Kiana and Sirin learned of their origins and came to terms with their pasts to varying degrees.
Both were grateful to Otto for giving them life, for giving them a new beginning, but that didn't stop them from wanting to beat Otto up and disliking him.
But more importantly, Kiana and Sirin's relationship had grown much stronger without them realizing it. As they say, brothers are like limbs, and there's nothing closer than siblings. The bond between Kiana and Sirin fundamentally transcended sisterly affection; they were two individuals whose hearts were tightly connected.
And because their hearts were connected, their emotions would influence each other to a certain extent.
Kiana: "Hm? Sirin, do you really hate Ryn?"
Sirin: "Mhm, I hate him so, so much. Help me beat him up."
Kiana: "Why? That's not what you're really thinking, Sirin! Let me see… Besides memories of you and me, your mind is completely filled with Ryn."
Sirin: "Hey! How can you just peek into someone's mind like that? I haven't even looked at yours! It's for no reason, I just want to hit him."
"Then you do it yourself. I could never bring myself to hit him."
Kiana thought this to herself while, in reality, she gave Ryn a meaningful smile. Then she closed her eyes and handed over control of her body to Sirin.
When she opened her eyes again, it was Sirin in control of the body.
"Huh, Sirin? Why the switch?"
Ryn sensed the change in Kiana's aura and asked with some confusion. Could it be that Kiana was just pretending before? That she still couldn't accept it deep down and chose to run away?
Sirin was still wondering why Kiana had been so direct, handing over the body without much discussion. If she were really to hit Ryn, she couldn't bring herself to do it…
Her memories stopped after she had destroyed the world, been stabbed by a woman who looked a lot like Cecilia, and fallen into Ryn's arms, with Ryn promising her that this was all a dream.
"Herrscher of the Void…"
Theresa tensed up, her small hands moving back slightly. If Sirin made a single wrong move, Theresa would grab the Faux Judah from her back and attack.
Hearing Theresa's voice, Sirin shifted her thoughts to the present and looked at Theresa.
"Yo, this shorty is still alive? How come you haven't grown at all after all these years? You can regenerate a severed arm in a short time, so did you sacrifice your height for super-speed regeneration?"
Thud!
Theresa grabbed the Faux Judah and slammed it on the ground, then climbed on top of it to look down at Sirin.
"Sirin, Herrscher of the Void, height 155cm. And I, Theresa Apocalypse, am 145cm tall. We're both shorties, who are you looking down on!"
"Is that so?" Sirin puffed out her chest, shaking it a bit as if to show off, then ran behind Ryn.
"Hmph, I'll deal with you properly when we get back," Sirin whispered, pinching Ryn's ear.
With that, Sirin leaped onto Ryn's back with a little hop, and Ryn instinctively caught her.
Sirin measured her height against the combined height of Judah and Theresa, then climbed up a little higher, perching on Ryn's shoulders. She held onto Ryn's head with one hand and provocatively flicked her bangs with the other.
"You have Judah, and I have Ryn. Besides, I'm sharing a body with Kiana now, which means I'm 161cm tall! I'm not a kid anymore; I'm a whole head taller than you!"
"Get out of Kiana's body!" Enraged, Theresa raised Judah and chased after Ryn, trying to hit him.
"Nyah nyah, what can you do about it?"
"Where does this baseless competitiveness come from… also, why are you hitting me?!" Ryn held onto Sirin's legs, hopping left and right to dodge Theresa's attacks with Judah.
"No reason!"
Theresa shot Ryn a look. Who knew if Sirin would defend herself? If she didn't, what if Kiana got hurt? Besides, with Sirin on Ryn's back, she'd have to jump to even reach her…
"This way…" "Over here, over here…" "Quick, quick, this way!" Sirin tugged on Ryn's hair on both sides with her left and right hands, directing him where to dodge as if riding a horse.
But the result was that Ryn indulged Sirin, following her commands to dodge, but Sirin's instructions always came after Theresa had already attacked. Because of the delay in receiving the information, Ryn had a heart-stopping, close shave with Theresa's attacks every time.
"Grand-aunt, are you really trying to hit me? If that thing hits me, I'll have a huge welt."
"Just a welt? Then I'd better speed up! I hate it when people call me a shorty!!"
"Hahahaha…"
Ryn's clumsy dodging and Theresa's furious, wild swings made Sirin laugh heartily. She had completely forgotten that she had come out to beat Ryn up and vent the anger she felt from being tricked by him.
He had replaced the real world with a dream world, a result that still left her wandering for thousands of years. Although those memories had been sorted through by Hare and had become somewhat blurry, their impact on her minimized, she still needed to vent her anger for being fooled!
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In the end, Ryn ran off with Sirin because while Theresa was venting her anger, Sirin kept mocking her, finally managing to set Theresa off completely.
Theresa was no longer just swatting at them with Judah; she had taken out its chained lance…
After escaping the restricted area, Sirin still refused to get down from Ryn's shoulders. So, Ryn just walked along the paths of St. Freya High School with Sirin on his back.
"If you acknowledge Kiana… then Theresa is also your elder, your godmother, or perhaps your aunt… Sirin, you're going too far, you know!"
"Hmph, acknowledging Kiana doesn't mean I acknowledge anyone else. Theresa was one of those who came to subjugate me back then. Don't expect me to forgive her so easily!"
"What about Cecilia?"
"Cecilia is different from the others…" Sirin turned her head, pouting as she spoke in a low voice.
Ryn hummed a little tune, walking slowly on the road home, not saying anything more.
The grudge for being killed—if Sirin could truly forgive it just like that, Ryn would have to wonder if there was something wrong with her mentally. The way things were now was good enough; everyone had enough self-control… The fact that Sirin could remain calm and didn't cause a scene was the best possible outcome.
After walking for a while, Himeko's house was almost in sight. Ryn suddenly spoke:
"I'm sorry, Sirin…"
"Hmm? Why the sudden apology?" Sirin blinked, seeming to understand something, and grabbed Ryn's hair again. "Tell me, what did you do wrong? If you can't say it right, your punishment will be to let me ride you for a whole day."
"Hmm? Can we switch to a different way of riding?"
"Go to hell!"