"Time to eat, time to eat, time to eat, yay!"
Kiana sat happily at the dining table, waiting for Ryn and Mei to bring out the dishes.
"No 'yays.' Kiana, you're too loud. You're disturbing Bronya's raid."
"Hmph, you little brat Bronya, I'm going to say 'yay.'"
"Suit yourself."
Bronya put on her headphones, turned around, and continued to focus on her game.
But before Bronya could fully turn away, Himeko pressed her shoulder and turned her back around, taking her phone away.
"Bronya, you should take a break too. No games during mealtime."
"Guh… fine."
Bronya sat down dejectedly, waiting for the meal to start.
"Got what you deserved, didn't you? Hahaha."
Looking at the gloating, grinning Kiana, Bronya was (???).
"Bronya is helping Kiana farm for gear. If Bronya doesn't help Kiana, when Kiana's special training is over, she won't be able to play with us because her gear will be too far behind."
"Ah… how could this happen!"
Kiana trotted over to Bronya's side, handed her her own phone, and whispered, "Here, use mine. Play secretly!"
Bronya gave Kiana the middle finger, then raised the hand Kiana was holding the phone with and shouted to Himeko:
"Himeko, Kiana is forcing Bronya to play games!"
"Bronya, you betrayed me!"
"Kiana!"
Himeko grabbed Kiana by the ear and pulled her over. "You two behave yourselves. Theresa will be back soon, and if she sees this, you'll both be in for a scolding."
Kiana and Bronya glanced at each other, then both huffed angrily and turned their backs to one another.
Himeko sighed and rubbed her forehead. These two bickering friends, Kiana and Bronya, would probably argue again during dinner, and then after dinner, they would be perfectly fine, happily playing games together.
"Seafood soup is here~"
Ryn came out carrying a large pot of seafood soup and served everyone a bowl.
"Hehe, I'm going to have a great feast!"
Kiana joyfully drank the seafood soup in one gulp and then handed her bowl back to Ryn.
"Delicious, I want more!"
Ryn specially scooped up a few larger octopus legs and filled a bowl of soup for Kiana.
"If it's delicious, have some more, but don't drink too much soup at once. There are still many delicious dishes to come. If you drink too much soup, you won't be able to eat the rest."
"Mmm-hmm." Kitty Kiana nodded happily.
While Ryn was serving the soup, Mei and Judah came out with the other dishes, followed by the trotting Little Zi and Nana.
Octopus with bell peppers, octopus balls, stir-fried octopus, grilled octopus…
At first, everyone thought it was just an ordinary octopus feast, until they saw the Cthulhu octopus, Nana…
"Uh…"
Himeko looked at Nana a few more times with difficulty, then turned to Ryn.
"This isn't all from it, is it?"
"Mmm, although I forgot the beginning, the middle, and the end, Nana is still very delicious."
"You can't even be bothered to explain anymore, can you!"
"Hehe, Himeko, don't worry. Just like the Azure Empyrea Bird before, this is an edible Honkai Beast. It won't cause a backlash in your body…"
Ryn winked at Himeko, telling her to eat without worry, it wouldn't kill her.
Actually, Ryn could now help Himeko treat the side effects of her artificial Stigmata and the Nexus System, but a complete cure felt unrealistic to Himeko, so she refused.
She had grown accustomed to the pain, accustomed to the injuries on her body. It had become a warning for her.
But Ryn didn't indulge her. He directly treated some of the side effects, so that Himeko would no longer be kept awake at night by the pain, having to rely on alcohol to numb herself.
"Fine…" Himeko reluctantly picked up a piece of octopus leg and took a bite.
"This… is so delicious?"
Himeko couldn't believe it and took a few more pieces to savor.
Hearing someone praise how delicious it was, Nana proudly hopped a few times.
"Nana…" (Hmph, I'm very confident in the quality of my meat…)
Then Nana hopped over to Kiana's side, jumping up and down continuously, trying to get her attention.
Kiana's attention was drawn to Nana, and she couldn't help but look at it a few more times, drool unconsciously dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Kiana pointed at Nana and said to Ryn, "It would be delicious as teppanyaki octopus, right?"
"Nana!" ()
"Uh… let's not. We can just cut off some octopus legs. Let's not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs."
Ryn walked over to Nana and picked it up.
"Besides, Kiana, look, Nana really likes you! What do you think, want to adopt it as a pet?"
"Nana!" ()
Kiana waved her hand and refused, "Uh… actually, I prefer fluffy cats and dogs. I'm not really a fan of bald octopuses…"
Kiana loves eating seafood, but keeping one as a pet is a no-go.
"Nana…"
The entire octopus deflated and curled up into a ball.
Ryn put it back on the ground and tutted with regret.
See, Janna, I told you Kiana doesn't like bald seafood. Your failure is sealed!
Never mind, the connection between Nana and Janna has long been severed, so there's no point in saying this.
Ryn sat between Mei and Kiana, happily enjoying the banquet with everyone.
During the meal, Kiana and Bronya, as expected, started arguing again over the last octopus ball…
The two of them ate the other dishes while bickering endlessly, neither giving an inch.
They were like two elementary school students fighting over a favorite toy, which amused everyone.
In the end, it was Ryn who directly put the last octopus ball into Mei's bowl, ending the pointless dispute.
Kiana and Bronya both snorted and turned away. They had no objection to Ryn giving the octopus ball to Mei; as long as the other didn't get the last one, it was fine.
After dinner, Kiana and Bronya, like old friends of a hundred years, held hands and happily prepared to go back to their room to play games.
As luck would have it, Theresa came back at that exact moment. She grabbed Kiana by the back of her collar and took her away to test her on what she had learned that day.
As Kiana's best friend and worst frenemy, Bronya summoned Project Bunny and immediately displayed a banner mocking Kiana.
Then Bronya was disciplined by Himeko, dragged into the kitchen by the back of her collar, and tasked with washing today's dishes.
Since Himeko had spoken, Bronya could only stand on a small stool and silently wash the dishes.
Ryn and Mei looked at each other and smiled. This ordinary yet not-so-dull daily life was also quite nice~
After being scolded by Theresa, Kiana was taken away by Himeko for an all-night extra training session.
After washing the dishes, Bronya watched TV with everyone for a while, then went back to her room to pull an all-nighter, farming gear for Kiana to catch her up.
As the night deepened, Ryn and Mei also went to bed. Ryn had also fulfilled his promise to Mei, praising her all night long.