Bai Chen's hospital room fell deathly silent.
Finale
Several medical staff scanned Bai Chen's head with instruments, but in the end, they could only helplessly shake their heads at Himeko.
After getting the answer, Himeko pursed her lips, her expression pained.
"Bai Chen lost some of his memories after saving her? He has amnesia again?"
Theresa had not forgotten that Bai Chen had suffered amnesia before entering St. Freya. And now it had happened again?
To be honest, Theresa now felt a sense of guilt over failing in her duties. If she had not been careless and had dealt with Yuno swiftly, Bai Chen probably would not have had to face something like this, right?
Now, she could not judge whether Bai Chen's actions had been right or wrong. After all, he really had pulled someone back from Honkai's grasp!
Yuno, who had awakened almost at the same time as Bai Chen, no longer showed any signs of being infected by Honkai consciousness. Instead, after learning that her parents in Changkong City had died, she had fallen into grief.
She would need psychological counseling afterward.
Mei felt even more guilty. She still sat silently beside Bai Chen's hospital bed. If she had not said those things to Bai Chen at the time, would he not have made that choice?
"Mei, don't be sad. Didn't the doctors say there was nothing wrong after the examination? I just forgot your names. Can't you just tell me again?"
Having just finished his examination, Bai Chen saw Mei sitting there in low spirits and assumed she was worried about him, so he spoke to comfort her.
"Mm, you'll be fine. I'll get you a glass of water first."
Mei forced out a smile in reply, then slowly left Bai Chen's hospital room.
The instant she walked out of Bai Chen's room, Mei remembered the few strands of silver-white hair on his head and the pained expression he had shown in the footage.
An overwhelming sense of guilt surged into her heart. Mei could not imagine the pain Bai Chen had endured at the time, and tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes.
"Idiot Bai Chen. Not finding the cause and saying the examination found nothing wrong are not the same thing."
Only after Mei left did Bronya, who had been standing nearby all along, open her mouth to scold him.
"Your physical function test results are barely passing. That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with you."
Bronya picked up the report on the table beside her. Though there was not the slightest fluctuation in her tone, Bai Chen could clearly sense that she was angry.
Knowing better than to joke around, he immediately apologized. "Sorry, Bronya."
That's right! Taking advantage of Bai Chen's amnesia, Bronya had changed how he addressed her. When Bai Chen asked what he should call them, Bronya decisively chose to have him call her Sister Bronya!
A heaven-sent opportunity. The plan had succeeded!
Kiana, watching from the side, was utterly dumbfounded! If she had known, she would have made Bai Chen change how he addressed her too.
Hearing Bai Chen call her sister secretly delighted Bronya, but that did not stop her from scolding him.
"Bai Chen, Bronya is not saying you did anything wrong. It's just that you need to take care of your body too."
"Okay, Sister Bronya. I'll be careful."
As Bai Chen replied to Bronya, he suddenly felt those words were somewhat familiar, as though he had heard them somewhere before, but he could not remember.
Had he forgotten more than just what to call people? Bai Chen immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Forgetting their names had already worried them this much. If they found out he had forgotten more than that... He absolutely had to hide it!
"Right, how is the child I saved?"
Bai Chen remembered to ask about Yuno's condition. Since he had been able to separate it, her consciousness should no longer be affected by Honkai, but he was not sure about her physical condition.
Come to think of it... she was technically her father, wasn't she? After all, she had shaped Yuno's body.
"Yuno is physically healthy, but she is grieving over the loss of her parents."
Hearing Bronya's reply, Bai Chen fell into thought.
Everyone knew Bai Chen was not good at talking people around. He had clearly wanted to save Yuno, but his words had made it sound as if he wanted to kill her. He had better stay out of psychological counseling.
"Bai Chen! Do you have a moment!"
Theresa kicked open Bai Chen's hospital room door and stormed in wearing a hospital gown, with an embarrassed-looking Yae Sakura following behind her.
"You knew Yae Sakura was over there all along!"
After thinking it over afterward, Theresa immediately felt that something was wrong. She jumped directly onto Bai Chen's bed, grabbed his shoulders, and said,
"Good grief! You brought me two pseudo-Herrschers at once! Including Mei, I have three Herrschers in a single grade!"
So annoying! She had already been frustrated enough dealing with Headquarters over Mei, and now there were two more. Maybe St. Freya should stop training Valkyries and start training Herrschers instead.
"What... did she do to you?"
Seeing Theresa's face flushed with either anger or embarrassment, Bai Chen suspiciously looked toward Yae Sakura.
"You... what did you do?"
"I... saw that she was sweating all over while unconscious, so I helped wipe her body."
Yae Sakura awkwardly shifted her gaze elsewhere, not daring to meet Bai Chen's eyes.
All right, no need to say more. It looked like Yae Sakura had probably offended Theresa, which was why she was throwing a tantrum.
Otherwise, with Otto's personality, he would usually turn a blind eye to such a trivial matter happening to Theresa.
"It's okay, Theresa, don't be angry. I'll talk to Sakura."
Bai Chen instantly transformed into Kallen and simultaneously brought Kallen's consciousness forward.
Kallen transformed into Divine Key: Imayoh. Strangely enough, Kallen was wearing the same outfit Kiana had changed her into last time.
Kallen removed Theresa's hands from Bai Chen's shoulders and stroked Theresa's hair to soothe her.
"Kallen?!"
Noticing that Kallen had taken over, Yae Sakura became even more embarrassed. It somehow felt like being caught in bed with someone.
"You are?"
Theresa normally hated having others touch her head, but the person before her did not make her feel disgusted. Instead, she gave off a warm feeling.
It was somewhat like Cecilia, yet different. Theresa had never experienced this feeling before.
"Motherly love."
Bai Chen transformed into a robot and floated out from the side, quietly chiming in.
"Bai Chen, you brat!"
To preserve her dignity as the principal, Theresa immediately bristled.
"Nope."
Bai Chen swayed as he prepared to fly farther away to avoid a Theresa Flying Kick.
Then he discovered that he could not move. A large mechanical hand had grabbed him.
Ah, that familiar feeling.
Bai Chen was then stuffed into Bronya's arms by Heavy Tank Rabbit 19c.
While soothing Theresa, Kallen suddenly spoke.
"A piece of Bai Chen's soul or spiritual body has been damaged."
"?"
Everyone looked at Kallen in confusion. Things like souls were somewhat unscientific.
"Because I have been living in Bai Chen's sea of consciousness, I can clearly observe that a piece of his spirit is missing. That is the fundamental reason for his amnesia."
The professional medical staff all shook their heads helplessly at one another. After all, they truly were not familiar with this sort of thing.
"D-Don't worry. It shows signs of healing, and it should recover in a few months."
Kallen's answer gave everyone some reassurance.
The Power of Blades
Knowing that there was nothing they could do about Bai Chen's condition, everyone could only let him return to his normal life.
After returning to the academy, Bai Chen resumed his regular routine. After only a few days of recuperation, he was able to take part in normal combat training.
The only change was...
Phantom Drive · Kageyoshi
Moving through the training grounds, Bai Chen drew a black-and-red blade from a patch of shadow, then made an emergency turn and dodged to the other side.
Almost the instant Bai Chen moved away, several flashes of blade light appeared where he had just been, shredding the air there.
Breaking out in a nervous cold sweat, Bai Chen rushed toward Yae Sakura on the other side of the field. The blade in his hand turned into a streak of red light as it slashed toward her.
The experienced Yae Sakura used only a single flash step to leave Bai Chen's attack range, yet a portion of her white sleeve was still cut apart.
After opening the distance, Yae Sakura immediately bent low, lowered her stance, stepped forward to stabilize herself, and sheathed her blade.
Iaijutsu! Draw! The blade traced a pink stream of light straight toward Bai Chen's face.
The entire sequence took less than a breath!
So fast!
Bai Chen focused with all his might and swung his sword toward the direction of Yae Sakura's incoming attack.
With a sharp clang!, Bai Chen barely blocked Yae Sakura's blade.
Without the powerful physical boost from transforming, Bai Chen found it difficult even to see Yae Sakura's attacks clearly.
They had sparred almost every day over the past few days, and today, Bai Chen had finally managed to block one of Yae Sakura's iaijutsu strikes.
Seeing her attack blocked, Yae Sakura revealed a surprised expression, quickly drew her blade back, and slashed toward another part of Bai Chen's body.
With his nerves stretched taut, Bai Chen hurriedly parried, receiving dozens of Yae Sakura's strikes within just a few breaths.
The longer they fought, the more alarmed Bai Chen became. It seemed he really was the weakest one. He simply could not understand how Kiana and the other two had defeated Yae Sakura back in Changkong City.
The continued standoff rapidly drained Bai Chen's stamina. Only when he was exhausted and another slash from Yae Sakura knocked the blade from his hand did the battle finally end.
Having lost his weapon, Bai Chen lay on the ground, panting and sweating as he said,
"I lost again. Yae Sakura, you're really strong."
"Bai Chen is the impressive one. You've received formal training for less than two months, yet you can already keep up with my speed. I've practiced swordsmanship for years."
Yae Sakura crouched down and leaned over Bai Chen, taking out a cherry-colored handkerchief to wipe away his sweat.
"You don't need to be so formal, Bai Chen. Since you saved Kallen, you are naturally my benefactor as well. You can call me Sakura."
After spending some time with Bai Chen, Yae Sakura had gradually become more familiar with him.
"Okay."
Feeling that he had recovered some of his strength, Bai Chen flipped himself up, picked up Phantom Drive · Kageyoshi from where it had fallen, examined it carefully, then let it turn into a patch of shadow and disappear.
Bai Chen had unlocked a character corresponding to a katana. Ever since the day he lost his memories, he had discovered that Mei had also appeared as a purple ball of light.
After finding time to make contact, Bai Chen had successfully unlocked Mei's set of abilities. For now, he had not told anyone that he could transform into Mei.
After all, what fun would there be in telling them himself?
Would his cooking skills become better too after transforming into Mei? Maybe he should give it a try. Then he could eat whatever he wanted.
"Bai Chen?"
Yae Sakura tilted her head toward Bai Chen, who had suddenly become excited, unable to understand what he was thinking about.
"Ah! Sakura, I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first. Tonight, I'll have Kallen take you out for a walk!"
With something on his mind, Bai Chen casually said that and left on his own.
"Wait, Bai Chen."
Yae Sakura wanted to stop Bai Chen, but he left too quickly and did not hear her call. She did not force him to stay and could only let him leave.
"Sigh, Lord Bai Chen truly acts with lightning speed."
Feeling slightly regretful, Yae Sakura could only leave the training grounds as well and prepare for her date with Kallen today.
Meanwhile, at Schicksal Headquarters.
"Hmm? Ever since a few days ago, my head has felt heavier and heavier."
Before you continue