The Next Day
Mei couldn't wait and knocked on Shiraha's door. Though she still looked a little tired, like she'd spent half the night tossing and turning, her mind running wild.
Shiraha opened the door, looking just as bleary-eyed. He hadn't slept either. The moment the words "holographic projection" had left the Raven's mouth, he couldn't stop wondering about the possibility of the Elysian Realm.
And the thought of another Elysia-nee inside the Elysian Realm just made him want to laugh for no reason.
Mei looked at Shiraha, the corners of her lips tugging upward. "Looks like we're on the same wavelength after all."
"It's holographic projection. Kind of hard not to be curious, right?"
Shiraha broke into a grin, but it was quickly smothered by Mei's cool little hand pressing over his mouth.
Mei made a shushing gesture, then cautiously glanced left and right. Dad wasn't around.
She lowered her voice. "Keep it down. If my dad finds out about this, how am I supposed to face delinquent senpai at school?"
'Honestly, if a buyout actually happened, the delinquent senpai really would become your subordinate. But ME Corp acquiring World Serpent...' Shiraha felt another inexplicable urge to laugh.
He nodded obediently. "True. She might be a delinquent, but we still have to keep our word. Otherwise, we'd be worse than a delinquent."
At breakfast, the two were clearly still preoccupied. But both looked eager and happy, so it had to be something good.
Ryoma Raiden wanted to ask. He held back. Give it a couple more days, then look into it... Yes, a couple more days. He wasn't an overly controlling father. He told himself this.
The two children no longer had a private car for school, after the kidnapping incident, the Raiden residence had moved closer to the school. Just a few minutes on foot.
Mei bought three popsicles again.
"No more chauffeur is seriously the best."
She spoke around her popsicle, voice muffled, then handed Shiraha two.
One for Shiraha. One for the fierce ghost.
"True. Back in the old days, right after breakfast, whether it was the butler or Uncle Ryoma, there's no way they'd let us have popsicles."
Shiraha took the popsicles and expertly lifted one up to Elysia's lips, full of anticipation.
Just like always, the two walked onto campus. Chiba Academy's elementary division didn't have hall monitors, so most people simply looked puzzled at Shiraha holding one popsicle high in the air but no one asked questions.
After all, standing right next to Shiraha was, Raiden Mei, who could flip a person over her shoulder with one hand!
By the time they reached the classroom, the popsicles were finished. Shiraha tossed the sticks into the trash and gazed toward the clubroom from afar. For the first time ever, the urge to skip class surfaced in his mind.
But Shiraha held it in. "Nee-chan, are you planning to listen in and review fourth-grade material today?"
He didn't go to his seat. Instead, he squeezed in next to Elysia by the window, habitually talking to himself. His voice wasn't loud, classmates could hear Shiraha speaking, but not what he was saying.
Elysia shook her head. "No thanks. Fourth-grade material honestly doesn't give me much novelty. I think I'd rather work on my sketching."
Back when she'd followed Shiraha through his high school review, she'd occasionally ask a question or two. Elementary knowledge had just come along with it... Elementary material really wasn't hard.
Shiraha had been waiting for exactly this!
"Nee-chan, fourth-grade material doesn't do much for me either..." He paused. "And spending nearly seven or eight hours a day in the classroom, it's honestly a bit of a waste."
Elysia thought Shiraha had a point, but he shouldn't have said it that way. With his childlike appearance, phrasing it like that stripped away too much of the childish charm.
A kid should say "class is so boring." Not talk about poor time management.
"So?"
But the thought was too "adult" in nature. Elysia didn't voice it either. She felt like saying it would ruin the mood.
Shiraha's eyes brimmed with anticipation. "Nee-chan, I'm kind of curious about your past. And stories about the other great heroes. Could you... tell me about them?"
That's it?
Elysia fell silent for a moment. Looking at Shiraha's curious gaze, she smiled brightly. She didn't refuse.
Finally curious about your big sister's past, are you?
Shiraha... you've got more patience than I imagined.
"You should already know some things about me. So I won't spend too much time on the Vostok incident♪."
She leaned against the window frame, the morning light making her long hair glow translucent. Perhaps due to the nature of her existence, Elysia often had a faint, nearly transparent quality about her, making her appear even fairer than usual.
"Anyone curious about me has probably dug up every scrap of accessible data and pored over it again and again." She drew out her words. "Am I right, Shiraha?"
Shiraha nodded, not flinching from Elysia's knowing, half-smiling gaze.
"That's true. The Vostok-51 eruption... that's always been an unsolved mystery within the Fire Moth."
His expression was earnest.
Elysia's expression stiffened.
"Ahem who knows? Perhaps it was precisely because of that eruption that the young me developed such extraordinary talent."
Elysia didn't delve deeper into the eruption. Shiraha held her in high regard, after all. She wasn't about to reenact the whole "Origin voluntarily revealing herself" scenario.
As for her mysteries... a special MANTIS ability! She was File 002 in the archives!
Shiraha didn't press further either. He genuinely wasn't curious. He'd already read the script.
"Then let's start from when I was wandering."
With great patience, Elysia began recounting her past, from her wandering days, all the way to adulthood. Everything she'd encountered. The beautiful and lovely. The dreadful and ugly.
No matter what the event, Elysia could always describe it in adorable words. Wishes made beneath the starry sky. Prayers for the future by the riverside.
Her maiden heart. All the little stories of young Elysia.
And her first meetings with everyone.
"Nee-chan and Eden really were close."
Shiraha couldn't help but remark.
Elysia leaned down with a playful smile, her long hair cascading forward. "Is Shiraha jealous? Jealous that I'm so close with the big superstar or perhaps jealous that the big superstar is so close with me?"
Plenty of people had envied that. Eden was a world-famous celebrity, after all. And Elysia and Eden were the closest of friends. Some envied Eden. Some envied Elysia.
Shiraha deliberately turned his face away, feigning indifference. "Could Nee-chan tell me how you and the big superstar first met? I'm... a little curious."
Elysia's dimpled smile deepened. She didn't call him out on it. She drifted into her memories, though a helpless sigh escaped her first. Only then did she slowly begin.
"Eden..." Her voice softened. "Eden was also the stubborn type. In the end, she probably chose to be buried alongside art and civilization... Never mind. Let's talk about the happy times instead."
She paused, then blinked. "If Shiraha's truly curious, I could tell you a few of Eden's little secrets, too."
Shiraha listened intently, mentally recording every word. This is all useful! From what he knew of the Elysian Realm storyline, Eden was normally the kindest, she even frequently appeared as the newbie guide.
But his political instincts had always been sharp!
He lifted his face, his voice earnest. "I'm more curious about Nee-chan's side of things!"
"For instance, how did Eden first meet Nee-chan? Because from what I recall, even during the superstar's lowest period, there shouldn't have been much overlap between you two."
Elysia blinked. Are you complimenting me or taking a jab at me?
But she didn't dwell on it. The fairy-like Miss Elf leaned back against the window frame, one leg swinging idly, and began her story.
It's all dust from the past, anyway. No harm in telling Shiraha.