November 2, 1453, New Calendar. At the inn.
“How could Little Shi... die?”
“Elder Brother, are you starting again?” Shironaka Fueno sat on the bed and sighed as she watched Sophie rolling around on the carpet. “Little Shi was just some stray by the roadside anyway. If she's dead, she's dead. No one cares.”
Aside from acting normal for a brief moment when seeing off Miss Knight this morning, she hadn't expected Sophie to start throwing a fit again now.
“W-Why are you being so mean! Everyone is my wing! Everyone has to be okay!” Sophie said miserably. “If there's no Little Shi...”
“If there's no her?” Shironaka Fueno repeated curiously.
“Then I won't die!” Sophie declared righteously.
“Huh?”
“If I can't keep a Little Shiyin, I won't die.” Sophie continued to roll back and forth on the carpet. “It really was because I said such harsh words to her back then, wasn't it? Why did it turn out like this? What happened?”
“How pitiful, my Elder Brother.”
Shironaka Fueno let out a sigh.
She slid down from the edge of the bed.
Her bare feet stepped onto the soft carpet.
With her movements, the entire room's structure seemed to come alive.
Countless threads, a hundred times thinner than hair, snaked out from the cracks in the walls, from under the bed, and from the corners of the ceiling.
The threads slithered over to Sophie's side.
Like gentle tentacles, they lightly wrapped around Sophie's wildly flailing ankles and wrists.
“Waaah, let me go! I want to go to Destinos! I want to grind her bones to dust, scatter her ashes, and cast True Resurrection on her!” Sophie struggled. “I'll drag her back from the Underworld!”
“Hmm...”
Shironaka Fueno reached out a hand. Sophie's body spun around in the air before landing straight into Fueno's arms.
“Waaah! Little Dino is still bullying me!”
“I'm not bullying you. I'm comforting Elder Brother.”
She opened her arms and pressed Sophie's head into her chest, which was flat enough to pacify the world.
“What are you doing...”
“Soothing Elder Brother. Elder Brother needs to be good.”
Do you even have Miaoyue's level of assets to be soothing anyone? Sophie thought gloomily.
“Don't cry, it looks ugly. Isn't it a good thing that she's dead? From now on, Elder Brother only has Little Dino. Little Dino will stay with you forever. We'll stay at home together, and no one will ever find us.”
What kind of comfort was that!
Sophie began to struggle.
“Let me go! This isn't a good thing at all! Why does she get to die!” Sophie squirmed wildly in Shironaka Fueno's embrace, trying to break free from the small hands that looked delicate but were actually unshakable. “I haven't even agreed to her dying yet!”
“Yes, yes, Elder Brother hasn't agreed yet,” Shironaka Fueno said as if coaxing a tantrum-throwing toddler. “But the dead cannot be brought back to life. Although that bad woman was very annoying, since she's already dead, let's be generous and forgive her past sins of being a thieving cat.”
“W-What sins? Our world clearly has so many resurrection mechanics! First we can try True Resurrection, then we can try Wish, or find a few magic books on the Scourge of the Undead... to trigger a super reconstruction...”
Sophie struggled to sit up.
But Shironaka Fueno would not let her have her way.
“It seems Elder Brother is still having nightmares. Do you need your little sister's special bedtime service?”
Shironaka Fueno's eyes narrowed, and she lightly flicked her finger.
The soft threads wrapped around Sophie's limbs instantly tightened.
“Hey! What are you doing... Whoa!”
Before Sophie could voice a complete protest, she was pulled down.
Shironaka Fueno straddled Sophie's waist.
“Get off me. I need to go look for clues now.”
“No can do.”
Shironaka Fueno pinned Sophie's hands with the threads, pressing them to both sides of the pillow.
She looked down at Sophie from above.
“Elder Brother's head is too muddled right now. As a qualified mother, Little Dino has the duty to properly correct Elder Brother's mistaken thoughts at a time like this.”
“Who's your son! You're my little sister! You're a ten-year-old brat!” Sophie protested loudly. “I'm your Elder Brother! Uh, no, I'm your elder sister! Wait, no... anyway, get off me!”
Shironaka Fueno completely ignored Sophie's chaotic outburst.
She leaned down.
Her cheek was almost pressed against Sophie's face.
Her breath, carrying the scent of black tea, brushed against the tip of Sophie's nose.
“Shh...”
Shironaka Fueno placed a finger gently against Sophie's lips.
“The wind is so strong outside, and the weather is so cold. Elder Brother isn't going anywhere. Just stay in the coffin... I mean, the bed Little Dino prepared for you. Little Dino will sing to you, brew black tea for you, and brush Elder Brother's hair every day.”
She reached out, her fingertips brushing through the tips of Sophie's hair.
“As long as Elder Brother forgets that red-haired woman,” Shironaka Fueno whispered. “After all, in this world, only Little Dino is real. Only Little Dino will never leave you.”
“Don't tell me you were the one who killed Little Shi?” Sophie said warily. “Secretly murdering her and burying the body and all that.”
Shironaka Fueno's eyes widened.
“You're afraid that after she resurrects, she'll fight you for me,” Sophie analyzed with absolute certainty. “So you took out Little Shi in advance. Quick, tell me, Little Dino, where did you hide the body parts?”
Shironaka Fueno: “...”
“Just admit it!” Sophie shouted. “As long as you tell your brother the truth, I won't blame you...”
Shironaka Fueno took a deep breath, a vein popping on her forehead.
“I've told you everything I know! What more do you want!”
Shironaka Fueno could no longer maintain her gentle facade.
She opened her mouth, revealing her sharp canine teeth.
“Awooo!”
Without hesitation, she bit Sophie's neck.
“Ow, ow, ow! Are you a vampire or something!” Sophie cried out. “Let go! You yandere little sister! If you use violence on me, I'll... I'll scream!”
“Go ahead and scream. Even if you scream your lungs out, no one is coming to save you.” Shironaka Fueno raised her head.
She wiped her mouth.
“Yes, I killed that red-haired woman! I scattered her ashes and fed her bones to the dogs!” Shironaka Fueno announced loudly. “That's your answer!”
But in the face of Shironaka Fueno's confession, Sophie didn't react much.
“That is a lie.”
Sophie turned her head to the side and muttered gloomily, “Little Dino is my best little sister. She wouldn't do something like that.”
“I did do it!” Shironaka Fueno said.
“No, you didn't!” Sophie retorted loudly.
“Yes, I did!”
“No, you didn't!”
“I say I did, so I did!”
“Anyway, you didn't, so you didn't.”
“Since you knew that, why did you suspect me just now!” Shironaka Fueno began pinching Sophie's cheeks, pulling her face into bizarre shapes. “I'll teach you to think about her! I'll teach you to think about her! See if I don't scramble your brains!”
Sophie squirmed frantically on the bed to dodge her.
The two rolled into a heap on the large bed.
Threads flew wildly around the room, occasionally knocking over a vase or ripping the stuffing out of a pillow, sending feathers flying everywhere.
...
Although the Puppet Witch's physical body was extremely weak,
Sophie still lost.
She was utterly defeated.
Sophie's struggling gradually stopped.
She lay sprawled on the bed, her white hair scattered across the pillow, her chest rising and falling.
“You win,” Sophie said weakly. “Do with me as you please!”
“Overestimating yourself,” Shironaka Fueno hummed. She stared at the limp Sophie for a moment before issuing her victor's command.
“Come here.”
Sophie closed her eyes, wearing an expression of unyielding defiance.
“Come here, Elder Brother.”
Shironaka Fueno sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed and patted her thighs.
Only then did Sophie open her eyes and look over.
Her lips twitched, but in the end, she said nothing. Like a small animal drenched in the rain, she crawled over and buried her head in Shironaka Fueno's lap.
The girl's chest was very thin.
It was bony.
Yet Sophie still buried her entire face in it, her shoulders trembling.
“Is she really dead...”
Her voice was muffled by the fabric, sounding slurred and indistinct.
“How could she die... That jerk was so annoying, so irritating, and... so good at causing trouble. Isn't she an android? How could she just die...”
Shironaka Fueno did not speak.
She merely raised her hand and gently, slowly, patted Sophie's back, one stroke at a time.
Her small palm transferred her warmth bit by bit through the thin fabric of the pajamas.
“I didn't even get to talk to her properly...” Sophie choked out. “The last time I saw her... I even said... machines should just operate according to their programming...”
“Mhm.”
“I haven't even apologized to her yet...”
“Mhm.”
“At least let me see her one last time.”
“There, there,”
Shironaka Fueno said softly.
“Just cry.”
“Cry if you want to.”
“Little Dino is right here.”
Shironaka Fueno raised her other hand and placed it on the back of Sophie's head.
Her fingertips ran through the soft, messy white hair, gently combing it.
“If she knew Elder Brother was this sad for her,” Shironaka Fueno murmured, “she would probably be very happy.”
“She wouldn't be happy...” Sophie sobbed. “She would mock me... Someone like her would definitely say, 'To think Hiso would actually cry for an existence like me, how rare...'”
“Isn't that the same as being happy?”
“...”
Sophie fell silent.
But Shironaka Fueno's movements continued.
Her small palm kept patting, rhythmically.
“It's okay.”
“It's really okay.”
“If you miss her, just think of her in your heart.”
“If you want to think of her, Little Dino will think of her with you.”
“Even if the whole world forgets her, as long as Elder Brother remembers, she's still here.”
“So don't be afraid.”
“Little Dino will stay with Elder Brother forever and ever.”
Sophie could feel her emotions gradually calming down along with the soothing rhythm.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Little Dino's heartbeat.
It was much more powerful than she had imagined.
Inside such a tiny body, there was actually a heart beating so earnestly. Beat after beat, its regularity was deeply comforting.
A sense of peace.
Sophie closed her eyes.
Shironaka Fueno looked down at her.
Watching this Elder Brother—who was usually laughing, completely improper, and threw fits at the drop of a hat—curled up in her arms right now.
Shironaka Fueno couldn't help but start humming.
She hummed a vague, intermittent, and terribly out-of-tune lullaby.
The out-of-tune humming tickled Sophie's heart, but she didn't want to lift her head at all.
Some time passed like this.
Sophie could feel that her previous sadness had finally been fully released and reined back in.
Crying takes time, after all.
There were so many ways to bring back the dead in this world.
But absolutely none of them involved staying in one place and crying until the deceased came back to life.
What's more, she was no longer alone.
She had so many friends staying by her side.
Sophie was filled with determination.
It was just that her throat felt a bit uncomfortable.
It was hoarse and burning like fire.
Sophie sniffled, her entire face buried in Shironaka Fueno's chest, and asked mumble-mouthedly:
“Little Dino...”
“Mhm?”
“Do you have milk?”
The hand patting her back stopped.
Shironaka Fueno looked down at Sophie in her lap, then down at her current chest, which had shrunk to that of a ten-year-old and was as flat as a washboard.
Her cheeks blushed red, bit by bit.
“E-Elder Brother.”
“Mhm?”
“Even... even if you are overwhelmed with grief,” Shironaka Fueno struggled to keep her voice steady, though her tone was already trembling, “you shouldn't... shouldn't make this kind of request of the current Little Dino, right?”
Sophie didn't realize what she was implying.
She just sniffled.
“Why? I'm so thirsty from crying.”
“T-This isn't a matter of being thirsty or not!”
“Then what's the issue?”
Shironaka Fueno was already red to her ears.
“Even... even if Elder Brother absolutely insists, Little Dino could consider it.” She tried her best to make her voice sound steady. “But at least... at least wait until this body recovers. And this sort of thing should be done in a more formal setting, more seriously...”
Sophie opened her eyes in bewilderment, staring blankly at her.
“Why would drinking a glass of milk require a formal setting?”
Didn't Modi always prepare milk for Miaoyue? They could just go steal some.
But seeing Shironaka Fueno's bright red face, Sophie finally understood...
Shironaka Fueno: “...”
Sophie: “...”
“I meant the milk brewed in the kitchen,” Sophie explained after a brief silence. “Where did your mind go, Little Dino?”
The expression on Shironaka Fueno's face finally morphed into something Sophie couldn't read.
This meant the current Shironaka Fueno was not trying to play any character.
“Elder Brother.”
“W-What is it?”
“Please get off the bed and cool your head.”
“Why?”
In the next second, a small, pale, and tender foot pressed flat against Sophie's face.
“Because Little Dino is extremely uncool right now!!”
Thud.
Sophie rolled off the edge of the bed along with her blanket.
“Waaah—”
On the bed, Shironaka Fueno sat with her back to her, arms crossed over her chest, her ears so red they looked ready to bleed.
“...”
“Hey, I say, Little Dino?”
“...”
“You didn't actually misunderstand, did you?” Sophie's eyes gradually widened. “That kind of thing is... a bit inappropriate, isn't it?”
“Shut up!”
“You usually act so calm and mature, but your mind is actually such a mess—”
“I said shut up!”
Shironaka Fueno took a deep breath.
She took another deep breath.
She flipped off the bed, slipped on her shoes, and walked straight toward the door.
Stopping at the door, she threw a line over her shoulder without turning back:
“I'm going to find your busty thieving cat.”
“And have her feed you.”
The door slammed shut with a bang.
Sophie: “...”
Clearly, it was that blue-haired girl's own thoughts that were dirty. Why was I the one who got bullied?
Still, after that commotion, her heart indeed felt much lighter.
The sticky, suffocating grief that had been clumped together by tears and sorrow just now had been kicked to pieces, revealing the heart underneath that was actually still intact and slowly starting to beat again.
Sophie wiped her face and found that she was actually smiling.
Forget it, I shouldn't invite unnecessary trouble and waste Little Dino's efforts.
What she needed to consider next was...
Sophie sat on the carpet holding her blanket for a while, her breathing gradually stabilizing.
Before she could even begin to think, a sudden knock on the door caught her attention.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
Back so soon?
And surprisingly polite too.
Sophie walked over to the door and pulled it open.
“Little Dino, you—”
Her words cut off abruptly.
Because standing before her was a strange, pink-haired figure.
Long pink hair.
It was a cool-toned cherry-pink, draping all the way down past her waist.
The girl wore an extremely intricate robe with a white base adorned with light blue and pale pink patterns. The sleeves were wide, and the robe was woven with dense, ancient rune-like designs—diamonds, hexagons, stars, and countless tiny snowflake patterns layered over one another, with delicate, transparent beads dangling from the hem. From the sash tied around her waist hung a small pendant carved in the shape of a snowflake.
A pendant of this design...
Sophie's eyes instinctively widened.
She realized who it was.
At the same time, the girl at the door spoke.
There were no pleasantries, nor any questions.
“Domain Expansion,”
Aishide said softly.
...
A tiny snowflake drifted over the windowsill, landing on the glass and silently melting into a streak of water.
In Silvervein City, workers carrying stones stopped in their tracks. Patrol guards standing by the ruins raised their heads. A woman holding her child also reached out her hand, catching the white speck falling from the sky.
More and more people looked up at the sky.
The fine snow drifted past the damaged Twin Towers, landing on roofs, spires, and chimneys, and falling into the broken walls and alleys that had yet to be cleared.
“Is it snowing?”
“Yeah.”
Someone watched the white flakes drifting across the sky, exhaling a soft puff of mist.
“Why did the snow come so early this year...”
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