Vill-V's somewhat 'coincidental' words affirmed what Aleph thought of her.
"You're not the magician."
"Ah..?"
She expressed her confusion with a low shout.
"It's our first time meeting, Vill-V."
"..."
Silence filled the room. Vill-V's eyes kept staring at Aleph's. Her 'shocked' look was replaced with a calm smile. The change was extremely natural.
"You are planning to do something dangerous, are you?" She asked.
"Dangerous, yes. I went to Mei's place before this."
"So I am the last?"
"No..?"
Aleph could not react well to her teasing words. Before he knew it, he found himself explaining to her.
"I mean, I still have quite a few places left to visit. Aponia, Su… and Eden."
"Oh? Was it because of their psychic powers?"
"Yes."
"I expected Aponia and Su… but Eden? Turns out you also like idols."
She calmly strode towards him before heading to a huge screen behind. Vill-V continued speaking while looking at the explosions displayed on the screen.
"Customizable self-destructed reactors. This is a nice idea."
"I can see why every single you loved explosions."
"What's wrong with it? At least, I am not finding more women when I already have four."
"...I wanted to check on her mental state. You know how bad the mental states of others were when they first joined."
Their casual conversation flowed smoothly. It was as if they went through each and every banter once.
"You won't check on me?"
"Weren't our meetings together considered checking on you?" He replied with a questioning tone.
"True."
Aleph was surprised to see Vill-V concede.
'She's really unpredictable…'
Out of everyone on the teasing hierarchy, Vill-V was at the bottom. He could skillfully deflect her teasing and cause it to backfire towards her. She was the only friend whom Aleph could confidently outplay during casual times.
Turns out, that wasn't her full power.
"...You should get going now. I am pretty sure Hua is the reason why you acted abnormally. Nobody can stop you at this point~"
She faced Aleph as she sat on the desk. Her tall hat remained balanced on her head. Only her pair of huge assets had to stabilize for a bit.
"I just want to end this now. It would be great if I could, but if not, I can still survive."
"Alright, alright. Go."
Aleph stared at Vill-V's eyes. The latter's unpredictability did not completely work this time. He saw she was sincere in bidding him farewell.
"I'm leaving this to you."
He took out two Edict Edges he gained at Izumo. They were Flare and Mist. Their blades bore an inscription of waves of flames and ripples of green, respectively.
"I gave Kevin an ice-based weapon. I want to ask you to find a way to fuse this blade... Flare, with that." Aleph gestured to the red blade before pointing to Mist. "As for this… consider this as a reward. Its power is based on ideal fluids."
"The fourth Herrscher?"
"Yes."
Her eyes twinkled at the thought of the mythical ideal fluid. The fluid used on theoretical problems—one that defies known physics easily—could be finally be properly studied in real life.
"It's your choice whether to lend it to others and the likes."
"You said it."
He merely gave her a reassuring look.
"I'm not the type to take back what I give."
"Hm~?"
Vill-V walked towards Aleph. The latter thought she was only interested in the blades, but he soon realized it wasn't that.
The moment he met her gaze, he felt something from her. His heart skipped a beat as a choice was presented to him.
Ultimately, he chose…
"Mn."
Vill-V''s chest was pressed on Aleph as she initiated a kiss. She did not shy away and went straight to his lips. Her smaller height compared to him made her stand on her toes.
This prompted Aleph to use his right hand to support her waist.
It took fifteen seconds before she separated. Their gazes soon met.
"Like you have said… it is about time I stopped pretending." She said with a smile. "How else would I snatch you to help my studies~?"
"I will come back."
"And I will pretend I never heard of that death flag."
Vill-V locked her arms as she gave him an embrace.
"You smell like two other women." She commented before adding, "I am not surprised, alright?"
"...Let's schedule our first date when I come back."
"That's the second flag. You should rea~lly go now."
Vill-V felt one last pat to her back. When she blinked again, she found herself hugging the thin air. Her gaze was unfocused while she relished at the 'aftertaste'.
"That's how it feels…"
*****
The next stop was particularly important.
"Sir Aleph."
Aponia was about to stand up from her church seat when Aleph said:
"Sit down. I won't be here for long."
Just like that, the two sat together inside the church. The colorful stained glass created a solemn atmosphere. The lack of statues and any symbolic items did not diminish that atmosphere at all.
"What did you see?" He asked.
"The strings became more translucent before returning to normal. Now…" She halted her words for a while. "...there is a huge sphere in the sky. All of the strings' ends went there."
"What about that sphere's appearance?"
"It is similar to a translucent globe."
Aponia's words further confirmed what he saw when he woke up.
'A whole new world… No, it should be a parallel world.'
Aleph was aware how much the Cocoon "hated" him. His existence itself caused the fate of this entire world to change. One person affected everyone.
It did not even end there.
His current standing allowed him to create several conjectures behind the "glitching" Cocoon.
The most probable one out of them all was the theory of 'discarded futures'. Simply put, everything that should have originally happened… were erased. Every single "futures" and "branches" disappeared the moment of Aleph's descent to this world.
If the Cocoon who hated him came from these discarded futures, it would serve to explain everything.
'Aponia's tendency to see ruined futures… It could be considered as the Cocoon's way of restoring the original future..?'
Naturally, it could not restore things with Aleph's presence. Even now, he doubts whether the Previous Era could still end in a loss, unless the glitched Cocoon decides to throw the chessboard itself.
Add to that Hua's situation, it was enough to force Aleph to confront it prematurely. It forces him to go through whatever plan the Cocoon has, with its end game throwing Aleph away from this solar system.
Just then, he saw Aponia being covered by rays of white light. She then closed her eyes. It seemed normal until he realized the light existed 'metaphysically'. It could not be seen by most people—even high-level MANTISes.
He waited for a while before the ray of light dissipated. Aponia opened her eyes which gave off a glow to her dark blue pupils.
"What did you see?"