Chapter 254: Wish for a Shining Tomorrow
— Phosphoros —
"Things have felt a little too quiet lately, somehow." Vita held a little girl who looked exactly like her, kneading and rubbing at her in her hands.
"Wuu wuu wuu~~" Yixin sat on Vita's lap, wanting to resist, but could only submit to Vita's kneading. "I worked so hard to get my hairstyle just right."
"Hmm, did Little Yixin really do it herself~?" Vita pinched Yixin's cheek, a smile on her face. "I don't quite buy it. Got any truth for me?"
"Of course it's the truth." Seizing the chance, Yixin hopped off Vita's lap and turned her head slightly aside. "I fussed over it for quite a while, you know."
"Mm, then I'll believe you~" Vita chuckled, not exposing her, just smiling and patting Yixin's head. "Alright, go play with the others."
"Okay~" Yixin immediately bolted off, leaving Vita alone in the room. She sighed on the girl's behalf, stood up, and wondered whether she'd been gaslit one too many times.
Going so long without being called away on a mission, she actually found it a bit hard to get used to. By rights, this wasn't even the kind of character she was supposed to be.
It was just that lately Sa really hadn't been handing her any assignments. Judging by Sa's state, maybe the Cocoon of Finality over there was making some move again—after all, the only thing that could frighten Sa this much was the Cocoon of Finality, wasn't it?
Vita leaned against the window, fingers lightly tapping the sill. "Still, this isn't bad either. I just hope nothing unexpected happens—like, say, Sa showing up the very next second to assign me a mission."
"Mm..." Vita had just reached toward the makeshift basket by the window to grab a snack and toss it into her mouth, but at that very moment, the entire city suddenly shook, like an earthquake.
"What's happening? What's happening?" The voices of Yixin and the other Little Vitas came from outside the window. They looked around in a panic—nothing like this had ever happened before.
"Sister Vita, Sister Vita!" Yixin came bursting through the door in a flurry. "There was suddenly an earthquake, what do we do? Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"..." Vita silently gazed up at the sky. If she had to say, it wasn't that she hadn't guessed what this might be—but it was really bad; she'd actually guessed right.
It was probably time to clock in for work again. She just hoped the world she'd be sent to this time would be reasonably nice, or, well, mm, have something worth collecting?
Soon, the sky tore open, a rift gaping across it. Just as Vita waited for some instruction from Sa, a great cyan bird came crashing in from outside, tracing a graceful arc before slamming straight down into the far end of the city.
"...Oh, that's an entrance I really didn't see coming." Vita twitched the corner of her mouth. Looking at the dust filling the air, she knew the situation was completely different from what she'd imagined—it seemed things weren't quite what she'd pictured at all.
She'd considered that Sa might pull some funny business, but at the very least it shouldn't have been... getting tossed to the ground like a chicken. Mm—a chicken at death's door, at that.
Because it still hadn't gotten up. And when Vita turned her attention toward the rift, she sensed an extremely powerful Honkai energy that had by now surrounded the entire Bubble Universe.
"You're Vita?!" Just as Vita was about to make some move, a voice suddenly came from behind her, anger threaded through its tone.
Vita spun around quickly, but seeing the group standing behind her, her movements abruptly halted—because standing behind her were a man wielding a greatsword and a figure wreathed in flame, and beside them a boy whose left hand had nearly turned into a beast's claw.
"Wha—who are you? How did you get in? How come I've never seen any of you before?" Yixin looked at the group before her, then finally looked toward the sky that had been sliced open outside.
"Hmph, but you definitely aren't good people!"
"No, no, no, Yixin, you've got it wrong." Vita hurriedly clapped a hand over Yixin's mouth, then pushed her out the door. "These are my friends, here to see me."
"They came this time meaning to give me a little surprise, I think. Go let the others know first—they did come in just a tiny, tiny bit rough this time."
"But?" Yixin looked at the flame-wreathed figure before her, the white-haired youth holding the greatsword, and the furious youth beside them.
No matter how she looked at it, this didn't seem like friends—more like they'd come to fight. But anyway, this didn't look like friends; it looked far more like they'd come for a brawl.
Still, staying here, she didn't seem able to help much. Leaving it to Sister Vita really was the better idea.
"Be good, I'll have this sorted out soon." Vita quickly pushed Little Yixin outside, shut the door, and turned back to look at Kevin, Kalpas, and Kosma behind her.
Vita raised both hands. The other side had already launched their attack, and Sa outside had been smacked to the ground like a dead chicken. She was just a weak, pitiful, helpless Agent—what could she possibly do? Better to surrender early; maybe she'd keep a bit of dignity that way.
"Let me say this upfront: I surrender. It was Sa who shot down the ship—nothing to do with me. I was only in charge of management. I never did anything to Little Griseo. May you all see the truth of it."
She wasn't an unreasonable person. With Sa already beaten into that state, what would she dare say? Better to obediently surrender and spare herself a beating.
— Above the Moon —
"Mm, looks like things are going smoothly." Irene looked at the space before her and nodded. She had to admit, the field of vision that came with becoming Finality really was extraordinarily strange.
There was an inexplicable god's-eye view to it; even standing in the Proper World now, she could peer into the scenes within the Sea of Quanta and its very depths.
Of course, the one who'd struck Sa half to death was also her.
"Going smoothly in there?" Elysia sat perched on Irene's shoulder, though she didn't have the ability to see the situation inside as clearly as Irene did.
"How could it not go smoothly? With Sa beaten into that state right in front of her, and Vita being no fool, of course she knows what's going on." Irene wasn't the least bit surprised by it.
"Mm, but Vita's totally dumbfounded expression was pretty great, though."
"Hehe, Irene's so amazing."
"You kidding? I'm the Herrscher of Finality." Irene shot another glance at Sa, who—though she should have woken by now—lay obediently in place, not daring to twitch a single muscle.
"Looks like there's nothing left for me to do." Irene waved her hand. Kevin and the others could handle the rest themselves; the children had to be brought back in the end, after all.
After she told Griseo about all this, it was Griseo's own choice. To her, those Little Vitas couldn't really be counted as her children.
But they were related to her after all, and after hearing from Irene about what those children had been through, there was no way she'd let them keep staying in that place.
How could the others stand in the way of something Griseo wanted to do? Naturally, they helped with all their might.
"Mm, Kevin and the others should be able to handle it." Elysia nodded too. "Still, for some reason, this Vita feels a bit like Su."
"Eh~ they just look alike, that's all. In essence they're completely different." Irene chuckled, then changed the subject. "How's everyone doing? Now that the heavy burden's been set down, are they happy?"
"Mhm, Vill-V went off to do touring magic shows—it's just that the scenes during her performances are a bit terrifying." Elysia nodded, her face full of smiles.
"And my dear Eden, with just two concerts, directly—directly gained several hundred million fans, and the number keeps climbing. Right now, people are basically split into two camps."
"Those who've heard Eden's songs and become fans, and those who haven't yet heard Eden sing."
"Mm, pretty normal." Irene nodded, not too surprised by it. "As someone from the Previous Era—able to steady the emotions of the vast majority of people even in that kind of hellish environment, and able to amass wealth rivaling a nation single-handedly."
"As the very pinnacle of a civilization's art, doing it all over again is something Eden handles with practiced ease."
"Mhm." Elysia nodded and fished two tickets out of her pocket. "So does my dear, sweet Irene have time to come listen with me?"
"It's not really a good idea for me to go to Earth right now." Irene propped up her chin. "Looks like you'll just have to bring a camera in with you."
After saying that, Irene raised an eyebrow and looked toward the space before her. "They've sorted it out—and there's an unexpected bonus, too?"
"An unexpected bonus?" Elysia tilted her head. "What is it?"
"Mm, probably a wage worker looking to grab her bucket and bolt." Irene casually raised her hand and made a swipe to the side, and a rift opened up before her.
The Little Vitas clustered around Griseo, though they kept glancing back into the rift—out of which Kevin and Kosma soon walked.
And the one who came out after them was Kalpas, dragging Vita along.
"What's going on here?" Elysia tilted her head. Weren't they just bringing the Little Vitas over? How'd they end up hauling the big one over too?
— Lunar Base —
"You're back?" Mobius looked at the people coming in and gave a slight nod. It seemed things had gone smoothly. "But..."
Mobius turned her head to look at Vita, who'd come back together with Irene and the others, along with the seven Little Vitas behind her. "You went out on this trip and brought back the whole family?"
Mobius's malice was aimed mainly at Vita. She'd learned the full picture from Irene, so naturally she wasn't about to show Vita any friendly face.
"Don't worry, she won't stir up any trouble." Irene glanced at Vita and smiled. "Right now she counts as having renounced the dark for the light—decided to flee out from under a boss who exploits her underlings."
"It had better be." Mobius's gaze swept once over the seven Little Vitas, then she nodded with a smile. As for Vita—well, since Irene had said as much, Mobius didn't find it convenient to open fire either.
Still, with her abilities, if she ever wanted to mess with her, there'd be plenty of ways; no need to be in a hurry over this one moment.
"You're sure there's nothing wrong?"
"Come on, can't you trust me?" Irene clapped her hands. "Let's go, time to eat, I'm starving. There's no way you'd let the great hero just stand around here for nothing and not eat a single bite, right?"
"Of course not. Vill-V, Rita, and Miss Mei, along with the other chefs, have already prepared a lavish feast."
And right now, Irene and the others had come back at just the right time. Irene swept her gaze toward the head seat up on the platform and saw Mei, who was already waving them over.
"Let's go, let's eat first—nothing's more important than a reunion meal." Irene smiled, then turned back to look at Vita, who was being thoroughly well-behaved at the moment.
Honestly, having seen all sorts of scummy, troublemaking Vitas across various storylines, seeing this Vita so obedient now actually felt a little unfamiliar.
"Uh, as for you, Vita—why don't you just make yourself at home?"
"Of course." Vita nodded, exceptionally well-behaved. When you're under someone's roof, there's nothing wrong with keeping your head down—after all, even now Sa hadn't dared to say so much as a single word inside her mind, which showed just how thoroughly cowed she'd been.
Once everyone was settled, Irene used her teleportation ability to arrive right beside the dining table. "Let's eat, let's eat, I'm about to starve to death."
"Alright, everyone's here, let's dig in." Mei nodded gently, and then the sound of clashing chopsticks rose from the table.
"Hey, Kiana, I had my eye on this one first."
"Your hand just wasn't as fast as mine~ Whoever grabs it first gets it, Sirin."
"Don't grab, don't grab, there's still plenty."
"How nice." Irene watched the scene before her with a smile, then reached out with lightning-like speed and snatched a chicken wing right out of the enemy's hand.
"Ah, Sister Irene, that's cheating—none of us are using Honkai energy boosts!"
"I didn't use it either~" There wasn't a hint of a blush on Irene's face, and she wasn't lying about this either—the level of a Herrscher of Finality was already beyond that of a mere Herrscher.
So even without using Honkai energy, her abilities now far surpassed those of an ordinary Herrscher.
"This is pure strength. If you're not up to it, don't go blaming me."
"Fine—you said it yourself, Sister Irene!" With Irene being the first to break out the cheats, the others dropped the act too and started grabbing the dishes on the table, each in their own way.
Of course, this was just mealtime fun and nothing more. No real tempers flared, and no chaos broke out—after all, everyone was so close by now that they couldn't possibly start quarreling over a meal or two. That would just be too silly.
And so, some days later, Irene had one arm around Theresa, who lay against her chest, while her other hand patted Elysia, who was curled up asleep in the crook of her arm.
Ah, once she had free time on her hands, her life really did become rich and colorful. And with her help, Theresa hadn't actually ended up in that doomed-by-Schicksal state of perpetual dark circles, liable to drop dead at any moment.
As for Elysia, she went all over the world holding concerts alongside Eden—though lately she seemed to be scheming to get Mobius, Eden, Aponia, and Vill-V to put together some kind of Five-Color Squadron.
Who knows whether she'd recently watched some sentai squadron show or other and gotten interested. As for the other four, naturally they wouldn't budge an inch—nine out of ten ideas Elysia came up with were just for the fun of stirring things up.
They couldn't be bothered to humor Elysia in this sort of nonsense—though it must be said, Mobius did get caught by Elysia one time when she had a moment free, and was forcibly stuffed into a costume.
Very cute. Irene even deliberately kept a copy as backup. It was just that in the end, Elysia got chased for several days by a furious Mobius going full Honkai Form.
After the others learned about this, they guarded against Elysia all the more strictly, so that to this day Elysia still hadn't managed to collect costume photos of everyone.
Mei went off to become a teacher, while Bronya started a game company together with Welt. As for Kiana and Sirin, they were mostly hauled off to the Cosmic Juggernaut project, getting ready to explore into the Sea of Quanta.
Oh, and worth mentioning, Vita was among them too. By her own account, she was atoning for her crimes through good service, and her performance these days had been, well, mm, decent—you could tell she'd genuinely turned over a new leaf. Probably.
Now and then she'd also fall into contemplation—what was the meaning of life, what lay at the end of the universe, and what profound significance there was behind her coming to this world.
But in the end, there was really no need to think about that sort of thing. Wasn't everything pretty good just as it was now?
"Irene, what are you thinking about?" Elysia looked up at Irene. "Speaking of which, Irene, do you want to be the bonus warrior for our Five-Color Squadron?"
"Me?"
"That's right~ I've even come up with your roll-call name—it's 'Wish for a Shining Tomorrow'~"
(The End)
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