I'm Not a Flame-Chaser

... The reason he felt relieved was that he actually felt that his current life was not bad. Even if he was unwilling to admit it, deep down he was relieved that Lin had not torn off his disguise.

Why would he think that way? Was it Lin's plan that caused all the Herrscher to change?

No, the reason is...

Jiu put the cat down, climbed out the window at Sera's meows, closed the window, and then walked towards Lin.

"Little kitty, where are you going?"

"..."

The sunset is warm, yet cold; dazzling, yet blood red.

Jiu coldly stared at the smiling black-haired girl standing in front of her. She stood gracefully in the blood-red sunset, like a hazy phantom.

"It's time for dinner, isn't it? If you keep running around like this, you'll faint again," she said.

"...I have things to do. I'll cook when I get back," Jiu said.

The girl stood smiling in the shadows, her smile fragile and indistinct.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

If it descends just a little further, the sun will completely set, and unbridled darkness will envelop the earth.

Time stopped at that final moment.

Binai exhaled and chuckled, "Hmm... So, you're still going to kill? Between humans Herrscher, you chose the Herrscher?"

"More like a cat than a human," Jiu replied calmly.

"They are indeed more like stray cats, homeless, fond of rummaging through garbage, fierce, and aggressive..."

Binai counted on her fingers.

Jiu interrupted her and asked, "How did you figure that out?"

"It's very simple." Binai smiled at Jiu with a hint of helplessness. "There are no homeless people on Coral Island."

This is an economic and technological special zone established in the last ten years, specifically for the development of high-tech industries and aerospace technology. People who come here are either employees of companies, technicians, or at least tourists, and their livelihoods are guaranteed.

Nobody would rummage through trash on Coral Island to eat.

"Although you changed your hair and eye color, and don't match the image on Schicksal's wanted list, it's very superficial for a Herrscher to judge whether someone is a Herrscher or not based solely on appearance. It's very easy for Schicksal to obtain information about this island. As the Vice-Captain of the Snow Lotus Squad, I can check all the surveillance footage and entry/exit records on the island. After the Public Security Bureau interviewed the tourist Agitana, they reported to the Schicksal branch. After investigation, they can confirm a lot of things. Of course, there are hundreds of such suspects every year, but only I know about your relationship with him."

Jiu retracted her previous statement. This woman is not mentally unstable; on the contrary, she is definitely the most perceptive and intelligent human being.

A black-haired girl blocked the way, her smile the same as before, but now, the one smiling was the abnormal one.

"So, why do this?"

"Compared to this, are you still going? If you don't go, I can pretend nothing happened."

Darkness swallowed the last glimmer of light.

"As long as I come back after I've finished my work," Jiu Ning said quietly, "I can pretend to be human, and you can pretend you don't know I'm Herrscher."

Although they both knew the truth about each other.

Yet they still lived together under the illusion.

Using false language.

It expresses a false sentiment.

Jiu knew the outcome the moment she spoke.

No one can pretend nothing happened.

The truth will not change because of lies.

This isn't a discussion; it's just polite formality.

Jiu couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh.

He actually learned to be polite.

"Bass!"

The girl in the sunset has disappeared.

A sharp blade pierced his chest, and hateful eyes were etched deep within his gaze, dripping with blood.

"Die, Herrscher."

See, it's easier to tell the truth.

Coral's "Twist": Chapter Forty-Nine - The First Half of a Stray Cat's Life

"I wish I could turn into a cat."

The black-haired girl leaned back on the sofa, stretched out her body, and smiled at the man washing dishes in the kitchen while petting the cats.

"I live a carefree life, eating and sleeping all the time, and I can even go out and sunbathe."

"... If no one takes care of it, it can't just eat and sleep all day. And not many people would raise a worthless creature like you would," the man said indifferently, untying his apron.

"Oh, that's true. Then you can become a cat, a white shorthaired cat... I'll definitely fatten you up."

The black-haired girl, holding a cat, revealed a lonely smile unlike her usual one in the shadows cast by the setting sun.

The man who came out of the kitchen did not notice.

When a series of coincidences occur, it is intentional.

During these seven days, as long as Jiu went to find Lin, he would be found by Binai. Now that I think about it, finding a person precisely in a city that covers 790 square kilometers and has a complex three-dimensional structure cannot be explained by the intuition of just a mentally unstable person.

The girl's eyes reflected undisguised hatred, a hatred that could not be faked.

What Jiu couldn't understand was why she endured the hatred and lived peacefully with him.

If you wanted to kill him, you could do it before he recovered, when he would be powerless to resist.

"Die, Herrscher."

Ku coldly looked down at the blade piercing her chest and at Binai was gripping the hilt of a sword.

"Little Anna... get out of the city we're protecting!" She turned the hilt of her sword and roared with heart-wrenching fury.

Humans and Herrscher are two different kinds of beings.

Jiu believed this from birth; he did not observe Lin's memories as "Lin," but as an observer.

Lin relentlessly pursues answers for herself and humanity, constantly fighting against the Honkai and relentlessly battling the Herrscher... In Lin's life, Jiu cannot see the possibility of Herrscher and humanity, even if it is just a temporary illusion... The Herrscher of Reason, Lin, Kosma, and humanity will ultimately only end in that way.

Therefore, there is no one who is both human and Herrscher at the same time. Kiana and the others are humans with Herrscher powers, while Jiu is a pure Herrscher. It is precisely because of this that Jiu feels angry at the Herrscher of Domination.

If you deny yourself, you will have nothing.

In Jiu's view, Lin possessed what he needed most from the very beginning: a sense of self-identity as a human being. Therefore, no matter what, Lin would not lose.

Jiu lost.

There was indeed a moment when he considered pretending he knew nothing and abandoning his peaceful past to continue living.

He denied himself.

"Bass!"

Beneath the jet-black pupils, an inhuman rainbow burst forth in an instant.

Golden chains erupted from him.

"Look at that child, he's so pitiful..."

Struggling to drag his festering, wounded foot, he stumbled aimlessly through the vast expanse of snow.

The shoe with the footprint was torn open at the front, revealing toes covered in frostbite and bleeding, and the thin, bony calves made one wonder if they could support a human body.

Staring blankly ahead, his eyes, stinging from snow blindness, seemed as if he would be disconnected from the world at any moment.

Passersby looked at the small figure with pity.

Is it pitiful?

Indeed, in their eyes, she was a homeless child who was about to freeze to death, and in every way she was "pitiful". As people who had nothing to do with her, it was enough to have a little pity for her, and it was not necessary to help her.

What does it matter to me if there's another frozen child's body lying by the roadside?

The ability to think so calmly is probably the reason why nothing seems to matter.

This wasn't the first time. Binai vaguely remembered being kicked out of the house for the first time when she was six years old. Her parents were arguing, and she was used as a punching bag and kicked out by her mother.

Perhaps it's because she symbolizes the "mistakes" of those two people; seeing her reminds them of the mistakes they made.

Binai didn't dislike this, nor did she want to see those two people. They couldn't be considered proper adults. The man was a gambler, easily angered, and dishonest; the woman was lazy, sharp-tongued, and emotionally unstable. Perhaps they weren't like this when they first got together and got married, but after Binai was born, she had never seen the "former self" they spoke of.

However, Binai didn't want to die, nor did she dislike "family".

Whether it's because she's different from ordinary people, or because her thinking is easily corrupted under high pressure, Binai knows that her thinking is more agile and rational than that of ordinary people. She doesn't like those two, but she doesn't have the means to support herself yet, so she can't leave.

What she disliked was the immature couple, not the concept of family; she knew she definitely wanted a warm home.

She didn't want to be homeless, didn't want to scavenge for food in garbage dumps, and didn't want to freeze to death on the roadside.

But in this world, you can't simply "not use" something just because you "don't want to".

Judging by the time, it should be about time.

"Binai!"

A woman rushed over and hugged her, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry... Are you hungry? Let's go back..."

It's always the same.

They don't actually like her, but they still go looking for her.

They couldn't stand each other, but they still managed to make ends meet.

They called it "Binai".

Binai calls them "Dad and Mom".

Everyone knows what they're saying because they know it's all a lie; no one knows the meaning of their own words because they have to keep pretending.

Three people, under one roof, each playing their own roles, maintaining a facade of their true natures that they all know.

Binai smiled gently.

Perhaps, it was only when they argued, fought, and kicked her out of the house that they truly revealed themselves.

Binai doesn't hate this world at all. It looks so beautiful under the snow. But in the frame of a camera, there can never be no trace of human beings.

Tomorrow will come again, and the next one, and the one after that... One day, Binai will break free from them and live the life she wants.

Living to hate them, Binai must live a fulfilling and happy life, so that they can see with their own eyes that she will be different from them.

Let that hypocritical face disappear from her sight.

The line is broken.

"Boom!"

The intense tinnitus, accompanied by shaking, robbed the girl of her consciousness.

In his last moments before losing consciousness, Binai saw the ground collapse and the sky fall.

Later, she learned that it was called "Honkai," and that a medium-sized Honkai had occurred in her area at the time.

Tomorrow will not come.

The past is gone, and so are the two people she hated.

From that day on, the monster called Nothingness tore Binai apart and swallowed her whole.

Until she joined Schicksal.

The Coral's "Reversal": Chapter Fifty - Living Like This

"Buzz—"

This is?!