On the third floor of the mall, next to the children's play area, there was a row of claw machines.
Kiana stood in front of one, her eyes glued to the fluffy HOMU dolls inside.
I want one. I want one so bad.
But she couldn't.
Because she—had—no—money!
No, wait, I have to find Shu!
Kiana's school uniform had two pockets—one was empty, and the other one was also empty.
She didn't even have a phone.
"Sigh~" The sparkle in the cat-girl's eyes vanished, and her whole... well, her whole person deflated.
She tore her gaze away, forcing herself not to look at the dolls, and began to organize the information she had.
First, this was a city. A really big, bustling city with no signs of Honkai. Everything here felt real, but she couldn't rule out the possibility that she'd gotten food poisoning from the boiled blackfin bass she ate for lunch...
Second, she was in her school uniform, and all her injuries were healed. She had no idea who to thank for that...
Third, Shu was here. This was the one thing she was absolutely sure of.
Fourth, she didn't know where Shu was, how to find him, or even what this city was called.
Fifth, she had no money, no phone, and no tools whatsoever to help her find someone.
Sixth—and currently the most severe, most urgent problem of all!
If she didn't solve this problem, she, the great warrior Kiana Kaslana, would fall before the dawn!
Growl~
Kiana's stomach rumbled.
She looked down at her flat stomach, then up at the ceiling, and fell silent.
She was hungry.
And it felt like she hadn't eaten in a very, very long time.
"Aaaaaah—!"
She squatted down next to the claw machine, buried her face in her knees, and let out a wail.
A little girl walking by tugged her mom's hand, looking at Kiana curiously. "Mommy, what's wrong with that big sister?"
"Don't look, let's go."
Kiana lifted her head and watched the mother and daughter walk away, a small grin spreading across her face.
Heh, the people here are pretty realistic.
Alright, she'd just assume she wasn't dreaming for now.
Okay, stop overthinking.
First, find Shu.
First...
She stood up, patted down her skirt, and strode towards the mall exit.
Outside, the sunlight was bright and warm.
She squinted, letting her eyes adjust, then stepped into the flow of the crowd.
It's just finding one person.
What kind of storm hadn't she, Kiana Kaslana, weathered before?
As if a mere Shu could slip away from right under her nose.
As she walked, she suddenly remembered that dream—Shu's back getting further and further away, no matter how fast she ran.
Her steps faltered for a second.
Then she shook her head, forcing the image out of her mind.
Not this time.
She told herself silently.
This time, I'll definitely find you.
And catch you.
And never let go.
...
"—Speaking of which, where the heck am I?"
She stood at an intersection, staring at an unfamiliar street sign, and scratched her head in confusion.
Right. Start by figuring out where she was.
Kiana took a deep breath and walked towards the nearest convenience store.
Asking for directions? She was a pro at this!
...
Sorry, she was actually terrible at it!!
Kiana squatted in front of the convenience store, once again burying her face in her knees, sinking into a profound state of self-doubt.
How did things turn out like this?
She'd tried so hard! She'd given every description she could think of!
Short black hair! Young man! About half a head taller than me! Pretty handsome! The kind that grows on you!
—And then she was treated like an idiot.
She couldn't really blame the passersby.
She'd stood on the street corner for a bit and observed. People who fit the description of "young man with short black hair, half a head taller than her" passed by at a rate of roughly... twenty every three minutes.
As for "pretty handsome and grows on you"?
Come on, how was she supposed to describe that?!
Shu wasn't handsome in that obvious, "strong-browed, big-eyed" kind of way. It was more like... you glance at him and think he's okay, you look again and think there's something there, and after a few more looks, you can't take your eyes off him!
How do you quantify that? How do you standardize it? How do you explain it to a stranger?
Not to mention her real "exclusive identifying features."
"He has really nice eyes."
Could she say that to a random person?
Of course not!
They'd think she was some lovesick fangirl!
She was not a fangirl!
But she just knew Shu had nice eyes! If those skeptical people just stared into his eyes for one minute... no, one second! They would fall hopelessly in love with him!
And his scent.
Shu had a special scent. Not cologne or body wash, just... Shu's scent.
It was a very reassuring smell, kind of like a blanket that had been dried in the sun, mixed with the clean, damp smell of the air after rain.
Back at the base, she sometimes knew he was nearby just by his scent, without even looking.
Ugh! That was even more impossible to explain!
Was she supposed to grab strangers and ask, "Have you smelled a guy who smells like a sun-dried blanket?!"
And then there's the way he acts like he's terrified of her, but is always the first one to rush in whenever she's in trouble.
He avoids her like the plague, shrinking into the crowd at parties the moment he sees her...
But when things get serious, he's more anxious than anyone, willing to risk his own life.
—That was even more impossible to say!
So her current situation was that her head was filled with detailed information about Shu, but not a single piece of it was shareable.
The only thing she could say—"young man with short black hair, half a head taller than her"—was...
COM-PLETE-LY! USE-LESS!
...in a place where almost everyone had black hair.
Kiana buried her face deeper.
Why was it that back at the base, she never had a problem spotting Shu?
Because among so many people, Kiana could pinpoint that black-haired head with a single glance.
And sometimes she didn't even need to look; she could just tell by his scent.
If all else failed, she had her intuition—it would just tell her "go that way."
Wasn't that a skill everyone had?
What do you mean that's my unique superpower?!
And now, the character who thought she was a "mechanics-based" beast discovered her mechanics had failed, and her base stats were actually garbage.
Kiana looked up with a sorrowful expression, watching the tide of people flow past.
Black hair... black hair... black hair everywhere.
Long, short, straight, curly, fluffy, slicked-back, wearing hats, not wearing hats, tied up, loose, with bangs, without bangs, bangs covering the eyes, bangs showing the eyebrows.
Are you guys all stamped from the same mold?!
Kiana realized she might have contracted a terminal illness called "regional face-blindness."
All she could do was frantically rub the only face she recognized here... her own.
No, calm down, calm down.
She was Kiana Kaslana. What kind of storm hadn't she weathered? A mere Shu—
Her stomach let out a loud protest.
Sorry, she had overestimated herself.
Kiana decided to calm down first.
...
An hour later...
Okay, here's what happened:
As Kiana was calming down, she somehow, calmed her way into a snack street.
She would swear on never getting a perfect score on any future exam that it wasn't on purpose.
It was just that this street happened to be in her path, and the aroma from this street just happened to be wafting downwind, and her nose just happened to be a little bit more sensitive than the average person's...
Sniff... and then her legs stopped listening to her.
By the time she came to her senses, she was already standing in front of a grilled gluten stall.
The smoky scent of grilled skewers.
The savory sauce of griddled squid.
The fragrant bonito flakes on takoyaki.
The eggy aroma of jianbing.
And that indescribable, fatal scent unique to a "snack street" that just makes you want to stop in your tracks.
Kiana's eyes were locked on the gluten skewers sizzling over the charcoal, slathered in sauce, and sprinkled with cumin and chili powder. She had completely forgotten what she was here to do.
"Miss, want a skewer?" the owner called out warmly.
Kiana's brain said: No, you're not hungry. You have to find Shu.
Kiana's stomach said: Bullshit, I'm starving! I don't care, I want to eat!!
Kiana's nose said: Smell that. Smell the aroma of mortal food. How long has it been since you've eaten something this proper?
Kiana's hand instinctively reached for her pocket—
Empty.
Her brain, stomach, and nose fell silent at the same time.
Kiana swallowed hard, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the grilled gluten.
No, I have no money.
And I can't waste time here. Shu is waiting for me. Shu is more important than food.
Shu is more important than food.
Shu is more important than food.
She repeated it three times in her head, then turned around, walked away from the gluten stall, and headed towards—
—the next stall.