The next day.
Knock, knock, knock!
A loud knocking sound jolted Caelus from his deep sleep.
"Who is it?"
The young man, currently embodying the spirit of a burrowing caterpillar, struggled mightily against the blanket's seal. His wolf-grey hair was a tangled mess from friction with the pillow as Caelus groggily forced his eyes open.
He'd spent half the night fighting. In the dreamscape guided by the learning chip, he'd been knocked down countless times by virtual enemies, even pinned underfoot by Dark Seele, clad in black stockings.
It was simply unbearable!
Caelus had actually resorted to biting down hard, finally leaving his mark on her, only to have his head... his other head... promptly lopped off by her scythe.
Death within the learning chip's dreamscape wasn't real death, but it certainly drained one's energy.
If Caelus hadn't died even once in that dream battlefield, then even after a whole night consumed by training and relentless combat, he would have woken up the next day feeling completely refreshed and brimming with energy.
"So early?"
He listlessly lit up his phone screen, only to discover it was just past 6 AM.
"Caelus, it's me! Your dear big sister Stelle!"
The familiar voice drifted from outside the door, yet it was deliberately hushed, carrying an unmistakable hint of guilty conscience, like a thief caught red-handed.
Hm? What's going on?
Caelus wore a completely baffled expression.
Given Stelle's usual personality, wasn't she the type who needed to be practically dragged out of bed around eight or nine o'clock?
She was actually awake just past 6 AM?
Could she possibly have hit her head during the earlier battles?
And what was with that secretive, hushed tone? Caelus narrowed his eyes slightly, rolled over in bed, and remotely unlocked the door.
The instant the door swung open, a sneaky figure darted inside.
The grey-haired girl wasn't wearing her usual coat. Her upper body was clad in a simple white T-shirt, and a skirt hung loosely around her lower half.
She first peeked out cautiously, hands gripping the doorframe, scanning the hallway as if scouting for unseen dangers. Only after confirming the corridor was empty did she quickly and silently shut the door, lock it – all in one fluid, practiced motion.
Completely bewildered by Stelle's strange maneuvers, Caelus, still lounging in bed, rolled over again.
"What on earth are you up to?"
Watching Stelle approach, Caelus's gaze turned distinctly peculiar.
Stelle walked from the doorway, her pretty face slightly flushed. She tiptoed forward in tiny, hesitant steps, her hands nervously pressing down on the hem of her skirt, resembling nothing so much as a shy, timid girl.
"Why are you acting like such a damsel?"
"None of your business~!"
Stelle retorted instinctively, but then, seemingly remembering her purpose for being there, her tone softened fractionally. She put on a fawning, eager-to-please smile, scratching her head with a touch of embarrassment.
"Caelus, buddy… do you happen to have any spare… uh… underwear here?"
"Huh?"
Caelus, still wriggling within his blanket cocoon, was utterly caught off guard by Stelle's question, frozen like a prairie dog startled out on the vast plains.
"Underwear? You're asking me for underwear?"
Caelus surveyed the fidgeting and bashful Stellaron host standing before him, his expression suddenly turning very strange indeed.
Wait a minute!
Recalling his 'little brother's' loyal and insistent advice from the previous night, its 'banner raised high,' and then considering the intimate connection between his own body and Stelle's, last night she must have…
As his thoughts rapidly coalesced into a clear, logical sequence, Caelus's expression became progressively more animated. His gaze swept around before suddenly sharpening with realization.
"Halt! Audacious demon! How could my dear, precious Stelle possibly display such coy, girlish behavior!"
Wrapping the blanket around himself like a voluminous cape, Caelus adopted the imposing air of a righteous cultivator preparing to exorcise evil spirits, scolding her from his elevated position on the bed.
Stelle was indeed stunned momentarily, frozen in place by his righteous pronouncement, which echoed like an unexpected clap of spring thunder.
"Quickly now, reveal your true form— Holy crap!"
Seizing the opportune moment, Caelus leaped dramatically off the bed and, with lightning-fast speed, grabbed the edge of Stelle's skirt, yanking it sharply upwards.
He was then rendered completely speechless by the sight that greeted him!
Stelle's initial shock quickly morphed into furious embarrassment. She let out a roar worthy of a wrathful demon:
"Caelus! Buddy!"
She immediately lunged, grabbing the edges of the blanket near Caelus's shoulders, and yanked them forcefully together, instantly transforming his makeshift 'cape' into a binding cocoon.
Tossing the now caterpillar-like Caelus onto the bed, Stelle swiftly pounced, pinning him down with a strength he found impossible to resist.
She clamped her small, fair hands tightly over his mouth, inadvertently covering his nose in her frantic state, looking for all the world like she was about to silence him permanently.
However, Stelle, even as she held Caelus down, soon became aware that her own breathing was becoming labored. There was an odd pressure around her mouth; it didn't prevent her from speaking, but it felt distinctly uncomfortable.
Just as she considered loosening her grip—
"Don't you f***ing move!"
Caelus's voice suddenly shot up several octaves, like a cat unexpectedly zapped with electricity. His eyes were wide with horror as he stared up at Stelle, who was straddling him with her legs apart.
The empathy link worked both ways.
It was rather embarrassing to dwell on, but last night's bath had perhaps gotten a little… overly thorough. So much so that Seele, later on, while White Seele was sound asleep, had indulged in a tiny bit of 'kneading technique' practice. Ahem, just a little, truly, only a little!
After all, she had been terrified that her body's reactions might wake White Seele.
Now, with Stelle sitting on the blanket, Caelus's struggles caused the fabric surface beneath her to shift and ripple. In that very moment, the sensation Caelus was experiencing was almost identical to what Seele had felt the previous night.
Stelle's breathing also grew slightly ragged. She too registered the strange sensation, but for her, it primarily manifested as waves of indescribable shame crashing down upon her.
Who could possibly understand this?
Last night, she'd had an incredibly weird and chaotic dream.
Parts of it involved her becoming Seele while taking a bath, though the bathing method itself felt… rather unconventional. There was also a segment where she fought against a version of Seele dressed in black. And… other things…
The end result? She'd woken up this morning to a distinctly damp, sticky feeling!
Stelle felt exactly like a sixth-grade girl experiencing her first period – utterly panicked.
In her panic, she had outright destroyed the underwear!
Only moments later did she belatedly realize that she apparently owned only that single set of clothes.
Regret washed over her instantly, but as they say, there's no medicine for regret in this world. Regardless, the immediate priority was clear: find a pair of underwear to wear!
Although Caelus didn't know the precise, intricate details, relying purely on the unspoken, mutual understanding between them, he managed to piece together the cause and effect of the situation with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy.
"Look, I honestly don't mind you wearing my underwear," Caelus said, "but why on earth would you think that I, who is basically always with you, would possess a second set of clothes?"
These logical words made Stelle, who was in the process of getting off Caelus, freeze abruptly. She blinked slowly. "Oh… right…"
"Also," Caelus continued, "why didn't you just go find March 7th?"
"Oh, right! Why didn't I go find March 7th?" Stelle's eyes widened, as if suddenly waking from a long dream.
Indeed, even amongst the closest of siblings, borrowing underwear… wouldn't it have been far more appropriate to ask March 7th, who was also a girl?
But as a 'newborn' entity, barely a year into existence, the embarrassing situation had truly flustered Stelle. And when flustered, people often revert to their most basic instincts.
She might have briefly considered other options; names of potential helpers likely flashed through her mind, including the ever-lively March 7th and the gentle, reliable Himeko. But asking anyone about such a private matter felt incredibly awkward! It was only when the 'Caelus' option surfaced that Stelle's subconscious seemed to bypass the usual sense of taboo surrounding personal and private affairs.
Although, being seen by Caelus in this state still made her feel like she might spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment!
"Sigh… alright, alright. I guess it falls to your big brother to sort this out," Caelus lamented, sighing dramatically as if burdened by a mischievous younger sister. He carefully draped the bedsheet over Stelle's shoulders. "Stay put right here. I'll go borrow some underwear for you."
"Okay."
Remarkably, for once, she didn't argue with Caelus calling himself her brother. Sitting on the bed 'duck-style' (knees bent, feet splayed out), Stelle blinked, her blank expression suggesting she was lost deep in thought, pondering some complex issue.
Her train of thought was swiftly derailed, however, because Caelus, having shed the sheet, now stood before her bare-chested, clad only in his briefs.
Caelus stood up fully from the bed. This simple movement placed him and Stelle in a rather… delicate proximity. Two faint, rosy blushes bloomed on Stelle's pretty face.
No, no, I'm the older sister here! Hypnotizing herself with this mantra, Stelle quickly shook off her fleeting shyness. A distinctly mischievous, almost wicked grin spread across her face as she reached out a finger and playfully poked the defined abs on Caelus's lower stomach.
"Not bad, little bro~! Quite the physique you've got there!" Stelle's fair, slender fingers traced the lines separating Caelus's abdominal muscles. "Be a good boy now! Let your big sis have a proper look~!"
Mischievous? Caelus shot the Stellaron host, who was now gleefully revealing her true, impish nature, a look dripping with disdain. He let out a soft, dismissive scoff… and then, with perfect obedience, smoothly pulled down his underwear.
Stelle: "!!!"
Stelle: "!!!!!!!!!!"
Her pretty face flushed crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye, the intense blush spreading rapidly all the way to the delicate tips of her ears. Her face, now the color of a vibrant sunset cloud, stared fixedly at Caelus in utter, stupefied disbelief.
"At your current level? You've still got a long, long way to go," Caelus declared coolly. Utterly ignoring Stelle's shocked, almost horrified gaze, Caelus, having effectively 'one-shotted' the Stellaron host with his audacious move, calmly picked up his trousers and began to get dressed.
Even by the time he had finished pulling on the trousers borrowed from Dan Heng and shrugged on his signature Trailblazer coat before walking out the door, Stelle remained frozen in that same dumbfounded, wide-eyed state, apparently still struggling to process the sheer audacity of what had just occurred.
"Un-underwear?"
March 7th, who had been abruptly roused from her slumber by Caelus's knocking, became instantly wide awake the moment she processed those two words, her small face immediately flushing a bright red.
"Hey, don't misunderstand," Caelus quickly clarified, "it's not for me. Stelle needs them. Hers… uh… got accidentally snagged and torn somehow. She can't really come out right now, so she asked me to come and borrow a set from you." Caelus casually spun a flawless, seemingly watertight excuse.
"Oh, oh!" Ah, Stelle needs them! Okay, that made sense. No problem then.
March 7th turned around and rummaged through her things, finding a brand-new set of pink and blue underwear. She was about to hand the small bag to Caelus but suddenly hesitated, feeling it was perhaps a tad inappropriate to just give such private articles of clothing directly to him.
"Um, maybe I should just take it to her," March 7th suggested, subtly hiding the underwear bag behind her back. She happened to be wearing the exact same style herself at that moment; it would be mortifyingly embarrassing if Caelus noticed.
"Sure thing, thanks for the trouble, March." Caelus certainly wasn't about to refuse the offer of a free delivery service.
"Wait," Caelus called out, raising a hand to stop March 7th as she started walking towards the room next door.
"Hm? What is it?" March turned back, confused.
"Stelle's in my room right now," Caelus stated calmly, his tone utterly casual.
"Oh… Huh!?" March 7th nodded absently, instinctively beginning to alter her direction towards Caelus's room, but then froze abruptly mid-step the very next second. Her eyes widened dramatically as she stared at Caelus, her expression morphing into something incredibly strange and suspicious.
"In your room?" Why on Aetherium Wars Prime would Stelle, whose underwear supposedly just got torn, be hanging out in YOUR room?
Her mind instantly flashed back to everything Caelus had mentioned about their unique, shared connection. It became extremely difficult for March 7th not to let her imagination run wild. Could it be… could they actually be…
A complex whirlwind of emotions – shock, horror, utter confusion, mingling strangely with a hesitant feeling of 'wait, should I be offering congratulations?' – played out vividly across her face. March 7th proceeded towards Caelus's room, but kept glancing back at him every few steps, her mind racing.
Upon entering Caelus's room and seeing the scene within – Stelle sitting primly on the bed, completely enveloped in Caelus's blanket, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson, wearing an unmistakably shy expression – March 7th fell into a profound, wordless silence.
She had discovered the truth!
Later, after disembarking from the Express and walking along the platform of the Herta Space Station, Caelus couldn't help but notice how unusually quiet March 7th was acting today. Whenever he tried to ask her about it, his questions were met only with flustered, evasive reactions and complicated, unreadable glances.
Whatever, forget about her! Caelus decided, giving up. He nudged Stelle beside him gently with his elbow. "Alright, Stelle, listen up! We've got a serious and vital mission ahead of us now!"
Stelle, feeling fresh and comfortable in her newly acquired underwear, turned her head in surprise, a quizzical look on her face, clearly wondering what sort of crazy stunt her 'little bro' was plotting this time.
But then she saw the distinct, determined glint sparkling in Caelus's eyes. Stelle's expression immediately turned serious as well. She nodded solemnly, then reached out her hand, stacking it firmly on top of Caelus's outstretched hand. Together, they issued their unified, solemn declaration:
"We'll search every last corner!"
"We absolutely, positively will not let a single treasure chest anywhere on this Space Station escape our grasp!"
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I have a little challenge for you! For every 100 POWER STONES, I'll release ONE EXTRA CHAPTER!
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