"Passenger March 7th! That weird noise came from right here!"
Conductor Pom-Pom gripped a mini broom tightly, their small body trembling as they hid behind March 7th, ears twitching with nervousness.
The doorway to the storage room felt as if it were a barrier sequestering some unknown horror.
March 7th swallowed some non-existent saliva, tried her best to puff out her chest, held her beautiful bow across her front, took a deep breath, and slammed the storage room door open!
"Co... Come out! If you don't come out now! You'll... you'll get a taste of how tough I am!"
Her voice started with great momentum, but the tail end inevitably carried a hint of a tremble.
Silence.
Only the shadows of some old cabinets stood quietly under the light.
*Thud.*
A poorly stacked box nearby fell over in response.
"Eek—!"
March 7th was like a startled cat, instantly jumping half a meter into the air.
"Wha-What was that!?"
Her heart still racing, she cautiously shuffled forward, squatted in front of the fallen box, closed her eyes, and yanked the lid open!
"Eh—?!"
The moment the lid opened, March 7th's face turned deathly pale.
She stiffly turned her head and looked at Pom-Pom: "P-Pom-Pom, something... got onto the Express."
"What got on, Pom?"
Pom-Pom summoned their courage to lean in and take a look.
"Waaah—! How, how, how... how did she get on the Express, Pom! And why is she in a box, Pom! This is illegal boarding!"
Inside the box, a tall girl with beautiful long grey hair was curled up, her eyes tightly shut.
As the two stared in wide-eyed shock, March 7th silently and slowly closed the lid again.
She slapped her cheeks hard: "Hallucination. I must have listened to too many of Dan Heng's 'Interstellar Ghost Stories' yesterday..."
She took another deep breath and slammed the box open for the second time!
The grey-haired girl was still lying peacefully inside.
"How on earth did she get on the Express, Pom!"
Pom-Pom issued the soul-searching question once more.
"What's wrong, Pom-Pom?"
Dan Heng, passing by, walked in with an expressionless face.
His gaze instantly locked onto the person in the box.
"Who is she?"
"I don't know, Pom. She seems to have appeared on the Express out of nowhere."
Dan Heng's brow furrowed slightly as he stepped forward to observe.
"Ah! She seems to be waking up!"
March 7th whispered in alarm.
The grey-haired girl in the box slowly opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around blankly.
——————
Parlor Car.
"You have amnesia?"
Himeko asked gently, holding a cup of coffee.
The grey-haired girl nodded.
"Then do you remember what your name is?"
Welt adjusted his glasses.
The girl said hesitantly: "Stelle..."
Then she shook her head.
"No... that's the name of this body, not mine."
"This body isn't you? What do you mean?"
Dan Heng's brow furrowed even deeper.
The girl didn't answer, and a faint blue light emanated from her body. As the light dissipated—
"Waaaaah—!"
March 7th pointed at another "herself" in front of her and screamed.
"How, how did you turn into me?!"
"Can you replicate a person's appearance?"
Dan Heng's voice was solemn.
"It's not replicating an appearance."
The "March 7th" shook her head, her voice identical to the original.
"It's a transformation."
She reached out her hand, frost gathered in her palm, and instantly condensed into a piece of crystalline Six-Phased Ice!
"!"
The real March 7th's eyes went wide and round.
Immediately following, blue light flashed on "March 7th" again, and she turned into a cold-faced "Dan Heng" holding cloud piercer!
The real Dan Heng looked at the other "himself," subconsciously glancing down at the genuine cloud piercer in his arms; his brow was furrowed so tightly it could have crushed a Void Ranger.
"Wow! So cool! Even Dan Heng's grumpy face is copied perfectly!"
March 7th excitedly circled around "Dan Heng."
"Can you turn into anyone else? Let's see a Sister Himeko? Or Uncle Yang?"
"Dan Heng" didn't speak, but the blue light on his body flashed rapidly a few times, and then with a *poof*, he turned back into the grey-haired girl, "Stelle."
"Eh? That's it? You're back already?"
March 7th was a bit disappointed.
"It seems there are limits to the use of this ability."
Welt analyzed, looking at Stelle.
"For now, can you only transform into Passenger March 7th and Passenger Dan Heng?"
Stelle nodded, then shook her head slightly, pointed at March 7th, then at Dan Heng, and finally at herself, waving her hand.
The meaning seemed to be: for now, she could only transform into those two.
"Oh! I get it!"
March 7th had a sudden realization and clapped her hands.
"Your 'transformation skill pack' hasn't finished downloading yet! Right now, only mine and Dan Heng's'skins' are unlocked!"
This description made Himeko unable to help but smile.
Dan Heng remained serious: "She can even simulate my cloud piercer and combat techniques... This ability is very dangerous."
"It certainly needs to be treated with caution."
Welt agreed.
"However, she doesn't seem to have any ill intent; it's more like she's instinctively demonstrating and explaining her condition."
Pom-Pom finally recovered from the shock, trotted over to pick up the broom that had fallen on the floor, and said nervously: "But Pom! It's too strange to have a passenger on the Express who can turn into someone else at any time, Pom! What if she turns into me and starts giving orders to the Express? It would be total chaos, Pom!"
Just then, the girl looked at March 7th, blue light flashed on her body, and she turned into "March 7th" once again.
This "March 7th" faced the real March 7th and gave a slightly apologetic, yet somewhat mischievous smile.
The real March 7th froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up as a brilliant idea came to mind!
She suddenly leaned into "Stelle's" ear and whispered rapidly: "Hey, hey! Quick, turn into Dan Heng! Then copy the way he talks! Hurry, hurry!"
"March 7th!"
Dan Heng obviously heard her, his tone carrying a warning.
But it was too late!
Blue light flashed on the girl, instantly switching her to "Dan Heng" mode.
This "Dan Heng" kept a straight face and, using a cold voice almost identical to the original, spoke to March 7th:
"Passenger March 7th, today's training amount..."
"Dan Heng" paused, seemingly searching a vocabulary database, and then, to everyone's surprise, continued.
"...is canceled. I suggest you rest more; maintaining a silly happiness is beneficial for physical and mental health."
There was dead silence on the scene.
"Pfft—Hahahaha!"
March 7th was the first to burst out laughing, laughing so hard she pounded the sofa.
"Hahaha! Cancel training! Maintain silly happiness! Dan Heng, did you hear that? Now that's a conscientious suggestion!"
The real Dan Heng's face was so dark it could almost rival the shaft of his spear, and his knuckles turned slightly white as he gripped cloud piercer. He stared at the impostor and said syllable by syllable: "You. Change. Back."
"Dan Heng" followed the advice readily; blue light flashed, and he turned back into the grey-haired girl Stelle, who then blinked innocently, as if the person who just publicly "faked a decree" and added her own spin wasn't her.
Mr. Welt took off his glasses again to wipe them, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Himeko elegantly took a sip of coffee to hide the upward curve of her lips: "It seems our new passenger's learning ability is just like her transformation ability... not to be underestimated."
Ultimately, after a (chaotic) discussion, the Astral Express Crew decided to take in this amnesiac girl with the peculiar ability.
On one hand, it was to help her recover her memories, and on the other, it was to monitor this extraordinary power.
"Well then, welcome to the Astral Express."
Himeko smiled as she gave the concluding remarks.
"However, regarding the use of your transformation ability, we need to establish some ground rules..."
And so, on the Astral Express passenger list, there was now an amnesiac girl whose identity was a mystery, who could currently only turn into March 7th and Dan Heng, and who seemed to have unlocked the skill of "roasting" the people she mimicked.