Paradise Lost

Deep within the barrier.

"Hahaha..."

A painfully familiar voice—Hibiki—rang out through the void.

It carried helplessness, tenderness, and some even more complicated emotion.

It was Rinne's voice. It was Rinne... no mistake about it, it was Rinne.

"You found me again, Huanyue-chan."

"Rinne...?"

Huanyue's vision blurred for a moment. She strained to look around and saw the familiar short-haired girl before her, gazing at her gently in her uniform. She had seen that face every day before, yet now an overwhelming sense of nostalgia welled up within her.

"Huff, huff... made it in time," Shiori panted beside her, Hibiki's voice coming from beside her as her chest rose and fell rapidly.

"Shiori?" Huanyue turned around, surprise in her gaze as she softly said, "Sigh, I really don't know whether I should have let you stay here..."

Rinne lowered her brows and looked gently at the two of them. Then she smiled helplessly, as though she had made some sort of decision.

Light enveloped her body.

At last, that familiar Astral Dress resembling papal robes was summoned and wrapped around her once more.

"...!" Shiori's pupils suddenly shrank.

Qian Huanyue showed no surprise.

"That's right."

Rinne spoke.

Her voice carried far more authority than its usual gentleness, sounding much colder and more merciless.

"I am the ruler of Eden."

She paused.

"I am the one who trapped you in this world."

The glow of her Astral Dress flowed through the void, making Rinne appear especially cold and ruthless.

But Huanyue did not fall for that appearance.

She put her hands behind her back, tilted her head, silently collected herself, and said gently.

"Did you protect my beautiful dream, Rinne?"

"..."

A beautiful dream? Rinne did not answer. Her pink pupils trembled beneath her veil.

"From the very beginning, I implanted memories