The rain only grew heavier, and the street outside the residential building blurred behind a veil of mist.
Kiana clutched the wound on her arm and ran down the long, wet road with no destination in mind.
Her stamina drained fast. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, and the sting from her injury came in waves.
The shock in that man's eyes earlier had made her believe—just for a moment—that she'd finally returned to the real world.
She pushed into a 24-hour convenience store lit by harsh white bulbs.
The air-conditioning was cranked up high; it hit her soaked jacket and sent a shiver through her bones.
Kiana walked to the counter and stared at the onigiri and bread on the shelf. Her throat bobbed unconsciously.
"Um… could I have one of those?"
She pointed at a tuna onigiri, her voice rough and hoarse.
The clerk restocking nearby didn't react at all.
Kiana thought they hadn't heard, and raised her voice slightly. "Hello. I want to buy this onigiri."
The clerk straightened up, their gaze passing straight through her body toward the rain outside—then they lowered their head and kept organizing the gum.
Kiana reached out, trying to slap the counter and make some noise.
But when her palm hit the wooden surface, it produced only the faintest, muffled thud—like striking through thick cotton. She tried to tug the clerk's sleeve.
Her fingers went right through it.
That terror—the sensation of being abandoned by the world—surged up again.
With a bitter, self-mocking smile, she pulled her hand back.
So that man earlier really had been an illusion.
Or maybe… she truly had become a ghost.
She'd tried earlier to interact with people on the street. No matter what she did, nobody responded.
She didn't know whether she'd actually become a wandering spirit—unable to touch anyone, unable to be acknowledged.
But the pain in her body, and the hunger twisting in her gut, were undeniably real.
Do the dead need to eat? Can the dead still be hurt?
Just as she turned to leave and sink back into that cold darkness, the automatic door chimed.
Ding-dong.
Su Yu burst in, panting, holding a long black umbrella.
His pant legs were soaked through. His eyes swept the store once, then locked hard on the thin figure by the shelves.
"Finally found you."
He didn't even wipe the rain from his face—he just stared straight at Kiana.
Kiana froze.
As he moved close—within a meter—she felt something shatter in the air, like a solid barrier finally breaking apart.
At the same time, footsteps sounded behind the register.
A clerk coming off break stepped out from the back storage area.
"Welcome. What can I get for you?"
The voice was cool and even.
Kiana reflexively turned around.
The moment she saw the clerk's face, her pupils shrank. The ashes in her eyes ignited into savage, violent rage.
Fu Hua.
The girl wore a plain convenience store apron, black-rimmed glasses, and her long hair was simply tied back. She looked like an ordinary college student.
But that face—those calm, unruffled features—was identical to the watcher in Kiana's memories.
The one who had pushed her toward the abyss.
The one who had carried out that so-called "plan."
"Fu… Hua…"
Kiana's teeth ground together.
The pain of betrayal, the fury of being deceived, the despair of losing Himeko—everything crashed over her like a collapsing mountain.
She ignored the injury and stepped forward. Her right hand moved on instinct, trying to gather Honkai energy—yet nothing responded.
Even though she was so weak she could barely stand, she still glared at the girl behind the counter like a cornered, feral animal.
"Why are you here? Why are you still showing up in front of me?!"
Her voice twisted with emotion, sharp and shaking.
"Answer me! Why did you betray me back then?!"
Fu Hua—mid shift handover—was clearly startled.
She pushed up her glasses, confused, staring at the bloodied girl who looked ready to tear her apart.
"Miss… do I know you?"
That stranger's attitude detonated whatever rational thread Kiana had left.
"You traitor!!"
She lunged as if to vault the counter.
A warm, large hand clamped down on her wrist.
Su Yu.
"Calm down," he said, yanking her back a step. "She's not the person you're looking for."
He could feel Kiana trembling violently.
He understood perfectly—if Kiana did anything here, this world's order would crack open, and she'd lose the last place she could exist.
"Senior Su Yu?"
Fu Hua's confusion deepened when she recognized him.
"Is she… your friend?"
Fu Hua was a few years younger—his junior. She was also a tenant at Golden Courtyard, usually juggling multiple part-time jobs to pay her way.
One of her shifts happened to be at a convenience store not far from Su Yu's place.
That was why he often stopped by to say hello.
"It's complicated," Su Yu said, forcing a polite, apologetic smile. "But, A-Hua—please keep this confidential."
"Let go of me!"
Kiana struggled, her eyes still nailed to Fu Hua. The hatred in them was almost tangible.
"Look around you, Kiana!" Su Yu snapped quietly at her ear. "There's no Schicksal here. No Honkai. She's just a working student. Look at her eyes—really look."
Kiana stiffened.
Fu Hua stood behind the counter, her expression full of helplessness at the sudden chaos, with only a thin edge of caution.
It was the look of an ordinary person.
Not the cold, thousand-year weariness Kiana remembered.
Su Yu stepped between them and offered Fu Hua another apologetic smile.
"Sorry, A-Hua. She's been under a lot of stress lately—she mistook you for someone else."
Then he turned back to the counter.
"Could you… get her two onigiri? And a bottle of warm milk."
Fu Hua nodded. There was a question in her eyes, but when she saw Su Yu's full, apologetic expression, she only sighed.
"If you run into trouble… and you can't tell me, you can always tell Senior Kevin."
As she spoke, she quickly bagged a few onigiri and a warm bottle of milk.
After Su Yu transferred the money, he looked back at Kiana, who seemed frozen in place, and let out a quiet sigh.
"A-Hua," he said, "does the store have a first-aid kit? Could you help clean her wound?"
"Don't let her touch me."
Kiana's voice came at his side—almost like a plea.
"Please… I'm sorry…"
"But…" Fu Hua started.
"I can do it myself," Kiana cut in, softer.
"…Alright."
Fu Hua handed the medical kit to Su Yu and led them into the employees' break room behind the store.
When the door closed, Su Yu's voice came from outside:
"I'll be right outside. If anything happens, call out."
Kiana hugged the kit to her chest.
On a nearby chair sat a set of dry clothes—Fu Hua's spare change of clothes. Her instinct was to reject them, to refuse anything connected to that face—
But when she met Fu Hua's concerned gaze…
In the end, she said nothing.
What is going on…?
She's Fu Hua. She's my class monitor. The liar who betrayed me…
Kiana slid down against the cabinet until she sat on the floor, clutching the medical kit like a lifeline.
Like a balloon that had finally lost all its air, her face filled with confusion and pain.
"But she… she's clearly just a normal person…"
"Why… why is it like this?"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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