Inside the Herta Space Station, a cheerful cacophony assaulted the ears, completely shattering the usual quiet atmosphere of the research hub.
“Certain.
♪ Actually, not quite certain yet.
♪ Just a flutter of the heart when our eyes meet.
♪ Missing you when you are out of sight, searching for you in the crowd, only to pretend not to notice when I finally find you.
♪”
A prominent vein throbbed violently against Herta’s forehead.
She stood rigid, glaring daggers at the Emanator of Beauty standing right in front of her.
The figure possessed eyes, brows, and facial contours that were an absolute, flawless mirror image of her own.
Her head buzzed with a rising pressure, threatening to split open into a full-blown migraine.
“Enough!
Stop singing!” She ground her teeth together, forcing the words out one agonizing syllable at a time.
Kazuki completely ignored her mounting fury.
His tune only grew more upbeat and saccharine as he continued to serenade the room.
“Must maintain charm.
♪ Now far, now near.
♪ Cannot offer favors too easily.
♪ Must be as sweet as a peach.
♪ Read more books, enrich yourself to be more perfect.
♪”
Keeping the rhythm of the pop song perfectly, he offered Herta a playful wink.
The interruption did not bother him in the slightest.
Instead, he placed his left hand over his chest, extended his right hand gracefully toward the ceiling, and closed his eyes.
He adopted an expression of solemn, sacred devotion, speaking as if delivering a divine sermon.
“Do you admit that Madam Herta’s beauty is unmatched across the stars?”
Pushed entirely past her breaking point, Herta gripped her staff with both hands and slammed the heavy base against the alloy floorboards.
A series of deafening thuds echoed through the corridor, the sheer force nearly leaving dents in the reinforced plating.
“I admit it!
I admit it, alright!
Madam Herta’s beauty is unmatched!
So can you please stop using my face to pull these ridiculous stunts?”
The moment the concession left her lips, Kazuki dropped the sacred act.
He ceased his beautiful singing, whipped out his smartphone, and held it high above his head.
Flashing a sickeningly sweet smile at the camera lens, he threw up a crisp peace sign right next to his cheek.
Click.
The shutter sound chimed, and he immediately forwarded the fresh selfie, along with the audio recording of his vocal performance, straight to Asta.
Kazuki: Extra treat for you today.
Asta’s reply came through almost instantly: Aaaaah!
It really is Madam Herta!
ど ⁰ ̷ ̴ ͈ ꒨ ⁰ ̷ ̴ ͈ う ♡
Asta: How did you manage that?
Didn’t Madam Herta leave to catch you?
To think you could make her show such a cute expression, hehehe.
Asta: You are far too kind to me!
( ¯ ㅿ ¯ )
Kazuki: A small matter.
I am a man who values loyalty and friendship above all else.
( ˵ ¯ ͒ ♦ ¯ ͒ ˵ )
Watching him completely disregard her existence to tap away happily on his screen, Herta felt a dull ache of pure stress settle in her liver.
She clenched her jaw, her voice dripping with venom.
“With a complete weirdo like you running around, the galaxy is in for a catastrophic shift.”
Kazuki glanced up, his expression the picture of offended innocence.
“Hey!
Is that any way to insult a friend?”
Having delivered his retort, he immediately dropped his gaze back to the glowing screen, resuming his rapid-fire texting with Asta without sparing the genius another ounce of attention.
A short while earlier, the situation had been vastly different.
Kazuki’s initial confrontation with the Emanator of Beauty version of Herta had lasted only a handful of sentences.
The very second he exited the Card Space, standing face-to-face with the real Herta, he shifted his thoughts and triggered the transformation.
In a flash of overwhelming light, he took on the exact appearance of the Emanator of Beauty.
Herta had frozen entirely.
The oversized witch hat perched on her head slipped from her hair and hit the ground with a soft plop.
It was not just the visual mimicry that stunned her.
The surging, suffocating power of the Path radiating from his body was obvious.
It was the genuine, authentic presence of an Emanator.
Kazuki had raised a delicate hand to lightly touch his own chin, leaning forward until he was uncomfortably close to her face.
He dragged his words out in a slow, teasing drawl, like a predator playing with its food.
“Tell me…
how much do I look like the great Herta?”
The pristine dignity and calculated elegance Herta always maintained shattered into a million pieces in that exact second.
Reacting like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, she instantly flashed backward, retreating entirely outside the hotel premises.
Kazuki did not bother with politeness.
He bent down gracefully, scooped the fallen witch hat from the floor, brushed off a layer of non-existent dust, and settled it onto his own head.
It fit perfectly.
Right at that moment, the voice of the Emanator of Beauty Herta echoed smoothly within his mind, the end of her sentence curling upward with satisfied amusement.
‘Even after walking the Path of Erudition and becoming an Emanator, the other me still maintains such a wonderfully unique aesthetic?
Hmm.
Not bad at all.’
Outside, Herta stared in horror at the imposter wearing her face, currently tilting her signature hat with an infuriatingly charming angle.
The volatile energy of the Path of Erudition began to crackle and pop violently around her fingertips.
It took her a long, agonizing moment to swallow the barrage of curses resting on the tip of her tongue.
“Give.
The.
Hat.
Back.
To.
Me.”
Kazuki merely floated upward, hovering directly above the hotel entrance.
Rather than returning the stolen garment, he hooked a slender finger under the brim, gave it a stylish spin, and plopped it securely back onto his head.
Down below, the surrounding Herta puppets stood completely dumbfounded, their internal processors struggling to compute the scene.
He deliberately floated a step closer, perfectly mimicking Herta’s signature arrogant drawl, his pitch rising mockingly at the end.
“Oh?
Is this the proper attitude of Genius Society member number eighty-three, Herta?”
The Emanator of Beauty in his mind laughed with pure, unadulterated contentment, thoroughly enjoying the theatrical display.
‘Little one, try harder!
What is the point of all that boring, tedious Erudition nonsense anyway?
Let her see for herself what the true charm of The Beauty is all about!’
Herta’s expression darkened into a thunderous scowl.
It was not that she had simply stood by and done nothing.
She had already attempted to take action.
But the moment the restraint program she tentatively deployed made contact with the authentic, Emanator-level power of The Beauty radiating from Kazuki, it melted away like a snowflake tossed into a blazing furnace.
It vanished without leaving a single trace of code behind.
What gave her an even worse heart attack was the obvious fact that this menace was wearing a face identical to hers.
If he wandered out into a populated area for even one second longer, tomorrow’s breaking headline across the entire galaxy would undoubtedly read: Genius Herta Betrays the Path of Erudition and Joins the Path of Beauty.
Even if the absurd content was entirely false, she absolutely refused to deal with the inevitable teasing from Ruan Mei or the polite, probing inquiries from Screwllum.
“Come back to the Herta Space Station with me.” Herta gripped her staff so tightly her knuckles turned a stark white, squeezing the demand through her teeth.
“I want to thoroughly investigate this damn ability of yours and see exactly what is going on.”
Kazuki immediately bounded backward two steps in mid-air, shaking his head rapidly.
“Not going, not going!
If I go with you, won’t I just become a lab rat strapped to your chopping block?
Do you honestly think I am stupid?”
“You are not going?” Herta narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits.
A heavy threat rested right on the tip of her tongue, ready to be unleashed, but Kazuki completely derailed her momentum with a single sentence.
“If you dare to put a bounty on my head, I dare to use your exact face, assuming the identity of the Galaxy’s Number One Beauty and the Sole Designated Emanator of Beauty, Madam Herta, to put on a massive idol debut show for the entire universe!
Then I will head straight over to Penacony to issue a grand declaration of The Beauty, shoot an exclusive photo album with the theme of The Beauty, and have the Interastral Peace Corporation release it as a limited edition across all planetary systems.”
Kazuki delivered this apocalyptic threat with a perfectly straight face, even raising his hands to frame his face like a camera lens.
“By then, the whole galaxy will know that Madam Herta is not only beautiful and sweet-voiced, but also deeply yearns for The Beauty.
I guarantee there will be countless entertainment agencies fighting tooth and nail to send you signing invitations.”
Herta was so thoroughly enraged she nearly ground her back teeth into fine powder.
She squeezed her next words out with lethal precision.
“What exactly do you want?”
“Simple.” Kazuki snapped his fingers sharply.
“If you want me to go to the Herta Space Station with you, that is fine.
But you have to agree to one condition.”
Herta stared at him with extreme vigilance.
“What condition?
Make it clear right now, and do not try to pull any tricks on me.”
“What is the rush?” Kazuki waved a hand dismissively.
“I will not say what the specific condition is just yet.
Wait until I actually arrive at the space station, and I will tell you once I have thought it through.
You just need to promise me right now that you will not go back on your word, and you will not use that convoluted genius logic of yours to trap me in a linguistic loophole.”
“I agree!” Herta took a deep, steadying breath, replying only after forcing her composure back into place.
Kazuki’s eyes lit up instantly.
He flashed a cheerful okay gesture, then finally reached up, lifted the oversized witch hat off his head, and presented it back to Herta with both hands.
[Elysian’s Note:
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