Selena spoke in a solemn voice.
"It is as you guessed, brother. Your previous world... no longer exists."
Akira relaxed, as if he had finally let go of something he had been holding onto for a very long time.
"I see."
Erika was shocked.
She had never expected something like this.
She wanted to ask what had happened, but she was even more worried about Akira.
Without thinking, she hugged him tighter.
"I... it's okay... Don't worry... I'm here, so don't be sad..."
Akira looked a little surprised.
But seeing how worried she was, he relaxed and hugged her back.
"Don't worry. I'm not sad."
Erika looked up at his face.
"You're not sad?"
Akira answered honestly.
"I don't really have that much attachment to that world."
Erika blinked.
"Really?"
Akira nodded.
"Yeah, I may have improved the technology level of that world by a hundred years, but I never left the underground lab since I was born. So I don't have much connection to it."
He sighed.
"I never had a friend or anyone close to me. The destruction of that world... isn't much to me."
Erika was even more shocked.
But remembering that he had spent his entire previous life locked inside a laboratory, she could understand why he felt that way.
Still, she couldn't help asking.
"Then what about EVE?"
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted it.
Akira fell silent.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he asked a question of his own.
"Sister. How exactly was my world destroyed?"
Selena's voice echoed telepathically.
"I can tell you. But... how long are you two planning on hugging each other?"
Only then did Erika realize their current position.
Her face immediately turned red.
She quickly pulled away and straightened herself.
Akira complained,
"What's wrong with hugging her? She's soft and comfortable to—"
Erika immediately cut him off.
"Stop talking."
Akira pouted.
"But I'm telling the truth..."
Even so, he stopped.
Erika sighed.
At the same time, she felt a little relieved.
He was acting like himself again.
Akira looked upward.
"So? Can you tell me?"
Selena sighed.
"Then her voice became serious. First, do you remember how you died?"
Akira nodded.
"Well, I was saying goodbye to EVE and went out for a meeting. But as soon as I opened the door, everything disappeared. The building. EVE. Even my body. Only my consciousness remained. Or probably my soul. Then I just drifted through the void until I was born again."
Erika spoke softly.
"Just... disappeared?"
Akira nodded.
"Yeah. It was like that. It's almost as if someone erased everything except my soul..."
Selena's voice grew heavy.
"Actually, it was exactly like that, brother. Your previous world was destroyed by a single attack from a high-ranking Oblivion."
Akira sighed, as though he had already suspected the answer.
Erika looked confused.
"Oblivion? The ones you talked about before? The enemies of the Starlight Family?"
Selena confirmed immediately.
"Yeah. Oblivions. Beings born from the Sea of Nihility. They possess the power to erase the data of reality itself. From what I was able to find, it happened during the beginning of the Second War. Your entire world was erased by a single attack. Erased from existence."
Akira fell silent, processing her words.
Then he asked quietly,
"So... how did I survive that attack?"
Selena's voice remained heavy.
"To be honest, I don't know either. For your soul to survive an attack from a high-ranking Oblivion... it's a miracle. As far as I know, nothing normal could survive it. It's basically an anomaly."
Akira thought for a moment before opening his status window.
[Race: Asterian (Body), **** (Soul)]
He stared at the blank space for several seconds.
"So that's why it's displayed like this?"
Selena replied immediately.
"I thought you would ignore it like always."
Akira frowned.
"I just forgot about it, alright? And I had other things to think about."
Selena sighed.
"Anyway, for some reason your soul survived. And I think that's probably one of the reasons the Imaginary Tree reincarnated you by turning us into twins."
Akira slowly nodded.
"I see..."
Then he asked the question that had been lingering in his mind from the start.
"What about EVE? Was she destroyed too?"
Erika instinctively tightened her grip on his hands, as if trying to reassure him.
Selena was silent for a long time.
Long enough that even Erika started feeling nervous.
Finally, she answered.
"As far as I checked... nothing survived from that world."
Akira lowered his gaze.
"But EVE is different. I made her from my fluctlight. My soul. If my soul survived... then there's a chance she should have survived too."
Selena sighed again.
"To be honest, I don't know. It's been a very long time. And the information I have about that place isn't completely accurate either. So I can't say whether she survived or not."
Akira quietly nodded.
"I see."
He understood.
The probability of EVE surviving was incredibly low.
But...
It wasn't zero.
Selena asked gently,
"So what are you going to do? Do you want to search for her?"
Akira shook his head.
"It's fine. If she still exists..."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"She'll find me on her own."
Both Erika and Selena fell silent.
There was a strange certainty in his words.
As if he genuinely believed it.
Then Akira stood up.
"I'm going to sleep."
Without another word, he headed toward his room.
Erika watched him leave.
After the door closed behind him, she asked worriedly,
"Is he okay?"
Selena was quiet for a moment before replying.
"Knowing him, he'll be fine. But right now... Her voice softened. 'Fine' isn't really the best word to describe him."
Akira lay flat on his bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.
He tried his best to distract himself.
Usually, that wasn't difficult.
There was always something to think about—an invention, an experiment, a theory, a new project or mostly anime.
But tonight, for some reason, he couldn't.
His thoughts kept returning to what Selena had told him.
My previous world no longer exists.
EVE might be gone.
No matter what he did, his mind kept circling back to it.
At this rate, he wasn't even sure he would be able to sleep.
Just then, the door to his room opened.
Erika stepped inside wearing her pajamas and carrying a pillow in her arms.
Akira glanced at her.
"What? Want seconds? But my blood is already running low."
Erika immediately threw her pillow at him.
"It's not that."
The pillow hit him square in the face.
Akira pulled it off and looked at her.
"Then what is it?"
Erika hesitated.
She looked unusually nervous.
"I am just... Well... I was worried that... you might feel lonely."
She fidgeted slightly.
"So I wanted to stay with you tonight."
Akira blinked.
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
"Oh. Is it like when we were children? When I slept next to you whenever you cried?"
Erika immediately protested.
"I didn't cry."
Then she looked away.
"But... yes. You could say that."
She hesitated before asking,
"So... can I stay?"
Akira shifted to one side of the bed, making room for her.
"Sure. As long as you don't bite me in your sleep again."
Erika pouted.
"I won't bite you..."
She climbed onto the bed and lay down beside him.
Despite her words, she felt surprisingly nervous.
Sure, they had slept together as children.
And there had been a few accidental situations recently.
But this was the first time she had deliberately asked to sleep in the same bed with him.
Meanwhile, Akira seemed completely unbothered.
Then he suddenly asked,
"Can I hear your heartbeat?"
Erika blinked.
"What?"
Akira looked at her.
"I don't have a heart. So I want to hear yours."
He paused for a moment.
"I have a feeling I'll sleep well if I do. So, can I?"
Erika froze.
Then her face started turning red.
"T-That's..."
She looked away.
"Okay."
Akira smiled softly.
Then he moved closer.
Gently wrapping an arm around her, he rested his head against her chest and listened.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Erika nearly stopped functioning.
She could feel every bit of his weight.
Every breath.
Every movement.
Yet she couldn't bring herself to stop him.
After listening for a moment, Akira commented,
"Your heart is beating really fast."
Erika immediately snapped,
"And whose fault is that?"
But Akira didn't answer.
He simply closed his eyes.
Listening.
Relaxing.
Slowly, Erika relaxed as well.
Her racing heartbeat gradually returned to its normal rhythm.
The steady sound filled the room.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Hearing it, Akira finally felt his mind settle.
The thoughts.
The worries.
The memories.
For the first time that night, they faded away.
And before long, he fell into a deep sleep.
It was the most peaceful sleep he had had in a long time.
...
Unfortunately, when he woke up the next morning, he discovered Erika attached to his neck.
Again.
Drinking his blood in her sleep.
"..."
Akira stared at the ceiling.
I knew this would happen.
---
That day, Akira arrived at school a little later than usual.
Mostly because he had lost far too much blood the previous night.
The moment he and Erika entered the classroom, everyone noticed.
Akira looked extra pale and dried out.
Erika looked extra rosy.
And carried a very visible hint of guilt on her face.
The entire class immediately started wondering what exactly had happened between them.
Akira walked over to his usual spot and found Terasaka aggressively wrapping the Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery in layer after layer of tape.
Akira stopped and looked at him.
"What are you doing?"
Terasaka didn't even pause.
"What? You want this box to keep disturbing class again?"
Akira shrugged.
"Well. Carry on then."
And just like that, he continued toward his desk as if it had nothing to do with him.
Erika stared.
Then leaned closer and whispered,
"Are you not going to stop him?"
Akira looked back at Terasaka.
Then at the heavily taped artillery unit.
Then back at Erika.
"But he has a point, though."
Erika wasn't sure whether to laugh or sigh.
Soon, Koro-sensei entered the room with his usual energy.
"Good morning, everyone! Let's begin today's class!"
At the same time, the Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery began booting up.
The screen flickered to life.
[Time: 8:29 and 35 seconds AM.
All systems go.
Power supply voltage: stable.
Operating system: normal.
Recording disk: normal.
Various devices: normal.
No unnecessary elements found.
Program: start.]
Then she paused.
A moment later, she realized she was completely wrapped in tape.
The screen immediately displayed her displeasure.
"Koro-sensei. I cannot deploy my firearms in this condition. Please remove my restraints."
Koro-sensei said.
"Well... I don't know about that..."
The artillery unit pressed the issue.
"Is this your doing? Clearly, this action is causing me harm and violates our agreement."
Before Koro-sensei could answer, Terasaka tossed the remaining roll of tape onto her box-shaped body.
"Wrong. It was me. You're a pain in the ass no matter how you look at it. Learn some common sense before you start firing away, you box of bolts."
Several other students nodded in agreement.
"Well, machines don't even know what common sense is!"
"We'll let you out after class."
"That's what you get."
"If we keep repeating yesterday, we'll never get any studying done."
Akira suddenly raised a hand.
"Wait a minute. Does this count as bullying?"
The room fell silent.
Koro-sensei tilted his head.
"Well now. That's an interesting question. Does it?"
Karma smirked from his seat.
"You're talking about bullying in this school? The entire school is bullying our class."
Akira nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, when you put it like that..."
Then he looked back toward the taped-up artillery unit.
"But she was physically restrained, right?"
Karma shrugged.
"But she's also disrupting class. That's not exactly allowed either."
Akira nodded again.
"Well, that's true."
He paused.
Then a different thought crossed his mind.
"In that case, what are the actual rules of this class anyway? I mean, we literally fire guns at our teacher during assassination attempts."
Karma spread his hands.
"We can't exactly use normal rules here. There's an world destroying super fast octopus teaching our class."
Koro-sensei immediately pointed a tentacle at them.
"Students! No talking during class!"
Both Akira and Karma answered at the exact same time.
"Sure."
"Sure."
The classroom burst into laughter.
And class continued.
Yet throughout the lesson, Akira kept glancing toward the Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery.
She continued struggling against the tape restraints.
Her screen occasionally flashed warnings.
Her weapons repeatedly attempted—and failed—to deploy.
Akira watched quietly.
Lost in thought.
Thinking about something.