Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Today, Tuna wasn't hanging out with Noldrei.

Considering she and Hare both suffered sociological whiplash from Noldrei, Kiana decided to turn things around and get to the bottom of this whole Stigmata Space business.

See, some people just wouldn't log out, straight up AFK-ing in the Stigmata Space. She'd kick them out constantly, but they'd just keep coming back.

And it was all because of the Stage One Trial.

The fake selves projected by the Stigmata Space, you could call them Stigmata Willpower – these things were causing a real headache.

Especially for people who were too "themselves," or maybe those who liked to "escape reality," or even those with a touch of the "yandere" vibe.

For these types, Stigmata armor wasn't a helpful tool for therapy, but more like an addictive fantasy product that sucked them in and led them down a path to crazy town.

Yep, you heard that right. Kiana ran into this kind of trouble all the time.

That's why she was here – to deal with it.

Leading Kiana was Black's little sister, White. Unlike her brother, who slapped on a Shenzhou name, White was still rocking the name she used back in the day when she and her brother were hustling on the streets.

White took Kiana to a pretty heavily guarded hospital.

Kiana wasn't using her Kiana identity right now, but was rocking the Cecilia skin.

But this "Cecilia" was totally missing that gentle motherly vibe. Her innocent, wide-eyed gaze screamed, "Still a street urchin who didn't even finish middle school!"

Even though she'd crammed and aced the high school curriculum, she still didn't have a diploma, not even a grade school certificate. The glorious Nagazora Empire was gonna be handed over to this menace? Seriously scary stuff.

Kiana looked around at the patients in the hospital.

These patients were in rehab, kicking their Stigmata armor addiction.

Most of them were high schoolers, some seriously unlucky kids.

"What's the deal with that Takanashi girl over there?"

Kiana casually pointed at a cute girl. She even had one golden eye, kinda reminding Kiana of when she and Sirin were tag-teaming her body.

"Takanashi Rikka. A few years back, her dad passed away. Couldn't handle it, went full-on chunni, and somehow ended up in Academy City testing out Stigmata armor. Big mistake. She got hooked real fast and couldn't pull herself out."

White shook her head and sighed, looking at the still-chunni-vibing girl. "Even though she's back to normal-ish, we still can't give her Stigmata armor access again. Stigmata armor addiction is like that feeling of escaping reality by hiding in games, but the immersion is way more real."

"Just a few dips, and they start treating it like a real dream world. If it wasn't for you being in control, who knows how many more like this we'd have."

Kiana gasped dramatically. She hadn't realized a little high schooler could get hit this hard. "Good thing it was just losing a dad, imagine if she lost two dads, what a mess!"

White chuckled, "Her older sister is super supportive, and she's actually going back to school now."

Kiana nodded seriously. "Yeah, people who escape reality can't be messing with Stigmata armor. Didn't realize the people I yeeted out had so many real-world problems. This stuff's supposed to fight Honkai and help humanity evolve, can't let these guys waste it."

The Crown Princess had no brilliant solutions. Escaping reality could be useful sometimes, after all, it could make life less of a pain in the ass.

She quickly spotted another high school girl patient.

'What is with this world? Why are all these pretty girls reality escapees?'

Kiana was speechless. She was kinda hoping to scout out some cute girls for her future harem. But if her harem was full of these types, she might as well just find a dude to settle down with. Seriously.

"So, what about this one? What's this Amemiya Hotaru girl's deal?"

Kiana pointed at a skinny, twig-like girl. She thought she was skinny from her days living on the streets. But thanks to the Kaslana family's awesome genes, Kiana was just lean in the right places.

But this Amemiya Hotaru was dangerously frail.

White glanced at the patient info sheet on the door, complete with Amemiya Hotaru's photo.

She quickly dredged up the info from her memory banks.

"This girl is a daddy's girl, and not in a good way. Her father poured all his romantic love onto her, including, but not limited to, confinement, food restriction, and abuse. The self she created in the Stigmata Space… her biggest wish was to wear a wedding dress and tell her dad 'I love you.'"

Kiana was utterly floored. She thought those Saint Freya Cathedral fanatics were weird enough. Turns out, there's always someone weirder out there!

"Damn, talk about playing on hard mode! These Japanese folks are wild!"

'Good thing my dad wasn't that messed up. He just made me, in an eight-year-old's body, take care of his middle-aged self. Noldrei, on the other hand, did abuse me a lot. One day, I'm so getting back at him!'

Kiana waved her hand dismissively. "Okay, enough of this one. People who are this messed up from the get-go, I just ignore them. Let's check out the next one."

White didn't mind and led her boss to the next patient.

Kiana soon saw another high schooler's photo on a patient room door.

She'd stumbled upon another strange girl.

'Seriously? Are there this many messed up girls in the Japan?'

She immediately asked, "What about this Asakura Miu girl? Did she also mess herself up with my family's Stigmata armor?"

White looked at the name and nodded, "Oh, right. No, she's not really related to us. Back in middle school, she had a super strong possessive streak towards her crush, so she wrecked the relationships of everyone around him. Then, she confessed her love while jumping off a building, and we scooped her up for treatment."

"We tried the Stigmata armor therapy, and now she's a loyal Stigmata armor user. We're doing rehab to wean her off it, and she's mostly recovered."

White added, remembering something, "Come to think of it, when she jumped, she kept muttering something like, 'You'll never understand, will you?' Real cryptic stuff."

Kiana's jaw dropped even further. "No kidding, the Japanese is something else! Pulling off moves that rad? People with high possessiveness are trouble for sure! Sometimes, Tesla looks at me with these weird eyes, I swear she wants to dissect me for research. Definitely got that creepy possessive vibe."

'No, Dr. Tesla does want to study you. Has nothing to do with possessiveness.'

White mentally facepalmed at her leader's emotional IQ.

Kiana waved her hand again, "Alright, alright, take me to see the rest of these patients' cases!"