"Eden, you're wearing a face mask~"
After coming out of the bathroom, Pardofelis nimbly climbed onto the bed and immediately noticed the sheet mask covering Eden's face. It was the first time she'd ever seen someone use one right in front of her.
"Mhm."
Hearing Pardofelis, Eden woke her phone screen and checked the time. Seeing that it'd been on long enough, she peeled the mask off and nodded. "Yeah. Once you reach my age, you've got to start taking care of your skin."
She glanced at Pardofelis. "You're still young, so you don't need to worry about that yet. Neither do those two next door."
At the thought of Durandal and Elysia in the next room, the corner of Eden's mouth twitched.
Those two were practically beyond human at this point. Naturally, they had no need for such mundane little precautions.
"Huh? Why? You're not even that old, Eden. And is that leader you mentioned around my age too?"
Maybe the time Pardofelis had spent unconscious earlier counted as sleep, because she was wide awake now. She'd always preferred moving around at night anyway, so she didn't feel sleepy in the slightest.
Since Pardofelis was clearly in the mood to talk, Eden was more than happy to go along with it. She'd already planned to use this chance to get closer to the girl. And when Pardofelis said she wasn't that old, the slight lift at the corner of Eden's lips made it clear she appreciated the compliment.
"No. They're probably a little older than you. They're adults, at least. It's just that they aren't ordinary people, so they don't need to take care of themselves this way. As for me, while I'm not exactly old, it's always better to start early when it comes to skincare."
Eden didn't explain what made Durandal and Elysia so unusual. Doing so would mean getting into the nature of Honkai and Schicksal itself, and since she was still hoping to coax Pardofelis into joining the organization, she certainly wasn't going to bring up things that might scare her off.
"Speaking of being an adult…"
Pardofelis seemed to think of yet another excuse to reject her. "Look, Eden, I'm only fifteen. I've still got three years before I'm an adult, and in some places it's five! You said you wanted to keep me by your side and teach me how to become an entrepreneur, but that'd be child labor. That's illegal! So really, I'm rejecting you for your own good!"
She even nodded to herself as she spoke, apparently managing to convince herself in the process.
If Eden had a worse temper, she might've thrown the used face mask straight onto Pardofelis's face.
Fortunately, Eden had excellent self-control. She simply got up, tossed the mask into the trash, then turned back toward Pardofelis.
"First, you said it yourself. I'm taking you with me to teach you how to become an entrepreneur. That's not employment. That's taking on an apprentice! Aren't you supposed to be learning at your age?
"Second, Schicksal is going to cooperate with governments across different regions. If you join, I can arrange an official identity for you. You won't have to remain an unregistered resident of Sundown Alley anymore, and I can even get you a high school diploma and the chance to continue your studies at a university later. Schicksal already has several members in situations similar to yours, and that's exactly how we handled things for them."
Eden took out her phone, opened the photo gallery, and pulled up pictures of Hua and Carole before showing them to Pardofelis.
"These two are actually a year younger than you. They're fourteen. See their uniforms? Don't they look a little like the one I wore before? I designed those uniforms for Schicksal's members."
"There's a standard base design, but we allow a certain amount of customization. That way, you can tell at a glance that everyone belongs to the same organization while still letting each person keep their own style.
"The gray-haired girl on the left is Hua. Her uniform includes some elements inspired by traditional training clothes from Shenzhou."
"The white-haired girl on the right with the darker skin is Carole. Hers is much flashier, which suits someone her age, and it's got plenty of cute little accessories. As for you, if you joined…"
Eden rubbed her chin and studied Pardofelis for a moment before continuing. "I think you should focus on getting healthier first. Once you've grown a little more, I'll definitely design you a cool, breezy uniform. You'll get a one-hundred-percent head-turn rate whenever you walk down the street."
At first, Pardofelis thought that sounded pretty great. She hated the heat, after all, so cooler clothes were always welcome.
But the instant Eden mentioned a "one-hundred-percent head-turn rate," Pardofelis shuddered awake from that pleasant little fantasy and started shaking her head as hard as she could.
"No, no, no! Eden, I think the way I dress now is perfectly fine. I don't need anyone turning their head to look at me!"
"Really? But…"
Eden suddenly leaned closer and brushed aside the light brown bangs that partly covered Pardofelis's eyes. A smile tugged at her lips.
"I knew it. My eyes never fail me. Felis, you're a very cute girl. You should have more confidence in yourself."
"C-Cute…?"
Caught completely off guard by Eden's sudden gesture and words, Pardofelis flushed bright red and jerked backward.
Unfortunately, she'd forgotten that she was sitting on a bed. There wasn't a wall beside her to stop her fall.
A sudden feeling of weightlessness washed over her. She was seconds away from repeating the humiliating scene from earlier that day at the sanatorium, when she'd fallen flat on her back.
Pardofelis squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the pain—and the humiliation—only for a slender but strong hand to catch her in time.
Eden gave her a mildly exasperated look. "You little thing. How are you this careless all the time? I'm starting to wonder how someone this clumsy managed to grow up safely in a place like Sundown Alley!"
Pardofelis looked a little embarrassed.
She wanted to explain that she normally wasn't like this. For some reason, accidents had just kept happening one after another today. Maybe all the good luck that'd helped her escape danger again and again in the past had finally run out.
But if Pardofelis thought about it from another angle, she'd realize everything that'd happened today was proof of just how lucky she really was.
There was another reason she couldn't speak, though.
Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, beating so hard and fast that it felt as if she still hadn't recovered from the fright. She couldn't get the words out at all.
It was just a near fall, wasn't it?
Did it really need to scare her that badly?
Pardofelis quietly pressed a hand to her chest. Then she remembered that she'd been shot there earlier.
A coin had blocked the bullet, but it hadn't stopped the impact, and the pain had still made her grit her teeth at the time.
So maybe she'd been left with a few lingering effects.
Like being easier to scare.
That explanation made sense too.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL