Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 261 The Sense of Alienation in the Sky

You should remember me, right?

Firefly's voice carried a hint of probing, yet her eyes held a touch of anticipation. The initial tests with Silver Wolf proved one thing: Sora was still as energetic and healthy as ever, but in terms of memory, she had suffered partial amnesia. She must have forgotten most of her memories, right? Otherwise, how could Sora have become boyfriend and girlfriend with Raiden Mei?

It's okay, it's okay! Everyone yearns for beautiful things. She can understand seeing a pretty girl make a mistake due to amnesia. She's not that petty. As long as...

Thinking of this, Liu Ying looked expectantly at Qiong, who was feeling extremely uncomfortable. Her eyes held a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. No matter how Qiong answered, Liu Ying would proceed according to plan.

However, this tension caused Liuying's heart to suddenly accelerate, even more so than Qiong's panic. The increased heart rate led to increased blood pumping by the heart, causing facial blood vessels to become congested. In short, Liuying blushed physiologically in front of the flustered Qiong's reply.

"Um, I..."

Qiong's eyes darted away, and out of some subconscious reaction, he couldn't even look Liu Ying in the eye—he couldn't panic, he absolutely couldn't panic! The more panicked he became, the worse things would get! Think about it, how did he handle this kind of situation last time?

I remember now, it was Anna, aka "Kafka," who came to my rescue... Now that I think about it, that Kafka was probably one of those two in disguise! Considering this, I have to stick to what I said last time! Who knows what would happen if it wasn't the same as last time...

"I...I know you are Firefly, but there are many things I can't remember."

Where Qiong couldn't see, a hint of disappointment flashed in Liuying's eyes, but she quickly cheered up again.

It was pretty much what Silver Wolf had guessed, but not as optimistic as she had hoped.

"It's alright, I and the others can help you recall things slowly. Besides, there's plenty of time in the future; we have enough time to create a new past..."

No, is this firefly you disguised as March 7th?

While Qiong was lost in thought, Liuying gently took Qiong's hand and, without minding that Qiong had just held greasy buns and fried dough sticks, forcibly pressed Qiong's hand against her chest.

"Firefly, you..."

Qiong instinctively tried to pull his hand away, but after trying, he found he couldn't; Liuying had already firmly grasped his hand...

"Well, what happened?"

The gentle girl and the gray-haired, silly boy stared at each other, but the latter couldn't bring himself to say "Let me go."

How about a more tactful way of putting it?

"Um, my hands are oily and dirty..."

But the fireflies didn't mind at all.

"It's okay, what's the big deal? Even if you just rummaged through the trash, I wouldn't mind, absolutely not!"

"Little girl, here are your steamed buns and fried dough sticks."

"Thank you."

Unbeknownst to Liu Ying, her actions even attracted the attention of the breakfast shop owner.

The shopkeeper squinted at the bewildered Qiong and the blushing Liuying. His memory was always good, and since there were only a few male customers here, he could remember the faces of all the men who had ever bought breakfast from his shop—if he remembered correctly, this boy was the only male student in the school, right? Didn't he have a girlfriend?

"This must be the first time we've met in real life since you left, right? Although the touch in Pinocchio's dream felt very real, it was still just a dream... Did you feel it?"

"What did you feel?"

"My heartbeat."

Liu Ying looked at Qiong with deep affection, her eyes filled with...love? Qiong felt that this was wrong and tried to pull his hand back with more force, but he found that Liu Ying also increased her grip—he was firmly held by Liu Ying.

He might be able to break free by force, but both instinct and reason told him that he absolutely could not do so.

"Forehead……"

Qiong's mind went blank for a moment. He couldn't feel the powerful beating of Liu Ying's heart. He could only feel the softness of the chest of the last Grammer Iron Cavalryman. If he really wanted to feel the burning heart, he would probably have to press his ear to the chest at point-blank range... Of course, he would never do that.

Unable to pull his hand back, Liu Ying's actions exceeded Qiong's reaction limit. Now he was stuck, unable to advance or retreat, and Liu Ying showed no sign of letting go, so he decided...

If you can't think of a solution, do nothing and wait for the fireflies to move first.

Unfortunately, Ryuu was also waiting for Sora to make a move. In Ginrou's plan, Sora should be the one to react now, from the moment she pulls her hand away, painfully saying, "Ryuu, let's stop here, I'm afraid Mei will misunderstand," to her losing her temper, rushing to kiss her and shouting, "My dear Ryuu, I missed you so much!" There's a whole sequence of reactions. This near-acquiescence, this lack of resistance and cooperation, is exactly what Ginrou wants, because it means Sora either doesn't want to give up on either side or has already degenerated into a complete pervert (the latter being unlikely).

[Silver Wolf, what do we do now? Which plan should we follow?]

"Don't rush, let's slightly modify the plan. Do as I say, now let go!"

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After a standoff lasting more than half a minute, Liu Ying let go of her hand.

This relieved Qiong—how to put it? Perhaps it was her brain's self-protection mechanism, Qiong's first reaction upon touching it was panic, followed by "the feel of Firefly is so different from Mei's," and then her mind automatically played back the scene from a few days ago when Raihou went crazy with the face wash and lap pillow...

"Does your hand still hurt?"

Suddenly, Liu Ying showed a concerned expression.

Qiong: ?

What does this seemingly random statement mean?

Seemingly sensing Qiong's question, Liuying smiled and held her steamed bun to Qiong's mouth.

"Didn't that fox—Lady Yae who lost her lover—hurt your hand? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely didn't keep an eye on you! Silver Wolf told me all this before we left!"

"Yes, yes, I'm a surveillance maniac, you're not kidding me, are you?"

"Thank you, I'm not in pain anymore."

Upon hearing "thank you," Liu Ying paused slightly in surprise.

Thank you, a polite yet somewhat distant word, often used to express gratitude to someone with whom one is not particularly close—meaning that Qiong doesn't currently consider her among her closest friends...

Now, she and Qiong are not so close, but the previous plans and the current actions were all based on the premise that "Liu Ying and Qiong are very familiar with each other". Qiong's amnesia has led to an inadequate one-sided relationship. Now that she is treating him like this, he must be confused, doubtful and resistant. He is just being polite and not saying it directly because of his physical memory.

Liu Ying's burning passion was instantly dampened, and she changed her mind and handed the buns she originally intended to feed to Qiong instead.

The wisdom of the Celestial Ship lies in moderation. Exceeding or not reaching the mark is essentially the same. If Qiong truly rejects her actions due to amnesia, that would be a huge loss. She's not like Silver Wolf, a girl without boundaries—for example, she can't just casually drop by any room on the Starry Sky Train after becoming familiar with someone…

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I'm busy today, so I'll just write a short chapter.

By the way, can you count yesterday's word count as two chapters? ... Writing too short feels like it's over before it even begins, while writing too much feels like it's not even finished. It's giving me a headache.