Four years ago… Siberian Urals. A sudden downpour enveloped the area.
Drip, drop, drip, drop~ Dense raindrops hammered against the iron fence, shattering on impact and splashing onto the ground to join the other droplets, seeping into the earth…
This was a building that resembled a school. The sign at the main gate read 'Cocolia Orphanage' in Russian.
…
"Drip, drip…" The corridor was silent save for the crisp sound of water dripping onto the floor.
A woman with wavy, light-blonde hair stood silently in front of a room door, her drenched military uniform and hair dripping water onto the ground.
CRACK-BOOM!!~ Lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the window, illuminating the corridor for a brief moment.
The woman silently reached for the doorknob and gently turned it, but as she tried to open the door…
Thud!~ Something seemed to be blocking the door from the inside. The woman couldn't push it open… A girl's ethereal voice came from the other side. "Mama Cocolia…"
"Bronya? Good timing… There's something I need to talk to you about regarding the experiment," the woman said, speaking to the girl through the thin wooden door.
"Seele… Seele… Where is Seele… I can't find her…" the girl said in a calm voice, but the woman could clearly sense the thick aura of death in her tone.
"." The woman fell silent for a moment. As if having made a decision, she gritted her teeth and said, "…Seele is no longer here. She took your place in Experiment X-10. But… the experiment failed."
"Her body was destroyed the moment it broke through to the subatomic level. She no longer exists anywhere in this world."
"No… NO! She's still alive… I know it…" the girl inside roared like a wounded animal, her head bowed. She seemed to be trying to convince the woman, but even more so, to convince herself. "Seele is still alive!!"
"That's right, she is alive, but she's in a Quantum state," the woman continued, delivering the facts that plunged the girl into despair. "We can no longer reach her. And she can no longer reach us."
"Then if Bronya undergoes the experiment… she can enter the Quantum Level and find Seele, right?!" the girl said calmly.
If Bronya can't stay by Seele's side in this world, then Bronya will go find her…
"That's impossible! Listen to me, Bronya. Seele, who had a higher Honkai energy adaptability than you, didn't succeed. I won't allow the experiment to continue," the woman said, trying to dissuade the girl sternly.
"Then what about Seele… Are we just going to let her live on, all alone like that?!" the girl inside lifted her head, her eyes vacant.
"The experiment is over, Bronya. Surviving is what's most important!" the woman shouted at the closed door. "Think about it! Why did Seele participate in the experiment in the first place!"
"..." The girl on the other side of the door said nothing, seemingly lost in thought.
Click~ The room door was opened by the girl. The woman, thinking Bronya Zaychik had come to her senses, relaxed her expression. But just as she was about to speak, the sight of the girl before her made her face darken once more.
"If you want Bronya to live…" The girl named Bronya Zaychik held a gleaming dagger to her own slender, pale neck, a clear threat in her voice.
"Bronya…" The woman froze for a moment, then closed her eyes and sighed softly in concession. "…Alright."
...............….
It was just like the last experiment, only the subject was a different girl. The girl named Bronya Zaychik was suspended in the experiment chamber as if she were Sleeping Beauty, with several tubes connected to her back.
"The fractures in this child's legs haven't healed yet. The wounds will be infected by Honkai energy approximately 310 seconds after the experiment begins," a female professor in a white lab coat said to the woman. "If we don't stop the experiment then, she'll be left with incurable trauma… and she could even be in 'mortal danger'!"
"…" The woman didn't respond. Instead, she walked up to Bronya Zaychik and said to her, "Did you hear that, Bronya? You have less than five minutes. After five minutes, I will terminate the experiment. Otherwise, the leg injuries you sustained last time will become incurable."
"Bronya… you must come back alive," the woman said, looking deep into Bronya Zaychik's eyes with utter seriousness.
"I know, Mama." Bronya Zaychik seemed to hear her through the glass and nodded.
Then, the experiment began…
"Inject Honkai energy into the experiment chamber!" the female scientist at the central console shouted. The technicians, already seated at their stations, began to activate the laboratory's instruments. Piece by piece, the high-tech equipment, a fusion of humanity's most advanced wisdom, began to glow and operate.
The previously empty experiment chamber slowly filled from the bottom with a liquid infused with Honkai energy, submerging the girl standing in the center.
"Experiment start!" The various instruments began to run at full capacity, consuming enough energy to power a province for three days.
As the liquid in the chamber enveloped Bronya Zaychik, an immense amount of Honkai energy flowed into her… She felt her consciousness ascending, as if rising into the sky.
When she adapted to the weightlessness and the burning sensation in her body, she opened her eyes…
Before her stood a girl with her back turned, sobbing softly…
"Seele…" Bronya Zaychik gently called her name. "Seele?"
The lonely, crying girl turned around, revealing a tear-streaked face, eyes as blue as the ocean, and shoulder-length, deep-blue hair. Two lines of tears slid down her pale cheeks… That was—Seele Vollerei.
Bronya Zaychik slowly raised her hands and touched Seele's face. The real, tangible feeling of skin against her palm made her truly understand that this was not a dream.
With reddened eyes, Bronya Zaychik closed them, holding back the tears that threatened to fall. A small smile curved her lips as she lunged forward and hugged Seele tightly.
"Seele… I finally… I finally found you!!" the girl said with a smile.
There are so many beautiful places in the world, but the most beautiful place in my heart is wherever you are. I would risk my life to find you again…