Shu didn't speak.
His fingers rested on the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen, and his entire being entered a marvelous state—
Focus.
Absolute focus.
Kiana looked at his profile and suddenly felt a bit dazed.
This expression... it looks so familiar... where have I seen it before?
Before she could think about it too deeply, the battle on the screen had already begun.
Shu's mechanics were completely different from hers.
No wasted dodges, no superfluous attacks; every move seemed calculated in advance.
Right at the start, Mei began attacking the empty air. In the very next moment, the vanguard mob spawned and was immediately slapped in the face by Mei's special Combo Attack. It didn't even survive the entrance animation before it kicked the bucket.
Almost the instant the mob shattered into Honkai fragments, Shu decisively switched characters. He brought in Li Sushang, used her Weapon Active to farm SP in advance, and unleashed a Combo Attack to apply buffs.
At the same time, the red warning ring signaling the Boss's arrival flashed around the character, filling the air with the tension of an impending storm.
Kiana watched, dumbfounded. Not only was the vanguard mob—which she had spent ages chipping away at earlier—instantly deleted, but she also couldn't understand Shu's current inputs at all.
Just a moment ago, Shu was pecking at each other like noobs with her, getting stomped by Bronya together... how did Shu suddenly secretly get so strong?
Kiana was confused, but she didn't dare make a sound. She didn't even dare to breathe too loudly, afraid of disturbing Shu's gameplay.
The instant the red warning ring disappeared, Shu decisively switched characters again.
Kiana (the character) entered the field attacking, and the moment she triggered an Evasion, he popped her Ultimate.
Switch again.
Mei's QTE triggered.
Then, Shu suddenly flashed the system menu open and canceled it at light speed. Li Sushang, who hadn't even rested for three seconds, returned to the field and unleashed her Ultimate.
Kiana couldn't understand the subsequent operations at all. The character on the field was switching frantically, and the system menu would pop up every now and then to interrupt Kiana's train of thought.
The combo flowed like moving clouds and flowing water, and the enemy's HP bar plummeted visibly.
Kiana's mouth formed an 'O' shape.
"Woah..."
Shu ignored her.
He kept fighting.
Two minutes later, the settlement interface popped up on the screen.
Shu exited the settlement screen, and Kiana saw that [Kiana-chan]'s ranking had risen to second place.
Kiana stared at that number 2 spot, her eyes wide.
"Se... Second?!"
Shu nodded.
"Why not first?" Kiana asked.
Shu glanced at her, his tone calm:
"First place is a whale. The new character just came out and they already have her at SSS."
Kiana fell silent.
So the damn whale had exploded with coins...
She suddenly reached out and hugged his arm, stars twinkling in her eyes.
"Shu, you're so amazing!!!"
"Hm? You... let go first..."
Shu's body stiffened instantly.
"Nope, never!" Kiana hugged him tighter. "You're too awesome! Even better than that whale! You got to second place with pure skill!"
The tips of Shu's ears turned a little red.
"Um... the ranking is calculated by score..."
"You fought for the score too!" Kiana refused to listen to logic. "You're just amazing!"
Shu fell silent.
Kiana remained excited for a while before suddenly remembering something.
"By the way, what about first place? Are you not going to fight for it?"
Shu shook his head.
"I am."
"Eh?" Kiana paused. "Then why aren't you moving?"
Shu looked at her, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.
"The real game starts now."
Kiana didn't understand what that meant at first.
But ten minutes later, she understood.
Because Shu began to—
Reset.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Ten times.
Twenty times.
Every time, Kiana felt he played perfectly.
But every time, he would frown at some minute detail.
And then—
"Reset."
Kiana watched, flabbergasted.
"You... didn't you play that really well? Why reset?"
Shu didn't even turn his head:
"I made a mistake."
"A mistake?" Kiana's eyes widened. "Where? I didn't see anything!"
"The last hit." Shu pointed at the screen. "The monster's animation was a few frames slow, which delayed my rotation."
Kiana: "..."
A few frames?
Delayed by a few frames... and he has to start over?
She stared at Shu's profile, watching his expression—so calm it seemed habitual—and suddenly felt a sense of trance.
This expression...
This obsession where "a tiny mistake means starting over"...
This constant looping, constant attempting, constant rewinding for a perfect result...
Kiana looked at Shu's focused profile. After a long time, she suddenly let out a knowing, soft laugh.
As expected... it's still the Shu I know...
The Shu who constantly rewinds time and consumes himself to fix regrets...
She looked at the Shu before her.
Watching him reset again and again, pursuing that "perfect" score again and again.
"Shu."
She spoke, her voice very soft.
"Hm?"
"Doing this... aren't you tired?"
Shu's fingers paused for a moment.
Then he shook his head.
"Not tired."
"Why?"
Shu was silent for a second.
Then he spoke, a hint of a smile in his tone.
"This is the essence of a Honkai player."
He paused, then added:
"Didn't you know? Honkai 3rd players even mald the leaderboards for blood donations."
Kiana froze.
"Blood... donation?"
"Yeah." Shu nodded. "When the blood donation bus comes, we Honkai players have to compete to see who donates the most."
The corner of Kiana's mouth twitched.
What kind of weird competitive spirit is that...
Shu was smiling, but Kiana couldn't quite bring herself to smile.
Those constant resets—
That obsession with looping over and over for "perfection"—
That determination to "achieve the goal no matter the cost"—
Was it really because of this game?
No.
It wasn't.
The game was just the surface.
The true root was—
Love.
Because of love, he wanted to be the best.
Because of love, he was willing to try again and again.
Because of love, even a tiny mistake meant starting from scratch.
Kiana looked at Shu's profile.
She looked at his focused brows.
She looked at the corner of his mouth curving up slightly at the tiniest bit of progress.
She looked at that calm and satisfied expression that said, I am doing what I love.
Shu...
You really are a very gentle person...
Shu is the best.
She didn't speak again.
She just sat quietly beside him, watching him mald for points again and again.
Watching him reset time after time for the difference of a few frames.
But in the end, Shu was still a few points short and helplessly settled for second place.
Shu sighed and leaned back weakly onto the sofa.
"That's it for today."
Kiana paused.
"No more malding?"
"No more." Shu shook his head. "The gap is too big. I can't mald it out."
Kiana reached out and poked his arm.
"Shu."
"Hm?"
"You're really amazing."
Shu turned to look at her.
Kiana's eyes were sparkling, her mouth curved into a smile, her grin as brilliant as the sunlight outside the window.
"Not just at the game," she said. "You're a good person too."
Shu froze.
He looked into Kiana's earnest eyes and suddenly didn't know what to say.
Silence for two seconds.
He looked away.
"...Thanks."
His voice was quiet.
But Kiana heard it.
She smiled even more happily.
"You're welcome~"
She leaned back, collapsing onto the sofa and staring at the ceiling.
"Shu."
"Yeah."
"Will you always play this game?"
Shu was silent for a second.
"...Probably."
"That's good." Kiana closed her eyes, a smile still on her lips.
"I'll always accompany you, too."
"Okay."
"...But we still want first place!"
"Okay."