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"Was that really necessary, Riku?"

Shizu's question hung over the empty space between them as Riku slowly led them through the seemingly endless expanse that was the planetarium. Like they had already observed earlier, it was clear that they had no way of navigating the place properly without any help. The respective hints that they got did little to narrow the search, and what few landmarks they spotted earlier might as well not exist with how much the stars and the galaxies all blended together in the vast expanse of black empty space.

"You know it is," he insisted as he stepped on top of another floating galaxy. "Do you think we can even find our way back the moment we get deeper into this place?"

"Uhh... no, but that doesn't mean you have to bully Nyx into breaking the rules again," Shizu frowned. "We both already know that she can't do that constantly without consequence."

"She's broken the rules multiple times before this for our sake anyway. All for the chance that we'd win this game faster," he defended. "What's one more rule to help us along this impossibility?"

The fortune teller was clearly still opposed to his actions as she glared at him. However, his lack of reaction proved the right call as she eventually sighed in both resignation and frustration.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I even follow you around," she grumbled.

"Isn't it because you didn't want to die?" he lightly chuckled.

"That was only at first," she quickly defended herself, a faint blush coloring her cheek. "Just... Nevermind."

Shrugging, Riku left Shizu to her own devices as he turned his attention back to the task at hand. Currently, the only hints they had going for them were that 'all will be revealed at the center of the universe,' and Nyx's hint of having to find a target on the floor and hit it. Both him and his companion immediately came to the conclusion that the office was somewhere near the very center of the planetarium in accordance with Tyche's hint. And as for Nyx's hint, perhaps it would make sense once they've reached their destination.

That was, assuming they even find their way there in the first place.

Silently, the two of them walked through the vastness of space and the very universe. Galaxies and star clusters slowly passed them by as they walked, their each step echoing against the quiet backdrop of empty space as they did their best not to get lost in all of the vastness and beauty in front of them. It was... It was unnervingly quiet at times, but nothing had happened so far that would necessitate them having to fight something. There was quite literally nothing for them to do other than to walk, hoping to find this so-called office with nothing but staring at galaxies and talking to one another to pass the time.

"Riku, did that galaxy just change shape?"

Riku blinked as he turned his attention to whatever galaxy Shizu was looking at. He wasn't paying too much attention to the direction of her gaze, so he really didn't see anything the moment he saw what looked like a ball-like galaxy.

"I'm not seeing anything, unfortunately," he admitted. "That just looked like one of many galaxies we already passed by."

Shizu frowned. "That's because you weren't looking."

"Exactly," he chuckled. "Besides, I read somewhere that galaxies change shape all the time."

Granted, it took billions of years for a galaxy to supposedly change its shape, he could only assume that time in the planetarium was skewed or something to make things like this possible.

"Well, I'm going to keep a lookout then," she scoffed back, drawing a card from her deck and placing it in between her fingers. "I swear some of these galaxies are moving closer to us too..."

Riku raised a brow at that. Looking around, he didn't see anything new beyond said galaxies lazily floating past them. There were some that were mainstays on his peripheral vision, but there was nothing that suggested that these things were making their way toward them. Still, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out for anything suspicious as well.

Shrugging, he stayed the course, his keen eyes making sure to spot any kind of pattern he could use to navigate the space around them. Nyx hadn't gotten back to him after they left her to her own devices, but he was sure that she'd come up with something to-

*whoosh...*

The faintest sound of something passing by him made him stop in his tracks. In front of him, a shooting star almost clipped him, passing dangerously close to his chest before quickly flying away without a care in the world. Placing a hand on his shirt, he noticed that it now sported a burn mark. That... never happened before.

"Why'd you stop, Riku?" Shizu asked.

"A star almost killed me," he admitted, his eyes still wide as he looked to the direction where the star came from.

"Really? Weren't we just walking past entire galaxies earlier?" Shizu increduously asked. "Pretty sure we could just walk through them."

"That's what I thought too, but this one felt different," he insisted. "This one actually burnt me."

Shizu's eyes widened at that statement. "Then... What it is? Something new to watch out for?"

"Perhaps," he nodded. "For now, let's just keep an eye out. We don't want to get blindsided by-"

*whoosh whoosh*

His ears perked up as the sound of shooting stars quickly made him turned to the left and duck. Likewise, Shizu did the same, letting the two projectiles lazily pass by them, all while almost burning them just from the heat they radiated.

"W-Well then... That's new," Shizu awkwardly chuckled. "Also, what did I tell you earlier? The galaxies really were changing shape."

"So it would seem," he relented, his gaze fixed upon what looked like a galaxy that was constantly undulating. Ranging from a ball to a spinning disc, the stars within it almost felt alive with how much they were moving. And getting closer. And closer...

"Shizu, we should run."