The emblem had been made so complicated primarily because electronic equipment was completely useless inside the Sea of Quanta. Forget signals. Even the positive and negative poles produced by electron spin ceased to exist.
That was why Vill-V had gone to such great lengths to design and manufacture the Butterfly of the Sea of Quanta emblem, making Seele carry it at all times as protection against the unexpected.
With the Current Era's Seele as a cautionary example, Vill-V was genuinely terrified that Seele might somehow fall into the Sea of Quanta for no apparent reason.
If Seele truly became lost in the Sea of Quanta, Vill-V had no way to bring her home from that ever-changing place.
Fortunately, Seele had remembered Vill-V's warning and obediently taken the butterfly emblem with her when she ran away. That saved Vill-V the trouble of searching through the vast sea of humanity for Seele just to implant a nanoscopic locator in her.
...
When Vill-V explained the emblem's functions to Seele in detail, Seele had looked like an excited child who had just received a treasure. Vill-V could still remember that expression vividly.
Only Seele could lose both parents, endure those vile experiments, and still smile before others with such innocent purity.
Whenever Vill-V recalled Seele's smile, she felt as though her heart had been healed, filling her with the desire to protect that adorable and resilient girl.
No, no, no. This isn't the time for a tragic flashback.
Seele was not dead yet.
The immediate priority was asking Seele about her current situation.
Comparing the naive and sweet Seele in her memories with the clever, dark, and seductive Seele before her, guilt rose in Vill-V's heart. "I'm sorry, Seele. Your teacher wasn't capable of protecting you."
The Previous Era was a cruel world destined to be destroyed by the Honkai.
Even a genius like Vill-V had no confidence that she would survive.
Vill-V's plans might have appeared to proceed smoothly, but in reality, every step had been taken on thin ice.
That could be seen in Vill-V's various designs and creations.
Had this been Vill-V from the original storyline, her inventions would certainly have been even more inexplicable.
But to maximize efficiency, all those inexplicable inventions had died before they could be born.
To defeat the Honkai, she had to suppress her emotions.
Even increasing their odds by one ten-thousandth would have been worthwhile.
The only ones who suffered were Vill-V and the people around her.
Vill-V could even abandon those grand yet inexplicable inventions of hers, let alone the people closest to her.
Of course, judging by her behavior, the emotionally intelligent Conductor would never reveal even the slightest trace of such feelings.
But deep down, Vill-V also knew she should have devoted more care to those children who were as close to her as family.
After all, Vill-V had possessed no relatives after arriving in this world. Only the children she had rescued occupied the place in her heart reserved for family.
Seele, in particular, had been treated by Vill-V as her own daughter.
Who would not want a thoughtful, educated, gentle, and kind daughter who warmed one's heart like a snug little jacket?
Moreover, Vill-V's familiarity with the original Honkai storyline made her feel an especially strong sense of closeness toward Seele.
Boohoo, my adorable little heartwarming daughter is gone.
More importantly, the innocent and adorable idol-development project Vill-V had custom-designed for Seele and the amnesiac Bronya had also fallen apart.
Silence filled the room for a moment as Vill-V's eyes flickered.
Conductor: Id, you should go back and sort out your emotions before coming out again.
After switching to Conductor, Vill-V tilted her head slightly and revealed a gentle smile. "Seele, we haven't seen each other for so long. You must have missed me. You can act spoiled with me if you like. Tonight, I'll make up for the three birthday banquets you missed... Oh, right. I'll also make your favorite baked gingerbread."
"Coo, coo, coo!" (A banquet! Baked gingerbread!)
Smack.
Seele kicked Zeo in the head, and he immediately quieted down.
He obediently returned to being a chair.
Seele placed both hands on her knees, weaving her ten fingers back and forth. "Don't try that with me. Seele stopped being the little girl you could coax and deceive long ago, Teacher Vill-V."
It was obvious that even though Seele had matured considerably, she still could not resist the temptation of baked gingerbread.
Although baked gingerbread was cheap, back when they had all been poor, the gingerbread made by Occultist had been Seele's favorite memory.
Oh, right. Those gingerbread cookies had not originally been intended as food. Had anyone heard of gingerbread men?
Those who had not were better off remaining ignorant. It was too cruel...
In any case, after those gingerbread men "died from overwork," they became food for Vill-V and the others.
At least nothing went to waste.
Even capitalists would have called it capitalism.
"Yes, yes. Seele is no longer the little girl who needs my protection. Don't be so distant from your teacher, Seele. Your teacher will be hurt. Besides, when have I ever deceived you while you were growing up? At most, I played a few little pranks."
"Nothing but lies." Seele glared at Vill-V and spoke irritably. "Weren't the pranks bad enough? You still carry Seele's sleeping-photo album with you, don't you, Teacher Vill-V?"
Seele's reaction exceeded Vill-V's expectations.
Seele truly had changed, and it left Vill-V feeling melancholy.
She still remembered how the young Seele had never seen through Vill-V's lies. She would happily follow behind Vill-V, saying nothing but "Mm, mm" or "Okay," then obediently carry out every arrangement.
She would never have glared at Vill-V or exposed Vill-V's little secrets.
Naturally, Vill-V's behavior also contained an attempt to secretly test and confirm Seele's identity.
Seele had indeed matured. After realizing Vill-V was testing her, she immediately countered by mentioning a secret known only to Seele and Vill-V, thereby proving that she truly was Seele.
"Ehehe, you caught me. So you knew all along, Seele."
Vill-V lightly tapped her forehead and showed a foolish grin in Pardo's style. "Don't misunderstand. I only wanted to record how Seele changed as she grew."
Still, revealing one little secret alone could not prove anything.
Seele had simply changed far too much. In the past, Vill-V's conversations with Seele had never needed to be this complicated.
Vill-V needed further evidence.
Vill-V removed her storyteller's glasses and stepped forward to inspect Seele's witch hat and cloak. "Come, let your teacher see how much you've grown, Seele."
Vill-V reached toward Seele's chest.
A trace of panic flashed across Seele's face. She hurriedly straightened up, covered her chest, and warily evaded Vill-V's touch.
That made Vill-V even more certain that Seele had undergone some abnormal change.
"Be good and let me take a look!"
Do not misunderstand. Vill-V merely wanted to take the opportunity to examine Seele's development... the development of the mark on Seele's chest, and whether it was normal.
Come to think of it, when they bathed together in the past, Seele had always dragged Vill-V into the bath with her.
Vill-V had initially felt somewhat awkward. After all, she had been a man in both of her previous lives and had barely interacted with women.
But after bathing together a few times, she had grown accustomed to it. Conductor was far more composed than Id.
She could remain perfectly calm with Seele in her arms.
She only occasionally choked on hot water and suffered a nosebleed.
Seele coldly raised her scythe and held it unwaveringly between herself and Vill-V, refusing her. "Y-You stay out of my business!"
"Coo, coo, coo!"
The tip of the scythe stopped only one centimeter from Zeo's eyes. Even the string of lights wrapped around his body had been sliced apart.
Faced with Seele's determination, Vill-V had no way to deal with her. Even if Vill-V tried to force herself upon Seele, she was no match for her.
When the time came, it was genuinely uncertain who would end up pinned underneath.
Ugh, admitting that is truly humiliating. As expected of the protagonist group's counterpart. Once her cheat activated, it became completely unreasonable.
However, during that instant of panic on Seele's face, Vill-V keenly noticed something unusual about her body.
For a split second, Vill-V had seen the tips of the fingers gripping Seele's scythe turn transparent.
What was happening?
Combined with Seele's ability in the quantum domain, Vill-V immediately had a terrible feeling.
Oh no. Could my Seele have become a "daughter of the sea" just like the one from the Current Era?