Project K-324

Chapter-44: The Festival and The Cheater

"She's late again." Theresa said in a worried tone.

"It's only been five minutes... But you're right." Himeko said, as she was leaning on her car. "She's been through a lot lately, so-"

Before Himeko could finish, they heard hurried steps coming their way. Then a person with snow white hair caught in a ponytail and sky blue eyes entered the parking lot, and started hurrying towards their direction. She was wearing a pair of dark blue sneakers with black long socks, a dark blue short skirt with black short pants underneath, a black t-shirt with a blue logo on the front, a black jacket with blue and orange details and finally, a Tuna hairpin on her left side of her hair. She waved her hand as she got closer.

"Sorry, I'm late." she shouted, before finally arriving in front of a wide eyed Himeko and Theresa. Seeing their expression, she smiled mischievously and spun in place to show Himeko And Theresa her outfit. "How do I look?"

"Diana, you... look great. You almost look like before you... you know." Himeko said, with a tent of hesitation.

"Did you dye your hair? Does that mean that you'll finally tell Kiana that your back?" Theresa asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"Not yet, but soon. I promise." Diana said, shaking her head lightly and gave a small smile. "And I didn't dye my hair. See this hair pin." she said as she pointed at it. "I call it: The Tuna disguise. It can change the wearer's hair color to Kaslana's snow white hair. But it's still in its experimental phase." she explained as she pressed on the hairpin. The next moment, her hair is back to its night sky black color.

"Uh-huh... And what about your eyes? Did Einstein give you a pair of lenses in a different color?" Himeko asked, earning a big grin for her.

"Nope." Diana said. She then put her hands on her hips and said proudly. "Right now. In this very moment. I, Diana Winters, successfully suppressed my Herrscher form and became a human once more... or as human as a Kaslana can be." she finished, changing her tone at the end, becoming a little unsure.

"Diana, congrats. Now we have one more thing to celebrate." Theresa said happily.

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Himeko said.

Himeko, Theresa and Diana got in the car and left the base. Looking out the window, Diana just realized that she didn't really had the chance to leave the base until now. Seeing the unfamiliar streets a flash of a lost memory appeared in Diana's mind. She looked out the window of a similar car and had a familiar feeling of excitement and wonder. The memory was short, but she knew exactly where she was and where she was going. A small giggle caught Diana's attention and woke her up from her daze. This time, Diana turned her head in the direction of the small giggle and saw Himeko driving with a smile on her face as she glanced at Diana once in a while.

Diana didn't know if she was laughing at her or if Himeko was just happy, but glancing at the back seat where Theresa was, and seeing her in a similar state as how she was a few moments ago, Diana chose to just smile as well and go back to looking outside.

Just then, Diana had a sudden headache that disappeared as soon as it came. This made her have a bad feeling that she didn't want to ignore, but at the same time, she just wanted to enjoy her time without the need to worry about anything else. So, she shook the feeling off.

Only if she just looked at the ESM, she would have noticed that the yellow signal appeared for a few more seconds after the headache.

P.O.V. Diana

After a fairly long drive, considering the distance they had to travel, we finally arrived at one of the locations where the parade would pass through and where the festival was organized. It took longer than it should have to drive there since the road was busy due to the festival, which resulted in several road closures, forcing everyone who's driving to take detours. Then we had to find a free parking lot. By the time we found an available space, it was already lunchtime, so we decided to eat something and then look around.