Sirin, the Second Herrscher.

She was an idiot trapped in a perpetual cycle of inflating with power, getting deflated, re-inflating, and getting deflated all over again.

In her non-six-core state, her combat power was slightly superior to a physically weak Welt Yang, but due to her extremely poor combat sense, her performance in a fight was often pathetic.

Case in point: a first-rated power deployment from the Oath of Judah, followed by a second-rated power strike from Fenghuang Down, was enough to knock her unconscious once again.

"So, Ah Li, can you let me down now?"

In the bombed-out Director's office, Miss K423, currently suspended by the chains of the Oath of Judah, felt the restraints binding her body and asked Li Zihan with a "cheerful" expression.

"No problem."

After the abruptly awakened Sirin had launched her barrage, the boy had KO'd her once more with a Divine Grace Bind and a mental shock. He waved a hand at the Oath of Judah.

The next moment, the girl bound by the chains fell from the air.

And then—

The remarkably agile boy leaped up, catching the falling girl in a single motion.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked. He had used almost no physical attacks, so he was checking on the girl whose account had just been hacked by Sirin.

The girl whose account was hacked didn't answer. She simply tilted her head up, looking at the man who seemed to be so familiar with her other self.

"Ah Li, do you know my other me?"

The white-haired girl, having noticed many key details during her internal conversation with her other self, asked with great seriousness.

Her second personality—no, it should be her primary personality that had been dormant, the Second Herrscher Sirin—had stated explicitly that she knew Li Zihan.

The Second Honkai War took place in the year 2000. If her other self was truly the Second Herrscher, she would have possessed a certain level of self-awareness by then. After all, the Will of Honkai wouldn't use an infant as a weapon of war to pass judgment on civilization.

Looking at it that way, she, who only had memories from the age of six onward, must be the personality that developed later.

The white-haired girl, having roughly figured out her true name, continued to stare at the boy Sirin had just called her servant.

"I'm not familiar with her," Li Zihan, who was indeed not familiar with Sirin, shrugged and said.

"But, my other self looks at you completely differently than she looks at anyone else."

Kiana narrowed her eyes, recalling how the Pufferfish had flown into a rage the moment she heard Ah Li was getting together with Seele. This whole development felt deeply wrong.

"It's probably my future self who went to Siberia during the Second Honkai War," the boy, having just returned from 500 years in the past, said with a shrug.

It seemed his future self had traveled to Siberia during the Second Honkai War and spent some time with Sirin.

Because the Honkai world lacked a 'Quantum Record Tape,' Li Zihan, relying on his Spiritron computer and the Emiya family's magecraft, could practically play with the timeline like a little fluff ball. It would be perfectly normal for him to take a trip to the Second Honkai War via Chaldeas to collect Cecilia's soul in order to appease the real Kiana.

And then, being the master of shenanigans that he was, it would also be perfectly normal for him to seek out Sirin for a chat during his downtime.

If he wasn't mistaken, his future self must have used Fenghuang Down to seal Sirin's memories. The boy thought back to 500 years ago, when he had temporarily sealed the memories of Yae Sakura and Higokumaru and implanted false ones so as not to affect history. If he had gone to Siberia during the Second Honkai War, it was entirely possible he had pulled the same stunt again.

Li Zihan recalled the Pufferfish being quite hostile towards him during their first meeting and wondered what could have triggered her memories to return so suddenly.

Then he remembered the time he and Kiana had peeked at Mei in the bath. To shift the blame, he had temporarily sealed Kiana's memory of them peeking together. It was just a joke, so the seal was naturally removed not long after.

Thinking back now, it probably wasn't just K423 whose memory seal was removed at that time.

The boy sighed, having never expected his future self to leave such a mess on his doorstep.

"At the very least, the current me isn't very familiar with her," the boy said with great earnestness, having roughly guessed the truth.

"Ah Li, it looks like you've been messing around again." Kiana, who was well aware that the organization called Chaldeas could perform time travel, sighed.

"It can't be helped. In order to deal with your complicated family situation—your sister, or mother, or whatever—a trip to the scene of the Second Honkai War is necessary." The boy, still holding Miss Kiana, spoke while enjoying the soft warmth in his arms.

"It might cause some trouble, but if it can sort out the relationship between you, your family, and your parents, then it's worth it."

Perhaps because of Sirin's sudden appearance, Kiana had snapped out of her despair over her emergency rations being stolen. She felt the strength of the arms wrapped around her waist and narrowed her eyes.

Ah Li claimed he was going to take responsibility for Seele, but he was still holding her waist right now. And he was still trying to raise her affection level...

This was not the behavior of a reformed prodigal son.

It was more like... eating from the bowl while eyeing the pot.

"...Ah Li, being overly nice to girls who aren't your girlfriend will make your actual girlfriend jealous, you know."

The embraced girl didn't resist. Instead, she wrapped her arms around the boy, stood on her tiptoes, and leaned in close to his ear.

Her words, along with her moist breath, flowed into the boy's ear, making it feel slightly itchy.

"Will it?" the boy, sensing that Kiana's reaction was a bit off, started playing dumb. "If it's just to purely help out, a good girl like Seele probably wouldn't get jealous."

The girl, whose mood had just been utterly desperate, now broke into a smile. She rested her chin on the boy's shoulder.

This bastard Ah Li... he wants them all.

She wasn't out of the game at all.

"But if he's holding onto dishonest intentions, or in other words, eating from the bowl while eyeing the pot, it would be strange if a girl didn't get jealous."

"So, Ah Li, you who's always eating from the bowl while eyeing the pot... you really are a super bastard, aren't you?"

The girl's intelligence was returning at an alarming rate. Her melodious voice, to the ears of a certain scumbag who wanted to build a harem, sounded rather...

Terrifying.

The girl, whose intellectual performance was completely unlike that of a Paramecium, calmed down and released her arms from around the slightly stiff boy.

Looks like I overplayed my hand, Li Zihan thought.

However, what happened next was rather unexpected.

The girl pressed her lips to the boy's cheek.

The incredibly soft touch sent his mind reeling.

What is this?

The boy, who had been preparing to activate his ultimate escape plan, was completely bewildered.

"But... I still like you, Ah Li," the girl, whose heart was actually filled with joy rather than displeasure upon realizing Ah Li wanted everyone and wouldn't abandon her, confessed, her gaze a little dazed. "Even if you're a bastard, a big liar, and a scumbag, I still really like you."

And then—

Her slender hand clenched into a fist and slammed viciously into the boy's stomach.

"But for doing something so scummy, even if it's you, Ah Li, you still deserve a good beating."