The Compass rolled along an ordinary stretch of track.
There was nothing remarkable about the view outside. Anyone would get tired of staring at the sa mist-shrouded scenery for too long.
And yet one tiny figure gazed out at that hazy world with delight and wonder written all over her face.
"It's sparkling!"
Apparently, she could see sothing special out there.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that the Astral Express crew seated behind her were all staring at her small back in fascination.
"Is she really Sora's daughter?"
March 7th kept comparing the little girl with the photo in her hand.
It wasn't that she didn't believe her. It was just that the girl's claim was way too shocking.
When March had spoken with Sora before, she'd assud he was about her age.
And now, all of a sudden, soone was telling her Sora had a daughter!
And not just any daughter, either. If she'd been a baby, March might not have had much to say.
But no matter how you looked at it, the little girl in front of her was five or six.
That was terrifying, okay?!
A mont ago, she'd thought Sora was around her age.
Now it looked like he might have had a kid when he was even younger than she was now.
The sheer, worldview-shattering impact of that still hadn't fully sunk in.
She didn't even dare think about what that implied for Sora's romantic history—or how early it must have started.
"Dan Heng, got any ideas?"
Out of ideas, March turned to her reliable partner for help, hoping he might have an answer.
Dan Heng only gave her a flat look.
Was she seriously asking him about this?
March could only turn to the two oldest mbers of the crew.
Unfortunately, the older pair could only shrug, equally helpless.
With no other choice, March let out a long sigh.
Then again, worries never stayed in March's head for long. She bounced back almost imdiately.
"Anyway, first we need to know her na!"
After announcing that she was Sora's daughter, the girl had followed them aboard the Compass.
And even now, March still had no idea what her na was.
If she couldn't figure out the girl's background yet, then fine, whatever!
March 7th was never one to dwell on things for more than a mont!
"Hey, little one, can I ask you sothing?"
Hearing March call from behind, the child who had been glued to the window turned around.
"Oh~ You're the big sis who t Daddy!"
"Yep, yep, that's ."
March gave an awkward little laugh, then got straight to the point.
"Little one, can you tell big sis what your na is?"
She asked the question as gently as she could.
But after hearing it, the girl fell into thought.
"My na..."
A puzzled look spread across her little face, as if the words themselves were hard to understand.
"Yeah, yeah. Like, my na is March 7th, and his is Dan Heng. Everyone has a na. So what's yours? Can you tell big sis?"
Seeing the child's reaction, March assud she was just wary of strangers and didn't want to tell her.
"You've gotta tell big sis your na. Otherwise, next ti I'll have to call you 'little squirt' or 'hey, you.'"
"I guess that makes sense, but I think... I don't have a na."
That single sentence made the crew exchange looks.
Their eyes said everything.
How could soone not have a na?
She probably still didn't trust them completely, so she didn't want to tell them her real na yet.
They'd only known each other for a few minutes. It made sense for her to be cautious.
But then again, would a girl who'd only known them for a few minutes really board a train with a bunch of strangers?
Dan Heng's gaze settled on the little girl again.
Her origins seed even more mysterious than his own.
March, of course, had no idea what the others had just communicated with their eyes. She hadn't thought that far ahead at all.
She was still focused on the girl's earlier words.
"Not having a na isn't great. Want to try doing what I did?"
The reason March had that na was simple: she'd been found on March 7th.
So that date beca her na.
Now that she'd t a girl who seed to have had a similar experience, March didn't grow suspicious. Instead, she encouraged her to do the sa thing.
"Like that?"
The child tapped a finger against her chin and started thinking.
A distinguishing feature, huh?
"My hair is Mom's color..."
She looked down at the silver-white strands draping over her shoulders.
"And my little wings are Dad's color..."
The black wings beside her head gave a few light flutters, gleaming with seven-colored radiance.
What she had inherited from Sora's black hair and eyes hadn't beco a flat, ordinary black. Separate from her hair, those black feathers flashed with prismatic color at certain angles.
March wasn't sure whether it was just her imagination, but every ti she looked at the child, she had the strange impression of a pure black-winged angel...
"In that case..."
March, who had briefly drifted off, was pulled back by the child's young voice.
"Then big sis can call Kohane!"
...
"So the Naless have co back to Penacony again..."
The mont the Astral Express crew stepped off the Compass, the crow perched high atop a building spotted them.
Watching the returning crew below, Gopher Wood frowned in confusion. Why hadn't the Astral Express simply warped away?
Of course, he knew the Astral Express had resud traveling through the cosmos.
After all, the Naless had even played a part in Penacony's founding.
But the current Astral Express was not pursuing the sa goal as the old one.
The old Astral Express, under the leadership of Granholm, the "Youngster," had selflessly co to the aid of lives across the universe, making the Naless synonymous with heroes from beyond the stars.
That was why so Naless had chosen to remain in Penacony and help build it.
But the Naless aboard the train now were different from the Youngster's generation.
If Gopher Wood rembered correctly, the purpose of this Astral Express was to retrace the old Trailblaze routes and reconnect the silver rails severed by Stellarons.
Under normal circumstances, that ant the current Astral Express would arrive sowhere, resupply, and leave again.
And yet after arriving at Penacony, not only had they failed to depart at once—they had co back.
That alone was enough to make Gopher Wood suspicious.
"Have these people noticed sothing?"
The more he thought about it, the less simple the matter seed.
Last ti, it had taken only one mont of carelessness—not driving that man out of Penacony in ti—for his plan to turn Sunday into a god to fail.
And now the Astral Express had appeared as another unexpected variable. There was no way Gopher Wood would repeat the sa mistake.
He had to find out why these Naless were staying in Penacony.
He would not allow anyone to interfere with his plans again. Any threat had to be smothered before it could grow.
"What exactly are you trying to do? Let's have a good look, shall we..."
With that, the crow ford from Gopher Wood split into countless feathers, which drifted down from the sky and settled onto one of the Family mbers below.
The Family mber who had been standing guard twitched twice. When he opened his eyes again, an eerie light was already flickering within them.
For the sake of his earlier plan, Gopher Wood had arranged many things long ago.
For example, exactly 107,336 Family mbers had been assigned to manage the dreamscape—a number corresponding to Dominicus, the incarnation of Harmony.
Originally, once Sunday ascended, Dominicus would have been used to perform a god's hymn, while those hundred thousand-plus Family mbers would have beco the notes that kept the machinery of Order running.
Who could have guessed that Sunday would lose on the very day he was ant to beco a god? Those hundred thousand Family mbers had beco useless before the final mont ever ca.
Still, even if they had not served that purpose, Gopher Wood could still turn them into his eyes, ears, and mouths.
So even though he seed hidden in the dark, he still knew every movent within Penacony.
And now, faced with the Astral Express crew, he had reactivated those concealed contingencies.
What he hadn't expected was that the crew had no intention of hiding what they were doing.
Worse, their objective struck Gopher Wood as... downright baffling.
"To help Sora and Robin beco a happy couple...?"
Looking at the pink-haired girl leading the group, Gopher Wood couldn't help wondering if he'd heard wrong.
"Is anyone actually stopping the two of them from falling for each other?"
He had even deliberately manipulated the representatives of the other Family branches so they wouldn't pursue the earlier matter of the dream of Order too aggressively.
Otherwise, given the cris Sunday had committed, how could Robin possibly have received such a light punishnt?
He had pushed all of that from behind the scenes!
And now the Astral Express crew were telling him there was so obstacle standing between Sora and Robin's relationship.
But no matter how Gopher Wood searched, he couldn't find anyone who had ever laid a hand on either Sora or Robin.
So what exactly was the problem here?
The whole situation left him utterly bewildered. For the first ti, he had the uneasy sense that things were slipping beyond his control.
The last ti he had felt that was when Sunday stood face-to-face with Sora.
Could it be that this ti, too, his plan would...
"No! Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
This plan would succeed. It would not fail.
...
March, anwhile, was startled by the sudden reaction of the Family guard beside her.
"W-What just happened?"
What, had the guy won the lottery or sothing? Why was he that shocked?
"Mm?"
Kohane poked half her body out from behind March and looked curiously toward the guard.
When she focused her attention, a faint seven-colored radiance surfaced over her black wings.
And because of that, she quickly noticed sothing unusual inside him.
"It feels like there are two... huh? Why did it suddenly beco one?"
She had clearly seen two figures inside that man's body. But right in the middle of watching, one of them vanished in an instant.
The sudden change left her astonished.
Was that so kind of magic trick?
The Family mbers, now fully awake again after Gopher Wood withdrew, looked at March with faint fear on their faces.
"Um, you Family folks... are you okay?"
March asked with concern, but the mont she stepped forward, they all stepped back.
"Y-You stay away!"
"We're Bloodhound Family security officers! Don't try anything dangerous!"
"I haven't even unleashed my domineering aura yet! What are you all scared of?!"
March was utterly baffled. Were these people ssing with her?
Naturally, the rest of the Astral Express crew noticed this bizarre scene as well.
"March, sothing's off."
Dan Heng spoke at once.
He quickly pulled March away from the group, and Kohane followed as the crew left the area.
Only after the three of them disappeared from view did the Family mbers finally relax and let out a breath.
Even they were confused by what had just happened.
As security officers tasked with maintaining peace in the dreamscape for the Bloodhound Family, they had undergone extrely rigorous training before taking up their posts.
They had long since overco most ordinary fears, so sothing like that should not have happened.
And yet...
The lingering pounding in their hearts refused to subside.
Nor could the black crow atop the high-rise calm down.
"How is that possible? Just now—just now, there's no way I was mistaken..."
Gopher Wood stared fixedly at the departing Astral Express crew, not daring to blink.
That's right. It hadn't been those Family mbers who were afraid.
It was Gopher Wood.
Back then, he had stood at Sunday's side and faced Sora's final blow head-on.
Even now, he could still feel that scorching power and overwhelming impact as vividly as if it were happening again.
So the instant he sensed that aura, he tore himself out of that Family mber's body.
And because Gopher Wood could control those Family mbers' consciousness, they had shared in his fear as well.
That was why they had reacted in terror.
The mark Sora's power had left on him ran far too deep.
Even after a thousand years, he would never forget it.
And after what had just happened, Gopher Wood could confirm one thing for certain.
"These Naless are definitely connected to that bastard!"
Otherwise, why would he have sensed fluctuations of Sora's power among them?
There was no question about it. This had to be because of that bastard Sora.
"I have to drive him away. I have to get that bastard out of this place."
He refused to endure the failure of a plan ever again.
With that resolve fixed in his heart, Gopher Wood also decided to put so distance between himself and this place—he needed to go sowhere that could calm him down.
There, a god was about to be born.
And that was the only way he had left to stand against that bastard Sora.
As long as the god descended, Sora would be nothing.
The more he thought about it, the more feverishly excited he beca.
He could hardly wait to see Sora defeated by that newborn god.
Gopher Wood returned to reality. Once he confird the timing was about right, he began making his way, step by step, toward that hidden stronghold.
In just a few more days, the god should be fully born.
Before then, he absolutely could not let anyone interfere with the plan.
Still...
Gopher Wood was very confident in the security there.
Most of Penacony's people were imrsed in the dreamscape, which made reality practically a wasteland.
Aside from the area around The Reverie, there was almost no sign of human activity anywhere else.
And the site of Penacony's old prison lay on the far side of the planet.
On top of that, the prison itself was a maze of tangled corridors.
All things considered, Gopher Wood thought very highly of its safety.
So he hurried there in high spirits...
And then fell silent.
The room before him, carpeted in ritual dust, no longer showed any sign of life.
Sunday was gone. The seven-colored radiance was gone too. Only a Stellaron remained, giving off a faint glow.
Other than that, all that was left were the traces of Sunday's earlier vomit.
There was nothing else at all.
It was as if a grand magic trick had been perford there.
Without anyone coming or going, one life and one power had simply vanished from the spot.
Gopher Wood froze where he stood, stunned by what he was seeing.
Only after a long while did he finally speak, his voice hoarse.
"Where... is he?"
But in this prison, the only thing that answered him was a passing breeze...
...
Things had taken a bad turn on Gopher Wood's side, while elsewhere the Astral Express crew were hard at work pursuing the purpose of their trip.
"In that case, we'll split into two groups. Welt and I will go see what we can learn from the Family. March, you go talk to Sora and find out what you can from him. And while you're at it..."
As Hiko spoke, her gaze settled on Kohane, who was still looking around with bright curiosity.
"Make sure this little girl gets safely to Sora's side."
To be honest, Hiko did have so doubts about the identity of this little girl who claid to be Sora's daughter.
If the information Dan Heng had collected was correct, then combined with the child's apparent age, it made Sora look like so scumbag who'd gotten into a relationship while still underage.
But Hiko felt the truth couldn't be that simple.
That was exactly why she needed March to take the child to Sora and see what the situation actually was.
Whether the girl was fake or the real thing, one eting would make everything clear.
"Don't worry, Hiko. Leave it to !"
March snapped a salute and accepted the weighty mission.
Hiko said nothing else. She rely shifted her gaze to Dan Heng.
"Rember to keep an eye on her."
Dan Heng nodded to show he understood.
With their roles assigned, the crew split up and set about their own tasks.
Trying to find the whereabouts of the three Naless who had been branded "traitors" in Penacony was unquestionably a very difficult job for Hiko.
Luckily, during their discussion aboard the train earlier, they had received a bit of help.
While searching the archive, Dan Heng had discovered one thing.
"When Legwork chose to remain on Penacony, he took sothing with him."
It was a keepsake left to him by the previous navigator upon stepping down.
If they could use the power of Trailblaze to locate that keepsake, then they might be able to uncover so clues.
As for where to start looking, Hiko and Welt already had a suspect location in mind.
The end of the Compass—the train that had been carrying them back and forth through Penacony.
After all, it looked too much like it. Far too much like it.
If the Naless had left behind any clues, then this was undoubtedly the most obvious place—and the easiest to overlook.
So the two of them boarded the Compass and headed toward the end of the line.
Hiko and Welt rode off on the Compass, while March and Dan Heng imdiately ran into a snag on their side.
"Last ti I was so focused on helping him that I rushed off right after. I forgot to ask which room he was staying in..."
Watching March shake her head helplessly, Dan Heng couldn't help sighing.
Just as expected.
When it ca to dropping the ball, March 7th had never once disappointed him.
"Then what do you think we should do now?"
Arms folded, Dan Heng looked at March, who had squatted down on the floor in distress.
The one who'd wanted to help him was her, and the one who now had no way of finding him was also her.
Even with his special identity, he didn't have anything particularly useful he could do here on Penacony.
"Ugh... let think! If it's Sora, then he should be staying at The Reverie..."
"That's just stating the obvious. Where else would he be staying?"
Dan Heng's deadpan retort drew a tragic groan from March.
Was her dream of becoming the greatest Naless in the universe really going to die before it had even properly begun?
At that mont, Kohane spoke up.
"Um... I can lead the way."
The mont those words left her mouth, both Dan Heng, who had been standing there with his arms folded and eyes closed, and March, who had been busy berating herself, turned to look at her small figure.
"You?"
March was stunned. She didn't even know where Sora was, and this kid looking for her dad did?
"Mhm! Once we got here, I could sort of sense where he is!"
Kohane nodded cheerfully and pointed in one direction.
"I think it's over there!"
"'I think'?!"
March's mouth twitched. The mont she heard that "I think," she stopped knowing what to say.
What she hadn't expected was for Dan Heng to speak first.
"Let's go. We'll follow her and take a look."
March stared at him in shock.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my aloof Dan Heng?"
In March's mind, Dan Heng was always cold and serious. Normally, there was no way he'd trust sothing as vague as "I think."
Dan Heng gave her a cool glance.
"Do you have a better idea, Miss Future Greatest Naless in the Galaxy?"
"Guh—"
Yep. That sharp tongue was definitely Dan Heng.
"I just forgot for a second, okay? There's no way sothing like this is happening again!"
With that, March followed Dan Heng as the two of them let Kohane lead the way in the direction she'd indicated.
After a long, grueling climb up the stairs, the three of them finally stopped in a corridor on one of the upper floors.
Doors stood in neat rows along both sides of the hallway, silently testifying that this one floor alone could house dozens upon dozens of people.
"Which brings us to the real question: which room is it?"
March frowned at the rows of doors.
If they had to knock on them one by one, it would take ages to check them all.
"No need! Follow !"
Kohane happily trotted forward on her short little legs toward one of the rooms.
The mont March saw that, she hurried after her.
Dan Heng alone remained where he was for a beat, arms still folded, narrowing his eyes slightly at Kohane up ahead.
If you know where your father is, and you even know exactly which room he's in...
Then why did you walk up to us in the first place?
March might not notice details like that, but he couldn't ignore them.
He didn't want the companion he cared about getting dragged into so inexplicable ss.
That was why he had to be the final safeguard.
But then, very quickly, the two people up ahead let out startled cries.
"Whoa!!!"
Hearing that, Dan Heng imdiately broke into a run.
"What happened—?"
And when he reached them, the scene before his eyes made even him stop in shock.
The door to the room stood wide open.
Inside, a silver-white-haired woman had been wrapped up like a cocoon and was staring at them outside in surprise.
What kind of situation was this?
Before Dan Heng could make sense of it, he suddenly realized the commotion had alard the entire floor.
Doors began opening one after another, and curious faces turned toward them.
Looking more closely, he found that those faces were all similar to one another in certain ways.
And that resemblance only made the atmosphere more unsettling.
Just imagine it: you spot soone bound up inside a room, then the doors next to it swing open and faces similar to the bound woman stare straight at you.
The more you thought about it, the creepier it got.
And there wasn't just one face here. There were countless similar faces staring at the three of them.
The bizarre sight made March's legs go weak.
"D-Dan Heng... did we just get dragged into so weird incident?"
Her voice trembled slightly. Dan Heng, anwhile, reached out and shielded her behind him.
This was not looking good.
The won ca out of their rooms and gathered closer in curiosity.
But Dan Heng noticed that what drew their attention even more was the room itself.
So he guarded March as he slowly backed away, wary of these identically faced people suddenly making a move.
And then Dan Heng heard—
"Mm? Unkyō? What are you doing in Sora's room?"
"I'm here to gather material, ehehe..."
"Huh?"
"I just had another brilliant idea! It's called 'A Blanket That Won't Unroll Unless You XOXO!' This ti there's a blanket covering everything, so surely the Family can't ban again! Ahahahahaha!"
March blinked.
She had the distinct feeling she'd just heard sothing she absolutely shouldn't have.
But before she could process it, two fingers plugged her ears.
Dan Heng's fingers.
"Hey! I'm not a little kid! Why are you covering my ears?!"
"By Xianzhou standards, you're still underage."
Dan Heng's expression remained perfectly flat.
Once the other side figured out what had happened, though, their attention naturally shifted toward March and the others.
"Sorry, sorry. You caught us at an embarrassing mont."
Hotaru walked over and greeted March.
"I noticed you stopped outside this room just now. Were you looking for sothing?"
"We're here to find Sora!"
Seeing that, March imdiately blurted out the purpose of their visit.
Then she quickly explained everything on her side as well.
By the ti she finished, Hotaru was left utterly blank.
She understood every single word March had said.
So why was it that once those words were strung together, she couldn't understand the aning anymore?
What was "Soroo and Robiniet" even supposed to an? Was there so kind of misunderstanding here?
Still, she understood the main point March was trying to get across.
"You're looking for Sora, right?"
March nodded.
Hotaru said with so regret, "Then unfortunately, your timing's bad. We have no idea where Sora has run off to right now."
"What about Mom? Doesn't Mom live right across from Dad?"
Kohane peeked out from behind March and asked curiously.
Hotaru froze for a second. What dad and mom? She didn't have those.
But why did that voice sound weirdly familiar? Was she imagining it?
"Ahem. What Kohane ans is, where did the person staying in the room opposite Sora's go?"
"Oh~ You an Miss Robin. She's been teaching vocal music at Penacony Paperfold University College lately, so if you want to see her, that might be a little hard."
March nodded, then quickly realized sothing was off.
"Wait. Who did you just say lives in the room opposite?!"
She was pretty sure she'd just heard a ridiculously important na.
Hotaru looked at her in confusion.
"Miss Robin. Aren't you with the Family?"
A string of question marks rose in March's head.
Wait a second. Wasn't Sora's whole problem supposed to be that all sorts of things were keeping him and Robin from being together?
Then why were their rooms directly across from each other?!
So the obstacle Sora had been talking about was a hallway you could cross in two steps?!
Seeing March sink into doubt, Dan Heng could only step in with a helpless explanation of who they were, then ntion the second reason they'd co.
"We're also helping her find her parents."
Only then did Hotaru notice the tiny figure hiding behind March.
And the mont the girl lifted her head, Hotaru's pupils contracted sharply.
This little one—!
---
T/N: ep morp
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