Swish!~ In the dimly lit room, a white-haired girl forcefully pulled back the curtains, letting the morning sunlight flood in.
"Hey, hey, Li Xuan, wake up." The girl poked the sleeping young man on the bed with a slender finger, but he didn't respond at all, remaining fast asleep.
"Haaah~" She yawned, seeming a bit sleepy herself. She decided to just rest her head on her arms by the bed and doze off…
In the morning light, the girl's sleeping face was breathtakingly beautiful…
A long while later…
"…Mmm…" Li Xuan let out an unconscious murmur, his brow furrowing slightly. His closed eyelids twitched and finally opened, revealing a pair of deep, black eyes.
"Seele!…" Li Xuan shot up in bed with a shout.
"Huh?!" Kiana, who had been keeping watch by the bed, was startled by his sudden shout and jolted awake from her comfortable nap…
"What the… Oh… it's you, Li Xuan. You're awake?!" The initially annoyed Miss Kiana was about to throw a fit, but seeing that it was Li Xuan who had shouted, she reluctantly let it go.
'After all, Li Xuan is still injured. I'll be merciful and let him off the hook this time,'
Miss Kiana thought, consoling herself.
"Li Xuan, what happened to you? When we woke up, you were still out cold. We couldn't wake you up no matter what we did. If it weren't for the little one carrying you back with her bunny, we would've been exhausted."
"Oh, right!" Kiana tapped her head. "Li Xuan, I'm going to tell Mei-senpai you're awake…" She waved and headed towards Raiden Mei's room upstairs.
"Mm," Li Xuan responded distractedly.
He stared silently at the palm of his hand, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. 'Was that a dream?… Why did it feel so real? What is this Seed of Hope?!' Li Xuan subconsciously reached up and touched his forehead, where the object had been pressed into him in the dream. Of course, he felt nothing there.
In the morning sun, which bathed Li Xuan, the back of his unbandaged right hand was exposed to the light. On it was a bright red taiji symbol. Unbeknownst to him, four red dots had appeared around it, and the mark itself seemed slightly larger than before.
............…..
Meanwhile, at the coast of Nagazora City…
"You idiot, Himeko! It's all your fault, you bombshell, that we're so late…" Principal Theresa declared, preparing to give Major Murata Himeko a stern lecture for her misconduct!
"Eh?! What does this have to do with me? The battleship's Honkai energy reactor had a problem…" Major Himeko said, looking up at the sky.
"Right, it has nothing to do with you… Then how about we discuss where the maintenance funds for the battleship's Honkai energy reactor went?! I heard you bought a huge case of alcohol recently…" Theresa said, squinting her eyes at Himeko like a smug kitten.
"Uh… haha~ Principal, I'll go check for clues over there." Himeko ran a hand through her crimson hair and fled, clumsily changing the subject.
"Sigh~ That idiot." Theresa watched the older, single woman run off and sighed helplessly, though a smile played on her lips.
"Hm?…" Just as Theresa shook her head in exasperation and started walking back towards the battleship, she suddenly stopped. She crouched down, her small, delicate hand reaching out from her wide nun's habit to pick something up from the sand.
It was—a fragment of a girl's school uniform.
"..??" (Confused Black Man meme)
.................
"Reporting, Commander! The plan you had headquarters devise is ready for your inspection…" In a dark room lit only by the faint glow of various instruments and computers, a capable-looking young woman in a green military uniform saluted and handed a file sealed with a confidentiality sticker to the woman sitting in the center.
"Thank you for your hard work, Irina," the woman, whose face was shrouded in darkness, said with a nod and a faint tone of encouragement.
"It is my duty, Commander!" the young woman replied loudly and with some excitement. This was the first time the commander had ever said something so encouraging to her!
"Mm…" the woman responded absentmindedly as she opened the file and began reading.
"Interesting…" The woman finished the document in a few quick glances, a smirk forming on her lips.
"Give it to the executive department and have them carry out the mission… I didn't expect those old fossils in command to have a bit of flair," the woman said with a laugh, tossing the file to the young woman beside her, who fumbled to catch it. Her mood had clearly improved.
"Yes, ma'am…" The young woman saluted smartly again and withdrew.
"A Stigmata wielder…" the woman mused to herself.
"One chosen by fate…"
"Who will end this damn [Honkai]?! I will do whatever it takes…" the woman said through gritted teeth. She gently opened her desk drawer and took out a framed photograph, her eyes filled with nostalgia…
(End of Chapter)