"All this junk on the floor... Su Yu, you brat, are you planning to redecorate? Who is that girl? Are you two putting on a martial arts showdown here—Eh?"
Himeko was still cursing and swearing.
Her voice hadn't even faded when that white-haired girl rushed over like a cannonball.
Su Yu didn't even have time to hold her back.
Kiana rushed in front of Himeko, completely disregarding the smell of alcohol on her, and threw herself desperately into her arms.
Her hands hugged Himeko's waist deathly tight, her strength so great it seemed she wanted to melt herself into the other's body.
"Eh?"
Himeko was forced back two steps by this collision. The whiskey in her hand almost spilled, and she was completely bewildered.
"No, wait... what is the situation?"
The girl in her arms was trembling.
That trembling was so violent that even Himeko could feel it.
Immediately after, a burst of heart-rending crying broke out.
"Teacher Himeko... Teacher Himeko..."
Kiana buried her face in Himeko's chest, her tears instantly soaking that expensive silk nightgown.
She cried like a child who had been lost for a long time and finally found home. All her strength, all her disguises, all her defenses collapsed in this instant.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry to you..."
"I miss you... I miss you so much..."
"Wuuuwahhh..."
Himeko sobered up completely.
She held the wine bottle in her hand, looking helplessly at this girl in her arms who was crying her heart out, then looked at Su Yu, who was standing not far away with blood streaks on his face.
What... what is the meaning of this?!
"This..." She mouthed to Su Yu, "Did you abandon her after seducing her? Or what did you do to her?"
Su Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He pointed at Kiana, then at Himeko, and put his palms together, making a gesture of "Please, I beg you, just play along."
Himeko frowned.
She had a fiery temper and hated trouble the most.
But...
She looked down at the girl in her arms.
That head of messy white hair, and the old clothes that clearly didn't fit.
That crying sound was too miserable, so miserable that even she, who had never raised a child, felt her heart twitch with pain.
And... what did this child call her? Teacher Himeko?
Strange.
Ah, so annoying...
Although she didn't know what had happened, Himeko could feel that this girl was experiencing some kind of immense pain.
That desperate sense of dependence made all the cursing words she had prepared melt on her lips.
"Sigh..."
Himeko sighed helplessly and placed the whiskey in her hand on the shoe cabinet beside her.
She hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised her hand and landed it gently on Kiana's trembling shoulder.
"Alright, alright..."
Her voice unconsciously softened a bit, carrying a clumsy sort of comfort.
"Although I don't know what you're sorry for... um, stop crying."
Feeling the warmth on her shoulder, Kiana hugged even tighter.
She gripped Himeko's nightgown deathly hard, as if the moment she let go, the person before her would turn into flying ash and dissipate in a sea of fire, just like in that dream.
"This girl's strength is way too big! Gently, gently, do you want to strangle me to death!!"
Himeko felt like her waist was about to break. She patted Kiana's back vigorously, but Kiana couldn't hear anything.
Kiana buried her face in the crook of Himeko's neck, her shoulders shaking violently.
Tears soaked the shirt.
But she didn't care anymore.
In this moment, she only wanted to hold this warm body and cry to her heart's content.
Kiana's crying gradually weakened, leaving only intermittent sobbing.
Himeko led her to sit on the sofa, patting her back somewhat clumsily, as if soothing a frightened kitten.
She looked up. The drunkenness in those golden eyes had largely dissipated, replaced by a sharp gaze like that of interrogating a prisoner.
"Speak, Su Yu." She raised an eyebrow. "What kind of heavenly wrath and human resentment did you commit, you brat? To reduce such a beautiful girl to this state..."
Her gaze landed on the bruises on the back of Kiana's hand and that set of clearly ill-fitting old clothes, and her eyes instantly became dangerous.
"Hiss—" Himeko sucked in a breath of cold air. "You brat, don't tell me you're a domestic abuser?!"
"I'm wrongly accused!" Su Yu pointed to the blood trail on his face cut by the glass shard, wearing a bitter smile. "Sister Himeko, you have to speak with evidence! You've known me for so long, do you think I have the ability to split a solid wood dining table with one slap?"
He pointed to the pile of wood debris on the floor that was still shocking to look at.
Himeko froze for a moment.
She looked at the dining table that had died without a whole corpse, then looked at Su Yu's thin arms and legs.
Indeed, although this kid looked reasonably spirited usually, he definitely didn't have that kind of monstrous strength capable of uprooting a willow tree.
Then who did it?
This girl?
Himeko's train of thought took a turn, and the plot of a xianxia angst romance drama she had just finished binge-watching last night instantly surfaced in her mind.
"Could it be..."
She lowered her voice, pointing at Kiana's conspicuous white hair with a face full of gossip.
"Is this a romantic debt you provoked in the past? Some goddess from a hidden family, or a junior sister who came down the mountain for training? And now she's come to your door for revenge?"
"..."
Su Yu rolled his eyes. "Watch less melodramatic dramas, sister! It's truly a waste of talent for your imagination not to write novels."
Himeko scoffed and moved to stand up.
But Kiana didn't let go.
"I need to use the bathroom," Himeko said. "Nature calls; you wouldn't want to squeeze me to death, would you?"
The word "death" seemed to stimulate Kiana's nerves. She shivered, and her strength lessened a few degrees, but she still didn't release Himeko.
"I'll be right here, I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
Himeko comforted her with as gentle a tone as possible.
"...Un."
After getting Kiana's answer, Himeko gently straightened Kiana up in her arms, letting her lean against the sofa.
"Alright, looks like it's a messy account."
She stood up and carelessly scratched that head of messy red hair.
"You young couple solve your own matters. I'm borrowing your bathroom; if I hold it any longer, I'm going to call the police! If it's not resolved before I come out, next month's rent goes up by two hundred!"
With that, she stomped in her slippers and rushed wind-and-fire toward the bathroom.
Bang.
The door closed.
The living room fell silent again.
Kiana curled up in the corner of the sofa, her hand still clutching the tissue Himeko had just handed her.
Her eyes were red and swollen. Although the tears had stopped, that sadness still lingered between her brows.
"Are you a bit calmer now?" Su Yu asked tentatively.
In Kiana's hollow eyes, it seemed a little bit of light finally appeared. Although very faint, it was better than nothing.
"...Un."
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