Honkai Impact 3rd: My Days as a Captain in Schicksal

"What are you doing?!" the two questioned in unison.

Keng looked at the Yae Sakura who had fallen to the ground, only a little over two feet tall. Even at that height, her ears had to be added to make up the difference...

"Big sister, we have no past grudges or present hatred. I even went to great lengths to rescue you from my dream. You can't kill me to silence me and repay kindness with enmity!"

"I don't understand what you're saying at all!" Yae Sakura retorted, her face flushed with anger, stomping her feet.

"Then what were you doing in my bed so early in the morning? Were you trying to assassinate me?!"

"What the hell! I just woke up and you threw me out! What are you talking about, this bed, this assassination attempt? I don't understand a word you're saying!"

"..."

Yae Sakura then realized that something was wrong.

Everything around us is so big...

"Is this the legendary land of giants?" Yae Sakura looked at the enormous facilities around her with shock. "Or have humans grown this tall in the last five hundred years?"

The sound of hurried footsteps in the corridor interrupted their argument. Keng Huo lowered his voice and said anxiously, "Hide quickly! Don't let anyone else see you!"

Perhaps due to an inexplicable trust in the man in front of her, Yae Sakura looked around in a panic and found that there was nowhere to hide... the wardrobe!

Yae Sakura rushed to the wardrobe and hopped around trying to grab the handle.

She jumped.

She jumped twice.

She jumped three times.

"Are you kidding me?! If you can't reach it, don't try! Come here! Hurry up!"

"Oh, oh..." Yae Sakura seemed to wake up from a dream, and ran to Keng Huo's bedside with her two short legs. She jumped up and grabbed the edge of the bed with both hands. Keng Huo quickly lifted the blanket and pulled Yae Sakura in.

Just as this series of actions was completed, the medical staff finally rushed into Keng Huo's ward: "What happened?!"

Keng Huo instantly switched into Oscar camp mode. He was panting heavily, staring blankly at the ceiling. After a long while, he finally turned his gaze away: "Ah...it's nothing...I think...I just had a nightmare...Sorry...did I disturb the other patients?"

The nurse patted her chest with a sigh of relief: "That's good. Wait a moment, it's almost time for your medicine. I'll go get it for you in a bit... What flavor of nutritional supplement would you like?"

"Chili powder flavor, thank you..."

"I don't have that flavor... and you shouldn't eat spicy food while you're recovering!"

"Then I'll have the barbecue flavor, thank you..."

"...Pineapple flavor, right? Okay, I got it."

———————————————————————————————————

“I don’t think we’re doing the right thing,” Yae Sakura’s fox ears peeked out from under the covers. She crawled out of the heavy blankets with a rustling sound, like an adventurer exploring a cave. “Why should I hide?”

She was trying hard to straighten her ears, which had been wrinkled by the blanket, and her pink fox ears twitched, looking exceptionally alluring.

"...I'm sorry, there are just too many things to complain about, I don't even know where to begin." Keng Huo rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, speaking listlessly.

"..."

"Weren't you already dead? How can you come into reality now?" Keng Huo decided to start by asking the most crucial question.

"I don't know. After that incident, when I woke up, you had thrown me away..." Yae Sakura thought for a moment, then became a little angry. "Why did you throw me!"

"...Anyone would react like this if they woke up in the morning and saw a ghost in their bed!"

"I've already told you I'm not a demon! Demons have horns on their heads!" Yae Sakura retorted, twitching her fox ears. "These are ears! Ears!"

Keng Huo choked slightly. The definition of "ghost" in the Far East was actually different from the term he was familiar with. The "ghost" in the Far East referred to a strong, horned humanoid creature, while the "ghost" in the common sense in China should be called "ghost" in the Far East?

"Then are you a ghost?" Keng Huo asked tentatively.

"I'm perfectly fine!"

"But aren't you dead?"

"...Although it sounds right, why do I feel so unhappy..." Yae Sakura subconsciously touched the sword at her waist, which shrank as her body proportions decreased.

"..."

"Never mind all that! Where am I?" Yae Sakura seemed unconcerned about how she got here; her eyes were now filled with curiosity.

"Earth……"

Where is Earth?

"It's the earth beneath your feet..."

"People from 500 years in the future speak so strangely..." Yae Sakura muttered. "Is this still Japan?"

"Hmm...it's called the Far East now, but some people still prefer to call it Japan..." Keng Huo explained modern common sense to Yae Sakura, "And it's not that people in modern times have grown taller, but...you're only about two feet tall right now..."

"what?"

"Hmm... about the height of a three- or four-year-old child?"

“…Okay, it’s alright! Where are we now?” Yae Sakura asked excitedly, leaning over the hospital bed.

"Hmm... St. Freya Academy... According to your understanding, it's quite far from where you woke up... but it's still within the territory of the Far East..."

"Oh...is this place pretty?"

"Mmm...it's gorgeous."

"Then I'll go out and take a look!!" Yae Sakura trotted off towards the door with her short legs.

"Wait! Come back!" Seeing that Yae Sakura was about to run out the door, Keng Huo quickly called out to her. If someone else saw her, how could he explain Yae Sakura's background?

To explain the appearance of Yae Sakura, we must involve Theresa's Stigmata. But if Yae Sakura was born from Theresa's Stigmata, why would she appear here? If this is investigated, wouldn't my identity be at great risk of being exposed?

"You can't let anyone find out yet! You'll be seen if you do this!"

"Ugh... this is so troublesome..." Yae Sakura pouted as she walked back, her big eyes looking around. "No one will notice if I jump out of the window, right?"

Before Keng Huo could stop her, she grabbed the windowsill, stood on the windowsill, and suddenly jumped out...

It crashed into the glass.

"Is this a barrier?" Yae Sakura covered her forehead, looking at the window in front of her with a surprised expression, and reached out to touch the glass that she had made buzz.

"Yes, that's right, it's a barrier. You can't get out now, so stay here obediently..."

"What's this?" The energetic Yae Sakura noticed the handle on the window, tugged at it curiously, and seemed to understand its use immediately. "Is it like this?"

Yae Sakura opened the window with some difficulty, nervously reached out and touched it. Only after finding that the transparent wall in front of her was gone did she glance downstairs.

Then he jumped back into the ward.

"It's too high..." Yae Sakura said with a mournful face.

"Can't you be a little more careful now...? I need to explain the situation here to you first, and you'd better not let anyone see you right now..."

"Why? I'm so good-looking, why can't others see it?"

Keng Huo stared at the ceiling speechlessly, as if something strange had happened to his life.

She has no idea where she came from since she can remember; her sister mysteriously disappeared, and when she reappeared, her split personality turned into a ship girl; her boss is a manga fanatic who is so bad at manga that he can't even defeat a pseudo-Herrscher with a combat power of 2,000; and now a 500-year-old priestess with fox ears who makes it her job to be silly and cute has popped out of her body... and she's only two feet long!

And why does she sound so much like me...?

It sounds like a nonsensical plot from a light novel!

"No, I'm afraid you'll get trampled to death if you run around like that..."

"You...you...you shameless bastard! I'm not that short!!" Yae Sakura roared in fury, gripping the edge of the bed as she shouted at Keng Huo, her figure seemingly growing taller in that instant...

Wait a minute? It seems like... or maybe?

But... he really... grew taller?

Keng Huo stared in shock at Yae Sakura, who was almost touching his face and was the same height as him. The shrine maiden seemed unaware of his unusual behavior at this moment.

"Holy crap, you even have evolution?" Keng Huo was so shocked that he blurted out the wrong thing.

"Huh?" Yae Sakura seemed to only then notice that her perspective had subtly changed. She looked at herself in surprise, but in that instant, she shrank back to just over two feet tall after regaining her original height.

"Did you see that! I just turned back!!" Yae Sakura suddenly became even more excited. "I think I can turn back! I'll try again!!"

After saying that, Yae Sakura seemed to be holding back a powerful attack, clenching her fists and straining her breath, her little face turning bright red.

Seeing Yae Sakura suddenly become excited, Keng Huo fell into deep thought.

The Yae Sakura in front of me seems... a little too lively? Is it because she's overjoyed to discover she's been resurrected? Or is it because she's escaped from a nightmare? Or is she just curious about the unknown and therefore overjoyed? Or... is this how she's supposed to be, having been suppressed by responsibility for so long?

Keng Huo couldn't help but recall the conversations he had had in the consciousness space.

"May you live a life filled with happiness under a free and blue sky."

...Are you truly happy and free right now? Keng Huo couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"Let's observe her first. If that's really her personality, then I guess I'm overthinking it..." Keng Huo muttered to himself.

"Bang—" Suddenly, a sound like something exploding interrupted Keng Huo's thoughts. Keng Huo looked in surprise at the Yae Sakura who had grown larger...

Yae Sakura was staring blankly ahead, seemingly unable to accept the sudden dizziness she was experiencing.

She turned her head blankly and stared at the full-length mirror next to her, in which a small witch about two feet tall was reflected.

However, her head accounts for one-third of her total height, not including her ears.

"Are you a clown sent by the monkeys?" Keng Huo couldn't help but complain. The two-foot-tall shrine maiden in front of him had suddenly turned into a two-foot-tall chibi shrine maiden. He just felt... this was ridiculous...

"What's going on?!" Yae Sakura cried out in alarm, clutching her head, but her tiny arms couldn't even reach the top of her head. "Why... why has only my head gotten bigger?!"

"What do I do? What do I do? I think I can't turn back!!" Yae Sakura ran around in a panic. "What's going on?!"

"...I think you have peripheral nerve necrosis, which caused your upper body to swell up."

Yae Sakura glanced at Keng Huo. Although she didn't understand what peripheral nerve necrosis meant, she could understand the teasing in Keng Huo's tone.

"Is Theresa here too?" Yae Sakura suddenly asked a seemingly random question.

"She is indeed here..."

Before Keng Huo could finish speaking, Yae Sakura dashed towards the door, saying as she ran, "I'm going to find Theresa for help..."