By the time she reached their destination with Bianka, Shigure Kira was still in a daze. Maybe it was because she was worried, but she remained silent the entire time, never thinking to repeatedly ask a question.
Although, in reality, repeated questioning would have only been met with Bianka's stubbornness anyway.
The place Siegfried had mentioned was a luxurious villa, though that "luxurious" was only in comparison to outside standards. In the City of Sighs, such a merely luxurious villa seemed out of place for being too normal.
Shigure Kira led Bianka into the villa, dazedly opening the door to a room.
The air held a faint scent of cleaning solution. Everything in the room was arranged neatly. The pure white sheets had been ironed and showed no signs of having been slept on.
"You can stay here for now... There's water in the living room, and food in the kitchen..."
Shigure Kira absentmindedly left Bianka in this seemingly unoccupied room, then turned and mechanically left the room.
Watching the door close, Bianka's tense body finally relaxed a little.
"Good thing she didn't find out..."
"Oh, right." The door swung open. Shigure Kira poked her head in.
She didn't seem to notice the one human and one cat inside who had instantly become startled, but instead said solemnly to Bianka, "Don't go out alone, okay? I really don't want to search the whole City of Sighs for you."
After delivering this slightly menacing warning, Shigure Kira withdrew her head, and Bianka heard hurried footsteps leaving the room.
But Bianka still stood in place for a long time. After confirming that Shigure Kira had completely left and wasn't showing any signs of returning, Bianka finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Her first step was to let Stan, who she had been holding for so long, down to stretch.
Stan landed, circled Bianka's feet, then gracefully leaped onto the large bed. He found the softest spot, stretched languidly, scratched the blanket a couple of times with his claws, and then comfortably curled up.
The sound of claws tearing at fabric startled Bianka again. She quickly ran to the bed and checked the blanket, confirming that Stan hadn't torn it, and then let out a third sigh of relief.
Having already gotten down on all fours, Bianka didn't bother getting up. She just buried her face in the soft blanket.
"Mmm~~"
About two seconds later, Bianka clawed at the blanket like Stan, gripping it with both hands and kicking her little legs wildly.
Then she proceeded to roll around, scratch her head, curl up and stretch out... all without regard for anyone else.
Stan curled up tightly, watched Bianka frolic on the bed, and leisurely began to groom himself.
He didn't understand what his boss was doing, but Honkai Beasts wouldn't engage in such nonsensical behavior. It must be that his boss was working hard at imitating humans.
Then I have to work hard at playing the part of an ordinary cat!
Complying with his inner thoughts, Stan serenely groomed himself.
But Bianka was not serene at all.
Right now, she only felt that her mind was a mess. As she replayed all those subconscious choices and actions, all Bianka wanted to do was slap herself in the head a few times.
What was she even doing?!
Choosing to come back here with Siegfried was already risky enough! Why hadn't she just run away back then! If she had wanted to run, two Siegfrieds couldn't have stopped her!
Even if there had been a reason, not wanting Siegfried's arm to get hurt again, what was with her act on the street just now?
Bianka stopped rolling around. She piled up the blanket and buried half of her face in it, not knowing what she was trying to hide.
Back on the street, when she heard someone shouting about stealing water, Bianka hadn't reacted at first. But when the crowd dispersed, Bianka saw the burly man's ferocious face and Shigure Kira's precarious situation.
She had instinctively wanted to step forward and help, but before she could act, her fear of losing control again had reared its head.
At that time, she hadn't known the Star of Judgment's effects were so good. She was still afraid that if she moved too far away, she would fall back into her previous state.
There were so many people there; if she had lost control, how many people would have been hurt because of her?
Thinking this, Bianka's face paled, though not from imagining herself standing atop a pile of corpses, covered in blood, but because Siegfried had charged out and kicked that guy before she could do anything.
He was so fast that Bianka had barely reacted when he had already shot over a hundred meters away.
In that instant, Bianka had been too scared to move, focusing all her attention on monitoring the state of that little persona inside her. Two thoughts ran through her mind:
Chase after him, or turn and run?
And Siegfried had saved that day quickly after all, from the time he kicked the big man away, to the time he reached out to help her and made a "shush" sign, it all lasted only two to three seconds.
Just as Bianka had decided to follow Siegfried, a little girl jumped out from the side.
"Big sister, would you like to buy a flower?" The little girl looked clean, but as soon as she got close, Bianka could smell a faint odor of sweat.
Bianka had smelled that odor on herself after strenuous exercise, but it had never been so strong. She was surprised when she smelled it up close.
Turning her head, a beautifully folded paper flower was held out to her. Unlike the girl's body, the paper flower had no odor, but instead had a scent of...
A cheap perfume smell, a little bit unpleasant, Bianka thought it was not as nice as the scent of youth.
"One flower only needs..." The little girl was nervous as she spoke, not looking at Bianka, but staring at the canteen hanging from Bianka's waist.
She paused slightly, as if considering the price, and then said to Bianka cautiously, "Only a hundred milliliters of water for one..."
After saying that, the little girl winked, her eyes, of all features of the little girl that seemed to be colorless, were shining.
"Can you help me..." Finally, the little girl said softly, in a voice only Bianka and herself could hear.
Bianka looked at the large canteen hanging on the little girl's waist, which only had a few drops of water clinging to the walls, and the little girl's lips were cracked and her face had a layer of dead skin...
Lifting her head, Bianka looked around.
All around were cold gazes. Everyone was watching Siegfried beat up the burly man; no one cared about the little girl.
"Okay," Bianka replied just as quietly.