Qingque was in the middle of enjoying herself.
Then, very quickly, with a sudden pop, she was thrown aside.
Discarded like a worn-out shoe.
Lying in a heap in the pavilion, Qingque's waist was still contracting involuntarily. She lifted her head, her expression a mixture of agitation and anger.
"What are you do—huh? Where did he go?"
The space before her was empty, save for the suspended Fu Xuan. Ye Feng's voice drifted in from the air, "Sorry, Little Que, I have to step away for a moment. I'll entertain you properly next time."
If not for the very real and strange warmth still coursing through her body, everything that had just happened would have felt like a dream.
Seriously… is this guy insane?
Qingque pressed her hands against the pavilion's railing and struggled to her feet.
Her tender thighs gleamed with a silvery, honey-like luster.
Her figure was shaky, as if Ye Feng's departure had completely hollowed her out.
Leaning on the railing, Qingque slumped down at the edge of the stone table…
"—!"
Qingque's eyes flew open, her breath catching in her throat.
This intense sensation… was like stubbing her little toe on the corner of a table. No, it was even more intense. Stubbing a toe was just pain, but bumping this spot against the protruding corner…
Qingque let out a soft moan.
Her eyes were moist. She couldn't get up again.
"Damn it… that it came to this… it's all Ye Feng's fault…"
Qingque bit her lip, watching as the pink progress bar before her eyes slowly crept upward.
It wasn't that Qingque lacked self-control.
She had already used the red rope, so what was a table corner in comparison?
---o---
"This place is…"
Seele's sea-blue eyes looked up at the vast sky, an undisguised surprise and excitement shining within them.
Her joy was beyond words.
Seele Vollerei, a girl from Estonia, and the wielder of a natural Stigma.
After losing her parents in the Second Honkai War, she was taken in by Cocolia at her orphanage.
There, she met her Bronya-oneechan.
The Siberian snowfields were cold, but with Bronya-oneechan there, it was always warm.
Bronya-oneechan was like the sun, bringing not just warmth, but also light. No matter how Seele hid in a dark box, Bronya-oneechan's light would always shine through.
At the orphanage, Seele had spent the most wonderful time of her life.
However, the good times did not last. The administrator of the orphanage planned an experiment. It was extremely dangerous.
Seele volunteered to take Bronya's place and participate in the X-10 experiment. During the experiment, Seele broke through the critical point, her form of existence shifting into a quantum state, and she fell into the "Sea of Quanta."
Seele's situation was different from others.
She didn't land in a bubble universe, but fell to the very bottom of the Sea of Quanta, into the crevice between worlds.
There was no light, no sound, no taste. There was nothing, nothing to perceive, only pure void.
Endless loneliness and cold enveloped her. It was like being in the deep sea, eternally exiled. She had clutched a conjured notebook, enduring this purgatorial limbo until now.
She thought this indescribable torment would last forever.
But today, when she opened her eyes, she suddenly saw light.
"'The other me'…?"
Seele suddenly felt that something was missing and called out softly.
But her call was like a stone dropped into the sea, met with no response.
"The other me" was the Stigma consciousness that accompanied Seele.
When Seele first became aware of her existence, she was afraid of her, terrified, and considered her a demon. But after falling into the Sea of Quanta, the two had their first real communication.
Seele learned that "the other me" was actually a good person, just with a bit of a bad temper.
And… without her, Seele couldn't imagine how she would have endured the bottom of the Sea of Quanta for so long.
"…Other me, are you there?"
"…"
She called out again in a low voice.
Normally, she would have replied impatiently, "So annoying. Don't keep calling me if you don't need anything. I'm not your babysitter, I have no obligation to chat with you."
And then, Seele would feel a sense of relief.
Because Seele knew that no matter how impatient "the other me" was, she would still talk to her.
In the Sea of Quanta, the two of them had supported each other all this time.
But this time, there was truly no response.
Seele began to panic.
"Hi, hello there. Welcome."
A gentle voice came from behind her. Seele turned around.
In the brilliant sunset, a man was sitting on a long bench, smiling as he watched her.
"Are you okay?"
"…Mm."
"Ah, you don't look so good. It's okay, it's like this for everyone at first. You'll get used to it. Relax, let's take it one step at a time."
Ye Feng's tone was very soft, and his aura was very clear, like a big brother from next door, easily dispelling the vigilance and wariness of a girl Seele's age.
"Do you remember where this is?"
"…?"
Seele clasped her small hands in front of her chest.
Remember? Where this is?
He spoke as if Seele had been here before.
Seele tried hard to remember, but she had no clue.
She stared blankly at Ye Feng. He just sat there quietly, as if he had long expected her arrival, waiting for her.
"Being stared at like that, I'll get shy too, you know."
"…Ah, s-sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, I forgive you. Are you feeling better now?"
"Eh…? I-I'm okay, I guess…"
Although she was still very confused and didn't know what was happening, and the disappearance of "the other me" made her anxious, she still said so. Seele was naturally averse to troubling others.
Ye Feng asked gently again, "Then, do you remember who I am?"
"Eh?"
Another strange question.
Let alone remember, isn't this the first time we've met?
And just now, why did he ask if Seele remembered this place?
"…"
Seele looked at Ye Feng in silence.
The old scoundrel Ye asked with concern, "What's wrong? Suddenly so quiet. Haven't you recovered yet?"
"…"
Seele lowered her head, at a loss.
Old Scoundrel Ye slowly stood up and raised a hand. "Or have you forgotten? Ah, I thought you would always remember my name. I'm a little sad."
"I-I'm sorry…"
"Mhm? No need to apologize, Seele. It's okay if you don't remember me. After all~~"
Ye Feng smiled, and Seele's head shot up.
"…You know Seele's name?"
Although Seele often used her own name when referring to herself, she hadn't mentioned it just now, nor had she introduced herself.
"Of course. Only you, Seele, I will never forget."
Ye Feng walked over to Seele.
This girl, as clear as the sea, only came up to Ye Feng's chest.
She looked small, cute, and adorable, easily arousing a desire to protect her, and… a desire to desire her.
"Alright, I'll introduce myself again. My name is Ye Feng. I'm from the future, and I am~~ Seele's lover."
"Ah?"
Seele looked at Ye Feng in shock and stumbled back two steps.
"How was that? Pretty impactful, right? You're just as cute as you were back then, Seele."
"Um, that is… Seele… y-you, why do you know Seele's name…"
"It seems you still don't believe that we are lovers in the future. Well, that's normal. It's okay, we can get to know each other again. By the way, Seele, you should call me Ye Feng-gege."
"Eh…"
Seele's eyes darted away, not daring to meet Ye Feng's gaze.
"Hey, just say it once, please, Seele?"
Ye Feng asked earnestly.
Seele had a timid personality. When she was bullied at the orphanage, she would hide in a box and cry by herself.
She also wasn't very good at refusing. A small, harmless request like this, even from someone she had just met, was hard for Seele to turn down.
"Can you? Seele."
Looking at Ye Feng's hopeful eyes, Seele subconsciously twirled the hair by her ear with her fingers. Her lips parted slightly.
"…Ye Feng… Ye Feng-gege…"
"Good girl, good girl."
Ye Feng nodded in satisfaction. "By the way, Seele, you're still in the Sea of Quanta, right?"
"…?"
"No need to be so surprised. I know everything about you, Seele. For example~"
Ye Feng's gaze fell upon Seele.
The girl's neck was fair, her skin delicate and smooth, like a piece of beautiful jade.
Looking down, one could faintly see a crimson mark near her collar.
Ye Feng said, "Seele's body, though flawlessly white and delicate like a work of art in a glass display case, has a small mole under her breast. But it doesn't detract from her beauty. In fact, it adds a certain charm."
"Eh, eh, eh??"
Seele took another half-step back, crossing her arms over her chest, her face flushed with embarrassment.
A small mole under her breast?
Seele didn't even know about it herself.
"Don't believe me? Seele can check for herself later."
"…"
Seele had never heard such explicit words before. In fact, she had hardly had any contact with males in her entire life.
In just a few words, Ye Feng had made Seele's head spin.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore, Seele."
"…Just now, Ye Feng… gege, were you joking?"
"Mm, yes, I was. Two of the things I said were fake."
Two things? Which two?
…That Seele has a mole on her body?
Seele hoped that was the fake one. Otherwise, wouldn't that mean…
Seele shook her head. She heard Ye Feng continue, "Let's talk somewhere else. By the way, Seele, do you like cream puffs?"
"?"
"Come with me. I'll make them for you."
"Um…"
Seele looked at Ye Feng's back, and after a moment's hesitation, she followed him.
---o---
"Where is this? It looks like a huge library."
"Have I already left the Sea of Quanta?"
"This is… my body?"
Dark Seele raised her hands, her gaze heavy as she stared at her palms.
Ever since her "awakening," she had shared a body with Seele.
This was the first time a situation like this had occurred.
"Tch, what the hell is going on?"
"Where's Seele?"
"Did she get out too?"
Emerging from the crevice of that void-like purgatory, Dark Seele was first ecstatic, then realized she was alone and began to grow anxious.
"That girl isn't still in the Sea of Quanta, is she?"
She couldn't make sense of the situation at all.
Dark Seele clenched her fists and irritably smashed the yellow camera that was pointed at her.
The thing was annoying just to look at.
"Forget it, forget it! Why am I thinking so much? What does that girl have to do with me?"
Dark Seele floated in the air, weaving between the towering bookshelves.
She felt like she was in a maze.
Dark Seele muttered to herself, "Without me around, that girl is definitely going to cry her eyes out like a loser."
Hmph, let her cry.
Didn't she call me a demon when we first met?
A demon doesn't sympathize with little girls.
Dark Seele moved back and forth through the paths formed by the giant bookshelves. The more she thought about Seele, the more agitated she became.
"Tch, another dead end?"
Dark Seele stopped.
This huge, maze-like library felt like a cage.
She looked at the bookshelf in front of her, which reached all the way to the ceiling. Her eyes narrowed, and she slammed her claw into it.
"Get out of my way!"
BOOM—
A hole was smashed into the bookshelf.
Hmm?
"It's pretty sturdy."
Dark Seele was a little surprised. She thought that one blow would have been enough to turn the entire bookshelf into dust.
But it only created a hole just big enough for her to pass through.
But that was enough.
Dark Seele floated through, but just as she reached the hole, the bookshelf, which was like a wall, began to repair itself.
"—??"
Dark Seele couldn't dodge in time.
Fortunately, the bookshelf only repaired halfway and didn't harm her body, as if it had incorporated her as part of its material.
But now, Dark Seele was stuck in the bookshelf, half in and half out.
"What is this!"
Dark Seele angrily struck the bookshelf, but it seemed to have been reinforced this time. Her attacks hit it, but the bookshelf didn't move an inch.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Dark Seele was furious. She swung her menacing claws frantically, but to no avail.
Instead, she exhausted herself, her arms and legs hanging limp.
"…"
So, what the hell is going on here!
---o---
In a cafe with a simple, modern design, the interior was clean and fresh.
Sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling in golden pillars, piercing through the room.
By the window, Seele sat awkwardly on the sofa, a half-eaten cream puff in front of her.
There was a large amount of cream, filling the golden, crispy pastry.
Therefore, just one bite would result in a burst of filling.
Seele shyly wiped the cream from the corner of her lips. After a moment of silence, she continued their earlier conversation.
"…So, Seele's consciousness is here, but her body is still in the Sea of Quanta?"
"That's right."
Ye Feng took a sip of clear tea, holding the glass cup in his hand.
"Dark Seele, oh, that is, 'the other you,' Seele doesn't need to worry. She's here too."
"…You know… her?"
"Of course. Didn't I say? I know everything about you, Seele."
Hearing this, Seele's face turned red again.
She couldn't help but think about the mole Ye Feng had mentioned earlier.
Is it really there?
She was so curious.
She really wanted to check right away.