"But I have a childhood friend," Kosma wanted to refute the girl's statement out of indignation.
Bestia had entered the Fire Moth with him, after all.
"Two cats and dogs that grow up together can be called childhood friends. Two worker bees born and dying together can be called childhood friends. Two dung beetles rolling a ball together can also be called childhood friends," the girl rested her helmet on one hand. "A childhood friend isn't a lover."
"…"
Kosma was speechless and couldn't think of anything to say for a moment.
Kosma decided to break the silence: "Why did you ask that question?"
"Just trying to learn about people other than Lin."
The girl stared at the instant noodles and replied indifferently.
"Then you should ask something more... meaningful."
"Meaningful? What is meaningful? Is something about a person meaningless to that person?"
Kosma was stunned for a moment. What the girl said was actually very logical.
The common goal of the people in the Fire Moth was to save humanity. Under this lofty ideal, everything else became meaningless and overshadowed.
But for an individual, their own self is everything.
"Then I'll ask you a meaningful question. Do you believe in 'miracles'?"
"What?" Kosma thought he misheard her.
The girl patiently repeated: "Do you believe in miracles?"
What kind of jumpy question was this now?
Kosma stared blankly for several seconds, unable to react, until the girl silently lifted the lid of the instant noodles and started eating. Only then did he belatedly follow suit.
This time, the girl ate the noodles much slower, perhaps feeling that instant noodles weren't as good as wonton noodles, or perhaps she was already full. Regardless, it gave Kosma some time to think.
While eating, he kept pondering: what did the girl mean by "miracles"?
This childish question was like a primary school teacher telling young children to be hopeful. To Kosma, who had witnessed several large Honkai Eruptions and countless sacrifices and deaths, the word was as foreign as his understanding of the female anatomy.
However, the girl neither explained nor elaborated. He couldn't see any expression beneath her helmet, only hearing her continuously slurping the noodles.
This attitude of throwing out a question and then ignoring it was very characteristic of Lin.
"What... what is a miracle?" Kosma raised his head from the noodle cup in distress.
"ElLy said a miracle is magic, turning the impossible into the possible." The girl had finished her noodles when she looked up. "So, do you believe it? That the impossible can become possible."
"…"
When faced with this question, Kosma realized that he actually still believed that miracles would happen.
Just like during the Fifth Honkai Eruption, he believed that the deserters would return, that they should be heroes.
Even though the command from the Fire Moth high command was to send them to their deaths, the only reason those deserters returned was Lin support. Everything he had believed in was overturned. His once innocent thoughts were nothing more than a paper boat rocking precariously in the flood of reality.
Yet, he still believed in his own innocence, even as his reason desperately denied it.
"Believe in miracles. Humanity. There was once a person who walked further than all of you, and he still believed in the miracle sparked by human emotion."
"The miracle he created still exists in this world, right now."
...
"Only one-third of the global population remains, is that right..."
The man gazed at the fluctuating number on the screen, then turned and left the empty room.
The once bustling base had become deserted. Countless people had perished in various incidents, and even those working in scientific research could die tragically in experiments.
Gradually, those faces he was once familiar with quietly disappeared.
And the remaining people looked numb and lifeless.
Technology was still progressing, but along with it came the sharp reduction in human numbers.
The Ninth Honkai Eruption was imminent. Large numbers of humans were simply scattered, living in areas riddled with Honkai energy and Honkai Beasts. Even though he had established shelters all over the world, some people were still unwilling to enter them to survive.
Chaos and disorder, just like at the dawn of humanity. Only now, at the end, things were reverting to their original state.
"Hey, are you interested in grabbing a cup of coffee? I just designed a super interesting coffee brewing machine..." The man greeted a person walking toward him, instinctively wanting to call out to him.
But all the man received was an indifferent response: "Dr. Lin, please don't waste headquarters resources designing useless things."
"...Uh, I don't think brewing coffee is necessarily useless, is it? You like to drink it, don't you?"
"…"
Without a word, not even a look of disdain, the person walked past with the same blank expression as everyone else.
The man felt he was gradually becoming like his former self. This should be a good thing, after all, weren't they advocating for his past self?
He almost forgot. It wasn't just him who had changed; they had too.
The man gave a self-mocking smile, his metallic face sketching an indescribable expression.
But fortunately, one person remained unchanged.
The man returned to his room. He waved at the pink-haired girl who was doing housework: "Sakura, I designed a super interesting coffee brewing machine today, but unfortunately, I can't make it."
"Oh? How interesting is it?" The pink-haired girl, wiping a table, turned back with a smile and asked.
"It's very interesting, indeed..."
He briefly explained his concept, and the pink-haired girl was amused by his lively way of speaking. She laughed along with him.
It was as if they had returned to the time when they first met, when they would genuinely smile from the heart, even though they weren't familiar with each other.
Afterward, they talked about other things, such as what new dishes the girl had learned to cook, the gossip the man had heard about people in the base, and strange new phenomena discovered during experiments...
They talked about everything, except the Honkai and the cruel reality.
But they weren't trying to escape; it just wasn't necessary.
Reality didn't require them to recognize it twice. Their duty was not to spread pessimism.
"Oh, right, Lin. Just burn my body directly and scatter the ashes in any river."
Suddenly, the girl said something strange with a smile.
The atmosphere plummeted.
"…"
The man's metallic face, however, remained smiling.
On the cuff of the pink-haired girl's sleeve, some purple stripes were faintly visible.