After getting to know Otto, Vester ushered in a relatively cozy period of time.
Under Nicholas’s secret instigation, the blonde girl’s parents completely abandoned their discipline over her, and she was completely isolated in this courtyard as if she had been forgotten by everyone.
Such a life might be a bit depressing, but never having to work or study, and having every need catered to made up for it.
Thus, imperceptibly, the grapes on the table lost their green vines, the green leaves on the branches sprouted a hint of yellow, and the sky was stained dim yellow early amidst the bell chimes.
A gust of wind brushed past the blonde girl’s neck, causing her to subconsciously reach out and grab at it, but the wind slipped away swiftly from between her fingers.
She couldn’t grasp the wind, just as she couldn’t grasp time.
Vester only then suddenly realized that summer had actually ended just like that.
Then, aside from the pampered young master’s life of eating and drinking, what else had she done?
The answer was — playing with a kid.
This is a story from when Vester and Otto were still little, and the anomaly was still far away.
Otto, who had never felt what love was and had never been understood by anyone, waited for the first person to recognize him and the first person to support him after forging ahead in loneliness for who knows how many years.
Vester, who was ready to make a big splash after restarting, hit a wall several times while trying to get on good terms with the locals, only to encounter the historically strongest Archbishop in Honkai Impact 3rd as if finding a new lease on life.
Of course, Vester, who had been disabled for a lifetime previously and had recently been isolated, was no better off herself.
The two of them could be said to be kindred spirits who hit it off immediately and started messing around together right away.
Vester had blindly played around with Otto for almost three months.
Not having to rush around for a livelihood, having both money and leisure, and occasionally teasing a kid—this should have been the life she wanted most in her past life, but she felt a sense of emptiness instead.
After all, these things were only what the her who had chosen to compromise looked forward to, not what the present her wanted.
Things cannot be completely perfect, just as people cannot simultaneously possess youth and the appreciation of youth.
The irreversibility of time makes regret an unavoidable existence in life; however, even so, Vester was still able to have the best of both worlds.
She was mature because she had already compromised with the life after youth.
She was naive because, even after compromising, she still possessed the courage to dream.
Standing before you is Vester, who has died twice, returned once, and simultaneously possesses the future-sight Spring and Autumn Cicada.
Things that couldn’t be done before, let’s do them now!
“Let’s set a small goal first.”
Vester tapped on the table, roughly going over the plot she still remembered.
“Let’s figure out a way to resolve the Herrscher of Corruption first.”
As long as she could find the purple box sealing the Herrscher of Corruption a step ahead of Otto and the others, this matter could be accomplished — though that being said, Vester actually didn’t have the slightest clue about the box’s location.
It seemed this matter still required careful deliberation.
“Vester.”
Just as Vester was staring at the fruit plate and letting her mind wander, Otto had walked up beside her at some point.
Catching a glimpse of the newcomer’s somewhat hesitant expression, the blonde girl asked curiously.
“Vester, I heard a lot of people are spreading rumors about you.”
“What are they all saying?”
“They say that you, Vester, are a maniac, that you hit people with your wheelchair, and that you even hang people up on trees to whip them.”
“…”
Goodness gracious, children, this is literally her.
Just last week, Vester had hung those bratty kids who blocked her door to attempt bullying her on the crooked-neck tree at the entrance, and used a copper-headed belt to whip them into that spinning chicken cutlet accompanied by “Funky Town” from internet memes.
‘How dare they still talk nonsense everywhere, they’ve really lost face now, if I had known, I would’ve whipped them for another half hour!’
Vester didn’t care what others thought of her; what she cared more about was Otto’s attitude.
‘Judging from how deeply affectionate Otto is toward Kallen, the type of person he likes must be upright and kind.’
‘Gua, it would be bad if Otto distances himself from me because of this!’
Noticing Otto’s pensive look, a sense of crisis inexplicably arose in the blonde girl’s heart.
‘Vester, you evil Apocalypse brat, you have no qualifications to be my friend, watch me personally—Void Archives!’
Imagining the scene of Otto holding a flaming greatsword and slashing towards her, and happening to shiver while speaking, Vester’s voice took on a tremor:
“Otto, I only have you as a friend, you can’t ignore me over something like this.”
As she spoke, she even nervously rubbed her hands together, her face full of ingratiating expressions, which in Otto’s eyes looked utterly humble.
“How could that be? Vester, you are my only friend too!”
Seeing this, Otto only felt a wave of anger—anger directed at the group spreading rumors.
‘How could Vester be such a violent person?
Why on earth are they spreading rumors about Vester?’
Thinking up to this point, Otto fell into contemplation once again.
‘Although Vester didn’t have many friends before either, no one ever did this kind of thing.’
Regarding Vester’s past, Otto had actually heard some rumors.
Born sickly, the loneliness stemming from it, not being understood by others…
In a sense, they could also be considered fellow sufferers.
‘Wait, could it be because of me?!’
Suddenly realizing something, Otto froze abruptly.
That’s right, these rumors indeed started around the time the other party became friends with him.
Otto was a precocious child, so he actually understood everything.
The so-called isolation and bullying, once formed, would create a tacit understanding among the crowd, thereby becoming an unspoken rule.
Presumably, what Vester was currently experiencing was precisely this kind of situation.
‘It’s all my fault!’
Imagining the image of Vester lowering her head and being pointed at by a group of people because of him, even Otto shed tears of blood!
“Hey, there’s no need to cry, right?”
Seeing Otto staring with his eyes wide and spurting tears, Vester almost couldn’t keep a straight face.
“I’m fine, Vester, we’re going to be friends for a lifetime.”
A lifetime, huh?
A bit interesting.
Hearing this speech with a strong sense of déjà vu, Vester didn’t think much of it.
“Alright then, what are we doing today?”
“…”
Seeing Vester recover her past vitality, Otto still frowned tightly.
Until just now, having witnessed the blonde girl’s frightened appearance, he suddenly realized something.
‘Vester’s attitude towards me is too accommodating, so accommodating that it borders on being humble.’
Vester didn’t speak, only blindly accommodating Otto.
After all, she still had to hug Otto’s thighs; if she didn’t flatter him a bit now, it would be hard to hug them once he grew up.
However, Otto did not like this kind of feeling.
Just like right now, although what Vester asked was “what do we want to do”, in her heart she didn’t take her own thoughts seriously at all.
Towards such a humble Vester, Otto grew increasingly uneasy.
On one hand, he felt that such an unfair friendship could definitely not last long.
On the other hand, as smart as he was, he had already seen the implication of ingratiation from Vester’s one-sided giving.
Precisely because he cherished this friendship, he was unable to ignore this point.
He was afraid that the redemption he had waited eight years for was actually just a mirage used by someone with ulterior motives to confuse him.
“Vester, is there anything you want to do yourself?”
“Oh my, that’s not important, Otto you want to—”
Vester chose to brush past this topic directly, but Otto happened to turn tough this time:
“Vester, why do you always ask me? Don’t you have anything you want to do yourself?”
After a burst of silence, Otto decided to clear things up today.