Lin pulled Elysia hand as they walked quickly down the corridor toward his room. Elysia head was lowered, and her elven ears had turned red all the way to the tips at some point.
"Lin... what are we going to do..." she asked in a rarely soft, low voice.
[To have a child, of course, wife.]
When Lin showed her the words he had already typed, she immediately shook her head in a panic: "N-No way, right? This early? No, no, this... that..."
When a person who always plays pranks has a prank played on them, they lose their composure and try to make excuses. And Lin was a master at handling such situations.
[Do you intend to deceive my feelings?]
"D-Deceive?" Elysia was stunned when she saw this, then her face heated up like a pressure cooker. "How could I deceive you..."
[Then let's go.]
Lin waved his hand gallantly, giving Elysia no further chance to argue, and pulled her all the way to his room. He opened the door, went in, and closed it with a speed that made it seem like he was rushing to the bathroom.
Once inside, Lin let go of Elysia hand. She jumped away as if she had been electrocuted, then scrambled into the bathroom. "I-I'm going to take a shower first!"
Bang! The bathroom door slammed shut.
Lin stood in the unlit room. He let out a soft breath and walked to the table where he always kept his photographs.
"..."
The photos always recorded the past, with every important moment frozen in that frame, becoming a manifestation of memories. He picked up one of the frames.
In his faded vision, he could no longer see the vivid colors of the people in the photo, only their smiles during the group shot.
Has it been almost eight years...?
How many eight-year periods does humanity have left? How many does he have left?
"..."
Lin took a deep breath, picked up all the photos, and put them into the bottom drawer among the relics he had collected. The photos representing memories thus vanished from his most prominent tabletop. Human history would continue for a long time; it would never end here, nor would it exist only in the past. Absolutely...
Click.
As he was deep in thought, he didn't notice how fast time was passing. A slight sound of a door opening pulled him back to reality. Lin immediately turned his gaze to the bathroom and saw the pink-haired girl tiptoeing out sneakily, heading toward the main door.
Lin blocked the door with a large stride, causing her to let out a cry of surprise. He then grabbed her shoulders and tossed her onto the bed.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew past. The girl closed and opened her eyes to see the helmet less than two centimeters from her face. She hurriedly closed her eyes and held her breath.
"..."
It was truly strange. Usually, the most cheerful and lively one—like a chirping little elf—was Elysia. She never felt shy in her interactions with others, and her social skills were top-tier among everyone. Yet, among the girls Lin knew, she seemed to be the only one who would look like this after being "attacked" proactively.
She had indeed taken a proper shower. Her most cherished, silky pink hair still carried a few drops of water, and lingering warm steam and a flush remained on her face. Her skin felt even softer and smoother than usual.
Perhaps because he was used to seeing her tease others, Lin found this obedient and cute appearance a bit jarring.
"A-Are we really going to... to have a child? Lin? This... now isn't a good time..." Elysia eyes remained closed as she mumbled. "A-And, if we must... can you take off the helmet..."
... Wait, does she really think we're going to do THAT?
Elysia kept her eyes closed, waiting for a long time, but felt no further movement. She quietly opened one eye a crack and found Lin still in the same position, as if... he had frozen.
"Lin, could it be that you... don't dare?" She narrowed her eyes, and the familiar look she had when teasing people returned.
Lin snapped his head up. Elysia seemed to have seen through him, eyeing him suspiciously. And this action thoroughly allowed her to see the truth.
Lin rolled off the bed, but halfway through, he was grabbed by the shoulders and pinned back down.
"Lin~ Deceiving a girl's feelings... is a very terrible thing to do~"
Facing Elysia approaching, radiant smile, Lin chose to close his eyes.
...
"Lin, I didn't notice before, but why are there several different girls' scents on you?"
"..."
He really wanted to ask what her nose was made of. Not only could she smell that they were girls' scents, but she could even distinguish several of them.
Is the smell really that strong?
Even if Lin wanted to smell it himself, he couldn't, but seeing Elysia serious expression, he couldn't be sure.
He sat on the edge of the bed and put on his helmet, hesitatingly checking the parts of his body where a scent might linger. Elysia also stretched and put on her coat, tying up her loose hair.
...What did the two of them do just now? They didn't really do anything... but it felt like they had done everything they should have. Of course, it was strictly within the realm of a prank—at least to the extent that Lin, looking back, wouldn't find anything overly abnormal.
"Also..." As she fastened the last button, Elysia face flushed slightly. She stole a glance at Lin. "Lin, you seem to have a lot of weird fetishes... Who keeps staring at people's legs like that..."
Sure enough, when Lin usually wore his helmet, people couldn't see what he was looking at...
"..." Lin really wanted to defend himself, but unfortunately, he couldn't speak.
"The losses from this Eruption were very small. It feels like we can take a fairly long vacation."
Finally, Elysia left behind those meaningful words and walked out of the room.
Lin finally had some free time to do his business. He walked out toward the database. He slowed down when passing Mobius laboratory.
... Do I really have many scents on me? Or is it only Elysia who can smell them?
Lin hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly walked into the laboratory.
After ten or so seconds...
"GET OUT! It stinks! Did you fall into a pile of women?!"
Mobius startled and angry roar echoed through the entire headquarters.
...
"I am glad to meet you, MANTIS lady. Although I have many names, I hope you can refer to me as Gray Serpent."
A "person" wearing formal attire and a mask bowed slightly to the Sakura who holding the sword, greeting her in an intellectual and polite voice.