Three days later.
Arc City Municipal Art Museum.
Afternoon sunlight poured through the museum's towering floor-to-ceiling windows, laying a warm golden carpet of light across the marble floor.
In front of the final painting in the exhibition, most of the gawking crowd had already dispersed.
A staff member stood on a ladder, dismantling the spotlights, and the clang of metal brackets knocking together echoed back and forth through the empty hall.
Griseo stood obediently at the center of the stage.
She wore a white dress, its hem falling just past her knees.
The spotlight fell on her, and unlike before, the Griseo standing in that light didn't lower her head or shy away.
Her eyes were bright.
In those pale violet irises was something that only settled after living through certain things.
"Miss Griseo! Congratulations on the resounding success of your exhibition!"
A female reporter in round glasses pushed her way to the front, practically shoving her microphone under Griseo's chin.
"As Arc City's once-in-a-century child prodigy painter, what subject will you tackle for your next masterpiece?"
Griseo tilted her head slightly.
She didn't look at the reporter, nor at the still-flashing forest of cameras.
Her gaze swept past the crowd, past the onlookers holding up their phones, and landed on the man in the farthest corner, leaning against a pillar with his hands in his pockets, looking like none of this had anything to do with him.
That slacker of a man.
Su Yu had his head down, thumb swiping across his phone screen, apparently replying to something very serious.
Griseo stared at him for two seconds.
She turned back to the microphone and spoke earnestly.
"'Tomorrow.'"
The reporter blinked, then her professional instincts kicked in and she pressed further. "'Tomorrow'? That title sounds philosophically deep! Could you give us a little hint about its core meaning?"
Griseo nodded obediently.
"This is a painting Griseo wants to give to..."
She paused, as if searching hard for the most precise word.
"To Griseo's Sir Knight."
The hall fell dead silent for half a second.
Then every flashbulb in the room went off like it had lost its mind, and the reporters' gossip instincts surged straight to boiling point.
In the corner, Su Yu's swiping thumb froze mid-screen.
He felt gazes hitting him from every direction, each one carrying genuine lethal force.
The first came from his rear left.
Elysia leaned against a pillar in the hall, her pink eyes practically spelling out the word "Oh?"
Clearly, Miss Pink Elf's romance-radar had just sounded the highest level of air-raid siren.
The second came from directly to his right.
Eden sat on the VIP sofa, long legs crossed, fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.
She wasn't looking at Su Yu, but the curve of her lips said everything.
The third came from directly in front of him.
Mobius stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall, her emerald eyes half-lidded like a snake basking in the sun — lazy, but with a teasing edge that made the hair on your neck stand up.
The hairs on the back of Su Yu's neck rose instantly, and right in the middle of this scene of carnage so bizarre he wanted to buy a standing ticket off the planet that very night, a voice cut through — clear to the point of pure innocence.
"What knight?"
Kiana stood beside Su Yu, still clutching a half-eaten grilled sausage.
She looked blankly left and right, her mismatched eyes full of sincere confusion.
"What knight in what painting? Huh? Who's everyone looking at?"
She followed the crowd's gaze to Su Yu, then looked up at Griseo on the stage, then back at Su Yu.
Su Yu raised a hand and covered his weathered face.
This Paramecium's talent for wrecking the mood never, ever disappointed.
The exhibition's interview segment wrapped up in a mess of chaos.
Griseo was led backstage by a staff member to the rest room.
She pushed open the white wooden door marked "Staff Only," and her steps came to an abrupt halt on the threshold.
On the sofa in the rest room sat two people she never, in her wildest dreams, expected to see there.
The man wore a wrinkled white lab coat, the cuffs stained with some kind of unknown blue reagent.
The woman's hair was tied carelessly into a ponytail, dark circles under her eyes so heavy they looked like three sleepless nights' worth.
The two of them sat there, expressions frozen stiff, like two problem students caught red-handed by the Dean sneaking off to an all-night internet café.
"Dad! Mom!"
Griseo's sketchboard clattered to the floor.
She shot forward like a little cannonball and buried herself in Blanka's arms.
"How do you two have time to come today?"
Blanka and Ato exchanged a guilty glance.
That single look held the weary suffering of research dogs everywhere, the awkwardness of getting caught slacking off, and a certain relief at having survived some ordeal.
"O-of course we have time to come." Blanka gave a dry chuckle and reached out to pat her daughter's head. "Our daughter's exhibition is important, obviously, haha..."
Beside him, Ato nodded frantically, her agreeing laugh even drier than Blanka's.
Griseo smiled happily.
But her guilt-ridden parents knew the truth.
The only reason they could stand here at all was a phone call three days earlier that could only be described as a nuclear bombardment.
Three days earlier.
The Anti-Entropy underground laboratory.
When Su Yu pushed open the door to Mobius's office, the Snake was bent over her desk, using a magnifying glass to examine something in a petri dish.
She didn't even look up.
"Say what you came to say, or get lost."
Su Yu dragged a chair over, sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and spoke in a tone that practically begged to be hit.
"Dr. Mobius, did you know Griseo has an art exhibition next week?"
"I know."
"And did you know that her perpetually missing-in-action parents once again don't have time to go?"
Mobius's hand went still for a moment.
"Those two useless idiots who only produce academic garbage are pulling overtime again?"
"Overtime doesn't even begin to cover it." Su Yu spread his hands and sighed. "Blanka says her core research has hit a bottleneck, and Ato says his data model will explode if he pulls the plug halfway through. Long story short, our two busy bees are stiffing their daughter again."
Mobius slowly set down the magnifying glass.
She looked up, and something dangerous was heating up fast in those emerald eyes.
"Phone."
Su Yu pulled his phone from his pocket, the motion utterly natural — like a bandit who'd just lit the fuse and was making a quick getaway from the scene.
Mobius dialed the number.
"Ato."
A tired male voice came through. "Dr. Mobius? What's wrong? Is there a problem with the experimental data?"
"The experimental data is fine. Your brain is what's broken."
"...Huh?"
"Your daughter's exhibition is next week, and you're not going again?"
"Well... Doctor, you know Blanka's research is at a critical stage—"
"Critical, my foot!"
Mobius's volume shot up three octaves instantly.
Sitting beside her, Su Yu watched with his own eyes as that face — normally cold to the point of cruelty — flushed an angry pink in the span of three seconds.
"Is your damn research project more important than your daughter?! Your data model can't be interrupted halfway through?"
"Let me tell you something — your daughter's childhood can't be interrupted either! You two spend all day every day soaking in your labs. You don't care when she's sick, you skip her art exhibitions, and the only time you show up is when she's hospitalized from nightmares, and even then you take one look and run right back!"
"Do you two even think of Griseo as your own daughter at all?!"
Ato's stammering defense came through the phone, something to the effect of "back when we worked at Mobius Laboratory, didn't we pull marathon shifts all the time too" — but it was quickly drowned out by an even fiercer barrage from Mobius.
"That was then, this is now! Don't you dare bring up 'research duties' with me! I've spent my whole life doing research — I know better than anyone what actually counts as critical!"
"Will the Earth explode if your stupid project is three days late?! No, it will not!"
Su Yu quietly picked up a cup of cold coffee from the desk and sipped it in small mouthfuls.
His expression was calm, as if he were watching a brilliant stand-up comedy set — he almost wanted to grab some popcorn.
"And you! Put Blanka on the phone!"
A flurry of panicked footsteps and whispering came through, then Blanka's timid voice: "D-Doctor..."
"Let me ask you something. When was the last time you had a meal with Griseo?"
"...Last month?"
"What day last month?"
"...I don't quite remember."
"You don't even remember what day your own daughter had a meal with you?!" Mobius's voice had gone past shouting. "You two are useless at everything except producing academic garbage — first place, both of you!"
"If you don't want to fulfill your duties as parents, go file the paperwork tomorrow — from now on, Griseo is my daughter, mine, Mobius's!"
"Now! This instant! Get on a plane and come back for that exhibition! If a single hair on her head is out of place, I will personally blow up both of your labs!"
Click.
The call ended.
Mobius slammed her phone down on the desk, her chest heaving.
Su Yu calmly finished the last sip of his coffee and set the cup back down.
"Doctor, while you were yelling at them just now, you sent both Blanka's mother and Ato's mother flying to the heavens for a full day."
"They deserved it," Mobius said with a cold snort.
Su Yu shrugged and said nothing more.
He stood up and glanced back as he reached the door.
Mobius had already bent back over the lab table, seemingly transformed once again into that emotionless research fiend.
But Su Yu noticed, sharp as ever, that the hand holding the magnifying glass was still trembling slightly from the outburst of emotion.
Back in the rest room after the exhibition.
Griseo held both her parents' hands, chattering excitedly about everything that had happened at the show.
She talked so fast that Blanka and Ato could only nod along frantically, occasionally slipping in a "really?" or "that's amazing."
Su Yu leaned in the doorway of the rest room, hands in his pockets, watching the warm little family of three.
Mobius had also arrived at some point and now stood beside him.
She had her arms crossed, emerald eyes half-lidded, a subtle curve tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"Sir Knight."
Su Yu's shoulders twitched.
"Satisfied with yourself now, are you?"
Su Yu turned his head, looked at Mobius's face — practically shouting "I know everything" — and sighed a headache-laden sigh.
"Dr. Mobius, that's a completely baseless rumor you're spreading. How can you be so sure the knight Griseo mentioned is me? Maybe she means some character from a cartoon."
Mobius rolled her eyes.
"Does that even need guessing? Out of everyone registered in the entire Arc City municipal records, you're the only one, Su Yu, with a face shameless enough to trick a little girl into calling you Sir Knight."
Beside them, Elysia held her cup and laughed so hard her shoulders shook.
Eden sat on the sofa, the back of her hand covering her mouth, but her golden eyes were brimming with laughter.
Su Yu rubbed his nose awkwardly, mustering his last shred of stubborn dignity.
"You lot had better watch your mouths."
He looked around at this group of women who clearly loved watching a good show, and said with mock seriousness,
"I'd still like to keep living in this society, you know. I don't fancy getting randomly slammed against a wall and handcuffed by Arc City's public security for looking like some kind of pervert with a loli complex."
The laughter in the rest room only got louder.
Standing at the very edge, Kiana had finished her grilled sausage and was busy licking the sauce off her fingers.
She looked at everyone laughing themselves silly, then at Su Yu's helpless face, and tilted her head.
"So who's the knight, exactly?"
Once again, no one answered the poor little Paramecium's question.
Griseo peeked out from her mother's arms, looking at the doorway where Brother Su Yu was being ganged up on by a group of adults.
The corner of her mouth curved up slightly.
It was a smile that came from deep within her heart — the kind only possible after living through a long, long night.
Evening.
The museum's front doors slowly closed behind them.
Arc City's sunset was beautiful, the whole sky dyed in a gradient of orange-red bleeding into purple, as if someone had spilled an entire box of watercolors across it.
The streets were bustling with the evening rush hour, the convenience store's welcome chime dinging away nonstop, and somewhere not far off you could even hear kids raising a racket after school let out.
Griseo led the way, holding her mom and dad's hands.
Her steps were light and quick, the hem of her white dress fluttering cheerfully in the evening breeze.
Elysia and Eden walked side by side behind her, discussing the upcoming livestream schedule.
Kiana walked beside Su Yu, chewing on some snack she'd fished out from who-knows-where, mumbling something about how the organizers absolutely needed to prepare more cheese hot dogs for the next exhibition.
Su Yu walked at the very back of the group.
Out of habit, he pulled out his phone.
The instant the screen lit up, all the surrounding noise seemed to have been muted.
Two unread messages sat quietly on the lock screen.
Sender: Bronie.
"Exhibition's over? The animated short for 'Amazing Grace' is done. Nuwa says you should come back and sign off on it."
'Amazing Grace.'
The animated short for the main storyline of 'Void Moon, Lonely Sky.'
It was also the pivotal scene in Kiana Kaslana's change of heart.
On his retina, the countdown to the Honkai invasion — 94 days — still flickered.
Construction on the Skyward Shield had reached 45% completion; this enormously costly, labor-intensive project had left the Anti-Entropy engineering teams half-bald from stress.
Su Yu's gaze drifted down, and he froze slightly upon seeing the next sender's name.
It was a name that hadn't sent him a message in two months.
Sender: MEI.
"Your battlesuit has finished development. Return at once."
Su Yu's thumb hovered over the screen.
After a few seconds, he calmly pressed the lock button.
The screen went dark, reflecting back his own expressionless face.
He looked up.
Ahead, Griseo turned back and waved at him, the sunset light gilding her face.
"Brother Su Yu, Mom says she wants to take Griseo out for ice cream — let's all go together!"
Su Yu looked at that small figure edged in gold by the setting sun.
He tucked his phone back into his pocket.
"Coming."
He set off, walking toward that stretch of orange-red sunset.
The adults' break time was over.
Next, it was time to open up that battlefield called "Tomorrow."
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