Chapter 213 : Chapter 213 Help me tie my hair
The youth gazed at the girl's face for a long time, feeling the warmth radiating from those small hands. After a moment of hesitation, he held her hand back.
"...Mm, I understand. Thank you, Herta."
"You've said 'thank you' to me dozens of times already. If you want to thank me, then come study new knowledge with me!"
"Okay."
The girl pulled the youth's hand, her smile bright and warm, quietly melting the ice that had been spreading in his heart.
"How could this be..."
Herta stumbled back two steps.
"How could I forget the stories I told him...?"
Hearing her past self recount a story that was both strange and familiar, a strong sense of incongruity quickly swallowed her whole.
What made it even harder to believe was that the protagonist of the story overlapped perfectly with Qi Zhimu's backstory.
He said he was a man-eating magician; the young magician in the story was misunderstood and hurt, and so he accepted that title.
In reality, the young magician didn't eat people at all.
Qi Zhimu kept saying he loved eating little brats like her, but in reality, she had never seen him eat a person.
The food he ate was the same as an Original Human's, and he would even make Fog City-style breakfast for her.
Herta couldn't help but suspect that Qi Zhimu's claim that Quasi-Substance Humans tasted bad was a lie.
"Where on earth did I hear this story... and who was the creator... Why do I have no Remembrance?!"
Or was it that the scenes she was seeing now were all fake?
How much more had she forgotten, and why?
Was there actually a connection between Qi Zhimu and Mu? If so, what was it?
The Mu in her memories and the Mr. Magician she had spent barely half a month with never quite aligned perfectly in her mind.
Their appearances and personalities all had obvious differences to varying degrees.
Especially their personalities; it was impossible to link them together.
Mr. Magician was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, liked to use biting words, yet his body would silently perform caring actions, and his style was flamboyant.
Whereas Mu almost never had large emotional fluctuations; he was introverted and a man of few words.
In her impression, the number of times he had smiled could be counted on one hand.
If she had to find common ground, it was that they both had the character 'Mu' in their names, preferred actions over words, and were men of their word.
But those couldn't be called extremely rare personal traits.
As she thought about it, Herta realized an important matter she had overlooked.
She... actually couldn't remember Mu's full name...
「Brother Mu, today's study tasks are finished! The weather is nice and break time is limited, can you play badminton with Little Ta?」
「Sure.」
「I'm sorry, I accidentally hit the birdie into the tree...」
「I'll climb up and get it.」
The youth climbed up the trunk, but a branch snapped, and he fell into the snow along with the birdie and a pile of snow.
「Brother Mu! Are you okay?!」
Little Herta dropped her racket and ran over, helping Mu up from the snow while checking him over with a worried face.
「...I'm fine.」 Mu casually brushed the snow off his clothes.
「Your hand is cut, and you call that fine?」
Without allowing any argument, the girl took the youth's cut left index finger into her mouth.
「...」
Mu's body trembled.
The warm moisture on his fingertip made him quite uncomfortable, and the tips of his ears gradually turned red.
The girl didn't notice his abnormality. Seeing that the bleeding had stopped, she took a band-aid from her pocket and carefully applied it to the youth.
「There we go~」
Mu really wanted to say that for such a small wound, using a band-aid would actually prolong the healing time.
But seeing the concern on the girl's face and feeling the warmth she brought, he suddenly felt that he shouldn't say those words.
「Let's continue, Her... Little Ta.」
「Is it really okay?」
「Even if my left arm was broken, I still have my right hand to play with you.」
「Pah, pah, pah! Don't say things like that!」
"..."
Herta remembered.
Before the day the world collapsed, her parents had arranged for Mu to attend the same school as her.
Later on, they simply had him move into their home.
Private elementary schools in Fog City, like public ones, covered ages 4 to 11.
Every morning, Mu would go to school with her, and every evening, they would return home together.
In this way, they became more and more familiar, living an ordinary life as childhood sweethearts.
On her 7th birthday, as they were heading out to school as usual, Mu suddenly stopped in his tracks.
「...This is for you.」
The girl took the small box the youth handed her and opened it with a delighted face.
The items inside weren't complex, but they nearly filled the entire space.
Hair ribbons of various colors, several cute hairpins, a wooden comb, as well as moisturizer, hand cream, and other items.
In short, everything a girl would need to dress up was there.
「Thank you, Brother Mu. Little Ta likes them very much, but... why did you give so many?」
The dazzling array of small gifts left her eyes wandering.
The youth answered honestly:
「Auntie said any one of these would be fine, but I didn't know which one you liked best, so I just bought them all.」
「...」
Hearing those simple and honest words, the girl stood dazed, her heart feeling warm.
「...It was too expensive.」
「It wasn't. Uncle helped me apply for patents for the medical papers and prescriptions I wrote. There was prize money, so buying these gifts didn't cost much.」
The youth shook his head and said seriously:
「I actually planned to give you another gift, but Auntie made me return it.」
「Ah? What was it?」
「A custom-made, Reusable Mechanical Exoskeleton Suit that can arm the entire body.」
「Uh...」 Little Herta suddenly didn't know what to say.
She knew about that thing; the price was extremely high. She also knew why her mother had returned the order.
The price wasn't the main issue; the main issue was—she was still small!
Her body was growing and might change every year.
A custom-made exoskeleton suit not only had nowhere to be used, but by the time it gathered enough dust, the size would be wrong.
When the time came to sell it second-hand, it was unlikely anyone would want it.
After all... what kind of family would give a child still in elementary school something like that?
Brother Mu's medical mind was very developed, but in some aspects, he was a bit... rigid.
But despite everything, she was still very, very happy that he had this intention.
「Silly Brother Mu, don't talk about that. Quickly, help me tie my hair up. Use the hair ribbon you gave me~~」
「...I don't know how.」
「It's okay, I'll teach you.」
The youth did not refuse. After thinking for a moment, he picked up a purple hair ribbon.
Under the girl's guidance, he tied it to a strand of her smooth long hair as an ornament.
The wind did not bring a chill, only the faint, fresh scent of soap from the youth.
Seeing his fingers seriously fiddling with the hair at the side of her face, an emotion that neither of them realized welled up in Little Herta's charming purple eyes.
The coldness knew warmth, and the falling snow was also gentle.
The girl took the youth's hand, their fingers interlaced, as they walked toward the school campus together.
When they returned home as the sky grew dark, her parents held a warm birthday banquet for her.
Everyone thought that days like this would continue forever.
Unexpectedly, as they were preparing to sleep that night, an emergency summons came from the United Government.
「Little Ta, Mommy and Daddy have a sudden mission and must go far away to work for six months or even a year. While we're away, don't play too much.」
「Little Ta knows.」
「During that time, Mommy will hire a housekeeper to take care of your meals.」
「There's no need, Auntie. Anything a housekeeper can do, I can do as well.」
The youth's face held a steadiness that didn't match his age. His simple words, while surprising the two adults, also made them believe him without doubt.
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