Drifting Between the Stars

Although he was curious about who this Caster person was, Sunny needed to head back to the real world. Strangely enough, the amount of time he needed to stay in the Dream Relm was lesser than other Awakened.

He guessed that it must have been due to the fact that he had multiple cores. In fact, with his new Demon core, he felt his connection to the real world become reconnected much quicker than before.

To not draw attention, he made sure to always wait a little longer before leaving.

Touching the altar that served as the gateway of the Citadel, Sunny went back to the real world.

***

As Sunny opened his eyes, he felt the medical fluids within the pod slowly drain. Once it was completely empty — save for himself — the pod opened up, allowing Sunny to leave.

Stepping out of the pod, Sunny looked in both directions to see if anyone was nearby. Of course, he would have known thanks to Shadow Sense, but he wanted to make sure just in case.

Leaving the training room, Sunny walked through the empty Passenger Cabin. He could feel the shadows of the passengers in the Parlor Car, so that was where he went.

Entering the Parlor Car, he heard March 7th exclaim something…

"Conductor, can I get a juice, please? Thank youuuu~"

Pom-Pom groaned at March's behavior.

"Ugh... We're jumping in five minutes! You can have something to drink when it's over!"

"...But I'm thirsty now!"

'What a rowdy bunch.'

Not sparing them another glance, Sunny walked over towards Himeko, who was sitting on one of the sofas. When her eyes found him, she sent him a motherly smile.

Blinking, Sunny coughed into his fist before greeting her.

"Uh… good morning Miss Himeko."

"Good morning to you too, Sunless. And please, just Himeko is fine. We'll be seeing a lot of each other after all."

Reluctantly, Sunny nodded.

"In that case, just call me Sunny. It's what most people call me…"

Recalling the reason he had approached her, Sunny asked Himeko a question.

"…Where exactly are we going? We leave today, right?"

Nodding, Himeko told Sunny about the planet they were going to.

"Our next stop is a small planet called Jarilo-VI. It's been thousands of years since the last time the Express paid a visit. The data bank shows it was a lush and beautiful place."

Himeko paused, seemingly lost in thought.

"But after all this time, it's possible that dramatic changes have occurred."

Sunny tilted his head.

"Dramatic changes? What do you mean?"

Sunny had never heard of entire landscapes changing. The best example he could think of was when Europe became uninhabitable due to gruesome wars thousands of years ago. He wasn't quite sure due to his lacking education, but it was supposedly so bad that it was still dangerous to this day.

That wasn't even taking into consideration the Nightmare Creatures that came through the Nightmare Gates, roaming around as they please without humans nearby. If they were at least of the Fallen rank, then there was no way that they would die from mere pollution.

The thought caused Sunny to wonder if humanity would one day lose to the Nightmare Spell, despite surviving against it for countless millennia.

Himeko blinked, not seeming to understand the question.

"…Well, tectonic plates could shift the landscape around quite a bit. There is also the possibility of man-made causes, like mass industrialization."

Sunny didn't say anything for a moment, pondering her words.

"…What's a tectonic plate? And what is Industrialization?"

A few moments of silence passed. Himeko's face had a puzzled expression.

"Sunny, have you never learned these things in school? Was it one that focused more on survival and combat?"

Sunny blanked for a few seconds. He never went to school in the first place, so how should he answer…

'…Oh.'

An awkward smile appeared on his face.

"Ah… Actually, I've… never went to school before. I was homeless before being infected by the Spell."

A shocked expression appeared on Himeko's face. Sunny wasn't surprised, since it would obviously be strange to hear that a well-renowned Awakened used to be homeless.

'Well-renowned, huh? I'm really moving up in the world!'

Sunny turned his head to see, March trying to contain her laughter. She must have overheard their conversation.

Sunny scowled.

"What are you looking at? Poverty is a real problem in the world, you know?"

March waved her hands in appeasement.

"Wait, wait! It's not my fault for laughing! It's your fault for saying it so casually! I couldn't help myself!"

Staring at her for a few moments, Sunny suddenly smirked.

"Well, I'm not very sure you've been to school before."

"Wha- I've definitely been to school before… probably. I think?"

Sunny watched as March started to question herself. It wasn't like she would remember if she had or not.

'Folks, this is why you don't tell people your flaw, even if it's practically harmless.'

Anything could be a weapon if one tries to make it one.

A cough pulled Sunny's attention back to Himeko, who had an apologetic look on her face. She must have snapped out of her initial shock.

"I apologize. It was quite insensitive of me to ask you that."

Not quite comfortable with being apologized to, Sunny simply shrugged.

"It's fine. I don't really go around telling people about myself unless I have to, so you couldn't have known."

In reality, Sunny wasn't really bothered much by merely being in poverty. The only reasons he had hated it was due to the principle of the matter. He didn't enjoy being at the bottom of the societal hierarchy.

Of course, being malnourished was also a problem.

'I wonder how tall I'd be if I wasn't always starving…'

The thought brought a bitter feeling to his heart. Awakened men tended to be really tall, so he always had to look up when speaking to them.

'Maybe I could slice off their ankles.'

Filing away the idea for later, Sunny refocused on the conversation.

Pausing for long enough so that Sunny could have his inner monologue, Himeko smiled towards him.

"Still, if you have any questions about anything at all, feel free to ask me. Or March."

The last part was stated in a joking tone.

"Huh?"

Snapping out of her thoughts at the mention of her name, March looked back towards them. Himeko smiled in her direction, waving her off.

"It's nothing, March."

Looking at them skeptically, March hesitantly accepted her words.

"Well… if you say so."

Turning her attention back towards him, Himeko took on a more serious tone.

"In all seriousness, anyone except March would be a reliable choice."

…Sunny could figure that out just by talking to the pink-haired girl.

Ending their conversation, Sunny looked around the Parlor Car. He noticed that everyone besides Dan Heng was present, which caused him to wonder what the stoic boy was doing in his room.

He saw Welt standing by the windows. Sunny approached the older man, mainly curious about what he was.

Noticing his approach, Welt nodded towards Sunny. He then looked out the window, which showed the Supply Zone of the Herta Space Station.

He then spoke in a friendly tone.

"Jumps are like this: They may feel novel the first few times, but you'll slowly get used to them after a few more."

'…Well that was random.'

Sunny wondered if their was a hidden message that he wasn't grasping due to his inept social skills.

"As for the mechanism... Well, if you're interested, I'll explain it to you in detail when we have more time."

Actually, Sunny was interested, as he was only ever exposed to the harsh outskirts of Earth's cities, and the unforgiving wilderness of the Dream Realm. However, he doubted that he would be able to understand most of what Welt would say.

"For now, just sit and wait. Remember to close your eyes — it helps with the dizziness."

Talking with Welt for a bit, Sunny realized that he really couldn't ask his question without sounding rude or prying. Besides, it wasn't like he had any proof that Welt wasn't an Awakened.

Sunny had his own secrets to keep, so he wasn't going to dig for information unless he felt it was necessary.

Going towards a sofa, Sunny sat down in preparation for the jump. He saw March standing in an unbalanced manner in the middle of the Parlor Car. She had an extremely focused look on her face.

"…What are you doing?"

Not looking towards Sunny, March answered his question.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I just wanna see if I can stay on my feet this time~"

'I… wasn't worried about you though?'

Not bothering to voice his confusion, Sunny instead asked another question.

"What's the point?"

March glared at him from the corner of her eye.

"Don't be silly — this is fun! I like keeping busy, otherwise I start obsessing over... pointless things."

'Fun?'

Sunny… wasn't quite sure if he found anything to be fun. His life used to be a fight for survival, and still was, just in a different context. He never thought about what would be fun…

'Maybe I could run a Nightmare Creature restaurant.'

Now that he thought about it, it didn't seem very fun. It sounded more like a way for him to rake in the big bucks, by holding a monopoly over Nightmare Creature cuisine.

Which brought up the question again; what did Sunny find fun?

Looking towards March, he hesitantly asked:

"…What does the word "fun" mean, in the most literal sense?"

"Huh? I guess… things that you enjoy? Things you want to do?"

'…Useless.'

Sunny could see why Himeko recommended that he didn't ask March any serious questions.

Suddenly, an announcement rang through the Parlor Car. Pom-Pom's voice rang through the train.

"Hello? Hello hello? All passengers, please return to your seats."

March completely ignored the announcement.

"...I won't fall over! I won't fall over!"

'She's going to fall over.'

A smirk on his face, Sunny waited for the Express to jump.

"The train is about to make the jump! Hold on, everyone!"

"5."

Sunny felt the train starting to a shake as a few chess pieces toppled over on a chessboard.

"4."

Sunny looked out the window, seeing that they had exited the Supply Zone, floating in the endless expanse of space.

"3."

Despite Welt's suggestion to close his eyes during the jump, Sunny was completely entranced. Looking out the window behind the sofa he was sitting on, he absentmindedly reached out his hand for a peculiar purple star.

"2."

Strangely enough, the star wasn't outside the Parlor Car. It was instead close enough for Sunny to grasp. Sunny closed his hands around the purple four-pointed star, another conscious guiding him to do so.

"1."

He suddenly felt a jolt, the purple star disappearing from his hands as if it was a mere illusion. He found himself on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of the Parlor Car.

'Uh… what the hell was that?'

Sunny wondered if he was going schizophrenic.

***

Meanwhile deep within him, a newborn soul moved slightly deep within the depths of the Stellaron, keeping it stable despite Sunny not being built to contain it himself.

Within the shadows in the void of space, a star was born.

A star that shouldn't have been born.