Mobius looked up at the young man holding an umbrella for her, a guy who had tricked her using the name "Elysia," only to have Einstein call out his real name, and who then had to buy her meals for three days as an apology.
"Ryn, I want to study death, until I master it. Can you help me?"
"Master death...?"
Ryn stopped in his tracks, his gaze lowering to stare coldly at Mobius.
"Mobius, if I remember correctly, your field of study is biology, right? To study death... Mobius, do you realize you're stepping into the forbidden?"
"Forbidden?" Mobius was surprised for a moment, then smiled and spread her hands. "Who made that rule? You?"
"Not me, and it shouldn't be me. I have no right to discuss death... But Mobius, if you are going to walk that path, I hope you can always stay true to your original intentions and understand what you are doing..."
Ryn handed the umbrella to Mobius and walked away from her, into the rain.
Anyone could talk about death, but Ryn, who had already parted ways with it, could not... because he had forgotten what death was.
To lose the perception of death was to lose reverence for life. What right did someone who didn't value life have to speak of death?
The rain fell harder and harder. A young girl who had lost her mother stood alone on the street, holding an umbrella and gazing into the distance.
"Heh... and I thought you would understand me..."
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"Understand? Why should I understand you..."
Ryn's figure reappeared beside Mobius, asking with some confusion.
But then he remembered Mobius was still an elementary schooler, and he was instantly relieved. Right, she was almost at the age to get eighth-grade syndrome, so it was normal for her to act all profound...
The Ryn who had left earlier had gotten halfway before thinking that leaving Mobius, who had just suffered the loss of her mother, alone in the heavy rain was a bit too cruel.
His heart softened for a moment, and he took a detour to come back and secretly watch over Mobius, only to find her still standing foolishly in the same spot, looking in the direction he had left.
"You're back! Have you come around?"
Mobius completely ignored Ryn's rhetorical question, looking at him with pleasant surprise.
"No."
Ryn shook his head, then pointed at his rain-soaked clothes. "I just realized I gave you the umbrella, which means I'd have to walk in the rain, so I came back to get it."
Mobius's face instantly darkened, and she flung the umbrella at his face.
"Ely... pfft! Ryn!! Give me back my sentimental feelings!"
"Ehehe~"
Ryn stuck out his tongue, then opened the umbrella, covering himself and the equally soaked-like-a-drowned-rat Mobius. He then extended his hand to her.
"Let's go, Mobius, time to go home."
Mobius subconsciously lifted her hand, about to take Ryn's, but she froze just before their hands met and tried to pull it back.
With quick reflexes, Ryn immediately grabbed the hand she was trying to retract and took it into his own. Then he led Mobius towards her home.
Mobius kept her head down, her heart pounding rapidly, her face flushed as if it were about to bleed, and her wet hair was now slowly giving off white steam...
"Ryn... I don't want to go home... Let's go to the lab."
"How can we get another umbrella if we don't go home? I only have this one!"
"???"
"I have something to do later, I have to leave..."
Ryn was halfway through his sentence when he noticed Mobius's body was trembling violently.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling cold?"
"I'm burning up right now!"
Mobius bit her lip, and finally, out of embarrassment and anger, she jumped up and kicked Ryn hard in the knee.
After that, Mobius gave a disdainful look at Ryn, who was howling in pain and clutching his knee, then whipped her head around, slapping him with her hair again, and walked home by herself in the rain without looking back.
After confirming that Mobius wouldn't turn around and see him, Ryn stopped pretending to be in pain, took out his phone, and sent a message to Elysia, telling her and Maheśvara to be careful and stay safe on their journey.
Then he raised the umbrella and ran after Mobius to shield her from the rain.
Mobius pouted and didn't want to talk to Ryn, but her body honestly reached out and took his hand.
"Don't you have something to do? Why did you follow me?!"
"Isn't it because some annoying little brat was walking alone in the rain? My kind heart couldn't bear it, so I postponed my plans to come back and take care of her."
"Annoying?! Kind?! Bastard Ryn, you think you're so great? You're annoying too!!"
Mobius angrily waved her small fists high, but unfortunately, the bony little hands of this long-term malnourished girl elicited nothing but pity and heartache.
"Whatever, hate me if you want! I love it when you hate me but can't do anything about it. Besides, what kind of adult gets angry with a child?"
"I'm not a child anymore! I'm about to get my doctorate!"
"Oh, right, right... even if you go off to save the world, it doesn't change the fact that you're just an elementary schooler right now~
With a chuckle, Ryn opened the door to Mobius's house, led her inside, then grabbed a towel from the counter, placed it on her head, and began to dry her hair.
"I can... do it myself!"
Being dried by Ryn made Mobius's face turn completely red. She shyly snatched the towel from his hands and clumsily dried her hair herself.
Ryn waited quietly on the side for Mobius to finish, then gave her a
"After you're done, remember to take a hot bath quickly, or you might catch a cold."
"Mmm..."
Mobius hummed in a voice softer than a mosquito's buzz, then turned her crimson little face away and handed the towel to Ryn.
"Here, for you. You should dry off too, it would be bad if you caught a cold."
"No need, I think it's dirty."
Ryn pinched his nose and took two steps back, waving his hand to refuse Mobius's kind offer.
Mobius froze for a moment, then threw the towel at Ryn's body.
"Are you ** insane?!"
"If being a germaphobe counts as an illness, then yes, I am. But don't worry, it's not too serious. I just don't like using things that have been in close contact with other people's bodies. I'm afraid of getting sick."
Ryn wrung out the towel and hung it back on the rack. Then he ran a hand through his own hair.
Wherever his palm passed, the moisture immediately vanished, and his hair became incredibly fluffy and smooth, styling itself on its own.
"???"
Mobius's eyes widened. She pointed at Ryn in shock, her small mouth agape, unable to speak.
"Honkai Energy Body Cleansing Technique, you deserve to have it?"