Night fell. Inside the Valkyrie dormitory.
"Eh~ only one hour left."
Mei looked at the small alarm clock in her hand, her face filled with reluctance and hesitation. Just like how Elysia often said, "May this moment last forever," yet in this world, someone who could truly stop time—
At present, there was only the Herrscher of Finality.
In just a little over an hour, Raiden Mei's birthday would be over.
"Oh? With your personality, Mei, I thought you'd be able to face it more calmly. It's not like you're Kiana."
Elias looked at the girl beside him in mild surprise.
At that moment, the two of them were sharing the same bed, lying close enough to hear each other's breathing. The flawless moonlight poured down upon them, making the pair look incomparably sacred and beautiful.
"I didn't really care much about birthdays before, but today is different. This is the best day I've ever had in my life so far. But there's only one hour left before it ends... I really can't bear for it to finish."
Mei smiled bitterly as she buried her face in Elias' chest. She even felt that time itself, which marched forward without caring about her wishes, was a little too heartless.
There was no way she would sleep during this final hour. Letting this day—more precious than gold—slip away in her dreams would be an unforgivable waste.
She slowly raised her left hand. The diamond ring on her ring finger sparkled under the moonlight, dazzling as though it wanted to draw in all the radiance of the moon itself.
"Can you talk with me a little longer, Elias?"
"Of course, my dear Mei."
Elias inhaled the faint fragrance clinging to her body, enjoying the warmth and softness of the girl in his arms.
Though his "housewife" figure wasn't as exaggerated as some of the other Flame-Chasers—aside from Fu Hua and Pardofelis—her physique was still perfectly proportioned.
Mei's cheeks flushed slightly. While letting a certain someone have his way with her, she tried hard to think of something suitable to talk about.
"Right, when is your birthday, Elias?"
"Eh? My birthday?"
"Mm. Next time, I want to hold a birthday celebration for you just like today. I want you to experience how I feel right now."
Mei declared firmly. She was determined to return, double over, the happiness and beauty she had felt today.
If possible, though, she hoped it wouldn't be too soon. Please don't let it be tomorrow right after today ends. Otherwise, with nothing prepared, she felt she would have no choice but to wrap herself in a gift box and present herself to Elias.
Or perhaps she could smear herself in cream cake and tie a ribbon around herself, making it easier for him to "enjoy."
"Mei, your face is really red."
"I-It's nothing. I just suddenly feel a bit hot."
Though Mei had been raised as a refined young lady, in this Far East where anime culture thrived, she actually knew quite a lot. As for "positions," she probably knew more than a certain lewd cat.
On the other side, Elias hesitated a little. To be honest, there were quite a few days he could consider his birthday.
The birthday from his previous life. The day he descended into the Current Era. And the day in the Previous Era when he and Elysia had been found together.
All of those could count as his birthday.
"Elias? What's wrong?"
Seeing that he hadn't answered for a while, Mei looked at him in confusion.
"Emmm, I'm just a bit conflicted. My birthday in the Previous Era probably doesn't apply now. As for my birthday in my previous life, I don't actually know it. I grew up in an orphanage, so I just casually filled in January 1st back then."
Pulling the same trick as a certain golden airhead goose, Elias couldn't help but curl his lips into a faint smile.
"Elias, honestly..."
Mei suddenly felt her heart ache unbearably. She thought that if she could travel through time and worlds, she would definitely go see Elias in his previous life and find out what kind of heartless people had abandoned him.
Then she would take young Elias away and raise him herself, letting him grow up carefree until adulthood—before finally eating him up!
Fortunately, Elias wasn't using the authority of the Herrscher of Sentience right now. Otherwise, if he heard her thoughts, he would definitely complain that this "housewife" actually wanted to raise him!
"Emmm, after thinking it over, I guess I'll treat the day I descended into this world as my birthday."
"Mm~ I think that's perfect. Elias, thank you for coming to our world. So what day is it?"
"It's the day I first met you, Mei~" Elias said with a smile.
"...So, it was that day."
A gentle smile appeared on Mei's face as well.
Although the system had once fabricated a nonexistent past for Elias—who had physically crossed over rather than possessing someone—in order to make his existence in this world seem reasonable,
That lie was no longer necessary for Mei, who already knew all of his secrets. So Elias had asked the system to lift that fabricated history for her.
Now Mei remembered clearly. She and Elias had not been classmates who had known each other for a long time.
That day had been their very first encounter.
And it felt incredibly beautiful to her—that the first time they met, this person had already been willing to speak up for her, to teach a lesson to the students who bullied her.
That day—the day that had granted her redemption for the rest of her life—Raiden Mei would never forget it.
Yes! She would never forget. Therefore...
W-Wait! It was that day?! How could it be...
Mei's eyes widened. She abruptly sat up from the bed. The blanket slid off her body, and the silver-white moonlight instantly fell upon her completely bare figure, making her look both holy and enchanting.
Because she was too agitated, she failed to control her Honkai energy. A pair of oni horns grew from her head, and faint arcs of electricity crackled around her.
Calm down! Calm down! Maybe I remembered wrong.
Although she knew the possibility was less than one in a hundred million, Mei still tremblingly picked up her phone and checked the date she had clearly marked on the calendar—March 7th!
Now then, the question was.
What was today's date—her own birthday?
As if she had forgotten it entirely, Mei stared at the date displayed on her phone—April 13th.
"I-It already passed?!"
At that moment, Mei had the urge to cough up blood. Elias' birthday had actually passed more than a month ago!
She had hoped it would be later so she could have more time to prepare—but she had never intended to delay it until next year!!
And in the end, as his girlfriend—and the heroine of the Current Era—she had only just now learned her boyfriend's birthday. It was utterly unqualified! Mei wanted to slap herself twice!
(Guh! I actually missed Elias' birthday. How could this happen? I can't accept it!)
(Right! There's still hope! Where's Finality? Where is the Herrscher of Finality? Hurry and save us! Reverse the world's time back to last month! Such an important day absolutely cannot be missed!)
Mei hugged Elias tightly, looking like someone who had committed an unforgivable sin. Elias could neither laugh nor cry at the sight.
"Alright, alright, don't worry about it~ We can celebrate next year, can't we? Honestly, I forgot about it myself, so it's not your fault, Mei."
He raised his hand and gently stroked her head. Seeing how indifferent he looked only made the "housewife" feel even worse.
It was precisely because this person never cared about himself.
That was why, as his girlfriend, she should have remembered these things for him! She was so stupid—stupider than Kiana—to make such a low-level mistake!
Seeing Mei's depressed expression, Elias felt things were going badly. Midnight was almost here. How could he let his beloved girl end her birthday in such a state?
Wouldn't that make him a terrible boyfriend?
"Mei!"
"Elias, I'm sorry, I—"
"Alright, alright. We can celebrate birthdays next time. I can live practically forever now, so there will be an infinite number of birthdays waiting in the future. Missing one doesn't really matter. And time is precious right now... so let's do something happy instead."
He cupped her cheek and gently stroked it. Then, using the bliss of propagation, he forcefully dispersed the girl's sadness. The method might not have been entirely proper, but undeniably, it worked very well.
After a long while, Mei felt her head spinning, as though she had fallen into one of Rita's mental confusion spells. She could no longer think—only pleasure remained.
Some time later, she finally calmed down.
(Alright. Even though I still can't accept missing Elias' birthday... I'm not Elias. I can't recover what has already been lost. So there's only one thing I can do.)
"Just wait, Elias. When your next birthday comes, I'll make up for everything we missed and give you double the happiness!"
"Oh? Then I'll look forward to it."
...
(Starting tomorrow, I'll begin preparing. I need to find Rita and study how to make a delicious birthday cake. And I'll have to ask Vill-V to prepare some surprise mechanisms. Oh right, I can't forget the fireworks Elias set off for me today either!)
Mei's mind was already filled with plans. Elias smiled and shook his head before flicking her forehead lightly.
"There's no need to start thinking about it right now. We have plenty of time, so don't rush."
"...Mm, alright."
Mei stored those ideas in her heart. She glanced at the clock—only a dozen seconds remained before midnight—then wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and whispered softly.
"Elias, shall we continue what we were doing earlier?"
"If you want to, Mei, then of course."
"Mm, then let's continue..."
Her cheeks flushed crimson as she revealed an incomparably beautiful smile. She felt herself becoming more and more addicted, knowing full well that her brakes had already failed. If this continued, things might go "too far."
Compared to the person in front of her, she would probably be the one to break first.
Yet right now, Mei even felt that if Elias were the one to ruin her... that might not be so bad.
But in the very next second—
Mei was rescued from the edge of "danger."
11:59:59 PM → 12:00:00 → 12:00:01.
Bang!Crash!Boom!
The bedroom door and windows were suddenly flung open.
Even the ceiling had a large hole blasted through it.
...
The very second Raiden Mei's birthday ended, Kiana, Bronya, Dark Seele, Mobius, Eden, Vill-V, Jyahnar, and the others appeared on the scene.
Kiana: "Midnight's over! Elias is mine now!"
Rita: "Ahem, Miss Mei, it's better to exercise some restraint, you know."
Himeko: "Mei, your turn is over. It's our turn next. No objections, right?"
Eden: "Hehe~ Miss Mei, just leave the rest to us. Good night~"
Vill-V: "That's right, that's right! You can't handle Elias anyway, so let me take over!"
Mobius: "My turn! I'm going first!!"
Watching the women "turn on her" a mere second after her birthday ended, Mei's face darkened. The electric arcs around her body intensified. She nearly wanted to cut them all down on the spot.
Was this something humans would do?!
She truly had the urge to summon Gurikara and blast these women with a mouthful of lightning. Or perhaps use the authority of the Herrscher of the Void to teleport them all to the moon!
(Calm down. Think carefully. Isn't there an even better way to make these women break down? Yes. I can't be the only one suffering. Let's drag these bad women down with me!)
With that thought, Mei suddenly stopped being angry and instead smiled.
"Before you start fighting over him, there's something very important—and very regrettable—I need to inform you all of."
"What could be so serious? Don't tell me the world is about to end," Mobius raised a brow and said.
"No~ It's far more serious than the world's destruction."
Mei shook her head and swept her gaze across all of them.
"???" xN
Seeing the "housewife" wearing such a grave expression, everyone froze.
"We missed Elias' March 7th birthday."
Mei dropped a bomb—no, a nuclear warhead.
"W-What did you say?!" xN
All the girls' eyes widened. Collective devastation.
They admitted it—this was far more serious than the end of the world.
"Wait! Wasn't the little white mouse's birthday November 11th, the same as Elysia's?!" Mobius' snake-like pupils widened.
"Ah, that was my birthday in the Previous Era. Back then, I was found together with Elysia on that day, so we set it as November 11th. But in the Current Era, my birthday is March 7th."
"March 7th? It's already April!"
Kiana frantically scratched her head.
"It's fine! It's only been a month! Watch me rewind it!"
In the next second, the Herrscher of Finality narrowed her eyes.
Terrifying Honkai energy enveloped the entire globe.
The Goddess of Honkai was about to activate her authority and reverse time back by an entire month.