Extra 2: Another Worldline

A Green-tailed Grasshopper, much larger than others of its kind, followed the torrent of locusts in the sky as its speed gradually slowed...

The Green-tailed Grasshopper's insect-like face took on a trace of loneliness—or perhaps regret.

The Green-tailed Grasshopper finally came to a stop and began searching for food.

Before long, using Information Reading's ability to identify things, the Green-tailed Grasshopper found a mouse carcass. Yet finding it did not turn his loneliness into joy.

After a while, the Green-tailed Grasshopper seemed to sense something. Spreading his wings, he chased after the locust swarm in the direction it had gone.

More than ten minutes later, the Green-tailed Grasshopper saw an enormous green orb of light. Countless grasshoppers darted back and forth within it...

"It's a trap!"

The Green-tailed Grasshopper saw the old druid's indifferent, icy gaze.

Yet in the very next moment, the Green-tailed Grasshopper discovered a figure in black robes beside the old druid. A crystal pendant the size of a fist hung from the figure's chest.

"The Swarm Druid once controlled locusts to attack this forest, but what did that have to do with them?"

The Green-tailed Grasshopper sensed a psychic ripple coming from that figure. Its voice shifted unpredictably, seeming male, and carried an indescribable familiarity.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the Green-tailed Grasshopper felt as though that figure had deliberately sent this psychic ripple to him.

Then, before the Green-tailed Grasshopper could recover his senses—

The green orb vanished. The old druid vanished. The black-robed figure who had suddenly appeared vanished as well.

As if nothing had happened, the countless locusts gathered into a torrent once more and flew into the distance...

Using Information Reading, the Green-tailed Grasshopper tried to find that figure among the locust swarm. He finally found it, only to discover that the torrent of locusts had already drifted far away again.

The Green-tailed Grasshopper wanted to catch up, but after flying only a dozen or so meters, he slowed down.

The Green-tailed Grasshopper descended from the sky and finally gave up, only to receive a psychic message from the void.

"We will meet again."

The Green-tailed Grasshopper swept his gaze around in confusion, but found nothing nearby.

And in the void beyond the Green-tailed Grasshopper's sight, the black-robed figure clasped that crystal pendant and gazed at the two golden discs within it, letting out a long, lingering sigh...

After looking at the pendant for a while, the figure slipped it around his neck again, then vanished completely.

"She was never you, in the end."