Honkai Impact 3: Noah's Ark

12:《Encounters》

《Friday 10:45 PM Present Day》

When Noah came to, he was back at the dilapidated version of the Shrine Office, still in what used to be Sakura's room and standing almost as if in a trance—exactly where he left off. The unlit landscape outside the window told him that it was still night. He wasn't sure how much time had passed in the real world as the communicator the principal had given the Valkyries had been one of the cruder ones without holographic interfaces.

Oddly enough, he felt hungry; he was sure that he had dined with Kallen and Sakura before they made him a way back to the real world.

His hands also felt itchy and raw and strange, so he looked. The bandages were gone, and they looked almost like before apart from its pinkish hue, a red tri-beaded symbol Sakura had called Yasaka Magatama on his right palm, and a winged sword-on-shield crest on his left.

"But if we do this, then what will happen to you?" the boy asked.

Sakura gave him a small smile. "Nothing will happen to us. The space will just move from outside of you to inside; you will no longer be the one trapped but the space will be inside you."

The boy paused. "You will be trapped inside me, too."

Kallen burst into laughter. "Well it's not like stigmata usually manifest outside anyway."

Noah simply stared at her with a difficult expression. She dropped her livid expression and gave him a comforting look. "You miss us." It wasn't even a question.

Noah wasn't really sure why but she was able to name the feeling he couldn't quite identify.

"Aww~"

He also didn't know why he suddenly felt heat rush into his head when he wasn't in a situation that needed adrenaline. He felt more heat when even Sakura looked at him endearingly.

"You can still talk to us," she said, "but you will have to meditate to be in tune with the Stigmata in your body."

"Noah?"

The boy was jolted out of his reminiscing. Jenny's voice had come from the corridor; she'd gone upstairs presumably to see why he was taking so long. He rubbed his hands again one final time as if to see if his hands were still burned, then moved to intercept the girl. She looked relieved when she saw him.

"You're alright," she said.

"Yes," the boy said. He stared at her. They stood there until she was forced to meet his eyes.

"Fine," she whispered. "I'll tell you."

The diminutive girl stalked off before him with haste. Noah didn't know whether to feel like he had accomplished his objective of getting answers or to feel like a bad comrade.

Once downstairs, he found that Éclair was working on Sakura's stove in the pantry, which was miraculously, not beyond repair. She had gotten a fire going, and looked to be deciding between a broth or rice. Then with a resolute face, she picked out the beef from their supplies before turning an ear to the boy.

"Jenny looked a bit upset," she said.

Noah hesitated. "Yes," he tested.

The tall girl sighed. "Look, Ah get tha' there's somethin b'tween ye two. Ah 'cud see it from the moment ye first showed up an' her eyes twinkled, then a week's gone and she looked like she'd swallowed a nasty shite stirred wi' pubes."

The boy didn't react—he didn't know how to react to that. He remembered talking to many people when he first came in, but he mostly remembered answering scientists' questions and feigning understanding when other people tried to relate to him. Maybe Jenny was one of those.