MGSFV?! Chapter 391. Otto Gazes at You Gently, Saying No More
Just as players were still recovering from the intense philosophical clash between Mei, Vil-V, and Mobius—
they were hit with a scene no one expected.
It felt like...
Usually, it's the characters inside the game having flashbacks.
But this time, it felt like players themselves were being forced into one.
Something didn't feel right...
Could even more unexpected characters be appearing next?
While that unsettling feeling brewed—
text began flashing across the screen.
The calendar named "Eternity" finally turned a thin page.
The heroes from fifty thousand years ago were long gone,
and the scars left behind by Finality seemed to have faded into nothing.
The spinning top danced across the smooth tabletop.
Time, too, seemed never to have moved.
...Or perhaps it had long become something like the factorial of a negative number,
analytically continued across infinite poles,
slowly returning from the direction opposite the beginning.
Elysia: "..."
Elysia: "..."
She recognized every word in that sentence, but together they were...
"Basically, what it means is..."
"If you place Finality at the center of the timeline, the Previous Era moves forward toward it, while the Current Era moves backward into it."
Mei finally broke the silence to explain, after seeing Elysia stare blankly at the subtitles.
"Oh?!"
Elysia understood now.
She paused and muttered, "Why did Mr. 'Otto' have to explain something so simple so complicatedly?"
"Mei's explanation is way better."
"Hmm..."
In the studio, Mei glanced at Hokuto beside her.
After reading his lip movements, she relayed:
"Maybe because... scientists just talk that way.
They want to explain every process thoroughly,
but end up making things overly complicated."
Elysia asked, "You're saying this is actually faithful to Mr. Otto's style, right?"
Mei paused as if consulting someone again.
Hokuto: When those three chat in the lab, that's exactly how it is (confirmed).
Mei then relayed with curiosity:
"Elysia, you've never seen the three of them in the lab?"
Elysia shot back:
"Why would I ever go to their lab? Who goes to a lab for fun?"
"...Fair point."
Mei nodded.
Then she thought of something else—
Yeah, who does go to the lab for no reason?
So how did Hokuto know what Mobius's lab was like...?
Had he been there before?
...
While Mei was pondering this,
Elysia resumed the main story.
After those cryptic subtitles,
Himeko's voice finally echoed out:
"Yo, Headmistress. Sorry to wake you from your nap."
"Nap...?"
Theresa rubbed her temple, dazed.
"I was just... dreaming, right?
Felt like I was in the Hyperion, giving commands, flying through deep space..."
[Wait, so Theresa was dreaming? She did collapse earlier...]
Some players started connecting the dots.
[I don't care, why did MiHoYo suddenly bring back Himeko?! You'd better not pull anything shady!]
[I'm scared the screen's gonna glitch or Himeko's gonna start flickering...]
In-game—
Himeko chuckled at Theresa's mumbling.
"Mm... interesting dream.
Mine's been a bit different lately..."
[Please don't say you dreamed of dying again, Himeko... Please don't let this be a setup!]
[Kiana, this is your Final Lesson.]
[You there—shut up.]
[What changed you? Was it MiHoYo?]
But Himeko's dream wasn't quite what players feared.
"It might sound silly...
I dreamed the class I taught had already graduated.
When they left school, we all hugged, crying and laughing together..."
Sounds... normal?
Not too knife-y.
No way—it must be a metaphor.
The writers definitely set something up.
Some players couldn't help but suspect.
After Elysium Everlasting, a lot of them no longer trusted the writers' restraint.
But then—
Himeko and Theresa just chatted casually.
They even agreed to grab drinks sometime.
Theresa offered to treat Himeko to some bitter melon liquor...
Still loving bitter melon that much, even in her drinks (LOL).
Himeko also handed Theresa a proposal for a "Fun Sports Festival."
Speaking of sports festivals in Honkai Impact 3rd...
Players instantly remembered that legendary "Big Honkai Sports Festival" event illustration.
After all, that's where the famous "Kevin slurping noodles" meme was born—
In the animation, when Raven came back exhausted from a match to complain,
Kevin was fully absorbed in his bowl of noodles.
Kevin's slurping was so silly, it became a lasting meme—
Popping up in official and fan videos alike.
Like in Chapter 11: To the Ends of the Deep Sea,
when Seele heard "slurping" in the Sea of Quanta,
players joked it was Kevin eating noodles.
Even in Elysium Everlasting—
Eden once chatted with Elysia...
Yep—that iconic scene:
A dozen Flame-Chasers sitting around the meeting table...
Ahem. Anyway.
Himeko and Theresa chatted a bit, laughed,
and Himeko left without incident.
No surprises.
So peaceful, it felt... unnatural.
Players: ?
Did we just get fake Honkai Impact 3rd?
Nothing happened??
Honestly—
Even if Theresa suddenly realized it was a dream and whispered,
"Himeko... long time no see,"
it would've felt normal.
...
As players puzzled over this surprisingly tame writing—
Theresa picked up the "sports festival" folder Himeko had left behind,
accidentally knocking into the spinning top on the table.
The top, once gliding smoothly across the surface,
flew off in a perfect arc and dropped to the floor.
"A top?"
Theresa stared at it, confused.
Why was there a top on her desk...?
As she pondered this—
the game suddenly exited story mode.
The player regained control.
Huh???
They were surprised—
but also kind of relieved.
Ah, there it is.
They knew the writers wouldn't pass up a perfect moment like this.
Something big was coming.
They wore smug faces of "I see through you, writers" and clicked [Pick Up].
They were ready.
Bring it on.
As the player confirmed—
Theresa bent down to pick up the top.
And as she straightened—
her surroundings were already empty.
"!"
"W-What just happened?"
Startled by this reality-defying phenomenon,
Theresa's eyes widened.
Then—
a mysterious voice spoke:
"You just broke through a layer of your subconscious."
So familiar.
So distinct.
So...
[???]
[THAT VOICE?!]
[No way. We just had Himeko and now HIM?!]
Even players who thought they were ready—
were completely blindsided.
Elysia opened the History tab,
replayed the voice line over and over and over...
Until she was sure she wasn't hearing things.
Only then did she slowly click to continue.
Theresa: "..."
"Grandpa?! How could it—"
And sure enough—
Otto appeared on screen.
[IT REALLY IS OTTO!!]
[He's back from the dead!]
[NO WAY. IT'S ACTUALLY OTTO. SOMEBODY HAND ME A CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE, WE NEED TO BASH HIM BACK INTO THE GRAVE.]
[You guys really kept the bottle??]
[Of course! We meant it!]
"Did 'Mr. Otto' write himself into the scene just to get more lines?"
"He's the boss. It's not like he's getting paid for the extra VA work."
"...True."
——
In the story—
Otto (?) saw Theresa's shock and quickly tried to reassure her.
"Don't be alarmed.
I'm merely a fragment of your subconscious—
A reference point you created to help understand yourself."
"Understand? Rejoice—"
And the moment he said "Rejoice,"
that ghostly Otto flavor came flooding back.
But still—
Though his voice was similar,
his attitude was completely different.
"By chance fluctuation in your subconscious,
you've realized that you're dreaming..."
No cryptic riddles.
He was straightforward.
He directly told Theresa she was trapped in a dream,
that her real self was still unconscious on the Hyperion.
He even stopped her from trying to wake herself through "suicide,"
and calmly offered the correct method to escape.
"To break free from a dream based on St. Freya Academy—
The best approach is to reenact how it broke down in reality."
That reminded Theresa—
"...The Doctrine Sector!"
A name long left unspoken.
A place formally known as the Underground Central Cathedral.
A channel through which St. Freya once received cutting-edge tech from Schicksal...
Also, the very spot where the Herrscher Core inside Kiana once reawakened.
"Exactly.
A battlefield where Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and the Herrscher of the Void once clashed."
"Let's go, Theresa.
Let's see what's hidden there this time."
[This carry-along Otto is way too competent. He actually makes you feel safe.]
[When Otto's on your side, he's like your god-tier dad. Nothing to worry about.]
Otto (?) was calm, methodical, kind.
It left many feeling disoriented.
The Overseer—
had never felt this... reliable.
Some even felt a little emotional.
Such sincere concern.
Such natural conversations.
Such relationships that should exist...
Yet had been absent from Honkai for so long.
So hopeful. So pure.
Writers—
Do you still remember the promises you once swore to uphold?
Thinking that, many players couldn't help but mentally roast the dev team.
Still, they resumed gameplay quickly.
Theresa and Otto (?) set off together.
They arrived at...
A location every player knew well.
The long corridor of St. Freya.
A classic Honkai Impact 3rd "landmark."
The site of many unforgettable scenes.
Even if you forgot—
the BGM, identical to back then,
would bring it all flooding back.
MiHoYo really went there...
[No way... Not that song?! Chocolate Door 3.0?!]
["Himeko gazes at you gently, saying no more."]
[Thank you so much, MiHoYo! (sarcasm)]
[What's next? A chocolate door at the end of this hall?!]
You joke—
but, uh... there kinda is. Ahem.
In short—
players were suffering varying degrees of Chocolate Door PTSD.
Like Elysia,
who instinctively rotated the camera to glance behind her.
Seeing no one there,
she pressed forward as Theresa with a hint of melancholy.
Maybe it's human nature—
She walked right down the center,
just like most players would.
A few steps forward—
Theresa spoke:
"Come to think of it...
When I first took over this school,
I really didn't like it much."
"Oh? Because it reminded you of your grandfather?"
"No.
I just didn't want my elders spending too much on me materially."
As familiar scenery passed by—
The two reminisced,
the atmosphere echoing what once was.
If before it was just jokes—
this time, it was real.
[The dead memories...
are attacking me.]
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