WebNovels

Chapter 19 - Bronya Confrontation (2k)

It had been about an hour. Kiana had grabbed a snack from her kitchen, while everyone else had colonized the couch.

Kiana was now sulking on the floor, while Mei sat on one end of the couch and I sat on the other end.

Bronya was currently curled up into a ball with her head in Mei's lap, covering the entire middle of the couch and forcing me into the side wall of the couch with her feet.

"Hmm!" Kiana harumphed petulantly while looking at Bronya.

"Idioka Kiana, the Bronya is unable to read your mind. If you want something, you have to use words like a human, instead of huffing like an animal." Bronya roasted.

"I act more human than you, tiny brat! And who decided you got to lay on Mei's lap anyway! That spot should have been mine."

Kiana explained like a human, and not an animal.

Mei blushed a little, while Bronya said, "This seating arrangement was a group decision, made by everyone who matters."

Mei started to say something, stopped, then started again before managing to get out,

"So… Kiana… are we in a relationship now?" She paused, then added quietly, "Did you really mean all those things you said to me while we were still in school?" She asked again.

Kiana grabbed both of Mei's hands in hers and smiled, "Of course! A Kaslana never goes back on their word. I will always love Mei the most!"

Mei blushed before replying in a low voice, "I also love you the most..."

Then Mei turned to me. "I never thanked you properly for saving me earlier, again while I was in that state… It was like I could only watch through a window."

I had no good response, so I just said nothing. I hadn't expected to defeat the Herrscher so easily, I expected a long, arduous fight. But Abundance path energy seemed uniquely suited to this world, and the ability to permanently delete Honkai energy made even ridiculously strong opponents trivial. Still, that didn't mean I was sticking around. I had places to see, people to meet, worlds to travel to.

Kiana suddenly piped up, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Now that we're… y'know… officially together, maybe we could… retry what happened earlier."

Mei froze mid-blink. "Wait… what do you mean by that?"

Kiana leaned in a little, acting extra perverted, and clarified, "You know… when you were choking me on the rooftop earlier. I think we should… practice again.

Mei's blush went from mild to nuclear.

Bronya, never missing a beat, deadpanned, "Pervert detected. Project Bunny, add tag: pervert and masochist under lesbian in Kiana's profile."

Kiana grinned and squeezed herself between the couch and the wall to get closer to Mei.

Carefully, she grabbed the hand Mei was using to pet Bronya on the head and placed it on top of her own head.

Mei hesitated, then lovingly started petting Kiana. "You're my favorite person… right now."

Kiana huffed, clearly offended by the "right now" part.

I swear Kiana has ears and a tail right now.

[System: I greatly approve of this relationship! I love this! You should try and become part of it!]

Oh great, another pervert. What's that supposed to mean? You want us to have a threesome?

[System: I did not mean anything impure in what I said… although, I would be happy to see it. ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧]

Not happening! I don't plan on leaving behind any broken relationships in this world. I also won't deprive this world of anyone important to saving it. I don't want to be responsible for the death of an entire world.

Actually, I will probably end up taking Welt. I don't actually know how he got to the Honkai: Star Rail universe, even if there was a chance he would still end up in HSR even with butterfly effect, it's not guaranteed.

Maybe it was a cannon event, but it was also possible fate couldn't correct my actions. Like with Elysia being able to break the strings of fate.

I decided that I was going to kidnap Welt and take him with me once I found a way to travel to the Honkai: Star Rail universe.

As for how I was going to get there, I had a couple ideas.

I was no scientist but I knew that passing through the barrier that surrounded this world would cost immense amounts of energy.

But I knew it was possible, since at least 2 separate species of aliens managed to cross the barrier and get into this solar system. The Sugars and the Sky People both managed it.

I also thought that it probably couldn't be Honkai energy. I was sure that the 2nd divine key couldn't leave the solar system. Otherwise project ARK would have used the divine key to instantly teleport to another solar system.

I thought it made sense that the Will of the Cocoon, or now the corrupted Will of Honkai, wouldn't allow such an easy method of traversal in and out of the solar system.

In fact, the barrier was probably precisely there to stop people from escaping the area of influence of the Cocoon of Finality, only dispelled after Kiana became the Herrscher of Finality. No way I was waiting that long.

I turned to see that Kiana had grabbed Mei's hand again and was now rubbing her face into it.

Slightly sick of being fed dog food, I decided to give up on the couch and stood up.

Kiana, immediately noticing my movement, thought for only a second before springing into action. She quickly nudged Mei and Bronya aside, claiming the open space beside Mei. Within seconds, she was settled, laying half against Mei, their arms wrapped around each other like they'd done this a thousand times before.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed my backpack and pistol, and started toward the door.

"I'm leaving." I said

Kiana's head lifted slightly, blank confusion written across her face.

"I'm going to find roof access," I clarified, gesturing vaguely with my pistol.

Her expression cleared, recognition dawning. "Down the hall to the right, but… the door's locked."

I nodded, then gestured at my pistol, and at the apartment doorframe with a jagged hole where the latch used to be. A silent message: I can solve this problem.

Walking out the door, I found the staircase, lit dimly by the red emergency lighting. I moved quickly, careful not to make too much noise, the familiar weight of the Alloy Dominator at my side comforting.

Upon shooting open the rooftop door, I stepped onto the roof. Almost completely empty. Massive air conditioning units dotted the surface like islands in a barren cityscape. I walked over to the edge, surveying the streets below.

Honkai zombies still swarmed the streets, scattered in small clusters but enough to make me keep my guard up. Tall buildings flanked the apartment building on both sides, blocking any full view of the surrounding chaos, but I could see down the street in front. Behind us, the building across the alley was shorter, but still too tall to see over onto the street on the other side.

A door creaked behind me. I turned sharply, raising my pistol.

It was Bronya. She stepped onto the roof calmly, apparently not bothering to rip the door from its hinges this time. No drama, no dust cloud, just the quiet, precise motion I'd come to expect from her.

"Lee," she intoned in her usual monotone, "this location provides a suitable vantage point. We can monitor surrounding streets and roof tops until Hyperion arrives."

Project Bunny appeared behind her, seeming to scan the street below us.

Bronya silently listened to? Analyzed through? Project Bunny. "Zombies are concentrated along main thoroughfares. No additional Honkai beasts within visual range. The likelihood of additional Chariot-class Honkai beasts or higher is extremely low. However, the probability of encountering Seraph or Kight-class Honkai beasts is quite high. Caution is advised."

The Honkai zombies below had started to coalesce into larger groups, complete with several Vigiles, Rangers and Clawed. It seemed like the regular unarmed zombies that had been around at the start of the eruption either died out or gained some weapons.

There were no Honkai beasts at all in the immediate area. I thought this was strange, until I saw a pillar of flame rise up in the distance a couple of blocks away.

Ahh, Siegfried. He must have attracted all the Honkai beasts to his location.

"Looks like Siegfried's already collecting the more dangerous ones," I muttered. "Probably better than having them wandering aimlessly down here."

Bronya didn't react to the fact that I had mentioned Siegfried. I thought she would have.

I wondered if now was a good time to confront Bronya about Cocolia.

System, what's Bronya's score towards me.

[System: Bronya's emotional score with you is currently at 70.]

Ehhh, good enough that she probably wouldn't shoot me immediately.

System, what's Bronya's score towards Cocolia.

[System: Bronya's emotional score with Cocolia is currently at 11.]

Wow. Guess it really was a good time.

"You were with Cocolia, right?" I started out by saying.

Bronya didn't say anything in response, however Project Bunny slightly turned to make it easier to aim at me. Bronya also noticed that I noticed Project Bunny's movement.

"Cocolia's stupid plan, whatever she was doing at ME Corp, has created a Honkai eruption." I said calmly, setting my weapon on its side on the half wall at the edge of the roof, pretending that I didn't already know that the Honkai eruption was intentional, and that Bronya was in on it.

Bronya seemed reassured by me setting down my weapon, and Project Bunny's cannons moved back down an inch that I didn't realise they had been raised.

"The Bronya is not working with Cocolia." Bronya stated.

Well, yeah, sure. But I wanted to confirm.

"But you used to?" I pushed.

"The Bronya doesn't want to talk about it." Bronya replied, squeezing her Homu doll tighter. Which was as good as an admission. Not that I needed one since I already knew the full story.

"Cocolia's radical ways, incompetence, and complete lack of care for safety will continue to cause problems." I stated, "The conservative faction won't let go of her for her involvement in this eruption. Even if it was due to negligence." Yeah right.

Bronya just squeezed her doll even tighter. I was worried that the head might just pop-off. I knew she was consumed with guilt over helping Cocolia cause the eruption. She hadn't thought it was really worth it originally, even to save Seele and help complete the X-10 experiments. Now that it hasn't even achieved results?

"Schicksal has some of the most advanced research on the planet, even more advanced then Anti Entropy's" I stated. Not exactly true, it depended on the field. In terms of robotics, Anti Entropy was ahead, but research on Honkai energy, Imaginary energy, the sea of quanta and the true nature of the world, Schicksal, mainly Otto, was leagues ahead of anyone else.

Bronya seemed to think about it. I didn't want to namedrop the Sea of Quanta, I had no reason to do so unless I was aware that Bronya was seeking to rescue Seele from the Sea of Quanta.

I pushed a little harder. "I hear that Schicksal's far east branch's main headquarters is actually a school." I prompted.

"Could… could I really join?" Bronya said, sounding unconfident for the first time since we had met.

She still seemed to think of me as a Schicksal agent. To be fair what I had just done was effectively a recruitment pitch for an organization I wasn't even a part of… Well, it wasn't that bad for now, and it would hopefully prevent her from shooting us in the back or kidnapping Mei.

"Sure," I said. It wasn't actually a lie, I knew St. Freya would accept Bronya, somehow just… overlooking her connection to Anti Entropy.

Both Bronya and I fell silent as we continued to look over the edge of the roof for threats.

I settled in to continue to wait.

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