Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a chilly January 2012 morning in Siberia.

That was all it was. A day like any other.

After a point, the concept of time blurred together for a certain Seele Vollerei.

Little by little, her life at the orphanage seemed to wither, losing all its colors. Every single day brought the same experiences, led to the same conclusion, and then had the girl readying herself to begin the cycle anew.

While other kids spent their days playing all sorts of games in-between the experiments, the same couldn't be said for Seele.

At first, she had kept her distance because of how daunting it seemed to approach new people.

Later on, it simply felt like she missed the timing and didn't belong anymore.

And after some of them decided she was an easy target to mess with, Seele couldn't even eat in the cafeteria with everyone without prompting mean jokes and pranks.

That was how her days eventually devolved into scurrying around and staying out of sight, trying not to start anything.

Even this day, a cold morning of January 2012, was turning out to be the same as always.

Seele found herself sitting alone in an empty hallway that almost no one walked by, slowly eating a slice of cake that she secretly received from Matushka after her breakfast had mysteriously found its way to the floor, as it often did.

Nothing seemed different.

(A few kilometers away, the orphanage's matron was just attacked by mercenaries under the orders of a nearby warlord.)

(Seele would never be made aware of it. After all, there was no need for Cocolia to even mention it. Not when it had been just another attempt on her life, like many others before.)

(There most certainly wasn't a single child amongst the deployed soldiers to catch the woman's interest.)

At this point, the only uncertainty was whether Seele would be able to finish eating before someone decided to torment her.

"Hey, don't you ever get tired of this bullshit?"

Seele yelped, almost dropping her cake as she noticed Sin Mal standing next to her with a disgusted expression.

There went her peace.

"Is it fun, letting everyone walk all over you?" she spoke, almost growling. "Do you just love being pathetic or what?"

"I-I…" Seele couldn't quite stop herself from shaking, scooting a little bit away. "I just… don't want any trouble…"

"... Right." Sin's disgust seemed to increase tenfold. "I bet you have a lot of fun being useless, idiot."

With a huff, she turned around and walked away, fists trembling like she wanted to punch something.

Seele couldn't help but sigh in relief. At least her cake was safe—

Just then, Sin stopped in her tracks, as if realizing something.

She promptly turned around, came back, and slapped Seele's cake out of her hand and onto the floor.

The raven-haired girl stared at it, befuddled.

"... Idiot." Sin huffed a second time and left, this time walking away for good.

Seele stared at the other girl's retreating back with wide eyes.

Suddenly, she was hit with a thought. How many times could she smash Sin's head against a wall before that bitch's skull cracked open and painted every nearby surface a beautiful shade of scarlet?

Then it simply vanished from her mindscape, as if it had been a strange daydream snatched by someone else, fading into nothingness before she could register it properly.

Blinking, the girl was left confused and alone with her ruined cake in the hallway.

"..."

Seele sighed, her shoulders slumping. Why was it always like this?

Even though the girl knew it was hopeless, she wished things would change somehow.

.

.

.

Like many of the children at the orphanage, Sin still remembered the first time she killed someone.

It had been a common burglar, and a pair of scissors had done the job. Unfortunately he had already killed her parents by that point.

By itself, that wasn't really special. If anything, that sort of story was pretty common, as far as Sin was aware.

The girl herself, however, was definitely special. So much that she was quick to be adopted by the Mal Family, lavished with pretty dresses and stories of how valuable she was, and, as long as she remained quiet and out of the way, free to basically live as a princess.

There were some caveats, like having to keep her hair long and maintained at all times for some reason, but it was a perfect life.

That was why she didn't hesitate to pay them back for their kindness. It had been an honor when she was tasked with strengthening the Mal Family's relationship with someone as important as the orphanage's matron.

Sin didn't know why the woman who wanted them to call her Matushka was important, but she was. And that was why Sin had to show just how special she was compared to all the regular nobodies at her strange new home.

Still, it was a weird place. She was allowed to grow and cut her hair as she pleased over there, which was new. She also hadn't heard about the Mal Family since then, but that just meant they were fully trusting her to do her part properly, right?

(Only much later would Sin discover what Cocolia did to her esteemed adoptive family soon after relieving them of the last child in their estate.)

(In Siberia, beauty mattered, and the Mal Family took plenty of advantage of that. It was simply unfortunate that they believed Cocolia had been yet another common warlord seeking a unit of Siberia's very own special currency.)

(She made sure they didn't even have enough time to regret their mistake.)

In other words, Sin had to prove she was amazing to fulfill her role properly, and she couldn't let anything stand in her way. She had to become someone great and important to the point of becoming irreplaceable.

Or else Matushka would send her back to that place and her mother wouldn't be happy, and Sin hated when her mother wasn't happy because then bad things happened—

So when Seele, that stupid weakling, got herself kidnapped, did Sin do the bare minimum and simply tell Matushka before going back to the safety of the orphanage?

Two words: Hell. No. 

Getting a piece of broken glass and hiding in one of their cars was easy enough, as was breaking the lock with the enhanced strength granted to her by the orphanage's experiments and slipping away. Soon enough, she was spying on the building from the forest surrounding it, cloaked by the darkness of the night.

There were tons of bad guys, but it was disgustingly easy to kill them before they called their friends. All Sin had to do was go for the throat and avoid looking into their lifeless eyes move on to the next one without missing the timing.

She was stronger than them. More special.

That didn't stop one of them from randomly glancing at her direction before she could strike. Unfortunately, Sin couldn't slash the loser's throat before the entire place was alerted.

What followed was a flurry of blood and death.

Bullets grazed Sin's skin. The stench of the red covering her clothes nearly made her puke.

She didn't care.

If Sin failed, then even if she survived, she wouldn't be special anymore. She would just be a worthless disappointment, soon to be sent back to the Mal Family in shame for her punishment.

So she didn't stop. She couldn't. Wouldn't. 

When she finally kicked down the right door, panting and drenched in scarlet, she didn't miss the look that Seele gave her, as expressive as ever even tied up and with her mouth taped. As she made quick work of the soldiers guarding her, the girl's blue eyes were full of pure terror.

Good. At least she knew her place.

Sin grinned even as she struggled to catch her breath, walking up to the immobilized weakling. "Hey, stupid Seele~! What's with that look? Shouldn't you be thanking me? How rude!"

Her only response was an attempt to squirm away, but there was nothing except a wall behind her.

Disgusting. Did she plan on surviving by being a coward and relying on others to do all the work for her?

Sin didn't waste time in ripping off the tape over Seele's mouth, taking some joy in the way she winced. The ropes were simple enough to get rid of with her sharp shard of glass, but the idiot stayed on the ground, staring dumbly at her savior.

"De-Demon," she called Sin. "Demon…! Get away from me!"

… How utterly ungrateful.

Sin's rush was beginning to fade, and pain flared up all over her body as her blood seeped out of her small wounds, but she still felt her annoyance trump all that in intensity.

She opened her mouth to say something — she wasn't sure what, but she had to let her anger out somehow — when she heard a shuffling behind her and turned around.

There was a soldier peeking out of the doorway, weapon trained on her.

Perhaps Sin could have reacted if she was still rampaging thoughtlessly, but, in her sluggish state, she instead did the weakest thing possible.

Sin froze.

She could barely understand what happened next.

Within a single instant, she was pushed away, and two gunshots rang.

In a flash, the last bad guy was on the ground with a hole in his head. Matushka was by the door, catching her breath until the moment she looked inside the room and froze.

Even Sin, who found herself strewn on the floor as soon as her senses returned, couldn't look away when she caught sight of it.

"A-Ah…"

Right in front of the little girl Sin, her father Seele stood with a shocked expression of his her own.

There was blood staining the midsection of his suit her dress, and it took Sin a second to realize the stain was growing bigger and bigger.

It was yet another second for her to register that the blood was coming from inside her father Seele.

Her father Seele just took a stab bullet in Sin's place, and it was her fault, her fault, her fault.

"A-Ah… Aaaah…"

When the girl fell, their Matushka finally rushed into the room, catching her before she could hit the ground and carefully placing her down.

Seele was closer now. Sin could see everything clearly.

The smell of blood was suddenly suffocating. Matushka was doing something, saying something, but she couldn't pay attention to it.

She couldn't tear her eyes away. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

"Aaah… Aaaaaah…"

As she watched the consciousness fading from those scared eyes, there was a loud noise. Someone started screaming.

It wasn't until her throat started hurting that Sin realized the screams were her own.

.

.

.

After that frightening day, things had finally become different for Seele.

When she woke up, she was in a strange white facility. Matushka said they were helping her, but Seele couldn't help but be a little bit anxious, surrounded by so many machines and unfamiliar faces.

The needles and tubes didn't help. Nor did the demon in her head that sounded so much like herself, telling her to make all the people who were mean to her suffer.

So the girl was quite glad when Matushka brought her back to the orphanage. She wasn't allowed to get up often just yet, so she spent almost all her time in her room instead, reading the many books she was now given everyday and ignoring the voice. Matushka also started bringing her meals and spending more time with her, which was nice.

Of course, Seele didn't tell her about the demon. Seele knew she was broken, but she was afraid of being sent alone to another scary place so they could look for a way to fix her.

So the result was that she was back in the orphanage with no reasons to leave her room while still recovering, and nobody could go there to torment her without leaving a very obvious trail for Matushka to follow.

Seele liked it.

Those weren't the only differences, though. There was something else that caught her attention even more than the voice in her head, as outrageous as that sounded.

The girl was in her bed as usual, reading yet another book, when the door slowly creaked open.

It was Sin who walked in, looking very uncomfortable as she closed the door, hiding something behind her back.

Maybe a while ago, her arrival would have caused Seele to panic. It certainly made the voice grumble, as good as that reaction was compared to the flurry of curses the voice threw at Sin the first time she visited.

So instead of being gripped by fear, Seele gave the girl a warm smile. "Welcome!"

Sin stared for a moment before huffing and rushing to Seele's bed, bringing forth the item she was hiding and placing it on the bed next to Seele — a plate with a slice of strawberry cake and a plastic fork.

Seele gasped, her smile widening as she looked back at Sin. "Ah, thank you!"

Rather than giving a proper response, Sin just scowled, uttering under her breath. It was probably something mean, but for once Seele didn't care. The demon's grumbling intensified, but Seele was quickly learning how to ignore her.

Even though Matushka was giving Seele some extra attention, which was already far more than she deserved, the orphanage's matron didn't have endless free time. She couldn't really afford to bring her snacks and desserts to her every single day.

From the few and only words Sin uttered during her very first visit, Matushka had made her take that role, instead.

She didn't really say anything after that, which was strange — sometimes, it really looked like she was about to speak, only to stop herself a moment later — but, after a while, it started to feel… comfortable. Even if it just lasted for as long as Sin pitied her, Seele enjoyed being around someone else. 

Usually, whenever anyone tried to talk to Seele, it wasn't long before the mean people who picked on her scared them off. Sure, there were exceptions like Rozaliya and Liliya, who apparently didn't know what fear meant, but it wasn't as if they were particularly close to a gloomy loner like Seele.

What Seele had there was a very rare chance to enjoy someone's company in a safe place where they wouldn't be interrupted or attacked, and she wanted it to last.

Sin didn't seem to share that opinion, because it wasn't long until she turned around to leave, just as she had done many times before.

This day, however, Seele was feeling a bit greedy.

"Can't you stay a little longer?"

Sin froze just as her hand was about to reach the doorknob. She looked back at Seele with a perplexed gaze, finding only an eager smile.

Seele wanted her to stay. She liked her books, but it still felt nicer to be around someone else. She knew it wasn't good to be that selfish, but somewhere along the way, she stopped caring.

This wouldn't last — nothing good ever did — so she wanted to enjoy it to its fullest.

For once, the demon said nothing.

Even with Sin's back turned to her, Seele could practically see the argument going on in her mind. Fortunately, luck was on Seele's side that day, because Sin hesitantly turned away from the door and instead moved towards Seele's small study, taking its chair and placing it next to the bed.

When Sin sat down, it was obvious she was doing her best to avert Seele's eyes.

… That wasn't enough. Seele, who had never been pampered this much before, wanted even more, and no amount of shame could stop that. It was a new feeling.

So she put her plan in motion.

"I don't think I can eat all of this," Seele said in a sweet voice, "so why don't we share?"

That finally made Sin look at her with wide eyes. She looked down questioningly at the only plastic fork and knife she brought.

"Oh, don't worry," Seele added, fishing for something under her pillow. What she brought back was yet another plastic fork. "I washed yesterday's, so there shouldn't be an issue, right?"

Sin stared. Seele wouldn't find it weird if she finally lost her patience.

However, instead of leaving or being mean, Sin hesitantly reached for the fork she brought.

Sin looked even more uncomfortable, but she was still there, and as they began eating together in silence, that made Seele happy.

…

The next day, Sin brought a bit more food and a pair of silverware, and Seele was even happier. Then Sin did it again the day after that. And once again the next day.

Eventually, silently eating snacks and sweets together became routine, but even that felt like too little after a while.

So Seele started talking more whenever Sin visited. She spoke about anything that came to mind, from how the day looked through her window to the books Matushka had given to her recently. Even as her mouth ran, Seele asked nothing, never prompted Sin to speak, and the other girl indeed remained as silent as always.

But Sin didn't look annoyed. She never even told Seele to shut up.

And, even though Seele knew she was already being too selfish, she still wished things would remain that way forever.

.

.

.

Sin didn't understand.

Why would Seele do that?

Just… why the hell would she protect Sin, of all people?

Not only did Seele save someone who routinely voiced disgust at her own pathetic existence, but she also did so in a way that messed up Sin's own goal.

Matushka didn't thank her for everything she did. No, she lectured and grounded her instead, and all because that idiot got shot in her place.

Sin couldn't remember the last time she felt so ashamed, so furious.

She would make Seele suffer for it — make her bawl and regret ruining Sin's opportunity to show Matushka how amazing she was. 

As it just so happened, Sin even had a plan to make the most out of her revenge. As soon as Seele was brought back to the orphanage from wherever she was sent for treatment, Sin would pretend Matushka told her to bring snacks, watch Seele slowly lower her defenses, then strike when she was at her most vulnerable. That weakling wouldn't even have the courage to tell on her afterwards.

When the time came, Sin actually did grab some snacks first. If everything went as planned, she would be free to enjoy them afterwards.

With everything ready, she waltzed into that idiot's room.

As soon as Seele registered that it wasn't Matushka entering her safe space, the fear was obvious in her eyes.

And that was when the plan fell apart.

Suddenly, Sin saw it. Her mind showed her a girl on a dirty floor, bleeding, dying with that same look on her face.

Like an absolute wimp, Sin froze yet again. The suffocating sensation was back.

Seele was still looking at her, confused and scared, but Sin didn't know why she was there anymore. Her thoughts seemed to escape her mind with every passing moment.

She acted before she passed the point of no return, uttering her planned excuse and placing the snacks on the nearest surface she could find before turning around and leaving, fleeing, like a coward.

Even when she found herself back in her own room and her mind slowly put itself together, Sin still couldn't explain what she felt back there.

All she knew was that her revenge would be more difficult to enact, and she hated, hated, hated Seele for it.

… But Sin wouldn't let that stop her. She could try again the next day, and the next, and so on, until that stupid feeling passed for good and she could put Seele in her place.

Sure, it'd be more time-consuming than she planned at first, but it'd be worth it.

So what if Sin would have less time to routinely remind all the trash in the orphanage that she was on top? In the end, the satisfaction would more than make up for that.

And so Sin did it. Every single day, she grabbed some snacks and visited that idiot, forcing herself to stay there for a short while even as her throat threatened to close up every time. She watched Seele's fear disappear over the days as she naively, stupidly, decided to trust Sin.

Little by little, it became easier to breathe in that room. Her body still froze up whenever she tried imagining herself hurting the idiotic girl, but it became easier to think.

And it was then, when her mind was functioning properly and her early rage had long since cooled, that another thought hit Sin.

How?

Back then, just how could that stupid, worthless coward somehow still move when Sin herself had frozen?

It made no sense. Sin was strong, and Seele was weak. Sin was special, and Seele wasn't.

Sin wanted to ask. To grab Seele by her frail shoulders and shake her until she gave an explanation, explained how any of that was even possible.

And yet, she didn't. 

Deep down, she was afraid of what Seele's answer could be.

Would she completely shatter everything Sin believed in? Reveal to her that somehow, against all reason, Sin was the weak one? 

If that happened, she wouldn't even be able to refute it. Not after that night.

Instead of asking, she told herself that Seele's answer didn't matter. All that mattered was her revenge, and that was why she would keep playing that uncomfortable, disgusting role until she didn't feel physically ill at the thought of harming Seele.

Still, Seele was growing far too comfortable, and it was sickening. She eventually had Sin start eating with her, and even began talking about all sorts of useless gibberish, as if anyone was interested in listening.

Sin continued to play along, of course. She had to, no matter how nonsensical their little play became.

And it was very much nonsensical.

After all, Seele never regarded her with a calculating gaze, considering the pros and cons of pretending to be her friend. Seele never lavished her with worthless praises, as empty as the fake smile from which they escaped. Seele never gleefully threw away her previous company the moment Sin arrived and got better scores in the orphanage's experiments.

She never spent the day bad-mouthing others, never suggested tormenting anyone whose face she didn't like, never regaled Sin with tales of bad things others might have said about her as a reason to go beat them up.

There were no games to play and nothing to prove — not even speaking was necessary. All Seele wanted was for Sin to sit next to her and listen to her meaningless rambling.

That wasn't how things were supposed to work in the world. It was impossibly comfortable delusional, like some sort of isolated dream.

But Sin had a role to fill, so she didn't linger on it too much. Although she was weakened, it was only a matter of time until she became strong again and pulled the rug out from under Seele's feet.

It didn't matter that Sin had no idea when that day would come.

.

.

.

Seele felt a bit silly for thinking she'd never want to leave her room.

She was mostly fine living like a dragon protecting its treasure in a dark cave, but sometimes she still felt the need to step outside, even if she didn't have to.

Of course, Matushka wouldn't like to see Seele walking around for no reason, no matter how much she insisted that she was already feeling fine.

Which was why she left her room in the middle of the night, instead.

The demon complained about Seele's recklessness as she stepped out into the dark hallway in just her slippers and pajamas, but she felt well enough to begin walking with no goal in mind.

For Seele, it was when the world was pitch black that she didn't have to worry about monsters hiding in every corner. Her tormentors only walked during the day, leaving her to be free and safe in the night.

It hadn't been a problem recently, but old habits had a way of sticking around, and so she found herself sinking in the comfort of the darkness as she made her way through the orphanage.

On a whim, she stopped by a window, gazing at the moonlit scenery outside the orphanage. The white snow covered everything from the ground to greenery, as if intent on hiding the green from view.

Seele wanted to go outside and play, regardless of the late hour.

Unfortunately, that would definitely make her sick.

The thought came just in time to interrupt the demon's incoming words, and the ensuing silence made Seele wonder if she had intended to say the same thing. If she was actually worried for Seele.

She set that dizzying thought aside for the moment, turning away from the window to resume her trip through the darkness.

"...!"

Or at least that was her plan, but pain suddenly flared up on a certain spot right under the scarred skin on her stomach. She could only double over, placing a hand on the wall for support as the pain steadily grew stronger.

In her mind came something that sounded suspiciously like an annoyed sigh. "I told you."

Seele had no comebacks for that.

She thought about how far from her room she walked, and that was enough to shake her confidence on whether she could reach her bed before collapsing.

Without a doubt, she was too far from her own room, but…

But her room wasn't the only place she could go to.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Seele grit her teeth as she made her way down the halls, letting out an occasional groan as each step aggravated her condition.

When Seele finally stopped before a certain door, leaning against the wall and gasping for air through the pain as her hand gripped the source of the pain, she knocked on the door with a bit more force than planned.

"What the hell?!" a girl's irritated voice sounded from within the room, her heavy footsteps heading closer until she practically ripped the door open. "Who's the idiot who wants to—"

Sin Mal froze as soon as she noticed Seele, her heterochromatic eyes growing wide.

Seele instinctively wanted to apologize for showing up so late and explain her situation.

"Sin… It hurts…" was all she managed to say, unfortunately.

The other girl didn't move from her spot, still staring as if she thought this was some sort of strange dream.

"Help…" Seele forced out after a moment.

That seemed to snap Sin out of her stupor, and the girl immediately stepped towards Seele, who couldn't help but flinch at the sudden movement.

But then, rather than hitting her, Sin instead took hold of Seele and lifted her up to carry her.

"Kgh…!"

It hurt. Any kind of movement led to pain.

But there was no doubt that it was better than walking by herself.

Without even bothering to close the door, Sin immediately marched away, her expression strangely firm and… reliable, even.

Against all odds, Seele felt safe.

"... Then it should be fine to go to sleep."

Seele wanted to ask the demon how she'd be able to sleep while feeling so much pain, but then a wave of drowsiness suddenly hit her, slowly encompassing even the pain.

The next time Seele attempted to blink, her eyes didn't open, and her consciousness faded in Sin's arms.

…

…

…

… Waking up was surprisingly easy once Seele realized she had fallen asleep. Or perhaps she had already been awake by the time she began thinking again.

"Took you long enough."

Seele was tucked in her bed. The sunlight passing through the window's glass illuminated her room, and as she sat up to observe her surroundings, nothing seemed to be out of place. It was almost like she had never left her bed the previous night.

The pain was also gone. Had Sin called Matushka to do something about it?

As she thought about it, she couldn't help but feel something warm inside. Logically, she knew that Sin was only taking care of her because she pitied her and Matushka told her to, but it still felt good to have someone be that nice to her.

Maybe she could do something for Sin.

An idea came to her mind.

Seele was fairly certain that Sin had never seen the sea before, just like her. She always paid extra attention whenever Seele talked about it.

The girl tentatively sat up, confirming that nothing hurt, and slipped out of her bed, heading to the short bookshelf nearby. She grabbed a blue book and returned to her bed, sitting on it as she inspected the book.

On its cover was the title. "Daughter of the Sea." A rather straightforward description of what to expect.

Maybe… they could both read it. Rather than Seele reading it and sharing her thoughts, she wondered if they could experience it together.

If she suggested it, would Sin go along with it as usual or would she push Seele away? Would such a request be crossing some kind of line? Would it destroy everything about their strange relationship and reset it to before?

"Just ask her and find out."

As soon as she heard those words in her mind, Seele stopped, confused.

The demon was… encouraging her? She was meant to belittle Seele and shoot down all her ideas, not that.

Could it be that she wasn't actually a demon? But then what was she?

"Stop wasting time on stupid thoughts. That girl should be visiting soon."

Seele glanced at the clock, and indeed it seemed like she woke up noticeably later than usual. Sin would be there soon, and then they could…

It was then that the door creaked open, and a big smile reached Seele's face.

Rather than waiting on the bed, the girl eagerly rose to her feet, moving towards the door. "Sin, good morning! Thanks for—"

"Seele, wait, that's not—"

Without warning, the door was violently kicked open, barely missing Seele as it crashed against the wall with a loud bang.

…

It wasn't Sin.

.

.

.

Their play seemed to go on and on with no end in sight.

Sin often found herself thinking that maybe she missed her chance, maybe her plan had already been ruined, but she simply told herself that couldn't possibly be the case.

Day after day, she waited patiently for the perfect moment to drop the act and tear Seele's smile apart, for the one instant in which the girl was at her happiest so Sin could take it all away at once, but she never got the timing right.

Seele was already happy when she arrived, grew happier with every passing moment Sin spent by her side, and then suddenly seemed sad when Sin had to leave. The time to act always seemed to slip away from Sin's grasp.

(She refused to admit that it was probably her own fault, considering the ease with which she lost any sense of time when around Seele. Now and then, she found herself drifting along the other girl's pace as her soothing voice went on and on, storing information she meant to throw away, and then, suddenly, it was time to leave.)

(If Sin passed by the library a few times to take a look at the books Seele talked about, it was simply no one's business.)

The previous night had been a clear result of her failures. That Seele sought her out when her wound began to hurt said a lot about where Sin stood in her mind.

But she couldn't give up. Sin still had her pride, after all.

As such, the girl prepared herself for yet another attempt at her revenge. She grabbed a large slice of chocolate pie, hid a second fork so no one would ask questions, and easily ignored all the infuriating stares she was receiving as she walked away from the cafeteria.

Just like any other day, she didn't look at anyone's eyes as she moved through the corridors, ignoring even the pleading stares of the weaklings being tormented by their betters along the way.

Getting involved in anyone else's business would be too troublesome. Reality was nothing like Seele's little world, after all.

The number of passersby grew smaller as Sin approached her goal, and soon she was alone in front of the plain door separating her from Seele. 

Sin didn't even need to wonder what sort of expression the girl would have on her face. She could already imagine the serene smile as Seele read one of her dumb books, and the way it'd bloom into an enormous smile full of joy as soon as she realized Sin came to visit.

That was Sin's expectation as she opened the door.

A freezing gust greeted her.

She almost dropped the cake at the sight.

It looked like a pack of wolves had broken into the room. The shattered window did nothing to keep the cold out, destroyed books and ripped dresses littered the floor, the short bookshelf that once decorated one side of the room was barren and partially shattered, the bed's mattress had been thrown aside and one of its legs broken, and so on.

Instead of the destruction, however, Sin felt her focus zero in on the shaking girl sitting on the carpet, clad in a dress that was ripped in several places and hugging something close to her chest. Her back was towards the door, but even then it was obvious she was taking heavy breaths.

Sin's mouth moved before her brain. "S… Seele…?"

With a jolt, Seele glanced back at her.

Her surprised azure eyes were reddened and puffy. There was an obvious wetness trailing down her cheeks. She was holding one of the destroyed books in her grasp, one with a damaged blue cover.

Sin saw no signs of blood anywhere, but that didn't help with…

With what? She didn't know. All she knew was that it felt like there was something strange growing in her chest.

Then she heard Seele sniff, and it almost went out of control.

"S-Sin…" she spoke slowly, forcing an apologetic smile onto her face that made Sin want to do something. "I-I'm sorry… I found a book t-that I… thought you'd like, b-but… I couldn't… k-keep it safe…"

Every word that left the girl's shaky lips only made the spark grow.

In retrospect, it was just a matter of time. Seele was naturally an easy target, and her current state simply made her an even more attractive prey.

Maybe she thought she was safe here because Matushka would find out if anything happened, but that would just be evidence of her naivety — all they needed was a scapegoat to be free to act, and it just so happened that the orphanage had no lack of violent children who could believably take the fall if enough weaklings were forced to agree with a fake story.

This was how things were supposed to go in the real world. Someone as pathetic as Seele wasn't meant to be anything but a plaything for stronger people.

But, then, why?

Why was it that, when faced with a completely expected outcome, Sin found her blood boiling?

"Who did this?" she found herself asking, her voice filled with venom as she placed the cake and forks on the nearest solid surface she could find.

The other girl looked alarmed at the question. "S-Sin…"

"Who. Did. This."

Seele sniffed. "I-It doesn't really matter…"

Sin balled up her free hand into a fist. Suddenly, she felt like screaming, because how could Seele not understand that it mattered a lot?

Then she caught sight of Seele's uneasy look, and, for whatever reason, her first reaction was to grit her teeth and take a deep breath rather than yelling.

"Trash like that," she began, "only learn their lesson one way. So you can either tell me who did this, or I'll go find out by myself."

Seele looked at her, right into her eyes, and seemed to find something, because she gave Sin a hesitant nod after a moment. "I-I don't remember their names, but… I think… t-they were always w-with Mischa?"

Good. Now she knew exactly which group of worthless bugs to deal with. With that out of the way…

Sin didn't need to think any further as she moved, collecting the mostly intact sheets that had been thrown off the mattress and carefully wrapping Seele in them. She ignored the shaky girl's confused gaze as she removed the book from her grasp, gently placed it on the floor, and took hold of her hand to pull her to her feet.

After confirming that Seele didn't seem to be in pain from standing up, Sin once again stepped close and lifted her up like a princess.

For once, Sin didn't care about what the others thought. As they walked, more and more curious eyes focused on them, and even Seele's face grew redder with each passing moment, but Sin never stopped staring forward.

There was something burning inside her now. She couldn't stop it even if she wanted to.

When they reached Matushka's office, Sin simply opened the door and waltzed in with a dumbfounded Seele that she carefully placed down on her feet, completely forgoing any notion of acting proper as she glared at the woman sitting at her desk.

Cocolia looked up from a stack of documents in an instant, opening her mouth to say something, only for her eyes to widen at the unusual sight.

"They," Sin practically spat as she approached the desk, "trashed her room and all her stuff. Do something about it."

Having said that, she turned around and left, slamming the door shut on her way out without even checking either Seele's or Matushka's expressions.

(Dumbfounded, as it just so happened, wouldn't even begin to describe it.)

(For Seele, who only ever expected the bare minimum, a move that so clearly went beyond that threshold was unbelievable. It wasn't surprising that she found herself reeling, her mind trying to find alternate explanations for Sin's outburst that dissuaded her wildest hopes, the insane notion that Sin actually cared more than pitied despite everything she did before. Even the demon seemed speechless.)

(Seele didn't like people getting hurt. That was what she always told herself, regardless of what the demon said. But the idea that Sin was willing to hurt people for her sake felt… strangely comforting.)

(Cocolia, meanwhile, was entirely unprepared for what she just witnessed. She already thought that Sin was completely different from the troublemaker she often dealt with when she effectively invaded her room the previous night to demand help because Seele had been in pain, but this went even beyond that. Just then, the girl who usually attempted to garner Cocolia's favor had a cold gaze that seemed to accuse her of something.)

(But what had Cocolia done wrong, when she worked so hard to ensure the children would be strong enough to survive on their own? When she, upon realizing that Einstein's so-called experiments were far too ineffectual at developing the children's abilities, went as far as making a deal with a serpent for ones that'd actually make a difference? So what if those new experiments were slightly more dangerous? The risk would be worth it. It'd have to be.)

(Amidst her shock, the woman didn't even notice as the very first seeds of doubt found their way into her mind.)

(... And, so wrapped in their own thoughts, both of them failed to realize quickly enough why Sin hadn't properly told Cocolia the identities of the perpetrators and immediately left the room with clear purpose.)

If Sin were in a normal state of mind, she would never have treated Matushka like that. It went against absolutely everything she was aiming for.

And yet, she couldn't help but bear a strange thought.

Matushka should have stopped this. She should have stopped all of this. She should have stopped even Sin herself back then. Instead, she merely gave out half-hearted punishments and called it a day.

All of a sudden, the notion felt surprisingly disgusting.

As a confusing onslaught of emotions swirled inside Sin's mind, she let her feet carry her all the way to a specific lounge room in the orphanage.

When she arrived, there were about a dozen girls around the place, doing everything from lying idly on the couches to reading books.

None of it mattered to Sin. She was looking for a specific person.

Fortunately, the search didn't take long.

A single redhead about her age took notice of her from her spot on an armchair, closing the familiar book she was reading as her emerald eyes glanced at Sin in amusement.

Although Sin could barely remember someone as unimportant as that insect, she could already tell she was filthy and venomous, not at all like Seele.

"I was wondering when you'd come," she said in an annoying voice that almost made Sin attack right then and there. "You saw the surprise I left, right?"

At once, all the eyes in the room focused coldly on Sin.

She kept her gaze on their leader.

"The situation is simple. Even you should be smart enough to understand," the girl whose name Sin already didn't care for continued, a smirk reaching her features. "If you don't do as I say, something even worse will happen to your little pet. You don't want that, do you?"

It seemed someone caught sight of Sin's visits, made a bunch of assumptions, and decided to try to seize more power within the orphanage. Not exactly a surprising development.

That said, when faced with such a threat, Sin could only respond in one manner.

"... Heheh… Hahaha…"

The same sounds escaped her lips, again and again, their volume rising until she was roaring in laughter at the idiocy in front of her.

It only took a few moments for the smirk on the stupid girl's face to fade. "Hey, what's so funny? If you keep disrespecting me like that, then Seele—"

That only brought forth a renewed wave of laughter out of Sin.

All the girls seemed to grow uneasy at the sight, but it wasn't like Sin could help it. The whole situation felt like a drawn-out joke.

They destroyed Seele's room — that was all they did — and yet, this stupid bitch had the gall to act like she suddenly owned the entire orphanage?

It clearly wasn't Sin's fault that her laughter took so long to die out.

"Haha… Heh… How sad," Sin began, grinning. "Pathetic, really. Is this the part where I get on my knees and beg for mercy? Is that what you expect? I lie low for just a little while, and you trash get this brilliant idea? Hilarious."

All the girls seemed to be at a loss for words. Cautiously, the leader rose to her feet, prompting the others to do the same.

"Don't be stupid, Sin," she said, doing her best not to sound afraid. "Do you really think you can take on so many—"

Sin's grin disappeared.

"Shut up."

The girl did just that, taken aback by a simple order. For all that she pretended otherwise, it seemed like her soul really was the same as an insect's.

All too easy to squash.

"Heh…"

At the moment, there were many things that Sin didn't understand about her own feelings, but she could still list the facts as she acknowledged them.

First, what was done to Seele made her upset.

Second, this piece of trash had a grating voice and behavior that made Sin even more upset.

Third, said piece of trash was also the one who did that to Seele, and therefore could reasonably bear all the responsibility for making Sin upset.

Fourth, she had plenty of followers ready to defend her, and their eagerness to follow such a stupid bitch also made Sin upset.

And, finally…

Sin had a very specific method of dealing with people who made her upset.

Little by little, her grin resurfaced.

"Ah, I'm so happy~," she let the words flow out of her mouth like honey. "Just when I needed some stress relief, you bit part losers show up~! Oh, is this a gift? Were you actually thinking of me~?"

In a smooth motion, Sin slowly reached out to her side, towards the cupboard next to the doorway, and gently, carefully, grasped a tall silver candlestick.

The insects flinched, taking a step back.

Sin's grin widened, and a few of the girls started shaking at the sight. She wondered just what sort of monster she must've looked like in their eyes.

"Well, if you guys are willing to go this far just for me…"

Regardless of the details, it'd just be rude not to live up to their expectations, right?

"Then let's play for a bit!"

No more words were necessary.

With the candlestick in her grasp, Sin pounced.

.

.

.

In the orphanage's cafeteria, Seele hummed as she moved to collect two slices of pie and place them on her tray, followed by a pair of cups of juice and two forks.

The other children were staring, observing her every move, but it didn't really matter. She thanked the workers and turned around, leaving the cafeteria with slow and deliberate steps.

As usual, Seele shouldn't stick around for too long, but this time it was because of her wound instead of bullies.

Matushka finally admitted that she was healing much faster than expected — faster than what should even be possible, judging from her disbelieving expression back then — but standing up for too long was still a sure way to make the place where she was shot hurt relentlessly, just like that night.

Seele hoped it'd eventually stop doing that.

Even so, the threat of an annoying stomach pain wasn't really enough of an excuse not to help someone. At least that was Seele's line of thought when, somewhere along the way, she spotted a group of girls surrounding an annoyed younger girl with long white hair and blue eyes.

The demon groaned in her mind, but she didn't make any remarks as Seele approached the group with her very best strict glare which she had been practicing.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as she came to a stop beside the scene.

That was enough.

Without delay, the older girls only glanced at her before dispersing on the spot, muttering curses and something about "Sin's pet" under their breath, leaving behind the exhausted-looking girl they were about to torment.

Despite her success, Seele had to bite back a sigh.

It was nice that she could do that sort of thing now, but she wished it wasn't just because she was associated with Sin. Benefitting from someone else's actions didn't quite sit right with Seele.

There had to be something she could do about it.

'You could always grab a bat or something and take out a few idiots. That way they'll have another reason to steer clear of you besides Sin, right?'

Maybe it'd be better to think about it later.

Pointedly ignoring the demon's advice, she turned to the younger girl she just rescued. "Liliya, are you alright?"

"Mhm…" Liliya nodded. Although there wasn't a smile on her face, she still seemed thankful. "Since you showed up, I didn't even need to use my pencil."

"... A-Ahahaha, I see…"

Just which of them had Seele saved?

"Seele," Liliya continued, "did you see Roza Idiotka? She disappeared again."

"After lunch, right?" Seele gave the girl an apologetic smile. "I don't think I've seen her since then. Do you think…"

"Probably." Liliya nodded, sighing as she turned and walked away.

Seele followed suit, letting out a quiet laugh as she kept up with the younger girl.

They were going the same way, after all.

There wasn't a word as they walked, both preferring to stay silent. Before long, they stopped in front of a door, and Seele knocked twice before opening.

"C'moooon, I'll be the bestest student ever!"

"Just piss off already!"

Yep, they found Rozaliya.

The pink-haired girl looked like she hadn't noticed the newcomers as she knelt before a bed, her blue eyes gazing at its occupant pleadingly.

As she did so, Sin sat cross-legged on the bed, a cast encasing her right arm and several bandages covering small wounds across her body. Considering her twitching expression, she seemed to be at the very end of her patience.

Rozaliya let out something between a whine and a growl, leaning closer to Sin. "But I wanna learn how to beat up tons of bad guys like you!"

"Then figure it out yourself, dammit!"

Seele had a wry smile as she watched the scene.

"Liliya," she whispered, "can you deal with this?"

The girl in question glanced at Seele for only a moment before saluting and walking into the room. "Roza, stop annoying Sin and let's go."

"Huh? Lili?" The pinkette glanced at the interruption, annoyed. "Can't you see I'm kinda busy here—"

There wasn't a single hint of hesitation as Liliya took a pencil out of her pocket and poked Rozaliya's arm.

As soon as the girl yelped, Liliya moved behind her, wrapping her free arm around her sister's neck and pointing the pencil at her face.

Rozaliya froze.

"Roza," Liliya began, "you can stop being an idiotka and come with me, or I'm making a new hole in your face. Maybe you'll be less stupid if there's another way for oxygen to reach your brain."

The pinkete sputtered. "Y-You're drilling a hole right through my skull?!"

"Oh, so Roza does know where her brain is." Liliya tightened her hold, bringing the pencil slightly closer. "Want to see it yourself just to be sure?"

"A-Aren't your threats escalating too much?!" Rozaliya shook as she spoke, eyeing the sharp pencil near her face. "Fine, we're going, we're going!"

Liliya hummed in acknowledgement. Instead of letting go, however, she kept Rozaliya in her hold as she dragged the terrorized girl towards the doorway.

Seele still had a smile on her face as she stepped to the side to let Liliya pass with her sister, nodding at the younger girl before swiftly entering the room with the tray in hands and carefully closing the door behind her.

Finally alone with Sin.

"Ah, it must be nice to have a sister," Seele mused aloud as she sauntered to a small table by the window and put down the tray.

She could practically feel Sin's stare. "... How the hell did watching that mess make you think that?"

No response escaped Seele's lips as she headed to Sin's bed and sat by the girl's left with a wide smile.

Sin shot her a wary look, inching away.

Seele scooted closer twice, their arms now touching.

Sin tried moving away again.

Seele, as gently as she could, glomped her down to the bed.

"Hey, my arm! Careful with my arm!"

The raven-haired girl giggled, settling her head on Sin's left shoulder as she looked up at the other girl's heated glare and even hotter cheeks.

Regardless of her expression, Sin didn't push her away, so that meant Seele could be greedy like this, right? If anything, didn't Sin owe her this much for all the time she spent being mean?

Ah, she was making excuses for her selfishness. That wasn't something a good girl would do.

"... Get off me," Sin demanded with no real heat.

"I don't want to," came Seele's cheerful response.

Sin just grunted at that, but didn't act, and Seele took that as permission to stay like this.  She didn't let any amount of shame stop her eyes from washing over the flustered girl, observing all her features.

It wasn't long until her eyes lingered on Sin's bandaged wounds, then on the cast encasing her arm.

Matushka had been livid when she found a hurt Sin with a wide smile and surrounded by even more hurt children all over the floor. There was a noticeable lack of blood and an excessive amount of broken limbs, a combination that made it clear that Sin had actually done her best to prevent any deaths while still inflicting as much pain as possible, but that didn't help her evade punishment.

Unsurprisingly, Sin had been grounded for anywhere between a month and forever. Matushka was still deciding.

Back then, Seele wished she could say she was horrified at the sight, but all that she felt was a filthy, dark joy that made even the taunting voice in her head speechless.

They had it coming, she thought. And that one came from her, not her other self. For a moment, she even wanted to walk there and change the relatively bloodless state of the room, because they dared to hurt Sin, but she fortunately had enough self-control to hold herself back.

She still didn't want to believe that things could only be solved that way, but the results did speak for themselves. No one dared to mess with Seele or go against her word, all because of what Sin did.

Seele was finally free to move around as she pleased. It was like a dream come true.

So maybe Sin and her other self had both been right all along. Maybe some people really could only be reasoned with through pain.

She still wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"... Hey," Sin spoke up awkwardly after a while, interrupting Seele's thoughts. "Is that pie just for show? I'm getting hungry."

"O-Oh, right!"

Seele flushed as she disentangled herself from Sin, rushing to the tray and taking hold of it. With a big smile, Seele walked back to the bed just as Sin rose to a sitting position, taking a seat herself and placing the tray between the two of them.

Sin regarded her with a deadpan stare. She tilted her head, glancing at the opposite side of the room.

There, a second bed was placed, covered in a blue sheet.

In response, Seele gave Sin a puzzled look, as if she couldn't understand the very obvious suggestion for her to eat on her own bed instead of next to the other girl.

It didn't take long for Sin to give up with a huff and focus on eating instead, prompting Seele to do the same.

That day, Seele decided to tell Matushka that she'd feel much safer if she was allowed to stay in Sin's room instead of simply being relocated to another one. After what happened to Seele's previous room, Matushka had plenty of reasons not to leave Seele by herself, so she readily agreed.

Maybe Seele should have felt a bit bad for taking advantage of her worry, but the fact that she was now able to be close to Sin around the clock really made it difficult to regret that.

In retrospect, Seele could never have imagined that being near Sin would make her happy. Just a while ago, happiness would be finding herself as far from Sin as possible.

After all, Sin made her suffer so much from the very beginning. Amongst her tormentors, she was the worst, and sometimes Seele felt like she only didn't make things physical because she didn't want to risk being the target of Matushka's ire. Sin called Seele names, isolated her more and more, and was well on her way to tear apart the last shred of the girl's sanity before that day.

The only reason Seele didn't hate Sin was because she found it very difficult to hate anything. The demon inside her never seemed to stop eating all her worst emotions.

Or maybe she was simply crazy and there was no demon.

Seele wouldn't be surprised if that was really the case. The fact she was broken had never been clearer to her than in the past few weeks.

"Hey..."

The demon sounded almost offended at the notion that she might not be real. It was funny enough for Seele to giggle, getting an increasingly common questioning look from Sin in response.

So, against all odds, Seele didn't hate Sin.

Still, the fact Sin wronged her meant she had the right to make her suffer as a payback, didn't it? Wasn't that how things supposedly worked in the real world? 

But she didn't want that. She didn't want to hurt Sin.

Instead, she wanted Sin to pay it all back tenfold with happiness.

For every time she made Seele cry, making her smile ten times should suffice. For every one of Seele's belongings that Sin ruined, ten gifts should be enough.

And Seele would no doubt want many gifts, because now she wanted so much more.

If the demon had a body, Seele knew she would be giving her a weird look. Seele could feel the disbelief rolling in waves.

Still, she didn't care.

When they finished the pie, Seele simply placed the tray on the floor — it would have to be washed later, anyway — and continued to sit with Sin, leaning against her shoulder and pretending she didn't notice the other girl tensing up at the move.

Before, Seele hadn't even known she could feel this sort of thing. All she wanted was an empty serenity — to be by herself in peace, reading books and staying away from the scary people outside her room.

Then, without even realizing it, Sin gave her things she never had, and Seele wanted more, more, and more.

Something consumed her thoughts. Maybe it was greed, or maybe it was hope, and it whispered into her ear of desires she never realized she had, all of them completely unseen for as long as she kept her head down and expectations low.

To be able to want something with all her heart, with no doubts whispering into her mind about the uselessness of desiring things in her barren life, was incredibly liberating.

She wanted tasty food. A warm bed. To sleep until late whenever the day was too cold, and to read her books well into the night whenever she felt like it.

She wanted to take a walk sometimes even when the weather wasn't suitable for it, and to rest under a tree's shade in the courtyard while the days were still warm.

She wanted to try her hand at cooking and be praised regardless of the results, to knit a scarf and have someone wear it even if it looked ugly. She wanted to stand under a rainstorm with nothing but an umbrella and watch the world fade into endless fog around her, and to go catch bugs with the others even if she couldn't quite bring herself to touch some of them.

Seele wanted, and wanted, and wanted.

And what she wanted the most was…

Unprompted, Seele turned to stare right into Sin's eyes, catching the other girl in the middle of stealing a glance at her. 

Seele smiled at her. The way Sin huffed and averted her eyes with reddened cheeks was nothing short of adorable.

There was no doubt about it. 

Seele wanted Sin.

The demon inside her sighed, but she paid her no mind.

She wanted Sin to be at an arm's reach as often as possible. To let Seele hug and stare at her at any time. To keep acting like this and never go back to how she was before.

Seele was free to want as much as she wanted, and she wanted Sin, no matter how selfish that was.

It seemed like she had become a bad girl at some point.

.

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In a certain dimly-lit environment, a heated battle was reaching its conclusion.

"Too weak~! I guess your loss again, huh?"

"Like hell it is!"

It was a dark living room, decorated with HOMU plushies, posters, and all manners of other merchandise. Its only source of illumination, a large TV on the carpet in front of the couch settled above a game console, continuously flashed a multitude of lights with each action the characters took.

"I thought you checked those guides, but I must've forgotten you never learned how to read~!"

"Just you wait…!"

The sounds of special effects and button mashing filled the room, but nothing seemed able to prevent the foregone conclusion.

"Oops, perfect guard~!"

"Grr…!"

To call it a fair fight would have been inaccurate. Instead, it was closer to bullying, and eventually…

"PLAYER 1 WINS!"

Kiana Kaslana, clad in black shorts and a white shirt, immediately groaned, letting the controller fall by her side on the couch.

"Another victory for the bunny~! Does that make it nine hundred? Maybe even a thousand?" an infuriatingly smug voice asked. "Who knows? I stopped counting a while ago~!"

Slowly, the white-haired girl glanced to the side, glaring at the slightly younger girl with mirthful gray eyes and similarly colored long hair dyed blue at the tips seated next to her. She was wearing the same kind of dark shorts as Kiana, except coupled with a black tank top instead, and had a smile that really made the white-haired girl want to pounce on her.

"You know how unfair this is!" Kiana argued. "How am I supposed to beat you when you have a ton of experience with every game in existence?!"

A grin crossed Bronya Zaychik's face. "Git—"

Kiana shot her a piercing death glare, daring her to finish that.

Bronya's grin widened.

"—gud."

She let go of the controller and ducked away just on time to avoid the HOMU plushie Kiana swung at her.

"Unbelievable," Kiana grumbled, placing the plushie back where it belonged. "What would your fanbase think if they knew you're a scammer?"

"I don't see how that's true," Bronya said, voice filled with faux innocence. "Our deal's still on. Beat me and I'll find your dad in no time."

"It's impossible!" the white-haired girl snapped at her. "It's already been months!"

"Then pay up," came Bronya's smug response. "Just a hundred thousand. It's usually a million. I'm never this nice with anyone else."

Kiana rolled her eyes, sinking into the couch. "Yeah, so sorry if not everyone's as filthy rich as you."

Bronya actually snorted. "If you think I'm rich, you haven't seen anything yet in this city."

That did nothing but bring out a long-suffering sigh from Kiana's lips.

It was then that a vibrating noise made itself known. Bronya swiftly reached into a pocket and brought up her phone, staring at the contents on its lit screen.

She smiled.

"Good news, Uncle got another job today," she told Kiana, rising to her feet and walking towards the doorway leading to the bedrooms. "He says there's an open spot. Wanna join again for some pocket money? Should be four digits this time."

"'I'm not filthy rich,' says a girl who calls a couple thousand pocket money," Kiana grumbled as she got up, straightening out her clothes. "Is it the masked umbrella guy again? The one who doesn't know what 'easy' means?"

"If this really was easy, we wouldn't be getting paid this much," Bronya reasoned as she stopped by the doorway, glancing back at Kiana. "And Uncle says—"

"That this is still easier than living in Siberia, I know." Kiana sighed. "Uncle Maxim says that every single day, even though I also grew up there."

"—that he forgot to buy groceries and we should do that before heading out," Bronya finished, smug smile firmly in place. "Since I won again, that's your job, 'kay?"

Kiana sputtered at that. "Do I look like a maid to you?!"

Bronya grinned at her.

"Yep."

Then she turned around and left, disappearing into the hallway.

Kiana could only groan.

"That damn Bratnya…"

Months ago, she heard rumors about a hypercompetent newcomer who could fulfill any mission, from stealing prized objects to finding missing persons. A rising star in Arc City calling herself Haxxor Bunny.

She shouldn't have paid those stories any mind.

If Kiana had simply ignored them and went on her way, she would be anywhere except there, at the beck and call of an annoying brat for the unlikely chance that she'd decide to help without demanding an inordinate amount of money.

The lodging was good, though. As were the jobs, compared to barely scraping by while relying only on herself and her father's contacts.

Really, the situation wasn't bad at all.

Admitting that was annoying, though.

So she made sure it was with a big scowl that she walked away to prepare herself for buying groceries.

At least she should be able to sneak in a few extra cups of instant noodles.