Kiana Kaslana was panicking. When she first found Little Sirin, the Knightess had felt confident. She thought that if she could just calm the little one down, everything would be over—or so she had believed.
That was until the hapless half-doll was viciously slurped by that long-tongued wall, causing her to curse a blue streak...
From that moment, the situation spiraled downward rapidly. The only silver lining was that Imhotep seemed to have received her and Raven's distress call mid-chaos, rescuing all the other unlucky souls trapped in the room.
As the little one's cries grew louder, a damn oversized something unconsciously formed around her. Worst of all, the imaginary space Kiana had deployed was like its personal backyard—it could enter and exit at will. Fortunately, the damn thing didn't cause any actual casualties in the end, though it did destroy quite a few buildings along its path. Hmm, Auntie will take care of this damage... probably?
With absolutely no experience in comforting children, Kiana had been forced to stay on top of this giant creature, trying to console Little Sirin.
In the final minutes before Imhotep's earth-shattering sword strike, the Knight Princess nearly had a heart attack. Thankfully, her attempts at comfort seemed to have worked somewhat. At the last moment, she successfully soothed the heartbroken Sirin, hugging her tightly as she teleported them both away.
But everything has a price, and comforting a child is no exception...
"The cat ears are quite cute."
Imhotep remarked, gazing at the spiritually-manifested, fluffy white cat ears twitching on Kiana's head.
"Let me guess... To cheer up a certain little purple-haired girl, you let her perform a little 'Fantasy Realization' on you, and she gave you a real pair of cat ears?"
Imhotep flashed a teasing smile.
"Don't even mention it! I was trapped inside that oversized monster's core, completely cut off from the outside world. I was this close to being obliterated by your Might of An-Utu!"
"...The Herrscher of Flamescion burned to death by shamash? What kind of dark comedy TV show is that?"
Imhotep rolled her eyes.
"Speaking of which, where's Little Sirin? After I brought her back, she ran off to play somewhere. Imhotep, have you seen her?"
Kiana scanned the bar, but there was no sign of the little purple-haired girl on the first floor.
"Her? Oh... Ms. Island Bomber spotted the little one... and her maternal instincts went into overdrive..."
"She yelled something like 'Be my daughter!' or some other nonsense, then whisked the little girl upstairs for a dress-up session."
"It's like she found a living doll... Who still plays dress-up at her age...?"
Imhotep pursed her lips, then her gaze fell on the twitching white cat ears on Kiana's head. A look of intense curiosity crossed her face.
"Hmm... Kiana, how many audio channels do you have now?"
Imhotep voiced a question that had puzzled her since childhood: In manga and storybooks, which pair of ears do beast girls actually use to hear?
"Ugh... It's ridiculous, I know... but it's actually four-channel audio..."
Kiana touched the cat ears on her head, a troubled expression on her face.
"So both pairs work, then..."
Imhotep nodded, then, for some inexplicable reason, posed a devilishly specific question:
"Does that mean you have to wear two pairs of headphones to listen to music...?"
"And if you wear two pairs, wouldn't the sound be out of sync...?"
"...?"
"What are these weird questions?! When I listen to music, I just fold the cat ears down!"
The white-haired Knight Princess demonstrated the cat ears' miraculous function for the Angel, lowering them until they lay flat against her hair, blending seamlessly with her white locks.
"...They can do that?"
Imhotep discreetly adjusted the glasses she'd somehow put on, removed a memory card containing the recording she'd just made, and slipped it into her pocket.
"Ah, right, one more thing. How did you guys make the little one cry?"
Imhotep shot them a look that screamed, You monsters are utterly irredeemable.
"Well, it was fine at first," Kiana began, shaking her head with lingering fear. "You know Little Sirin's art style... what's it called again... Cthulhu Abstract Art?"
She continued, "Then you add the Authority you gave her, which basically brings anything she imagines to life..."
"I'd just barely managed to convince Little Sirin to put down her brush..."
As she spoke, Kiana glared at Doll Sirin, who was playing dead nearby.
"And then this jinxed idiot, at the worst possible moment—right as I opened the portal to bring the little one out—yelled, 'What the hell is this crap?!' "
"The sound went straight through the portal, and the little one burst into tears on the spot..."
"Ugh, you know the rest, Imhotep..."
"...Understood. Let's dismantle this jinxed brat's vocal cords."
Imhotep turned to the doll playing dead and extended her iron grip. The doll, finally unable to keep up the act, shot away with a thwack—like a cat startled by a cucumber suddenly appearing behind it.
"In your dreams! This is the only thing that brings me joy anymore!"
"And you want to dismantle it?!"
"Not a chance—!"
With a whoosh, the screaming doll girl flew up to the bar's ceiling chandelier. She clung there, nervously watching the two dangerous white-haired figures below, her posture screaming, I'm not coming down until you give up!
Then, the little purple-haired doll felt a tap on her shoulder... or rather, a poke from a miniature orange-red greatsword.
The Kevin Doll, who had been lounging on the chandelier with his legs crossed, was jolted awake by the purple-haired doll's frantic ascent. Staring at the figure who was half-responsible for the recent chaos, the Kevin Doll felt his blood pressure—something an Armed Puppet shouldn't even have—skyrocket.
"Old Ancestor Unit 02—yank that Purple Turban Snail down, thanks."
The two white-haired figures below watched the white-haired figure appear above them, their eyes lighting up. Just what we needed, right on cue.
"What are you doing?! I'll never surrender—!!!"
Under the iron grip of the grumpy, just-awakened Kevin Doll, the little Sirin doll—whose combat power was entirely invested in her mount, Benares—was effortlessly plucked down. Now, she was tied up securely on the table, struggling futilely.
"The Honkai will never be slaves—!!!"