"Emm… Everyone is speaking in riddles. It's probably selected fragments of events that have already happened?"
"The first character encountered upon arriving in Penacony is Acheron, proving there's something big hidden on her."
"Is she Mei or not…"
After finishing the dialogues, she continued to follow Acheron, who had been waiting in front of the door for a long time.
Before long, the two stopped one after another.
Acheron: "We've arrived. Open the door and leave from here."
Stelle pushed the door open with one hand, her pupils slightly contracting.
"Welcome to The Reverie. May you have an unforgettable vacation experience. If you need to check in, please proceed straight to the hotel front desk…"
"Damn, you scared me!"
Ah Xian in front of the camera suddenly shivered.
"So it was the bellhop Misha…"
Misha disappeared after speaking, clearly not a physical entity.
Acheron seemed as if she hadn't seen Misha and said calmly:
"Leave this place. Wake up as usual, forget this chance encounter, and return to where you came from."
"But before we part, I have one request."
Stelle was stunned: "Please speak."
Acheron: "It might sound a bit strange or even rude to you, but I want to know—"
"Have we met somewhere before?"
"!!!"
Seeing the red text suddenly pop up at the bottom of the screen, countless players instantly widened their eyes.
If one were to say where red text copy appeared the most, it would be in the Izumo Kingdom within Leon's past memories!
Combined with her highly similar appearance to Raiden Mei and a weapon of similar length, it was hard not to think in that direction.
However, the Raiden Mei in the 1.3 main story had in-game modeling.
People had already compared it long ago. That modeling was an adult female body type equivalent to Himeko's.
The current in-game modeled Acheron was also an adult female body type but lacked Raiden Mei's signature features.
Mei in the white kimono had brown long hair, red horns on her head of unequal lengths.
Only the pupil color was consistent, but the shape had differences.
This was the factor that left players most uncertain, because there were two precedents—
Leon's 4-star and 5-star forms had only slight differences in pupil color, with the same shape.
Dan Heng's 4-star and 5-star were the same, except the pupil color difference was more obvious, appearing different, but in reality there was no change.
With examples of characters having different models right here, even if Raiden Mei became human, the changes to her original facial features wouldn't be that big, right?
The above content had been discussed to death by players almost ever since Acheron's first reveal in the TGA exhibition video.
Now, seeing the familiar red text, the doubts that had gradually been dispelled rose again, making people unable to help but associate the relationship between the two.
"Could it be… a relative?"
[You're good at guessing… Although there are examples of gacha characters who are relatives…]
[Assuming Mei survived the fall of Izumo and left descendants, it's not impossible.]
[The more you guess, the more outrageous it gets. That's Mei. With that name, how could it be so melodramatic?]
The danmu discussed fervently. Ah Xian gradually came back to her senses and looked at the five options that popped up.
①: "Maybe we have."
②: "Probably not."
③: "I don't know."
④: "What do you mean?"
⑤: "What's going on…"
"The meanings of several options are pretty similar. It feels a bit meaningless… Is it to express that the protagonist's thoughts are currently chaotic?"
After all, her thoughts were quite chaotic right now.
Until the official confirmed with hard evidence that Acheron was the Raiden Mei from back then, no matter how similar she looked, players couldn't be 100% certain.
Stelle was somewhat dazed at this moment.
To be honest, under normal circumstances, or based on her existing memories, she could affirm that she had never met Acheron.
But in past memories, she had seen Raiden Mei, who looked very much like Acheron, and it was even from a first-person perspective similar to possession.
And this also meant that there was definitely no Stelle in the historical Izumo Kingdom.
Raiden Mei couldn't possibly have met her, so why did Acheron ask this?
Emotional resonance across time… or…?
Ah Xian deliberated for a moment and chose the first one.
Stelle: "…Maybe we have. To be honest, I don't have memories from before. What about you? Why do you ask?"
Acheron's expression didn't change much. She explained softly.
"You remind me of an old acquaintance. On you, there seems to be a similar shadow…"
"In my hazy memories, that person stood side by side with me. Just like this bizarre dream realm—close at hand, yet unreachable."
It was red text again!
However, starting from the next line, it changed back to white text.
"May I ask you a few more questions?"
Stelle: "…You may."
Acheron: "I… often forget some things. Therefore, rather than recalling, I am more accustomed to capturing something through feelings."
"The answer isn't important. What matters is your reaction at the moment."
"For example, when you woke up in the guest room, you mentioned several names. Are they your companions? Family? Enemies?"
"You seem to have already established unbreakable connections with many people and many things…"
"May I ask, would you feel fear at losing such connections?"
"Red text! It's here again!"
①: "I absolutely cannot tolerate such fear."
②: "If it means they leave, I would."
③: "If it means I myself disappear, I would."
④: "I would not feel afraid."
⑤: "I don't know."
She chose the second.
Acheron slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her gaze was not focused on Stelle.
"Mm… Then what if there is a vast dream realm, realistic enough to be indistinguishable from reality."
"There are no separations by life or death there. Everyone can obtain the happiness they deserve and live happily forever."
"May I ask, would you be willing to reside within it?"
Stelle didn't think much and answered: "No matter how real a dream is, it is still false. I couldn't possibly be willing."
Acheron nodded slightly.
"Then… if this beautiful dream is destined to shatter, and everything will depart."
"Friends, family, strangers, then the light breeze, flying birds, the stars… and finally yourself."
"Every person—including everyone in their memories—"
"Those smiles and tears, fulfilled and unfulfilled promises… In the end, all will head toward the predetermined finale."
"If at the very beginning of the journey, you already knew the destination of this trip."
"May I ask, would you still choose to embark on this journey?"
Stelle was silent for a moment, then said firmly: "I would. Trailblaze will never stop."
Acheron: "There is no need to rush to decide. As I said, the answer is not important."
"Listen, touch, think. From this you will obtain feelings."
"Cherish it. Only by relying on these feelings can we make choices that do not go against our original intentions. So, returning to the original question…"
"May I ask: Do you still remember me?"
"I get nervous whenever I see red text now… Another choice…"
①: "I seem to have seen you somewhere…"
②: "No, this is our first meeting."