"Speak! Leniency for truth while for lies…"
Kiana's threat paused as she tried to think of a punishment. It seemed that she couldn't as she just quickly shook her head. "Urgh. Nevermind. You'd probably say to not threaten you with a good time. Just tell me what's going on here!"
I looked away as I moved the guns away from sight. That sparked another outburst from her however.
"Hey! I can see you doing that!"
Crap… busted…
A sigh came from my lips as I placed the guns in front of me with a pout, like I was just caught with my hands in the cookie jar.
"I got them from your dad…"
"What?! You met him?!" Kiana ran to me and grabbed both my shoulders. She shook me like she was shaking a bunch of maracas as she shouted, "Why didn't you tell me?!!"
"I gave you a letter from him, no?"
"I thought he just got someone to send it to you!!"
"Guess that's why he was happy that he didn't need to get someone then. It takes up money from going to the bar."
She froze.
"Is that what he said?"
Her voice softened into a whisper. Her bangs covered her eyes as she looked down and her ahoge drooped as well.
"But he did seem like he missed you…" I added. "He was watching you a lot of the time back then, y'know?"
"Really?" Her expression brightened. "So that bum didn't abandon me?"
"When did you pick up that vocabulary?"
"It's from you! I just took bits and pieces I liked from your brainrot!."
"Ahh… I'm such a bad influence, bringing this type of scourge to you…"
"Haha! It's too late! Brain rot has already… wait why do I feel like you're tricking me into insulting myself?"
"You're imagining things. Maybe that headache just now left some lasting effects?"
"Whatever! Where is stinky dad now anyways?"
"Probably in America or something by now." I shrugged. "Dude dipped not long ago."
"What? I thought you said he was looking after me a lot?"
"Correction. I said looking after you a lot back then."
"So he's looking for some American chick now?"
"And dealing with a bunch of Honkai beasts at the same time." I made sure not to leave that out.
While I didn't like Siegfried much, I didn't want to cause a bigger rift between them if possible.
Sure I made some jokes at his expense to Kiana, and she knew it too. In fact, she seemed to be happy to join them. But at the end of the day…
Siegfried was her father, and I do believe he was a good one…
Well maybe not good per se, but he was one that took responsibility for her. And that was a lot better than a lot of other people I've seen already.
Thus, if possible, I didn't want Kiana to misunderstand what Siegfried was doing.
This little girl was childish and seemed really foolish a lot of the time, but I saw something under that visage.
Potential.
After all, not everyone could handle travelling alone at such a young age.
And no, I am not going to call her potential woman.
She is not the same as that bum.
Kiana remained silent, taking in my words as she came to a conclusion. A small smile appeared on her face. "I understand. If stinky dad's going to be protecting others, I don't want to stop him!"
That smile seemed infectious as before I knew it, I was smiling along with her as well.
But that's good…
I had a feeling that she grew up a bit right now, just a little bit more mature than yesterday…
I look forward to seeing the person she can become one day.
"Anyways, since you have Shamash, wanna make pizza toast?"
Ok, maybe she still had quite a bit of maturing to do.
"Let's do this."
And maybe I do too.
—------------------------------------------------------------------
Early in the morning, the sunlight came in through the windows as they shone upon the face of a certain Raiden Mei.
Her closed eyes trembled slightly and she raised her hands to block out the sunlight for a moment.
Despite her doing that however, her eyes still slowly opened and she let out a yawn.
As she finally awoke, she came to a sitting position on her bed. Intrusive thoughts of last night's action entered her mind, causing her to sigh.
Last night… she had helped take down the building of her father's company…
She knew it didn't belong to her father anymore but still…
There was still a bit of reluctance.
A sting came to her eyes as she thought about her father who was likely in some sort of prison somewhere right now…
Gojo had told her that he was fine, but she couldn't help but worry.
"Hmph. Will worrying make a single hair of yours purple again if they have become white?"
Mei's breath was caught in her throat as she shouted out.
"Who is it?"
"Don't you recognise my voice? Weren't you so excited to know that I exist?"
"T-the Herscherr?"
"I suppose you could call me that."
"What do you want?" Mei's voice became firm. "I'm not making any deals for power or anything!"
"I didn't plan to." The voice paused for a second before continuing. "I just lamenting how you're still the same…"
"Still a crybaby…"
"I-I'm not!" Mei shouted out.But her rebuttal was only met with silence.
She shut her eyes harshly as she rubbed away the tears that threatened to come out from her eyes.
It took a few moments for her mood to calm, but eventually she got up.
She needed to prepare breakfast for the others.
When she opened the door to her room however, a smell of something burnt filled her nose.
—--------------------------
"What is going on?"
Kiana and I froze as my finger froze before it could pull the trigger on Shamash at the poor piece of toast in front of us.
I coughed in embarrassment as I explained.
"As you can see, Mei, we… were just doing a science experiment?"
"Don't tell me you guys were going to use that superweapon on that…"
Huh, I guess the futuristic look of the gun was a dead giveaway of that wasn't it.
"No worries, Mei." Kiana reassured her. "My dad used to do it all the time when I was younger."
"That… still sounds like a fire hazard…"
"So… wanna join us?"
A sigh came from her lips, but it morphed into a smile.
"Someone's gotta keep an eye on the two of you."
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give powerstones and comment if you liked it. Please review as well if possible
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https://discord.gg/cqQG4rmhXN )