Y/N, THE 14TH MEMBER OF THE FLAMECHASERS: An [Honkai Impact 3rd] Mini-Story

44. BACK TO REALITY [11], A GUEST FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD

The twelfth time coming back to reality, Mei meets Klein at the battlegrounds once more.

Mei:  "How's the situation, Klein?"

Klein:  "Not good..."

Before even as they spoke, Klein's eyes were fixed on the virtual screen.
Her fingers were not always on the screen.
But when they were, they were moving lightning fast.

Mei:  "...Something wrong again?"

Klein:  "Uh..."
Klein:  "Wait a moment..."
Klein tells Mei as she tapped softly on the screen.

A few more seconds later...

Klein:  "There..."
Klein:  "It's done."
Klein:  "There might be a few glitches here and there, but you shouldn't run into dangerous anomalies anymore."
Klein:  "The chance of an exception is approximately one in a hundred thousand..."
Klein:  "You can simply take it as zero."
Klein:  "But still, things are not looking good for you."

Mei:  "?"
Mei hums in question.

Klein:  "Data's from the previous observations shows that someone was definitely behind the anomalies."

Mei:  "You mean..."
Mei:  "Someone is deliberately obstructing the functioning of the realm?"

Klein:  "Hmm."
Klein hums in approval.

Klein:  "When the realm reacted to your coming, someone took the opportunity to cover up what they did on the data."

Mei:  "...Can you trace the source?"

Klein:  "Not yet."
Klein:  "The person responsible seems to be an expert and the tracing takes a lot of time."
Klein:  "And I think restoring the data to its original state is more important."
Klein:  "But..."
Klein:  "I have to apologize."
Klein:  "I couldn't even do that."
Klein:  "The anomalies won't happen again, but their occurrence..."
Klein:  "Changed the realm forever."
Klein:  "In the realm, you should have seen two odd portals."

Mei:  "Yes."
Mei:  "It led to unknown areas I couldn't access anyway."

Klein:  "That's normal."
Klein:  "The area was prepared for Kalpas and deserted long ago."
Klein:  "But now..."
Klein:  "New areas has emerged in its place for no reason at all."
Klein:  "Even I don't know what's there."
Klein:  "As for the path leading to the deep end of the realm..."
Klein:  "And the path leading to the empty voided space of the realm..."
Klein:  "Those special portals just vanished."

Mei:  "Which means..."
Mei:  "The missing portals might somehow be connected to the new areas now."

Klein:  "I'm not sure, but it's possible."

Mei:  "...I see."
Mei:  "I'll go check out."

Klein:  "Ah, wait a sec..."

Mei:  "?"
Mei hums in question.

Klein:  "Uh..."
Klein:  "When you were gone, someone came looking for you."

Mei:  "Hm?"
Mei:  "Was it Elysia?"
Mei:  "Where is she?"

Klein:  "No, it was someone who came from the outside world, just like you."

Mei:  "The outside world?"

Klein:  "Yeah, you can go to the lounge."
Klein:  "She should be there waiting for you."

Mei dismisses herself from Klein, now making her way to the lounge.
She wonders who could this person visiting her could be.

Mei:  'The lounge?'
Mei:  'From outside of the realm...'
Mei:  'Could it be someone from World Serpent?'

As she makes it to the lounge...
A familiar person was sitting comfortably on the sofa.
A woman with short gray hair, red piercing eyes like a hawk, and was wearing some dark familiar clothing that Mei could tell immediately who she was.

???:  "On my last visit, the portrait hanging there wasn't Eden's."
???:  "Life is subject to change without notice, isn't it?"
She turns back to Mei with a small smile.

Mei:  'Raven?'
Mei:  'Why would she...'
Mei:  "...Why are you here?"
Mei:  "Wait..."
Mei:  "Are you a SIM too?"
Mei:  "Were you killed in action?"

Raven:  "..."
Raven:  "Why don't you come closer and see for yourself whether I'm real or not?"

Mei:  "No need."
Mei:  "Why are you here?"

Raven:  "As a World Serpent agent, can you blame me for looking after an aspiring junior member?"
Raven:  "I'm far more familiar with this place than you."

Mei:  "Good."
Mei:  "I happen to have some questions for you."
Mei:  "You told me every World Serpent agent was initiated here."
Mei:  "Which means..."
Mei:  "You've been to both the deep end and the empty voided space of the Elysian Realm?"

Raven:  "Ah..."
Raven: "I don't know about anything of the empty voided space, but to the deep end..."
Raven:  "That was the idea at first."
Raven: "But, there was never a unified standard for being initiated."
Raven: "I don't know about others, but I used a trick."
Raven: "World Serpent is not that dogmatic—the important thing is to prove your worth."
Raven: "That said, I did stay here for a long time, and I have a lot of memories of the place."
Raven: "Alright, that's enough about me."
Raven: "How are you doing here?"

Mei: "So far, I've only seen a few faces."

Raven: "You mean the MANTIS soldiers."
Raven: "They're interesting characters."
Raven: "Made any friends?"

Mei: "..."
Not wanting to continue the conversation, she breaks it by reverting to something else.

Mei: "Did something happen in the outside world?"
Mei: "I only doubt you came here only to say hello."

Raven: "Like I said, I came to make sure you're doing fine and that no one is bothering you."
Raven: "Ah but, I can see I'm not welcome here."
Raven: "Alright, I guess I'll look for you when it's all over."

Mei: "Wait, one more thing."
Mei: "When you were trapped here..."
Mei: "Did it have anything to do with anomalies?"

Raven: "Anomalies?"
Raven: "What kind?"
Raven: "You were blocked by the masked man as well?"

Mei: "No, not that."
Mei: "You met Klein, the manager here, right?"
Mei: "In her words, certain anomalies have occurred in the Elysian Realm."

Raven: "Klein?"
Raven: "Never heard of this name."
Raven: "They have a manager here?"
Raven:  "The anomalies here..."
Raven:  "I've seen a few, but I can't say for sure if they were the kind you're talking about."
Raven:  "How about this, I have nothing to do anyway."
Raven:  "I can keep you company here."

Mei:  "You're here on vacation?"

Raven:  "Assisting an important asset of the organization..."
Raven:  "Isn't that valuable work?"

Mei:  "..."

Mei gives Raven a look of silence, sighing...
Mei:  "Suit yourself."
Mei:  "Just don't get in my way."

...
...
...

Raven:  "Anything you say, Miss Raiden."