Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"All healed up?" Elysia's smile didn't waver.

"Yeah…" Michael awkwardly covered his stomach. He tried not to care what others thought of him, but getting one-shotted by an enemy in front of Elysia… well, it was embarrassing.

And…

"Sorry I worried you."

"It's okay, what matters is you're alright."

No teasing. No gentle mockery. This wasn't like Elysia at all. But Michael loved it.

The atmosphere between them was like the light from the desk lamp. Dim, not bright enough, but hazy and warm.

This moment only lasted an instant because they seemed to have both forgotten about the third person…

"Um… Michael, Elysia… can I go now?"

Pardofelis tiptoed, trying to sneak away. But she'd barely taken two steps when Michael and Elysia, lost in their own world, turned to her at the same time. With forced enthusiasm, she begged, "I'm sleepy!"

"So, what are you doing? I don't remember needing to process this many documents? Overtime?"

Michael sat down at the desk, placing the folder Elvin gave him on top of it. Seeing another workload arrive, Pardofelis shivered, subtly moving further from the desk.

"Heh…" Elysia yawned lightly, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Huh? That's not right. Mei told me she sends you the monthly expenditure reports to review. She also said you always manage to finish checking them in one night!"

"…" Michael was caught off guard. That was… true. That was what happened.

The Fire Moth's current organizational structure was odd. Welt and Vassily merely held the titles, with no real power.

The real leadership, without a doubt, lay with Mei. But the new charter specified that Fire Moth and Anti-Entropy were merged, but without a hierarchy. So, officially, Michael was also a leader of the organization, equal to Mei.

Their relationship was more akin to a dual consulship from ancient city-states. Hmm… This year was the year of Michael and Mei's joint rule.

But in reality, other than Anti-Entropy matters, he basically didn't care about anything. He could not care. Mei, however, had to perform some pretense, especially with documents recording financial expenses. Theoretically, Michael also needed to know where the Fire Moth's money was going. It was his right to know.

"Speaking of which, these documents are actually quite interesting! Like this… Project Moon? What's that? Wow, Michael, you're so tight-lipped! You didn't even tell me!"

"I also… cough cough!" Michael coughed heavily. He didn't know about it either.

His approach to these documents was quite simple and brutal. He'd stamp everything then call it a day. He couldn't even understand them. He needed to stamp all of them, then all would be fine...

He couldn't understand them? Actually, it's more like he's unable to understand them.

Who could say if he really couldn't understand them or simply didn't want to read them?

"Huh? You can understand these?"

Michael gave Elysia a suspicious look. She grinned.

"I can't, but Little Felis does business all day. How could she not?"

Michael's suspicious gaze turned to Pardofelis.

"Well… Actually, I really can't…"

"Uh… ah! Then what was all that you were saying before?"

"Elysia, I haven't even finished school. How could I understand this? But you did promise me that shiny little nightlight…"

"…Didn't you explain it all so well just now?"

"Ah! That? That's a trick I used to use in Dusk Street. As long as you put a bunch of words people don't understand in your speech, they'll think you're really smart…"

"…"

"Elysia, you've been tricked again…" Michael gently stroked her shoulder, winking at Pardofelis.

Pardofelis, as if receiving an order, scurried out of the room. Stopping just a few steps away, she covered her rear end, turning back with a silly grin, retreating step by step until she reached the door.

Michael subtly rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out. He pretended not to see the gold-inlaid dagger she had stuffed behind her. A prize he had won from Ymir. It'd be available for sale tomorrow in Pardofelis' mobile shop…

"Why not ask Vill-V for this kind of professional task?"

It couldn't be for security reasons. Otherwise, Mei wouldn't have handed these reports to Elysia while he was injured, and she wouldn't have called Pardofelis. Meaning, Mei didn't consider any of this as information to keep secret from Anti-Entropy.

Michael gently pushed Elysia back onto the chair. He embraced her from behind, picking up one of the densely written reports.

"Vill-V… Didn't dear Mobius tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"She's probably still recovering."

"Recovering? What happened?" Michael clutched the edge of the report. His brow furrowed.

"After that Husk thing gravely injured you, Mei immediately categorized it as above-Herrscher level. She started a tier-two end-of-days defense program. Simply put, she began mass-producing fusion warriors, from the easy ones to the hard ones."

"Besides Vill-V, who else?"

"Well, there were quite a few at first, but didn't we take care of that Husk? Currently, only Vill-V, Aton, and Dea Anchora have undergone this round of procedures. We'll be getting more soon! It's said that if it was later, Mei would have dragged little Felis to the operating table as well! Oh, right! And she wants to send Hua into battle. How ruthless of her!"

Michael bit his lip, unsure what to say. Different paths leading to the same result. That was convergence. But Michael quickly chuckled.

"Captain Aton might not join Anti-Entropy. Even if he finds someone to take over the First Platoon, he still has a kid to take care of."

"Oh! That's right! Speaking of which, I remember little Griseo… Oh, her face is so soft and sweet!"

"Uh…" Michael's eyes darted around. He leaned closer. "What about… mine?"

"Pfft!" Elysia covered her mouth, giggling in Michael's arms.

She glanced sideways at Michael, then pouted. "Hmm… Kinda smelly. You need to take a bath!"

"Oh… Oh… Wait for you to get ba—"

Michael suddenly noticed Elysia's silence.

"Thump, thump, thump…"

That was the sound of her heart beating in her chest. Soon, Michael's heart pounded in his ears. Their heartbeats merged, expanding and contracting together.

"Go on. Take a bath." Elysia yawned and waved her hand.

Michael seemed a bit flustered. It took him five full minutes to find a change of clothes, then he stumbled into the bathroom.

Soon, the sound of running water drowned out the heavy heartbeats.

Cold water washed over Michael's body, gradually cooling the agitation. He gently stroked the long, blue scar on his abdomen, his heart filled with hesitation and apprehension.

He just stood there, frozen, until the fire in his body was extinguished.

He didn't know how long he showered. By the time he randomly dried his body and left the bathroom, he could hear Elysia's soft snoring.

He turned off the bathroom light, tiptoed to the desk, and turned off the desk lamp.

Finally, he closed the curtains.

Hesitating, Michael left a small gap.

Moonlight streamed in through the small slit, bathing the sleeping girl curled on the bed, who hadn't even bothered to cover herself with the blanket.

The weather wasn't warm, and she'd catch a cold without it. But looking at her sleeping form, Michael wasn't sure if he could put the blanket over her without waking her.

Then, he had a good idea…

It was just a single bed. It'd be too narrow for two people. There was only one pillow as well, truly sharing a pillow.

Michael put his arms around her, holding her until dawn.