Stelle's gaze kept darting between Caelus's shoulders and her own, her expression shifting between furrowed brows and sudden nods of realization.
So... hitting Dad made her feel pain too?
Her mind was a chaotic mess, with even the most basic common sense tangled into a knot. Giving up on figuring it out, Stelle decided to simply establish new common truths.
"Wake up, wake up!"
Seeing Stelle's expression that screamed "Aha! I get it now!", March 7th shook her shoulders vigorously, unable to contain her urge to complain.
"Don't treat such strange things as common sense!"
After saying this, March 7th widened her eyes, puffed her cheeks in annoyance, planting one hand on her hip while pointing the peculiar baseball bat at Caelus with the other.
"Care to explain this to us?"
Did they really think she, the brilliant March 7th, was a fool?
They kept messing with her!
Dan Heng slightly lowered his gaze, his eyes piercing through the situation with profound insight.
Under the weight of three pairs of eyes filled with various meanings, Caelus felt some pressure, but mostly just pure confusion.
What the hell is going on here?
With an expression as pure and clueless as Stelle's, Caelus clearly had "I have no idea" written all over his face.
[System, what's happening?]
[Eh, doesn't the host already know?]
The system's tone was surprised, finding it strange that Caelus would ask such an obvious question.
[You and Stelle are two sides of the same existence. From other dimensions' perspective, you're essentially the same person. Hitting you means hitting her, and vice versa.]
[...]
Caelus's expression gradually turned peculiar.
Of course he knew about... the relationship between this body and Stelle, but he never imagined their connection would manifest in this way.
Caelus turned to silently look at Stelle.
Under the watchful eyes of Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle, his expression gradually turned serious.
Suddenly, Caelus raised his right hand, fingers slightly curved like claws, and grabbed forcefully at the left side of his own chest.
"Eek!"
Though not quite reaching the threshold of pain, the sudden sensation in her chest made Stelle jolt unexpectedly, her hands flying up to cover her left breast.
Her pretty face, blending innocence with a lazy mature charm, was now filled with panic, giving off an impression of someone inexperienced with the world.
After all, she had just been "born" - the natural "scumminess" in her nature hadn't even had time to surface before being bombarded with massive amounts of information and led by the nose from start to finish. No wonder she couldn't process what was happening.
In those fan-made videos, Lord Stelle was portrayed as the scum of humanity, the scum among scums. Seeing this unripe version now created an explosively contrasting cuteness in Caelus's eyes.
And...
I can actually feel it...
Caelus's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at his slender hand spread open before him.
When his hand touched his chest, besides the normal sensation of touching one's own chest, his palm also registered a wonderful, jelly-like soft and bouncy texture.
The two sensations overlapped, both indistinguishable yet clearly separate - a very strange contradictory state.
Caelus grabbed at his right chest next.
"Eek!"
Following another panicked cry, Stelle jolted again, moving her hands from her left chest to cover her right one.
Her flustered, adorable posture made Caelus's eyes light up, as if he'd found some fun interactive toy.
Grab!
Grab!
Grab some more!
He lifted both hands, grabbing and kneading at his own chest, even slapping his butt a couple times while rubbing, and tickling his own armpits.
Tickling is a defensive mechanism of skin response, designed to alert people to certain types of threats.
When a person tries to tickle themselves, the cerebellum sends a signal to the brain before the hand even touches the skin, instructing the rest of the body not to react.
As a result, usually only a very faint itching sensation is felt, which most people can tolerate.
But when it came to Stelle, the sensation was entirely different.
"Ah!"
"Eek!"
"Haha~ Haha~"
"What's going on!?"
"It's so ticklish!"
It felt as if something was crawling all over her body, yet she couldn't seem to catch it no matter what.
"Dad, stop it!"
No sooner had the tickling at her waist subsided than she felt an itch on her neck. But the moment she raised her hand to scratch it, the sensation shifted right back to her waist.
"Stop pinching me!"
Scratching her waist made her neck itch, scratching her neck made her chest tingle. She couldn't keep up.
If this were a comedy manga, Stelle would probably have grown dozens of arms, all chasing after the ticklish spots until her elongated limbs wrapped her up like a pretzel.
Staggering and stumbling, bursting into uncontrollable laughter from the unbearable tickling, Stelle eventually collapsed face-first onto the floor, rolling around in a fit.
The bizarre farce unfolding before them left March 7th utterly dumbfounded, and even Dan Heng's composure seemed on the verge of cracking.
Good grief.
Is this person out of her mind!?
Sprawled on the floor, panting heavily, Stelle scratched her neck.
Just then, she noticed that as she scratched, Caelus suddenly froze.
The pause caught both of them off guard.
Amid her ragged breaths, Stelle jolted awake to the realization.
Two pairs of identical, brilliant golden eyes met—one pair, previously filled with delight, now showed traces of wariness and slight shock. The delight hadn't vanished, it had simply shifted to the other pair of golden eyes.
"Heh, can we call a truce?"
Caelus offered a friendly smile, appearing almost shy in its restraint.
"Right now? You must be joking!"
As if she'd just survived a fierce battle, Stelle dragged her nearly exhausted body, swaying unsteadily as she rose to her feet.
Though she still had no clue what was really happening, it was clear that this feedback worked both ways.
So then...
"Dad! Prepare to die!"
A lingering tingling and a strange, peculiar sensation remained in her chest. The corners of Stelle's lips curled into a cold, cruel smirk.
She raised her hand high, as if it burned with an inextinguishable, raging fury, and then—
Stelle's hand shot down between her legs.
"Wait!"
Caelus's expression instantly turned horrified. He lifted a hand in a desperate, blocking gesture.
He never expected this newborn Astral Express pest to counter with such a vicious move!
Zero-frame startup, and her very first move was a lethal strike!
March 7th clasped her hands over her mouth in shock, eyes wide, while even Dan Heng watched with solemn respect.
However, in the next second, the agonized scream Stelle anticipated never came.
The Curio Room fell silent. Dead silent.
Stelle's smile froze on her face, shifting from fierce and cruel to utterly bewildered.
She clenched her hand tightly, but all she grasped was empty air. There was nothing there at all.
Caelus's hand, poised to stop, hung motionless in midair as he stared blankly at the confused Stelle.
Their golden eyes met once more. The delight shifted again, returning to Caelus's gaze, while Stelle's eyes welled with boundless grief and indignation.
"No~!!!"
The entire person turned ashen gray. Stelle immediately collapsed to her knees as if her soul had left her body, pounding the ground while weeping bitterly, her face filled with intense unwillingness.
The prerequisite for synesthetic transmission was having the sensation first. Caelus had a chest, and so did she.
Caelus had a "little brother"—something she didn't possess... She only had a "little sister."
Naturally, she couldn't threaten Caelus by grabbing his "little brother."
To think she'd lost because of anatomical differences.
"Hahaha, my dear daughter, you're still too naive."
With the "little brother crisis" resolved, Caelus burst out laughing, gently stroking Stelle's smooth, gray-wolf-like hair in a condescending "petting a dog" manner.
"Hey! You old fraud! Who exactly are you?"
Stelle slapped Caelus's hand away, stood up with one hand on her hip, and pointed at him accusingly.
After this farce, Stelle had finally recovered somewhat, her mind gradually clearing.
Though she still remembered nothing, her original personality had resurfaced.
She refused to believe Caelus was her father!
What kind of father would treat his daughter like this?
"Alright, we're actually not father and daughter. I'm your older brother—we're both born from the same mother."
"We were once twins roaming countless worlds, traveling through the sea of stars. Later, we were separated for over five hundred years after drifting to a continent called Teyvat. It took immense hardship for us to reunite, leaving behind a beautiful story called 'As I've written' in that world..."
"Because we're inseparable twin blossoms sharing the same stem, we have this special connection between us."
Hearing this, Stelle frowned.
March 7th blinked. Given Caelus's previous antics, she felt the credibility of anything coming from his mouth was zero.
But upon reflection, this didn't seem false.
After all, the familial resemblance between Caelus and Stelle was something even a blind person could see.
If not father-daughter, then siblings!
She knew it was impossible for a father to act that way toward his biological daughter—it had to be a joke.
These two looked exactly like twins!
Having traveled north and south on the Express and seen much of the world, March 7th had indeed encountered many cases of closely bonded twins sharing telepathic connections.
However, physical sensation sharing was something she was witnessing for the first time...
Conversely, with such a connection, twin siblings were indeed the most plausible explanation!
Yes, that had to be it!
Still, this older brother's personality was truly awful!
Watching March 7th's sudden enlightenment, Caelus felt inwardly amused.
She bought it!
She bought it again!
While March 7th had reached understanding, Stelle remained skeptical.
"Is that so?"
Stelle took two steps forward on her long, beautiful legs, nearly pressing her face against Caelus's, staring directly at this scoundrel.
"But why do I feel our relationship should be older sister and younger brother?"
"How could that be~"
Caelus sounded as if he'd heard the most ridiculous joke.
"My foolish little sister, you're defying natural order and violating moral principles!"
"You have the right to say that?"
Who was it that just claimed I was his daughter and lover?
Watching the two gray-haired individuals argue over who was the older sibling, Dan Heng remained silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.
So exhausting!
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you read this properly then you would've caught it
At this point of this chapter 'As I've written' wasn't a thing yet but I felt like adding it because the original name for the book for the genshin story didn't make sense so I just added it