— — — — — —
One day later, in real-world time.
Inside a messy bedroom.
Maya Sakurajima hurriedly pushed the door open and rushed into a bedroom. She never really understood why, in the past, she always ended up staying inside, crying for no reason.
"Mai..."
Without hesitation, she threw her arms around the figure she had already sensed within.
"Mom… you can see me now?!"
Mai Sakurajima, the Bunny Girl Senpai, looked shocked.
"Awww Maiii..."
Not used to such an intense outpouring of emotion, Mai awkwardly patted her mother's back.
...
Once Maya finally loosened her hold, Mai asked in delight, "So you really can see me?"
"Yeah, I can see you now."
Maya nodded hard, her eyes glistening. "I'm sorry. It was my fault before. From now on, I won't interfere too much in your life anymore. Whatever you want to do, just follow your own heart…"
"Then you know what happened to me before?" Mai quickly followed up.
"I know."
Maya gave another firm nod. "I heard the details from a friend. The reason almost everyone forgot about you was something called 'Puberty Syndrome.'"
"Oh…"
Puberty Syndrome—also known as Adolescence Syndrome.
It's a strange condition that arises during the growth of young people, when their physical and mental development fall out of sync. Add in bad habits like overusing the brain, and the result can be a whole mess of symptoms.
For most teenagers, it's just a fleeting psychological quirk at a certain age. But for those with enough… uniqueness, it mutates into supernatural phenomena. They might start hearing people's thoughts, seeing someone's future, swapping personalities with another person… things straight out of fantasy.
"So that's what it was?"
Mai frowned slightly, deep in thought.
She knew her own case best.
One day, out of nowhere, she realized the world had almost completely forgotten her. Only her mother could faintly remember, delivering her meals three times a day.
Before that, she had been exhausted from her life in the spotlight—every time she appeared in public, she was inevitably dragged under the glare of stage lights. The irritation built up until she found herself wishing, "If only I could live in a world where no one noticed me."
"Mom, that friend of yours… did he also have Puberty Syndrome before?" Mai asked curiously.
"That… I'm not sure. Maybe…"
Maya paused, her brows furrowing. She could feel the Almighty power coursing inside her—so vast it felt like she could wipe out not just the planet beneath her feet, but the entire starry sky with a flick of her wrist. That kind of power didn't seem like something "Puberty Syndrome" could explain.
"Maybe his case is… something else?" she murmured.
"Something else?"
"Yeah, probably."
Maya tilted her head thoughtfully. "Actually, calling him a friend is a bit of a stretch. I've only met him twice in total. But I'll meet him a lot from now on. When I get to know him better in the future, I'll try probing a little."
"If that's the case… then forget it."
Mai froze for a moment, her face stiffening as she shook her head.
She thought back to that fleeting glimpse she had caught at her mom's room not long ago… That level of presence, and yet, her mom had only met him twice before?
Wait.
If even counting this time, it was only two meetings…
With all the impossible explanations ruled out, as someone who had never once seen her father—not since she could remember—and who only ever received the same answer from her mom, "You don't have a father," whenever she asked…
Mai couldn't help but suspect a certain possibility.
"Mom," she asked, feigning casual curiosity, "the last time you met that friend… was it a really, really long time ago? I don't ever remember you having such a mysterious friend."
"He probably doesn't show that side of himself to just anyone. Even if he does, the last time I saw him was before you were even born. How could you possibly remember?"
Maya Sakurajima chuckled softly as she reached out to pat her daughter's head.
"… …"
So that person really is my…?
And the whole day, they were like...
Remembering some details, Mai felt her face heat up as if it were on fire. Overwhelmed, she dove straight onto the bed, burying her face in the sheets like an ostrich pretending the world didn't exist.
"Huh?"
Maya blinked, puzzled at her daughter who now only offered her back.
But although she was curious, she didn't even consider using her perception—which had already reached a cosmic level—to peek into her daughter's thoughts. Instead, she simply sat quietly beside her, savoring this regained moment of mother-daughter warmth.
...
While the Sakurajima household was reconnecting, far away, another scene was unfolding.
Having already adopted the mindset of 'things are this far gone, why bother playing the gentleman anymore.'
"…No, wait. I was never a gentleman to begin with."
Veyron gave himself an approval nod and then began considering who to mess with next—when a sudden tag in the group chat interrupted his train of thought.
『Shiroyasha』: @Admin, nii-san, those two things you asked me to handle before you left are just about wrapped up.
『(Admin) Veyron』: That fast?
『Shiroyasha』: Heh~
The two tasks: tracking down Leticia, the original Overall Floor Master who vanished when "Arcadia" was destroyed by unknown attackers, and gathering forging techniques and materials that were at least artifact-level.
On her own, the first task was doable. The second, though… not so much. She had a history of running into 'minor disagreements' with most of the god-groups in the Little Garden, which made acquiring artifact-level secrets and resources nearly impossible.
But since Veyron had told her before leaving, "There's no need to hide my existence too much, as long as you're sure it won't cause trouble for yourself," everything became a whole lot easier.
After all, when three of the four primordial truths of the Little Garden were involved—the two goddesses Alpha & Omega presiding over "Beginning" and "End," plus the Lord of the White Night, who wielded fourteen Sun Authorities and could at any time return to the Dawn Era's geocentric throne as the ruler of divine cosmology…
Not everyone in the Little Garden possessed a Cosmology or Another Cosmology.
The (Another) Cosmology—also known as (Pseudo) Star Map Creation—was the most closely guarded secret of the divine pantheons.
To wield a Cosmology was to quite literally brandish an entire world as a weapon. It was the distilled essence of myth and reality, compressed into a single god-slaying tool. Even unleashing one outside the Little Garden could erase an entire "world" from existence.
And so Alpha, Omega, and Shiroyasha...
When those three Cosmology beings agreed on something, even others of the same rank weren't about to step in their way. At most, they'd watch with curiosity, wondering "what are they up to?" and pay closer attention for a while.
For anyone beneath Cosmology? The unspoken rule was simple: just go along with it.
And so—
Information on Leticia?
Here you go!
Techniques and materials for forging artifacts?
Just take them!
Some god-groups whose standing had always been a bit awkward—who had once used one-of-a-kind, unreproducible materials in artifact creation—went as far as sending the original artifacts themselves, along with the forging techniques, straight to [Thousand Eyes]. Then they just sat there hoping those three beings were only curious and wouldn't actually dismantle the artifacts outright.
And even if they did take them apart, well… hopefully they'd at least toss back some leftover scraps.
.
.
.