"I feel the same."
Raiden Mei said just as earnestly.
Cyrene was still the only one lagging behind, unable to keep up.
She planted her hands on her hips in displeasure, her little face full of jealousy. All she could do was pout to herself, puffing up like a sulky pufferfish.
A-Cheng was having so much fun talking with them...
She was happy that A-Cheng had made new friends, too...
But... but...
Jiang Cheng's hand descended onto her head, wrapping around it with warm tenderness.
He subdued her with one hand, taming her in an instant.
Like he was petting a cat with its fur standing on end, he gently smoothed away all the discontent that had built up in this mischievous, thoroughly human girl after she'd been left out.
"I'm really sorry. I neglected my most, most important Cyrene. I'll tell you everything that happened to me properly from now on."
"It's all right~ A-Cheng?"
Cyrene's displeasure vanished in an instant.
The adorable girl, as lovely as a fairy, smiled like a flower waking beneath the spring breeze, her eyes curving into gentle crescents.
She rose onto her tiptoes and rubbed her little head vigorously against his palm. Her affection and dependence were on full display for everyone to see.
"But neglect is neglect."
Jiang Cheng's voice turned solemn.
"Even if it was unintentional, that doesn't change what it was. Once a rift opens between two people, their paths can never cross again. I don't want us to ever reach that point."
For the first time, he hadn't chosen to let it pass so easily. For the first time, he hadn't so readily put himself aside.
Only then was his expression so serious. His golden eyes reflected the girl's stunned face.
"A-Cheng..."
At that moment, Cyrene really wanted to hold his face in her hands, look him in the eyes, and shake her head as she told him, "It won't happen." But he was too tall, and his expression was far too serious. It was almost as if he really had lost many friends before.
"Don't worry. We'll never abandon each other."
So this girl, who was always so gentle, could only carefully take Jiang Cheng's hand and press it lightly against her chest. Through the soft fabric, she offered him the warmth of her body.
"Right?"
Before Jiang Cheng, she struck the familiar pose that belonged to both Elysia and Cyrene—
She gazed at him tenderly, then—
Playfully winked with her right eye.
PS: I have to wonder...
Are the two girls really that similar?
They both had unhappy childhoods, and both had Herrscher Cores implanted in them without having a say in the matter. Most importantly, they both took their feelings incredibly seriously.
After Kiana realized she'd killed Himeko and that her past life had been destroyed, she was so devastated that she nearly broke down. Himeko's phantom kept appearing before her.
Raiden Mei, too, was willing to fall into darkness first to save Kiana—or, more accurately, to stop her from destroying herself. She made a deal with Kevin and said, "I'll fall into darkness so you can return to the light." Kiana alone mattered more to her than the entire world.
But this should be a good thing. The more alike they are, the more likely they are to become friends. They'll have more in common and be better able to understand and empathize with each other.
Of course.
They'll also be more likely to like the same things.
50. Is Cyrene an old immortal?
The group followed Raiden Mei into the classical Japanese estate, which was like a maze.
The narrow corridors were lined with traditional windows.
The twilight filtering in from outside had, at some point, given way to night and the clear light of the moon.
Silver light spilled over the wooden walkway. With every step, it seemed as though invisible ripples spread beneath their feet.
The air was filled with a faint sandalwood fragrance, mingling with the cool, fresh scent of plants carried in on the night breeze. It gave them a peculiar sense of disorientation.
As they strolled through the estate, it felt as if they'd stepped into another world.
"Jiang Cheng's room is this way."
Raiden Mei's voice brought him back from his reverie.
Assigning rooms was simple: Jiang Cheng, Kiana, and Cyrene were each given their own room. Mei summoned servants for the other two, but not for Jiang Cheng.
After Raiden Ryoma's business failures, most of the household's former thousand-strong staff had been dismissed. Those who remained were members of hereditary butler families who had nowhere else to go, along with a few old servants who were unwilling to leave. They were no longer enough to keep the enormous estate running in full.
That was precisely why Raiden Mei hadn't assigned a servant to Jiang Cheng and had instead chosen to take him there herself.
Quite—obviously.
They didn't believe her at all.
Even Kiana, who could be excruciatingly slow on the uptake in certain areas, was looking at Raiden Mei with a hint of smug superiority.
"Meei—senpai~"
She drew out the words deliberately, her rising lilt making her sound as if she'd uncovered some earth-shattering secret.
Just a few hours ago, she'd been the perfect wingwoman, helping the two of them along. Now she seemed to have become a teasing onlooker again.
"That's right. You two should go to your rooms first."
Raiden Mei's voice was as steady as ever. Her refusal had the same sharpness she'd once shown when turning down confessions.
She knew best how clumsy her acting was.
But if she kept a straight face, she could avoid the question. If her expression didn't change, she could put their suspicions to rest...
"Does that mean I have to live apart from A-Cheng, too?"
Quite obviously, her little tricks weren't working at all.
Under Cyrene's undisguised gaze, the straighter Raiden Mei held herself, the more impossible it became for her to hide anything from those eyes.
Even though she knew Cyrene had been with Cheng-kun for a long time—far longer than she could ever hope to match—
Raiden Mei had never imagined...
Not even this...
As her emotions and thoughts churned, Raiden Mei's mind suddenly took a sharp turn.
They already had Herrschers, superhumans, rulers of the Inner World, secret warlords, all sorts of mechs... Why couldn't there be immortal old-timers, too?
In her memory, during a lull in the fierce fighting, Cyrene's pink hair had fluttered in the wind, revealing her earlobe for a moment...
The storm in Raiden Mei's eyes instantly calmed.
"I understand."
She gave a slight nod, her composure restored with the ease of a young lady. Then she placed a slender fingertip against her ample chest and sincerely apologized to Cyrene.
"I made a bit of a wrong assumption."
"???"
Cyrene tilted her head, unable to understand the sudden change in her tone. The only thing she could feel was—
Eek, that's some powerful hostility.
"But."
Raiden Mei spoke again, the corners of her lips lifting. "Even someone who's lived for ages has to keep up with the times. You can't keep judging things with outdated ideas, or you'll start to smell rotten."
"Eeeh—!!!"
Cyrene's eyes widened to their limits. She nearly jumped on the spot, immediately crossing her arms over her chest to form a giant "X"!
"Y-you! What are you thinking—?!"
Her gentle voice cracked, almost turning into a wail. "I'm a youthful, adorable young girl! I'm not some old fossil like you said!"
Raiden Mei couldn't be entirely sure her wild guess was right.
So she decided to ask again.
"...How long have you been like this?"
"..."
Cyrene's lips parted.
She fell silent—an awkward, helpless silence, especially beneath Raiden Mei's relentless gaze.
Thump!
The girl, who was adorably perfect from every angle, slowly lowered her little head.
Her long bangs fell forward, hiding her whole face. A heavy shadow seemed to spread across her body like a tangible thing, and even her smooth pink hair appeared to lose its shine.
Did it really need to go that far?
Jiang Cheng slowly formed a question mark above his head.
He knew that Cyrene's youthful appearance made it hard for her to fit in with adults, and that as an older girl, she wasn't someone children could genuinely befriend, either...
If Cyrene knew what Jiang Cheng was thinking right now, she would probably ball her hands into fists and protest, "A-Cheng, how do you know what I went through?"
"Cyrene, even so, you really shouldn't be acting like that..."
"Cyrene, how old are you? Why do you want to hang out with us kids?"
She'd heard that sort of answer from people again and again.
In the end, she became a free spirit who couldn't go anywhere or fit into any group.
But.
Jiang Cheng felt he shouldn't interfere so recklessly anymore—
This looked like an ordinary conversation between girls, but he could clearly sense the oppressive tension filling the air.
It was like a storm gathering around them. The moment he stepped inside, he'd be torn to pieces, as if caught in the tangled paths of several typhoons.
Each girl was an eye of the storm, and each was also where its fiercest winds converged.
I mustn't go in.
Only I—Jiang Cheng—must never recklessly enter any of those storm eyes.
"I think..."
Jiang Cheng still wanted to make one last attempt, but his words were cut off before he could finish—
"If Cyrene looks like a girl, acts like a girl, and everyone thought she was a girl to begin with, then there's no problem calling her a girl, right?"
Kiana waved her little hand and spoke bluntly.
"It's like an orange. If something looks like an orange and tastes like an orange, then I'll treat it as an orange and eat it all without hesitation!"
Thank you, Kiana!
Even so, in the end, they still ended up in separate rooms.
Well, not exactly, I guess?
Jiang Cheng had only been staying with Cyrene in the church at Aedes Elysiae. It was like being tenants in the same apartment building—at most, he'd been her guest.
And Raiden Mei didn't seem to be selfishly taking him somewhere only she knew about.
Before you continue