"Mei!" As the shout echoed, Raiden Mei felt herself suddenly pulled tight. Before she could fully process it, Kiana was hugging her fiercely.
The sudden embrace caught everyone off guard. Mei felt a jolt of panic, her hands hovering awkwardly, unsure what to do.
"Ki-Kiana?!" Her voice trembled slightly. Only after confirming it really was Kiana in her arms did she react, gently hugging her back.
But for some reason, the familiar action felt strangely unfamiliar now. She subconsciously glanced at Ren nearby, only to see his cold eyes holding an unreadable expression.
"Mei, you're finally back!"
Having not seen each other for so long, Kiana was clearly emotional, hugging Mei tightly as if she never intended to let go.
Helpless, Mei could only pat her back and gently soothe her, "Kiana, could you let go first?"
"No way! If I let go, you'll definitely run off again!"
"Look, I'm standing right here, aren't I? Why would I run? Besides, your strength seems to have increased again; you're squeezing the breath out of me." Seeing she couldn't break free, Mei could only sigh in resignation. At the same time, she shot Ren a look, silently pleading for help.
"Yeah, maybe let go first, Kiana. Your friend's arms are turning red." Ren didn't mind the friendly hug, but the situation still felt a bit odd. He cleared his throat lightly, interrupting Kiana.
Compared to Mei's fumbling, Ren's words were much clearer. He didn't mention his own relationship with Mei, simply referring to her as 'your friend'. This served two purposes: avoiding any misunderstanding from Kiana and subtly reinforcing that he and Kiana were the primary companions here.
Sure enough, after hearing his words, the girl seemed to finally calm down and slowly released her grip.
"Sorry, Mei. I just got too excited." Kiana wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes and bowed her head slightly in apology to Mei.
But as she lowered her head, her eyes subtly flickered towards Ren.
Her gaze paused almost imperceptibly as it swept over him. I didn't wait for him at the store and interrupted their conversation... Ren must be pretty annoyed right now. This thought flashed through her mind, and a thread of unease surfaced.
However, contrary to her expectations, Ren showed no displeasure. Though there was a hint of surprise in his eyes, he looked completely natural, not flustered like Mei.
He even seemed to notice Kiana looking at him and returned her gaze with a reassuring look.
For some reason, seeing Ren show no signs of guilt or nervousness, much of Kiana's inner turmoil inexplicably faded.
Perhaps even she hadn't noticed that whenever she stood beside Ren, his grey eyes always made her feel secure.
"It's okay. After all, I was the one who left for so long." Mei, still feeling a bit lost, didn't notice Kiana's subtle glances. She assumed it was just an uncontrollable reaction between friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. She forced a smile, trying to ease the awkwardness.
"You're still the same as always, so impulsive."
They had been apart for so long that Mei couldn't even find the right topic. Her memories of Kiana were still stuck in their St. Freya High School days, so she instinctively fell back on their old ways of talking. Little did she know, Kiana had matured considerably; seemingly carefree, she was actually quite perceptive.
Mei's panic and uncertainty hadn't escaped Kiana's notice.
However, Kiana pretended not to notice anything. She was still the same silly dummy from before, and Mei was still the same gentle Mei.
"I knew you were the best, Mei!"
The girl's act finally calmed Mei's flustered heart. Perhaps even Mei didn't know why she felt so panicked.
Was it because she had abandoned Kiana back then? Or because their paths had diverged during their long separation?
Regardless, her feelings for Kiana would never change.
Having settled this in her mind, Mei finally stopped worrying about Kiana's sudden appearance. Just as she was about to steer the conversation towards casual small talk to gloss over the current situation, she heard Kiana ask curiously, "But, Mei, why were you with Ren? Did you two know each other from way back?"
"Uh..." For a moment, Mei didn't know how to answer. She instinctively looked to Ren for guidance, unaware that Kiana saw the glance clearly.
Ren showed no intention of answering, so Mei had to force herself to explain, "Actually... actually, we just ran into each other by chance."
"Oh, I see." Kiana nodded, seemingly accepting the flimsy explanation without suspicion.
Seeing Kiana didn't doubt her, Mei felt relieved. Just as she was trying to figure out how to elaborate on the 'chance encounter,' Ren suddenly spoke up.
"It's because Raiden Mei and I cooperated on investigating World Serpent before. It was mostly one-way contact, though. Now that there's been progress, we chose to meet here."
Mei looked surprised when Ren spoke. She didn't understand why he would voluntarily reveal their connection. Wouldn't that waste all their previous efforts?
Ren knew perfectly well that if Kiana found out what he and Mei were doing, she would definitely get involved. However, he knew even better that the girl's intuition was far sharper than expected. Constant concealment wouldn't fool her and would only deepen future misunderstandings.
More importantly, he didn't want to lie to Kiana. While deception was sometimes necessary, if possible, he preferred to choose a more acceptable explanation.
"Cooperated?"
"Mhm. Kiana, I wonder if you know about the organization called The Obsidian Concord?"
Kiana certainly knew. Raiden Mei had joined The Obsidian Concord when she left. The 'city of puppets' they created in ARC City was also memorable. More importantly, Ren himself had once been the chosen leader of this organization.
"Actually, Raiden Mei and I are both considered members of this organization, and she is currently its nominal leader." Ren phrased this skillfully. Everything he said was true, yet he subtly omitted crucial details. "It's an extreme organization; its members are basically all victims of Honkai disasters. While fighting the Honkai, they're also secretly investigating World Serpent."
Kiana remembered suffering quite a bit at the hands of World Serpent back during the Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical incident.
"Now that the investigation has yielded results, she sought me out."
Kiana looked skeptical. She turned to Mei, who seemed reluctant to elaborate but ultimately nodded.
"But... why didn't you just tell me directly?"
"Because as the Herrscher of the Void, many organizations are watching you. Mei is a much smaller target. If we alerted the enemy unnecessarily, all our efforts would have been wasted." Ren was quite frank. Anyway, my identity as the Herrscher of Dominance is already exposed; revealing the rest doesn't matter much anymore.
"You two can chat about the rest." With that, Ren intentionally stepped back, giving them space to catch up.