Yukino Yukinoshita: Elysia, You're Such a Clever Little Rascal... (Bonus Chapter) / As Long as You Praise Fate, We'll Be Best Friends for Life! (Bonus Chapter)

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Alicia, you really are such a clever little thing..."

Haibara Ai: "Getting stuck with a system like that, Alicia, you really are unlucky... Squeezing out tears in ten seconds is absolutely a test of your acting skills! Looks like you can only choose option one, Alicia!"

Alicia Testarossa: "But Fate is too big! I can't pick her up! o(T﹏T)o!"

Ilyasviel: "It hurts! I want to cry! And I feel so helpless! I can totally understand that feeling!"

Administrator: "The King of Persecution in the System Network deeply relates, right..."

Ilyasviel: "...Sigh!"

Yukino Yukinoshita: "That sigh from Illya carried all the helplessness of her life..."

Alicia Testarossa: "I've got it! I have a way!"

Alicia's eyes suddenly lit up as a brilliant idea came to her.

Chu Chen stared blankly as Alicia fumbled around and somehow pulled out a bottle...

—Eye drops...

Then Alicia tilted her head back, raised the little bottle in her hand, and dripped several drops of eye medicine into her eyes.

After blinking a few times and sniffing, Alicia quietly put the eye drops away and walked up to Fate.

Before Fate's eyes, Alicia put on an expression so pitiful it made people's hearts ache, then—

"I'm crying right in front of you now! Fate, don't you believe your big sister?"

Fate: "..."

Arf: "..."

Chu Chen: "...Could you possibly make that look any faker?"

Congratulations, Alicia Testarossa's title: Sister's Authority has leveled up.

The Administrator has uploaded a video. Please download and receive it!

Haibara Ai: "...You can play it like that?!"

Ai was instantly dumbfounded... The system could accept this kind of method? It actually accepted such a shamelessly lazy way of doing things?

It was not quite enough to make her jealous, but Ai truly had no idea how to mock this anymore.

Could system missions be completed and rewarded so casually now? She wanted rewards that easily too!

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Alicia, you really are such a clever little thing..."

Busujima Saeko: "The system actually acknowledged such an exploit... I'm speechless too..."

Administrator: "That's how systems operate mechanically. No matter what, a system was still a system; it could not be as flexible as a person. After all, it only said she had to show tears. It never said what she had to cry over..."

Although Alicia's system looked thoroughly punchable, it revealed its rigid side in matters like this. Normally, this sort of cheating should have been invalid, but the system had judged it a success.

Chu Chen found it rather amusing too. He had not expected something like this could happen...

"Alright, Alicia, come over here! I've found the location of the Time Garden!"

Fate and Arf: "Huh?!"

Under Fate and Arf's disbelieving gazes, Chu Chen snapped his fingers.

The next moment, a diamond-shaped opening rapidly spread open behind Chu Chen. On the other side of that opening was clearly the environment of the Time Garden.

Fate and Arf could not help but be shocked. Chu Chen had never been to the Time Garden and did not even know its coordinates, yet he could still create a passage leading there?

Alicia's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly ran toward the space on the other side of the portal.

At the same time, Precia, who had been watching Chu Chen's side all along...

"Alicia... It really is Alicia! And that state is... a soul!"

In the Time Garden, Precia had been observing Fate's situation the whole time. Until just now, when she saw Alicia, she had been so excited that she had nearly rushed over to her.

But she quickly forced herself to stop, because Alicia's body was inside her Time Garden. If Alicia had been resurrected, she should have used Alicia's body...

Yet after observing more closely, Precia realized that this Alicia was actually a soul.

The current Alicia was somewhat like a magical creation such as Arf...

Only then did Precia realize that this truly was Alicia. Although she did not know why Alicia always made such strange gestures and spoke in such strange tones, in certain unconscious little actions, Precia could see that she was exactly like her Alicia...

"I see... A soul... Alicia's soul was revived in another way, so that's why I couldn't revive Alicia? That's wonderful... Alicia has been revived... My daughter, Alicia, has been revived..."

Precia's eyes were already brimming with tears. She could not wait to reunite with her daughter. As long as she could be with her daughter again, she was willing to do anything...

Thinking that, Precia rose from her seat and headed outside.

When Precia arrived outside the main doors, she happened to see Alicia running toward her.

Chu Chen, Fate, and Arf followed close behind, especially Fate and Arf.

"Mom!" Alicia ran up to Precia, her face filled with excitement.

That childish voice made Precia tremble as she slowly crouched down, meeting her child's gaze.

"Ali... cia..."

This was a scene Precia had seen countless times in her dreams—herself meeting her child again...

Precia wanted to reach out and touch Alicia, to feel that familiar warmth, but—

Precia was afraid that it was only a dream. She feared that the instant she reached out, Alicia would vanish before her eyes, leaving only endless regret and sorrow in Precia's hands.

Just like every time she woke from her countless dreams.

Chu Chen smiled at the sight, silently shutting down that punchable system for a short while.

This was not the time for that annoying system to barge into such a warm scene.

This was a backup program Chu Chen had left in every system, as well as one of his permissions. If a system he had created malfunctioned, he could shut it down in an emergency... Though the chance of one going berserk was less than 0.001%...

"Mom, what's wrong?" Alicia grabbed Precia's hand and asked worriedly.

What delicate hands!

What warm hands!

What real hands!

Only then did Precia understand that this was not a dream. It was real.

Tears instantly filled her eyes, as though all the hardship of the past twenty years had not been in vain.

Precia's tears poured down uncontrollably, like a flood bursting through a dam.

Fate watched this scene with complicated feelings. This was the first time she had ever seen her mother like this.

Arf did not know what to say either. Perhaps she had never imagined that the cruel Precia could cry like this...

Chu Chen patted both of them on the shoulders and spoke quietly. "Let's leave this place... Let's give those two some space. This isn't the time for you two to go up to them, is it?"

Fate hesitated for a moment. After glancing at the warm scene between Precia and Alicia, she silently nodded.

She did not know what had happened, but this was the first time she had seen her mother cry like that. It had to be something very important, so she should not disturb her mother...

Silently, Fate led Chu Chen and Arf toward her room.

PS2: I suddenly saw ten new messages in the backend. Turns out a big shot split one thousand VIP points into ten separate tips for me. That fulfilled both the "five tips for one extra chapter" condition and the "tip one thousand or more for one extra chapter" condition. I have to admit, that was a slick move. So I quietly added another chapter today. There's still one chapter at nine and one at eleven afterward...

As Long as You Praise Fate, We'll Be Lifelong Partners!

Haibara Ai: "So that's what happened to Alicia..."

Yukino Yukinoshita: "This time, we have to praise that terrible system. It did something good for once!"

Ilyasviel: "Am I the only one who feels sorry for that child named Fate?"

Miyu: "Indeed... She was only treated as a replacement. No, she probably wasn't even considered a replacement anymore!"

Miyu rarely spoke in the System Network, but what she said made Chu Chen pause slightly.

Chu Chen had nearly forgotten. Miyu had originally mistaken Emiya Shirou for someone who saw her as nothing more than a tool. Only at the very last moment had Great Hero Emiya finally arrived and cleared up that misunderstanding... Otherwise, after Miyu came to this world, she would probably have been even colder than in the original story...

After all, being used as a tool by someone else truly felt awful...

Busujima Saeko: "But that mother named Precia really was far too negligent. Even if Fate wasn't Alicia, she still shouldn't have whipped her like that... No matter what, since Fate had the same genetic makeup as Alicia and was created by Precia, then whether by blood or any other standard, Fate was her child!"

Alicia Testarossa: "I know... I know all of that... Mom was just too anxious!"

Alicia's expression darkened considerably as she began to sigh inwardly.

Alicia Testarossa: "Mom was actually a very kind person. It was precisely because she was kind that she lost her reason! Everything she did was only to revive me, who had died..."

It was precisely because Alicia understood Precia that she knew Precia's current state was normal.

Administrator: "And her attitude toward Fate was rather thought-provoking too. Even if Fate's existence was a failure, there was no need for her to keep abusing Fate like that. Was it merely to vent her anger? Perhaps she also did not want to share the love in her heart with anyone other than Alicia. She was afraid that once she treated Fate as her biological daughter, the dead Alicia would truly become alone. That was why she treated Fate that way... Because apart from Alicia, there was no room in her heart for anyone else! Of course, this may only be my own one-sided opinion. No matter what, we have no way of knowing what Precia truly thought. The fact that she abused Fate remains true..."

Alicia Testarossa: "Mm-hmm... I think Brother Chu Chen's idea is the correct one! Oh, right, Brother Chu Chen, is Fate alright? I was so focused on Mom just now that I left her aside..."

As Alicia said that, she quietly skipped over the heavy subject.

Administrator: "Her... She's sitting silently in front of me right now... Honestly, Fate isn't very good at communicating with others. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting across from a gorgeous girl while chatting with all of you..."

Haibara Ai: "...Although I know this isn't the time to say something like this, in order to defend women's dignity, I still want to ask: Great Administrator, are you openly saying that we aren't gorgeous girls?"

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Hmm?"

Ilyasviel: "Hmm?"

Busujima Saeko: "Hmm?"

After Ai's provocation, the three girls in the group immediately felt a trace of displeasure rise in their hearts.

In an instant, the three girls' gazes became exceptionally sharp.

Alicia Testarossa: "Hmm? That's not right! Fate and I look the same, which means Brother Chu Chen thinks Alicia is a gorgeous girl too... Mm! Thank you, Brother Chu Chen! Alicia thinks Brother Chu Chen is a very handsome guy too!"

Haibara Ai: "Alicia, I never thought you would betray our alliance! How awful!"

Alicia: "What alliance? Alicia doesn't know when we formed an alliance! Alicia is Fate's big sister. As long as you praise Fate, we'll be lifelong partners!"

Seeing Alicia's words, Chu Chen could not help but chuckle.

Hearing Chu Chen laugh, Fate and Arf instinctively looked at him.

"Say something too... Staying gloomy like this isn't helping. My name is Chu Chen. Nice to meet you!"

"Fate Testarossa... You should already know that." Fate's tone was very calm.

"My name is Arf. Nice to meet you, kid..." Arf did not hold much hostility toward Chu Chen.

She had a feeling that Fate's life might become much better from now on.

No matter what, that Alicia seemed to hold an incredibly important place in Precia's heart.

That child named Alicia also seemed rather likable. At the very least, Arf liked her quite a bit.

After the two introduced themselves, they fell silent again, leaving Chu Chen staring blankly.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go... Shouldn't you two be asking me questions right now?

"Don't you have anything you want to ask?"

Arf rolled her eyes at Chu Chen.

"Would you definitely tell us if we asked?"

"Of course not... I'd definitely tell you that if you want to ask something, go ask Precia directly..."

"Then why are you talking so much..." Arf was speechless.

"My answer is one thing, but whether you ask is another. Besides, aren't you bored just sitting here without saying a word? Who knows how long those two will stay all lovey-dovey... Maybe Precia and Alicia still won't come over by dinnertime!"

"Fate!"

Just as Chu Chen finished speaking, Alicia's energetic voice suddenly rang out.

Smack!

Chu Chen immediately felt as though someone had fiercely slapped him across the face through the air...

Alicia, now I know why you were matched with a Selection System like that!