MGSFV?! Chapter 492: Dreams Can Have Anything, but Can They Have Pink...?
Of course not.
At that time, even if Project Bunny did say anything, it would only be—"The most terrifying thing in the world is when you dream that your compiling program crashed, and when you wake up... it really crashed..."
That kind of thing.
That was already completely Project "Bald" Bunny-style speech—much more in character. She and Post-Honkai Odyssey Bronya really are quite the master-servant pair. After leaving her real mom (Seele), she's been thoroughly led astray. ()
Ahem, back on topic.
Skipping the bridge scene, Elysia opened the story menu and tapped into the latest chapter. But before the official start...
"Before we begin, there's something I need to inform everyone—this official stream isn't like the usual one-day event. It will last for three days…"
"Though each day's stream time will be slightly shorter."
Hokuto had different plans for each day, to "help" players build up their emotions. Are you sure it's help? It's just your—
[Three straight days, miHoYo trying to fill me up (not what you think)]
[Doesn't matter, I always tune in to Miss Fairy's streams on time anyway. Now I'm just watching her from a different room.]
Some people like playing games during breaks to relieve stress, but others who are too tired may prefer to just lie down and watch streams to recharge their mental "fuel." Both are perfectly normal.
[Hahahaha, true that.]
See? Someone quickly expressed agreement.
On the other side, after finishing the announcement—Elysia observed everyone's reaction. Seeing that most were surprised and the stream's mood remained upbeat, she turned her attention back to the game. She tapped into the story.
Everything finally officially began. Lines of subtitles flashed across a dark background lit by growing points of light.
"..."
Elysia read the subtitle lines aloud out of habit.
"Dreams are like a sleeping whale, mercilessly devouring all souls that try to approach it." "Humans become plankton in the sea of thought, drifting with the tides of dreams."
At this moment—humans captured by the Stigmata Project were still dreaming dreams that belonged solely to themselves.
"In that seemingly frozen time, faint sounds drifted toward the dreamers' ears with the ebb and flow of tides."
At this point, Elysia's voice suddenly stopped. Because... a voice called out from within the game.
"Liliya, Liliya——"
And it was one of the twins calling. That immediately caught attention. At least, Elysia really wanted to know what was going on.
"Whose voice is that... am I dreaming...?" Liliya's voice was drowsy.
"You are indeed in a dream. Everything you've felt so far was a projection of real-world history in the Sanctuary Stigma Space."
"...Mm, I don't get it. Looks like I really am dreaming."
Liliya's reaction was honestly…
[Hahaha, I'm dying.]
[Liliya: full-on giving up (:3」∠)]
[The correct way to deal with a riddler.]
Facing Liliya's textbook response—
"Then... let's put it more simply. Liliya, you're trapped in a dream. If you want to be free again, you have to find a way to escape it." "You're not alone. Rosaliya's dream is gradually merging with yours..." "Please realize how absurd this dream is... and then, wake from it."
[Such a classic trope—wake up from the dream by finding something absurd enough to jolt yourself.]
[Do you even need to find it? Honestly, a lot of people have absurd dreams.]
[Reminds me of that guy who tried to derive formulas in his dreams... sadly, even in dreams, he couldn't do it.]
["Truly a tragic tale."]
While players debated what qualified as "absurd" in a dream—the plot "smoothly" continued forward.
"Ah!!!"
A sudden scream. A sensation of free-falling from high above swept through her body—Liliya's eyes flew open. But the voice hadn't come from her.
"Liliya, oh no oh no! This is really bad!"
Turned out Rosaliya was gripping Liliya's shoulders and shaking her wildly.
[Rosaliya: This is bad!]
[Hearing "this is bad" from Rosaliya gives me zero sense of danger.]
"Rosaliya's 'really bad' must mean she burned the cake?" Kiana guessed from the side. Which—if you applied it to Rosaliya... well, somehow, it actually made sense.
"Not necessarily," Mei smiled. "Maybe her candy got stolen."
"Ah... yeah, that too is totally possible." "Because it's Rosaliya, after all." "Mm, because it's Rosaliya~~"
[???]
[Don't underestimate Rosaliya! She's the older sister!]
In truth—Rosaliya wasn't joking around this time. She had truly "awakened."
"Liliya, listen to me! Something really messy happened—we were ambushed!"
"Ambushed? Wait, do you mean Honk—" Liliya blurted out a "Honk-" syllable instinctively, but halfway through she froze. What was she even trying to say?
"Of course not! Honkai Beasts? Those aren't even worth our Vodka Girls' attention!"
"Eh? But aren't Honkai Beasts..."
"They're not monsters from the movies either! Liliya, you're the dummy who can't tell dream from reality!"
Rosaliya began explaining everything that had happened in the dream. Liliya's expression grew increasingly confused. But as deeply buried memories began to surface one by one, that confusion gradually turned into shock.
Rosaliya had realized something was wrong before Liliya even sensed it. That...
[Strangely, I'm starting to feel weird... Rosaliya...]
"Think about it. If we weren't dreaming, how could we possibly forget Bronya and Seele? Or Theresa, the red-haired and blue-haired doctors, and so many others..."
Rosaliya rattled off examples in an organized way.
[Now I'm starting to feel something's off.]
[Isn't Rosaliya saying... a little too much?]
[Hmm... is it because it's Rosaliya that it feels off?]
[Don't know. But something feels off with this whole scene.]
This time, players' gut feeling seemed a bit unfounded... or was it? Let's hear what Liliya—who knows Rosaliya best—has to say.
"But... it feels suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"Even though everything here is kinda weird..." Liliya made a 'ᗜ ‸ ᗜ' face. "...But the weirdest thing is—Rosaliya's deductions are way too logical."
Rosaliya: "..." Players: "..."
[So that's what felt wrong...]
[Turns out that off-feeling... was this? Suddenly, I'm exhausted.]
[But it really is logical, honestly.]
[If that felt logical to you—what image do you have of the twins? Apologize to the twins! (dog head)]
The image of the twins... to be honest, everyone probably shares the same mental picture, no need to elaborate.
So in the upcoming plot, Rosaliya and Liliya continued being their usual chaotic selves. Like how Rosaliya's first method to wake from the dream was to have Liliya pinch her really hard.
That... obviously didn't work. Yes, the Stigmata Project was making people dream—and not every dream was possible—but if it were that easy to break free, wouldn't that just be comedy?
The rule of comedy characters being invincible ×
In reality, Rosaliya and Liliya's awakening was just a tiny ripple among seventy billion dreams. But even if their influence was a mere ripple—not everyone's influence might be so small. A goldfish turning in water makes only a ripple—but a whale swinging its tail in the sea can trigger a surge beyond imagination.
So then... the question is—who can be that whale?
In the plot. The camera first gave a shot to Ai, who had helped awaken the twins—and then... shifted to Mei.
Here it comes!
Mei: "Hah... hah... hah..."
Accompanied by Mei's panting and the mechanical whir of gears—
[Now we're at Mei's part!]
[Special attention—what exactly happened that led to Mei's disappearance?]
[I'm super curious too]
[Wait! Where is Mei?!]
[This is... this isn't that place...!!??]
Players snapped to attention, ready to observe Mei's every move. But their discussion was quickly interrupted by a familiar scene unfolding in-game.
No helping it. Any player of Honkai Impact 3rd probably has this place etched into their memory—whether they want to or not. Wanting to forget—because remembering brings up too many events, too many memories... Can't forget—because this place holds too many events, too many memories...
[Am I seeing things? (existential crisis)]
[Huh? So I'm not the only one seeing this?]
[Thi-this-this-this is... the Elysian Realm amusement park?!]
Finally, someone stammered out the answer. The Mei who had disappeared from St. Freya... suddenly appeared in the amusement park of the Elysian Realm? What was going to happen next—they dared not even imagine.
It really was a heavy-hitting opening.
"Mei... what's wrong?"
Kiana's voice echoed.
Player: ?
Kiana's here too? And her voice... sounds so soft, it doesn't sound like her current voice line at all.
[Kiana's voice sounds like she got younger by several years.]
[Bug was never that old anyway, fair.]
[No no no—shouldn't we be asking how Kiana suddenly found Mei? And they're at the amusement park together? Very sus!]
[Wait... putting this together with the earlier scenes—is Mei dreaming right now?]
[Highly possible!]
[No need to guess. Mei is totally dreaming!]
"Looks like everyone figured it out," Elysia didn't rush to continue the story.
"Well, it wasn't hard to guess," Mei followed up.
"But Mei Mei—don't you think a dream with an amusement park and Kiana in it is wonderfully delightful? Just like..."
Elysia began appreciating the scene. Reading the script versus experiencing it live—two completely different things. The latter gave a much deeper level of enjoyment.
Mei: "..."
Mei didn't answer Elysia's question.
"If Mei won't answer, Kiana, what do you think?" Elysia turned the question to Kiana.
"Going to the amusement park with friends is definitely a wonderful thing." Kiana answered very directly.
"Exactly. The sincere friendship between cute girls—there's nothing more beautiful. I really have no resistance to that~♪"
Elysia nodded with a smile. Though... Mei gave Elysia several sidelong glances. Her instincts told her—that question Elysia asked? She definitely wasn't expecting that answer. Of course, she didn't want to expose her—because the same instincts told her that exposing it would only make things more complicated.
The story continued. In the game, after being called out by Kiana, Mei suddenly raised her hand to her forehead, looking like she had a headache. Which made Kiana a bit worried.
"Mei, do you want me to help you sit over there and rest for a while?"
"..."
Mei shook her head. "I'm fine. Just suddenly felt dizzy for some reason—but I feel much better now."
[So Mei's response… is like the others—forgetting she's dreaming? Thinking everything she sees now is real?]
[Otherwise, she should've at least questioned why Kiana was with her—especially in the Elysian Realm amusement park!]
Though it wasn't said directly—players could quickly understand what was going on from Mei's reaction, making it easier to immerse themselves in the plot.
[Yeah, I think that's spot on.]
The discussion died down. Soon, another voice came from in-game.
"Could it be... the rollercoaster?"
This time, it was Bronya speaking. In dreams, really, anything goes. Amusement park, Kiana, Bronya... Wonder if they'll see others appear later?
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