Aleph half-expected that he would agree. He knew his friend well. Though there between them, Aleph khat Su would remain himself.

  After all, he was the most sane persohe Previous Era came to an end—someone who still had a trust in humanity despite its bleak future.

  With that over, Su asked him some rather important questions.

  “How are you with Mei?”

  “...It’s a long story.”

  Aleph did the talking this time around. From their entry to Fire MOTH up to their curreionship, he left nothing out. That included the fact that he is going out with four different girls at the same time.

  By the time he finished speaking, Su’s mouth was wide open. Never in a million years did he expect that Aleph would do something like that.

  ‘His childhood friend… Well, I uand why this happened…’

  Su was close enough for Aleph to tell stories regarding his ‘childhood friend’. It was at that instant did he know that the tter would fae kind of trouble due to it. Having two girls who like you, all at the same time only has one ending in the previous society.

  However, it was nothing in the face of an even more ridiculous threat such as the honkai. Coupled with how the iial and powerful men a this world, it became a lot less unreasonable for Aleph to do such a thing.

  heless…

  ‘Doobius… It should’ve beehe woman I met earlier.’

  Su’s thoughts fshed with the people he came across earlier. Amongst them, Mobius stood out the most. After all, she was one of the few people that made everyone around her wary of her.

  ‘His childhood friend, Kurumi, thehere was also a high-level MANTIS on the Western ti…’

  In the end, Su chose not to ent. They are friends, yes, but there are boundaries they must respect.

  All of his previous thoughts was densed in a sentence:

  “You are very strong to do this, Aleph.”

  *****

  Five days had passed sihe seveion. The damages doo each of the cities was irreparable. It was pletely different pared to the previous six major eruptions.

  It was utter destru.

  The Herrscher of Fmes, for example, bombarded the ey with the collision of molecules, thus creating the same rea as a nuclear bomb. Her ability was the total opposite of the Herrscher of Ice. She was able to speed up the movement of molecules, in turing more heat that transted into fmes aually… explosions.

  There was also the Herrscher of Reason who directly structed two nuclear bombs aroyed aire city.

  Their aftermath left Fire MOTH powerless. It was the first time they suffered such heavy losses.

  Even so, it was better pared to the inal future. Aleph’s previous killings of tless honkai beasts saved numerous lives. If it weren’t for him, the casualties would’ve been far more than the sixty-five million recorded casualties.

  It was just that there were still soldiers whose minds were burdened by the millions of deaths.

  ‘Was it a mistake? If I used it firsthand…’

  Hua sat on the er of her bed. For the past five days, she reviewed her battle against the seventh Herrscher.

  ‘That time… It is reasonable. But…’

  That time, she saved up both her Meta-Morph State as well as her other teique, Bde Mantra. She only used ‘Juezhao’ against the fake seventh Herrscher.

  If both of these teiques were fused, along with her Meta-Morph State, it was more than enough to be the decisive blow—ohat kills her enemy i.

  There were two Herrschers at that time. Hua thought that dealing with one of them was imperative, more so when there were civilians behind her back. The thought of not being able to tain the said Herrscher ed her greatly.

  Unfortunately, Ling was too cautious. She directly left moments after appearing in her eyes ohis caused an ht, whided up prolonging the fight between Hua and the fake seventh Herrscher.

  “You must be thinking of something again.”

  Unbeknownst to her, a familiar person appeared in front of her tent. His voice woke her up from her deep thoughts.

  “I am finished dealing with the honkai beasts. The rest that appears ter should be within the trolble range.” Aleph expined. “Are you thinking of yht with that Herrscher?”

  “...Um.”

  A straion emerged from the depths of her heart. Ever since Aleph accepted her feelings, he could always tell what was going on with her. Of course, his didhere.

  He came close to her before bending his knees slightly. His fingers pinched Hua’s cheeks. Her eyes widened in shame as a result.

  “How many times will I tell you? A person could not bear the weight of the world alone. You are a highschooler, to boot.”

  “Awen’t wuu… owoo?”

  Aleph let go of her cheeks. Her face already reddened like a tomato. Out of the four, Hua has the lowest toleran skinship. O was all it takes to make her blush. It was a plete trast to her usual stoic self.

  “I am not just a highschooler… but a super highschooler. That’s a world of difference.”

  He looked at Hua who slightly regained her posure. He lightly sighed before patting her head—something he does often whenever he had the ce.

  “I told everyone about this. You let me take most of the burden myself.”

  Even though it was a series of f words, Hua could n herself to pletely accept them. Her heart sank upon thinking how heavy that burden was.

  “...But what about you?”

  Her voice tained a hint of weakness. It caught Aleph off guard. It took a while before he responded with a smile of his own.

  “Trust in me, just as I trusted everyone else… including you. You got my back, and that is enough for me.”

  It was a different kind of vi from before. Back then, Hua saw his helplessurn into determination. Now, she could not see a hint of doubt in his words. There was something extra that pushed him to this point.

  Seeing her ed look, Aleph’s vi became stronger.

  ‘How cute…’

  He could not resist any longer as his lips touched hers.

  ‘I live… for these moments.’

  Little did Hua know that she tributed to that something herself.

  *****

  A/N: Realistically speaking, having doubts is a sistent thing. It couldn't be resolved by one or two character developments. It was reasonable for Hua to have hers. As for Aleph, he was uhat much pressure: the only way out was to either break down or bee strong enough to withstand that. Well, he adapted.

  Anyways, this aspect was one of the few things I liked in Mushoku Tensei (despite its messed up character background, both in WN and LN). They always show (and deal) with their doubts and fusions during their free times, not intense fights.