Can't shake it off.
Shaking it off would mean all previous efforts were in vain.
Shaking it off would cause more attention and trouble.
Reason is like a bond, strangling generation after generation.
The two "Stelles" just stood there, enduring the bone-chilling cold rising from their spines, letting their hands be "placed" in the other's by Cecilia. They then felt Cecilia gently pat the back of their clasped hands before smilingly withdrawing her own.
"Treasure each other, now," Cecilia said as a final remark, taking the arm of the still grinning Siegfried and turning to leave the corridor.
Only after the couple's figures had completely disappeared around the corner, their footsteps faded, and the lingering gentle aura in the air dissipated—
"Eek—!!"
"Gah—!!"
As if scalded, they violently flung each other's hands away. The movement was so large and so fast that it actually created a small sonic boom between them.
They each sprang back several steps until their backs hit the wall, stopping them.
They vigorously shook the hand that had just been forced into contact, their faces showing undisguised, extreme disgust and revulsion, as if some unwashable filth had gotten on them.
They shook their hands, wiped them on "Stelle's" short skirt, wiped them with the wet wipes they had just materialized, and wanted to wipe them on the wall but raised them and then lowered them again.
Their silent disgust collided fiercely in the air.
They glared at each other, using their eyes, their body language, every pore of their beings to emit a strong signal of "stay away from me."
But this time, there were no roars, no low growls.
Sometimes, the fact that the Kaslana and Schariac families held the title of "Saintess" was no joke.
After Siegfried's "holy baptism" and Cecilia's "gentle critical hit," it seemed both had temporarily exhausted their energy for verbal attacks.
Or perhaps, in their subconscious, they both felt that any verbal exchange on this matter would only remind them of those unbearable few seconds.
Thus, this intense display of disgust lasted for about ten seconds before ending with a strange, tacit understanding.
They stopped the exaggerated hand-shaking, both took a deep breath, and both schooled their overly expressive faces into something closer to "Stelle's" slightly lazy, deadpan expression.
Then, they once again looked towards the entrance of the living area, the fully restored ecological street on the ninth underground level.
They glanced at each other and quickly looked away, then strode towards the ninth underground level.
The farce of being forced to "join hands" was temporarily over, but that didn't mean their journey was at an end.
The entrance to the living area was like a curtain of water. Passing through it, one could feel a slight change in air pressure and humidity.
When the two "Stelles" stepped inside, more or less side-by-side, the suddenly open vista and the wave of sound that rushed to meet them caused them both a moment of disorientation.
Too bright...
That was the first impression.
Overhead, the nearly thirty-meter-high dome was a real-time simulation of the "sky." This simulated sky was currently in the early morning, the orange-pink clouds of sunrise flowing slowly and steadily. One could even vaguely see the silhouettes of simulated birds.
The air held the just-right coolness of early morning, mixed with the smell of food, green plants, and the faint scent of human life.
Beneath their feet was a smooth, imitation stone-paved street, flanked by well-arranged two-story buildings. Shop signs of various colors, simple neon lights, and the warm glow of shop windows intertwined.
People came and went on the street, dressed in various casual clothes, their faces sleepy or beaming. Some hurried past, some stopped to chat in front of shops, some sat resting on benches along the street...
The laughter of children with backpacks upon seeing friends in the same plight, the shouts of shopkeepers serving customers, the sizzle of frying food, the familiar greetings between regulars and shop owners...
All the sounds around them seemed to converge into a warm current, a current of abundant hope, bright anticipation, and sincere warmth that felt like it had come home, shamelessly squeezing into their hearts.
Pain, sorrow, anger, grief... Shu had only overcome the influence of those empathetic emotions; it didn't mean they had disappeared.
Everything before him was completely different from what he remembered this floor once being.
It was also completely different from the tense, grim, and perilous environment of the post-apocalyptic world he had grown accustomed to.
Unfamiliar.
A strong sense of unfamiliarity washed over him like a tide, scouring his nerves, which had lost their elasticity from high alert.
This place was too "normal," too "peaceful."
And this normality and peace, after experiencing battles and sacrifices against the Honkai time and again, and even the mirror deathmatch that had just ended, seemed so unreal, even a little...
Dazzling.
Shu's pace unconsciously slowed. His body still maintained that slight tension, ready to respond to an attack at any moment, but his eyes were involuntarily drawn to everything around him, only to quickly look away out of habit, appearing somewhat lost.
Eventually, Shu's gaze began to focus on the ground.
"Little ladies! New faces, huh?"
Just as Shu was about to get a clear look at what the ground was like, a loud shout made him look up in surprise.
"Come and see, freshly baked honey bread, fragrant and sweet!" Following the voice, at the entrance of a bakery on the corner of the street, which exuded a rich aroma of wheat and sweetness, a kindly-looking auntie in an apron was waving at them enthusiastically.
The two "Stelles" stopped in their tracks simultaneously.
They looked at the golden, shiny bread in the shop, at the auntie's enthusiastic face. Their brains stuttered for a moment while processing the command "being greeted kindly by a stranger."
Shu suddenly remembered, wasn't he a shut-in otaku who didn't like to go out before?
"I..." the "Stelle" disguised by Shu opened her mouth, her voice dry.
"We..." the "Stelle" disguised by [Shu] spoke almost at the same time, then immediately closed her mouth.
In the few seconds they hesitated, the auntie had already deftly wrapped two small loaves in greaseproof paper and stuffed them directly into their hands.
"Here, have a taste! Oh, it's alright, these two are free, and newcomers get a discount!
"Just look at you two sisters, so pretty! You must come back often in the future!"
The warmth of the freshly baked bread seeped through the greaseproof paper, and the sweet aroma wafted straight into their noses.
Suddenly having something stuffed into their hands, they were even more at a loss. When the auntie reached over with the bread, both had actually reacted quite quickly, or rather, it was a completely subconscious reaction to pull their hands back and raise them high, but they were still caught by the auntie, who forcefully stuffed two loaves of bread into their hands.
It wasn't right to take it, but it wasn't right to put it down either. They could only hold it, and urgently managed a small, timid "thank you."
"Oh, don't be polite, don't be polite! Eat it while it's hot!" Unlike their quiet thanks, the loud-voiced auntie waved her hand, said nothing more, and turned to serve other customers.