Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Chapter 560: Ghostbusters (XIII)

"Blegh—!"

Sunny ignored the sound of violent retching as well as the smell of putrid alcohol, instead opting to stare at the screen of his phone with a slightly exasperated expression.

Having consumed enough alcohol to overwhelm even her Ascended physique, Huohuo ended up losing control of her stomach. Sunny could only wonder how she had been so foolish as to lose control of herself, but maybe that was simply an effect of being in the presence of liquor.

That was how they both ended up in the bathroom, with Huohuo barfing into the toilet with Sunny present to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. Tail certainly wouldn’t do it.

...It was pretty awkward, being in a bathroom with a stranger. Even worse when one considered that she once knew [Sunny], while Sunny didn’t really know her.

Thankfully, Tingyun managed to save the day, suggesting that he should try to converse with SoundlessHeaven. And by ’try to converse,’ she meant that every message he attempted to type would be closely monitored and considered by no standard other than her own.

It ended up being closer to Tingyun sending SoundlessHeaven messages using Sunny as an intermediary... he just ignored her suggestions anyways, though. His ability to formulate dialogue was far superior, after all.

Sunny’s Brilliant Emporium: "And that was how I found out that short people shouldn’t have the right to drink."

The sound of Tingyun palming her face echoed in his Soul Sea.

[Now you sound discriminative...]

SoundlessHeaven: "You must be pretty tall, then?"

Sunny’s Brilliant Emporium: "I never said that I drink, did I?"

SoundlessHeaven: "Aw. Don’t worry! I’m sure you’ll get taller someday!"

’Who does she think she is, calling me short?!’

A strained voice was heard from within him.

[You dug that hole yourself. More importantly... how did you save that?!]

Sunny raised a brow.

’Save what? Nothing was in danger...’

His phone vibrated.

SoundlessHeaven: "I’d really like to continue talking, but I’m a little busy at the moment. And I think you should help out your friend."

His brows creased, sending a sidelong glance at Huohuo. The girl had stopped emptying her stomach, and was now listlessly gazing at him with a pale complexion, chest heaving slightly. Sunny huffed, summoning the Endless Spring and tossing it over to her.

"Drink that. I’ll get you... well, wherever you need to be."

Huohuo silently blinked, before sending an almost revering look to the Endless Spring, clutching it like an object to be worshipped.

"I’ve missed you, magic water bottle...!"

It didn’t take long until she got her fill from the infinite flask.

***

"So, what was that all about?"

Sunny followed Huohuo down the lantern lit streets of the Luofu, passing by other civilians and carriages — yes, carriages! As if this was some medieval time period...

Huohuo, who had enough of her senses to walk on her own and even speak in coherent sentences — a feat Sunny sometimes found himself incapable of when sober — turned around with a perplexed expression.

"Um... what?"

Sunny awkwardly coughed into his fist.

"You know, your little rant. You looked one glass away from calling me a slur. Don’t tell me that I accidentally murdered your parents and made them reincarnate into a red dog the size of a house?"

Huohuo squinted.

"Sounds oddly specific— No! Wait, you didn’t actually do that, right? How do you even know where they live? I don’t know where they live!"

Sunny strained himself:

"Pfft!"

...Never mind.

"N—No, I didn’t kill your parents, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and I don’t know where they live... how come you don’t know where they live? You have a bad sense of direction?"

Huohuo tilted her head.

"Didn’t I tell you?"

Sunny mirrored her motion.

"Did you?"

They stared at each other for a few moments, before Huohuo suddenly shivered, feeling an uncanny sensation.

"Uh... well, you know. When Mister Tail got sealed in my tail, my parents got scared and ran away."

Sunny snorted, causing Huohuo to look at him in offended horror.

"Can’t you act a little sorry for me?!"

"I can, but that’s pretty funny. Come on, come on! You know it is!"

Huohuo lowered her gaze.

"How can I find it funny if I’m the victim...?"

Sunny shrugged, sticking his tongue out.

"Figure it out. Make it an exaggerated story, or something."

Huohuo sighed, before turning around a corner. Sunny followed the Foxian.

"And getting wasted... it’s so I could take the edge off my Flaw. If I don’t distract myself from it, I’ll end up stabbing someone from fear eventually. It’s not something I can ignore... this conversation feels familiar."

Huohuo sent a suspicious glance at Sunny, who was innocently whistling some terrible tune.

"Hm? Not a single bell is ringing inside this genius head off mine, no sirree!"

She had a strange look on her face, before her eyes suddenly widened. She looked behind her.

"Oh, we went past my place. Uh... bye? Please don’t come around here to bother me..."

Sunny smirked like a rotten bastard.

"No promises~"

"Ugh..."

Huohuo groaned as she skittered back to her abode. She paused midway, however.

"Oh... I almost forgot to tell you about the Dormant Heliobus latched onto you. I think it’s a Monster?"

She froze.

"O—Oh, but I can’t help you with that. You’re strong, so you can deal with it and get it back to Madam Hanya, right? Right. Good night, and thank you!"

...She seemed to run home a little faster now, as if afraid to spend even another second with him.

Despite her words, Sunny wasn’t particularly alarmed. He knew which Heliobus Huohuo was referring to, though, it wasn’t accurate to call her a mere Heliobus.

It was Tingyun, who recently evolved into a Dormant Monster...