Far East, Changkong City.

Suddenly, a large black hole appeared in the sky, and a humanoid figure fell out of it, falling like a Kongming, a Caber, or a Fou-kun doll launched by Chen Gong.

Mr. Heavenly Guest, carrying a faint, sunlight-like aura, faced downwards as he plummeted from high altitude.

BOOM—!!!

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out.

Without any surprise, this Heavenly Guest crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

After a long moment, the humanoid figure that had landed shakily stood up.

"System, any gacha banners I should pull? I think Yae is super cute."

Li Zihan, having only received one-tenth of the impact damage thanks to Little Sun's armor, greeted the system with a smile.

"This system does not raise donkeys, so naturally it does not offer gacha banners."

The system, clearly having picked up on the profane nature of those words, felt slightly guilty but maintained its usual tough tone.

"Where's Seele?"

The young man, having come through the crash completely unscathed, looked around, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Transmigration system experiencing latency. She will arrive shortly."

The system, gradually revealing its iron-five nature, gave Li Zihan words that made his eyes twitch.

Goddamn system latency.

The young man, having become accustomed to his system malfunctioning, sighed.

What else could he do? In the end, he had to forgive it like a parent.

But fortunately, it was just system latency and not a major problem.

The young man, having largely regained his senses, shook his head and quietly waited for Miss Seele to fall, while also asking about another matter.

"What about the maintenance compensation?"

Li Zihan demanded his reward from the system.

This useless thing that called itself a Hero Training System had a maintenance compensation feature. Every time a bug appeared, it would apologize once.

One maintenance apology could increase his available translocation slots by one and add one to his translocation cooldown reduction/translocation attempts, equivalent to the reward for two specific tasks.

Honestly, Li Zihan felt that finding bugs to increase permissions was much more reliable than waiting for permission tasks.

"Compensation for the system bug has been issued. Please check your attachments."

A highly mechanical voice rang out immediately.

Then, the so-called attachments popped up.

Translocation slot plus one.

Translocation cooldown ended.

Get rich, all thanks to maintenance.jpg

Not bad.

Having received his maintenance reward, the young man looked at the black hole in the sky, waiting for the girl who perfectly matched his preferences to descend.

The system delay didn't make him wait long.

A few minutes later, a petite figure fell from the sky.

Li Zihan's figure instantly transformed into a black shadow, catching the girl who was currently in free fall.

The girl named Seele was very soft, and holding her felt different from the slightly bony Alice or Aoko, whose figure was changing into that of a mature woman day by day.

She carried a faint, sugary-sweet scent.

That scent had been described to him by Touko, who loved to buy all sorts of luxury goods, including perfume. It was the kind of scent that younger girls who rarely bought perfume and didn't have much to compare to would prefer.

Did she spray perfume specifically for this trip?

Li Zihan sized up the girl's delicate face in his arms. Her slender eyes were lined with eyeliner, and her lips, which he remembered as being sakura-pink, were now a vibrant crimson...

She put on makeup.

Li Zihan, having left Miss Seele at the Matou household for half a month and once doubted that he had lost all the affection points he had built up, looked away guiltily.

The girl had waited quietly for him. As soon as she received his message, she dressed up nicely and followed him. Meanwhile, he had been traveling and partying with other girls for half a month.

For once, he felt a little guilty.

Moreover, he had only said they were going somewhere together; he hadn't said they were returning to the Honkai world.

Seele, who didn't know they could now return home and see Bronya, clearly hadn't put on makeup for a reunion with her sister...

"Big Brother, where is this?"

The girl, who hadn't expected the translocation to be so turbulent, dazedly raised her head, saw the young man's face, and paused.

A light flush then rose to the girl's cheeks, adding a touch of radiance to her.

In ancient times, women would pick blooming safflower blossoms whole and place them in stone mortars, grinding them finely and adding clear water to rinse and squeeze out the juice. Then, they would place the remaining substance in a jar to dry in the shade to obtain vibrant and ruddy rouge.

That vibrancy extracted from nature was wondrously gorgeous.

But even that color extracted from nature seemed unable to compare to the girl's shy charm.

"Super cute."

Overcoming restraint is paramount; specialized attacks work wonders against gods.

The young man, seemingly hit by a specialized attack, muttered softly.

That very light but very clear voice entered the girl's ears, making the blush on her face even more vivid.

It was as if a touch of cinnabar had been added to the rouge.

"Big Brother, can... can you let me down first?"

The girl, whose emotions weren't being amplified by Jizo Mitama's power but who still expressed an unusually high level of affection, spoke with a hint of stammer.

Her voice, like the way she felt to hold, was soft and gentle.

I want to take a bite.

The young man, himself a member of the vampire species, looked at the incredibly cute girl and thought to himself.

"Ah, sorry."

Li Zihan put the girl in his arms down.

The warmth that belonged to the girl dispersed, leaving him with a hint of melancholy.

"We've returned to our original world."

The young man, who had obtained the device for spiritron translocation through the Holy Grail, struggled to tear his gaze away from the girl, who was truly super cute.

"We've... returned?"

The girl, who had thought she was being invited on a date, looked around, her expression carrying a hint of disappointment.

But, very quickly, her expression became animated again.

She had broken free from the shackles of the Sea of Quanta. Next, she could return to the orphanage and see Sister Bronya, Mama Cocolia, and the Rosalia sisters.

Seele had encountered many incredible things in another world.

The girl, who had been willing to serve as a maid but had been treated like a young lady both at the Clock Tower and at the Matou household, smiled sweetly.

She really wanted to share everything she had seen with everyone.

And... everything about Big Brother.

The corners of the girl's lips, who felt that Li Zihan was very similar to Bronya, lifted in a warm and lovely smile.

It was like sugar and spice mixed together.

If Big Brother and Bronya met, they would definitely become good friends.

The girl, who had no idea that Li Zihan and Miss Bronya already knew each other and that their relationship was very complicated, thought to herself.

"Alright, let's go."

The young man, who would likely go to the Hyperion next to take office and use the shorty's funds to establish Chaldeas, stretched out his hand toward Miss Seele.

"Mhm."

The girl, who clearly didn't mind holding Big Brother's hand, grasped the outstretched hand.