Can she hug her?
Why would Kiana ask sothing like that?
She never used to ask questions like this—she'd just act on impulse, doing whatever ca to mind. Normally, she would've already thrown herself into Ruan i's arms without hesitation.
But now, Kiana's eyes held both hope and uncertainty as she looked at her. Ruan i t her gaze for a few monts, then silently stepped forward and took the initiative to embrace her.
"There's no need for restraint between us."
Compared to before, Ruan i didn't like how distant Kiana had beco. She was already used to Kiana's straightforwardness.
Ruan i... actually hugged first?!
Kiana froze for a second, then broke into a smile she couldn't contain. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Ruan i's waist tightly. "I knew it! I am soone special to you, Ruan!"
Ruan i gently stroked her white hair and said softly, "Don't doubt it, Kiana. You are indeed different from the others to ."
Kiana took a deep breath. The faint scent of winter plum on Ruan i's body cleared her mind, and she rubbed her cheek affectionately against hers.
"I won't let you down, Ruan~"
She knew exactly what Ruan i wanted to see from her. After eting Robin in Penacony and accompanying Sirin for a while there, she would start preparing.
Before Ruan i's Simulated Universe project was completed, she had to find a way to keep pushing forward—to keep the progress bar growing.
She couldn't stay idle forever.
...
Penacony.
The fad Planet of Festivities in the universe.
The land of dreams.
Located in the Asdana Star System.
Once a prison world—now a paradise of reverie, ruled by the Family.
Kiana rembered this place vividly. Before crossing into this world, she had just finished the Penacony storyline.
How could she not rember it?
Arriving on this renowned Planet of Festivities, she had little ti to admire the dazzling scenery before she spotted Robin waiting for her in front of the Reverie.
Robin saw her too and approached with a bright smile.
"Robin~!"
Seeing her friend again after months apart, Robin's expression was just as cheerful.
"Kiana—and this friend of yours, welco to Penacony. Let take you to check in."
"Thanks. This is my friend from Izumo—Sirin."
"Hello, Miss Robin," Sirin greeted politely. She already knew beforehand that Kiana had befriended a mber of the Family—soone quite well-known, at that.
Even though she usually didn't care much about pop idols, she had seen Robin's posters and heard her songs across the stars.
"So you've already found your friend?" Robin turned back in surprise as they entered the lobby to check in.
She rembered accompanying Kiana once to Euphorion, knowing that Kiana had been searching for her lost friends from Izumo.
"Yeah, I guess my luck's not bad," Kiana said with a grin. "Thanks to that bounty I posted through the IPC, I managed to contact Sirin pretty quickly. But... there's still one friend I haven't found yet."
"One still missing?" Robin nodded thoughtfully. "That explains it. No wonder you ca up with such a plan. Expanding your fa is a clever move—those you're looking for are bound to hear about you eventually and co find you themselves."
Taking the room keys from the counter, Robin handed them each one.
"Here—one key per person. I'll take you to your rooms. We can talk more in the dream later, alright?"
"Mm-hm, sure thing."
After speaking with Kiana, Robin's gaze shifted to Sirin—who, in contrast to Kiana's enthusiasm, seed utterly uninterested in the Reverie's grandeur.
"Miss Sirin, have you been to Penacony before?"
Sirin nodded slightly. She already had a good impression of Robin. "Kiana once told about Penacony. After we began traveling across the cosmos, I visited here once myself."
"No wonder you seem so familiar with the place, then," Robin said with a smile.
Her instincts told her that Kiana's companion wasn't as approachable as she looked—but that didn't matter.
Her friend was Kiana, after all.
"Co on, Kiana. Let's not waste ti—there are still two days before the concert. I'll take you around the dream world and show you everything," Robin said cheerfully.
Her concert wouldn't actually be held in Penacony, but in another star system.
As for why she'd chosen to et here—it was simple. She wanted to bring her friends to explore her hotown first, to let them see its beauty for themselves.
When they'd talked about Penacony before, Robin had noticed Kiana's curiosity and fascination with the place.
She'd promised Kiana that when they t again, she would be her guide—personally leading her through Penacony.
Now that there was still ti before the concert, they could take their ti. Even if they departed in two days, the schedule would be more than comfortable.
After leading them to the hotel, Robin didn't bother giving two separate introductions since Sirin had already visited Penacony before. She took them to two adjoining rooms and opened the door to Kiana's.
"This is your room. Don't worry—I've already arranged everything for you."
The Reverie's rooms looked almost exactly like they did in the ga, save for a few minor differences in detail.
"This here is the Dreampool."
Robin gestured toward a large, shimring basin of liquid light.
"And this—your Dreamscape Pass. Just follow the instructions on it to enter the dream. Once you're inside, we'll et at the Golden Hour, near the Clockie statue."
Kiana studied the Dreamscape Pass in her hand, then glanced at the pool that looked like liquid water.
A pity she hadn't brought her Stigmata this ti.
"And lastly..."
Robin stepped closer with a soft smile and gently embraced her—a small but heartfelt gesture of affection.
"I'm so happy to see you again."
The fact that Kiana had accepted her invitation had genuinely surprised Robin. After their last parting, she hadn't expected they'd et again so soon.
When she sent the invitation, she hadn't held much hope.
So when Kiana suddenly appeared before her, Robin couldn't resist hugging her.
Caught off guard, Kiana blinked, then returned the hug warmly.
"I'm just as happy to see you too!"
Once they were inside, the door closed behind them. On the way here, Sirin had been with her the whole ti, so there were so things Robin hadn't been able to ask.
Now, with a mont alone, she finally could.
Pulling Kiana to sit beside her, Robin looked at her with concern. "Kiana, did you get your body checked after you got back?"
She had noticed that Kiana's hands were no longer wrapped in bandages—that alone was a good sign.
But she didn't know if she'd fully recovered.
Kiana extended her hand with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it wasn't anything serious. See? I'm completely fine now."
Robin took her hand, examining it carefully, even tracing her fingers over it. There were no scars, no signs of injury.
"That's wonderful," Robin said, exhaling in relief.
Seeing Kiana healthy and whole—her abnormal condition entirely gone—was enough to finally put her mind at ease.
"And you?" Kiana asked in return. "You've been back for a while now—have you talked with your brother?"
"My brother..." Robin's tone softened with a hint of embarrassnt as she ntioned Sunday. "He cares about a lot, so he was pretty angry. But after I ca back, we talked for a long ti. He's not mad anymore."
After all, if she hadn't settled things with her brother, she wouldn't have been able to go back to holding concerts.
"I actually wanted you to et him too," she added, smiling sheepishly. "But he just beca head of the Oak Family and has a lot of work to deal with."
Thinking about how much trouble she'd already caused her brother, Robin's expression dimd slightly.
"I didn't want him to delay his work because of , so I decided not to tell him about this trip."
That made sense.
No wonder Sunday wasn't around.
Kiana had been curious—after all, Sunday was famously overprotective of his sister. Since she and Robin were friends now, it was strange that he hadn't appeared to check on her.
If Robin hadn't ntioned this eting to him, then everything fit.
Still, would Sunday really not know?
Kiana doubted it.
Even if Sunday had only recently taken over as head of the Oak Family and wasn't yet as powerful as he would beco in the future, there was no way he wouldn't notice. Robin's stay here had been arranged entirely under her na.
There was no way Sunday wouldn't keep tabs on his sister.
Robin probably knew that too. That's why she hadn't bothered disguising anything—she had waited for Kiana openly in the hotel lobby and even helped her check in personally.
She wasn't really trying to hide anything.
She was just showing her stance.
She didn't want her brother to interrupt his duties for her sake. He had just inherited the position of family head, after all.
That was how Robin saw it.
Whether Sunday saw it the sa way, no one knew—but he must have understood that his sister didn't want him following her around.
"Oh, right. Once you enter the dream world, maybe that friend inside your Stigmata can co out for so fresh air too."
"The friend in my Stigmata..." Kiana murmured, touching her hand, a faint pang of guilt flickering in her chest as she thought of the Stigmata still left behind in the lab.
If she'd known for sure that her next stop would be Penacony, she definitely would have brought Yae Sakura's Stigmata along.
The world within the Stigmata wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. Before regaining her mories, it hadn't mattered much—but now, knowing everything, she realized that to Sakura, that Yae Village must have felt like a prison.
If she'd brought the Stigmata, maybe Sakura could have reunited with Sirin here, even if just for a little while.
"Did sothing happen?" Robin asked quickly, noticing the shift in her expression.
"No, nothing like that," Kiana explained. "I just didn't bring the Stigmata with . Ruan had remove it before I left—it's stored safely in the moria."
"Ah, that's a sha," Robin said, sounding genuinely disappointed. After hearing Kiana talk about Yae Sakura's story before, she'd actually been curious to et her.
"There'll be another chance soday."
Will there really? Robin wondered quietly, though she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she smiled and gestured toward the Dreampool. "Go on, enter the dream first. We'll talk more once you're inside."
"Alright."
"Rember—we're eting by the Clockie statue at the Golden Hour. Don't forget."
"Don't worry, Robin. I'll be there waiting."
After Robin left and closed the door, Kiana double-checked the Dream Passport and the instructions for entering. Once she was sure of the procedure, she stepped into the bathtub-like pool and slowly lay down.
Closing her eyes,
She imagined a paradise...
In that mont of imagination, her consciousness felt as if it were being gently pulled—drawn toward sothing unseen.
But she wasn't the Trailblazer.
So unlike the Trailblazer, she didn't get any special treatnt. Before reaching the Golden Hour, she first passed through the Corridor of mories.
No unexpected events occurred.
Everything matched what the Dream Passport had described.
She arrived safely at the Golden Hour—the legendary land of dreams.
"So this is... Penacony?"
Gazing at the dreamlike city before her—so strikingly similar to the one from the ga—Kiana's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"But first, I need to find Sirin and Robin."
She looked around and quickly spotted the towering, unmistakable Clockie statue. Estimating the shortest route, she made her way toward it.
As she descended the staircase, she caught sight of a familiar figure with flowing purple hair.
"Sirin! I'm here!"
Seeing that Sirin seed to be waiting, Kiana waved and hurried over.
Hearing her voice, Sirin turned, exhaled in relief, and said with mild reproach, "What took you so long? I thought you got lost—or couldn't figure out how to use the Dreampool."
"Sorry for keeping you waiting. I actually didn't know how to use it, so Robin had to explain the whole process to . Took a bit longer than expected."
Sirin nodded, accepting the explanation, and began glancing around.
One person was still missing.
Miss Robin.
There was no sign of her nearby, aning she probably hadn't arrived yet. Understandable—she had likely waited for Kiana to enter the dream first before returning to her own room to do the sa.
Sirin was looking forward to this trip to Penacony with Kiana—but what she had imagined was a two-person journey.
Not... this.
It wasn't that she disliked Robin—just that she felt a little disappointed.
Still, if not for Robin's sudden invitation, Kiana would likely have turned her down and never co to Penacony at this ti.
Sirin understood that.
But even so, she couldn't help feeling a little frustrated—and the feeling only grew heavier.
If she couldn't leave a strong impression on Kiana before Raiden i was found—couldn't make herself special to her—then once Kiana t Raiden i again... with how much she liked her, how her eyes always lit up at the ntion of her na...
Wouldn't all her chances disappear completely?
The thought brought a surge of urgency to her heart.
She and Raiden i had known each other for a long ti, and Kiana clearly had deep affection for i.
Would trying to win Kiana's heart count as... stealing?
That brief flicker of guilt was quickly smothered.
After all, Kiana and Raiden i weren't officially together yet. And even if they were soday, she wasn't trying to take i's place.
How could that be considered stealing?
She genuinely liked Kiana—and Kiana treated her as soone special too. Naturally, she wanted to be just as special to Kiana in return—to deepen their bond.
Was that really so wrong?
She only wanted to beco Kiana's best friend—the one person she couldn't do without.
Of course, if things could soday go even further... she wouldn't refuse such a blessing.
But to make Kiana willingly give up on Raiden i... that would be harder than any dream.
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