The song ended, and the crystal chandeliers in the hall lit up brilliantly, the piercing light returning to this noisy place. When people looked again, everything seemed unchanged. They looked at each other blankly, not understanding the meaning of that "impromptu program." It couldn't have been... to let them kiss their partners in the dark, could it?
Compared to the commotion of the entire venue, the disappearance of two people clearly wouldn't attract any notice.
...
"..."
"..."
The walk was silent. Lin walked quietly ahead, weightless and soundless, while Mobius followed, staring at his heels. Both tacitly remained silent along the way. He seemed able to control the weight of his steps now; it was unclear if the dancing had actually helped or if it was the result of Lin adaptation over the past few days.
She wanted to ask, but it seemed too much like she cared about him, so she didn't speak. Mobius suddenly felt that her current state was like those high school girls in love she had heard Nuwa and Fuxi talk about—a mountain of words stuck in her throat, unable to speak as if her voice were scorched by the temperature of her own face, only daring to follow behind in silence.
But Mobius was not a high school girl, and she had never experienced a so-called "campus romance." In fact, she didn't even really know what campus life was like. If she had to say, she had only heard Mei admit she had a boyfriend—Kevin—when she went to Chiba Academy to find her.
Right, wasn't Lin their classmate?
"What were you, Mei, and Kevin like in high school?" If I ask about all three of them, it won't seem like I care too much, right?
Lin paused and shook his head. "About the same as now."
"About the same? I see you lot acting like you've cut ties. Far from being deeply affectionate, sometimes Mei seems eager to drag you down with her, and her little follower Kevin stands right with her," Mobius said with a cold laugh, recalling her argument with Mei that morning. She added without warmth, "Don't tell me only you think you're still as close to them as in high school?"
"...Do you think you've changed since we first met?"
"I—"
Mobius almost choked on her own words. She looked at Lin back with suspicion, wondering if he had seen something to prompt that question. But she was ultimately doing a useless task; Lin helmet blocked all observation of his expression. She folded her arms and shook her head coldly. "No change. I am who I am."
"..." This caused Lin to turn and give her a strange look, but like her, he said nothing more on that, only continuing from the previous topic. "It is impossible for a person not to change. Even if a future version of me looks at the current me, he would think there's a difference between now and the future."
"So the three of us are all different from how we were then. This is an objective fact. No matter how much we want to ignore it, we will gradually become lost, cold-blooded, and paranoid in the process of fighting the Honkai."
"And what humanity needs is the current Mei. I understand her, Kevin understands her, and both of them understand me. That is why I agree to many things that seem unfair to me."
"The current us understand each other, and the high school us understood each other, so... now and then are about the same."
Mobius turned her head away. "I see... and here I thought you were just an idiot who didn't know he was being used... well, even if that were the case, it made things convenient for me."
"So you don't need to get into arguments with Mei on my behalf."
"..." Mobius right eyelid twitched twice. She swallowed and glared at Lin back. "Wait, how did you know... No, I didn't get into an argument with Mei, and certainly not for you—"
Lin turned around and shook the communicator in his hand. It clearly showed a text exchange between him and Mei. Mei had emphasized Mobius saying Lin was in a poor state and asked if it were true; Lin hadn't answered directly, only giving a vague reply that he hoped to rest for a while longer.
That woman—
Mobius almost said "she's talking nonsense" through gritted teeth. She wondered why she felt like the way Lin had been looking at her since earlier contained something meaningful; so that was it.
"I simply thought you needed a period of adjustment. Even for an experiment, you want a strong subject, not a sickly, half-dead lab rat. Besides, isn't there that successful case, Kevin? Why must it be you first... why must we leave the successful case alone and research the failure first?"
After staring at her for a long time, Lin gave a soft nod. "...Okay."
"Don't give me that!" Mobius was incensed by Lin indifferent attitude. She had realized that only when she was with Lin was her temper so easily triggered. Even though the things he said to her were no different from what he said to anyone else, even though she knew he was like that, she still couldn't help but get angry. It was like a switch had been flipped; she couldn't control her emotions.
Right... no difference. The problem lies exactly in there being no difference!
She admitted she could be a bit sharp-tongued and didn't like to agree with others, and Lin handling was technically fine—he could see she was unhappy, so there was no need to keep pressing. But she was just frustrated! Frustrated with Lin, this person who always acted "correctly" and "sincerely"!
He was like the extreme opposite of her, doing completely different things, yet the way outsiders looked at them was so similar. Even though in her view Lin did nothing wrong—no one could have done better or more correctly in his position—he still faced mockery from his own people. Not for doing things that were morally condemned like her, but for truly doing the right thing.
What angered her most was that even so, Lin had no complaints. Yes, he·had·no·complaints. She bet that even if those words she just said were spoken by someone who truly wanted to mock him, Lin would still say "Okay."
It was just... too infuriating!
"Can't you keep asking why I think you need adjustment? Can't you keep asking why I didn't tell you? Is all you can say 'Okay', 'Right', 'I see' to brush me off? Just like you do with everyone else?"
"...I don't understand what you want to say." Lin stood face to face with Mobius. The moment his confused sentence drifted into her ears, her expression went from incensed to serene.
She spoke each word clearly, without any disguise—
"Can't you treat me differently from everyone else? Just like at the ball earlier... special."
"Just be a bit special to me."