One afternoon in June, after Himeko dismissed the class, everyone began packing their things, ready to leave the classroom.
"I have to go, see you later," Kiana said quickly, grabbing her things and leaving in a hurry.
Mei watched Kiana's departing figure, feeling puzzled. She turned to the two who were packing their things at a leisurely pace and asked, "Don't you two think Kiana has been acting a bit strange lately?"
"Huh?" Ming Yu yawned, his eyes darting around before he said seriously, "Mei, think back. When was the last time we had chicken legs?"
Hearing Ming Yu's deadpan nonsense, Mei paused for a moment, then said, exasperated, "Stop fooling around! Kiana really seems to have something on her mind!"
Ming Yu scratched his head helplessly. He had been so busy training with Fu Hua recently, he hadn't had time to pay attention to such things.
Bronya tilted her head and said, "Perhaps it's because the Bronya has achieved her 300th consecutive victory against Kiana in our gaming duels?"
That did sound plausible, but Kiana was a simple-minded creature. Forget games, even if she lost three hundred real-life battles, she would still be full of energy for the three hundred and first.
Seeing her two unreliable teammates, Mei felt a headache coming on and couldn't help but sigh and rub her forehead.
Just then, the conversation of two girls walking by reached their ears.
"How's your greeting card coming along?" one voice said.
"Almost done. I can mail it out today. If I calculate the time, it should arrive just in time for Father's Day on Sunday," said the other voice.
"Is that so? I was thinking of recording a video to send over. Let my dad see what this school is like, too," said the first voice.
"That's a great idea! I'll help you out," the other voice said cheerfully.
...As the speakers walked away, their voices grew fainter and eventually disappeared.
Upon hearing "Father's Day," both Ming Yu and Mei had a vague idea and fell silent. Seeing that neither of them was talking, Bronya, although not knowing what had happened—her emotional deficiencies and childhood experiences made it impossible for her to understand the meaning of Father's Day—sensed that it was not the time to speak. For a moment, a strange silence spread among the three of them.
On the way back, Ming Yu and Mei were both silently lost in their own thoughts.
Ming Yu thought of his parents in another world. They must be very worried now that he had disappeared. After all, this was the first time he had been out of contact for so long. From elementary school through high school, he had never left their side. Even when he went to university in another city, he still contacted them every week.
Looking up at the pale yellow sunset in the distant sky, he had been here for almost a month now, Ming Yu couldn't help but sigh internally. The faces and voices of his parents replayed in his mind, and the longing in his heart swelled uncontrollably, as if his entire chest was about to burst.
"System, is there really no way back?" Ming Yu couldn't help but ask.
"...This system understands the Host's feelings, but please, Host, continue to live on peacefully in this world." The System's voice also carried a hint of solemnity.
Although he hadn't expected much from this unreliable system, getting the definitive answer still made Ming Yu's heart sink. A deep sense of powerlessness and melancholy rose from the bottom of his heart.
Meanwhile, Mei was also thinking about her own troubles. As the young lady of ME Corp, Mei had always lived a pampered life. But after ME Corp was suddenly exposed in a scandal involving economic fraud, not only was her father dismissed from his position as president, but he was also arrested and imprisoned. She lost almost everything.
Although her father had always been strict with her, she had always been able to feel his care and love. If she had believed her father was innocent before encountering the Honkai, that the truth would one day come to light, then after coming into contact with Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, she finally understood what her father had run into. She now understood the importance of ME Corp to Anti-Entropy and the power of Anti-Entropy itself. To be able to move against her father under such circumstances, the force behind it must be unimaginably powerful. She couldn't even begin to fathom it.
She had a faint feeling that, barring any accidents, she and her father would probably never see each other again.
"Mei, let's go to the training grounds later," Ming Yu suddenly said. Wallowing in the past wasn't his style. He needed an exhilarating battle to vent his sorrow. Seeing Mei's silence throughout the walk, he knew she probably understood her father's situation as well. She also needed a way to release her emotions.
Mei was a little surprised, but seeing Ming Yu's slightly red eyes, she understood. All this time, Ming Yu had been the most mysterious of the four, rarely speaking of his past. After coming to St. Freya, he had trained and studied diligently, with almost no contact with the outside world. But now, Mei suddenly understood him a little. He must have a very unforgettable past to have become this way. Thinking of this, Mei nodded solemnly. "Okay!"
Elsewhere, Kiana, who was wandering aimlessly around the school, ran into a drunk Himeko. The inebriated Himeko, with drowsy eyes and stumbling steps, walked towards Kiana. Her swaying figure looked as if it would collapse at any moment, scaring Kiana into quickly supporting her.
"Is something on your mind? Kiana~" Himeko let out a drunken burp next to Kiana's ear and asked with a silly grin.
"No, nothing," Kiana unwillingly turned her face away, a hint of panic in her eyes.
"Eh, nothing? Your expression says otherwise. Fess up now! A kid like you shouldn't have so many worries!" Himeko said, reaching out to pinch Kiana's ear.
"...Oww, stop pulling my ear!" Kiana swatted away Himeko's meddling hand, saying angrily, "I'm not a kid!"
"When I was twelve, that stinky old man of mine abandoned me and ran off. From that moment on, I told myself: 'Kiana, you're not a child anymore. You have to learn to live on your own!'" Kiana said solemnly.
"Oh, so it's almost Father's Day. I never thought a dummy could get sentimental too," Himeko said thoughtfully, sitting down on a nearby bench. "If you ask me, you're much luckier than I am. After all, your father made you understand the true face of life at a very early age."
"As for me... I was still naively believing my future would be rosy until I was nineteen," Himeko said slowly, her tone filled with an unconcealable nostalgia and sadness. "Back then, I believed my life was a road with endless possibilities, leading in all directions.
I thought about becoming an extreme adventurer, or a marine life photographer, or even traveling the world dating handsome men... Heh."
At this point, Himeko's tone couldn't help but drop. "I thought about everything. At the very least, I could have gone to my father's research institute after graduation and worked with him on a project related to Honkai Energy applications."
"Eh? Auntie Himeko, you thought about being a scientist?" Kiana said in surprise. "Then why did you end up becoming a Valkyrie?"
"Because life isn't a script we can just rewrite as we please," Himeko said seriously. "That year, my father died... Corroded by Honkai Energy, he turned into a mindless monster. He didn't even react to his own daughter's cries. In the end, I could only watch as he was eliminated, his body destroyed."
"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have asked that," Kiana said in a small voice.
"It's okay. It's all in the past," Himeko said nonchalantly. "Perhaps I just couldn't accept that ending. To find answers, I gave up everything and joined Schicksal's Valkyrie forces. To be honest, at my age back then, it was a bit too late to become a Valkyrie.
But I met someone. She told me that for anything you want to do, it's never too late, as long as you start doing it."
After a pause, Himeko continued, "So I joined her squad. That person would always ramble on about her future plans after battles. She said she wanted to be a gardening teacher after retiring, to teach children how to grow flowers and plants, to help them understand the beauty of nature."
"So did that person become a teacher later?" Kiana couldn't help but ask.
Himeko didn't answer, but continued, "She was killed in action during a mission. After the squad was disbanded, I remembered her words and applied to come here."
"Sometimes I think, I became a Valkyrie originally to prevent more daughters from losing their fathers. But what I'm doing now is causing more fathers to lose their daughters," Himeko said self-deprecatingly, her tone more forlorn than ever. "Those girls who could have had ordinary jobs, could have fallen in love, even gotten married, instead became Valkyries. They gave up so much for this, not just their lives, but their families too. Is it... really worth it?"
"Umm... I don't know if it's worth it or not. But, some things just have to be done by someone, right? Just like my stinky old man used to say, whenever he saw people hurt by the Honkai, the Kaslana blood in his veins would boil, and he couldn't help but want to lend a hand."
"What kind of idiot father is that," Himeko sighed. "But, Kiana, your father did leave you with some precious things.
Perhaps, fate made them leave so that we would cherish the people around us even more?"
After a moment, Himeko wrapped an arm around Kiana, pressing Kiana's head against her chest, and said, "For example, Teacher Himeko dotes on you very much! To further prove my affection for my dummy Kiana, how about I give you a special one-on-one training session!"
"Ngh~" Kiana struggled to escape Himeko's clutches, panting as she said, "No way! It's after school now! Training can wait until tomorrow!"
"Heh, where do you think you're going!" Himeko said, struggling to get up, only to fall face-first onto the ground and start snoring.
"Honestly, Auntie Himeko is like this even when she's drunk. In the end, I'm still the one who has to carry you back," Kiana muttered to herself as she hoisted Himeko up and started walking slowly towards the dorm.