Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me/ Book 3 Paradise

Chapter 10 Luck

Sakura sighed, the day was quite eventful. She hadn't felt so fulfilled in a long time between discovering Otto's little secret and bleeding profusely from learning about Western dressing culture. It was her nose that stopped her from venturing further. The doctor, a professor at the Aldrich academy, announced her to be perfectly fine. Her blood loss was a result of "as he put it" overstimulation of the mind. However, he also admitted that he'd just recently studied this vien of medical knowledge. In which, case he also attributed her sudden spurt to the dry climate and environment. Something about breathing dry air makes nosebleeds more prominent. Nonetheless, Sakura was fine and Sasha was relieved.

Sakura skipped and hopped back home. A bit of dinner and a good night's sleep was all that could make her day better. Perhaps she could call a servant to fetch her dinner. The kitchen of the East was quite different from the West. The ingredients posed the biggest issues. She was hesitant to ruin ingredients in the name of experimentation. Especially when the average person's breakfast consisted of barely soup and hard bread. Though thanks to new advances that reality would soon change. It was foreign to Sakura. In Yae village, fresh fish, rice, and vegetables were a breakfast staple.

As Sakura sauntered through the decorated halls of the Kaslana mansion she strained her ears to search for an attendant. Maybe she was acting spoiled. Her normal cool demeanor, built on years of discipline and loneliness seemed all too easy to throw away. It was as though she desired to behave like a child. To return to a time before her trauma. To reawaken her previous nature.

"I'll go to the kitchen instead," Sakura muttered. Despite her long fox ears, her sense of hearing was not too sharp. Yes, she had better hearing than most Valkyries but she was not on Kallen's level or even Sabrina's. It was her sense of smell that was most powerful, it was unfortunate she never learned to use it.

"To where?" Asked a sudden voice. Those words were whispered into Sakura's long ears. The speaker was just centimeters behind her.

Sakura's hair shot straight. Static pulsed from the decorated hall rug she stood on. Her human ears wiggled while her fox ears twitched from side to side. Solid blocks of sound obstructed her movement. She was caught doing something she shouldn't. No, she was caught doing something Kallen didn't want her to do.

"The kitchen," Sakura replied, turning her body to face Kallen. "I'm hungry."

"Ah, so where were you today?"

"That's-"

"Endangering yourself. Even though I only care about your safety-"

"You weren't always like this," Sakura muttered, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean?" Kallen retorted, eyes flaring.

"Back at home. WE. We protected people together. It was always us. You promised me that we would fight alongside each other. Do you think I'm not worried when you go out to fight? It might be about my safety but it's about yours too."

"I don't need protection."

"And neither do I!"

"That's-"

"Not true?! Ha, of course, it isn't. I just need to stay home. Stay safe like a ningyo, a hima doll, with no free will. It's not just you who wants to protect people. It's not just you who is fighting to save people."

"It's not like that! The beasts are growing stronger. I don't want to worry about you."

"Then that's all I am huh? A liability? Someone who can't protect themselves? Before you came along I alone defended Yae village. When mother and father died it was I who took up her sword and continued to protect my people."