"Hmmph..."
Hinaichigo puffed out her cheeks, glaring intently at the Suiseiseki in front of her.
Suiseiseki stood with her hands on her hips, her face turned to the side, trying to avoid Hinaichigo's stare.
"My cake..." Hinaichigo said with conviction, staring at the bit of cream clinging to the corner of Suiseiseki's mouth. "You're the one who stole it."
'Caught again?!'
Suiseiseki's fingers brushed her mouth, and the damp feeling they encountered filled her with frustration. How could she have made such a stupid mistake? She instantly wiped away the cream and adjusted her expression.
"How could you? How can you wrong an innocent person with baseless accusations?"
Suiseiseki widened her eyes, looking at Hinaichigo with an expression of pure disbelief. Hinaichigo's words seemed to have pierced her heart deeply.
Clutching her chest, she said with a sorrowful look, "You actually don't believe your own sister."
"I was the one who played with you when you first came here."
After they had met, Hinaichigo often came over to play—so often, in fact, that the only thing missing was her moving in for the night.
'After Frey goes to class, little Hina is all alone in the room, and little Hina doesn't want to be by herself.' With that declaration, Hinaichigo would happily scamper off to Alice's room.
All Frey could do was helplessly ferry Hinaichigo back and forth each day.
Alice attended classes too, but she usually only took Trimmau and a certain doll—'a certain' generally meaning both Suigintou and Kirakishou at the same time.
So, during class hours, Hinaichigo could play with her other sisters in Alice's dorm.
"You mean that time you made little Hina clean with you?" Hinaichigo pouted, placing her hands on her hips.
"Th-that... that was to help you familiarize yourself with the layout of our room!" Suiseiseki said, putting on a serious face.
Then, she immediately changed the subject.
"Look, look, Shinku's started drinking tea!" She pointed at the snacks on Shinku's table. "Let's go join her."
"Don't change the subject!" Hinaichigo waved her arms up and down, the puffiness in her soft, white cheeks growing more pronounced. "Give little Hina back her cake! It was little Hina's favorite strawberry cake!"
The noisy commotion seemed to disturb Shinku, who was sipping her tea nearby. She frowned with displeasure. "Suiseiseki, you're at it again."
Souseiseki let out a helpless sigh, also looking at Suiseiseki with disapproval. "You're bullying Hinaichigo again."
It seemed Hinaichigo's arrival had finally given Suiseiseki's... particular talents an outlet. Lately, Suiseiseki had been making frequent attempts on Hinaichigo's desserts.
Of course, if she got caught, she was forced to make restitution. If the treat was already eaten, the price came out of Suiseiseki's own allowance.
Though she was frequently discovered, Suiseiseki never reformed. On the contrary, she was studying how to avoid detection, planning the perfect crime.
This time, it was the cream at the corner of her mouth that had betrayed her.
Suiseiseki seriously took notes, then carefully stored them away in her box.
Then, she took out her little purse.
"This isn't because I'm admitting anything," Suiseiseki declared, lifting her head with an air of sheer defiance. "I'm only willing to buy you a new cake because I feel sorry for you."
"You totally ate it!" Hinaichigo turned away with a 'hmph!' and crossed her arms over her chest.
Seeing Hinaichigo turn her back, Suiseiseki stubbornly turned her head away too, not to be outdone.
The two dolls stood back-to-back. The Great Hina-Sui Cold War had officially begun.
Then, it was interrupted by the sound of Alice opening the door.
It was after school now. Stepping inside, Alice's eyes immediately fell on the two figures standing with their backs to each other.
Her gaze swept around the room, and she understood everything in an instant.
'Another of Suiseiseki's pranks, and she got caught again.'
Alice shook her head helplessly.
'She really is dedicated to bullying Hinaichigo.'
"Alice~" Hinaichigo tearfully rushed over and clung tightly to Alice's calf.
"It's alright. I'll make Suiseiseki pay you back," Alice said softly, crouching down to pat Hinaichigo's golden short hair. She comforted her in a low voice.
While stroking Hinaichigo's head, her eyes swept over Suiseiseki.
Suiseiseki immediately raised the purse in her hand and offered it to Alice.
The practiced motion was heartbreaking—heartbreaking for Hinaichigo, of course.
"I'll take you back later. Frey's been dragged off by her brother on some business."
Sitting in Alice's arms, Hinaichigo nodded obediently.
Lately, the number of assault incidents on campus had been increasing. Now, the dolls were only allowed to go out in groups of two or more.
"I'll be back later. I need to go to the mansion."
After quickly confirming the state of the barrier in the room, Alice took Suiseiseki's purse and walked out.
The dolls nodded. Alice had to return to the mansion from time to time. Before, they might have tagged along, but by now they'd grown too lazy to run around everywhere.
'She's coming back here anyway.'
--+--
The warm sunlight spilled onto the path winding through the campus. The black-haired young lady walked with light steps, a small doll with pale yellow long hair nestled in her arms.
After meeting up with Kirakishou and the others who were waiting outside, the doll in Alice's arms—Hinaichigo—was promptly squeezed out of her prime spot.
"Master, Master, look over there!" Kirakishou chirped, happily swaying her head before suddenly pointing towards a small grove of trees.
Inside the grove, a large group of students had gathered, seemingly discussing something.
"Hey, this is the fourth one, right?"
"Yeah. It's only been two months since the semester started, and there have already been four cases of automata being destroyed."
Looking through the trees, they could see a humanoid automaton collapsed on the ground. The students crowded around it, the scene reminiscent of a murder investigation.
Alice narrowed her eyes, observing the fallen doll.
Her gaze swept over the scattered parts littering the area before stopping at the wound on the doll's chest.
As the specific marks around the wound came into view, her footsteps halted.
That wound...
"...Let's go take a closer look."
Her steps resumed, carrying her off the path and into the small wooded area.
Perhaps due to her previous encounter with Magnus, Alice seemed to have acquired a crowd-clearing ability similar to his.
The students, noticing her approach, unanimously parted to make a path for her.
Her shoes trod on the soft earth. Ignoring the stares from the surrounding students, Alice came to a slow stop before the doll.
The scent of grass and soil soothed the young woman's nerves, but combined with the gruesome scene before her, it also carried a hint of the macabre.
The nature of this wound is just...
Alice frowned, unable to suppress a furrow in her brow as she looked at the doll on the ground.
The automaton's upper and lower body lay scattered some distance apart on the ground.
The abdominal cavity was visible from the broken section. Because the internal construction was quite intricate, it gave one the unsettling feeling of peering inside a human body.
Gears, wires, and other components were strewn about, surrounded by splatters of a liquid resembling blood, as if some beast had mauled it.
But the most arresting detail was the bizarre wound itself.
The area where the heart [Magic Circuit] should have been was hollowed out, leaving only a circular cavity.
The heart [Magic Circuit] that should have been inside was gone without a trace. The surface of the wound was extremely smooth, like a candy licked until it melted.
...The mark left by the wound was exactly the same as the one caused by Charlotte's 'Cursed Sword'.
--+--
T/N: Mihoyo x Multiverse Fanfic Up!
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.