Should Good People Have Guns Pointed at Them?

But even if Theresa had healed her, Hua could have accepted it. Yet of all people, it had to be Otto.

Raiden Mei: "Otto? I really never could have guessed that."

Kiana: "Why? Wasn't the class monitor seriously injured because he stabbed her in the back? Why would he help heal her? Wasn't he afraid the restored Immortal Crimson Bird would beat him up?"

Bronya: "Uh... I don't really understand that line of thinking either."

Hua: "Principal, what do you think?"

Theresa: "..."

What was she supposed to think?

Did they expect her to jump up so she could get a better look?!

Otto had been the very first answer she ruled out. No matter how she thought about it, she could not find any reason for Otto to help heal Hua. The system had just slapped her in the face, and she still had not recovered from it.

Elysia: "Otto was the one who treated Hua? This doesn't seem simple. Could it be that his next plan required Hua's help, and he couldn't carry it out otherwise?"

Theresa: "I think that's the only possibility that makes sense."

Pardofelis: "But if Hua woke up, wasn't Otto afraid she'd smash his head to pieces in a fit of rage? He killed her first, then treated her. Once Hua recovered all her strength, wasn't Otto basically making himself a father?"

Hua: "I can't figure out what he was thinking."

Bishop Otto's move was truly baffling. He was completely testing the limits of his own life.

He had everyone utterly confused.

Hua received a punishment: lose one-tenth of her arm strength.

A faint sting passed through her. Hua felt her arms go numb, and she could not exert quite as much strength as before.

Himeko Murata: "Hua, how do you feel?"

Hua: "One-tenth of my arm strength isn't too serious. It's just slightly uncomfortable."

With strength enough to pull mountains and spirit enough to cover the world, a mere tenth of her arm strength would not affect Hua's ability to use Inch-Punch: Skull Splitter at all.

Pardofelis: "That's easy for you to say, but that's one-tenth of Hua's arm strength! Ten... no, even a hundred of me couldn't compare!"

Hua: "That's not nearly that exaggerated."

Elysia: "Exactly. Our Felis is very strong too. At the very least, you're the only one who can swipe things from Chakravartin without him noticing."

Chakravartin: "?!!"

Pardofelis: "Sister Elysia, you sold me out! I was only helping Brother Jie clear out his inventory. He'd just arrived and wasn't familiar with Death Space yet, so I thought I'd help him deal with some clutter!"

Even now, the cat did not know how she had been exposed.

She had even used the Invisibility Cloak. She had done it without anyone noticing—so how had she been exposed? Why had she been exposed?

It made no sense!

Kiana: "This is the one thing I truly admire about Pardo. She easily did something we wouldn't even dare think about."

Theresa: "Though she was also very quick to admit her mistake afterward."

Pardofelis: "Hehe, as the old saying goes, those who know the times are wise. We can't make Brother Jie angry, right?"

Chakravartin: "...Boring."

In any case, no one could do anything about the cat.

As Pardofelis lowered her head to admit fault, she suddenly noticed the scene beginning to change.

Pardofelis: "Look, that's Sister Hua!"

In the scene, Hua was lying in a medical pod. Liquid flowed over her skin, continuously healing her wounds until she had fully recovered.

Yet consciousness had formed within her mind.

"Hey, wake up. You've slept for too long."

The sudden voice left the consciousness within the body somewhat confused.

"Hey, don't give me that. Times have changed. Your brain wasn't damaged at all. Hurry up and search your memory bank. Figure out who you are—we still have a lot to do."

"Who are you?" the consciousness inside the body asked.

"I'm your id, okay? The most primal, authentic you."

"I'm the superego. Don't worry, you haven't developed dissociative identity disorder, and you haven't gone mad. We are you."

"The ego hasn't been born yet, because you still don't know who you are. Hurry up and remember. Without any one of us, you can't become the real you."

A long stretch of memories suddenly flooded Hua's mind.

Her original family, the sudden Honkai that destroyed everything, Captain Himiko's departure...

In those memories were a girl standing alone in the freezing wind, a warrior clad in armor and wielding a golden sword, a cold and ruthless assassin, and an immortal detached from the world.

Memories poured into her consciousness like a tide. They seemed to have been lying dormant all along, merely waiting for a command.

She remembered. She remembered everything.

She was Hua! The Immortal Crimson Bird who protected Shenzhou and fought against the Honkai!!!

Kiana: "Class monitor, why do I feel like you got beaten into amnesia? No, that's not right. You remembered all your past memories, so it can't really be called amnesia."

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

That shot from Otto seemed to have messed up Hua's brain. She had even forgotten who she was.

And several so-called selves had appeared—the ego, id, and superego. It did not quite seem like dissociative identity disorder either.

Bronya: "Class monitor, don't tell Bronya Bishop Otto really shot your brain into dysfunction?"

Hua: "That's impossible. After I fused with the Hypervariable Factor, my brain became very different from an ordinary person's. Even being shot in the head would not kill me."

Hua: "As for whether my brain was damaged, that's hard to say. After all, Otto was the one who healed me. Perhaps he left some sort of contingency behind."

Kiana: "That sounds so sinister and despicable."

After all, that person was Otto. During the Second Honkai War, he had let the Herrscher of the Void go and even wanted her to awaken again. He had also stabbed Hua in the back.

If he had no scheme, that would be even more suspicious.

Pardofelis: "Then what are these ego, id, and superego things? Don't tell me Hua really developed dissociative identity disorder?"

Elysia: "A Mental-type Fusion Warrior developing dissociative identity disorder would be perfectly reasonable."

Hua: "Elysia, stop making fun of me. I don't even know what happened. This is the first time I've encountered a situation like this."

Back on Mount Tai Xu, Hua had also been severely injured like she was now. It had taken her a full twenty years to recover.

That had not happened then.

And judging from the scene, she seemed to have forgotten everything completely before slowly beginning to remember.

Among Hua's memories, the only person who had both the motive and ability to do something like that was probably Otto.

After all, after she had been stabbed in the back, Otto was likely the only one with an opportunity to get close to her. To prevent her from retaliating, it was entirely possible that he had taken some measures.

The Immortal Crimson Bird had always refrained from judging people by the worst possible standards, but Otto's betrayal had indeed left a considerable shadow in her heart.

Himeko Murata: "I suddenly remembered—weren't Hua's actions afterward strange? She caused havoc at Schicksal headquarters, then ran off to fight Kevin. Could her mind have started going wrong at this point, causing her to turn dark?"

Bronya: "Bronya agrees with Teacher Himeko. Otherwise, the class monitor could not possibly have attacked Bronya."

At the time, she had been happily taking Heavy Machinery Rabbit out for a ride.

Then some pitch-black figure suddenly knocked her down without even saying hello.

Did they know how large Bronya's psychological trauma had been?

Hua: "If we follow that assumption, then my later actions can be explained. But the sudden appearance of the ego, id, and superego is still suspicious."

Pardofelis: "Could Hua become something like Vill-V?"

Hua: "Pardo, I think you could use a slightly more fitting way of putting that."

What did she mean, become something in Vill-V's shape?

Even if these so-called ego, id, and superego could truly influence the primary personality, that would not make her a being like Vill-V—multiple personalities in one body, able to switch between them.

Elysia: "What a pity there aren't any professional Mental-type experts here. Su and Apponia aren't around either. Otherwise, they could definitely help Hua solve this problem."

Hua: "Su would be fine, but Apponia can forget it... no, thank you."

The Divine Tone Precepts had been bad enough back then. Hua had no desire to let Apponia plant that deadly thing in her again.

Had they not seen how Chakravartin, once such a warm and sunny boy, had become increasingly determined to kill Apponia after being given the Precepts forbidding him from harming innocent people?

Chakravartin: "Apponia... Damn her, she is beyond forgiveness!!!"

Theresa: "Chakravartin is at it again."

Kiana: "Who was it that said the darkened class monitor was like Chakravartin? Chakravartin is way more hot-tempered. Though the class monitor's actions weren't much better."

Raiden Mei: "Right now, I just want to know whether Bishop Otto would still be alive if the class monitor woke up."

No matter how good-tempered she was, after being stabbed in the back, it would only be reasonable for her to crush his Soul Steel Face and beat him up first.

Bronya: "Wait. The ego, id, and superego don't seem to be Bishop Otto's contingency. They've started urging the class monitor to beat up Otto!"

Everyone's attention returned to the scene. By then, Hua had already shattered the medical pod.

In the scene, Hua threw a punch. The liquid surrounding her all flowed away, taking all pressure with it and leaving Hua feeling only refreshed and comfortable.

She gently stepped out of the medical pod, her feet touching the ground.

Her hands and fists were filled with strength. Hua clenched both fists, and her condition had never been better, as though she possessed inexhaustible power.

When had she last been this healthy? Five hundred years ago? Perhaps even earlier.

It had been too long. Far too long.

"My old friend, you're finally awake."

A familiar voice sounded. Hua looked toward the doorway and saw a blond man smiling.

Ego: "He is Otto Apocalypse."

Id: "Your relationship with him is rather complicated."

Superego: "He calls himself your friend, yet he deceived you."

"Aren't you going to say hello? Well, never mind. You've only just awakened, after all, and you still need continued observation and treatment. Although the examination results show that you've fully recovered, you never regained consciousness. I was always worried that something might go wrong."

Bishop Otto smiled, as though he had not been the one who had stabbed Hua in the back.

"You don't blame me, do you, my old friend? Do you... still recognize me?"

"Why am I here?" Hua asked, prompted by the id within her.

"Because I didn't want you to die."

Otto gave a self-deprecating smile.

"We've known each other for a long time, old friend. I knew an injury to your brain wouldn't kill you, but I didn't want to waste another twenty years."

"When all is said and done, you owed me nothing, yet I shot you. So I brought you back and healed all your injuries."

Kiana: "Nonsense! This guy is completely making up excuses! Because I shot you in the head, I brought you back and healed you? What kind of logic is that?"

It sounded no different from beating someone up first, then calmly sitting down to negotiate.

And Otto said it all so confidently, without blushing or missing a beat.

If they had not personally witnessed Otto shoot Hua in the head, everyone would have almost believed he was an innocent good person.

Bronya: "Bronya can be certain now. Bishop Otto definitely wanted to use the class monitor, which is why he helped treat her. He had even already figured out how to negotiate with her."

Theresa: "No way. He shot Hua in the head, and Grandpa still wanted to negotiate?"

Hua: "To be fair, all I want right now is to crush Otto's Soul Steel Face."

Make peace? Apologize? If apologies were useful, what would laws be for?

Why was she the one being held at gunpoint?

Did being a good person mean she deserved to have a gun pointed at her?