"Just say whatever you want to say here."
"Hey~ But if we walk a little further, we will reach the sky garden. That is a place specially built by the Fire Moth for everyone to relax and rest. There will be wine or coffee to drink later. It is a good place to take a break~ Why don't you go and take a look?"
Alicia turned around lightly, and the pink ponytail tied behind her rose and fell gently.
"This was built by the people above for themselves, and we just enjoy it as a byproduct."
Sakura shook her head and said so.
"Really, Sakura, please stop saying such realistic things. Be more romantic."
Alicia came closer and said with a smile.
"And maybe he'll like that place, too? Right?"
"........."
"Hehe~ Sakura is really good at understanding~?"
Alicia smiled and took another step towards her original destination.
After hesitating for a while, Sakura finally chose to follow.
When entering the [Sky Garden], the hurried footsteps outside are isolated, and inside there is only comfortable silence and the fragrance of flowers and plants.
"Hehe~Hehe~?"
Alicia was humming softly and strolling in the garden with brisk steps, her pink ponytail swaying gently behind her, like a fairy among the flowers.
"Alright, alright~ If I delay any longer, I'll be hated by others. I won't do that~?"
After finding a place to rest, Alicia said this.
"So? Alicia, what did you ask me to do?"
"Oh, we're just chatting to get closer~ Does Sakura hate me?"
"...Not really."
Sakura shook her head. To be honest, Alicia was very likable. Although sometimes she was too proactive and made people feel overwhelmed, she was able to control the degree of it. It could be said that she was a person that was difficult to dislike.
"I'm just wondering why you came to see me alone."
"Did I disturb your date with Xi Wang? If so, I'm sorry~"
“…He and I don’t have that kind of relationship.”
Sakura was speechless for a moment after hearing what Alicia said. She shook her head, denying her words, and then added another sentence.
"Also don't change people's names casually."
“…I see. I’m so sorry.”
This time, it was Alicia's face that froze, and her tone dropped a little.
"But, this is his original name, right? It's just that it has been changed now... Hmm..."
She probably understood why Xiwang gave up that name, but it was precisely because of this that Alicia felt depressed and felt a little guilty towards Xiwang.
"...I probably understand."
Sakura quickly guessed what Alicia wanted to do with her.
"Hehe~ As expected, Sakura is also very smart~"
Alicia smiled, moved closer to Sakura, leaned forward, and leaned close to Sakura's face as she sat next to her, and asked curiously.
"So, how much do you know about Nozomi? I'm curious. What happened from the time you met until now? After all, you seem to have a really good relationship. You're not even lovers at this point. Not only me, but many of my friends are worried."
“…There’s nothing much to say.”
The corners of Sakura's mouth twitched, but she still said so.
"Do you want to keep it for yourself? That's great~"
"Alicia..."
"Hehe~ Okay, I won't tease you anymore~"
Alicia sat up straight, stretched a little to relax her body, and spoke softly.
"But I am indeed curious. After all, I have seen you two staying together all the time, even when you were on a mission. Everyone thinks it would not be surprising to receive a wedding invitation for you and Wang one day, just like Hen and Blanca."
Hen is the captain of the [Anti-Honkai Team] and a colleague of Alicia, while Blanca was the assistant of a doctor named Mebius in the [Fire Moth Research Department]. They are one of the rare couples in [Fire Moth].
"The relationship between Wang and I is a little more complicated than you think. As for the kind of relationship you think of..."
Sakura thought about it and finally shook her head.
"It wasn't before, it's not now, and it probably won't be in the future."
"Ailishiya, you knew Wang before, right?"
Sakura asked without giving Alicia time to ask further questions.
"He values you very much because of something that happened in the past...right? So...can you tell me?"
"...Didn't he tell you?"
"If he doesn't tell me, I won't ask. He often says that his past is no longer important and doesn't act like he cares much about it. But I know that he still values a few things from his past... One of them is you, Alicia."
"I see... that's not something that can't be said."
Alicia sighed and placed her hand gently on her chest, as if to calm her rising emotions.
"After all... he is a rare person whom I have not been able to help..."
Alicia spoke softly, telling Ying about the time she spent with Xiwang in a gentle voice.
Whether it was the disgusting priest, the injuries Xi Wang had suffered, or the process of helping Xi Wang together with Father Enrique who came later - although they failed in the end.
She told them one by one.
"That's it..."
After hearing this, Ying was silent for a while, then smiled with some relief.
She could understand why Xi Wang gave up his original name. Even if it was just discarding one word, the meaning contained in it would be completely different.
It's just like the funny pun name "曦望". Although it does make people laugh and some people may even advise others to "change to a more normal name", that's because most people think that the name "曦望 (hope)" is too heavy and most people can't bear the meaning it brings. But if the person himself is willing to accept this name, others will just laugh it off and it's natural to change the name later - that's the case for others.
But for the person who has this name, changing it has a different meaning, because it means abandoning hope in a sense, especially when he was willing to accept and acknowledge this name in the first place.
Although it sounds funny, it is indeed the fact. After having the experience of [having hope and then having it crushed] several times, Xi Wang gave up this name. After all, he himself had never had it, so how could he bear this name?
And Ying could also understand why Xiwang attached so much importance to Alicia - she was his [anchor point], an anchor point that prevented him from collapsing directly in such a desperate situation.
At that time, he had to infinitely magnify the position of Alicia in his heart (and Alicia did help him a lot), so that he could withstand the various pressures and events that followed and persist until now.
Sakura could understand and even empathize with him - because she had similar experiences.
Sure enough, the two of them... are the same.
"Then... Alicia, as a gift in return, I will tell you something."
Sakura said in the same soft voice with a calm smile on her face.
"In fact, the relationship between Wang and I is not pure - this is true for both me and him."
"……Eh?"
"When I first met him, I was still in my hometown, Far East. At that time, my parents died early and my family was poor. I didn't have any special skills and could only struggle to make ends meet... Later, I was recruited by the local gang as a thug by mistake. Basically, I was doing jobs that could get me killed at any time and earning only enough money to eat. If Wang hadn't come, I'm afraid I would still be worrying about my life."
Ying spoke softly, recalling her past with Xiwang.
"Although others thought he had brought me into a worse environment, what happened at that time really helped me, not to mention that he helped me a lot later, and my family's life also improved a lot."
Because of this, she guessed that everything she and Xi Wang experienced later was secretly guided by someone, and she also guessed that she was chosen to be the "sheath" to store the "knife", but she still allowed her emotions to gradually change and spread in her heart.
"Although we were led by others after that, neither he nor I cared much - because we had no choice."
It is because they know everything clearly from each other, and because they guess what those people want and what they are going to do, that they have to continue and are willing to invest their emotions in it.
His feelings for her gradually evolved from his concern for Alicia, and he was well aware of this.
Her feelings for him were developed gradually in order to protect Ling from danger and allow her to live a stable life. She understood this very well.
"It's because we know each other a little better, and it's because we really like each other..."
It was precisely because our feelings for each other were not pure that he rejected me at that time, and I would not be too sad.
It was because we really had feelings for each other that he invited me in the end, and I gladly accepted the invitation.
If things continued to evolve like this, they would probably end up together, allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by this awkward feeling, allowing themselves to like, or even fall in love with, each other.
However, the reunion with Alicia interrupted this process and brought the two back to reality, forcing them to face the possibility of being torn apart by the poisonous pupa or even abandoned.
They had no choice.
"That's why...we are not lovers, and we will never become lovers."
She placed her hand lightly on her chest, caressing the cherry blossom pendant hidden under her clothes.
"It wasn't before, and it won't be now."
She was smiling, gently and calmly, even happily.
"And in the future... there will probably be no chance anymore."
But she looked so sad.
Chapter 14: It turns out that the sky cannot be touched...
[Time flies by so fast. The conversation between Alicia and Sakura can only be regarded as a small episode. Although at the end of that conversation, Sakura did not tell Alicia the story of your experience with her, such as the emotional transformation or the heart-beating moment. After all, as Alicia herself said, she wanted to treasure the memories with you... But after that, the relationship between Sakura and Alicia improved a lot.]
[But now all this is irrelevant. After all, the Collapse... to be precise, the Third Great Collapse has arrived, and the place where it appeared happened to be Sakura's hometown - Far East.]
[You all take your respective teams to rescue... Although in the place where the Great Collapse occurred, there are actually very few people who can be saved even though it is called "rescue"]
[Most people are either directly corroded by Honkai energy and turned into monsters, or are harmed by humans who have turned into monsters, and then turn into the same or similar monsters. Very few people can survive.]
[Not to mention the difficult-to-handle Honkai beasts. Even you "soldiers" have to handle them with extreme caution.]
[However, fortunately, the missions you and Sakura received were mainly to "clean up the Houkai", and you guys happened to be good at this. As for the rescue missions and the more dangerous "killing the Third Herrscher" missions, they were handled by other teams.]
[This is not difficult for you, especially for you and Sakura. On the battlefield, you killed the Honkai creatures at an absurd speed. Your team members could not keep up with your speed at all, and even made them think "Are they a burden to you two?", so that in the end they turned to help the rescue team to save people.]
[As for you and Sakura, you strolled along this somewhat familiar street, dealing with the wandering Honkai creatures while looking at the destruction of everything familiar... Of course, if you find any survivors, you will directly report the location to the rescue team and let them take over, while the two of you continue to advance and try to clear the nearby streets.]
[Although Ying left here early because of you and moved to Mu Continent with Ling, she couldn't help feeling sad when she saw her hometown destroyed.]
[Countless people died, the streets were reduced to ruins, the cherry blossoms that should have been in full bloom were pushed down and trampled by wandering Honkai beasts, and everything that was once familiar and unfamiliar was completely destroyed.]
[At this moment, Sakura deeply realized what you were about to face, and was determined not to let Ling encounter such danger.]
[Unlike Sakura, you didn't have too many feelings. You just showed some sadness when you saw Sakura, Alicia, and many other colleagues feeling sad about this scene, but that was all. It can be said that it was quite perfunctory.]
[After all, this is not your hometown, nor is it your home - besides, you don’t have a place that can be called "home". You have seen too much of the withering of life over the years, and you have become accustomed to the strong smell of blood a long time ago.]
[For you, only Alicia and Sakura are worthy of your attention. The others... don't matter. They are not important.]
[The Third Great Collapse lasted for about three days. The Third Herrscher Crusade was completed on the afternoon of the first day. Although there were heavy casualties, we finally won. The remaining two days were spent dealing with the aftermath. After all, the scope of this Great Collapse was too large. Not only did it cover the entire Far East, but even several cities along the coast of East Asia were affected. We have to let you spend more energy to deal with it.]
[This great collapse also made the top leaders of the Fire Moth realize that they must start recruiting people and expanding the organization. After all, according to current speculation, such disasters will continue to occur.]
[But after that, who should lead the increasingly powerful Fire Moths, and who will have more say... that is something that needs to be discussed separately.]
[Of course, those have nothing to do with you for now. After all, we have just achieved a major victory, and as frontline soldiers you should celebrate. In addition, there are new people joining us, so we naturally have to hold a big enough welcome party.]
[Well… although those new recruits still have necessary training to go through before they officially join, who knows why they happened to run into you guys who are holding a celebration party? So of course I pulled them in to get familiar with them! ]
[You saw a familiar figure among the new recruits. It was the boy who sat next to you at the Eden concert. He seemed to have some impression of you, but he couldn't remember who you were - this was understandable, after all, it had been quite some time since the concert.]
[As for the reason why he came to Chase the Fire Moth, it was honestly a little funny - he came here to chase his girlfriend. When hearing this answer, several people present laughed out loud, and even thought he was joking. Of course, when everyone knew who his girlfriend was, they expressed admiration instead.]
[After all, he is a super "genius" praised by many experts and doctors - Mei]
[At the same time, there is a slightly younger girl in the team of new recruits. Her silver-gray ponytail is also quite conspicuous. Although her eyes are confused, they still look firm. Even though she knows that this is a welcome party, she subconsciously maintains a serious expression and stands straight. You subconsciously look at this girl twice, and think that she will be a good soldier in the future.]
[He was just too nervous. He seemed to have no experience in this kind of gathering. He was trying his best to behave "appropriately", but he was obviously stiff... This kid probably doesn't have many friends.]
[Hmm... I heard that it was the survivor brought back by Himiko, the captain of the fifth squad? If it was Himiko, that wouldn't be bad. With such a "passionate" captain leading her, I believe she will make a lot of friends in the future... maybe?]
