Robin watched this reality-defying cat-and-mouse orchestra.
A bold idea began circling in her mind — should she invite these two special guests to perform live at the Charmony Festival?
She didn't know why, but with their accompaniment she could sing normally. Maybe it could mask the problem with her voice and let her perform smoothly after all.
The thought was tempting, but it came bundled with enormous uncertainty and risk.
Meanwhile, Acheron sat quietly on the sofa, watching the stage intently, enjoying the cat-and-mouse performance.
Stelle-Tom had, in this moment, become like an ancient Greek god presiding over music!
Any score that flashed through her mind, no matter how complex or arcane, could be played flawlessly — the feeling was exhilarating!
With just a flicker of thought, she effortlessly commanded five or six instruments to play out the score in her head.
The melody flowed naturally like running water, shifting into a light, bouncing symphony.
Caelus-Jerry, busy performing his signature move — the Earnest Repeated Hop — across the piano keys, spun and leapt as the music shifted key, landing atop the piano's lid.
He puffed out his tiny chest, clasped his hands together, and stood like a tenor at the center of a stage in the Golden Hall, belting out in his clear voice:
"Don't~ look down on me just 'cause I'm a sheep~ A sheep's wits are beyond imagining~?"
"No matter how high the sky, my spirit runs just as wild~ Every day I chase the sun~?"
The lyrics were strange enough to make the corner of Acheron's mouth twitch, but the grand, melodious symphony made her wonder if she ought to change into a more elegant, luxurious gown.
Otherwise she felt, somehow, unworthy of listening to such a magnificent, dignified symphony.
Robin's thoughts were drawn back by the melody, ripples of inspiration spreading through her mind.
A brilliant idea for a song was just starting to take shape — when — screech-buzz~!
The music suddenly fell into chaos.
As if wrenched by an invisible giant hand, it turned instantly harsh and tuneless.
"Hiss—!"
Robin sucked in a sharp breath.
Having her inspiration snuffed out like that felt a hundred times worse than the cruelest edging!
She quickly looked toward the orchestra.
Only to see a pair of hands materialize beside Stelle-Tom without warning.
They wore standard white formal gloves, the wrists ending in smooth, severed stumps, floating in midair — eerie, like a puppet's.
One of them pressed down hard on Stelle-Tom's shoulder — it was this sudden interference that threw off her playing and caused the mistake.
"What... is that?"
Acheron was pulled out of her immersion in the music, her gaze sharpening as her hand instinctively moved to the hilt at her waist.
An identical hand appeared beside Caelus-Jerry, pressing down on his shoulder and shaking him violently.
The atmosphere abruptly took a turn toward horror-movie territory.
As they were shaken, Stelle and Caelus seemed to hear voices calling out, as if from some distant realm.
"Wake up!"
"Stelle! Caelus!"
"Brother Caelus!"
"What's wrong with you two?!"
Along with the shouting, two translucent bubbles, like comic-book speech balloons, popped into existence above the heads of Stelle-Tom and Caelus-Jerry.
Inside the bubbles, the sofa area of the Express appeared with perfect clarity — March 7th, Haxxor Bunny, Seele, and the others stood in a circle, faces anxious, calling out to the sleeping Stelle and Caelus on the couch.
"???"
Robin's ear feathers nearly curled into question marks at the sight.
What was happening?!
What was that bubble?
A Dream Bubble?
No, why did it look like the real world?
Dreaming, inside a dream of Penacony, about something happening in the real world?!
Miss Robin, a native of Penacony, felt her whole worldview start to crumble.
How on earth were they doing this?!
Was she the one losing her mind, or was it them?!
Robin clutched her head blankly, as if that might stop the shards of her buzzing worldview from scattering any further.
Meanwhile, Stelle-Tom, thoroughly rattled by the shaking, had a few spinning golden stars circling above her head.
She shook her cat head hard, steadying herself from her wobbly state, and swatted the annoying stars away with an irritated paw.
She quickly shot a look at the Caelus-cub nearby:
[Ah Qi and the others are calling us! It's urgent — should we head back and let them know we're safe?]
Stelle and Caelus already shared a bond, and with Tom and Jerry's chemistry layered on top, a single glance carried a thousand words.
Caelus-Jerry glanced at the speech bubble above his head — inside, Haxxor Bunny was holding up Himeko's coffee pot, suggesting:
"Should we pour some of Himeko's special blend down their throats to wake them up?"
Squeak!
Traitorous disciple!
You master-betraying, ancestor-disowning traitor!
Just watch — tonight Bronie's going to raid Sensei's room, and catch Sensei and Little Seele experimenting with eighteen different ways to fill cream puffs!
Caelus-Jerry panicked.
He did not want to wake up and taste Himeko's coffee!
[Let's go! It's an emergency!!]
Caelus waved his little paws frantically.
Stelle-Tom also sensed the gravity of the situation; her whole cat body shuddered, teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Perhaps imagining the consequences of Himeko's coffee, her face had already taken on a poisoned-looking shade of purple.
"Are you two... trying to leave?"
Although the cat and mouse hadn't made a single sound comprehensible to humans, both Acheron and Robin received their intense desire to bolt with perfect clarity.
As a representative of the Family, Robin forced down the storm raging inside her and struggled to maintain her hospitable manners.
Though these two guests were bizarre beyond reason, the purity of their music told her they meant no harm.
"Mm-hmm-hmm!"
The cat and mouse nodded like they were pounding garlic.
Caelus-Jerry didn't forget to solemnly straighten his tiny tuxedo's bow tie, and Stelle-Tom put on airs, smoothing down the fur on her chest.
The two little creatures, in perfect sync, gave Acheron and Robin a gentleman's closing bow.
"The exit is that way..."
Robin forced a gentle smile, raising her hand to point down the corridor at the side of the room, intending to guide them personally:
"I'll take you out..."
Her voice cut off abruptly; Robin froze.
Before she'd even finished the first half of her sentence, Caelus-Jerry had already made his move. While Stelle's attention was on Robin, he crept silently behind Tom, then raised his foot—
and kicked Stelle-Tom hard in the backside.
"Yowwwl!!!"
No voice direction needed this time — the raw, unfiltered scream sent Stelle-Tom flying three meters into the air.
She traced a graceful arc through the air and, with the echo of her howl trailing behind, landed back on the ground with a splat.
Stelle-Tom clutched her now red and swollen backside, whipping her head around with a look of shock and fury.
What met her wide, round cat eyes was Caelus-cub, who hadn't run far at all — instead he'd stopped at the corridor entrance, turned back, and was sticking his tongue out and pulling faces at her, even smugly slapping his own backside for the ultimate taunt.
Tom, Enraged.jpg
Stelle rolled up sleeves that didn't exist, her shoulder muscles bulging exaggeratedly, mouth opening to bare sharp fangs.
A low growl rumbled in her throat, and like a cat-shaped war chariot with nitrous boosters ignited, she tore through the air, charging straight at Caelus-Jerry!
"Wait! That's not a straight path! The exit needs several more turns—huh?!"
Robin flung out a hand in a futile, melodramatic reach — an Er Kang hand — but her voice was swallowed by the dust cloud of the cat-and-mouse chase.
Before she could finish speaking, what happened next left her voice stuck in her throat.
The fleeing-and-chasing cat-and-mouse pair weren't running down the corridor normally at all.
Everywhere they passed — solid walls, ornate doors, even the folded corridors formed by warped space itself — crumpled like flimsy cardboard.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom!
Amid a series of deafening crashes, the walls were smashed through with sharply defined, clean-edged holes shaped exactly like a cat and a mouse.
It was as if their bodies had been used as stamps, violently pressed into the building's structure.
More absurdly, they even smashed through the barriers separating different dreams!
Robin's eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets, her mouth falling open unconsciously.
So, after all, the one with the problem...
...is me, isn't it?
This kind of thing... how could it possibly happen?
Could it be that, with the Charmony Festival approaching and her voice troubles weighing on her, the stress had built up so much that she was having such an absurd hallucination inside her own dream?
She numbly reached out and pinched her own pale arm hard.
There was some pain — proof that the dream's dampened pain sensation was still in effect.
This was indeed a dream.
Her dazed eyes vacantly followed the wild trail left by the cat and mouse.
She watched them blaze through the corridor in a shower of sparks and lightning, smash through the hall, blast away every obstacle in their path, race into the hotel lobby, and burst through the front doors.
And then... left the dream?!?!
Just like that, they left?
Robin froze in place, her expression utterly bizarre.
...
Express, Parlor Car.
"Who dares harm Us?!"
The booming, full-throated roar exploded through the air, and Stelle and Caelus, who had been sleeping on the sofa, shot upright as if a spring switch had been flipped, their movements perfectly, eerily synchronized.
"They're awake, they're awake! You're finally awake!!"
March 7th was the first to pounce, yanking them both into a fierce hug.
"See, I told you Himeko's coffee works. Amazing at waking people up — when it counts, this is what you need."
Haxxor Bunny let out a breath of relief, a cool, slightly smug smile crossing her face.
White Seele leaned in with concern:
"Brother Caelus, Sister Stelle, what happened? Right after the Express finished its jump, you two suddenly passed out. Nothing we did could wake you."
"Phew... it's nothing much."
Stelle patted her chest, then clapped a hand over her mouth, her face turning pale. "I just had a... blegh—!!"
Unfortunately, she was too late — the lingering effects of the wake-up coffee still forced a pained sound out of her.
"Neither of you dreamed?"
Caelus's gaze locked precisely onto Haxxor Bunny as she tried to slip away. He struck like lightning, grabbing the culprit's twintails, then ruthlessly squished and rubbed her wonderfully soft cheeks with both hands.
"Especially you! Traitorous disciple! How dare you suggest using that weapon!"
"Nope."
March 7th blinked, puzzled, a flicker of regret crossing her face.
"I even made a point of dozing off along with you two, and... I slept like a log! Didn't dream a thing!"
She spread her hands, showing she'd missed out on the show.
"Typical you."
Stelle and Caelus gave a thumbs-up.
Himeko, Old Yang, and Pom-Pom walked into the car.
Seeing the two of them awake, Himeko let out a relieved breath:
"We'd only just arrived at the Asdana Star System when this accident happened... Seems your resistance to Memoria is pretty low."
"We really do need to be careful — from now on, be extra cautious in environments like this."
Old Yang cautioned.
"Passenger Stelle, Passenger Caelus, I'm so glad you're okay, pom!"
"Oh, right~"
March 7th's curiosity could no longer be contained. She leaned in eagerly toward Stelle and Caelus, eyes sparkling:
"Come on, tell this young lady — what did you two dream about?"
"Heh heh!"
At the mention of the dream, Stelle's earlier misery vanished instantly. She gestured wildly, launching into a vivid description:
"It was a super—super fun dream! I turned into a super cool blue cat! I was so agile, and I could play tons of instruments!"
Stelle was completely absorbed in the excitement of her strange adventure, not treating the fact that she'd turned into Tom the cat in her dream as anything odd at all.
As far as she was concerned, it was just a dream — couldn't you turn into anything in a dream?
Flying through the sky, burrowing underground, becoming Superman — none of that was strange!
Turning into a cat was nothing.
Caelus listened quietly beside her to Stelle's innocent account, the corner of his mouth curving up.
Caelus didn't tell Stelle the truth, precisely because he wanted her to keep this "of course it's normal" subconscious belief forever.
As for himself...
An invisible, mask-like shadow seemed to flicker deep in his consciousness and shatter — the gentle yet firm subconscious self-suggestion buried within him vanished.
Though the effect and duration of this maneuver were fairly limited, its effect was outrageous enough regardless.
"While you two were asleep, the Express arrived at Penacony."
Pom-Pom gazed out through the porthole:
"The old frontier prison has now turned into this luxurious hotel. As Conductor, I'm curious what Penacony looks like these days too, but I can't exactly get off the Express... so please, experience it well on my behalf."
"Maintain mission completion."
Having packed their bags, the Express crew walked off the Express in a lively bustle.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 10 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉