My Sister is Bronya

She had her own ambitions. Even Ishiu couldn't make her easily give up on her goals, otherwise, she wouldn't be Cocolia.

She pursed her lips, her hands under the desk digging fiercely into her own thigh, trying to use the pain to remind herself not to be weak.

After a long silence, seeing Cocolia not speaking, the disappointment in Ishiu's eyes gradually turned to despair, and finally to a calm resignation.

"Mom, I'm sorry, but I will stop you," Ishiu said, enunciating each word.

"...I can promise you that when you are with Raiden Mei, I won't make a move on her." This was Cocolia's bottom line. If she didn't desperately need this Herrscher core, she wouldn't want to stand against Ishiu.

"Heh... so you're saying that when I'm not around her, you can act with impunity?" Ishiu sneered.

"..." Cocolia remained silent.

Ishiu was silent for a few seconds, then turned and left.

Cocolia sighed softly, slumping powerlessly onto the desk, as if all her strength had drained away.

Exhaustion, a profound weariness washed over her. At this moment, she didn't want to deal with anything else; she just wanted to have a good, long drink.

She shakily took out a cigarette pack from her desk drawer, took out a cigarette, and put it in her mouth. She then took out a lighter and flicked it a few times before finally managing to light the cigarette. But before she could even take a puff, a fair, slender hand reached out from in front of her and snatched the cigarette right out of her mouth.

Cocolia's body stiffened. She turned her head in a daze, only to see Ishiu standing beside her, having appeared at some unknown time.

Ishiu casually tossed the cigarette out the window, along with the cigarette pack from Cocolia's hand. Then, he said in a low voice, "Mom, don't smoke. It's bad for your health."

"Ishiu..." Hearing the familiar dialogue, Cocolia bit her lip, her eyes welling up. But before she could react, Ishiu embraced her first.

Ishiu's arm wrapped around Cocolia's neck, and his other hand pressed on the back of her head. Since Cocolia was still sitting in the chair, he gently pressed her head into his embrace.

"Ishiu..." Cocolia murmured softly, her hands gripping Ishiu's back tightly, as if she wanted to hold onto him forever.

She was crying, but not a single tear fell. Because she was a mother, and mothers couldn't cry in front of their children. A mother had to be stronger than anyone.

"Mom... take better care of yourself from now on. Don't stay up late, and don't smoke or drink."

"Mm..."

"Well, goodbye then."

With that, Ishiu's figure vanished before Cocolia's eyes. Cocolia's hand, which had been grasping at the air, trembled slightly before falling weakly.

"Ishiu..."

In the quiet office, a faint sigh drifted with the wind towards the sky, leaving behind only a heart full of weariness that could not be spoken to outsiders.

Ishiu walked out of the company with a blank expression. He stood at a street intersection, feeling lost, unsure of where to go next.

Should he go back to the orphanage? But he had fallen out with Cocolia, and he was preparing to oppose her. If that was the case, how could he explain it to the children at the orphanage if he went back?

Ishiu didn't want his problems to interfere with their lives. As long as he was still at the orphanage, he would inevitably have to face Cocolia again. But he really didn't want to see Cocolia anymore, at least not right now.

So, should he find a place to have a drink?

Just as Ishiu was about to break his own rule and try how strong Russian whiskey was, a car stopped beside him.

Then, the passenger door was opened. The person in the driver's seat was a girl with light-colored curly hair. She looked very cute, but there was an indescribable strangeness about her, as if the person sitting there wasn't a young, vibrant girl, but a mature and steady woman.

"Uh... sorry, I don't need a ride." Ishiu assumed she was a taxi driver. He thought it was surprising that such a young and pretty girl would be a driver, and that there weren't many people who could afford to drive such a nice car these days. He prepared to close the door.

"You're Ishiu, right? Get in."

The girl's words made Ishiu's hand freeze mid-air. He frowned and looked at her suspiciously, "You know me? Who are you?"

"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that you're feeling lost right now, aren't you? You've fallen out with your adoptive mother over differing ideologies. You want to pull her back from that abyss, but she refused," the girl said in a monotone voice, turning her head to look at Ishiu.

"And I, might be able to help you."

"Who exactly are you?" Ishiu's frown deepened, his hand already reaching into his pocket, ready to pull out a knife at any moment.

Someone who knew his identity and knew he had just fallen out with Cocolia... This couldn't be an ordinary person.

"Want to know? If you want to know, then get in," the girl said, then fell silent. No matter how Ishiu asked, she wouldn't say another word.

As the saying goes, boldness comes with skill. Ishiu was very confident in his own abilities. After thinking about it, he decided to get into the car. He wanted to see what this person was up to.

Chapter Eighty-Nine: Einstein and Tesla

The car drove smoothly under the girl's control. After a series of turns and twists, taking about an hour, the car finally stopped.

"Get out," the girl said, pulling the car over and unbuckling her seatbelt before getting out.

"Where is this?" Ishiu looked at the ordinary residential house in front of him, confused. He thought she would take him somewhere significant, but after all that driving, it was just here?

The girl didn't answer his question. Instead, she took out a small, round robotic sphere from her pocket.

"Eins, have Cocolia's eyes been blocked?"

"Reporting, Master. All visual feeds have been blocked. I guarantee she won't know what's happening here," the robotic sphere suddenly spoke, extending two mechanical arms and floating in mid-air.

"Very good," the girl nodded, then extended her hand to Ishiu. "Although it's a bit late, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Liesel Albert Einstein, you can call me Dr. Einstein. I am one of the founders and leaders of Anti-Entropy."

"Anti-Entropy..." Ishiu suddenly understood. No wonder she knew about him and Cocolia. So she was also a big shot from Anti-Entropy... Wait, why were the leaders of Anti-Entropy so young? His mom was, and so was this Einstein. Were they all like that little nun, ageless?

"Then what's your purpose in finding me? You're not here to mediate my family dispute with my mom, are you?"

"I'm very curious about you." Seeing that Ishiu had no intention of shaking her hand, Einstein didn't feel awkward. She gracefully withdrew her hand and then looked at Ishiu with fanatical eyes, "You entered the Sea of Quantum. You're an ordinary person with no resistance to Honkai Energy, yet you didn't die. Instead, you survived, returned to the real world, and gained extremely powerful abilities. If possible, could I study your body? I hope you don't mind, after all, it's all for science."

"Ah, this... I'm sorry, I do mind." Ishiu's mouth twitched. He clearly hadn't expected the seemingly calm Einstein to act like a mad scientist from a movie, making him feel uneasy all over.

"Frizz-head, what weird things are you saying again? Don't scare the child."

Just then, another voice, tinged with a bit of arrogance, rang out from the residence. Ishiu followed the sound and saw a red-haired girl with twin ponytails emerge from the house. She wore glasses, a white shirt, and a black slip dress. By appearance alone, she was a very cute girl.

"Hey, brat, don't listen to her nonsense. She's a bit off in the head." The red-haired girl walked up to Ishiu and extended her hand. "Hello, I'm Frederica Nicola Tesla, one of the founders of Anti-Entropy. You can call me Tesla or Dr. Tesla. We invited you here not to study your body, but to cooperate."

"Cooperate?" Ishiu glanced at her suspiciously. After a moment's hesitation, he still shook her hand.

Don't ask why, just assume twin ponytails are justice.

"This isn't the place to talk. Let's go inside first," Tesla said.

Ishiu thought about it. The other party didn't seem to have any ill intentions, so he followed them into the house.

But the moment he stepped inside, Ishiu immediately regretted it.

"Um, are you sure this isn't a junkyard?"

Ishiu looked at the messy furnishings inside, the trash strewn everywhere, and the strange odor that almost made him gag.

He couldn't imagine how these two people could live here, let alone remain unaffected by the smell. It was a miracle.

"Ahem, well, this genius is busy with invention and creation and doesn't have time to deal with these trivial matters. Frizz-head is usually responsible for cleaning," Tesla said, trying to shift the blame to Einstein in response to Ishiu's disgusted look. Despite her usual disregard for appearances, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Is that so? Perhaps I forgot," Einstein said, scratching her messy curly hair. She nonchalantly moved the pile of junk on the sofa and then plopped down onto it.

"Ishiu, sit down," Einstein said, pointing to the sofa next to her.

"Uh... no, thank you. I think standing is fine," Ishiu said, glancing at the dirty sofa stained with what looked like engine oil or some other black liquid. His mouth twitched as he quickly waved his hands in refusal.

"Alright, let's get down to business. First, do you know about Anti-Entropy?" Tesla asked Ishiu, her voice crisp.

"Anti-Entropy... is an organization that fights Honkai," Ishiu replied. "I don't know much about Anti-Entropy. I only know you fight Honkai."

"Yes, Anti-Entropy is an organization that fights Honkai, but do you know how it came to be?"

"No," Ishiu shook his head.

"I'll be direct. Anti-Entropy was founded by Frizz-head, myself, and a few others. At the time, we had all defected from an organization called Schicksal."

"Schicksal?" Ishiu was stunned. No wonder Anti-Entropy and Schicksal were rivals. So the founders were all defectors from Schicksal!

"Yes, I can't tell you the specific reasons, but since we founded Anti-Entropy, the organization's development speed has been incredibly rapid, far exceeding our expectations. For management purposes, we had to adopt an alliance-style management system, where an Alliance Leader is chosen as the head to oversee the entire operation, and then power is delegated to each 'Executor.' Your adoptive mother, Mother Fox... Cocolia, is one of those Executors."

Tesla didn't sound very happy when she mentioned Cocolia, but she restrained herself from speaking ill of her due to Ishiu's presence.

"And then?" Ishiu knew his mother held a high position in Anti-Entropy, but he hadn't realized she was this influential.

"However, while this decentralized management system allows Anti-Entropy to develop quickly, it also leads to various issues due to differing personal ideologies. For example, what your adoptive mother did in Changkong City this time – we were unaware of it beforehand because she had sufficient authority and resources to act on her own. By the time we found out, it was too late."

Tesla bit her lip and angrily slammed the table. "That lunatic! She even dared to set her sights on a Herrscher! It's truly outrageous!"

Ishiu remained silent.

"Currently, the upper echelons of Anti-Entropy are roughly divided into two factions: one led by your adoptive mother, the 'Reformists,' and the other composed of myself, Tesla, and others, the 'Conservatives'," Einstein added at the opportune moment.

"The 'Reformists' believe our 'Conservative' ideology is too old-fashioned and rigid, advocating for the development of Anti-Entropy at all costs, regardless of the means, as long as it benefits Anti-Entropy. We 'Conservatives,' on the other hand, believe that while we must eliminate Honkai, we cannot harm humans themselves. You must have seen our Anti-Entropy Titan Mechs, right? Those unmanned mechs are the embodiment of our original founding principles."

The information provided by Tesla and Einstein was extensive, causing Ishiu to fall into a brief daze. Once he finally managed to process it all, he frowned and asked, "How can I be sure everything you're saying is true?"

Although Tesla and Einstein's story sounded plausible, Ishiu wasn't a naive person who believed everything he was told. More importantly, these two seemed to be at odds with his mother, making it highly likely they sought him out to oppose her.

To be honest, even though he had fallen out with Cocolia, he absolutely wouldn't let anyone bully his mother, especially when they seemed to be trying to win him over. This made Ishiu quite unhappy.

"Don't misunderstand, we have no intention of driving a wedge between you and Cocolia. You know what kind of person she is, don't you? Do we need to smear her?" Tesla said dismissively.

Although she wasn't fond of Cocolia, she envied her ability to raise children. After all, both Bronya and Ishiu, whom she knew, were exceptionally outstanding children. This made Dr. Tesla, who had been single for over eighty years, feel a pang of envy.

Hearing Tesla's words, Ishiu was rendered speechless.

Indeed, if everything they said was true, they weren't deliberately slandering Cocolia. Just looking at what she had done in Changkong City was enough to show she wasn't a good person.

"Then what is it you want by telling me all this?" Ishiu asked gravely.

"Didn't I say it at the beginning? We want to cooperate with you," Tesla replied.

"So why are you looking for me? You're leaders of Anti-Entropy, and I'm just a nobody. It seems we have no basis for cooperation, right?"

"You're no nobody. I've never heard of a nobody whose combat power rivals that of a Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie," Tesla shook her head, her twin ponytails swaying gently behind her. "I don't know what opportunities you encountered in the Sea of Quantum, but we want to cooperate with you for two reasons: first, we want to understand the situation in the Sea of Quantum, and second, your ideals align with ours – fighting Honkai with the premise of protecting humanity."

"What will I gain from cooperating with you, and what will you gain? If you want me to deal with my mother, then I can leave right now," Ishiu said warily.

He had to be cautious. After being tricked by Cocolia, he had learned his lesson and now trusted no one easily except Seele and Bronya.

"Don't worry, we won't make you do anything you don't want to do," Einstein said calmly. "We're approaching you because we need your help with something."

"Let me state our conditions first," Tesla said straightforwardly. "By cooperating with us, our Conservative faction will fully suppress Cocolia's power, preventing her from making a move against that nascent Herrscher. Second, we will also provide you with the intelligence you need at all times, so you won't be 'blind'."

Hearing Tesla's proposed terms, Ishiu's heart stirred. If Miss Mei's safety could be guaranteed, that would be for the best. The intelligence they offered would also be very useful to him. He was like a newly released bird, completely in the dark about the world. Having relevant information could help him avoid many detours.

"Then what do I need to do?" Ishiu asked. He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. To gain something, one had to pay something. Wasn't that fair?

"It's simple. First, you need to tell us what happened after you entered the Sea of Quantum. It would be a great help to our research." Einstein stared intently at Ishiu's body. "Of course, ideally, I'd like to borrow your body for research. I'm very curious..."

"Shut up, bird's nest head!" Tesla picked up something beside her, resembling plastic, and threw it directly at Einstein's head.

"I can agree to this condition, but some things involve my secrets, and I won't talk about them," Ishiu said.

"Okay, I understand." Tesla nodded, then crossed her arms and looked at Ishiu. "Then for the second request, Ishiu, I hope you can enter St. Freya Academy."

"Huh?"

"Don't be surprised. You've been with Anti-Entropy for the shortest time, and your background is clean. Even though you're Cocolia's son, didn't Theresa extend an olive branch to you?"

"Wait, are you asking me to be a mole? No way, dude, you've watched too many undercover movies, haven't you?" Ishiu's mouth twitched. He never expected to be sent undercover one day.

"Undercover movies? What are those?" Tesla frowned, then said, "You've misunderstood. We're not asking you to be a mole, but to build a good relationship with St. Freya Academy. If necessary, you can serve as a link between us and them."

"...Hold on, aren't you guys at Anti-Entropy mortal enemies with Schicksal? Why do you need to build a good relationship now?" Ishiu was a bit confused. He felt like he was getting less and less of a grasp on what these two were thinking.

"The situation here is complicated to explain. You just need to know that Theresa, the person in charge of Schicksal in the Far East, is currently trustworthy. To be precise, her ideology differs from that of Schicksal's Archbishop, and we might need her in the future.

Also, you might not know this, but our Alliance Leader at Anti-Entropy is currently undercover at St. Freya Academy. With him there, you'll have someone to watch your back. With you operating in the open and him in the shadows, things will be much more convenient."

"Moreover, if you want Cocolia to agree with your ideas, influence is indispensable. St. Freya Academy is a good starting point. Otherwise, with your own strength alone, it will be very difficult to stop her."

"...Then wouldn't joining Anti-Entropy be the same? Why does it have to be St. Freya Academy? Anyway, your Alliance Leader is already there, so it shouldn't matter if I go or not, right?" Ishiu asked after a moment of silence.

"Are you sure?" Tesla glanced at him and chuckled. "Of course, I welcome you to join Anti-Entropy, but I must remind you that our power structure in Anti-Entropy is almost stable. Even if you join now, without decades passing or one of the Executors dying, you won't have a chance to rise to power, let alone have the ability to contend with Cocolia."

"The Alliance Leader has his goals, and you have your own tasks. They are different," Einstein also explained.

Ishiu fell silent again. He thought for a long time but couldn't come to a conclusion.

"Can you give me some time to consider?" Ishiu asked.

"Of course. Here's my number. When you've made up your mind, you can call me anytime. I respect your choice." Tesla recited a series of digits. Ishiu memorized them and then got up to leave.