In Honkai, I Only Love Valkyries

"Compared to how you wore a mask and acted cold before, I think you're much more likable like this."

Otto said this. The mask he referred to was Mei's previous disguise toward the outside world.

She pretended to be strong. She pretended to be lonely. But no one liked being alone.

Otto had now peeled away part of Mei's shell and touched the soft heart she had hidden away.

Like seafood, only by prying open the shell could one taste the plump clam meat and its juices.

And the process of savoring good food always brought delight.

Hearing Otto's words, Mei trembled. She wanted to resume her former cold, aloof demeanor that kept strangers away, but when she thought of how she had been toyed with like an idiot, her face burned.

Mei was not as shameless as Otto.

"W-Why am I here?"

Mei could only ask somewhat unhappily. Shouldn't she have been at Senba Academy?

Otto walked toward Mei. Seeing him approach, Mei shrank back, but the bed was only so large. Where could she possibly run?

Otto sat on the edge of the bed, took out his phone, opened a news report, and handed it to Mei.

"Take a look at this."

Mei curled up warily. Although the blond man was handsome after removing his mask, his previous attitude had still left a slight psychological shadow on her.

She carefully accepted Otto's phone and found that it displayed an evening news report.

Mei read its contents, then frowned.

"The Teaching Building at Senba Academy has collapsed. Twenty-one people died at the scene, and more than a hundred were injured. According to the investigation, the building materials are suspected to have failed standards. The relevant personnel have now been sent for trial."

"The Teaching Building collapsed!?" Mei cried out in shock. She clearly remembered that it had been perfectly fine during the day.

She looked up at Otto, but Otto was looking at her with sorrowful eyes.

As though he were looking at a pitiful creature.

"A girl toyed with by fate." Otto took back his phone and brought up a very blurry photograph.

Mei stared at the photograph, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Amid the dust and smoke, a girl wrapped in lightning stood holding a violet katana.

Behind her was the ruined Teaching Building.

Although the photograph was extremely blurry, Mei could still vaguely make out that the girl's face was identical to hers.

"This..."

"This is the demon in your heart." Otto spoke in a somewhat low voice, applying psychological pressure to Mei.

"This is the Herrscher I spoke of. Your emotions were agitated at the time, and your negative feelings awakened the demon in your heart. What caused the casualties at Senba Academy was not the collapse of the Teaching Building, but you after you lost control."

Otto twisted the truth with his words, dressing it up into something favorable to himself.

Lying would not really cause any problems.

Because once Mei stepped into his trap, she would no longer care whether he had lied in the future.

"Me...?"

Mei said blankly as she looked at the blurry photograph.

The person in the photograph was her, yet not her. But she was her.

So...

I killed people?

Mei, who had never harmed anyone, looked at her hands. Though they were fair and clean, she seemed to see bloodstains that could never be wiped away.

Otto was crushing Mei's mind, pushing it toward an unstable state.

He intended to exploit her vulnerability.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

While waiting for Mei to awaken, he had been waiting for the moment when her mind was at its weakest.

Otto's hand clasped Mei's.

"It's all right."

"Though something heartbreaking has happened, for those who are still alive, for yourself, and for your father..."

"You must learn to control her, to control this power."

"If you control it well, you can prevent a disaster from happening in Changkong City."

"And this power will become the sword in your hand. You can use it to rescue Ryoma."

Otto felt that he was a fraudster full of lies.

In truth, he did not feel much for those who had died.

Though they had effectively died before his eyes, the appearance of the Will of Honkai had left Otto with no energy to pay attention to them at the time.

By the time he looked back afterward, he felt nothing.

The casualty count was merely a string of cold numbers.

Perhaps this was the sorrow of having to remain rational while standing at a high position.

"I... can I do it?"

Mei's hands trembled. She looked at herself in the photograph, radiating a terrifying aura. That existence was the so-called Lightning Queen, wasn't she?

She herself was merely a counterfeit wearing the Lightning Queen's mask.

She tightly gripped Otto's hand, as though Otto were her only lifeline.

"You can."

"So, you need to smile. Don't let negative emotions affect you. Avoid letting the demon control your body again."

"And I have a proposal."

"A proposal?" Mei looked into Otto's eyes.

The doors and windows were shut tight. Alone in the sealed room, she had no one to rely on.

This enclosed environment had also been prepared by Otto.

"Yes. It's a good way to keep negative emotions from affecting you."

"That is love. Love can overcome anything."

Otto was not lying.

The original Otto had believed in love more than anyone. He believed love could allow humanity to defeat Herrschers.

And the facts proved that he had not been wrong.

Now, Otto wanted to transfer the girl's original bonds onto himself.

"You... want to date me?"

Mei thought this was a confession, but Otto shook his head.

He spoke calmly.

"No."

"It isn't that I will love you, but rather..."

"You must learn to fall in love with me."

You May Only Think of Me

It was not that I love you, but that you must fall in love with me.

The man's domineering words echoed beside Mei's ear.

If she were still that beloved young lady, she would surely have scoffed at such words.

But now, the young lady in distress had nowhere to escape, and even her hand was held by someone else.

Otto pressured her heart, giving her psychological stress and destabilizing her mind.

"After learning of your situation, after learning why your father was imprisoned, your negative emotions occupied this body of yours."

"If this continues, then when you completely lose control, all of Changkong City will fall into disaster. Of its millions of residents, perhaps fewer than a thousand will survive."

"Even... your father will die."

"By your own hand."

Mei's eyelashes trembled.

Otto once again touched the vulnerable spot in her heart.

"So, you must control your negative emotions. For example, suppress them with another emotion."

"That emotion is love."

Love could turn a Herrscher back into a human.

"You should love someone. Treat one person as your pillar. Let your eyes see only one person, let everything you have be devoted solely to that person."

"Then, that person will become your controller—the reins that can pull you back from the cliff."

Just like in the future, for Kiana's sake, you would even disregard the world and become the Herrscher of Thunder.

Though I'd rather skip that beating.

"And I hope that person will be me."

Otto wanted to obtain Mei's remote control. Mei and the original Otto were very alike: once they set their sights on someone, they would never change, remaining wholeheartedly and unwaveringly devoted.

Unfortunately, she had fallen for a central heating system.

This time, however, that central heating system would be replaced by a bus.

"Although this may sound a little conceited, I think I'm fairly handsome. I'm also very rich and powerful, and my status is beyond your imagination."

"With my help, your father would never need to suffer imprisonment."

"Put more plainly, I suppose I'd count as a golden son-in-law."

Otto said with a smile, lightening the somewhat heavy atmosphere. He kneaded Mei's small hand.

Mei's fingers were colder than Kiana's, but far smoother and more delicate. After all, Kiana had lived alone since childhood and had needed to do many things herself.

"I... do I have any other choice?"

Mei's lips were slightly pale, while Otto revealed a gentle smile.

"No."

A very direct reply.

"Learn to love me, and I will help you control this power. I will also rescue your father and even clear his name."

"Even if you can break your father out of prison, that will not clear his injustice. You and your father will instead become public enemies of the world, and your father will bear infamy for the rest of his life."

"The name Raiden Ryoma will forever be tied to an economic fraud scandal. Perhaps after a few years, he will even become a negative example in textbooks."

For people, reputation was extremely important.

Mei's lips trembled. She had clearly realized that even if her father was actually innocent, if they could not clear his name, there would no longer be any light for father and daughter.

What use would great power be? Even if she could storm the prison and save her father, would that clear his name?

Unless...

She killed everyone who dared speak against them.

Mei's hand tightened slightly around Otto's.

She already had an answer in her heart.

Looking at Otto's handsome face and gentle gaze, Mei realized that she had not seen such tenderness since her father's incident.

Everything and everyone around her was malicious. Yet amid an environment filled with malice, only his voice was gentle, as though he feared startling her.