As Sam Li and Venti followed March 7th and the others onto the Astral Express, March 7th immediately closed the train doors.
At Pom-Pom's command, the Astral Express officially departed.
But... the train had barely started moving when March 7th seemed to spot something outside the window and urgently alerted Sam Li and Himeko beside him.
"Mr. Sam Li, look outside! It looks like Nicole and Billy are here—probably looking for you... Pom-Pom, wait! Stop the train..."
Pom-Pom responded with some irritation. "Starting and stopping so abruptly is really frustrating."
Though she spoke thus, Pom-Pom halted the Astral Express and reopened the train doors.
Sam Li and Venti stepped out to find Nicole, Billy, Anby, and Nekomata panting heavily.
Behind them were countless familiar faces from New Eridu: Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Seth, Hoshimi Miyabi, Tsukishiro Yanagi, Soukaku, Asaba Harumasa, Hu Tao, Xiangling, Ellen, Lycaon, Caesar, Piper, Lucy, No. 11, the Proxy...
Nearly everyone they knew had come.
Seeing this, Venti let out a playful laugh. "Hey, how come you're all here? You're not here to see us off, are you?"
Nicole gasped, "S-sorry, Sam Li, we're late... It's all Billy and Nekomata's fault for wasting time..."
Seeing Nicole shifting the blame onto him, Billy quickly interjected, "Boss Nicole, it was clearly your makeup that took forever— I mean—no, no, it was me! I'm the one who wasted time..."
Seeing Boss Nicole glare at him, Billy immediately backtracked, rephrasing his words.
Shortly after, Hu Tao, Xiangling, Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, No. 11, Miyabi, Yanagi, and others finally arrived.
Evidently, they'd all heard that Sam Li and Venti were joining the train crew on their journey to the stars and had come to see them off.
Zhu Yuan panted, "Finally... finally caught up. Mr. Sam Li, we're late."
Qingyi, however, seemed completely unfazed, showing no signs of fatigue. She slowly pulled a small package from behind her back. "Zhu Yuan, bring out the gift..."
Hearing this, Zhu Yuan snapped to attention and quickly retrieved a small parcel from behind her back.
"Mr. Sam Li, after this parting, who knows when we'll meet again. This is a gift from me, Senior Qingyi, and Seth... Thank you for everything you've done for New Eridu."
Sam Li frowned in confusion. "A gift?"
Zhu Yuan hastily explained, "These are pastries Qingyi and I made ourselves. Please, Mr. Sam Li, you must accept them."
Before Sam Li could take them, the ever-greedy March 7th rushed over and snatched the pastries for him.
March 7th chuckled, "There you go, Mr. Sam Li has accepted them... What about the rest of you? What gifts did you prepare?"
Sam Li was speechless.
"... ..."
Is this how you ask for gifts?
However, the others had indeed prepared their own farewell gifts.
No. 11 presented a precious weapon.
The Sons of Calydon gifted a motorcycle... Though rather large, Sam Li didn't refuse and had March 7th push it into the train carriage.
Hoshimi Miyabi and Tsukishiro Yanagi offered a tea set.
As for the Victoria Housekeeping crew, they gave Venti a professional recording setup, hoping she could capture that beautiful harp music.
Finally, Sam Li looked at Nicole, Billy, Anby, and Nekomata.
Nicole cleared her throat and smiled. "No need to look. Compared to theirs, our gift is the most, most, most precious."
Sam Li looked utterly bewildered.
"????"
Billy exclaimed excitedly, "After careful discussion among Leader Nicole, me, Ambi, and Nekomata, we've unanimously decided to give ourselves to you!"
Anby added earnestly, "The Cunning Hares is a single entity—we can't just split apart like this."
Nekomata chimed in enthusiastically, "Meaning, Leader Nicole has decided to give up her position as Deputy Mayor of Calydon City. We're going with you to the stars."
Nicole cleared her throat. "That's right. Exactly as the three of them said."
Hearing this, the others nearby were all a bit surprised.
From a very, very young age, Nicole had lost her most important friend and simultaneously realized the importance of dennies. From that moment on, Nicole vowed to earn vast amounts of dennies, becoming an extraordinary figure who would never let those around her suffer due to dennie scarcity.
Precisely because of this, though famously stingy, Nicole had always treated the employees of Cunning Hares exceptionally well, being very generous toward Billy, Anby, and Nekomata.
Now, with Sam Li's help, Nicole finally realized her dream. She earned tons of tons of dennies, invested in the development of Calydon City, and became its true financial tycoon—plus the city's deputy mayor.
Yet now, Nicole abandoned all of this. After settling the children at the orphanage, she resolutely chose to follow Sam Li, taking Billy, Anby, and Nekomata with her as they journeyed together into the starry sky.
Just as Anby had said, the Cunning Hares is a whole—it cannot be torn apart.
Before March 7th and Himeko could respond, Nicole, Billy, Nekomata, and Anby had already eagerly boarded the Astral Express, as if fearful the crew might refuse them.
Seeing this, Himeko, Dan Heng, and the other Trailblazers exchanged helpless glances.
These were all Sam Li's friends—they couldn't refuse.
Suddenly, March 7th spotted another person boarding the train who wasn't from Cunning Hares and quickly stopped them.
"You're not part of Cunning Hares, are you?"
Hu Tao smiled. "Of course not."
March 7th pressed, "Then why are you here?"
Hu Tao replied matter-of-factly, "Members of the Cunning Hares don't part ways easily. Neither do those of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Last time we let Sam Li slip away. This time, we absolutely cannot let him escape alone. He's my guest advisor. It makes perfect sense for me to follow, doesn't it?"
It did... make perfect sense.
While March 7th hesitated, Hu Tao slipped onto the train.
Suddenly, four or five more people appeared inside the carriage.
Seeing the eager crowd on the platform, March 7th feared more might follow Sam Li and urgently called for Sam Li and Venti to board.
"Don't waste time. We're running out. Let's go..."
If anyone else boarded, the supplies prepared aboard the Astral Express wouldn't be enough to feed everyone.
As Sam Li and Venti boarded the Astral Express, Zhu Yuan and Qingyi on the platform, the members of Section 6, the Sons of Calydon, No. 11, the Proxy... everyone waved goodbye to Sam Li.