By the time the story reached its final moment, Kiana was a complete mess.
On the screen, Himeko was helplessly falling through the collapsing Imaginary Space. Her final expression didn't even have the chance to dramatically settle into a smile.
The long, melodious song of "Nightglow" played through the headphones in surround sound. Each drumbeat carried an epic vastness, yet ultimately focused on a single, poignant point.
Kiana looked both beautiful and funny when she cried.
"Wuwuwu... Teacher Himeko... wuwuwu..."
She sobbed as she cried, her shoulders shaking. Curled up on the sofa like a small animal drenched in rain, she tilted her head back, trying to keep the tears from flowing too fiercely.
But her nose was running.
Shu sat beside her, expression calm, and handed Kiana a pack of tissues.
This was exactly what Kiana needed. She grabbed several tissues at once, messily wiped the tears from her face, then looked at the screen with the background music still playing, and cried even louder.
Beside her, Shu remained outwardly impassive, even frowning slightly as if he too were affected by the splash damage of the emotional recoil.
But the joy in the corners of his eyes and brows was overflowing.
Is this the joy of a Captain-Ghost?
He seemed to somewhat understand why those heartless guys enjoyed it so much.
Watching others being tortured to death by the plot while he himself was already invulnerable—
This feeling...
...
Wait, isn't this really just laughing at my past self who also got destroyed by this?
Thinking of this, the last bit of guilt in Shu disappeared instantly.
So fundamentally, I'm laughing at myself! That's fine then, I can laugh with a clear conscience!
Just as the corners of Shu's mouth began to rise...
"Shu."
A ghostly voice came from beside him.
Shu's joy died midway, seamlessly transitioning into mourning and pity.
He slowly turned his head.
Kiana was staring at him.
Tear stains were still on her face, her eyes were red, her nose was red, her cheeks were flushed a translucent red, and water droplets hung on her eyelashes.
But those eyes—there was no doubt!
Shu's heart skipped a beat.
"You—"
Kiana extended a finger and pointed at him.
"You knew all along this chapter would be like this, right!"
Shu kept a straight face: "...No."
"Liar!"
Kiana sat up straight. The tear stains on her face hadn't dried yet, but her expression had switched from sadness to indignation.
"You were laughing just now! I saw it!"
Shu's expression was as hard as iron: "...I didn't laugh."
"You did! The corners of your mouth were curling up!"
"That was... that was normal facial muscle movement."
"Liar!"
Kiana puffed up her cheeks in anger, looking like a little pufferfish.
"You definitely did it on purpose! On purpose to watch me make a fool of myself! On purpose waiting for me to get knifed by the plot! You—you—"
She held it in for a long time, finally squeezing out:
"You meanie!"
Shu fell silent.
He felt he should quibble a bit more, but he didn't dare.
"Um..."
He was just about to say something as a final struggle, but Kiana had already gritted her teeth and pounced like a hungry cat. Seeing this, Shu's eyes sharpened, and he decisively raised his hands to protect his head.
Small pink fists fell like rain.
"Laugh at me! Watch me make a fool of myself! I'll teach you—I'll teach you—wuwuwu—"
As she hit him, she started crying again.
Crying while hitting, hitting while crying, the scene was both miserable and funny.
Shu held his head, obediently taking the beating, but he couldn't hold back his laughter anymore.
"Pfft—"
"You're still laughing!"
Kiana changed tactics. She scrambled directly onto Shu's back, locking him in a chokehold, forcefully stopping Shu from laughing.
After holding it for several seconds, just as Shu was about to tap Kiana's arm to beg for mercy, Kiana let go on her own and slumped weakly onto Shu's back.
"Ugh..."
Feeling the completely relaxed softness and weight on his back, Shu's body suddenly stiffened slightly.
Kiana's arms draped down in front of Shu, and her head rested directly on his shoulder. Her snow-white hair was in his peripheral vision.
"Who wrote this plot... Shu, do you know?" Kiana mumbled softly. Shu could clearly feel the bobbing motion of her head as she spoke.
Shu snapped out of his stiffness and answered Kiana's question.
"Mm... Shaoji, probably." (Note: Shaoji is the lead writer for HI3)
"This Shaoji is really bad! Big meanie! Bad!" Kiana hmphed with considerable dissatisfaction, her voice carrying a cute nasal tone.
Yes, he is very bad!
Shu agreed wholeheartedly. But the next second, Kiana's head resting on his shoulder turned, almost squishing her face against the side of his.
"But that's no reason for you to laugh at me!"
Shu: "..."
"You were like this before too!"
Shu, trying to remain silent, paused: "What?"
"Just—" Kiana gestured with her hands, "Watching me cry, then secretly laughing! You did it before too!"
Shu was surprised.
"I've done such a heartless thing before?"
Kiana nodded vigorously.
"You did! And more than once!"
Shu fell silent.
Looking at Kiana's serious face, he suddenly realized a problem: the "before" she spoke of must refer to the Shu from "another world."
In other words—
Did I watch Kiana get destroyed twice?
What kind of cross-world inherited bad taste is this...
"You definitely did it on purpose!" Seeing Shu fall silent, Kiana pouted and started crying and making a fuss on his back again. "You knew it was mean! And you still did it!"
Shu had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender as she shook him:
"Okay, okay, okay, my bad, my bad."
"You were wrong in the first place!" Kiana stopped her fussing, pressed her face close again, and glared at Shu.
"Yes, yes, yes, I was wrong." Shu nodded repeatedly, but I'll dare to do it next time.
Wait, this is the "next time."
"You—you—hmph!"
Kiana saw through Shu's thoughts at a glance, turned her head away angrily, and decided to torture him with the cruelty of ignoring him for three seconds.
Shu looked at the time, then at her still angry appearance, and wisely chose to retreat.
"Um... I'll go make dinner."
He stood up, and Kiana naturally slid off his back.
Seeing that Kiana didn't intend to continue pestering him, Shu fled in panic, diving into the kitchen.
"Hmph!" That was Kiana's last sound.
Shu didn't look back, but the smile on his lips couldn't be hidden.
Inside the kitchen.
Shu opened the fridge and looked at the two large bags of groceries that were already half gone—he fell silent again.
That was just one meal... she ate so much in one meal...
He took out his phone and silently placed another order for tomorrow's groceries on the fresh food app.