Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Huff—huff—huff—"

Michael's hand was gently resting on the door in front of him, his other hand over his chest, his chest rising and falling slowly.

He was a little nervous. Today was indeed a special day. It was only after Hua's reminder that Michael checked the calendar and realized it.

[3—2—1]

From any perspective, these were magical numbers. They could be a countdown to something about to happen, and in the calendar, they could indicate the [Vernal Equinox]: the day the sun's direct rays return to the equator, the day when day and night are of equal length, the day when spring is evenly divided, the day when the rain begins to increase...

It was also... his birthday...

Michael pressed the hand on the door gently, and the door naturally opened a crack.

Behind the door, it was silent, and even the lights were off. He knew what that meant – Elysia probably still wanted to give him a surprise, but she hadn't expected him to find out from Hua.

"Gulp..."

He gulped hard. His fingertips started to tingle, and that quickly spread to his palms, his forearms, and finally his limbs, which had all become limp and soft under the effect of the tingling.

The tingling sensation then climbed up to his waist, his back, and his heart and lungs, making his heart thump in his abdomen, his breathing gradually becoming labored. When the intake of breath reached the end, there was even a subtle, stinging pain.

"Hiss..."

Michael bit his lip, pulling his hand back and rubbing his chest hard as if it could alleviate his nervousness...

No, compared to "nervous," his emotions at this moment were perhaps better described as "shy."

Just on the other side of the door, a similarly long and heavy breath rose and fell, intertwining with Michael's, and finally, completely overlapping.

At the moment when they both inhaled in unison, Michael's consciousness suddenly went blank. It felt like a heavy weight had been removed from his mind, and then it had become light and floaty,

like a feather, like a soft dream, or like the hazy catkin he had seen this morning, ascending, flying out of the emerald crystal, and into the dark, rising to the crimson "dome," then passing through the thirty-three layers of armor without any resistance, confronting the pitch-black curtain, the vast stars, and finally, drifting toward the full moon.

But then, he suddenly fell from the within-reach moon, falling into an icy ruin. The girl beside him chuckled and pulled a potato from under her arm, handing it to him:

"Here! I'll give you a potato, so shouldn't you give me a bowl of chicken soup?"

The potato still had the girl's warmth on it. The boy accepted it, but instead of treating it as food, he held it in his hands, and then placed it against his lips, against his face...

The Siberian wind quickly stole away the potato's warmth. It became cold and hard again, leaving only the girl's faint fragrance lingering around the boy's nose.

But the girl's chirpy tone was a bit too deliberate, making Michael unconsciously shift his gaze forward.

In mid-spring Siberia, the snow was starting to melt, making the roads muddy and difficult to walk.

Everywhere were black clumps of mud covering white clumps of snow, so obvious, even in the darkness.

Of course, the night also concealed certain colors, such as – a faint shade of bloody red.

Among the ruins were the bodies of shattered Honkai zombies. That was the origin of the ruins, and that was why Michael and Elysia were there.

Unfortunately, no one had survived.

Michael lowered his head. He stared blankly at the full moon, suddenly counting on his fingers, then asked:

"Elysia, it's March now, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"...Today is my birthday..."

Michael held the potato to his chest, silently closing his eyes as if making a wish. Then he opened them, and very ritualistically blew on the potato.

"Gulp..."

Michael turned his head toward Elysia, who was still swallowing hard, unaware of her actions. She was muttering, "Stupid Michael! Stupid Michael! What kind of birthday is it if there's no cake, no one sings a birthday song!"

So desolate, so miserable. That was the first and only "celebrated" birthday Michael had ever had in this world.

After that, he was either on the run or entangled in various Honkai events, or he simply forgot that there was such a thing as a "birthday." If Hua hadn't mentioned it this morning, Michael would have really forgotten it all.

"Huff..."

His hand pressed down on the door again. He exhaled the breath he had been holding. Michael realized that the long memory he had just experienced had only been a brief moment in reality.

His fingers pressed down lightly, the force controlled with utmost precision, not enough to push the door open.

But he felt it. The person on the other side of the door was pulling it open with the exact same force. With their combined effort, the door opened with a light creak, and a pair of eyes, still bright in the darkness, appeared before Michael.

"Ely..."

Michael only managed to utter one syllable before Elysia pulled him into the room.

The door behind them closed gently.

"Snap!"

Candle flames danced, flickering like the person who lit them, who was scratching their ears and making little annoyed huffs while sitting in their seat.

The light illuminated one familiar face after another, and a familiar warmth spread through his hands.

"Happy birthday to you—"

The first notes of the song rang out beside Michael, undoubtedly Elysia's voice, light, lively, and a little cute, as if she was waiting for Michael to praise her.

And following that, was a loud, powerful soprano.

"Hey hey hey, Elysia, isn't it a waste to have Eden sing this kind of song?"

Michael found the whole scene a little funny.

Elysia hooked her arm through his and, slightly on tiptoe, put her lips near Michael's ear. "Don't move, stay just like this, okay?"

Michael nodded blankly and then closed his eyes, starting to make a wish.

Eden finished singing the birthday song, the last note still hanging in the air, making people marvel at her long breath.

But then, her tone changed, and she began singing the first line again— of course, she wasn't alone. Everyone in the room, except for Michael and Elysia, started humming along.

Michael even heard Kalpas's voice, suppressed with a hint of irritation, and Kosma's off-key sonic assault...

"This..."

"Happy Birth—day—to—you! Woooo!"

Kevin yelled like a child and reached for the light switch next to him.

"Click!"

Just before the chandelier lit up, reflecting the light everywhere, like a dazzling snowscape, Michael's right cheek was suddenly pecked.

He calmly blew out the candles in front of everyone, then wiped his cheek with a look of disdain, then rubbed that hand against Elysia's cheek.

"?"

"Michael!"

Elysia pouted and turned her head, but her arms still clung to Michael.

The latter struggled for a bit. Seeing he couldn't pull his arms free, he could only say "thank you" while using one hand to accept the gifts from everyone.

Kevin and Mei's gift was a flame – a ball of fire trapped in solid ice, still burning and flickering.

Mobius's gift was two shiny Fire Moth medals, with "001" engraved on the back, making Michael and Elysia feel incredibly awkward.

Aponia's gift was two pendants. The one for Elysia was a black, almost scorched cross, while the one for Michael was a pristine, but somewhat dull, thorned rose.

Seeing the pendants, Elysia suddenly whispered in his ear, "It would be great if Seele were here too…"

Michael's body stiffened. He didn't dare to respond.

After that, it was Vill-V, who confidently presented a purple longsword, boasting that it was her most proud creation – the Third Divine Key. But the moment the longsword was placed into Michael's hand, it transformed, after a flurry of changes, into a small slingshot?

Michael quickly tossed the Third Divine Key to Sakura. When she caught it, her expression gradually became troubled. In the end, Rin took out a paper package filled with forget-me-not tea...

That coincided with Su's gift, which was a jar of high-quality goji berries, said to be Lezlun's current favorite variety.

Then, Su stepped aside, revealing Kalpas behind him. Kalpas hesitated for a moment and then threw Michael two small wooden carvings.

They were chibi versions of Michael and Elysia. Although the craftsmanship was as rough as usual for Kalpas, their hands could hold each other, showing that he had put some thought into it.

After that, it was Pardofelis, who struggled to pull out two huge luminous pearls from her bulging pockets. The green color was like the eyes of a cat in the night.

After that were Desdemona and Kosma's watch, Aldemir and Evangeline's leather boots, Carol and Hua's… bandages, and…

Immer's under… underwear?

He was immediately thrown out.

Himeko's gift was a tailcoat, and a white wedding dress, the meaning of which was self-evident. The two parties could only hug the pile of gifts each and try to hide their bright red faces.

"Ah—Is it my turn?"

By the time it was Eden's turn, she was already drunk.

"I was going to give you a good bottle of wine, but now it seems that that's a little lacking…"

She chuckled when she saw the clothes Himeko had gifted. "How about I give you a real Golden Courtyard?"

Just as Michael was about to refuse, Eden shook her head, sat down alone, and poured herself some more wine.

Finally, it was the Griseo family. With the help of her parents, Griseo, who only reached Michael's waist, took out a painting. Ato jokingly unveiled the canvas, but the next second, his expression changed drastically.

He, of course, didn't know what his daughter had painted beforehand, and could only awkwardly use his body to block the painting. Then, he leaned toward Michael and asked quietly, "Um... do you really want this painting?"

The lower right corner of the canvas was in a simple black and white palette. A blurry figure was nailed to a cross, standing in a snowy, lifeless wasteland.

The figure was looking up at the sky in the upper right corner.

The upper right corner was vividly colored, with a crimson background. Several golden branches surged out of a cross-shaped crack, like fingers, as if they were gently touching the figure's face.

That was all.

Michael quietly looked at the painting, his pupils trembling slightly. His lips moved a few times, but in the end, he didn't say anything extra.

"I really like it, thank you, little Griseo!"

Having said that, he silently put away all the gifts, including the painting, into a space rift.

"Okay, let's cut the cake!"

He put his hands together in front of his chest, speaking in a cheerful tone that he had never used before.