"Wooo~ That's the stuff!"
Kiana leaned back slightly in the passenger seat, showing off the benefits of her superhuman physique.
The seatbelt curved snugly across her chest, accentuating her figure as she enjoyed the thrill of speeding down the road, laughing gleefully.
"Sit your butt down properly! Your hair just slapped me in the face!" Nagami snapped, his tone exasperated.
The purple hexagram in his eyes faded as he rapidly eased the car down from 200 km/h.
Getting smacked by a braid actually hurt more than he expected.
"Oh—oops!" Kiana glanced at the red mark on Nagami's face and scratched her head sheepishly. "Hehe, sorry about that. But hey—your driving is amazing!"
Despite the windshield, the force of the acceleration had blown Nagami's hair straight back like he'd slicked it with gel. That pushback feeling from the G-force? Absolutely addictive.
"Of course it is! Who do you think I am?"
His tone was filled with smug pride—even though, to be honest, he'd never pulled anything this insane before today.
As an ordinary person, driving like this on a regular road without a death wish would take either two decades of racing experience... or a severe brain injury.
But with his Rewrite Eye active, it was a whole different story.
Wind speed, friction, engine torque, air humidity… everything around him was vividly mapped out in his mind.
The flood of information that would overwhelm a normal brain was effortlessly handled by Nagami's upgraded, dual-core cognition.
"We're almost there," he said, checking the GPS and the time. At this speed, he was pretty sure he'd qualify for a Guinness World Record in his previous life.
Having been thoroughly scolded, Kiana obediently reclined her seat, letting her braid rest comfortably to avoid any more hair-whipping incidents.
Relaxed in the plush leather of the high-end sports car, she turned to watch Nagami drive, eyes shimmering with excitement.
When they finally pulled up in front of the budget hotel where Kiana was staying, she hopped out with the agility of someone who clearly had Valkyrie-tier athleticism.
"This place doesn't look half-bad," Nagami said, walking alongside her with a casual smile.
"Yeah, this has been the most comfortable stop on my trip so far. All thanks to your café!" Kiana chirped as she skipped happily toward her room.
Before this, Kiana's travel jobs had mostly been delivering food or working retail—jobs that paid nowhere near what she earned at Nagami's café.
Even if she was technically living off an advance from the manager right now…
"Oh! By the way, Nagami—what's your girlfriend's name?" she suddenly asked, darting in front of him.
Leaning forward, her sparkling blue eyes narrowed with a mischievous glint.
Nagami instinctively leaned back, putting a little space between them as he caught a whiff of her unique scent and felt her body heat.
He gave her a weird look.
Something's off with this little bug.
"Her name's CC. And just to be clear—she's not my girlfriend," Nagami said after a beat, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as a mischievous urge bubbled up.
He spread his hands and shrugged, clearly enjoying her reaction.
"...?"
Kiana's face went blank, brain stalling.
That green-haired beauty at the café wasn't his girlfriend?
Wait a sec—
That explains it! No wonder CC didn't react when Nagami offered to let her stay at his place.
They're not even dating!
Though... it's still kind of weird. And—
"CC? That's such a weird name…" she muttered, tilting her head in confusion as she looked at Nagami.
"Is it?" he asked, raising a brow with mock innocence, looking just as confused as she did.
His expression practically screamed, 'Why would you think that's strange?'
"Uh… (⊙o⊙)"
Caught off guard by his counter-question, Kiana began to question her own common sense.
'Is there a country in this world where that's a normal name?'
Nagami watched her silently as she visibly tried to process the logic, his expression calm—while inside, he was practically doubled over with laughter.
'She really is a walking meme.'
"So what's your relationship with her then?" Kiana asked, shifting gears.
The name didn't matter; she'd dropped it in two seconds.
What she really wanted to know was where she stood.
If CC wasn't his girlfriend, then that meant she wasn't stepping into forbidden territory.
"Hmm... I guess we're good friends?" Nagami replied after a moment's hesitation, clearly unsure how to define it.
No way could he tell her the truth.
While he and CC were friends, they weren't at a level where he could share the whole secret just yet.
But calling her his girlfriend would complicate some of his future 'plans', so "good friends" was the safest bet for now.
"Ohhh~ good friends, huh~" Kiana repeated, her bright blue eyes sharpening.
She wasn't teasing—she was confirming.
"Yeah, that's right. Just friends."
Hearing that made it all make sense.
CC had defended him at the café this morning like a friend would—no need to overthink it.
If it had been her in CC's shoes, she would've done the same thing, just maybe in a different style.
A quiet thrill began to build in Kiana's chest.
Nagami watched her expression shift, the subtle glimmer in her eyes, and said nothing.
But the glint in his own eyes told a different story—one filled with a mischievous curiosity.
"Is it okay if I come in?"
Standing at the door to Kiana's room, Nagami looked at the girl whose thoughts had clearly drifted off into another dimension.
He nudged her arm with his elbow.
Kiana gave a silent nod in response.
But what made Nagami frown was the way this Tuna-brained girl was totally spacing out, her expression shifting unpredictably—and even letting out a goofy little smile now and then.
Somewhere out there, Mei was probably on the verge of tears~
Kiana took out her room key, swiped it, and walked in without a word.
Nagami followed closely behind.
'I knew it.'
Looking at the soft, white bed now scattered with... rather personal clothing, Nagami could only sigh inwardly.
He shot a glance at Kiana, who was still off in her own little world, and waved his hand in front of her face.
"Kiana, Kiana... Tuna-brain!"
"Ah! What? What is it?" Kiana snapped back to reality like someone just hit the unpause button.
She shook her head in slight panic and forced a couple of coughs to act composed, turning toward Nagami.
Nagami just stared at her with dead-fish eyes and pointed at what looked like a pile of magical ingredients... or rather, items that might actually fetch a price online.
"Hmm… AH!!!"
Following his finger, Kiana let out a shriek of embarrassment and dove onto the bed, using her slender body to shield the underwear she'd left there from last night.
"You're still looking!"
Furious and blushing, Kiana glared at Nagami, raising a tiny fist like she was about to sock him.
"I did ask for your permission before coming in, you know."
Nagami's flat response froze Kiana in place.
Now that she thought about it, she had been completely distracted thinking about CC and didn't hear a word he'd said.
"Alright, alright, just clean up already."
Waving his hand, Nagami let out a snort of disdain.
He'd already seen enough girls' underwear for one day—and to be honest, it didn't faze him in the slightest.
The salesgirl who helped CC pick out her underwear had been practically glowing with excitement the entire time.
In a world like this, full of Honkai chaos, a pretty girl couldn't just be wary of creeps—she had to watch out for obsessed fangirls, too.
Seeing Kiana's conflicted expression, Nagami didn't take the hint to leave this time.
Instead, he walked over to the desk and picked up a small black booklet, his expression growing thoughtful.
"Chiba Academy, Class 3-B, Kiana Kaslana. Is this your student ID?"
The answer was obvious—the name was right there on the cover.
But the tone of Nagami's voice made it clear he wasn't just asking for confirmation.
"Oh, that… You know, I've been traveling for a long time. Sometimes I forget my luggage... I've even lost my ID before. So, to survive, I had to take some... creative measures..."
Kiana looked away, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
Her voice dropped to a mumble as she fidgeted, trying to cover the clothes behind her.
It clearly made her uncomfortable to admit something so blatantly illegal to a friend.
"So yeah, when I was getting a fake ID, the guy said they were running a promotion—I was their 1,000th customer, so they gave me a full Chiba Academy student identity set for free…"
Nagami stared at her in stunned silence, then glanced at the pile of stamped, official-looking documents on the desk.
"YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED THAT???"
Nagami's voice jumped an octave, disbelief written all over his face.
Unbelievable.
Even a Tuna-brain wouldn't fall for something that ridiculous, right?
"Of course I did!"
Kiana looked defensive now, as if she realized Nagami was silently judging her intelligence.
She quickly added, "Don't worry, I'm not that easy to fool. It actually works—I've already tested it."
'That's your takeaway?!' Nagami screamed internally.
"My instincts told me those guys weren't trying to hurt me. And I have really good instincts, you know!"
Still being met with Nagami's "you absolute moron" stare, Kiana tried once more to defend herself.
What could Nagami even say at this point?
He looked down at the fake student ID, at the bright, carefree smile on Kiana's photo. All he could do was sigh.
'You really are something else. Otto... this is your wife descendent...'