watch as two gray orbs staring up at me, like it's trying to pull me into the ground.

"..."

"...Hi."

I grin to her, but can't shake this slight trembling off from my hands, making it seem like I'm giving her a weird smile. Then miracle happens, she finally looks forward to the table and sit there like a stone. I breathe in and out inwardly, trying to calm myself down from this stupid, nonsensical fear.

She didn't even blink.

"Urghhhh... " I see the white haired girl coming to us while braiding her hair, she shudders. "Auntie is really scary in the morning."

"That's because you forgot to lock it again." Mei shakes her head, removing her apron, folds and setting it down somewhere. She sits down on her seat after being done with her work.

"Yeah, yeah."

It was but a second, I swear I saw Kiana glances her eyes over to me causing me to wonder what she's thinking about me right now. Indifferent, oddity or just usual scrutiny that a lot of people I knew did to me as well?

"Morning, everyone~~!" The redhead, with her yesterday's clothes, greets us with a high spirit. After seeing the foods on the table, I can see her having a nonexistent drool flowing down from her lips. I mean, I can't blame her. I genuinely cannot wait to gobble this up.

"Hoho, I already can tell that's gonna taste great from here!"

"Of course! Mei's cooking is the number one in the entire world!"

"S-Stop it, Kiana, you're embarrassing me..."

"Da. The Bronya shares the same fact as subject Kiana. " Bronya joins in, a strange way of speaking at that; addressing her as third-person.

"Not you too, Bronya."

"Come on, don't be so flustered, Mei. Take in the flatters once in a while." Himeko sits down to my left.

The conversation goes unfold as I watch them talking side to side, in a slow, awkward motion. They appear to be so engrossed in their own world that they have forgotten about me, who is sitting on the cushion of my seat between these tables, smiling like a good, well-mannered boy. The fact that I do not know them well enough, it is impossible to not feel left out - everybody is talking about things I clearly do not comprehend and I can't keep up with the themes.

"Hey, hey, while we're talking, the food is getting cold."

"Oh crud! Time to dig in!"

"Let's eat!"

Finally.

They all speak in unison and then eating their food respectively. After putting the meat on her mouth, Kiana squeals in delight.

"Mmm! Swo dewiciouwsh!"

"Kiana - manners." Mei gently scolds while eating her food with chopsticks with natural graceful, elegant way possible. Oh yeah, she and the others are using chopsticks with their rice in bowls, while I'm the only person who's using a spoon and a fork, and a plate.

"Subject Kiana cannot be reasoned with. An idiot like her will never learn."

Kiana swallows her food hard, and glaring daggers at the short child, "What did you say to me, you brat!? I'll have you know I won the bagel tournament-"

"Kiana! Please lower your voice down, we're eating right now."

They are all seem contented... happy. Even this Bronya girl, who still has a cool, emotionless look, seems to lighten herself up. And even with all these verbal fighting. They still look...

"Hey, Kilo. What's wrong?"

"Hm?" I turn to the left facing Himeko.

"You were frowning the entire time." She says with worry.

Was I...?

"If you're feeling unwell, I can take you to the med. It's not far, just a few walks."

"... No." I slowly shake my head. "No, I'm okay."

"Just don't hesitate to ask for my help, alright?" She says and I nod.

"Yeah."

I realize the girls stopped their fight because of me, Kiana freezes while still accusingly pointing her finger at Bronya. Each of them have various expressions I cannot interpret. So, I wryly smile and nod at them, faking my shyness. I proceed to dive into my own breakfast. I take a spoonful of the fish and the rice. As I place it in my mouth-

"...!"

I gasp. Munching slowly on the food, I take delight in every single moment. It feels like the food is melting around my tongue. Cleansing every bad flavor, including the spicy tuna I ate, away in a dumpster truck. T-This tastes different. Tastes great, grand, glorious, MAGNIFICENT!

The soup is also excellent!

I take another bite at my food. I realize soon, I have almost devoured it all.

There is pang inside of me. Something illusory, a kind of abstraction. Though I am already contented with Mei's superb cooking skills, I still want more of it.

Maybe. Just Maybe. I can grab one of their food-

"Aahh, I'm full." Kiana rubs her belly while sipping her mug. My eyes widen at the plate. At every plates. They are now clean with zero specks of dirt left.

Goddamit.

Cursing to myself as I quietly grumble, I then help Mei by piling up the plates and bowls from Himeko and, cautiously, from Bronya. I deliver it to Mei who accepted it graciously, and then she moves to the dishwasher.

Kiana, meanwhile gets up, stretches her arms to the sky while moving to the couple of bags hanging on the wall, near the corner table, and grabs them. Leaving one satchel hanging behind.

"Got the bags!" She exclaims while gently swinging their bags left to right, like a child, a smile beaming on her face.

"Be with you in a second. Just head on without me."

"Nope! I'm not going anywhere without you!" She grins. But then, Bronya snatches her own bunny bag in a quick succession from her grip and walks away, leaving the white haired girl pouting and glaring at her back. I slowly sip the warm milk from my mug as I watch everyone getting ready to do their dailies. Then, a thought suddenly crosses my mind.

As I get up while enjoying my last sip of the chocolate milk, I walk around the kitchen towards Mei's side.

"Hi."

"O-Oh, hello." She's cleaning hers and Bronya's dirty mugs as the water's running from the faucet on the sink. She was somehow shocked for a bit, but quickly recovered.

"You can go with them. I'll clean this up."

A cumbersome laugh, "T-There's really no need for you to-"

"-Come on, you girls have classes to attend to, and I'm basically having these free hands." I place the empty mug on the sink, carefully taking the cup she's washing from her hands. Though, she's immediately frozen still - and I can't see her face right now.

"Hoo, how nice of you, Kilo." Himeko praises to me while still relaxing on the table and sipping her coffee, and I give her a quick happy smile...But my gaze lock at Kiana Kaslana who's narrowing her eyes at me. What did I do wrong?

"Th-Thank you." Mei gives me an awkward, rather forced, smile. She turns her heel and goes to Kiana. I have a sudden uneasiness, a familiar sting in my heart, after she looks at me like that. Though, I shrug it off entirely and proceeds to clean these cups.

"I can assure you she doesn't mean ill." Himeko comes to my side and sips her drink. "She's... well, like you, went through so much."

I stop wiping the brown mug. Like me?

"I... see." I continue to do the chore.

"We're out, Miss Himeko!"

"Yeah, I'll catch you girls soon!"

I heard Kiana's shout from the hallway, and door closing. At the same time, I've finished with the cleanings as I'm placing the mugs in the cabinet right above me.

"Not coming with them, miss?" I ask.

"Nu-uh, I have a business with you." Himeko places a hand over my left shoulder and drags me away from the kitchen. "We were gonna meet with the Principal, but eh... she's very busy back in HQ. And probably won't be back in a few days."

I glance at her, confused. "Why would I go and meet with the Principal? Didn't you say I won't attend to any class here?"

"Just a normal meet and greet. Nothing too serious." She giggles, taking the shiny satchel bag made of pure leather from the wall, and hands it to me. "All your previous stuffs are in there."

Wow, it's for me?

"Thank you so much, miss Himeko." An excited smile is written all over my face as I sling the new bag over me.

"No prob. We also got you some new shoes - you can take that old shoes to the trash - it's over there." She points at two white sneakers. "Mei chose it for you, she said that "boys should be wearing a lighter tone in their life"."

Yes, I fully agree with her. One hundred percent.

No surprises on how they get my sizes on that matter, I guess, since Himeko and Schicksal have my bio. I put on the new sneakers. Carefully; not in a hurry. Its sizes fit with me and suits me in a wonderful way, If only I can look at myself in a mirror right now.

"So, where are we going now?" I ask as we head outside.

"To the library." Himeko concludes shortly and I nearly stop my track.

"Why...the library?" I want to trim my hair...

"An assignment for you. Since you're not going to any classes, I figured I should give you a task for you to do."

And just like that the whole world crumbles around me...

"Haha! Why the long face? You seriously think you can go walk freely after I told you that you're not a student here?" Himeko giggles beside me as we walk to the other side of the island on this pavement. "You're still a kid after all, you still have so much to learn!"

As much as I have new clothes, bag and new shoes, the excitement has already fallen short. Scratch that, it's been fractured into pieces, thrown side by side like a ping-pong. The fact that I can't trim my hair today is annoying me to the core.

Himeko and I arrive at the front of this huge, square-shaped, two-story 19th century that looks like a Victorian architecture with a tower on the corner of the building. The tall double doors are opened wide for us to enter.

Inside is as grand as the exterior; marble floors that reflects ourselves, classic Victorian pillars for the foundations, giant clock with romanian numbers hanging in the middle, a staircase that splits into two paths leading to upstairs, the windows let the sunlight in as the chandeliers are off for the moment.

Well, at least it's not as your regular library which is an eyesore.

Himeko walks to the circulation counter near us to the right, and resting her hand on the porcelain. "Hello there, Wang."

The female staff looks up, I swear she had that piercing stare that could kill you in a moment and then quickly switch to a wide, friendly grin.

"Hiii Himeko, how are you~?" The Shenzhou middle aged woman then stares at me with hostility like a switch. "Who's this awful looking brat?"

Awful? It is because of my hair?

Although my eye twitches from her words hurting me like a sting, I'm still trying my best to be innocent as possible.

"Oh, he's with me. Listen, I don't have much time, so I'll cut to the chase: Can you please grant him access to the computers above. This kid strives to be a good noodle very, very much."

No, I am not.

As I slightly raise my brow at Himeko, I hear a drawer opens behind the desk and the staff slaps a card with a pin on the counter for visitors.

"Don't you dare steal the property around here, you get me? I know every nook and cranny of this library as I am the librarian." She says while pointing a finger at me. "I have eyes, and ears, and teeth every...where..."

I silently stare at the pointing finger for a few seconds, before slowly taking the pin with full caution. Himeko, like a life saver she is, drags my dazed form to the stairs while pointing out areas that I need to be.

"There's computers for you to use in every corner, history section is right there and-"

"-Miss, hold on. You still haven't told me what to do." We move to the right up.

"Oh, right, your homework for today is to learn the past about the world - mainly, Schicksal's."

I furrow my eyebrows, "I don't get it, miss. Why do I have to do that?"

"Because the world is bigger than you might think, Kilo. And you are in the center of it." She pats my shoulder in an assuring way while choosing the books. "You gotta learn the things around you again, else you'll get lost."

Well, I did just that for three months. Still don't see the reason why I should put the recaps into my head after I've escaped from Lahti in one piece.

"There we go." She piles me the last book, I now have three thick archives in both of my hands. I immediately retreat and quickly sets them down on a study table behind a computer that has been turned on. "Three sides of history; based on three different perspectives of three authors."

Jesus Christ.

"Ah, yes, almost forgot. There's a phone in your bag, call me with it if you're in trouble or need anything, mmkay?" Himeko makes a shaka sign next to her ear while backing to the staircases. "I'll send you lunch at exactly eleven or so. Bye-bye, now!"

I watch her down from the railings, waving at her with a broad smile as she waves back cheerfully. Her figure finally exits the library as I see her out of the doorway, but my sight catches the tigress look of the staff below, glaring at me with hideous eyes. I recoil back in disgust, and settle down on the study table along with three books.

Alright then, I'll start with the upper one - written by Lans van der Waarden, 1977 - skimming through first two pages about his nonsense autobiography to the main one. I am a bit bewildered that Schicksal was founded and established back in 7th century in Western Europe. They were very religious, as to what this book said, which begs me the question why my church didn't mention anything or related to Schicksal? It was probably discreet but who knows.

Oh, the word "Schicksal" that I thought it was made up? It's actually a German, which in English, means "Destiny". Hah!

I roll my eyes at that and continue to read all of it. I notice halfway through that something is lacking - background music to help me concentrate. An idea pops in my brain as I use the new phone Himeko gifted me and tuned in one of my favorite classical compositions, of course, with a small volume that only I can hear. I believe there are no other people here than myself, and I was considering turning the volume up a notch, but I recall the librarian down below and her warning against me, so I'll just leave it at that.

I try to summarize every bits of information that I can gather as my eyes speeds through top to bottom and even mutter to myself; trying to grasp their ideals and knowledge of Schicksal based on this book. There's still others, but I just focus on this one bit first, and maybe compare them later.

As I reach the halfway point of the history book, the next song on the playlist, by the lovely Engelbert Humperdinck, begins. I take a break for a few minutes, stretching and walking around while still holding the book in my hand because my ass is hurting from sitting for too long.

I'm not sure how much time has passed since Himeko sent me my lunch, but I'm guessing it's already eleven o'clock. I'm so focused on finishing this book that I've lost track of time. In other words, the sooner I'll get these done, the sooner I can get out to the city and go to a barber.

Finally, I close the first book. Groaning as I put it aside and take another break while eating my meal. It's a regular lunch box, but the scent of the food is all-so familiar when I open it. I unconsciously smile as I instantly realize this is Mei's cooking, somehow there's a pleasant fuzzy feeling scrunching around my stomach followed by a hunger.

Another thought crosses my mind as I see the numerous texts about the Honkai in that book, but no description, no background of their origin, nothing, just a brief statement of them being the existence of natural chaos. While eating the tasty meal, I move on to the computer, sits on the desk chair and surfing through the internet.

Nothing still...Just some several incidents on the many articles I've read related to Honkai.

"Hm?"

One of cities in Japan, called Nagazora, got hit recently. I remember Mei mentioned that yesterday and it piques my interest. I scroll the article down with the mouse, too absorbed on the monitor that I almost forgot to eat. Although this article doesn't mention anything about Honkai - dozens of photos from social medias, that some of them have been turned into memes, suggested otherwise. Like this one picture showed a blurry picture of a white Honkai creature jumping from the rooftops with a stupid upper caption with impact font, "Me when" and then the lower caption: "Me when the boys started to yoinky that spoinky without me".

Now I wonder, if I search anything about Mei Raiden, what would show up?

"Ryoma...Raiden? " I mutter as I read the headline. Scrolling down slowly while gauging the paragraphs with my eyes, I deftly gets the summary of it. "Ryoma Raiden, head of the ME Corp., was arrested due to proven economic fraud."

Raiden. As I look at the picture of a fair-looking man in his 30s, I notice a similarity between her and Mei. In terms of their surnames, and the look, and based from what I've read... Eh, no doubt that he's related to Mei. This Ryoma guy is her father - flesh and blood.

I lock my gaze at the image of Mei Raiden on the monitor while I'm eating her masterpiece. Himeko's words ring in my mind as I tilt my head and think. The way she mentioned about Nagazora was like a small puppy, afraid. A tinge of that hopelessness is too damn relatable. I unconsciously smile a bit.

This poor, little girl...

Now - There is one thing that is bothering me. If she was in Nagazora, that would mean she was in there during the Honkai disaster. It was a few weeks after her father's arrest warrant and then got sent to jail.

I hum, putting that thought aside as I've finished my lunch and closes the lid. Once again, I am grateful to Mei and I wish her the best from the bottom of my heart. I go back to read the rest of the two history books.

"You..." She taps the three books stacking on top of each other with her fingers. "seriously read all these in one go?"

"Absolutely." I nod with a huge smile.

It's already 3 PM. I call Himeko after finishing my supposed assignment as her so-called "private student". I didn't tell her why and gave her an excuse that seemingly reasonable enough to tell her come to come to the library. If I told her I finished the entire books, she wouldn't believe me.

And, yeah, she doesn't believe me in one bit. Her eyes squint at me like my nose is growing longer. Of course, I roll my eyes at it and leans forward on the table.

"I first read Waarden's work, and then Paul's, then Cora's. I found the three of them quite similar in some, various parts, so I just skip most of it. Though, I must say, Paul's and Cora's are... disturbingly same. Just different words, different style of writing. Not saying it's a carbon copy, though."

I give her the truth, and her face is unchanging, I sigh but still keep my smiling face on, "Alright, ask me everything."

Himeko slowly nods, accepting the challenge. "Okay... Who was the first leader of Schicksal?"

"The Great Sirius Apocalypse, died of unknown reason Nikolas Apocalypse took over, died of unknown reason, again. Now, Otto Apocalypse is running this whole..." I gesture around the library.

I wonder how that guy can live for more than 500 years. It can be just another person with the same name but... yeah, doesn't make any sense.

"And he's called?"

"An Overseer."

"Uh-huh, and how many Branch Families were there?"

"Three. The Apocalypse, Schariac and Kaslana. Each have their own symbols to date." Apparently, Kiana's got that royal bloodline. Surprise, surprise. "I gotta say, for a religious organization which went global at some point, you guys really dropped the façade of all that's holy very quick. The books did say that they waged war around the world in, uh, 1400s... but I bet Schicksal had a civil war on some occasions."

They probably got lost themselves in the petty greed. It's just one of the basic natural human impulses, after all.

"Oooh, look at you~ being smart and all." Himeko has a smile of amusement, not caring about the snark I've made. "Alright, I guess you did do your homework, huh."

I can't help but smiling proudly at that.

"However, you're wrong." Himeko leans back and crosses her arms, my eyes immediately stare at her, surprised. "A bit. Schicksal is still holding the Lord's faith to their arms, just not as extreme as they used to be."

I groan inwardly at that, "It's just a tiny mistake."

"I know." She takes the book with her, gets up and turns heel. "Your face is worth seeing though, haha!"

Here I sit and stare at her back with a frown - I am not pouting in anger, just... trying to process what is happening.

I mentally slap myself and I get up, make my way to her.

"Miss, a question." I lean my hand on the wooden shelf.

"Mhm?"

"What are Herrschers? The books mentioned something about Honkai Eruption in Berlin, 1952, but didn't gimme anything other than that. Just titles."

"Can't tell you that."

Okay, I'm being shot down just like that, poof. Onto next question then.

"And Stigmatas, those weird-looking tattoos, can you tell me what those are?"

Himeko pauses for a while as if I touched a sensitive subject. Then she slowly slips the last book in before crossing her arms and glances at me.

"You know, when I said you can ask anything to me, I didn't mean you can just ask to dig deep into the roots."

"I'm... curious."

"Limit your sense of curiosity." The redhead walks past me and I sigh dejectedly.

"You told me that I should know about the world." I say as I look her back, she stops her steps. "I did a little research, and it's just... raises more questions than answers."

"..."

A few moments of silence, until Himeko places her hands on her hips and huff to the ceiling. She raises a finger, gesturing me to come to her side. I hope she's not pissed. When I arrive by her though, instead of lashing her unproven anger to my face, she karate chops my head rather lightly with her right hand.

"...Ow?" I furrow my brows at her as she smirks and retreats her hand.

"Stigmatas are what us, Valkyries use to defeat the Honkai and the threats around." follow her to the stairs as Himeko explains. "Giving us superhuman strength, speed, skills and toughens our immune systems from Honkai radiation poisoning. Though, well, they vary from one another, so each Stigmas have their own uniqueness."

Hence why they can jump at such a height and how Kiana's kick was like being hit by a truck - Got it.

"Does it have anything to do with gender, though?"

"Well, I can't explain it to you there, but most Stigmatas sort of materialize themselves on females. Not saying males can't have those in them, if they do, they're called Knights."

" 'Materialize', miss?"

"Yeah, they are Natural Stigmatas and Artifi..." She stop as we descends down the stairs halfway, puzzled at her frowning face before she shakes her head, "Nevermind, that's all you have to know."

"But, miss-"

"Tut-tut." She raises a finger while going down the staircases, leaving me even more confused. "No more questions."

When we arrive on the first floor, I unpin the visitor card that was hanging on my left breast pocket the entire time.

"Here, thank you, ma'a-"

My heart misses a beat as she slaps the counter, along with the card in it after I place it and snatches it away like a wolf. Whatever - I just throw her a smile and be on my way.

As we walk on the stone pavement back to the house, I see many St. Freya students passing by, greeting Himeko along the way and some are looking at me weirdly and whispering something in their companions' ears. I ignore them altogether...wait.

"You never told me you're a teacher." I glance at Himeko, who laughs at me like I'm stupid.

"You never asked."

Touché

"By the way, Miss Himeko. I wanna ask something about Mei Raiden."

"Hm, what about Mei?"

"Well... " I look at the 5th Squad's residence in the distance. "Something's been itching me."

I pause to find the right words to say this. "Is Nagazora the reason why Mei became a Valkyrie?"

Himeko glances to me, "Why do you ask?"

"I find it rather peculiar... in fact, I um, think it's not a coincidence that she became a Valkyrie after her father was convicted in a crime he had done, right?"

Himeko whips her head to me, I don't miss a beat, "And after I know what happened to Nagazora, and after what happened to my hometown, I just can't keep my mind outta it."

"..."

"The cause of the phenomenon was caused by something else; not Honkai, you said." We stop right in front of the house. "So I wonder if Nagazora have the same case as well."

Her face contorts down slightly. Himeko looks to the house door front for a while before facing me as she folds her arms in front of me. Out with her carefree nature, her face becomes as cold as an ice block.

"Digging too deep will lead you nowhere, Kilo." She says sternly with zero smile, but there is a small hint of concern in her eyes. "No. More. Questions."

She's concealing something, obviously, and that just confirms my assumptions. There was a third-party caused these to happen that led Mei's father to be thrown in jail and Nagazora to went kaput. Or, maybe, Schicksal is hiding some secrets that shouldn't be discovered - some hidden agenda? Possibly. Although I was this close to pry the dirt out, but whatever...

"Okay." I smile at her. She finally eases her posture and nods to me.

Suddenly, I remember something important. I swiftly pull out my phone from my pocket to check the time - 03:40 PM - I still got time.

"Uh, miss. Can I please go out to the city to get a trim?" I politely ask, pocketing my phone back.

Himeko is thrown aback as she gauges my long hair. "Your hair looks nice already."

As much as I love that praise, no. I still want to get a haircut.

"I prefer it being short." I chuckle. "Long hair is just, you know, gets everywhere."

Also, making me look like a disgusting emo.

"You don't have to take me to the city, or anything."

"I don't intent to."

Ouch...

"I still have work left to do." The redhead blinks while rubbing her chin, gazing at my look for a bit before nodding to herself. "Stay put, I'll be right back."

I nod as she walks into the house. I take a look around and take in the scenery surrounding St. Freya. From here, a building piqued my interest on the far side of the region as I narrow my eyes at it. Although the architecture is the same, the color and ambiance are in stark contrast to the other structures. Dark, gloomy, hundreds of roots have enwrapped the walls. I presume it's abandoned, but why would you leave it like that...

The sound of the door opening coming from behind. Turning, I see Himeko's carrying a pink umbrella, a folded jacket, some money and a green card.

"Here, take this with you." She hands me a white with yellow-stripped hooded jacket with Schicksal logo on the chest.

"What for?"

"In case it's cold."

"But it's hot out here."

"Whatever, just take it, weather report says it's gonna rain in the next hours or so." Himeko takes my hands up while I'm scanning the sky above, well, true to her words, dark clouds are forming around. "Umbrella, four-hundred Yuans - Don't spend them all in one go - and Public Transport card."

The moment I look down, I see both of my hands are filled with those things. Carefully, I pocketed the card and the money while trying to balance the umbrella on the folded jacket.

"Bus stop is near the gate. Next transport is gonna arrive in... " She checks her watch. "twenty minutes, so you better get going."

I place the umbrella down, leaning it beside my leg and slip on my jacket. I leave the zip open. The jacket is too tight for me. I don't know how to feel about this.

"Drop off at Sheng Yu Xie Chang Street, there's a barbershop close by."

"Got it, thank you, miss."

"Mhm, just be careful." Himeko enters the house and closes the door. I'm heading to-

-She opens the door slightly and glances out, "Come back before six, else you're gonna miss the dinner!", and closes the door again.

Mei's cooking?

"I will!" I shout to the door, taking the umbrella before jogging my way to the bus stop.

Oh, I certainly will.

A/N: This chapter was supposed to be a wee bit longer, but I just decided to cut it in two parts. It wasn't supposed to end here, but I was in a flow that I didn't notice it's already passed my minimum words per chapters lol.

As of the reviews, favs/folls, I thank you so much for the supports! It really, really helps me a lot especially when this is my first fanfic. I thought that I'd get like 3 or 2 numbers from the prologue, but you ladies and gentlemen exceeded my expectations! Again, I am very grateful for that.