["Nice to meet you, one who dives deep into dreams…"]
[A silver-white trash can beside Stelle suddenly spoke, startling her.]
["My name is Shatana — I would like to discuss a condition with you."]
[Stelle: "Shatana? What's your relationship with Natasha?"]
["Natasha… who is that? We have probably never met." The trash can said solemnly: "Let us get to the point — Have you… ever heard of the Trash King Tatara?"]
["He is our king, the shepherd of all the world's waste. He stands upon the throne, supporting the humble cans and suppressing the violent cans. He is the foundation of Belobog's walls, stabilizing our lids and straightening our bodies…"]
[The trash can said that after the Eternal Freeze descended, their king's eyes had been blinded, and his actions gradually became foolish. So they raised the banner of rebellion, hoping to make the Trash King return to the righteous path. However, they ultimately could not prevail and were even divided by malicious rumors — in short, it requested that Stelle lead them to reconnect and launch a counterattack against the false king on the throne.]
[She only needed to obtain three "Proofs of Trust" to form the Trash Can Alliance Army and become the new "Trash King."]
[Although Stelle really wanted to complain, she still followed its request and went searching.]
[She saw a brave can blocked at a doorway on the roadside. It asked Stelle in confusion how to get inside. Stelle casually said "Open sesame," and the door opened.]
[It turned out to be an automatic induction door that simply couldn't detect trash cans.]
["The door opened… The legend is true! You are the destined savior who will defeat Tatara! When you raise the banner of rebellion against Tatara, I and the other trash cans will definitely follow you!"]
[With that, it stuffed a heavy Proof of Trust into Stelle's hand.]
[It was hard to explain why a trash can would trust her, but its trust was really very heavy.]
——
Dragon Clan.
The lights in the love hotel were dim and ambiguous. The sound of Tokyo rain pattered outside the window. Lu Mingfei lay back on the soft sofa, staring at the noisy trash can people on the Celestial Screen, his mouth twitching.
"What the hell is all this…" he muttered softly.
Beside him, Erii lay on the bed, her long red hair spilling onto the white sheets, her feet swinging gently. She stared unblinkingly at the Celestial Screen. When she saw the trash cans bowing to Stelle one after another, she suddenly pursed her lips into a smile — the girl's smile was very faint, like ripples on a cup of clear sake, gone in an instant, yet leaving fine silver gleams under the moonlight of the night.
She suddenly picked up the small notebook on the bed and wrote seriously: "Want to play in a dream like this."
Lu Mingfei scratched his head: "That's Penacony, and this absurd dream…" He wanted to say the dream was like one of those nonsensical, cliché scripts Finger improvised while eating instant noodles at midnight, but Erii's expectant eyes made him change his words: "Uh, actually you can play games. There are lots of similar things in games."
Erii blinked, then wrote: "Sakura play with me?"
Her eyelashes trembled lightly, like a butterfly flapping its wings in the morning light. Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered that morning at Senso-ji Temple when she had looked at him the same way.
"O-Okay…" he stammered in agreement, fumbling for his phone. "What exactly do you want to play? How about we go out together later to buy some stuff? And get some five-ingredient fried rice while we're at it."
Erii gently leaned closer. There was a faint cherry blossom scent in her hair. She drew a crooked smiley face in the notebook and added: "With Sakura, the dream will be very interesting."
Lu Mingfei suddenly felt his ears burning a little.
The sound of rain outside the window suddenly became distant, and the world grew quiet… so quiet that he could only hear his own "thump thump" heartbeat.
The trash can people on the Celestial Screen were still discussing rebelling against the old king, but on this damp Tokyo night, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt — perhaps the most absurd thing wasn't Penacony's dream, but that he would meet a girl in this unfamiliar city who was willing to watch trash cans with him.
——
[Stelle obtained two more "Proofs of Trust" from the Trash Can Prince and the serious can, finally able to summon the Trash Can Alliance Army to rebel against this "Tatara."]
[Shatana lamented that Stelle's determination could not be underestimated and decided to escort her to the Pillar of Creation to witness the future of the trash can people's clan.]
[In the blink of an eye, the scene of Stelle's dream shifted to the snowy ground of the Pillar of Creation. The place was filled with battered and bruised trash cans everywhere. Some had been beaten so badly that the garbage inside had spilled out — a tragic sight.]
[But strangely, Stelle did not see the so-called Trash King.]
[Just as Stelle was wondering if she had been tricked—]
[Boom!]
[A huge bomb suddenly flew from mid-air and exploded at her feet. The shockwave sent her entire body flying, drawing a perfect parabola in the air. Then… she was steadily caught by a large hand. Upon closer look, Stelle discovered that the so-called "Trash King" was actually Sampo!]
[And it was a super-sized version of Sampo!]
[Sampo let out a cold "Tch," casually threw Stelle aside, then unscrupulously hurled bombs, bombing the Trash Can Alliance Army that kept charging toward him.]
[Seeing more and more trash cans being blown up with garbage flying everywhere, Stelle gritted her teeth. She suddenly sprang forward from her position, leaped high, and transformed into a mountain-like giant trash can, swinging a heavy punch at Sampo!]
["Yaaah—!!"]
[Just as the outcome was about to be decided, the dreamscape was suddenly frozen by something. Firefly's urgent voice came from mid-air.]
["W-Wait! This is too ridiculous—?!"]
——
Teyvat.
At night, the Yae Publishing House was enveloped in warm lamplight. The paper lanterns hanging from the eaves swayed gently in the evening breeze, casting mottled light and shadows. But Yae Miko's mood was not so warm at the moment — instead, it was nine parts unpleasant.
"Miss Firefly really interrupted at the worst possible time…"
The scene on the Celestial Screen froze at the moment the giant trash can that Stelle had become swung its fist. The dream came to an abrupt halt.
She turned her gaze to the two specially invited authors sitting upright inside the Yae Publishing House. They had both been called here in advance by the Guuji to discuss using Penacony's dreamscapes as material for light novels.
"I plan to have Yae Publishing House continue this story. Why don't you two give me some ideas?" Her eyes swept over the two authors, causing them to involuntarily shiver.
"Uh, in my opinion… we can write it like this." The male writer with round-framed glasses pushed up his lenses. "We can introduce a 'dream within a dream' setting. Stelle's punch didn't actually hit Sampo but shattered the dreamscape instead. Everyone falls into the second layer of the 'Trash Dream.' Then the second layer can fall into a third layer… Each layer has reversals. The final layer is a perfect trash can people world, and Stelle can decide whether to stay in the dream."
"This work can be called… Inception of Trash Cans! It can also tie into Penacony's 'dreamscape' theme! It will definitely sell big!"