Chapter 87: Recollections

Narrowed irises.

Cold sweat.

Trembling pupils.

A tell-tale sign of anxiety attacks. Aleph had seen it way too many times during his tenure as a soldier.

‘It’s the worst…’

The girl’s condition was akin to a soldier who was the only one who survived. Not only would there be survivor’s guilt, the post-traumatic stress disorder atop other things would make things worse.

“Fu…”

‘That’ll take a while… to calm down.’

It was the first time he directly interacted with someone like her. It made him recall numerous memories buried in his mind.

“I think we haven’t had much introduction. I am Aleph, a staff member of Fire MOTH.”

“...Fire MOTH?”

“Yes. We set out the moment the major eruption began, but…”

Aleph chose not to continue this topic further. He sat down on the chair.

“What’s your name?”

“...Kira.”

Aleph came to a brief pause.

‘If there were MEI and HIMEKO, I shouldn’t be surprised there’s a KIRA…’

“Alright, Kira. Are you feeling something wrong?”

“...Have you… seen someone else around me?”

Kira replied back with a question. It made Aleph pause until he made a decision.

“Yes. It was a special undead with a scythe. There are also other corpses beside her.”

“...I see.”

A moment of silence swept over them.

“You should think of your future first. Be it joining Fire MOTH… or returning as a civilian. Fire MOTH offers compensation to those rescued within the major eruption area.”

He paused momentarily before continuing:

“There’s currently a project about to be announced outside. Your honkai resistance, that is, your capability to resist turning into an undead, is indisputably high. You can consider enlisting in Fire MOTH.”

Aleph saw many examples of soldiers filled with post-traumatic stress disorder, more so civilians who got caught in the war. Most of the time, if they were sent to return to their normal lives…

More than half either commits a crime or gives up their life.

This problem was particularly worsened inside Fire MOTH. A psych check-up doesn’t suffice when it comes to experiencing honkai beasts, undeads, and the likes. It was far worse than the wars of his previous life.

It was the reason why Aleph periodically checks Kevin’s and Hua’s conditions. Even Major Himeko’s situation was indirectly passed onto him by the latter.

“I… Which division do you belong to?”

“Me? I’m from the research institutes… but I will work on the frontlines too.”

Upon hearing Aleph’s words, the girl had seemingly made up her choice. Still, she chose to delay it. The amount of information she processed today surpassed what she could understand.

“I will think about it.”

*****

The lounge on the fifth institute’s lounge opened.

“You don’t need to rush like this.”

“I flew here as fast as I could.” Mei reasoned out to Aleph’s concern. “We need to talk about that herrscher.”

“About that…”

Mei sat down as Aleph began narrating the series of events. That included how he judged her as someone with a bit of humanity, their battle, and how it ended. 

Ring-!

The cup of coffee on the coffee maker was finished. Aleph poured out a cup and placed it into a saucer.

“Here. You haven’t had any sleep for an entire day now.”

“Thanks.”

Mei naturally took it from him. She watched him sit down before she noticed something.

“Your hair…”

“Hm..? Oh, that’s right. It grew longer.”

Currently, his former black hair turned into a subtle shade of dark blue. It was at his shoulder’s length. It matched with the purple irises he has.

“I don’t recall it being blue.”

“Well… I forgot to explain this to you.”

Aleph recounted the things he told Vill-V and Mobius the moment they noticed it.

“I experimented on myself. I’m lucky I finished it before the major eruption occurred.”

“You… what?” Mei fell to a state of disbelief. “Was it Mobius’ influence? She had prior records of experimenting on herself. You are not the type to take risky maneuvers.”

“I had to… at least, in our current situation.”

Mei knew Aleph for nearly two years—the entire duration of their highschool. Aside from his caring side, she knew him as someone who was particularly cautious. He wouldn’t do something he was extremely sure of doing. That was the basis of her trust in him. Even if he does something unexpected, she would still trust his decision.

“Weren’t I able to fight against a herrscher alone? That’s a huge improvement compared to before.”

“...”

Mei did not refute him.

“...It didn’t have any bad effects. After the first surgery, I thought I would be able to go further. It only partially succeeded…”

Aleph continued explaining his deal with [Albion’s Remains]. He didn’t hide anything except for the origin of what he put onto himself.

She could only sigh after hearing everything.

“What do you think of the herrscher?” She asked.

“To be honest… we need to deal with the issues around her first.”

Aleph began listing three main issues when it came to Anna’s human ego as a herrscher.

First was her existence. It was extremely obvious that her existence, while beneficial to humanity’s battle against the honkai, would be negatively implicated once it reached the ears of the councilors. They were just done with Mei’s establishment of authority.

Second was the existence of the herrscher core. They couldn’t simply take it out of Anna, unlike the past herrschers. If they were planning to hide her existence, they had to make up for this missing point.

Finally, there was Anna’s danger of turning against humanity. They were fortunate they were able to have bombs on her, though the matter of handling it remains to be discussed.

For a while, Aleph halted talking about this topic.

“Hm..? What’s the matter?”

“Let’s rest for a while.” He replied. “No buts. You haven’t undergone the surgery. You’re different from Mobius and Vill-V.”

A second later, Aleph saw Mei… pout?

It wasn’t exactly that. The vibes she gave off was similar to pouting, however.

“I can… nevermind.” She stopped what she was about to say. “This reminds me of the old times.”

“Old times? It’s just… around three years ago? I remember seeing you overwork yourself in the library.”