"Yo!"
"Are you ok?"
"What the #$*& happened???"
I think you can guess who said what.
With a shrug, I just said. "Gas leak I think."
"You're not hurt are you?" Mei asked with trepidation in her voice.
"Mei, you don't need to worry about him getting hurt by that. He got hit by a bullet before and was completely fine!"
"I told you that the bullet didn't hit me..."
"Yea... I'm guessing neither did the explosion then?" Kiana looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You don't even have dust on you."
Uh... oops?
Why can't you act as dumb as you normally do right now Kiana?
Mei was surprised when she heard that, but she didn't get a chance to speak when Kiana continued her barrage of questions.
"And what's that under your jacket? Why is it bulging?" Kiana questioned. Hearing that, Mei stared blankly for a moment before her ears began turning red.
"Kiana... you..."
"That isn't for kids to know." I said, ignoring Mei's outward reaction.
"I was born earlier than you were!"
I covered my ears. "Lalala, I'm not listening."
The bickering continued for a while before we all finally decided to head home. Mei, being a pretty nice girl(other than the fact her other persona tried to kill me at school) checked with me whether I was alright again before we left.
After reassuring her that I was fine, we all went back.
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In a forest on the outskirts of the city, a glowing red light pulsed in the darkness.
It flared, violet and hungry.
And then...
Boom
A loud roar erupted in the forest, causing the animals, whether hunter or prey to scatter in panic. Those that were too close to the light, were unfortunately devoured as nothing was left behind by it.
The ground liquified under the blast, bubbling like molten lava. The area trembled, as if an earthquake had hit the area as the bright light rose into the sky.
It was as if the sun had fallen onto the earth.
"This shit is so fucking op!"
I stared at the aftermath of firing Shamash, or the Judgement of Shamash according to Kiana. The entire area in front of me had been completely decimated from just a shot from it. Not even ashes remained of the trees and the animals around 100 meters in the direction I had fired towards.
If I shot it at a building...
And I only had one of them. Imagine if I had the other.
Please Siegfried, come visit me again soon...
Swinging the pistol around from the handle a few times again, I slowly came to a pause as I held it with both of my hands.
Siegfried talked about people like Otto or Cocolia, meaning that those could be the people that planted the Honkai devices?
Or maybe it was Siegfried himself who planted it and those two are the good guys?
Honestly, both ways did make sense. I could tell that Siegfried sincerely wanted to know why I was near them... but I didn't know why he cared...
I couldn't assume that it was because he loved her... I need to ask more questions...
And then there was still Mei with her second personality... but that was another can of worms.
Regardless, the only thing that I could truly trust right now, is my own strength.
My adaptations had been absolute counters thus far towards every enemy I faced, but what if I faced someone who could bypass Infinity next time?
I wasn't strong enough to be completely fearless yet.
And thus...
I wonder...
Would I die if I shot myself with Shamash right now?
I stared down the barrel of the large pistol. It seemed to tempt me, daring me to fire and see what would happen.
I closed my eyes.
My grip tightened slightly around the pistol.
But the unknown kept me from it.
I let out a deep breath I hadn't realised I was holding as a bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. My possible mortality was always something I was unsure of despite my ability to adapt to any and all phenomena.
Looking towards the forest again, my eyes became dull. The smell of smoke entered my nose, making me wince.
Were... the trees on fire?
Wait... did I just cause a forest fire?
Fuck...
Welp, I guess it's time to use my secret technique.
RUN AWAY!!!!!!
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Another two weeks past after that. I had busied myself with more training while rewarding myself with some nice snacks from time to time(i.e. everyday).
Kiana started dragging me out often as well to play. It seemed that she didn't focus too much on searching for Siegfried after that, as the place we visited most often was the video game arcade...
And she managed to drag Mei along with us? Quite often at that.
It seemed like Mei was free almost all the time whenever Kiana wanted to go out.
Wouldn't she be invited out by her other 'friends'? Even if she wasn't that close with them, I thought that they would still take the opportunity to get closer with her.
Or maybe... Kiana just had that level of charisma?
...
Nah...
There was no way she was like a shonen protagonist right?
Under the sun, I wiped off the sweat on my body with a towel since I had just finished training. It was at that moment that my phone suddenly rang.
Picking it up, I gave a standard greeting. "Halo."
"GOJO! I NEED SOME HELP!!!!"
"What do you want Kiana?"
"YOU REMEMBER SILVERWOLF123??"
"No."
"That person you wrecked last time before my phone got confiscated." Kiana's voice began to calm down.
I laughed at her. "Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down to?"
"..."
"..."
"Anyways, it turns out I got a new neighbour, and she's actually that player!!"
"So your toxicity is finally catching up to you."
"Please... I need your help to beat her... She's been blasting me the whole afternoon..."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Alright. Where do you live?"
"Huh? We've known each other for so long but you don't know?"
"Kiana... you never told me." I said with a deadpan.
"Oh..."
I let out a sigh. Well, I guess I could just consider this as my first trip to Kiana's house. Stomping some person for her was just a side mission.
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give me some powerstones and comments if you liked the chapter.)