When Kiana woke up, her little face was still adorably dazed. She stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, then slowly turned her head, thankfully, Siegfried was by her side.
That scruffy, unshaven man sat in a chair beside the bed, Shamash leaning against the wall. His head was lowered. No one knew what he was thinking.
"Dad... I think I lost the money for the rice."
No one answered. Tesla poked Siegfried. Siegfried turned his face away, but his voice still softened. "It's fine. I already got the rice."
That's good. We can eat our fill again.
Kiana didn't know what to say. In her memory, she seemed to have passed out. Had Shiraha squeezed too hard and choked her unconscious?
The room was quiet for a moment. Shiraha then spoke up, obediently. "Kiana... are you still cold?"
Siegfried turned his head, his gaze sharpening once more.
"How does he know the name 'Kiana'?"
Now that he thought about it, this brat seemed to have been mocking him for quite a while. It was about time to kick his butt.
Tesla had also caught up by now. The girl in front of them, who so closely resembled Kiana, was most likely not the real Kiana.
"I told him." Welt picked up the thread. "I'm sorry. At the time, I didn't know something like this had happened."
Anti-Entropy only knew that during Schicksal's pursuit, Siegfried had crashed, but that the man himself was still alive.
Any details beyond that, they knew nothing.
Siegfried was silent for a moment and didn't say much else. Well, fine. Shiraha was a special talent, a search-type talent, even. He really should have been given more information.
Shiraha pressed on. "Is Kiana not called Kiana?"
Siegfried didn't answer. He didn't say she was, and he didn't say she wasn't.
Shiraha sat off to the side, clutching a drink. He looked somewhat puzzled. "So... Kiana has such incredible power. Why don't you teach her properly?"
What does a brat like you know?!
Siegfried whipped his head around, just about to glare back, when Tesla suddenly had a moment of enlightenment. "That's right!"
The current situation with the test subject was practically identical to Shiraha's.
The difference was that Shiraha's Nee-chan was capable of communication and relatively good-natured. She'd proactively help. And under the influence of psychokinesis, she could even actively affect the outside world.
"Shiraha doesn't have a Herrscher core."
Welt's voice was calm. He knew all too well what Tesla was thinking.
Tesla instantly cooled off. Her shoulders sagged slightly. Right. Shiraha was special. His examination reports were completely indistinguishable from a normal person's, no Herrscher core, no Stigmata.
Then, in a tone that was anything but casual, she asked, "By the way, Shiraha. During the time you were away with Kiana... did she do anything?"
Shiraha thought hard. "She said she wanted to destroy the world. And she said some bad things about Schicksal."
Tesla: ....
Not surprising in the slightest.
She solemnly pressed down on Shiraha's shoulder.
Shiraha preemptively answered, speaking very fast. "I won't be corrupted. Actually, the moment she said those things, I slapped her."
Turning bad was something that only happened during adolescence. In childhood, you still had to lay the groundwork for a good impression.
That way, no matter what happened in the future, with a baseline of goodwill established, things would never get too terrible.
"Uh." Tesla scratched her already messy head again. "Actually, what I wanted to tell you was, those bad things about Schicksal are probably true."
Shiraha: ....
After Siegfried processed this, his voice shot up sharply. "You slapped her?!"
He disliked this brat even more now.
Arrogant little punk who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. That's a Herrscher! The Second Herrscher! Do you have a death wish?!
Later, he was going to find out exactly who Shiraha's father was and make sure that man gave Shiraha a proper lesson.
"To be precise, plus a punch."
Shiraha swung his fist. He didn't feel the slightest embarrassment bringing this up.
After all, to protect him, Mei-nee had once thrown someone with a single over-the-shoulder slam.
The children of the Raiden family might be gentle and kind to others, but they absolutely did not lack for dominance.
"Oh."
Siegfried paused. After mulling it over, his expression turned hostile. "You didn't beat her up, did you?"
A simple slap could be explained as a sneak attack, Sirin might let it slide since the other party was also a child. But adding a punch on top of that? There was no way, no matter how you thought about it!
This brat had beaten up K-423!
Welt had also realized this possibility. After coughing twice, he hurriedly grabbed hold of Siegfried's arm, stopping him from rolling up his sleeves.
"And then?"
Tesla chose to believe.
Why, you ask? Because Shiraha had a fierce ghost friend.
A reckless brute like Siegfried might not understand the sheer weight of a fierce ghost friend. Even Welt might not fully grasp it.
But Tesla and Einstein had run the numbers. The kind of burst power Shiraha had displayed back when he was only six... it meant that a few years later, there was nothing he couldn't potentially achieve.
"Then she laughed." Shiraha recalled, his brow furrowing slightly. "After laughing, she bit me on the neck."
Tesla: ....
She looked toward Siegfried and Welt, the two people who were theoretically the most familiar with Sirin.
Siegfried narrowed his eyes. He knew exactly how Shiraha had mocked him and farmed Sirin's goodwill.
Innately evil little brat!
Kiana had been silent this whole time. She touched her body, her clothes had been changed. There were still burn marks on the skin of her arm, but they seemed to be slowly healing.
"I think I really did lost my money."
She spoke softly, still thinking about the money, even though Dad had already gotten the rice.
Shiraha was quiet for a moment and felt his pockets. He didn't have any money either. He hadn't brought any when he'd left. Even buying things, he'd just used his face.
"I'll lend you some in a bit."
"Oh."
Kiana nodded and continued sitting on the bed.
"Rest for now. Shiraha, come out with me for a bit."
Tesla ruffled the fake Kiana's hair, her voice gentle.
Then she pulled Shiraha along and walked out of the room.
Cocolia stood by the hallway window. When she saw Shiraha, she nodded. Her doll-like face even showed a smile.
This wasn't Cocolia's orphanage, of course. She wasn't so careless as to let the Second Herrscher recuperate there. But vigilance was one thing, she'd heard this boy Shiraha had exceptional talent. There was no need to appear too cold-hearted.
In a chaotic organization like Anti-Entropy, having one more friend was always better than having one more enemy.
Shiraha waved enthusiastically, his smile bright and clean.
Cocolia smiled knowingly. "Though we've already hired people to repair the damaged buildings, the surroundings are still somewhat messy. Dr. Tesla, if you're heading out, please be careful."
She always showed a little tolerance toward children.
Once they'd rounded the corner, Shiraha's enthusiasm slowly faded.
"She's Cocolia. An Executive of Anti-Entropy. Half of that rice you bought earlier was originally supposed to go to her."
"Originally?"
Shiraha caught the keyword.
Tesla sighed. "Well... ahem. There was a disaster here earlier. We had to do something."
Even if Schicksal were here, they'd at least put on a surface-level show. Anti-Entropy's efforts might not have been that thorough, but they were absolutely passable.
Shiraha nodded. His heart gradually sank. "We should've had Kiana go apologize."
Elysia was also sighing wistfully off to the side, her gaze somewhat distant. Her starry eyes softened. "A Herrscher of humanity."
The existence she'd once dreamed of, it had truly appeared in this era. That made her tolerance for Kiana particularly high at this moment.
The fairy lady stood at the doorway, gazing at the ruins all around. The good news was that no deaths had been discovered so far. But quite a few people had been injured.
She suddenly smiled, her starry eyes curving into crescents. "Shiraha, with so many prodigies appearing now, your position as the young heir is starting to look a little shaky~♪"
Shiraha didn't answer. After all, Dr. Tesla was still present.
But Elysia didn't need his answer. She continued talking to herself, her voice light and lilting. "Tonight, Nee-chan will keep laying the foundation for your future. You'd better hurry up and thank Nee-chan~♪"