Teresa won't starve

Bronya shook her head, apparently no one had ever told her—no, actually, Teresa mentioned the word 'Honkai' to her, but it obviously didn't make much sense, essentially tantamount to not knowing.

"Crash..."

Cocolia nodded, she was not surprised by this at all.

Because even though she was an officer back then, she still didn't know anything about Honkai; if it hadn't just happened to catch up with the second Honkai, Cocolia would never have come into contact with this kind of thing in her life. (Note)

Not to mention Bronya, who was not even as good as she was at the beginning, and was only used as a tool.

"...It's a long story to say. You just need to know that Honkai is a phenomenon, a kind of energy, and a general term for enemies. That's enough."

"An enemy?"

Bronya nodded in agreement.

No wonder she felt that thing was dangerous, and she couldn't help but want to stay away.

But if that's the case, why did Cocolia bring her here?Shouldn't it be better to stay as far away as possible?

Sure enough, taking advantage of the short time before breakfast, Cocolia directly confessed the purpose of bringing her here without delay.

549 "One step difference"

"Take off your gloves first."

Hearing this, Bronya obediently took off the protective glove on her right hand, exposing the hand to the air.

I don't know if there is any irritating substance here, or it may simply be that she has been wearing gloves for a long time; only a few seconds after taking off the gloves, Bronya felt a familiar pain in her hands.

Yes, familiar, deja vu.

"...how do you feel?"

Cocolia stared at her right hand for a while, and after finding nothing unusual, she breathed a sigh of relief and at the same time did not forget to ask the person concerned.

After all, some things are hidden and cannot be seen with only the eyes.

"pain."

The answer was undisguised, but it was not an artificial cry of pain.

It's just a way of expressing the feeling of pain in a declarative way.

"Does it hurt?" Cocolia frowned. Obviously, this was not what she was happy to see, because it meant... After a moment of silence, Cocolia decided to let Bronya try: "Put your hands near the Honkai Furnace, as close as possible."

"that is it?"

This is not difficult for Bronya.

Therefore, without any hesitation, she stretched out her hand and walked towards the Honkai Furnace, looking like a blind girl.

"Wait a minute!"

Cocolia reached out and pressed Bronya's shoulders, making her stop temporarily, and warned her: "Come back if you feel that you can't bear it anymore, don't hold on!"

Bronya turned half of her face, stared at Cocolia's face with her left eye for a while, then nodded and agreed: "Got it."

Cocolia opened her mouth silently, but only one sentence remained after what she wanted to say: "——Go."

Then let go of Bronya.

Watching Bronya walking towards the Honkai Furnace step by step, she was getting further and further away from herself step by step.

......

As Bronya got closer to the Honkai Furnace, the pain from her hands became more and more obvious, and even her whole body hurt at the back, so that she didn't know whether it was her hands or her body that was hurting. pain.

She felt that she should go back.

Just thinking about what the woman said, as long as she can bear it, she doesn't need to go back, Bronya felt that she should be able to hold on for a while longer.

Just for a while.

Just...why insist?

Bronya herself couldn't explain clearly, she just felt that by doing so, she seemed to be getting closer to a certain voice, and that voice was calling for her to come.

She felt that she should go there.

And as time went by, Bronya gradually began to be able to hear what the voice was saying.

【Come, come here, my good boy】

--child?mean me?

Born without parents, or maybe, but Bronya no longer remembers, she's like a freak out of a rock and doesn't even have a place in the world.

No one needs her, no one cares about her, and even as a tool, it is a disposable item that can be discarded at any time.

Just like she had been away from that organization for so long, but no one came to look for her traces at all. Perhaps in the eyes of those people, it didn't matter whether Bronya was dead or alive.

Does it really make sense to live like this?

Maybe not, but Bronya wants to live, so she is trying to live.

But now it's different.

Somebody needs her, accepts her, then maybe she—

Snapped! ! !

The loud noise from the ear awakened Bronya's consciousness that was about to sink.Before she could react what was going on, she found that her neck was so tightly tightened that she could hardly breathe.

She could barely open her eyes, looking at the woman who grabbed her by the collar with both hands and lifted her up in the air, as well as her angry and disappointed voice.

"Do you want to die? Brat!"

550 "Lessons"

It was impossible for Bronya, who could hardly breathe, to answer Cocolia. The only thing she could do was to open her eyes and see every detail of Cocolia's face clearly when she was dying of consciousness.

then.

As soon as Cocolia's hand was released, Bronya fell to the ground, allowing her to breathe air again after a long absence from her constricted throat.

"—cough cough cough cough."

The first breath of air after suffocation was not so easy to breathe, she was like a foul-smelling miasma, the moment she inhaled it into her lungs, she almost burst into tears.

But because of this, along with the coughing sound, Bronya gradually felt better, and the discomfort of nausea and vomiting began to ease.

Sitting on the spot and taking a few deep breaths, Bronya barely stood up against the wall.

wall! ?

Bronya looked towards the Honkai Furnace as if feeling something, only to realize that she was farther away from the Honkai Furnace than when she was approaching it at first.

Obviously, at the last minute, someone pulled her back.

Although she doesn't think it's necessary to do that...

Perhaps seeing what she was thinking, Cocolia took out a big cigarette, lit it, took a deep breath, and then spit out the harmful gas that almost made Bronya cough again, with a look of indifference on her face: "Do you think I'm saving you? I just don't want you to hurt the child if you become a monster?"

"Quick, cough, monster?"

"Do you know zombies? Zombies, living dead, monsters whose bodies are dead but move around like living people, and kill all living beings."

To be precise, compared to the legends of zombies, dead men are not interested in human flesh.

It's just that it's easier to describe it this way.

"Alive, corpse?"

Bronya has seen too much life and death, but she has never seen a corpse that can move after death, so it is difficult to understand what Cocolia said, and she can't imagine what kind of picture it is.

But at least one thing is clear——

"Do you want to be like that?"

Bronya shook her head, of course she didn't want to become a corpse.

Cocolia looked at her quietly for a while, then escaped a piece of cotton cloth from her pocket, poured some pungent medicinal wine on it, and then handed the wet cotton cloth to her: "Apply it on your face."

"......Oh."

When Bronya took it, she realized belatedly that she should have been slapped by Cocolia just now.

It was just because at that time, no, her whole body was in pain now, so she didn't notice the pain in her face.It wasn't until Cocolia reminded her that there seemed to be such a thing.

Then put the cotton cloth on the right face.

"left!"

"..."

Bronya changed her face expressionlessly, and it really felt a little more than sticking to the right side—similar to the discomfort of disinfecting alcohol on the wound.

Of course, most people just feel pain, not as sensitive as her.

"This is for you too."

Seeing how Bronya was covering her face with her hands, Cocolia thought about it and took out a few bandages, and handed them to Bronya as well.

"This is?"

Cocolia didn't speak, just pointed to her wrist.

Bronya also looked at the same position, only to find that there were some circuit-like purple cracks on the half of the palm connected to the wrist.

She had seen this symptom before. At that time, Teresa just touched it with her hand and it disappeared. She thought that Cocolia could also use a similar method to eliminate it for her.

result......

"Ugh!"

Seeing Bronya holding a bandage, but not knowing what it was used for, Cocolia had no choice but to go forward to pick up the bandage herself, and wrap it around her hands and neck several times to temporarily cover the cracks.

"It should disappear in a few days, let's cover it with this thing before that."

"Ah."

Although it was strange why she didn't help herself eliminate it directly, Bronya didn't ask either.

Just let the other person do this for her, and then listen to what she has to say next.

"Ok."

Cocolia glanced at the electronic watch and confirmed the time for breakfast.Decided to finish all the things that should be done now, so as not to accidentally forget later: "Next, I want to ask you a few questions, you can choose not to answer, but don't lie to me."

Bronya nodded, expressing her understanding.

551 "imaginary number"

I hope so!

Cocolia didn't force her to tell the truth. In fact, it was Bronya's business whether to tell the truth, but the way of concealing it was not necessarily a good thing for Bronya.

It's like being sick - do you think it won't get worse if you don't tell it?

Who is good and who is not good, think clearly before answering.

"What I'm going to say is—"

Cocolia paused deliberately, and after seeing Bronya's concentration, she began to talk: "Do you remember what happened before?"

"Remember." Bronya gave an affirmative answer as a matter of course, but added a little uncertainly after speaking: "Some."

Because after thinking back a little bit, she realized that some of the things that happened not long ago gradually became blurred in her memory, and she began to be a little confused about what happened.

"Then tell me as much as you can remember."

"Yes."

Then, Bronya told Cocolia everything she had just come into contact with.

Including that vaguely appearing voice that feels a bit like 'Mom'.

"Mom, what?"

Cocolia looked at Bronya's face with a complicated expression.

In fact, as early as Teresa brought her back, she had already vaguely recognized whose daughter Bronya was.