"Is there something you want, following me?"
Yama felt an indescribable feeling about this man. His appearance was clearly similar to a student's, but the aura he projected didn't make one feel he was a student at all.
"...I wanted to thank you." Lin voice was very soft. He spread his hands and said, "Thank you for today."
"No need. You've already thanked me." Yama didn't believe him. He had waited here all afternoon just because of that small amount of money?
"If there's nothing else, we'll be going." Kevin analytical skills weren't great, but his intuition was superhuman. He could also sense that Lin was different from ordinary people; as students, it was better not to get involved.
"Wait."
Lin took a step across, blocking the two. His light gaze traveled back and forth between them. He waited until Kevin felt a chill down his spine before asking, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
He was asking Kevin.
Lin current mood was a bit subtle. He felt he needed to clear some things up; otherwise, he might not be able to look Kevin in the face after returning. Actually, when Lin was in school, he would also wonder if he and Kevin were too close. For instance, that time in the hotel when Kevin awkwardly suggested setting up a "defense line" in the middle of the bed they shared. It was just that back then, he hadn't thought so deeply, nor was it so... weird.
"Wait a second, what are you trying to do?" When Kevin heard this man—who was so beautiful it was hard to tell his gender—start by asking if he had a girlfriend, he recoiled in horror. "Of course I have a girlfriend. She's in this school."
"...Good." For some reason, Lin felt relieved.
"So weird. Let's go, Lin."
The two walked around him. Yama was still observing him as they left. Lin thought for a moment and quietly followed behind them.
...
Yama had actually given many hints, but Lin truly hadn't thought in that direction at first. Since parallel worlds on the Imaginary Tree could result in different paths, it was possible for the same person to be of a different gender.
Furthermore, the short but vivid event Lin had thought of earlier was what he saw during his second consciousness trip to a parallel world: the Fire Moth headquarters turned to ruins, and a black-haired woman with a dazed expression. Her ID tag had her serial number.
CM-000.
Because the memory was so distant and the time between the two meetings was long, Lin hadn't linked the two at the start. But looking back now, the situation was clear. The number CM-000 was Lin MANTIS serial number. That black-haired woman was actually the Lin of a parallel world. That surgery looked somewhat like the MANTIS surgery, but the time Lin received his number was long after his surgery was completed, so he could rule out the possibility that the female Lin had just finished her surgery.
During that event, the female Lin had briefly lost her memory and met him. The ruins of the headquarters he saw then were the same location where he was later hunted by Yama. Of course, the female Lin wasn't necessarily the Yama he knew; it could be two highly similar worlds. But it was very likely the major event Yama had experienced that changed her life.
Later, for some unknown reason, the female Lin caused the extinction of humanity and became a Herrscher. To prevent similar tragedies in other parallel worlds, she began hunting the Lins of different parallel worlds. And so she became "Abaddon, Yama."
Lin didn't know the details of the process, but the general idea was likely as he thought. And Yama was the other "Special Lin" who, in her own words, had seen the tragic end.
The person she loathed, detested, and was angry at was actually herself. She couldn't bring herself to be cruel to others, but she could kill herself for the sake of humanity without hesitation.
So it wasn't hard to understand where that hatred, loathing, and anger came from. It was as if she were constantly watching her past self say things her past self would say. Her empty and lacking emotions were filled with negative feelings, causing her pain over the factors that led to the tragedy.
But deep in her heart, what was hidden wasn't a desire to continue killing, but the original wish to return to the past and change everything. She was just like the Lin she cursed... no, they were the same person, so it wasn't strange that they had the same wish.
Lin followed behind the two and watched them enter an arcade. How familiar this scene was. It was also his first time seeing his past self and Kevin through a third-person perspective. He discovered that he actually knew how to smile back then. Although the range wasn't large and the frequency wasn't high, Lin could tell that the almost imperceptible upward curl of Yama lips was her expression of a smile.
Currently, the two were playing a fighting game at the machine Lin and Kevin were most familiar with. Kevin reflexes, which hadn't undergone the subsequent systemic training, couldn't keep up with Yama. When she said she could crush Kevin with one hand, she wasn't joking; she could manipulate the joystick and the buttons simultaneously with one hand, beating Kevin into a steady retreat.
However, they were having a lot of fun. Even though it was a one-sided slaughter for Kevin, one could see they had a great atmosphere. How strange... has it really been that long?
Lin unknowingly found a machine and sat down. However, he suddenly remembered he had no money on him, so he began to use the "experience" of hanging out in arcades with Kevin. Back then, the two didn't lack money, but they had a rule about how much they could spend each time they went to the arcade, a roundabout way of restricting their spending and time on play. Of course, they would strictly follow their own rules, but they would also look for loopholes—for instance, they only limited the expenditure, not the number of game coins used.
This meant...
Lin crouched on the ground, reached under the game machine, and fished out a dusty game coin. Then he casually took a coin that hadn't been properly inserted into a nearby coin slot. This was considered an essential part of going to an arcade.
Lin sat before the machine and looked at the pixelated screen. He inserted the coin and used the joystick to select his character. He hadn't played in a long time and was a bit rusty, but he still easily dealt with the AI on maximum difficulty; this didn't even count as an introductory test for an expert.
"Need an opponent?"
Someone sat down next to him, inserted two coins, and selected a character. Lin didn't speak and silently began.
Since everyone's fighting game style and habits were different, both of them spent the first character mainly testing the waters. Lin quickly saw through the other's operating habits, caught a flaw, and finished them off at light speed. It was clear the opponent was experienced but not an expert; Lin used only half a health bar to settle all three of the opponent's lives, and each time he used a different, flashy combo.
"Wow, you're... you're really good."
Lin shook his head and said nothing. He turned to look, but froze on the spot. A gray-haired girl was rubbing her hands in embarrassment. She seemed to feel she was overestimating herself by challenging someone else.
"Hua..."
A look of confusion appeared on Hua's face: "Eh? Do you know me?"
"Hua, you're here?"
At that moment, Yama voice rang out. She walked up behind Hua to greet her, then saw Lin beside her. Her eyes immediately darkened as she pulled Hua behind her.
"You're committing a crime..."