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ArabicHonkai Impact: My Power Grows When Valkyries Fall For Me — Chapter 11
Chapter 11: An Unexpected Detour
The walk to school was a pleasant one, and Lucian found himself in a remarkably good mood.
His right hand, which had been subjected to a rather intense ‘roasting’ the previous night, had recovered completely. It moved with such freedom that the entire ordeal felt like a distant, hazy dream. But the full restoration of his limb wasn’t the true source of his high spirits.
No, the real reason was the faint, golden, diamond-shaped mark now clearly visible in the iris of his right eye.
Though he had yet to figure out how to consciously activate its functions, the simple knowledge that he wasn’t entirely without power was a deep relief. In this world, where the Honkai could erupt at any moment and ordinary people were little more than background characters or tragic statistics, he had finally grasped something that was uniquely his.
‘Hmm, looks like I’ll have to run some more tests on my abilities tonight…’ Lucian mused to himself.
His thoughts led his feet on a slight detour, guiding him toward a quaint little shop called ‘Sweet Memory.’ He emerged a few minutes later with two limited-edition strawberry cakes, a small surprise for a certain white-haired dumpling who likely slept in and skipped breakfast.
Carrying the delicate paper box, Lucian started up the final, gentle slope leading to Chiba Academy. As he neared the tree-lined path just before the main gate, the sound of hurried footsteps and strained, angry voices drifted from a narrow side alley.
Lucian paused, his head tilting slightly as he listened. The voices were familiar.
“You guys, if you don’t get lost right now, I’m going to get angry!”
It was Kiana’s voice, sharp and laced with an unmistakable thread of impatience.
An eyebrow arched on Lucian’s face. He silently approached the mouth of the alley, using the shadow cast by the corner wall to peer inside.
Deep within the narrow passage, Kiana was cornered against a graffiti-stained wall by three slovenly young men who were clearly not students.
Wait, that wasn’t quite right.
Upon a second glance, the scene resolved itself with comical clarity. Kiana wasn’t cornered at all. In fact, wielding a baseball bat with practiced ease, she had the three thugs surrounded all by herself.
A faint smirk touched Lucian’s lips as he remained hidden in the shadows. These delinquents had probably mistaken Kiana for an ordinary, helpless schoolgirl, hoping for an easy robbery or a bit of intimidation.
Unfortunately for them, the odds were stacked about thirty-seventy. It would take Kiana all of thirty seconds to land seven decisive hits with that bat.
In the dim alley, Kiana’s silver hair seemed to shimmer as she shifted her weight, the hefty baseball bat resting comfortably on her shoulder. Her eyes held no trace of fear; instead, they burned with the excited fire of someone who was finally getting a chance to stretch their limbs.
The three delinquents, with their garish clothes and exaggerated hairstyles, were being forced back step by step, their faces a mask of disbelief and growing panic.
“Hey! Brat, don’t you come any closer! I’ve got a knife!” the blond one shouted, his voice trembling despite his best efforts to sound tough.
“A knife?” Kiana’s brow lifted in amusement. She took a deliberate step forward, twirling the baseball bat in a lazy, menacing arc. “This lady can take down all three of you empty-handed!”
The words had barely left her lips before she moved. The baseball bat sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, striking the blond thug’s wrist with pinpoint accuracy.
“Ah!”
He screamed, the knife clattering uselessly against the grimy pavement. Kiana followed through with a sharp kick to his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground, clutching his ribs and gasping for air.
A confident, triumphant smile flashed across her face, but it froze the very next second.
Her eyes had landed on Lucian, who was standing at the alley’s entrance, watching the entire exchange with an amused grin.
“Lucian?! What are you doing here?!”
Kiana blinked, instinctively trying to hide the slightly dusty baseball bat behind her back. Realizing how ridiculous the gesture was, she sighed and brought it back out, holding it defensively.
“You… you saw all that? Pretty impressive, right?”
Carrying the cake box, Lucian stepped out from the shadows, a gentle smile playing on his face. “Yeah, I saw. Your skills are quite impressive, Miss Kiana.”
His gaze swept over the groaning blond on the ground and his two companions, whose expressions were hardening from shock into vicious anger. Finally, his eyes returned to Kiana’s face, which was practically glowing with pride. His smile deepened.
“But we’re going to be late. Should we head to school first?”
“Huh? It’s that late already?” The reminder startled her. An image of their homeroom teacher’s stern face flashed in her mind, and she couldn’t help but grimace. She glanced at the downed thug and his two friends, who were looking more and more like they wanted to salvage their wounded pride. A flicker of unease crossed her face. “But what about them…”
As Kiana spoke, one of the remaining thugs spat on the ground. He pulled a butterfly knife from his jacket, flicking it open with a practiced swish.
“Kid, trying to play the hero?” he sneered, he and his green-haired companion beginning to circle, flanking Lucian and Kiana.
Seeing this, Kiana tightened her grip on her bat and stepped protectively in front of Lucian, her azure eyes reigniting with fighting spirit. “Hey! You still want more? I wasn’t finished yet!”
She had been itching to show off for Lucian, and an opportunity like this was too good to pass up. With that thought, she tensed, ready to charge forward, but a hand gently patted her shoulder.
“Kiana, we’re in a hurry.”
“Huh?” She turned, stunned by his complete lack of concern.
Lucian’s expression was utterly calm. He reached into his jacket, produced a pistol, and smoothly chambered a round. Then, he pointed it at the sky and fired.
CRACK!
The two thugs froze mid-step, their sneers instantly melting into masks of pure terror.
‘Brother, if you had one of those, you should have said so earlier!’ was the thought that screamed through both of their minds.
It was a poorly kept secret that while firearms weren’t strictly illegal in the Far East, the process to acquire one was an absolute nightmare. More, handguns were most definitely not on the list of legally obtainable weapons. For this guy in sunglasses to not only have a pistol but to fire it so casually in a back alley… he was either insane or had connections so powerful they didn’t care about the law.
‘You had a gun this whole time,’the blond on the ground whimpered internally,’and you let her beat me up first…’
Lucian turned back to Kiana, who was staring with wide eyes. “Let’s go.”
Kiana looked from the thugs, who were now standing as still as statues, to Lucian, who had already tucked the gun away as if nothing had happened. Her brain was struggling to catch up.
“That’s… it?” she murmured.
“What else? They won’t be bothering us anymore.” As he spoke, Lucian glanced at the blond thug still lying on the ground. He crouched down and whispered in the man’s ear, his voice dropping to a frigid calm. “If you ever dare cause trouble for Chiba Academy students again, none of you will see tomorrow’s sunrise.”
“Uh…”
The thug stared into Lucian’s eyes, barely visible behind the dark lenses. The coldness he saw there sent a paralyzing chill straight up his spine and into his skull. He could only manage a frantic, terrified nod.
Lucian stood up and gently poked Kiana’s forehead. “Hurry up. We’re really going to be late.”
“Oh, oh…” Kiana instinctively took the cake box he offered and followed him as he strode briskly out of the alley.
————
They emerged from the narrow passage, merging smoothly back into the morning river of students. The sounds of traffic, footsteps, and cheerful chatter immediately washed over them, drowning out the memory of the alleyway conflict as if it had never happened.
“Lucian, you lied to me! We’re not late at all!” Kiana pouted, gesturing at the crowds of students still making their way to the gate. But her complaint died in her throat when she saw the gentle, knowing smile on his face.
“Look at what you’re holding,” he prompted.
Only then did Kiana remember the box he had pressed into her hands. She looked down. The delicate paper was adorned with the ‘Sweet Memory’ logo. It was the limited-edition strawberry cake she had been dreaming about for weeks.
“Huh?!”
Kiana’s head snapped up, her azure eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and pure, unadulterated joy.
“You… how did you get this?!”
“I just happened to wake up early,” Lucian shrugged, watching the delight bloom across her features. The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened. “It was on the way.”
“Lucian! You’re such a good guy!”
“A single ‘good guy card’ isn’t going to cut it,” he teased. “Just remember to save a piece for me.”
“Of course I won’t eat it all by myself!” she retorted, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I’m not that greedy, okay!”