"Still, we have to protect what needs protecting. No matter how powerful she is, she's still a child... If someone with ulterior motives takes advantage of her, it'll be trouble."
Hearing this, Talulah nodded in agreement. She strongly supported her close friend's view.
Forget outsiders taking advantage of her—even if some ill-intentioned Infected did, it could cause no small amount of trouble and unrest, perhaps even spark a direct conflict.
As the group drew closer and closer to the camp, Griseo grew more and more nervous. She felt just like she had when she had been waiting to see Yelena before...
Even now, the little girl still remembered the icy sensation on her head yesterday—the so-called frozen-head treatment.
Before long, the group arrived near the Reunion Movement camp, and night had fully fallen... They could see the campfires glowing in the distance.
Not long after, Talulah and Alina brought a sizable group over to welcome them.
What followed was Talulah's welcome and impassioned speech, though none of that had much to do with Griseo. Alina spotted her right away and took her off.
However, because Griseo was worried about Alyona, she left Mr. Wolf by her little friend's side before leaving with the little deer.
Alina did not say anything about it. If anything, she was rather happy that the little girl had made a new friend.
Soon, one big and one small returned to a tent, though this time it was Talulah's tent.
To save space for the newly arrived Infected, Alina had moved in with Talulah for the time being...
"Little Griseo, I think we need to have a proper talk." After pouring the adorably upright little girl a cup of hot water, Alina spoke softly.
"Mm..."
Upon hearing Alina's words, a flicker of nervousness passed through Griseo's violet eyes, and she instinctively straightened her back.
She looked exactly like a pitiful child obediently waiting to be scolded.
"Pfft..."
Seeing Griseo so nervous for the first time, Alina could not help covering her mouth and laughing. Then she pinched the little girl's cheek and said, "Why are you so nervous, little one? I'm not going to scold you."
"Mm...?"
Only after Alina pinched her cheek did Griseo tilt her head slightly and look at her in confusion.
To be honest, I've posted so much already, but a lot of people still give me the feeling that they're reading in quantum states.
How could anyone think I can't even reliably manage one update a day? When did I ever say I wouldn't update later? Even without extra chapters, there'll be at least two chapters a day...
"Pink-haired Caterpillar"
"Don't look at me like that. Next time you do something, remember to tell me first."
Looking at the little girl's confused eyes, Alina could not help pinching her cheek again. "Honestly," she said helplessly.
"Mm, got it."
Griseo nodded her little head lightly and agreed.
By showing off her strength through this incident, and with the upcoming search for a "guardian," the little girl was confident she could make Alina and the others loosen up their supervision a little. That was why she agreed so readily.
"That's good. Honestly... You suddenly ran off for so long. I was worried sick."
Seeing how obedient Griseo was, Alina could not bear to say anything more. She rubbed the little girl's head again, and her voice softened.
"Mm... I won't do that again. Sister Alina, aren't you angry with me?" Griseo gently rubbed against Alina's palm and asked in a quiet voice.
Hearing Griseo's question, Alina said helplessly, "Why would I be? In the end, I'm the one who failed to look after you properly. I left you alone in the tent yesterday."
"Next time, I'll pay more attention to that. And I think little Griseo needs to fix her sleep schedule." As she said this, Alina's helplessness faded, and her expression became somewhat "serious."
"Mm, I'll be good and go to sleep early tonight." When it came to her sleep schedule, Griseo completely agreed with Alina.
She really did need to get her routine back in order. Though it had barely affected her body, staying up for two nights in a row had indeed thrown off her schedule.
If Aponia had been here, Griseo might already have been "forced" to sleep.
While the big and small pair chatted in the tent, things outside were far livelier and busier than usual.
With so many Infected suddenly joining them, there were not only lodging problems—they had to squeeze people in wherever they could.
There were also many more meals to prepare than usual, requiring more people and more time.
After half a day of work... although many people still had not eaten dinner, at least they had more or less been settled in.
So far, none of the newly rescued Infected had shown any unwillingness to follow management. Quite a few had even been stirred by Talulah's speech and ideals.
But just because there seemed to be none did not mean there truly were none. People could disguise themselves... Talulah had long since learned that deeply.
Still, it no longer mattered much. She was no longer the leader who constantly made excuses for people and blindly believed in their kindness.
Moreover, while the Yeti Squad and Griseo had been out on their mission, Talulah had directly established two teams within the Reunion Movement.
The two teams were the Inspection Team and the Judgment Group. Their members had all been carefully selected from within the Reunion Movement.
As for what those two teams were for, their names alone made it easy enough to guess...
The Inspection Team was meant to monitor the Infected within the Reunion Movement and identify those who broke the rules, while the Judgment Group was naturally meant to punish rulebreakers.
After Talulah made this decision, she quickly gained Patriot's support. Or rather, in his eyes, this was how things should have been from the start.
Patriot had previously clashed with Talulah over this matter due to differing views. In the end, neither had convinced the other, and the Dragon Girl had remained firm in her own beliefs.
Now, although he did not know what had caused the change, seeing Talulah, the leader of the Reunion Movement, grow at last gave Patriot a small measure of comfort.
Then, with the help of these two teams, the overall atmosphere within the Reunion Movement improved considerably in just a single day...
Of course, because so little time had passed, the Reunion Movement's rules were still incomplete and full of loopholes. But that was precisely why they needed more time to gradually supplement and refine them.
After being busy for half the day, the Yetis finally had time to relax. They gathered around the bonfire and cheerfully dug into their dinner.
"Finally, we're mostly done. These past two days have exhausted me!"
"Yeah, yeah. It's only been a day or two, but it feels like we haven't gotten together in forever."
"True. I feel the same way."
While everyone else chatted away at once, Lois seemed to notice something. After thinking for a moment, she quietly asked the others, "What's wrong with Big Sis today? It feels like she hasn't been in a good mood since noon."
"Oh, that? It's a long story... When we went out at noon to deal with the enemy's advance squad, we ran into a very powerful masked Caterpillar."
At this point, the Yeti who had joined the mission at noon paused, then lowered his voice before continuing. "That blue flower Big Sis has been staring at all day was left behind by that Caterpillar. Big Sis has kept it with her ever since."
"Ah, this..."
"Is it really that explosive? Hurry up, tell us exactly what happened at noon."
"Yeah, hurry up and tell us the details."
The Yeti's words instantly ignited everyone else's interest, and they all looked at him with gossip-hungry eyes.
Before he could speak again, however, Andrei cut in first. "Was that Caterpillar you mentioned pink-haired?"
"I'm telling you, Dad, Big Sis, and a whole bunch of us saw her. That girl was brutally fierce... She cleanly took out several hundred people in a very short time."
"So you ran into her too!"
"Tell... me every... detail... you know."
Patriot's hoarse voice suddenly sounded, interrupting the Yetis' excited exchange.
Only then did the Yetis, who had been arguing animatedly, realize that at some point, their Dad, Big Sis, and Talulah had appeared behind them.
"Oh, that? It's a long story. Come on, sit down. You probably haven't had dinner either."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll serve you some food."
"How much does little Griseo want?"
After realizing what was happening, the Yetis only stayed quiet for a few seconds before exploding into activity again.
Once everyone had sat down, the topic returned to the "Pink-haired Caterpillar."
However, as Griseo listened to the Yetis' descriptions of Sakura, the expression on her little face did not change, but her eyes grew increasingly strange. She even felt a little like covering her face.
Especially at the title "Pink-haired Caterpillar"... The little girl felt Sakura would definitely get angry if she heard it.
Don't count on it today. I stayed up way too hard the past couple of days, so I need to rest properly today. Also, didn't yesterday count as a massive update? I wrote more than 8,000 words yesterday! And it was free.
Also, I'm in pretty good health. Under normal circumstances, I won't stay up too late, because it affects my studying the next day too.
It's Time to Have a Talk
"What's wrong, little Griseo?"
Seeing the increasingly subtle look in the little girl's eyes, Alina asked in confusion.
"..."
However, Griseo did not answer Alina's question. She merely put down the small bowl in her hands and gently shook her head.
"?"
Although curious, Alina did not say anything more after seeing Griseo shake her head. She simply rubbed the little girl's head again.
At that moment, Yelena, amid the others' discussion, took out two small blue flowers wrapped in cloth.
"This flower... I've... seen it. It really was... left by that Caterpillar." The instant Patriot saw the flowers, he recognized them. When he had gone over to collect weapons and equipment, he had seen flowers scattered across the ground.
However, he had assumed they were some sort of mark left by that Caterpillar to indicate that she had killed those people. Since he was unsure whether they were poisonous, he had not touched them.
"I've never seen flowers like these before. They probably aren't from Ursus, are they?"
"They look quite pretty, but there shouldn't be any on the tundra, right? It's so cold—what flowers could grow here?"
"True. They don't look local."
"..."
While everyone else intensely discussed the flowers, Griseo blinked her violet eyes, then slowly turned her head away.
Clearly, she had never expected her dear Sister Yelena to pick up the Forget-me-nots Sakura had left behind.
When she had transformed into Sakura, doing such things with Sakura's mindset had not seemed problematic at all. But once she looked at it from another perspective... it gave her a strangely awkward feeling.
That awkward feeling had even traveled through their shared connection to Sakura herself...
"?"
Although Alina had been quietly listening to everyone's discussion, half her attention had remained on Griseo. She quickly noticed that something was off with her.
On top of that, Griseo slowly turning away with an expression that seemed unable to bear looking made the little deer feel that this little girl might know something...
Griseo had originally wanted to pretend she knew nothing, but when she noticed the gaze fixed on her from beside her, a trace of helplessness flashed through her beautiful eyes.
Then she slowly turned back. Looking at the flowers in Yelena's hand, the little girl quietly said, "They're Forget-me-nots..."
"Hm? Little Griseo, did you say something just now?"
"Yeah, what did you say? It was too noisy just now, so I didn't hear clearly."
"I think I vaguely heard something about Forget-me-nots? Isn't that the name that Caterpillar told Big Sis?"
Though Griseo had not spoken loudly and many people had not heard her clearly, everyone still noticed her, whether they had heard her or not, and turned their gazes toward her.
"That flower is called a Forget-me-not..."
Knowing that she had spoken too quietly, Griseo raised her voice and repeated herself.
"Hm? How do you know that, little Griseo?"
"Have you seen this flower before? Does it have any special meaning?"
This time, everyone present heard her. Several impatient Yetis immediately asked, waiting for Griseo to continue.
"I've seen it... Forget-me-not is Sister Sakura's other name."
Looking at everyone's reactions, Griseo paused for a moment before calmly explaining.
Before you continue