"Hi! Old friend, did you miss me?" Almost the instant Shun heard this sentence, the world around him shattered like glass. In the next moment, along with Otto, he was brought to another space that looked identical to the café.
It was true — the moment Shun heard that voice, he acted in zero frames. He couldn't help it. For Shun, that voice represented far too many things.
So the instant he heard it, he activated the Cosmic Juggernaut and used the surrounding environment to create a World Bubble to trap the two of them inside.
"Old friend, I miss your dam!" Right after doing all this in nearly an instant, Shun's fist smashed straight into someone's face.
A crisp "crack" rang out, clear and loud, like the hair-raising sound of bones breaking.
Just as little Senti had said, it really was a cracking sound! At this moment, Otto's body was sent flying like a kite with its string cut by Shun's extremely powerful punch. His figure drew an arc through the air and flew backward at high speed, slamming directly into the neatly arranged seats behind him.
A series of dull thuds followed as Otto's body knocked over several seats in succession before finally stopping. The originally sturdy seats instantly shattered under the powerful impact, sending wood splinters and metal fragments flying everywhere. The entire scene was a complete mess, enough to make anyone gasp.
"Hahaha, my old friend. I didn't expect that after so long, the way you welcome me upon meeting again is still the same!"
Otto climbed up from the ground. There were still traces of liquid flowing on his face — clearly the self-repair function of Soul Steel at work.
Although Shun had punched him the moment he saw him, Otto didn't seem angry at all. On the contrary, the current Otto was very happy.
"Otto… so it's you. No wonder Theresa said I wouldn't want to see that tailor. How could I have forgotten? All of Theresa's clothes were made by you…"
Shun wanted nothing more than to slap himself from last night. He and Theresa had really been chatting across servers. But things had already come to this, so there was no point dwelling on it.
He had originally planned to have Otto officiate his wedding anyway. Today's strong reaction was purely because it had happened too suddenly — like a Southerner suddenly seeing a cockroach the size of a washbasin that could also fly.
"Sigh, old friend, you still understand me so well. Even though I haven't appeared in this world for so long, you still know everything…"
There was a hidden meaning in Otto's words, and Shun naturally heard it clearly. It seemed Otto's understanding of him ran quite deep. He even knew some things that Shun himself didn't know yet.
Combined with his previous experiences, Shun already had some guesses. However… he still needed to verify them.
"When did you first meet me? Don't say it was this year… I'm not stupid."
Otto was silent for a moment. He straightened the clothes that had been messed up by Shun's punch and sat down next to him again.
"Yeah, I did call you old friend… Tell me, in this world, who else could I call an old friend?"
Shun didn't need Otto to explain any further. He directly said the name. "The Red Kite Immortal, right."
"Correct. Old friend, we really are in sync. You catch on so quickly. As expected of my dear friend, Otto Apocalypse's closest companion."
Otto happily placed his hand on Shun's shoulder, but it was immediately slapped away by Shun.
"Don't touch me. I'm actually friends with someone like you?" Shun felt extremely depressed. He was actually good friends with Otto?
"Hehe, old friend, you're joking. We are clearly the same kind of people. Don't project the things I did in the future onto the current me."
"Aren't the outrageous things you're doing right now enough?" The founding of Anti-Entropy, the Second Honkai Impact, K423 — which of these wasn't done by Otto?
"There was no other way. After waiting five hundred years, I finally met the familiar you again. Back then, you disappeared without a word, only telling me to handle things myself. I was very anxious too. Thankfully, aren't we reuniting now?"
Otto spoke in a tone that would make listeners sad and bring tears to their eyes. He really had the talent of an actor. If Shun didn't already know what kind of person he was, he might have actually believed him.
"I'm not yet the Shun you're familiar with." It was just that his future self had traveled back five hundred years, right? Shun had already accepted this fact, even though he didn't know how it was done.
But now that Otto had revealed he possessed the ability to travel through time, could the old friends who knew him also be explained?
Gray Serpent… the Previous Era, Misteln… this one he wasn't clear about since he hadn't reached her storyline in the game, but it was probably related to the Second Honkai Impact. Seele… most likely also from the Previous Era. Otto… five hundred years ago.
"Do I know Li Sushang?" Shun suddenly thought of something and asked.
"Of course. Miss Sushang was our companion for a long time. Even now, she is still sleeping in the hibernation pod that Schicksal created by imitating the Fifth Divine Key. Why? Do you want to see her?"
"Never mind. I'll wait until I actually meet her in the future. Right now, those experiences haven't happened yet. Meeting her would be pointless…"
Shun decisively rejected Otto's suggestion. Compared to who he would meet in the future and what kind of connections he would form, he was more concerned about how he had traveled through time and why he had returned to the past.
"What exactly did the me from five hundred years ago promise you? To help you revive Kallen?"
Otto smiled and didn't answer. It seemed he was unwilling to tell Shun this answer.
"Fine, if you don't want to say it, then don't. Anyway, one day in the future, I'll eventually know the answer." Since it was something said by his future self, he would let his future self decide what to say.
Fortunately, the table in front of Shun hadn't been smashed by Otto, so he took out the two sketches and placed them on the table.
"Let's not talk about anything else for now. Since Theresa called you here, let's get down to business first. As long as you don't cause trouble in front of me, I can't be bothered to deal with you."
In fact, Shun no longer needed to fear Otto at all. The reason he was so guarded against this guy was mainly out of caution and respect for a master schemer.
"Of course. Today I promised my little Theresa, after all. She is Schicksal's second-in-line successor — my most beloved dear granddaughter."
Otto took the sketches Shun handed over and immediately entered work mode. Having lived for five hundred years, he had made countless outfits for Theresa and Kallen during that time. At this moment, he was the greatest tailor in the world.
"You're the professional. How to modify them specifically is up to you… Also, Theresa is second? Then who's first…"
Seeing Otto raise an eyebrow at him, Shun immediately knew the answer.