No smoke, no ruins, no howling of Honkai energy searing the air, no blood-stained faces of companions or desperate cries.
Himeko slowly, extremely slowly, sat up from the bed. Her joints made slight sounds.
She lowered her head, looking at her hands spread on the faded bed sheet. The palm lines were clear, without scars other than calluses, let alone a smear of scarlet plucked from that hell.
The memory before the loop, like a cold steel needle, pierced precisely into her brain the moment she fully woke up.
Rocket.
In her recollection, Otto's voice was cruelly calm.
It was hard to imagine that the key gap in Otto's plan was actually a vehicle capable of pushing a specific payload out of the atmosphere in an extremely short time.
And Sapphire City had no launch site. What Joachim's nanorobot swarm excelled at was precise construction and information state transformation, not giant structures withstanding extreme physical stress.
The City of the Future's inventory was far water unable to save near fire. Even asking for help from now on, it was impossible to start assembly before the Honkai descended.
So the only possible source of this vital rocket pointed to a person she could think of immediately—
Her father, an excellent core member of the City of the Future in the aerospace field—Ryusuke Murata.
He carried the most advanced, incredibly strong structural nano-units he hoarded on him at all times, and his brain held core data of miniaturized high-thrust spacecraft strictly controlled by various countries.
"Borrow."
This word tasted like rust on the tip of Himeko's tongue.
Otto said it very clearly... not a request, but calculation, plunder, squeezing the value of the person she least wanted to face for that slim possibility of "ending the loop."
Could she refuse?
Could she push it to... no...
Natasha had to stabilize that "brother" who existed because of her and could destroy everything at any time...
Fu Hua was the only bridge connecting Yun Mengxi and the human side, and the Seven Swords of Taixuan were an indivisible important force...
Kallen was responsible for awakening and reconnecting Joachim who lost his memory...
Looking around, everyone had been nailed to their respective gears of fate, precisely.
Only her.
Only her and that "father" she left behind, vowing never to look back.
A familiar cold sinking feeling caused by extreme resistance came from her stomach.
Himeko's throat tightened, fingertips unconsciously digging into her palms, until the pain suppressed the surging weakness that almost made her blurt out "change person."
This wasn't a charge on the battlefield, with no clear enemies or targets to destroy.
This was walking into an emotional ruin full of old landmines. Every step might detonate years of silence, blame, and what she buried deep, unwilling to admit even to herself...
She must do it.
This thought was like a heavy verdict.
It forcibly pressed all the boiling resistance, fear, and disgust into the bottom of her heart, forging them into a ballast stone named "responsibility."
Breathing became steady again under effort. The fluctuation in her eyes was forcibly restrained, leaving only the sharpness of a qualified soldier evaluating task difficulty.
And a tired determination hidden deep beneath.
Just then, the door was knocked twice and pushed open without waiting for a response.
Ryusuke Murata walked in holding a glass of water. On his face was the familiar complex expression in Himeko's memory, mixing formulaic concern with unquestionable authority, exactly the same as what she saw every time she woke up in previous loops.
Time, once again, precisely engaged at this fateful node.
"Yo, Himeko, really long time no see."
That face wore a smile, tone intimate as if they were just ordinary father and daughter reuniting after a long separation.
At this moment, Himeko suddenly realized she didn't seem as mature as she imagined...
Hypocritical warmth rushed to her face, easily triggering those seeds of trouble hidden deep in her heart.
Breeding disgust tightened her heart fiercely like vines with barbs, making her breath hitch.
Calm down, Himeko... compared to your irrelevant past, the mission is more important now.
She could almost hear the sound of gears forcibly engaging in her mind. Facial muscles remained relaxed under willpower control, then pulled out an arc not enthusiastic, but at least not cold and hard.
"Mmh, it's been a while." She heard her own voice say so, tone steady, even could be counted as gentle.
The smile on Ryusuke Murata's face paused obviously, then bloomed even more like getting an unexpected reward, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening a few degrees.
"Really... grew up... feels changed a lot, much steadier than before." He walked a few steps closer, placing the water cup on the bedside table, posture relaxed, as if enjoying this "warm" reunion very much.
Himeko watched him praising her with gratification like a kind father, only feeling her stomach churning upside down with cramping pain.
She could feel her fingers tightening unconsciously at her sides, nails pressing against palms, bringing sharp pain helping her maintain sobriety.
She forced herself to continue along this nauseating atmosphere, tone even carrying a bit of deliberate, estranged politeness: "People always change. These years... experienced some things."
...
A sudden wave of absurd self-mockery arose in her heart.
At this moment, she understood incredibly clearly Fu Hua's "machine-like" clumsiness and effort in front of Yun Mengxi before—
When you must say insincere words and make insincere reactions to a target with complex emotions, every word feels like scraped out from the throat, and every expression adjustment consumes huge willpower.
She secretly mocked Fu Hua's "strategy" means before, now it stuck right onto her like a boomerang.
"Yes, experience makes people grow." And Ryusuke Murata seemed very satisfied with this opening, pulling a chair to sit down, posing for a long talk. "How long can you stay back this time? I happen to have a few new projects over there, maybe you can help with something..."
The words "help with something" scraped Himeko's eardrums unpreparedly like a rusty nail, almost making her sneer aloud.
Here it comes, as expected.
Three sentences, just three sentences.
Reunion pleasantries, hypocritical care, quickly collapsing back to this eternal core—his work, his projects, his "needs."
In his world, all interpersonal relationships eventually convert to usability for "career."
Warmth is wrapping paper; tearing it open always reveals a cold task list inside.
She forcefully swallowed the sweet fishy anger in her throat, knuckles turning white at her sides, muscles twitching slightly under the calm mask barely maintained on her face.
"Projects?" She made her voice sound like aroused with a bit of interest, although every syllable made her nauseous. "Sounds like you are still as busy as before."