Weird Dedication
a Honkai Impact 3 fanfiction by The Overlord Bear
Summary: Bianka reflects on the results of a magazine cover girl reunion with Himeko and Rita during a bar hangout.
Previous Part: “Persistent Dedication”
First Part: “Childish Dedication”
“Schicksal’s Hottest Bosses Happily Reunited!” was how she, Rita, and Himeko were referred to on the cover of the latest Valhalla issue. Before this particular issue, all three women had taken only one cover girl assignment together in their lives, which also happened to be the best-selling issue of the same Schicksal-sponsored morale booster magazine. Still, Bianka even admitted it in this post-Otto-Serpent War issue’s interview: Much like her other modeling work, she barely remembered how her previous gigs went, as while she took such jobs without hesitation like her covermates did, her lack of interest in modeling, to say the least, had her taking them more like a soldier fulfilling an obligation and less like her more playful covermates working for fun as well. She ended up being the butt of “Strongest Dumb Blonde” jokes because of her approach to publicity work, but she considered such jests nothing compared to knowing that humanity acknowledged her true strength as one of their soldiers. If anything, she’d be more concerned about her very zealous fans going psycho on those also understandable commenters.
“Feeling yourself there, Bianka?”
But this time, Schicksal’s Strongest Valkyrie felt a bit of a blush appear on her face, especially as her now bionic friend teased her with such frankness, all while their now long-haired maid friend smiled along during another one of their bar hangouts. Bianka had been giving their reunion issue an obviously longer look, after all, mostly because of how she herself looked on the cover. She was sure that the editing wasn’t too distorting, but still…
“I don’t think I’ve smiled this happily with you two before, Himeko, Rita.”
On the cover featuring themselves in casual clothes, Himeko was in the middle, arms over her covermates’ shoulders. Rita was on the left, hugging Himeko back with one leg raised and a teasing smile on, while Bianka was on the right, looking away with a surprisingly warm smile while her hands were by her own sides.
Again, Bianka opened up the magazine, going to the article on the three of them and looking at how they smiled even more widely with closed eyes as Himeko pulled her and Rita closer. Looking at the interview text as well again, Bianka also further realized that she had never been that honest before about how she approached this sort of work without much fun.
“It does make you look more beautiful than you already have been, Master Durandal,” Rita agreed with mischief, causing Bianka’s blush to grow a bit redder.
“Yeah, I know you can smile, Bianka,” Himeko added, the blush of a woman under the influence back on her face again, “But you always leave PR a little too thirsty for that stuff! And that’s already considering how you tend to sound like some weird showoff when you talk about your achievements! And did you even know that a bunch of your fans out there fantasize about how you’re probably getting it on with Rita, the Immortal Blades, and even the Honkai? And they always have you depicted as this robot submissive!”
Rita giggled as Himeko started cackling into those tangents. Bianka only had a raised eyebrow at those weird yet trivial revelations. And hadn’t they mentioned these speculations to her several times before?
“There, you’re back at it again!” their alcohol-loving friend then cackled some more.
“At the very least, Master Durandal stays true to herself,” their mischievous maid friend added.
“I now have fascination regarding your work performances,” Bianka made an awkward smile. “Still, our friendship’s improvement is undeniable,” she added with a smile that felt warmer.
“And she knocks out another crowd!” Himeko hollered with her empty glass raised. “Another one, bartender!”
And so the bartender served Himeko another glass. The redheaded Valkyrie gave yet another wink to the mustached and smiling bartender, too, which was received with a formal smile and bow.
“Say, have you ever considered dating before?” Himeko then turned to her friends after taking another sip. “Men, women, whoever, I don’t care, I just wanna know how your love lives are going!”
“I’m afraid I cannot give a response desirable to you, Master Himeko,” Rita smiled back, taking another small sip from her still first glass right after.
“I haven’t really put much thought into such things, Himeko,” Bianka followed up, an awkward smile and a little blush up again because of how she felt a little too serious in comparison to the peacefulness her friends were making along with the world around them. “Would you mind if I stayed a single virgin until my death?”
“Please, I’m not that mean, Bianka!” Himeko waved a hand with a surprisingly serious look on her face. “Has someone been mocking you for being a single virgin? ‘Cause I’ll kick that bastard’s ass for ya!”
Bianka sighed with relief at that ardent response. “Don’t worry, Himeko. I don’t really care about other people looking at me like that, but I was simply worried about whether you would look at me like that. After all, you are the most…forward among us.”
“And you are Master Durandal’s friend too, Master Himeko,” Rita delivered more directly, causing Bianka to blush some more as she nodded.
At that, Himeko laughed, putting her glass down to get off her stool and hug Bianka from behind. “Yeah, I’m your friend too, Bianka! Still, if you want a good hookup, then I’ll get you one! But if you don’t want any, then I won’t get you any!”
Bianka closed her eyes and let another smile come onto her face. “I’ll keep that in mind, then, Himeko. Thank you very much again.”
Then Rita was added into the hug. “Best friends forever!” Himeko then shouted again. “Ragna’s girls forever!”
And again, they took their glasses and had them touch each other.
But this time, Bianka and Rita downed the contents of their glasses in one go.
“Again, we’re all walking home tonight!”
Himeko joyfully whooped at her two friends’ loosened restraint, of course.
Author’s Note: I’ve been wanting to write a fanfic featuring Ragna’s girls having a bar hangout, and while it’s not really referenced in the fanfic itself, finding out that Dea Anchora Bianka does more than lance attacks was the decisive push for me to write this fanfic. Also, yes, I want to see Ragna’s girls, especially all three of them together, posing like they’re magazine cover girls…which happens to remind me of a certain piece of fanart by Tsuruki featuring HI3’s starter trio (Kiana, Mei, and Bronya) sporting some cool casual looks based on the outfits of their first Augment forms (Void Drifter, Striker Fulminata, and Drive Kometa).
Next Part: “Divine Dedication”
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