Chapter 18 - Himeko Murata

"I'm home!" Kiana announced the moment she opened the door with Mei and Bronya following right behind her. But since no one was home, her voice fall on deaf ears. Noticing this, Kiana mutter,"They are not at home?"

"Himeko-san is probably still at work. As for Kei-san, he might have decided to follow along, I guess. Well then, I'm going to the kitchen to cook our dinner. So you two don't cause too much trouble while I wasn't looking, okay?" Mei warned the two before leaving them in the living room as she head straight to the kitchen while carrying a bag of groceries in her hands.

"Muu, I want to spend more time with Mei, but now I'm stuck with you, little brat."

"It seems the subject Kiana Idiotka is picking a fight with The Bronya. The Bronya is always ready for any challenges." The two then entered a staring contest as neither one of them wanted to admit losing to each other. Eventually, it was Kiana who blinked her eyes first before Bronya to which the latter celebrated by showing her peace sign.

"I'm just letting you win this game, that's all! Now let's get to the real challenge!" Kiana harrumphed before walking toward the game console near the TV and turning it on. She then picked one of the joystick before giving another one to Bronya. "This time I won't be defeat by you! I heard our classmates talking about this new game being great and all, so I bought it at the mall! You definitely have never play it or even heard of it before, so you won't have the same advantages you get as usual! Now, come on! Let me show you how much a genius I am!"

Half an hour later.

"Why?! Why can't I win?! This is strange! Are you cheating? Bronya, you must be cheating!" Kiana exclaimed while staring angrily at the Television that showed her utterly defeated over and over again. For the first few rounds, she easily beat Bronya with flying colors. But when it reached the latter rounds, she soon realized how much of a fool she is as Bronya started overshadowing her previous scores one by one. In the end, even her highest scores was easily beaten twice the numbers as if mocking on her efforts.

"The Bronya had repeatedly told subject Kiana that The Bronya will always win when it comes to gaming. Subject Kiana should have known how foolish her action is by now, The Bronya suggested." She then put the joystick down on the table before patting Kiana in the back.

"No! I don't believe it! There must be something wrong here, maybe I'm not in my perfect form today! Yeah, that must be it! You should be happy that I let you win today, but I won't show mercy next time!" Kiana stated, to which Bronya only response back with a deadpan look on her face.

*Creak!*

"We're home." Suddenly, the two turned their head toward the hallway and saw the red haired duo that has been missing up until now. Himeko appeared exhausted as she immediately find herself comfortable on the sofa before asking particular no one when will the dinner be ready. As if answering to her remark, Mei casually walk into the living room with food in her hands, but was then taken by Kei as he helped her put it on the table.

Seeing this, Kiana quickly stood up from the mattress as she went toward them wanting to help Mei. With both Kiana and Kei helping her, the table were soon filled with steamed food. From the front of the the dining table seated Mei, and to her right were Himeko and Kei while the other two were on the opposing side.

"How was your first time in St. Freya High?" Himeko asked out of curiosity.

"It was nothing but a breeze to me!" Kiana proclaimed with confident. But then the person next to her retorted, "Subject Kiana caused a problem during the practice. Subject Kiana confidently said she could beat the most powerful robot there which ended up in her getting beaten black and blue. The Bronya had witnessed this idiotic scene with her own two eyes. Mei-neesama was also there."

Imagining such a scene in their head, Himeko and Kei let out a laughs while Kiana reddened from both embarrassment and indignation at Bronya for exposing her. It wasn't her fault for underestimating the robot since she thought it would be rigid in it's movement, a conclusion she reached after looking at its huge size but, she was wrong. Despite the teacher and the students trying to stop her, she insisted on it. In the end, she was knocked unconscious after getting herself thrown few miles away with nothing but a single punch from the robot.

She promised herself that one day she will teach that robot a lesson for humiliating her in front of everyone!

After all of them filled their stomach with food, Kiana continues to challenge Bronya in a video game as if she didn't know the meaning of defeat. Himeko was just enjoying herself drinking a can of beer like how she drinks water while sitting comfortable on the sofa. Kei can be seen helping Mei cleaning up the plates while the two were talking about her life in the academy.

Before going to sleep, just to be sure that Himeko won't secretly slip into his room again, Kei picked up the drunk woman laying on the sofa before carrying the latter in a princess carry straight to her room. She didn't show any response to his action other than occasionally mumbling how hard her work is. Though this woman seems to enjoy playing around on her free time, she will be serious and a lot more responsible when it comes to her work.

She isn't one of the prodigies of her era for nothing. If it's not for the fact that her body has low honkai resistance, she wouldn't have remained as A-Rank Valkyrie. After tucking her in bed and covered in blanket, he stayed for a few minutes staring at her sleeping face with a contemplation look on his face before leaving the room shortly after. What he didn't know however was she was awaken the whole time. She was just pretending to sleep to see how he would react.

She didn't know why but whenever she looked into his eyes, she felt naked as if those crimson pupils knows everything about her. She couldn't comprehend why the man wanted to stay around her. It would make sense if he have a romantic feeling for her, but that wasn't the case.

She had been dating many young men before, and most of them will try their best to woo her. If she showed them a bit of her vulnerable side, their eyes quickly changed from that of gentleman to that of a pervert. But when she felt his gaze on her while pretending to sleep, it wasn't that of lecherous gaze that she was expecting. It was the least one than she expected, melancholy.

***Author's Note***

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