As a major European metropolis, downtown Berlin was naturally a bustling center of prosperity.
But wherever there was light, there would always be shadows.
Even a city like Berlin had its less developed corners.
The two of them had arrived on a quiet, tree-lined street.
Dead leaves lay scattered along the curb. The pavement was patched with fine cracks and uneven asphalt repairs, making each step feel slightly bumpy. Traffic was sparse. Sometimes several minutes passed before a single car drove by.
Seele had led Bronya all the way here.
They walked one in front of the other.
Several times along the way, Bronya tried to close the distance and walk beside her.
But the moment she did, Seele would quicken her pace.
Eventually, Bronya understood.
Seele was using that silent distance to express an unmistakable rejection.
The girl did not really know Bronya.
She simply had an instinctive, visceral dislike of Bronya's attempts to get close.
Bronya could tell.
Her eyes dimmed slightly, but she stopped trying to force it.
Or rather, she already knew that some of her actions were crossing a line.
But...
Sigh.
In any case, that was how things had reached the present.
"This is it."
Seele stopped in front of a pair of small wrought-iron gates.
Bronya had barely planted her feet when the short-haired girl whipped her head around and glared at her.
"Remember. Don't say anything unnecessary."
"Uh... right!"
Bronya nodded.
Taking a look at her surroundings...
She already had a pretty good idea what this place was.
It could not be helped.
Old memories were already bubbling to the surface.
Not the dark period when she had been trained as an assassin, of course.
But what came after.
The layout of the facilities.
The atmosphere lingering inside.
Even if this was not the exact same place, and even if the aesthetic was completely different...
That feeling of home was far too familiar.
This place had to be an orphanage.
And sure enough...
"Big Sis Seele~!"
Seele had barely pushed open the old iron gate, the rusted hinges groaning loudly, when the sound immediately drew the attention of every child in the courtyard.
Standing off to the side, Bronya saw it clearly.
So it turned out that the girl who had been fiercely unapproachable this whole way could actually smile.
It was a smile Bronya knew all too well.
Gentle.
Caring.
Like bathing in the morning light.
Soft and incredibly warm.
"Seele..."
Bronya murmured the name under her breath.
A subconscious slip.
Seele did not hear her.
She had already crouched down and was immediately swarmed by the children.
What she was listening to right now...
What she wanted to hear right now...
Was not the whisper of a fake.
It was the pure, sincere chorus of children.
"Big Sis Seele, did you bring us any presents today?"
"I want something tasty!"
"Like the strawberry cake from last time!"
A few of the children were naturally a little mischievous.
But thanks to their environment, or rather, thanks to the excellent upbringing from their caretakers, they were fundamentally well-behaved.
They were not really trying to squeeze presents out of Seele.
Once the chatter started, they simply wanted to drag her off to play.
Unfortunately...
"Sorry, you little gluttons. Give me a second, okay?"
"We have a guest today."
Seele pointed at Bronya, who was standing quietly off to the side.
Seeing this, the gray-haired girl, whose emotional center had long since been restored, offered them a faint smile in return.
Instantly, the children's attention shifted to her.
A few of the boys immediately noticed the exoskeleton wrapped around her legs.
"Whoa, so cool!"
"Are you a warrior from the future, big sis?"
"The kind who blasts all the bad guys?!"
Now, a chorus of excited chatter surrounded Bronya.
Seele merely clicked her tongue at the sight and said nothing.
Perhaps it was precisely because she had already realized Bronya was not a bad person that she had brought her here.
To her home.
"Hey!"
Seele barked.
Her attitude had snapped right back to its previous fierce, abrasive state. The switch happened so fast it could give someone whiplash.
"We still have business, remember? Finish that first."
"Oh, right!"
Bronya nodded.
After saying goodbye to the children clinging to her, she followed Seele toward the back courtyard of the orphanage.
Once they were out of earshot of the children, Seele suddenly spoke.
"We don't own the land this orphanage is built on."
"Pretty soon, the developers who do own it are planning to build an apartment complex here."
"We can't afford the sudden rent hike, so we have to pack up and move everyone out before then."
"It's their land. They have the right to do what they want with it, so it's not like we can complain."
She turned her head and looked at Bronya.
"Because of all this mess, I'm desperate for money."
"I need to find a way to get the kids a new place to stay."
"And..."
Seele led the way into the backyard and stopped beside one of the windows.
She raised a finger to her lips, signaling for Bronya to stay quiet.
Once Bronya nodded, the alley girl pointed inside.
Bronya leaned over and peered through the glass.
Inside the room sat a worn-out single bed, looking just as old as the rest of the building.
A woman with long, dark-gray hair lay on the mattress, asleep but frowning deeply.
!!!
Bronya recognized that face.
Even now, with the woman looking exceptionally haggard and her hair spread limply across the pillow...
"Raven?"
Bronya almost gasped the name aloud.
But remembering Seele's warning, she managed to swallow the shout.
The two of them walked away from the window.
Only after they were safely out of earshot did Seele continue.
"Nat is the director of the orphanage."
"Usually, outside of government welfare, most of the money keeping this place running comes from her... and from the older kids who grew up and found work."
"I try to chip in what I can, too."
"But recently, Nat got sick."
"The doctors around here can't give us a straight diagnosis."
"No one knows what's actually wrong with her."
"We can only sit here and watch Nat get weaker by the day."
"Maybe if we could get her to one of those big hospitals downtown..."
"Honkai Syndrome."
Bronya suddenly cut in with that ominous term.
"What?"
Seele froze.
A second later, she instinctively grabbed Bronya by the shoulders.
"You know what Nat has?"
Seeing how worked up she was...
"Yes."
Bronya nodded.
She had only taken a quick glance through the window earlier, but she had already spotted those eerie markings creeping across the frail woman's skin.
They were physical signs of corruption.
Stigmata left on an ordinary human body that could not withstand an overdose of Honkai Energy radiation.
And once those symptoms appeared, it was practically a death sentence.
But now, meeting Seele's desperate gaze...
"Why are you suddenly so quiet?"
Bronya's silence only made Seele panic.
"Hey, don't tell me it's some kind of terminal illness!"
"..."
Bronya did not know how to answer.
Was there a cure for Honkai Syndrome?
Of course there was.
But the price...
It was not something an ordinary person could afford.
Because it had nothing to do with money.
It was...
"!!!"
The hairs on her arms stood on end.
A violent chill shot down her spine.
An intense, suffocating sense of danger washed over Bronya.
Acting entirely on instinct, she tackled Seele to the ground.
"Hey, what are you..."
Vrrrm!
Seele's protest was cut short as the quantum robot, Project Bunny 19C, materialized right in front of her.
Its azure chassis hovered in the air, with massive mechanical arms on either side, each fitted with a heavy shoulder cannon.
Clearly, even though Bronya had lost the power of the Herrscher of Reason, Project Bunny had not regressed to its old, obsolete model.
The structural upgrades it had received remained intact.
However, without the Authority of Reason, Project Bunny could no longer pave roads through thin air, nor could it manifest an armada of Key of Reason hover-guns for blanket bombardments.
Still, the current Project Bunny 19C could do more than transform into a ridiculously cool motorcycle.
It could also...
"Barrier Array, deploy!"
At Bronya's command, an azure spherical shield of interlocking hexagonal crystals flared to life around her and Seele.
Just in time.
Ping, ping, ping!
A rapid-fire volley of needle-like projectiles rained down on their position, ricocheting harmlessly off the energy barrier.
Bronya's eyes narrowed as she inspected the deflected ammunition scattered across the ground.
"Tranquilizer darts?"
Her expression darkened.
"Who is the target?"
"Is it Bronya, or..."
She glanced down at Seele, who was currently pinned safely beneath her.
"...her?"