As we walked around the area, Kiana, Mei and I began our search.
Kiana was very actively placing posters everywhere and interrogating people on the street about Siegfried- this time with a burner phone number on the posters rather than her own. Each failure didn't seem to deter her as she just kept asking on.
Case in point?
"Hello mister! Did you see a guy with long, white hair and blue eyes? He's kinda tall, and he's a bit of a deadbeat too!"
"Errr sorry I haven't seen someone like that..."
"Oh ok, thank you!"
Of course, with such a large pool of people to ask, we came into contact with some of the more... unsavoury groups.
Nothing a bit of mixed doubles action from Kiana and I wouldn't solve.
Kiana clearly understood as well as I did that violence solved many problems.
Mei was unphased as well, to my surprise. Sure, she was some sort of jinchuriki to a super powered being, but I didn't think that she would be this calm even in the face of threats.
Maybe she had a bunch of bodyguards hiding in the shadows?
That was actually pretty likely.
I wonder if they are ninjas. This is Japan right?
But other than that, Mei and I didn't have much to do since Kiana was so motivated in her search. The most we had to do was just put a few extra posters around.
"So... Mei, can I call you that?" I started off.
Mei blinked at my words. Her whole body tensed for a moment before quickly relaxing as she smiled. "Sure. I don't mind. Is it ok if I call you Satoru as well?"
"I don't mind, but everyone usually calls me Gojo. I'm more used to that name."
"Gojo then?" Mei asked. Her expression changed slightly, a bit like she wanted to ask something else but she stopped.
My eyes narrowed imperceptibly.
"Something on your mind?"
"Ah, you noticed?"
"Well, it's hard not to notice a pretty girl looking at me like that, don't you think?"
Mei let out a cough in embarrassment. "I... just didn't know how to start."
"Then what's up?"
"Well..." Mei stopped pasting the poster. "I think... I have some memories of that day..."
Crap
That wasn't unexpected to be honest, but I really hoped that this wouldn't happen. Of course, hoping that it wouldn't happen did not mean being unprepared for it.
"What do you remember?" I asked. I made sure to keep the look and the tone of a concerned classmate. Just enough to sell it.
It would be bad if she was just hallucinating and I gave away information haphazardly.
"It's... hard to say..." A blush appeared on Mei's face. "You might laugh at me..."
"Trust me. You can't beat what Kiana says on a daily basis."
"She is quite... unique." Mei agreed. "But, I do seem to remember that I confronted you?"
I raised an eyebrow. At that, she seemed to realise that wasn't such a good thing to say as she quickly continued. "I'm not too sure about that. It's more of a few bits and pieces more than anything else."
"Well, you wouldn't be the first girl to confront me."
"That's... not very reassuring?"
"Yeah, since the girls that confront me want to bash my face in."
Mei sweatdropped hearing that.
Her composure returned though as she became serious once more. "There was just one more thing..."
"What is it?" I asked, keeping the 'concerned classmate' mask on. I tried my best to suppress the twitch on the edge of my lips.
Well... I was technically concerned... but it wouldn't be what she would think I would be concerned about.
Mei closed her eyes. "We were the ones that caused the school building's damage right?"
...
Didn't you say that you just have fragments? Isn't that basically the entirety of what happened?
Regardless, this was good information. Does that mean that the being's memories would be held by Mei?
Questions, questions.
At my sudden silence, Mei shook her head and laughed weakly. "I'm sorry. That was a silly question. How could that even be possible?"
Oh Mei... if only you knew.
"It's fine..." I waved it off. "It happens, especially around this age..."
Mei's let out a breath at that, but her face paled again when she noticed the implications of my words. "Wait... it's not like that!"
"Don't worry. I'll keep your secret."
"I'm not a chuunibyou!!!"
"Sure Mei. Let's go looking for Kiana now. She's been gone for a while."
"Gojo!"
"Look, there's Kiana now."
"Guys!" A loud shout, very obviously from Kiana, filled the street. It caused quite a few looks as she ran over, sweat dripping down her forehead.
"What's going on Kiana?"
"I found someone with info about my dad!!"
Wtf?
Seriously?
There are traces of that deadbeat?
My feelings towards Siegfried were kind of mixed. Even if him leaving was supposed to train Kiana, it was still super irresponsible.
I understand that hardship breeds strength and character, but what type of hardship is leaving a kid alone? I really can't understand it.
And Kiana's character... is still a little interesting, at least with me.
Personally, I don't think that she'd act so reckless when she's alone.
"What did you get?" I asked with a serious look on my face. Mei's panicked expression melted away as well as she heard Kiana's words.
"Some lady at a bar saw him before! She told me that that irresponsible guy was flirting around there while drinking all the time!!"
That sparked a reaction from Mei and I.
Guess the guy leaving wasn't 'tough love' but more of 'new love'.
A look of sympathy appeared on Mei's face. "Are... you okay Kiana?"
"Ha! I'm more than fine! I've found him at last!"
Mei wanted to say more, but it was clear that she felt that it would be out of line of her to say any more than that.
Kiana put her hands on her hips. "Dad's been flirting with girls ever since back then. He'd take me to the bars and teach me how to flirt with girls."
Flirt... with girls?
What in the world...
"C'mon!" Kiana's overjoyed laugh broke us out of our stupor. "Let's go back and get more info from that lady!"
And with that, the three of us left without another word.
Just as we were about to leave however, I suddenly felt an intense stare at my back.
I instantly turned backwards, looking directly at the source of that stare.
Nothing...
But I knew that there was definitely something there.
Was it the people who caused the Honkai pulses back then? Or was it Siegfried Kaslana around here staring at us?
Only time could tell.
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give me some criticism so that I know how to improve. If you liked the chapter, please give me some powerstones.)