"Sister Bronya, what's the sea like?"
Seele sat shoulder to shoulder with Bronya, holding a fairy tale book she had read several times, the treasured "The Little Mermaid."
"Has Seele never seen the sea?"
"Nope, I've been in the orphanage ever since I can remember." Seele gave Bronya a sweet smile. Even though she was an orphan, she had Mama Cocolia and Sister Bronya, who were both very good to her.
"How should I describe it?" Bronya thought for a moment, then looked into Seele's eyes.
"The sea, well, it looks just like Seele's eyes. Oh, right, Seele, summer's almost here. Why don't we... go see the sea together!"
This was the promise Sister Bronya made with me a week ago. Now, I can't fulfill that promise anymore, but before I disappear, I just want to see Sister Bronya one last time...
Holding Nursery Rhyme, Seele flew at extreme speed over the sea. Behind her, sonic booms continuously created large craters in the ocean that took a long time to heal.
"Test subject has breached the outer wall and has now escaped the laboratory.
Target has left the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk!
Proceeding southwest at an extremely high speed! That direction... is Lord Cocolia's orphanage!"
"Seele... what on earth are you trying to do!?" Cocolia looked at the constantly flashing signal on the instrument panel, and finally, with a wave of her hand, commanded, "Deploy the tactical mecha units immediately, she must be stopped!"
[The Bronya thinks... anyone who has seen the sea will fall in love with it.
It embraces all, nurtures everything, and brings a sense of immense peace and warmth.]
On the coastline, rows of tactical mecha appeared. They aimed at the speeding Seele and opened fire relentlessly.
[But once the life it protects is in danger, the sea will conjure giant waves... and display its formidable power.]
Seele swung her scythe, and the tactical mecha fell like wheat, cut down.
Bronya sat behind the door, hugging her knees and weeping ceaselessly.
[Seele... don't pay any mind to what Sin said. Seele is not an idiot at all.
The Bronya knows of the strength within Seele's heart.]
Although Seele could cut down a row of mechs with every swing, their numbers were still too great, and she was hit by missile after missile.
[Because Seele is just like the sea—with a gentle and kind heart.]
"Don't... don't get in my way!"
Enduring her injuries, Seele broke through the endless wave of tactical mecha. She knew her time was running out...
[Don't change for anyone else. Seele just needs to continue being 'Seele.']
Wounded all over, Seele finally reached the orphanage. Sister Bronya was just behind the door; Seele could already see her through it.
But just as she was about to push the door open, her hand dissipated into a quantum state... The light of quantization gradually spread throughout her body...
"No... no! I was so close... Bronya..."
Bronya seemed to hear Seele's call and turned her head. But she saw nothing, only Seele's hairpin, which had passed through the door and fallen in front of her.
[Just by being by such a Seele's side... courage and hope well up from the bottom of the Bronya's heart...]
Bronya picked up the hairpin, feeling the residual warmth on it. Although she had never seen this hairpin before, her intuition told her that it... belonged to Seele...
Tears welled up in her eyes, and finally, losing control, Bronya burst into loud sobs.
[The Bronya wants to be with Seele forever...]
————————
It began to rain heavily, as if the heavens themselves were mourning Seele's disappearance. Cocolia returned to the orphanage, drenched. She had made a mistake again. Seele was gone... she had caused another child's death.
Cocolia had witnessed Seele's final moments on the lab's monitors. How tragic... Cocolia had thought Seele was rampaging, wanting to destroy the orphanage, and had sent tactical mecha to intercept her... never imagining that Seele just wanted to see Bronya one last time...
Not only had she made Seele participate in the experiment, but she had also let her disappear in pain and despair right before her beloved Sister Bronya.
Drip, drip—
Water dripped continuously from Cocolia's body. She stood in front of Seele's room for a long time. She wanted to see Seele's bed, her clothes, the traces of her existence, but she didn't dare to go in.
In the end, Cocolia decided to enter. She grasped the handle, intending to push the door open, but it was blocked by something and wouldn't budge.
Bronya was leaning against the door, her fists clenched tightly around Seele's hairpin. She was blocking the door, not wanting Mama Cocolia to come in.
"Mama Cocolia..."
"Bronya? Just in time... there's something about the experiment I need to tell you." Cocolia paused, only then remembering that Seele and Bronya shared a room.
"Seele... Where is Seele... I can't find her..."
"...Seele... She took your place in the X-10 experiment. But... the experiment failed.
Her body was destroyed the moment it broke through the subatomic level. She no longer exists anywhere in this world."
Bronya clenched the hairpin in her hand. This was Seele's hairpin.
"No... No! Seele is still alive... She was here... I know it, Seele is still alive!"
"That's right, she is still alive, but she has entered a quantum state. She can no longer touch us, and we can no longer touch her."
"Then if the Bronya undergoes the experiment... she can enter the quantum level and see Seele, right!?"
"That's not possible! Listen to me, Bronya, Seele, who had a higher Honkai energy adaptability than you, didn't succeed. I will not allow the experiment to continue." Cocolia rebuked her sharply. She had given up on X-10. The cost of seven children plus Seele had made her understand that this experiment was simply impossible.
An image of Seele appeared in Bronya's mind... If she were all alone, that crybaby would surely be crying her eyes out every day...
"Then what about Seele... Are we just going to let her live on in solitude like this?!"
Cocolia fell silent, but she still refused Bronya. "The experiment is over, Bronya. The most important thing is to live on! Think about it, why did Seele participate in the experiment in the first place!"
The door was opened. Bronya appeared from behind it, one hand clutching the hairpin, the other holding a knife to her own neck. A red glint seemed to flash in her eyes.
"If you want the Bronya to live... then let me participate in the experiment!"
"Bronya... alright..."