NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 290: 24-Hour Cinderella (EXTRA)
Rain drummed against the neon signs of ARC City, painting the streets in shifting colors. Ren didn't have a destination in mind.
Just walking, letting the familiar pulse of Honkai energy wash over him like white noise.
He stopped dead in his tracks. There she was – Kiana, larger than life on the billboard above. Flamescion. Her eyes burned with that same fierce determination he remembered. His fingers twitched, wanting to reach out, but he shoved them deeper into his pockets instead.
The thump of bass drew him away from her image. A karaoke bar, tucked between towering chrome and glass. The song drifting out made his chest tight – a melody from what felt like another lifetime.
Perfect excuse for a distraction, he thought, pushing through the door.
The place was dead quiet inside. A pink-haired bartender flashed him a practiced smile, probably rehearsed a thousand times that night. Ren's gaze wandered over the walls, covered in Honkai merchandise. His own designs stared back at him from every corner.
"New releases?" He gestured at a poster of a band that looked suspiciously familiar. The bartender just nodded enthusiastically, missing the irony completely.
Even their music is just plagiarism of my old world.
Seeing the producer's name in the corner, huh, I'm the one who plagiarized...
The private room felt like stepping into another dimension.
All plush velvet and soft lighting, nothing like the stark lines he surrounded himself with these days. Ren thumbed through the songbook, a parade of stolen memories disguised as fresh hits.
His lips quirked up – the ultimate inside joke, and he was the only one who got the punchline.
"24-Hour Cinderella," he muttered, punching in the number. The saccharine melody filled the room, so at odds with the bitter taste in his mouth that he almost laughed.
...
"Sunao ni I LOVE YOU! todekeyou..." (Honestly, I LOVE YOU! Let me convey it...)
The words came out rough, unused. Behind his closed eyes, he saw Kiana's smile. Not the fierce warrior on the billboard – the real one, soft and warm, from that shared dream that felt so long ago.
"Kimi ni niau GLASS no kutsu wo sagasou..." (Let's find the glass slipper that suits you...)
His voice grew stronger. A glass slipper. That's what he'd tried to make ARC City into – a perfect, fragile shelter. But even his most carefully crafted creation couldn't keep her close.
He skipped the "Majima JINGI!!" part. (Majima Loyalty!!)
The forced cheer felt wrong, like putting on a party hat at a funeral.
"Tooku hanarete aenai hi wa..." (On days when we're far apart and can't meet...)
His voice cracked. The words hit too close – about being far apart, unable to meet. The memory of their burning cabin flashed behind his eyes, their little piece of borrowed heaven turning to ash.
"Hoshi ni negatte yume de aou..." (Wish upon a star, let's meet in dreams...)
Make a wish on a star. Meet in dreams. Like a child's fairytale. But he wasn't a child anymore, and some wishes were better left unmade.
"Isshou I LOVE YOU! kawaranai..." (Forever, I LOVE YOU! That won't change...)
The promise felt heavy on his tongue. He'd love her forever, yeah – but from the shadows, a guardian she'd never see. The protector she didn't need.
The song faded out. Ren stared at his reflection in the dark screen, a stranger wearing his face. He dropped some bills on the table and slipped out, pulling his hood up against the neon glare.
The city hummed around him. The Herrscher of a Thousand Faces had one more mask to perfect – the face of someone who'd learned to live with an empty heart.
Above him, Kiana's billboard flickered in the rain.
His Cinderella story had struck midnight long ago.
The glass slipper had shattered.
But the melody lingered, a ghost in the city of his own making.