Chapter 453: Miss Suzumiya: I Reckon This Could Work

"Tonight's moonlight is truly beautiful..."

Like the quiet after a commotion, all the clamor and ostentation have faded away.

Suzumiya-san hugged her knees, sitting peacefully on the soft grass of the slope, gazing up at the vast night sky, a certain longing flashing in her eyes.

Her voice was gentle like the night wind brushing past the treetops, carrying a few hints of imperceptible emotion.

It's rare to see her this quiet, lacking her usual unruly liveliness, instead showing a touch of girlishness, making one suddenly realize she really is just a high school girl.

The night curtain hangs low, stars dotting the sky, echoing distantly with that bright clear moon.

A faint breeze carries a hint of coolness, gently swaying the green grass on the slope, producing fine rustling sounds, intertwining with the occasional insect cries from afar.

—Combined with this scene, it inexplicably creates a certain artistic conception.

"..."

"..."

On the slope behind the girl, moonlight fell softly like fine gauze.

The youth who had just quietly sought out this place paused his steps, a subtle, indescribably strange look flashing across his face.

"Hm?"

And right at this moment, it seemed that astonishing, unreasonable sixth sense took effect.

The girl seemed to sense something, abruptly turning her head, those bright clear eyes reflecting his figure draped in starlight and moonlight.

"Ah, so it's you..."

Suzumiya-san muttered—

"How do you walk like a ghost, not making a sound at all..."

Half-complaining, yet also sounding like she was relieved.

Immediately after, she was about to turn her head back again, wanting to cast her gaze once more into the deep night sky, to immerse herself again in that tranquil starlight.

As if she really just sensed someone behind her, uneasily turning back to confirm—

And upon confirming it was a familiar face, the wariness in her heart dispersed like a light breeze, looking like she wouldn't pay it any more mind.

However...

Just as Team Leader-sama was preparing to turn back and continue sitting there hugging her knees watching stars, she suddenly stopped her movement.

"Wait, that expression of yours... why does it seem a bit off?"

She frowned, keenly perceiving the other party's slightly strange complexion, decisively and righteously opening her mouth to ask.

"How to put it, it's subtly annoying..."

"..."

"..."

"Nothing..."

Xia Zhi blinked, he first rested his hand on his chin, brows tightly locked, as if seriously thinking about something, then his expression gradually became determined.

"I'm saying—there's nothing at all."

"Hmph, you guy..." Team Leader-sama instantly became very displeased: "Isn't it obvious there is something? Don't keep me in suspense!"

"Really nothing at all..."

He still insisted on this statement, and emphasized it again.

"Hey—"

The girl grew furious, and simply stopped hugging her knees stargazing, instead directly propping herself up with her hand, standing up from the grass, her posture light and powerful.

She patted grass clippings and non-existent dust off her skirt, a face full of displeasure, just preparing to properly step forward and have it out with him, when she was suddenly drawn by the scene before her eyes.

Moonlight spread softly like fine gauze, adding a touch of gentleness to this quiet slope.

That gentle silver radiance seemed to possess some kind of magic, causing Team Leader-sama's movements to abruptly freeze, blanking for a moment.

She seemed to subconsciously recall something, a flash of astonishment crossing her eyes. Immediately after, an inexplicable shame and anger surged in her heart.

The next moment—

"Y-you you you you you..."

"Don't think wildly! What I just said... what I just said... w-wasn't said to you..."

"Did you hear! I wasn't talking to you! Just now... I didn't even know you had come over!"

Simply like she'd blown up, the whole girl was like a cat that had its tail stepped on.

Just short of jumping up, she rattled off a whole string of words in one breath, both ashamed and frantic, yet stammering.

Xia Zhi coughed lightly, a subtle look flashing across his face.

He looked at Team Leader-sama before him, waving his hand repeatedly with a calm demeanor while saying: "I get it... I get it, I get it."

"You get nothing!!"

Team Leader-sama wasn't very calm either, she bit her lower lip, hands clenched into fists, as if struggling to suppress her inner emotions.

In the end, she seemed unable to find a suitable way to relieve it, also lacking experience handling this high-level situation, only able to angrily bite her lip and glare fiercely at him.

Like a feline animal poised to strike.

"Calm down, calm down a bit..."

Xia Zhi wisely retreated half a step, simultaneously adjusting his wording, organizing his language.

"Actually it's nothing, after all tonight's moonlight really is beautiful, isn't it..."

"You still say it!"

Team Leader-sama widened her eyes, unbelieving light flashing in them, this guy really knows how to comfort people?

At this time shouldn't it be a tacit topic change, divert attention, and then this matter just floats away lightly, right?

—He's good, how come he's still pressing the attack?

——And you clearly refused to admit it before, so why bring it up yourself now?

The night wind brushed gently, carrying a hint of coolness, yet it seemed to whisper secrets unknown to others.

Tonight's moonlight seemed to be the best witness, shining gently yet with a touch of teasing, watching everything unfold.

"It's not that I said nothing, or that you didn't hear, you don't believe me either..." Xia Zhi's gaze drifted as he looked toward the distance.

This fellow...

Team Leader breathed heavily, gritted her teeth and stopped speaking, instead looking in that same direction.

——There stood a town there.

——It was also the place she ran out from.

Originally it wasn't very lively, basically it could be said to be just an empty shell.

But now it had become very lively, a scene of prosperity; clearly just a remote border town, yet now it was developing with great vigor.

Buildings of all kinds—neat or chaotic, strange or mixed in style—were piled together, from Gothic spires to Byzantine domes.

These weren't even anything; there were even buildings that clearly required a microgravity environment, or were simply anti-gravity.

For example, below was only a single thin pillar, with seven or eight crooked high-rise buildings piled on top...

Then there was a medieval castle that grew legs from its foundation and could automatically move and walk...

——Clearly relying on magic power and Mystery, probably also with the fairies' innate abilities added, these were strange engineering constructs forcibly squeezed out.

Once they lost the support of magic power and Mystery...

Then under the natural physical rules acting on the planet's surface, these castles in the air would instantly topple and vanish into nothing.

As for now, the town over there was also brightly lit.

Even being here, across a distant distance, one could still vaguely capture that noise and vitality—human voices boiling, intertwined with laughter and chat, coming in waves like a tide.

One could even see figures occasionally passing through the sky; someone rode a Phantasmal Species born with two wings, or rode a flying Tank, going in and out above the town.

Some, whose destination might not be far, or who were unwilling to spend money renting vehicles, chose to run the map directly.

Even here on the Slope, groups of three or five people would pass by from time to time on the small path below.

The most eye-catching was almost that feature that had become a mark—

Without exception orange Long Hair, red eyes...

Bringing along the Servants beside them, and teammates in their party, they hurried along, rushing day and night under the stars and moon.

"Truly full of vitality..."

Xia Zhi watched this scene, speaking softly, and at the same time waved his hand toward a certain direction in the distance.

That was two Chaldea Masters seeing the figures on this Slope, probably thinking some hidden plot or Side Quest could be triggered, and they seemed about to walk over here.

Seeing Xia Zhi's gesture, they hesitated for a moment, finally smiled at each other, nodded, then turned and changed direction.

——Seemed there were no quest exclamation marks to trigger...

——And the other side also gestured not to go over...

——So the Master Ladies naturally chose to obediently leave; they had not yet evolved to the extent of RPG players who stop at nothing.

"Yeah, too full of vitality..."

Miss Suzumiya snorted unhappily: "I really can't understand, why are these Clones so full of drive!"

"Because you are just living, while they are surviving..."

Xia Zhi chuckled: "You participate in the event to enjoy the celebration itself, while they act with the mindset of Hard Work and Farming resources..."

"So it's normal that you can't compete with them; no need to fret over not ranking..."

Though saying it sounds rather childish.

But running out late at night to look at the stars was indeed not something she felt on impulse; rather, she originally had great ambitions, vowing to reach the top in this event...

But in the end she was overwhelmed by a group of Copying Bricks.

Seeing that she couldn't compete no matter what, she finally got depressed and ran out late at night to look at the stars here.

"Who's fretting..." Team Leader naturally refused to admit it, and clearly looked unconvinced: "And clearly last time I could do it."

"Last time was the first session; they hadn't made preparations."

Xia Zhi smiled with narrowed eyes.

The first time was sudden, a complete mess, and coordination was poor.

But after experiencing it once, when encountering such things again, Chaldea Masters from every World Line directly became gold-farming studios.

At times like this, Chunri, as a solo player, definitely couldn't compete.

"Tsk..."

Team Leader pouted: "Actually I don't care much; this thing is just so-so anyway..."

Xia Zhi nodded, looking deeply convinced: "Is that so? I think so too, why don't we—"

"Don't!"

"Huh? Immediate answer?" The youth raised an eyebrow: "I haven't finished speaking yet."

"No need to say it; you definitely want to advise me that I've played enough and should go back to school now, right?"

The girl narrowed her eyes, looking at him warily.

"..."

"..."

"No—"

Xia Zhi thought for a moment, giving an answer beyond her expectations: "I mean, how about going outside the Fairy Kingdom to take a look and relax?"

"Huh? Didn't you say it's all Sea outside?"

"Yeah, but beyond the Sea, there must surely be other regions too—"

The youth, his face unchanged, patched his own earlier words with something that sounded vaguely reasonable: "It's just very, very far away, and extremely, extremely large……"

"Eh? How large can it be?" Haruhi indeed showed an expression of considerable interest.

"I can't say for sure about this either; this world is so large it's practically boundless, and it has a structure of many layers — supposedly we are at the outermost layer of the surface……"

Xia Zhi said without changing expression: "Beneath the ground there are still countless layers; at the very bottom depths lies the Void Mantle, connecting to an abyss capable of devouring everything……"

"Just like the supermassive black hole at the Galaxy Center, perhaps even larger……"

——Come, the crucial step of the Blueprints.

——Once again, it is time for Miss Suzumiya's power of my speculation to be put to use.

(Chapter End)