It felt like she was having some kind of dream.
A very long dream.
In the dream, Bronya saw Seele.
She saw what Seele looked like when she grew up, appearing both strong and reliable.
But Seele was still in the Quantum Sea.
How could she possibly appear in reality?
A bitter feeling permeated the dream.
That bitterness was like a long-unhealed wound being torn open again, the pain so intense she could hardly bear it.
It shocked Bronya awake in an instant.
And then she realized she had been captured!
Her body was bound tightly with coarse ropes, tying her to a chair with her hands restrained behind her back.
She tried to struggle, but the restraints only tightened.
Fortunately, this kind of bondage couldn’t hold her for long.
What truly infuriated her, however, was that her captors had used the humiliating “turtle-shell” knot.
While the knot itself was one thing, its pattern had the unfortunate effect of making her chest look completely flat.
Humiliating!
Her captor must have done this on purpose!
Noticing her movement, Chiaki opened the door and appeared before her.
“Awake?
Have you calmed down a bit?” he asked.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Bronya asked.
“Why would I kill you?” Chiaki tilted his head.
“I see.
I’m still useful to you, so it’s not time to kill me yet?”
“I’m not going to kill you.
I just wanted to ask you to do something.”
“I understand.”
“It’s a great help if you understand.”
“You plan to have your way with me and then kill me, correct?
I get it.
There’s no need to show mercy just because I’m a child.
Come on, take me head-on.”
Bronya had seen this sort of thing many times before.
Many had coveted her body and appearance, planning to do lewd things to her, but without exception, they all ended up dead at her hands.
Though she wasn’t wearing her stockings now and couldn’t strangle anyone, with her two exoskeleton-armored legs, she’d rip his head off if he gave her the slightest chance!
And in bed, when he took off his clothes, preparing to do the deed…
that would be her chance!
Chiaki: “?”
When I type a question mark, it doesn’t mean I have a problem.
It means you have a problem.
“What, if you don’t like it from the front, I can let you do it from behind.
After all, many people say my face is emotionless and it ruins the mood.
It would be much better if I turned my face away.
Plus, I have pigtails.
You can grip them like bicycle handlebars and…
stand up to pedal hard.” Bronya continued her “seduction.”
At that perfectly timed moment, the sound of a porcelain cup shattering echoed from the doorway.
Seele stood there, dumbfounded, her brain seemingly suffering an unprecedented shock.
She hadn’t even realized when she’d dropped the cup of black tea she was holding.
Feeling like she had interrupted a private moment, Seele instinctively apologized.
“S-Sorry!
I didn’t know you two were in the middle of…
that.”
“Calm down, Seele.” Chiaki soothed her, trying to prevent her from doing anything irrational in her shock and panic.
“Seele?!” Bronya was stunned.
She immediately sized up the girl in the doorway.
Upon closer inspection, she saw that the girl’s hair color, eyes, and even her face were remarkably similar to the Seele in her memory.
The only difference was that this girl was much older.
Abruptly, she felt her heart begin to race.
This little sister…
no!
This big sister…
I’ve seen her before!
The girl before her seemed to possess some unique magic, beginning to overlap with a figure from her memories.
Looking at the navy-blue-haired girl, Bronya was reminded of their promise by the Sea of Quanta.
Her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably—not from fear, but from excitement.
The emotional circuits she had long since lost seemed to reactivate in that instant, vibrating wildly.
Or perhaps, they had never left her, merely sealed away when that navy-blue figure disappeared.
“Y-Y-You…
you’re…
Seele?!”
Bronya’s first reaction was disbelief, followed by immediate regret.
What have I done?!
To say such shameless things right in front of Seele…
what will Seele think of me now?!
“I-I’ll go check if Mei’s dinner is ready.
You two…
continue.” Seele turned and fled.
“Wait!
Seele, it’s not what you think!
I can explain!” Bronya summoned all her strength to give chase, but she had forgotten she was still tied to the chair.
The burst of force didn’t let her catch up to Seele; instead, with a thud, she and the chair toppled to the floor.
All she could do was watch helplessly as Seele’s figure vanished.
Wait!
Wait for me!
Seele!
Seele is getting away!
When Seele’s figure disappeared completely from her sight, Bronya lay helplessly on the floor, her eyes filled with despair.
“Calm down.
It’s not too late to go and explain now.” Chiaki crouched down and began to untie Bronya’s ropes.
He had to admit, Kiana’s knot-tying skills were something else; it was actually quite troublesome to undo.
“Thanks.” Once freed, Bronya threw out a quick word of thanks and rushed out the door to find Seele.
Watching Bronya run off, Chiaki took out his phone and sent Seele a message.
[The Steel Warden]: @Underworld’s Rokurokubi, Bronya is coming to find you.
I’ll leave the rest to you.
[Underworld’s Rokurokubi]: Huh?
Weren’t you two about to do…
that?
[The Steel Warden]: Do you think I’m Kiana?
[Underworld’s Rokurokubi]: ….
Fair point.
Soon, a navy-blue figure appeared in Bronya’s line of sight.
In the soft glow of the setting sun, on a bench under a cherry blossom tree, the girl sat quietly.
Her brow was slightly furrowed, showing a hint of worry and conflict, like a young girl in love waiting anxiously for her other half.
Just as Seele was nervously rehearsing the lines she was supposed to say, Bronya suddenly rushed forward and pulled her into an embrace.
“Seele!
I finally…
finally found you!”
Seele’s expression stiffened.
“Bronya…
on-nee-chan…
it’s been a long time.”
Seele’s expression was unnatural.
“Yeah.”
“You must have suffered so much to get out of there.
It’s okay now.
Big Sister Bronya will protect you this time.
Right, Mother Cocolia doesn’t know about this yet, does she?
Let’s go back to ME Corp together!
Mother Cocolia will be so happy to see you!”
Bronya was ecstatic, even adding the word “Mother,” which she would never normally use, to Cocolia’s name.
She had already planned it all out.
When this was all over, she would take Seele back to the orphanage.
Then the two of them—no, and Mother Cocolia, and everyone at the orphanage—they would all live happily together and never be separated again.
However, Seele’s next words brought her crashing back to reality.
“But the one who made me fall into the Quantum Sea was Cocolia, wasn’t it?
Bronya-oneechan, why are you still dreaming such an unrealistic dream?
Is everything Cocolia did really to save me, and not for her own benefit?”
“Even if we go back, what then?
Cocolia was willing to destroy Nagazora City and its tens of millions of people just to create the Herrscher of Thunder.
In the future, to create other Herrschers, will she use Seele, and even Bronya-oneechan, as experimental subjects again?”
“Bronya-oneechan…
please, do it for Seele’s sake.
Use Project Bunny on Cocolia.”