Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

"What are you doing, Alicia!"

"You're not going to tell me there's some bad news again, are you?"

……

What could possibly happen to make Alicia act like this?

What terrible news could possibly have caused that eternally lively and flawless perfect fairy to behave in this way?

The weight represented by this act is thousands of times more significant than the fact that the person you hate most is kneeling before you.

Even if it's an overly indulgent ego, there's only one thing in this world that would warrant that fairy lady making such a gesture.

Almost instinctively, Wilvi stepped forward, wanting to stop her, wanting to reach out and pull the fairy up, wanting to make things normal in this way.

If it can be pulled up, it might mean the problem isn't so serious.

A foolish idea, hardly belonging to the realm of genius.

But that was precisely the only thought in the girl's mind at that moment.

……

"—I killed the boy."

……

205. Alicia: That's the whole truth.

The bystanders were still unaware of what was happening, because the situation was now beyond anyone's control. Eden couldn't even touch the car's exhaust fumes, and "Memory" Ellie could only watch helplessly.

It happened...

What is this?

Why should I kneel down for the other one?

What happened?

Are there a few episodes missing?

A chaotic mix of emotions was brewing, because this affected everyone except the two people directly involved. No one could remain uninvolved, and even the least interested person couldn't remain unaffected after witnessing the kneeling.

That is the dignity of fairies in fairy tales, and the humility of goddesses under the stars and moon; it is something that could never be seen in this world.

happened.

It happened again.

It happened again.

Just like all the incomprehensible things that have happened in the past two weeks, something has happened again that even OOC (out-of-character) cannot explain, and something has happened again that has made everyone's brains crash.

Even Padofilis, who could speak before, became mute and lost all her functions, as if she had turned into a real cat.

Gretchen, whose canvas was always stained with other people's colors, almost fainted; her emotions were now excessively intense.

Eden, Kevin, Sakura, Hua... and Aponia, who was originally Alicia's caregiver but was shocked by the facts before her without uttering a single word, clearly had things that could shock the heroes very few times, yet now all of this had become as cheap as cabbages in a supermarket in just a short time.

In a sense, they had even gotten used to it—because the hot-tempered young man named Qianjie had uttered the first undisguised sound of the moment.

"what?"

……

This almost proclaims the existence of the voyeur, blatantly revealing themselves, as well as exposing all the hidden heroes.

If it were a different time, even if Velvet didn't care and would only ever care about the boy, and even if Alicia didn't care and would only ever see the boy's voice, the "Memory" Alicia would still care.

Because this represents social death, since no one knows how much of what their friends have heard about them.

But by this point, nobody cared anymore.

The voyeur, the person involved... no one's thoughts could be diverted by this trivial matter; everyone's attention was focused on the fairy who had already knelt down and thrown her dignity into the trash can.

If every effect has a cause, and there is no such thing as a random act at this time, then what could have made her this way?

What could possibly have caused such a flawless fairy to appear in such an excessively humble manner?

……

"why?"

Wilvi asked questions again and again, nodding, touching her chin, frowning... as if she were deceiving herself, throwing out her own guesses, but she couldn't shift her gaze, her own eyes.

Wanting to escape the heavy answer that rivals kneeling, yet instinctively fearing that if I choose to escape, I might lose something important.

The spiral created by contradictions is a black hole capable of swallowing itself whole; the only option left is to raise old questions in a seemingly proactive way.

Why would you do such a thing?

"The end is unmatched, I know."

“You don’t need to apologize to me for facing an enemy you can’t fight. Even if you can’t protect Jiangcheng, it’s not just your responsibility.”

"The Herald of the End is the enemy of the entire civilization, the ultimate catastrophe for all mankind, and no single individual has the opportunity to overcome or resist it."

……

“This isn’t about the end. I’ve seen her. She’s not that terrifying, nor is she that unattainable. But Jiang Cheng has never seen her.”

“Jiang Cheng died before the end, even before the twelfth Herrscher’s corruption. He never even saw the tenth Herrscher. What he couldn’t overcome was never those enemies. This was a mistake I… I made myself.”

Alicia slowly raised her head, letting her pure, flawless pink eyes, like half a cherry blossom falling into the water, but devoid of any spirit, meet those fearful and bewildered silver-gray pupils.

Seemingly worried that the girl, who was not a spiral-shaped hero, might not have heard clearly, the fairy lady spoke again, revealing her thoughts once more.

It was cruel and horrific, so much so that Wilvi wished she could gouge out her own ears and shove her little finger in to shatter her eardrums.

"—I killed the boy with my own hands."

……

It was a declaration, a statement; she spoke each word slowly and deliberately, giving no chance to try to escape, no possibility of burying one's head in the sand.

"I killed Jiang Cheng more than once."

The terrifying pink eyes, as if held by a god, forcefully held the girl's gaze level, causing her silver-gray eyes to tremble, and even the drifting mist seemed to panic.

Even though Vilvie was the uninvited guest and the one standing here to receive an apology, the power was actually in the hands of the fairy kneeling before her.

“After you died, I didn’t have the courage to see Jiang Cheng, because I was nearby the day you died. If I wanted to, I could have saved you, but I didn’t, because I was cowardly, because I wanted to save Jiang Cheng more.”

"Even though I had already made a decision, I ran away when Jiang Cheng asked me where you were, hiding in the shadows like a turtle with its head in the sand."

“I don’t dare to face his questions, I don’t dare to tell him that I watched you die, and I don’t even dare to tell Jiang Cheng who I am.”

"Then I stayed there, just watching him walk toward death, until I decided to resurrect you, until everything was irreversible."

Is this why I felt like I was swaying back and forth?

So I was almost resurrected back then.

Wilvi, however, did not feel anger. Instead, she felt a strange, inexplicable calm. On the contrary, she even unconsciously crossed her arms over her chest, her fair and slender arms embracing the plump fruit, as if she were listening to a story, and she was in a state of almost intoxication.

Perhaps the anger was too much and accumulated, making it impossible to express the emotions in time, or perhaps the other Ellie had already provided a contingency plan, so things haven't gotten to the point where they're beyond comprehension yet.

She wouldn't feel resentful about being abandoned; if it was to save the boy, then she wouldn't care even if she was abandoned countless times.

No one named Wilvi could compare to Jiang Cheng in any way. As long as he lived, she didn't care what happened to him.

He wouldn't be angry because Alicia chose to run away, because that only meant he didn't understand the girl well enough.

She was able to make the decision to revive herself, and even if she didn't succeed, that was enough. At least her final mistake would not be greater than his. Even if Origin wanted to do such a thing, the price would definitely not be simple.

Perhaps because of the anger that followed, I had already anticipated the worst possible outcome, so now that the truth has come out, it's not as disgusting or devastating as I thought.

At least Alicia didn't choose to abandon Jiangcheng, the worst option, and at least she wasn't doing nothing; she still had thoughts about what to do.

It just didn't work out.

Just as useless and incompetent as myself.

If it ended here, it could only be called a regrettable story, because a genius ultimately proved himself to be a failure.

They calculated everything, but not the responsibility. They arrogantly abandoned others to shoulder their burdens, and presumptuously tried to calculate what would be best.

But in reality, he neither understood Alicia's psychology nor knew about her burdens. In fact, the fairy neither offered gentle help nor coldly kept him by her side. He simply chose to escape because of his guilt towards her, and it just so happened that she was right beside him.

What a coincidence.

Why couldn't I have died sooner?

Struggling and struggling, it was all in vain in the end, and it even left Alicia with psychological trauma, preventing her from helping Jiang Cheng.

Does a good-for-nothing have to cause trouble even after death?

Is my waste really that pure?

If I want to make good use of Alicia's abilities, then I can't blame all the blame on her. Otherwise, I won't be able to control my anger during the conversation later. If I insult her and break her defenses, I really won't be able to take her out. In that case, the sin will have to be on my own.

Although it was actually due to his own reasons.

Because of arrogance.

Because they did not want to die.

I don't want to think about it anymore.

Continuing to bring up this matter will only lead to a dead end of self-doubt. There is no time for self-pity now; the boy is still in danger.

Wilvi remained silent, only slightly biting her rosy lips, still gazing into those cherry-pink eyes, lifeless and sorrowful—because the owner of those pupils had no intention of stopping, her delicate lips still gently opening and closing, whispering her story.

“I couldn’t bear the boy’s death, and I couldn’t accept the fact that I was the only one alive, so Mebius and I joined forces to resurrect him.”

"But I was unable to fully resurrect him, perhaps because of my selfishness, or perhaps because of something else. The resurrected boy had no heart."

"So you don't agree that he is..." Wilvi could almost fill in the second half of the sentence based on the logic that had happened countless times in the story.

……