"Alright, alright." He finally raised the white flag.
"Yay!" Herta jumped up excitedly, then rushed over to Qianyi with her eyes shining, adopting an utterly attentive listening posture. "Hurry up, tell me!"
Under her blazing gaze of anticipation, which was practically materializing, Qianyi slowly opened his mouth. "Actually... I don't know either."
"Huh—?!" Herta gasped sharply, her expression nearly cracking apart. But in the next instant, she switched back to that overly sweet smile.
She nimbly circled behind Qianyi and began kneading his shoulders, while the surrounding puppets caught on and started massaging his legs and arms. Their service was so thorough it rivaled IPC VIP treatment.
"It's okay~, it doesn't matter if you don't know!" Herta's voice was light and cheerful, but her hands did not slacken in the slightest. "But before becoming an Aeon, you must have done something, right? Like what food you ate, what movies you watched... Just tell me anything about the process~."
"Hmm, let me think..." As Qianyi pondered, he recounted everything he had done.
In truth, he had not done anything particularly special before becoming an Aeon. He had merely beaten up Sunday, who had transformed into Divine Day, and successfully made him change his mind.
Yet no matter how one looked at it, that had nothing to do with becoming an Aeon.
If beating Sunday up could make someone an Aeon, then in the original timeline, someone should have ascended after the Astral Express crew joined forces to defeat Sunday.
After hearing Qianyi's account and then seeking out Robin and Sunday for the details, Herta revealed a thoughtful expression. "I see, I see. I think I understand everything now."
"Miss Herta, do you understand why Qianyi suddenly ascended?" Robin leaned closer curiously. She was equally curious about Qianyi becoming an Aeon.
"Mhm."