A religious organization. An Origin signature.
Shiraha paused when he heard that. Surely yesterday's incident couldn't be connected to World Serpent, could it? But the methodology was far too sloppy for them.
Beside him, Elysia also looked thoughtful. She recalled Shiraha's supposed "Manticore" background. If he really had been from the Manticores... then he'd probably died before ever learning her true identity.
She explained in a hushed voice, "The Origin signature... that should be referring to me."
Her words came out fast, not out of loyalty, but out of fear that Shiraha might publicly humiliate her here and now. Children's words carried no filter, after all. No one could predict how Shiraha might try to "comfort" little Mei next.
Shiraha: ....
Why remind me of this?
I'm not... oh. Right. You died pretty late. Most people genuinely didn't know your true identity.
Elysia gritted her teeth, a rare trace of killing intent in her voice. "But an evil organization like that, if I ever run into them, I'll personally wipe them out."
She'd merely used a power derived from Origin to resolve the issue with Mei's Stigmata. And now some vile organization had set its sights on them because of it.
Shiraha: ....
He could only nod with feigned sympathy. "This organization is way too evil."
Ryoma thought Shiraha was talking to him. He sighed. "They're rats. But they're rats that hide deep. You and Mei go recuperate in the Americas for a while. I'll handle the vermin here."
Shiraha glanced up slightly. Uncle Ryoma. You're going to take on World Serpent?
Will you win?
Well, at this point in the timeline, he certainly wouldn't lose. World Serpent wasn't showing its head at all right now.
But outwardly, Shiraha showed no hesitation. He nodded earnestly. "Okay. I'll behave in America."
Needless to say, school was off the table for today.
Two hours later, they were seated in first class. Mei huddled in her seat, watching Shiraha chat with the empty air beside him as if no one else existed.
"Good thing you're six. You don't take up much room."
Elysia sounded genuinely grateful. Sure, it was a plane ride, it wouldn't take that long but she wasn't about to stand for hours either.
Her legs would get sore. Besides, they slept in the same bed every night! What was wrong with squeezing in a little?
Though, to be clear, they didn't share the same covers.
Shiraha sighed. First time on a plane. First time in first class. The experience, however, was somewhat lacking. Adding Nee-chan into the seat didn't exactly make it crowded, but he certainly couldn't roll around freely.
Just then, Mei came over and cautiously poked him.
"Shiraha. This friend of yours... does she look scary?"
Mei wasn't sure why she was asking. By all logic, this "friend" had to be some evil, vicious spirit. Probably the red-dressed, blood-soaked kind from horror stories.
But after calming down a bit... having her own personal ghost friend would actually be really cool.
Shiraha blinked. What kind of question is that?
He glanced at Elysia beside him. Elysia immediately struck a pose, dimpled smile, starry eyes sparkling, chin propped daintily on both hands. Her signature "maximum cuteness" expression.
Shiraha hesitated. "Uh... a bit theatrical, I guess. But not scary."
He still didn't understand what Elysia got out of acting cute all day. Everyone had their own way of living.
Hearing this assessment, Elysia pouted indignantly. She was growing more and more convinced Shiraha had been Manticore in his past life.
'Not scary?'
Mei filed that away in her mind.
She was still young. While curious, fear dominated for now. Once she was older and braver, Mei planned to find her own fierce ghost friend. Then, whenever she saw bad guys, she'd have her ghost friend beat them up.
About six or seven hours later while Shiraha was still engaged in Honkai cat's cradle training with Elysia, the ground finally became visible through the window.
Their destination: California.
Also the hidden base of Anti-Entropy's main headquarters.
Shiraha exhaled deeply. "Finally here."
Finally, no more of this insanely complex cat's cradle. Finally... liberated.
Elysia looked somewhat reluctant to stop, but the Honkai energy quickly receded and concealed itself.
...
"Well?"
Tesla stood with her arms crossed to the side. This flight had only two passengers. A touch extravagant, domineering, even. But Anti-Entropy wasn't about to give any other organization an opening. They'd compensated the airline multiple times over anyway.
"...Stigmata."
Einstein watched the surveillance feed from the plane, offering only a rough assessment.
The plane had internet access, that particular technological barrier had long since been breached. Einstein had spent the last several hours watching the children play cat's cradle.
Tesla muttered, "This Stigmata doesn't seem particularly... volatile."
Stigmata came with inherited imprints, and those imprints weren't uniform. The vast majority of Stigmata wills were irritable, even pathological. But Shiraha's was... different. Though he'd looked somewhat coerced during the cat's cradle game, he hadn't seemed unhappy. If anything, he'd been utterly focused.
"Has the model been constructed?"
With the plane still moments from landing, Einstein spoke up again.
Tesla nodded. "Based on Shiraha's movements, I've been able to roughly estimate the outline of this 'Elysia-nee.' She appears to be on the shorter side, with a decent figure."
Of course, she was taller than the two of them.
Silence fell between them once more, until the distant sound of two young voices drifted through the monitors and across the tarmac.
Einstein sighed. "Give them both a full medical examination. With our current understanding of Stigmata, we can't afford to overlook anything."
Anti-Entropy couldn't handle any more crises. Welt still carried injuries from six years ago. And just last year, the Sky People, the Scout Star, and Ryusuke incident had all occurred. They truly couldn't afford to let their guard down.
But by the time the two children stepped off the plane, Einstein's smile was surprisingly light and gentle.
"Over here! Shiraha-kun, Mei-chan!"
Mei had never met Einstein or Tesla before.
Shiraha squeezed in beside her, and together they looked at the photo in her hand. Only after confirming the two people in front of them matched the picture did they jog over.
"Dr. Einstein, Dr. Tesla. Hello."
Both children were exquisitely polite. After all, these were Ryoma Raiden's teachers. Mei silently mulled this over. Shiraha, leveraging his age, was a bit more direct, he stole a few subtle glances.
Both doctors had very distinctive features. And neither was tall. He quietly filed that height away in his memory: the standard 149 cm.
"No need to be so formal." Einstein waved a hand, still smiling. "Ryoma's children are juniors to us, after all."
Einstein's gaze moved past Shiraha and settled on Mei. "I've heard about the kidnapping. Little Mei, I'd like to run a psychological evaluation on you to make sure it hasn't left any lasting shadows. Is that alright?"
The already petite Einstein crouched down halfway, her expression gentle as she looked at Mei, her voice softening even further.
Mei thought it over. Before they'd left, her father had told her to listen carefully to the two doctors while they were here. She nodded.
Einstein didn't play favorites. She turned to Shiraha. "Shiraha-kun, would you like a checkup as well, while we're at it?"
Shiraha blinked, then obediently nodded.
No point refusing. If I say no now, Einstein will just find some other excuse in a couple of days anyway. Better to get it over with.