What a chatterbox.
Shu suddenly felt that Kosma had never been this noisy. He was like a delinquent who had slipped through the cracks of compulsory education, spewing stale internet memes every time he opened his mouth.
[Mist] Shu: "Alright, can we start?"
[Daybreak] Kosma: "Of course. Don't worry, Newbie. If you lose, I'll only make you call me 'Daddy' a hundred times during the next full gathering of the 'Fire Moth Remembrance Society.' I won't make you do anything too excessive."
He really is uneducated trash, Shu thought. Asking to be called 'Daddy'? What is he, a child?
Fortunately, even without speaking their true names, Shu had plenty of ways to let them know he was talking about them.
[Mist] Shu: "There was a young boy who loved playing the harmonica, especially next to a yellow-haired girl he had a secret crush on. I can't say member names, but other people's names are fine, right? That girl... I believe her name started with Dys..."
Dystopia. Kosma's crush, a MANTIS soldier of Fire Moth.
Aside from the Flame-Chasers, Dystopia was Kosma's best friend, his closest squad member, and comrade-in-arms.
After missions, the two would often go to a large tree on a small hill to play music together, chat idly, discuss the future, and enjoy the hard-won peace amidst the war...
The young boy had buried this secret deep in his heart, never telling anyone. Even if he had, Mobius and Elysia wouldn't know the details.
Aside from a "certain few Flame-Chasers" who always chased after others for stories, the Flame-Chasers didn't actually know that much about each other's pasts; they focused more on who the person was in the present.
The content from the game and the manga had to align somewhere. If it didn't, Kosma would just have to suffer the injustice of losing his anonymity. Shu could just bluntly call him "Kevin's little sidekick," and everyone would understand instantly.
When half the name came out, Kosma immediately folded.
[Daybreak] Kosma: "Stop! You win, you're ruthless. I don't know who you are, but you definitely know my real identity. Don't say any more... But there's still [Infinity] and [Ego]. You have to name them for me to lose. Otherwise, even if you know me, I still win!"
It wasn't an illusion.
Shu noticed that when he mentioned the name "Dys...", Kosma's silhouette distorted slightly.
Emotional fluctuations cause the mist to distort and move visibly.
So, it's hard to lie in this 'Fire Moth Remembrance Society.' You have to suppress your emotions.
Shu raised his hand and pointed at Mobius.
[Mist] Shu: "Let me think. As for [Infinity], you were a high-ranking researcher in the Previous Era, correct, Doctor?"
[Infinity] Mobius: "Oh? Big Brother is pretty sharp, locking down the range instantly. But there were so many doctors in the Previous Era, and there's a whole pile of them lying in cryo-pods right now. Which doctor are you talking about~?"
[Daybreak] Kosma: "Doctor? Let me think... No, wait. With so many doctors back then, who knows which one ended up in charge of Fire Moth?"
Through Mobius and Kosma's answers, Shu understood another plot divergence from the manga—
Many people from the Previous Era—not just the Flame-Chasers, but researchers too—had survived via the divine key Cryo-Sleep. Furthermore, it seemed the distribution of the Feathers wasn't based on a fixed standard.
Did Fire Moth survive intact into this era?
After absorbing this information, Shu refocused on exposing Mobius's alt-account.
[Mist] Shu: "I get the feeling you're the type who is 173cm tall and weighs 54.7kg. You're terrified of people knowing how much you care about your weight, so whenever anyone brings it up, you hide far away."
[Infinity] Mobius: "???"
Subconsciously, Mobius reached out and pinched her own waist. Because she was in the "Remembrance Society," shrouded in mist, her small movement wasn't visually detected by the others.
However, her silhouette distorted a few degrees, confirming exactly what Shu needed.
[Mist] Shu: "What I'm about to say might be a bit offensive. If you say stop, I'll stop immediately."
Shu layered on some armor for himself first.
[Mist] Shu: "I feel like you're the type who left your father at a young age and vowed to prevent the same tragedy from happening to others. So, you studied medicine diligently, wanting humanity to evolve. You seem like the type who, whenever someone asks, brushes them off, pretending to use cruel human experimentation to mask your true intentions."
As his voice fell, Mobius's figure distorted even more violently. The mist around her began to cycle and loop at high speed.
Shu tried to avoid describing her personality, as he had already been thrown off by the changes.
But their early histories hadn't changed, especially regarding the Previous Era.
The history in the textbooks used Kallen's survival and seizure of power five hundred years ago as the divergence point. History prior to that remained largely unchanged; the Lady of the Lake, Aristotle, and various fables were all normal.
This meant that, at the very least, Kevin and Su had participated in the early construction of civilization according to the manga plot.
The Previous Era, before the Herrschers appeared, likely followed the manga's development. If he was wrong, Shu would have to consider just revealing her nickname directly.
The mesugaki (bratty imp) Mobius suddenly fell silent.
I must have got it right.
Mobius was born in a small town hospital. Her mother died in childbirth. Her father was originally a doctor, but his temperament changed drastically after being infected by the Honkai, and he often beat and scolded Mobius.
On her ninth birthday, after enduring another beating from her father, the young Mobius left home. She vowed never to let humans become disgusting monsters like her father, setting her goal on human evolution.
"Heh." Shu inexplicably remembered a line from a certain mechanical herald—"Join the glorious evolution!"
Seeing Mobius's silhouette rippling endlessly like a broken lake surface, Kosma suddenly spoke up.
[Daybreak] Kosma: "For real? I didn't know you had a past like that. You're always running your mouth about whether I dare to become your test subject... I didn't expect you to actually be a great philanthropist?! Hahaha! The one who looks the most harmless turns out to actually be harmless!"
[Infinity] Mobius: "...Tsk. Alright, alright, what are you so smug about, [Daybreak]? Are you just waiting for the Newbie to see through all three of our identities? Dys... Daisy... that name sounds familiar. Should I search the Previous Era database? Might find a pleasant surprise, hee~!"
[Daybreak] Kosma: "Cough, cough. Let's get back to the topic. Newbie, the last one. [Ego]. You haven't said her name yet. Whether in the Previous Era or the Current Era, her name rarely appears. Most members of the Remembrance Society know of her status, but the only hint I can give you is that as Fire Moth's most low-profile Ace, [Ego] is extremely mysterious..."
The most low-profile Ace?
Shu tried to connect the concept of "low-profile" with "Elysia."
It felt about as natural as a fish riding a bicycle underwater.
However, compared to Kosma's chatterbox attributes and Mobius's extroverted bratty persona, their changes were traceable. Early life experiences or playing different games could cause such distortions.
But for Elysia, the Herrscher of Human: Ego, what on earth had she experienced to become this icy figure?
Shu inexplicably thought of the Current Era's Kiana.
Born carrying the weight of a bleak destiny, exploited, enslaved, powerless to resist, eventually reduced to a quiet girl with melancholy written all over her face.
Elysia and Kiana were originally both lively, cute, free-spirited beautiful girls who followed their hearts. Now, however, she had become gloomy and cold. Her sadness was like the fog of the "Remembrance Society"—thick and spreading, allowing one to see the sorrow in her heart at a glance.
Sigh...
Just like the game plot, in the manga setting, Elysia never exposed her identity as a Herrscher. To hide this, she never mentioned where her hometown was to any of the Flame-Chasers.
Elysia, as the Herrscher of Human: Ego, was born of the world itself. As a child, she was adopted as an orphan in a small town in the Vostok-51 Garden Colony.
But Fire Moth traced the signs of a Herrscher's birth to that location. Realizing her own uniqueness, and wishing to spare the people she lived with from further disturbance, Elysia relied on her "super" preschooler intellect to begin traveling the world.
Thanks to the kindness of the world—or perhaps the many coincidences found only in novels—Elysia established early contact with the Flame-Chasers and increasingly identified with her status as a "human."
If he wanted Elysia to understand he was talking about her, a single location name would suffice.
[Mist] Shu: "Vostok Town."
When Shu spoke the name of the town, the heavy mist swirling around Elysia suddenly turned frantic—stagnating one moment, flowing wildly the next.
[Daybreak] Kosma: "What-stok Town? No, what does the name of a town prove? Right, [Ego]?"
[Ego] Elysia: "...Who are you."
It wasn't a question; it was a demand for confirmation.
[Mist] Shu: " [Mist]. I believe I introduced myself at the beginning."
[Infinity] Mobius: "Ooh, ooh, ooh! Tea is being spilled~ Do you two know each other?"
[Mist] Shu & [Ego] Elysia: "We do."
When Shu and Elysia said "We do" simultaneously, both of them froze. The mist seemed to hit a pause button, stagnating as they stared at each other, thoughts swirling.
Wait, she knows me? How is that possible?
If Elysia had truly lived until the Current Era, his age wouldn't even be a fraction of hers. Knowing him was absurd.
Shu couldn't find any memory of meeting Elysia in his mind.
She must just be teasing me.
Elysia simply stood quietly in place. Her gaze, previously cold as biting frost, melted like spring snow, turning gentle.
Although, confined by the restrictions of the "Fire Moth Remembrance Society," no one could feel that softness—including the person most familiar, yet most strange, to her.