"Kiana! Wake up!" Mei, holding Kiana in her arms, reached out and slapped Kiana's face with some urgency.
"Ugh... Mei-senpai?" Kiana, after being slapped a few times by Mei, frowned and opened her eyes... She came to her senses and looked at the face so close to hers, saying with some confusion.
After a moment of daze, Kiana's eyes widened as if she had suddenly realized something, and she said, "Uh! Have we sunk to the bottom of the sea?!"
"No... if we had sunk to the bottom of the sea, we wouldn't be alive..." Li Xuan said helplessly, sitting up while holding his dizzy head... Poor him, all alone, no one even came to help him up after he fell... Li Xuan felt a pang of sadness.
"This should be an independent space..." Li Xuan looked at the surrounding scenery and said with certainty. They were swept away by the wave, so they should have sunk to the bottom of the sea, but instead, they appeared in this place. The only possibility was space.
"Is this... a festival?!" Mei, relieved to see that everyone was alright, looked up at her surroundings and said in astonishment and disbelief.
What came into everyone's view was a stone-paved path at night... On both sides of the path were various shops, and the aroma of takoyaki even wafted from a small pushcart stall, tempting everyone's taste buds... Above the shops were red lanterns, the candlelight within burning and illuminating the road.
The brightly lit festival under the night sky was very similar to the local Japanese festival scenes Li Xuan had seen in some harem anime in his previous life... The scene of the festival at night was very much like the temple fairs Li Xuan had visited with his parents and sister in his previous life..... The only difference was that there was not a single person in this place...
It was clearly a grand festival, yet not a single person appeared... This eerie scene gave Li Xuan a strange sense of chill.
"I remember we were swept into the sea by a wave. Why did we end up in this place?" Kiana looked around, a little confused.
"...Communication with St. Freya High School has been cut off. Perhaps our plane of existence was altered by the influence of the space-warping field just now..." Bronya said, analyzing the vast database in her mind.
"In other words... just as Li Xuan-kun said, this place is another dimension?!" Mei said in amazement, looking at her surroundings.
"But even though it looks like a festival, there isn't a single person here..." Kiana said strangely, looking at the deserted festival.
"..." The scene suddenly became quiet... Everyone couldn't help but feel a chill. Li Xuan faintly heard the "splashing~" sound of the waves, and the faint smell of fish that lingered around his nose...
"Mmm, what a strange feeling..." Mei nodded helplessly.
"Sigh~ In any case, we don't understand this strange place yet... so I think it's better for everyone to stick together." Li Xuan stood up and said loudly. He felt a strange sense of familiarity with this place....
"Mm, okay!~" Kiana said, raising her hand in agreement without a care. Her eyes lit up as she looked at the food displayed on both sides of the path...
[Sister Bronya...] Like a dream, a soft call entered the ears of Bronya, who was silently watching Li Xuan and the others discuss... It was like a clap of thunder in Bronya's heart...
"This voice is..." Bronya's expressionless face was filled with surprise... No matter how much time passed, she would never forget the owner of this voice... She was...
"Hey! Where are you going, Bronya?!" Kiana, who had been a little distracted while listening to Li Xuan and Mei talk, suddenly saw Bronya's figure disappear around a corner from the corner of her eye and couldn't help but shout loudly.
"Bronya?!... Why did she suddenly run over there?!" Mei hurriedly looked behind her, but Bronya's figure had already disappeared into the darkness...
"Let's hurry and catch up! It'll be trouble if we get separated!" Li Xuan had no choice but to call for everyone to go find Bronya together, but he still felt a sense of unease in his heart...
"....Sigh, the little one is always so much trouble." Kiana said like an experienced person as she followed Li Xuan and Mei around the corner.
"....." Wake up! You're the most troublesome one, aren't you? Li Xuan felt tired... He felt like he was babysitting a bratty kid.
"..... It's all narrow paths..." Mei said subconsciously, looking at the scene before her.
"...My goodness, how are we supposed to find her?!" Kiana was completely bewildered as she looked at the festival avenue and the dense network of small paths that appeared before her after the corner... Who the hell knew where Bronya went... In a place like this, only a genius would know which path Bronya had taken.
"....." So I hate trouble the most... Li Xuan helplessly covered his face with his right hand. Life is already so difficult, why...
But this place should be related to that 'person', right?.
.......................
This was the beach next to the festival venue... The round moon in the night sky cast specks of starlight on the dark sea... The sea breeze carried a faint salty smell...
However, Bronya didn't notice these sights... Her attention was completely focused on the figure standing with her hands behind her back, her back turned to her...
"Seele, is that you?" Bronya said, her voice slightly hoarse. Her eyes felt a little sore, perhaps because of the sand mixed in the sea breeze... she thought.
"Sister Bronya... I've finally seen you again~" The girl under the moon turned around with a happy smile and said with emotion.
The bright moonlight cast its eternally unchanging, frosty glow. The girl in a blue blazer and white short-sleeved shirt smiled like a flower, her black pleated skirt swaying slightly in the breeze...
No awkwardness, no strangeness... Just as fate had ordained, Bronya Zaychik and Seele Vollerei met again...
(End of this chapter)