Chat Group : Another Fate From Honkai

Shoulders slumped, Nagami trudged out of the bathhouse.

He turned the cold water tap and splashed his face, letting the icy stream slap some sense back into him.

'Damn, that was close.'

He untied Himeko's bath towel from around his waist and hung it up on the rack, then grabbed a dry towel and began wiping himself off.

After getting dressed in the pajamas he'd prepared earlier, Nagami took a deep breath and exited the bathroom.

'Single women in their thirties are seriously terrifying...'

She was ready to burn herself out just to ignite something in him—

But in the end, it was he who almost got reduced to ashes.

That kind of pressure? Not even a saint could hold their ground.

Forcing himself not to nod in admiration, Nagami waved off True Kiana, who'd popped up and casually tried to invite him to her room for "coffee."

Back in the living room, he was surprised to see the the heiress and the little tuna kiana sitting side-by-side playing video games together.

'Didn't see that pairing coming.'

Side note: True Kiana's gaming skills were on par with Mei's.

That is, rock-bottom. Last place in the entire dorm.

Yawning, Nagami slid open the door to his room—only to freeze in his tracks.

Curled up in the middle of his bed was a petite girl with silver-gray eyes, hugging her knees and holding a game console.

"Good evening," Bronya greeted, raising a hand in salute. "Bronya Unit-01 is fully loaded and ready for deployment."

Maybe her favorite Homu pajamas were in the wash, because tonight she was wearing a light, strappy camisole.

Her delicate legs were wrapped in white lace thigh-high socks that hugged her skin from her waist to her dainty toes, with a soft pink tint peeking out.

The alluring line between the stockings and her creamy thighs gave off an almost hypnotic charm.

Nagami's gaze flicked to the small hint of collarbone exposed through the loose neckline, and the cool light in the room made her expressionless face look like the finest doll in the world—adorable, pristine, and heartbreakingly silent.

A soft blush dusted her cheeks, barely visible.

Normally, Nagami would've just grabbed his console and joined her for an all-night ranked grind.

But tonight… after being riled up by Himeko, most of his attention was definitely focused on the little girl on his bed who had stayed up all night with him more times than he could count.

Everyone in the dorm knew the two of them often did late-night gaming marathons, so no one tried to stop Bronya from entering his room.

Anyone else would've been forcibly dragged out of Nagami's room in under thirty minutes.

That's just how things were with the tangled triangle—or rather, pentagram—of Mei and the three white-haired troublemakers.

"We'll have to postpone tonight's rank grind," Nagami muttered, sitting down beside her.

He picked up a glass of cold water and downed it in one go, letting the chill quiet the fire still smoldering in his chest.

"Something came up. I've got other business to handle."

Which only meant one thing: Operation Distraction Initiated.

As he headed toward the closet to grab the recently updated XP outfit, he heard the sound of running water.

Green-haired girl's turn for the bath, huh?

Not in the villa's main bath, though. She was using her personal en suite.

"You've run into trouble?" Bronya asked.

Since she had already removed her exoskeleton, her body movement was limited.

She propped herself up with both hands and scooted closer to Nagami, perching beside him on the bed.

Her pale, small hand gently rested on his shoulder.

"Bronya can assist. Do not underestimate your reliable partner."

Because her legs couldn't move freely, Bronya was sitting in a duck-like pose.

Her soft thighs, wrapped in sheer white stockings, peeked out from beneath her skirt.

Between the smooth fabric and tender skin was the holy grail of thigh enthusiasts: the absolute zone.

Nagami's eyes inadvertently dropped to her legs.

His mind… swerved hard off course.

"You want to touch them, don't you?" Bronya said flatly, her voice as emotionless as ever—completely oblivious to how much of a nuke she just dropped.

"If you need the stocking as a magic catalyst, Bronya can offer it. Helping regulate a comrade's adolescent hormonal imbalance is part of being a dependable partner."

She tilted her head slightly, her twintails swaying like pendulums.

"However, if what you want goes beyond that… Bronya will have to decline. These legs are currently unusable."

SFX: VROOM VROOM VROOM

'BAM—BAM—BAM FBI OPEN UP!'

Nagami swore he could hear a convoy of toy cars running him over in his mind.

One after another, tires screeching across his poor soul.

His dazed expression somehow became even more dazed.

His brain? Blue-screening.

Then, as he stared into Bronya's clear, unwavering gray eyes… he couldn't help but laugh.

Man, this comrade really is reliable… and stupidly cute.

"Don't say things like that so casually," he said with a grin.

Nagami reached out and pinched her cheek gently.

Her face, soft and porcelain-like, had the perfect amount of elasticity and smoothness—it felt amazing under his fingertips.

"If I really lost control of myself… you might be sacrificing your first blood tonight, you know?"

"Bronya trusts you, partner."

Her voice was as calm and flat as ever, but Nagami could clearly hear the firm conviction behind it.

Trust my ass!

Even I wouldn't trust myself right now!

Hearing such innocent, powdered-milk-scented words from a deadpan girl like Bronya—what warm-blooded male could possibly keep it together?

Strangely though, Nagami felt… touched.

He didn't expect Bronya's affection level to be this high already.

Though to be fair, his affection for her wasn't exactly low either.

Is this… the purity of true camaraderie?

"Well then, I'll leave it to you—my most reliable comrade, Silver Wolf Bronya!"

He had originally planned to rest for the night and find a better moment tomorrow to heal her legs.

But now that she'd said something like that, how could he possibly wait?!

Even though his mind was working on something serious, his face wore a deliberately flirty grin, and his tone was laced with teasing ambiguity.

"Mhm."

Bronya gave a little nod, tilting her head as if putting all her trust in him.

She reached out her tiny pale hands and gently lifted her white-silk-wrapped legs toward him.

Then, fixing her clear gray gaze on Nagami, she waited quietly.

Her expression was as composed and unreadable as ever, but maybe… just maybe… only Bronya herself knew what emotions stirred in her heart at that moment.

Seeing her silent signal of "go ahead," Nagami let out a soft chuckle.

Under her curious gaze, he reached out and rested his hands on her calf.

The feeling of the smooth, elastic white stockings beneath his fingers, the soft firmness of her young skin—it all transmitted vividly through his palms.

As Bronya continued to stare in slight confusion, Nagami's eyes flickered and transformed—glowing softly with the dreamy violet hue of a six-pointed star.

Occasionally, streaks of glowing cyan light drifted through them like falling comets.

The nerves in Bronya's legs had already been damaged by Honkai energy, so she didn't feel anything unusual.

Or rather—she did feel something strange.

Watching Nagami's hands gently move over her calves, a foreign and inexplicable emotion began to stir deep within her chest.

A feeling she couldn't name.

"…Nagami. What's going on with your eyes?"

She had noticed his strange pupils the first time they met, but never asked about them.

They looked far too mysterious—Bronya assumed a stranger like her, from Anti-Entropy no less, wouldn't be trusted with that kind of secret.

But now, to distract herself from the peculiar, rising emotion inside her—something that oddly reminded her of Seele—she changed the subject.

"…This? Hmm, how do I explain it…" Nagami replied, continuing to scan and decode the tissues in her legs.

"You can think of it as… a special kind of power. Let's just say it's a little secret of mine."

He casually gave a simple explanation about his Replication Eye's abilities.

"Just don't tell anyone else, okay? It's supposed to be a secret."

It wasn't really a secret.

Even if others knew, they couldn't stop its analysis. And besides, he hadn't revealed the true core of what the eye could do.

"…Mhm. Bronya won't tell anyone."

She spoke with an odd tone—something softer than usual.

Her eyes locked onto Nagami's dazzling starlit gaze… then slowly drifted down to his now-stilled hands on her legs.

Tilting her head slightly, she looked at him as if to ask, Was that it? Is it done already?

Nagami reached out and gently patted her head, then flicked her smooth forehead with his finger.

He took a deep breath.

"While we're at it, why don't you take a moment to reflect on what you just said earlier, hmm? Remember—your words have consequences."

That'll teach you to run me over with your baby-car lines again.

At his command, the power of the Herrscher of Reason surged to his hands.

A soft, cyan glow began to pulse and flow across his palms like electricity preparing to leap.

Then, without hesitation—

Nagami carefully slid off her white stockings.

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