"Hearing you say all that, it sounds like the next era will be quite interesting." Elysia smiled, though she still couldn't quite get over the idea of a Fourth Herrscher getting knocked out by Mechas…
"In the future you saw," she asked, "did Kevin and the others appear? In the end… what choices did everyone make?"
"Mobius—her life or death is unknown. Kalpas, Pardofelis, Kosma, and Vill-V… all fell on the Moon. Sakura… died during the Twelfth Herrscher incident, even before the Finality appeared. Eden feared you would be lonely if you stayed in this era, so she chose to perish with it. Su exhausted his life force, using Thousand World One Ride to search through countless worlds, and found the only way to defeat the Honkai. Aponia… after you sacrificed yourself, she gave her life to become the very Elysian Realm itself, just to verify whether you had severed humanity's thread of fate." Silas spoke quietly. "As for Kevin… in the end, he still bore everything alone."
Elysia was silent for a while before softly asking, "And… what about you?"
Why was Silas absent from the future he described?
"…"
How was he supposed to explain that? He wasn't even a native of this world, and everything he was recounting came from the game's storyline.
"In the future I saw… I never once saw myself," he answered vaguely.
"So fate isn't something that can't be fought after all, right?" Elysia smiled. "Look—in your previous life, you at least saved Sakura, saved Felis and the others. And now, you've joined our stage, fighting alongside us."
"Yeah. I've changed the fate of many, saved many… but I never saved you." Silas looked at her. "I've long known that almost all the MANTISes would die in the Tragedy of Binding, and the survivors would form the Thirteen Flame-Chasers…"
"It's fourteen Flame-Chasers!" Elysia corrected immediately.
Silas simply looked at her without replying.
Elysia blinked, then realized—he was talking about the future without his presence. But she still stubbornly insisted, "I don't care, it's fourteen! That 'Thirteen Flame-Chasers' thing? Never happened!"
Silas let out a helpless chuckle. "Mm… fourteen Flame-Chasers."
Only then did Elysia nod in satisfaction. There was no way Silas wasn't one of them.
Silas glanced at the time—it was about noon. Everyone ought to gather for lunch, right? Taking out his phone, he said to Elysia, "Since Eden is here too, why don't you ask her opinion? Let's all have lunch together. Last night, after you left the group—and with everyone's mood being off—dinner was pretty half-hearted."
Elysia narrowed her eyes at him. Everyone's mood was off? Do you seriously not know whose fault that was?
As for the others, she didn't know, but Kevin's mood definitely didn't count as "off." She was pretty sure he was practically ready to take off into the sky with joy.
Just as Silas was about to ask Sakura to relay a message to Pardofelis and the others about meeting up for lunch, he saw a new message from Vill-V—just sent.
"Since you saved us, you'd better be prepared to take responsibility for us."
"…"
Right. He'd forgotten Vill-V had planted a bug on him.
Well, at least she replied—that meant her mental state was probably still stable. No reply at all would've been far more worrying.
Judging from this, at worst he'd be locked in a small dark room for a while. Elysia and the others would find him eventually, and Vill-V wouldn't actually harm him.
After all, while her Extreme Evil personality might possibly, maybe, sort of be yandere, her other personalities weren't.
When they arrived at the meeting place, Eden and the others were already there. Silas and Elysia were among the last to arrive.
Elysia noticed Pardofelis giving her a resentful look, so she smiled, walked over, and pinched her cheeks. "Felis, why look at me like that? Pretty girls shouldn't make faces like this"
Pardofelis puffed out her cheeks. "Sister Ellie, you snuck off without us!"
Obviously, their common enemy should have been Lilith, so why did Elysia run off alone?
Elysia froze for a moment, then laughed even more brightly. "Felis, sometimes you just have to create your own opportunities~"
Pardofelis also liked Silas, but she was just a cat, after all. What bad intentions could a cat possibly have? And really, who could dislike an innocent little kitty?
Pardofelis narrowed her eyes at Elysia. Please. It was Eden who set things up for you, okay? If Eden hadn't come over to our side, I would've gone to find Silas long ago.
On the other side, Kevin arrived with Su, carrying shopping bags. Seeing what Kevin had brought, Silas rubbed his chin, thinking he should also get something for Mobius and the others… oh, and for Kalpas too. Though, judging from what could be bought at an amusement park, Kalpas would probably scoff at it. Still, he was a comrade, and you couldn't just forget a comrade.
Message received, Kalpas's friendship duly noted.
Speaking of comrades… maybe he should also visit Aponia in Sundown Alley sometime.
And he still had to think of a good gift for little Griseo. It was early, but preparing ahead of time was always wise.
Hmm… right now, the only one they had no news of was Hua. In the end, Hua had never found her meaning in battle; even reborn, she was probably still isolating herself somewhere…
He'd have to ask Ato about the situation in Canghai City when they got back.
While Silas was lost in thought, Kosma arrived, supporting Dystopia. The young girl's face was pale—clearly, she'd been badly spooked in the haunted house.
When it came time to order, Kevin looked like he wanted to take charge, but to prevent the group from having to eat nothing but noodles, Silas beat him to it and placed the order first.
As for Kevin… Silas decided to humor him by ordering a bowl of noodles just for him.
At the table, with Dystopia and Rin present, it wasn't appropriate to discuss matters from their previous lives, so the group instead shared their morning experiences.
"…and then Silas just put his hand right on the guy's face and pushed his head straight back inside." Pardofelis animatedly recounted the haunted house incident, sneaking glances at Elysia sitting beside Silas. She wanted to sit next to him too!
But no—Kevin and Elysia were both faster than her, and she never got the chance.
"As expected of Silas," Dystopia said, casting a sly glance at Kosma. "Unlike someone, who just stood there doing nothing!"
Kosma: "…"
Could the slightly older-than-him Dystopia please be more reasonable? He was still two or three years away from adulthood. Compared to Silas and Kevin, who were practically adults already, pushing someone's head back like that would've taken him a lot of effort—
Wait, no! Why was he even thinking about that? Pushing an actor's head back in the first place was wrong!
"That does sound like Silas' style." Su chuckled softly.
"After Silas left the group, we went with Eden to try some of the sightseeing attractions," Sakura said. She'd clearly felt her little sister wanting to say something but holding it back… She really was such an unfit elder sister… QAQ
"I went on the roller coaster and the spinning teacups with Silas~" Elysia said with a bright smile. "When we were on the roller coaster, Kosma's scream was really loud."
Kosma: "...It's only natural."
Please, could she not bring that up? Rin had seen it—at least spare him the humiliation in front of the kids.
"You just need more practice," Kevin said casually.
Kosma: "...No, thank you."
Seeing Kevin looked like he had more to say, Silas decided to cut him off at the pass—after all, with Kevin's atmosphere-reading skills rivaling Kiana's, nothing good could come from him taking the initiative to speak.
"Kevin, what did you get for Mei?"
Kevin froze, glanced at the shopping bag beside him, and said, "Mei's not fond of things without practical use, so I asked Su for advice and bought her a plush toy."
"Since Mei values practicality," Su added, "Kevin and I will head out of the park this afternoon to buy some clothes."
That way, Kevin wouldn't get a chance to dig his own grave.
"If you're going out, I think you should get a bracelet or something—ideally a matching pair," Elysia suggested. "After all, very few girls can refuse that~ Mei won't be an exception."
Of course, it had to be cute enough—but with Su around, Kevin shouldn't be able to pick out something horrifically tacky.
"What about you? Any plans for this afternoon?" Kevin asked Silas.
"Me? Well, I promised Elysia I'd spend the whole day with her, so I'll still be with her this afternoon," Silas replied.
"I see…" Kevin looked thoughtful. In that case, he and Su could do their location scouting in the afternoon.
Su: Why do I get the feeling things are starting to go wrong again? Kevin hasn't even said anything this time…
Pardofelis shot Elysia another resentful look. Elysia, you're monopolizing Silas for the whole afternoon! The whole afternoon!
Still, Eden would be with her in the evening, so Elysia would surely leave with Eden then. Yes—she'd find a way to get some time alone with Silas later.
They could even play games together!
Seeing Kevin finally drop the subject, Silas calmly slurped his noodles, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. He then pulled out his phone to resume his usual remote monitoring of Mobius' training schedule.
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