It was another long day for Welt. After the attack from Anti-Entropy, classes were canceled while the invasion was investigated.
Which for Welt, meant he and the other teachers were personally questioned by Principal Theresa herself.
As the head of Anti-Entropy, and someone who Theresa had met during the Second Eruption, he should have been the top suspect. However, he already knew that for whatever reason, she didn't remember him from back then.
He wouldn't have been able to join the school staff if she did.
He didn't know why she seemed to forget all about him, but he suspected Otto had something to do with it. Stuff like this was usually Otto's work.
However, he had decided to make the most of the poor situation to hide right under Otto's nose, and it was still paying off now.
Welt could tell that Theresa was a tad too preoccupied with her own thoughts during their discussion, which was good, since his 'alibi' was taking a stroll in the woods to dispose of a body.
He suspected Theresa's wayward thoughts were focused on the deal she had made with Einstein. Having her entire world spun on its head would do that.
But it was important that she knew the truth, so that when the day came for her to make a choice, she'd make the right one.
For now, he would comply as a teacher, and do his best to make this investigation easier on her.
After all, he and she both knew that this entire 'investigation' was just a formality. She already knew that Anti-Entropy was responsible.
"Madam Theresa, if I may, you look like you could use a break." She must not have gotten much sleep after learning the truth behind Project Sirin, and of her niece Kiana.
"Thank you Joachim, but I'm fine. I need to get through these investigations first." He had used his old name Joachim for his fake identity as a teacher. After all, even if Theresa didn't remember him, it was a bad idea to introduce himself as Welt. Theresa kept on going.
"Then I need to contact the construction company for repairs, then grade some papers for Himeko in her absence." Ah, yes, that was the second reason he used the name Joachim.
Murata Himeko would personally remember the name Welt after the events with her father. He shook himself out of those memories and realized the rest of Theresa's words.
"I think that's all the more reason you should take a break. Nobody can keep working for that long non-stop. They'd only suffer if they tried." Welt reasoned with her.
"I know, but these have to get done sooner rather than later." Theresa was being stubborn again. Welt sighed before standing up. She pushed him to this.
"Madam Theresa, if you persist in this, I will have no choice but to get the staff to strike until you do. They all would agree with me, I'm sure."
"Ha! That'd mean I'd be the only one doing work, which is contrary to your goal! I'm calling your bluff!" Damn, she saw through that.
Even in her exhausted and distracted state, she was still the head of Schicksal's Far East Branch.
Luckily he had another more feasible back up.
"Then what if I were to confiscate your manga? I'm sure that there are several people in this school who wouldn't take kindly to the material in them, not least among them the Class Monitor Fu Hua." He pushed his glasses up his face as he spoke, almost certain that the act would make them seem to glow from the sun's glare.
"Gh!" She was caught. He could see on her face the confusion and shock that he knew about her manga.
It was rather simple, as the Herrscher of Reason he prided himself on being able to analyze a situation and deconstruct it, just as he could reconstruct any material with the authority of Reason itself.
Plus, her secret technique of tearing up her manga if it was at risk of discovery was rather inefficient, as the scraps left over could still be read.
"How did you-? No, I mean, whatever could you be talking about, Mr. Joachim?" She spoke calmly as if she hadn't just yelled out in surprise, folding her hands together on her desk.
He simply stared at her with a deadpan look on his face.
"Ok, fine! I'll take a break! Are you happy now? But if we fall behind, then it's your responsibility, got it?" She finally gave in.
"That's alright with me. Your health is far more important than your work, don't forget that."
"I know, I know." She got up and began walking towards the door, all the while muttering. "Now I need to move my manga's hiding spot as well."
Once she reached the door she paused, and stood there for a moment in silence.
Welt was about to ask if she needed something when she spoke up.
"Hey, Joachim?"
"Yes, Madam Theresa?" He responded.
"This… may be a weird thing to ask, but what would you do if, say… you met someone you thought you recognized, but it wasn't actually them?" Ah, he realized what she was talking about.
After all, she had just discovered that the Kiana Kaslana that she took into her school was not actually her niece. She had truly believed that a clone was the same Kiana Kaslana she once knew.
This question hit a little close to home for him, though. After all, just the other night he had to dispose of a corpse of someone wearing the face of his hero. On various occasions before that he had to go and personally kill other clones that tried to lay claim to the name Welt Joyce.
She had phrased the question rather vaguely, but he knew that she needed a rather decisive answer. But he couldn't go and answer in a way that made her realize he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"I believe you're referring to the déjà vu effect." At her confused glance, he clarified. "When you believe you recognize someone but in truth they aren't the same, that is déjà vu in effect." He had spent a fair amount of time earlier that day trying to find out how he recognized KIANA, so he would know.
Of course, he also knew that the déjà vu effect didn't apply in Theresa's scenario, since Kiana was identical to her gene donor, but he wasn't supposed to know that.
With his excuse in place, he then answered what she was actually asking. "In such a scenario, you should attempt to differentiate the two you're comparing. If you allow one to overlap the other, then you're only going to suffer."
He had to differentiate the clones from the true Welt Joyce, for the sake of his own sanity. Watching someone wear his face and act in such a vile manner was bad enough, but if he allowed himself to think they were Joyce then he would be actively disgracing the memory of his hero.
In that same way, Theresa had to differentiate the Kiana Kaslana that attended her school now from the Kiana Kaslana that she held as a baby. Luckily that would be smoother than with Joyce, since while her grades were poor and her demeanor could use some discipline, Kiana the clone had yet to do anything to disgrace the memory of Kiana the original.
He hoped that his few words were enough to convince Theresa. He'd say more to help, but he couldn't risk revealing that he knew too much.
She remained silent, still taking in his words, before she spoke.
"Thank you, Joachim. I know it was an odd question, but I think that you might've helped a little."
"Don't worry about it, Madam Theresa. As I said, your health is important, and I can see that the question means more to you than I might know. Have a pleasant break." With that farewell, Theresa left.
Welt got up to leave himself, having no reason to stick around. He had successfully helped Theresa out while also ending his interrogation early, even if he doubted Theresa would suspect him.
As he walked out into the hallway and closed the door, he turned to suddenly have someone run right into him.
As he regained his footing he turned to face the one who ran into him.
"Ms. Kaslana, are you ok? In the future, please watch where you're-" He froze as he turned to face her, for a moment seeing an indigo dress with yellow eyes.
But the mirage faded, the long dress turning back into the white school uniform, and the long hair turning back into twin braids.
Blue eyes stared up at him, rather than the yellow from the other night.
"Yeah, I'm ok. Sorry about that!" Kiana Kaslana scratched the back of her head as she spoke.
"*Ahem* Yes, well, please try to watch where you're going in the future." He shook himself out of his thoughts as he spoke, though Kiana had already run off again.
He sighed, before turning his gaze to where she had been standing before.
'Déjà vu indeed…'
Theresa decided to spend her impromptu break out in the city.
She appreciated the effort from Joachim to get her out of the office, but the work was hardly the thing dragging her mood down.
It was the discussion she had with Anti-Entropy beneath the school.
They had told her the truth of Project Sirin, and of Kiana Kaslana.
She was grateful to Joachim for his words though, they helped her more than he might have thought.
She had to learn to differentiate the Kiana she once knew and the Kiana she now knew. But how was she supposed to look at Kiana and see anything but Cecilia's girl?
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the person in front of her until she had already bumped into them.
"Ah." A remarkably deadpan voice said despite being nearly toppled.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going." Theresa looked up to see who she almost bumped into. She was actually surprised they weren't knocked down. She may have been small but she was still pretty strong.
She froze when she looked up into the person.
She was back underneath the school, staring at the faces in the capsules, as Dr. Einstein made her an offer she couldn't refuse.
She was staring at the face of her niece.
She shut her eyes instantly, thinking back to what Joachim told her.
'It's just déjà vu. It's just déjà vu. This is exactly what Joachim was talking about.' When she looked up again she winced as she realized that wow she still looks like Kiana.
She forced herself to notice the differences that were becoming apparent, the eyes for one were yellow instead of blue, and her hair was a lot longer.
And her face…
It was odd. Or rather, the opposite of odd, Theresa realized. It was in a neutral position as if she didn't know what emotion to display.
Kiana would never have a face like that, she always looked exactly how she felt.
"Are you okay?" Oh, the lookalike was talking.
'No, not lookalike, differentiate them, just like Joachim said.' She scolded herself.
"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that, I've just had a busy day."
"That's fine. Are you lost?" Lost? Why would she be lost?
Oh, wait.
"I may look like one, but I'm not a kid, you know." Theresa spoke, knowing her suspicion was confirmed the moment the woman recoiled in shock.
"You're not?" The girl then started muttering to herself. "Have I been mistaken this whole time? How many kids have I met weren't actually kids?" Oh dear, now it seemed Theresa accidentally gave her a crisis.
"Don't worry, I'm kind of a special case. You don't need to worry about it that much." Theresa assured her, trying desperately not to think how similar the girl's confused face looked to Kiana whenever she was trying to solve a problem in class.
"I see." The girl responded, and the two sat in silence for a bit. At least until the woman spoke again. "Then good day."
The woman who looked so much like Kiana then just turned abruptly and walked away.
"Ah, wait!" Theresa couldn't help but call out.
"Hm?" The white haired girl looked back at Theresa curiously. "Did you need something?"
"Ah, no, sorry." Stupid, stupid! How could she go and ask this stranger why she looked so much like Theresa's niece? "It's nothing."
"I see…" The girl repeated, trailing off this time, before she turned and continued walking away.
Theresa found herself at odds with herself. Joachim had said to try and treat them separately, right? As though there was no connection? He probably hadn't actually said that and she was filling in blanks that didn't exist, but who cares?!
'I'm sorry Joachim, but I can't let this go unanswered.' She thought to herself, preparing to follow the girl who looked so similar to her niece.
She froze, realizing what she had been about to do.
'Am I really going to go around stalking a girl just because she looks familiar?' She thought to herself.
She was a teacher, for crying out loud! She was supposed to be someone that her students could trust if they felt unsafe, not someone who made them feel unsafe!
She stared at the retreating head of white, remembering Joachim's words.
She just had to let it go.
However, she also couldn't forget the faces of the clones under the school, and how closely they resembled her niece. She also remembered that they all looked like the stranger she just ran into.
Which was how she found herself sitting at an outdoor café, staring at the girl who was sitting a couple tables away.
Cecilia would be ashamed of her. Grandpa Otto… would actually probably be proud of her. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.
Of course, she wasn't so dumb as to go out stalking in the same getup she first met the girl in. No, she had made a stop to get some sunglasses, the premiere disguise! It wasn't that expensive, so nobody ought to notice the missing dollars from St. Freya's budget.
Of course, so far her investigation had yet to yield any fruit. Which made sense, the girl was just eating at a café. Nothing suspicious about that.
Of course, Theresa had to do a double take when the girl finished her small meal, thanked the waiter, and left. Without paying. And the waiter just let her go! Had Theresa somehow missed the payment? Or was there something else going on?
She got up to follow the girl at a distance, keeping a magazine in front of her for maximum inconspicuousness.
From the café, the girl kept walking down the street. She clearly had a destination in mind. Perhaps a secret hideout? Luckily, she didn't try to take detours or do anything to shake off followers, so she likely hadn't noticed Theresa yet. She just kept walking down the street.
In fact, she was walking for quite a while. If Theresa weren't a Valkyrie, she'd probably be getting tired by now. They were reaching the city limits. Was her secret hideout at the edge of the city? Theresa supposed that made sense. Best to keep it on the opposite end of the city than the Valkyrie school St. Freya.
Of course that meant Theresa had followed her across the entire city by now, and the girl had yet to show any suspicious signs.
Theresa was almost tempted to give up when the girl suddenly turned into an alleyway. This was it! Her secret hideout! Either that or she had finally noticed Theresa and was trying to lose her, but Theresa could hope!
She waited a moment to let the girl enter the alley before peeking in.
The girl was standing in the middle of the alley, and she wasn't alone.
Two men had surrounded her.
"Look at the little lost girl, all on her own in the scary alleyway. Didn't your parents ever teach you not to walk around alleys on your own?" Dammit, a mugging! Of all the cliché scenarios to happen! Theresa prepared to jump in and help her out, even if it meant discarding her cover.
However, the girl seemed remarkably unfazed by the muggers.
"I don't have parents." She said bluntly.
"Aw, too bad. Then I guess that means you've got no one to blame but yourself." The muggers had yet to notice how calm she was being about this. Did the girl have something up her sleeve?
Theresa stayed her hand for the moment, but swore that the moment they tried something she'd step in. She would not allow someone to be harmed because of her negligence.
"No, I'm pretty sure I can blame you." The girl said, freezing Theresa as well as the muggers. Had she really just said that? Theresa knew then that she had to have something up her sleeve.
"Are you making fun of us? How about you hand over all your money, and I might consider letting you go without a scratch."
"I don't have any money." She said calmly.
She then began continuing her walk, moving past the mugger. They seemed almost too stunned to stop her. Theresa would relate, but these were muggers. She swore to herself as she realized that the girl moving further away meant that Theresa wouldn't be able to reach her in time if the muggers attacked her.
"You really are mocking us! Stupid bitch!" As he spoke, the mugger closest to the girl threw a punch at her.
Theresa's eyes widened as she began to leap into the alleyway. The girl was too far though, she wouldn't make it!
She silently hoped that the girl had something up her sleeve after all.
*Thwack!* No such luck, as the punch landed clean onto the girl's face.
A pause.
Another moment passed.
There was no reaction from her, even though the punch was thrown rather fast. Had he somehow missed? Or was the girl not the type to show pain?
Then the girl suddenly fell back.
No, Theresa could tell. She wasn't a Schicksal Branch leader for nothing. The girl had purposely fell back, taking steps backwards until her back met the wall.
"Ow." She then said after another delay, with no sign of pain.
Theresa could only stare baffled.
KIANA admittedly was not the best actor. She failed the idol audition for a reason.
She was also ashamed that she hadn't noticed that the kid-who-was-not-actually-a-kid had been following her until she had left the café. The little girl had likely noticed her leave without paying, even if she couldn't have known that KIANA had used Shade of Finality: Sentience to do so.
Her plan from there had been to keep walking so that the girl eventually gave up on her stalking, walking across the city in the process. However, that hadn't worked. The stalker was more determined than she had thought.
From there, she walked into a random alley and prepared to use Shade of Finality: Void, to warp away before the stalker noticed.
Then she got mugged, and her plans had to change.
She couldn't use Shade of Finality: Sentience to make the muggers give up, as easy as it would have been. The stalker had already likely seen her use it once, and would be keeping an eye out for another instance of it.
She also couldn't use the power of Sentience on the stalker herself, as she kept too far of a distance for it to work. KIANA was only used to using it on people right in front of her.
So her only hope was to go along with the mugging and hope they left her alone once they realized she didn't have any money.
Then he punched her.
A really, really weak punch.
It was there that she had to use her limited acting skills to try and fool her muggers and her stalker.
She knew instantly that she failed on both accounts.
Once she realized her plan failed, she instantly got up and continued walking, hoping they were stunned enough by her acting to let her go.
"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?" Damn, no such luck.
She turned back to the muggers, who had now each pulled out a knife.
That wasn't good, she didn't know what would happen if she let them hit her with that. Normally humans bleed when cut, but she wasn't sure if she did or not. Of course, if she simply kept her guard up the knives would just bounce right off of her, but if having a cut that didn't bleed made the stalker suspicious, then that would definitely make the stalker even more suspicious.
Plan C, then.
She reached her hand into her jacket's empty pocket, all the while mentally reaching into that ever familiar place.
Shade of Finality: Reason
She pulled a gun out of her pocket and aimed it at the muggers.
The reaction was instantaneous.
"Woah, woah, woah!" They raised their hands up and dropped their knives.
Of course, it wasn't an actual gun. The power of Reason required a very in depth understanding of whatever was made, which she just didn't have.
She did however know what a gun looked like, and this was enough to create a shell in its image with the power of Reason.
She looked between the would be muggers for a moment before putting the fake gun back in her pocket and walking away.
"Good day."
She walked out of the alleyway and continued on her way.
She didn't get far before she heard someone call out behind her.
"Wait!" Oh, it was the stalker. Though it'd be best if she didn't reveal she knew she was being stalked.
"Oh, you're the one from before. The not-a-kid." She said calmly.
"Y-Yeah, that's me. My name's Theresa. I-I-'m…" She seemed to be struggling to get her words out. "I'm sorry!" She yelled out.
KIANA had a good idea what she was sorry about, but she was still acting like she had no idea this Theresa had been stalking her, so she asked,
"Whatever for?"
"I-I saw you back there, with those muggers. I stood back and didn't do anything. I'm sorry." Theresa lowered her head in shame. "I'm supposed to be a Valkyrie, but I stood back and let you stay in danger out of a stupid suspicion." Ah, so this was a Valkyrie, the thing KIANA herself had been mistaken for on numerous occasions.
"That's ok. I had that matter handled." KIANA replied simply.
"Uh, yeah. I noticed." Theresa sweatdropped. She shook her head. "But I had no idea about that and I still just sat back. I should have jumped in the moment those two threatened you. I just got back from handing those two over to the cops. My word will be enough as a witness to make sure they get properly shown the law." KIANA was busy thinking to herself that this girl could talk a lot.
"That's that, then."
"Huh?" Theresa seemed confused despite how simple her statement was.
"If I am okay and the perpetrators have been handled properly, then the matter is settled, and there is nothing more to say about it." She seemed to be making a big deal of an already resolved situation.
"No! That's not it! I-I…" Oh, now Theresa was struggling to talk again. "I was following you around!" She confessed.
KIANA didn't speak for a few moments, seemingly mulling it over.
"That matter is over now too." She answered simply again.
"What?!" Theresa seemed even more shocked. "B-But I invaded your privacy and s-stalked you!"
"And now here you are, confessing to it, while I am still unharmed. You realized the error of your ways and sought to correct it. To me, that means the matter is settled." KIANA replied as simply as ever.
Sure, it was a slight inconvenience, but none of her secrets had been exposed. Otherwise Theresa would not be acting this way.
"I-I-" This again? How often did this happen with her? "Oh, forget it. Are you a clone?!" Theresa blurted out.
She froze as the words left her lips, realizing what she just asked. "Er, I mean, nevermind. Please forget that."
KIANA, of course, did not forget it. Theresa had thought she was a clone? KIANA thought that Theresa suspected her identity as a Herrscher, but instead it was something way off.
"I'm not a clone. I'm just me." She answered truthfully. She hadn't been expecting Theresa to have suspected her for the wrong reason. "Why should anything like that matter?" She asked.
Granted, given how Theresa had clammed up after asking her question, KIANA didn't expect an answer. But still, she couldn't help but wonder why focus so much on clones?
Theresa stood there for a moment, staring at KIANA and thinking over her words. She looked down at the ground, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"Yeah, I guess it shouldn't matter." Theresa muttered to herself.
KIANA stared at the girl who seemed to reach some kind of epiphany, before shrugging and turning to walk away.
"Ah, wait a minute!" Oh, Theresa still wasn't done. She seemed to always wait for KIANA to try leaving before speaking. "I know that you only used it to scare off those muggers, but are you licensed to carry that gun?"
Oh, she wasn't. Whoops. Luckily, she had a back up plan.
Tell the truth.
"This gun?" As she spoke, she reached into her pocket and rematerialized the gun, pulling it out as though she'd simply kept it in her pocket. "It's fake." As she said it, she snapped the gun in half to reveal the hollow insides. "I just used it to scare them off."
"A-Ah, I see. That's good I guess. Though I am worried why you'd have to walk around with a fake gun, I suppose you've dealt with this situation before?" Theresa asked.
KIANA decided Theresa didn't need to know that this was both her first mugging and that she had only just made the gun just now.
"Yeah, sure." She said instead.
"Be sure to stay safe in the future. And, sorry again for uh, stalking you." Theresa blushed more as she said her farewells, likely still feeling guilty over her actions.
She turned and left with her head down.
KIANA just stared as she left, thinking over her time here in Sapphire.
Between two Herrschers appearing, along with a Pretender with Herrscher-like powers that was apparently a clone of someone else, then being stalked by a little girl who was not actually a kid, who thought that she was a clone.
KIANA came to a conclusion. This city was crazy.
Theresa stepped into her office and slumped down into her chair. Her 'break' had turned out more exhausting than she had expected, and she was sure she'd have trouble sleeping that night due to the guilt.
However, she also felt relieved. She had found her answer.
Not the answer to why that girl looked like Kiana, no. In fact, she was sort of glad she didn't find that out, ashamed of the lengths she had stooped to trying to find out.
Rather, she had found that it didn't matter why she looked like Kiana. More importantly, it didn't matter that Kiana herself was just a clone.
Joachim was right. She just needed to keep the two different Kianas from overlapping. It didn't matter that one was a clone of the other. Kiana was still the daughter of Cecilia, she was still Theresa's niece and student.
She couldn't look at Kiana and think back to the days when she held Kiana as a baby, and those days when Cecilia was still around. Instead she just had to focus on the Kiana in front of her.
The Kiana in front of her…
"Kiana, what are you doing in my office?"
The girl in question visibly recoiled from where she had been hiding, on the opposite end of the room trying to act like she was part of the bookshelf.
"Ah! Aunt Teri! You know, I was just… making sure the office was safe while you were gone! Yeah!" She nodded to herself as she spoke, as if she was trying to convince herself of that lie too.
"Any particular reason the place you're keeping watch over is under the cabinet your grades are in?"
"Wait, they're in the cabinet? I coulda sworn you put them here…" Kiana trailed off as she realized she had been caught in Theresa's trap. "Ah ha ha ha. Yeah, I'm just… doing guard duty! You know, practicing Valkyrie work." She laughed awkwardly, not keeping eye contact with Theresa.
"Detention."
"Aw, c'mon! I didn't even find the papers yet!" Kiana protested.
"Entering a staff-only room without permission is also against the rules, Kiana." Theresa shut down that protest easily.
As Kiana left the room, grumbling all the while, Theresa couldn't help but smile. Kiana was Kiana, that wouldn't change. And she wouldn't let her nature as a clone change her view of her. Theresa was a clone herself after all, even if to a long dead woman. It'd be hypocritical if she treated Kiana differently because of that.
She only wished it hadn't taken her stooping to stalking a girl to realize it.
That girl…
Now that she thought about it, she never even got that girl's name.