Back in Paradise, Nursery Rhyme saw a group of kids gathered together. Mizutani Natsuki was leaning against a small tree with a fairy-tale book cradled in her hands, and the children around her were listening patiently as she read.
As the embodiment of fairy tales, Nursery Rhyme loved scenes like this most of all, so she quietly edged closer, wanting to join in…only for the story to start sounding more and more wrong.
"Jack traded his old cow at home to a witch for magic beans. After he got back, Jack was beaten by his furious mother. 'Oh, Jack, you idiot!' The poor boy Jack was cast out by his mother along with the magic beans he'd bought. Tormented by hunger, Jack ate the beans. The beans took root and sprouted inside his stomach, draining his blood and nutrients, and the roots and shoots pierced through him…"
Nursery Rhyme snatched the storybook right out of Mizutani Natsuki's hands, put on a stern little face, and declared, "Confiscated."
"Ah! It's Nursery Rhyme-chan!"
"Nursery Rhyme, you're back!"
The children all broke into bright smiles. It was obvious Nursery Rhyme was very popular among them.
"This is bad. It's a dark fairy tale that kids aren't allowed to read." As she spoke, another storybook suddenly appeared in Nursery Rhyme's hands. She handed it to Mizutani Natsuki. "Here. Read this one to everyone."
"Hm? A dark fairy tale?"
Mizutani Natsuki looked confused, but she obediently accepted the book.
On the dark leather cover was a crude, childlike illustration full of whimsy: a little boy with a smile as bright as the morning sun, cheeks rosy, looking up at an impossibly thick beanstalk soaring into the sky. The vine twisted and curled, green leaves seeming to sway gently right on the cover, stretching upward until it vanished into the clouds, as if it connected to some mysterious realm hidden beyond them.
Centered on the cover was a title stamped in delicate gold foil—Jack and the Beanstalk—each character shimmering in warm, dreamlike light under the sun, as though softly inviting anyone who opened it to step into a fairy tale.
When her fingertips brushed the cover, the fine leather grain carried a faint coolness. The raised gold-foil lettering was smooth and warm, as if you could feel sunlight in it, while the illustrated portion had a slightly matte texture, like you could really touch the vine's veins and the leaves' springy softness.
The title was still Jack and the Beanstalk, but when Mizutani Natsuki flipped through it, she realized the story inside was wildly different.
In this book, Jack still traded the old cow for magic beans, but his mother wasn't so cold as to abandon him. She only threw the beans out the window. Jack didn't eat them in desperation, either. The beans that had been tossed outside sprouted into a gigantic beanstalk, and Jack climbed it to reach a kingdom above the clouds, where he experienced all sorts of fun adventures.
"This is the kind of fairy tale you're supposed to read." Nursery Rhyme planted her hands on her hips as she said it.
Dark fairy tales were still fairy tales—part of what made Nursery Rhyme, Nursery Rhyme—but she still didn't want these pure souls touching stories that were too dark. Their pasts were already dark enough…
Besides, she wasn't some psychotic green bug.
Mizutani Natsuki loved fairy tales. Before she met Nursery Rhyme, the only gift she'd ever received was a battered old fairy-tale book. She treasured it, rereading it countless times until she'd memorized every illustration and every line of text.
It was because of that love for fairy tales that when Nursery Rhyme first appeared, she heard Mizutani Natsuki's call and reached her in the nick of time—so Mizutani Natsuki could enter Nursery Rhyme's fairy-tale kingdom in her sleep.
And after she arrived in Paradise, Mizutani Natsuki received many, many brand-new fairy tales from Nursery Rhyme—stories she'd never seen before. She loved them all.
In her free time, Mizutani Natsuki liked reading fairy tales alone, and she also liked moments like this—everyone gathered together to listen as she told a story.
But the moment Nursery Rhyme appeared, the center of attention immediately shifted from Mizutani Natsuki to Nursery Rhyme, and the children excitedly clustered around her.
"Nursery Rhyme-chan! Tell us more stories, please! Nursery Rhyme knows so many fun ones!"
"Nursery Rhyme-chan! Did you bring us presents from outside this time? Or did you meet new friends? We want to meet Nursery Rhyme-chan's new friends too!"
"Let's have another tea party! This time, how about the beach? I want to see the ocean!"
"I wanna see snow…"
Hands shot up in a rush, the kids chattering all at once. Only children could have that kind of unreasonable, boundless energy.
Nursery Rhyme smiled brightly. Born from the dreams and wishes of countless children, the source of her power was their love.
"Of course! Of course! The presents and the stories are all right here, packed into a tiny little box—just waiting for you to pull the ribbon so I can give you a small surprise."
"And there will be tea parties too. Whether it's by the sea or in the snow—whatever your wish is, I'll make it come true, because we already promised."
Even if Nursery Rhyme had something to take care of right now.
Letting down children's pure expectations was not allowed!
She'd send an avatar over there instead. Hopefully everything would go smoothly—Nursery Rhyme didn't want to clash with anyone.
...
When Satomi Rentaro woke up, he couldn't see anything. There was only white fog in front of him.
"Where… am I?"
His head was heavy, and it hurt—like someone had jolted him hard from behind.
It felt like there was fog in his mind too, making it like trying to see flowers through mist whenever he tried to recall what had happened.
"Monolith… Tokyo… Gastrea…"
He shook his head, trying to clear the haze, then braced a hand on the ground and struggled up.
He remembered some things. He should've been fighting Gastrea… and not just him. There was Tina, Kisara, Enju, and the Civil Security officers of Tokyo…
"Enju! Kisara-san! Tina! Where are you?!"
In the hazy white fog, Satomi Rentaro cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted his companions' names.
But there was no reply—not even an echo.
This white fog was even stranger than Satomi Rentaro had imagined. Even with his hands right in front of his face, even though he could feel them, his eyes couldn't see his hands through the fog at all.
In his memory, this bizarre white fog hadn't only swallowed the Civil Security squad—it had swallowed the more than three thousand five hundred Gastrea as well.
With no response for so long, Satomi Rentaro was terrified. His mind spiraled out of control toward the worst possible outcome…
Maybe his partners had already been attacked by Gastrea.
"Damn it… this fog—could it be some Gastrea's ability?"
People in this world always seemed to habitually blame anything they couldn't understand on the Gastrea. Nursery Rhyme had long since gotten used to it. Many of her friends were often mistaken for Gastrea, too.
"What a shame—you guessed wrong, Rentaro-oniichan."
"!!!"
With that clear, bell-like voice, the dense white fog around Satomi Rentaro began to dissipate rapidly, as if an invisible hand had gently brushed it aside. His view sharpened, and he realized he was standing in a lush, verdant forest.
Nursery Rhyme stood in front of him, hands tucked lightly behind her back, leaning forward a little. Her face wore a bright, guileless smile, like a fairy that had stepped out of a storybook.
"Welcome to the Nameless Forest, Onii-chan."
"Nur… sery Rhyme?"
Satomi Rentaro's eyes trembled, his pupils reflecting her figure. No matter how he tried, he couldn't have imagined he'd run into Nursery Rhyme here.
The shock hit him so hard he almost suspected he was trapped in some absurd dream.
"…Nameless Forest?" Satomi Rentaro caught the odd name immediately.
"Yes, the Nameless Forest. Once you enter, you'll be lost in the fog forever and never find your way out. While you wander, you'll gradually stop remembering anything—until in the end, you even lose your name and your past… a forest you can never return from."
Without caring whether Satomi Rentaro could process any of it, Nursery Rhyme rattled off the Nameless Forest's properties like she was pouring out beans.
Naturally, Satomi Rentaro only felt like it was all as ridiculous as a badly written fairy tale.
"Haha… what are you even talking about, Nursery Rhyme? Is this some game lore or anime setting or something?"
He looked away, tugging his mouth into an ugly smile.
"Look, I'm not affected at all, am I? I can still remember everything from before. My name, my past—they're all still here. I haven't forgotten anything…"
"That's true. Even I'm really confused… why are you still keeping your memories, Onii-chan?"
Nursery Rhyme tilted her head, pure bewilderment hanging between her brows.
"I put a restriction on the Nameless Forest. There are lots of children here, after all. If a kid wandered into the forest by accident, that would be dangerous. So as long as someone has a child's heart, they won't be affected by the fog… Could it be that you're actually someone with a lot of childlike wonder, Onii-chan?"
She blinked those cherry-pink, gemstone-bright eyes, then leaned in like she'd found something fascinating, circling Satomi Rentaro as she looked him up and down.
Just then, Satomi Rentaro realized another patch of fog nearby was being dispersed.
Two figures stepped out of it, one after the other.
The instant he saw them, Satomi Rentaro stared in disbelief, as if he were witnessing something utterly absurd.
The one in back wore a white sunhat. Her snow-white dress looked like a wedding gown, and even the girl's hair was immaculate, pure white.
Seitenshi—the ruler of the Tokyo Area.
Her being here already shocked Satomi Rentaro. But what truly made him unable to believe his eyes was the Nursery Rhyme walking in front of Seitenshi.
The exact same outfit. The exact same face.
There were two Nursery Rhymes?!
Seitenshi was just as stunned. Her small hand in white gloves rose instinctively to cover her slightly parted lips. She had seen Satomi Rentaro—and the Nursery Rhyme beside him—too.
After the white fog swallowed the Tokyo Area, Nursery Rhyme discovered that neither Satomi Rentaro nor Seitenshi were affected by the Nameless Forest's power. Both had retained their memories.
That was why Nursery Rhyme had come on this little trip.
"This is a Paradise that belongs only to children. Anyone who still carries a child's heart will receive an invitation and enter this pure land."
Nursery Rhyme stretched both hands toward the two of them, offering an invitation like a chant.
A child's heart… That was both the protective restriction she'd set on the Nameless Forest, and the only key to stepping into this Paradise.
"Rentaro! Thank goodness—thou art alive!"
As the white fog gradually faded from his view, Satomi Rentaro immediately saw his Initiator partner, Aihara Enju. Like a fledgling returning to its nest, she rushed straight at him and latched onto his neck. The force was so strong he could barely breathe, yet that very pressure sent the reality of having her back surging into him all at once.
At the same time, Satomi Rentaro saw Tina…
Only, several little girls were blocking Tina and refusing to let her get any closer to him.
"Enju-oneechan! Back off! The pervert lolicon is here!"
"Hugging and cuddling the second you meet, kissing and holding—so shameless!"
"He even makes Enju-oneechan call him 'Onii-sama'—what a disgusting lack of shame! Idiot, horny, pervert!"
"She and Enju-oneechan are still so little and he dares to make a move… that bastard… He probably sneaks around sniffing elementary school girls' panties too!"
"He's looking over here! What do we do? I heard if he glares at a girl once, she gets pregnant—has he already decided to make a move on cute, pitiful us?!"
Five little girls. Their looks and personalities were all different, but right now, the eyes they aimed at Satomi Rentaro carried the same intense wariness—bordering on outright hostility.
Satomi Rentaro didn't even know how to react… especially to the one claiming he could get girls pregnant with a single glare. Since when did he have such a terrifying ability?
Tina apologized to Satomi Rentaro on the girls' behalf, and then introduced who they were.
Because of the emergence of "Cursed Children," humanity had abolished the plan to mass-produce mechanized super soldiers.
However, one of the Four Sages, Ayn Rand, came up with the idea of combining the two—that is, mechanically modifying "Cursed Children" so they could obtain even greater power.
The primary material required for mechanical modification, Varanium, was the bane of both Gastrea and "Cursed Children." And because "Cursed Children" had powerful regenerative ability, surgery didn't go smoothly. It required suppressing that regeneration with drugs in coordination with Varanium. As a result, compared to ordinary people, the mechanical modification process for "Cursed Children" was not only far more painful—the failure rate and death rate were far higher as well.
No one knew how many test subjects had died before there were six successful cases like Tina.
Tina was the first successful case, so the other five called her oneechan.
Tina Sprout, former IP Rank 98, nickname "Black Wind."
Rank 21—Rita Salisbury, a.k.a. "Pluto"
Rank 70—Louise Zelazny, a.k.a. "Blood Creek"
Rank 88—Faye Kronmiller, a.k.a. "Fer-de-Lance"
Rank 95—Irene Spencer, a.k.a. "Meteorfall"
Rank 100—Ashley Springsteen, a.k.a. "Giga Hedgehog"
They were the "Cursed Children" Nursery Rhyme had taken out from under Ayn Rand.
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T/N: def got a name wrong sigh lert me know