(Rui POV. Honkai: Star Rail AU.)

As a Xianzhou Native, you have seen many people come and go in your lifetime. However, none impacted you as much as Tsukasa, an obnoxious, yet kind blond-haired boy with pointed ears.

The two of you were close and would tell each other everything. Until one day, he vanished unannounced and without a trace. You were devastated. How could he suddenly disappear without so much as a goodbye or an explanation?

You never found out what happened to him until you spotted a familiar figure passing through Exalting Sanctum hundreds of years later. He had horns and hair much longer than how you remembered. Still, those orange-yellow eyes were unmistakable.

However, as you ran up and hugged him, asking where he’d been, he shot you a confused look, and his first words to you in what seemed like forever felt like a punch to the gut:

“Do I know you?”