Sakura naturally accepted the child's kiss.
She bent down slightly, letting Shiraha's lips brush her cheek. With each such gesture, she understood more deeply what Eden and Mobius had entrusted her with.
Someone's view of love was indeed problematic.
Yes, it was all Elysia's fault!
Rin poked her head out from Shiraha's arms, expressionless, and used her little paw to push his face away.
Not hard, but the intent was clear.
Einstein: ….
Theresa: ….
Einstein hesitated, looking from Shiraha to Sakura, then up at Kiana on the stairs…
Had she guessed wrong? Shiraha still liked older women.
No, no did kids even really understand what "like" meant?
Sakura lowered her voice, leaning in. "Where's Rin?"
Before Shiraha could even raise his hand, Rin had already scrambled onto his shoulder, looking at her sister with a complicated expression.
Rin hadn't seen her sister in a long time, she hadn't expected her to turn into this kind of pervert, just like Elysia.
Back when she was little and wanted to sleep next to her sister, Sakura wouldn't even let her.
Now she was letting a kid kiss her and even bending down for it~
Sakura stared for a long time before recognizing a hint of Rin in the little fox's eyes.
Sakura: ?
How did you turn into an animal?
Ahem. Sakura kept her expression neutral, tentatively reaching out, her fingertip hovering near the little fox's nose.
Rin didn't dodge, but she didn't lean in either. She felt her sister's emotions were strange.
Sakura's feelings were even more complicated.
From the photos, Rin was supposed to look exactly like her, so why was she suddenly a pet?
Einstein's voice was unusually calm. "Shiraha."
Shiraha broke free and said smoothly, without missing a beat, "This is Sakura-nee, a relative of the delinquent senpai. I've seen her a lot before. She taught me many things, though I never really got the swordsmanship stuff."
Theresa couldn't help herself. "Wasn't she called Rin?"
She'd met Yae Sakura before, back then, she'd been called… Rin.
Shiraha was about to explain, but Sakura shook her head and pulled Shiraha to her side. "Let me introduce myself, Yae Sakura. Former head of the Manticores in the Previous Era. A ghost who died long ago."
Unlike Shiraha, who had to carefully plan every move, Sakura was an adult, everyone in the Elysian Realm was. They had the right to decide the future of their organization.
Shiraha was still just an heir.
Einstein wasn't surprised, Natasha had too many red flags. As for this one coveting her Anti-Entropy prodigy…
She didn't hold back her scrutiny.
"Contacting Shiraha before was intentional." Sakura followed the advice she'd been given, taking the blame onto herself.
In most people's eyes, this was clearly their fault. Shiraha had been raised by Elysia, taken in by Anti-Entropy, his future was bright.
World Serpent's involvement had only brought a load of scheming into his life.
No one would believe that a kid had been full of schemes from the start, no one.
Einstein didn't respond. She was wondering why Welt hadn't come back yet.
She suddenly looked at Theresa. "Theresa, do you know about the Previous Era?"
Theresa looked blank. It wasn't until Einstein turned away that she remembered, A.I. was from the Previous Era.
But Einstein had her confidence now. She stood beside Theresa and reached out directly. "Shiraha, come here first."
"Oh." Shiraha nodded obediently.
Once Shiraha was behind her, the usually composed doctor finally looked up at the woman before her.
"So why are you showing yourselves now?"
Einstein still didn't seem too concerned, but without Welt around, she looked a bit more serious.
There wasn't room for many organizations in this world, it was Schicksal and Anti-Entropy's stage. This so-called Previous Era organization might have some underground activity, maybe some specialties, but in terms of scale, it wasn't something she feared.
"Because of Shiraha."
Sakura said frankly.
She'd set Rin's issue aside for now, she believed in Rin more than anyone. But out of respect for others, she'd waited until Theresa arrived before starting this conversation.
Einstein: ….
She gave Sakura a pointed look, then a slightly disdainful glance.
Sakura: ….
"I mean, because of Shiraha's talent."
I know, no organization would bet everything on a single boy.
But that didn't change Einstein's expression.
Einstein still didn't respond, which made Sakura a little uncomfortable. But this was the path Elysia had chosen, so she had to respect it… aside from the whole romance thing.
"I don't know how far Anti-Entropy has gotten in its archaeological research on the Previous Era."
"So first, what do you know about the Origin?"
Sakura herself didn't know much about the Origin, she'd had to cram a lot before coming out.
Sigh, this was exhausting. Why hadn't anyone told her before?
Einstein was silent, Origin? What Origin?
"The Herrscher, the very first Herrscher."
"The first Herrscher is Welt, he was born in 1953."
And in 1955, he met Einstein, who at the time believed everyone was all-powerful.
Sakura: ….
She let out a soft "eh", that wasn't right. Shouldn't the Origin be the first?
Why was this civilization breaking the rules?
Or had everyone in the Elysian Realm conveniently forgotten to mention something?
Einstein then said, "But you can tell me about the Origin, Shiraha's situation is indeed special."
Sakura quickly gathered her thoughts. "The Origin's representative in the Previous Era was Elysia, I'm sure you've heard that name."
Einstein's lips twitched, but she kept a faint smile. "Please say something more concrete."
Anyone familiar with Shiraha could easily find out what his imaginary friend was called, and then make up stories around it. That was easy.
"The Herrscher of Origin is also called the Herrscher of Humanity." Sakura sighed. "But telling you about her probably won't convince you."
She raised her arm. "So, how much do you know about the Herrscher of Corruption?"
One reason Sakura had come alone, without an escort, was the Corruption.
Believe, Shiraha could handle Rin, so Sakura certainly could too. At the very least, their sisterly bond would keep Rin from going berserk before listening.
Einstein was still silent, Herrscher of Corruption? What was that?
In the early part of the story, Schicksal had the Void Archives, even if Otto and the Void Archives couldn't stand each other, its core code was still set to destroy Honkai, so Schicksal knew some basic information.
But Anti-Entropy could only rely on archaeology, and the Americas didn't have much history in the Previous Era to begin with.
Sakura felt a little deflated, wasn't Anti-Entropy the second-largest organization in the world?
World Serpent was about to go public, and Anti-Entropy was this far behind?
Shiraha chimed in. "The Herrscher of Corruption is a ghost that parasitizes electronic systems, it can alter data at will."
"That's what my Nee-chan told me."
Einstein looked thoughtful, oh! The world's greatest hacker at the Raiden household, who couldn't even fix a computer.
"Your Previous Era still has Herrschers alive?!"
Her expression turned serious immediately, this was a big deal. If a Herrscher from the Previous Era was reviving, they had to find a way to deal with them, or recruit them.
"Rin…" Sakura called softly.
The little pink fox sighed. She looked back at her sister, realizing she still couldn't understand her sister's logic.
She'd already gotten used to her ordinary life now.
Sleeping in Shiraha's bag every day, getting her belly rubbed occasionally, no past, no future.
"But Rin-nee isn't here." Shiraha reminded her gently.
That's why he really wanted everyone's attention on him, all of it, not tangled up in their own complicated relationships.
Like Sakura and Rin.
Sakura hesitated, she didn't know how to explain to Little Shiraha, and honestly, she didn't fully understand that woman's situation either.
Einstein looked around. "Let's skip the Herrscher of Corruption, since she's not here."
"Let's talk about why you're showing yourselves now." Einstein paused, then added, "Given your situation, you could just wait another ten years, until Shiraha grows up and enters Anti-Entropy's inner circle, then this conversation would be much easier."
"What made you choose now?"
Shiraha was a genuine Anti-Entropy heir.
Pure and orthodox.
His only real issue in life was his romantic inclinations.
Because of Corruption, but you don't understand the terror of the Herrscher of Corruption. Sakura's thoughts churned, but her smile remained composed. "It's because of Shiraha. Once we cooperate and you learn more about that history, you'll understand why the term 'Origin' matters so much to us."
That was the bottom line. As for Rin, Sakura smiled and reached out to pull the fox into her arms.
But this time, Rin nimbly hopped down, sat on the floor, and stared at her sister with complicated fox eyes.
Sister still wasn't very smart.
Even Rin knew that Anti-Entropy currently favored mechs, while the Previous Era…
"Cooperation?"
"We can help Anti-Entropy with future archaeological efforts." Sakura smiled confidently. "I'm sure Dr. Einstein knows just how advanced Previous Era technology is."
That was it, for now. The Elysian Realm, Fusion Warriors, the Stigma Project, A.I. dolls, all that could wait until World Serpent went public.
World Serpent was an arrogant organization, especially the Grey Serpent-operated version. In the early days, Grey Serpent had looked down on Anti-Entropy.
Anti-Entropy, aside from the First Herrscher, had no heroes.
Schicksal? Just a sucker to siphon funds from before the snake surfaced.
Einstein was silent, but when it came to archaeology, she was a little tempted.
"How many people are in your organization?"
She watched Sakura's expression, but Sakura, a true Omnipotent One in combat, had a flicker of awkwardness in her eyes.
"At the moment, only me and Grey Serpent are core members…"
Grey Serpent would only reveal one projection.
Even Schicksal didn't know the full extent of Grey Serpent's situation.
Sakura, as if remembering something, quickly added, "Oh, and Fu Hua, but after losing her memory five hundred years ago, she went her own way."
"The Celestial Phoenix?"
Einstein didn't say much, after all, Fu Hua had helped Schicksal fight Anti-Entropy during and before the Second Eruption.
She just looked at Shiraha. "And… Natasha?"
"Natasha was adopted by Grey Serpent during the Second Eruption. She was heavily eroded by Honkai energy, and some risky human-body surgery was the only way to save her."
Einstein didn't ask about the surgery, Anti-Entropy didn't care.
Sakura felt the task was suddenly much easier.
Infiltration, it's nothing. She'd mostly done all-out assaults before, but she knew infiltration too!
"How do you prove it?"
"I know the closest Previous Era ruins to the Americas, the Sea of Quanta City. I can tell you how to develop it."
A few ruins, give them to Anti-Entropy. That was Grey Serpent's exact words.
World Serpent didn't care about those things anymore. They only cared about three plans, Project Ember was pending, and Project Giza's executor, Su, was missing.
Then there was Project Stigma, but Kevin was gone too…
So the plan World Serpent was still counting on was Project Ember, the one Fu Hua was executing. Preserve World Serpent's strength for now, and wait to see what the modern civilization could do.
Rely on the wisdom of future generations, while keeping the possibility of Project Stigma alive.
Einstein looked at Shiraha again. She took his hand and bent down slightly. "Aren't you going to thank your Sakura-nee?"
Though the name "Sea of Quanta City" didn't sound like something from the Americas, times had changed, who knew how people thought back then?
As for cooperation, cooperation accepted. Though she didn't know much about the other organization, in the Americas, even a loose coin was Anti-Entropy's property!
What waves could those old relics of the Previous Era possibly make?!
Theresa looked around, she was starting to wonder what she was even doing here.
Shouldn't she be in the Far East? The Herrscher of Corruption is there, Fu Hua, your intel is off!
With the brief discussion over, Mei was left feeling strange about the whole thing. Why did Shiraha need to be involved in the conversation with Sakura? Were they that close in private?
Damn! where had Shiraha met another pretty older sister?
And why didn't he tell her? If he didn't trust her, why did he keep hanging out with her?
Oh, right, she'd already been left out.
Kiana asked curiously, "Are you grinding your teeth?"
Mei puffed out her cheeks. "I hate you all, why don't you tell me when you make new friends?"
Kiana blinked, are you talking about yourself?
But she looked downstairs, the conversation seemed to be going on for a while, and Shiraha had grabbed the nun who was about to leave. It didn't look like Shiraha would have any free time soon.
Kiana sighed and pulled out a game cartridge. "You want to play?"
She had a feeling Mei was pretty bad at games, in every sense.