After being refused twice in a row, the girl tactfully didn't bring it up a third time, simply placing the pen aside casually.
"Alright." She stood up, facing Kiana. "Let me introduce myself. You can call me Depascal."
Kiana's expression gradually scrunched up. "De... what?"
The girl sighed. This scene felt somewhat familiar.
"Forget it... it's the same no matter how many times I try... I learned that lesson long ago..." A hint of undisguisable disappointment flickered across the girl's face, but it was instantly replaced by her previous stiff expression.
Unlike Bronya's emotionless, deadpan face, the girl's expression lacked any sense of relaxation; instead, it remained taut, like a stone carving. It gave the impression of someone trying very hard to mimic natural expressions but always falling slightly short.
This made Kiana instinctively...
"You're not human?" Kiana blurted out.
The girl: "..."
Another familiar scene.
She shook her head as if resigned to her fate. "I am not human like you. Nor am I a biological organism, nor an intelligent machine..."
"I am the avatar of Depascal, an [Awareness] born on this land alongside [Him]."
"[Him]?" Kiana felt her head spinning more and more. Had she really not used her brain for too long? Was it getting rusty?
The girl looked at Kiana, paused silently for a moment, then abandoned her prepared lengthy introduction and backstory.
"Using the standards established by your Fire Moth organization... [He] would likely be classified as an incomplete Herrscher."
Kiana was confused, troubled, pondering... until the word "Herrscher" shattered her composure.
"Herrscher?!" Kiana completely forgot about potentially affecting the young man and cried out loud, then immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, seemingly afraid the mist would reappear.
"Don't worry. Generally, changes within a memory don't affect the outside world, and [He] wouldn't easily enter just any memory fragment."
Kiana let out a small sigh of relief, lowering her hand. "Really a Herrscher?"
She needed confirmation again.
That was a Herrscher! Their Fire Moth organization had only encountered one...
Wait... how did this girl know about Fire Moth?! Does she surf the internet too? She doesn't look the type!!
Figures. Bronya was right. You never know if the person on the other side of the screen is human, an AI, or a dog that can type... Even with mandatory real-name registration and unified account linkage for online assets.
Kiana nodded gravely, convinced.
The girl's eyelids drooped slightly.
"The reason I understand Fire Moth's classification standards is because this place has received numerous memory fragments from Fire Moth personnel. By analyzing them from various aspects, the most accurate classification standards can be deduced."
The girl offered an explanation. Kiana's eyes widened.
"A lot?!" Kiana suddenly panicked, patting herself down before tentatively pointing at herself. "What about me? And Mei's? And..."
"Miss Kiana." The girl addressed Kiana by name, even though Kiana hadn't introduced herself. "[He] and I came into existence three months ago. Three months is enough time for the mist here to infiltrate most corners of the world."
"Every breath you take, every movement you make, every drop of water you touch could potentially contain the mist from here. This includes intelligent machines; the data drives their consciousness relies on aren't perfectly sealed. We can modify their [Memories] too..."
"You guys?" Suddenly, Kiana cut the girl off, simultaneously taking a subtle step back, her expression wary. The Spirit Awakening Key, which had cooled back to yellow, instantly flared up to a dangerous blood-red again.
The girl was taken aback. She looked at the wary Kiana before her. Based on all memory profiles, if the girl said the wrong thing now, there was a high probability Kiana would try everything to escape. There was also a small chance she would attack directly.
Opening her mouth, the girl decided to confess.
"Yes, [We]... We were born here together. The two of us gained awareness simultaneously, each mastering different abilities. The Herrscher's authority was peacefully divided into two. I control browsing, retrieving, and replaying memories. While [He] controls..."
"Collecting, storing... and modifying."
Modifying...
Kiana suddenly remembered the several instances where the girl seemed to read her mind. Kiana had merely complained internally, yet the girl could instantly produce a giant lollipop and explain how she knew about Fire Moth.
"I used my own authority to bring you into this memory space, specifically to evade [His] pursuit."
"But why did [He] follow us in before?" Kiana asked quickly.
Clearly, their abilities were different; one had something the other lacked. Yet both could enter this memory space...
"[He] enters this space by breaking and modifying it, forcing his way in. My method is more like entering through a back door – leaving no trace and causing no impact."
"But [His] method is different. [He] modifies the memory itself to include 'his own presence within this memory,' thereby interfering with it..."
Seeing Kiana's expression twist in pain again, the girl tactfully stopped talking.
"I am a visitor. [He] is an intruder," the girl rephrased concisely.
"Oh!!" Kiana understood. "[He]'s the bad guy, you're the good guy!!"
The girl: "...I think I've seen this exact scene in a certain memory fragment..."
Well, at least she understands I mean no harm... The girl sighed, then turned towards the young man sitting at the desk.
"Now then, time for the main business..." the girl said, walking over to the young man's side.
"You came here to find the person you forgot, right?" the girl asked Kiana, who had followed her over to the young man.
Kiana secretly glanced at the writing on her hand, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking for someone... someone really, really important!"
The girl looked back. "This is a memory fragment belonging to the person you're looking for."
Right in front of Kiana, she pointed at the young man engrossed in his drawing.
"And he... is the person you're looking for."