Chapter 833 - 832: Escape from Angry Claudia and a Brief Calm at Aerith’s House."

Racing through the dump with Aerith in his arms, Alex kept glancing back now and then to see the frozen, icy face of Claudia, who was pursuing him with one single clear goal—to properly beat him up. Once again turning his head and meeting that murderous gaze, Alex thought with irony: his original plan to distract Claudia from the gloomy attempts to remember her blocked past had slightly gotten out of control… and not at all through his fault! Aerith added absurdity to what was happening, for she did not stop for a second cheerfully laughing while he ran with her in his arms.

Pondering how to temporarily break away from Claudia so that she could cool down at least a little, Alex with one powerful jump soared onto an abandoned building, intending to hide from the pursuit across the rooftops. However, Claudia, driven by the sole desire to teach him a good lesson, did not even think of stopping. Quickly casting a gaze over the area, she instantly found the needed support, powerfully pushed off from a protruding metal beam, and jumped onto the same roof.

Landing on the old covering, Claudia stared at Alex and predatorily cracked her neck, with her entire appearance making it clear: he could run even to the ends of the earth, she would still reach him. Looking at Claudia's unbending face, Alex merely wearily and deeply groaned. He did not even try to justify himself, for he had managed to anger her to the limit—both by the accidental grab of her breast and by the subsequent sly comments. But Aerith, comfortably hanging on his back, on the contrary considered this situation incredibly funny and with pleasure began pouring oil on the fire.

"Listen, Claudia! Well, it really was a pure accident… You can touch Alex's chest in return—his muscles are so pleasant to the touch, look!" Aerith said with a sly smirk, cheerfully patting her little palms on Alex's broad chest.

"I don't want to…" Claudia forced through her teeth, not taking her intent, incinerating gaze off Alex.

"Just try it. I'm absolutely not against it if you feel me up a little," Alex said with an extremely serious face, still hoping to catch Claudia off guard and switch her attention.

"No," Claudia answered in a dry, cutting tone, with a menacing crack clenching her fingers into a tight fist.

"Then you simply leave me no choice… Careful! Behind you is a Pie Hedgehog!" Alex said, shaking his head in resignation, after which with feigned fright he shouted the last phrase, dramatically pointing a finger behind Claudia's back.

Hearing Alex's warning cry and seeing how he pointed behind her back, Claudia instantly spun around, on the fly pulling the Buster Sword from behind her back in order to with one crushing blow cleave the Pie Hedgehog that had dared to interfere with her righteous revenge.

Delivering a lightning-fast sweeping blow from the turn, Claudia discovered before herself only an empty roof swept by the wind, on which there were absolutely no creatures. Understanding that she had again been shamelessly fooled, Claudia dangerously narrowed her eyes and slowly turned her head. The moment she turned back, she saw that Alex was already racing somewhere in the distance, while Aerith from his back cheerfully waved her a goodbye with her hand.

A short dry laugh escaped from Claudia's chest while inside another wave of blinding rage flared up. Leaning forward, Claudia pushed off from the roof with such terrible force that the old metal covering with a scrape bent under her boot. Moving in sharp, rapid lunges and with ease vaulting over any obstacles, Claudia left behind distinct dents on the metal flooring and in a matter of seconds overtook Alex and Aerith.

Hearing behind their backs the distinct, approaching thunder of iron-shod steps, Alex and Aerith synchronously turned their heads and saw that Claudia was already literally hanging on their tails. Emitting a heavy groan of deep fatigue, Alex for a moment even thought about simply stopping and accepting all the deserved punishment—if only this entire mad chaos would finally end.

However, the moment he thought about it, Aerith with sincere playful laughter began encouraging him, cheerfully patting him on the shoulder and calling him to run even faster. Listening to this ringing, happy voice sounding right above his ear, Alex could not help noting to himself: at least someone in this situation was having fun to the fullest.

"Claudia, maybe we can still stop already? I really did it by accident! Want me to gently kiss you as compensation?" Alex shouted on the run, powerfully jumping forward and grabbing a steel beam in order to vault onto the neighboring roof.

"No! No kisses—only a blow!" Claudia coldly cut off, jumping after him and using a pipe protruding from the covering as a springboard.

"It really was an accident! I've already apologized!" Alex shouted, more conveniently shifting Aerith into his arms, since the end of the roof was already distinctly visible ahead.

"I don't care at all," Claudia answered in a dry tone, narrowing her eyes at the sight of Alex's manipulations.

"Don't force me to resist! Because then I'll feel you up even more strongly!" Alex shouted, transitioning to direct threats in the hope that this would somehow force her to cool down.

"Then stop and try," Claudia answered with a dry chuckle, bestowing upon Alex a crushingly icy smile.

From these words Alex for a short moment experienced a strong desire to stop and still carry out his threat. However, rich life experience suggested to him not to do this. In the past exactly the same words had been uttered by Wednesday when he once again drove her to white heat with his stupid jokes.

And every time he fell for this trick, Wednesday with special sadistic pleasure poked him with something sharp in order to vent the accumulated anger. And looking at the gigantic Buster Sword behind Claudia's back, Alex perfectly understood with exactly what "sharp object" she intended to poke him this time.

Deciding not to fall for the familiar trick anymore, Alex looked ahead and saw that he had already practically run to the edge of the roofs. Tightly pressing Aerith to himself, Alex jumped forward and at full speed slid down the tilted metal surface until he found himself at the very brink. Flying off the edge of the roof, Alex softly landed on both feet and with a quick, practiced motion shifted Aerith onto his back. Aerith from such a dashing maneuver merely joyfully clapped her hands, getting high from the mad chase.

"Don't stand still, she's already catching up! Or have you still decided to wait and check whether you'll manage to feel Claudia up one more time?" Aerith began speaking, patting Alex on the shoulder, slightly leaning forward, and, cunningly narrowing her eyes, looking him straight in the face.

"You simply don't want this fun chase to end, or are you hinting that I should feel you up too?" Alex asked with a smile, barely hearing behind his back the booming thunder of Claudia's heavy iron-shod boots and the familiar juicy sound of sliding on metal.

"Maybe… But I won't tell you anything, you dummy! And now—only forward! And if you manage to run away from her, you'll get an excellent prize. Smack!" Aerith added with a sly, enchanting smile and quickly, ringingly kissed Alex on the cheek, encouraging him with another little pat on the shoulder.

As soon as Aerith finished speaking, behind them rang out a heavy, booming thud of landing on dry ground. Synchronously turning their heads, Alex and Aerith saw Claudia, whose cold eyes were fixed exclusively on Alex. Meeting his gaze, Claudia slightly twisted her lips into a barely noticeable, icy smile that literally eloquently asked: "Well, have you run enough already?"

Seeing this meaningful smirk, Alex knew only one proven way to stop once and for all. However, this trick worked unfailingly only on his wives who possessed similar cold characters—the moment you tightly kissed them, all the anger instantly receded into the background. But right now he perfectly understood: in this situation an unexpected kiss would either make Claudia ten times angrier, or still cool her ardor… Alex did not yet decide to risk it.

Looking at the approaching Claudia, Alex discarded the idea with the kiss and decided again to point a finger behind her back in order to somehow distract her attention. Seeing this worn-out gesture, Claudia merely mockingly smiled and demonstratively folded her arms on her chest, with her entire appearance showing that a second time she would definitely not fall for such a childish con.

Rolling his eyes, Alex slightly pressed his lips together and with force stomped his foot on the ground. From his powerful blow a dense cloud of dust rose into the air, completely blocking Claudia's entire view. Dangerously narrowing her eyes, Claudia with one smooth motion pulled the Buster Sword from behind her back and with a wide swing cleaved the risen veil. But the moment the dust settled, before her opened a view of Alex, who was already rapidly fleeing further along the path.

"Coward," Claudia snorted under her breath, observing the fleeing Alex.

"I'm not a coward! It's just that when you get angry, you're incredibly cute, and I want this to last as long as possible!" a cheerful shout of Alex rang out in response from afar while he continued to increase his pace.

"Then come closer and take a better look!" Claudia shouted, instantly rushing after him in yet another chase.

"No way! You'll definitely hit me afterward! And instead of all sorts of blows I prefer exclusively embraces and kisses!" Alex shouted on the run, quickly turning his head back and carefreely sticking his tongue out at Claudia.

Claudia slightly snorted and increased her pace, again beginning to overtake Alex. Noticing that the distance between them was shrinking, Alex also slightly accelerated in order not to let her finally seize the initiative. He, of course, could at any moment find himself absolutely at any point on the planet without even straining, but then this entire mad chase would lose its main excitement.

Continuing on the run to exchange cutting phrases with Claudia, Alex suddenly noticed how several real Pie Hedgehogs rolled out from a high pile of garbage ahead, emitting an angry hiss. Without slowing his pace, Alex ran up to the first little beast and with all his soul kicked it with his foot, sending it into a prolonged flight to the other end of the dump. Claudia also did not stop.

Without even glancing at the second Pie Hedgehog, she on the fly bared the Buster Sword and with a swing struck it with the flat side of the blade. From this crushing thrust the hedgehog flew off to the side and instantly turned into a smeared green spot on a rusty piece of metal protruding from a mountain of junk.

Seeing what had happened to the poor creature that merely loved peacefully eating garbage, Alex involuntarily shuddered and in one jump vaulted over a high mesh fence. Landing on the other side of the fence, Alex continued racing forward until he leaped right onto a filled railway platform. Barely had he appeared there when absolutely all the gazes of the people waiting for the train immediately directed themselves at him.

Paying not the slightest attention to the surprised crowd, Alex increased his pace the moment behind his back rang out a deafening scrape of metal being cleaved. Perfectly understanding that Claudia had decided no longer to fuss over trifles and had begun simply demolishing everything in her path, Alex applied maximum effort in order to reach Aerith's house as soon as possible.

Trying not to collide with the stunned local residents, Alex deftly leaped out of the crowd and ran down the path leading into the depths of the Slums. The exhausted faces of the townspeople eloquently spoke of the fact that over the recent days too many shocks had occurred here, and they simply did not know what to do further. First the tragic fall of the Plate in the Seventh Sector of the Slums, then the incomprehensible sudden raid of Shinra in the Fifth Sector—and all this fit into some two days.

"Hooray, we've almost reached it! Hurry up, or she'll already be stepping on your heels!" Aerith cheerfully cried out, pointing a little finger at the massive iron gates of the Slums.

"Do you really think that in your house I'll be able to escape from her?" Alex asked, not slowing the furious pace for a second.

"Don't even dream! Wherever you hide, you'll still pay for feeling me up!" Claudia coldly cried out, continuing to inexorably pursue Alex only a few meters behind.

"This is absolutely unfair! When will you finally get tired? We've been running nonstop for a whole half hour! You could already cool down and calm yourself!" Alex shouted in response, casting a short glance over his shoulder at the running pursuer.

"Don't even hope!" Claudia answered in a dry, cutting tone, bestowing upon Alex a crushingly cold gaze.

Alex looked at Claudia with a tired gaze and, without even looking under his feet, on the fly jumped over a group of onlookers frozen right in his path. Claudia also did not stop: she just as deftly vaulted over the crowd of men who had blocked the passage into the Slums.

The moment Alex and Claudia disappeared around the nearest turn, the group of men enthusiastically whistled, instantly taking such piquant gossip into their arsenal. Meanwhile Alex raced through the narrow, tangled alleys with Aerith on his back, thinking only of one thing: to reach her house as soon as possible. After all, Tifa should be there—the only one capable of protecting him from Claudia's righteous wrath!

Leaping out onto the familiar path leading to Aerith's dwelling, Alex realized that the goal was already quite close. And right behind his back the drum of Claudia's heavy boots still inexorably resounded, for she did not even think of giving up. Rushing into a final spurt, Alex rapidly overcame the semi-dark tunnel and finally saw ahead the cherished wooden little bridge.

With a light motion pushing off from the stone wall, he jumped onto the bridge and at full speed with a juicy slide slid down the railings. Seeing through the glowing windows of the house Tifa settled in the living room together with the others, Alex tore toward the porch under the sincere, ringing laughter of Aerith. Quickly overcoming the remaining distance, he found himself at the front doors and with a loud slam flung them wide open. The moment he with a run leaped onto the threshold, absolutely all the gazes of those present instantly directed themselves at him.

"Where have you been disappearing all this time?.. And why do you look as if the entire army of Shinra was chasing after you?" Jessie began speaking, with bewilderment examining the disheveled Alex and Aerith.

"Seems I know perfectly well who's chasing after them… Heh-heh-heh! Looks like, dude, you've again screwed up somewhere big time," Dean drawled with a sly smirk, leaning on the window frame and observing Claudia approaching along the street with an openly murderous face.

"What happened between you again?" Tifa asked in amazement, peeking out from behind Alex's shoulder and seeing Claudia flying toward the house.

"Just a small tiny misunderstanding… But right now I vitally need your help!" Alex quickly blurted out, deftly setting Aerith down from his back and with rapid steps heading straight under Tifa's protective wing.

Without giving anyone a chance to react, Alex rapidly approached Tifa, who was still in deep confusion from what was happening and trying to understand the reason for such fierce rage of Claudia's. Going around Tifa, Alex quickly hid behind her back: he placed his hands on her shoulders and slightly crouched, using her figure like an unbreakable wall.

Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge with surprise looked at Alex, after which they shifted their gazes to Aerith, who without stopping giggled, covering her mouth with her little palms—as if something incredibly fun and piquant had occurred. Seeing Aerith's reaction, Yuffie instantly felt the intoxicating smell of fresh gossip hovering in the air and immediately jumped closer, burning with the desire to find out all the details.

At that same moment in the doorway of the living room appeared Claudia with an expression on her face completely unaccustomed for her, murderously cold. She cast a heavy gaze over the room, from which everyone who fell under its aim involuntarily felt goosebumps run over their skin. Ceasing the inspection, Claudia instantly spotted Alex who was straining with all his might to blend with Tifa.

Without uttering a single word, she with slow, heavy steps entered the living room and headed straight toward them. Peeking through Tifa's shoulder, Alex narrowed his eyes and slowly ran a finger along her spine, literally silently begging for protection. Feeling how Alex's warm finger slid along her back, Tifa involuntarily straightened up, experiencing a rather strange but at the same time insanely pleasant sensation. Noticing this short gesture, Claudia froze her gaze to absolute zero and stopped a step from Tifa.

"Have you run enough?" Claudia asked, coldly pronouncing each word, looking through Tifa's shoulder straight into Alex's eyes.

"I've already repeated a hundred times: it was a pure accident! And besides, you attacked me first!" Alex quickly began speaking, placing Tifa in front of himself as an impenetrable shield.

"Guys, I have no idea what happened between you there… But let's not bring the matter to a fight," Tifa said in a soft, reconciling tone, sincerely trying to act as a peacemaker in the flaring conflict.

"I'm fully for it! If you want, I'll even cook you something incredibly tasty so that you stop being angry!" Alex quickly nodded, readily latching onto the proposal of a truce.

"I…" Claudia only managed to utter, meeting Tifa's special gaze with the help of which she had always resolved any disputes even in their distant past.

"WHAT?! HE TOUCHED HER BREAST AND THIGHS?!" Yuffie unexpectedly shouted throughout the entire house, not even giving Claudia a chance to finish the phrase.

As soon as Yuffie's deafening cry rang out, absolutely all the gazes in the living room instantly shifted to her. Yuffie herself was still in complete shock, not even immediately realizing that she had shouted her thoughts aloud. Surprisedly blinking, she turned to Alex and looked at him with such a gaze as if he had personally committed the greatest betrayal.

Biggs and Wedge for a moment completely lost their bearings: they began shifting their astonished gaze from Claudia to Alex and back, as if they had heard something completely incredible. Being guys, they involuntarily tried to lower their gazes a bit lower… But the moment they did this, a fierce frost ran along their spines. Raising their heads, they met Claudia's icy gaze promising swift retribution and hastily turned away, pretending that they were studying the empty wall with great interest.

Jessie, for her part, observed this entire picture with a cunning narrowing of the eyes, clearly not expecting that someone like Claudia would so rapidly break ahead. Tifa, whom Alex continued to use as a living shield, slightly blushed—she looked first at her friend and then slowly turned her head to Alex. Seeing this embarrassed and questioning gaze of Tifa's, Alex dryly cleared his throat and averted his gaze to the side, continuing to quietly mutter under his breath that all this had happened absolutely by accident.

The only one who was catching absolute, unconcealed high from this situation was Dean. In yet another fit of wild laughter he could barely stand on his feet: doubled over, Dean poured out continuous laughter, with the last of his strength leaning on the windowsill. Even Barret, who at that moment was on the second floor together with Marlene and Elmyra, leaped out onto the steps of the staircase upon hearing this unimaginable noise.

"So… all this really happened…" Tifa began speaking, trying to preserve at least some semblance of calm, alternately shifting her gaze from Claudia to Alex.

"It's not like that at all! We simply decided to warm up a little and wave our fists in order to properly heat up and drive away unnecessary gloomy thoughts…" Alex quickly began explaining, trying to save the situation.

"And that's why you decided to engage in indecencies in a threesome?!" Yuffie loudly blurted out, alternately poking a finger first at Alex, then at Claudia, then at Aerith.

"Pff… No, of course not!" Aerith forced out with a laugh, seeing the sincere righteous anger on Yuffie's young face.

"Then what were you even doing there?" Jessie asked, narrowing her eyes and turning her head to Alex.

"It was a sparring. Where someone brazenly spread their hands," Claudia answered slowly in a cold tone, casting an incinerating gaze at Alex.

"All this was a pure accident, I've already said it a hundred times!" Alex answered, rolling his eyes from the fatigue of repeating the same thing.

"And I can see by your satisfied face that you damnably liked it all!" Dean intervened with the widest smirk, wiping away tears after the prolonged laughter.

"And how!" Alex blurted out with a sly smirk, leaning out from behind Tifa and cheerfully raising a thumb upward.

As soon as these frank words of Alex's rang out, Dean could no longer restrain himself—he again went into a wild fit of laughter, grabbing his stomach with both hands. Even Barret, standing on the steps of the second floor, could not hold back and loudly snorted with laughter, tightly clutching the railings at the sight of Claudia's expressive face.

On the cheeks of Tifa and Jessie a light, embarrassed blush appeared from how shamelessly Alex had just admitted that he had insanely liked everything. Yuffie, on the contrary, from indignation began loudly stomping her feet on the floor, shouting throughout the entire house about the outrageous injustice—for when she herself had sat on his shoulders and embraced his head with her thighs, he for some reason had not said anything similar!

Very quickly the atmosphere in the living room on the first floor turned into a real mad farce. At the noise even Elmyra came out of her room, trying to figure out what uproar this company had arranged here. Casting a warm gaze over all those gathered, she merely thought with a smile that in her house it had simply become a bit noisier.

But most of all Elmyra rejoiced at the fact that the guys had finally managed to relax and distract themselves after the heavy events that had occurred only a couple of hours ago, when within these walls there had stood only desperate cries and swearing. Shaking her head, Elmyra with a soft smile returned to the room to Marlene—the little one had only just begun to calm down after all the horror she had experienced.

Paying not the slightest attention to the chaos occurring around, Claudia continued to hypnotize Alex with a heavy gaze. Inside her a whole storm was raging: she sincerely did not understand how she should react to the fact that he had liked touching her body. Should she continue to rage, or should she secretly rejoice at the fact that Alex sees an attractive girl in her?

However, the reflections did not last long—the brazen, self-satisfied smirk on his face quickly ignited inside her a flash of burning irritation. Clenching her fist, Claudia without a single word delivered a lightning-fast, crushing blow right to his face! But at the same moment when her knuckles came into contact with Alex's jaw, Claudia felt how her own bones emitted a quiet, distinct crunch—as if she had with all her might smashed into a monolithic block of super-strong titanium armor. The moment Claudia carried out this attack, absolutely everyone in the living room instantly fell silent and stared at them.

"Did you see? She still hit him…" Wedge began speaking in a quiet, reverent whisper, carefully elbowing Biggs in the side.

"And how I saw it! From such a direct hit my face would already have been guaranteed to turn into a bloody mess," Biggs answered in exactly the same quiet whisper, respectfully nodding his head.

Standing nearby, Jessie immediately delivered both idiots a juicy slap on the back of the head for deciding to blurt out stupidity at such a moment. After all, she herself had distinctly heard how from this terrible blow Claudia's bones had crunched. Having finished dealing with the guys, Jessie quickly approached Claudia, who was frowning from the strong pain in her broken fingers. Tifa also did not stand aside: she jumped up and tightly grabbed Claudia by the wrist, trying to examine how serious everything was.

Claudia tried to snatch her hand away and, even wincing from the flash of pain, with her entire appearance made it clear that this was only an insignificant trifle. However, she was simply not allowed to insert even a word: around her the girls instantly crowded and jointly dragged her to a free chair. They did not even give her a chance to explain anything, by force seating her on the chair while Tifa was already carefully pulling the dense protective glove off her hand in order to see the received injury with her own eyes.

As soon as Tifa removed the glove from Claudia's hand, before everyone opened a sad picture: her fingers literally before their eyes swelled and filled with blue. Seeing this, Tifa heavily, wearily sighed and looked at Claudia with that very special reproach, as if something similar had already repeated not for the first time.

And again meeting this familiar gaze, Claudia involuntarily sank into the memories that flashed before her eyes from the distant past. She clearly recalled how in childhood she had sat in the kitchen in Tifa's house, while the latter held a first-aid kit in her hands in order to treat her wounds and scraped knees after yet another fall.

Squeezing under Aerith's arm, Yuffie instantly fished a jar of ointment out of her belt bag and with a ready smile proposed to thickly smear Claudia's hand. But the moment Yuffie unscrewed the lid, such an acrid and sharp smell hit the noses of all those present that tears instantly welled up in the eyes of Aerith, Tifa, and Jessie standing nearby.

"Okay, get away from us right now with this stinking ointment! I have no idea what you cooked it from, but another second and my eyes will simply flow out! Does absolutely everything you create make people cry?!" Jessie cried out with tears in her eyes, straining with all her might to screw the little jar closed right in Yuffie's hands.

"Not everything at all! But this is a damnably good medicine! It simply ideally helps with fractures. In just a day or two everything will fully heal!" Yuffie answered with a carefree smile, already preparing to apply the potion to Claudia's injured hand.

"That's too long. We don't have that much time to sit and wait while my hand heals. Even with such a wound I'll be able to perfectly hold my sword," Claudia stamped out in an absolutely calm tone, resolutely yanking her hand out of Yuffie's grip.

"Your hand is broken! How can you even think about swinging your heavy sword?.. Why do you always stubbornly act like a child…" Tifa said with a sigh, looking at Claudia with unconcealed reproach.

"Exactly! Swinging a sword with a broken hand is still a dubious pleasure. Stop playing the tough one, and come on, give me your hand," Alex began speaking with a sympathetic sigh, softly intercepting Claudia's injured palm and covering it from above with his second hand.

"I already clearly told you… Hmm?.." Claudia began answering, habitually rolling her eyes, but, trying to yank her palm out of Alex's hands, she suddenly froze and realized that the pain had completely disappeared, and her fingers again bent ideally and painlessly.

"Let's consider this a small compensation for the fact that I accidentally touched where I shouldn't have, without your preliminary permission," Alex said with a cheerful smirk, unhurriedly moving away from Claudia.

"So next time you'll still manage to ask for permission before feeling someone up?" Jessie asked with an ironic smirk, bestowing upon Alex a coquettish gaze.

"Well of course! Isn't that obvious?.. Boop!" Alex answered in a cheerful tone and with a playful air poked a finger right into Jessie's little nose.

Staring at Alex's finger right in front of her nose, Jessie cheerfully smiled and immediately playfully bit it at the very tip. Feeling the bite and sensing how her tongue was beginning far too deftly to slide around his finger, Alex slightly squeezed Jessie's nose with two fingers, forcing her to release the prey. With difficulty freeing his finger, Alex bestowed upon Jessie a cheerful gaze and headed to the kitchen in order to brew coffee.

Before disappearing behind the door, he did not forget to loudly announce: as soon as the coffee was ready, they would immediately sit down to discuss the plan for penetrating the Shinra headquarters. And the moment these words rang out, the entire atmosphere in the house instantly became extremely serious. None of them intended to leave the kidnapped orphan children in the hands of the corporation, perfectly understanding what horror could happen to them at the slightest delay.

Seeing the general readiness for the decisive conversation, Alex went into the kitchen. But before he managed to step over the threshold, Dean managed to shout at the top of his voice that he also insanely wanted coffee. Waving to him with a hand in a sign of agreement, Alex approached the stove and set the kettle. Leaning on the edge of the kitchen table, he slightly swayed his head from side to side and hummed an uncomplicated melody under his breath, along the way building in his head the details of the upcoming operation.

The plan matured quickly: Alex distinctly remembered the key events that were supposed to unfold in the main building of Shinra—especially that which was supposed to mark the beginning of Sephira's path to his final resurrection and launch the Reunion stage. Quietly laughing at this in his soul, Alex thought about how damnably easy it was to break Sephira's entire grandiose design—it was enough simply to finish off all his clones, literally cutting off any possibility for him to return to this world.

But at the same time he perfectly realized that even in such a case Sephira would inevitably find another path to resurrection through the Black Whisperers. Recalling them, Alex could not help smirking: right now these ghostly guardians of fate were most likely in frantic attempts to return history to its original rails.

While Alex was fully absorbed in his reflections, Claudia quietly entered the kitchen. Seeing that he had again frozen in complete silence and was thoughtfully looking into emptiness, she approached closer, leaned on the table next to him, and slightly pushed him with her shoulder, tearing him out of his thoughts.

"And what is your face even made of?.." Claudia said dryly, turning her head to Alex and slightly moving her fully healed hand.

"Of one continuous perfection!" Alex answered with a brazen smirk, loungingly propping his cheeks with his hands.

"Are you joking again in such a situation?" Claudia asked, slowly shaking her head and bestowing upon him a habitual cold gaze.

"Well, a smile excellently helps to relax. I highly recommend that you also try it, or else you walk around ninety percent of the time with such a gloomy mug," Alex answered with a light smile and, turning off the stove, playfully pushed Claudia with his hips.

"I'll think about it… Do you already have a normal plan for how we'll penetrate Shinra?" Claudia asked, shrugging her shoulders, and slightly pushed Alex in the shoulder.

"Something like that. But it's better to discuss all the details right away with everyone," Alex answered, carefully pouring the hot coffee into mugs.

"Then finish up here, and let's return to the others. We don't have time for long talks. Shinra won't wait while we decide something. For Hojo these children are nothing more than simple meat and numbers on the dissection table," Claudia said slowly, frowning, picking up her mug from the table.

"I know that perfectly well. And believe me, he's far from the first such bastard I've met on my path. They all seem insanely smart only until you start breaking them. And further they turn into ordinary squealing pigs who with drool beg for a quick death," Alex began speaking with a predatory, bared smile, for a moment exposing his sharp fangs before Claudia.

Claudia looked at this grin of Alex's and herself involuntarily slightly smiled. She could barely remember who this Hojo even was, but what she was certain of one hundred percent was the deep, fierce hatred boiling inside at the mere mention of this mad scientist. Something at the very bottom of her subconscious desperately repeated: this bastard must die for everything he had done to her.

Not completely understanding where exactly this thought had surfaced from, Claudia simply decided for herself that she would definitely kill Hojo as soon as the first opportunity presented itself. Noticing how strongly Claudia had frowned, Alex decided again to slightly joke at her expense. And while she thoughtfully examined the mug of coffee in her hand, Alex stepped closer, sharply leaned forward, and lightly touched his nose right against her nose.

From such an unexpected and intimate gesture Claudia for a moment flared up with a dense blush, and her eyes widened from wild shock. She herself did not even immediately figure out what had happened, but this uncomplicated touch seemed to her incredibly pleasant.

Quietly chuckling, Alex left the kitchen with two mugs of coffee in his hands, on the way out again playfully pushing Claudia with his hips. Observing his departing back, Claudia carefully touched the tip of her nose with a finger and quietly sighed. Inside there no longer remained absolutely any anger—she merely to herself with a warm feeling accepted this strange but incredibly cute sign of attention from his side.

To be continued...

(I did promise we'd move on to Shinra Headquarters today. But damn, I was so busy today that I just couldn't gather my thoughts enough to make a smooth transition to that part of the story—and the journey there. Every time I sat down to write, I'd get interrupted by some issue or another. My nerves were starting to fray after being pulled away from my desk about five times—and that's while working from home. For crying out loud, what a bunch of idiots. It feels like I'm the only one actually working at my company. Anyway, back to the plot. We're moving forward and heading straight to Shinra. I'll try to skip over the less important events—specifically, the stuff leading up to Hojo's lab. Because if I recall correctly, that involves an elevator ride, wandering through offices, and all that jazz. I think. I'll have to double-check. Time to eat now. Peace, love, and boop-boop-boop.)

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