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Chapter 285 – It’s Exactly What You’re Thinking!
🕑 Added 2025-08-28 15:35:33 +0000 UTCBefore Cecilia could unleash her wrath on Siegfried—
Three figures stood together, a family of white hair and blue eyes.
Their long, silken hair cascaded down their backs like waterfalls, glimmering faintly in the sunlight.
The warm glow wrapped around them, casting slender shadows on the deck and radiating a tender atmosphere that no one dared disturb.
Bronya quietly watched the scene.
For a moment, it was as if she had been pulled back to her days with Cocolia, a fleeting haze of memory flashing across her eyes.
She quickly shook her head, forcing a faint curve onto her lips, before turning away to leave the family their moment of reunion.
Standing at the edge of the deck, Bronya let her gaze sink into the vast expanse of the sea.
And with the crash of waves, a memory surfaced—
"Let’s go see the ocean together, Bronya onee-chan!"
That voice, breaking through the barrier of time, echoed in her ears.
Her small face tightened, caught between longing and confusion.
‘Seele…’
Thinking of Seele while witnessing Kiana’s joyful family reunion inevitably drew her thoughts to another person—Cocolia.
If not for that experiment, would she ever have lost her beloved sister?
And earlier when she first encountered Nagami, Cocolia had used the bio-chip to seize control of her body.
The truth was cruel.
The so-called “plan” to trigger the third Honkai and force Mei into Herrscher awakening had been dressed up as a scheme to save Seele.
But Bronya knew her sister.
Even if that insane plan could have resurrected Seele, the cost—millions of lives in Nagazora City—would have destroyed her.
With her gentle heart, Seele would never forgive herself, drowning forever in despair and guilt.
Thankfully, her partner had stopped her.
Otherwise… how could she ever face Seele again?
“Watching the sea? Or thinking of Seele?”
A hand rested gently on her shoulder.
A soft voice followed.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already pinpointed Seele’s coordinates in the Quantum Sea. I’ll bring her back.”
Nagami lightly ruffled her hair.
Bronya tilted her small head upward, her curled locks swaying with the movement.
Her silver-gray eyes met the boy’s, lips curving just faintly as she nodded—then shook her head.
“Bronya trusts her partner.”
Her voice carried no strong emotion, yet the deep feelings beneath it were unmistakable.
“…But Bronya was thinking about Cocolia. Mama…”
The last word slipped out in a whisper so faint that almost no one could hear it.
Watching Cecilia cradle Kiana and her little sister, with such pure compassion in her eyes, had brought memories flooding back.
Had Cocolia ever looked at her and Seele that way when they were little?
Bronya couldn’t remember.
But she knew one thing: in all the recent years, she had never once seen such an expression on Cocolia’s face.
“Cocolia, huh?”
Nagami stood behind her, chin resting on her small head as he gazed out at the endless sea.
Among the villains of the Honkai world, Otto was in a category of his own.
Everything he did was for Kallen, and from a civilization’s perspective, his contributions arguably outweighed his sins.
Cocolia, however… was nothing like him.
She built an orphanage to shelter children displaced by the Honkai—only to later throw those same children, who called her “mother,” into the laboratories.
She despised warlords who trained children as killers—yet she sent her own to carry out lethal missions.
What was that, if not hypocrisy?
And yet, to say she felt nothing for her children would also be a lie.
No, the truth was simpler and crueler: Cocolia had betrayed her original self.
Once, she was just a captain in the Russian military.
After joining Anti-Entropy, she climbed all the way to Executor.
Power had changed her, as it changes so many.
“Bronya… what do you think of your other mother?”
The deck beneath them gleamed from fresh cleaning as Nagami gently pushed Bronya down to sit, before lowering himself beside her.
“Other mother?”
Bronya tilted her head, her curled locks swaying again.
“Mm. Humans are mammals, after all—born from both a father and a mother. So, what do you think of your biological mother?”
Her eyes widened slightly—clearly, she hadn’t expected the conversation to take this turn.
For a moment, her mind went blank.
She looked thoughtful, oblivious to Nagami absentmindedly playing with her delicate fingers.
“Bronya doesn’t know. Bronya has no memory of her parents. They died when Bronya was very young.”
Her eyes narrowed as she swatted his hand away.
Of course, she had once used Cocolia’s resources to search for information.
She had wanted to know why they had abandoned her.
But when she found the truth, she understood: they hadn’t.
They had simply died.
Victims of the chaos following the Second Eruption.
“…I see.”
The answer was no surprise.
Nagami didn’t flinch at her reaction.
Instead, he gazed at the girl leaning against his shoulder—and asked the question that made her entire body freeze.
“If your real mother appeared before you right now… what would you do?”
Bronya blinked, stunned.
But then realization struck.
She whipped her head around, staring at him in disbelief.
Her emotional core had long since been repaired—thanks to “Kanami” gifting her the Herrscher of Reason’s core.
Her seemingly flat expressions were now a matter of habit, carved into her personality after years of relying only on logic.
But she wasn’t incapable of emotion. Far from it.
And now, thinking back—Nagami had disappeared not long ago, his mission being to travel back to the time of the Second Eruption, with the goal of resurrecting Kiana and her sister’s mother.
And he had succeeded.
Her own biological mother had still been alive during that era. And now, here he was, asking this question…
“Nagami… you don’t mean—”
For the first time, she didn’t call him “partner.” She spoke his name, her voice trembling ever so slightly.
Nagami’s lips curved.
“That’s right—it’s exactly what you’re thinking!”
The instant the words fell, a surge of icy-blue light burst forth, filling her silver-gray eyes with brilliance.
