Honkai Impact 3rd: Yumeji Satsuki's lies

Kiana's POV.

She was woken up by Mei to go to class as usual.

"Hurry up Kiana, or you'll be late."

"I know, Mei~ Oaah!"

After letting out a long yawn, she quickly ran into the classroom.

As a new habit, she glanced over at the seat.

"Is that guy absent again today?"

Mei replied in the direction she was looking.

- I don't know, he has a bad cold now, the doctor said his fever is as high as 40 degrees.

"Eh...."

She stared at the empty seat for a while then went to her seat.

Behind her, Mei just stared at her with a strange expression and then came to sit behind her.

Only 30 minutes after class started, she was so bored that she fell asleep on the table without realizing it.

"Kiana."

"Hey, Kiana, wake up.

"Hey....."

......

Huh?

'Where am I?'

She had been standing alone in a place filled with white clouds without knowing when.

'Am I dreaming?'

Then the surrounding clouds parted and brought her to a snowy field.

- Where are you, Kiana?

A man with a sloppy appearance called her name.

'Dad?'

The man was her father, Siegfried Kaslana.

'Then it must be a dream.'

Realizing that this was just a dream that simulated her past, she decided to follow her younger self, who was giggling while hiding behind a bush, only to be distracted and chase a colorful rainbow butterfly.

The little girl ran away and she followed slowly.

The two then walked to a certain lake.

'Is there such a place?'

Due to the cold weather, the lake surface was completely frozen.

Above was a magical crescent moon shining weak rays of light on the giant mirror made of ice, creating an extremely poetic scene.

Underneath that magical moonlight, there was a young man sitting on a large rock, looking up at the night sky.

He was wearing a pitch-black cloak that obscured his identity and a fox mask that covered half of his face.

He looked extremely strange and suspicious, but young Kiana did not know that and ran up to him curiously and asked.

- Oh, hey....

She intended to stop her younger self, but realized it was useless, so she gave up.

Little Kiana ran up to the suspicious masked young man and asked.

- Hey, fox, are you a monster?

Hearing little Kiana's call, the young man who was looking up at the moon lowered his head to look at her.

- I told you what?

Little Kiana just playfully replied.

- Yes, it's me, the fox.

-....Alright, let me answer, little lady. I'm not a monster, but a spirit.

-??? Eh, spirit? You mean, I'm a ghost?

- Yes.

'Really?'

She had seen a ghost before, she couldn't remember this unbelievable event.

Contrary to her current reaction, little Kiana showed an excited expression.

- Hooray! So I can see ghosts!~

Little Kiana jumped up happily but accidentally tripped because her vision was obstructed by an eye patch.

- Oh my.

- Are you okay?

The mysterious spirit boy asked.

- It's okay, you don't know, I'm very strong.

- Oh.

- Don't you believe me?

The spirit smiled back and said.

- No, I believe you. You are a strong child.

Little Kiana puffed up her nose proudly at the compliment.

- Then can I touch you?

The spirit just shrugged and replied.

- If you want.

The little girl reached out and touched the spirit's body but her hand simply passed through the cloak.

- Waah, it really passed through.

As happy as she was as a child, she was just as terrified now.

- Oh, hey, you're kidding!? So I really saw a ghost? I'm not possessed, am I!?

She scratched her head at the horrifying truth.

Then, regardless of what she thought, the scene in the dream continued.

- So do you know how to do magic?

The little girl asked.

- Yes.

The ghost replied indifferently, then he snapped his fingers and three flickering blue flames appeared floating in mid-air.

- This is a will-o'-the-wisp.

- Oh!

The boy snapped his fingers again, this time the entire ten meter space around the two of them lit up.

Flashing, shimmering lights appeared from every blade of grass and tree.

- This is a Spirit.

- So beautiful!~

Even she had to stare wide-eyed at the scene that seemed to come out of a fairy tale.

The boy waved his hand again. This time, the surrounding snow rose up, forming snowmen holding hands and forming a circle around the two of them.

Then, a few small layers of ice rose up and formed the shape of exquisite ballerinas, accompanied by the music of the wind and trees. At this moment, everything became so magical that she couldn't believe her eyes.

- Want to see more?

- I want to see more! I want to see more!~

Kiana replied excitedly but only received a shake of the head from the boy.

- Too bad your time is up. See you next time.

- Huh? Are you leaving? I still want to see you perform!

Kiana looked dissatisfied. But the boy still shook his head.

- If you don't go, the King of Hell will punish you.

- Okay then. But will we still meet again?

- I will. Even though it will take a long time, the time will come when I will see you again.

- I understand, goodbye, ghost.

- Um, goodbye.

For some reason, at the last minute, she felt like he was looking at her.

.......

...

...

.

.

. "Oh, Kiana!"

"Oh, Kiana, let's teach you to eat."

"It's useless, Sister Mei, Bronya thinks this idiot still wants to sleep until tomorrow morning."

"Kiana, if you don't wake up now, then just do it."

"Kiana, I've made a special schedule to cure your absent-mindedness!"

.....

"Um, um, Sister Mei? Why is everyone here? Is it morning already?"

"Bright your head! Look out the window, you slept until late afternoon."

Himeko pinched her ear and shouted.

"Ahh it hurts, I was wrong, Aunt Himeko."

"Don't call me aunt!"

"Aaah, aaaghh, aghhh! I was wrong, I'm sorry... Save me Sister Mei!"

"Seeing you like this, you must be okay? I thought you were sick."

Mei replied leisurely with a relieved expression despite being dealt with by Himeko-sensei with a neck brace.

"Alright, back to the topic at hand, today the whole group will visit Yumeji. Does anyone have any objections?"

"Huh!? Wait, where did this suddenly come up? Oh my, you still can't forgive me!?"

Himeko, who had been fulfilling her role as an emotionless pliers, replied.

"No, I'll continue until I can straighten you out."

"No way!?"

Ignoring the two people who were dealing with their personal issues, the others replied one after another.

"Bronya agrees with this idea."

"No objections. I was thinking of sending him an apology gift for what happened earlier anyway."

"Same to you. Caring about the health of the students is also part of your test."

"Wait, I don't agree, Mei-san...i! Guuaghhh!!"

"Okay, so we'll go visit Yumeji at 7pm tonight."

"Um, um!!"

Locked down by Himeko, Kiana had no way to refute any further.

__________

*At the same time*

Yumeji was lying on the bed, recuperating, his body flushed red from a high fever.

Although he had covered himself with a towel to cool down, it had not worked much.

With his consciousness hazy, and his body exhausted from being sick, he was still vaguely thinking about what had happened during the previous practice.

What exactly was he or what was residing inside him, such questions had always tormented him and prevented him from sleeping soundly, contributing to his illness becoming more severe.

Even now, when he considered his memories, he suddenly realized that there were countless holes in them, there were memories that did not fit together, and there were also gaps in his memories that he could not recall.

He stared at the silver bracelet tightly attached to his left hand and thought.

'Who am I, exactly? Am I really Yumeji Satsuki?'

With such questions in his mind, he once again fell into a deep sleep due to the fatigue that his damn flu brought.