Himeko woke up after a light nap of fifteen minutes.
Her sleepy-eyed appearance contrasted subtly with her usual mature and composed demeanor, making her unexpectedly adorable.
Himeko, clearly unaware of the expression on her face, lazily stretched.
After regaining her senses, Himeko took a bottle of Ireland whiskey from the cabinet behind the bar.
"You should drink less alcohol." Faced with Su Qing'an's earnest advice, Himeko just smiled and patted his head before leaving.
He'd gone too far with his perfunctory words. Helplessly, he touched the warmth left by the woman's hand on her hair, but couldn't bring himself to offer any further advice.
Sometimes, adults don't even need to say a word to appease children.
Su Qing'an could only watch as the woman's figure, carrying the wine bottle, gradually disappeared from sight.
Alright, now it's my time to myself.
After stopping the Sword Heart Technique Mantra, Su Qing'an put away the empty wine bottle and coffee cup on the table and cleared his mind for a while, thinking to himself.
The boy walked out of the coffee shop.
After the Artificial Stigmata broke through the limit, he resumed his usual habit of practicing the Sword Heart Technique when he ran the coffee shop.
Although he clearly felt that the Sword Heart Technique's enhancement to tempering his sword heart was decreasing, reaching the higher level of clarity would not be something that could be achieved in a short time.
But this was the only hand he could hold onto, so there was no reason for him to give it up.
After breaking through to the State of Dustless, the ability to improve physical fitness was enhanced again. However, due to the one-time surge in physical fitness caused by the Artificial Stigmata, the rate of increase in this ability once again approached zero.
Without the Valkyrie armor provided, even though Su Qing'an has indeed become much stronger, he would still be easily crushed by Ganesha.
After all, in the Honkai Impact 3rd universe, only Ancestor Kevin can stack defense. Even Fu Hua is also Fusion Warrior from Previous Civilization, only has near-immortal regeneration, and her defensive capabilities don't seem particularly strong.
Of course, teenagers unfamiliar with the plot wouldn't know this point.
Even though Nishikujo Sara said that her physical attributes were close to those of A-rank Valkyrie, her talent for easily controlling her surging power made her feel little sense of becoming stronger.
Ignoring these trivial troubles and thoughts.
Bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, with the cool sea breeze ruffling his clothes, Su Qing'an breathed in the fresh air, all his thoughts dissipating.
He arrived at the edge of the artificial island closest to the sea. The coffee shop was already in a rather remote location, and this place was even more deserted.
This was a habit he had only recently developed. Su Qing'an's inner pressure and thoughts were no less than anyone else's, but his will and self-control had been honed to an excessively strong level by the despair he had encountered, so that even those closest to him could not see much of a difference.
Only at this time of day, gazing at the ocean and sky merging into one, could the boy's chaotic thoughts and worries be dispelled by the treasure-like magnificence and the almost boundless vastness.
St. Freya is very good.
Su Qing'an was truly grateful to Theresa and Murata Himeko for allowing him to come here and for making an exception to enroll him.
Sometimes he would think that, as a token of gratitude, he should help the headmaster wipe Judah next time. Watching Theresa was only the height of a young girl, diligently stand on tiptoe and carefully wipe the huge cross with a cloth, Su Qing'an always felt that this was beneath the dignity of the headmaster.
As a result, although the headmaster was tempted, he insisted that this was a family heirloom of the Apocalypse family, and it was unacceptable for him to be lazy and have the students help him.
They refused for that reason.
In every sense, Headmaster Theresa very hard.
"What a coincidence." The sea breeze completely concealed the girl's silent footsteps. She walked to Su Qing'an's side and sat down, hugging her knees.
"Hua..." The scene that came into view when he turned his head was a fleeting moment. The girl's profile and the way she sat down made the boy feel as if he had returned to that clear, rainy night under the moonlight.
"Do you also like watching the sunset here?" Su Qing'an felt a little nervous and his heart was beating faster than usual. He swallowed the name he had just uttered and asked.
The girl looked at Su Qing'an with some surprise and said:
"Hua? It's been a long, a very long time since anyone called me that."
Fu Hua gazed at the setting sun, which was mostly hidden under thick clouds. The layers of white seemed to press down on the sea from their perspective. They were rendered in different shades of gold and red by the afterglow, colors that no paintbrush could reproduce.
The azure ocean sets off this scene, and the endless clouds resemble a castle on the sea, a dreamlike fairytale.
"I don't dislike being called that." The girl glanced at the boy bathing in the sea breeze with her, and her cherry blossom-colored lips unconsciously curved into a beautiful smile.
"I've been at the St. Freya Academy for quite a while now, and I know the sunsets here are beautiful."
"I come here occasionally. The view from here is vast, so vast that it can hold many things."
Fu Hua brushed aside the strands of hair that were being blown by the sea breeze. Her holy blue eyes seemed to be gazing at the end of the world, as if she had abandoned her confusion and emptiness in this beautiful twilight.
And only in this way can she go further and longer.
Just like those long, lonely years before.
The two were very close, the girl's hair brushing against Su Qing'an's cheek. The sea breeze carried the scent of the waves illuminated by the twilight into their nostrils. For some reason, Su Qing'an felt that just sitting together, watching the sunset, without saying a word, was already beautiful enough.
He suddenly felt that whether Hua knew him or not wasn't that important; as long as he could still see her, Su Qing'an was already happy enough.
At this moment, the same scene was reflected in both of their eyes: the shimmering sea reflected golden arcs of light, and the waves crashed against the rocks, creating white foam.
The tide rises and falls.
"Hua," Su Qing'an tentatively uttered the word, and after confirming that the girl did not show any unusual expression, as if she had tacitly accepted the address, he continued:
You look very tired.
The girl paused for a moment, the sense of déjà vu in her blank memory growing stronger.
It was as if someone had said the same thing to her before.
Chi Yuan, you seem very tired.
As if hallucinating, I vaguely heard a clear female voice utter those words with concern.
She couldn't remember who said it, but she knew it was someone who had been with her through many years.
Yes, she seems a little tired.
"It's alright, it's just that the training is a bit tough, you don't need to worry about me." Fu Hua smiled, a smile that seemed almost transparent in the afterglow, an excessively gentle smile.
This is what the immortal, whose memories are fragmented and whose body is badly damaged, said.
For some reason, when Su Qing'an saw this girl who had been forgotten by the world and forgotten by herself, Su Qing'an always felt that she was like a phantom that could disappear at any moment, like a fragile bubble on a reef.
For a fleeting moment, Su Qing'an felt a sense of panic.
I cannot accept not seeing the flowers again.
But when I looked at the girl's profile again, my mood was miraculously soothed and calmed back.
"Okay," the boy finally replied.
The sound of the waves and the wind never ceased; the two sat silently watching the dusk.
In the ebb and flow of the tide, all sounds are transformed into a gentle stillness.
Gazing at the clouds that were gradually dimming and losing their light bit by bit, Su Qing'an couldn't help but naively think.
If only things could stay like this forever.
The young man felt that spending ten years of his life like this was enough.
However, dusk will eventually fall.
Just like the world is never gentle.