Selena's voice echoed calmly in Erika's mind.
"Actually… there might be a way for the two of you to be close."
Erika sat up slightly, still hugging her plushie.
"…Are you serious?"
"Yes," Selena replied. "I'm serious."
She paused briefly.
"Though it won't be easy."
Erika frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Selena answered simply.
"My plan is simple. I want to train you."
Erika blinked.
"…Train me?"
"Yes."
Selena continued,
"So that you can control your emotions… and in turn, stabilize my brother."
Erika looked even more confused.
"What? What does that even mean?"
Selena sighed softly.
"I already explained my brother's situation, didn't I?"
Erika nodded.
"You said he's emotionally unstable… that he only recently awakened his emotions and doesn't know how to control them yet."
"Exactly."
Selena continued calmly.
"Right now, he can't fully control his emotions. And training him directly would be extremely difficult."
Erika tilted her head.
"Why? I thought Akira could learn it easily if he tried."
Selena shook her head slightly.
"He never learned to control emotions in the first place.
He never had enough of them to even need that skill."
She continued,
"But now… all of it is flooding in at once. He doesn't understand what he's feeling."
Selena paused before adding an analogy.
"It's like asking a bird that has been locked in a cage since birth to suddenly fly. How can he control something he doesn't even understand yet?"
Erika fell silent.
That… made sense.
After a moment, she spoke again.
"…Then what does training me do?"
Selena answered immediately.
"Because you're different from him."
Erika blinked.
"…Me?"
"Yes." Selena explained.
"You're a normal girl. You've always had emotions. You understand them. You just haven't learned how to control them properly."
Selena continued calmly.
"So it's far easier to train you than to train him."
Erika nodded slowly.
"…I understand that part."
She hesitated before continuing.
"But even if I learn to control my emotions… how does that help him?"
Selena answered without hesitation.
"Because you're connected to him."
A brief pause.
"Remember… you are his heart."
That single sentence made Erika freeze.
Selena continued.
"His heart is your Sacred Gear. Your emotions influence him far more than you realize. If you become unstable… he becomes unstable. If you stay calm… he will gradually stabilize as well. Especially when it comes to emotions related to you."
Erika frowned slightly.
"…But that never happened before. My emotions never affected him like that."
Selena replied calmly.
"Think back to the Demon Slayer world. When you synchronized your hearts."
Erika's eyes widened slightly.
She remembered.
Selena continued,
"What Akira was sharing back then wasn't just your heartbeat. It included your emotions too. That's why both of you felt connected. It wasn't perfect… but it worked."
Erika lowered her gaze, thinking.
"…So you want to train me to control my emotions… so I can help him?"
Selena's voice softened slightly.
"Exactly."
Then her tone sharpened again.
"Right now, you're not calming him. You're amplifying him."
Erika flinched.
Selena didn't soften her words.
"Right now both of you are unconsciously feeding each other's emotions, amplifying them. Normally, that's not a bad thing. But without control… it becomes dangerous. And if this continues… it will only get worse."
Silence filled the room.
Then Selena spoke again.
"So the solution is simple. I'll train you."
A brief pause.
"First, you learn to control your emotions. Then… you learn to control his."
She added quietly,
"And once you can do that… You can be as close to each other as you want and if he loses control… You'll be able to stop him."
Erika took a deep breath and sat up straighter.
"…Alright. I'll do it."
Then she looked up at nothing in particular.
"But what kind of training are we talking about?"
Selena answered simply.
"Emotional training."
She paused, then added honestly,
"To be honest… this is my first time training someone like this. So we'll have to figure it out as we go."
Erika blinked.
"…Wait."
She hesitated slightly before asking,
"You're not going to train me the Starlight family way… right?"
Selena immediately shut that down.
"What? No. Of course not. I don't have a death wish."
Erika frowned.
"…Why would you die?"
Selena sounded almost incredulous.
"Did you forget what I told you? Starlight family training is brutal."
She continued,
"They kill you again and again. They torture you so you can stay calm and operate under extreme pain."
Erika nodded slowly.
"…Yeah, you said that both you and Akira were trained like that, right?"
She tilted her head.
"But how would that kill you?"
Selena let out a long sigh.
"Erika-chan… do you know how painful dying is? No normal person can handle it."
She continued more seriously,
"If I trained you like that, your mind would break. And if my brother found out…"
She sighed.
"He wouldn't just break me. He would completely destroy me."
Erika looked unconvinced.
"I don't think he would hurt you… right?"
Selena answered quietly.
"You don't know how cruel he can be…"
She paused.
"Well… I don't really know either. He's never truly been that angry. And I don't want to find out."
She added dryly,
"If I trained you like that… death would be the least of my concerns."
Erika fell silent for a moment, then asked,
"But your whole family went through that, right? Why didn't you break?"
Selena answered calmly.
"Because we've been doing it for generations. We've slowly adapted to it… genetically. You could call it a form of evolution."
She continued,
"We were still shaken the first few times… But it doesn't affect us as much anymore."
Then she added,
"As for my brother… Let's just say… he never feared death."
Erika lowered her head slightly.
"…I see."
After a moment, she spoke again.
"But I want to become as strong as Akira too."
She sighed.
"I want to stand beside him."
Selena sounded a little surprised.
"You're already doing fine though. Why the sudden change?"
Erika hesitated.
Then answered quietly,
"…I can't beat her."
Selena frowned slightly.
"Who?"
Erika replied.
"That cat girl."
Selena immediately understood.
"Ah… Kuroka."
Erika nodded.
"When Akira fought her… I realized something.
Erika clenched her plushy tightly.
"I can't beat her... She could defeat me easily if we fought."
Selena sighed.
"Well… she's on the level of an Ultimate-class devil. Of course you can't beat her right now."
Erika clenched her fists slightly.
"That's why… If I want to stand by his side as his partner… I need to be able to beat her. So I have to train like Akira."
Selena hesitated.
"I can't train you the same way as him."
She continued more gently,
"But don't worry. I'll train you so you can control your emotions… Become stronger… And eventually beat her. What do you think?"
Erika nodded.
"…Fine."
She added.
"As long as I can stay close to him."
Then she suddenly remembered something.
"…Speaking of him… What happened to his brain scan?"
Selena replied casually.
"Oh, him? He already finished the scan."
Erika leaned forward slightly.
"What were the results? Is he fine?"
Selena nodded.
"Well… it's mostly the same as before."
She paused.
"But some of his readings are now… normal. So he's confused."
Erika frowned.
"…If it's normal, then that's a good thing, right?"
Selena shook her head.
"Normal for a normal human, yes. But for him… that's abnormal."
Erika blinked.
"…Then is he fine or not?"
Selena answered calmly.
Relax. He's fine.
"It's just that his hypothalamus, ventral tegmental area, and caudate nucleus are all firing at abnormal levels…"
She added casually,
"…while his frontal lobe is basically offline."
Erika interrupted with a frown.
"…Speak human."
Selena smiled slightly.
"He's madly in love."
Erika's face instantly turned red.
"…R-Really?"
Selena nodded.
"Yeah, he just scientifically confirmed it."
Erika took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
"…I see."
She hesitated, then asked,
"What is he doing now?"
"He got tired… and fell asleep right on the scanner." Selena shrugged. "Apparently, it's comfortable for him."
Erika looked shocked.
"What? Is that even safe?"
Selena waved it off.
"He used to sleep like that in his previous life. So he's fine."
Erika frowned.
"…Seriously… what kind of life did he even have before?"
Selena answered quietly.
"To be honest… If someone else heard it, they'd probably call it tragic. Cruel, even."
She paused.
"But he himself never saw it that way. So don't worry about it too much."
Erika sighed.
"…I don't even know what to think when you say it like that."
Selena changed the topic.
"Do you want to see him?"
Erika nodded.
"…Fine. Take me there."
The space around Erika suddenly flickered—
—and vanished.
"—Wha—!"
She dropped onto the floor with a dull thud.
"Ow! Hey—at least warn me first!"
Selena stood in front of her, smiling.
"Oh, sorry about that, Erika-chan."
She offered her a hand.
Erika grabbed it and stood up.
"Where is he?"
Selena pointed ahead.
In front of them stood a large machine resembling a high-tech MRI scanner.
Inside it—
Akira was sleeping peacefully.
As if this was the most normal thing in the world.
Erika stared.
"…Are you sure this is safe?"
Selena nodded.
"Don't worry. This is a DRI scanner—Dream Resonance Imaging. It scans the brain… and can even display dreams. So it's completely fine to sleep in it."
Erika blinked.
"Wait… we can actually see what he's dreaming?"
"Yep." Selena smirked slightly. "Want to watch?"
Erika hesitated for only a second.
Then nodded.
Selena pressed a button.
A screen in the room flickered to life.
Then—
The scene appeared.
Akira was sitting on a plastic chair.
Leaning back like a king.
A sword resting casually on his shoulder.
In front of him—
A battlefield.
Dozens of familiar figures stood ready.
Goku.
Frieza.
Naruto.
Madara.
And many more.
All facing him.
The air trembled with tension.
Then—
"I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING—"
Music blasted out of nowhere.
Akira smirked.
Then suddenly—
A massive beam of light erased half the battlefield.
Everything exploded.
From the smoke—
His mother appeared.
Calm.
Smiling.
"Akira. It's time for training."
Akira stood up dramatically.
"I will defeat you, Mother."
Behind him—
Godzilla appeared.
He grabbed its tail—
Spun—
And swung it forward.
"SO LONG—!"
—
The screen went black.
Selena turned it off.
"…Dreams rarely make sense."
Erika stared at the blank screen.
"…What did I just watch?"
Selena ignored the question.
She looked at Erika calmly.
"Anyway… about your training. What do you say?"
Erika shook her head, trying to clear away the lingering confusion from what she had just witnessed.
"…Fine. I'm in. I'll train with you."
Selena's face immediately lit up.
"Really? Great. Alright then—let's go. No time to waste."
Erika blinked.
"Now? But it's night time."
Selena tilted her head slightly.
"Erika-chan… you're a dhampir, and unlike my brother, you're an actual nocturnal creature."
She added.
"You're stronger at night. So this is the best time to train you."
Erika hesitated.
"…Okay, but are we doing this right now?"
Selena looked straight at her.
"Yeah. Right here… right now."
Before Erika could react, Selena grabbed her hand and started dragging her.
"W-Wait—fine, fine! I'm coming!"
—
The scenery shifted instantly.
They appeared inside the castle's training area.
It resembled the colosseum in the mansion's basement—
But far larger.
Far grander.
The structure stretched endlessly, its scale almost exaggerated.
Erika looked around, then back at Selena.
"So… how are we training?"
She was now dressed in a white-and-scarlet tracksuit.
Unlike normal clothes, this one radiated faint magical energy.
Reinforced.
Selena stood across from her, wearing a white-and-purple version.
"Well, the training is simple."
She raised one hand slightly.
"First… I'll hit you with illusion-type attacks. Then I'll follow up with a real spell. One that won't hurt too much."
She paused briefly.
"All you have to do…is stay calm. Stay focused. And deal with both, by blocking it… or dodging it."
Selena's gaze sharpened.
"What do you say?"
Erika nodded.
"…Yeah. That sounds reasonable."
"Good." Selena smiled faintly. "Then let's begin."
Erika took a breath and steadied herself.
Selena's expression changed.
Serious.
A white cloud of magic gathered around her hand.
Then—
"Sexy Jutsu: Reverse Harem Jutsu."
The cloud exploded outward.
And—
Dozens of Akiras appeared.
Every single one of them smiling at Erika.
Every single one of them…
Looking exactly like she had seen him in the bath.
Erika's mind went blank.