Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

Even though she knew it was pointless, the girl couldn't help but answer his question, raising her eyes slightly and looking at him cautiously.

"how about you?"

"I'll just buy another one later," he said casually.

—The answer was exactly as expected.

The distance between us hasn't changed since we left the haunted house, and the feelings between us have probably never changed since we first saw each other.

It seems that from the very first day she met Jiang Cheng, the emotions in his eyes and his affection for her have remained almost unchanged, neither diminishing nor increasing; everything has remained exactly the same.

Raiden Mei opened her pink lips, and her rosy tongue gently licked the ice cream that once belonged to the boy—it had absolutely no Jiangcheng flavor.

Although their relationship wasn't particularly close, aside from spending time together and holding hands once, they basically had no closer physical contact.

They were on a date, but there was absolutely no deeper action between them. Even the physical contact was initiated by him in the haunted house.

Raiden Mei sighed softly, a rare hint of helplessness showing on her face. She recalled the overly healthy distance she had maintained with the boy before, and then looked at the nearly melted ice cream in her hand.

what can we do about it?

I don't have the ability to eat a whole ice cream in one bite. Even if I did, I would suffer from the icy sensation later, a pain that would spread from my heart to my forehead.

……

"Mom, can I have an ice cream?"

"Why eat ice cream in the middle of spring?"

The short, sharp words caught the girl's attention. Turning her head, she saw a middle-aged woman with deep-set eyes, a face full of wrinkles that signified age, and black hair piled up behind her, and a cute little girl with blue hair.

Raiden Mei hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Jiang Cheng. He nodded in agreement. The girl then turned around, ignoring the woman who was somewhat surprised by the intrusion, and walked to the little girl in two steps.

"Hey little...maid, this is for you, but please remember not to argue with your family."

The girl half-squatted as she handed over the ice cream, a gentle curve forming on her lips, her teeth subtly upturned, like a mischievous witch gently coaxing someone, yet also appearing somewhat naive, as if she had never done anything like this before.

"Thank you, sister," the little girl didn't take the ice cream immediately. Instead, she thanked the woman earnestly before taking it with both hands. She held it gently and carefully until it was in her palms before turning her head away, deliberately ignoring the woman as if she were venting her small dissatisfaction by seeking attention. "Hmph, it's not like you can only eat ice cream in the summer."

"You'll eat yourself to death!" The woman belatedly realized what she had said and sternly reprimanded the smug girl.

Perhaps out of politeness, she turned her head, and out of the corner of her eye, she inadvertently glanced at Raiden Mei's face. Her previously suppressed expression instantly changed, as if struck by lightning, and even her pupils trembled. Her hand subconsciously reached into her pocket and pulled out several thousand-yen bills.

"Thank you, young lady. Here's the money for you now."

"It's alright, no need..."

The subconscious response is an instinctive refusal.

Raiden Mei wouldn't accept payment for such a small act of kindness; it was merely a self-righteous act of help.

Whatever the reason, if being given ice cream results in the parents having to pay for it, then the little girl will likely become more reserved in the future, and it might even become a reason for being scolded at home.

In the Far East, a place where people don't like to trouble others, it's impossible to refuse kindness offered to someone's face—it would be too impolite. So, the resentment one feels for the extra effort can only be directed at one's children.

Perhaps the money really has another purpose, or perhaps there are some special reasons why ice cream cannot be purchased. In order to prevent one's goodwill from becoming a tool to hurt others, it is very necessary to choose not to accept payment for such a trivial matter.

However, the waving hands seemed not to be seen, and were forcibly pried open by somewhat rough fingers, who stuffed the paper into the girl's hands.

The woman, however, acted as if she had encountered something unclean. She forcefully handed over the banknotes in her hand, and without even checking whether the girl had a firm grip on them, she turned around without hesitation, forcefully pulled the little girl away, leaving behind only a back view that appeared excessively anxious and impatient.

"use……"

……

The banknotes drifted from the girl's fingertips to the ground. Her fingers, strong enough to hold swords, seemed unable to grasp even a few pieces of paper that were so light they were almost weightless. They could only flutter and fall with the wind, displaying an ugly, money-smelling dance in the fading twilight.

It was rejected.

I'm disliked.

I was disliked.

They wouldn't even say an extra word, wouldn't even stay a second longer, and would even worry that not paying on time would cause them any trouble.

The woman's haste was so great that even her turning around was too quick; she was pulling the little girl away as if she were fleeing a flood, a ferocious beast, or a calamity.

Indeed, she is a monstrous flood, and even ordinary disasters are not as terrible as a young girl. Even if a blatant villain is evil, there will always be people who will defend him. Even if he has committed heinous crimes, there will always be people who care about so-called human rights. He can even enjoy a wonderful life in prison and experience a life that those he killed may never have in their entire lives.

How can there be bad people, how can there be evil people, how can someone who can be called a human being be hated by everyone, hated by the whole city, hated by the whole world, and almost no one will give them any care?

yes……

Raiden Mei is a disaster hated by everyone.

My stiff body couldn't even move. It was as if the blood flowing through my body had frozen into icicles in an instant. Every part of my body, from my fingertips to my heart, was chilling to the bone, as cold as a dead person.

Something deep within the girl's heart seemed to make a 'crack' sound, and something unknown fell into a bottomless abyss. Even though she had almost completely lost the ability to think, and her mind seemed to freeze along with her body in an instant, she could still feel sadness.

Even though we already knew the ending.

She already knew she was unpopular.

I've experienced things like this countless times before...

Why……

Does it still hurt?

It definitely didn't hurt that much before.

Even when others disliked me or verbally abused me mercilessly, I never felt anything like this before. My heart, which was deeply affected, never felt so painful, as if it were being pricked by needles.

Is it because the heart has been awakened?

Is it because I've become less sensitive to Jiang Cheng?

Her heart, which had been worn down and corroded by endless despair and had become as hard as steel and as hard as stone, was awakened to be soft. She discarded that false, self-imagined hard shell and revealed her true inner self, the true nature of the person named Raiden Mei.

But this is not right. The kindness given is only a possibility that is almost a miracle, which is even more distant than the one in hundreds of millions of chance of winning the lottery. Any act of placing hope in this is foolish.

The person named Jiang Cheng, that gentle, sun-like boy, is absolutely unique, and there could never be a second one like him in this city.

Even if you are very clear about this in your heart, you still can't harden your heart immediately when you are together.

Even the slightest bit of softness, even the slightest bit of yielding, will be pierced by malice harder than steel, and one will once again realize that this city has been hating its own reality from the very beginning.

It's nothing in essence. It's like a person walking leisurely accidentally bumping their toe against the edge of a table. It's something insignificant, and only a tiny part of the body is injured. Yet, the inherent weakness of humanity can cause grief over such a small injury.

—The girl felt warmth.

That's a temperature that even surpasses that of the sun.

That feeling absolutely shouldn't belong to this moment.

At least at this moment, the setting sun hanging in the sky, which is gradually showing signs of twilight, is simply no match for this warmth and this light.

The subconscious, instinctive act of looking up allowed eyes that had once again dimmed to catch the only ray of light in the darkness.

That was a boy named Jiang Cheng, a boy who was slowly walking over, holding exquisite receipts in his hands, a boy wearing a formal school uniform, and a boy who was gazing at him with eyes that shone like stars and the moon.

Just looking at it gives you a sense of peace deep within your body, like a fellow human being, and you can feel safe and secure even if you fall asleep here.

The moment the soul realized that the other was standing there, the darkness it had cast upon itself vanished in an instant, and light once again reached the world.

I felt inexplicably sleepy, perhaps because after pushing myself for so long, I couldn't help but want to rest when I found a place where I could feel at ease. Then I heard that voice that didn't hide its concern, which felt like it was giving my tired body a full recharge and squeezing out more energy.

"Come with me to the next place."

"Mei."

……

There is no negative option.

Not for a second in my heart.

The only response they could make was to agree, and the only action they could take was to nod—neither their body nor their soul, nor anything deeper, had a single moment of other thought.

Because it was Jiang Cheng who was reaching out, towards himself whom no one cared about, towards his pathetic, useless self. The light of the setting sun flowed through his fingers, yet it reflected a complete radiance in his palm, as if at this moment, even the huge sun in the sky was being held in his hand.

A slender, fair finger reached out and gently touched the boy's fingertip. As if struck by lightning, the boy's eyes lit up in that instant.

Jiang Cheng's fingers were smooth and soft, as if they had never done physical labor or exercise. There was no roughness in them.

……

what……

"Feel sorry……"

"I think I messed up a bit."

"I was the guide, not the guide."

The girl bit her lip lightly, her brows and eyes slightly lowered, her head also showing a hint of repression. After barely managing to mend her heart, she was overcome with guilt for what she had done.

Unable to control himself, he continued to correct his own mistakes until the boy's gentle voice took on a serious tone.

"You have nothing to apologize for; this is my problem."

……

—It's meaningless.

"Because this is my problem."

"I knew there were a lot of clueless people around here, but I still let Mei face those bad guys alone. I was too careless. I didn't expect that there were so many of those disgusting people around here."

The boy only gave negation, absolute negation. The emotions reflected in his relatively oval pupils, which still retained a trace of human-like qualities, remained only on the surface, mirroring the expression on his face.

That was an absolute rejection, a denial, and a complete unwillingness to conceal anything. It was a naked display of one's inner thoughts without any reservations, unlike the self-restraint of a normal person.

Because at least now, only at this moment, none of the emotions in my heart are shameful or worthy of being hated by a young girl.

……

Our assessment is that we ate too many mushrooms.