It must be said, time in the Sea of Quanta is truly chaotic.
Ryn remembered staying with the Fire Moths for a day and a night, while Kiana and Seele in the Sea of Quanta experienced four or five days, and the prime world only experienced half a day.
Now, after bringing Kiana and Sirin back to the main world, he discovered that while they had spent over a day in the Sea of Quanta battling the quantum creatures drawn by Kiana and Sirin's evolution, only three hours had passed in the prime world.
In other words, in prime world time, everyone from St. Freya High School had enthusiastically boarded the Hyperion in the morning to investigate the disturbance caused by Benares in the Siberian tundra.
At noon, Ryn and Kiana entered the Sea of Quanta separately. In the evening, both Ryn and Kiana returned from the Sea of Quanta, and Mei, Bronya, and the others just happened to have returned to the academy.
"Ugh… why, why has it only been one day!"
Kiana looked at the time, a look of despair on her face as she collapsed to the ground, painfully clinging to Ryn and Sirin's hands, refusing to get up.
"Hm? Isn't it good that only one day has passed?" Ryn tried to pull Kiana up.
But after glancing at the time on the clock tower and estimating the date, Ryn immediately let go.
Today was the weekend, which should have been a rare day off, but the entire academy was mobilized for a mission, so the holiday was canceled.
Which meant, Kiana was so unhappy because… she had to go to class tomorrow!
"Ouch—ow, ow, ow—"
Kiana, who had just been pulled up by Ryn, fell back to the ground when he suddenly let go.
"Student Kiana! Please, can you not think about skipping class every day!"
Ryn, with a look of disappointment, wanted to give Kiana a good scolding, but before he could say anything…
Seeing Kiana rubbing her bottom with a wronged expression, Ryn deflated like a punctured balloon.
"Never mind, never mind…"
Ryn rubbed his temples. The things taught in school weren't that important for Kiana anyway. The official curriculum certainly didn't teach a Herrscher how to develop her Authority.
So… he'd find an opportunity to throw Kiana to Fu Hua, let Fu Hua teach her the complete Taixu Sword Ki to help her control Honkai energy more freely. That would be more useful than a year of sitting in a classroom.
But first, he needed to deal with Sirin's situation and give Theresa and the others a heads-up, so Theresa wouldn't start a fight the moment she saw Sirin.
Ryn said, "Kiana, Sirin, you two chat for a bit. I'm going to see if Theresa is around and report Sirin's situation to her, so she can arrange a proper identity for Sirin."
Kiana and Sirin nodded in perfect sync, saying in unison, "Okay."
Ryn turned to leave, but halfway there, he ran back and poked Kiana and Sirin on their foreheads.
"Don't think you can slack off just because I'm gone! Go back and properly feel what this evolution has brought you!
Kiana, if you tell me something like 'Wow, Ryn! My appetite seems to have gotten bigger!' again, I'll add extra training to your next holiday too!"
"Extra training…? Is it combat?"
Kiana's eyes suddenly lit up. If it was about fighting, she wasn't tired anymore.
"No, it's going to the library and reading seriously for a whole day!"
"Ah…"
Kiana pulled Sirin down and collapsed on the ground. Her eyes were dim, and all the light had gone out of her life.
Sirin, who was just contemplating the changes the evolution Ryn mentioned had brought her, was suddenly pulled to the ground by Kiana, lying spread-eagled beside her.
But unlike Kiana's despairing and lifeless eyes, Sirin's eyes were filled with nothing but great confusion and a gradually erupting fury.
She felt like she was on the verge of figuring something out, but Kiana's interruption had shattered all her thoughts.
"Aah! I felt like I was about to get to the crucial point! Let go, you damned Kiana! Stop pulling me! Don't infect me with your idiot attribute!"
Sirin shouted as she flung Kiana's hand away, wanting to stand up again. The ground was so dirty, she didn't want to be messy like Kiana.
"No. We're sisters who've been through life and death! Come and roll around happily with me!"
Kiana sneakily jumped up from behind Sirin, tackling her to the ground, wrapping her arms around her waist, and happily rolling on the ground with her.
"Aaaah! My clothes!! Kiana!!!"
"Hahahaha—! This is so much fun!"
On his way to Theresa's office, Ryn heard Kiana's happy laughter and Sirin's angry yet helpless roars from behind. He kept looking back, worried that Kiana would go too far and really anger Sirin.
But seeing that Sirin, despite shouting so fiercely, was actually rolling on the ground with as much enthusiasm as Kiana, he went to find Theresa with a relieved heart.
"Huh… Did I forget something?"
Ryn scratched his head in confusion, feeling like he had brought someone else along.
"Forget it. If I forgot, it must not be important."
Ryn threw up his hands and turned to continue looking for Theresa.
In the Sea of Quanta, Kukulkan and Maheśvara, who were about to follow Sirin through the portal opened by Ryn, suddenly froze in place…
Because, after Sirin went in… the portal… closed…
Kukulkan and Maheśvara looked at each other, then simply settled down where they were and started chatting.
And Cortana, who had been knocked out by Sirin earlier, was still sleeping soundly, sweetly, and beautifully in some forgotten corner, looking as peaceful as if she were dead.
———————————————
Ryn kicked open the door to Theresa's office and strode in, shouting.
"Grand-aunt! I'm back!"
"Ah!"
Startled by Ryn's sudden entrance, Theresa, at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, used a pulverizing attack that "shredded matter down to the quark level" to turn the latest issue of "Homu Manga" in her hands into dust.
Then she quickly corrected her posture, adopting the majestic demeanor of a Principal, exuding an air of authority without being angry.
Of course, if Theresa wasn't glaring daggers at Ryn, she would definitely look very majestic.
"Ryn!" Theresa slammed her hand on the desk, looking at Ryn furiously.
"Even Kiana knows to knock before teleporting in. Don't you know how to knock?!"
"Did I not knock? I did! I just used a little too much force and kicked the door down, no, knocked it down. First, I need to make one thing clear: your office door isn't sturdy, so you can't blame me."
"Stick your head over here and take a Judah from me! And if it shatters, you can blame your own head for not being sturdy enough!!"