According to the agreement between Mols and Shibal, she was to report back every three months. The timing wasn't strict; she just needed to return home before the four-month mark.
When Mols returned to Kukuroo Mountain, it began to rain.
The rain wasn't heavy, so Mols didn't retrieve an umbrella from her game backpack. She walked through the sea of trees at the foot of the mountain at a leisurely pace, then ascended.
“...Mols!” A joyful, undisguisedly excited female voice greeted her.
As Mols had expected, not long after starting up the mountain, Kikyo appeared, her electronic eyes constantly monitoring the territory. A butler in a black suit followed Kikyo, holding a black umbrella to shield her from the rain – Kikyo's ornate Western dress was not meant to get wet.
“Not even sending your mother a message before coming home, so there's no time to prepare anything…” Kikyo still held the hem of her skirt to prevent the floor-length gown from touching the mud. “Ah, Mols, were you trying to surprise your mother?”
“…” Mols offered no response.
Kikyo didn't mind. After all, Mols had been this indifferent three months ago after her surgery. The current situation at least indicated Mols was stable, which was a relief. Ever since Mols had gone mad, Kikyo had no higher expectations for her than for Mols to remain stable.
“It's a shame the weather is bad today, you’re all wet.” With Mols's physical condition, Kikyo wasn't worried about her falling ill from the rain. Her words were more of a pleasantry, leading to the main point: “Let's go back quickly.”
With that, Kikyo turned around. The butler in the black suit, responsible for holding the umbrella, walked behind and to the side of her. Mols followed them, maintaining a distance of two to three steps, silently trailing behind.
There was no conversation along the way.
While showering and changing, and during her hair treatment, Mols reflected on Kikyo's changes. Not only did she speak less, but she hadn't altered the furnishings in Mols's room. The room was exactly the same as it had been three months prior, as if Mols’s departure had happened only yesterday.
Things were constantly developing and changing; new things would eventually replace old ones. Mols wondered what changes she herself had undergone.
After losing her emotions, she no longer felt frequent negativity. Many things became less important… This wasn't a major issue. Why take the game so seriously?
Mols smiled strangely in the mirror. She blinked, and in the mirror, Mols reverted to a harmless, quiet expression.
At the long dining table in the restaurant, only Mols and Kikyo were seated. The other members of the Zoldyck family were out on assignments, and Milluki’s habit of nesting in his room and tinkering with private matters rather than joining meals was the norm.
With Mols, the family’s greatest anomaly, present, the Zoldycks had grown accustomed to Milluki’s reclusive behavior and were increasingly lenient.
Kikyo had completely abandoned her last hopes for Milluki’s physique. However, she was grateful that Milluki wasn't trending towards further weight gain; his condition was stable.
Yes, stability and balance were paramount. It was the reason this vast and ancient assassin family had endured to this day.
“...It's all your favorite food.” Kikyo sat in the seat next to Mols, her nature proving hard to change as she began to nag again. “Mols, is this enough? Do you want anything else?”
Mols shook her head, still appearing unenthusiastic. Kikyo suppressed the urge to feed Mols herself, continuing to gaze at Mols with an expectant and ardent intensity, making Mols feel the weight of her cutlery.
To avoid unnecessary overthinking from Kikyo, Mols had to emulate the ancient emperors of the "real world" by taking no more than three bites of each dish, doing so evenly and without pattern.
Besides, Kikyo truly understood Mols. The large table was indeed filled with dishes Mols favored, with no particular preference.
…Such meticulous love.
Kikyo sat very close to Mols. Kikyo’s hands were not holding any cutlery, her mind entirely off eating. It seemed the act of watching Mols dine satisfied her.
Mols could see Kikyo’s health bar in her peripheral vision. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she pierced Kikyo's carotid artery with the table knife in her hand.
The Zoldycks strictly forbade family members from killing each other; it was their bottom line. Killing Kikyo would likely bring about a swift end to the game.
It would undoubtedly be a Bad Ending, with the only suspense being the details of the story.
Would Shibal be angry? Would he regret it? How would he punish, how would he kill the sinner? She desperately wanted to know.
“Mols.” Kikyo raised her hand to caress the hair behind Mols's head. “Not eating anymore? Shall we have dessert now?”
Seeing Mols release her knife and fork, Kikyo signaled the attending butler, who then began clearing the table. As soon as they finished, dessert was systematically laid out, again filling a large table, enough for the entire Zoldyck family.
Although the Zoldycks were a prominent family, they wouldn't normally be so extravagant and wasteful with their meals. Mols knew that the excess portion was Kikyo's eagerness to express, her overflowing "love."
Kikyo had even removed the surveillance from Mols’s room, something that exceeded Mols’s expectations.
Apologies after harm, belated compensation… These things no longer mattered. The scar remained; the pain had stopped, but the scar lingered.
Mols thought she was quite a grudge-holder, expending her memory on matters that only she cared about. Sometimes she wished she could forget everything. Then "she" wouldn't exist, and a new "she" would live on in her place… live on.
Then again, what was the point of living?
She was of no benefit to anything around her.
She had just considered trying to kill Kikyo.
Mols was lost in thought, having not touched any dessert. In Kikyo’s eyes, Mols was just like she had been three months ago, constantly spacing out, lost in her own thoughts.
Oh, Kikyo couldn't help but blame herself for not possessing Nen that could read minds. Otherwise, her distance from Mols wouldn't have grown so vast.
Mols ate a small piece of jelly closest to her and stood up. Kikyo restrained herself from asking what Mols was doing. Seeing Mols leave the dining table, she stood up to follow.
Fortunately, Mols wasn't leaving home immediately; she went to her own room.
Kikyo stood by the door, her hands covering her chest, suppressing the urge to eavesdrop on any activity inside.
No, no. Mols had only come home for a visit. She couldn't keep too close an eye on her, or it would cause her displeasure.
But the worry in her heart never eased. Mols had been a problematic child since birth; how could she possibly relax?
Her meticulous care for Mols over the past decade had become Kikyo's habit. Being unable to investigate Mols for three months had kept Kikyo tossing and turning, an ordeal akin to withdrawal from addiction. She had become unusually irritable, and a few butlers had suffered her misplaced anger due to bad timing.
Fortunately, there was another she cherished dearly, Killua. She had the butlers secretly monitoring Killua report every detail to her daily to alleviate her sense of loss regarding Mols.
Now, her beloved daughter, the one she longed for, was right before her eyes. She had to be exceedingly careful, to make Mols stay home longer, to prevent her from running off and causing her sleepless nights.
Go further away, don't stand here, Mols sensed.
The surveillance footage within the territory could be accessed at will through these electronic eyes. Unless Mols intended to leave home silently, she would certainly know Mols's whereabouts within the territory.
She wouldn't leave silently, would she? She shouldn't. There was no need.
Kikyo’s shoulders slumped, and she continued walking forward.
But Mols was a problematic child. Her logical behavior couldn't simply be judged by common sense. Perhaps if she wasn't paying attention, she would…
Kikyo clutched her wrist, drawing bloodstains.
Calm down, calm down. Mols, after the surgery, was somewhat different. Mols, so indifferent to her family, should be even more distant to outsiders.
It wouldn't take long for Mols to understand that she had nowhere to rest but here, only here, and only here was her only haven.
Mols returned to her room and walked directly to the bed, lying down on it.
A soft, spacious bed.
In the "real world," Mols was an only child, occupying a bed all to herself. Sleeping in the middle of the bed had been her habit for over twenty years. When she lived with her boyfriend, and someone slept beside her, she always slept poorly, going to bed late and waking early, her menstrual cycle also becoming irregular. After the breakup, she returned home, back to her own bed, and finally slept soundly.
Kukuroo Mountain, the initial starting point of the game, didn't seem entirely peaceful either. Currently, it was only outwardly peaceful. Based on Mols's nearly twenty years of interaction with Kikyo, Mols knew Kikyo was trying hard to suppress her true nature. But Kikyo didn't know this, which instead made Mols feel more distant.
Stop pretending. There's no need. It's tiring for everyone.
Between a true villain and a hypocrite, Mols would rather encounter the former; at least it was forthright.
Tell Kikyo, let her not suppress herself? No. The nightmare of all sorts of surveillance methods returning, forget it.
Mols rolled over, changing to a side-lying position. After sleeping for about an hour, she tidied her appearance in front of the mirror and walked out of her room. Not long after, she encountered Kikyo. The latter, as if finding it difficult to speak, clasped her hands together in front of her chest, one hand repeatedly stroking the back of the other. "Mols, I missed you a lot while you were gone. I looked at many clothes suitable for you."
“…” Mols tilted her head.
This response gave Kikyo great encouragement. She beamed, “My daughter cannot wear old clothes, nor can she wear outdated styles. Feel free to discard any clothes you’ve worn. Take all the new clothes and put them into your 'game backpack.'”
Kikyo was still holding back. Normally, she would want to see Mols wearing those clothes.
Mols didn’t want the endless outfit-trying session to return, so she didn’t point it out, merely following Kikyo’s words and “picking up” the new clothes into the game backpack. During this, Kikyo hesitated several times. Parents who had to read their children's expressions and became cautious were undoubtedly objects of pity.
Pity? Could she feel pity? Mols stared at herself in the dressing room mirror and found herself to be an empty void.
Offer a gesture of goodwill or ignore it? This was a choice between two options, devoid of emotion.
Kikyo saw Mols staring blankly in the dressing room mirror for a long time, and then the clothes Mols was wearing changed to one of the new outfits – Mols had used the game backpack’s "one-click outfit change" function.
“…Mols.” Kikyo understood this as a gesture of goodwill, her eyes brimming with tears of joy. “Just as I imagined, Mols, everything suits you. You truly are my daughter…”
She was so happy that she was almost incoherent, not knowing what to say. Finally, she condensed it into one sentence: “Mols… Mols, can I hug you?”
Mols remained still, looking back at Kikyo quietly.
After three months of no news, seeing Mols, who had been drenched by the rain, Kikyo had wanted to hug her then. Now, Kikyo remembered Mols, covered in rain, like a white sculpture surviving in the ruins after a battle – desolate and lonely, with no vegetation.
Ah, her poor Mols. How could she bear to let such a Mols wander alone outside?
This was not out of possessiveness, but "love."
In the silence, she embraced Mols and gently stroked Mols's hair.
The temperature difference between them gradually balanced. Kikyo said, “Stay a few more days, until your father and the others return from work. We don’t know when we’ll meet next…”
She had finally voiced it, the sense of loss that lingered in her heart.
This worry was not unfounded. Mols thought about it and realized she herself couldn't be sure of her situation in three months – she had to admit, Kikyo knew her quite well.
Kikyo released her embrace, and Mols shook her head, mouthing the words, "No need."
“…”
“I'll visit Killua on the way.”
“…Okay.”
In the past, when Mols was with Kikyo, it was always Kikyo who chattered endlessly. Now that Kikyo had also fallen silent, the air grew stagnant.
“Leave tomorrow,” Kikyo said. “The mountain road is muddy after the rain, and it will soil your shoes.”
It was actually a rather unconvincing reason, but Mols looked at her for a moment and nodded.
In the evening, Kikyo invited Mols to sleep in her room.
Only when they were in bed, lying facing each other, did Kikyo remove the electronic eyes that she rarely took off and place them on the bedside table.
Removing the electronic eyes was equivalent to cutting off all surveillance feeds, like losing her limbs. Kikyo always needed a moment to adjust to this sense of detachment.
Having worn the electronic eyes for too long, Kikyo had grown accustomed to observing everything around her through them. The electronic eyes, connected to all surveillance feeds, were like the compound eyes of an insect, allowing her to see from various angles. They were far more powerful than human eyes, to the extent that… Kikyo thought she had barely used her own eyes to gaze at Mols.
Similarly, Mols had little opportunity to see Kikyo without her electronic eyes.
Having been mother and daughter for nearly twenty years, living under the same roof, seeing each other daily, they now looked at each other face-to-face and saw a similar unfamiliarity as if meeting for the first time.
The essence of "Nen" is the ability to manipulate life energy, so Nen users know how to reduce life energy loss. They appear younger and live longer than ordinary people. However, not many Nen users live long lives because the world they inhabit is more dangerous, and most Nen users do not settle for mediocrity. In pursuit of their respective goals, they are more prone to dying violent deaths.
Ahem, that’s a tangent. What I really need to say is that Kikyo's appearance exceeded Mols’s expectations.
Time seemed to have left no mark. Her lustrous black hair cascaded down, and her cat-like eyes were large and innocent. Without the bright lipstick, this woman was too captivating. If she stood next to Mols, they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter.
Meanwhile, Kikyo’s fingers caressed Mols’s eyebrows and eyes, as if admiring her proudest creation. “Mols, you truly resemble me. Not only that, but you've inherited a part of Father… The blue of your eyes is very beautiful.”
“And your hair too,” Kikyo’s fingers buried themselves in Mols’s hair. “When I met Father, I thought I would have a child like you. You grew day by day, exactly as I imagined, and I was so happy… Mols, you are the dream I realized.”
She seemed a little infatuated. She took Mols’s hand, kissed each finger, then leaned in to kiss Mols's forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin.
“Mols… Mols.” She hugged Mols. “Don't leave me.”
Mols remained like a puppet, motionless in her embrace.
When Kikyo relaxed slightly, Mols slowly and gently pushed her away.
“…” x2
“…Mols.” Kikyo took Mols’s hand again, this time placing it on her chest. “Sometimes I truly wish I could take this heart out and show it to you. I… I don’t know how to love you anymore.”
“…” Mols half-closed her eyes and lowered her gaze.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, but Mols didn’t know how to answer either. After all, everyone’s answer to "love" was unlikely to be entirely the same.
There was no right answer.
At least, one shouldn't distort oneself for "love," forcing oneself to conform.
The long silence brought a hint of pain to Kikyo's face. So, Mols mouthed the words, “Don’t think too much about me, just be yourself, Mom.”
When emotional, Kikyo didn't hold back tears. Her eyes immediately welled up, tears streaming down her face, yet her lips curved into a smile. “…Mols.”
She cupped Mols’s face, pressing her forehead against Mols’s, her tears falling onto Mols’s cheeks.
Mols remembered that when she was still in her cradle, many times when she woke up, Kikyo would be by the cradle, holding different toys, trying to attract her attention.
If only she hadn't been obstructed by those electronic eyes back then, she would surely have seen the love in Kikyo's eyes.
…But there were no "ifs."
In the end, both pretended to fall asleep, though they knew the other wasn't truly asleep, and believed the other didn't know of their feigned slumber.
Playing along as if they had slept until morning, Kikyo stroked Mols’s hair and bid her good morning. Mols responded with a nod.
After a long time, Kikyo picked up a comb and began to brush Mols’s hair, smoothing every slight curl of her silver-white hair.
Adjusting the angle of the mirror on the dressing table, Kikyo smiled and said, “I’ll see you off later. If you don’t have urgent matters, please finish breakfast before you leave, okay?”
“…” Mols blinked at Kikyo in the mirror.
“…Okay.” Kikyo understood, put an arm around her shoulder, and repeated, “Okay.”
Kikyo escorted Mols to the entrance of the main residence and stopped.
Mols walked a long distance, but she could still feel Kikyo standing there.
She didn't look back.
The saying "nine out of ten bets lose" was not without reason. Low-odds bets didn't yield much profit, while high-odds bets merely carried greater risk. In Heaven's Arena, judging solely by the raw strength of the contestants wasn't enough; one also had to consider factors like the contestants' current state, ability matchups, and luck.
After buying out all the chocolate sold at Heaven's Arena and leaving a note at Killua's current residence, Mols lost all her remaining cash at the gambling matches and had to go to an ATM to withdraw money.
Mols withdrew money using a method of equal distribution, taking a portion from each account.
As expected, Kikyo had transferred another 500 million Jenny to her account.
The card Zeno had given her still had over 900 million Jenny remaining.
Ordinary travel didn't cost hundreds of millions. Coupled with the various free benefits of the Hunter license, as long as she didn't buy luxury items like weapons, the money seemed inexhaustible.
Finally, she inserted Shibal's card. The ATM displayed a balance of exactly 100 million Jenny.
“…”
Thus, Mols checked the details of this card.
This was…
Her eyes widened slightly.
Every time she used this card to make a purchase, at midnight that same day, the card would receive a deposit, replenishing the balance back to 100 million Jenny.
It was just like Cinderella's midnight magic.
Ah, if that were the case…
If that were the case, when she repaid the money in the future, it would have to be calculated separately.