Six people plus one fox crammed into a small window.
Soon, Mei and Yuna wobbled back to the side. Mei had expected there'd be more people like her, but after a moment, she realized only she and Yuna had stepped back.
Mei was quiet for a moment, her cheeks flushing slightly, then forced herself to squeeze back in.
Shiraha said softly: "Let's go in and take a look."
He was genuinely curious, what was Schicksal trying to accomplish with all this effort?
The window was large, big enough to fit six small heads. After Shiraha pushed it open, he used telekinesis to probe the ground ahead, no traps.
He flipped over the sill, adjusted his center of gravity midair, and landed lightly on the floor with almost no sound.
Kiana followed close behind, her movements clean and sharp. With one hand bracing the window frame, she dropped down like a nimble cat, bending her knees slightly to absorb the impact.
"Something's off."
Kiana grabbed Shiraha's arm, lowering her voice.
If a disappearance had happened just a few days ago, there should've been some signs left behind.
At least some trace of recent activity, but the formaldehyde jars only seemed to contain old specimens.
Fu Hua landed too, deliberately staggering a couple of steps, not too perfect.
"Two Honkai beasts."
Elysia reported quietly... that's not cheating!
Shiraha nodded and shook his head toward the window, signaling Mei to stay put.
Yae Sakura understood immediately, she didn't jump down either, just kept scanning the surroundings.
As for Mei, she could stay put for now.
Fu Hua swallowed: "Shouldn't we call the police now?"
Shiraha shook his head: "Not yet. If the cops come, we won't know what happened here."
Kiana agreed with a nod, little Kiana didn't yet have a clear understanding of ME Corp's influence.
"Andrei, born 1976, infected by Honkai in the Central Siberian Plateau in 2000..."
Shiraha read the label on a formaldehyde cylinder and suddenly paused, aimed at Kiana?
Not at me?
Is Origin that low on the totem pole?
"Yeah." Kiana responded from beside him: "I heard about it when I was wandering through Siberia. They say a major Honkai eruption happened in 2000, less than a hundred survivors from the Siberian plains. Everyone on the Central Siberian Plateau had a brush with death."
Logically, those people should've been grateful to whoever saved them, but they never had that chance. The areas around Siberia had fallen into complete chaos.
Kiana clearly regretted it as she spoke—she would have loved to change things there if she could, but little Kiana obviously didn't have that kind of power.
Fu Hua stood nearby: "There seems to be a record over here."
She was about to read from the script when the body in the formaldehyde jar suddenly twitched. That movement naturally didn't escape Fu Hua.
Her expression stiffened—Otto, what are you doing?
Why is your plan going off the rails again?
Before she could finish her internal complaint, the rapidly zombifying corpse shattered the glass. The purple markings on its body began to spread, and a large amount of formaldehyde spilled out, acrid and pungent.
Bang!
Kiana's expression stayed steady. Before the Honkai beast could fully regain mobility, she'd already charged through the chemical puddle, shoving the barrel of her gun precisely into its mouth.
She pulled the trigger.
The head burst apart, gray matter mixed with red. From a distance, Yuna's legs gave way, and if Yae Sakura hadn't caught her, she'd have fallen right then and there.
"Knew it was a trap."
Kiana looked confident. When she'd entered the warehouse and found no one, she'd already sensed something was wrong.
Fu Hua took a deep breath, then felt a tap on her shoulder. Shiraha said reassuringly: "It's okay to tremble. It's okay to breathe unevenly. You're only in first year of middle school."
Oh—oh! Fu Hua's shoulders trembled slightly, her breathing grew uneven, no longer so perfectly measured.
Kiana glanced at Fu Hua, then guessed: "Looks like these are remnants from the Second Eruption, they fled here."
Shiraha nodded, about to respond, but the mutated corpse seemed to set off a domino effect across the massive warehouse.
The sound of glass shattering one after another made Fu Hua curse internally, so many Honkai beasts, can Shiraha and Kiana really handle this?
Won't I have to expose myself?
Kiana's expression grew serious. She instinctively stepped forward: "Shiraha, you should—"
Shiraha extended his hand, index and middle fingers together, childlike but deliberate.
Bang!
The sound wasn't loud, but the head of the transforming beast in the distance burst open. Its body swayed and silently collapsed into the puddle of formaldehyde.
He had no interest in playing with these small fry. He just wanted to see what materials were left here, even if they'd been tampered with.
Bang. Another one down.
Far more efficient than a gun, invisible, intangible. The precision of his telekinetic bursts made Kiana's eyes go wide...
She suddenly felt that what she'd said at noon might have been a little rude.
What if Shiraha's other personality got mad, would her little head go pop?
"Don't worry, Rin-nee, I've got this."
Shiraha called toward the window. Yae Sakura's hand, which had been gripping her sword hilt, slowly relaxed.
Mei was still standing on tiptoe at the window, staring blankly... lost in thought. Yuna had already gone weak and hadn't seen anything, she was pale-faced, breathing heavily.
"Shi- Shiraha?"
Fu Hua's voice trembled, she was getting into character fast.
Shiraha smiled back: "It's okay. I'm here."
Fu Hua: ...
Is that really the right thing to say right now? She couldn't quite figure out kids' thought processes these days.
Shiraha counted silently in his mind, twelve bodies. During the Second Eruption back in 2000, thanks to Cecilia's sacrifice, the death toll outside the Siberian plains was less than three thousand.
As for the number of infected, it might have been higher. But was Otto even collecting those too?
For research on the Holy Blood? Or something else?
At that moment, Kiana naturally yielded command, standing quietly to the side, looking well-behaved and adorable, a stark contrast to the Icefield Wolf King from moments ago.
Shiraha cleaned up the area a bit, using telekinesis to gather the formaldehyde spreading across the floor, along with the blood, and dumped it all into the drain.
Then Shiraha walked to the center. A large computer screen was on, displaying data on the Honkai-beast transformation process.
Shiraha couldn't read it, he'd studied some biology, but he couldn't make sense of the detailed human-body-change data.
Kiana leaned in, more interested in the text: "Second Herrscher Sirin, Cecilia."
She tapped her head, she vaguely remembered that in the family photo her dad often looked at, her mother's name seemed to be... Cecilia.
That name felt close to her. Even though her memories of the past were blurry, simply saying it, even thinking it, made her feel a longing.
She kept reading: "Second Herrscher Sirin killed... Cecilia?"
Shiraha interrupted: "Kiana, don't forget to watch our surroundings."
The owner of this warehouse hadn't appeared yet, those two Honkai beasts Elysia had detected earlier.
Was it because they were all kids... so Otto had ended this little drama so simply? What was he trying to do? Or was he just planting a seed?
Kiana barely spared a sliver of attention to their surroundings, then kept reading. This intel gave her a rough outline of the Second Eruption.
She couldn't even piece together a full story, she could only fill in the blanks herself.
Shiraha had no choice but to wrap up this little act himself.
He continued exploring the warehouse until he discovered a cellar underneath, filled with various observation instruments. Two Honkai beasts roamed inside.
Without hesitation, Shiraha raised his index and middle fingers,
Bang ×2
The two beasts fell silently.
Down here, Shiraha found some "more classified intel": the birth of the First Herrscher, and the destruction he caused in Manhattan in 1955.
At the end of the log was a single line:
[Anti-Entropy, an organization founded by the First Herrscher. Its ME Corp branch operates multiple laboratories in the Academy City area, researching the mysteries of the human body in cooperation with several orphanages.]
[The death toll in various orphanages has already exceeded double digits...]
Shiraha blinked.
He suddenly had a realization, muttering quietly: "I just remembered, I'm not even 10 yet."
Beside him, Elysia looked a little melancholy, placing one hand on Shiraha's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Yeah soon you'll be 10. Then just two more years, and after a few years of study, my self-made but underage little brother will be all grown up.
But now wasn't the time for that. Elysia whispered: "Isn't this sow-discord tactic a bit too crude?"
Shiraha murmured back: "No, because treating illnesses in orphanages can kill people... it's normal for people to die in orphanages. And kids wouldn't notice, they'd just assume adults are all-powerful."
Though saying that sounded harsh.
Shiraha was silent for a moment, hearing footsteps from above. He raised his hand like a gun again
Bang!
He destroyed everything down below. Shiraha decided to play along with Otto and see how he'd try to make contact later.
"Shiraha, are you okay?" Fu Hua called down, timing it just right.
"I'm fine. There were two beasts down here, startled me at first, but luckily I reacted fast and took them both out."
Shiraha said it lightly, though his expression was slightly off.
"You go on up, Fu Hua. I'll be right there."
Fu Hua seemed reluctant, but as an isolated "gloomy girl," she had no reason to linger.
Shiraha thought to himself: Next, I should probably ask about the orphanages, then secretly investigate the labs, and make sure Fu Hua catches me in the act.
He muttered to himself. Elysia's lips twitched.
Her self-made little brother was great in every way, but sometimes he gave you that "illusion shattered" feeling.
Ten minutes later, the group climbed back out through the window using a stool.
Everyone was quiet, lost in their own thoughts.
Finally, Yae Sakura broke the silence: "Are you going to tell Ryoma Raiden?"
Shiraha seemed to snap back to attention, quickly pulling out his phone and informing Uncle Ryoma.
Then he looked at Mei: "This victory, Mei should get the most credit!"
Mei forced a weak smile. Even Kiana wasn't in the mood to argue about why Mei deserved top credit.
Everyone had their own heavy thoughts.
Elysia, on the other hand, was quite happy. She still didn't fully understand what had happened today, but all these kids seemed to have found something more important than romance.
Shiraha jumped down first, catching the most fragile Yuna, "Yuno, we'll walk you home."
Yuna nodded, true. At the most critical moments, Shiraha was always the most reassuring. You never saw panic on his face... whether at school or somewhere like this, it was always the same expression.
Calm. Steady. Unchanging.
They didn't walk home, the smell on them was too strong. This time, they asked Uncle Ryoma for a ride.
Ryoma Raiden came to pick them up personally.
Looking at the group of kids, his eyes lit up when he spotted Fu Hua. He'd been worried Shiraha would always be surrounded by girls, having a boy around was great. At least it made the friend circle look more normal, less a flock of twittering women.
A single crimson feather drifted down. Shiraha didn't react. Ryoma spoke kindly: "Fu Hua and Yuna, right? Thank you for looking after my kids lately."
Their smell was so strong that whoever drove them would probably need a deep clean of the car.
He was about to hand out money for the kids to buy some new clothes, but felt it might be inappropriate. It didn't matter, he'd drive them home and talk to their parents directly.
His own daughter, she seemed to have something weighing on her mind today.
By the time everything was settled and Shiraha got home, it was already 8 PM. Mei had come back without a word, changed her shoes, and headed straight to the training hall, swinging her sword alone with all her might.
She really couldn't do a single thing!
Even that traitor Kiana hadn't been scared by what they'd seen, but she had.
Shiraha walked over, pulled the door open, but didn't go in. He just leaned against the frame.
Elysia sat beside him, watching Mei swing her sword alone.
She whispered: "What are you thinking about?"
Shiraha was watching Mei, but his mind was on Schicksal.
"I was thinking about what Nee-chan..."
Elysia's voice suddenly rose slightly, with a deliberately exaggerated note of surprise: "Thinking about me?"
Shiraha's words caught in his throat.
He was quiet for a moment, then nodded: "Yeah, thinking about Nee-chan."
Elysia rested her cheek on her hand, her starry eyes curving: "Alright, I'll stop teasing you."
Her gaze shifted to the small figure in the training hall, a nostalgic look in her eyes: "Mei seems a bit upset."
Shiraha understood completely: "After all, Mei is a true blue-blooded young lady."
Before encountering Honkai, Mei had been radiant, the Raiden Queen bearing the Hokushin Ittō-ryū. Even though she'd always been in her chuunibyou phase, Mei really did believe she was invincible.
Even Shiraha had only surpassed her because of his ghost friend, until Kiana's performance today shattered her illusions entirely.
"Aren't you going to comfort her?" Elysia's voice was playful, her starry eyes narrowing: "I feel like this would be a great time to raise affection."
Shiraha shook his head: "Nee-chan, do you remember our bet?"
Elysia blinked, what bet?
"Mei-nee was the first person I met after meeting Nee-chan." Shiraha lifted his head: "I bet that Mei-nee will become a pillar of this era in the future!"
"And I don't like a Mei-nee who's so weak she can only rely on her little brother Shiraha, that's not cute at all."
"I hate the word 'appendage.' Mei-nee is the perfect natural Stigma bearer born from all those years of research by Dr. MEI and Mobius, if she doesn't work hard now, she'll regret it later."
Elysia tilted her head, looking at Shiraha's profile, so arrogant, little guy.
But looking closer, his features were much more defined than a year ago. The line of his jaw was starting to sharpen, in another two years, he wouldn't be a kid at all.
Sigh~~