Faced with Shu's interrogation, Kiana froze.
Toast still in her mouth, she tried hard to recall.
Just now... she had rushed into the bathroom, in a hurry, hungry, grabbed whatever was handy...
She looked at the toothbrush set in Shu's hand—it was new, unopened.
Then she looked at Shu's expression—something was off.
Her brain spun rapidly.
Then she suddenly realized something.
Her eyes went wide, and the toast almost fell from her mouth.
"So you're a germaphobe!"
Shu: "..."
Shu, who had been leaning forward slightly, leaned back, wanting to put some distance between them to re-evaluate Kiana.
Kiana saw his silence and thought she had guessed right, hurriedly explaining.
"It's okay, it's okay! I don't mind! Even though I used your toothbrush, I'm very healthy! Really! You can see how healthy I am by how much I eat!"
As she spoke, she patted her chest with a confident look.
Shu remained silent.
Kiana started to panic a little.
"I really am healthy!! Look if you don't believe me!"
She reached up and pulled her mouth open, revealing a mouthful of pearly white teeth, along with the bits of unswallowed food still inside.
Shu: "..."
Am I a germaphobe?
Well... yes, a little... but that is absolutely not what I care about right now.
I care about—
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Ah... what could he say?
Say "It's not about being a germaphobe, it's about the fact that we completely indirectly..."?
That would be even weirder.
He looked at Kiana's frank and open expression, at those innocent eyes that seemed to say, "Is there a problem with this?"
Then he looked at the jam on the corner of her mouth.
And the half-eaten slice of toast in her hand.
Hmm... it would make me seem like the one with the dirty mind...
He took a deep breath.
Then he turned and walked back into the bathroom.
"Never mind."
His voice was muffled.
Behind him, Kiana's voice chased after him:
"Eh? Then... how much should I save for you? There's still a lot here!"
Shu didn't look back.
"You eat first. I'm changing my toothbrush."
Kiana paused, then let out an "Oh," and continued eating her breakfast.
"Then hurry back, I really will finish it all!"
Shu walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Looking at his expressionless face in the mirror, he suddenly felt a bit amused.
She actually thought it was because I'm a germaphobe.
Germaphobe...
He shook his head, opened the cabinet, and took out the new toothbrush.
Opened the package, squeezed on toothpaste.
Started brushing.
As he brushed, he suddenly recalled the scene just now:
Her looking back at him with toast in her mouth, eyes wide and round, expression innocent and confused.
Jam on the corner of her mouth.
Shu's toothbrushing paused for a second.
Then he continued brushing.
In the mirror, the corners of his mouth seemed to twitch slightly.
A very small, tiny curve.
Like some kind of smile that didn't have time to form—
Forget it.
Stop thinking.
It is what it is...
After breakfast, Shu went to the kitchen to clean up.
Kiana collapsed contentedly back onto the sofa, patting her slightly rounded tummy, letting out a sigh of bliss.
"Phew—"
Comfortable.
Full stomach, quenched thirst, clean body, and wearing Shu's soft clothes.
Life couldn't be better.
She lay there with her eyes squinted for a while, her brain slowly starting to whir back to life.
Last night... she seemed to have told Shu a lot of stories?
How much did she tell?
Did she finish?
She tried hard to recall, finding her memory a bit blurry. She had gotten sleepy towards the end and didn't remember what she had said.
But...
She tilted her head to look towards the kitchen.
Shu was washing dishes, his back to her, moving leisurely, looking relaxed.
Kiana blinked.
Shu's attitude was completely different from last night.
Last night at dinner, even though he ordered takeout for her and listened to her stories, that feeling of "I'm wary of you" was always present.
There was always a hint of distance in his eyes, which bothered Kiana.
But now—
The way he was washing dishes now was like...
Like there really was just another person in the house, and he was just doing chores normally.
That guardedness had completely vanished.
Kiana's brain started spinning fast.
Three seconds later, she reached a conclusion.
She shot up into a sitting position, tilting her face up with a triumphant expression.
"Heh heh!"
It must be my silver-tongued storytelling that convinced Shu!
Although she wasn't quite sure if "silver-tongued" was the right word here—she seemed to recall hearing someone use it to describe a smooth talker.
But who cares, the meaning was there!
This lady is indeed suited for storytelling!
She put her hands on her hips, smug for three seconds.
Three seconds later, the smugness vanished.
Replaced by boredom.
Very bored.
Extremely bored!
Kiana slumped back onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling, and began to space out.
She wasn't the type who could stay home peacefully doing nothing.
Back at the base, she could go pester Mei and chat, go play games with Bronya, or run around outside—there was always something to do.
But now?
Shu was in the kitchen washing dishes, and might do something else after.
But she couldn't drag him into playing, because—she had to stay by his side and figure out a way to take Shu and leave this place.
A way to leave...
"Ugh..."
Kiana clutched her poor little head. It had already suffered torture a Kaslana shouldn't have to bear recently, but she still had to think seriously.
How do we leave?
Like how she arrived, getting sucked in by a vortex and spat out?
But where was the vortex?
Or, find the edge of this world and burst through?
She tried to invoke the Kaslana family intuition—that intuition that was usually amazingly accurate and always pointed her in the right direction.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
A blank slate.
She closed her eyes, thought hard, strained her brain, turning over every corner of her mind—
Still nothing.
Surely she couldn't just run in one direction forever to get out, right?
That would be too weird!!
She shook her head, tossing that ridiculous idea aside.
Then she continued to space out.
Spacing out was useless.
Intuition was useless.
Wanted to leave, but didn't know how.
Wanted to play, but couldn't go out to play.
So what could she do?
Kiana lay on the sofa, looking at the ceiling, sinking into deep contemplation.
Three seconds later, she gave up thinking.
Whatever, kill time first.
She stood up and started pacing back and forth in Shu's apartment.
From this end of the living room to that end.
From that end, back to this end.
From this end, back to that end.
Again—
After seven or eight laps, she found this was even more boring.
She stopped, stood still, looked at the sunlight outside the window, and tried to stare blankly.