A cold blade pressed against her neck. A thin line of blood was easily drawn across the young girl's delicate skin.
"Stay quiet in here. Once your father sends the money, we'll let you go back."
The masked villain spoke to the little black-haired girl.
The girl nodded timidly, her watery, vibrant purple eyes trembling, tears threatening to fall.
She was roughly thrown into a small, dark, windowless room. Before the door slammed shut, she overheard the kidnappers talking.
"Are we really gonna let her go when the money arrives?"
"No way. When her dad gets here, we'll send them off for a family reunion."
The heavy iron door closed, and the girl felt like a lamb trapped in a pen, with absolutely no way to escape.
In the cold, dark room, all she could do was curl up and tremble.
"Father..."
Mei's eyes fluttered open. She awoke from the dream to find her face stained with tears.
She had dreamt of her childhood again.
It was a trauma from her past that she could never erase. No matter how she tried to paint over it, perhaps she was still just that same trembling little girl.
It was as if her time had stopped right there.
She looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, wondering where she was.
Mei sat up in bed and realized she was no longer in her Senba Academy uniform. Instead, she was wearing a pure white bathrobe, and her skin carried the pleasant scent of shower gel.
She was puzzled, her mind still foggy, but she cautiously scanned her surroundings.
The seemingly luxurious room was empty, save for her on the bed. But then, Mei heard the sound of splashing water.
Someone was showering in the bathroom.
The sound of the water stopped abruptly. Mei held her breath, staring warily at the bathroom door. Unfortunately, there was nothing nearby that she could use as a weapon.
Pat, pat, pat.
It was the sound of bare feet on a wet floor.
The bathroom door opened and steam billowed out, filling the room with moisture and casting a shadow over Mei's heart.
A figure stepped out of the bathroom.
Long, silky golden hair cascaded down his back, with a few strands falling over his chest.
His face was exquisite, as beautiful as jade. He had a long, elegant neck and slender collarbones. His skin, like polished white jade, was flushed with an alluring rosy hue from the hot water.
His thin, moist lips were pressed together lightly, his brow slightly furrowed. His emerald, star-like eyes were deep and profound. Every frown and every smile held a captivating melancholy that could topple nations.
A single phrase surfaced in Mei's mind.
A hibiscus emerging from the water.
Such a beautiful person.
Even Mei, a renowned beauty herself, was captivated.
Mei's gaze drifted downwards—not because she was a lecher, but because she simply wanted to imprint this entire beautiful image into her memory.
However, her vibrant purple eyes then shot wide open, her pupils dilating. Mei's mouth fell agape in disbelief.
It was as if she had seen something terrifying and dreadful.
Her right hand instinctively gripped her left forearm.
What... did she just see?
The Herrscher of Thunder looked as if she had been struck by lightning herself. She froze on the spot, her eyes darting back and forth to confirm the difference in male and female anatomy. Finally, she had her answer.
He was a man.
He's a man?
He is a MAN!
Because it was so important, Mei screamed it three times in her mind.
Someone whose beauty surpassed even her own was a man? Had she been in an all-girls school for so long that she had developed some kind of misunderstanding about the male species?
If a man like this put on a dress, no woman on earth could compete.
Otto was still lost in thought. The current situation was quite grim, now that he was a marked target for the Will of the Honkai.
He was a good, law-abiding citizen who just wanted to live and maybe fight the Honkai a little.
This was giving him a massive headache.
Soon, however, he noticed that Mei was awake. A gentle smile appeared on his face, and he spoke to her in a soft voice.
"Mei, you're awake."
It was a steady, masculine voice. Otto was in no way effeminate.
He knows my name?
Mei, still in a state of shock and existential crisis, was stunned. She didn't recognize the man before her as the masked psycho who had threatened her with a gun.
After all, Otto wasn't wearing any clothes right now.
"Y-You know me?"
Mei averted her gaze, her pale face flushing crimson as she asked timidly. She was an innocent maiden who had never seen the body of the opposite sex before.
Unlike the veteran driver, the Paramecium, this proper young lady who had received an excellent upbringing was quite pure.
Seeing Mei like this, Otto flashed a playful smile. He made no effort to cover himself and simply began to put on the clothes he had prepared.
As he always said, there wasn't a single inch of the Overseer's body that couldn't be shown to others.
Still, he wanted to tease the Mei of this era.
"What's wrong, sweetheart? Are you pretending not to know me?"
"Or are you still pouting and giving me the silent treatment about having a second child?"
"By the way, our daughter gets out of school this afternoon. Are you picking her up, or should I get her on my way?"
Otto spoke, his words clear, but they left Mei completely bewildered.
"I've been thinking about it, but we've been married for over a decade. Wanting another daughter should be fine, right?"
Otto's words were concise, and Mei could quickly distill the information from them.
But she couldn't understand any of it! She was still just a normal high school student. Forget being married for over a decade, she didn't even have a man she liked.
"Wait, wait, wait."
Mei realized something was wrong. She held up a hand, stopping Otto from saying more.
Her mind was racing. As a sensitive girl, she was prone to overthinking. The Far East was full of stories about time travel, and Mei's mind was already full of chuunibyou cells.
"What year is it?"
Mei wanted to check the date on her phone, but she was only wearing a thin bathrobe. She could only ask the question cautiously.
"Hmm? It's 2028. What's wrong, wife? You're acting strangely today."
"Are you not feeling well?"
Ah, it's 2028?
Have I become Auntie Mei instead of just Mei?
Mei quickly came to a conclusion: she had time-traveled.
She had traveled to the future, a time when she was already married with a child. And this handsome man who seemed so compatible with her was her husband.
I have really good taste in men.
Before being bent by the Paramecium, Mei was as straight as they come.
No, no, that's not right. I don't have any memories of this at all!
I clearly remember being... by that masked man...
Mei's head snapped towards Otto, and the image of the man before her gradually merged with the figure from her memory.
"You're the one who threatened me with a gun!?"
"Threatened you with a gun?" Otto feigned confusion, then pretended to have a sudden realization. "Oh, you mean when we first met. Such fond memories."
"Later, we rescued your father together, but he wouldn't approve of us being together, so we had to elope."
"It wasn't until our daughter was born that he finally accepted our relationship."
His emerald eyes held a nostalgic glint, and a wry smile played on his lips, as if recalling the helplessness of that time.
Looking at Otto's expression, Mei felt as if she had experienced those events herself. Her body seemed to remember the hardships of being on the run and the struggle against her own father.
Her heart tightened, and her right hand clutched the collar of her robe.
Waking up to find that more than a decade had passed and she was someone's wife left her feeling anxious.
Without any memories, could she accept her current husband and child?
And could her husband accept her, now that her mind was that of a high school student?
Mei felt she needed some time to process everything.
As for a... a second child... she would have to at least accept the reality of her situation before... before making any plans.
"By the way, our daughter's name is... what?" Mei asked.
As long as it's not something like Raiden Shogun, it should be fine.
But the devil toying with the young girl's heart simply gave her a mocking smile.
"I haven't come up with that part of the setup yet."
"How about this, wife? You can think of a name for our future child."