102 Bronya's Sleepless Night

[I have failed as a husband, and now I failed as a father. I couldn't save my wife and now my son is dying because of the HB disease. Vaccines and other medicines have completely no effect at all.]

[Watching my son's face full of suffering has my heart shattered into pieces. Why did my life turn out like this…? Is it because I'm a Herrscher? Is that what she means. That my 'destiny' will always be filled with misfortune.]

[No! Fuck destiny! I don't care about my own fate, just my son… He's the most precious treasure I have. There's only one option left! I have to ask him for help. He can definitely heal my son since he's… the Herrscher of Shadow.]

Bronya frowned after reading all this, there was too much new information that she needed to digest it slowly.

After a few seconds, she then closed her eyes with a sigh before deleting the file.

There were some really important things she found in this diary.

First, Kouro's father was a Herrscher.

Bronya wasn't too surprised by this, as she thought about the various possible origins of Kouro's power and one of the chances was that Kouro's parents were not ordinary people.

But after thinking this she then frowned again, because in the diary it was mentioned that Kouro was a weak child and had contracted HB which had a very high risk of death.

Then also because Kouro's father is a Herrscher there should be a Honkai Eruption that occurred.

But from what Bronya knows apart from the first eruption that occurred in Berlin, Germany, the second eruption that occurred in Serbia, Russia, and the third eruption that occurred in Nagazora, Japan, and no other eruptions occurred, at least from the information she gathered.

There are several possibilities why this happened, firstly Kouro's father lied that he was a Herrscher and secondly, his Honkai Eruption might be hidden by certain parties.

Because from the information she gathered, Kouro's parents were Schicksal scientists who served in the Babylonia tower lab in Russia where the second eruption occurred.

Bronya was leaning more towards the second possibility as she felt Kouro's father might have faked his death, to avoid those parties.

What's more, from what Bronya knows, Kouro doesn't have Herrscher's powers at all, even his super strength from what Bronya sees only develops slowly when the third eruption occurs.

Then the only answer is....  

This person who called  'Herrscher of Shadow' apart from curing Kouro's illness, this person had also done something to Kouro's body as a child.

Kouro never told his past to anyone, he also disappeared mysteriously.

For some reason she remembered Kouro saying strange words, "Stand users will attract other stand users."

Bronya feels Kouro's past is really mysterious and complicated.

Bronya sighed before walking to her bed and lying down, she was really tired physically and mentally after hacking Schicksal's database security system and thinking about Kouro's past.

Bronya looked up at the ceiling of her room, she somehow remembered what Kiana said earlier about the man in the red coat.

What's more that person also fought by controlling the shadow against someone who also controlled the shadow.

Is there a possibility that they are related to Herrscher of Shadow? If so, what is their relationship with Kouro?

There were too many questions in her mind.

"Bronya... Can't sleep."

__

At the same time at Kouro's house.

Fu Hua was seen standing in front of Kouro's door with a nervous expression.

Fu Hua then exhaled for the umpteenth time before knocking on the door.

Not long after, the door was opened by Kouro who turned out to have just finished taking a shower, his hair was still wet with a towel around his neck plus he was currently only wearing a plain white short-sleeved shirt with short black pants making the nervous Fu Hua even more nervous.

"Ah! Fu Hua come in." Kouro said softly as he rubbed his hair with a towel.

"Ex-excuse me..." Fu Hua came in and took off her shoes before following Kouro.

Kouro walked into the living room which was next to the kitchen, he then turned around and looked at Fu Hua.

"Please have a seat. You don't have to be that nervous. Just treat it like home. Tea or Coffee?"

"Tea please." Fu Hua said after sitting up straight on the sofa.

"O'key." Kouro went to the kitchen to prepare tea.

Fu Hua subconsciously looked around the room before her attention was focused on the photo frame that was on the small table to the left of the sofa.

The photo shows a mature man with black hair holding the arm of a woman with white hair and silver eyes smiling gently at the camera, they both look about the same age as Himeko.

The man was very similar to Kouro, if it weren't for the man's black eyes and he looked older, then Fu Hua would have thought that the one in the photo was Kouro.

"Fu Hua, how many days has it been since your memory returned?" Kouro asked from the kitchen while preparing tea.

Fu Hua immediately came to her senses and quickly said, "About three days ago."

Fu Hua said in a gentle tone, "Well... Although not all of my memories have been recovered. My only recovered memories were up to the early days of our S.A.V.E.S project mission, although they are still fragmented, so I only vaguely remember them."

"Isn't that great?" Kouro replied in a happy tone.

"Eh?" Fu Hua was surprised by Kouro's response.

"I know you've been through several lives, from happy ones, to sad ones, or even loneliness."

Kouro continued, "You know what? That feeling of loneliness accumulated over 50,000+ is no joke, I don't want you to suffer because of your own memories, Fu Hua."

Kouro paused for a moment remembering all the events that had happened to Fu Hua before saying softly.

"Instead of fixating on the past, it's better if we just enjoy the present, don't have to think about the past and the future, just enjoy our precious togetherness."

"..."

"Fu Hua?" Kouro called out, feeling strange at Fu Hua's silence.

"I-I see.." Fu Hua said weakly.

Kouro's words really pierced through Fu Hua's heart, in a positive sense. She was struggling to keep a smile from emerging on her face, albeit her face is already flushed red like an apple.

If the students were to see this Fu Hua, their image of her as a cool and cold class president would crumble due to shock.

Too bad there's no Bronya, if there was he would have been able to capture this moment.

 __

A few moments later, Kouro brought a teapot filled with black tea and along with the cups and placed it on the table in front of the sofa.

Kouro filled the cup with black tea before pushing it towards Fu Hua.

He also filled a cup for himself.

Fu Hua picked up the cup, she looked at the black tea in the slightly steaming cup before drinking it slowly a little and putting the cup back on the table.

"Good tea Kouro."

"It's an honor for me." Kouro replied like a classy man.

"So... Where do I start..."

"What about the remaining MANTIS who are still alive to this Era just like you?" Kouro asked quickly.

He was very curious about this, after all in the original timeline only Kevin was still alive.

(Fu Hua is not considered because she died before resurrecting due to her unique ability. And about Su... He is also not considered because he was not seen again after giving the Seed of Sumeru to Durandal in the second key manga)

Fu Hua looked at his cup which reflected his face.

"From what I remember there are 9 MANTIS including me that are still alive."

"Hmm... Quite a lot." Kouro said while sipping his tea.

"Well... Even though not all MANTIS carry out missions, there are some MANTIS who choose to leave that identity and choose to blend in with society."

"For example?" Kouro asked.

"Griseo."

"..."

Fu Hua who felt Kouro's silence then raised her head, she saw Kouro who was looking at her with wide eyes and open mouth.

Kouro then stuttered "Y-you mean that Griseo? G-griseo the youngest and greatest painter in the world?"

Fu Hua looked at Kouro with a bit of surprise before nodding, "Yeah, from my memory she really likes painting so I'm not surprised. "

"Honestly at first she was someone's partner who was going to carry out one of the missions of the S.A.V.E.S project, the Ark project. But for some reason that project was immediately rejected by someone."

Project S.A.V.E.

If Kouro remembers correctly this project was run when humanity in PE was about to experience extinction due to Herrscher of the End.

And about Project Ark, if Kouro remembers correctly, this project was to use a spaceship to search for new habitable planets, but in the original timeline, this project failed because there was no reply from the spacecraft.

"Who refused the mission?" Kouro asked.

"..." Fu Hua just kept quiet and looked at Kouro.

"I see... So I did." Kouro said in a helpless tone.

"I don't know much, but it's clear that back then when the higher-ups started formulating the Ark project, you refused very vehemently."

Kouro wasn't too surprised, because he thought he understood a little why his seniors would reject this project.

Because in this world, the enemies that will be faced by humans are not only Honkai but creatures from outer space called 'Sky people'.

Kouro doesn't have complete information about these alien creatures, but they will certainly be very powerful, because they can colonize and invade other universes easily.

And even if they don't meet the extraterrestrials, this project from the surface looks unpromising and might even be humanity's last resort.

Fu Hua continued, "That's why the Ark project was changed. Even though the project name is still the same, its purpose has become different."

"What?" Kouro asked curiously.

"…I don't remember." Fu Hua said slowly while turning her face away.

Kouro felt a little disappointed, but didn't think much of it, after all Fu Hua had just awakened his memory, it's just that something was bothering him.

"... Well.... By the way Fu Hua I wanted to ask."

"Yeah?"

"You said project S.A.V.E.S, right? Not Project S.A.V.E?"

"Yes, why?" Fu Hua asked and looked at Kouro with a puzzled look.

Kouro wore a thoughtful expression while rubbing his chin.

In the original timeline, unable to defeat Herrscher of the End, the remaining humanity in PE then started a project to restore human civilization called project S.A.V.E.

Project Stigmata, Project Ark, Project Valuka, Project Ember, this was what Kouro knew, but now the project had increased by one.

Kouro then raised his head and looked at Fu Hua with a serious expression before asking.

"Can you tell me every project that is in the S.A.V.E.S project?"

"Okay." Fu Hua didn't think much of Kouro's question.

"But I don't really remember all the goals of the project."

"It's fine, I just need the name of the project."

"Okay. The project starts with Stigmata, Ark, Valuka, Ember, and... Shadow."

Kouro's eyes moved slightly after hearing that.