Amidst players' discussions about Otto,
the story continued—
transitioning into an animated segment.
Salt Lake Base, Seele's room.
6:00 AM. The alarm clock rings.
The camera pans to a close-up of Seele's sleeping face.
That peaceful and adorable sleeping face CG made the real-world "Seele" lean closer toward her in-game counterpart, even scooting up to the screen for a better look.
Which earned her a few puzzled glances from Seele.
"'Seele'?"
"I'm fine, just keep watching."
She then hastily added a suspicious-sounding excuse:
"I just couldn't see the subtitles from farther away, so I leaned in a bit. Don't overthink it."
"...Oh, I see."
At that moment, Black Seele's voice came from the game.
"Hey, wake up. It's morning. Seele, Seele!"
Black Seele was trying to wake sleeping Seele.
But... no matter how much she called, Seele wouldn't wake up.
"Sigh, seriously."
She let out a doting sigh:
"Hey, Seele, open your eyes."
Then, Black Seele mischievously used her powers to summon a caterpillar from a branch outside the window, placing it beside Seele's pillow.
So, when Seele opened her eyes—
the first thing she saw was a caterpillar right in front of her.
"KYAA!!!"
She let out an ear-piercing scream and snapped fully awake.
With that, the animated cutscene ended.
The screen returned to Salt Lake Base.
Seele looked dejected:
"Uuu..."
Black Seele, however, was laughing happily:
"Haha, that's the fourth person now asking what that tragic scream was about."
Seele answered weakly:
"It's because... the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a caterpillar by my pillow... you know how much I hate those."
"Hah? And that's my fault?" Black Seele retorted.
"Weren't you the one who vowed last night that you'd get up early to read stories to the kids?"
"Ah, if you really don't want to get up, we could just switch personalities. I could go play with those brats instead. Sounds fun."
"...Better not. Last time you suddenly swapped with me, you scared Ivan into crying."
Though Seele refused, Black Seele didn't take it personally.
In fact, she muttered rather vengefully:
"Serves that brat right for secretly badmouthing you. Just because he whispered doesn't mean I didn't hear him."
"Hm? What did you say?"
Seele had just opened a room door and was distracted, so she didn't catch Black Seele's muttering.
But while Seele missed it—players certainly didn't.
[So protective! Just pamper her already!]
[Both Seele and Mei's second personalities are fiercely protective—so wholesome!]
[I'm melting here. Can't believe the main story gave us this sweet moment so early. Has the writer turned over a new leaf?]
[Maybe it's because of how well-received Dust of Discipline was—they realized that giving us sugar works?]
[Writer, keep it up! +1]
[Writer, keep it up! +2]
This kind of affection from Black Seele—
such overt protectiveness, not even letting children badmouth Seele—
was just too sweet.
Players were overwhelmed with sugar, grinning uncontrollably like doting aunties.
Yes, yes, more of this! The sweeter the better!
"Kyaa~!"
Even Elysia, who had zero resistance to this kind of content, got excited like the players.
"This is too sweet! As expected, cute girls~♪ are simply irresistible~~"
"Mobius, Kalpas, don't you two feel the same way?"
Kalpas: "..."
He felt silence was the best policy in such situations.
Otherwise...
What could he say?
That he wanted to offer them some of the freshly made muffins, donuts, and cheesecake he just baked?
Tch—
Better not.
Mobius, meanwhile, was still herself:
"I'm more interested in Black Seele's ability to create organisms."
"Ehh~~ You're really not feeling the emotional bond between girls~?"
Elysia clearly wasn't satisfied with their responses.
"That's because it's the kind of thing you care about," Mobius replied coolly.
"Don't say it like that~ Mobius, you've got a girlish heart too! I'm sure you understand~?"
"A girlish heart? I didn't even know I had one of those."
"Haha, didn't you just ask Klein for bubble wrap a few days ago?"
Elysia paused and mimicked Mobius's voice:
"Klein~~ is there any bubble wrap left~~?"
Mobius: "..."
She only did that when her research hit a snag and she needed to decompress with bubble wrap.
"E-ly-sia!"
"Aiya."
Elysia chuckled mischievously and finally closed her mouth, refocusing on progressing the main story.
Meanwhile, viewers in the chat commented that interactions between Miss Snake and Miss Pink Elf were incredibly entertaining too.
After that wave of indulgent cuteness between Seele and Black Seele,
Seele entered a room full of children and began telling them a story.
Time passed.
As she was caring for the kids, Seele was called away by Dr. Einstein.
When she entered the room, she overheard Tesla furiously yelling at a Federation senator.
Turns out, during a live speech broadcast, a security mech had suddenly stormed the stage and hurled verbal abuse at the speaker.
Congress had asked Tesla to inspect the mechs and identify the cause.
Tesla and Einstein didn't know the exact details in-game.
They even speculated that Congress might've staged the incident to smear Anti-Entropy—using it as a pretext to interfere with or even take over Kiana's "protection protocols."
But from the omniscient player's perspective, new theories emerged.
Could this rogue mech be connected to a new Herrscher?
After Tesla and Einstein's conversation ended,
Seele spoke with Einstein and received a task to go procure materials for Anti-Entropy's 60th anniversary.
Before she could set out, however, Bronya called her to the base's training room.
There, they began combat training together.
At the start of the training, Black Seele tried to take over to fight, but Seele stopped her.
Seele insisted she wanted to fight on her own.
To enhance player immersion, this part was played manually, with the player controlling Seele during training.
And if the player accidentally let Seele's HP drop past a certain threshold—
a secret dialogue would trigger.
Black Seele: "Hey, you seriously can't handle this, huh? Quit acting tough. Let me take over!"
Seele: "No... I can still keep going."
Black Seele: "Hah? You get hurt, and I'll suffer with you, you know!"
Even though she said that, seeing Seele persist, Black Seele only tossed out a "Fine then, I'm not helping you!"
and let Seele continue on her own.
Despite saying she'd suffer too, she still chose to let Seele have her way.
And just like that—
players felt like they'd been sweetened to death all over again.
One dose of sugar after another—
a full course of sweetness.
Indeed, indulging in sugar is a beautiful thing.
....