K424 of the Collapse World

"Theresa, you......"

"Hey... Siegfried, you are Cecilia's husband, right? So, are you really willing to accept that she has abandoned our past memories and refused to face us as Cecilia? Please tell me, is there any way to make her change her mind?"

500 Heart Knot

After hearing what Theresa said, Siegfried immediately understood what had happened to his old friend.

Siegfried was helpless, but he didn't feel relieved. Theresa showed such a rare serious expression, which was obviously because she was stuck in a dead end, and the situation was probably not optimistic. Thinking of this, Siegfried sighed softly, adjusted his mood a little, and his expression became more relaxed.

"Ah... I didn't expect you to still be troubled by that matter? I remember I told you my views on these things a long time ago, Theresa?"

"..."

Feeling that it was too uncomfortable to bend over the table and lower his head to talk to Theresa, Siegfried simply reached out his hands, lifted the girl up by her arms, and placed her on the edge of the desk. Then, he turned around and sat in the principal's seat.

"I remember I've already made it very clear why she gave up the name Cecilia and called herself Cecilia. It's not that she doesn't want to forgive us, but she thinks she can't replace Cecilia in our hearts..."

"But I don't care! Even if she can't be the same as Cecilia before, I won't reject her because of this... She clearly remembers us, but she insists on getting to know us again with another identity. Wouldn't it be uncomfortable?"

Theresa interrupted Siegfried loudly. At this moment, she had lost her usual calm demeanor and was completely like a child throwing a tantrum, venting her pain and dissatisfaction to the man in front of her. She had selectively forgotten that Siegfried was younger than her.

"But, Shirley should have told you that she was just an experimental subject implanted with Cecilia's memories. She is not even a direct clone of Cecilia. She is just a clone of Kiana.

She used the K424 as a model to force memories that did not belong to her. In essence, she was still just a little girl like Kiana. She didn't want Kiana and the others to call her "Mom", but asked them to call her sister. Don't you understand what she was thinking? Theresa. "

"But that's just her forcing herself..."

"It's you who's forcing her, Theresa!"

Suddenly, Siegfried's slightly raised voice startled the girl. Looking at the serious look in the white-haired man's eyes, Theresa bit her lip and sniffed, wiping away the tears in her eyes before they flowed out.

"I...? When did I ever force her? I just wanted to do something for her... You can see that, right? Every time she comes back, her eyes are more tired and profound than the last time, so mature that it makes people feel distressed... If she is willing to acknowledge me as her sister and rely on me a little more, she won't force herself endlessly like now..."

"Theresa, what is the relationship between me and Cecilia?"

"Eh? You are married, why are you asking me such a matter of course... It is because you are Cecilia's husband that I asked you to discuss this matter! She is your beloved wife, don't you want to go back to the way you were before, and continue to form your original family with her... and Kiana and the others?"

Looking at Siegfried, whose expression remained unchanged from beginning to end, Theresa suddenly felt a sense of frustration. Originally, she thought that as Cecilia's husband and the closest person to her, this man would definitely understand her thoughts. But now, looking at this man who showed no emotion, even though she was angry at him for not fighting, what could she say?

"I was wrong about you, Siegfried! I thought... you were the only one who could understand me, but you..."

--Snapped!

Theresa's voice suddenly stopped with a muffled sound that shook the room. It was not a slap between friends to wake each other up. Siegfried just raised his big hand and slapped it on the table with a little force. It was too bad for a man to slap a little girl, especially since this little girl was his older sister...

However, although he did not use the Face-Breaking Palm, Siegfried, who had always been easy-going since marriage, suddenly slammed the table and succeeded in calming Theresa down. Looking into Theresa's slightly surprised and slightly angry eyes, Siegfried sighed softly and softened his serious expression.

"Calm down, Theresa. It's useless for you to make a scene in front of me. It seems that you really don't realize what Shiris really thinks..."

Siegfried picked up the thermos cup on the table, unscrewed the lid, and planned to pour himself a cup of tea to moisten his throat. However, as the bitter smell came to his nose, he immediately realized that this was not tea but Theresa's favorite. Siegfried handed the bottle to Theresa helplessly, cleared his throat, and spoke again in a low voice.

"Even if she had Cecilia's memories, Shilis would not be Cecilia. She was awakened as a test subject like Diana, and she should have grown up under the care of us elders like that child. However, the memory of Cecilia forced her to take on things that she shouldn't have at her age."

"Cilissa herself knew very well that those memories did not belong to her. She had clearly told me before that she did not want to be bound by these false memories and wanted to be her true self. However, even so, she abandoned Cecilia's name and identity, but ultimately could not abandon those feelings. Under the influence of Cecilia's memories, she still took on the identity of the eldest sister of Kiana and Diana. In fact, according to the order of birth, she should be the youngest of the three sisters..."

Theresa listened to Siegfried quietly. As her excitement gradually subsided, she finally began to understand Siegfried's thoughts.

"It's actually like this..."

"Well, whether it's the love for the two children or the old feelings with you and me, they are all the obsessions and shackles left in Cecilia's heart by her memories. For Cecilia, the most important people should have been the anti-entropy partners who rescued her from the Destiny Laboratory and raised her, but because of the shackles of those memories, she had to divide a large part of her most precious feelings for us. Although she always smiles, every time she faces us, her mood is probably very complicated. Theresa, she has already shouldered so many things that do not belong to her. Do you still want her to take on the responsibility of being Cecilia and satisfy your selfish thoughts as a sister?"

"I... Even if you say that, what about you? You are obviously Cecilia's husband, I don't believe it... Even if you can understand this, don't you really want to become a family with her again?"

Although she knew she was in the wrong, Theresa still insisted. After that, she stared at Siegfried's eyes, trying to find a trace of hesitation in them. However, after dozens of seconds, looking at Siegfried's still clear blue eyes, Theresa suddenly didn't know what to say.

500 Heart Knot >>

(I..

....It's not out of selfishness! I just want to...atone for my sins to you...)

"Come to think of it, I did mention it to her before, that... the idea of ​​rekindling our relationship, but she rejected it outright."

"She rejected you? Did you give up so easily? When you were pursuing Cecilia, you challenged the strongest Valkyrie in the entire Destiny for her. Are you giving up so easily now?"

Theresa tilted her head and asked, taking a sip of bitter melon juice from the thermos. Now, the girl's eyes no longer had the strong obsession she had just had. She was still like this, just because she was curious about Siegfried's decision.

"I just respect her own will... However, even though she said that to me, in the end, she still returned to us with the responsibility of being Cecilia. I really couldn't bear to let her sink deeper and deeper into the confusion of self-cognition. I heard from Dr. Einstein that her personality collapsed once not long ago, and it seemed that it was because of the split memory and personality..."

Siegfried said this with a slightly heavy expression. But after a short moment, he adjusted his mood and returned to his previous indifferent smile.

"When I rescued Diana six years ago, I made this mistake. I treated her as a substitute for Kiana and gave her that name. But now, I have completely understood that no matter how similar they are, they are two completely different people and cannot be substitutes for each other. The same is true for Hillis. If we insist on treating her as a substitute for Cecilia and force her to live as Cecilia, it will be a great disrespect to both Hillis and the deceased Cecilia. Since I have made this mistake once, I will never make it a second time, and I will not watch you repeat my mistakes, Theresa."

"..."

The girl remained silent, her hands holding the thermos cup slowly tightened, but her stubborn expression had completely relaxed. Siegfried saw this and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Besides..."

Siegfried spoke again, and Theresa looked up and listened carefully. Siegfried pondered his words for a moment, and his voice was filled with a hint of self-mockery.

"Even if Shiris was willing to accept my request, it would be almost impossible to achieve... She was only about ten years old at that time. It was too bad in every sense. If I told others that she was my wife, my reputation would probably be worse than Dr. Tesla..."

"Well, you probably won't live more than a year. If I knew about this back then, I would probably just use Judas to beat you into a pancake~"

Hearing this, Theresa also laughed, and the previous haze was swept away. She turned around and jumped off the table, came to the window sill behind Siegfried, and suddenly pulled open the tightly closed curtains!

The gloomy and dark office was instantly filled with the bright sunshine of the afternoon. Looking at Theresa who had recovered her spirits, Siegfried nodded with satisfaction and stood up to give up the chair in the principal's office.

"You fall into a state of loss for no apparent reason, and then quickly recover. This aspect of yours is really like that of a child, little Theresa."

"Who are you talking about...! Humph~ Never mind, I am too lazy to bother with you, just think of it as you praising my youth. Anyway, Siegfried, thank...thank you for what happened today. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have done something irrational. Kiana's birthday is just around the corner, but I'm still causing trouble for everyone. I'm really sorry..."

"Raise your head, Theresa. You haven't made any mistakes, or you haven't had time to make any mistakes yet. You don't need to apologize to me."

Raising his hand to ruffle Theresa's white hair, Siegfried slowly squatted down, keeping his eyes level with Theresa, who was 1 meters tall, and spoke slowly.

"However, what you said just now was indeed wrong. I more or less understand your thoughts. After all, I did something stupid like proposing to her... However, both you and I at that time fell into a misunderstanding. We were so obsessed with Cecilia that we ignored the thoughts of Cecilia herself. Theresa, I know you want to make up for Cecilia, but you have to understand that Cecilia is not Cecilia."

"Hmm... I get it. Why have you, a barbecue uncle, become so long-winded?"

Impatiently shaking off Siegfried's hand, Theresa puffed up her face, and sat back in her chair with her hands folded. Seeing this, Siegfried also leaned on the desk and raised his head slightly.

"After thinking this through, I would rather regard Hillis as a friend than a wife, a young but mature and capable friend who can be trusted but also given some care like a child. No matter who she is, Hillis or Cecilia, she is by our side and lives with us. Perhaps, she has already been a family member to us?"

"Yeah, after all...she's Kiana's sister."

Hearing this, Theresa also murmured in a low voice. The next moment, she suddenly showed a

A sly smile.

"Siegfried, thank you no matter what, but as the principal, I still want to remind you that you are late now, right? I'm afraid you haven't received your bonus at the end of the month~"

Siegfried rolled his eyes at this.

"Hey... short legs, I spent so much effort to untie your knot, is this how you repay me?"

"Let's put things aside. I am the principal here. Putting aside personal matters, isn't it natural for me to handle official business like this?"

"......You are so cruel."

Watching Siegfried rushing out of the office in a hurry, Theresa raised her head with a smile, the vast sky outside the bright window reflected in her crystal blue eyes.

Next, she already had an idea of ​​how to face the girl.

The next moment, she suddenly noticed that the lock hanging crookedly on the wooden door of her office was obviously scrapped.

"Hmm...? When did the door lock become like that? Anyway, it was broken by Siegfried... Hmm! The repair fee can be directly deducted from his salary~"

501 Gift

The campus of St. Freya Academy is located on an artificial island near Canghai City. Therefore, for the Valkyries studying there, the most common way to spend holidays is to visit the city closest to the academy.

Although the academy port is more than 30 nautical miles away from the city on the other side, this is not a problem for the excellent shipping technology of Tianming. Some of the transport ships at the port of Saint Freya are transformed from the tactical destroyers driven by Honkai with a different shell. After all, Tianming Heavy Industry does not manufacture ordinary ships. These "illegally" modified passenger ships can travel in about ten minutes while ordinary cruise ships take several hours. Moreover, if there is no fear that the huge waves will cause panic in the port on the other side, the speed can be even faster...

That day happened to be a Friday. In the evening just after class, a special transport ship left the port and headed for the coastal city on the Far East Continent.

Canghai City, Outer Ring Street District......

In this place far away from the city center, you rarely see tall buildings that reach into the sky. Most of them are old buildings that are quite old and basically no more than ten stories high.

In the Far East, Canghai City is not considered a highly developed city, so there is no fast-paced life like Changkong City in the past, and even traffic jams are relatively rare. Such a beautiful and uncomplicated coastal city is the most ideal resort.

But in a winter like this, going on vacation is not very suitable.

At the entrance of an ordinary convenience store, there is a heavy motorcycle with a strong mechanical feel. Its cool appearance is extremely eye-catching. However, if you look at it a little more, you will find that the distance between the handlebars, seat and pedals of this motorcycle seems to be slightly adjusted. For adults, such a distance is a bit too small...

The entire body of the motorcycle was painted in a bright yellow with a glossy look. There was a head of Hom painted under the rectangular windshield. Next to the motorcycle, a girl with short dark blue hair leaned against the back seat of the motorcycle. Her innocent and lovely appearance and soft sea-blue eyes were out of place with the motorcycle. No one thought that such a well-behaved girl would be a motorcycle girl. However, on the front of the motorcycle, there was a helmet with Hom printed on it. This should belong to the owner of the motorcycle. As a result, those young people who were first attracted by the motorcycle and then noticed the cute girl also gave up the idea of ​​chatting with the girl.

"Woo..."

The girl stroked the blue helmet in her arms, lowered her head slightly, and seemed to be a little troubled by the gazes of passers-by who occasionally stopped to watch.

After all, it is a product of Tianming Industry. Even though its appearance is similar to that of ordinary motorcycles, it actually still uses special materials. Its structure and curvature are different from ordinary motorcycles. If it is placed on the streets outside, it can easily attract people's attention like this.

However, its owner doesn't seem to care about this.

"Sorry for the wait, Xi'er."

Suddenly, a familiar soft voice came into her ears. The girl leaning against the back of the car immediately raised her head and looked at the gray-haired girl walking towards her. A smile immediately appeared on her face.

"Hey~! Sister Bronya, have you bought everything?"

Quickly walking towards Bronya, Seele tried to take the plastic bag from the gray-haired girl, but was gently avoided by her.

"Well, Bronya's things have been bought. These ingredients that may be used to make the cake are not available at St. Freya Academy, so they must be purchased here."

After putting the heavy bag in the storage box of the motorcycle, Bronya picked up the helmet hanging on the motorcycle and used her other hand to tidy up her loose curly hair. Different from the usual double Roman curls, in order to make it easier to wear a helmet while riding, she let her silver-gray curly hair down, which added a different beauty compared to usual times.

"But Sister Bronya, you plan to give Sister Diana a handmade cake, but what should you give Sister Kiana? She doesn't seem to like food very much, does she?"

Seele leaned close to Bronya and asked, looking at the strawberries and chocolates in the plastic bag, then closed the lid of the storage box and put on her helmet.

"Stupid Diana does like sweets, but Bronya doesn't know what Kiana likes... She often goes to St. Freya's Library, but we can't buy her a book, it always feels weird..."

Bronya said helplessly, putting on her own helmet and equipping her gloves and scarf as well.

"So... Bronya finally decided to give them the same thing. The most important thing about a gift is the thought behind it. Whether it's expensive or not, or whether it's suitable or not, is not important. After thinking about it, Bronya decided to give them the cakes she made herself."

"Eh? Then...Should Xier also make something as a gift?"

"You don't have to make it yourself, Xi'er. Even if you buy a greeting card as a gift, they will be happy to accept it. No matter how small the gift is, it is a token of your thoughtfulness."

Bronya said, watching Seele turn over and sit on the back of the motorcycle, then turned the key and started the motorcycle. At this moment, the two girls did not notice that since the young people who were standing around and watching saw Bronya coming to the front of the motorcycle, they all showed expressions of seeing a ghost. Then, when they saw this girl who was shorter than the blue-haired girl sitting on the motorcycle, and her petite figure just fit the delicate distance between the motorcycle's pedals, their eyes were almost popped out of their heads in shock.

This girl who looks only 12 or 13 years old is actually the rider of this motorcycle? ! Let’s not talk about whether this girl has a qualified driver’s license. With her small arms and legs, can she really control this fierce-looking heavy motorcycle?

With such thoughts in mind, these young people just stared blankly. But the next moment, reality slapped them in the face. The girl leaned over and sat on the motorcycle with an extremely skilled posture, twisted the accelerator hard, and the motorcycle suddenly turned and drifted with a roar, leaving a cloud of dust and disappearing at a distant street corner.

Even after the smoke and dust completely dissipated, the people with wide eyes still hadn't recovered from their daze. A few young people who reacted quickly watched the smoke and dust slowly dissipating at the corner of the street, and immediately beat their chests and sighed, regretting not approaching and chatting with them earlier.

However, even if they were given a chance, nothing would happen. People living in the surface world might not be able to set foot on the other side of this world even if they spent their entire lives.

"Ah~ Sister Bronya, why are you driving so fast all of a sudden..."

"Bronya doesn't like the way those people look at us. Don't worry about it, Seele."

After getting away from the area just now, Bronya gradually reduced the speed of the motorcycle and drove steadily on the motorway. Seele hugged her slender waist and rested her head on Bronya's back.

"Wow... For Sister Diana, snacks will be fine, but Seele still hasn't figured out what gift to give Sister Kiana. Oh, if I spend more time talking to her, I will definitely understand Sister Kiana's preferences, and I won't be so entangled..."

"It's okay, Seele. If you really can't think of anything, just give yourself something you like as a gift. Bronya thinks the same thing... Well, I must carve a Hom out of chocolate and put it on the cake."

Bronya said as she looked at the map displayed on the windshield of the motorcycle and drove towards the next place she wanted to go.

If a traffic police officer stopped the underage girl suspected of illegally driving a motor vehicle at this time, he would only see the full set of legal documents presented by the girl, and the age on the driver's license was still 20 years old. Even if she was suspected, the girl could immediately produce a dwarfism certificate issued by a local hospital in Canghai City.

An organization like Tianming that operates outside the superficial rules will not have any trouble with such things.

"Sister Bronya."

After a long pause, Seele finally spoke in a low voice, pressing her body against Bronya's back, and tightening her hands around the girl's waist. Bronya's heart moved when she heard Seele's slightly uneasy voice. After a short silence, she responded with a gentler voice.

"Um~ What's wrong, Xier?"

"Seele had a very uncomfortable dream yesterday. In the dream, Seele was not rescued by Sister Cirlis, and was still trapped in the crack of the Quantum Sea. There was no light, no sound... And afterwards, the one who came to rescue Seele was not Sister Cirlis, but Sister Bronya..."

"Oh?"

"But...but Sister Bronya wasn't strong enough. In order to protect Seele while escaping, she was swallowed by the monster in the Quantum Sea... Seele was so scared, afraid that she would never see Sister Bronya again..."

Seele's voice choked up, and she pressed harder and harder against Bronya's body. Feeling the girl's arms behind her slightly increasing in strength, Bronya remained silent for a moment, controlled the motorcycle with one hand, and placed her other hand on Seele's hand around her waist.

.

"Eh~? In Seele's dream, is Bronya so weak?"

"No... No, the sister Bronya in the dream is stronger than anyone else! She can travel through countless worlds in the Quantum Sea alone and finally find Seele. But... in front of the final enemy, we can do nothing..."