"Or perhaps, do you really see it as some kind of opportunity?" Bronya asked calmly.
Neither her eyes nor her expression showed any change, it was unclear whether it was because she was naturally less emotional, or because she already had the answer in her heart.
"What, scared?" Sin retracted her fist as if victorious and laughed loudly. "It's good that you're scared. If you're scared, then get lost early and don't get in my way!"
After saying that, she glanced at her disdainfully, then, as if too lazy to talk to her, turned around like a triumphant rooster about to leave.
After walking a long way, she seemed to remember something, turned her head slightly, and looked at Bronya with her peripheral vision, saying in a contemptuous tone, "Mother Cocolia doesn't need useless trash. If you're scared, then get lost with that good-for-nothing who cries all day!"
After throwing down these words, she left without looking back.
"..."
Behind her, Bronya, who had been insulted for half the day, just watched her back quietly, neither happy nor sad. Then she turned and walked towards the kitchen. She still had her own things to do.
By noon, Seele cautiously pushed open the door and walked out.
The layout of the corridor was similar to her memory. Seele walked and looked with a complex mix of nostalgia and sadness. Occasionally, other children running past would greet her.
They were supposed to be companions living together, and their expressions when they greeted Seele were not distant, but there were few among them whom she truly recognized.
This subtle detail constantly reminded her of one fact—this was not the "home" she was truly familiar with from the past.
Just as Seele was lost in the confusion between falsehood and reality, a familiar voice sounded from not far away. "Seele..."
Seele turned her head and saw Bronya walking up the stairs with a new tray. "Seele, it's cold outside. You're weak and haven't fully recovered from your illness. You should be resting properly in your room."
"Bronya-oneechan, I'm fine, I'm much better now." Seeing a familiar person and sincere concern when she was feeling lost and sad always made her feel exceptionally close and at ease.
Seele came to her senses, shook her head, and said shyly, "I'm so sorry for always making Bronya-oneechan run around for me..."
"Why say such things? Seeing you get better day by day is the most joyful thing," Bronya gestured to the tray in her hand and said, "Let's not talk about this. Let's eat first."
"Mm." Seele nodded and took the tray from her hands. She then subconsciously asked, "What about you, Bronya-oneechan?"
Seeing Bronya shake her head again, Seele immediately became angry. "...You didn't eat again, did you?"
After saying that, she let go with one hand, grabbed Bronya's wrist, and strode towards the kitchen and dining room, pulling her along.
"Seele..." Bronya was stunned for a moment. Has Seele become so proactive now?
"Hungry..." Veliona pouted, looking bored.
After going down the stairs and turning the corner, they ran right into Sin.
"Sin, you..." Seele was stunned for a moment. The words "that's too much" hadn't even left her mouth before Sin rudely cut her off.
"Yo, crybaby, you're actually up?" Sin was clearly not expecting to meet Seele here. After a moment of surprise, she also saw Bronya being led by her and seemed to understand something, sneering, "I just said it this morning, and it's only noon... Tch, what, so you're actually this eager?"
Before the confused Seele could speak, Sin immediately confirmed her own guess and said mockingly, "Since you're so obedient, that saves me the trouble of wasting any more breath."
She pulled out a small package from behind her, threw it forcefully into Bronya's arms, and said viciously, "Take it, this is my reward for your travel expenses! Disappear from my sight while I'm in a good mood!"
After saying that, she glared at Seele angrily and turned to leave.
"Travel expenses?" Seele was stunned for a moment. She quickly looked back and saw, through a crack in the thrown package, a few flattened pieces of bread and a few pieces of probably long-cold roasted meat.
"...Sin, so these past few days, you've been..." Bronya clearly saw it more clearly, her expression suddenly becoming complicated. "So you've been doing this all along?"
"What 'this' or 'that'? I took pity on you and gave you some unwanted leftovers." Sin sneered, her voice extremely impatient and harsh. "Alright, take my charity and get lost. Don't be an eyesore!"
"..." Bronya opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but felt that some things were inconvenient to say in front of Seele. She hesitated for only a second before she heard Seele suddenly run forward two steps and shout, "Wait, Sin!"
"Hm?" Sin was surprised that the crybaby who usually just hid behind Bronya and didn't dare to make a sound would actually call out to her. She said extremely impatiently, "What? If you want to cry, go find the one next to you. I don't have the patience!"
"No, that's not it, Sin..." Seele remembered that unpleasant memory and mustered her courage to ask, "You just said you told Bronya-oneechan something this morning, and now you've given us this food. Are you... and Bronya-oneechan, hiding something from me?"
As she spoke, she looked back at Bronya with a half-anxious, half-apologetic gaze.
"Hah? Did you sleep for a few days and get your brain addled?" Sin glanced at her with the look one would give an idiot, opened her mouth to say something, then swallowed it back down, just saying with increasing impatience, "Tch... this is between me and Bronya, it has nothing to do with a pitiful reject like you!"
"A... reject? Are you talking about..." With just that one simple word, Seele already knew the answer: the terrible experiment that had completely changed her life and Bronya's—the X-10 experiment.
In the beginning, she was the one who was rejected...
"Why... would this happen?" The nightmarish, painful memory was completely awakened. Seele fell to the floor in fear, the tray in her hand falling powerlessly to the ground, its contents scattering in a mess.
Even after returning to the familiar orphanage, why is even this happening exactly the same?
"Seele!" Bronya was startled by Seele's extreme reaction. She quickly bent down to help her up and turned to complain to Sin, "You shouldn't have said these things in front of Seele, Sin."
"...Tch, she's a coward, what does it have to do with me?" The moment Seele fell, Sin had also subconsciously reached out her hand.
But seeing that Bronya had already helped her up, she clenched her four fingers into a fist and pointed crazily, saying, "A burden like this is only suitable for a good-for-nothing like you, Bronya! A match made in heaven! Hahahaha..."
After laughing wildly for a few moments, Sin suddenly stopped laughing and just said coldly, "I'm sick of the sight of you two now. Get lost!"
After saying that, she was about to leave from beside the two of them. But as she passed by Bronya, she was gently pulled back.
"Sin, wait..." Bronya was stunned for a moment. She turned her head to look at her and asked seriously, "Then what about you? What will you do?"
Sin sneered. "Me? What does it have to do with me?"
"You know, the experiment Mother Cocolia wants us to participate in, no one has survived before us," Bronya repeated. "We're both leaving, what will you do?"
"..." Sin gritted her teeth, violently shook her arm, and threw off Bronya's hand. With her other hand, she turned and punched her to the ground, spat, and said viciously, "Bronya, mind your own business. My business is none of your concern!"
The sudden outburst was so similar to what had happened in her memory.
Seele was stunned for a moment, feeling as if she had returned to that dusk. She had clearly seen Sin's wanton harm towards Bronya-oneechan, but she had hidden in a corner in fear, without even the courage to stop her...
"Tch, useless good-for-nothing!" After knocking Bronya down with a punch, Sin glanced disdainfully at the dazed Seele and turned to leave.
"That experiment is very dangerous... I know that... maybe it's different from the experiment I went through, but..."
Courage came from somewhere, maybe it was contempt for her past cowardice, maybe it was the not-so-abundant food on the ground that made Seele realize Sin wasn't as bad as she seemed on the outside. Seele suddenly raised her head and said loudly, "Sin, you'll die!"
"..." Sin, who had already reached the corner, stopped abruptly, her back visibly trembling. Then she spun around, her heterochromatic eyes already completely red, staring at Seele as if she wanted to kill her, and sneered with a voice mixed with crazed laughter, "I don't need a pitiful wretch like you to pity me!"
"Sin, don't say that to Seele, she's also just..." Bronya had just gotten up from the ground when she was suddenly knocked down again by a tray.
"Shut up, you good-for-nothing!" Sin wasn't so ruthless as to attack the frail Seele, but she had no such qualms about the always-excellent Bronya. The moment she spoke, she forcefully kicked the tray on the ground, knocking her heavily to the ground.
"No!" Seele reacted and quickly shielded Bronya, afraid that Sin would do something even more outrageous.
"Oh? Hehe, you're quite brave for a pitiful thing who cries all day long!" Seele's action completely enraged Sin. She couldn't help but pick up a chair that had been knocked over and smash it towards Seele.
"Stop, Sin!" Bronya cried out in alarm, but it was too late to stop her. Seele closed her eyes in fear, and Veliona was about to jump out and teach this arrogant person a lesson.
But the sharp sound of something cutting through the air suddenly stopped, and there was no follow-up.
Seele cautiously opened her eyes and saw an adult's arm had appeared in front of her at some point, firmly catching the chair in mid-air. On the other side, Sin had completely lost her previous arrogance and was now as quiet as a cicada in winter.
"Mother... Cocolia?"
Appearing before her was a blonde woman in a green military uniform. How could she not recognize this sudden "savior"?
"Mm." The Cocolia before her didn't seem as gentle and approachable as the one in Seele's memory. Hearing Seele's voice, she just glanced at her indifferently and grunted in response.
She threw the chair she had stopped onto the ground, then turned her stern gaze to Bronya and Sin, staying on each for a second before asking, "Who can explain to me what just happened?"
This voice sounded incredibly firm, just like the aura she was constantly emitting.
"Sorry, Mother Cocolia..." Bronya struggled to her feet. "I shouldn't have wasted food like this."
She wanted to gloss over today's events.
"I saw that. I'm asking—what happened just now." Cocolia was clearly not satisfied with this answer. Her gaze shifted slightly and saw the package that had fallen not far from Bronya, which was very conspicuous.
She bent down, picked it up, and after just a brief glance, her brows furrowed, and she sneered. "Bronya, you, you all..." Her gaze swept across the three of them, then she threw the package back at Bronya's feet and asked in a strange tone, "You guys, you want to escape from here that badly?"
The clue was too obvious, it could be seen at a glance.
This sentence made all three of them's hearts skip a beat.
"I..." Sin had just opened her mouth when Bronya spoke even faster. "Sorry, Mother Cocolia, this was all my idea. Sin was just trying to stop me, that's why we had a conflict. As for Seele..."
Bronya gritted her teeth and tried her best to absolve her two companions. "Seele was just trying to protect me. She was... unconscious before, she didn't know anything about what I was doing."
"Heh, is that so?" Cocolia clearly didn't believe one-sided stories. She had also noticed Sin's unusual state, so she gently turned her gaze to her and asked, "Sin, is it as Bronya said?"
Sin took a deep breath, and just as she was about to say "I'll take responsibility for my own actions," Bronya spoke up again. "I'm the older sister. No matter what happens, it should be my responsibility."
"You!" Sin glared at her angrily. I don't need you to speak for me!
But Bronya had no time or mind for any eye contact with her right now. She was under Cocolia's stern scrutiny.
"Older sister? Heh, a nice sentiment." Cocolia's voice was still indifferent, it was impossible to tell if she was mocking or reprimanding. "Bronya, I'm very disappointed in you."
"I'm sorry, Mother," Bronya lowered her head and replied, then glanced to the other side. "Seele, don't speak."
It turned out Seele also wanted to speak, but she was stopped by her.
"Heh, so responsible, Bronya." Cocolia glanced at Seele again, then at the package on the ground, and mocked, "So responsible, yet you're thinking of shirking your duty?"
"I'm sorry, Mother," Bronya said in a panic.
"Hmph. Sin and Seele will be put in confinement to reflect starting today. As for you, Bronya..." Cocolia's gaze softened for a moment.
After a moment of silence, her expression returned to its decisive look. "Since you've taken responsibility, then come with me. Starting with you, I hope everything goes smoothly..."
The last sentence had a hint of a sigh, but it was fleeting. Then she turned and left.
"Yes, Mother..." Bronya replied, then looked at Seele and Sin apologetically and followed.
"No, wait!" Seele had just cried out when she was interrupted by the mechs that had surrounded them. She and Sin were escorted to the confinement room together.
"Damn it..." Sin slammed her fist on the doorframe and said hatefully, "That Bronya, and you, you good-for-nothing, you're just ruining my plans!"
"Sin, my other self, what do we do now?" Seele cried in a panic. "Bronya-oneechan, she'll be in danger!"
"So annoying, shut up!" Sin punched her down in a rage. Seele was caught off guard, groaned in pain, and fell to the ground.
"Damn it..." Veliona was enraged for a moment and was about to step forward and teach that person a lesson when she suddenly noticed Seele lying on the ground in a very uncomfortable position, not moving at all.
"Seele, what's wrong with you? Seele?" Veliona cried out in a panic, but got no response. Soon, she found her own consciousness rapidly sinking into a haze.
Before she completely lost consciousness, she felt a pair of hands rubbing something that looked like a mirror back and forth on her body, but she couldn't do anything. "Damn it, what are you trying to do now?"
Veliona was furious. She had never been so wronged.
"You, stay here honestly. If you make Mother Cocolia angry, no one can save you!" Sin tore the bedsheet into long strips, tied Seele up tightly, and threw her on the bed. "I'll figure out what to do about Bronya's matter myself!"
Before Veliona's consciousness completely sank into a deep sleep, she only heard the sound of a door slamming shut...
...
Seele felt like she had a very, very long dream. In the dream, she went to a very, very far place, and she dreamed that she had lost Bronya-oneechan again.
Wait, why again? Seele thought in her sleep.
"Seele, Seele... wake up!" Bronya's anxious voice sounded in her ear. Seele was stunned for a moment, and the deep sleepiness receded like a tide. She remembered everything that had just happened.
"Bronya... oneechan? You came back safely?" With the joy of having something lost and found again, Seele struggled to open her eyes and sat up abruptly.
"Bronya..." The anxious words had just left her mouth when she felt herself being held tightly in a warm embrace. "Seele, you're finally awake! That's great!"
This voice was crying with joy, full of concern for her.
"How could..." Seele was a bit dazed for a moment. Isn't the one who really needs to be cared for, Bronya-oneechan, you?
Also, why does this scene feel so familiar?
It was only at this moment that Seele realized she wasn't in any confinement room, but in her own room, lying on her narrow but warm bed.
"What exactly... happened?" Seele's brain crashed for a moment. She suspected she had just had a strange nightmare. She dreamed that Bronya-oneechan was going to be taken to that terrible experiment, dreamed that Sin was actually a good companion who, although rough, cared about her and Bronya-oneechan...
"What a strange dream..." Seele thought silently. The familiar scent of the silver spiral hair filled her nose, and she calmed down for a moment.
"Exactly, a person like Sin... how could it be possible!"
Just as she was thinking this, the door was suddenly kicked open, and the heterochromatic-eyed girl, covered in wind and snow, barged in, carrying a few rabbits and throwing them at Bronya's feet.
"Hey, Bronya, how long are you going to stay here?" Her voice was as impatient as ever. Seele was stunned for a moment, her blood seeming to freeze halfway.
What on earth is going on?
"Yo, the crybaby's awake?" Sin also noticed that Seele was already sitting up, being held in Bronya's arms, and couldn't help but be happy.
Although she had never said it, during the time Seele was unconscious, like Bronya, she was also going crazy with worry. But she would never say it, and would never admit it...
"Huh?" Sin found that Seele's state seemed a bit off. She waved her hand in front of her eyes, then waved it again.
Then she scratched her head, turned to Bronya, and said with a troubled look, "This is bad, she seems to have turned into an idiot? What do we do now?"
---
tl note: seele pov is soo boring to me.