I'm Not a Flame-Chaser

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Kiana hurriedly stopped Seele from continuing, taking several deep breaths to calm herself under Seele's questioning gaze.

"Seele, what do you mean by that?" Her resolute eyes stared at the seemingly nonchalant Seele.

"..." Seele's smile gradually faded, a thoughtful glint flashed in her eyes, and she took a breath and said softly, "Kiana, do you know how I feel about Lin?"

"... What's your opinion?"

"Kiana had only recently met Lin, thought that Lin must be a very reliable senior. Although he was taciturn, he was not a cold person. He had a lot of sad and cool past experiences, and he was mysterious and fascinating."

Seele was talking about was indeed the Lin in Kiana's mind. At first, even his appearance was a mystery, which easily aroused people's curiosity.

"I have memories from a soul from Previous Civilization. Her feelings for Lin are exactly the same as Kiana's. She sees Lin as a symbol and likes the characteristics he has, rather than Lin himself."

"But aren't those characteristics also Lin's?"

"But Lin can change too." Seele held up a finger. "As far as I remember Lin is concerned, he was less alive and more controlled by the curse that protects humanity. His own life had no meaning to him. The current Lin is no longer like before, who doesn't consider himself or those around him who worry about him."

Kiana bit her lip. "That kind of thing..."

"That kind of thing doesn't matter, right?"

In Kiana's few memories of Seele, she always seemed frightened or shy, but now she wore a faint smile and appeared calm and composed.

Two different pairs of eyes met, and a long silence fell over the room.

"... I'm sorry, Kiana, I misspoke. You and she are different." Seele suddenly apologized, revealing her usual slightly shy smile. "Since we can't separate them, we can only try to coexist. Let's leave it to Lin to decide, okay?"

At that moment, Lin, who was carrying three bowls of noodles out of the kitchen, saw two people turn to look at him at the same time, their eyes filled with a strange light. He silently turned away.

"I forgot to add salt..."

The two girls rushed at him and captured him.

"Hmm? Bronya, is something the matter?"

The silver-haired girl, who was resting her chin on her hand and seemingly lost in thought, heard a soft knock on the door. She looked up and saw a girl with a cool, spiral-shaped pigtail hairstyle walking towards her.

"I'd like to ask about Seele," Bronya said flatly.

"Seele's matter?" Theresa tilted her head in confusion. "Shouldn't Bronya know more about it?"

"But Seele seems to be..."

Bronya stopped mid-sentence, Theresa looked at her with even greater confusion, but in reality, Bronya herself didn't know how to describe it.

So she changed to a more practical way of saying it, "I haven't seen Seele much in the last two days, except for last night when I ran into her."

"Oh, so you feel that Seele hasn't been spending as much time with you lately?" Theresa, having lived for decades, sensed the disappointment in Bronya's voice and smiled nonchalantly. "Bronya, people can't stay young forever, nor can they stay apart forever."

"But won't the headmaster never grow up?"

"..."

Theresa, who had been rebuffed, raised her finger hesitantly, but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

I originally intended to lecture Bronya using the tone of someone who's been there, someone who's an adult...

"In short, Seele will grow up. Bronya can't always expect her to depend on you, and she certainly doesn't want to always just follow behind you. Instead, she wants to be able to help you with her own strength."

"It's not that kind." Bronya shook her head, frowning as she said, "It's strange..."

"Oh?"

"Kiana too, she seems to have been appearing in front of me very rarely lately."

Now that you mention it...

Theresa also felt that she hadn't seen Kiana much in the last two days, and she hadn't even been to the training room much. Could it be that Kiana had become lazy after the Herrscher of Domination incident ended?

"Has Principal Theresa noticed anything strange about them?"

"No..." Theresa was never good at observing others, and in this respect, she had lived to be over forty years old in vain because of her doting grandfather. She coughed casually, "Why don't we go ask him?"

"They won't tell," Bronya shook her head again. "They'll keep everything to themselves."

"That's true... Oh, right, I've got it."

Suddenly, Theresa had a flash of inspiration. She said to Bronya, "There's another person who hasn't shown up lately, Lin. I tried to find him yesterday to continue our research on the Oath of Judas, but I couldn't find him anywhere. He hasn't shown up today either. Isn't that strange?"

"..."

Bronya's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. Lin was related to Kiana, but not so much to Seele. Why were these three people...?

A sense of unease began to rise in her heart.

"Alright, Brother Lin, let's choose. Do you want the gentle, generous, and beautiful Kiana, or the useless Seele?"

Sitting upright at the table, Lin's dark pupils glanced left and right at Seele, who was smiling, and then at Kiana, who was awkwardly fiddling with her hair. He took a deep breath—

He lowered his head and ate his noodles.

"Hey! Lin!"

Kiana, seeing Lin's escapist attitude, spoke up with slight anxiety.

Seele smiled without saying a word, her half-closed eyes making it hard to tell whether she was Seele or "Seele".

After taking a couple of sips of noodles, Lin put down his chopsticks and sighed slightly.

Since returning to his Intrinsic World, he has often sighed.

"... This is my problem."

The crimson glint in Seele's eyes faded, and she lowered her head. "Seele and Kiana had no intention of torturing Brother Lin."

What do you want me to do?

"No, you can't ask that, Brother Lin. We definitely hope for the opposite."

Kiana and Seele's desires will inevitably hurt the other party, and neither of them wants to truly hurt the other.

"..."

Lin picked up his chopsticks and tapped them on the bowl.

"Let's eat noodles first."

Coral's "Twist": Chapter Thirty-Five -Binai and Anna

When Kevin welcomes new members to the team in the Previous Civilization, he has the whole team sit together and eat noodles.

Lin didn't know what it meant at the time, but now he does.

"Slurp~"

The three sat around the table, heads down, eating the delicious noodles. Thanks to Lin's superb cooking skills, the three hungry people ate with great relish.

That's right. As long as everyone is eating noodles, the only sound in the room will be the slurping of noodles, making everyone too embarrassed to speak.

Lin knew he was merely avoiding the problem... perhaps even avoiding responsibility, but given the current situation, he hadn't found a good solution, not because of himself, but because of Kiana and Seele...

There may even be more trouble in the future.

Lin believed that as long as he truly rejected them, given their personalities, they would never continue to associate with him. But this was like a stain on the ceiling; ignoring it didn't mean it didn't exist.

"Heh, you're probably thinking that 'dragging it out will only cause harm' kind of boring nonsense right now."

"..."

Seele put down her chopsticks, her tone suddenly changing, crimson covering the original azure.

Kiana paused for a moment, then looked up at Seele, whose demeanor had drastically changed and who was now sneering coldly.

Lin also stared silently at the suddenly appearing "Seele".

"I have to remind you, don't think this is some childish love game. If it's about hurting someone, you've already done it." "Seele" twirled the chopsticks in her hand, playing with them like a small knife. She stared at Lin with a malicious sneer. "Seele might forgive you, but I won't. If you dare to take a step away, I'll cut off your legs and hang them in the room."

The problem is solved.

Or rather, the problem itself—Lin—was solved.

Kiana glanced at Seele's sinister expression, then at Lin's calm demeanor, and sighed, "Well... let's leave it at that for now and maintain the current state."

"Okay~ okay~ after all, I have to be the bad guy."

Seele disappeared amidst Kiana's silent expression. When Seele returned, she looked at Kiana as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, and in the end, she said nothing.

They all knew exactly what they were thinking. They were all unwilling to give up, but they didn't want others to get hurt. In the end, as "Seele" said, she would play the bad guy. As long as she didn't back down, everything would remain the same.

Everyone is standing still; as long as they don't move forward, they won't reach the end.

Do you have time?

Bronya stopped and looked at the unfamiliar man in front of her with a cold gaze, her eyes drifting towards the restaurant next to her.

The two sat down in a corner. In reality, they didn't talk much. From the Quantum Sea to now, they could count the number of conversations they had on two hands, and that was always with other people present. This was the first time they had spoken alone.

"... So, what are you trying to say, Mr. Lin?" Bronya asked indifferently.

The two have such identical expressions that if it weren't for their very obvious difference in hair color and race, some people might mistake them for siblings.

Bronya had a premonition that Lin would come to talk to her, and that the conversation would likely be related to Seele.

The calm-faced man exhaled softly, seemingly organizing his thoughts, before finally speaking:

"Are you interested in spending the rest of your life with someone you know absolutely nothing about?"

"Binai, you're late again."

"Haha, sorry, Captain, I saw a cute little kitten on the way and was delayed for a while."

"It's not some little girl again, is it? Last time you tried to kidnap a child like a kitten, it caused quite a stir."

Anna Saniyat.

As you can see, she is a member of the Schariac family, one of the three great families of Schicksal, the captain of the Snow Lotus Squad, and an outstanding A-rank Valkyrie who protects the peace of Coral Island.

In Schicksal, the A-rank Valkyrie are already the top-tier beings besides the three S-rank Valkyrie. However, as a top-tier combatant, Anna has not actually participated in many Honkai operations so far, with the only one that had a significant impact being the Manila Honkai.

Now, in the ever-peaceful Schicksal Branch on Coral Island, the chestnut-haired girl wearing a beret sighed to the late-arriving girl.

Anna could understand the team members' thoughts, after all, they were all young girls. Apart from those who lost everything due to the Honkai and joined Schicksal, the only difference between the Valkyrie and ordinary girls was their strength. For so long, even when the Herrscher of the Void awakened, Coral Island remained harmonious. The Herrscher of Domination incident that ended in a muddle last time had nothing to do with them. Only some minor Honkai incidents that were not very noticeable occurred occasionally.

The Herrscher of the Void and the Herrscher of Binding, who were wanted by headquarters, have also disappeared without a trace.

In such circumstances, even if headquarters constantly emphasizes vigilance, it is difficult to avoid complacency.

Anna was wearing simple combat gear. As the captain, she still had to set a good example. Even if she wasn't going into battle, she had to be ready at all times.

She touched the beret on her head, feeling helpless at the somewhat naive... no, strange teammate in front of her.

Binai -Mello serves as the Vice-Captain of the Snow Lotus Squad. Given her personality, Anna would never have allowed her to be a vice-captain, but in terms of ability, Binai is indeed more qualified than the others.

"No, this time it really was a kitten. It was rummaging through the trash on the street to eat, so I couldn't bear it and bought some dried fish to feed it." Binai smiled sweetly, but it only made Anna feel more helpless.

Binai often confuses people with animals. It's not that she actually mixes the two up, but she treats people like animals.

"Don't let your guard down. Headquarters contacted us saying that the Herrscher of Binding was very close to Coral Island before she disappeared. We must be careful."

"But if Herrscher appears, we'll be killed without any chance of resistance. Even if we're on guard, it's useless. Besides, the white hair and Prismatic Eyes are too distinctive. The moment we see them will be our death day."

"..."

She really does say hurtful truths with a cute smile on her face.

They have absolutely no power to resist...

Anna's face fell. She took out the necklace, which was still warm from her body, from her collar. Looking at the necklace, which was missing half of its length, she couldn't help but clench her fists.

No... even if she can't do anything, she's not willing to do nothing.

Anna shook her head, put the necklace back, and then said to Binai, "It's time for regular patrols."

"Even if we don't patrol, it's fine, right? The entire Coral Island is under surveillance." Binai said, touching her lips.

"... It's our responsibility to protect..."

"Okay, okay, protecting the residents is our duty... Little Anna always says that, it's so cute how serious she is, even though she's the type who's afraid of even the zombies in the movies~"