Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

"…Can you get off me now?"

"No."

After around an hour of attempting to calm Sparkle down, she was finally experiencing the debt of her Flaw. In contrast with her typically jovial mood, she now had a tired scowl on her face.

Currently, she was sprawled over Sunny's lap, her face stuffed in his pillow. Not her pillow. His pillow.

How greedy.

There wasn't anything he wanted to do, as he desired to go back to the Waking World the first chance he got. By now, Seele and Bronya should have brought his unconscious body back to Boulder Town, bringing along the medicine they had went to Rivet Town too.

He still had around two hours left before the Gate would send him back. As long as Sparkle didn't rope him in to anything stupid, everything should be fine.

However, he had to do nothing for quite a while. With the demoness being in such a state, he couldn't ask her to do something entertaining with him. He couldn't bring himself to sleep either.

As such, he could only contemplate things.

The strangest thing that had happened to him recently was the conversation he had with the other Sunless. The one who claimed to know Seele without knowing Seele.

A Sunny from another… universe? He had said something about trees, but that was probably a misdirection technique.

Either way, he was quite curious about the person that the other Sunny was looking for. Supposedly, he had forged a connection with him simply to locate this person, and had ended up finding him. At first, he assumed that it must have been someone Sunny met, but who knew what capabilities the other Sunny had?

After all, he stated that he was the equivalent of a Divine being. Of course, he doubted that the other Sunny knew what a Divine being was capable of, simply because of the fact that no human has reached such a level. Nor has anyone seen an Unholy Nightmare Creature. If someone did, then they must have took that experience to their early grave.

As such, the other Sunny might have been drastically stronger or weaker than his estimate. Considering that the gap between Ranks only became wider as time went on, he might have been closer to a Supreme or Sacred being instead.

As for the person he had been searching for, Sunny was highly curious about it. For someone to go from one universe to another was probably unheard of. Despite his interest, he found it prudent to be cautious with such matters. Unless something extremely improbable happened at the most convenient time, then he wouldn't survive any possible confrontations.

Then there was Seele… and the other Seele. Sunny had seen an overlapping image between the two of them, the latter being blurry. However, he found that they looked drastically similar, with differences in their surface personalities and clothing. This caused him to wonder if there was a Veliona in that world too.

He doubted it, since the maniac was born from a Flaw. Considering that such a thing didn't seem to exist on the other side, then it was highly unlikely.

…There was also that strange vision he had later — the remnants of the connection the other Sunny had used. He had witnessed both the other Sunny and other Seele within a lab, in which the former died. There was a small gap, which revealed a being that he assumed to be the other Sunny fighting against an entity that was opening holes in space, shooting strange lances.

It was quite comical, seeing a child fight against such an enemy. The scale of their battle was ridiculous, casually toppling mountains.

It was as if they were already at the pinnacle of power, unchanging rulers of reality.

Strangely enough, the memory felt extraordinarily old, as if it was something from thousands of years ago. Maybe he was simply imagining things.

Now that he thought about Veliona…

"…Sparkle, that kind of thing can't be resolved by just… making it equal."

She turned her head, a yawn escaping her as she placed a hand to her mouth.

"What thing?"

He licked his lips. Sunny could still taste her, although he wasn't sure what the taste was.

"Shouldn't you be more mad? If you like someone, shouldn't you want to keep them to yourself?"

Sparkle tilted her head.

"Uh… I guess? But… you're you."

…Somehow, that sounded like a veiled insult.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She averted her gaze.

"…Who knows? Anyways, it's not like there's anything I could do about it. It is what it is."

Frowning, Sunny felt the urge to throw her out the window.

"Of course there's something you can do about it! If you just tell me to, then I'll put an end to it."

Due to the other Sunny, he had a strange attachment to Seele and Veliona. It wasn't anything excessive, and was almost imperceptible. However, it lingered on the edge of his subconscious, subtly changing his actions.

For example, he wouldn't have summoned Saint to watch over her while the knight was still heavily damaged. Sunny had decided that Seele dying was worse than Saint being destroyed, which was abnormal, as he held his Shadow to the highest regard.

Another time was when Veliona had first assaulted him. Instead of scolding her after the fact, or distancing himself due to her unpredictability, he simply patted her head like she was a puppy.

A pet!

It wasn't his own feelings, but the feelings of another that influenced him.

Despite that, if Sparkle at least told him not to, then he wouldn't accept Veliona's intimate acts. She was an important person to this Sunny, even if she didn't remember it. Naturally, he would value the feelings of his past self more than those of another version of himself.

Besides, the other Sunny didn't act remotely similar to him! In a way, he couldn't even be considered a Sunny!

'…Saying my name so many times is getting confusing.'

Sparkle seemed deep in thought.

"Uh… love is the tolerance of differences?"

Sunny scowled.

"What kind of idiot said that?"

She stared at him for a moment, before her lips suddenly curled up as if she thought of something funny.

"Don't worry about it. Nobody important~"

Studying her for a moment, Sunny said:

"You don't want to tell me."

Her facial expression didn't change as she awkwardly shrugged from her position.

"What I said wasn't a lie. If I didn't see you so often, then I'd probably have an issue with you getting cozy with other girls. Besides, love really is the tolerance of differences."

Although the second part makes sense, the first one didn't. Sunny didn't mind if Rain didn't need him anymore, and was completely willing to not get involved in her life even though it hurt him so badly. He had done plenty of things he wouldn't ever do in normal circumstances, but all of that was rendered useless.

However, that didn't apply for the type of love that Sparkle was referring to.

"Are you an idiot? Possessiveness is a core element to these kind of things. Without it, everyone would be holding each other's hands with no regard! Do you know what I'd do if you held hands with another guy?"

Sparkle deadpanned.

"Why are we still on… Nevermind, what would you do if my hand made contact with another male's hand — one that isn't you?"

"I'd kill him, then I'd kill you!"

In response, Sparkle simply rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Overlord of Edge."

At her dismissing tone, Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"Want to test that theory?"

Such a soul was perfectly suitable for the Ghastly Hunger. Looking at the glint in his eyes, Sparkle grimaced.

"Alright, I get it! I wouldn't hold hands with another guy anyways, you handholding freak!"

She paused for a second, before smirking.

"Does it really bother you that much? Don't tell me you're already in love with me? Ah, well I suppose my charm is just that amazing!"

Sunny shook his head in annoyance.

"Yes to the first question, no to the second question."

After a few moments, he sighed. Maybe he should be more honest.

"Well… I might like you a little. Only a bit, okay?!"

Suddenly, Sparkle perked up from her laid down position, shuffling over to Sunny with a grin on her face. She grabbed his shoulders, sitting on his lap as a grin appeared on her face — revealing that she was back to her usual self. That, or she was using the Clown's abilities to control her face, but that was unlikely in this scenario.

"Heh, I knew you would come around quickly! When it comes to pretty girls, you have no resistance!"

'Isn't it kind of lame to compliment yourself? That's my character trait!'

Silently lampooning, Sunny smiled.

"I suppose you are pretty. Maybe stop ruining everything by asking for sex. It takes away your appeal."

She stuck out her tongue at him.

"You're just a prude. What's your issue with… oh, right. Just forget it then."

Sunny blinked. Had he really told her about that?

Well, it wasn't anything too serious. At most, it only affected how people would view him. Even then, his circumstances at the time happened to make up for it.

After a few seconds, Sunny grinned as he grabbed Sparkle's chin.

"Well, I figured out how I'm supposed to beat you now. Turns out that Shadow Dance could be used on things like this too!"

She raised a brow.

"I didn't realize this was a competition. Not that you'd beat me!"

And so, a Shadow Dance practitioner and a former Clown compared the mastery of their tongue control.