"Huh...?" Seele made a confused sound.
"What does 'tsundere' mean?"
"Ah, I almost forgot—you've been stuck in the Sea of Quanta for four years, so you haven't come across these terms..." Lynelle gave Seele a playful wink.
"A tsundere is someone who says they dislike you but actually goes out of their way to help you when it counts. In simple terms, it's someone who can't honestly express their care or affection..."
"Oh..." Seele nodded, only half-understanding.
"Then... the other me seems pretty tsundere, huh? But, Lynelle, what method are you planning to use to make her show up?"
"Well... it's actually pretty simple. But I'm worried if I say it out loud now, she might catch on." Lynelle's eyes shifted slyly.
"How about you come a little closer, and I'll tell you directly through telepathy?"
"O-okay..."
Even though Lynelle's smile seemed a little mischievous, little Seele obediently leaned in closer.
Then, with a cute yelp, Seele was pulled entirely into Lynelle's embrace, her soft cheeks sinking completely into a gentle, milky-scented softness.
"Alright, this distance should work now~"
Feeling the temperature around them drop a few degrees, Lynelle allowed a faint smirk to tug at her lips—her original plan had been to lure out the other Seele by getting close to this one.
But she hadn't expected that even after going this far, the other Seele would still hold back. It seemed this whole situation had really hit her hard.
But if things got any more intimate, they'd be crossing into... certain territory. Lynelle naturally wouldn't go that far, so she decisively switched to Plan B.
"Seele, listen..." Lynelle's voice echoed softly in Seele's mind.
"Later, just do this..."
"Mmm..."
As the rather intimate whispering continued, the blush on Seele's face soon shifted from shyness to shock, and then to hesitation.
"Lynelle, will this... really help us find the other me? I feel like... I might not be as important as you say I am..."
"Have a little more confidence in your charm—and in the other Seele, too~"
Thinking of a certain dark-haired girl who'd once grinned foolishly at Seele's white thigh-highs, Lynelle gave Seele's shoulder a reassuring pat. "Don't worry, she won't be able to resist."
"Then... let's proceed as planned~"
Lynelle casually set aside the notebook she'd just found, then took Seele's hand, and the two vanished from the spot.
"..."
A full few minutes later, the space where Seele and Lynelle had been suddenly twisted, and the other Seele's figure abruptly appeared on the spot.
"Tch, that pink-haired girl again..." The black-and-red-clad girl let out a soft, displeased huff.
She seemed about to voice some of her usual strong opinions about anyone getting too touchy with Seele, but before the words could leave her mouth, she closed it again, a hint of loneliness in her expression.
For one, that timid crybaby wasn't around anymore to listen to her grumbling. And for another... could she really stay by Seele's side the way she used to?
Maybe, compared to her, whether it was Bronya-onee-chan or that pink-haired girl with zero sense of personal space, either of them was more suited to looking after Seele than she was...
After all...
The other Seele couldn't help but sigh.
Back when she didn't know the truth about her own identity, she could justifiably stay nestled inside Seele's body every day.
But now, as memories from the Stigma gradually awakened, she was realizing that her own existence might not be as simple as she'd once thought.
What if, one day, she ended up betraying someone who trusted her, just like that past version of herself had?
What if, when the current era's Herrscher of Death descended, she was chosen as the suitable host, dragging Seele down with her—or worse, if she uncontrollably erased her own other personality?
She didn't dare take that risk.
Though she didn't know much about the current era's Herrschers, the memories in the Stigma and the recordings she'd seen from the previous civilization all conveyed one clear fact: once you become a Herrscher, no matter how much you love Seele, you'll turn into an uncontrollable force of destruction.
"Maybe... it really is better to find a chance to leave Seele's body..."
"Hm...?"
Just as she was about to continue tailing Lynelle to make sure that girl meant no harm to Seele, she suddenly noticed a notebook lying quietly right where Seele had been.
"This is... that crybaby's diary? Why is it here?"
She picked up the diary almost on reflex, though she didn't really intend to read it—after all, she'd already gone through Seele's diary long ago... Wait, something felt off.
Her fingers, which had been unconsciously stroking the diary's cover, stilled. The reason was simple: she knew the feel of Seele's diary all too well, but this one... seemed different?
"Could it be... a secret diary that Seele's been keeping, written just for herself? Hah... that dummy, keeping two diaries now!"
She pouted in dissatisfaction, but her fingers itched to open it anyway.
"If that crybaby went so far as to keep a second diary, she must not want me to see this one... Maybe it's full of complaints about me being nosy..."
"After all, if it was just ordinary stuff, she wouldn't need to hide it from me..."
Irritated, she slapped the diary shut and set it down on a nearby table, standing up to continue what she'd been doing. But she'd only taken a couple of steps before she glanced back sullenly at the diary, plopping back down into the chair with a huff.
"But... but... I'm leaving anyway, so it shouldn't matter if I take a look... If that crybaby really does hate me, then I can go without any regrets... Yeah, that's it."
After repeating this to herself a few times, she finally hooked a finger over the diary's cover. It looked thick, about the same size as the shared diary Seele kept outside, so it was clear the girl had been writing in it regularly.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, gently opened to a random page, then—hesitant and struggling—peeked through barely parted eyelids.
[My other me is the best.]
Thump!
She snapped the diary shut, her fair cheeks quickly growing warm.
Heck!
Why was the content of this diary so... different from what she'd expected?!
"Wh-what kind of mushy, embarrassing stuff has she been writing in here?!"
Even as she grumbled, the corners of her mouth tugged upward uncontrollably, no matter how hard she tried to press them down.
"Whatever, whatever... that was probably just a coincidence. I'll... I'll just take one more look..."
With the first peek behind her, this second "sneak read" felt much more natural.
But with every page she turned, her face grew progressively redder. So much so that the girl secretly reading the diary didn't notice at all the two figures gradually materializing in the distance.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.