The hallway lights of the old residential complex flickered on and off. With a soft click, the security door shut out the sound of the wind and rain outside.
Su Yu's rental apartment wasn't large—a typical one-bedroom configuration for a young man living alone.
Although it couldn't be called luxurious, it was unexpectedly tidy.
There were no strange odors, only the faint scent of air freshener mixed with a hint of cat litter.
The warm yellow lights came on, dispelling the cheerlessness filling the room.
"No need to change your shoes, just come on in."
Su Yu collapsed the dripping umbrella and tossed it into the draining bucket by the door.
Kiana stood in the entryway.
She looked around warily.
A TV, a sofa, bookshelves piled high with game cartridges and light novels...
She didn't see anything related to Schicksal or any insignias; it seemed to truly be just an ordinary room.
Everything was filled with a suffocating "sense of daily life."
This left Kiana feeling somewhat lost.
"Meow~"
A soft, sticky cat meow broke the silence.
"Chongchong," who had been hiding on the cat tree, poked its head out.
This odd-eyed white cat, breaking its usual character of hissing at strangers, walked with elegant cat steps and leaped lightly onto the entryway cabinet.
It tilted its head, examining Kiana with curious blue and yellow eyes, then leaned close to her face and sniffed gently.
Its small, wet nose brushed against Kiana's pale cheek, bringing a ticklish sensation.
Kiana stiffened all over.
But a second later, the white cat emitted a purring engine sound and proactively rubbed its fluffy head against her chin.
"...Does... does it not bite?"
Kiana's voice trembled slightly, but her tense shoulders visibly relaxed.
"Its name is Chongchong. I picked it up from the roadside, too."
Su Yu said casually as he took off his coat, the corners of his mouth curling into a playful arc.
"Seems it likes you. Or maybe... it feels like it's met one of its own?"
"It does not..."
Kiana subconsciously retorted, but the vigilance in her words had already largely vanished.
She carefully reached out her hand.
Because she was still within Su Yu's one-meter range, her hand was solid.
Her fingertips touched the cat's soft, warm fur. That real, vivid sensation of life traveled from her fingertips straight to the bottom of her cold heart.
Unlike humans.
Humans would lie, would betray, would wear masks.
But animals wouldn't.
The attachment and warmth in this cat's eyes were pure.
"Meow~"
Chongchong squinted comfortably, allowing Kiana to clumsily stroke its head.
The corners of Kiana's mouth—extremely rarely, on that face written full of suffering—pulled into a very faint, almost non-existent arc.
In this strange world filled with lies and danger.
This cat named "Chongchong" seemed to have become the first subject she didn't reject.
However.
This tender atmosphere did not last long.
Su Yu coughed, intending to remind Kiana to come further inside.
But when he turned his head.
He found Kiana clamping her legs together in an extremely bizarre posture. The expression on her face instantly shifted from the softness of a moment ago to...
A flush mixed with anxiety, endurance, and extreme shame.
"What's wrong? Does the wound hurt?" Su Yu asked with concern.
Kiana bit her lower lip, her eyes darting around, not daring to look at Su Yu at all.
She let go of the cat, her hands clenching tightly together.
"That... that..."
She stammered for a long time, her voice as small as a mosquito's.
"That what?"
"...Bathroom."
Kiana closed her eyes, squeezing out these three syllables as if abandoning all hope.
"Where is it?"
Su Yu froze for a moment, then realization dawned on him.
Of course.
After tossing and turning all night, getting soaked in the rain, freezing, and drinking milk, having urgent natural needs was only human.
"Oh, over there. The door on the left."
Su Yu pointed to a frosted glass door in the corner of the living room.
"The things inside are all clean, just go ahead and use them."
"...Un."
Kiana felt as if she had been granted amnesty. She let go of Su Yu's shirt corner, lowered her head, and rushed toward the bathroom.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
The light screen before Su Yu's eyes suddenly flashed madly.
[Warning: Target is leaving the Reality Anchor range!]
[Warning: Quantum Entanglement instability countdown active!]
Kiana's body trembled violently.
She stopped at the bathroom door, watching helplessly as her hand passed directly through the door handle.
Half of her body sank into the door panel like a holographic projection, but she couldn't push the door open at all.
At the same time, that familiar suffocating sensation of her soul about to leave her body strangled her throat once again.
If she didn't get close to Su Yu, she couldn't even open the toilet door.
Let alone sit on the toilet—she would pass straight through the toilet bowl and fall!
Kiana froze in place, her entire being shaking.
Not because of the cold, but because of the despair that was about to crush her dignity.
Su Yu obviously realized this problem as well.
He looked at the girl frozen at the bathroom door, her back gradually turning transparent, and felt his vision go dark.
Good heavens, isn't this System a bit too perverted?
This was no longer a scene that could be described by the word "awkward"; this was an execution ground for social death!
"...Um."
Su Yu took a deep breath, forcing himself to look like a gentleman, even though he felt he currently looked more like a pervert than an actual pervert.
"Kiana?"
Kiana didn't look back.
Her back was trembling, and her ears were so red they looked ready to bleed.
After a long while, she squeezed out a sentence filled with despair through her teeth, her voice carrying a sob:
"...C-Come here."
Su Yu took stiff steps, like a prisoner walking toward the execution ground.
As he approached, Kiana's body became solid again.
She finally gripped the door handle.
But this didn't solve the problem.
The bathroom in Su Yu's rental was narrow and elongated.
If Su Yu stood at the door, the position of the toilet... as luck would have it, was exactly around the 1.2-meter mark.
[System Friendly Reminder: According to calculations, if the Host stands outside the door, the Valkyrie will face the risk of "Gluteal materialization failure" while using the toilet. It is suggested that the Host remain within the door frame.]
Grass (a type of plant).
Su Yu mentally greeted eighteen generations of the System's ancestors.
"What's wrong? Why not go in?" Su Yu asked knowingly, trying to mask the awkwardness.
Kiana turned around. Her face was already red enough to smoke, and tears of humiliation welled up in her eyes.
She obviously sensed that distance restriction too.
She had to... had to keep this bastard at the doorway.
And the door couldn't be closed tight.
"You... stand here."
Kiana pointed at the floor mat by the door, her finger shaking.
"Turn your back... turn your back to me!"
"Cover your ears! Not allowed to listen! Not allowed to look back! Not allowed to move!"
As she spoke, she pushed herself into the bathroom, but did not close the door—because closing the door would cut off the distance.
She could only leave the door ajar, leaving a crack of about ten centimeters.
Su Yu stood with his back to the bathroom door like a door god, covering his ears tightly with both hands, and shouted loudly:
"I can't hear! I can't hear anything! I can't see anything either!"
This would definitely make it into the Top 10 Most Awkward Moments of Su Yu's Life.
He stood outside the bathroom, back to the ajar door, staring at the flickering night light at the end of the hallway.
The crack in the door was open about two fingers' width—any more, and he would exceed that damned one-meter line.
The First Emperor started his business but died halfway; today the country is divided into three, Yizhou is exhausted...
Su Yu recited the Chu Shi Biao in his heart, attempting to use Prime Minister Zhuge's final admonitions to hedge against the awkwardness of this moment.
This is truly a critical autumn for survival, yet the ministers of the guard are tireless within, and loyal soldiers forget themselves without...
Rustling sounds came from behind the door.
Su Yu's ears pricked up involuntarily, and he shook his head vigorously, continuing to recite in his mind.
Ideally chasing the special treatment of the First Emperor, wishing to repay it to Your Majesty...
The sound of flowing water rang out.
Su Yu closed his eyes.
May Your Majesty entrust your subject with the effectiveness of punishing thieves and reviving the restoration; if not effective, then punish your subject's crimes to report to the spirit of the First Emperor...
The water sound stopped.
The sound of toilet paper being pulled, then the whooshing sound of the faucet turning on.
Finally—
The door was pulled open.
He didn't look back.
He felt that if he turned around now, both of them would die of social awkwardness.
"Let's go." Su Yu cleared his throat, his voice dry and raspy. "Let's go eat something."
"...Un."
Kiana's voice was muffled.
Su Yu stepped toward the living room, deliberately slowing his pace.
The footsteps behind him followed—not far, not close, exactly within one meter.
They walked down the hallway one after the other like this.
After experiencing a session of bathroom shame play, the two finally returned to the living room.
That damned frosted glass door seemed to have become a tacit taboo totem between them; neither dared to glance in that direction again.
At this moment, by Su Yu's small coffee table.
The two were sitting face-to-face in an extremely awkward posture.
It couldn't be helped; it was still because of that damned "one-meter restriction."
Su Yu sat cross-legged on the carpet, while Kiana hugged her knees curled up on the edge of the sofa.
The distance between their knees was no more than twenty centimeters.
Breathing was audible; they were within reach.
On the table sat two buckets of freshly brewed braised beef noodles.
Plastic forks were stuck into the paper lids, and hot white steam curled upwards.
Carrying that cheap yet incredibly tempting industrial essence scent, it permeated recklessly through the room, which was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
"...Eat."
Su Yu broke the silence first, peeling off the lid and handing the fork over.
"That... the 'Unmodeled Kitty Set' only had one portion left, so let's make do with this tonight."
Kiana didn't speak, just nodded silently.
She took the fork and lowered her head, her white hair hanging down to cover her cheeks, which were still somewhat hot.
Actually, she had been hungry for a long time.
During her days wandering in Arc City, eating was a luxury.
Sometimes it was a bento box expired by a few days, sometimes bread hard as a rock, and more often, she just endured it.
And this bucket of steaming instant noodles before her eyes, floating with red oil and dehydrated scallions.
For the current her, it was undoubtedly a delicacy comparable to a three-star Michelin meal.
Slurp—
Su Yu slurped a large mouthful of noodles without any psychological burden, making a loud noise.
Kiana's shoulders twitched.
She carefully forked up a small roll of noodles, blew on it, and sent it into her mouth.
The scalding broth exploded on the tip of her tongue, the spice and savoriness instantly waking up her numb taste buds.
Cough... a bit hot.
But that warmth slid down her esophagus into her stomach, finally soothing her stomach which had been spasming with pain.
The room was left with only the sounds of the two slurping noodles one after another.
Slurp...
Slurp slurp...
Too awkward.
Really too awkward.
Su Yu chewed on the soulless dehydrated beef cubes while frantically roasting the situation in his mind.
What was with this atmosphere, like a failed blind date forced to share a table for a meal?
And sitting opposite him was Kiana Kaslana, whom he had just "supervised" using the toilet!
Must say something.
Even if it was nonsense, he had to stir up this air that felt like solidified cement.
Su Yu swallowed the noodles in his mouth, his gaze wandering between Kiana's face and the noodle bucket in her hand.
Finally, he choked out a question that was extremely stiff, yet extremely fitting for the slice-of-life style: "So... what flavor of instant noodles do you like?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Su Yu wanted to slap himself.
What the hell kind of question is that? Are you doing market research for a convenience store?
Kiana evidently hadn't expected him to ask this either.
Her noodle-slurping action paused, and the noodles dripping with broth slid back into the bucket, splashing a tiny drop of red oil onto the collar of "Fu Hua's" pure white shirt.
She stared blankly at the scallions floating on the soup, her eyes dazing for a split second.
Like what flavor?
Back at St. Freya, Mei wouldn't allow her to eat much of this junk food.
Every time she tried to secretly hide a few buckets, Bronya would report her, and then Auntie Himeko would confiscate them—although in the end, Auntie Himeko would secretly brew them herself as a midnight snack to go with alcohol.
At that time, she always clamored to eat flavors that didn't exist at all, like "Honkai Beast Flavor" or "Super Spicy Supreme Deluxe Edition."
"...I'm not picky."
It took a long time before Kiana answered in a low voice, carrying a vicissitude that didn't match her age.
"As long as... I can get full."
She paused, seemingly feeling that this answer was too perfunctory toward the person who had kindly taken her in just now, so she whispered an addition:
"Before... before, I also tried eating toast burnt a little bit."
"Although Mei... although others said that was dark cuisine, I actually felt that burnt, crispy taste wasn't bad."
When mentioning the name "Mei," her voice trembled noticeably, as if touching a wound, and she quickly changed her wording to cover it up.
"Burnt toast, huh..."
Su Yu pretended not to hear the anomaly in her words, nodding thoughtfully and putting on a "knowledgeable" expression.
"That's called the Maillard Reaction Overdose Version. That's a culinary talent unique to the Kaslana family; average people really can't appreciate it."
"Pfft..." Kiana almost choked on the noodle soup.
She looked up, a trace of astonishment flashing through those dead-ash eyes.
"You know Kaslana?"
Kiana asked warily, her hand gripping the fork a few degrees tighter.
"Please, although there's no Schicksal organization here, I happen to know someone named Kaslana. He's a very good buddy of mine."
Su Yu said without changing his expression, trying to use a relaxed tone to dissolve the heaviness.
"You can call him Kevin. Although he keeps a straight face all day, he's actually a hopeless flour-food maniac, a white-haired weirdo who can queue for three hours just to eat a bowl of noodles."
"Kevin...?"
Kiana froze for a moment, brows furrowing tight, seemingly trying hard to recall something.
"You mean... that first-generation ancestor of the Kaslana family written in the history books?"
Although she spent most of her time sleeping while attending St. Freya, that was her own ancestor's name after all; she had some impression of it.
But that was the extent of it.
In her cognition, that was just a name printed in a textbook; it couldn't overlap at all with the "flour-food maniac" described by the man before her.
"Here, he isn't some old antique living in a book."
Su Yu shrugged and pointed to his computer, which had its screen on. The screensaver was a large group photo—a New Year's group photo of the Golden Courtyard.
"Here, this white-haired one in the middle. Right now, he's just an ordinary corporate slave who works overtime every day and has to be managed by his girlfriend."
Su Yu pointed at Kevin in the photo, who had a cold expression but was making a peace sign, and then pointed at the group of people around him who were completely strange to Kiana.
"And this one with pink hair, named Elysia. She's just an ordinary girl who's a bit narcissistic and likes to hit on beautiful girls everywhere."
"The one wearing a mask is called Kalpas, the chef at the sanatorium next door. Although he has a violent temper, the beef and potato stew he makes is truly superb."
Kiana looked blankly at the strange faces on the screen.
She didn't know a single one.
But the fireworks-like vibrancy and liveliness spilling out of the photo were things she couldn't ignore no matter what.
That Kevin, known as the "Ancestor," although expressionless, lacked that killing aura belonging to a warrior in his eyes.
And that laughter and joy that could be felt even across the screen...
"...What is this?"
Kiana muttered to herself, a trace of confusion flashing deep in her eyes that was hard to conceal.
"Treating historical figures as neighbors? This world... has it gone crazy?"
It seemed Kiana had realized, more or less, that this was not the world she knew well.
This was for the best.
"Maybe, but compared to that world of yours with only fighting and sacrifice, the 'crazy' here might be a bit cuter, don't you think?"
Su Yu looked at Kiana, his tone becoming a bit more serious, his eyes revealing a calm that made one feel at ease.
"So, here, you don't need to keep your nerves taut at all times."
"'Kaslana' isn't some bloodline shouldering a curse of salvation, nor is it some hero who must sacrifice themselves to save the world."
"Here, everyone is just a group of ordinary people who will argue over what to eat for dinner, and get up early to snatch discounted eggs at the supermarket."
Su Yu grabbed the bottle of Iced Black Tea from the side, twisted the cap open, and handed it to her.
"Here, drink this. Eating instant noodles without Iced Black Tea cuts the flavor in half."
Kiana listened dazedly to these descriptions, which to her sounded as absurd as the Arabian Nights.
It sounded simply like the most ridiculous dream she would have when running a high fever.
But the instant noodles in her hand were hot, the man beside her was real, and the smiles in that photo... were so dazzling yet warm.
"...Liar."
She muttered softly.
This time, she didn't refute again, nor did she press further about the origins of those people.
Maybe because she was too tired, or maybe because this bucket of noodles was too fragrant, she suddenly didn't want to think about the truth or falsehood of it all.
If this was a dream... then let her stay a little longer in this dream that didn't require fighting.
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