A Fruitless Endeavor 2/?

I'm speedrunning these 5 chapters let's hope I get these done before break is over lol

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Dark, Darker yet Darker is all that floods my mind as I experience sensory overload whispers of the infinite expanse of the world tickle my ears

I feel the origin of everything within my palm yet seeping through the seams, I can't move, I can't see, I can't breath, my body is Nothing

Then suddenly there was a pause 'oh god I can finnally br-' my thoughts are knocked out as the cold feeling of metal slams against my body

Alarm bells are ringing as the sounds of gunfire echo out as I open my eyes "...fuck...where am I" my head rings out in pain from the experience of chrome doming myself on metal

I stand up and oversee my surroundings with my blurry eyes as I see multiple yellow particles at a center area " is this some type of containment facility?"

I say to nobody in perticularly as I hear gunshots ring out and 'why are game sound effects playing' I think confused as after a minute of the sounds of scraping and demonic screams silence fills the roo

before the sound of clanking foot steps ring out. as my head stops spinning 'finally god that was like a drug trip without the fun'

looking around clearly my thoughts pause as I say say In awe " woah" as a glowing yellow sphere that's just seems to attract me

but before I make any dumb Ideas I hear a whistle as a sensual sounding voice rings out "Strange thing number two..."

Hearing that I'm knocked out of my stupor and notice my hand is really close to touching what's probably a cursed object and I jump back

I breath out in relief as a more higher pitch voice speaks " the data suggests it's just an ordinary hologram. But it has an added layer..."

' hologram? Where the heck did chara send me' I say as I try to figure out where the voices come from but other than that yellow orb I see straight up walls trying to listen closer I notice there seems to be an echo effect in this 'closed' room as my thoughts spring back into action

'wait that girl said there was an added layer of hologram maybe I can't see where their talking from...what kinda crazy person makes a 2-way hologram!'

As I was stuck in my musings that sensual voice rings out again 'now that I think about it contest wise chara would win if I'm thinking just based on voice'

" Let's take a look. Don't worry, this place won't be our grave" I'm once again knocked out my thoughts as the sound of mixed footsteps ring out

' well josh your in the middle of possibly some Sci-fi base, and your about to interact with a (school) shooter...man I expected to die today by mysterious demon stuff not this'

I see a black boot and sneakers appear through what I thought was a wall in front of me as with another step their full figure is shown

A charming young woman with red winecolored hair that she tied in a messy ponytail with two loose bangs hanging on either side of her face. Her eyes are of a wine-like color with dark sunglasses on top of her head along with a pearl earring in her right ear. Wearing a white shirt with a black jacket tied around her shoulders

I notice she was the sensual voice from earlier as she says absentmindedly not noticing me yet " Interesting, she's a member of the genius Society alright "

I look beside her to see a girl with silver hair wearing a punk like outfit with an open short jacket with fur at the top revealing her black and white overlapping bra's as I notice she is armed with some weird gadgets and a knife strapped on her right foot

the punk girl speaks " The Stellaron is up ahead let's hurry" as the girls walk up from the wall me still a bit shook a scramble silently hidden behind the 'stellaron's' light as the punk girl called it

The wine-haired girl puts her hand in front of the silver-haired one as she looks directly at me 'fuck' I think as she says, " it seems we have a little voyeur on our excursion here~" she says in an almost taunting voice

I notice the silver- haired girl eyes lock onto me as I say quipping" hey I doubt there is much pleasure to be gained from interacting with a dommy mommy and a gamer girl...actually I regret saying that statement out loud "

The Silver-haired girl then covers her mouth trying to hold back her laughter before immediately failing and laughing on the floor hysterically "...a what?" The wine-haired girl says confused before shaking her head

" Anyways my little voyeur as much as we'd love to waste time on questioning you, were busy so Silver Wolf do your thing " the silver-haired girl manages to reel herself together to speak and says " don't worry Kafka even the genius Herta can't compare to me when it comes to hacking. I set up a program while our elation entusiast here made my laugh, the security is down and the receptacle is ready"

Wine-hair who I now know is named Kafka looks at me with a smirk as she steps toward the Stellaron " well given Elio didn't mention you I suppose it doesn't matter, I do hope you enjoy the show. After all it's private~" she says with a teasing voice as she grabs the Stellaron

She turns around as I see Silver Wolf who is touching what I assume is a hologram as she slides it in front of Kafka " The receptical is ready, your decision"

Feeling a bit awkward I say " soo... I assume your both criminals right, just guessing based on your dialogue" trying to make small talk to Silver Wolf as Kafka focuses intensely on the screen in front of her

The clearly uncaring girl says rolling her eyes "oh~ what made it obvious the numerous red flags or the fact were permanently borrowing a superweapon~" with a small smirk on her face

" well i kinda just popped up here after experiencing something close to death, I dunno if it's the shock, or the possible trauma but I feel Empty Regarding this situation" I shrugging my shoulder

Before the short girl makes a response Kafka says " there we go" and the screen forms into a cube which floats into the screen silver wolf was typing on In our mini chat

A whirring sound echoes the room as silver wolf focuses on the screen as a girl slowly forms from out of thin air in with blue light lines surrounding her as it happens

' huh kinda reminds me of the protagonist of Digimon: Cyber Sleuth' I muse to myself as Kafka says longingly approaching the girl "...how much does she remember"

As Silver Wolf says with a slight hum" ... they'll remember you" as the Stellaron in Kafka's hand starts to glow intensely as she mumbles absentmindedly pushing it inside the girl's chest " time to get up " as the girl falls back

After a moment of shared silence the girl's eyes start to blink half open as she says " ...Kafka?" Head slightly turning to gauge her surroundings " Great so you remember me " kafka says confidently but I think I noticed a bit of relief

The girl looks at Silver Wolf who stares silently with a slight grunt before looking at me as I silently wave not trying to ruin whatever is happening in front of me before getting her eyes back on Kafka

"Listen: You are in a daze right now. You don't know who you are, why you're here, or what your going to do next. you think I look familiar, but your not sure if you should trust me" Kafka takes a breath before continuing

"...none of that matters. All you need to know is that I'm leaving, and you will be left all alone on this space station-" pauses for a moment and looks at me " well except perhaps that guy "

I grumble " that guy is named Josh for your information...low tier god ripoff" I mumble the last part as kafka and silver wolf slightly giggle at my behavior

"Anyways...from now on, you needn't think about your past or doubt yourself. Listen: In the near future, you will encounter all kinds of perils and hardships, but you will also have many wonderful experiences. You'll meet companion's who treat you like family, and embark on surreal adventures with them... At the end of your journey all that troubles you and perplexes you will resolve." Her voice ends with a heavy sigh as she continues with a smile

" this is your future Elio has foreseen, do you like it?" The girl seems silent for a moment processing what was said before saying " Where are you going..." Seeming to want to say more but physically being unable to

Kafka says gently " The next stop to pave the way for the future that is written. It's like weaving brocade -- you and I can only add 1 golden thread each time, but eventually, we will make a gorgeous pattern"

Silver Wolf pipes up " how long do you think you need? According to the script, the Estral Express crew is arriving soon. We should avoid being seen by them "

I say jokingly " ah so the plot thickens " as the girls mostly ignore me with what I assume is the protagonist smiling deliriously at my joke

Kafka replies in a slightly annoyed voice turning to Silver Wolf " I know Silver Wolf. Just give me another minute"

Kafka turns back to the girl " I must leave now. Listen: someone will come and find you very soon, just go with them. you won't remember a thing except me."

The girl tried to lift her arm to no avail and says sadly " Kafka..." Kafka stands up " when you have the chance to make a choice, make one that you know you won't regret "

The girl falls back unconscious as Kafka looks toward me " as for you, I'd like to ask you to stay with Stelle, since Elio didn't mention you it seems he may have intended for you to follow her, I don't know why your here but trust me with the things she is soon to experience, whatever your goal may be it may be found along the road "

I put my hand to my chin tilting my head for a second ' eh well I am lost and given chara sent me here kafka's words do seem wise ' I put down my hand and nod " I'll take care of her for you mysterious lady if anything I've learned within the past 30 minutes is true, as a gacha game player I'd bet this will bring me the most rewards "

Kafka nods probably not understanding what I mean based on anything I learned through this interaction but getting the gist of what I'm saying as she walks through the wall she came from leaving me and Silver Wolf along side the unconscious Stelle alone in the room

Silver Wolf walks up to me and holds up my hand and opens it as a tablet forms out of nowhere making me jerk in surprise but silver wolf holds me still " Take this, Elio said for whatever reason to give you this, it's a journal I made during my mastery of Aether editing, the thing that lets me hack reality"

Slightly surprised I say not missing a beat " on the first date~ how thoughtful of you" I say with a smirk which Silver Wolf returns " This won't be the last time we meet, who knows maybe you could actually take me out on a date~" she says in a teasing voice as she mock salutes walking away

" See ya later you addict, maybe I'll send you a request if you play any games I like" as she also walks into the wall disappearing as I put the tablet in my pocket

I finnally let out the breath I didn't know I was holding " Dear god that was terrifying, somehow I stumbled and joked my way out there"

I frown as I try to process everything I just learned ' ok so based on what they were saying Elio is some type of psychic able to see the future, also in hindsight that silver wolf person reminds me of Bronya from that game on Kymani's phone, Stelle the unconscious person here was hacked into reality by a technique called Aether editing and Elio wants me to learn it...I mean I am a pretty good coder, would've actually had more money if i didnt spend it all to get herscherr of truth hmm food for thought...anyways kafka and stelle know each other, by their talk possibly lovers? Best Friends? Eh too soon to assume much, I'll learn more as Kafka said later, but what didn't she say that some people from the astral express are coming soon? from the name I can guess it's some type of space train but eh'

I stop my thoughts as the door behind my slowly lifts up as I cover my eyes ' THE LIGHT IT BURRRNS' blinking a bit to regain clarity

My eyes are suddenly filled with black as I see a spear is pointed between my eyes as I see a dark haired man in front of me " what are you doing to this girl"

Beside him a pink haired girl 'paimon?' Has a glitter covered bow pointed at me " Why is this girl unconscious ya sicko!"

I slowly hold up my hands " I come in peace I come in peace, I found this girl unconscious after I found myself teleported here when I was eating, I haven't done anything in thirty minutes of her being asleep so lay it off with the weapons will ya!"

' best not to mention Kafka and Silver Wolf ' I think as the girl lowers her bow the man didn't budge however' they were very clearly criminals and mentioning this currently would just be making myself a accomplice'

"What happened to the Stellaron" the man says as the cotton candy girl looks at the empty location where the stellaron once was " your right dan heng where IS the Stellaron"

As she doesn't put her bow away keeping it downward but gripped " well Mr where is it!"

' ah crap, how would kymani get out of this'

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Well it seems our boi Josh is in a bit of a predicament, but you'll find out soon how he gets out of that one

Sidenote I looked up aether editing there isn't much info on it besides the basics we already know, probably will be like that till we get to punklorde in honkai

So I'll just put it up to advance coding future techniques, don't worry your brains too much on this I already have the next chapter saved for this just need to finish the last 2

Peace