Honkai Impact 3rd: The Girl Who Chases the Flame

"Me too. It's not cool at all. Luckily, Pado has the same things that I lost."

Kevin nodded.

"Yes, Paddo's department store was a great help."

Su said.

“Your mother, Mebius, also lived here; she and Eden were old friends.”

Alicia continued,

"You are now staying in Möbius's room."

"Wait, Möbius's daughter?"

Su, who had been squinting, opened her eyes a crack.

"Such a polite child...is she Mebius's daughter?"

"Yes, Mother, I'm so sorry for causing you trouble."

Melutina, who could roughly imagine what Mebius would do, bowed her head and apologized.

"Don't worry about it, we're pretty much used to it by now."

Kevin shrugged.

"You haven't met Master Qian and Sakura yet, have you?"

Alicia thought for a moment and said,

"Master Qian, he..."

"Hahahaha! That's right, that's the taste! Pepper! Hahaha... Pepper is really good! You deserve to be killed!"

"..."

"Well, as you can hear, he's the chef here, and he's cooking."

Alicia continued calmly.

"……okay, I get it."

Melutina was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"This kid is a big shot."

Su nodded.

"I was also scared at the time."

"Yeah, Master Qian, that's super cool."

Kevin nodded as well.

"I'm back. Is Chef Qian cooking?"

Yae Sakura, the homeroom teacher of Class 3-A at Soubu High School, walked in.

"..."

"..."

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Chapter Five: Even Best Friends Argue

"Gresh, have you considered not getting into art school?"

"If you fail the exam, we'll start a war. The first target will be that country on the Russian border, and then..."

"Wait, wait, wait."

Melutina quickly stopped the blue-haired otaku girl who was playing games while sucking on a lollipop.

"I was just kidding, I was just kidding!"

"It's your turn."

Greta didn't seem to care and gestured towards the screen with her lip.

"That's enough for today... I still have to go to my tutoring class."

Melutina put down the controller and said.

Just a second before she finished packing and was about to leave, Greta suddenly turned her head and looked at her:

"Tina...why do you want to apply to an arts college?"

Melutina turned around and looked at the girl, who was almost too beautiful for her age, who was tilting her head and resting her hands on her knees as she looked at her.

Since it didn't seem like a casual question, Melutina didn't intend to give a casual answer either.

"...Although I would like to give you a decent answer, there may not actually be any great reason."

However, even so, she did not have the best answer.

"Unlike me, Tina is good at many things, isn't she?"

Gretchen's gaze was slightly cold, which made Melutina feel a little strange and also made her waver for some reason.

“The Wolrich family is a prominent family in Germany. Even if you don’t rely on Aunt Mebius, you still have plenty of options.”

"...Why do you say that?"

Melutina was silent for a moment, then turned her head to look at her childhood friend.

"Because it's strange, isn't it?"

Gretchen's tone was less harsh and more indifferent.

"Why choose painting when you have everything else besides it?"

"They have everything?"

These words stung Melutina slightly. She put down her shoes, looked directly at Gretsch, and spoke with a hint of barb.

"This is utterly absurd... What are you trying to say?"

"Tina is the one who's really inexplicable. She's cute, comes from a prestigious family, and is good at studying... Compared to someone like me who has nothing but painting skills, don't underestimate art."

Gretchen glared at her, her eyes equally piercing.

"With so many things to envy, why learn to draw just because it's an interest or something to do for fun? To be honest, when I first heard my dad say that Tina was going to apply to an arts college, I was really annoyed."

This is a very contradictory feeling.

Someone who always thought they had everything is now insatiable and wants to step into a territory that previously belonged only to themselves.

They started learning with an attitude of wanting everything and being able to do everything.

That's something I can't do myself. I'm clearly only talented in this field, but someone still wants to get in.

This nameless anger and resentment made Gretchen lose her usual composure.

"You want to argue with me? Just because I'm learning to draw?"

Melutina took a deep breath and walked up to Gretsch, their faces less than five centimeters apart.

"Because Tina can never beat me."

Greta looked directly into her eyes.

"In this area alone, Tina has absolutely no chance of winning. She clearly knows nothing, so stop acting like I can do anything!"

"I didn't paint to beat you, you did, putting on a picture that's completely useless..."

"well!"

A beautiful face appeared between the two, startling Melutina so much that she immediately stepped back, while Gretchen leaned back, losing her balance and even falling off the sofa.

Its bare feet were pointing upwards, making it look like an upside-down radish head.

"That's enough, let's not argue."

Alicia nodded, seeing that she had successfully separated the two people.

"You two are so close even when you're arguing, you must have a really good relationship."

"..."

Melutina turned her face away and didn't say anything.

"..."

Gretchen got up from the ground without saying a word.

"If you keep arguing and Master Qian hears you, you might not get any food!"

Alicia smiled.

"Merutina still has tutoring classes, right? Let's hurry over there. Gretchen... as the one who started this argument, come with me to buy ingredients for tonight's dinner."

"...I won't apologize, because I did nothing wrong."

Greta turned her head away and snorted.

"...I haven't spoken to Gretsch for a week."

Melutina also snorted and turned away.

On the other side of the hall, two faces appeared.

"Wow, finally the arguing is over."

"I remember being shaken," said Paddy Phyllis, a freelancer living on the third floor.

"As friends, their arguments are actually quite adorable."

The only resident on the fourth floor, magician Wilvi Miller, shrugged.

"Gentlemen, now that you've seen it, please stop them."

Eden, holding onto the stairs, said helplessly.