"Mei, close the kitchen door tightly."
Mei hadn't even gotten a clear look at the newcomer, but upon hearing Michael's words, she didn't hesitate for a second. With a bang, she slammed the kitchen door shut and locked it with a click.
"Raiden Ryoma's daughter? The Herrscher of Thunder's vessel?" the visitor asked softly, stepping into the mansion with natural, steady strides.
Bang!
The main door slowly closed, blocking out the cold wind. Correspondingly, the girl's bluish-gray skirt settled around her feet, its hem lightly touching the ground.
"That's her, alright. But what surprises me more is... how did you find your way here in the middle of the night?" Mobius took two steps forward, resting her hand on the back of a dining chair, answering with a lazy, nonchalant air.
"Is there a problem?" Before Mobius could speak, the girl continued her explanation. "A short while ago, I sensed a series of abnormal Honkai Energy fluctuations in the city. After filtering out a certain part I'm particularly familiar with... I thought something had happened to the Gem of Conquest. It seems that's not the case now."
The girl's gaze swept from left to right, her light-blue pupils reflecting first Mobius, then Seele. But as she was about to turn her gaze further to the right, she stopped abruptly.
"I followed the abnormal Honkai Energy to the scene of the incident, but it had already been cleaned up. After that... I... heh, since I sensed your power, I thought I'd come and see an old friend."
"That's why I said your reaction is really slow. Raiden Ryoma's incident happened yesterday morning, but you only arrived in the Far East this morning. How long ago was the abnormal Honkai Energy reaction? Almost an hour ago, right... tsk tsk tsk, Hua, you've really gotten old. In an hour, if something had really happened to the Gem of Conquest, the entire Nagazora City would have been completely lost."
Hua blinked slowly, neither refuting nor explaining, just standing still.
Mobius clearly had no intention of letting this uninvited guest off the hook. She continued, "But... you just said you were just dropping by to see an old friend... hehe, then go see him. Why are you wasting time talking to me?"
Michael sighed softly and sat back down on the sofa, acting as if it had nothing to do with him.
Stung by Mobius's sarcastic remark, Hua opened her mouth slightly, sighed almost at the same time as Michael, and then awkwardly changed the subject. "Mobius, this person, do you know them?"
Strangely, she didn't produce a photo or a portrait. Instead, she plucked two blood-red feathers from her wide sleeve.
"This is..." Mobius's expression suddenly became extremely strange. Michael, seeing Hua deliberately avoiding conversation with him, had intended to just blend into the background, but after hearing the voice, he couldn't help but glance over. Then he stood up again, looking as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Mobius looked at Hua's serious expression, then at Michael, and took the initiative to ask, "The owner of this... this feather... is she okay..."
"Hmm?" Hua tilted her head in confusion. "I ran into her when I was approaching here. Before I could explain, she attacked me... but don't worry, I didn't fight back. I just used Fenghuang Down to put her to sleep for a while."
"Poor Natasha," Michael turned and sat back on the sofa. He could roughly imagine the situation. The two had met, didn't know each other, so Natasha decided to strike first—just like last night against Mobius.
It was just that Mobius always enjoyed a playful approach to battle, giving Natasha a few moves to recognize the Fire Moth combat style in her techniques. Hua, as a warrior, didn't have so many thoughts. She just used Fenghuang Down to put Natasha to sleep right away...
"Poor Natasha," Mobius repeated, mimicking Michael.
"What's wrong with her?"
"She's Cocolia's subordinate, but..." Mobius gave Hua a meaningful smile.
Hua frowned, realizing that things were not as she had imagined.
She didn't know Cocolia well, nor her subordinates, and she didn't understand why Mobius and Michael had such expressions.
Only now did she truly feel that Mount Taixuan had been isolated from the outside world for too long. Whether it was her, Ling Shuang, or the Seventh's daughter, none of them were really suitable to be leaders, nor did they have any ambition. So, on the premise of ensuring the stability of the Shenzhou region, they rarely interfered in other matters, which made them all a bit slow to react.
During the First Honkai Eruption decades ago, Shenzhou hadn't had time to react before the First Herrscher had already defeated the Honkai and joined the human camp. During the Second Honkai Eruption, Shenzhou could only mobilize limited forces in a short time, and in the end, she had to go to the battlefield herself...
So Mobius was right. After being comfortable for so long, she had indeed become much slower.
But she hadn't come here to play guessing games. She asked briskly, "But what?"
"Nothing, just that you accidentally friendly-fired." Mobius smiled and spread her hands. If Michael weren't here, she would have burst out laughing.
However, the next moment, Michael's figure really disappeared, leaving only half a sentence echoing in Mobius's and Hua's ears: "I'll go check on her situation, and by the way, find out why she's here. If nothing unexpected happens... hehe..."
Mobius blinked and couldn't help but mock, "Tsk! See how fast he ran? As if he's hiding from someone. Oh dear... who is he hiding from?"
"You don't have to be so passive-aggressive, Mobius." Hua wasn't unaware of Mobius's nature. She wasn't going to waste her time arguing with her.
She quickly walked to the sofa, bent down, lifted the girl's hair, and silently observed the girl, who showed no signs of waking up.
"This is the source of the abnormal Honkai Energy, right?"
Mobius treated it as if she were talking to herself, just giving a cold snort in response.
Hua, of course, was not oblivious to this inexplicable hostility, but she didn't care. She continued to ask, "What's this girl's name?"
"Aren't you asking the obvious?" Mobius turned her face away impatiently.
"You mean..." Hua's fingers gently brushed across the girl's face, but she didn't remember ever knowing such a person.
"Ah, right, I forgot. Due to the side effects of Shenyin, you periodically delete memories unrelated to him... I didn't expect you to delete this part too?"
"The deleted memories are all stored in the feathers of Fenghuang Down. I can retrieve them whenever I want." This was mostly true, but also a bit of an exaggeration. Perhaps Mobius's repeated provocations had finally made Hua feel that she couldn't take it anymore. Or perhaps she just wanted to prove that she hadn't forgotten too many important things.
But Mobius's reaction was also extremely bland. She just spread her hands towards the girl on the sofa, as if to say, "Come on, prove yourself."
Hua's breathing became a little longer. It was true that those redundant memories were stored in the feathers of Fenghuang Down, but even considering only fifty thousand years ago, that was still a good ten years of memories. Without keywords or a specific time frame, just searching aimlessly would probably take until tomorrow morning to find the corresponding memory...
She was having a bit of trouble when a strange intuition washed over her, as if a voice was whispering in her ear, and then guided her hand to the girl's chest.
"Hey! What are you doing, you old fossil!" Even Mobius, who prided herself on being a pervert, was shocked and subconsciously took two steps back from Hua.
Of course, Hua didn't mean it that way. It was just that through the collar of the shirt, she thought she saw a hint of red.
"Stigmata!" She unbuttoned the girl's jacket, then the top three buttons of her shirt, and sure enough, she saw a mark on her chest... so, the reason for the abnormal Honkai Energy was also explained... wait! The shape of this Stigmata!
Hua sighed longly, re-dressed the girl, and turned to look at Mobius, "Seele. Right?"
"Huh?"
"She's also called Seele, right?"
Mobius's cheek twitched. She snorted again and simply stopped talking.
Hua didn't pay her any mind. She walked around to the kitchen door and leaned against it, listening to the sounds of cooking inside.
"Don't worry, Michael set up a soundproof imaginary barrier. She can't hear our conversation," Mobius glanced at her and explained casually.
"I know that, of course." Hua shook her head and walked directly to the mansion's main entrance. "Alright, since the Herrscher of Conquest's... since the third host is fine, there's no need for me to stay here any longer."
She pushed open the main door with one hand. Just as her left foot was about to step out, she suddenly spoke again without turning her head, as if talking to herself, "Theresa of Schicksal, I met her once during the Second Honkai Eruption. She has written to me many times before, inviting me to be a guest at her St. Freya High School. Taixuan has no branch in the Far East, and it's best for the third host not to have too much contact with people from the Previous Era before she awakens. So I'll be staying at St. Freya High School for these days. If you want to find me, just go there."
"Tch! Don't flatter yourself, who would want to find... you..." Mobius belatedly covered her mouth. That's right, that sentence wasn't meant for her, was it?
The two of them were really as similar as ever... equally difficult.
"Alright, I understand. I'll tell him." Mobius shook her head. When she looked at the door again, it was empty, with only the door slowly closing in the evening wind.
Thud— A hand stopped the door from closing and pushed it back open.
"Hua's gone," Michael's tone held no hint of a question, just a simple statement of fact.
"Oh. So, what did Natasha come for?" Mobius clearly didn't want to talk about Hua.
"Let me think... for normal matters, she can contact you directly. The reason she came in person is probably because of a mission assigned by Cocolia, right?"
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, you're right." Michael nodded perfunctorily and sat back on the sofa, lost in thought.
Mobius pouted in annoyance. Indeed, she had just said something obvious. After all, that level of reasoning was only slightly better than a primary school student's. In Michael's eyes, answering such a question was probably just a waste of time.
"So, what did she come for?"
"It's simple. Tomorrow, Saturday, at noon, in the mansion where Seele was kidnapped today, the two sides will exchange hostages."
"Oh..." Mobius replied weakly. When she came to her senses, her eyes widened. "What do you mean? What hostage exchange? Could it be..."
"Ah, with your intelligence gathering ability, I thought you already knew... hmm, it's Ki..."
"Michael! Mobius! The food is ready! Can you come out now?"
Michael shrugged, looking indifferent.
---||---
"Seele! Seele!"
"Who... who's calling me..." A voice from an unknown source woke the girl up. When she opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar pale green ceiling.
"Where... is this?" The fluorescent light on the ceiling emitted a soft glow, just the right brightness, not dazzling. Although the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant and alcohol, the smell was also very faint and not unpleasant.
She used her arms to sit up from the bed, and only then did she have the leisure to observe more of the scenery.
The bed she was lying on was simply assembled from a bunch of steel pipes, looking very simple but sturdy enough. The sheets and quilt were soft and white, reminding her of the snowfields of her hometown, but without the biting cold.
There was no doubt she was in a hospital room, but in terms of space alone, this room was large enough to be partitioned into a three-bedroom apartment. And... the fluorescent lights with the right brightness, the faint smell of disinfectant and alcohol, the brand-new sheets... this hospital room was probably being used for the first time.
It was strange. She was indeed not a careless person, but generally, she wouldn't observe her surroundings in such detail, let alone complete a logical loop of reasoning from limited information in a very short time... all of this... was as if another self was helping her, or as if she already knew the answer, and all the observation was just for verification.
"Mmm, it looks like you've recovered well?"
"Eh?" Seele turned her head in surprise, only then realizing that she was not alone. A silver-haired young man, who looked not much older than her, was sitting by her bed, holding a book.
Wait! Was there someone in that position before? No, no! Silver-gray hair...
Seele then noticed the man's pupils. Sure enough, they were the same color as Bronya-oneechan's. Could it be...
She was about to ask something when another, somewhat dazed voice sounded: "Where... is this?"
"Eh?" Seele stared blankly at herself, sitting on the hospital bed, asking the man a question. She then looked down and confirmed that her body still existed...
What was going on?
"Could it be... I'm watching my own past? No, I don't remember having such a past, and I shouldn't have experienced amnesia. Besides... the Seele on the hospital bed looks about the same age as me."
"...Dusk Street." In a daze, she vaguely heard this place name. When she looked up again, the scene before her had frozen. If the previous moment could at least be considered a living image, now it was a lifeless, frozen photograph.
"What... is this?" Seele was completely confused. Or was she just having a strange dream?
"Don't worry, you'll understand everything soon, Seele." A voice that was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it, drifted into her ears. "But before that, wake up..."
"Ah—" Seele shot up from the bed. This time it wasn't a hospital room, but a bedroom that was a bit luxurious in her eyes.
"Where am I now?" Seele held her head, trying to find earlier memories, but everything came to an abrupt end at the moment her vision suddenly went black when she left the orphanage to buy food yesterday afternoon.
"Uh... was I saved by Bronya-oneechan or Natasha-oneechan? No, this doesn't look like the orphanage either..." She got out of bed barefoot and took two steps before discovering that a pair of slippers of the right size had been thoughtfully prepared for her by the bed.
"Mmm? The owner of this place doesn't seem to have any hostility towards Seele... could it be that Seele really just fainted last night?" She had a feeling that wasn't the case, but she was missing a crucial part of her memory.
She walked out of the room and was slightly shocked by the huge space and magnificent interior of the mansion, but compared to the dream she had just had, there seemed to be nothing worth being surprised about.
"Oh! You're awake!" A purple figure jumped out of the kitchen.
"Eh? You are... you are... Senior Raiden Mei!" Although she had only been at Chiba Academy for two days, she was no stranger to the title "Raiden Queen." Especially after Raiden Ryoma's incident, Raiden Mei's attention at school had increased instead of decreased. Everyone was waiting to see this young miss make a fool of herself.
Of course, Seele didn't like what those people said, but it was just that she was naturally not one to argue with people... but she never thought she would have any interaction with this young miss Raiden Mei...
Looking at her face, it seemed that even after such a blow, her mental state was still good. And the aroma in the air...
"I just finished making lunch and you woke up. Go wash up quickly, let's eat together!"
"Eh? Eh? Wait! It's already noon?"
"Ah." Mei replied while setting the table. "Yes, we were supposed to have class this morning, but Michael asked for leave for both of us. I didn't expect you to sleep from last night until now..."
"I... I slept for that long? No, wait! Um... I want to ask, what exactly happened last night?"
"Oh, that..." Mei's smile became a little forced. "Wait for Michael to come back. He'll tell you."