2013 December 13th

Nagazora City

A city in Honshu, Japan that is left in peace and secured by those that are Schicksal valkyries and soldiers and Anti-Entropy military, much like the rest of the world, the citizens are marching, driving and doing their own thing.

Walking in the same direction are school students that are from Chiba Academy, moving towards a building.

"Kiana!"

"Kyuushou?" Kiana continues to walk as she's encountering a dark haired girl, Houraiji Kyuushou.

Kiana Kaslana and Houraiji Kyuushou appear in a similar school uniform, but the difference is that Kyuushou has bandages on her left arm and wears a blazer on her shoulders, making her look like a chuunibyou or a delinquent.

Kiana is not the type to make friends, unless it's beneficial. She remains calm and quiet while walking with her friend.

"You seemed quiet after leaving the hospital a couple of days ago." Kyuushou said while walking by Kiana's side.

"Wasn't I always like this?" Kiana asked.

"Not really."

While half of it is true, Kiana is always alone after her father's disappearance and she doesn't socialise well with those who're strangers to her.

Kyuushou was an exception after they made friends with each other years ago.

What made Kiana distant even more is the incident with a girl named Asakura Mizuki after killing her in self defence and was proved innocent, but it led her classmates to bully her and push others away from her.

To rub salt in the wound, Kiana ended up in a hospital a day after being proven innocent, leading her to live a miserable life.

Not that she cares as Kyuushou is the one of the few that actually cares for Kiana herself.

Then Kiana has her eyes on a certain purple haired girl in a similar uniform, except it's black.

"Hey, Kyuushou."

"What is it, Kiana?" Kyuushou turns her head towards Kiana out of curiosity.

"That girl… She's the daughter of the ME Corp president, yeah?"

"You're right. That's Raiden Mei, she's the daughter of Raiden Ryoma and the queen of this school." Kyuushou sighs as she explains with a snarky tone. "She used to be so popular with the boys that they wanted to be the ones to date her. Ever since her father's arrest, Mei is in a similar situation as you."

"Huh. Like me? And I thought I was the only one, but who cares?" Kiana shrugs her shoulders.

"Apparently, I do." Kyuushou admitted.

To Kiana, Kyuushou, despite being a chuunibyou, is far more understanding than anyone around her in life and this isn't what Kiana desired but was admittedly glad.

"Also, where's Cecilia?" Kyuushou asked.

"She might be ahead of us. Or maybe she's skipping school again." Kiana groaned.

What stops her and Kyuushou from chatting are a bunch of girls appearing before them.

"Hey, Kyuu! I heard your grades are improving surprisingly!" One of the schoolgirls arrives as she and her group are dragging Kyuushou forward away from Kiana.

"Ah! Yeah. Um. See ya later, Kiana!" Kyuushou waves.

Kiana can tell why they took Kyuushou away, she can see the glares of other girls as they know what she's doing with Kyuushou, even though Kyuushou appears to have a chat with her.

In the end, it's not worth arguing with anyone around her.

"Where is Cecilia?" Kiana mutters to herself.

Checking in on her phone, Kiana reads that the Honkai energy is middle to low as some of them are either nearby or dead.

No one knows but her.

Chiba Academy

At lunchtime, walking up the stairs, carrying her bento box full of lunch, Kiana is preparing to eat all alone while watching her classmates, despite not wanting to be friends with them.

If anything, maybe Kiana had something hidden under her uniform after being hospitalised.

As she opens the door to a rooftop, she comes across a similar girl that she and Kyuushou talked about earlier, who was standing behind the fence.

Fortunately, she has caught Mei's attention which led her to approach Mei herself.

"Hm?"

"You're Raiden Mei-senpai, aren't you?" Kiana asked.

Raiden Mei said no word while looking away from Kiana.

Even bullied girls like Mei are difficult to talk to considering Kiana is also bullied as well, despite different reasons of why they were.

But to Kiana, jumping down the building is meaningless.

"You wanna talk? I mean I normally eat here." Kiana offers, which stops Mei from moving towards death's doorstep.

To Mei, why is that girl not hostile towards her.

Then it caught her attention after remembering who that girl was.

5 minutes later.

Eating an onigiri, Kiana is giving one out for Mei to eat as both girls are watching their schoolmates doing activities together, leading Mei to sigh and Kiana stretching her arms up.

"Man! To think I would be enjoying it all by myself. I guess I saved you, huh." Kiana said.

Mei sighs and then looks in the same direction as Kiana.

"I heard a lot of things about you. It was on Chiba Academy's social media. You must've been through a lot." Mei pities Kiana after hearing what happened to her earlier.

"Nah, don't be. I'm used to it. I don't have much besides my auntie, my sister and a friend." Kiana points out as she has no reason to feel bad about herself.

"Really? You're lucky. I don't have anyone. My father's gone and I have no one to contact. But seeing you, you're unlike anyone around this school. Oh! I heard you're an exchange student from the Philippines." Mei can tell where Kiana transferred from.

"Well, I've been around the world before. I've been from Northern Europe to Italy to Haiti to the Philippines to here in Japan. And That's when I was with my dad and my sister." Kiana answered.

"I-... I didn't know. Your father must've travelled a lot."

"Well what do you expect? Dad is the hero I see and a coward for leaving me and my family." Kiana sulks which had her realising that she's talking about her father to her schoolmate.

"So you missed him, huh?" Mei asks.

"No! Like hell I miss him! I hate him for running away!" Kiana snaps.

This then quickly cools down as Kiana sits back down and lowers her head.

"Sorry. I just can't stand thinking about my old man."

"It's okay. I'm used to this kind of tone." Mei sighs.

Even though Kiana hates her father, Mei is right about her missing her father.

"You know, Mei-senpai, I normally see you being kind and being close to others. But I guess that incident led you to become like this, huh." Kiana finishes her onigiri and lifts her head up by staring at the blue sky.

"Yeah." Mei agreed.

"I'm marked as the 'Schoolgirl killer,' just because of what happened to Asakura Mizuki."

Mei understands why Kiana is always alone everytime she sees her.

"Mei-senpai, do you know what a Honkai is?" Kiana asked.

"Hm? You mean the ones we saw and were blocked by the military? Yeah, they're known as Collapse, as if their goal is to create a collapse on earth." Mei answered. "But what's their origin?"

"Heh. That's why I'm here. Hunting down Honkai may be dangerous for you guys, but to me, it's Tuesday." Kiana explains.

"So you hunt Honkai down on a daily basis?"

"Well… Only if they hurt anyone, especially my family. I won't back down if I come across one." Kiana answers the question Mei asked.

Afterwards, Kiana checks her phone again, but this time it's the time itself.

"Lunchtime is almost over. How about we meet after school, huh?" Kiana offers while finishing her lunch with Mei.

"Eh? But we just met. Also judging by your attitude, you're not the type that goes around the people who you meet." Mei points out which stops Kiana from walking away.

"Good point. Tell you what, how about we can walk over to my place. Auntie's cooking something tasty tonight. Oh, and call me Kiana."

Mei can tell how Kiana feels after discussing their side and their experiences, leading Mei to realise that Kiana is not only unique to her, but charming in a way that shows her true nature.

As the door closes, Mei can feel something she lost for a long time.

Happiness.

"Kiana… We'll meet after school then."

After school, Kiana yawns while carrying her own bag and waves her twisty hair while marching towards the gate.

"So Cecilia is at home, huh. Great…" Kiana mutters under her breath.

"Yo!" Kyuushou appears while patting Kiana's shoulder.

"Kyuushou? Didn't the girls told you not to be associated with me?" Kiana asked.

"Yeah, but I wanted to hang out with my girl and best friend. I heard you and Raiden-senpai talked to each other. That's awesome! I'm jealous!"

"There's nothing to be jealous about. Besides, Mei-senpai is kinda nice when you talk to her."

"For real!? I was expecting a bit of fallout between you and senpai."

"What? You think Mei-senpai is the type that hates others?" Kiana raises an eyebrow out of confusion.

"Not really. I thought you two are very distant without any exception." Kyuushou answered.

At the gateway from school, Kiana and Kyuushou come across the similar Raiden Mei who was waiting for Kiana to come.

"Mei-senpai." Kiana called.

"Hm? Ah, Kiana. Houraiji-san?" Mei stops, witnessing Kyuushou arriving by Kiana's side.

"Hey, Raiden-senpai. So you and Kiana are on good terms with each other? Man, now I'm really jealous." Kyuushou sighs as she chuckles.

"Yeah. Kyuushou and I met each other a while ago. You could say we're friends." Kiana explains.

"Yep! You're welcome to join the cool girls' club." Kyuushou laughs.

"Really? Thank you. I'll always be by your side. Kiana, Houraiji-san, I guess you're different from those around me." Mei giggles.

"Duh! We don't hang around in other circles, so Kiana and I always have each other." Kyuushou said.

"And what about her sister?" Mei asked.

"Cecilia is usually lazy and skips school is why she ended up with low grades. She also eats so much that she'll end up becoming a fat whale." Kiana spat out with contempt.

"Trust me, Cecilia sometimes tends to be a weirdo in school and was reported a lot for disobedience. But she's just like Kiana, smart and hard working, but terrible at history lessons." Kyuushou explains to Mei about the Kaslana sisters.

"Hey! At least I'm learning!" Kiana snaps.

Afterwards, both Mei and Kyuushou laugh as Kiana groans.

Kiana and Mei had never had this much banter and fun ever since their past experiences. Kyuushou makes their day even better.

Kaslana Residence

"Well, see ya! I hope you get well, Kiana! You too, Raiden-senpai!" Kyuushou waves while leaving.

"Thanks. See ya, Kyuushou!" Kiana calls.

"See you tomorrow, Houraiji-san!" Mei calls as well.

With Kyuushou leaving the girls, Kiana and Mei are standing in front of a house that is owned by the Kaslana family.

"Come on. We can talk in my room." Said Kiana.

Mei follows as Kiana opens the door and invites herself in.

"Auntie! I'm back!" Kiana called.

"Hm!? Big sister Kiana!" Appearing in a split second is the one that looks exactly like Kiana but with twin braids, diving with excitement as Kiana herself swings her leg down by slamming the girl on the floor.

"Cecilia. Why did you skip school?" Kiana's tone becomes harsher as Cecilia Kaslana, Kiana's sister, groans while picking herself up in pain.

"Ehh… Ow… I got bored, so I was doing some sightseeing."

"By doing nothing and playing Kallen's Fantasy?" Kiana has caught Cecilia off guard by knowing the background song playing.

"Trust me, Cecilia wouldn't shut up so I have to give her pizza toast." The one who's short and appears to look less like Kiana is Kiana's aunt, Theresa Apocalypse.

"Geez." Kiana sighed.

"Ehehe… Sorry." Cecilia apologised.

To Mei's surprise, Kiana's family are similar in their colour scheme and appearance, even witnessing her schoolmate Cecilia Kaslana.

"Hm? Mei-senpai! Bfft!" After Cecilia cheers as she encounters Mei, Kiana elbows her face and then raises her arm to her family.

"Oh, this is my schoolmate, Raiden Mei. Mei-senpai, this is my auntie Theresa." Kiana introduces Mei and Theresa to each other while taking off her shoes.

"Raiden-san, hm." Theresa remembers the name Raiden while keeping herself quiet.

"It's nice to meet you… Um." Mei stops, thinking if she could formally address her as Kaslana.

"Address me as Apocalypse-san. I know I haven't got the similar names as Kiana and Cecilia, but I am their aunt." Theresa bows respectfully.

"Ah. Then it's nice to meet you too, Apocalypse-san." Mei bows as well.

"Hmph. Since you're here, Raiden-san, I'm cooking something if you want to eat with us." Theresa offered.

"Thank you very much, Apocalypse-san." Mei respectfully bows and then follows Kiana towards Kiana's bedroom.

As the bedroom door closes, Kiana sits down and sighs with relief.

"Since we're here, I was thinking… Do you study with anyone?" Kiana asked.

"Sometimes. Why do you ask?"

"It's for the test! I know you can help me!" Kiana never begged before, but Mei's an exception as she wanted some assistance when it comes to study.

"Not today."

"Hm… Figured you say that. Phooey." Kiana breathes out while lying down on her bed.

What caught Mei's attention was something under her uniform.

"Kiana, can you take off your shirt?" Mei requested after clearing her throat.

"Huh!? Mei-senpai, are you trying to be a perv?" Kiana teasingly asks while rubbing her upper body.

But Mei is serious while staring straight at Kiana, leading Kiana to sigh and stand up from her bed.

"Alright. You wanna know why I went to the hospital?"

Afterwards, Kiana takes off her sailor uniform top as she's about to reveal her secret that her classmates knew.

"Are those…"

"Scars? Yeah." Kiana cuts Mei off by finishing the sentence.

In Mei's eyes, Kiana appears to have a large claw mark on her torso and the one in the middle has gone all the way from her shoulder to her stomach.

"Did a Honkai do this?" Mei asks with surprise.

"I think so. I woke up and then suddenly I was bleeding under the bedsheets. Luckily, auntie Theresa called the ambulance to help stop the bleeding. When I was hospitalised, I couldn't sleep. It's strange that a Honkai snuck in to get me or something. Maybe I shouldn't have left the window open earlier." Kiana explained.

"I mean… It doesn't sound this absurd, knowing how common Honkai attacks are." Mei commented on the situation. "Is this one of the reasons why you're bullied?"

"Bingo. You got that right." Kiana chuckles.

"Ah. Hey, Kiana, um…" Mei slowly lowers her head while trying to take a deep breath. "It may be inappropriate, but may I touch your… Body? Y- You know, for research purposes!" Mei asks while trying not to sound indecent.

"Oh. Sure. I mean there's nothing wrong with being a pervert… Sometimes." Kiana accepts while letting Mei touch her stomach.

When Mei slides her fingers on Kiana's scar, Kiana herself whimpers as she yelps which makes her out to have a sensitive body.

"Huh? Are you this sensitive." Mei raises a brow, confused about the reaction Kiana made.

"N- No! I was just… Okay, maybe this scar made me feel queery…" Kiana admitted.

"If you're that sensitive, why didn't you tell me?" Mei squints her eyes while looking into Kiana's eyes.

"Okay! Just a little." Kiana quietly answered.

As Mei rubs her hand as Kiana's bright skin clashes with a dark scar which is surprising to Mei herself. Her skin feels smooth as well as her scar as if Kiana is taking care of herself.

While Mei still rubs Kiana's torso, a door slams open which appears to be Cecilia calling.

"Kiana! Mei-senpai! Auntie's dinner is ready!"

"Cecilia!?" Kiana exclaimed.

"Eh!? Cecilia!?" Mei yelped.

Cecilia stops as she's staring at Kiana in a white bra and Mei still has her hand on Kiana.

"Hoho!~ I see how it is, you girls are gonna do it together without anyone watching." Cecilia giggles as she pulls a smug smile.

"N- No! It's not what you think!" Mei exclaims whilst standing straight up out of shock.

"Cecilia, you pervert… We're not like that." Kiana sighed.

"No excuses! I'll make sure to give you guys some privacy until you're done. Wink!~" Said Cecilia.

Kiana grabs her sailor uniform top, in order to put it back on while looking disgusted. "Ugh… Hold on a moment, let me get my clothes on. Then we'll have our dinner."

"Man! I was hoping for you to get naked, big sis!" Cecilia groans out of disappointment.

"Geez… You really are a nuisance."

After Kiana puts her top on, she realises that Mei is new to this chaotic household.

But Mei found it amusing after seeing how chaotic the Kaslana household was inside.

As Kiana sighs, Cecilia and Mei are laughing as they actually had some fun together which to Kiana and Mei is rare for them to actually smile.

Looks like they found each other.

After Mei's invitation, she's having her meal with the Kaslana family which is enjoyable to her.

But Mei unfortunately has to leave back to her home after thanking Theresa for the meal.

Later.

Watching Raiden Mei walking from the Kaslana Residence, Theresa is on the phone while looking serious, knowing who Raiden Mei was.

"What is it?"

[The third Honkai eruption is coming in a few months. Prepare yourself.] A man's voice called.

Theresa grunts, realising that the girls she raised are now in grave danger after knowing the Anti-Entropy military are doing a terrible job safeguarding humanity. Although the Schicksal valkyries and soldiers are no better in her opinion.

"You're calling me at that time. Why?" Theresa bitterly asks.

[Just to give you a warning. Also, have a happy Christmas with your nieces.]

Beep.

Theresa can tell the future is grim, but this is worse than she thought which leads her to change plans for February 2014.