"(Will we meet again?...What kind of question is that? She clearly knows the answer herself, right?)"

"(If you ask me, of course...)"

"'I want to see Kafka again.' After a moment of hesitation, Star finally spoke her answer.

But she didn't know if it was her imagination, Star felt that as soon as she finished speaking, a faint blush began to appear on Kafka's ear tips, and at the same time, her slender eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Heh heh..." She was still smiling, but the watery gleam in her eyes was too radiant, and it would likely reveal her thoughts sooner or later. She simply closed her eyes and took a deep breath – when she opened them again, her eyes were like misty mountains, and she had become the unfathomable Kafka once more.

"Alright, I'm done asking." Kafka shook her head, "You really surprise me, Star, I can't see through you. Alright, it's your turn to ask."

Star decided to continue asking questions about herself. No matter what Kafka answered this time, at least one answer would be true.

"Who was I before?" Star repeated the previous question.

But this time Kafka's answer was clearly different: "You are an artificial entity created to contain the stellaron. From birth, your destiny was to receive the stellaron at Herta Space Station. My job was to protect you before that and teach you basic combat skills and knowledge."

"The reason you don't remember is that I made you forget before executing the Herta plan," Kafka said without hesitation.

Chainsaw Man—

At a street corner cafe at dusk, Miss Makima was elegantly stirring her black coffee, while Hayakawa Aki, sitting opposite her, was resting his chin on one hand, slightly raising his head to look up at Celestial Screen.

"An artificial entity containing the stellaron..." Kafka's answer made Hayakawa Aki's brows unconsciously relax. Compared to the second answer, he was more willing to believe that Star was a life unexpectedly created by a star god.

"If Kafka's first answer is the truth, then the star god who created her didn't use divine Power to control her..." Hayakawa Aki said thoughtfully, "The star god's thoughts are truly strange."

Miss Makima suddenly chuckled: "Aki-kun, how do you know that the star god's will didn't control Star?"

"'Control' never requires brute force. Look—believers have followed Yaoshi of the bountiful star for thousands of years, and the Supreme Guardian of Belobog steadfastly follows the will of preservation... True 'control' is often hidden within 'willingness'."

The smile on Miss Makima's face deepened, and she slowly shook her head: "Star thinks she is walking on the path she chose, but little does she know that the star god's Power may have subtly influenced her thinking long ago... You never know."

...Control." Hayakawa Aki chewed on this unfamiliar word. With Miss Makima bringing it up, a strange thought suddenly popped into his mind... Were Denji and Power also willingly accepting Miss Makima's "control"?

Was the entire Public Safety Bureau in Tokyo also willingly accepting this "control"?

A drop of cold sweat slid down Hayakawa Aki's forehead.

Miss Makima just smiled, the rim of the ceramic cup reflecting the seemingly bottomless vortex in her pupils: "Aki-kun, the expression on your face... Did you think of something interesting?"

As the two were chatting, Yanqing suddenly walked in.

Seeing Kafka, a hint of hostility flashed in Yanqing's eyes, but when he shifted his gaze to the side and found that Star was also here, he immediately frowned: "Huh? Why are you here?"

Before Star could explain, Kafka slowly walked out from behind Star, smiling meaningfully: "Of course, it's because she's under my Spirit Whisper."

"My suggestion can make people willingly accept instructions, without even noticing anything unusual," Kafka said, crossing her arms and slightly raising her chin towards Star: "Star, defeat this Little Brother, and your task will be over."

"—You, you, you evil heresy!"

Watching Star walk towards him swinging a baseball bat, Yanqing gritted his teeth in anger, but there was nothing he could do.

Star was a distinguished guest of the Immortal Boat and had just defeated Phantylia with the General and saved the Immortal Boat. He absolutely could not let her get hurt in this battle. But Star's strength was also quite formidable, and with his old injuries not yet healed, just dealing with her was exhausting, but what's more... he also had to keep an eye on Kafka on the side.

That woman who could use Spirit Whisper was even more dangerous than Star...

"—Not good!"

Secretly thinking it was bad, in the split second of distraction, Star had already picked up the baseball bat and was attacking. Yanqing was about to raise his sword to defend, but suddenly Star in front of him became blurry, like a watercolor painting bleeding after being soaked.

As if his hands were sinking into viscous amber, Kafka's voice surged from all directions, each syllable echoing with faint purple in his mind.

"Go back, Yanqing~"

Yanqing, who had been so imposing just a moment ago, quietly went back the next second.

With the crisis resolved, Star also finally breathed a sigh of relief. After successfully suppressing Blade's Mara-Struck, Kafka thanked Star again, but since Blade had someone else to meet, the two parted ways here.

Blade walked out of the room, saw Star who hadn't left yet, and slowly spoke: "I remember you. You used to follow Kafka, right? For a while, she was on a mission, and you were by her side. I still remember."

"You're the first one to follow her for so long and still be alive," Blade said with a cold smile, "Every Stellaron Hunter made a deal with Elio. Since Kafka agreed to be driven by Elio just like me, what she wants must be extraordinary, and everything she does comes at a huge cost."

Blade slowly turned his back: "She must have done a lot to keep you alive until now, Little Girl."

Attack on Titan—

Outside the camp at night, the bonfire crackled. Armin gazed at the distant horizon, a meteor flashing by like a phantom of the Star Rail.

"Blade knows so many inside stories, why didn't he say more?"

Eren pouted, looking at Blade's receding figure in the light screen with dissatisfaction, "Since Star used to follow Kafka, isn't her identity pretty much confirmed? She was also a member of the Stellaron Hunters."

"...No wonder her attitude towards Star is so unusual."

Mikasa looked at Eren's profile and said softly: "But Blade also said that every Stellaron Hunter made a deal with Elio, which means Star also did something similar?"

"Yes, so I speculate that Star's deal with Elio is mostly related to her later amnesia and sleep... I even think there's a possibility that Star actively requested to fall into sleep and lose her Remembrance, just to reach Elio's future more perfectly," Armin said thoughtfully.

"But why would she do that?" Mikasa didn't understand.

"Who knows? Maybe it was to deceive and hide from a certain star god who controls all memories in the universe? Or something else?"

Armin let his thoughts wander, "We have too little information now, but according to my guess... Star, who carries the stellaron, is likely the core of Elio's script. She must hide some important memories that even a star god cannot know. But to deceive a star god, she must first deceive herself, so she used Kafka's Spirit Whisper to forget."