"You can't be serious? My little brother... it's really gone?"
Under the potent masking effect of the [True Self] talent, it wasn't until Lunelle went to the bathroom to 'answer nature's call' that the cruel truth finally sank in – 'little brother' was gone for good.
She was someone who had always kept to herself, always talking about a bunch of 'waifus' but in reality, hadn't even held a girl's hand – a true shut-in.
Before this, Lunelle had been far too ordinary and, as an otaku who spent every day fawning over 2D 'waifus,' naturally never had any occasion to 'make use' of her 'little brother' in any sense.
But never having used it didn't mean Lunelle could just accept, without any psychological burden, the brutal fact that her 'little brother' had up and left forever without even saying goodbye!
Just think, before this, Lunelle hadn't even introduced the legendary 'Miss Five Fingers' to her 'little brother' for a proper meeting!
It's true what they say... you often only truly appreciate what you had after you've lost it completely.
That was exactly how Lunelle was feeling right now.
She had finally, after so much effort, managed to grind up her pathetic stamina stat.
She'd even started daydreaming that with stamina six times that of an average adult male, if she could ever actually 'conquer' one of her waifus in the future...
Wouldn't she have them completely wrapped around her finger in no time, effortlessly securing her 'emperor's position' in the household?
But all those beautiful fantasies about a future wife had vanished into thin air along with the departure of her little brother.
No matter how heartbroken Lunelle was, some things, once gone, force you to learn acceptance.
'What's with that look in your eyes?'
'What's with those tears, that expression?'
'Do you think crying will bring your lost 'little brother' back?'
Having once been an adult boy, Lunelle knew full well that crying solved nothing.
Putting on a brave face, she silently began to 'pace back and forth,' 'run,' 'roll around'... in the cramped little rental room.
Muttering to herself that it was fine, it was fine, it was just a 'little brother' that hadn't even met Miss Five Fingers.
But... she still really wanted to cry!
Instantly breaking down, big fat tears started rolling down Lunelle's cheeks.
Sob, sob... it's just too cruel, dammit!!!
Little brother! My little brother!
How am I supposed to go on without you!
Wah Wahh~!
After a token period of mourning and howling for her forever-lost little brother...
Lunelle quickly came to terms with it.
After all, back when her body was on the brink of turning into a zombie and she bet her life to start that final simulation, she had already steeled herself for the possibility of completely losing her 'little brother.'
It's just that in the now irreversible present, trying to pick back up the resolve she had mustered just minutes ago felt a bit... expired and off, to put it mildly.
But then again, in this anime world, there's that 'three-second rule' for food dropped on the floor—you can pick it up and eat it.
By the same logic, something as mystical as resolve... if it accidentally expires for just three minutes...
If you pick it back up fast enough, you can probably still make do with it, right?
At the very least, it can still offer a tiny bit of psychological comfort, can't it?
Fortunately, the simulator spirit, See-chan, had secretly planted the 'seed' of being a girl.
Now, just as Lunelle fully realized she had become a girl, that 'seed,' having successfully sprouted, began to play its part.
For instance, a normal person suddenly turning into a girl would definitely need an adjustment period to get used to such a huge change.
But Lunelle could, almost without even realizing it, drastically shorten or even skip that adjustment process entirely!
Like at the very beginning, before Lunelle realized she'd become a girl, she instinctively tried to stand to relieve herself, just like when she was a boy.
For a normal person to break that habit, even after ten days or half a month, those muscle memories ingrained over a decade would still cause hard-to-suppress reflexes now and then.
But thanks to that 'seed' existing in Lunelle's subconscious, it was almost as if she had also gained over a decade of muscle memory as a girl named Lunelle.
Coupled with the continuous effect of the [True Self] talent, everything about Lunelle was subtly and steadily transforming towards the most essential feminine form of her soul!
Thus, in the time that followed, Lunelle discovered, somewhat eerily, that she seemed to possess a terrifying, inexplicable talent for learning how to be a girl!
Take the aforementioned standing-to-relieve-herself issue.
Without anyone teaching her how to do it, by the second time, Lunelle had intuitively grasped the girl's way of doing it...
Faced with this situation, Lunelle initially felt a bit resentful.
She felt that with her little buddy gone for good, for the simulator to deliberately add insult to injury at this very moment was just rubbing salt in the wound, utterly shameless.
But though Lunelle grumbled and complained, her body's honest reactions left her no choice.
While she huffed and puffed, muttering about being 'forced into this,' she was in fact irrepressibly transforming into a cute maiden...
Having successfully weathered the initial outbreak of the Third Eruption by staying home, thanks to using the simulator's [True Self] talent to become a girl at the critical moment...
While Cocolia had indeed planted Honkai bombs—special devices that release high-density Honkai energy in a short time—the period of most intense Honkai energy release was naturally right at the start.
As time passed, the once high concentration of Honkai energy, potent enough to spawn a Herrscher, had now clearly dropped several levels.
However, likely because the Herrscher of Thunder had already successfully formed her Herrscher core, the concentration of ambient Honkai energy, after falling to a certain point, seemed to have stabilized at a level quite dangerous for normal people.
Thankfully, the current Lunelle was clearly no longer in the 'normal person' category.
Even exposed to this ambient Honkai energy that normal people couldn't endure for long, aside from feeling a bit stifled, she didn't suffer any more obvious side effects.
Logically, with her power greatly increased, if Lunelle were a bolder novel protagonist, what she should do now is immediately find some foes she can currently beat, then pummel these weaker opponents to gauge and showcase her new strength.
But Lunelle, an old turtle aiming to be the 'Max Level Noob,' would naturally not venture out recklessly just to satisfy some trivial vanity.
So, while her rickety little shack hadn't completely collapsed yet, Lunelle figured she'd stay holed up in this remote suburban area for as long as possible.
After all, compared to rushing out to show off pointlessly against some weakling, risking discovery by Cocolia was a completely lousy deal no matter how you looked at it!
Wouldn't it be much nicer to keep hiding with the simulator and grow stronger by just... 'a bit' more?
Still, considering there was obviously no 'beginner's protection' like the first three days after the Honkai outbreak, Lunelle definitely didn't dare to dive into a twelve-hour deep sleep right now, with the Honkai in full swing.
If a Honkai beast or some random zombie suddenly came knocking, wouldn't a sleeping Lunelle die without even knowing how?
Fortunately, the simulator's cooldown did decrease even without sleep; deep sleep just sped it up significantly.
Having survived the most dangerous initial phase of the outbreak and with her strength greatly boosted, Lunelle really had no need to place herself in a vulnerable, defenseless state just to shave a little time off the simulation cooldown.
If she could just lie low until the 'Big Three' were taken away from Nagazora City by Schicksal...
Lunelle could find a place to secretly develop and grind, then stun everyone at the right moment!
But just as Lunelle was happily fantasizing about emerging from seclusion to sweep all before her...
At Chiba Academy, the main storyline centered on the Honkai's 'Big Three' was quietly beginning.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 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.