My name is March 7th, a Nameless of with overwhelming glory and honor aboard the Astral Express.
This young lady has crossed countless worlds throughout the universe and left her great name on many of them besides.
Granted, most of it's bad publicity...
But that doesn't matter!
Because I've always believed that one day, I'll become the most famous Nameless in the entire universe!
Unfortunately, that dream seems to have run into an incredibly powerful obstacle today.
Some weirdo has been secretly collecting all kinds of information about me.
They must be trying to dig up my weaknesses from my profile!
And then use those weaknesses to corrupt my soul!
By then, people would be waiting on me hand and foot, and I'd have whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it...
That kind of temptation is far too disgraceful.
So when the time comes, should I accept? Or accept? Or... accept?
What a terribly difficult choice!
"I'm telling you, even if you corrupt my body for a while, my soul will still cry out from the muck!"
March 7th spoke with righteous indignation while stuffing herself with the food Sora had bought her.
Though given what she was doing at the moment, the scene wasn't exactly convincing.
Still, if spending a little money could get her to quiet down for a while, Sora was already satisfied.
"Eat, eat. Stuff your face and keep your mouth shut."
Sora slumped back against his seat, utterly helpless.
What even was all this today...?
Across from him, March 7th—who was gnawing away like a mole—couldn't help growing curious when she saw him like that.
"What exactly did you do to get people chasing you like that?"
A moment ago, while Sora had been buying her food, a huge crowd had suddenly rushed past behind them.
There had been so many people that the whole street had clogged up for a moment.
But those people seemed to have assumed the two of them were together, so they hadn't paid them much attention.
"That guy's by himself, and this whole street is full of couples. Let's search somewhere else!"
And just like that, the two of them had slipped right out from under the Bloodhound Family's noses.
March 7th honestly found it unbelievable. Was Penacony's public security really this slapdash?
Still, compared to that, she was much more curious about what this guy calling himself "Imperial Heavenly King" had actually done.
He'd gone on and on about destroying sweet dreams, then brought her here and said he wanted to buy her off.
Judging from his behavior, this was exactly the kind of thing that only showed up at the start of a novel.
Could it be that she, March 7th, was about to become the protagonist at the heart of this story's central conflict?!
Sure enough, she really was destined to become a famous Nameless across the galaxy!
"I didn't do anything. If anything, something happened that even I can't make sense of..."
He clearly hadn't had any contact with Robin and the others over the past three days, so how had he somehow ended up arranging three different things with all of them on the same day?
Something had definitely happened that even Sora himself couldn't understand.
And together with those notes that had kept appearing by his bedside before, he had already started forming a vague guess.
That was why he wanted to investigate in secret and get to the bottom of it.
On the surface, he had already vanished.
Now he wanted to see what would happen next.
Unfortunately, that explanation obviously wasn't enough to convince March 7th.
As the great detective March 7th, she had already picked up from the little details in the way Sora spoke that something was definitely fishy here.
"Just now, you sighed seven times, scratched your head three times, and even looked like you were about to pick your nose twice!"
Detective March 7th pushed up a pair of nonexistent glasses.
"You've obviously got something on your mind, and then you tell me there's nothing you want to say..."
Did he think she was stupid?
To be fair, Sora kind of did.
Of course, he didn't show it. Honestly, he was a little impressed that March 7th's powers of observation were this sharp.
But only a little.
"I was threatening you just now, you know. Isn't your curiosity a little too strong?"
Even Sora found her curiosity slightly exhausting.
Sis, you are way too friendly with strangers.
"Heh-heh. I already pulled up all your information just now..."
In response to Sora's words, March 7th merely waved her phone around.
Though she only flashed it for an instant, Sora's dynamic vision still caught the chat log on the screen.
[Astral Express Family]
[March 7th]:Oh no, oh no, I got kidnapped! Himeko, Uncle Welt, Dan Heng, I might not be able to keep traveling with you guys.
[Himeko]:What happened, March?
[Welt]:Kidnapped? This is the Family's territory. How could something that vile happen here?
[Dan Heng]:March 7th, no matter what, you're still a Nameless who walks the Path of TRAILBLAZE. Who exactly could kidnap you?
[March 7th]:Oh, right! Then I'll try breaking free from this bad guy's embrace!
At that point in time...
Sora suddenly remembered March 7th's inexplicable struggling back then. So that was what that had been about?
Then, two minutes later, March 7th sent another message:
[March 7th]:I tried. Both my hands together couldn't overpower one of his.
[Himeko]: ...
[Welt]: ...
[Dan Heng]: ...
Just from the screen full of ellipses, it was obvious how awkward the atmosphere in the group chat had been.
At the time, Sora had thought March 7th was genuinely feeling down, which was why he'd agreed to bring her here and buy her something to cheer her up.
So it turned out she was upset because she couldn't beat him, and then got roasted for it?
Good grief. He was usually the one freeloading off other people, but today someone had managed to freeload an entire meal off him.
At that thought, Sora couldn't help glaring at March 7th.
March 7th gave him an embarrassed grin.
The chat log that followed also revealed why March 7th was this absurdly fearless.
[Himeko]:Looks like we really should work on March's hand-to-hand skills in the future.
[Welt]:No helping it. What did the person who kidnapped you look like? And where are you now? I'll come immediately.
[March 7th]:[Sora.jpg] It's this jerk right here. But really, all he's got over me is stronger arms and legs. Right now he's buying me food.
[Dan Heng]:? Didn't you say you got kidnapped? Why is he buying you food?
[March 7th]:Huh? Isn't keeping the hostage in a good mood something every kidnapper is supposed to do?
The group chat fell into a brief silence.
[Welt]:I'm now seriously wondering whether March was actually kidnapped at all.
Her phone was working just fine, she could share her location with Welt, and when she got upset, he even bought her food...
Really, aside from the issue of hand-to-hand ability, no one looking at this situation would see any sign of kidnapping at all.
At the critical moment, Dan Heng spoke again.
[Dan Heng]:Found it. It's just a misunderstanding.
Then he dropped a whole pile of information into the group chat.
The materials contained a brief introduction to Sora, including his current position and the faction he belonged to.
[Himeko]:The Federation of Hope star system... If I remember correctly, that's the place we visited not long ago, isn't it?
[Welt]:That's right. After we attended the celebration in the Cangyan, that was where we went next...
[Dan Heng]:I remember their representative telling us at the time that their leader was filming on the Xianzhou, so we just exchanged some basic information and left.
Who would have thought they'd meet here instead?
And once that information appeared, a lot of things suddenly made sense.
It was perfectly normal for the Astral Express to exchange intelligence with all kinds of forces throughout the galaxy.
Otherwise, nobody would know how many Nameless might be aboard the Astral Express at any given time.
After all, the biggest difference between the Nameless and the Galaxy Rangers was that one group was registered, while the other kept their identities mysterious.
So the Astral Express's information ending up in someone else's hands was perfectly normal.
[March 7th]:No wonder he knows so much about me. I really thought he was some evil organization opposed to the Astral Express.
What kind of setting was that? This wasn't some novel.
But once the identity issue was cleared up, March 7th still had a question.
[March 7th]:Then why was he being chased by such a huge crowd? Those people really looked like they meant it.
That question quickly got a possible lead from Welt's reply.
[Welt]:Perhaps because of the film?
Realizing that Welt might know something, three identical [Go on] messages instantly flooded the chat.
[Welt]:It's that film the Federation of Hope and the Xianzhou Alliance made together. Even if you don't know Xianzhou mythology, the mecha and transformations alone make it worth watching.
Unfortunately, the silence in the group chat quickly dragged Welt back to reality.
Left with no choice, he explained his guess.
[Welt]:It's definitely a feast for mecha and transformation fans. But if anything in that matter could be related to this, it would probably only be the galaxy superstar Robin, who made a guest appearance in it.
[Welt]:You may not know this, but the agency Robin belongs to is known across the galaxy for being overbearing.
[Welt]:One of their conditions is that if she appears in a film, then she absolutely has to be the female lead—or at least the central heroine.
And yet in that film, Robin had ended up as the second or third female lead.
The online uproar over that had been pretty intense at the time. The agency had even wanted to sue the Xianzhou Alliance.
Unfortunately for them, the Xianzhou Alliance had been in the middle of a massive campaign against the Denizens of Abundance, so the agency's issue had been put on hold.
And once the Xianzhou Alliance won a sweeping victory in that campaign, the agency quietly vanished from the galaxy altogether.
Netizens, of course, loved a spectacle. Under the Xianzhou Alliance's victory announcement, they kept tagging the agency over and over.
Sadly, the agency never responded at all, which left quite a few people disappointed.
The reason Welt had brought this up was simple: Penacony was backed by the Family.
Robin herself had even come from Penacony.
"So..."
March 7th looked at Sora with burning curiosity.
"Are you being hunted like this because of the Family?"
They couldn't do much to you inside the Xianzhou Alliance, but now that you're on the Family's turf, of course they can get to you!
In her mind, she had already pieced together an entire story called Soromeo and Robiniet.
A man and woman torn apart by opposition between their factions, their feelings denied a perfect ending.
"Uh..."
Even Sora hadn't expected things to develop in that direction.
"I guess it's got a tiny little bit to do with the Family."
"A tiny little bit? What did you do?"
"I just beat up Penacony's former Family Representative. You know... Robin's brother."
Because Sunday's case involved too much, the Family had never publicized it.
Naturally, Sora couldn't possibly explain what had happened with Sunday and the dream of ORDER, so he could only replace it with a vague description like that.
The instant March 7th heard it, her eyes flew wide open.
Wait, wait, wait—
What did you just say?
"You beat up Miss Robin's brother? Penacony's Family Representative?!"
And that was only "a tiny little bit related" in this guy's mouth?
Was this the difference between people in high positions and ordinary folks like them?
Was there anything bigger than that? Anything more explosive than that?
If he'd done that, then getting hunted down suddenly sounded perfectly normal.
An entire plotline had already unfolded in March 7th's mind.
As the Family representative, Sunday had done everything he could to obstruct whatever was going on between Sora and Robin.
"My sister will never have anything to do with your Federation!"
Then Sora had shouted something about "happiness," "the future," and "love," and rushed forward to punch Sunday in the face.
And just like that, he had landed himself on the wanted list.
"You know what? I'm really feeling this."
March 7th took a deep breath and patted Sora on the shoulder.
"I'm helping you no matter what!"
Lovers being kept apart was exactly the kind of thing March 7th couldn't stand!
What she hated most was seeing two people in love fail to end up together!
And now that something like that was happening right in front of her, how could she possibly just stand by?
"The Pure Love Warrior March 7th will make your wish come true!"
"Huh? Oh? Uh..."
Looking at the suddenly fired-up March 7th in front of him, Sora got the distinct feeling she had misunderstood something.
Had what he'd just said really been that ambiguous?
Sora mentally replayed the explanation he'd given just now.
It didn't seem all that ambiguous to him.
He really had clashed with Sunday, and in the end he really had kicked him.
There wasn't anything wrong with those statements.
So why was the person who had actually lived through it completely numb to the matter, while the person merely listening to it was suddenly ablaze with passion?
What had just happened?
Still, even though March 7th clearly wanted to help, Sora politely turned her down.
"I'd rather handle this myself. But thank you for the thought."
Things on his end were chaotic enough already. If the Astral Express crew got mixed in on top of that, he didn't even want to imagine how messy things would become.
Wait.
All of a sudden, Sora thought of something.
If his memory wasn't wrong, then at the final moment of the confrontation with Sunday, it had seemed like the DenLiner and the Astral Express had both shown up together.
And when Sunday was about to unleash his strongest attack, it had been the Astral Express that smacked him in the face.
Could it be that this was the moment he first connected with the Astral Express?
Sora snuck a furtive glance at March 7th.
But in March 7th's eyes, that gesture meant something entirely different.
The sigh Sora let out at the chaos around him looked to her like helpless resignation.
That little sidelong glance of his became, in her mind, worry—worry that even though he knew the Astral Express could help, he didn't want to drag them into this mess because Penacony was the Family's territory.
And so, once filtered through her imagination, the meaning of that glance became:
'I know the Astral Express wants to help me, but this is the Family's territory. I don't want to drag you into this.'
Look at that! Just look at that!
What a loving, responsible person he was!
And yet the one he loved had ended up separated from him by the Family, all the way across the galaxy.
And was she, a future famous Nameless of the galaxy, supposed to just ignore that?
Of course not.
Still, March 7th understood one thing: this couldn't be said outright.
She stole a few glances at Sora.
She had no idea what exactly had happened to turn the leader of a major power into this.
But it was obvious that, at least for now, he didn't want the Astral Express too deeply entangled in the situation.
So for the time being, she could only act in secret while outwardly offering support.
"All right. Since you put it that way."
March 7th spoke up.
"But if you run into trouble, you can come find us on the Astral Express."
Then, when the time was right, that would be her moment to make her grand entrance and save everything from tragedy!
"Definitely, definitely!"
Sora nodded at once.
A little later, he really might need their train to carry him back to a few days earlier.
So this was how their connection had first been forged!
Sora gave March 7th a kindly smile, and March 7th returned it with an encouraging one.
After that, the two of them tacitly shifted to talking about other things.
Sora obviously couldn't keep going and say that later, he planned to use the Astral Express to smack somebody.
And March 7th obviously couldn't say, We're absolutely helping with whatever's going on between you and Robin.
What if he—or the Astral Express, because he was too embarrassed—turned that down later?
At the end of the day, the two of them had never been on the same wavelength from the very start.
And yet somehow, on certain matters, they seemed to have reached some kind of mutual understanding.
Then, while March 7th was chatting with Sora and trying to squeeze more information out of him, her phone suddenly rang.
She looked at it and found that the Astral Express had issued a group summons.
Apparently Himeko had gotten news about those three Nameless and wanted to share the information with them.
So March 7th prepared to say goodbye to Sora.
Since she wasn't making any effort to hide the message from him, Sora was also able to catch part of what it said.
That was when he suddenly remembered that, among those three Nameless, one of them had seemingly been waiting for them all along.
"Do you know about the Compass? Try talking to the conductor, Misha. You might get an unexpected lead."
Sora offered the advice in good faith.
What he hadn't expected was for March 7th to look at him in confusion after hearing that.
"We rode the Compass, sure, but..."
March 7th paused, then said something that genuinely shocked Sora.
"...That train was driverless, wasn't it? What conductor?"
"Huh?!"
"You said... what?!"
"Yeah. There really wasn't any conductor on that train."
March 7th thought back to what had happened on the way to Penacony.
That train had left quite an impression on them.
It had coffee Himeko liked, Xianzhou tea Dan Heng liked, juice she liked... but no one driving it.
"T-that can't be possible."
At that moment, Sora was also frantically sifting through his memories.
There was no conductor on the Compass?
No, that couldn't be right. He clearly remembered Misha being on that train...
Unless Misha had noticed the Astral Express crew arriving, gotten shy, and hidden himself?
With that personality, it sounded entirely possible.
But that didn't make sense either. In the original course of events, hadn't Misha stepped out from the legacy the Watchmaker left behind precisely because he wanted to make friends after sensing the power of TRAILBLAZE?
Hadn't he even gone looking specifically for the Trailblazer, the only one who could see him?
No matter how he thought about it, there was no way Misha would hide out of shyness just because the Astral Express had arrived.
Something was definitely wrong here.
And if there was one thing that felt most wrong, it was obviously...
"Sunday?"
Or rather, Gopher Wood.
After all, those were the only two who had vanished directly after that battle, and there had been no news of either of them since.
So if someone had to bear the most suspicion for Misha's disappearance, those two absolutely couldn't be ruled out.
Sora tucked that information away, intending to have his own people investigate it later.
After passing on that message, it was about time for March 7th to leave too.
But before she left, she still had one last thing she wanted to say to Sora.
"Mr. Sora, no matter what difficulties you run into, don't be afraid. Face them bravely!"
"The best way to solve your problems is to face them. You can do it!"
I'll tell the Astral Express crew what's going on with you, so don't worry—just go chase the one your heart belongs to!
With that, March 7th waved as she headed off to rejoin her companions.
That left Sora standing there, deep in thought.
Face his fears?
She was right.
It really was time to face the thing he feared most right now.
Anyway, it was only one week!
As long as he got through this week, then the sky would belong to the birds and the sea to the fish!
Sora had made up his mind.
And just like that, Sora's first meeting with the Astral Express came to an end.
Even though the two people involved had never once been on the same wavelength.
Somehow, on certain matters, they still seemed to have reached some kind of mutual understanding.
...
Compared to that cheerful encounter over there, Sunday's situation was far less warm.
Inside a room where no one would ever imagine another person could still be living, Sunday had been kept.
He was still hanging upside down there.
But compared to a few days ago, the state of his face had already changed quite noticeably.
His consciousness had grown hazy, and he had even begun to feel hunger.
Ever since he had been taken in by the Family as a child, he had never experienced that sensation again.
And now, at the hands of the very person who had taken him in back then, he was experiencing it once more.
How truly revolting...
Still, judging by the sunlight, Gopher Wood should be coming again soon.
Because this was reality, Sunday could judge the time by the rising and setting of the sun outside.
Over these past few days, Gopher Wood had come to check on him at the same fixed time every day.
That time was when the sun outside was at its strongest—around noon.
And he would stay for only a quarter of an hour before leaving.
Every single day, without fail.
Even Sunday, who had been by his side for over twenty years, couldn't tell what he was planning.
"Could there even be some meaning in the time he comes to see me?"
There were simply too many mysteries involved. With how muddled Sunday's consciousness had become, he could no longer sort through them.
And yet when he saw Gopher Wood today, he was startled to find something clearly different from yesterday.
Gopher Wood had brought food.
The smell of it stirred the hunger in Sunday's gut, and he had never imagined he would end up like this.
Even so, outwardly he still kept his eyes tightly shut, as though refusing to have anything more to do with Gopher Wood than necessary.
"Stop pretending. Most of the divine power left in your body has already been drained away. Your body is slowly returning to that of an ordinary person..."
Though Sunday had been defeated before, there had still been some of the AEON's power of ORDER remaining in his body.
So even while he had been hanging upside down, that divine power had kept his body functioning according to a certain order, sparing him from the physical consequences.
But now that ORDER's power had nearly been drained away, Sunday's body was slowly reverting to that of a normal person.
Which meant the blood rushing to his head from being hung upside down had already started affecting his consciousness.
And it wasn't just the mental fog. Hunger and a host of other symptoms had begun appearing as well...
That was why Gopher Wood had brought food—to feed him.
But Sunday very clearly had no intention of cooperating. His eyes remained shut, and he refused to say a single word to Gopher Wood.
Unfortunately, things were no longer going to proceed according to his wishes.
Because Sunday still could not be allowed to die.
So even if he put on that attitude, Gopher Wood would not be discouraged by it, nor would he admire Sunday's spirit.
He would only...
Take matters into his own hands.
Before Sunday could react, a chunk of something dry and hard was shoved straight into his mouth.
There was a sour tang to the food that forced his eyes open at once.
"Mmph! Mmph!! Mmph!!!"
But Gopher Wood only kept smiling faintly with his eyes half-lidded.
Unfortunately, there was not a shred of gentleness in what his hands were doing. If anything, it was rough.
If Sunday refused to eat, then Gopher Wood would simply force the food into his mouth.
If he refused to chew, then Gopher Wood would strike his jaw again and again.
Once he judged it to be enough, Gopher Wood poured the water he had brought into Sunday's mouth.
But because Sunday was hanging upside down, a great deal of the water ran out of his mouth and into his nasal passages.
The bits of food he had yet to swallow mixed with the water he had choked on, and came bursting back out with his coughing and sneezing.
In an instant, the food scraps were smeared across his face and wings.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough—"
After forcing himself to swallow the food jammed in his throat against gravity, Sunday could only gasp for the enemy's air.
But the sour, stale taste of the food still lingered in his windpipe.
Every breath he took sent that taste washing through his chest and lungs all over again.
At least it made his mind a little clearer.
"You... cough... Gopher Wood... cough cough cough cough!"
Sunday glared at him darkly. If he could, he truly wanted to hack this man to pieces right now.
Unfortunately, that was all he could do.
Because Gopher Wood paid him no real mind. He was only maintaining Sunday's most basic vital signs.
Once he was done feeding him, he turned devoutly to stare at Sunday's feet.
Just a little more. Just that last little bit more.
"You should feel honored. To be chosen as the sacrifice for a god's descent..."
Gopher Wood's words filled Sunday with blazing fury.
But before he could say anything, Gopher Wood turned and left.
The quarter-hour visit was over.
Now Sunday would have to endure another full day of torment before seeing him again.
All the words he had been holding inside would have to wait until tomorrow.
Though by that night, Sunday had begun to wonder whether he would even have the strength left.
Because he vomited.
Violently.
Perhaps the food itself had already gone bad. Or perhaps it was because his stomach had gone too long without touching anything like it.
Either way, after a surge of stomach acid rose in the night, the food he had so painfully forced down came right back up.
He could feel the liquid running over him.
He could smell, with absolute clarity, the stench that made his stomach cramp.
And it ran over his face, staining his hair, before slowly drying into stiff, crusted filth.
No one could ever have imagined that Sunday—the man whose every gesture once sent countless young women into a frenzy, the man people had called an elegant noble gentleman—would end up like this.
At this point, aside from his clothing, no one would have been able to connect the man he was now with the former Family Head of the Oak Family.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that now, he was beneath even a beggar.
And yet Sunday merely stared blankly at the empty, inverted room before him.
The light on the Stellaron swayed faintly, shaking loose two pale golden motes that sank into his body.
Only with that power did he close his eyes and sink into heavy sleep.
If he could sleep and never wake again, perhaps that would be the greatest mercy possible for him now.
Unfortunately, before he had even fully woken the next day, someone forced his mouth open again...
It was called feeding.
But it felt more like torture.
---
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