The feeling of five fingers clamped around a girl's throat was not a pleasant one, even though the skin at Bronya's neck was as smooth and tender as her feet had been.
But Otto didn't loosen his hand.
It was as if he were preparing to crush some insignificant ant to death.
His fingers tightened slightly. Even though Bronya's emotional circuits were damaged, the feeling of impending death made her body go rigid.
She could even hear her own bones crying out in this man's hand. She grabbed Otto's right arm with both hands and tried to struggle, but his arm was like steel, locked tight around her throat.
I'm going to die. The thought flashed through Bronya's mind.
Her head had already started to sink into haze from lack of oxygen. She couldn't gather her strength. Her vision was blurring, let alone summon Project Bunny.
If her legs were still healthy, she could have wrapped them around this man's neck.
Very soon, Bronya's hands no longer had the strength to grip Otto's arm. They fell away and drooped at her sides, her eyes half-shut, looking as if she were about to be strangled to death.
But at that moment, an ill-timed burst of crying sounded in the living room.
Otto turned his head and looked toward the girl making the sound. She looked about seven or eight years old, her face buried in the arms of a blue-haired girl, crying in a muffled voice.
When she noticed Otto's gaze turning over, Liliya's eyes flashed with panic, but she shifted her body slightly and blocked the crying girl's head.
Otto's gaze moved away from Liliya and the girl in her arms, then turned toward the other girls. Without exception, he saw similar feelings in their eyes.
Fear. Terror. Anger. Hatred. Repression.
Sin Mal had both hands on her knees, clenched tight, nails almost digging into her palms.
Even though she'd always been at odds with Bronya, Bronya was now about to be strangled to death right in front of her, and the feeling was unbearable.
She still thought of the orphanage kids as her companions.
But while Bronya was being choked, none of the children went forward to stop it. They could only bite their lips and watch helplessly.
And the older children covered the younger children's eyes.
Because Bronya had told them not to do anything. No matter how cruelly she was treated, they were not to leave their seats.
Bronya had expected from the start that she might fail. As long as everyone else stayed obedient, the only one who would get hurt would be her.
Looking at the way those girls were staring at him, Otto's fingers loosened slightly. He felt like he was a bad person.
No — in these people's eyes right now, he really was a bad person.
But he still couldn't be as cold and ruthless as his future self. Forget killing a person — he had never even killed a chicken.
His fingers loosened as he looked at Bronya, whose neck he'd just been gripping. Just now, he'd actually felt the urge to crush that slender neck outright.
As if stepping on an ant while walking. He hadn't cared at all.
But after seeing those girls, the impulse faded. He slipped out of that cold Overseer Otto state and back into being an inexperienced boy.
If not for the special nature of this body, he would already have died twice. And that feeling of brushing up against death had gone to his head.
The girl's body collapsed to the floor without a sound, because Bronya had already fainted.
A few of the little girls saw Bronya fall to the icy floor and wanted to go help her up. But remembering that Bronya had told them not to do anything unnecessary, they could only sit on their chairs with red-rimmed eyes.
Otto looked at his right hand — the one that had just been around Bronya's throat. If not for that child's crying, he really would have strangled this girl to death.
His right hand clenched twice in the air, but the feeling of choking a human neck wouldn't leave him, as if that slender neck were still caught in his hand.
He turned toward Anna, then waved a hand at the other Valkyries, signaling that he was fine.
After hearing the disturbance, the Valkyries had all entered the living room and raised their weapons at the children.
But Otto signaled for them to leave. Their eyes paused on him for a moment, then they went back to searching the orphanage.
The living room was left once again with only the group of orphans and Anna.
Anna lowered her head slightly. She felt that as the Lord Overseer's attendant, she was completely useless.
If that girl had taken her hostage instead, she might already be dead.
But then Anna suddenly remembered that from the moment Overseer Otto entered the room, he'd seemed to be paying special attention to the gray-haired girl. Could it be that the Lord Overseer had noticed from the very beginning that something was wrong with her?
Anna hadn't noticed anything at all, and that made her lose confidence in herself.
But then again, if she were as capable as the Lord Overseer, she'd already have become an S-rank Valkyrie as powerful as Lady Durandal.
Thinking that way, she felt a little more relieved.
But then she felt something cold slip into her hand. She looked and saw that Otto had taken hold of her hand with his right hand.
"Lord Overseer!?"
Anna was startled. Why had the Lord Overseer suddenly taken her hand? But his hand was so cold…
Otto held Anna's hand, wanting to drive away the lingering feeling in his own. Without meaning to, he started comparing Anna's hand to Bronya's feet.
Forget it. His thoughts had just started to wander again, but he refused to let them continue.
Once the warmth of Anna's hand had covered over that lingering feeling of gripping a throat, Otto let go and looked toward the orphanage children. The way they looked at him was like looking at an enemy.
Otto didn't like his future self's methods, but he could feel that he was still being influenced by others.
Whenever he did something, he would always unconsciously model his actions on what his father would do, or what his future self would do. One was learned by growing up around him. The other could be inferred from the records. Either way, both of them had left their mark on him.
Otto clenched his right hand into a fist and tried not to think any longer about what his father or future self would have done.
"You'll be coming back with us in a moment."
Otto forced a smile onto his face, but it came out stiff and ugly.
The children looked at him in silence. But at that moment, Rozaliya spoke up. Usually lively, she had none of her usual smile left in front of the intruders.
"Then what about her…?"
Rozaliya was asking about Bronya, who was lying on the floor.
Otto didn't want to bring the gray-haired girl back to Headquarters. If he wasn't mistaken, that sniper shot had been fired by her too.
This girl was very dangerous.
But he also didn't want to kill her. He still had no way to be as decisive in killing as his father and future self.
Then just leave her here and ignore her.
Otto came to a decision, but at that moment Rozaliya said, her voice already carrying a sob,
"Please don't kill Bronya…"
Bronya? That was a very familiar name.
Suddenly Otto remembered where he'd heard it before. It was from a little girl he knew.
He abruptly lowered his head to look at the unconscious Bronya, then raised his head to look at Rozaliya and asked,
"In this place, is there a girl named Seele?"