Before long, Mei stopped swinging her sword and looked at Shiraha in the doorway.
The wooden sword hung at her side. Her breathing was a little ragged, her chest heaving but in those pale purple eyes, something seemed to be slowly taking shape.
She lifted her head, and her confidence seemed to return: "Shiraha, let's spar. You can call on your ghost sister."
Shiraha was quiet for a moment.
Spar? A 12-year-old Mei who's had no special training, against me?
He wasn't one to spoil the mood, so Shiraha just nodded obediently and raised his hand.
Bang!
An invisible wave of telekinesis slammed into the unprepared Mei and sent her against the wall, slowing just before impact. She didn't even feel much pain.
But she slid slowly down the wall, her legs giving out beneath her as she crumpled to the floor, her head hung low.
The confidence she'd just faked came crashing down. She didn't even have the courage to ask Shiraha if he'd used his ghost's power.
"Mei-nee?"
Shiraha came closer, looking as innocent as ever. Mei kept her head down for a long moment.
"Shiraha... am I really that useless?"
Her voice was choked. She'd always been used to being above it all, invincible and now she'd suddenly realized that a lot of people had just been playing along with her.
Shiraha paused, currently, yes...
Ahem. He spoke softly: "Why would you think that? Mei-nee just hasn't put her mind to this kind of thing."
"But Kiana isn't afraid of blood or dead bodies."
But she was, she was terrified. Every time she saw something like that, her mind inevitably flashed back to the scene from three years ago, the first time Shiraha had used his power.
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, then sat down on the floor and gently lifted Mei's face: "Because Mei-nee is fortunate. Honestly, Kiana and I are more envious of you..."
"Born as the young lady of the Raiden family, with everything provided, like a princess from a fairy tale. When I first came to the Raiden estate, I even felt a little inferior, because Mei-nee was so radiant, like a little princess."
He kept recalling the past, not deliberately stirring emotions. The shared memories helped Mei steady herself, her nose was red.
Only Elysia pursed her lips, she remembered Shiraha's smug grin when he first arrived at the Raiden estate. Could he even hide it?
As Shiraha's recollection ended, his smile was bright: "Back then, I felt that Mei-nee would succeed at anything she did."
"But you're all so strong."
Mei sniffled. Her pride, the Hokushin Ittō-ryū, wasn't even half as good as Shiraha's telekinesis.
"Because I've been training this power all along. And Mei-nee has been training her swordsmanship. If we dueled with swords, I definitely couldn't beat you."
Mei had been about to cry, but then she thought, if it was swordsmanship, Shiraha really might not be better than her.
The weak one wasn't her, it was Hokushin Ittō-ryū.
With that realization, the world opened up!
Right, it's not that I'm bad, it's that this school of swordsmanship is lacking!
She shook her little head, looking at the wooden sword lying to the side, then back at Shiraha.
Mei sniffled once more. Her arm, which should have had a faint pleasant scent, still carried a peculiar smell from leaning on the window that afternoon.
"Ahem, I'm going to take a shower. Shiraha, you should go wash up too, you smell."
With that, her confidence restored, she turned and ran to her room to tidy herself up.
Shiraha called after her: "Mei-nee, your sword."
Mei was already out of the training room, her voice carrying from a distance: "Just put it back on the rack for me, I don't need it anymore."
Swordsmanship was useful, even at S-rank, those skills could come in handy.
But for Mei-nee right now, it was better to start adapting to Honkai manipulation sooner.
Around this time, the Cocolia Orphanage had probably already begun centralized training.
He smiled and shook his head, kids' moods changed so easily.
Shiraha picked up the wooden sword from the floor and stood there for a moment, seriously taking a starting stance.
Too bad, no opponent here.
"Back to my room, Nee-chan. I do smell, even I'm a little uncomfortable."
Even the little fox, who usually loved to perch on his head or shoulder, wasn't around.
Every room in the new Raiden estate had its own bathroom. Shiraha stood quietly under the shower, letting the water run over him, this was the only time truly his own.
"A crude scheme to sow discord, but in everyone else's eyes, I'm just a 10-year-old child." His voice was soft, lost beneath the sound of water.
Oh, he wasn't even 10 yet.
"To a child, Ryoma Raiden is supposed to be all-powerful, especially since he once said he could handle the orphanage issue himself."
It was a harsh reality, many children in orphanages were ill, and some late-stage cases truly couldn't be saved.
But a ten-year-old wouldn't understand that, they'd only remember that the adult who made a promise didn't keep it, and that those children died in the labs.
"Next, I should secretly investigate and hopefully have Fu Hua 'accidentally' catch me, so I can play both sides."
"As for Kiana..."
The Second Eruption and Cecilia, that wasn't hard to handle. He just needed to find a way to let Kiana learn the details of that event.
Though it couldn't feel too deliberate.
And then Yae Sakura and Rin-nee... At that thought, Shiraha fell silent, since he still didn't know Yae Sakura's name.
Yae Sakura would definitely be curious about Theresa, but her investigative skills were pretty poor, she probably wouldn't last long before asking about it.
As for Rin-nee...
That one Shiraha really wasn't sure about. As a Herrscher who could partially manipulate emotions, Rin could definitely sense something off about Shiraha. He could only try his best to come across as precocious and well-behaved.
After sorting through everything, Shiraha dried off, changed into loungewear, and pushed the door open.
Steam rolled out of the bathroom. The room was still starry. Elysia's starry eyes sparkled as she lay sprawled on the bed, upper body and thighs pressed into the mattress, calves kicked up and swaying gently.
"Kiana seems to have something on her mind too."
She hadn't been idle either, to curb some of her stranger impulses, she'd gone to check on the others.
Shiraha dried his hair: "Mm Kiana definitely has deep feelings about the name Cecilia."
After all, the only reason Kiana existed was Sirin's longing for warmth.
That pure yearning had once even overpowered Sirin's malice, giving birth to Kiana's personality.
He sat on the bed, paused for a moment: "Nee-chan, did you notice Hua's whereabouts?"
Elysia blinked, not really.
She guessed: "Hua's probably getting herself all scrubbed clean and fragrant right now."
After all, Hua had been in the warehouse too, she'd have picked up the same strong smell.
Shiraha lay back. His hair wasn't long, so it was mostly dry. He tossed the towel onto the headboard, clasped his hands behind his head, and stared at the faintly glowing stars on the ceiling.
"I think she'll go back to the warehouse."
"There must be some surveillance equipment there, maybe even old-fashioned film."
As for how film could store sound or other information, that was easy. Even in his past life, his high school physics teacher had demonstrated it.
"World Serpent has been around for so many years."
Elysia thought for a moment, nuzzled her head, and rested it on Little Shiraha's stomach, soft, much more comfortable than a pillow.
"Honestly, I think Hua is more likely from Schicksal."
"I've been in the Elysian Realm for so long, but I've never met the real-world Hua. Excluding Anti-Entropy, there probably isn't a fourth major organization in this world."
Elysia didn't deny it, after all, the Omnipotent One had spoken. If he said Fu Hua was from Schicksal, then she probably was.
That's just how sharp an assassin's instincts are! No matter how flimsy Little Shiraha's reasoning was, he always landed on the right answer.
Was it because he couldn't be bothered to explain deeper things to her?
"Nee-chan, did you notice Fenghuang Down at dusk?"
Elysia was quiet for a moment, then nodded, which tickled Shiraha's stomach. Her hair was too thick.
"Were you affected?"
Elysia paused, then shook her head, she hadn't felt anything, but she had caught that single crimson feather falling.
Shiraha got a little more serious: "I wasn't affected either."
When he'd noticed the feather fall, his heart had seized with anxiety. But after a moment, he'd felt nothing unusual.
Shiraha had considered all sorts of possibilities, including that his mind had already been altered, which was why he felt fine. But he'd cross-checked all his memories... and they felt consistent.
"Rin's power rarely works on you either."
Elysia said softly.
Shiraha blinked, was it because he was a transmigrator?
Elysia had enough of lying down. She rolled over, wrapped an arm around Little Shiraha, and nuzzled her cheek against his still-youthful face: "Maybe it's an aftereffect of the Siberia incident, you've built up a little resistance to those kinds of powers."
Something like that. She nuzzled again, these moments were finite.
Little Shiraha was growing so fast. A little pudding would soon become a big pudding.
Knock, knock, knock!
A sudden rap at the door jolted the drowsy Elysia. Shiraha, in turn, nuzzled back against his Nee-chan's cheek and gave her a light bite.
"Coming, coming."
It was Mei at the door. The twelve-year-old girl looked especially young, wearing a pretty dress that ended just above the knees, revealing a stretch of fair calf,radiant.
Mei glanced around, pushed Shiraha back inside, and closed the door behind her.
She got straight to the point: "How did you train that... telekinetic power?"
After being effortlessly pinned to the wall, Mei had realized, swordsmanship was low-tier. A low-level skill! She'd trained so hard, and it was still less effective than someone wiggling a finger.
Shiraha's lips curled slightly: "Are you sure you want to stop training Hokushin Ittō-ryū? I've heard that at its peak, swordsmanship becomes incredibly powerful."
Like cutting through space, transcending time.
Mei pouted, naturally padded over to the bed, and jumped on, she'd already kicked off her slippers.
"Shiraha, which do you think progresses faster,swordsmanship or telekinesis?"
Shiraha thought for a moment, then answered honestly: "Telekinesis."
What a low-tier skill swordsmanship was. Shiraha still occasionally studied biology, but he never trained sword techniques, for one simple reason: he'd realized that the time spent on swordsmanship could be better spent honing his telekinesis, making his numbers bigger.
Mei crossed her little legs: "Hokushin Ittō-ryū is too weak. Martial arts should make way for the new era's superpowers."
A flash of regret crossed her face: "If only I'd realized this sooner."
Beside them, Elysia rolled expressionlessly, making sure Mei didn't sit on her arm.
"Shiraha, teach me how to control Honkai energy!"
Mei said excitedly.
Shiraha had no reason to refuse.
After all, Honkai manipulation wasn't a complicated skill for someone like Mei, a natural Stigma bearer.
Even without a Stigma, anyone with decent Honkai resistance could learn to manipulate it with proper training.
"Sigh so even this kind of skill can be used to pick up girls?"
Elysia sighed. But Mei was barefoot, clean, with a faint scent of body wash and she didn't see anything wrong with sitting on the same bed as Shiraha.
It had always been like this, ever since Shiraha came to the Raiden household, the two of them had never really kept distance.
Such enviable childhood sweethearts... and ones she'd helped create herself... whimper~
At that thought, Elysia felt a pang in her heart, so this was how complicated being an ordinary girl was. She even had to figure out how to keep her boy from being so "flower-attracting."
Mei's talent was remarkable. By the time Ryoma Raiden called them for dinner, she could already condense Honkai energy into a short rod...
"Time to eat, Mei, Shiraha."
Ryoma Raiden knocked twice, then prepared to push the door open directly.
Mei was quick, she grabbed Shiraha's hand and hid it behind her back, the Honkai construct rapidly dissipating.
"Got it, Dad."
She lifted her chin, showing no fear as she looked at her father.
Ryoma Raiden glanced at Mei, then at Shiraha, who was still being held by her. Both little ones wore expressions of pure innocence.
"You're not that young anymore, you should start being more mindful."
At the very least, Mei needed to realize she was a girl and couldn't just wrestle with Shiraha on the bed.
"It's fine, if it comes to that, I'll just marry Shiraha when I grow up."
Mei hopped off the bed, her bare feet patting against the floor as she bent down to look for her slippers, which she'd kicked somewhere.
She was older than Kiana, but because of her upbringing, Mei didn't have such a sacred view of promises, she could say things like this quite casually.
Shiraha's cheeks flushed slightly, unsure what expression to make. At least at this age, all he had to do was blush.
Elysia lay on the bed, her expression shifting from "heartache" to "more heartache."
Ryoma Raiden hesitated: "Clean up and come down for dinner."
He sighed. Though he'd initially thought the same thing, hearing Mei say it out loud, as a doting father, still left him with mixed feelings.
After her dad left, Mei turned to Shiraha: "Don't tell Dad about me learning Honkai energy, he'll start nagging if he finds out."
Shiraha nodded, looking like he wanted to say something.
Mei stood by the bed, tilting her head: "Is your ghost friend here?"
Shiraha nodded, his Nee-chan was lying by the bed, her starry eyes half-closed, her legs swinging idly.
Mei's lips curled slightly. She walked over to Shiraha, ready to grab him and tell that ghost: This is my little brother. What I want, no one can take—
Take away?
Shiraha was lifted into the air by Elysia, who was now on guard. The sudden change made Mei's expression flicker.
"Whatever let's go eat."
Mei huffed. She'd remember this.