Shu's voice suddenly shot up an octave, as if his throat had been seized by the hand of fate.
Seeing her lethal interrogation come to a screeching halt, Kiana immediately pressed her advantage, launching into a deadly combo of her own.
"When you were eight, your class went on a field trip, and you sat alone in a corner watching ants move their colony for two hours. When the teacher asked why you weren't playing with the other kids, you said, 'Ants are more interesting than people.'"
A strange gurgling sound started to brew in Shu's throat.
"Every time you see it rain, you secretly fantasize about just playing in a downpour all night without a care in the world! So when you were nine, you took advantage of being home alone, stood in the rain for an entire day, and caught a cold!"
Shu's face began to turn red.
"And you were too scared to tell anyone you were sick, so you just toughed it out at home until it went away on its own!"
"STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP—!!!"
The sharp, strangled noise in Shu's throat finally erupted.
Oh my god, I've been doxxed!!
He violently yanked the door open, blocking the entrance with his entire body. His face was beet red, his eyes wide, completely devoid of the indifferent, aloof demeanor from before.
"How do you know all that!?" he shrieked, his voice cracking in shock.
Kiana, caught off guard by the sudden door pull, stumbled forward, nearly falling into his arms.
Thankfully, she managed to steady herself with her powerful self-control. She looked up at the red, shocked face before her...
And grinned.
"So, you admit I'm Kiana now?"
Shu glared at her, his chest heaving.
Was this really about admitting she was Kiana?
This was clearly about worrying that in the next second, she was going to recite his national ID number... no, his ID number was nowhere near as private as the things Kiana had just said!
Where in the world did this person come from? It felt like she had some kind of mind-reading ability, like she'd just casually browsed through all his memories.
Take the thing about him liking the rain... he had never told anyone about that.
Anyone!
How could she possibly know, unless she could read minds?
Could it be that when he was standing in the rain, she was just... watching from the side? Like how who-knows-how-many people had watched a certain Emiya Shirou practice the high jump?
Kiana watched his struggling expression, the smile on her face growing wider.
"Hey, Shu," she tilted her head. "You okay?"
Shu stared at her.
He stared at that triumphant "I won" expression.
He took a deep breath.
Then another.
Finally, as if in resignation, his shoulders slumped. He lowered his defenses and made a helpless compromise.
"Fine... I admit you're Kiana, okay?!"
Whether the person in front of him was a con artist or a psychiatric patient, to go to such lengths, Shu felt it would be rude not to cooperate.
The way Shu stepped aside was like a chess player finally conceding defeat, opening up the final path.
Kiana immediately seized the opportunity. Before Shu had even fully cleared the doorway, she squeezed past him and into the room.
Her gaze immediately fell on the shoe rack by the door.
Without a word, Kiana bent down, deftly slipped off her small leather shoes, and with a casual toss, stepped barefoot onto the floor.
"Wait..." Shu said instinctively. "Slippers..."
It was too late.
The white figure was already striding into his apartment, leaving only a trail of "pat-pat-pat" sounds from her bare feet on the floor.
Shu: "..."
He silently closed the door and looked down at the pair of shoes. They had indeed been tossed aside casually, but had surprisingly landed right where they were supposed to go. He took a pair of disposable slippers from the shoe rack and placed them by the door.
After doing this, he looked up and saw that the white figure, who had reached the center of the living room, had suddenly stopped.
Kiana was staring blankly at the center of the living room.
She had been about to dive onto the sofa, but halfway there, a thought flashed through her clever mind.
She was... pretty dirty right now.
She'd rolled around on the Antarctic ice, slept on a concrete floor in a stairwell, and hadn't showered all day. There were probably still ice crystals and dust in her hair.
And the sofa in front of her... its only user was probably the miscellaneous junk placed on it, because it looked as pristine as if it had just been bought, never sat on.
Kiana looked down at her own wrinkled school uniform, then up at the spotless white sofa.
Then she turned her head.
She looked at Shu, who was changing his shoes by the door, with a particularly pitiful expression.
So the moment Shu looked up, he was met with this scene.
The white figure stood in the center of the living room, bare feet together, hands hanging in front of her. Her head was slightly bowed, her eyes looking up at him, and there seemed to be a shimmer of moisture in them.
Her lips were slightly pursed, an expression that screamed, "I'm so pitiful, please help me."
Shu: "..."
Something's not right with this expression.
She's faking it.
She's definitely faking it!
"Um..." Kiana began, her voice sickeningly sweet, sending a shiver down the highly alert Shu's spine. "Shu..."
Shu silently leaned against the door, glaring at her like a wrathful guardian deity. "What?"
"Can I... borrow your bathroom?"
Shu: What is this person even saying.jpg
The bathroom?
You, a girl, in a man's home, where he lives alone, asking if you can borrow the bathroom to take a shower?
What are you doing?!
Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?
Or could it be—
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
He could only convey his questions with his eyes.
Are you serious?
Kiana blinked, her eyes looking even more innocent. "I'm really dirty... Look, my clothes are all dusty, and there are still ice crystals in my hair... I just want to take a shower... I'll be clean after... and I won't get your sofa dirty..."
As she spoke, she even lowered her head and ran her fingers through her long hair, gesturing for him to see the "ice crystals" that may or may not have actually been there.
Shu was silent.
The two of them stared at each other.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds...
Shu was the first to close his eyes. He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the strong turmoil in his heart... what kind of turmoil do you think that was?
He felt like he was about to tilt.
But in the end, he just weakly raised a hand and waved it.
"Do whatever."
Two words.
The kind that screamed of resignation.
Kiana's eyes instantly lit up!
"Really? Shu, you're the best!"
Before the sound of his perfunctory words had even faded, Kiana had already dashed towards the bathroom like a gust of wind, the "pat-pat-pat" of her bare feet quickly receding.
Then came the sound of the bathroom door opening, followed by a thud as it closed.
And then—
The world seemed to fall silent.
Shu stood in place, waiting for the sound of the door being locked.
It should happen, right? Normal girls would lock the door, right? That's normal, isn't it? She should—
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The bathroom area was completely silent.
No "click" of a lock.
No sound that said, "I'm protecting myself."
Just a series of rustling sounds, followed by the sound of rushing water.
Shu: "..."
He raised a hand to cover his tilting face.
This girl... was she really a bit of an idiot?