Neige held his friend in his arms after her long story. Even if it was so long ago, she still couldn't think about it without feeling bad. Once she calmed herself, she concluded her story.

"I was afraid that Neige would feel bad when we arrived here, I didn't want him to remember everything so suddenly. How do you feel, Neige?"

"I'm alright, I think I can remember what happened but not in detail."

"Sorry to interrupt your moment, but I was wondering something." Silva said, looking directly at the leader "If you wanted to protect Neige, then why going in other worlds at all? You could have stayed in the Kronos."

"Well, we didn't want to use the book for everything and we needed food. As to why we started saving worlds, I think it's a story for another time. We should go back now, I think we're all exhausted."

Everyone agreed and was about to go to the ship, except Neige, who stood still for a moment.

"Go without me. I'm fine, I just need a bit of time here."

The group understood and left him alone. Once he was sure they were no longer here, Neige walked into the forest, searching for something. It took a while but he managed to find the small hut he was searching for, the one he made with Polyetta when he arrived in this world. He sat near the river and stared at it before suddenly raising his voice.

"Ada, I know you're here, you don't have to hide."

The woman hesitated a bit before coming out of the tree she was hiding behind. She slowly walked toward Neige, holding her own hand with guilt.

"I-I'm sorry, I just... I was worried about your well-being."

"I'm good, don't worry. I just needed a bit of time to reminisce."

The woman stayed silent and sat next to him near the river, staring at it as well.

"Neige and I... I mean my Neige, not you. We used to go ice skating on a river, it was always frozen."

"I know you miss him, but I'm not him you know."

"I know, I accepted it for a while now. But... When I chase you, it's like seeing him again. Even if it's only for a moment, he's back for me. It's weird, but you're my only friend now... It was because you were his other self at first, but now, it's just fun. I still want to create a perfect world for you, away from any worries."

"I'll prevent you from doing it."

Ada smiled softly at Neige and stood up, ready to leave.

"I know you will. Don't stay here for too long, your friends are waiting."

Neige turned toward the anomaly but she vanished in an instant. He stared at his reflection in the water before going back to the ship, refreshed from that break.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neige arrived on the ship with a smile. Sadly for him, the smile quickly vanished as he was watching Remiel and Sepide argue.

"But Sepide, you hit the ball once, while I did three times. I am statistically superior."

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"You're not! The only time we got a point was when you missed, you literally were useless."

Remiel was amused at the situation while Sepide was genuinely mad. Neige knew he had to intervene or the situation would escalate.

"Come on kids, let's stop arguing."

"I'm not a kid!"

Sepide continued to complain while Neige brought her away from Remiel, hoping she would stop yelling soon.

Neige and Sepide both took a coffee at the coffee machine after the girl calmed herself. Neige stared at his hot cup, preparing for the conversation to come.

"Don't you think you're mean toward Remiel?"

"I'm not mean, she thinks she's better than me!"

"But she learned from Silva, they both annoy people for fun. If you really hated her, you would stop giving her attention."

"But you always play along with Silva."

"Because I like being annoyed by her, she's fun to be around. I think having a rivalry with Remiel is fine, but you're getting genuinely mad at her, it's not healthy."

Sepide knew inside her that Neige was right but refused to admit it. Instead, she thought about a new way to prove herself.

"We should do a mission together, and then, I'll be able to prove that I'm the best one!"

"That's the exact opposite of what you should do..."

"I'll go ask the leader to give us a mission!"

Sepide ran away, leaving Neige drinking his coffee alone. Ina approached him, she was visibly listening to their conversation from far away.

"Is Sepide alright? Is there something I can do?"

"She's fine. I tried my best when Silva started insulting Emely but she ended up learning by herself that it was wrong, Sepide will be the same."

"I sure hope she'll understand soon then, it's heartbreaking to see her like that..."

Neige threw his paper cup in the bin and was about to follow Sepide but was stopped by Ina.

"Neige, I wanted to ask you something... Do you know why the anomaly hates me? My other self must have been horrible to her."

"She ended up destroying her own world, anyone would be mad at her. Don't feel bad about what your other self did. But I do admit, I'm curious too, I'll try asking her next time we see each other."

"Thanks, Neige, don't get in trouble!"

Neige nodded and smiled at Ina before leaving to join Sepide, hoping she didn't cause much trouble.

After a few minutes of searching, Neige found Sepide talking with their leader. Polyetta saw him coming toward them and waved at him cheerfully.

"Neige! It's great that you're here, I have a special mission for you."

"Is it related to Remiel?"

"Oh, you already know. Yes, Sepide wanted to see which of them was better on a mission and I have the perfect one for that. I've never placed it high on my list because we needed four persons, but with Remiel here now, there's the fourth person we needed."

"Four? Why can't we do it with Silva and Sepide?"

"To summarize, a group of four girls acted as superheroes for their world. It's infested with zombies and they were supposed to save the day but sadly, they died. They were supposed to give hope to everyone and disappear once they saved the world, so I'll need the four of you to dress like them and kill all the zombies."

"You want me... To dress like a girl?" Neige asked, embarrassed at the thought of wearing feminine clothes in front of everyone.

"Don't worry, they're gender-neutral. But it's great for Remiel and Sepide, the one to kill the most zombies wins, isn't it great?"

"I guess so, when should we go?"

"I don't know, it will depend on whether Emely can make the clothes in time."

"I'll go ask her!" Sepide ran away once more before the leader could finish.

"She's really full of energy, she changed since she joined the group."

"She did?" Asked Polyetta "I've never noticed..."

"Are you kidding me? She used to be so cold and logical, it was so annoying. Isn't she supposed to be your daughter?" Neige chuckled at his words but Polyetta couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for not spending enough time with not only Sepide, but the others too.

"Neige... Have you ever thought about what will happen after your death?"

"That's... Kinda ominous. I can't say I have."

Polyetta stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"I don't want anyone else to die but... We never know when the next victim will be claimed. I think I should spend more time with everyone so we don't have any regrets."

"I think it will be alright. I doubt that the anomaly would hurt us now, and as for Silv, I'm sure we'll find a way to take care of her once and for all."

"... I hope you're right..."

"Of course, those two are nothing. For now, the real danger is Sepide, we should go check on her before she asks Emely to make weird stuff."

Polyetta chuckled at the idea and followed her friend. Her worries were still not cleared but she accepted that there wasn't anything she could do about it anyway. She decided that she would spend more time with everyone, not as a leader, but as a friend.