Two Worlds in the Sunset

"Aaaaah! This dress is so pretty, Mikael, I want this one! I want this one!"

Mikael was hunched over his phone, furiously typing away, occasionally lowering his voice to send a couple of voice messages. His cheeks were tinted with the faint green glow from the screen, the unique background color of an encrypted channel.

Hearing Ellie's cheers, he first looked up at the plain white dress, then at Ellie's expectant face, and finally turned his gaze to Seele, who looked on with envy.

"To be honest… I think this dress suits Seele better…"

"Hmm?"

"Ah, uh… I mean, Elysia looks good in anything."

"Are you sure? I definitely heard Seele's name just now!"

Mikael smiled slightly, "Then let's just buy one for each of you."

"Then…"

Ellie took two steps forward, stuck out her tongue, and asked softly, "How about buying one for Mobius too? Her current size is about the same as Seele's, I think she'd definitely like it!"

Mikael inexplicably thought of the maid outfits that Pardo had been picking up outside Mobius's lab every time she cleaned recently.

At first, they were still normal black and white, but later, they added girly pink and Mobius green.

Of course, they were all now treasured in Pardo's closet.

So, meeting the increasingly strange gaze of the saleswoman beside him, Mikael forced himself to say, "I… I don't think she'd like it. After all, she's not the type of person who cares about her appearance, right?"

"Aiya! That's because you don't understand girls' hearts! Let me ask you, did she wear a hair clip yesterday?"

"A hair clip… Mobius would wear that kind of th…ing…"

Mikael's words trailed off at the end. [Hair clip] and [Mobius], these two words seemed impossible to connect in his mind.

But thinking about it carefully, Mobius really did seem to be wearing a dark green hair clip yesterday.

"Mmm hmm, then think again, what hairstyle did Mobius have yesterday?"

"What hairstyle could she have? Isn't it either loose hair or just a casually tied high pony… pigtails?"

"Hmm? You noticed? She's been adjusting her outfits based on her body changes."

"Then… then buy another one."

Mikael glanced at the price tag. Fortunately, this plain white dress wasn't too expensive, and his wallet could totally handle it—don't overthink it, he wouldn't do something like misappropriating public funds. His small treasury still contained his past salary and bonuses from Fire Moth, and of course, the lion's share was the death compensation…

In short, his financial concept was, use it when you should, anyway, in a few years, this money will all become "numbers."

Thinking this way, it didn't seem so painful anymore.

"So, three in total?" Mikael asked tentatively.

"Hmm? Doesn't Hua need one?"

The corners of Mikael's mouth began to twitch frantically. He turned and picked up a white T-shirt from the rack beside him. "Let's just get Hua this one. Look, it even has the ancient Divine Land [神州 - Shénzhōu] character '武' [wǔ - martial/military] written on it. It's perfect for her."

Seele scratched her little head. She imagined it, and this T-shirt did seem to suit Sister Hua very well, but for some reason, she always felt that Mikael had chosen this piece of clothing with some kind of mischievous intent.

Elysia sized up the men's white T-shirt with a non-smile. As soon as her lips parted, Mikael reflexively stepped forward a few steps, doing everything he should and shouldn't do before she could open her mouth.

"This wine-red coat is nice, and with this sparkly hair hoop, Pardo will definitely like it. Bought!"

"This top hat too. Perfect for Vill-V to use for magic tricks."

"Su's leather shoes are worn out to the heel nails. This pair of leather shoes will be considered my salary for him."

"Hmm, this craft knife is for Kalpas. It should be more handy for carving wood carvings."

"These blue hair clips… hmm, let's buy a pair for Sakura and Rin!"

[As long as I pick out a gift for everyone before Ellie opens her mouth, I can cover up the previous awkwardness!]

Mikael was so sure.

Until his fingers stopped in front of a hair tie.

"Sir, this hair tie isn't sold separately. It's a set with this brooch, this collar pin, and this hair clip. If you need it, you can buy it as a set."

He could feel Ellie's suddenly heated gaze without even turning his head.

After all, she was just a girl who had just come of age… No, Elysia is forever seventeen!

The entire set of accessories was based on purple. The brooch was in the shape of a purple-and-white edged figure-eight knot. The hair tie was butterfly-shaped, and the color of the two wings from inside to outside were purple, black, and white, supplemented by gold ornaments inlaid with pink gemstones.

The collar pin and hair clip had similar designs, mainly gold ornaments inlaid with cyan gemstones, adorned with black and purple feathers and tassels.

Mikael's vision became a little blurry.

"Bought!"

When they left the mall in downtown Brindisi, the sun was setting in the west, another familiar dusk. It was obviously a bit far from the Golden Courtyard. Although Mikael could use his authority to instantly return "home."

But suddenly, he didn't want to do that.

They had been fighting, authority, authority, authority… repeatedly using it, going everywhere pressed for time, teleporting there, teleporting here, sometimes even needing to go to hundreds of places a day to deal with more and more Honkai incidents.

He had originally been trained to be insensitive to the dizziness caused by phase shifting, but at this moment, just thinking about it made his head ache faintly.

"How about, we walk for a while?"

Mikael turned to look at Elysia. Her profile was facing the dim yellow sunset glow. For a moment, even the fine fluff on her face was clearly visible.

Hearing Mikael's words, she blinked lightly, turned her head slightly, and gave a soft smile, "Okay! You mentioning it reminded me, it really has been a long time since we walked like ordinary people!"

[So… she feels the same way too…]

[So, for two people to think of the same thing is such a simple thing.]

It was indeed just a trivial little thing, but people were different individuals after all. It was already difficult to get two different individuals to be in sync, let alone be in sync in their hearts?

Resonance arose from this. Space didn't change, light and shadow didn't change, all movement seemed to freeze at this moment. Then, a wonderful feeling surged into the brain from the spine, the brain vibrated slightly, and the whole person seemed to be floating up like a light dream, but was limited by gravity.

But it was good to be limited, it was precisely this limitation that made him re-aware of the reality of the world.

He really stood beside her, she smiled softly, naturally taking his hand.

"Heh… heh heh heh!"

Mikael suddenly chuckled twice, and then embarrassedly pursed his lips. He stuck out his tongue and quickly licked his upper lip, and then clenched his teeth, but unexpectedly chuckled silly again in the next second.

"Hmm? What are you laughing at?"

Ellie stretched out her index finger and gently poked Mikael's cheek.

Under this familiar and intimate gesture, whose meaning only the two of them understood, the corners of Mikael's mouth widened even more.

"Then, what about Seele?"

He turned his head with a silly smile, but found that Seele was smiling even more happily than him.

Seeing the two leads turn their gazes to her, she quickly covered her mouth lightly, lowered her head and laughed "hee hee" for a long time before finally squeezing out a sentence, "Okay… okay, Seele is fine with it!"

Still the old rule, Mikael and Ellie walked hand in hand in the front, Seele followed alone behind.

They both walked while giggling, and waved their hands high.

"Hey! Mikael, you stepped wrong!"

"Hahaha! You're out of step, Mikael!"

Silver bell-like laughter constantly echoed in his ears. The things they had just bought were all carried by Mikael in his other hand. Only Ellie's plain white dress was worn on her body at her own strong request.

The two walked onto a stone bridge. The evening wind rippled the river water under the bridge, rippled the plain white skirt, and also blew her loose pink hair everywhere.

The silk skirt brushed against the back of Mikael's hand, and the rose-scented hair tips brushed against his cheek. He suddenly stopped.

He put down the large and small bags in his hand and took out the butterfly hair tie.

Ellie turned her back in tacit understanding, facing the water surface shimmering with golden light, letting Mikael gently gather her fluffy hair, and then skillfully tie the hair tie in a position not too high or too low.

"How come you're so skilled?"

She asked with a chuckle, with a hint of teasing.

"After all, I've rehearsed it countless times in my heart!"

Words can hide deception, but trembling hands cannot—he had indeed rehearsed such a scene countless times in his mind, in his dreams, which led to the momentary skill just now.

Ellie slowly turned around, the pink tip of her tongue peeking out from the corner of her lips. Mikael chuckled softly again when he saw this, and clipped the hair clip beside her right bangs.

"Want to continue?"

Ellie looked at him with a non-smile. That smile carried some expectation, a little shyness, and some reminiscence.

He remembered, two years ago, when chasing Vill-V, in the corridor of the hospital in Brindisi, it was also such a dusk.

She gently pressed the iced milk tea against his swollen left cheek.

It was dusk back then too.

Dusk, another dusk.

The sky was burning quietly, as always. The firelight it emitted wasn't scorching, but gently rippled in the air, driven by the floating dust and lightly rippled lake surface.

Of course, there was also a bit of firelight burning in those blue and pink eyes.

So sweat began to condense on Mikael's back.

[Want to continue?]

The dress had no collar, so the collar pin was naturally unusable.

Then there was only the brooch left.

"Glurp…"

Mikael's Adam's apple bobbed. He hesitated and took out the brooch. Lowering his head, he saw the slightly revealed whiteness. As if blushing, his face instantly lifted, but it happened to meet Ellie's gaze—she was also… in a brief eye contact, her gaze became even more shy, even a little evasive.

Always immersed in their own world, Mikael only now realized how silent the surroundings were.

And when he realized this, the so-called two-person world would no longer be able to continue.

So the noise filled his ears again.

He looked around in astonishment, only to see many strangers surrounding them on the bridge, looking at them with maternal smiles.

Looking at Little Transparency Seele again, it turned out that she was the one smiling the happiest.

The blush on Mikael's cheeks instantly spread to his earlobes, still so conspicuous even under the setting sun.

In a panic, he couldn't care about anything else, he could only hurriedly pull Ellie and squeeze through the crowd's encirclement to escape.

Leaving only Seele in place, letting out a cry of surprise, and then, between laughter and tears, picking up the large and small bags Mikael had left behind and chasing after them.