Firefly lowered her head, sneaking a shy glance, as if afraid of rejection.
To ease the awkwardness, she continued, "Actually, I prepared a gift. It might not be what you expect."
She raised her phone again. "You know I can't stay outside for long. Many things can only be done through special means, but they're not all fake—like Penacony, right?"
Firefly walked to the windowsill, adjusting the video angle. The background shifted from indoors to a starry sky.
"I'll keep the details a little secret for now. See you then."
"Bye-bye."
Firefly looked at the screen but didn't press the end button.
A few seconds later,
"Huh? Don't want to hang up yet? Then count the stars with me."
The camera switched, focusing on the sky.
Each star shone brilliantly, captivating.
The background music changed to the sound of a guitar.
Firefly stretched out her finger, pointing at the sky. "One, two, three, four…"
But as she reached the tenth star, the camera switched back.
She didn't seem to notice, her eyes darting between the stars. Her blue-red pupils seemed to hold the entire galaxy, yet couldn't quite contain you.
"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty."
"…"
She softly said, "Good night!"
The video slowly faded to black.
— —
The young man bolted upright in bed. "Damn, that's got some charm! I'm kinda hyped now. Keep going!"
But fate played a cruel joke.
"System prompt: Please wait patiently for the second day's call."
"Countdown: 23:59:56"
"23:59:55"
"I'll pay, okay?!"
Sadly, there was no payment option.
"miHoYo, you really don't know how to make money!"
So, there was only one option: check the official forums for guides.
In the miHoYo game community, he found a pinned post about Her/Him.
Important Notes About the Game
This game has no payment channels. Do not believe any rumors about in-game purchases. The game is currently in open beta. More content, including Silver Wolf, Kafka, Jingliu, etc., will be added gradually. PS: Future characters will be decided by official polls. After receiving Firefly's first-day call, you must wait 24 hours for the next video call. No other method unlocks it early. Players who have unlocked content must not upload spoiler videos. Violators will have their game devices banned immediately. Final interpretation rights belong to miHoYo Film Development Co., Ltd.
— —
The post was published yesterday at noon, while the game launched around 8 a.m.
The game required miHoYo's exclusive VR device to play.
Since miHoYo's devices were tightly bound to user identity, each person could only have one device, linked to their web series account and Interastral City's Simulated Universe game account.
Any violation meant a total ban!
In less than 48 hours, the post had amassed tens of thousands of comments.
[Damn, miHoYo, your idea's great, and the game's awesome, but you're such a dog! Making me wait 24 hours for a call?!]
[Firefly counting stars with me—why only 20?!]
[Please, open a VIP channel! I'll pay, I'll pay!]
[When's Jingliu coming? What about the other female characters?]
[Heard there'll be outfit changes—when's that happening?]
[miHoYo loves making empty promises. Season 2 mentioned Honkai Impact 3rd, and we've seen nothing!]
[I need to know what's in the second call!]
[No use—spoilers or recordings get you banned instantly. Gotta go to Interastral City to unlock it.]
[My heart hurts so much. What do I do? Firefly's practically in my face—what can I do? Tell me!]
[All this fluff talk—let me break it down. The game's simple: 3D characters turned 2D, brought to life with miHoYo's tech via VR.
No matter your take on Firefly, this game makes you her fan. They've poured tons of resources into her.
The plot's like watching a web series, with Firefly's performance pausing at points to create the illusion of real conversation.
First playthrough's nice, but it gets repetitive without updates.
Firefly's voice and visuals give off total girlfriend vibes. I highly recommend it and look forward to characters like Kafka—what kind of vibe will they bring?]
A savvy gamer left a detailed comment, fairly balanced, covering pros and cons.
But still—damn it!
He'd have to wait 24 hours to unlock the next part!
The young man lay by the window, recalling the star-counting voice, and drifted into sleep.
Maybe it was day thoughts turning to night dreams—he dreamt of the second day's call.
…
Finally, after enduring 24 hours, the second day's call arrived.
But it opened with a thunderstrike.
It was Sam the mech, with the sky ablaze in firelight.
"If that's the case… I will… hm?"
Sam lowered their head slightly, the signal spotty, voice cutting in and out.
"The call connected automatically. Yes, it's me, Firefly. It's a bit noisy here—give me 10 seconds… no, 7 seconds."
"6, 5, 4, 3, 2."
After the sound of banging,
Firefly shed Sam's armor. "1."
She raised her phone. "Sorry for the wait, my bad. Didn't mean for you to see that. Don't worry, it's just routine stuff."
Firefly smoothed her hair. "What about you? How's your day been?"
"…"
"Mm, mm." Firefly nodded, listening intently. "Oh… it's evening here already. The sky at sunset is gorgeous."
A ray of sunset light illuminated Firefly's face, utterly captivating.
"Blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, then deep blue! Like that secret base, right? But this planet's too bright for meteors, and the clouds aren't in patches—they're in clumps."
"Oh, some clouds look like little cats!" Firefly quickly switched the camera to the sky. "See, doesn't it look like it's swallowing the sun?"
The video switched back to selfie mode. Firefly looked at the lens. "What's the sky like where you are? Can you tell me?"
She nodded. "Mm, I can picture it. It's beautiful too.
The universe is boundless, encompassing everything. Thinking that way, even in different worlds, we might be seeing the same sky."
Finally, Firefly's face flushed with a hint of shyness, her eyes avoiding the camera.
"If I get the chance, I really want to see a meteor shower again."