Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 404 In the Name of Akivili!

Star considered herself a morally upright person—until she met that slutty maid, Rita Losweather.

This wicked woman has caused countless harms! She provoked her own brother only to be shot dead, and when that failed, she resorted to poisoning him. Now, she's even trying to corrupt her noble soul with money…

"Rita, you wicked woman, don't think you can bribe me with money to betray my brother!"

Using sunbathing as an excuse, he escaped from Walter's house with a few words, leaving his older brother alone. Xingren was shouting and yelling in the deserted school garden because it was a holiday.

Just as Xing was angrily declaring "I will never compromise" to the air, a gentle voice with a hint of doubt came from behind her.

"Star, is that you?"

Like a startled cat, Xing turned around abruptly, only to see four people, chatting and laughing, appear from around the corner. From Kiana to Seele, the four of them (except Bronya) approached her with smiles on their faces.

"Ah, it's you..."

"Were you just talking about Miss Rita? And about her tricking Brother Qiong?"

Bronya floated a few steps closer, while Mei's face showed concern and a hint of confusion.

"Xing, what happened? Qiong...?"

"Ah! No, it's nothing!"

Xing hurriedly waved her hands, shaking her head like a rattle drum, but then she showed the same composure as Qiong, standing calmly with her hands on her hips.

"I'm just... practicing my card-drawing slogans and techniques!"

"Gacha pulls... slogans and poses?"

Kiana scratched her head, wondering why she didn't believe it.

"Yes, that's it!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Xing regretted it; she had made another mistake: lying.

Because of one mistake, I made another mistake... If this continues, it will only lead to more mistakes, and my sins will be unforgivable!

"Oh?"

Seeing Hoshi's regretful expression, as if she wanted to bite off her own tongue after saying the wrong thing, Mei, being as clever as she was, immediately realized that Hoshi was awkwardly changing the subject.

She kindly refrained from pressing further and simply smiled.

Feeling uneasy under Mei's smile and Kiana's bewildered gaze, Hoshino glanced at Seele, who was staring blankly at her, and for a moment didn't know what to do... Right, dessert!

"Um, do you guys have some time? I'd like to treat you to something... how about dessert?"

Xing's mind conjured up the image of "the shady shop" called "Deng".

"My treat!"

……

To reiterate, Ms. Xing is a person of high moral character, therefore she cannot bear to see such a huge sum of embezzled money. Since that's the case...

If your money is dirty, spend it all now and avoid keeping it as bad luck! It's best to use it on future "victims".

Therefore, five girls sat together in the dessert shop opposite St. Freya Academy.

"Xing, why did you suddenly decide to treat us to dessert today?"

Kiana held a parfait in one hand and another in the other, trying to feed it to Mei, but the latter refused. Feeling embarrassed, she asked the gray-haired girl in front of her a question in order to divert her attention.

"Yes, isn't it too much to treat the four of us to a meal? It seems like your financial situation... the headmaster hasn't prepared for your enrollment and stipend yet, has he?"

Sitting directly opposite Hoshi, her future sister-in-law, Raiden Mei, raised a question from an economic perspective. As a thrifty and hardworking woman, she didn't want Hoshi to become a spendthrift or even a "sun-living bum."

"Don't worry, Mei-neechan! I'm rich now! Very, very rich!"

Rita's bank card gave Xing confidence, but as soon as she said it, she realized something was wrong—was it really okay to use this kind of money as her confidence?

And upon hearing Xing's words, Bronya raised her gray eyes.

"Did Xing suddenly become rich? But Bronya can only think of three ways to get rich overnight: lottery gambling, illegal transactions, or... ill-gotten gains."

"Uh……"

Xing's hand trembled slightly, and the drink she was holding accidentally dripped onto her glove.

Seele quietly added a point regarding Bronya's assessment.

"It's also possible that she found someone else's wallet..."

Seeing Hoshino's discomfort, Mei gently put down the dessert and looked at Hoshino with tenderness but without any room for evasion.

"Xing, why do you look so pale? Did Bronya and Seele tell the right thing? If it's found property, we should contact the owner as soon as possible! If it's a large sum of money, the owner must be very anxious..."

"No, no..."

Xing blurted it out almost without thinking, and under the watchful eyes of the four people, her voice grew softer and softer.

"I didn't gamble, and I didn't find anyone's wallet... Oh dear!"

Bronya discovered that Star did not deny the allegations of illegal transactions and ill-gotten gains.

Considering Xing's social network, she could easily say it was a gift from fate or the firmament, but she didn't. And if we add to that her recent stay at the home of Walter Yang, ostensibly a history teacher at St. Freya, but secretly a Fate agent and actually the leader of the Anti-Entropy Alliance…

Did he bribe Xing with money?

Xing stamped her foot in frustration. It was all her fault for speaking so quickly; how was she going to explain this? Just as she racked her brains for an excuse, Donigor, who had been lying in the corner of the shop, opened his eyes and stirred…

What's wrong with her?

"Anyway, it was money given to me by someone else! Oh, right, I wanted to ask you some questions..."

Xing's mind raced as she tried to take control of the conversation.

"Mei-neechan, I have a friend..."

Xing took a big gulp of the milkshake in her hand.

"Hey, Xing, the friend you're talking about isn't yourself, is it?"

Kiana blinked, asking a question with a curious expression.

Xing almost choked on the milkshake; her face turned red, and she waved her hands repeatedly.

"No, no! It really is a friend... Yes, a friend from Schicksal headquarters! Her, her name is Alvit! Yes, Alvit! She met a very, very bad woman!"

"Oh, Alvitt?"

Upon hearing the name, Kiana blinked again.

"Kiana, do you know her?"

"Yes, I met him the day I first met Dead Gray Hair, but we're not close."

star:……

She just randomly mentioned someone, how come Kiana happens to know them?

Unlike Kiana, Bronya and Donegal in the shadows both ignored Star's denial—generally speaking, I have a friend who is basically myself.

However, since she was treating, Bronya wouldn't press further. Instead, as St. Freya's top wingman and the one with the most wisdom, she would answer Xing's questions.

"It's her! She's met a bad woman who's found her weakness and leverage. If she doesn't do what the bad woman says, she's very likely to be in trouble. She doesn't know what to do... I just wanted to ask for your opinions."

Mei picked up a small piece of cake with her fork, her eyes gentle yet scrutinizing.

"What kind of bad woman is she?"

"She's... a seemingly gentle and elegant maid who's actually scheming and will use all sorts of tricks to scheme against others!"

Xingyue became more and more excited as she spoke, squeezing the milkshake cup in her hand so hard it made a cracking sound.

"Disgusting maid?"

Kiana scratched her head.

"Could it be Rita?"

“Bronya can’t think of a second maid besides Rita.”

"Excuse me, this is a complimentary berry mousse from our store."

Just then, Safrai, dressed in a maid outfit, gently placed five desserts garnished with bright red strawberries and mint leaves in front of each girl.

Almost everyone noticed that Xing's mousse cake was significantly larger than everyone else's, and even had an extra strawberry.

Kiana looked at Xing's "jumbo" mousse, then at the normal-sized desserts in front of the others, her expression a little puzzled.

"Sister Lamp, why is Star's portion so much bigger?"

Kiana stared at the maid shop manager named Lantern.

Deng calmly finished cleaning up the plates the group had eaten and headed backstage.

"Because I wanted to give her the biggest one."

"why?"

There's no reason why.

Saffra paused, and then, feeling it wasn't enough, added another sentence.

"This order is on me. Remember to come often and bring me more customers..."

The best guests are those with gray hair.

Xing looked at the unusually large portion of mousse in front of her and felt a little apprehensive. This treatment was far too special. And then there was the last time she drugged everyone…

Bronya's gaze swept back and forth between Xing and Shafulai—the maid, her weakness and leverage; and if this was the suspected retired mercenary, she had said things that Bronya couldn't understand…

Could this be related to what Xing was talking about?

Regardless, the person who received the large portion of mousse was bound to eat it. Soon, a piece of mousse cake landed in her mouth. After tasting the flavors of strawberries and cream, she sincerely praised it.

"It's so sweet! Much better than that sour cake from last time..."

"A sour cake?!"

The moment Xing spoke, the atmosphere in the store froze. A crack appeared in Shafulai's previously calm expression; she stopped what she was doing and looked at Xing. Bronya, sensing the tense atmosphere, sat up straight on alert.

"Which sour cake were you talking about? That night?"

"Safley asked slowly, her voice low and dangerous," Xing asked. Completely unaware of what she had said wrong, Xing's smile froze, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.

"Uh... I... I mean before..."

"Star, answer me."

Xing's eyes darted around, seeking help from the others. Kiana scratched her head, looking completely bewildered.

"Sister Lamp, what's a sour cake?"

“I have two very similar mousses here. The one from that night was a strawberry mousse that I specially prepared for my ‘guest,’ made with a special ‘strawberry jam.’ How could it be sour? Unless…”

The lamp's gaze was sharp as a knife, looking past the star at the dog huddled in the corner, and then at Saint Freya.

"Unless...someone or a dog did something wrong."

Although she didn't know what it meant, Xing felt a chill run down her spine.

Did she get into trouble?

----------------

"So, Uncle Yang, why do you think there's a girl from the future named Onpharos living inside the quill that Kiana gave me?"

Old Yang pushed up his glasses, and a faint light flashed across the lenses.

"Um... this question might be related to the Imaginary Tree and the Cocoon? I'm sorry, Sora, after you mentioned the future Kiana, I could only offer various unverifiable conjectures. Judging based on these conjectures is likely to be inaccurate..."

Walter took the quill pen from Qiong's hand, still completely baffled.

"But I can still speculate: the power of memory stems from recording everything and converging into the river of wisdom and life. If the influence of memory is early and significant enough, perhaps what you mentioned earlier about being glanced at by Nanook again wasn't a 'glance again' at all? Or perhaps it was that the Nanook glance you remembered was being brought up again?"

Walter paused for a moment, his fingertips lightly brushing the handle of the quill pen.

"Perhaps, Kiana in the future did something that turned this pen into a miniature 'memory singularity'? Is it possible that Fuli's destiny isn't solely oriented towards the past, but that sufficiently strong 'future memories' can be reverse-written into a vessel and then delivered by 'Fuli of the past' to any corner of the galaxy? Especially when the vessel itself is a gift from the one who holds the power of the end... But why?"