"...Why do I feel like the atmosphere is a bit off?"
Just as the atmosphere between the two became extremely intimate, Xin Yu suddenly spoke, breaking the strange mood. Mobius, who was hugging Xin Yu, stiffened. She stared at his face and said, her tone somewhat stiff, "How is it off?"
"Why do I feel like if we continued with that atmosphere just now, we would have kissed? It always seems to happen like that in TV dramas."
"...So?"
"Maybe what I said earlier was a bit too suggestive. What I actually meant was just to express that I see you as a new bond in this world, not that I've fallen in love with you. It can't be that you've fallen in love with me, right? No way, the time we've spent together doesn't even add up to 48 hours. Besides, with you looking like this, kissing you would feel like committing a crime... Oh!"
Xin Yu felt a sharp kick to his leg. Although he felt no pain, he still let out a cry.
Mobius released the embrace, still smiling, but this time her smile looked somewhat dangerous.
"How could I possibly fall in love with you? Besides, based on what you just said, do you think I look too... young right now?"
"Yes!"
Seeing Xin Yu's utterly righteous-sounding and loud response, Mobius clenched her fists.
"Heh heh! Since you said you'd help me, since you said you'd help humanity defeat such a powerful enemy, then I believe you definitely wouldn't mind a weak woman like me fighting you a bit to assess your strength."
"About that... Ah, wait, I haven't finished talking!"
"A battle doesn't wait until you say 'go'! This! Is the moment of Apotheosis!"
"Wow! You even have the boss-specific phase two giant transformation! If this were a game, you'd definitely be a boss character."
Xin Yu still managed to retort before getting hit.
...
"What happened to you?"
Mobius, after school, looked at Xin Yu standing by the school gate, clearly waiting for her. He looked somewhat disheveled. Although his clothes had obviously been changed, there were still some spots on his exposed skin that looked scorched.
"Nothing much. Just got struck by lightning by a woman who stays physically young even after growing up."
"Huh?"
Mobius listened with a completely bewildered expression to Xin Yu's words, which she didn't quite understand. What did he mean, struck by lightning by a woman? Setting aside how the other person managed that, what on earth did he do to make someone so angry they'd strike him with lightning?
Xin Yu smiled and didn't elaborate, clearly not intending to continue the topic. Mobius didn't press further. The two left the school gate and headed towards the nearest restaurant.
Xin Yu had actually lied earlier [on the Moon]. He understood Mobius's situation back then. She saw him as her only hope, as the miracle capable of turning everything around. Compounded by the altered reality where he had also suddenly appeared and saved her in her childhood.
In that situation, if he had kissed her, things might have progressed smoothly. He would have ended up with the beauty, gaining his first girlfriend, perhaps even wife, in this world.
But that wasn't love.
Mobius was using that method to increase her importance in his heart. The vulnerability and helplessness he saw on her face earlier, while partly genuine, were mostly an act, designed to make him take pity and rewrite the tragedy.
If he had played along and kissed her, it would essentially have been sealing a transaction.
She, Mobius, using everything she had to strike a deal with him, in exchange for a better future, in exchange for his help.
That wasn't love. It was just a cold transaction.
Xin Yu truly longed for someone to love him in this world, someone he could love in return. But not obtained this way!
Mobius, even if you offer nothing, I will still help you. Because I myself hate tragedy, because your vulnerability and helplessness weren't entirely an act, and also because of that hug you gave me that night.
But I'm not doing this to receive a love that's fundamentally false.
You have some affection for me, I can feel that, but it's far from reaching the level of love.
And the same goes for me.
Xin Yu cut the steak before him with his knife. Mobius, sitting opposite him, could clearly see his distraction. After all, the steak was almost diced into tiny cubes.
"Did something troublesome happen?"
Mobius asked directly. Snapping out of his daze, Xin Yu first glanced at the steak on his plate, now cut into radish-sized cubes, couldn't help but chuckle slightly, then answered.
"It's nothing. Just thinking that I must be some kind of masochist. I could have gotten a love that counts as sincere just by responding slightly, but here I am, obsessing over whether the source of that love is pure, whether it's genuine. Don't you think this conflicted nature of mine is a bit... messed up?"
"..."
Mobius looked at Xin Yu, who was mocking himself slightly. She put down her knife and fork, then pulled out her phone from an inner pocket. As if looking up some information, Mobius stared intently at her phone. Xin Yu glanced at the steak on the table, which had grown somewhat cold, and signaled the waiter to reheat it.
Incidentally, both were having well-done steak. Although Mobius wanted to try medium-rare, Xin Yu had firmly refused, stating that meat should only be eaten fully cooked.
After a while, Mobius finally spoke.
"I just looked up some information and did some emergency studying on psychology. Your situation likely stems partly from learning about the exclusivity and beauty of love from others, so you also hope for your own love to be pure and devoted. Furthermore, due to certain reasons, you probably lack a certain sense of security in your heart. This leads you to hope that the person who accompanies you through life loves you purely; only then do you feel secure."
After speaking, Mobius silently put away her phone. What Xin Yu didn't see was that the screen she put away displayed a notepad, not a search page.
"...I see. Truly worthy of a genius born with knowledge. Even psychology learned on the fly can see through my thoughts. Enough talk, enough talk. Let's eat first. Wasting food is shameful."
Mobius picked up her knife and fork again, but didn't start eating immediately. Instead, she watched Xin Yu eating his steak across from her.
"Lack of security..."
The glint of a predator spotting its prey's weakness flashed in the girl's eyes.