The air had become scorching hot at some point. The asphalt road underfoot had even softened, feeling like a mire.
The leaves of the sunflower buds had turned brittle and crisp from dehydration, making a sound like shattering potato chips with every touch.
Finally, that familiar figure burst out from the sunflower patch. The fake sky of the underground city was burning, as if a whole day had passed in an instant, bringing them to dusk. But in Michael's eyes, there was only that one, most dazzling splash of red.
"Captain!"
He rushed forward and, without a word, pulled Himeko into a tight embrace.
"It's not you... It's not you... It's not you..." he repeated, over and over.
The hot air already made breathing difficult, and Michael's forceful hug did the same. But Himeko didn't push him away. She silently endured it all, even gently patting his back twice.
She counted to ten in her mind before gently patting the back of his head.
"Alright, I'm fine. I don't know what you're so worried about. But let go for now, before we become a laughingstock for outsiders."
"Outsiders?"
Michael's emotional outburst came to a halt.
"Um... Brother Michael..."
Hearing the voice, Michael opened his eyes and looked at the three figures that had been blocked by Himeko. His first glance naturally fell on the person who had spoken, which was... Seele.
Tears instantly welled up, winding their way down his entire face. But the sorrow didn't last long. He wiped at his eyes forcefully, his gaze lingering on Mei for a moment before finally settling on Bronya.
And the tears stopped.
His right hand rose, lost and uncertain, as if searching for something in the void that held nothing but heat.
Himeko leaned toward him, allowing his hand to rest on her shoulder. The moment it touched, Michael seemed to press the entire weight of his body onto that one hand.
"You're... Raiden Mei? Bronya Zaychik, and... Seele Vollerei?"
Himeko's brow furrowed together. Michael's fingers, clenched in an excess of emotion, dug into her shoulder, causing a sharp pain that he himself didn't even notice.
But she didn't say anything, only enduring the pain as she spoke.
"So you know each other? I thought the girl with the twin-drills was your parallel-world counterpart. Oh, right, they also mistook me for some 'Teacher Himeko'."
Michael's eyes flickered, and he asked again, urgently, "You know me?"
The three girls exchanged a glance and nodded, somewhat confused.
Michael pressed his lips together, silent.
"Heh... heh... heh..."
He released his grip on Himeko's shoulder, letting out a laugh that sounded more like a series of convulsions.
He wandered aimlessly in a circle through the sunflower patch, then plopped down on the ground.
"Hehehehahahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Why are you here? How can you be here???"
Tears fell again, mingling with his neurotic laughter.
"I knew it. This is fate... No matter what I do, whether I do anything or not, isn't the ending always the same?"
No one understood what he was doing, nor did they know what his words meant.
He was frantic, desperate, and possessed a loneliness that no one could comprehend.
In truth, the moment he heard Seele's voice, he understood.
This was a world that "allowed consciousness to match with a new vessel, but did not allow the vessel to collect a dissipated consciousness." Given the information he had, it was more believable that she was the Seele from the next era than that someone had come back from the dead.
Not to mention, the two people standing beside her were perfect proof of this.
And they said they knew him.
Heh, could there be anything more laughable?
What he had always wanted to do, what he had been striving to do, was to kill the very possibility of the era these three girls lived in. But now, here they were, in his era, for reasons unknown, claiming to know him...
Indeed, the idea that fate could be changed was a lie. Even if he could influence some minor details, he could never change the story's ending.
Of course, he knew that compared to the possibility he had realized, there might be another, better explanation. Perhaps their world hadn't been destroyed.
Perhaps these three girls were just a product of converging world lines. Or perhaps their civilization had been destroyed, but the one person he wanted to save had survived.
It would be simple to find out. He just needed to ask one question: "Do you know Elysia?"
From their reactions, he would have all the answers.
But he was a coward. He didn't have the courage to ask, much less the courage to believe in a happy ending he dared not believe in.
BOOM!
The fake sky above them shook violently, and fine dust rained down from "on high." He knew a new Herrscher had been born, and he knew it was right above him now.
But he no longer planned to do anything.
Since the fate of this world was already sealed, then even if he did nothing, the world would not be destroyed.
Though a voice deep inside him told him he shouldn't stop here, that he couldn't stop here. The world's fate had already been altered beyond recognition by his actions.
Since the identity and location of the Seventh Herrscher had changed, who was to say the world wouldn't be destroyed because of his inaction?
But in the end, the three girls who shouldn't have been here were the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Besides, even if he wanted to do something, what could he do? After the Herrscher core had rejected him, what was left for him to do?
Himeko pursed her lips, looking at Michael. The words she had prepared were now stuck in her throat.
Mei wrung her hands. She looked at the man who had collapsed among the sunflower buds, watched him break down in despair. She didn't know what had happened, much less how to comfort him.
In her eyes, this face, which at this moment seemed to hold every negative emotion she could imagine, gradually overlapped with the calm, quiet, and sometimes gently smiling face she knew.
But this didn't make her feel like Michael was a stranger.
On the contrary, this contrast made her feel closer to him.
She wanted to comfort him just as he had once comforted her, but after taking a single step forward, she remembered that she had no idea what was going on, and could only watch helplessly.
In contrast, Bronya stood coolly to the side, wiping sweat from her temple.
She quietly observed Michael, looking at his face which, though identical to her memory, seemed younger, more naive. Her hands clenched into tight fists.
And then there was Seele. The most important one.
"Brother Michael, you..."
For some reason, a flood of emotions welled up inside her.
Thump-thump—thump-thump—thump-thump—
The sound of her heart was clear and rapid, as if it had synchronized with someone else's.
Looking at Michael, she felt an inexplicable sadness. There was no reason for it; perhaps she was sad simply because he was sad. But why did her emotions sync so easily with his? It was truly baffling.
Of course, there were too many emotions crowding her heart; sadness was but a faint one among them.
But what puzzled her most was not the sadness, but... a sense of relief.
When she realized she harbored such a sentiment, she found it so twisted that she couldn't accept it.
Why relief?
Why would she feel relieved by Michael's pain?
For whatever reason, wasn't this a twisted emotion?
A person feels relieved by another's pain for only one reason, deep down—that person's sorrow is caused by them.
If one person hates another, they will naturally rejoice when the other falls into a sorrow of their own making.
If one person loves another deeply and longs to be loved in return, they will naturally feel relieved when the other grieves for their misfortune.
It was an emotion born of extreme distortion.
But what did this have to do with her? According to "Himeko," this was a parallel world, different from her own. The Michael here was just a familiar stranger. Why would she...
And why did she feel that this Michael's sorrow was because of her?
To so arbitrarily assign a motive to another person, wasn't that both twisted and arrogant?
No...
It wasn't...
Right, it wasn't!
She suddenly remembered.
"Himeko" had said that this world's Seele had died two days ago.
What did that prove on its own?
Nothing. But she remembered more, things from a long, long time ago.
It was two years ago, in Nagazora City, when she was kidnapped.
She vaguely remembered having a long, chaotic dream, and she might have even been conscious for a moment in the middle of it.
But what she had dreamed about that day, and what had happened during her brief moments of wakefulness, she couldn't remember at all in the past two years.
She hadn't paid it much mind. After all, it had led to a good outcome.
She had met Michael, Mei, and Kiana, and later came to St. Freya Academy, which was much better than her old orphanage... And, she had discovered her "other self," another her who could both protect her when needed and be a close, natural friend.
So, since the outcome was good, the process didn't need to be scrutinized, right? Especially since that memory wasn't a pleasant one...
That's right, it wasn't that she hadn't tried to remember.
It was that even when she wracked her brain, all she got was a blank, along with a dull ache in her chest for some reason, and tears that would fall down her cheeks without her knowing.
But now, feeling the ever-increasing heat, watching the ever-more-desperate Michael, it all came rushing back.
She remembered. That long dream was her first true contact with her other self.
In that dream, the memories of the two "Seeles," and even their very beings, had merged and intertwined.
Although they became separate individuals again upon waking, a part of the other had inevitably left its mark on her consciousness.
So she remembered.
She remembered the time the "other Seele" had spent with Michael. She remembered the sensation of being held in his arms at the end of her life—pain, unwillingness, fear, but also acceptance and peace.
And at the very, very end, she remembered Michael's face, full of tears and regret.
"So, other me, you are this world's Seele, right?" she asked softly, pressing her hand to her heart.
"Seele" didn't give a clear answer.
Of course, she didn't pretend to be silent either.
"Well? How does he look now? Isn't he foolish and pathetic?" she asked in return, silently changing the subject.
"..."
"Seele, the man before you is a complete and utter failure. Most of the things he wanted to change, he couldn't. Most of the people he wanted to save, he couldn't. He even killed with his own hands those he was supposed to save. And Seele, what you are seeing now is his most foolish, most cowardly, most self-loathing moment."
Seele raised a hand, listening to her other self's outpouring, feeling lost.
"What? Don't tell me you feel sorry for this guy? Every pitiful person has a hateful side. Of course, in his own words... a person's character is his destiny. Whether he were more vile and selfish than he is now, or more selfless and ruthless, he wouldn't be suffering like this."
Seele lowered her hand and gently thumped her chest twice. It still ached.
"That's not it."
"Heh?"
"That's not it, Seele. Seele is the same as Seele. Seele can feel Seele's emotions... Even though you keep belittling the Brother Michael you knew, you're also heartbroken, and you're also relieved, right? If not, then how could Seele feel these things?"
The other Seele was speechless.
A triumphant smile appeared on Seele's face, though if she had a choice, she would have wished none of this had ever happened.
She walked slowly toward Michael. She didn't know if she could do it, or how much she could do. She only knew that she had to get Brother Michael back on his feet, and then, defeat the Herrscher.
But as she took her first step, her entire body suddenly trembled. A wave of anger ignited from the deepest part of her heart and blazed out of control, making her chest feel scorchingly hot.
"Seele, you—"
"Shh! Even though it's been... when it really comes to this moment, I still can't let it go."
The other Seele's voice was ethereal and sad. As for the anger, it was already beyond words.
And so, everyone watched as "Seele" strode up to Michael, grabbed him by the collar, and slapped him hard across the face.