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  **Chapter 12: Kiana the Glutton**

  Kiana picked up the notice left on the table, which had the menu the front desk dy mentioned tucked inside. There were loads of dishes listed, but aside from rice and noodle soup, she didn’t recognize any of them. So she just called the front desk and ordered one of everything.

  By the time Juxiao came out from his shower, Kiana was finishing up paying by card. The server pulled out a card reader from under the table and asked Kiana to insert the card and enter a PIN. Kiana simply swiped it and said, “No password.”

  After the payment was complete, the server id out the dishes one by one on the table. A wide array of colorful and fragrant dishes immediately captivated Kiana, who had only ever eaten Siegfried’s charcoal-bck cooking and various kinds of bread. She couldn't take her eyes off them.

  After Juxiao saw the server off and turned around, he realized that a quarter of the food that had been there just a moment ago was already gone. Kiana was holding a pte and pouring food straight into her mouth. Every time she finished a dish, she'd hiss in pain from how hot it was, and then immediately go for the next.

  “Slow down! There’s only the two of us, nobody’s fighting you for food.” Juxiao unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to her.

  “Do’ worry, ith my firth time eatin’ somefin’ this good!” Kiana mumbled, her mouth stuffed so full she could barely talk. Her cheeks were puffed out like a white-haired little hamster.

  Juxiao pulled a steak and a pork knuckle off the table for himself, leaving the rest to Kiana. After all, with a Kasna stomach, he didn’t have to worry about her getting sick from overeating.

  Kiana's wild eating style started affecting Juxiao too. Annoyed by the pork knuckle and unable to handle utensils properly, he just grabbed the meat with his hands and started chomping down—one hand holding pork knuckle, the other holding steak—enjoying himself thoroughly.

  Before he could get too far, Kiana had already cleaned the entire table and was staring at him with puppy-dog eyes. Juxiao looked at the half-eaten pork knuckle in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and offered it to her.

  Kiana scrunched her nose and pushed it back, her face still messy with food, smiling brightly.

  “I’m not full. Let’s order another round!”

  “...?”

  Juxiao stared at the twenty-something empty ptes on the table, then at Kiana’s completely ft stomach in disbelief. Dammit, Honkai Beast, at least bloat up a little or something! How did you digest all that without even needing time?!

  “What’s with that look? I’m just not full, okay? Why’s that so shocking...” Kiana pouted, pcing the menu next to Juxiao and pointing at a few dishes she had purposefully left a little unfinished. “I really liked a few of these, but I don’t know their names. Can you help me figure them out so we can order more?”

  Juxiao examined the dishes and called out the names: “Whole fried chicken, fried chicken legs, braised lion’s head meatballs, white-cut chicken...” Kiana quietly memorized them all, pnning to introduce them to her smelly old dad ter. They were a million times better than his burned crap.

  Juxiao called the front desk again, ordering all of Kiana’s favorites—two of each—and some of his own picks.

  After hanging up, Juxiao couldn’t help but marvel. “Such a magical otherworld... Even a small hotel has such a huge variety of dishes.”

  “When we leave tomorrow, let’s pack like... dozens of these to go! That way we’ll have food for the next few days! Although I feel like you’ll eat it all in one.”

  “Hehehe…”

  After several more trips by the server, Kiana finally colpsed onto the bed, content, flopping her arms and legs up and down like she was swimming.

  Juxiao turned on the TV in the room and scooted her over with his butt before slipping under the bnket too.

  “Kiana, is there anything you wanna watch?”

  “Hmm... Do they have *Aln Hato* or *Homu’s Great Adventure*? Dad brought me lots of those comics. I’ve only read them once each, but if there are anime versions, that’d be awesome!”

  “Then *Homu’s Great Adventure* it is. Looks like it's trending, and people love it.”

  So the two of them snuggled under the covers and watched a few episodes together.

  Suddenly, Kiana poked Juxiao in the waist, looking curious. “Hey, why did you lie to that front desk dy earlier? Actually, you lied to a lot of people today.”

  Looking at Kiana’s innocent face, Juxiao pinched her soft cheeks and smiled.

  “Kiana, the real world isn’t a fairytale. It’s a blurry shade of grey. Everyone’s born with desires, and only education teaches us morality to hold those back. But not everyone’s educated, and not everyone has morals. People often satisfy their desires—intentionally or not—by hurting others. You can’t judge a book by its cover, so I always assume the worst about people.”

  “Especially since we’re just kids. We’re easy targets. What if someone tries something bad on us? What then?”

  “Punch 'em into next week!”

  “......”

  Juxiao couldn’t argue with that. Kiana clearly didn’t get his point. To her, if anyone did anything bad in front of her, she’d just punch them out, pin and simple.

  He wanted to give her a thumbs-up. But reality told him that even if the other person was wrong, if you threw the first punch, both sides would suffer. Then again, they were in another world now—did it really matter?

  “You’re right. If someone really wants to do something bad, punching them out is fine. But Kiana, as much as I want to do that too, once you use violence, it brings a bunch of unnecessary trouble. If we can use words to solve things, we should. I don’t like getting caught up in messy problems.”

  “But if we avoid things, doesn’t that make the next victim someone who *can’t* escape? Doesn’t that make us accomplices?” Kiana stared at him with absolute seriousness.

  “We’re not avoiding anything, Kiana. Preventing a crime before it happens isn’t the same as running away. If something does happen in front of us, of course we’ll step in. But if we can use our words to make people think twice, we protect ourselves *and* discourage them. That’s a win-win.”

  “I don’t get it... Sounds like a pain... Wouldn’t it be easier to just punch them?”

  “You blockhead, Kiana.”

  “No, *you’re* the blockhead!”

  Juxiao gave up on expining complicated logic. He wasn’t some anime protagonist with the power of friendship speeches that changed people’s minds. Even he didn’t fully understand what he was saying.

  “Then just forget what I said. O pure-hearted girl, may you always keep your heart untarnished, and with your burning sense of justice, sweep away all injustice! And I, your loyal knight, shall be your sword and your shield, fighting at your side!”

  “You’re being chuunibyou again, aren’t you?”

  “Ehehe.”

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