Content in This Paradise, Unwilling to Return

Mr. Jiang Qiao sighed helplessly—in his estimations, Bronya and Kiana should have been the easiest to bring out. After all, as Herrschers, they possessed inherent resistance, and their noble desire to save humanity shouldn't allow them to indulge in this beautiful dream.

But whether it was a miscalculation or him completely underestimating the allure of Elysia's Project Stigma-enhanced paradise dream—both Bronya and Kiana were immersed within... Though not to the point of being completely lost, they definitely... had a sense of contentment in this paradise, unwilling to return.

They even commandeered the parts of his consciousness that were meant to wake them up, using them for their own purposes within the dream.

And then there was this...

Within Raiden Mei's dream, the young boy held tightly in the embrace of the purple-haired woman felt increasingly conflicted after realizing his situation.

The duck duck over there had switched to a red string of fate, starting her "Secretary by day, something-something by night" routine. (Cough, cough.)

And Kiana wasn't much better, starting her "Virtuous wife and good mother, but with a husband 'borrowed' from the one she likes" scenario.

As for Miss Tuna... this dream seemed rather normal at first.

—To keep up with Kiana and the others, and to answer his expectations, Miss Raiden Mei had been diligently training within the Elysian Realm.

But at a certain moment, everything changed.

The Elysian Realm disappeared, the Honkai disappeared.

The world changed drastically.

She seemed to have returned to her hometown, Nagazora City—without the threat of Honkai, this coastal city was exceptionally prosperous. And she, following a dream she once had, became a... teacher.

Mei had thought about what she would do after the Honkai ended.

Probably, return to an ordinary life.

And being a teacher, nurturing the next generation, was her best choice and ideal—although in this altered timeline, she wasn't influenced by Himeko, everything in the Elysian Realm, and her encounter with him, made her want to pass on a story, to leave behind more traces.

Her ordinary life as a teacher was happy and peaceful. Of course... there were also things that troubled Mei.

For example, she hadn't seen the people she wanted to see, neither Kiana nor him... no, it wasn't that she hadn't seen them, but rather...

Both of them seemed to have become... too small?

Bronya Zaychik, an exchange student from the Russian Federation, and Seele Vollerei from Estonia, Kiana Kaslana from Germany, the Durandal sisters, and... the person she had been waiting for, from Shenzhou.

Amazingly, they all became adorable students in her class.

Although this change was strange, their small appearances, especially little Qiao, were truly adorable, weren't they?

However... while she found this change amusing, because of the age gap, Mei, as an adult, could only watch these cute children gather together. Bronya often dragged little Qiao to play games, and Kiana joined in the fun, the three forming a rather peculiar little group. Bianka and Seele sometimes tagged along, but they were more reserved.

The children's interactions brought Mei immense joy, but also inevitably sparked some... complex, jealous feelings.

Yes, watching them together was heartwarming, but... as their teacher, she couldn't participate.

Even if she wanted to talk to little Qiao, she had to maintain her teacher's, her adult's composure. After all, as an adult, she couldn't just join in their antics, right?

—Mei felt a deep divide between herself and them.

She wanted to participate, desperately wanted to...

Her feelings of unwillingness, her ordinary life, and... the accidental discovery of publications that opened up a new world for her...

Finally, one rainy day, by chance, she encountered little Qiao, drenched from the rain. Because her house was nearby, she brought him home, creating an opportunity.

Hesitantly, she led him into the spacious bathroom—due to her father's life imprisonment for embezzlement, she lived alone in the large Raiden mansion.

Bathing together with someone of the opposite sex, although strange, was something Mei normally wouldn't dare to do, but...

"Since little Qiao is still a child, it should be fine, right?" With this thought, she entered the bathroom with little Jiang Qiao.

The warm steam obscured her vision, but couldn't hide Raiden Mei's blushing face—little Qiao... Although he looked small on the outside, it... seemed he wasn't entirely so.

That big... a bit scary...

But... it also looked quite comfortable... She recalled the publications and videos she occasionally came across—although she was once a proper young lady, due to her introverted nature... as everyone knows, the more one suppresses something, the stronger the rebound. Perfectly illustrating this, Raiden Mei, despite her Yamato Nadeshiko appearance, might be hiding something completely different within—at least, the intimate apparel she wore was a bit too daring for most women.

Of course, for the nearly thirty-year-old her, Mei would explain it as—"This is adult maturity."

Using this big sister's composure and calmness, she successfully guided little Jiang Qiao into the bathtub.

The warm water seemed to calm her emotions, making Mei more clear-headed.

However, after noticing something starting to emerge, perhaps things got even worse?

Especially for a mature woman like her—although only beauty existed in this dream, with her mature charm and approaching the age where she could be called 'Auntie,' Raiden Mei did have some worries unique to older women.

But...

That kind of thing isn't allowed, right?

Mei tried to stop herself from falling into the abyss of sin.

No matter what, making a move on little Qiao was too much...

She'd be considered a pervert!

But...

Little Qiao looked so cute.

Small, yet big, like a small cake with candles, making her want to devour him in one bite.

Mei ultimately chose to control these conflicting emotions—however, in the narrow bathtub, some close contact was inevitable, right?

"Little Qiao, sorry, could you move a bit closer?"

"Yes, this way, I need to grab something..."

"Uh, it might be a bit heavy... Don't worry." Like burying her head in the sand—the gentle teacher ultimately devoured the little cake completely.

Calling it: Cleaning up.

Moreover... Raiden Mei, realizing she was in a dream, became even bolder after breaking through a certain barrier—for example, keeping little Jiang Qiao behind for 'extra lessons'... resulting in the latter receiving some intense 'tutoring' from the caring Teacher Mei.

Watching this script where he was repeatedly run over by a truck, Jiang Qiao sighed with a subtle expression, giving up on communicating with Raiden Mei—this part of himself was useless too.

These three sisters were one more playful than the next.

Frustrated by his setbacks with the main trio, Jiang Qiao had to find someone more reliable.

For example...

—Durandal's dream.

Compared to Kiana and the others, Bianka was relatively stable, not creating any strange scenarios.

"It's you!"

"Phew... You finally came."

Bianka, letting out a breath of relief upon seeing Jiang Qiao, beamed and said frankly, "I've been trying to find a way to break out of this dream."

"Yes, I'm here to take you out..." Jiang Qiao, feeling relieved to finally encounter someone reliable, suddenly realized something the next moment. Hearing his own energetic, girlish voice, he looked down, seeing a vast expanse of white skin.

Instantly understanding what happened, Mr. Jiang Qiao fell silent.

...The plot was normal, but he seemed to be in 'Kiana' form.

He looked at Bianka—she blinked, her gaze shifting guiltily to the side.

—Although Miss Bianka wasn't as unreliable as Kiana and the others...

It had to be said, no one could truly resist a beautiful dream.

And for Durandal, most beautiful things didn't hold much appeal. Even Cecilia, who was incredibly attractive to Kiana, was just so-so—as for Jiang Qiao, she did have feelings for him.

However...

Unlike the main trio, who were obsessed with finding ways to die for him, Bianka was more fixated on Jiang Qiao's 'Kiana' form... after all, she was a hardcore imouto-con.

And in a beautiful dream with her little sister, how should one put it... she couldn't help but want to indulge a little.

—Checking the records before his arrival, seeing Bianka thoroughly enjoying herself with 'Kiana Jiang Qiao'...

"Cough, cough... I'd like to stay a bit longer."

She coughed lightly, a bit embarrassed, but still expressed her desire.

Even for Bianka, such a beautiful dream was hard to let go of.

Not only was there 'Kiana Jiang Qiao,' a super little sister who fulfilled her imouto-con desires, but she could also have fun and play around—once back in the outside world, she wouldn't have such an opportunity.

Even Kiana felt the same.

Even though she was her real little sister, Kiana wasn't clingy at all... Plus, with their busy schedules... the imouto-con Miss Bianka held a considerable grudge about this.

"Is that alright?"

"Since you've said so, what else can I say?" The girl sighed.

At the same time, noticing Bianka's persistent gaze, Jiang Qiao instantly understood that this part of himself was about to be thrown to the wolves...

Then there was Theresa's dream—

"No, no! I don't want to go back!"

Having overworkedas Schicksal's Overseer, Theresa had developed a psychological aversion to returning to reality and work. Her resistance to waking up from the beautiful dream was especially strong.

—The result was that the part of himself assigned to Theresa became 'Homu Jiang Qiao,' a stress-relief 'toy.'

Not successful... Extremely unsuccessful. Mr. Jiang Qiao, thinking he could easily wake up those people, found that he could only awaken very few.

Awakening ordinary people was simple. Inspired by Bronya's dream, Jiang Qiao borrowed its elements, instilling them with beliefs that gave them the courage and even willingness to face reality's hardships, to struggle and fight.

In this process, he used his own self to grant them the wisdom and strength to resist reality—of course, not supernatural powers, but simply courage and good health.

For many, to achieve something often only required a little push, a single thought.

After all, the future, for them, was inherently worth looking forward to.

But—

For those Jiang Qiao considered easy targets—those who passed through easily, or didn't even fall into the dream... this wasn't a matter of choice.

Because they weren't choosing the dream, but simply wanted to enjoy it, to stay a bit longer.

This even included the Anti-Entropy duo.

As for why?

Setting aside Tesla and Einstein's double-Welt combo—for intellectuals like them, although human emotions were worth cherishing, they would grow tired of them eventually. Scientific research, the pursuit of truth, was their everything.

But...

The paradise dream Elysia created satisfied not only the former, but also the latter.

The Imaginary Tree-connected paradise dream, combined with the Herrscher of Origin's power, perfectly simulated reality's physical constants—and for researchers like them, in this dream, they had unlimited research funds, research materials, and the 'power to interfere' that they couldn't access in normal reality.

For example, Herrscher powers, like the Herrscher of Thunder's authority over the four fundamental forces of physics, were naturally something researchers craved.

MEI's research greatly benefited from it—even the formidable Mobius wanted Jiang Qiao to help her get a Herrscher of Death and Life's power to aid her research.

But the Anti-Entropy duo didn't have such benefits.

Besides granting them immortal life and youth, the Honkai didn't aid their other research. They could only obtain data through instruments like ordinary people.

But in this paradise dream, it was different...

The coveted Herrscher powers, no need to fight with those annoying councilors for funding, no need to rest...

They only wanted to say—

Content in this paradise, unwilling to return!