Weekends always slip by way too fast.
In the blink of an eye, it was time to go back to school. Obviously, attending classes obediently was completely meaningless for an Emperor's Scepter administrator, but Kiyono Inori still showed up on time.
After all, she could play Emperor's Scepter Simulator and stuff.
The second simulation of the Emperor's Scepter ended up freezing completely.
The final boss, the Emperor, was noticeably weaker than the first time. After all, this was an Emperor who had not crowned himself, which greatly reduced the external pressure on Bucket No. 360, the savior of the world.
And so.
The "trash can" factor inside Him started kicking in.
In short: the Stelleron plus Cocolia combo exited the stage early. After that, the trash cans and the Emperor inside the simulation entered a full-blown arms race.
Mechanical Legion versus Trash Can People.
Emperor's Scepter versus Garbage Station.
…
In this simulation, the garbage stations manufactured by 360 somehow became creations capable of matching the simulated Emperor's Scepter head-on.
The Emperor and the trash cans kept spawning troops nonstop, while sealing the Stelleron of Jarilo-VI consumed part of the processing power. In the end, φ-ln7 got completely stuck.
"The Cat System's processing power has increased."
"Adventure Record x13 obtained. Blueprint: Garbage Station obtained. You can now manufacture garbage stations in subsequent simulations."
"Due to the influence of this simulation, the equation derivation trend of Emperor's Scepter φ-ln7 has changed:"
"Option A: Offensive – Anti-Life Equation"
"Option B: Balanced – Great Chaos Equation"
"Option C: Defensive – Absolute Safety Equation"
So, in other words, Kiyono Inori, as the Scepter's administrator, had to choose one of the three options and let the Emperor's Scepter derive from there.
The Anti-Life Equation was the subject of Emperor II's research.
In theory, it was a superior version of the Anti-Organic Equation, effective even against organic life. If the Emperor had succeeded back then, unleashing a catastrophe larger than the Universal Locust Disaster would have been no problem at all.
The Great Chaos Equation was also one of the Emperor's research topics.
It was an equation specifically designed to counter the Lord of Silence, No. 4. Emperor II dared to confront the harshest mother of geniuses was this equation. In the end, he was outplayed by the vast hand of Nous.
Its effect was to make the future of a region uncontrollable.
For example, if you implanted this thing into the gacha pool of Honkai: Star Rail, it would turn into a mobile gacha game from ten years ago with no pity whatsoever. Lucky players would max out characters in ten pulls, while the unlucky could roll three hundred times without even hitting a guaranteed.
And this equation worked on both organic and inorganic targets.
Units implanted with the equation would also become uncertain. Their upper limit could be saints recorded in history, while their lower limit could be trash-tier magical pets. This equation would one hundred percent cause massive upheaval in civilization.
It was all up to luck.
Pure randomness. If Ms. Herta randomly turned into a villain, and the savior spawned on the space station turned out to be Peppy, Asta's dog, it was hard to imagine just how chaotic Herta Space Station would become.
"…"
Kiyono Inori sighed as she looked at the modifiers.
As expected of the Emperor's Scepter, labeled by Ms. Herta as an "ominous object." No matter what you fed into its calculations, it would always spit out a method to destroy countless civilizations.
Even the Absolute Safety Equation, after two rounds of simulation, had become extremely aggressive. In theory, it could wipe out nations as well.
After careful consideration.
Kiyono Inori chose the Great Chaos Equation for iterative derivation.
The cocoon of the Previous Era possessed the ability to create "threads of fate." Worlds under its control would be governed by destiny. The puppets pulled by fate could struggle, make small changes along the way, but they could never alter the final outcome.
If this thing were iterated to its final form and then, through the connection between Herrschers and the cocoon, directly deployed into the Cocoon of Finality…
It might suddenly turn into a Honkai Impact 2 (GGZ) script. Or it might turn into a children's cartoon script. Or maybe nothing would happen at all and it would fail entirely.
Kiyono Inori herself was not very confident.
Well… she just needed to believe.
Believe in the power of Origin Authority plus Fairy Magic. If she could bluff the pink pig long enough, who knew, it might actually work. So this was what people meant when they said the end of science was mysticism, right?
Even geniuses from the Genius Society had ultimate questions they could never answer.
After deciding φ-ln7's derivation trend, the next step was dealing with the Stelleron. The Stelleron was extremely unstable, and converting it into an Energy Supply Unit was a serious challenge.
The time spent slacking off in class passed.
Four in the afternoon.
It was the final class before dismissal. The clear sky outside darkened yet again with thick clouds, and the world history teacher turned on the classroom lights.
Last class of the day.
Rain was coming.
Under the lights, the classroom felt dim.
With all these elements combined, Kiyono Inori, who had been zoning out all day, felt a subtle sense of cozy everyday life and actually listened attentively to the last part of the lecture.
"From the late fifteenth century onward, the Age of Exploration completely reshaped the trajectory of human civilization…"
The teacher was talking about the rise and fall of land-based and maritime empires during Europe's Age of Sail. Kiyono Inori maintained an unbroken wide-eyed stare the entire time.
Mm. This feeling of enduring the slow crawl toward the end of class pulled the girl back from being a magical girl, a Stand user, a Herrscher, an Emperor's Scepter administrator, and all those other superpowered identities.
If this were a world without superpowers, just studying, going home, playing games, and petting cats actually sounded pretty nice. That thought crossed Kiyono's mind unconsciously.
After class ended.
"Whoa, why is it raining again today!"
"That's the rainy season for you. Let's go. We booked a live show next weekend, so we need to get to practice early!"
"Yeah, yeah."
After the teacher left, meaningless chatter filled the room.
Kiyono Inori gazed out the window, her mood complicated. She had brought an umbrella, but she still disliked getting rained on. The damp, sticky feeling was genuinely unpleasant.
The weather forecast.
She glanced toward Uika's seat. Today, Sumimi seemed to be dealing with a "live venue gas explosion" incident, so the classmate who could control the weather was absent yet again.
Kiyono Inori rummaged through her backpack and happened to see the Sumimi group chat titled "Anyway, It's Sumimi." A group voice call was ongoing, and she had been invited several times.
Her phone had been on silent during class.
"Kiyono Inori joined Donut Lady and two others' voice call." Since she was still in the classroom, she did not use speaker and held the phone to her ear. Party music poured out.
"Untangling these ambiguous feelings, tying them together…" Misumi Uika, who had skipped class, was showing off her singing skills.
"Wow, Uika, you're improving so fast! If you keep practicing, you might actually be able to serve as the band's lead singer!" Donut Lady applauded enthusiastically.
"Hehe, I've been secretly working hard, you know."
The blonde girl laughed carefree and silly.
"Anyway, setting aside the fact that Uika skipping class is common knowledge now, I will not even comment on that. But who is this avatar with the 'prosperity blooms' aesthetic?"
In what had been a three-person Sumimi chat.
A mysterious pink flower avatar suddenly joined, instantly raising the group's average avatar age by a large margin.
"Whoa, it's Inori! Did your school just let out?" The blonde girl's voice was loud and energetic.
"Yeah, but so you skipped class to throw a music party with Donut Lady?" Kiyono held back her urge to tease.
"What do you mean 'prosperity blooms'? That avatar is Anon! You know her too, Inori. Something about the concert explosion incident, and her magical pet ran off or something," Sumita Mana explained.
"Hehe. There is only one Sumimi group chat under the heavens! By the way, Mana's magical pet also went missing. Are magical pets all kind of dumb and prone to getting lost?"
Uika's understanding of magical pets was still stuck in cartoons.
"Um… maybe?"
Sumita Mana did not sound very certain. Ever since her magical pet went missing, monster attacks had noticeably decreased.
As everyone knew.
Where there were girls, there was always chatter. And if those girls happened to be especially lively and cheerful, it got even worse. They could practically chatter the roof off.
Uika and Mana were both energetic types, and their nonstop chatter left Kiyono Inori with no chance to speak.
She was checking the Cat System's operation logs.
After all, the trash cans summoned by Stelle earlier had taken out two magical pets. She did not know whether that was connected to Anon's and Mana's missing pets. Thinking about it made Kiyono feel guilty.
In the Cat System's database.
Magical pets were not exactly good things, but still, this was basically her trash cans elbowing someone else's pets out of existence. How was she supposed to explain that?
"Ahh, my trash cans beat up your magical pets, I'm really sorry, meow." If she told the truth, that would be social death for sure.
"Hello, hello, Inori, are you there? Why aren't you saying anything?" Uika noticed her silence and took the initiative.
"I was wondering why Anon hasn't said a word. Did you mute her or something?" Kiyono casually changed the subject.
"Ah, she's previewing her lessons or something. Apparently there's a really strong student in the class next door, and Anon felt the pressure of competition."
Uika explained.
Kiyono Inori stared blankly.
That student in the next class would not happen to be Customer Service Sakiko, right?
"Elite education versus hardworking top student. Who will emerge victorious? Tears shed after losing to Anon, a body growing heavier after days of intense studying, part-time work, and being tailed by a Moon Forest female agent…"
In an instant, Kiyono mentally produced thousands of words of Anon and Sakiko fanfiction.
"Ahem. Today's preview session is over! Kiyono is also out of school! Uika, hurry up and stop the rain outside, we agreed on this!" The pink prosperity-bloom avatar lit up with a microphone.
"Ummm, that's really tiring!"
"Just a few minutes! I'll bring you my mom's homemade milk tea! Please, weather-controlling Goddess Uika!"
"Do not call me that, it's so embarrassing!"
"Um… so what are you talking about?" Kiyono Inori asked, completely lost.
"Yesterday's concert was paused, right? Anon's family was worried about her, so they got her some time off. The two of them hit it off and planned to go out and have fun or something…" Donut Lady chimed in.
Kiyono Inori glanced at her backpack and tote bag.
She had switched to a larger backpack. Inside it was the sleeping Elysia Cat, while her tote bag contained the unconscious Stelle Cat. Honestly, the Jarilo-VI campaign was taking way too long.
Kiyono suspected that by the time Stelle Cat woke up, Jarilo-VI would have already become a planet following the Path of the Trash Can.
After confirming the address, Kiyono Inori decided to head over. She had been wielding the Scepter all day. It was time to simply enjoy life for once.
…
Two hours later.
Inside a KTV private room, Elysia Cat stared with a complicated expression at her beautiful owner, who was holding another cat in her arms.
"Hi. Welcome back."
The beautiful owner greeted her with a meow.
"It's Elysia! I am back from saving the world, meow!"
Stelle Cat, who had successfully commanded a trash can army to reclaim the lower-city town corrupted by the Fragmentum, spotted Elysia Cat and meowed happily.
"Meow?" Elysia Cat let out a meaningless sound. She was just meowing. Nothing more.
mood_complicated.jpg.
Although the beautiful owner had notified her through the Parallel World Intercom, Elysia had been dealing with a small-scale Honkai outbreak in a nearby city, so she arrived a little late.
And when she crossed over.
Not only was the music party already halfway over, but the beautiful owner even had another cat in her arms now. That super sleepy gray cat had woken up. The pink pig felt a sense of crisis as a magical pet.
"Welcome back, Stelle. Saving the world. Just hearing that already sounds so romantic."
Even though her mood was complicated, Elysia Cat was a polite cat. And she really was interested in world-saving stuff.
Stelle Cat's eyes sparkled.
She flicked her tail and jumped straight out of her owner's arms, clearly planning to chat with her fellow cat about her world-saving adventures on Jarilo-VI.
Saving the world, but with trash cans.
Stelle Cat had woken up about an hour ago. Kiyono Inori had already listened to her meow through the entire Legend of the Trash Can Heroes of Jarilo-VI. She was starting to forget all the trash cans' names.
"Inori-chan, what is that look, meow?" Elysia Cat noticed Kiyono's gaze.
"Nothing, really," Kiyono replied with a guilty look.
"There is definitely something! Ah, I get it. Inori-chan, you are jealous, right? Jealous that I stole Stelle away, meow. Hehe, if you beg me, I will let Stelle go back into your arms, meow?"
The information conveyed through eye contact was limited. Clearly, Elysia Cat did not understand her owner's guilt. If there had been direct meowing conversation, the pink pig, so skilled at reading human nature, would definitely have caught on.
"Mrrrow."
"Meow."
The two cats were already discussing world-saving matters. The beautiful owner smiled in relief.
How should she put it?
She had thought she was a master of cat ownership, but that apparently only applied to Elysia Cat. Stelle Cat was much harder to handle.
If Elysia Cat was a well-behaved cat who did not need special care and sometimes even took care of Kiyono in return, then Stelle Cat was in the stage of being curious about everything, practically newborn, and extremely interested in trash cans.
So she talked about trash cans nonstop.
When Stelle Cat ate KTV ice cream, she got it all over her face and chest. Kiyono took her to the restroom to wash up, but Stelle struggled violently and splashed water all over Kiyono.
Taking care of Stelle Cat felt like taking care of a human baby.
She was very cute, sure, but also genuinely exhausting. Now that Elysia Cat was here, Kiyono could finally rest for a bit.
"Inori! Now you do not have to take care of the cats anymore, right? I will pick the next song for you! I have never heard you sing before!" Uika was already enthusiastically queuing songs.
"Kiyono's cats are really shy…"
Chihaya Anon watched the two super cute cats and felt wronged.
She had just tried to hold Stelle Cat while she was eating ice cream, but Stelle thought she was March 7th trying to grab her again.
Violent struggle.
Sticky ice cream got on her clothes. Thankfully, she was wearing casual clothes today. Otherwise, it would have been tragic.
"I know, I know. Inori will definitely sing this one. And this one too. I remember it well from when we were kids. It really suits Inori for our Sumimi lineup!"
Kiyono Inori stared blankly.
She had not even said anything yet. Donut Lady had already filled her entire schedule, and all of them were songs she was good at. Were magical girls' memories really that strong?
…
PS
Castorice Cat's appearance might be delayed a bit. Writing her with this timing feels like it might get me stabbed.
But new cats will be appearing next, meow.
…
1 chapter per day. For more chapters/fics, goto ErbiumTL on Patreon.
Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.