["How beautiful… Time forever stops at this golden moment, a golden dream. The Fools of the Tavern and the Memokeepers of the Garden, the wandering Rangers and the IPC's emissaries, the Nameless of the Astral Express… and me."]
——
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
"Hehehe, hehehehe…"
In the Shuchiin Academy Student Council Room, Chika Fujiwara looked up at the scene on the sky screen, continuously letting out "hehehe" auntie laughs.
The picturesque Miss Firefly, the fine light spots refracted by the morning sun on her skirt hem, the faint female BGM in the distance that did not steal the spotlight at all—it was as if the dream itself was performing.
Chika Fujiwara understood very well that the atmosphere had reached this point, and only the most crucial step was left!
"With my reasoning as the love detective Chika Fujiwara, there is a 99% chance between them that—"
"Just go for it." Ishigami Yu sighed helplessly. "Fujiwara-senpai, does this even need reasoning? Even a blind person can see the overflowing pink bubbles in the scene."
...
Meanwhile, in the principal's office on the other side.
The principal, who had just finished a phone call with the school board, walked to the window and looked outside curiously. It was clearly class time, yet there were no usual sounds of reading from the campus, not even the teachers' voices.
He curiously pushed the door open and walked to the corridor outside Year 3 Class A. Through the glass window, he saw the teacher sitting at the lectern, the entire class as if petrified. They all held their breath, dozens of eyes staring unblinkingly at the sky screen.
"It's coming, it's coming!" The girls in the back row tightly clutched each other's sleeves.
"What is this…?"
Only then did the old principal react. He looked up at the sky screen, which seemed to have the atmosphere of a confession.
"I see. Then I'll leave the time to you all." He smiled and stroked his thin beard. "Youth is truly wonderful…"
——
["Everyone sleeps here equally, regardless of reason, even though we each have our own purposes…" Firefly took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling slightly. She seemed to have made up her mind as she turned to look at Stelle. "…I'm sorry, Stelle. I really am a 'stowaway'."]
["I know." Stelle smiled slightly.]
["As expected, I couldn't hide it from you." Firefly walked to the railing, her eyes reflecting the awakening Penacony. "My hometown was destroyed a long time ago. It might have been the Legion, or perhaps the Swarm… I am an interstellar refugee, just like many of Penacony's 'locals'."]
["The Harmony embraces all people, including those wanderers who came from afar. The Family accepts them, but they… ultimately do not belong here. In this magnificent metropolis, some people's dreams are named Penacony, while some people's dreams are no different from reality. I am the same. In reality, I have a wish I cannot obtain—it is too strong, so I turned to the dream…"]
["What wish?"]
[Firefly slowly turned her head back: "…'Entropy Loss Syndrome.' Have you heard of this term?"]
["It is a strange phenomenon. Those afflicted with this condition experience irreversible chronic dissociation in their physical structure. This means you are slowly disappearing, and this disappearance is even hard for others to notice—"]
["You can still run, jump, and communicate with others. Everything looks so normal, only you are always a little slower than others… then slower and slower, until the outlines of the entire world become blurred. You can't distinguish reality from dream because they become equally fragmented."]
["So, how could I refuse… Can you imagine? In this dream, I can… I don't have to stay in the cold 'medical cabin'…"]
——
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
"Uuuu… Miss Firefly is so pitiful!" Hestia hugged her knees on the sofa, crying with snot and tears. "She really has a terminal illness! Uuuu, at this moment I actually started hoping for the [Abundance] Aeon. He should be able to completely cure Miss Firefly, right?"
"Goddess, your thinking is too dangerous…" Bell wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Curing her should be no problem, but considering Mara, I'm afraid Miss Firefly would rather die than become that kind of monster."
"She brought Stelle here because she wants to leave her brief but beautiful side to the important person. If she becomes Mara-struck, even if she survives, she probably wouldn't dare meet Stelle again for the rest of her life."
"What about Miss Ruan Mei?" Lilly put down her teacup and lowered her head in thought. "Miss Ruan Mei can even recreate an Emanator of [Propagation]. Recreating a healthy body for Miss Firefly shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Fearing that Lord Bell didn't understand, Lilly emphasized: "Not patching up her currently broken body, but creating an entirely new physical body."
"Even if it's possible… with Miss Ruan Mei's personality, I'm afraid she wouldn't agree easily."
"Hmph, if you ask me, she still owes Stelle a favor! Stelle helped her clean up such a big mess, and she even caused Stelle so much trouble. With her ability, cultivating life on an entire planet is more than enough. Asking her to help treat an ordinary girl—this should be nothing more than a lift of a finger for her!"
Lilly puffed up her cheeks in anger.
"If that doesn't work, have Stelle ask Lady Herta to step in! I refuse to believe that so many universe-shaking geniuses can't handle 'Entropy Loss Syndrome'! It's not like asking them to treat some heinous criminal. They can definitely cure Miss Firefly!"
——
["I can ignore the doctor's words and use my own body to listen, see, touch, think, and comprehend as I wish. Although this world is not real, these feelings are incredibly precious…"]
[Her gaze traced Stelle's brows and eyes as she smiled gently: "…Just like right now."]
["I'm sorry. Due to some reasons, there are some things… I still can't tell you everything right now. But there are also some things I should be honest with you about." Firefly lowered her eyes. "The Watchmaker's legacy is indeed what I seek, but we don't necessarily have to part ways and become opposed. At least… I don't want that to happen."]
["I hope so too." Stelle nodded gently.]
["…Thank you." Firefly turned to look at the gradually awakening city in the distance. "'I dreamed of a scorched earth, a new bud breaking through the soil. It bloomed toward the rising sun and whispered to me.'"]
["Do you still remember the question on the invitation—Why does life sleep?"]
["Look." She pointed at the streets gradually bathed in sunlight. "In this Land of Dreams, everything is allowed, everything is possible. The unbearable past dissipates like bubbles, and the tomorrow one does not want to face will never arrive. Why do people choose to sleep? I think…"]
["It is because they are afraid of waking up from the 'dream'."]