"Express jump, one minute countdown, pom!"
Pom-Pom's voice came through the intercom. It pulled out the little notebook it always carried, its cover stamped "Express Regulations," and while solemnly jotting something down, muttered under its breath:
"Hm, new regulation added: passengers are strictly forbidden from spinning in circles with the puppets in any form during a jump, pom!"
On the carriage floor—
"Gurgle~ gurgle spirit-wave~ gurgle gurgle gurgle~!"
Stelle looked like an enchanted dust rag, rolling wildly across the floor Pom-Pom had just polished to a mirror shine.
"Gur~gle?!"
Stelle flopped over like a salted fish, landing spread-eagled on her back.
Across from her, Caelus wasn't about to be outdone, tumbling around in a chaotic roll of his own.
His face rolled past the chest of one Herta puppet, then slid without pause beneath the skirt hem of another.
"I've crossed~ so many mountains, forded~ so many rivers, why's the road so rough for her~?"
Caelus belted out the classic tune at the top of his lungs as he rolled.
Sure, there were plenty of mountains, but the mountains were short and the rivers narrow, so it wasn't really much trouble.
Bam!
Rolling toward each other, Stelle and Caelus collided head-on.
Their cheeks pressed together, squashing out of shape; Caelus's leg pinned against Stelle's flawless jade-white thigh, his arm crushed against the plush softness of her chest.
"Caelus-cub, get off me!"
Stelle's face puffed out from the pressure as she tried to shove him away with her forehead.
"Hmph! Take this staff from your old Sun Wukong!"
Caelus let out a strange yell, trying to subdue this Stellaron spirit:
"I'll kill you till your soul scatters and your spirit flees, till gods tremble and ghosts shudder... wait, I take it back!"
Before he'd even finished his threat, his voice cracked—Stelle had no honor at all, grabbing straight for his golden cudgel.
"Hoho ho~"
Stelle broke into a textbook DIO cackle, tightening her grip just a little.
"Then let's see you tremble for real!"
"Hsss—!"
Caelus sucked in a sharp breath. "Bold demon! How dare you flaunt your tricks in front of a master? I'll let you aid my cultivation! Behold, the Great Dragon of Heaven!"
Caelus seized her star-orb and instantly began refining it—
sucking the peak into his mouth.
"Eek~!"
March 7th, who'd been off to the side doing forward flips in imitation of a Herta puppet, happened to witness this R-rated brawl escalate, and her pink head shook like a rattle drum in shock.
"I can't watch! Absolutely can't watch, you two idiots!"
It really was a full-contact brawl.
Even Haxxor Bunny beside her couldn't help muttering a curse under her breath.
These two, just because they were technically "each other," thought they could brawl with zero restraint here, huh?
Keep this up and they'd probably end up settling it in bed!
"Ding-clang~ ding-clang~ ding-ding-clang-clang~!"
The spinning army arrived—sixteen Herta puppets toppling like dominoes, or like bowling pins gone rogue, tumbling into a heap one after another to the sound of an adorable accent.
"Pfft!"
"Ngh!"
In the blink of an eye, Stelle and Caelus were swallowed by the surging tide of puppets, leaving behind nothing but a small, squirming, jingling mountain of Herta puppets.
"Ptooey!"
Stelle spat out a scrap of fabric she'd picked up from who-knows-which puppet's clothes, her collagen-plump little face flushed a riot of colors, her ahoge sticking straight up—an adorable, endearing mess of cuteness laced with a bit of disheveled comedy.
As for the blush... don't get the wrong idea, it wasn't embarrassment, just a purely physiological reaction.
"Watch this baby smother you to death!"
She tried to press her proud star-orbs down to subdue Caelus.
"Wait! Spare the Caelus, not the orbs!"
Caelus caved.
Even though, after walking the Path of Propagation, he could thoroughly discipline this Stellaron spirit in bed, when it came to raw physical strength, he was still getting crushed.
"Surrendering works!"
Stelle pressed her advantage, showing no mercy, pinning Caelus's mouth and nose firmly shut with her soft star-orbs.
Through their empathy bond, she could clearly smell her own elegant orchid-and-milk fragrance on herself, and simultaneously experience a faint, subtle sense of suffocation.
"Say 'good big sister' and 'mommy' for me!"
"Mmph... let... let go of the orbs... I got... a few days ago... I got my hands on... a super interesting treasure!"
Sealed physically beneath the creamy mountain, Caelus's words came out broken, like he was about to breathe his last.
"Really?"
Stelle's grip loosened a little.
"If I'm lying... from now on I'll tell everyone... I'm your little brother!"
That's how cruel he'd go?!
Stelle's brilliant golden eyes went wide in an instant.
The next second, as if possessed by the spirit of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu, she let out a low shout and sprang up in a mighty lift, like hoisting a cauldron overhead.
The Herta puppets piled on top of her clattered and jingled, sent flying by the sheer power of her core and waist strength!
"Ha! What demon dares this?! Star-baby is here—how dare you attack my brother!"
Her expression flipped instantly, radiating overwhelming presence, as if the person who'd just tried to smother Caelus a moment ago wasn't her at all.
"Daddy! Are you all right?!"
As if possessed by the spirit of Lü Bu, Stelle moved gently yet swiftly to dig Caelus out from the very bottom of the puppet pile, carefully helping him up, her face the picture of devoted filial piety.
What was even happening?!
She'd just been demanding he call her "mommy," and in the blink of an eye she was calling him "daddy"?
Off to the side, Haxxor Bunny, Little Duck, and the others, who'd been watching the whole spectacle, twitched at the corners of their mouths as they admired Stelle's Sichuan opera face-changing skills—arguably the best on the Express.
Well, whatever—they were used to it by now. This was just a normal day for Stelle and Caelus, defined by a thoroughly chaotic and endlessly flexible web of relationships.
Conjoined siblings, and father and daughter, all rolled into one.
"Brother~ please, have a seat~"
Stelle instantly switched to a voice so elegant it was almost unsettling, her face plastered with a sickeningly sweet smile.
She even thoughtfully grabbed the corner of March 7th's skirt nearby and carefully wiped down the seat next to her with it.
"Mm~"
Caelus glanced approvingly at the gray-haired girl currently being chased and pummeled by Little March, then plopped himself down with a flourish.
"Star-baby, come closer, I have something to tell you."
Caelus beckoned her over, looking like he was about to reveal some grand secret.
"Coming, coming!"
Stelle slid across the polished floor on her knees with a sharp screech, bowing a perfect ninety degrees in lightning-fast apology to the furious March 7th before sliding past and shoving her aside.
Then, like a fawning lackey, she scooted up next to Caelus, bowing and scraping.
"Whatever you say, brother, Star-baby will listen with all her heart!"
"Hm?"
Her body froze. Stelle blinked her brilliant golden eyes in confusion, then felt a warm, soft touch against her lips—had Caelus-cub just kissed her?
Her willow eyebrows shot up in an instant, fury about to erupt—trying to fool her with just a kiss?!
But then a strange warmth flowed into her body along with the kiss.
In her mind, a card materialized out of nowhere, slowly spinning.
On the card was a grinning blue shorthaired cat. Tom?
The moment she saw the cat, its name and an inexplicable sense of familiarity surfaced in her mind, even though she was absolutely certain she'd never seen it before.
"Jump commencing in 5, 4, 3, 2..."
Pom-Pom's countdown rang out like the symphony of fate, right at the strange moment when their lips met and their breath mingled.
"1!"
The faster-than-light Astral Express unleashed a magnificent burst of Trailblaze power, its hull instantly wrapped in a layer of flowing, strange crystal-blue light.
Time and space grew thick and warped in that instant, as if crystal-blue seawater were silently spreading and flowing through the cabin, swallowing all light and sound.
Stelle's and Caelus's molten gold eyes, locked on each other, were both stained with a deep, hazy glow of luminous blue within that tide.
Consciousness felt as if it had been dropped into the ocean—a sense of weightlessness and separation from space and time washed over them, and everything went dark before Caelus's eyes.
In a daze, Caelus slowly opened his eyes.
What filled his vision wasn't the wall of the Express's cabin, but a graceful silhouette.
Pale purple hair cascaded like a waterfall of moonlight, and at the position of her ears, two pairs of small, delicate wings unfurled slightly.
Most breathtaking of all were her eyes, as if the lush green of an entire forest and the clear ripples of a limpid lake had been crushed together within them.
Her shoulders, smooth and flawless as carved jade, were bared to the air, adorned with a purple, star-patterned scarf-like collar that elegantly wrapped her swan-like neck, lending the girl a noble, princess-like air.
Silk half-palm gloves wrapped her slender hands without a gap, and her lavish white-and-purple gown, its soft fabric trimmed in ruffles, hugged the eye-catching, proud curve of her chest just perfectly.
Caelus looked around.
A grand, opulent hall.
"Sir."
The girl in the lavish gown looked at the gray-haired young man who'd abruptly appeared before her, and raised a hand in a silk glove, waving it with elegant grace.
Her voice was like the finest silk brushing across harp strings, gentle and warm, laced with a touch of concern:
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
Caelus shook his head, fully dispelling the daze and the tide-like feeling of separation from his mind.
"Where is this place?"
He steadied himself, focusing his gaze on the stunningly beautiful girl before him.
Despite the wall between the 2D and 3D worlds, her signature winged ears and the iconic stage outfit he'd only ever seen in projections of online concerts let him instantly recognize who she was.
"You're... Miss Robin?"
Caelus had once watched a livestream of Robin's concert on the Interastral Peace Network.
That voice, kissed by angels—even just a soft hum could heal ears deafened by listening to a certain "Kun-ge's" singing.
The star of the music world, renowned across the cosmos, and no exaggeration at that.
"That's me."
Robin wasn't surprised to be recognized; in Penacony, her fame was practically a landmark.
"Phew, glad you're all right."
Robin quietly let out a breath of relief. The young man before her recognized her, but he wasn't a fanatic fan, which put her considerably at ease.
"This is the boundary between reality and the Reverie—the First Dream."
Robin explained softly.
"This is your first time visiting Penacony, isn't it?"
"When someone first sets foot in the Asdana system, their body suddenly comes into contact with a high concentration of Memoria, which can trigger certain adaptive reactions—such as, in your case, being dropped straight into a dream fragment."
As she spoke, a flicker of curiosity and surprise passed through the depths of her lake-reflecting eyes.
Normally, everyone newly arrived in the Asdana system entered the same shared dream—so why had this young man ended up in her own private dream bubble?
It didn't make sense.
But the aura surrounding him was stable, with no trace of any "noise"...
Was it purely an accident?
"Whoa! So you're saying I'm already inside a dream in Penacony?"
Caelus stood up, carefully sensing his surroundings.
"Don't worry."
Robin gently reassured the guest who'd stumbled into this mishap, her voice carrying a soothing, comforting power.
"You'll wake from this dream soon and forget everything that happened here. I can also send you—?"
But Caelus's next move cut her words short.
He stared at the wall for two seconds, thoughtfully studying it, then stepped back twice, took a short running start, and charged straight at the wall!
"Damn it!"
The expected scene of walking on the wall like solid ground didn't happen, but thankfully Caelus reacted fast enough—with a somewhat hasty backflip, he managed to land on his feet and steady himself.
"Isn't this a dream? Why can't I even manage something as basic as walking on walls?"
Robin couldn't help but laugh.
"Did a friend tell you about how dreams work?"
"You can indeed walk on walls in a dream, but you need a dream bubble bridge, or you need to be inside your own private dream bubble."
After all, if just anyone could walk on walls and ceilings in a public dream space, things would get chaotic fast.
"If you'd like to experience the wonders of dreams, you could check into a hotel this morning and enter through the Dreampool..."
This chance encounter felt like fate, and since he wasn't a difficult, overzealous fan to deal with, Robin figured she could try playing guide for a bit.
Even though he'd forget it all afterward.
It would still be a good first taste of dreaming for a guest.
Then... she fell silent again.
"Miss Robin, please, watch closely—my transformation!"
The gray-haired young man suddenly turned around, his expression grave, his eyes resolute, as if heading into a decisive battle.
"...?"
Robin's wing-ears twitched, looking a little bewildered.
Wh-what?
Then she watched Caelus strike a pose—both hands loosely gripped at his waist, one fist drawn back to his hip, the other sweeping across his front, then both arms opening slightly outward.
"Henshin~!"
A nonsensical gesture, but light bloomed from Caelus's body.
Robin instinctively narrowed her eyes; when the light faded, the gray-haired young man was nowhere to be seen.
In his place was a little mouse no bigger than her palm.
The mouse was dark brown all over, except for its belly and the insides of its ears, which were a pale tan, and it had a humanlike form, standing upright on two feet.
Though she was a girl, Robin often traveled to disaster-stricken planets to help people in danger, so she wasn't afraid of mice.
Especially since the little mouse was hopping around cheerfully, waving hello and whistling at her.
"You... you're the one from before?"
Then Robin watched the mouse pull out a pen and paper far too big for its size from who-knows-where, write "Jerry," and pat its own chest.
"Mister... Jerry?"
Robin stood there, dumbfounded.
She'd grown up in Penacony her whole life—what hadn't she seen in dreams?
But this scene, she truly had never seen anything like it!
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