Regarding the question of whether one thousand lives are enough to beat Honkai Impact 3rd.

……

At this moment, Fu Hua is facing an unprecedented crisis.

She watched as someone took her hands and stuffed them into their pockets, her ten slender fingers held tightly in the young man's palms, making intimate contact within the fabric.

Despite it being a cold winter day, the girl's face began to feel hot involuntarily.

The warm, comforting temperature seeped through the skin and spread into the bloodstream, releasing the corresponding hormones and increasing the oxygen supply to the whole body, making the head feel a little dizzy.

Fu Hua pursed her lips slightly, lowered her head to stare at her boots, and said softly:

"Are you... all covered up? Yuno is still waiting for me behind us."

Su Qing'an felt the cool softness in her hands quickly warm up, and loosened her grip on the other person's hands inside the coat.

He watched the girl's disheveled figure quickly turn and leave, speechless.

Seele seems to be right.

61. Happy birthday, Mom.

In the empty dormitory room, Sato Yuno sat alone at the table, holding a cup of Americano, her emerald eyes staring blankly ahead.

She had just returned from the wind and snow, her delicate face and nose red from the cold, and her cascading purple hair was studded with a few snowflakes.

The slightly long sleeves covered most of the palms, leaving only the fingertips exposed. The warmth emanating from the cup passed through the fabric and reached the palms, becoming just right.

She untied the scarf that had been wrapped around her neck and placed it on the slightly messy table.

A cell phone with a charm lay among a pile of books, with unopened mini cakes and bags full of snacks nearby.

It's the weekend, and almost a month has passed since that disastrous snowman-building competition.

The temperature has stopped falling and has started to gradually warm up.

During this time, the girl continued to attend Su Qing'an's class regardless of the weather.

Aside from the relationship between the roommate and the teacher, the boy's teaching ability played a major role.

Another thing that Sato Yuno finds rather strange is that she has always thought she is not a person who is attracted to good looks, but for some reason she always finds Teacher Su particularly pleasing to the eye and feels a sense of familiarity.

This inexplicable and elusive emotion led to her subconscious and strange obsession with Su Qing'an.

However, unlike the real Su Qing'an, Sato Yuno has not developed any other feelings for Su Qing'an at the moment, which means that she has no mental barriers when shipping the two.

So when she was stirring up trouble on the forum, the girl never had any doubts about her typing speed, and occasionally she would even enter a state of extraordinary performance with bursts of inspiration.

Hmm... that sounds a bit strange, but it should be considered a good thing.

As each lesson went by and she practiced outside of class, Sato Yuno's drawing skills improved steadily, and she began to have the confidence to seriously pick up a paintbrush.

The things I want to work towards in the future are gradually becoming clearer.

Yuno Sato was originally a girl with very poor self-control, but the sense of fulfillment that her life was becoming more fulfilling made her choose to overcome her laziness and move forward.

After all, compared to the students at this academy, her family background was quite ordinary, so she naturally had to temporarily reserve the right to be willful.

But let's skip those annoying exercises today; a balance between work and rest is the right way to approach school life.

These trivial thoughts flashed through her little head as Sato Yuno recalled the reasons that had led to her current miserable situation.

Carol took Kira-chan to the movies, Xiao Hua most likely went on a date with Teacher Su, and the other two roommates went shopping together.

So she stayed alone in her dorm room, sipping her coffee and lost in thought.

Two months have passed since I enrolled. In this time, I have successfully integrated into school life and made a few decent friends.

It wasn't as surprising as she had anticipated before boarding the plane, nor as terrifying as she had imagined.

If I continue to stay in Changkong City, I will most likely enroll in Qianyu Academy.

But now she was in Canghai City, a foreign land, and even though the sensory experience was quite good, she still couldn't help but feel lonely and homesick.

After all, unlike the others who live far from home, Sato Yuno is separated from that land by an insurmountable distance of mountains and seas, and she only dares to buy expensive air tickets during summer and winter vacations.

The slightly hot and bitter coffee spread from the tip of her tongue to her entire mouth. The little girl held the paper cup in her hands to warm it, and her face showed a slight daze.

Actually, I've liked drinking black coffee for a long time.

Compared to a typical female high school student, this hobby seems rather unusual.

She doesn't like adding anything else to her coffee.

Perhaps it's a strange way of putting it, but that pure bitterness, without any aftertaste, always helps Yuno Sato find her true self.

For example, in this peaceful and quiet atmosphere, even the things that wander off into my mind become more distinct amidst that bitterness.

She glanced at the small cakes she had bought on the table.

Today is her mother's birthday, so when passing by the bakery, Sato Yuno knew she couldn't give out a cake there, but she still couldn't resist buying one.

It's noon now. Is it a little inappropriate to say happy birthday to my mom right now?

The girl took a sip of coffee and pondered for a moment. At this time of day, her mother should be cooking.

It's better to call her in the evening. That way, I can have a video call with my family, eat a different cake together, and wish her a happy birthday from different places.

For such a gentle mother, this seemed like a gift more than enough.

But the little girl was a bit greedy; she felt that saying those words sooner wasn't such a bad thing.

Even though Sato Yuno had just video-called her the day before yesterday, she still couldn't help but miss her.

In the video from that time, my mother had just finished showering. She put down the hairdryer in the bathroom and talked to me with her long, wet hair, smiling. This patient and happy demeanor naturally made the communication very smooth.

Sato Yuno recalled the look in her mother's eyes when she looked at her. Those eyes always held a tender and endearing quality for her, and her pale lips would form a beautiful curve, making her unable to resist putting on a childish act in front of her.

In front of Sato Natsuyuki, the girl tried to appear mature, as if she didn't want to be looked down upon by her father, and she was a bit stubborn.

But Sato Yuno loves both her father and mother very much.

She loves them in her own way and is willing to work hard to create her own future so that they can feel at ease.

The girl put down her coffee and made a video call request.

As she did this, she consciously began to suppress the smile on her lips.

Because if her father answered the phone, Sato Yuno always felt that she would feel a little shy with that expression.

In many ways, this strange psychology can be considered a unique characteristic of the little girl.

She looked at the projector that popped up shortly after the connection was established and asked with a smile:

"Why is Dad cooking?"

In the video, Sato Natsuyuki is wearing an apron and diligently cooking, while her mother is filming with a phone. Upon hearing this, the mother turns the camera towards herself, a happy smile spreading across her beautiful face.

"Xia Zhi wouldn't let me into the kitchen today no matter what. Even though his cooking skills are terrible, he confidently said when he went into the kitchen that he would take care of lunch today."

He was well-prepared, carrying a large bag of fresh ingredients, but he'll probably waste it all.

Sato Yuno was somewhat helpless:

"Why is Mom still so happy even though she already knows the result?"

She spoke sarcastically to the man in the video:

"I suggest that Dad should book a restaurant right now. Mr. Natsuki certainly wouldn't want his lovely and beautiful wife to taste some strange dishes."

Sato Natsuyuki's sweeping spatula movements froze. Looking at the food in the pot, now devoid of its original purpose, he guiltily but calmly began to deal with his cunning daughter:

"Yuno, cooking is similar to the kendo club that your father joined when he was young."

"All my past failures were due to my weak swordsmanship skills. My mind was not calm enough and my hands were not steady enough."

"But recently I sparred with some old friends from high school a few times, and in those short hours I rediscovered the charm of kendo and rekindled my youthful skill level."

"I am not the same person I was before."

Sato Yuno sighed and said:

"So, Dad, wouldn't it be better if you just went to a cooking class for a few days?"

Sato Natsuyuki smiled and shook her head upon hearing this, silently turned off the gas stove, put down the spatula, and stopped joking with her lovely daughter.

Actually, the man's cooking skills weren't so bad that they were inedible, but using this method to please his wife was one of the few clumsy ways he could come up with.

Sato Natsuyuki's face, though showing faint wrinkles, was still quite handsome. He leaned closer to the phone, gently pulling his wife towards him as he smiled at the girl in the video and said:

"Alright, alright, I'll take your mom out for a big meal. Yuno must have something to say to her mom, right?"

The girl hesitated for a moment after hearing this. It wasn't something embarrassing to say, but under the smiling gazes of the two men, she found it difficult to be completely frank.

But soon, her lips curved upwards.

Sato Yuno looked directly at the two of them and said softly but earnestly:

Happy birthday, Mom.

Sato Natsuyuki's expression was complicated. His pupils reflected the girl's smile, his lips were slightly upturned, and the wrinkles on his forehead were more pronounced. The hand that held the communicator was calloused and somewhat rough.

The mother's smile was as gentle and soft as ever. When she looked at her daughter's face, her emerald eyes shone slightly, making her very beautiful.

If you were to film it, it would definitely look like a very happy scene.

Time seems to stand still here, as if it has briefly captured this tiny, slightly sweet frosting.

And the next second.

The father and mother's expressions froze for a moment, such a vivid yet unchanging scene, as stiff as if they were playing a game of statues, both comical and funny.

"Don't joke around at a time like this," the girl thought to herself.

It's one thing for Dad, but why does Mom also join in this ridiculous antics so readily?

But immediately.

The kind and amiable face in my field of vision slowly cracked, the skin was peeled away like a sugar coating, the limbs gradually dissolved and disappeared, and the flesh and bones silently collapsed.

The harsh reality cleaved the warm and cozy picture in two.

The lava did indeed indifferently engulf the Nat Temple and the stupa. Obeying its promise, it rolled down the seven hundred steps, carrying hellish sulfur, and unleashed a devastating fire.

Dark dust fell softly through the girl's slightly open eyes.

The raging fire consumed all the beauty she possessed.