Silver Wolf, still annoyed by Sylvia's "favoritism," stormed off to settle the score with her. Firefly didn't think Silver Wolf was truly angry, but after a moment's thought, she followed anyway.
She'd spent the past few days repeatedly entering and leaving the Synesthesia Dreamscape, and she'd even gone deep into the deeper layers of the dream once.
She'd been lucky enough to survive, but the strain had left her exhausted. Now that she'd finally recovered a little, she found herself wanting to see Sylvia too.
Finding Sylvia wasn't hard. At least, it wasn't hard for Silver Wolf.
All she had to do was locate Sylvia's electronic devices. Someone like Sylvia practically lived with her phone in hand anyway.
--+--
Sylvia and Mei had found a quiet corner where they could drink and stare off into space. When Sylvia happened to spot Silver Wolf and Firefly appearing at the end of the path, she raised a hand to greet them.
Then Silver Wolf broke into a run and launched herself straight at Sylvia with a flying Rider Kick.
"You two-timing jerk! Rider Kick!"
Mei sat nearby with a wineglass in hand and took a small sip, paying Silver Wolf's attack no mind.
Silver Wolf was far more focused on getting the pose right than putting any force behind it, and even if she'd gone all out, hurting Sylvia in her current state would've been another matter entirely.
Instead, Mei glanced toward Firefly and gave her a small wink in greeting. During the battle against Sunday, the Glamoth Iron Cavalry soldier had left quite an impression on her. Firefly looked fragile at first glance, yet she had a remarkably strong heart, and she too faced a future that seemed destined to end far too soon.
It wasn't hard to see why Sylvia liked the white-haired girl. Even Mei herself had grown quite fond of Firefly.
Firefly noticed Mei's gaze. After a brief moment of surprise, she smiled, raised a hand, and openly returned the greeting.
Meanwhile, Sylvia stared at Silver Wolf in complete confusion. She reached out, sidestepped the Rider Kick, then scooped the smaller girl straight into her arms.
"...What're you doing? Since when am I some kind of two-timing jerk?"
Silver Wolf answered by ramming her forehead into Sylvia.
Thump.
Sylvia barely felt it. Silver Wolf, on the other hand, immediately clutched her head.
"Ow... That hurts! Why're you so hard?!"
Laughing, Sylvia put her back down and rubbed the top of her head.
"You know I'm on the Path of Permanence. The biggest benefit Permanence gives me is strengthening my body."
"Damn it!"
Silver Wolf shook her head wildly in an attempt to escape Sylvia's head pat. Sylvia rejected that request outright and kept petting her anyway.
"So what happened? Who got on your nerves this time?"
It sounded a little strange when Sylvia said it aloud. Silver Wolf usually carried herself with that cool, aloof look, but the more time Sylvia spent around her, the more she instinctively sorted her into the "kid's table" category.
She was a little more mature than Yunli, but not by much.
Silver Wolf turned her head away and refused to look at her, presenting Sylvia with nothing but the ear wearing Sylvia's earring.
"..."
Sylvia scratched her head. She was starting to wonder whether Silver Wolf was embarrassed and whether she should send Firefly and Mei away first when Firefly suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hehe~"
Silver Wolf shot her a glare. Firefly ignored it completely, raised a hand beside Sylvia's ear, and whispered, "The bracelet you gave me saved me when things got dangerous. Silver Wolf seems pretty bothered that the earring you gave her doesn't have anything like that."
"..."
Sylvia's expression turned complicated. Nearby, Mei wore the sort of fond smile someone might give a sulking child.
After all, two Emanators were present. Whispering wasn't exactly enough to escape their senses.
"Haha~ You're seriously acting like a kid."
Sylvia grinned and hugged Silver Wolf again, pulling her face against her shoulder before vigorously ruffling her hair.
What an adorable reaction.
"Mmph—! Let me go!"
Silver Wolf instantly bristled. She summoned Prometheus and looked ready to declare all-out war on Sylvia.
Soon enough, the two of them were chasing each other all the way down the corridor.
Mei watched them disappear with a helpless smile, then turned toward Firefly.
"Has your condition improved?"
The question caught Firefly off guard. If anyone else had asked, she'd have assumed they were simply worried about how she'd recovered after the battle.
But Mei knew about Entropy Loss Syndrome.
That made it obvious what she was really asking.
Still... even Firefly and the others had only just realized that her Entropy Loss Syndrome seemed to be improving. How had Miss Raiden Mei noticed at a glance?
"Thanks to Sylvia, it's gotten quite a bit better. But how did you know, Miss Raiden?"
Hearing Firefly confirm it, Mei lowered her gaze and instinctively looked at the ring on her ring finger. Firefly's eyes followed hers and landed on the ring, identical to the one Sylvia wore.
"Because I'm someone she saved too. That's why I knew. If it was Sylvia, she'd definitely find a way to help you."
After all, Sylvia had even managed to deal with the side effects of Nihility. Mei couldn't imagine Entropy Loss Syndrome leaving her completely helpless.
"I see."
Firefly touched her bracelet without thinking. She'd already suspected as much, but hearing Mei say it still filled her chest with warmth.
'She really does care about me!'
"Still, this power's normally impossible to detect. So your companion probably... misunderstood Sylvia."
Mei didn't think Silver Wolf had truly come to pick a fight. If anything, she'd probably just found an excuse to act spoiled.
Even so, Mei still offered Sylvia a defense. Judging from both her own case and Firefly's, this power only seemed to activate when its owner faced a threat to their life.
Mei's Shadow of Nihility and Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome could both shorten a person's life, so the power had responded quickly. Silver Wolf was different.
As far as Mei knew, the genius hacker didn't suffer from any strange terminal condition. Naturally, the earring would remain nothing more than an ordinary piece of jewelry unless something actually threatened her.
--+--
Once Firefly and Mei were out of sight, Silver Wolf stopped being quite so embarrassed. After another round of messing around, she finally got to the point.
"Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome suddenly started getting better."
Silver Wolf pushed herself up with one hand and sat on the railing, bringing her eyes level with Sylvia's.
"Huh? It's improving? Seriously?"
Sylvia couldn't hide her surprise, but she didn't relax completely. Mei still hadn't fully escaped the shadow of Nihility, so there was no guarantee Firefly would make a complete recovery either.
If her condition had merely stopped getting worse, Sylvia would still need to find a chance to ask Ruan Mei for help.
Silver Wolf saw the genuine worry in Sylvia's eyes. She was happy for Firefly, of course, yet at the same time, an inexplicable irritation bubbled up inside her.
Damn it. Just looking at Sylvia's face was making her mad.
Silver Wolf clicked her tongue and popped a piece of bubble gum into her mouth, hoping it would distract her.
"Yeah. All thanks to that bracelet you gave her."
She put a sharp emphasis on "bracelet."
Silver Wolf didn't even know why she couldn't let this go. She cared about Firefly's health too. Now that Firefly's condition was improving and might even be heading toward a cure, she should've been thrilled.
But whenever she thought about the much closer, more ambiguous atmosphere between Sylvia and Firefly, irritation welled up for no reason.
And she couldn't exactly take it out on Firefly.
So every bit of it ended up aimed straight at Sylvia instead.
The moment that pointed emphasis left her mouth, Silver Wolf regretted it. She knew she shouldn't be acting on impulse, much less throwing a tantrum for no reason.
Sylvia had never promised her anything. Her relationship with the Stellaron Hunters had begun as a transaction in the first place.
Even Sylvia's relationship with Firefly had mostly started because Firefly took the initiative, and Sylvia simply responded. And when all was said and done, Sylvia really had saved Firefly.
Silver Wolf had a contract with Sylvia too, but just like Kafka's, it was fundamentally transactional.
She could admit that Sylvia was a great gaming partner. Whenever Silver Wolf threw a small tantrum or acted spoiled, Sylvia would usually accept it without complaint.
Silver Wolf had always thought of Sylvia as her closest gaming buddy.
Maybe even a best friend.
That should've been all there was to it.
But when she'd seen Firefly getting all shy while talking about her dates with Sylvia, then vaguely mentioning moments when the two of them had gotten especially close...
Silver Wolf had to admit it bothered her.
Was she annoyed because a coworker was stealing her gaming buddy?
Maybe that was part of it.
But Silver Wolf couldn't lie to herself and pretend that was the only emotion mixed into the irritation.
Was there really nothing else there?
She couldn't convince herself.
Silver Wolf had always felt comfortable around Sylvia, yet there shouldn't have been any reason for her to start liking her that way. They played games together, fooled around, and Sylvia occasionally put up with her little tantrums and moments of clinginess.
Wasn't that just what close friends did?
It didn't make any sense.
Silver Wolf was deeply troubled by it, but there was no chance she'd tell Sylvia any of those thoughts. Even her expression remained hidden beneath her usual cool mask so Sylvia wouldn't notice the conflict underneath.
Sylvia heard the way Silver Wolf stressed her words and broke into a grin. Resting an elbow on the railing, she tilted her head.
"Are you jealous?"
"Hah—?!"
Caught completely off guard, Silver Wolf let out an absurdly loud yelp.
She immediately realized she'd reacted far too strongly. At this point, she'd practically confessed without saying a word.
Sylvia kept smiling at her and reached out to pat her head again, but this time Silver Wolf slapped her hand away.
"The earring I gave you works the same way."
"Hmph. I don't believe you!"
Silver Wolf crossed her arms and gave a heavy snort. There was no way she'd accept an explanation that flimsy.
What annoyed her even more was that, deep down, Sylvia choosing to explain herself had actually made her a little happy.
'Seriously? Me, liking her?'
Silver Wolf found herself questioning her entire life.
Even if she did have a tiny bit of interest in Sylvia beyond friendship, it had to be just that—a tiny bit.
She was the great Silver Wolf, a cosmic hacker. There was no way she liked Sylvia that much.
Why would she?
This woman went out of her way to annoy her every chance she got, and she was always getting close to other people too. Why should Silver Wolf like someone like that?
Sylvia, of course, had no idea just how complicated Silver Wolf's thoughts had become. She was too busy wondering how she was supposed to explain that all these pieces of jewelry came from the same place.
"Uh... I don't really know how to prove it to you. Most of the time, they really do just look like ordinary accessories."
Sylvia scratched her head and stared at Silver Wolf's earlobe. It was obvious Silver Wolf liked the earring quite a lot.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be wearing that gemstone every single time they met.
"You seriously think I'm going to accept an excuse that half-hearted?"
Without anyone else around, Silver Wolf was much less restrained. She glared at Sylvia, trying her hardest to prove she wasn't that easy to win over.
Her heart clearly wasn't nearly as firm as her mouth made it sound.
More importantly, she'd completely forgotten to insist that she wasn't jealous.
From Sylvia's perspective, Silver Wolf's current behavior looked less like someone acting aloof and more like someone whose entire tough exterior had fallen away, leaving nothing but embarrassment behind.
"Look, Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome was severe, so she needed help more urgently. But you're perfectly healthy right now, Silver Wolf. Isn't what the gift represents more important? If you ever really end up in danger, I'll come save you myself."
Sylvia deliberately sidestepped the part she couldn't explain.
Unfortunately for Silver Wolf, that last sentence made her face turn red on the spot.
"Mmph... Don't think you can sweet-talk your way out of this. And I don't need you to save me anyway."
"How's that sweet talk?"
Sylvia objected on instinct, then quickly added, "Though I'd rather those words stay nothing more than sweet talk forever."
"..."
'It's all just smooth talk!'
Silver Wolf pressed her lips together and repeated that warning to herself over and over.
Unfortunately, she couldn't stop herself from feeling happy.
'Why am I this happy?!'
'Get it together!'
Silver Wolf kept trying to psych herself up.
She just couldn't understand it. Those were two simple lines anyone could say. Why were they so effective on her?
She wasn't some innocent fool like Firefly.
Sure, Silver Wolf wasn't like Kafka, who tended to keep intimate bonds at arm's length, but there was no way she'd somehow fallen all the way down to Firefly's level, right?
Firefly was practically a lifelong shut-in! Was Silver Wolf seriously easier to win over than her?
No. Absolutely not.
She couldn't let Sylvia notice.
Silver Wolf, the great genius hacker, was absolutely not the kind of woman who could be won over with two pretty sentences.
A completely pointless competitive streak began to flare inside her.
It also caused Silver Wolf to overlook one inconvenient fact.
When it came to being a shut-in, Silver Wolf was actually far worse than Firefly.
Firefly couldn't leave SAM, but she'd still pilot SAM across the cosmos and visit spectacular sights. Silver Wolf, meanwhile, spent day after day holed up in her room playing games until morning.
Even on missions, she'd use holographic projection whenever possible and refused to leave the house unless she absolutely had to.
Silver Wolf conveniently ignored all of this.
Online socializing still counted as socializing, as far as she was concerned. She was obviously a master of social interaction, so there was no way she could be easier to win over than Firefly.
"Hmph~"
"...?"
Sylvia stared at the complicated expression twisting across Silver Wolf's face.
For a moment, she couldn't tell whether Silver Wolf was embarrassed or simply getting angry because she'd been embarrassed.
Either way, she was adorable.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL