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Night had fallen over the Underworld, but the lights in Kenta's house remained stubbornly bright.
Kenta rubbed his temples, staring at the small crowd that had turned his "sanctuary" into a base of operations for the second night in a row. He could accept the Trailblazers—they were galactic wanderers with nowhere else to go. He could even accept Bronya, given her current existential crisis. But then his gaze landed on the purple-clad figure leaning casually against his kitchen counter.
"I can overlook everyone else," he began, his voice flat. "But you... why aren't you going back to your own home? Why are you still here?"
Seele's face flushed a vivid red. She immediately crossed her arms, her posture defensive. "Hmph! According to the plan, aren't we supposed to head to the Upper District first thing tomorrow morning? It's simply more efficient to stay here so we can move out together. Obviously!"
Liar, Kenta thought. Seele's actual internal monologue was likely screaming: 'If I'd known they were staying here yesterday, I would have crashed the party then! Damn it, Kenta!'
Kenta shrugged, but a practical problem began to surface. "Right. Efficiency. Except for the fact that I'm officially out of rooms."
He looked at the group. He had four rooms, but five guests plus himself. The most logical solution was for the two Belobogians to double up.
Will putting those two together cause an explosion? he wondered, remembering their earlier "Shura Field" clash over his arm. He briefly considered joking about someone squeezing in with him, but he looked at Stelle—who was already eyeing his bedroom door with the focus of a heat-seeking missile—and decided to keep his mouth shut for the sake of his virtue.
"Seele," Kenta finally said, "you'll have to share with Bronya tonight. Is that alright?"
Surprisingly, Seele didn't protest. "Fine. I actually have a few things I want to discuss with her anyway."
Bronya nodded, her silver-gray hair catching the dim light. "I have no objection."
Deep in the Night
Inside the guest room, the air was cool and silent. Bronya and Seele lay on the bed, back to back, the tension between them slowly dissolving into the quiet of the night. Neither was asleep.
"Seele..." Bronya whispered into the dark.
"What is it?" Seele mumbled.
Bronya took a breath and dropped a bombshell. "I was actually born in the Underworld."
"What?!" Seele flipped over instantly, sitting bolt upright.
Bronya remained still, her back to Seele. "It's true. I grew up in an orphanage down here. My memories were always hazy, a blur of grey stone and cold wind. I've lived in the Upper District for as long as I can remember... but the pieces only came back to me when I fainted today. In Kenta's arms."
Seele sat in silence for a moment, the gears turning. "Now that you mention it," she said softly, "Oleg used to tell stories... many years ago, the Architects came to the orphanage and took a child away. A 'Selection' for the next Successor."
Bronya nodded. "Yes. I was that child. I was chosen to be the next Supreme Guardian, and my past was scrubbed clean."
The ice between them didn't just melt; it evaporated. For the next few hours, the two girls talked—not as enemies or representatives of different worlds, but as two daughters of the Underworld. They shared stories of childhood scrapes, embarrassing moments, and their fears for the future.
"So," Seele said, her tone shifting as she broached the most sensitive topic of all. "How did you get to know him? How did you meet Kenta?"
Bronya paused. She let out a long, nostalgic breath. "The first time was inside the Supreme Guardian's office at Qlipoth Fort. There was a high-level meeting regarding the expansion of the Fragmentum. I was there to observe and learn."
Her eyes grew bright in the darkness. "I had heard stories of the legendary Captain of the Tenth Squad—the 'Phantom Captain.' I was curious, so I spent the entire meeting secretly stealing glances at him from behind my mother's chair. And... he caught me."
"And then what?" Seele asked, leaning in.
Bronya's face darkened with a mock scowl. "First, he gave me this incredibly gentle, charming smile. I thought, 'Oh, he's a gentleman.' Then, the very next second, he looked at my mother and said, 'Cocolia, your daughter is already peeking at handsome men at such a young age. You should really work on her discipline.'"
"Hahaha!" Seele burst out laughing. "That sounds exactly like him! The shameless jerk!"
"Exactly," Bronya agreed, her own lips curving into a smile. "I remember thinking, 'How can a human being be this bold?' But after that, he started coming by the fort to find me. He knew I was lonely and buried under a mountain of studies, so he'd sneak me out to the commercial district. He and my mother were close back then, so she usually looked the other way."
She looked up at the ceiling. "I'm grateful to him. He brought color to a childhood that was supposed to be nothing but grey stone and cold duty."
Silence settled over the room again.
"What about you, Seele?" Bronya asked. "How did you and Kenta meet?"
Seele lay back down, her gaze drifting toward her own memories. "Oh... it was a long time ago. Before the blockade..."
Seele's Memory
"My name is Seele. Just Seele. No family name..."
She had been a wild thing, a rogue orphan wandering the alleys of Rivet Town. She traded scrap for biscuits and used her sharp tongue to keep the world at a distance. Everyone knew the "Stubborn Rogue" of the orphanage.
One day, she had cornered Oleg, who was then a Silvermane Sergeant stationed below. "Uncle Oleg! I want to see the Upper District. People say it's beautiful."
Oleg, soft-hearted even then, agreed. He hid the tiny girl inside a heavy supply bag and smuggled her onto the cable car. As he stepped onto the platform in the Administrative District, a younger, black-haired man in a captain's uniform was waiting.
"Yo, Oleg. Rare to see you up here," the man said. It was Kenta.
"Kenta? What are you doing here?"
"Checking the supply lines. The front is getting tense," Kenta replied.
From inside the dark gap of the bag, Seele peeked out, her purple eyes locking onto Kenta's red ones. Kenta didn't skip a beat. He gave the bag a gentle, playful pat right on top of Seele's head and smiled. "Alright. I won't keep you. Good luck with your... luggage, Oleg."
For two days, Seele saw the wonders of the surface. She ate food that didn't taste of iron and wore clothes that weren't patched. But on the second evening, as they sat on a bench in the main plaza, they ran into Kenta again.
"Oleg, again? And you've found a little friend," Kenta remarked, crouching down to Seele's level. He had a gentle, warm smile. "Did you have fun, little one? If you want to come back, just have Oleg send word."
Seele didn't smile back. She pointed toward the grand restaurant across the street, where diners were laughing and leaving half-finished plates on the tables.
"Those people," Seele said, her voice trembling with a child's fury. "They throw away their food like it's trash."
Kenta's smile froze.
"Do you people up here even know?" she asked, a tear tracing a path through the dust on her cheek. "Do you know that people underground are starving for what you throw away?"
Kenta remained silent, the weight of her words carving a line between his eyes.
"Let's go back, Uncle," Seele whispered to Oleg. "I don't want to be here anymore."
As they turned to leave, Kenta called out to them. "Hey! Little one! What's your name?"
The girl turned her head, flinging a crystal tear into the wind. "My name is Seele. Just Seele. No family name..."
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