Einstein and Tesla

She had ambitions of her own. Not even Ishiu could make her give up her goal so easily. Otherwise, she would not be Cocolia.

She pressed her lips together, her hand beneath the desk digging fiercely into her thigh, trying to use pain to remind herself not to weaken.

After a long while, as she watched Cocolia remain silent, the disappointment in Ishiu's eyes gradually turned into despair, before finally becoming calm.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I will stop you," Ishiu said, word by word.

"...I can promise you that I won't make a move against her while you're with Raiden Mei." This was Cocolia's bottom line. If she did not truly need that Herrscher Core, she would not have wanted to stand against Ishiu either.

"Heh... So that means you can attack her without restraint whenever I'm not by her side?" Ishiu sneered.

"..." Cocolia said nothing.

Ishiu fell silent for several seconds, then turned and left.

Cocolia let out a soft sigh and slumped weakly over her desk, as though every last bit of strength had left her body.

Weariness—an overwhelming weariness—surged through her heart. At that moment, she did not want to care about anything anymore. She only wanted to drink herself senseless.

Trembling, she pulled a cigarette pack from her desk, took one out and placed it between her lips, then took out a lighter. After flicking it several times, she finally managed to light the cigarette. But before she could take even one drag, a pale, slender hand reached out in front of her and snatched it right from her mouth.

Cocolia's body stiffened. She slowly turned her head and saw Ishiu standing beside her, though she had no idea when he had returned.

Ishiu casually threw the cigarette out the window, along with the pack in Cocolia's hand, then said quietly, "Mom, stop smoking. It's bad for your health."

"Ishiu..." Hearing those familiar words, Cocolia bit her lip, her eyes reddening. But before she could do anything, Ishiu stepped forward and hugged her first.

One of Ishiu's arms wrapped around Cocolia's neck while the other pressed against the back of her head. Since Cocolia was still sitting in her chair, he gently pressed her head into his chest.

"Ishiu..." Cocolia murmured softly, her hands tightly clutching his back as though she wanted to hold him like this for the rest of her life and never let go.

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

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

"Mm..."

"Well, goodbye."

After saying that, Ishiu vanished from before Cocolia's eyes. The hand she had reached into the empty air trembled slightly before falling limply back down.

"Ishiu..."

In the silent office, a faint sigh drifted into the sky with the wind, leaving behind only a heart full of exhaustion that could not be shared with anyone else.

Ishiu walked out of the company with a blank expression. Standing at the intersection, he felt lost. He did not know where to go next.

Should he return to the Orphanage? But he had already fallen out with Cocolia and was preparing to oppose her. If he went back to the Orphanage, how was he supposed to explain things to the children there?

Ishiu did not want his own affairs to disrupt their lives. As long as he remained at the Orphanage, he would inevitably have to see Cocolia again. But he truly did not want to see her now. At least, not yet.

So, should he find somewhere to have a drink?

Just as Ishiu was about to break his rule and find out how strong Russian whisky was, a car stopped beside him.

Then the front passenger door opened. Sitting in the driver's seat was a girl with light-colored curly hair. She was extremely cute, but there was an indescribable strangeness about her. It was as if the person sitting there was not a youthful young girl, but a composed and mature woman.

"Uh... Sorry, I don't need a ride." Ishiu assumed she was picking up passengers. Thinking that such a young and pretty girl was actually working as a driver, he figured that there were not many people these days who could afford a good car, and prepared to close the door.

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

The girl's casual words made Ishiu's hand freeze in midair. 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 confused right now, aren't you? You fell out with your adoptive mother because your ideals differ. You wanted to pull her back from that abyss, but she refused." The girl turned toward Ishiu, her voice utterly flat.

"And I might be able to help you."

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

She knew his identity and even knew that he had just fallen out with Cocolia... There was no way she could be an ordinary person.

"Want to know? Then get in." After saying that, the girl closed her mouth. No matter how Ishiu questioned her, she refused to speak again.

Skill gave one courage. Ishiu was confident in his own strength, so after thinking it over, he simply got into the car. He wanted to see what this person was really after.

Einstein and Tesla

The car drove steadily onward under the girl's control. After winding through countless turns for over an hour, it finally stopped.

"Get out." The girl pulled over, unfastened her seat belt, and got out.

"Where is this?" Ishiu looked at the ordinary residential house before him, puzzled. He had thought she would take him somewhere important, but after such a long detour, this was it?

The girl did not answer. Instead, she took a round little machine from her pocket.

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

"Reporting, Master: they have all been blocked. I guarantee she will not know what happens here." The little machine suddenly spoke, extending two mechanical arms as it floated in midair.

"Good." The girl nodded, then extended her hand toward Ishiu. "Though it is a little late, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Liesel Albert Einstein. You may call me Dr. Einstein. I am one of Anti-Entropy's founders and leaders."

"Anti-Entropy..." Ishiu immediately understood. No wonder she knew about him and Cocolia. She was another big shot in Anti-Entropy... Wait, why were all of Anti-Entropy's leaders so young? His mom was, and this Einstein was too. Were they all like that little nun, some eternally youthful old monster?

"Then why did you come to find me? Don't tell me you came all this way just to mediate a family dispute between my mom and me."

"I'm very curious about you." Seeing that Ishiu had no intention of shaking her hand, Einstein did not feel embarrassed. She calmly withdrew it, then stared at Ishiu with a fervent expression. "You entered the Sea of Quantum. You were an ordinary person without Honkai Energy resistance, yet you did not die. Instead, you survived, returned to the real world, and gained extremely powerful strength. If possible, could you let me study your body? I hope you don't mind. After all, it's for science."

"Uh... Sorry, I mind very much." Ishiu's mouth twitched. He clearly had not expected this seemingly calm Einstein to be like one of those mad scientists from movies. It made him feel uncomfortable all over.

"Bird's nest, what weird stuff are you saying again? Don't scare the kid."

At that moment, another voice rang out from the house, carrying a hint of pride. Ishiu looked toward it and saw a red-haired girl with twin ponytails walking out. She wore glasses, a white shirt, and a black suspender skirt. Judging by her looks alone, she was also a very cute girl.

"Hey, kid, don't listen to her nonsense. There's something wrong with her head." The red-haired girl walked up to Ishiu and extended her hand. "Hello, my name is Frederica Nicola Tesla. I'm also one of Anti-Entropy's founders. You can call me Tesla or Dr. Tesla. We invited you here not to study your body, but because we want to cooperate with you."

"Cooperate?" Ishiu looked at her suspiciously. After hesitating for a moment, he still shook her hand.

Don't ask why. Twin ponytails were justice.

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

After thinking it over, Ishiu felt that they did not seem hostile, so he followed them into the house.

But the moment he entered, Ishiu regretted it.

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

Ishiu stared at the chaotic furnishings, the trash strewn everywhere, and the strange smell filling the house. It nearly drove him back outside.

He had no idea how those two managed to live here without the smell clinging to them. It was practically a miracle.

"Ahem, well, this genius is busy inventing things and has no time to deal with trivial matters like these. Bird's nest is usually the one in charge of cleaning." Faced with Ishiu's disgusted gaze, even the carefree Tesla felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly shifted the blame onto Einstein.

"Is that so? Then perhaps I forgot." Einstein scratched her messy curls without much concern, moved the assorted junk off the sofa, and plopped down on it.

"Ishiu, sit," Einstein said, pointing at the sofa beside her.

"Uh... No need. I think standing is just fine." Ishiu glanced at the filthy sofa, stained with some black liquid that might have been engine oil or something else, and his mouth twitched. He quickly waved his hands in refusal.

"Fine, then let's get to the point. First, do you know about Anti-Entropy?" Tesla looked at Ishiu and asked in a clear voice.

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

"Correct. Anti-Entropy is an organization that fights Honkai. But do you know how it came to be?"

"No." Ishiu shook his head.

"Then I'll be direct. Anti-Entropy was founded by bird's nest, me, and several others. Back then, all of us had defected from an organization called Schicksal."

"Schicksal?" Ishiu was stunned. No wonder Anti-Entropy and Schicksal were enemies. So all of you founders had defected from Schicksal!

"Yes. I can't tell you the exact reasons, but after we founded Anti-Entropy, the organization grew remarkably quickly, far beyond our expectations. To make management easier, Anti-Entropy had no choice but to adopt an alliance-based structure. We elected an Alliance Leader to oversee the whole organization, then distributed authority among the various Executors. And your adoptive mother, that vixen... Cocolia, is one of those Executors."

Tesla did not seem happy when speaking of Cocolia, but because of Ishiu's identity, she restrained herself from insulting her further.

"And then?" Ishiu knew his mom held a pretty impressive position in Anti-Entropy, but he had not expected it to be this impressive.

"However, while this decentralized system allowed Anti-Entropy to develop quickly, differences in personal ideals also caused all sorts of problems. Take what your adoptive mother did in Changkong City. We didn't know about it beforehand, because she had enough authority and resources to handle her own affairs. By the time we found out, it was already too late."

Tesla bit her lip and slapped the table angrily. "That crazy woman actually dared to set her sights on a Herrscher. She's gone too far!"

Ishiu remained silent.

"Right now, Anti-Entropy's upper ranks are roughly divided into two factions. One is the Reformists, led by your adoptive mother. The other is the Conservatives, made up of Tesla, myself, and several others," Einstein added at the appropriate moment.

"The Reformists believe that our Conservative ideals are too outdated and cautious. They advocate developing Anti-Entropy at any cost, believing that any method is acceptable as long as it benefits Anti-Entropy. We Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that while Honkai must be eliminated, people themselves must not be harmed. You've seen Anti-Entropy's Titan Mechs, haven't you? Those unmanned mechanical weapons embody the ideals we had when we first founded Anti-Entropy."

Tesla and Einstein had given him so much information that Ishiu fell into a brief daze. Once he finally sorted it all out, he frowned and said,

"How can I be sure that what you're saying is true?"

Tesla and Einstein's words sounded convincing, but Ishiu was not some gullible fool who believed whatever others told him. More importantly, these two seemed to be at odds with his mom, so it was entirely possible that they had approached him just to deal with her.

To be fair, although he had fallen out with Cocolia, he would never allow others to bully his mom. Especially since they seemed to be trying to win him over, which made Ishiu rather unhappy.

"Don't misunderstand. We have no intention of driving a wedge between you and Cocolia. Don't you already know what kind of person she is? Do we even need to slander her?" Tesla said disdainfully.

Although she did not care for Cocolia, she was somewhat envious of her ability to raise children.

Not to mention, both Bronya and Ishiu, whom she knew, were exceptionally outstanding children. This made the single-for-over-eighty-years Dr. Tesla feel more than a little jealous.

Hearing Tesla's words, Ishiu was immediately left speechless.

Indeed, if everything they said was true, then they had not deliberately slandered Cocolia at all. Just looking at what she had done in Changkong City was enough to show that she was not a good person.

"Then why are you telling me all this? What exactly are you trying to say?" Ishiu asked in a low voice.

"Didn't I say it from the start? We want to cooperate with you," Tesla said.

"Then why choose me? You're the heads of Anti-Entropy, while I'm just a nobody. It doesn't seem like we have any basis for cooperation at all."

"You're no nobody. I've never heard of any nobody whose combat strength can rival an S-rank Valkyrie's." Tesla shook her head, her twin ponytails swaying gently behind her. "I don't know what sort of opportunity you encountered in the Sea of Quantum, but we want to cooperate with you for two reasons. First, we want to learn what the Sea of Quantum is like. Second, your ideals are similar to ours: fighting Honkai with protecting humanity as the premise."

"What do I gain from cooperating with you? And what do you gain? If you're trying to make me deal with Mom, then I can leave right now," Ishiu said warily.

He had no choice but to be cautious. After being tricked by Cocolia, he had learned his lesson. Other than Seele and Bronya, he would not trust anyone so easily anymore.

"Don't worry. We won't make you do anything you don't want to do," Einstein said frankly. "We approached you because there are matters in which we need your help."

"Let me explain our terms first." Tesla spoke bluntly. "If you cooperate with us, we Conservatives will do everything we can to suppress Cocolia's power and prevent her from having the chance to attack that newborn Herrscher. Second, we will provide you with any intelligence you need at any time, so you won't be left stumbling around blind."

Hearing Tesla's terms, Ishiu was immediately tempted. If they could guarantee Miss Mei's safety, that would naturally be for the best.

And the intelligence they offered would be quite useful to him as well. He was like a bird freshly released from its cage, still completely ignorant of the world. With proper intelligence, he could avoid many detours.

"What do I need to do?" Ishiu asked. He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. If one wanted something, one had to give something in return. That was fair, wasn't it?

"Very simple. First, you must tell us about what happened after you entered the Sea of Quantum. This would be tremendously helpful to our research." Einstein stared intently at Ishiu's body. "Of course, ideally, I still hope you can lend me your body for study. I'm very curious..."

"Shut up, bird's nest!" Tesla grabbed some unidentified object beside her, something vaguely like rubber, and hurled it directly at Einstein's head.

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

"That's fine. I understand." Tesla nodded, then crossed her arms and continued to look at Ishiu. "As for the second request, Ishiu, I hope you can enter St. Freya Academy."

"Huh?"

"Don't be surprised. You've spent the least time with Anti-Entropy, and your background is clean. You may be Cocolia's son, but didn't Theresa extend an olive branch to you all the same?"

"Wait, you're asking me to be an undercover agent? Come on, officer, have you watched too much Infernal Affairs?" Ishiu's mouth twitched. He had never imagined that someone would one day send him to work undercover.

"Infernal Affairs? What's that?" Tesla frowned, then said, "You've misunderstood. We're not asking you to be an undercover agent. We want you to build a good relationship with St. Freya Academy and, when necessary, serve as a link between us and St. Freya Academy."

"...Wait a second. Isn't Anti-Entropy Schicksal's sworn enemy? Why are you trying to build a good relationship with them?" Ishiu was bewildered. He felt like he understood these two less and less.

"The situation is complicated, but all you need to know is that Theresa, Schicksal's person in charge in the Far East, is trustworthy for now. More precisely, her ideals differ from Schicksal's Overseer. There may come a time when we need her.

"And you may not know this, but Anti-Entropy's Alliance Leader is currently undercover at St. Freya Academy. With him there, you'll have someone to look out for you. One of you in the open and one in the shadows will make things much more convenient."

"Besides, if you want Cocolia to acknowledge your ideals, influence is indispensable. St. Freya Academy would be a good starting point. Otherwise, with your strength alone, it would be difficult to stop her."

"...Wouldn't joining Anti-Entropy be the same? Why does it have to be St. Freya Academy? Your Alliance Leader is already there anyway, so it shouldn't matter whether I go or not, right?" Ishiu fell silent for a while before asking.

"Are you sure?" Tesla glanced at him and chuckled. "Of course I welcome you joining Anti-Entropy. But I should remind you that Anti-Entropy's power structure has more or less stabilized. Even if you join, you won't have a chance to rise through the ranks for decades, unless one of the Executors dies. Much less gain the ability to wrestle with Cocolia."

"The Alliance Leader has his own purpose, and you have your own things to do. They aren't the same," Einstein explained as well.

Ishiu fell silent again. He thought for a long time, but still could not reach an answer.

"Can you give me some time to think it over?" Ishiu asked.

"Of course. This is my number. Once you've made up your mind, you can contact me anytime. I respect your choice." Tesla gave him a string of numbers. Ishiu memorized them, then stood and took his leave.