Material Bliss | Honkai Star Rail

Chapter 2

The feeling of cold, hard, steel.

Stelle woke up in a daze. Her breathing was fast and heavy, like her lungs had been screaming for air.

She looked around in a blur, realizing she'd fallen asleep on a bench. March and Dan Heng were nowhere to be seen. Thank God, she thought.

Stelle held her hand against her chest, the extreme pounding of her heart was troublesome. Why am I feeling like this? What's going on?

Almost as if on cue, she looked over to the right side of the bench to spot the trashcan. It was clearly enjoying the way she reacted to it from earlier in the day. She closed her eyes, thinking she was going crazy.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" She whispered to herself.

"Who knows? No one else notices me," a taunting voice remarks.

Stelle jumped, looking back over to the trashcan. Sitting still, it looked as if it was contemplating something.

She opened up the lid, peeking inside to find it empty.

"Ah~" The voice said, scaring the crap out of Stelle again.

"How are you talking to me?" She made sure she was quiet, trying not to make a fool out of herself in front of passers-by.

"Like I said, who knows? I've never seen you before, and you're the first to ever react to my words," she could hear the smooth voice emanating from the metal can.

A smile formed along the dents of the can. It seemed genuine, as if it had been waiting for Stelle for its whole life.

"You're funny to watch, you know that?" It asked, its tone stayed the same.

"No, I'm not. You're funny to watch, talking to a human," she tried to jab back at it.

The trashcan laughed, "You're the one answering, dimwit."

"Well, you're just some old metal can." Stelle wanted to get back at it for making her feel so strange.

"Oh? I hadn't noticed. But you know I can change my looks, right?" It asked, its voice echoed as if it were trying to show off.

"You're still just a c-" She was cut off before she could finish.

Stelle was knocked back, pinned against the back of the bench. Two metal arms prevented her from moving.

A body, a very handsome one at that, stood in front of her. It looked every bit of human, except for the glimmering steel material it was covered in. Everything from its hair to its feet was well sculpted. Every detail was magnificently proportioned and planned out.

Stelle was slightly disappointed to notice it had formed clothes. Wait, why would I be disappointed? Get your mind out of the gutter, Stelle.

She looked ahead to notice the can staring into her eyes. Her mind told her to look away, but she felt as if she couldn't. There was something mesmerizing about its pupils, the way it sparkled as it looked at her.

The coldness of the metal snapped her back to reality. Stelle was probably going to develop hypothermia if she didn't get near a heater. The steel heightened a drop in temperature around her. As if it wanted to keep her body heat for itself.

Stelle lifted her hand to caress its cheek, and it leaned into the touch. She smirked, pushing its face away and escaping from its grasp quickly before it could react.

A smile covered her face, making her seem more relaxed than she'd ever experienced within her first few days of existence.

The trashcan noticed how her small act of defiance made her giggle like a toddler, and decided not to say anything and ruin the moment. It realized how lucky it was to have run into her today.