"I'm afraid it's not that simple…"
Ah Xian fell into deep thought.
Although Honkai Star Rail is a gacha game, Leon's facial modeling is extremely refined.
Professionals have long downloaded the model for analysis and reached a conclusion.
Leon's attire has no overly complex or redundant elements, so the modeling precision is almost entirely concentrated on his facial features.
In other words, his micro-expressions are the richest and most delicate among all characters.
Ah Xian herself is a flagship artist in the doujinshi and spicy art circles; her signature is that the characters under her pen seem to be given souls.
Divine charm online, extremely vivid.
She can basically read any change in a character's facial expression and what meaning it implies.
When Leon first arrived in Izumo and spoke with Raiden Ryoma, a fleeting trace of pity flashed in his eyes.
She originally thought he saw that Raiden Ryoma's life was coming to an end and Raiden Bosenmori Mei hadn't grown up yet, so he pitied them.
Now that she thought about it, what was there to pity about a normal cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death?
That was instead a kind of fulfillment, happiness from another perspective.
It was undeniable that some regrets were sometimes left behind, but isn't life always accompanied by regrets?
For example, who doesn't have a white moonlight?
And how many people actually end up with their white moonlight?
Since that look wasn't aimed at individuals, what else could it be?
Only at this world.
The world called Izumo was currently undergoing tribulation, just like Jarilo-VI; if it couldn't endure, the outcome would be annihilation.
As players who possessed a god's perspective and knew Leon must have experienced his past, Ah Xian had a premonition in her heart.
The lie Leon spoke of was very likely related to Izumo.
And the clue was hidden in the characters' dialogue.
Unfortunately, she was live-streaming and had to focus on the main plot; she didn't have time for frame-by-frame analysis and interpretation, so she could only think about it for now.
"Everyone, the Swarm Disaster has a lot of new events, right? They also added quite a few new curios."
"Maybe some of those events are related to Leon, or to the Holy Envoys of the Sky Haven Clan."
"If there are related events, there should be curios too. Leon himself carries a curio—though I really don't want to say it is."
Why didn't she want to say it? Because it used to be a pain.
A person dies, leaving a curio behind to give players welfare and daily stamina recovery.
Seeing the object reminds one of the person.
Every day when she came to the incense burner, she would always remember the scene of Leon falling into the sea.
Ah Xian gathered her slightly fluctuating emotions and unpaused the plot.
…
Leon and Raiden Bosenmori Mei arrived in front of a single-story house.
The door hinges bore visible traces of wind and frost, severely corroded, emitting hoarse creaking sounds under the wind's caress.
The cornerstones of the surrounding wall were uneven, with several places slightly collapsed.
Randomly piled broken bricks served only as makeshift repairs, instead giving off an even greater sense of destitution.
It was clear that the owner of the house lived in rather straitened circumstances.
The two's attention wasn't on the house, but on the young girl sun-drying crops by the wall.
Raiden Bosenmori Mei flipped open the medical record and confirmed that this was the person they were looking for.
"Kobayashi Kazeka, right?"
"I am. Big brother, big sister… you're the doctor and the decree-blade Oni?"
The girl looked up at the two, her gaze lingering for a moment on the red horns atop Raiden Bosenmori Mei's head.
Decree-blade Oni was the shogunate's branch title for holders of divine-slaying decree blades.
Currently, one of the two was an Oni, hence the name.
Raiden Bosenmori Mei gently shook her head.
"I am not a decree-blade Oni, just an ordinary warrior."
Although she was the executioner who delivered the final blow to the second of the eight million gods, but—
The decree blade [Truth] forged from slaying Domukari-kami and [Heaven] forged from slaying Tenjo Tatokami-dono were both unsuitable for her.
If those two decree blades were in her hands, they wouldn't even exert thirty percent of their power.
"Kobayashi, we obtained the medical records from Shoan Clinic. This is Doctor Leon…"
"Shh!"
Kobayashi Kazeka raised a hushing gesture, carefully setting down the crops in her hands and motioning for the two to follow her elsewhere to talk.
Only after moving far from the house did she breathe a sigh of relief.
"Kobayashi, how are you feeling now? The black-death disease."
Even the old man they first encountered was only in the middle stage.
Kobayashi Kazeka appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen, yet she suffered from the terminal stage.
She must never have used medicine to control it, to delay the arrival of death.
Raiden Bosenmori Mei was initially puzzled.
After seeing Kobayashi Kazeka's home, she understood.
In a chaotic world, most people struggled even to feed themselves.
"I'm used to it. I never told Mother, that's why I brought you here."
Kobayashi Kazeka smiled, her gaze toward home appearing so gentle.
"Mother already lives very tiringly. I don't want her to worry about my incurable illness."
"Doctor Leon, did you come from Tenkyo City?"
"Mm." Leon nodded. "I came for the outbreak of black-death disease."
"So the shogunate hasn't forgotten the patients in remote villages…"
But how many people could actually afford the expensive suppressant medicine?
Even if they could afford it, wouldn't they still die in the end?
Kobayashi Kazeka's lips curved with bitterness.
"Thank you for your concern. The day I learned I was sick, I cried for a long time before going home."
"Maintaining a normal appearance, a normal smile."
"Mother doesn't know anything. She's busy in the kitchen making dinner right now. She's making my favorite miso soup and sukiyaki."
"I really want to eat Mother's dinner many more times…"
She couldn't bear to part with her mother.
She also wanted to live well.
But it was no longer possible.
"Ah, sorry, I said some strange things on my own."
Kobayashi Kazeka realized her slip and immediately switched expressions.
"Guests have come. It's getting late. If big brother and big sister don't mind, stay for dinner before leaving."
Raiden Bosenmori Mei was about to say something when Leon agreed first.
"Then we'll impose, Miss Kobayashi."
"Don't be polite. Just call me Kazeka."
[Such a pitiful child, plain yet enthusiastic…]
[She looks so small, yet so sensible.]
[Luckily Leon developed the specific medicine, otherwise it would be the tragedy of white-haired sending off black-haired.]
Though Kazeka had a tragic fate, the players knew Leon could handle it and weren't too worried.
Kobayashi Nagi seemed a little surprised by the guests' arrival.
But soon, she displayed the enthusiasm of a hostess.
"Kazeka-chan, boil some water and make tea for the guests."
"Okay, Mother."
After sending her daughter away, Kobayashi Nagi closed the door to the kitchen and knelt at the guest table.
"Doctor Leon, you came for Kazeka's illness, right?"
"That silly child still thinks I don't know. Which child can perfectly control their emotions and hide it from their mother…"
"Only after contacting the doctor did I learn… Kazeka-chan hid such a big thing from me. She must have been afraid I'd be heartbroken."
"That day I cried for so long and made her favorite sukiyaki, which she could only eat a few times a year."
"Seeing her eat happily, I almost couldn't stop my body from trembling."
"After she's gone, the sukiyaki I make in the future will never again…"
"Sigh… my poor child…"
…