Silent as the night sky, lovely as the stars.
The girl's sky-blue twin tails swayed gently behind her head.
Her paintbrush trembled in her hand, yet she couldn't bring it down.
Because her "pigment" was gone.
Only by touching the lives of others could she be dyed in new colors.
After a moment of thought, the girl hopped down from her tall stool, opened the door, and stepped outside.
"Is Griseo heading out?" Aponia asked, watching her leave.
"Yes, Mother Aponia." Griseo replied softly, her voice obedient and gentle.
"Hmm. Be sure to go early and come back early." Aponia said with a smile.
For Griseo, being dyed by others' colors was a way of understanding them. It was how she made sense of the world. Some time had passed since the Eighth Herrscher incident, but the world was still slowly recovering from its wounds.
The city Griseo lived in was no exception.
Though the buildings had mostly been restored, it was only a surface illusion. The city still felt heavy, as if trapped in a lingering doomsday.
On the mossy stone steps of the park, Griseo looked up at the sky.
The sunlight couldn't truly pierce the gloom.
To her eyes, the city was wrapped in a layer of gray—confusion, despair, the unknown. A color born from the emotions of its people.
There were glimmers of hope, of course.
But compared to the dominant hue, they were faint and fragile.
Griseo couldn't change that.
Her paintbrush might momentarily scatter the shadows, but they would always return, creeping in from every direction.
The pain left by disaster would take time to heal.
Just then, her gaze landed on a long-abandoned studio across the street.
Its original owner was likely gone.
An idea bloomed in her mind…
"You want to open a studio on the commercial street near Coastal Avenue?" Aponia asked, not opposing the decision, only offering a reminder.
"That area was hit hardest by the disaster. Few people go there now. Griseo, if you set up there I'm afraid you won't get many visitors."
"It's alright. Quiet is nice too." Griseo said, carefully enunciating each word.
"Alright then…"
To Fire Moth, a deserted street after a catastrophe wasn't worth much not even an entire block, let alone a single studio.
But for Griseo, opening a studio was something new.
She picked a slightly larger room and began simple renovations.
White walls, colorful bookshelves, potted green plants. A few sets of glass tables and chairs, a spacious counter.
And of course, her drawing board and tall wooden stool.
Even so, the space still felt empty.
"When I have time, I'll paint something on the walls…"
She began cleaning the shelves, arranging books with care.
As a member of Fire Moth who had survived the Honkai beast gene implantation, Griseo wasn't a fragile girl.
Her power manifested through her brush but that was just one expression. The true strength lay within.
And as it turned out, Aponia was right.
The street, once lively, was now deserted.
It wasn't until evening that Griseo welcomed her first visitor.
A voice rang out, full of energy.
"Hi hi! Is anyone here?"
"Yes..." Griseo replied peeking out from behind the counter, a little surprised.
The visitor could be described as twin-tailed, but not quite.
Her second ponytail resembled a real horse's tail.
Wearing a blue-and-white uniform, she looked like a middle schooler.
She had a pair of diamond-shaped beast ears atop her head—adorable.
But the most striking feature was the tuft of white hair on her forehead.
"Eh, are you the owner of this studio?" the newcomer asked, eyeing the paintbrush in Griseo's hand.
"Hello! I'm Tokai Teio! By the way, this place is super remote… Is it another world? It feels fresh!"
Teio didn't know how she'd ended up here.
She'd been training, running through the streets when the scenery suddenly changed. Before she knew it, she'd arrived.
Upon entering the studio, information had surfaced in her mind: this place was no longer part of the Uma Musume World blessed by the Three Goddesses.
"It's alright." Griseo said, pouring her a glass of water.
"Would you like a drawing?"
"Ah, um… I didn't bring any money.." Teio said quickly waving her hands.
She hadn't planned to end up here during training.
"It's free." Griseo replied with a shake of her head.
She painted to understand others, to experience their colors—not for profit.
"Oh, even so… I feel like now's not the time..." Teio said, resting her chin on her hand, eyes sparkling.
"My goal is to become an undefeated Triple Crown Horse Girl. How about… once I achieve that, you paint my glorious moment! Deal?"
Teio didn't stay long before leaving.
Where she had sat, there was now an invitation card from Tracen Academy.
Griseo picked it up, sensing that with this card, she could enter Teio's world.
"Uma Musume World…" she murmured.
She didn't know why her studio had changed.
But it felt like a good thing.
Griseo thought for a moment. She should tell someone…
"Aunt Mobius? Grandma Mobius? Are you there?"
In an underground lab, Griseo carefully stepped around strange biological tissues on the floor, calling out.
"How many times have I told you-call me Sister Mobius!" came the grumpy reply.
"Alright, what do you want?"
"It's like this…"
Griseo explained, handing Mobius the invitation card.
"There's no energy signature… or rather, I can't detect anything." Mobius said after examining it.
"It's probably another World Bubble. Doesn't seem dangerous…"
Such anomalies weren't uncommon in the Honkai World's Quantum Sea.
From a cognitive standpoint, another world wasn't such an outlandish event.
And since Griseo said she could seemingly return at any time, it didn't really matter.
"But even if you're traveling, remember to protect yourself, or else I, your older sister, will get angry, okay?"