Orion's entire body froze, as his brain failed to process the question.

With his mouth wide open, he blinked.

"Enri?! What are you implying by that?!"

Shouting with bewilderment, Tetra walked to her friend and pointed at Orion.

"There's no way you really said that, right?"

"..."

Henrietta glanced over at her discombobulated friend, repeating her sentence more clearly.

"I asked if, in the future, you and Orion were a couple."

"Ugh..."

Tetra grabbed her head in shame and crouched.

"AaaaAaaaAaah!"

With indescribable feelings conflicting inside her, she ruffled her long, pink hair.

"I see. That makes sense."

On the other side of the table, Noah nodded while he placed his right hand on his chin.

"No it doesn't!"

Shocked that Noah agreed with Henrietta, Tetra glared at him with her hair utterly disheveled.

He smirked at her, only to stay quiet.

"This is awful! Why are you doing this to me, Enri?"

Looking up at her, Tetra appeared very disappointed. Answering her, Henrietta glanced toward Orion, who was recovering from the sudden question.

"You should know, as the Remnant that controls the concept of 'Love', that it is difficult to hold information to those close to us."

"I would never speak of my power to anyone apart from you. It only left one culprit, who knows about me and could carelessly spread the word if asked."

Tetra suddenly stood up and glared at Henrietta.

"Even if I were to go out with him, there's no way I would betray you like that, and you know it!"

Squinting her eyes, Henrietta asked.

"..."

"Are you entirely sure it wouldn't happen?"

Glancing toward Noah, the two knew exactly what it entailed.

"I... can't guarantee anything."

With a defeated expression, Tetra's shoulders dropped.

"That's why I asked. Now, I just need confirmation."

Looking toward Orion, Henrietta crossed her arms. At that point, Orion was ready to answer her.

"No. It wasn't the case."

Inside of him, Tetra sighed.

—

A few moments before, while Tetra was having a fit about the whole situation.

'You... and me? Together...'

Orion froze. This never crossed his mind because his relationship with her was barely one of friendship.

Before coming to this era, they were in a beneficial relationship, helping each other out.

But since finding themselves together in the same body and after going through an endless amount of time together in the 'Corridors of Time', they never realized that their relationship had changed to something else.

'It wasn't the case. There's no reason for me to lie about it.'

Instantly coming back to his senses, he internally nodded without even asking for Tetra's opinion.

'W-Wait! This might be our chance!'

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Suddenly, before Orion could focus back on reality, Tetra caught his attention.

'What are you saying now? What chance are you talking about?'

This wasn't a very pleasant discussion for him at the moment. Orion wanted to correct Henrietta as fast as possible to avoid this misunderstanding from going further.

'If you agree with her statement, you can use it to justify your knowledge about her! It won't make her suspicious about me being alive inside of you!'

She tried, ignoring her own thoughts on the subject, to force Orion to switch his opinion on the matter.

'I get your point.'

Orion appeared to give serious thought to her idea.

'Then-'

'No.'

He gave her the most painful refusal she had ever heard.

'But... wait!'

As if her throat had been pierced by an object, she couldn't find the words to stop him from speaking the truth.

'I will not lie about us. This could alter how you see me when we return and even affect your current relationship with Noah.'

'There's no use lying to Henrietta now because you know it will return to bite us later.'

He was right. The memories of this era were somehow blocked from flowing back to their future selves, but at one point, they would come to remember what had happened.

Henrietta would not appreciate being lied to, and Orion wasn't about to get on the wrong side of his mother-in-law.

'Orion! Don't...'

But he ignored her.

'Tetra.'

'...'

He internally sighed as his choice was made.

'We are not a couple. You can't simply go with the flow every time.'

She knew he was right, but this was the perfect opportunity for her for two reasons.

The first was what she had stated before. It was the perfect excuse to avoid Henrietta questioning his comprehension of her Remnant power.

While the second reason was incredibly personal.

Tetra wanted to let go of her feelings about Noah.

*

The Remnant of 'Space' and 'Time' were also the Remnant of 'Love'.

Her love was the strongest and the heaviest of all.

It was so strong that even she found it difficult to control.

Tetra was normally easy to be with. There were very few ways to get her angry, but love was one.

She could only get furious for one reason: if someone she loved came in danger.

Noah was the subject of her love in the past, but as she saw him die with her own eyes, she knew she could never be acknowledged.

To worsen the situation, she had learned that Noah had a family. There was no future where these two could be together.

So, instead, she turned her eyes to Orion.

He wasn't the same as Noah, but their figures were strangely similar in her eyes.

When she looked at Orion, she could sense the start of a growing feeling.

Orion was kind, like Noah. Orion was smart, like Noah. Orion was strong, like Noah.

Those thoughts slowly replaced and rewrote the entirety of her perception.

Slowly, she was trying to turn her love to another man.

Even if he never asked for it.

*

"If you weren't a couple, then I have no clue how you obtained this information. In my eyes, you are suspicious."

Henrietta frowned at Orion's answer.

"I heard you speak about your power once. I believe it was a moment of weakness after we'd met for the first time."

The expression on her face hardened, showing her lack of trust.

"Me? A moment of weakness?"

"Yes."

Orion nodded, determined to give her the full explanation.

"When we met, you were in a terrible state of mind. You've told us that it took you hundreds of thousands of tries to arrive at this timeline, which had eaten at your psyche massively."

Her expression softened as she pondered.

"I can believe you. I am already feeling the pressure building inside of me..."

With a nod, Orion continued.

"That's when you've explained the entire notion of your Remnant power."

This was partially true, but also a lie.

Henrietta never explained anything more than her role as a Remnant and how she went back in history countless times through Tetra's sacrifice.

"Hmm~"

Henrietta turned around and sat on her chair, crossed her legs, and heavily pondered.

Tetra, on the side, coughed and rearranged her messy hair and clothes before joining Noah.

Orion approached Henrietta, who appeared to have relaxed around him.

"Before I make the final decision, I need to ask you something else."

She asked this softly.

"Yes?"

Glancing up, her eyes froze on him.

"What do you actually plan to do?"

Surprised, Orion stayed silent.

"I understand you chose to follow Noah to self-improve and have him as a clear example to reproduce."

"But apart from that, have you thought about actually doing something in this era?"

Her words carried a tone of true inquiry.

"..."

Orion had been thinking a lot since arriving here. He had a precise goal in mind, which he wanted to successfully implement when the time was right.

He bent his body forward and approached his mouth near her right ear.

Whispering quietly, he told her what he was planning to do.

(----)

(----)

Henrietta's expression stiffened.

(----)

"!"

The shock on her face displayed the disbelief she felt.

"You can't be serious?"

Seeing the determined expression on his face, she swallowed her words.

"No. Of course, you are. That truly is the way of thinking of a Hero."

Returning to her senses, she raised a finger to her lower lip.

"What you said, is that true?"

"It is."

After a few seconds, she finally nodded and gave her final answer.

"In that case, I will accept you two using this place as a base. Like Tetra explained earlier, we will stop being observers and actually do something about this situation."

"Heh?!"

Tetra exclaimed suddenly, caught off-guard while she was happily discussing a random topic with Noah.

"Interesting. That opens up many windows of opportunity for us."

Noah nodded while also reflecting on the new piece of information he received.

"From now on, Tetra will send you to the locations under attack and bring you back here afterward."

"That would be incredibly useful."

He turned to Tetra, stood up, and thanked her.

"Thank you in advance, Tia."

"N-No problem."

Tetra, unable to gather herself, stuttered in front of his enthusiasm.

Then, Henrietta turned to Orion.

"You will stay here for a while."

"Huh?"

Confused, Orion blinked.

"Why?"

Again, Henrietta turned to Tetra.

"We need to do something about that swelling power inside of you. You can't control your unique element anymore, correct?"

With a nod, Orion asked a simple question.

"Do you believe that a new element exists?"

With a smirk, she glanced at him.

"I believe what a Hero says because common sense doesn't apply to any of you."

Orion recalled Amelia's words, which also criticized his lack of common sense, multiple times during their journey.

Glad to have recalled a piece of his past, Orion smiled faintly.

"Sure. I'll listen to you, then."

With that said, the safe haven of Henrietta and Tetra became the command center of this new force, ready to remove any attacks coming from Miasma.

A new goal appeared for Orion, and it was to regain control over his void element, which was being interfered with by Miasma.