Although Mobius's behavior just now seemed exceedingly strange... considering her notoriously poor tolerance for alcohol, her terrible drinking habits, and that incredibly conspicuous dress, the truth automatically formed in the highly intelligent Miss Elysia's mind.
It had to be that Bad Jiang Qiao! He must have taken Mobius out drinking. After getting completely plastered and confused, Mobius must have muddle-headedly put on that pink little dress—the one filled with Elysia's heartfelt intentions!
Absolutely, that had to be it! Absolutely! Thinking about it that way, the reason Mobius wouldn't let her into the room and kept trying to hide something with her movements was suddenly crystal clear.
She didn't want anyone to see her like this!
After all, knowing Mobius's personality, letting someone see her drunk and flustered in a pink little dress—especially Elysia, the mastermind behind the dress—would probably be worse than death for her~
Understanding this perfectly, Elysia lightly covered her mouth, savoring the memory of the glimpse she'd caught. She chuckled inwardly, her smile exceptionally pleased:
"Hehe~ Honestly, she even put on the pink dress I specially prepared for her. Still~ a shy Mobius is pretty cute too~"
That strange feeling of annoyance she'd felt earlier vanished completely. If anything, her main regret now was not being able to barge into the room and get a proper look at Mobius in the pink dress.
Unfortunately, the bashful Dr. Mobius would absolutely never open the door— "Sigh, I really want to see the look on Mobius's face when someone discovers her wearing that pink little dress~" Half-smiling, half-pitying, Elysia muttered to herself.
"Oh well~ There will definitely be more chances in the future. I'll pick out lots and lots of other pretty dresses for Mobius later. She'll definitely be happy... Hmm, I just don't know what styles she prefers. Maybe I can find a chance to ask her? Knowing Mobius, she probably wouldn't answer... Well, maybe Klein would know?"
"Alright, time to find that Bad Jiang Qiao." Supporting her slender waist, the smiling Elysia remembered her main objective for coming here.
She'd been so focused on Mobius's pink dress that she hadn't paid much attention to finding Jiang Qiao, nor had she asked Mobius where the scoundrel had gone.
Anyway, he definitely wasn't in the room, that much was certain. The view from the doorbell screen was actually enough to see half the room—besides, in her current state, how could Mobius possibly let that Bad Jiang Qiao stay inside?
It was a pink little dress, after all! Elysia estimated that after Jiang Qiao tricked Mobius into wearing it, once the initial confusion wore off, Mobius probably flew into a rage and kicked Jiang Qiao out.
"Hey~ Bad Jiang Qiao~"
She didn't use the group chat, opting instead for the Fire Moth's dedicated personal communication device. While the former was good, it had its drawbacks—like everyone being able to see the messages, essentially typing in public chat.
After glancing at the group chat, she could still see the attention her earlier, extremely anxious messages—sent out of worry for a certain rascal—had received.
Furina and Firefly, those two were especially concerned, actively checking in on her.
If something major had actually happened, those two probably would have rushed over immediately.
Looking at those messages, filled with undisguised concern, Elysia puffed her cheeks slightly, pouting.
Hmph, that rascal really knows how to attract pretty girls~
Seeing the group chat had somewhat soured her previously happy mood, even dampening her initial desire to reward a certain someone for the Mobius dress incident—Hmm... the reward still had to be given, of course. Not just a reward, but a thorough "reward" for that rascal!
Otherwise, who knows how many more cute girls he'll end up attracting!
The Fire Moth communication device, a product of Vill-V's workshop, worked exceptionally well. The audio quality was remarkably clear, even allowing her to distinctly hear the breathing on the other end of the line.
"Mm... it's me."
The breathing on the other end was incredibly steady, revealing nothing unusual—just like always.
"Is something wrong?"
"What else could it be? I finished up things on Dr. Mei's side, so of course, I came looking for you right away! But you and Mobius weren't even in the lab! You made me come all this way for nothing."
Her sweet voice held a hint of grievance as she complained.
"...Sorry, it's just Mobius, she..." The person on the other end sounded quite apologetic and started to say something... but the rhythm of Mobius's breathing suddenly showed a minuscule disruption, as if interfered with by something.
However, this was clearly not something the rather oblivious Miss Elysia would notice. She merely expressed her dissatisfaction with the apology: "Hmph... It's good that you know you were wrong! But don't think an apology means Elysia will forgive you!"
"However..."
Her tone shifted, growing excited:
"Hehe, Bad Jiang Qiao, you got Mobius drunk, didn't you~ I saw everything! She even put on the little dress I secretly left in her wardrobe. I spent a lot of time picking that out just for her~"
"She refused to wear it before and kept deliberately avoiding me... Hehe, but now I saw her! You did great, Bad Jiang Qiao! By the way, how did you manage it?"
"..." The breathing on the other end grew even more erratic, leading to a brief silence.
"It was... probably just like you said."
"Ooh~ I knew it~"
The pink elf, her guess confirmed, looked smug. Hmph hmph, see how prophetic I am—my words came true!
"Getting Eden that drunk wasn't okay, but with Mobius... you did a good job~"
Talking about this, something suddenly occurred to her. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, a sly smile playing on her lips: "By the way... since you got Mobius drunk, did you... take the opportunity to secretly snap some pictures?"
Such a rare sight, how could you not commemorate it with something?
Like... photos?
"Send them to me!"
"You're not going to post them on the official Fire Moth website, are you?"
"Haha... Of course not..." Elysia laughed evasively.
Then, adopting the posture of a little tyrant, she urged:
"Anyway—don't worry about that! If you have them, hurry up and send them to me."
"...If Mobius finds out, she'll be furious."
"Oh, it's fine~ I just want to properly admire Mobius in her little dress, that's all. She won't find out~ Besides, Dr. Mobius is so generous, even if she did find out, she definitely wouldn't mind~" Elysia continued her sweet-talking, inwardly thinking—Hmph hmph, even if she does find out, it doesn't matter! Mobius definitely can't do anything to me, she'll just have to suck it up. Besides, even if she really wants to settle scores, isn't Bad Jiang Qiao here?
If it really comes down to it, Bad Jiang Qiao is the one sending the pictures, so he'll be the one to bear the brunt of it~ It has nothing to do with Elysia~ Let Dr. Mobius's wrath fall entirely upon that rascal~
At this thought, Elysia's mood instantly became even more cheerful.
After all, that rascal had been tricking her constantly. How could she possibly miss such a golden opportunity to trick him back?
Filled with anticipation, she then heard a sound akin to 'slurp~' from the communicator.
To describe it, it sounded rather like someone drinking soda through a straw.
...Is Bad Jiang Qiao drinking something?
Elysia was a bit puzzled, but before she could ponder it further.
Ding ding. A notification sound from the Fire Moth communication app delivered something that immediately captured her attention—Looking at the incoming photos, the pink elf's eyes instantly lit up.
"Mhmhmhmm~ You really took pictures~ Well done!" she exclaimed excitedly, looking at the photos sent by the certain Mr. Jiang. Sure enough—they were exactly what she had hoped for: pictures of Mobius in the pink little dress.
In the photos, Mobius looked 'drunk' and flushed, and the little dress... "It's a bit messy..." Although she was thrilled to admire Mobius wearing the dress, seeing how disheveled it was—askew and rumpled, as if hit by a storm—she couldn't help but complain slightly.
After all, what Elysia really wanted to see was Mobius striking cute poses in the little dress. If the clothes were all messy, wouldn't that ruin her image!
There were also some rather revealing parts... Normally, this might be concerning, given that Bad Jiang Qiao and Mobius were alone together, a man and a woman. However, considering the former frequently inhabited the bodies of beautiful girls—what hadn't he seen?—and Mobius's terrible drunken behavior, it didn't seem particularly suspicious.
What made her happiest was one picture where Mobius was making a peace sign.
This photo fully satisfied her desire for a cute Mobius—she was even in her child form! Making a peace sign pose... the only slight issue was that, for some reason, Mobius's mouth had something strange stuck to the corner... uh, maybe it was hair?
Remembering the times she'd seen Mobius go on a drunken rampage, and imagining Mobius's fury upon discovering these photos had been taken, Elysia suddenly had a worried thought.
...Could it be that Bad Jiang Qiao got physically attacked by Mobius?
Like, getting his hair furiously pulled out in her anger... She could almost picture that rascal with a big bald patch...
Hmm... Probably not... right?
Although, even if he did get some hair pulled out, it wouldn't be surprising. Who told that rascal to dare go drinking with Mobius? Serves him right!
With that thought, the utterly heartless Miss Elysia instantly stopped caring about the certain Mr. Jiang's current state and continued to admire the photos gleefully.
If she posted these on the internal network, they'd definitely be super popular, right? Hehe, everyone in the organization could surely never imagine Mobius wearing a pink little dress.
It's just that quite a few of the photos were a bit too revealing. After filtering those out, the ones that looked relatively normal and shareable... seemed to be non-existent...
"Oh well, I'll just ask Prometheus to help touch them up later~"
Determined to see her prank on Bad Jiang Qiao through to the end, making him stumble badly and experience the kind of suffering she herself had endured, Miss Elysia instantly thought of the ever-convenient Miss Prometheus.
AI photo editing, baby!
These pictures of Mobius in her pink dress, Elysia is definitely posting them on her feed!
Hmm... Maybe I could even censor the face or something? Let everyone guess who it is?
Her little brain buzzing, constantly generating new little ideas, Miss Elysia's smile grew increasingly radiant.
Unable to wait, she quickly censored one of the photos and sent it directly to Mobius.
Hehe~ Guess who this is?
Someone looks really cute in their little pink dress~
The impatient pink elf wanted to first enjoy the sight of Mobius stamping her feet in anger.
She could already perfectly imagine Mobius's expression.
Mobius (gritting her teeth): E—LY—SI—A—!
Mobius (gritting her teeth): Delete the picture. Now.
That's how Elysia imagined it.
Except...
Things didn't seem to be developing quite as she'd imagined.
There was no response from Mobius's communicator for a long moment. Then, finally, a message popped up—a single 'mocking emoji'.
—Is that all you've got?
"Eh...?" Elysia froze, completely bewildered.
This reaction... wasn't right... According to Mobius's personality, seeing something like this, shouldn't she be puffing up angrily like a cute little pufferfish?
Just as she was finding this utterly baffling, Mobius sent another message with a ding:
"Thank you for the clothes you sent. They fit perfectly, and they're very useful~"
Now, even more question marks popped up above Elysia's head.
Okay, fitting well was one thing... she'd picked a standard size. But "useful"...? Did that just mean it was comfortable to wear?
Something was off. Like, nine-tenths completely off.
Her intuition screamed at Miss Elysia that there was definitely something wrong here.
The next moment, she seemed lost in thought, then had a flash of insight—enlightenment!
I get it! Elysia gets it!
"Hehehe~ Mobius, still so dishonest with yourself~" As if playing a smooth melody on an accordion, the 'Nobody understands Mobius better than me' Dr. Elysia instantly 'understood' Mobius's tactic.
Dr. Mobius, hiding in her room completely drunk, must be putting up a brave front, forcing herself to act tough!
She must be absolutely furious already, but to prevent Elysia from noticing, she could only force herself to remain calm, putting on an air of 'whatever,' 'this outfit really suits me,' just to maintain her composure.
All so that Elysia wouldn't see her true, enraged state!
Looked at this way, Dr. Mobius had actually improved her composure~
But as the saying goes, while the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten.
Miss Elysia, holder of the 'Anti-Mobius Special Attack,' wasn't flustered at all. In fact, she wanted to laugh.
Think putting up a front is enough? Heh, little trickster, don't I know you perfectly!
"Hehe~ As long as you like it, that's all that matters~ I knew you'd love the exquisite little dress I carefully selected~ I've prepared lots of other styles too, we definitely have to try them together later~ They'll look absolutely, absolutely, super cute on you~"
Faced with Elysia's ultimate provocation, Miss Mobius's reply remained utterly confident and undisturbed—
"In that case, I will be sure to make very good use of them~"