"I never expected there to be male students at St. Freya Academy. I was under the impression it was an all-girls school."

Vera retracted her gaze from the young man and spoke to Theresa with a smile.

"He just enrolled as well. He's a survivor we found in Nagazora. Unfortunately, his Honkai energy adaptability and resistance aren't particularly outstanding. I doubt he could become a qualified Schicksal warrior."

Theresa covered for Xin Yu, knowing full well how special he was. At such a young age, he already possessed the power to defeat a Herrscher. If her grandfather were to learn of this, it would likely bring him a great deal of unexpected trouble.

Besides, she was his elder, after all. It was best to avoid such things if they could be avoided.

Walking ahead, Xin Yu smiled as he listened to Raiden Mei and Kiana chat beside him. But then, he seemed to notice something and stopped in his tracks, turning his head to look past several layers of people at Vera and Theresa.

As if sensing Xin Yu's gaze, the two who had been talking fell silent and looked over. At that moment, Xin Yu and Vera's eyes met.

An inexplicable complexity flickered within Xin Yu's black-and-white eyes, causing Vera, in the distance, to feel a strange sense of discomfort. She felt as though the young man was looking through this body, at her true self.

Theresa watched this scene with a baffled expression, observing the two who had inexplicably started a staring contest. Xin Yu's gaze seemed particularly odd.

What was going on?! What on earth had happened? Could it be that Xin Yu had fallen for Vera at first sight?

Surely not!?

"Kiana, Mei, you two head back first. I have something to take care of."

Xin Yu withdrew his gaze and spoke to the two girls beside him with a gentle smile.

Raiden Mei curiously sized up Vera in the distance. The girl was attractive enough, but not exceptionally so, and her aura was that of an ordinary, unremarkable girl. What exactly about her had captured Xin Yu's attention?

Kiana glanced at the girl she had no impression of, then back at Xin Yu standing beside her. She finally nodded without asking any questions and left with Raiden Mei.

Xin Yu walked up to Vera and Theresa. He looked at Vera, his face now devoid of the warm smile he usually wore when interacting with people. Instead, it was a profound calm, as if his entire face were merely a mask, as tranquil as an inanimate object.

"Do you have time to talk?"

"Are you asking me out? Even with two very close female companions, you're still bold enough to invite a strange woman? You truly are a greedy young man."

"Xin Yu! What are you doing?"

Theresa was completely bewildered by the situation. Was her niece's boyfriend really about to cheat on her? Oh, wait. Strictly speaking, he had already cheated, with Raiden Mei!

So this guy was now trying to pull Vera into his harem? Was he really that licentious?

Xin Yu offered no explanation, merely fixing his calm gaze upon the woman before him. After a moment of slight hesitation, she nodded, indicating that they could go to a small private room in one of the school's cafes to talk at length.

Theresa had wanted to follow and listen in on what they were planning to discuss, but after being refused by both of them simultaneously, she could only leave in a frustrated huff, hurrying off to find her niece and get to the bottom of this.

Inside the private room, the two sat facing each other without speaking. It wasn't until a server had delivered their tea and left, and the sound of footsteps faded down the hall, that Xin Yu finally opened his mouth.

"For you, this is our first time meeting, so out of courtesy, I should introduce myself."

"I am Xin Yu, a traveler on the timeline. Hello, Overseer of Schicksal, Otto Apocalypse."

"...A traveler on the timeline. You've just told me something rather startling."

The woman—no, Otto—spoke again. His voice was no longer the crisp tone of a young girl, but a magnetic, masculine baritone.

To hear a masculine voice emerge from a female form was, no matter how one looked at it, an odd and discordant experience.

"I have seen you in the future. It was after Kiana had entered a berserk state as the Herrscher of the Void and been captured by Schicksal HQ. You were planning to use Kiana to complete your subsequent plans. We met in the laboratories of the headquarters."

"That sounds quite absurd and difficult to believe. Do you have any proof of this?"

"And why should I offer you proof? Why should I make you believe that I am a traveler on the timeline? I simply wanted to talk with you."

"Well then, my new friend, what is it you wish to talk about?"

"In another world, I met another Mr. Otto. He too had made a mistake, one that cost his beloved her life. When his love was about to die, she had wanted to die alongside him, but the man she deeply loved wanted her to live on."

"Perhaps his lover's intention was simply to prevent her beloved from taking his own life, but that Otto took it as his punishment. He lived for over 500 years. In those 500 years, he experienced countless partings and weathered the long passage of time. He spent 500 years teaching others, helping others, only to ultimately witness each and every one of them pass away."

"He guided me when I was lost. Even after learning that I possessed the power to travel through time, he never asked me to return to the past to save his beloved and his foolish past self. He only counseled me, so that I might have a better future and walk my own path."

"He was a priest who ran an orphanage, an orphanage in a world of ice and snow. But to me, that place was warmer than any other... Yet why is it that you, also an Otto, have become like this?"

Otto slowly closed his eyes. Only after Xin Yu finished speaking did he open them again. The trademark smirk on his face had long since vanished, and he too had become exceedingly calm, as calm as the Xin Yu before him.

"Because I am more of a coward."

Otto said.

"The Otto you speak of was able to accept the mistakes he once made, to accept the harsh reality. That is why he looked to the future, viewing everything he would experience as the sin he must shoulder and the price he must pay."

"But I cannot accept it. I cannot accept that she died because of my own mistake. I cannot accept that she, who should have had a much brighter future, she, who should have been able to save even more people, died because of my foolish error."

"I cowardly refused to accept this reality. So, for these 500 years, I have tried every method possible to bring back the person I love, even if it means many people will suffer. Even if doing so will cause the person I love to despise me, to scorn me, to hate me."

"But as long as I can bring her back, as long as I can make the hands of her frozen clock move once more, I am willing to pay any price."

"...Your love has become a kind of faith."

"My faith is a meat grinder. I throw myself into it, and as I am ground to dust, I hear the bells of heaven."

Otto smiled, a smile that came from the bottom of his heart.