My Honkai Star Rail: Reversing All Phenomena

Sure enough, everyone at the Space Station was a good person, and the girls who liked Hua Yi just like she did were especially, especially good people.

Delightedly downloading the latest novels uploaded to the group files, Asta began reading, half to inspect the quality of the contest entries and half to indirectly understand what the group members were thinking.

"The Handsome Researcher Fell in Love With Me," "The Story of Lord Hua Yi and Me Falling in Love," "The Boy Next Door Was Destined to Astonish the Universe," "Can a Nobody Like Me Be Loved by a Hero Too?"...

Thankfully, encouraged by the Writing Contest, the number of novels in the group files had increased considerably, and there had even been some innovation in subject matter.

There were quite a few interesting stories that set Hua Yi's home planet as the author's hometown, beginning from the perspective of being his neighbor, classmate, childhood sweetheart, and so on.

There were even loser-girl stories like "I'm the childhood sweetheart, but I Couldn't Beat the New Girl." Seeing her own name appear in a novel as the newcomer who crushed the childhood sweetheart and turned her into the loser girl, Asta had no idea how she was supposed to react.

She really had gotten together with Hua Yi behind the group members' backs. This sort of jumping the gun seemed to match some of the plots in those novels rather well.

Sticking out her tongue guiltily, the Group Leader continued browsing the novel list and spotted a familiar name.

Face-Tanking Ultimate. Was that her username?

The novel she had written had actually received several votes. Even though it had not made it into the top three by total votes, it was still among the better-ranked entries and had been welcomed by quite a few people.

Uh, "I'm So Strong Because Nous Is Watching Me"?

Although Sentient Celestial Bodies stood high above all else, mysterious and unfathomable, and would not react just because mortals said a few things, within a [Wisdom] faction like the Space Station, no one other than Madam Herta herself dared claim to have earned the favor of that God of Knowledge.

Even for a fantasy romance novel, directly mentioning Nous to flaunt one's own wisdom was rather unorthodox.

Asta split her screen into two with an amused, helpless smile. One displayed the novel Star had written, while the other searched for the group members' reviews of it.

"Funny."

"Being watched by Nous... all I can say is that she has quite the imagination."

"Someone with a username like Face-Tanking Ultimate really is an interesting person."

"The heroine in the book made money by rummaging through trash cans and never did even the slightest bit of scientific research. Did she only receive an Aeon's blessing because she dug through Nous's trash can?"

"To be fair, I think the interactions between the heroine and Lord Hua Yi felt pretty real. When she fell asleep against a cold wall, he gently used his palm to cushion the back of her head. And during the wall slam, it wasn't Lord Hua Yi being won over by the heroine's charm—it was the clumsy girl's facial muscles malfunctioning."

"Thirty percent mockery, thirty percent cold indifference, thirty percent disdain—are you sure that's the expression someone should wear while wall-slamming Lord Hua Yi? The description is a little off, but it's pretty funny to read."

"It should be thirty percent tenderness, thirty percent infatuation, and thirty percent unforgettable devotion."

"Are your faces pie charts?"

After reading the other girls' comments on Face-Tanking Ultimate's novel, Asta covered her mouth and giggled for quite a while before becoming thoughtful.

She felt that the relevant details were not fictional.

She remembered that the Stellaron Hunters had infiltrated No Heavens Left Unspoken and inserted a Stellaron into Star's chest there. Hua Yi had also mentioned that the girl had fallen asleep for a while midway through.

Using his palm as a pillow for a girl out of consideration and paying attention to such details was exactly the sort of thing he would do.

In other words, had the Galaxy Bat Hero privately wall-slammed Hua Yi afterward?

Gasp!

Asta sucked in a sharp breath. She had not expected Star to be so bold.

How long had she even known Hua Yi?!

Was this what some novels called being straightforward? It was a particularly adorable trait that often granted a tremendous advantage in a war of love.

Considering that writing a novel took time as well, the other girl must have acted even earlier. The Station Master suddenly felt incredibly fortunate that she had sensed the danger in time and gathered the courage to confess to Hua Yi. Otherwise, would Star not have overtaken her and turned her into the loser girl?

The Galaxy Bat Hero was truly terrifying!

In a room somewhere on the Space Station, Star was hugging her Smart Terminal as she waited for the Group Leader to announce the contest results. She prayed that her novel would meet the Writing Contest requirements and earn her first pot of gold, completely unaware that she had already shocked Asta in a rather unusual way.

"I'm not asking to make the top three. A participation prize is enough. Please, please."

Come to think of it, who did people usually pray to? Aeons?

Then it could not be Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction. Although Star had once received His gaze, she still felt that [Destruction] was not very reliable.

"[Hunt] on my left, Harmony on my right, Wisdom in my heart, Preservation before my chest—Aeons, bless me!"

"Irresistible, Aren't I?"

"Every novel in this Writing Contest was wonderfully written and imaginative. Thank you all for your enthusiastic participation and for increasing the group's spiritual food. I've decided to raise the rewards beyond what was previously announced."

For Asta, with both her wealth and her inclination, the preferred way to increase a mere two Million Credits would have been to add two zeros to the end.

But if she did that, the group members would definitely be able to guess her true identity.

Looking through the Department of Applied Materials' financial reports, Credits in the hundreds of millions generally appeared in major department-level projects and were rarely linked to individuals. There were only a handful of people in the entire Space Station who could spend such a staggering sum on a Writing Contest.

Even if the girl did not consider it a staggering sum, she still had to weigh priorities.

As the head of the station, investing far more funds than ordinary projects into something unrelated to scientific research would be equivalent to sending everyone on the Space Station the wrong message—that putting effort into a Writing Contest was far more useful than doing their jobs properly.

Therefore, all Asta could do was double the prize money, then turn it into a long-term activity that would provide steady support to the literary girls who poured their hearts into it.

"The final rankings have been announced, and the prize money will be transferred to the creators' online accounts within one System Time. If anyone has doubts about the rankings, you can send me a private message with your feedback."

"How could we have doubts? They're exactly the same as the voting results."

"The Group Leader paid for this event herself. We should be thanking you, not questioning you. Thank you, Group Leader!"

"Exactly! If we really had to worry about something, it would be whether the Group Leader spent so much that she'll only be able to eat basic meal sets every day afterward."

"Eek, it feels like we have another way to deduce the Group Leader's true identity. First, she must be an executive from some department, and then she suddenly started scrimping and saving..."

"Why are you always trying to pry into other people's privacy? Let me make this clear: even if we really run into [Name Redacted], we should just quietly buy her a deluxe meal set. We can't make such a wonderful Group Leader feel awkward."

How could the girls in the group know how wealthy this little rich girl was? In their minds, they had already painted the image of a selfless figure who would rather live frugally and endure hardship than fail to save money for livening up the Fan Group and supporting everyone's writing.

Within a short time, Asta received multiple Private Messages filled with concern. Afraid that the Group Leader had fallen into a financial crisis, quite a few girls voluntarily offered to support her food and clothing expenses.

Ever since childhood, some had regarded the young lady's love for astronomy as an Unorthodox Path and lectured her condescendingly, while others had coveted the assets of her branch of the family and worn false faces in hopes of seizing them.

Yet no one had ever thought she was poor—poor enough that she could not afford food.

Asta could neither laugh nor cry, though her heart felt warm. She replied to every kind group member, explaining that a new round of the Writing Contest would begin before long and that there was no need to worry about funding.

Star, who had successfully earned her first pot of gold, was among them.

Earlier, Hua Yi had given her more than Ten Million Credits as pocket money. The two hundred thousand Credits she had earned from writing her own novel this time could at most be called loose change.

The mighty Galaxy Bat Hero pursued the meaning of making it on her own. Now that she had achieved her goal, she would have no problem returning every last Credit of the prize money, or even adding some of her own money to support the Group Leader through her financial crisis.

In the end, [Name Redacted] said that her little treasury was enough to support even more Writing Contests.

"As Hua Yi's partner in battle, shouldn't I also contribute to the development of his Fan Group?"

Star muttered to herself as she did the math.

Four Million Credits could greatly motivate the group members, and before the Group Leader increased the prize money, only two Million Credits had been needed. With her own funds, she could organize a similar event too.

The Group Leader held a Writing Contest, so I can hold a wall-slam contest!

Everyone could wall-slam Hua Yi and be ranked according to the results. How great would that be?

Mm, there was no need to think about that too urgently right now.

To write her novel, the Galaxy Bat Hero had gone for some time without taking action together with her dependable comrade, close companion, and the wonderful person who took such good care of her. Since she had earned two hundred thousand Credits through her own abilities, of course she had to treat him to a meal!

If she used the money Hua Yi had given her to treat him, it would be hard to say who was treating whom. But the girl no longer had to agonize over that question.

Besides, he had become the Second Station Master of the Space Station. That deserved celebrating.

Half a System Time later, Hua Yi let someone pull him through the Space Station and studied her profile with amusement.

The tall gray-haired, golden-eyed girl would undoubtedly resemble a lofty flower on a mountain peak if she kept her expression restrained. Yet the little expressions she kept making were always so adorably silly that they directly killed any possibility of her becoming an icy beauty.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To the restaurant. I made money, so I'm treating you to a big meal."

"Oh? I never expected the Galaxy Bat Hero to be able to face the Doomsday Beast in battle and still carve out a place for herself in life."

"Yes, yes, I'm just that amazing."

Star nodded smugly, her pride written all over her face.

"I didn't waste the money you gave me either. Calling it starting from scratch wouldn't be an exaggeration. I made two hundred thousand in just two days. Impressive, right? Ahem, I can't tell you the details, though. I have to keep their secret."

"A trade secret. I understand."

"One hundred thousand a day. At this rate, I'll be able to earn Ten Million Credits independently in just a hundred days."

"Don't forget daily expenses like food and clothes. If you go out, you also need to count travel and lodging costs."

"Oh, right. Then it'll take more than a hundred days. That still feels like quite a long time."

Despite having lost her memories of the past, the young girl had already come to understand the hardships of life and could not help sighing over it.

"Making money really isn't easy."

"And that's on Herta Space Station, one of the universe's foremost research bases. On an actually ordinary Planetary Civilization, money circulates much more slowly—so, aren't you going to use those two hundred thousand Credits on something more meaningful? Like buying something you like as a keepsake?"

"Small-minded. Your vision is too small. I'm definitely treating you to a meal. That's what makes it a keepsake."

Upon reaching the ordering area and approaching the small robot floating silently there, Star suddenly turned around and spread her arms grandly, as though she wanted to gather every delicacy in the world into her embrace.

"What delicious food do you have? Bring it all out!"

"Hello, the Ordering Robot is at your service. User identification failed. Please maintain a proper standing posture and do not shake your ID badge or face."

"Uh, okay."

Seeing the blurry image on the robot's screen, as though it had been covered by mosaic censoring, the wildly gesturing girl stood at attention.

"This drink called Kaliba has two versions. One is produced by the Interastral Peace Corporation, while the other is labeled Herta · Universal Applied Materials. I've had both, and I think the Space Station version tastes better. Of course, it's also more expensive. You get what you pay for."

The food needed time to cook, but drinks could be delivered immediately. Catching the soft drink brought over by the delivery robot, Star excitedly turned the bottle and showed it to Hua Yi.

"Look, Kaliba refracts a deep blue glow as you change the angle, and it has endlessly bubbling fizz, so it's called an Anti-Gravity Beverage. Isn't that amazing?"

The girl eagerly shared the soft drink's special features, completely forgetting that Hua Yi was more familiar with the Space Station than she was.

More coincidentally, the Herta version of Kaliba's formula had passed through his hands, and he held shares related to it.

Hua Yi knew the external characteristics and specific ingredients of this uncrowned king of the soft drink world like the back of his hand. But seeing Star's high spirits, he appropriately displayed curiosity, listened seriously to her introduction, then showed a surprised expression, as if he had to view her with new eyes after only three days apart.

"It really is. You're quite good at observing things."

"Hehe, what do you think a Galaxy Bat Hero is?"

"Then when we were fighting the Doomsday Beast earlier, why didn't Bat Hero take stock of the situation and observe the enemy's weak points? Why did you insist on charging straight at Calamity's Hand of Dawn?"

"Oh, come on. You ended up defeating the Doomsday Beast anyway, so why should I have put in all that effort?"

With a click, Star opened the Kaliba bottle and held it to Hua Yi's lips, using the act of feeding him water to make him focus on tasting the drink instead of questioning the Galaxy Bat Hero's brilliance, wisdom, and mastery of both pen and sword.

"How is it? Isn't it pretty good?"

"Mm. A diligent girl earned her first pot of gold and chose to treat someone without hesitation. This is no longer a simple drink. It contains your sweat and hard work, so naturally it tastes hundreds or thousands of times better than ordinary Kaliba."

Ever since earlier, the smile on Star's face had never faded. Her spirits soared as blood rushed from her heart through every limb, singing within her veins. Her entire body brimmed with energy, as though she had strength to spare.

Supporting her head with a soft hand, the gray-haired girl gazed at Hua Yi and felt nothing but joy and excitement.

Did this count as a date?

Even though things had not progressed to the mutual feeding scenes that appeared in the Fan Group novels, this feeling was undoubtedly that of a date.

Since I was the one who invited him to eat, introducing him to the Space Station version of Kaliba was naturally part of the atmosphere I created myself. I'm the one leading this date.

Hehe, he must be captivated by me.

Although the facts proved that Nous had not watched over her when she wall-slammed Hua Yi, if that Aeon knew that she was displaying world-shaking wisdom at this very moment—using Kaliba as a topic, explaining the traits of this soft drink, sharing little pieces of knowledge Hua Yi did not know, and creating such a pleasant, comfortable atmosphere step by step—He would surely be astonished.

I'm amazing!

Right, I could also write this time together into my novel to prove my wisdom and romantic instincts. I'd have the great hero wrapped around my finger. That would be another kind of keepsake.

Watching Star with interest, Hua Yi could easily conclude from her unfocused pupils that she had drifted off. Her thoughts had likely long since floated far beyond the heavens.

Every now and then, she let out a silly "goo hey hey" laugh, grinning foolishly yet adorably. He really ought to take out his terminal and capture this appearance of the Galaxy Bat Hero for permanent preservation.