"Need me to give you a ride?" Einstein said blandly. Though she said that, her butt seemed rooted to the sofa; she had no intention of getting up at all.
"No need. I suggest you clean this place up instead. There are stains everywhere, and there isn't even a spot to stand. I really don't know how you manage to live here." Ishiu shook his head.
Twin loli girls really were the best!.jpg
(P.S.: Twelve thousand words achieved! Good night!)
Heading Out
After leaving the house, Ishiu hailed a taxi by the roadside and returned to the Orphanage.
However, he did not go inside. After lingering at the entrance for a while, he turned and headed for the cliff by the sea.
He needed some time alone to calm down and think carefully about what path he should take from now on.
Perhaps agreeing to Tesla and Einstein's proposal for cooperation was a good idea. Or perhaps there were other options. In any case, he needed time.
Siberia's cold air was as frigid as ever, mixed with the salty, damp sea breeze that blew head-on and stirred Ishiu's hair.
He sat at the edge of the cliff, gazing out at the vast blue sea in the distance. The sky and sea merged at the edge of his vision, yet even such a splendid sight could not bring a moment of peace to Ishiu's chaotic emotions.
He wondered whether things would have turned out differently if he had never met Raiden Mei, never gone to Changkong City. Would he not have become like this? Would he and Cocolia still have been as close as mother and son used to be, without ever falling out?
The thought flashed through Ishiu's mind and vanished. He could not deceive himself. If he truly accepted such a cowardly thought, then he would not be Ishiu anymore.
Because even if he had never gone to Changkong City or met Raiden Mei, Cocolia's plan would still have unfolded as she expected. Honkai would still have erupted in Changkong City. As for whether the situation then would have been better than it was now, he did not know.
But he knew that life had no time machine, nor would some bugged blue fatso appear to help him. He could only rely on himself to make his choice.
Soft footsteps sounded behind him. Ishiu did not turn around, because he knew who it was.
"How did you know I was here?"
"I saw you wandering around the Orphanage entrance." Bronya spoke softly, then walked over to Ishiu's side.
"Oh." Ishiu gave a brief response and continued looking out at the sea.
"Did you... fail to talk things out with Mom?" Bronya bit her lip. Even without asking, she could guess from Ishiu's current state.
"Yeah. Mom still refuses to give up the Herrscher Core." Ishiu spoke with a calm expression.
"Then... what are you planning to do next?"
"What am I planning to do..." Ishiu pressed his lips together. As though he had made up his mind, he clenched his fist. "I'm going to St. Freya Academy."
"Why?" Bronya asked in surprise.
"I don't want to keep watching Mom go further down the wrong path." Ishiu said in a low voice, "If she could scheme against all of Changkong City for a Herrscher Core, then I can more or less guess what methods she'll use in the future. So, if I want to stop her, I need power of my own."
"...Have you made up your mind?"
"Yeah."
"Then... what about Seele? Have you thought about how sad she'll be if you leave?" Bronya stared intently into Ishiu's eyes.
"Seele..." Ishiu sighed, then called out to a huge boulder nearby, "Seele, come out. You heard everything, didn't you?"
Bronya froze, then turned toward the boulder in disbelief. She had not even noticed that Seele had followed behind her?
As Ishiu's voice fell, a petite figure slowly emerged from behind the boulder.
"Ishiu-gege, Bronya..." Seele clasped her hands tightly and slowly walked over.
"Seele..." Bronya opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing. She silently stepped back a few paces, leaving the two of them some space.
"Seele, you heard everything just now, right?" Ishiu looked at the girl before him, and his tone softened involuntarily.
"Mm... Seele still doesn't really understand, but Ishiu-gege, did you and Mom have a fight?" Seele asked timidly.
"A fight... I suppose you could say that." Ishiu gave a bitter smile. "Anyway, for certain reasons, I can't stay at the Orphanage anymore. Your brother has to go do something very important."
"Something very important... What is it? Can Seele help Ishiu-gege?" Seele blinked her azure eyes, asking hopefully.
Seeing Seele's expectant gaze, Ishiu could not bear to refuse her, but he still shook his head.
The place he was going this time was no good place. It was an academy that trained Valkyries, and it was also part of Schicksal. Ishiu could not possibly bring Seele there.
Although Seele possessed a natural Stigmata, her personality meant she was not suited for the battlefield. Ishiu did not want to see Seele fighting Honkai Beasts either. For her, staying at the Orphanage under Cocolia's protection was the safest option.
"I see..." The light in Seele's eyes gradually dimmed. She forced out a smile. "Then will Ishiu-gege come back?"
"Of course. As long as you want me to, I can come back every day," Ishiu answered.
"Huh?" Seele had thought she would not see Ishiu again for a long time, and had been feeling down. Hearing his words, she was stunned.
She looked at Ishiu with puzzled eyes, wanting to know what he meant.
Ishiu did not keep her in suspense. He directly took her hand and imprinted a set of location coordinates onto it.
The sword-shaped pattern was exactly the same as the one on Raiden Mei's body.
"Ishiu-gege, what is this?"
"It's a coordinate. You can think of it as one of my special abilities. Through this coordinate, I can teleport to your side anytime and anywhere, but only once a day," Ishiu explained.
"Really?" Delight appeared in Seele's eyes. She lowered her head to look at the mysterious pattern on her hand. "So even if Ishiu-gege isn't at the Orphanage, Seele can still see you every day?"
"Yeah, as long as you don't find me annoying." Ishiu smiled.
"No, no! Even if Seele looked at Ishiu-gege for a whole lifetime, Seele would never get tired of it." The little girl hurriedly shook her head, then happily touched the pattern on her hand.
Watching this scene from the side, Bronya could not help showing a complicated expression.
Ah... Her stomach was starting to hurt faintly again.
After making his decision, Ishiu no longer hesitated and immediately called Tesla.
Tesla seemed to have anticipated his choice. She was not surprised, only telling him that everything had already been arranged on her end. She had also communicated with the Alliance Leader who was undercover at St. Freya Academy, and he could head there at any time.
Not wanting to risk complications, Ishiu decided to set off immediately.
After saying goodbye to the children at the Orphanage, everyone was reluctant to see him go. But after Ishiu repeatedly promised that he would come back to visit them often, the little radishes quickly recovered their spirits.
Afterward, Ishiu called Raiden Mei and Kiana to tell them he was going to St. Freya Academy. Both of them were happy to hear it, and Kiana even eagerly said she would treat him well.
After hanging up, Ishiu picked up his luggage and boarded a plane bound for St. Freya Academy.
But the moment he got on the plane and saw the silver-haired girl with spiral twin-tails seated beside his seat, his whole mood went to hell.
"Bronya, why are you here?"
"Why can't Bronya be here?" Bronya said without even looking up, her eyes fixed on a small book in her hands.
"Uh..." Ishiu was speechless for a moment. Damn it, no wonder he had not seen Little Pudding while saying goodbye to the little radishes at the Orphanage. He had thought she was being tsundere again, but this girl had actually stolen his flight information and boarded ahead of him!
"No, Bronya, don't tell me you're planning to go to St. Freya Academy with me?" Ishiu could not help asking.
Bronya set down her book and looked at Ishiu's dumbfounded expression. The corners of her mouth rose slightly. "Congratulations, you got it right. Do you need Bronya to give you a special reward?"
"Seriously... Bronya, stop messing around. I'm not going to St. Freya Academy to play. Why are you following me?" Ishiu said helplessly.
"It's simple. Seele was afraid you'd be tricked by someone out there, so she asked Bronya to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get your soul bewitched by some vixen over there." Without even blinking, Bronya dragged Seele out as an excuse.
"What do you mean, bewitched by a vixen? Little Pudding, what kind of person do you take me for..." Ishiu's mouth twitched.
"An idiot." Bronya answered without hesitation.
As if she would let Ishiu go to St. Freya Academy alone. That place was full of girls! This guy had managed to get involved with both Raiden Mei and Kiana in Changkong City within a month. If she let him go there, would things not get completely out of hand?
She did not want Seele to suddenly gain a whole pile of rivals for no reason. So for Seele's happiness, it was only natural that she, as an older sister, would personally go along, right?
"Stop it, Little Pudding. You're with Anti-Entropy, and you've done so many things under Mom. How could St. Freya Academy possibly accept you?" Ishiu grabbed her hand, intending to pull her out of her seat.
"But Bronya has already passed St. Freya Academy's admission application." Bronya calmly opened her laptop and displayed the St. Freya Academy admission notice clearly written on the webpage before Ishiu.
"H-How is that possible?!" Ishiu's eyes nearly popped out of his head. His first reaction was that Little Pudding had hacked the website. After all, no one knew better than him just how skilled she was at hacking.
Back then, whenever he wanted to watch some spicy little movies on his phone, before he could even do anything and had merely typed a secret code into the search bar, his phone would mysteriously go black. Then Little Pudding would come over carrying a stick.
"Don't be surprised. St. Freya Academy has an admissions website online to begin with. As long as you fill in some information, you can get an admission notice," Bronya said.
"Even so, won't you be exposed the moment you get there?"
"Isn't that why you're here?" Bronya's lips curled up. Looking at Ishiu worrying over her, she inexplicably felt a sense of pleasure. The indescribable oppression and irritation buried in her heart over the past few days also seemed to ease somewhat.
"Ishiu, Bronya believes you won't just stand by and watch Bronya get bullied, right?" she said with a smile.
"Uh... You really have me figured out, don't you, Little Pudding?" Ishiu pinched Bronya's cheek in dissatisfaction. Although Bronya had plotted this against him, he was not particularly angry.
Because in his eyes, Bronya was worried about him being alone outside. She would rather betray Mom and choose to stand with him.
"...Bronya, are you really sure you want to do this? If Mom finds out..." Ishiu looked at Bronya worriedly.
"It's fine. Mom will understand me," Bronya said calmly.
"Fine... Since you put it that way, I won't hide it from you. Do you know Einstein and Tesla?" After thinking for a moment, Ishiu decided to tell Little Pudding about Einstein and Tesla approaching him for cooperation.
After all, while he was clever, when it came to true geniuses, Bronya was undoubtedly among the very best.
So, to let Bronya understand why he was doing this, and to have her assess what the other side might be plotting, Ishiu told Bronya every detail of the proposed cooperation.
"So they were the ones who approached you." After hearing Ishiu out, the things Bronya had not understood before suddenly became clear.
"Little Pudding, do you think what they said is true? Can they be trusted?" Ishiu asked.
"You're asking me? You trust me that much? Aren't you afraid I'm actually sent by Mom to keep an eye on you? And you told me something this important. You really are an idiot." Bronya rolled her eyes at Ishiu.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Of course I trust you." Ishiu said it as naturally as could be. "If I can't even trust you and Seele in this world, then who can I trust?"
"...What a huge idiot." Bronya pursed her lips, unable to describe how happy she felt. Even her expression became much gentler.
"Yes, yes, I'm a huge idiot. Little Pudding is the smartest~~"
"Don't call me Little Pudding!" Bronya glared at Ishiu with a stern face, then said, "I have indeed heard the names Tesla and Einstein. I've never met them, but the information I got in Anti-Entropy is basically the same as what they told you."
"Then can they be trusted?"
"Mm... For now, they have no reason to plot against you. You're strong, but they are Anti-Entropy's founders. The authority and resources in their hands are beyond our imagination. People like them should have no need to scheme against you just to deal with Mom. After all, if things really got ugly, there are so many children at the Orphanage. There would be no need to specifically seek you out."
Bronya analyzed, "So Bronya infers that their goal should be at St. Freya Academy. As for their claim that Anti-Entropy's Alliance Leader is undercover at St. Freya Academy, that is not very credible. Bronya simply cannot imagine the leader of an organization fighting Honkai leaving a mountain of work unattended to go undercover at a girls' academy. Is that realistic?"
Bronya Is Sleeping!
"Maybe they only said that to put me at ease. Perhaps they really do have someone undercover there, but not the Alliance Leader—just some subordinate or something," Ishiu said after thinking it over.
"Mm, that makes sense. That possibility cannot be ruled out." Bronya nodded. "But for now, they probably bear you no ill will. At most, it is merely mutual exploitation."
"Then I'm relieved." Ishiu reclined in his seat and stretched comfortably. Sure enough, having someone help him think through problems made things much easier.
"Ishiu, want to play a game?" Bronya glanced at him and silently took two handheld consoles from her pocket.
"A game? Sure." Ishiu casually accepted one console, skillfully opened Hormon Fighting, and connected with Bronya.
Bronya loved playing games. Back when they were at the Orphanage, she often dragged him into playing with her. Ishiu was not exactly a hardcore gamer, but boys could hardly refuse games any more than girls could refuse gossip.
So the two of them would occasionally get together to play games.
Bronya played many kinds of games. Sometimes they were fighting games, and other times multiplayer adventure games. The only thing that left Ishiu somewhat speechless was that Bronya seemed to have an extremely persistent fondness for a strange cartoon character named HOMU. Not only did she buy lots of HOMU merchandise, but the games she played were also related to HOMU.
Hormon Fighting, HOMU Adventure, HOMU Baby... and so on. Ishiu had played countless games like these with Bronya and had long since grown used to them.
"Want to make it interesting?" Ishiu asked casually.
"Of course. A game without stakes is an incomplete game." Bronya agreed immediately.
And the so-called stakes were naturally the punishment and reward for winning or losing.
"So what are the stakes this time?" Ishiu asked.
"Mm... Bronya hasn't decided yet. Let's play first and talk about it afterward."
"Fine."
Then the two of them began playing Hormon Fighting.
The facts proved that compared to Ishiu, a fake game enthusiast, Bronya, a true gaming shut-in, was undoubtedly far more skilled. After playing for two or three hours, Ishiu lost far more often than he won. In the end, his hands had gone numb from pressing buttons, yet he still could not defeat Metal Gear Wolf Fang.
"Whew, no more. My hands are sore." Ishiu shut off the handheld console, which was nearly out of battery, and said gloomily.
Before you continue