"So, Bronya, do you know any other information about this organization called Fire Moth?"
"Or rather, did that Houraiji Kyuusyou-san tell you anything?"
Bronie looked at the brooding Bronya and scratched her head in frustration...
"Sigh, if only the Captain were here. Even though the Captain is always acting all mysterious, I never know what she's up to, but she always seems to know what's going on."
"Stop mumbling about your Miss Captain. You'll cause her to choke on water while sneezing because of your constant muttering—"
The long-haired Seele rolled her eyes, interrupting Bronie's rambling.
"Um..."
Bronya, who had been recalling the bedtime stories Kyuusyou told her in the past, seemed to have thought of something and spoke again, drawing the attention of the rest of the group.
"So? So? Bronya, did you think of something?"
The others swarmed around her, looking at her expectantly.
"Um... a little bit, but Bronya doesn't know if it will be of any use."
"The Fire Moth of the Previous Era was more like a combination of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy from Bronya's world, with both biological and mechanical technologies pushed to their absolute limits."
"Anti-Entropy's mecha technology and the Stigmata of Schicksal Valkyries were all gifts from the Previous Era."
"And... in order to combat the Honkai disaster... the morality of the Previous Era's civilization was far more flexible than that of the current Schicksal and the like."
"Certain human experiments could even be discussed in public forums."
"Wow, the members of that organization probably didn't have a good reputation in that era, did they?!"
Bronie gasped in shock, and the two Seeles nodded in agreement.
"Yes, according to Sister Kyuusyou, the organization did indeed face opposition from the majority of the public at first, but it still successfully established itself..."
"Then, with the continuous emergence of Herrschers and the massive casualties and fear they brought, the organization quickly gained a firm foothold, reorganizing all the nations on Earth at the time and uniting humanity under a single banner."
"So, this was the so-called 'inevitable trend of the times'?"
Long-haired Seele nodded thoughtfully.
"And Sister Kyuusyou mentioned a very special group—"
"MANTIS. You could think of them as the Valkyries of Schicksal in that era, but they were far rarer and much stronger than any Valkyrie."
"It is said that the ancestor of that big idiot Kiana, Kevin Kaslana, was one of the MANTISes... and the strongest one at that..."
Bronya scratched her head in confusion as she thought about the Kaslana Valkyries in Schicksal—
"But was that ancestor as straightforward and goofy as the Kaslana Valkyries today?"
Before Bronya's confusion could even be answered, Bronie interrupted her—
"Wait, wait. You're saying the strongest warrior of the Previous Era was named Kevin Kaslana?"
Bronie stared at Bronya in disbelief, her eyes filled with intense shock.
"That's right, Kevin Kaslana. These are records I found in the Schicksal History Archive. Did you think of something, Bronie?"
"Bronya, do you remember that white-haired man eating noodles that we saw after being dragged into the Sea of Quanta?"
"Bronya remembers. Did you call that gentleman the Church Cop of the Sea of Quanta?"
Bronya looked at her companion in confusion, wondering why he was mentioning that noodle-eating man right now.
"Hmm... there was one time I didn't get away, and he managed to intercept me... While I was bickering with him, I learned that man's name."
"Although it sounds completely absurd... his name is Kevin Kaslana."
The four looked at each other, not knowing what to say in the silence.
"So... which old man's World Bubble is this?"
"Who knows? It might just be a coincidence. We know almost nothing right now."
"This street is deserted and there's no one to ask. Even when we were racing just now and making such a huge commotion, it didn't attract a single person..."
Seele seemed to think of something and shivered.
"Hey, hey, hey... what if this is a ghost city? A high-tech city that's still running on autopilot, but its creators died off long ago...?"
"Eek!"
A cold breeze swept across Short Seele's back. Hearing Veliona's terrifying guess, she was so frightened on the spot that she clung to Bronya.
"Bronya thinks there's no need to scare yourself. Look at the moon in the sky; at this hour, it's actually normal that there's no one around..."
Bronya held Seele and stroked her hair to comfort her, casually dismissing Veliona's somewhat frightening guess.
"But, Bronya, think about it carefully... why are there no patrol guards at all at night in this fortified city? This makes no sense at all. Even in an ordinary city, there should be a few patrol guards at night, right?"
"...That is indeed very suspicious. However, if this World Bubble was artificially created, perhaps the creator couldn't program that many people?"
Bronya proposed an unreliable guess...
"If they couldn't program that many people, that would be too ridiculous... They could conjure a whole city like this, but couldn't conjure people?"
Veliona's lips twitched, as if to say, "Bronya, your guess doesn't seem much more reliable than my slightly scary one..."
Just as the group was arguing about whether to continue exploring this nearly dead city, a violent explosion echoed from the distance, and a streak of fire pierced the sky.
"Whoa, a fight! A fight! Let's go join in on the action!!"
"Looks like there's finally someone here!"
Bronie and Veliona had just started to get excited... Then, their vision began to fade, and a nameless sigh echoed in their ears:
[ You have wasted too much time... But it's alright. Everything can be rotated and replayed... This time, let time be advanced again. ]
As the sigh faded, the four of them were plunged into complete darkness...
When their vision returned, the four girls found themselves in a cafe somewhere in the city. The once dead and empty city now seemed to be bustling with activity, and the time had changed from night to sunrise...
"..."
The four of them sat at the table, exchanging glances, feeling utterly out of place in this world.
"I say... we haven't fallen into some strange seven-day time loop, have we...???"
Bronie's lips twitched as she stared at the busy crowds through the window.