"What's gotten into you this time?"
"Another pretty girl came knocking?"
Snapping back to reality, Herta could already guess with near certainty what had caused Lumina to suddenly leap up in excitement.
There were only two possibilities.
Either a new pretty girl had shown up.
Or one of her existing pretty girls had agreed to some of her... slightly excessive requests.
Though there were two possibilities, they were practically the same.
Both involved pretty girls.
If anything else could make Lumina bolt from her seat like that, Herta would find it utterly unbelievable.
She probably wouldn't even get this excited if the Cosmos was on the brink of Destruction. A message from a pretty girl, on the other hand...
"Yep! I'm about to make a new friend!"
Lumina smiled faintly, waiting for Castorice on the other end of the screen to accept her friend request.
After completing this thrilling task, Lumina sat back down on the sofa.
However, perhaps feeling a bit uncomfortable or just off, Lumina shifted on the sofa, scooting over until she was pressed intimately against Herta's side.
Her entire body was practically plastered to Herta's.
Herta: "..."
The tips of Herta's ears flushed slightly, but she didn't react.
She just let Lumina cling to her while... chatting with other pretty girls...
The thought made Herta's resentment flare up again.
I'm a perfectly good pretty girl right here beside you, and you can do whatever you want to me.
But you ignore me to stare at your phone, chatting with some other pretty girl through a screen and across the internet.
This, more or less, annoyed Herta quite a bit.
But there was nothing she could say.
Glancing at Lumina, who hadn't spared her a single look, her eyes glued to her phone screen, Herta puffed out her cheeks slightly. It would be a lie to say she wasn't sulking.
But what could she do?
Resigned, Herta turned her attention back to her own phone, resuming her scroll through short videos.
["Ah, Miss Lumina, so beautiful, so holy, so..."]
Without a doubt, it was another video about Lumina...
"Castorice must be busy, huh?"
Seeing that Castorice hadn't accepted her friend request yet, Lumina felt no annoyance, simply assuming she was occupied.
With a tap of her finger, she switched back to her chat with Aglaea and sent two messages.
[Lumina]: Agy, I've sent the friend request to Castorice.
[Lumina]: I was wondering, what's Tribbie's contact info? I want to ask her to travel Okhema with me.
Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~
[Aglaea]: [Tribbie.ContactInfo]
[Aglaea]: Hmm... Lumina, my Teacher's situation is a bit complicated. It's too much to explain in a few words. I'll tell you when we meet in person.
The moment Lumina sent her messages, Aglaea replied almost instantly.
The response was so fast, it was as if Aglaea had been sitting by her phone, waiting for Lumina's message.
"Hmm... It really is a bit complicated," Lumina muttered, looking at Aglaea's message.
[Lumina]: Okay, Aglaea, you should get some rest too.
[Lumina]: I can feel that you're very, very tired right now. If you keep going like this, I'm afraid you won't last much longer.
[Lumina]: You know better than I do how important you are to Okhema, right? As long as you're here, Okhema won't fall into disaster.
[Lumina]: So, please get some proper rest. For the people of Okhema, and for yourself.
"Heh, I'm such a warm-hearted Big Sister," Lumina nodded in satisfaction, looking at the series of messages she'd just sent.
A thought even crossed her mind: Could I actually become a gentle, understanding Big Sister?
The kind who specializes in comforting beautiful girls~
Lumina mused to herself.
Since she made no effort to hide her actions, her behavior immediately earned a massive eye-roll from Herta, who was sitting beside her.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
On the other end of Lumina's screen, Aglaea's exquisite, divine face clearly froze as she read the message.
It seemed she had never imagined that Lumina, of all people, would express concern for her.
She hadn't expected it, but... it was heartwarming.
Aglaea liked it very much.
It wasn't the first time Aglaea had heard words of concern. Her Teacher and others had said similar things to her before.
But for some reason, the combined effect of all their words couldn't compare to the impact of Lumina's single message.
And... Lumina's concern had been conveyed through a stone tablet, across a "network."
Yet... yet it made her feel so happy.
Why... why was that?
If she said it to me face-to-face, would I like it even more?
Cracks began to appear across Aglaea's divinity-shrouded form.
And from within those fissures, countless traces of humanity seeped out...
"Hah..."
Suppressing the thoughts swirling in her mind, Aglaea refocused on the stone tablet and replied to Lumina's message.
[Aglaea]: Thank you very much for your concern, Lumina.
Aglaea wanted to add an honorific, to append "Miss" after Lumina's name to show her respect.
But recalling what Lumina had said to her earlier, she dismissed the idea.
Lumina seemed to dislike honorifics.
A powerful and influential figure who disliked honorifics—this was something Aglaea had never encountered before.
Perhaps this is Lumina's unique warmth.
Without dwelling on it further, Aglaea waited a moment. When no reply came from Lumina, she put the stone tablet away.
Through the golden threads that permeated Okhema City, she observed everything within its walls.
Seeing the people of the Eternal Holy City brimming with smiles, a gentle smile touched her own lips.
"Perhaps... Lumina was right."
"I... should take a rest too."
"For the people of Okhema, and for myself."
As Aglaea's soft words faded, countless golden threads suddenly swirled around her, weaving themselves into a cradle for her to rest in.
Aglaea settled into the cradle and slowly closed her eyes.
Within the cracks of her divinity, a gentle green light began to emerge...
It filled Aglaea with a sense of peace and happiness.
And the memories she had long forgotten...
Now, in this long-awaited sweet dream, they began to resurface, one by one...
-
Ding~
[Castorice has accepted your friend request]
[Tribbie has accepted your friend request]
[Castorice]: You must be Miss Lumina, correct?
[Castorice]: It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Castorice.
Although Castorice and Tribbie had accepted the friend requests at the same time, Castorice had sent two messages almost instantly.
Although Castorice and Tribbie had accepted the friend requests at the same time, Castorice had sent two messages almost instantly.
It was as if she had prepared them in advance.
Naturally, Lumina focused her attention on Castorice's messages first.
After a moment of thought, she tapped her fingers on the screen and replied.
[Lumina]: Hello, Miss Castorice~ Just call me Lumina, okay?
Lumina was quite interested in Castorice.
Because of her unique constitution, any living creature that touched her would die.
So... her body must be fragrant, soft, and completely free of any corruption, right?
This was rather similar to Lumina herself.
Though Lumina didn't have a special constitution, she was always in a state of pristine cleanliness.
Unless she deliberately allowed filth to touch her, she would remain eternally spotless.
This was also why Lumina didn't wear shoes.
Shoes were slightly uncomfortable, whereas going barefoot was much more pleasant~
[Castorice]: Understood, Miss Lumina.
[Castorice]: Lady Aglaea has already instructed me. If you need anything, Miss Lumina, please don't hesitate to come to me. I will do my best... no, I will help you resolve it.
[Lumina]: Then thank you very much, Miss Castorice~
Lumina kept her reply brief, wanting to save more surprises for their first meeting.
If they learned everything about each other online and chatted extensively, wouldn't their actual meeting lose some of its novelty?
That wasn't something Lumina wanted.
With this thought, Lumina exited the chat with Castorice and opened her conversation with Tribbie.
While she had been chatting with Castorice, Tribbie had also sent a message.
[Tribbie]: It's Miss Lumina! Are you planning to start exploring Okhema?
[Tribbie]: You can! If that's the case, we are available.
Hmm... why does the word "we" still have asterisks around it in the chat app?
Looking at Tribbie's message, Lumina couldn't help but feel a little curious.
Doesn't this thing just send whatever you type?
Could it be that Tribbie actually types it as "we"?
Lumina couldn't help but mutter to herself.
But she quickly dismissed the thought.
"Forget it. Who knows?"
"It's just an unimportant detail."
Without dwelling on it further, she replied to Tribbie.
[Lumina]: That's right. Thank you for your trouble, Tribbie.
[Tribbie]: No trouble at all! We are very happy to help you and Miss Herta.
[Lumina]: So, where should we meet?
After Lumina sent this message, the other side clearly paused to think, as there was no reply for a while.
[Tribbie]: How about... we come to you?
[Tribbie]: Agy told us where you are, so I know your location.
[Tribbie]: We'll come find you. You can just wait in your room!
[Lumina]: Okay.
Reading Tribbie's messages, Lumina could almost picture the lively, adorable red-haired little girl on the other side of the screen.
Although Tribbie looked and acted like a little girl, with a somewhat childish mentality, her intelligence was perfectly normal.
She was like...
A very reliable little adult.
The kind of person you could rely on completely.
"Hmm... Tribbie... we..."
After ending the chat with Tribbie, Lumina lowered her head, lost in thought.
To be honest, Lumina wasn't particularly interested in Tribbie herself.
Well... that's probably normal.
If Lumina were interested in Tribbie, she'd probably deserve a long stay in a prison built by the Interastral Peace Corporation, right?
But that wasn't the point.
The point was, while Lumina had no interest in Tribbie, she was very interested in Tribbie's original form.
The one that existed before being split into a thousand pieces. Hmm... could that even be called "Tribbie"?
Lumina didn't know its name yet, but she was sure she'd find out eventually. For now, she'd call it "Big Tribbie."
Without a doubt, a being capable of splitting into a thousand pieces—and producing such an adorable Tribbie—must have been a super beautiful girl in its original form.
And how could Lumina possibly pass up the chance to meet a super beautiful girl?
Still, if there was no way to do it properly, Lumina wouldn't resort to reckless measures.
After all, from the looks of it, Tribbie was an integral part of Big Tribbie.
Besides, when Lumina watched the Amphoreus' Saga of Heroes PV, she had noticed there were three Tribbies just like this one.
In Lumina's eyes, they were all living beings. If the condition for Big Tribbie to appear was the disappearance of these three Little Tribbies, Lumina would never do it, no matter what.
Big Tribbie was Tribbie, and Little Tribbie was also Tribbie. In Lumina's eyes, there was no fundamental difference between them.
Hmm...
Okay, there was a slight difference.
Big Tribbie had an adult appearance, which piqued Lumina's interest.
Little Tribbie not only looked underage but also failed to capture Lumina's interest.
When Lumina said "interest," she meant her interest in beautiful girls.
It wasn't that she disliked Little Tribbie.
On the contrary, Lumina was very fond of Little Tribbie.
She's so cute, how could I possibly dislike her?
Shaking her head, Lumina pushed the thoughts aside.
Whether she'd ever meet Big Tribbie, she'd leave it to fate.
Meeting her would be ideal, but if not, Little Tribbie was wonderful too.
With a soft hum, Lumina put away her phone.
She glanced at Herta, who was scrolling through short videos, and her curiosity got the better of her. Leaning over, she peeked at Herta's screen.
"Pay attention. This woman is named Lumine, and that woman is Herta. They're playing poker..."
"..."
Lumina's mouth twitched as she watched the video.
Is this the legendary clickbait video commentary?
Lumina was genuinely surprised that Herta would watch something like this.
After a few glances, Lumina lost interest.
Her gaze slowly drifted upward, settling on Herta's exquisite profile.
Herta is far more captivating than some silly short video, she thought, admiring Herta's beauty.
Watching Herta's focused expression as she stared at the screen, Lumina's eyes lit up with a mischievous glint. A brilliant idea had just struck her.
Carefully, Lumina raised her hand and pressed her knuckles to her lips, leaving a trace of warmth and moisture on them.
Then, with lightning speed, she lightly tapped her knuckles against Herta's cheek—a touch as fleeting as a dragonfly skimming water.
Before Herta could react, Lumina snatched her hand back.
She sat upright on the sofa, feigning composure, her face slightly flushed. With a hint of awkwardness, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
Right now, Lumina looked exactly like a little girl trying to act innocent after getting caught doing something wrong.
"?"
Feeling the touch, Herta snapped out of her trance and shot Lumina a confused look.
Then, she felt the dampness on her cheek and wiped it with her hand.
"!"
The next second, as she realized what it was, Herta's heart leaped in shock.
"Y-y-y-you... You... Why did you kiss me?"
Herta's face flushed red as she recalled what Lumina had just done. She stammered, her voice trembling as she questioned her.