For the moment, Kiana and Snow ignored the little skit between the Herrscher Master and her Dragon Maid, turning their attention to Murata Himeko, who was sitting up in her hospital bed.
"Teacher Himeko—" Kiana called out worriedly as the red-haired Valkyrie tried to climb straight out of bed.
"Silly girl, I know my own body. I feel at least ten years younger—like I'm back in my college days!"
Himeko stopped Kiana and Snow from trying to push her back onto the bed. The St. Freya teacher stood up, jumped lightly a few times, and stretched, getting used to her completely renewed body.
"Back then, when Theresa and I brought you girls to the Far East Branch... that might have been the most important decision we ever made."
Himeko looked at the white-haired girl before her—impeccably dressed, radiating vitality, a true phoenix among mortals—and smiled with deep satisfaction.
"You've really grown up, kiddo... Tsk, tsk. In this outfit, you could probably make countless teenage girls scream for you out there."
"Himeko, what are you talking about!?"
Teased by her teacher, the White-Haired Knight's face flushed red, and she turned her head away.
"But Kiana, does becoming a Herrscher make you grow non-human organs and features?"
The red-haired Valkyrie scrutinized her student, her gaze quickly landing on the pair of fluffy cat ears atop the white-haired girl's head.
"Non-human organs and features...?"
"Besides getting taller and... filling out a bit, I don't think there's anything particularly noticeable... Oh, right! My eyes! When I'm in Herrscher form, it's like I'm wearing colored contacts."
"Look, Himeko—aren't they pretty?"
The white-haired girl leaned in close, showing off her magnificent, bright blue star-like pupils.
"They really are beautiful eyes... Kiana."
Himeko reached out and gently pinched the cat ears on the girl's head.
"But... Ah, never mind."
Just as Himeko was about to investigate the mystery of her star student's cat ears...
Murata Himeko caught sight of the Second Schicksal Overseer standing behind Kiana. The Overseer was frantically gesturing, her eyes wide and her expression urgent, trying to signal Himeko.
Himeko composed herself, squinted, and took a closer look at the white-haired girl's hair. She soon spotted a faintly visible headband.
As a seasoned veteran, Murata Himeko instantly understood. She changed her tone to divert the girl's attention.
"Hey, Himeko, is something bothering you? You look troubled."
"Hmm... I was just curious. How exactly did you all manage to heal me...?"
"And this is the Herrscher of the Void's imaginary space, right? Where on earth did you get all this medical equipment and these hospital beds...?"
Murata Himeko pointed to the array of sophisticated medical instruments surrounding the bed—equipment that Joyce and Snow hadn't dismantled after completing their diagnosis and treatment.
"Allow me to explain that—"
Snow took over the conversation, letting Kiana—who couldn't answer because she'd been too hyped up to notice the two experts' consultation—go amuse herself for a while.
"Ahem, ahem. You have your Teacher's Husband to thank for your recovery, Himeko—"
"Teacher's Husband? Since when did I have a..."
Himeko's expression turned strange, then something seemed to click.
"Wait... Teacher's Husband? My teacher... from Caltech... Teacher Welt Yang has a boyfriend???"
Though Snow couldn't fathom the bizarre leap in Murata Himeko's thought process, the red-haired Valkyrie's shocked expression told her that her student had jumped to some wild conclusion...
"Pfft—!"
Welt Joyce, who had been listening quietly nearby, finally lost his composure and sprayed a mouthful of soda everywhere.
"Cough, cough, cough— Do you have some kind of strange misconception about Joachim...?"
After a violent coughing fit, Joyce finally recovered, staring at Himeko with an utterly bewildered look.
"Oh, that... I remember back in college, Teacher Welt Yang often came back to substitute teach. By any standard, past or present, he was undeniably handsome. Girls often developed crushes on him and would give him small gifts and such."
"I see... So Joachim was that popular with the girls, huh..." Joyce sighed. The first Herrscher of Reason seemed to know the traits of his lineage inside and out.
"But I bet he didn't accept a single one and rejected them all, right?"
"That's right. Because of that, a rumor started circulating at Caltech that Teacher Welt Yang was actually gay... and quite a few girls firmly believed it."
"Hmm... Logically speaking, if they didn't think that... probably half the guys at Caltech wouldn't have stood a chance. Joachim would have become the public enemy of every man on campus."
Joyce nodded in deep agreement.
"But Joachim did have a woman he loved... and the 'Teacher's Husband' Snow mentioned... that's me."
"Wait??? Mr. Joyce, it was you?!"
The red-haired Valkyrie looked utterly incredulous.
"Himeko, think back to the name of your class at Caltech," Snow said with an amused smile.
"The Einstein Class... Wait, is that the Einstein?!"
Joyce and Snow nodded in unison.
"Yes, that Einstein. The Executor of Anti-Entropy, Dr. Einstein—oh, and also Mr. Joyce's girlfriend... Yes, girlfriend." Snow nodded as if confirming something to herself.
"You two reunited and didn't immediately ****?" Snow muttered under her breath, giving the young man beside her a strange look.
"Who gets resurrected and immediately jumps into bed with someone..." the young man retorted in an equally low voice.
-
"So, it was Mr. Joyce who fixed my body?"
"That's right."
"The Herrscher of Reason can even repair human bodies... I thought only the Divine Key Black Abyss White Flower from Schicksal's Schariac Family, or the Herrscher of Death mentioned in historical records, could do something like this."
"Ah, as long as you have a general idea of what it should look like, you can repair it. And to ensure the best possible restoration, we even borrowed the Black Abyss White Flower from its current owner."
Joyce pulled the massive, black-and-white lance—which had been temporarily stuck into the deck of the Hermes—from behind his back and showed it to the red-haired Valkyrie.
"...You really thought of everything. In any case, thank you. Your help has allowed this old lady to keep kicking for a few more days."
"About that... This time, you'll probably be able to keep kicking until the end of the world." Snow flashed a salesman-like grin.