"Huh?"
Kiana's toothpick snapped in half.
Melina lowered her gaze to Bai Qian, who had clasped his hands together like he was praying.
"Isn't 'your entire life'… a bit cheaply spent?"
Her voice fell like a dead leaf touching water.
Bai Qian didn't even blush.
"For saving the world? I'd say my life is worth spending."
He rattled it off at machine-gun speed, afraid she'd change her mind if he paused. "If you can look like Seele, we can lure Bronya out. And once she comes out, everything becomes easy."
"I don't object."
"Then it's happily decided!"
Bai Qian snapped his fingers and immediately turned to Mei. "You've got makeup and stuff, right?"
"Yes. I'll get it—give me a moment."
Mei quickly returned with a makeup pouch dusted over from disuse.
"It's from when I was at Chiba Academy," she said softly. "I bought it so I'd have something to talk about with classmates."
She set it down, a complicated flicker passing through her eyes.
"…But after I bought it, I never actually used it. Not even once."
Bai Qian didn't bother with manners. He unzipped it, picked up a lipstick and checked the shade, then shook a foundation bottle like he was testing viscosity—so practiced it made you wonder if he'd done illegal part-time work backstage for underground idols in Akihabara.
"Uh… Boss. Can you seriously do makeup?"
Kiana sat on a trunk nearby, holding the broken toothpick, staring at him with deep suspicion.
"This is basic Phantom Thief literacy. Disguise, hello? Besides, I'm not doing it—Arsène is."
Without turning around, he kept working.
A one-man Phantom Thief crew meant he had to handle everything himself. His stats were already maxed out. And for a thief, a borrowed face wasn't optional—it was survival.
"Seele's eyes droop a little at the corners, makes her look more innocent. Soften it. Don't look like you're carrying the weight of the world."
As he murmured, he guided eyeliner along Melina's outer corner. Melina obediently lowered her lashes, instantly appearing gentler, more fragile.
It tickled. The sensation was odd.
"That's it. Bronya may have lost most of her emotions right now, but the moment she sees someone who looks like Seele, her IQ shuts down immediately. Melina's spirit-body state is perfect—Bronya will misjudge it, and that's what we exploit."
When the final stroke of lipstick went on, Bai Qian stepped back two paces and admired his work like a sculptor examining a masterpiece.
They'd still need a wig and colored contacts for the hair and pupils—but the expression, the contours, the softened aura… after the adjustments, Melina really did carry a shadow of Seele.
"I've never met Miss Seele," Mei said quietly, watching Melina in the mirror, her eyes distant, "but… the way Miss Melina looks now… makes you want to protect her."
Bai Qian dusted powder off his hands, smug.
"Next step: we find somewhere dim. Melina keeps calling, 'Big sister Bronya, where are you?' Bronya will think Seele just crawled out of the Sea of Quanta and is searching for her."
He couldn't help humming under his breath. "And then—then a blond punk appears, half-coaxing, half-dragging her away. I refuse to believe that little duck can sit still after that."
He paused, then grinned.
"So. Who's going to play the blond punk?"
The moment he said it, everyone in front of him turned their heads in unison.
And stared.
"…Right."
Night wind swept through Nagazora City's streets. The streetlights burned dim and yellow.
Bronya sat on the edge of an apartment rooftop, legs dangling in open air. Beside her, Heavy Bunny 19C remained in an energized standby state.
"Mission confirmed. Continue surveillance."
The silver-haired girl with spiral twin-drills spoke flatly, calmly, like ice.
Her face showed nothing. Her gray eyes reflected the brightly lit villa below.
Mama Cocolia had said that today, an unidentified group had broken into Chiba Academy and taken Raiden Mei away.
They were dangerous. One of them displayed a strange ability.
Cocolia asked her: Can you win?
Fourteen-year-old Bronya, fearless, answered with only three words—
"I will win."
She pulled a Homu candy from her pocket, peeled it open, and popped it into her mouth. Sweetness spread on her tongue, easing the fatigue in her brain just a little.
As long as she completed the mission, Mama would help her find Seele.
As long as—
Suddenly, Heavy Bunny's detection system hummed.
"Someone?"
Bronya stopped chewing. Her gray eyes shifted, immediately locking onto a patch of shadow at the corner of the street below.
Half the streetlamp there was broken. The light turned ambiguous, uneven—like it was being swallowed by something.
At the boundary between light and darkness, a figure stumbled out.
A girl.
She wore an ill-fitting dress. Blue short hair whipped messily in the wind. She looked like she was searching for something, stopping every few steps to catch her breath.
Heavy Bunny's thermal imaging showed only a cold wash of blue there.
But Bronya saw it.
That hairstyle. That outfit.
"…Seele?"
The girl stood with her back turned, head twisting as if lost, staring around in confusion.
Her body looked like mist that could scatter at any moment. Moonlight passed straight through her shoulder, making it obvious she wasn't like normal people.
She was half-transparent.
The Sea of Quanta.
An unstable quantum state.
Bronya's breathing system seemed to fail. The air vanished from her lungs. Her chest felt like Heavy Bunny had slammed into it at full force.
Seele was back.
She had crawled out of that bottomless Sea of Quanta.
But… where was her body?
Mission. Cocolia. Raiden Mei.
In that instant, they became meaningless noise—garbled code.
Only one thing remained.
That name.
That person.
"But why would Seele…? Why would she appear here?"
A trap?
But the matter between her and Seele should only be known by Mama Cocolia!
And yet—if it wasn't a trap…
Bronya's breathing quickened. Only for this, only for Seele, she couldn't make a clean, immediate judgment.
And then—
From the corner in front of "Seele," someone suddenly darted out.
A man in a black trench coat. A strange bird-beak mask covered his face. His walk was light and sloppy in a way that made you want to vaporize him with a cannon.
He marched straight toward "Seele," a too-punchable smile on his face.
Bronya's breath stopped.
"Well, well—where'd this little sister come from? Lost?"
He reached out without hesitation, grabbing for "Seele's" wrist.
"W-Who are you…? Where is Big Sister Bronya…?"
"Seele" flinched like a startled rabbit. Her body turned even more transparent, as if she might disappear in the next second.
"Stop calling. Your big sister doesn't want you anymore. Come with big brother—big brother'll take you to see goldfish."
No.
She couldn't wait anymore.
"Heavy Bunny!"
Bronya called it out and jumped.
Heavy Bunny caught her tight mid-drop, then set her down.
Faster.
Faster!
Why was this exoskeleton's magnetic hover so slow?!
"One person's lonely, huh? Lost, right? Come on—big brother'll take you somewhere nice. A paradise only adults know~"
"Seele" recoiled, trembling like a frightened deer.
"No… go away! Big Sister Bronya—help! Help!"
No!
You can't—!
When Bronya arrived, she saw the man pull out a silver-white handgun.
She saw him—and he saw her too, lips curling into a grin.
Why did this guy have a gun?!
Before she could even think, Heavy Bunny behind her was already charging, ready to erase the man from existence.
But what Bronya didn't expect was—
He didn't point the silver-white gun at "Seele."
He pressed it to his own temple instead.
And pulled the trigger.
"Persona!"
What…?
In the next second, Bronya saw only a colossal black hand blotting out the sky as it slammed down toward her.
-------
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