Elysia had clearly realized how everyone else would react after Mobius joined the birthday party.
Even so, she still welcomed her and tactfully refrained from asking why Mobius had changed her mind.
"Your people skills are terrible." Ai Yue followed beside Mobius behind Elysia and asked in a low voice, "Was it really necessary to make yourself like this?"
"Keeping my distance from vulgar people is only natural. It reduces a lot of unnecessary socializing and trouble." Mobius wore a subtle expression. "Ever since I realized that some people thought their dignity was particularly useful, I've been doing this."
Sounds like she's been through quite a bit of trouble, too.
Ai Yue shook his head and said nothing more.
"Ta-da~ This is the place." Elysia soon led the two of them to their destination. "Once we go in, be friendly with everyone, okay?"
"Isn't this your dormitory?" Ai Yue froze for a moment. "Preparing things in a place like this makes it easy for word to get out, doesn't it?"
The Fused Warriors' dormitory was essentially an apartment building. Each Fused Warrior had an independent three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, a small privilege granted to the warriors who had made enormous sacrifices to fight the Honkai.
However, there were not many people living here at present. And as the number of Fused Warriors continued to increase, it was obvious that not everyone would be able to enjoy such treatment in the future.
Of course, none of that was the point. The point was that Kevin's dormitory was diagonally opposite Elysia's. Was it really all right to be this blatant?
"Kevin usually stays in the training room and only comes back very late to sleep, so don't worry." Elysia smiled. "Besides, Mei will help us keep an eye on him."
As she spoke, she pushed open the door and entered.
"Oh, Elysia's back!"
A mature male voice came from inside. It sounded very steady, but the man's tone changed noticeably when he saw the people behind Elysia. "Uh, who's this... Huh, Doctor Mobius?"
A faint trace of fear entered his voice, and Ai Yue could not help glancing at the green-haired woman beside him.
"What are you looking at me for? I told you, this sort of thing is perfectly normal." Mobius returned his look with an eye roll, then gave the man a teasing smile. "Well, Hen, the power of a Fused Warrior is pretty useful, isn't it?"
The man named Hen was broad-shouldered and muscular, with a rough, messy hairstyle. The ends of his hair were somewhat long and tied simply behind his head, giving him a wild air. The scar running across his nose only deepened that impression.
Yet this seemingly unrestrained man was currently dressed in a silver-white suit with a black shirt underneath, which gave him a more mature and composed appearance.
"Ahahaha, it is. It is." Hen scratched his head, and in the end could only give an awkward, perfunctory reply with a dry laugh.
After saying that, Mobius quieted down. She found a corner and sat down by herself, clearly with no intention of getting involved in tonight's events, as if she had merely come along for a free meal.
The man Mobius had called Hen quickly moved over to Elysia. "Hey, Elysia, how did you convince Doctor Mobius to come? That's incredible!"
"This isn't my achievement." Elysia guided his gaze toward Ai Yue. "Let me introduce you. This is Ai Yue, the most promising rising scholar in the Moth to Fire!"
"Oh, so you're Doctor Ai Yue!" Hen finally looked enlightened and enthusiastically extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Hen, and I'm Kevin's team captain. Kevin mentioned you a few days ago, but I didn't expect you to be so young. What a surprise!"
There was no denying that talking to normal people was easy.
"Hello." Ai Yue extended his hand and shook his. "I haven't met Kevin very often. We can barely be considered friends, so I shamelessly came along."
"Don't say that. Every meeting is fate!" Hen was extremely friendly. "Besides, everyone's working toward the same goal, so we're comrades-in-arms. He'll definitely be happy that you came!"
I don't know whether he'll be happy that I came, but he'll definitely be happy about the gift I brought.
Ai Yue naturally withdrew his hand. Seeing that Hen had not noticed his fingernail had silently become a little shorter, he smiled in satisfaction.
Another Fused Warrior sample acquired. This trick is pretty useful.
At that thought, he could not help glancing at Elysia. She had already gone over to Mobius, and he had no idea what the two of them were talking about. They kept peeking in this direction.
Hen's careless personality probably meant he would not care about the length of his fingernails, but Elysia loved dressing up so much that she might notice easily.
Most importantly, the side effect of Elysia becoming a Fused Warrior seemed to be that her body had stopped growing. Did that mean her hair and nails would not grow either?
It might be more reliable to check whether she sheds hair in the bathroom.
"Oh, right. Did Elysia tell you?" Hen continued speaking, unaware that Ai Yue had spaced out. "Two more people are coming later..."
"We're here!"
"Hello, everyone... Huh? Mei—Doctor Mobius?"
Hen was still talking to Ai Yue when two people suddenly pushed open the door and interrupted him. Ai Yue turned around and saw a man and woman entering with large and small bags in their hands.
The girl had a magnificent head of golden hair, tied into a high ponytail at the back. She looked strikingly spirited. The boy, meanwhile, had short, dark green hair. He did not look like a warrior at all, but more like a student who had not even finished high school.
"The shopping team is back?" Elysia immediately came over and once again directed the two people's attention toward Ai Yue. "Come meet our new companion, Ai Yue!"
"Doctor Ai Yue?!" The golden-haired girl looked as though she knew him. "Isn't he the super newcomer who's been making waves all over the intranet recently?"
"Daisy, that was a little rude." The boy put down what he was carrying and extended his hand. "Hello, Doctor Ai Yue. My name is Cosmo. I'm a member of Captain Hen and Vice-Captain Kevin's team."
"Sorry, Doctor Ai Yue. I got a little excited just now." The golden-haired girl calmed down and revealed a sweet smile. "My name is Desdrobia. You can call me Daisy, like everyone else. It's nice to meet you."
Ai Yue smiled as well, as if he could already see his Fused Warrior Formula nearing completion. "Likewise. It's nice to meet you both."
The Thirty-Eighth Episode: The Most Human-Looking One
Desdrobia was a lively girl. With her and Elysia keeping the atmosphere animated, the entire living room quickly grew lively.
Then Elysia suddenly asked, "Oh, right, Hen. I remember Mei came with you, didn't she? Where are those two?"
"Oh, she's in the kitchen." Hen answered casually, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
Even Mobius's expression became subtle. "You let Mei into the kitchen?"
Everyone knew that Mei and the kitchen could not coexist.
"Don't get nervous. She was only putting the ingredients in the refrigerator. It's not a big deal." Hen waved his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.
As soon as he finished speaking, the kitchen door opened from inside, and Mei stepped out with a slightly embarrassed look. "Uh, the refrigerator seems to have suddenly broken. Can anyone fix it?"
Clearly, a scholar in the field of quantum mechanics could not solve a minor refrigerator malfunction.
The question was, why would merely putting something in the refrigerator trigger a malfunction?
Yet no one present was surprised. Even Hen, the culprit, wore an expression that seemed to say, So the rumors are true, before turning his gaze toward Ai Yue.
Huh? Me?
As everyone shifted their attention to him, Ai Yue could not help looking puzzled.
"Don't just stand there." Mobius was the one who finally spoke. "If anyone here might be able to fix a refrigerator, it's you."
What does that mean? I can build the Honkai Energy Absorber, so I understand mechanics, so I can fix a refrigerator? What's the difference between this and asking an IT student to repair a computer?
But Ai Yue did not object, because he really could fix refrigerators.
Fortunately, it was not a serious problem. It was probably because one of Mei's inadvertent actions had affected a sensor inside the refrigerator, causing it to start reporting an error. Ai Yue simply adjusted the sensor's status, then slapped the refrigerator hard twice, and the problem was solved.
After Ai Yue dealt with the minor trouble, Elysia blocked him at the kitchen door.
She handed him a bag and looked at him expectantly. "Come on, Ai Yue. Put this outfit on and try it."
"A suit?" Ai Yue opened the bag and glanced inside, somewhat surprised. "Don't tell me you prepared one for everyone?"
He had thought Hen had brought his suit himself, but apparently that was not the case.
"Of course! Since it's a birthday party, everyone should dress a little more formally. I knew you didn't have a formal outfit, so I specially asked an amazing friend to prepare one for you." Elysia smiled, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right. I haven't prepared one for Mobius yet. This is troublesome. I wonder if there's still time..."
Clearly, because Mobius had refused to attend earlier, Elysia had not prepared anything special for her.
"So you want me to change here?" Ai Yue glanced at the kitchen behind him. "Even if you won't let me use the bedroom, couldn't you at least lend me the bathroom?"
"Sorry, but someone's in the bathroom right now." Elysia pressed her palms together and looked at him pleadingly. "You'll just have to put up with changing here, okay~?"
Ai Yue nodded in understanding, then closed the kitchen door and left Elysia outside.
Fortunately, the outfit Elysia had provided did not include underwear, and he only needed to change his outer shirt. Thus, before long, Ai Yue emerged wearing the black suit.
"Mmm... You look really good." Seeing Ai Yue transformed, Elysia could not help looking him over a few more times. "Ai Yue, you really shouldn't wear that white lab coat every day. What a waste."
As she spoke, she could not resist moving in front of Ai Yue and fixing his hair.
A suit was a very demanding piece of clothing. If the wearer's build was unsuitable, it would look strange on them. Although Ai Yue did not usually exercise, his natural frame and height gave him a perfect physique. And since the suit had been made specifically for him, the combination produced an effect greater than the sum of its parts.
If Ai Yue usually looked like an ordinary scholar who could be found anywhere in a white lab coat, then in this suit, he seemed like the young heir of some wealthy family. Even with his messy hair, he carried a hint of uninhibited freedom.
"It fits pretty well." Ai Yue moved his arm and nodded, his expression turning strange. "So why does it fit this well?"
He did not remember ever revealing his physical measurements.
"Of course I estimated them by eye. Aren't my eyes amazing?" After finishing his hair, Elysia linked her arm through his and headed toward the living room. "Come on, let everyone else judge, too."
As it turned out, Elysia's eye for these things really was excellent. The clothes perfectly highlighted their wearer's bearing, and combined with Ai Yue's already handsome features and physique, they dazzled everyone the moment he appeared.
"Cosmo, look!" Desdrobia poked Cosmo, who was busy arranging the string lights. Her eyes were full of surprise as she looked at Ai Yue. "Doctor Ai Yue looks so handsome with his bangs brushed up!"
"Indeed." Cosmo looked Ai Yue over and gave his serious assessment. "But I still think Vice-Captain Kevin is more handsome."
"Your Kevin filter is beyond saving." The golden-haired girl sighed helplessly. "But Kevin really is more handsome on the battlefield. That much can't be denied."
"Very handsome, Doctor Ai Yue." Hen gave him a thumbs-up from the side. "I almost didn't recognize you just now."
"Elysia must have put a lot of thought into this. I only just learned that she prepared formalwear for everyone." Mei sat beside Mobius, glanced toward Ai Yue, then turned her gaze back to Mobius. "I'm really happy that you were willing to come. Thank you, Mobius."
"You're quite practiced at acting like the lady of the house." Mobius teased Mei. Only after Mei revealed an embarrassed expression did she glance at Ai Yue again. "I didn't expect this fellow to have such a good-looking face."
Come to think of it, Ai Yue's smart, good-looking, and has a pretty good personality, too. He's practically perfect. He gets all the advantages.
"All right, everyone, stop what you're doing for a moment." After some time, when the living room's decorations were nearly finished, Elysia pulled a stack of papers from somewhere and handed one to each person. "These are the lines for later. Memorize them, everyone. We'll rehearse in a little while."
"There are only a few lines. Do we really need to memorize them?" Hen glanced at the paper in his hand, then at Elysia. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Wow, Elysia, you gave yourself that many lines. Isn't that a little unfair?"
"What's unfair about it? I'm the host!" Elysia said righteously. "All right, listen up. On Kevin's birthday, when he walks into the room, we'll all say—"
"Happy birthday!"
Several days later, when Kevin walked into the unlit room that evening, the first thing that greeted him was that perfectly synchronized blessing.
The Thirty-Ninth Episode: Kevin, Kevin Has Caught Fire!
The living room had completely changed.
A sign reading "Kevin Happy Birthday" hung on the wall directly opposite the door. String lights and colorful flags decorated the surroundings, creating a lively atmosphere.
Everyone gathered around the dining table wore exquisite formalwear and held party poppers. They pulled them together amid their congratulations, sending a colorful shower raining down on the day's guest of honor.
"Mei, Hen... and everyone?"
Kevin looked around the room in surprise. Besides his familiar lover and comrades, he also saw Sakura, once an enemy and now more or less a friend; Mobius, who should not have been interested in such things; and Ai Yue, whom he had met only a few times yet somehow found reassuringly familiar.
His friends had gathered together solely to celebrate his birthday.
Even though the Honkai Beast genes had long since made his body unbearably cold, Kevin still felt a trace of warmth from the bottom of his heart.
An ill-timed melody rang out. Cosmo was trying his best to play the harmonica, but he was clearly inexperienced. His movements were clumsy, and the notes were nowhere near the proper melody. Although it was barely recognizable as the classic Happy Birthday song, the halting performance was so amusing that everyone struggled not to laugh.
"Sorry." Seeing that everyone was about to burst out laughing, Cosmo stopped playing and scratched his head awkwardly. "I should have practiced a few more times."
"It's fine. You did great." Desdrobia patted him on the shoulder encouragingly. "I think you look pretty cool playing the harmonica."
Cosmo became even more embarrassed.
Fortunately, at that moment, a long, sacred hymn suddenly rang out, making everyone search for the source of the singing.
"It's Aponia's blessing." Ai Yue shook his phone, which showed that he was on a call with Aponia. "She originally wanted to use her powers to sing directly in your hearts, but I told her that might be a little too much, so I talked her out of it."
"Please thank Miss Aponia for me, Mr. Ai Yue." Kevin nodded, finally speaking his first words since entering the room.
"All right, don't just stand there. Come sit down!" Elysia gestured for Kevin to sit beside Mei, then looked toward Desdrobia. "Little Daisy, bring out the cake!"
"Coming!" Desdrobia remained seated and did not move, but the cake in the kitchen suddenly floated into the air and landed steadily on the table.
The carefully prepared gifts flew over together with the cake.
Desdrobia was a psychic Fused Warrior, and the ability she had obtained was telekinetic control.
The cake had three layers of color: white at the top, blue in the middle, and black at the bottom. They had been carefully designed to represent Kevin's three colors.
Hen stared fixedly at the candle on the cake and suddenly asked Ai Yue in a low voice, "Ai Yue, do you think this candle is a little too far to the left?"
"That's just your imagination, Hen." Ai Yue was somewhat helpless. "Besides, if you adjust an already placed candle, you'll make the cake look worse."
Hen wrestled with the issue for a moment, but ultimately gave up on adjusting the candle's position.
Once the candles had been lit and began radiating a warm glow, the fox-eared girl who had remained silent until then stood up and pressed the switch beside her.
The room plunged into darkness once more. This time, however, it was different from before, because the candlelight still flickered.
"Come blow out the candles, Kevin," Mei said softly. "But before that, don't forget to make a wish."
"No matter what the wish is, it'll definitely come true!" Elysia added from the side. "Mmm, I'll make sure it does~"
Before you continue