Without waiting for Bronya to say anything, I quickly picked up the phone. I made sure to put it into speaker mode so that everyone could hear.
She wanted to reach out. But in the end, she just let out a sigh as she stood there silently.
"Yo."
"Gojo Satoru I presume."
"You know me?" I asked. "Ah. I suppose that isn't much of a surprise."
There was a moment of silence between us before Cocolia continued. "Do you believe yourself to be some sort of hero? Doing all of these things."
I raised an eyebrow. "Hero? You seem to have mistaken something. I'm not doing this because I want to be a hero."
"Oh? Do tell." Her voice was tinged with genuine curiosity.
"I don't want my city to become a zombie infested hellhole. It's very inconvenient for an ordinary life."
"In that case, surely we can come to an agreement. After all, you don't have any ties to this city, do you?"
"We can arrange a flight for you to another country. Help you recreate a life there." Cocolia's voice was soft and smooth, as if she was trying to get me to relax. "If you want, we could even let you join Anti-Entropy. Surely you know of us."
Hearing that, Bronya grimaced. On the other hand, Kiana's jaw was wide open as she pointed at the gray-haired girl.
Kiana quickly snapped out of it as she turned back to me.
"Gojo! You can't be-"
I shushed Kiana by placing a finger on her lips. She was a bit annoyed at that, but she just harrumphed in the end, deciding to trust me."So what's your answer?"
"It sounds interesting…"
"Great! We can-"
"But I refuse!"
"W-what?"
"One of my favourite things to do, is to tell people like you, who think everything is under their control, "No""
"You're being obstinate." Cocolia spoke with a deeper voice now.
"You tried to kill me."
"That wasn't my order. The soldiers acted on their own, fearing you'd talk to Ryoma.."
"But I didn't say when."
"..."
I smiled.
"You gotta step up your game a little, Cocolia. Not very bright for a woman in your position, aren't you?"
"Tsk, are you really willing to face the full force of Anti-Entropy? I might as well tell you that you're facing the might of entire countries."
"Can you really?" I laughed. "Would anything support you if they know what you're doing?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'll spell it out for you then."
"One day after Bronya Zaychik appeared, I was accosted by a man who hijacked my Homuber ride as I was about to go to Ryoma's house."
Kiana's eyes widened as Bronya's breath hitched.
"Then, I noticed that Bronya Zaychik seemed to pay a lot of attention to Raiden Mei at certain times..."
"So I asked myself... why?
"And the answer was obvious."
"It was because she's a Herrscher, isn't she?"
"You probably wanted Bronya to capture her after her awakening, possibly with a lie that using small scale Honkai devices."
"But truthfully, to fully awaken Mei, you needed something bigger..."
"A Honkai Eruption."
"Isn't that right… Cocolia… Bronya?"
The little girl wasn't even willing to look at me at the moment, preferring to admire the rough texture of the floor.
"Matushka…" Her voice cracked. "Is that… true?"
"Bronya… I…"
"Is Matushka… really going to destroy the entire city for the Herrscherr?"
A sigh came from the phone. "You're too young to understand-"
"Didn't you say this was all for Seele?!! This isn't what she would want!!"
Her shout rang loudly, shocking even me.
I… had never seen Bronya break out like this. And by the looks of it, neither did Kiana.
"In the end, this isn't about Seele anymore is it? It's all about you!"
"All for your plans! Just like when you did those experiments to the others!!"
"In the end-" Bronya's eyes were red. "In the end…"
Her voice came to a small whisper.
"Did you even care about any of us?"
"..."
"..."
From the phone, I swore I could hear a small sniffle from the other side.
I suppose even a person like Cocolia had feelings?
Or perhaps those were crocodile tears.
"Are you happy Gojo Satoru? To turn a mother and daughter against one another." Cocolia questioned suddenly, with a raspiness and anger different from just now.
"Blaming me? Everything now is a consequence of your own doing." I sneered. "Will you still choose to pretend that you didn't do anything wrong, even now?
Ah…
She hung up.
The classic.
I clicked my tongue as I tossed the phone back on that First Herrscherr guy's body. This whole convo sorta ruined my mood.
"That's it for the night then. I guess we're done." I said, but not before I left one more tap with my foot on him.
But as I looked back, I saw Kiana and Bronya unmoving.
Kiana didn't know what to say. She seemed unsure about Bronya now, yet unwilling to confront her considering their friendship.
And Bronya…
I closed my eyes as I let out a sigh.
Walking over to her, Bronya didn't even react before I arrived before her.
"Will Subject Gojo dispose of Bronya now?" Bronya spoke weakly.
"Aren't you going to run or something?"
"The Bronya cannot escape from Subject Gojo. There is no point in resistance. You may do as you wish to the Bronya."
I looked down upon her to see her still looking at her shoes. But her gaze was unfocused, like she had given up at this point.
Seeing this, I let out a sigh as I raised my arms."Subject Gojo. Will you listen to a request?"
"What is it?"
"If it's possible, can you please help save Seele in the future?"
I didn't answer.
At that, Bronya took it as a rejection. She let out a disappointed sigh as she closed her eyes.
"The Bronya's sorry Seele…" she muttered.
"Ah!" Kiana suddenly let out a cry.
The gray haired girl didn't get a chance to understand why as she felt a warm embrace surround her.
Her eyes opened in shock as she looked at me. "...Subject… Gojo?"
"If you're sorry for Seele, then you gotta rescue her yourself." I let out a breath. "There's still a longer way ahead, after all."
Inside, I grimaced slightly. My actions were done on the spur of the moment and I fully expected to be pushed away like a pervert immediately.
Yet at this moment, doing this just felt…
Right.
But… in the end, after a few seconds of waiting, she still didn't.
"Why?"
Bronya asked, not understanding my actions.
"The Bronya lied to you. Worked for the enemy. Caused these casualties…"
I let out a deprecating smile. "I guess it's as you said. I'm a bit of a pushover."
That cracked a small smile on her face. "Subject Gojo really is…"
"Hey. Don't test your luck here. You don't get to see me like this often."
"You guys can't just leave me out of things like this!" Kiana suddenly shouted.
With a quick jump, she dove into us for a bone-crushing hug as well.
"Grahhh. Kiana… You're killing both of us here…"
"Shut up Gojo!" Kiana said as she looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I really can't take all this sappy stuff."
'Subject Kiana… do you not mind as well?"
"What's there to mind? You're helping us against Cocolia now aren't you?"
Bronya was briefly taken aback, but she quickly recovered.
"Still…"
"I'm sorry…"
"Kiana"
"Gojo"
For the first time in a long time. Bronya felt the warmth of home once more.
(A/N: And that wraps up Bronya's arc for now. We'll go into Mei's arc next.
I'll try to do a powerstone for chapter thing now. I gotta be a bit more conservative though so that I don't get burnout while writing.
So every 900 powerstones there will be an extra chapter)