Chapter 6
Date: 26/04/2014
Location: Dorm House
It’s been a week since Hua moved into the dorm house and within the week Kiana’s morning routine has changed. Whilst before Kiana’s morning routine was to wake up an hour and a half before classes start and go for an hour-long run, take a shower, have a quick breakfast (mostly some buttered toast with jam) and rush off to class.
Over the week it’s been changing, it starts with her waking up a little earlier than normal and then the next day she would wake up a little earlier than that an now a full week has passed and she wakes up a full 4 hours before classes start, this also coincides with her going to sleep earlier as well, she still takes an hour long run but now she’s joined by Hua, following the run Kiana would join Hua for Tai Chi, following which both would go and take a shower (in separate bathrooms mind you, get your minds out of the gutter, they aren’t that close yet). Hua, who would be done with her shower first, would go and get started on making breakfast for the two of them (Hua noticed on day 2 that Mei, whether unintentionally or otherwise, had stopped cooking a portion for Kiana). By the time Kiana comes down to the dining room Hua would be done with cooking them breakfast, after breakfast both of them would do a quick review of whatever they went over the previous day.
It’s currently Saturday. Everyone except Kiana and Hua has gone to the Soukai City HOMU Land, not that the Duo weren’t invited but rather Kiana didn’t want to go, since as Kiana use to be a rather well known Cat-eared mascot, known as Neko-chan, that was very popular with children a few years ago (different city HOMU Land), Kiana while sure that the parents and children wouldn't remember her, she was fairly well known by the staff and upper management of HOMU Land and she didn't want to have to talk to them through a translator (-It’s embarrassing- Kiana signed to Hua with a blush)
The duo are currently in the living room doing one of their tutoring sessions. This particular session is on one of Kiana’s weaker subjects, History, as such Hua has uses a system that works for Kiana whereby Kiana would Study with her for an hour following that would be a 10 minutes break followed by another hour of study, this way Kiana won't be feeling burnt out within a few hours of studying which would undoubtedly make it harder for the girl to catch up to her peers.
“We’re done for today,” Hua says, it’s been nearly 6 hours since they started and Hua can see how Kiana’s not managing to keep her attention on the subject properly anymore, and if they kept going most of what would be said would go straight over her head.
Kiana for her part deflated and flopped to the ground the moment those words left Hua’s mouth, and Hua could only smile more than a little amused by just how animated Kiana is, then again this is a recurring theme whenever they finish up with one of Kiana’s weaker subjects. Although Hua has noticed that Kiana is more animated when they are alone (with the exception being HImeko) and in public Kiana is as silent as the dead even with her body language, Hua was sure that if she wasn’t looking specifically for the snow haired girl, said girl would meld into the background.
-hey Hua?- Kiana signs to her, another thing that Hua has noticed was that Kiana over the course of the week has started to call her “class monitor” less and started to call her by her name more (Hua may have started this by asking Kiana to call her by her first name, at least when they are at home, only as time went by Kiana realized that no one else other than Hua will know that she isn't calling Hua “class monitor” anymore).
Hua hums, -yes Kiana?-
-Wanna play a game with me?- Kiana asks with a slight tilt of her head.
Hua thought for a moment before answering, -after we have lunch, but I’ll need you to help me with my draws later, deal?-
-Deal!- Kiana signs enthusiastically with a small smile and starts to clean up her books off of the coffee table in the living room.
Kiana had found out on the second that Hua is a free to play gacha gamer who is regularly on the in game leaderboards. Kiana also learnt that Hua’s gacha luck is absolute trash which makes her being on the leaderboards a full testament of her skills as a gamer.
FLASHBACK
Date: 19/04/2014
Location: Dorm House
-Class monitor, why don’t you have more of the higher ranked characters or gear?- Kiana asks with a curious look on her face, they were currently taking a break in between subjects and Hua had taken out her gaming brick of a phone (the “Schicksal AI-M-Heavy 16 core smartphone”) to play Homu Impact.
Kiana having shown some interest in what she was doing, Hua let her see her play the game.
Homu Impact as a gacha game has a pity that guarantees high rank characters and weapons with the pity being carried on into the next banner, which means that all players have a good chance at getting the newer characters and gear.
And Kiana looking through Hua’s account with Hua’s permission led to this particular question being asked.
Hua lets out an almost depressed sigh, which honestly surprised Kiana, “I have horrible gacha luck,” Hua laments, “If it weren't for the in game pity system i'm sure that i won't have any high rank characters or gear”
-Have you tried to get others to do a draw for you?- Kiana asks her,
Hua shakes her head negatively, “I’m not close enough to others for them to know about this.”
-mind if i do a draw then?-
Hua simply blinks then sighs before giving her a go ahead,” make sure you do a 10 pull” after all at 87 pity and not nearly enough crystals, she’s sure that she’s not getting the new character anytime soon not to mention the character’s signature gear.
Kiana nodded as she did as Hua said.
After the draw was done Kiana handed Hua’s gaming brick back to her making sure to keep on the result screen for the draw.
Hua’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped in an almost comical fashion at what she saw. She slowly looked up to Kiana, and then back down to her phone, and then back to Kiana.
The reason for Hua’s reaction?
Kiana just pulled 2 copies of the banner featured character in a single 10 draw.
Hua took a deep breath and switched over to the gear banner and passed her phone back over to Kiana with a slightly hopeful look in her eyes.
Kiana for her part took the phone and did what she had just done earlier, only this time with Hua looking over Kiana’s shoulder.
And just like that Kiana has pulled the full gear set for the new character in 30 draws.
FLASHBACK END
That was also the day that Hua learnt that Kiana’s luck is absolutely busted when it comes to gacha games.
Whilst Hua was cooking a late lunch for the both of them, Kiana was setting up the game she wanted to play with Hua.
Genji Impact is an open-world game created by the same people that created Homu Impact, that can be played multiplayer with up to four people. The game has 9 chapters and a relatively large roster of playable characters, the game is long and will take up to a month to finish even with multiple people rushing through the game.
Kiana had initially gotten it to play with Bronya and Mei a little over a month and a half ago (she figured that since all three of the would be playing at the same time, Mei wouldn’t lag behind as much compared to Kiana and Bronya), but of course she never managed to ask them before the fight happened and since then until today the game had essentially been gathering dust.
To say that Kiana was looking forward to playing the game would be an understatement.
After a late lunch both Kiana and Hua started the game.
Hua would admit that playing co-op with essentially a mute person is difficult but she also appreciated the challenge that came with it.
The game’s visuals were stunning and the duo took their time appreciating the scenery as they played the game. It was in fact an enjoyable experience for both of them, going through dungeons gearing up their characters.
They were enjoying the game so much that they had lost track of time, and without realizing it they had started to doze off.
It starts with Kiana leaning on Hua for support as she tries to continue sitting up and Hua doesn’t seem to mind the contact. As they continue, Hua notices that both of them are getting rather tired and shifts towards the sofa’s armrest to get into a more comfortable position; this of course brings Kiana down with her. And of course it’s when they are on the verge of dozing off that the game goes into a long cutscene which inadvertently leads to the duo falling asleep, the controllers slipping from their grasp as they find a comfortable position to sleep on the sofa.
They end up with Hua on her back using the armrest as a pillow with Kiana held securely on top of her, and Kiana lightly clutching on to Hua’s shirt as she uses Hua’s shoulder as her pillow
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your opinion) dropping the controllers that they were using which had coincidentally turned the game off, leaving only the TV and the console on, and as time went by the console entered sleep mode leaving only the blank TV screen active.
When the others arrived home from their trip to HOMU land, they found the dorm house to be completely shroud in darkness except for the light emitting from the TV in the living room.
“Kiana must have forgotten to turn off the TV before she went to bed,” Himeko says, ”why don't all of you go to your rooms to change and go to bed, it's been an eventful day after all, I’ll turn off the TV and go to bed myself.”
Everyone else (Kaine who was carrying a tired Theresa and Mei who was carrying a sleeping Bronya) nodded as they made their way up to their rooms.
Himeko true to her word went to turn the TV off only to find a snoozing Hua and Kiana on the sofa, with Hua holding Kiana securely to herself and Kiana nuzzled into Hua's shoulder.
Himeko took a good look at the area and she sees the two controllers on the floor as though they had been dropped on the ground haphazardly, she also sees that Hua’s glasses are on the coffee table indicating that she took them off most likely before she joined Kiana in playing whatever game they had been playing if the controllers on the floor are any indication.
Himeko sighs to herself, goes to the storage closet and retrieves a spare blanket and proceeds to drape the blanket over the duo before she turns off the TV and goes up to her room to get some rest herself.
Date: 27/04/2014
Location: Dorm House
When Hua woke up the next morning, the first thing she noticed was that she felt relatively sore as though what she had slept on wasn’t ideal, the second thing was that there was a weight on her person that she couldn’t immediately identify. The third thing she noticed when she opened her eyes, only to realize that she slept way longer than she normally does and that the unknown weight on her person is a sleeping Kiana.
When Kiana woke woke up in the morning (a few moments after Hua had woken up), she felt more refreshed waking up this particular morning than she had in the last 2 months since her nightmares had started to plague her, and those only got worse about 2 weeks ago after Kiana saw the betting pool, as she pushed herself off of the very comfortable surface that she found herself a sleep on she felt it shifting in a weird way, she ignored it in favor of sitting herself up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
When Kiana looked down she saw what or rather who she had been sleeping on the night before, and almost immediately the events of the night prior flooded into her mind as she tried to make sense of the fact that she is currently saddling Hua.
The both of them could feel the blood flowing to their cheeks as Hua slowly sits up and Kiana buries her face in her hands in an attempt to hide her increasingly flustered face.
Kiana takes a peek at Hua who at this point is currently sitting up, looking at her, Kiana takes a deep breath and with shaky hands she signs to Hua -Thank you-
Hua for her part blinked in confusion as to why Kiana was thanking her, and Kiana seeing the confusion chose to elaborate by signing -for keeping my nightmares away-
Kiana took one last glance at Hua whilst biting on her bottom lip out of nervousness. She takes a deep breath, leans towards Hua, kisses the other girl on the cheek before rushing off into her room.
Hua is now sitting shocked at the fact that Kiana just kissed her cheek, her hand unconsciously moves up to her cheek and touches where she was kissed, before she herself takes a deep breath, picks up her glasses and goes to her room as well.
Unbeknownst to Kiana and Hua, they had an audience of literally everyone else that lives in the dorm house that were watching from the dining room.