Honkai Impact 3rd - The Interference

Chapter 113 - Unease

"Yo."

Hana's voice came out more distant than she'd intended, but maybe that was because Wan was lost in his own head again.

"Earth to Hoshino Wan?" she called, stepping closer to where he sat, silent and brooding, his jaw subtly working on something. Candy, most likely.

She raised an eyebrow, her sharp gaze cutting through his stillness. She already knew what this was about.

"You do know we need to get ready in the next five minutes, right?"

Wan’s ears twitched slightly, a sign he’d heard her. He glanced at her briefly, holding her gaze for a few seconds before dropping his eyes back to his hands, which rested idly on his lap.

Hana sighed, shaking her head as she plopped down next to him.

"Thinking about Mei again, huh?"

Silence.

Instead of pressing, Hana let her eyes linger on him—his bangs casting a shadow over his face, his fingers lightly clasped together, unmoving. Even with his eyes hidden, she could tell he wasn’t really staring at his hands; he was staring inward, somewhere unreachable.

"Did the spice get to you or something?" she quipped, her tone light as she leaned back with one arm slung across the seat behind her. "Never thought God of Destruction came with a mute button."

Wan didn’t respond, his silence feeding into the tension hanging in the air.

"You don’t even curse much," she continued, unfazed. "What did you do to get those pretty lips of yours sealed—"

"It’s not funny, Hana," Wan muttered, his tone low and weighted.

"And yet, here I am laughing. Guts not included, huh?"

"Hana," he snapped, his voice rising just enough to cut through the room’s stillness. He turned toward her, his frustration evident, but she was already waiting for him, her crimson eyes glinting with amusement.

A faint smirk curled at her lips, as if this was the exact reaction she’d been baiting him for.

"Oh," she said, the smugness practically dripping from her voice. "So you can talk."

Wan sighed, turning away again, his gaze falling back to the floor. "I’m not in the mood for this."

"In the mood for what?"

"You know what I mean."

"Nuh-uh, I really don’t."

"I’m not… I’m not even going to say anything."

The silence that followed was deafening. Hana blinked, her expression softening for just a second as she hummed an absentminded tune, her focus darting between her hands and Wan’s hunched figure.

Then, with a casualness that almost felt cruel, she broke the quiet.

"You don’t even love Mei. So why be so sad?"

Wan flinched. Her words hit a nerve, clean and sharp, cutting through the layers he’d tried so hard to bury. His voice was strained when he finally spoke.

"Don’t. Don’t bring that up."

Hana tilted her head, her grin widening, even as her words carried a teasing edge. "What? Seeing a girl run away after what you did broke your little heart? Well," she added with a laugh, "Mei’s always been fragile anyway. Not that I’m not."

Wan flinched slightly at her words. Mei and fragile—it made too much sense when said together. His thoughts circled back to her, as they always did. The look on her face when he’d rejected her, the way she ran...