Koji was invited over to Kiana and the others' dorm. With Mei and the rest around, Himeko definitely wasn't going to let the place turn into a "daily-life trash heap."
"Mei, let me tell you—on this trip, I saw a bunch of people who look just like you!"
Kiana blurted out what she'd seen, unable to hold it in.
"Look like me? How similar are we talking?" Mei asked with interest. If Kiana said it like that, the resemblance had to be pretty strong.
"Face, voice, figure—all super similar. It's just the vibe that's different." Kiana started counting on her fingers.
"Figure?"
"Kiana, you sure observed that closely, huh!"
Mei's mouth twitched. This brain-dead "grass-shoe bug" with nothing but dirty thoughts in her head… honestly, it was exactly the kind of thing she would do.
"Could it be…"
Standing beside Koji, Cecilia caught on as well. Her expression turned a little heavy.
Her daughter… kind of seemed to like girls. Her orientation was a bit… crooked.
"That's right—exactly what you're thinking. Kiana's affection level for Raiden Mei is very high," Koji said with a playful grin.
This was way too entertaining. He had to enjoy the show.
"…"
Cecilia felt a headache coming on. Her own orientation was perfectly normal. Kiana might be the real Kiana's clone, but she also carried the real Kiana's bloodline—meaning, she carried Cecilia's blood too. So how in the world had things turned out like this?
"Cecilia, you'll get used to it. There are way too few good men these days," Himeko said with a helpless smile. "And this is St. Freya—a Valkyrie academy. Where are you even supposed to find men here?"
In this world, outstanding men were just too rare, like the world itself was deliberately targeting them.
So when girls developed "friendship that goes beyond friendship" with other girls… that was completely normal.
Koji had noticed it too. Those female students he ran into all looked at him with shining eyes.
In the Honkai world, which was famously unfriendly toward men, same-sex relationships among girls were extremely common.
"I get it. I've seen it before," Cecilia said with a bitter smile.
Back when she was still a Schicksal Valkyrie, among the Valkyries she knew, there were cases like that too. Handsome guys like Siegfried were far too rare—Kaslana genes were simply too good.
Even that Archbishop Otto was an idol to many people—not the kind of idol because of his talent, but because they worshipped his handsome, refined looks.
Cecilia never thought that one day, something like this would happen to her own daughter.
"Cecilia, you may not know this, but there's also a girl who's really close to Bianca," Koji added, tossing another log onto the fire.
Cecilia: "…"
She was completely numb now. Both daughters were "together with" girls?
This was just…
"Pfft—if this keeps up, Siegfried's family line is ending here," Theresa couldn't help laughing.
At this rate, neither Kiana nor Bianca was ever going to look for a man.
"If you go the test-tube route, it's still doable," Koji offered a solution.
If you could make clones, what couldn't you do?
"Let's talk about it some other time," Cecilia said, not wanting to discuss it anymore. This was nightmare fuel.
…
Koji arrived at the Golden Courtyard inside the World Serpent base. Even after the "memory bodies" gained physical forms, they still hadn't integrated into this era—more like observers than participants.
"Bro, what brings you here?"
Vill-V was tuning a handsome mech, and the silent teenage boy Kosma was helping out. He was doing it voluntarily—any chuunibyou kid would definitely be into this kind of thing.
"Just wandering around. This mech's pretty cool—how about you help me mod mine?"
Koji brought out Xiao Bao—the little guy—also known as a Ruin Guard, a "tiller" machine Khaenri'ah used to expand its territory.
Clang—clang—
"Oh? Interesting."
Vill-V tapped it with a wrench. She was mainly interested in the energy core. As for the other parts… they were just so-so. No different from scrap metal.
"The overall craftsmanship is way too crude. Aside from some firepower and limb-based attacks, its attack methods are extremely lacking."
With ease, Vill-V removed the core, held it in her hand, and weighed it slightly. The only thing of real value was this.
"This is a relic from a fallen nation on my side," Koji explained. "They called it a 'tiller.' Land wasn't plowed with farm tools—it was seized with iron and blood."
"That's an extreme ideology," Vill-V said.
Of course she understood.
A nation like that being destroyed was only natural. It was destined to stand against everyone else.
"Tiller"—the name really was simple and blunt.
"So, bro, what kind of robot do you want?"
"Something cool."
Koji didn't have high demands for combat power. As long as it looked cool, it was fine.
"And make the AI more advanced—at least advanced enough to understand human speech."
…
Vill-V nodded. That didn't even count as a request. To her, it wasn't a requirement at all.
"Come pick it up next time. It'll definitely blow your mind," Vill-V said confidently.
"Vill-V, I met you—alive—in the Previous Era," Koji said.
Vill-V froze for a moment, then asked with a smile, "Which period? Before you got caught by Flame Chasers, or after you were already inside Flame Chasers?"
She knew herself well. She absolutely would have gotten involved with Flame Chasers.
"I gave her Yatagarasu's Feather. She's already taken control of the upper ranks."
"Beautifully done. That's exactly how it should be," said the Great Magician Vill-V, clearly approving. "Leaving those worms to flail around and command blindly—if humanity didn't get wiped out, that would be the real miracle."
Not a single one of them was innocent.
…
If they'd just been a little less stupid, fighting Honkai wouldn't have been so hard for them.
"How is Kevin? How are the others…?" Kosma asked quietly.
People from the Previous Era—who didn't have regrets?
"Pretty good. A family of three, living happily," Koji said, thinking of Kevin's "family status" and failing to hold back a laugh.
Kosma smiled faintly. Good. A lot of regrets could be avoided.
"Then what about me? What differences do you think there are between the Previous Era me and the current me?"
Elysia popped out, blinking her big, sparkly eyes—those watery pupils looked like they held stars.
"Elysia, you got fatter," Koji said, the corners of his mouth lifting.
"Huh?"
Elysia froze. Her brain was now stuck in an endless loop of three words: You got fatter.
"No I didn't! My weight didn't go up!" Elysia puffed up angrily.
That was such an awful thing to say. How could you say that to a girl?
"Hahaha—this is literally the truth. Elysia, you got fatter."
Mobius sat there with one leg crossed over the other, laughing with a teasing look.
That's right—Elysia was three pink "chubby ladies."
No matter the era, it never changed.
"Mobius! I'm not fat!"
"Round it off—Elysia's weight is 55 kilograms," Koji said.
A slightly plump figure—if she got any thinner, it wouldn't look good.
"No rounding!"
Elysia had already taken out her magic wand. Next up might be "physical magic" time.
(End of Chapter)
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