"So your dad left when you were a kid?"
"Yea!"
"And you think that I'm probably your... long-lost brother or something since he dipped?"
"Yea... I haven't really seen anyone else with white hair and blue eyes like me other than dad before so..."
I paused, my hand moving to my mouth as I processed her words.
After a moment of silence, I found myself asking. "What's your dad's name?"
"Siegfried Kaslana!" Kiana's eyes practically sparkled with hope, at least I thought so?
It really felt like she wanted me to be someone-anyone-related to her.
Not gonna lie, she looked so sincere that it almost made me toss out my suspicions against her.
However...
"Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm an orphan"
"Ah?"
"And your surname is Kaslana while mine is Gojo..."
"Ah???"
"Plus, I've seen other guys with white hair and blue eyes before. Just that other day, I saw a guy getting some booze from a store." My eyes up looked up as I recalled that day. "Yea, I think he even had some fancy pistols under his jacket or something..."
Saying this, I looked at Kiana's expression.
Well, it wasn't very difficult to when Kiana nearly jumped at my face.
"What?!! Were those pistols like... really big?! And like... really cool?!!"
"That... isn't a very detailed description of what you want. But if it helps, it kinda looks like a Nerf gun?"
"Does he have long hair? Tied up in a ponytail?"
"Yea..."
Kiana's hands slammed on the table as she was vividly beaming with excitement. "That's it! That's gotta be him!"
"Hahaha! I've finally found you, stinky dad! You can't hide from me forever! Hahahaha!!!" Kiana celebrated as she pumped her fist in the air.
My face was neutral as I just stared at her.
At this point, I had watched her enough to tell that she wasn't lying.
How I could tell?
Do you really need to ask at this point?
But even if she wasn't lying, the coincidences were still weird.
Is it really just a funny misunderstanding? Or...
Regardless, it was better safe than sorry. I don't think that I need to worry too much about Kiana in particular, but her background still needs some... understanding.
All I'm getting from her right now, is that her dad, who could possibly be that man I saw that day according to her, left her. Was it some sort of anime thing where they left their kids at an early age for them to grow strong?
Kiana seemed to have celebrated enough at this point as she calmed down a bit. Her hands were still slightly jittery but she composed herself to ask, "Well em... can I ask where you saw that gu-"
She froze.
And at that moment, a pulse, so small that normal people couldn't even detect rang through the air.
Kiana's expression morphed into one of uncertainty. Her fingers, which were once jittery with excitement stilled and her hands seemed to reach for her belt, before recoiling as she noticed nothing was there.
My eyes narrowed.
I looked around, only to see no special reactions from the others in the shop.
I turned back to her. "Anything wrong?"
"Err nothing haha." A nervous laugh sprang from her throat. "I errr... just to go to the bathroom for a bit... Can we talk about my dad later? Thanks."
Kiana didn't even let me finish as she burst into a sprint.
Looking at her leave, I smirked.
"The toilet's the other way..."
--------------------------------------------
Sprinting along the streets, I kept a steady pace behind Kiana.
I was lucky that she wasn't running at full speeds yet. All the obstacles getting in her way slowed her down massively.
Even with that, it took a huge amount of effort to stay close enough to still see her.
Then...
*Clunk*
A jolt shot through my body. My strides stretched further, smoother than before.
My breath hitched. Already?
It wasn't this fast nor this potent before...
So was it Kiana? But there was that pulse...
Tsk... there isn't enough time to think about this. Kiana was slowing,
I came to a halt behind a tree, trying to stay away from Kiana's sight. Looking around, I found myself questioning...
What did that pulse have to do with Nagazora Park?
I guess I'd find out now.
Kiana's back was tense. She reached for side again, only to curl her fists when she realised once more that she didn't have anything there.
She took another step forward, and I followed.
As we went began to go further and further into the park, I kept my breath calm and my heartbeat steady. I couldn't afford to get excited and make bad decisions. Not at this moment.
The near silence of the forest was eerie. The faint rustling of leaves in the evening breeze felt almost unnatural, as if the trees themselves were holding their breath. Kiana's footsteps were the only steady sound, crunching softly against the dirt path.
Kiana, ahead of me, turned dead silent.
"Come out." Her voice was chilling, a stark contrast to her previous demeanour.
As if in response to her, guttural groans sounded from the darkness as shadows, multiple of them, emerged from the foliage.
Pale skin revealed itself as the evening sun shone upon them.
No...
No way right?
Were those... zombies??
But... they didn't seem like The Walking Dead kind. Their skin was intact, albeit pale. Their eyes shone with a purple glow. Their movements were steady, yet I could tell they were ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
This world...
Is this a zombie apocalypse type world?
I had already come to the conclusion that this world wasn't ordinary, but the zombie apocalypse kind was a bit too much.
I was expecting more of a "Fighting the darkness of the world behind the scenes" type of thing.
Or maybe... that is the case still? Just with zombies as part of the mooks.
I'd lean more towards the latter, considering Kiana seemed to be relatively familiar with these creatures.
Still, my issue was my lack of info.
Not knowing of my lamentations, Kiana's voice rang out, "C'mon. I'm gonna take all of you buggers down!"
The fight was short but spectacular.
Kiana made relatively short work of the zombies, easily dodging their blows and... smashing their heads like a guy would smash a pinata at their birthday party?
I had almost forgotten how violent her fighting style was.
But one thing made me wary. Those zombies, they weren't as slow as the ones in the Walking Dead as well.
It felt like they were juiced up on some steroids or something.
A normal person would probably die in a one on one against any of those girl zombies.
The only reason it seemed this easy to take them out was because it was Kiana doing this.
Not only that, the zombies actually... disintegrated into particles as they die?
*Clunk*
Oh? Interesting.
I put my thoughts away for later as I got up.
Kiana was about to finish up.
As she finished with the last zombie, a phew came out of her mouth as she placed her hands on her waist. "Hehe, you guys are no match for Kiana Kaslana."
"That's nice. But can you tell me what's going on?"
Kiana Kaslana's body froze as she slowly turned to the source of the voice.
There I was with my arms crossed, leaning on the tree, as I looked at her with a smile.
"This all seems kinda interesting, don't you think?"