[DEFEAT!!]
[YOU DIED!]
"Aargh!!" Kiana cried out, throwing the controller aside before frantically scratching her head, looking completely frazzled.
Beside her, Bronya Zaychik, with a Homu lollipop stick dangling from her mouth, stated nonchalantly, "The score between Kiana and Bronya stands at 318 wins for Bronya, zero losses."
Neither wore shoes; their slippers were tossed beside the carpet as they sat cross-legged before a huge screen.
Bronya raised one hand high, as if an excited announcer beside her had grabbed it and lifted it in victory.
"Congratulations to Bronya for maintaining a 100% win rate against Kiana, woohoo..." Her utterly emotionless voice wasn't funny on its own, but paired with Kiana's frustrated noises in the background, it became much funnier.
"Damn it... There's no way I can't beat Bronya! It's this controller... it's too big! My hands are too small, I can't grip it properly!!" Kiana pointed accusingly at the discarded controller, arguing heatedly.
Bronya, whose hands were even smaller, silently looked up. "Idiot Kiana, you already used that excuse after your 270th loss."
With that, Bronya let out an indifferent sigh. "Sigh... Is Kiana finally running out of excuses? Is Bronya about to hear Kiana admit she's just bad at the game?"
"I, I—!" Kiana was speechless, resorting to glaring fiercely at Bronya, this villain who had defeated her 318 times!
She must have been a bully at that orphanage too! Kiana fumed internally. Pushing around all the other little girls, then forcefully claiming the most delicate, pitiful, and pretty girl there, Seele...
Kiana ground her teeth viciously, mentally slandering Bronya's image a thousand times over.
Demon King Bronya kidnapping and hoarding Princess Seele... Great Detective Bronya trying to catch the righteous phantom thief who helps the people... Bronya secretly eating four people's share of Mei's special homemade cookies late at night...
In short, utterly "heinous"!!
Damn shorty...
"Huh? Bronya..." Glaring daggers at the smug-looking Bronya, Kiana suddenly noticed a few very old candy wrappers falling out of Bronya's pocket.
"Bronya, why are you carrying trash around?" Kiana reached down, picked up the few Homu wrappers, and looked around for a trash can.
"Trash?" Bronya turned back, confused. The moment she saw the wrappers in Kiana's hand, her heart nearly stopped.
Malicious! Truly malicious!
To think of such a way to retaliate!!
"Wait! Those are the[Super Rare Retro Homu Wrappers That Stopped Being Sold Ten Years Ago]that Bronya painstakingly collected!" Bronya quickly dropped her controller too, scrambling over on hands and knees, trying to retrieve the wrappers from Kiana.
Kiana simply placed a hand on Bronya's face, letting Bronya's short arms flail uselessly in the air.
See? This is where the height advantage comes in!
Kiana held the wrappers high with one hand and blocked Bronya with the other. Her arm span became an insurmountable chasm for Bronya.
She glanced between the old wrappers and Bronya, then grinned mischievously. "Want them back~? Not impossible! As long as..."
"A-chomp—!"
The Silver Wolf of the Urals doesn't accept threats or negotiations. She bared her fangs and bit down hard on Kiana's hand.
It had to be said, kids raised on tough bread really have strong teeth. Even Kiana's physique, enhanced by the Key of Evolution [likely referring to Key of Blankness or similar], couldn't prevent a yelp of pain from Bronya's bite.
"Ah! Take them, take them, take them! Let go, let go, let go! I was wrong!!" Kiana hurriedly shook her hand, swinging Bronya back and forth a couple of times before finally flinging her aside.
During the swinging, Bronya precisely snatched the wrappers and landed steadily, sitting on the floor after a flip.
Smacking her lips, tasting the faint scent of shower gel, Bronya huffed before looking down at the wrappers in her hand.
She learned her biting technique from Sin Mal. While she might not have Sin's innate talent, her jaw muscles were certainly well-developed.
Where they came from, people like Kiana who carelessly put their hands near someone's mouth learned their lesson after a bite or two. Even Seele, if pestered enough, would apologize internally while biting down.
"Hoo... hoo..." Kiana blew on her hand, tears welling in her eyes as she looked forlornly at the teeth marks.
She wouldn't dare do that again... Really, she wouldn't!
Her gaze inadvertently fell upon the lines of small text on her palm. Kiana frowned.
These lines were still strange... Although she did stay up late reading novels and really liked this quote, and the Bilibili Homu character who said it...
But she wasn't the type to be so chuuni [cringey/dramatic like an eighth-grader] as to write something like this on her own hand...
And besides those first few sentences, what did the following lines pointing to something mean?
[Important; Important;
This is a very important person!;]
This was clearly referring to someone! It just wasn't written out on her hand...
Who could it be? Someone who would come save them if they just cried and screamed...
Kiana's gaze shifted to Bronya, who was carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on the candy wrappers, then she shook her head firmly.
No, it can't be this shorty! Absolutely impossible!!
Kiana thought stubbornly.
But it really couldn't be Bronya... Neither she nor Bronya would resort to crying and screaming to ask the other for help.
Could it be Mei?
But... her crying fits with Mei were more like... uh, pouting and whining? She wouldn't make that kind of scene...
Then who?
It couldn't possibly be her stinky old dad, right!?
Kiana grimaced and shook her head, looking troubled at the indelible black marks on her hand.
Seriously... why did she use a pen that wouldn't wash off! The thought of having to live with these black marks for several more days... Just thinking about it was embarrassing!!
"Why though..." Kiana looked at the words on her hand, feeling miserable.
"Could it be... Did I forget someone really important?" she muttered to herself. It didn't seem like...
["Kiana, that's..."]
Mei's urgent voice flashed through Kiana's mind, making her eyes widen involuntarily.
"Eh? What is that?" Kiana asked instinctively. Bronya looked up, confused, gazing at the stunned Kiana.
"What?" Bronya asked, puzzled.
"Ah, it's nothing..." Kiana snapped back to reality, tucking her previous confusion away. She leaned closer to Bronya, glanced around, and then asked quietly, conspiratorially.
"Bronya, let me ask you... Did Mei ever say something like I forgot someone really important?"
Faced with this sudden, bizarre question, Bronya's expression immediately twisted.
"Maybe..." she drawled, her voice extremely uncertain as she recalled.
"... she did?"