Bronya frowned and looked at the waitress.
Her portion was already considered small, while Rosia's was only a third the size of hers.
"You should be asking yourself that."
Faced with Bronya's questioning, the waitress retorted neither humbly nor arrogantly. The gentle smile on her face had turned stiff.
"Alright, Mother Bronya, this is just enough for me. No matter how delicious something is, you can't eat too much of it..."
Sensing that the atmosphere was off, Rosia immediately tried to smooth things over.
"..."
Bronya met the waitress's gaze once more before looking away.
She had a good memory. Brownie Cake had not been cheap on the menu, so it was obvious that the shop was deliberately ripping people off.
"Let's go, Rosia. It's about time—we should go watch the movie."
After Rosia finished the cake bite by bite, Bronya took her hand and left.
Judging by what the waitress had said, Rosia had come to this shop quite often. Bronya would settle this score later.
Not long after they left, the waitress came to clear the table and finally could not help saying to the pastry chef, who had remained silent the entire time:
"People these days... They don't even care about their own children. Who knows what they're thinking?"
"So young, yet not even as sensible as her child..."
"Alright, don't disturb the other customers while they're eating."
The pastry chef put away the preservation equipment and stored the remaining Brownie Cake.
"One cake divided up over a whole week..."
"How could it possibly be any bigger?"
The Best Movie in the World
The cinema had a great atmosphere. Before long, Kiana and Mei arrived as well.
"Hey! Bronya! I—"
They had reserved two seats in each of the middle two rows.
Rosia and Bronya sat in the front row, so Kiana had no choice but to sit with Mei.
"You have a problem with that?"
Bronya turned around and gave her a "friendly" glance.
Her mood had not been very good to begin with, so her gaze looked somewhat frightening.
"W-why are you taking it so seriously...?"
Kiana had only been joking. She was not actually upset over the seating arrangement.
"Haha... It's fine, Sister Kiana."
Rosia helplessly waved her hand. She did not know why Mother Bronya seemed to be in such a bad mood.
Rosia found the movie itself rather confusing, but because she had been holding Mother Bronya's hand the whole time, she felt safe and remained happy throughout.
When it was time to leave, Bronya rubbed Rosia's head.
"Rosia, go back with Sister Mei and that idiot Kiana first. There's something I need to take care of."
"Okay. Be careful, Mother Bronya."
Rosia nodded her little head worriedly.
"Mm, I will."
Bronya answered seriously.
She wanted to go to that shop and find out what was going on. If they really had been deliberately ripping Rosia off, Bronya would not show them the slightest mercy.
Even if she could not resort to physical means, she had countless ways to make that shop pay the price.
As she passed by the entrance of a café, a familiar voice rang out from a lounge chair beneath the awning.
"Long time no see, my daughter."
"Cocolia..."
Hearing that familiar voice, Bronya stopped in her tracks. Her gaze went blank.
"Oh? You won't even call me Mother anymore?"
Cocolia removed her sunglasses, revealing her purple eyes, then pointed at the seat across from her.
"It's been a long time. Sit down and let's talk."
Hearing Cocolia's words, Bronya pressed her lips together. Her silver-gray eyes flickered repeatedly, and in the end, she lowered her head and sat down.
"Raiden Mei is currently under St. Freya Academy's control. A special device has been implanted in her body. Once—"
When Cocolia merely stared at her without speaking for a long time, Bronya could only speak first.
"I know. Raiden Mei is promising, but she isn't important anymore..."
As soon as Bronya heard Cocolia's words after being interrupted, her pupils contracted slightly.
"Let's talk about something more important instead. For example..."
Cocolia crossed her legs and lightly swirled the glass of red wine in her hand before setting it on the table with a crisp clink.
"My granddaughter, Rosia."
The coast of the Far East
A blond boy in a dark green hat strolled across the beach. This place was roughly two hundred kilometers from St. Freya Academy.
"Interesting. They specifically moved all the equipment beneath the sea to conceal the leaking Honkai energy?"
Otto lightly touched the seawater with his hand and smiled.
"Unfortunately, such tricks are nothing but a display of incompetence before an expert."
Otto cast a mocking glance at the seemingly ordinary tourists on the beach.
Cocolia could not finish all the experiments he had conducted in her lifetime. In the deep sea, underground, in the sky, even at the distant North and South Poles—his laboratories were everywhere.
Whenever Honkai energy was involved, Otto's research had already reached a level that Anti-Entropy did not even dare imagine.
"Strange. Welt Yang actually never stopped this kind of human experimentation involving Honkai energy..."
Otto received classified Anti-Entropy intelligence that Amber had acquired.
If Anti-Entropy could dig things out of Schicksal's database, then Otto naturally had ways to pry something interesting out of them.
"An ordinary warlord was able to make her go this far..."
Even Otto found it somewhat hard to understand, but he soon figured it out.
"Someone is supporting her from the shadows? Given Welt Yang's personality..."
Although he still did not know the fundamental reason behind Cocolia's brazenness, Otto had more or less seen through her completely.
"Hehe, so that's how it is. She truly set her sights on Raiden Mei, whose natural stigmata had been concealed by Raiden Ryoma?"
Every time he came to the Far East, he found some new little trick. It was truly interesting.
He had not expected that the cause of the Third Honkai could be understood so clearly just by investigating one person.
Otto had to admire Cocolia as well. Using emotions to stimulate the birth of a Herrscher was crude and foolish, but she had actually succeeded.
"If I'm not mistaken, her experiment should be about to begin."
After preparing for so long, Otto had grown increasingly interested.
"So sensitive to natural stigmata... It shouldn't be..."
For some reason, Otto thought of that figure feeding a cat.
"If... she was still human..."
"I hope you'll consider it, my daughter."
Cocolia looked sternly at the silver-gray-haired girl.
"I..."
Before Cocolia, this was one of the few times Bronya felt conflicted.
"You've grown up, Bronya. You've learned to refer to yourself as 'I.' You should also understand the things a mother needs to consider..."
Looking at the young girl whose temperament had gradually begun to transform, Cocolia shook her head, then took a box from beside her and handed it to Bronya.
"This is wine I've kept for a long time. I hope that the next time we meet, the four of us can open it together."
After handing the box to Bronya, Cocolia rose and left.
She did not continue asking for Bronya's opinion, because from beginning to end, she had merely been stating things, not making a request.
Bronya sat where she was, clenching her fists. Her teeth pressed together until blood seeped from the corner of her lips.
"Why..."
"Why?!"
Night
When Bronya returned reeking of alcohol, the dormitory was already quiet, though the lights were still on.
A note lay on the table, with two cute little portraits drawn on it.
One was her, and the other was Rosia.
"Mother Bronya, remember to eat dinner. The food is in the refrigerator. Just heat it up in the microwave."
Bronya held the note, then shakily crouched in the corner of the kitchen, her eyes red.
"March 24th. Today, I went to see a movie with Mother Bronya and also went to my favorite dessert shop, but Mother Bronya didn't seem very happy..."
"The best movie in the world was shown in the seats right next to each other."
"So happy."
Because Sugar Makes People Happy
"It smells so strongly of alcohol... Did Teacher Himeko drink in the living room again yesterday?"
When Kiana got up, she smelled a strong odor of alcohol the moment she opened the door.
She had gone to bed relatively early yesterday, so she had woken up before Mei for once.
"Rosia? What are you doing?"
Seeing the girl standing on a little stool in the kitchen, Kiana leaned over curiously.
"Mother Bronya seemed to have gotten drunk last night, so I'm making a hangover remedy. Otherwise, her head will hurt badly when she wakes up in the morning."
Rosia said with a serious little face.
Before you continue