Honkai: Starting to Wander with Kiana

One day at noon, as Ryn and Kiana Kaslana were about to enter a restaurant for lunch, Kiana felt the worn-out backpack they had been carrying during their long journey. She turned to Ryn, her face filled with surprise.

"The black card seems to be missing. Do you have it?"

Ryn stopped just as he was about to open the door. He patted his pockets, then searched through Kiana Kaslana's backpack carefully. Inside, there was nothing except a pile of canned food and clothes. They finally noticed a hole at the back of the backpack.

"Oh no, it must have fallen out through this hole."

"What should we do now...? Should we go back and look for it?"

"Let's retrace our steps and search for it."

Night fell. Ryn and Kiana Kaslana, both wearing expressions as somber as if they had lost Siegfried himself, had found no trace of the black card all day. The long and focused search had left them exhausted.

"I don't think we'll find it anymore. What should we do now, Ryn..." Kiana Kaslana sounded very upset. She knew she had messed up; without the black card, they had no money, and without money, they couldn't eat or stay in any inn.

"There's nothing we can do but take things step by step. Without money, we're stuck. Let's go to the police station and see if someone turned in the black card. If not, we'll have to sleep under a bridge tonight. At least I checked the map a few days ago. We're already in the Divine Land, so we don't have to worry about getting shot by passersby if we sleep on the street."

Ryn rubbed Kiana Kaslana's round little face, trying to cheer her up with humor. But he was just as lost as she was. Their month of living large had distracted them from their true purpose—looking for Siegfried. They'd enjoyed themselves so much that getting suddenly reduced to beggars left them at a loss.

The officer told them no. Somehow, no one had turned in a lost black card. On the bright side, he could arrange for them to stay the night at the police station.

He first tried to call their parents but fell silent when they explained that they depended on each other to find their father.

The next day, we bid farewell to the police officer. He offered to drive us somewhere, but we turned it down. Instead, he generously gave us a few hundred yen from his own pocket. We didn't refuse this; after all, it's impossible to survive without money.

Since we only had a few hundred yen to our names, Kiana Kaslana was sensible enough to eat just one bowl of rice for each meal and never complained of hunger. But Ryn bought her some extra food, knowing that one meal wouldn't be enough for Kiana Kaslana.

That night, Ryn and Kiana Kaslana picked a small cave—neither too big nor too small—and slept curled up together, wrapped in a blanket.

In the depths of the night, once they were sure Ryn and Kiana Kaslana were sound asleep, a white figure ran in the dark. It set a black card down beside Kiana Kaslana before leaving.

"Finally found a chance to give them the card," it whispered. "Good thing the old patriarch had us tailing them. Without this, the card would've been really lost."

"The young miss and her friend are so responsible and strong... If it were me, I'd probably be in tears, not knowing what to do."

Nearby, in a small cave, two white-haired beings spoke earnestly, seated side by side.

Early one morning, Ryn was startled awake by Kiana Kaslana's excited nudges. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Kiana Kaslana's beaming face. Though he didn't know what had happened, Ryn felt better every time he saw Kiana Kaslana's smile; it was like a cure for whatever had been bothering him.

Grinning from ear to ear, Kiana Kaslana waved her black card and placed it in Ryn's hand. "Ryn, Ryn, look! The black card is back!"

"How did this happen? Did you go look for it? Or was it in our backpack and we just missed it?"

"No clue! I just woke up and found it right here next to me. It must be the work of the mighty God of Hum—he heard my wish and brought the card back to me. Alright, from now on, I'm officially a believer in the God of Hum!"

Kiana Kaslana folded her hands, knelt down, and made a praying pose—something she'd learned from a TV show. Not long ago, she had mocked the idea of the God of Hum, but now, she was his most faithful follower.

Ryn gently tapped on Kiana Kaslana's head, and it made a crisp sound like tapping on condensed milk. Hmm, so this is how a good brain should sound, he thought.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. There's no such thing as a God of Hum. Someone must've found or stolen the card and then returned it."

"What?! So it wasn't a miracle from the God of Hum?"

"You wish, you jellybean."

"You're the one who's confused. So what should we do next? Catch the person who put the card there and ask them why they stole our card. Then this girl will give them a good beating." Kiana Kaslana waved her tiny fists. Over the past month, she hadn't defeated many Honkai Beasts, but she had knocked out several troublemakers, doing everyone a favor.

Ryn held the black card, pondering what to do next. "I don't know, but I doubt the person meant any harm. Otherwise, they wouldn't have returned our card."

Suddenly, Ryn seemed to remember something.

"What if it's your boss, Siegfried? He's always following us. Could he be the one who gave us the card?"

At Ryn's suggestion, Kiana Kaslana started looking around, but she couldn't find any trace of Siegfried.

Kiana Kaslana thought about it and realized he was probably right. She didn't know why, but Siegfried was definitely hiding from her. But he never told her not to look for him, so what she was doing was fine. After all, Siegfried wouldn't have helped her if he didn't want her to find him.

With this thought, Kiana Kaslana glanced at Ryn and smirked mischievously.

"That old man is probably watching us from somewhere we don't know. Why don't we give him something to do?"

"Oh, like what? Hey, hey, hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Ryn thought giving his unseen future father-in-law something to do sounded good, but he regretted it halfway through because...

Kiana Kaslana grabbed the black card, then threw it into the forest outside.

Next, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Stupid dad! Your well-behaved daughter's meal today is all up to you!"

"You! You... you're truly a bacterium! I'm speechless..." Ryn put a hand on his forehead, feeling helpless. It was too fast—so fast he couldn't even stop Kiana Kaslana from throwing the card.

"Huh?"

"Huh, my ass! Even Siegfried can't confirm it, right? If the black card doesn't come back, we'll be forced to rough it out in the wild again."

"Oh... I see... So how..."

"Washer-up..." Ryn shrugged. A month of living with Kiana Kaslana had taught him that she was just a "radish"—do first, think later. But what could he do? He was the one who chose his wife, so he'd have to put up with her quirks.

In the end, it was another day of roughing it and going hungry.

But thankfully, the next day, the black card returned to their hands.

Then Kiana Kaslana became convinced it was Siegfried, and tossed the card again. This time, though, it was different—she threw it into the river.

Watching all this from nearby, Kaslana and her companion—their bodies covered in mud and leaves—rolled their eyes.

"Nice throw."