March 7th sat down on the lounge chair and looked around at the room's overall layout.
"If I could live in a room this big, I'd even be willing to have pillow fights with Stelle every day!"
"Why are you asking for perks on top of perks...?"
"If you ask me, Miss March 7th should try having a pillow fight with the Doomsday Beast."
"What kind of bizarre scene would that be?!" March 7th rolled her eyes. The Doomsday Beast could use her as the pillow.
"How could I let the Doomsday Beast snore beside my bed? Take a swing from the Galactic Baseballer first!"
Stelle conjured her baseball bat, the corners of her mouth lifting. "There's still some time before the warp. Yesterday's story was truly spectacular: a young man bravely pursuing love on one side, and a showdown between a hacker and a genius on the other."
"Ah... sometimes, being too popular is a burden too. Who told me to be so well-liked?" Stelle flicked her lovely gray hair, casually showing off.
"Tell me the story behind this baseball bat!"
"You already know?" Ye Yan chuckled.
"Huh? What are you two talking about?"
March 7th turned her head back and forth, her gaze constantly moving between Stelle and Ye Yan.
"It's about the baseball bat in my hand. Silver Wolf told me it belonged to you."
"Ah! Doesn't that mean you found Stelle unconscious before we did, Ye Yan?!" March 7th put both hands on her hips. "Teacher Ye Yan, how could you leave someone to die? That's not how the Nameless do things."
"Such a pretty girl was lying right there! Weren't you afraid the Antimatter Legion would hurt her?"
"Hehe~" Stelle giggled foolishly. Being praised felt pretty good.
Stelle and March 7th had a very good relationship. They had plenty of things in common to talk about.
They were both lively, beautiful girls who couldn't remember their pasts.
The only difference was that March 7th liked taking pictures, while Stelle liked rummaging through trash cans.
"Arlan from the Security Department had gone missing, hadn't he? I found Stelle while I was looking for him."
"Let me make this clear first: I didn't just ignore Stelle, a living, breathing person. We're the righteous Astral Express Crew, after all! I left her a weapon to defend herself." Ye Yan took the bat from Stelle's hand and spoke earnestly. Just as he was about to continue...
"I know this one!" March 7th raised her hand to answer first. "Teacher Ye Yan must have modified the baseball bat too, just like Dan Heng's spear!"
"That's on topic. Remember what I mentioned before? Every Emanator of [Eternity] gets one opportunity to meet the Aeon of [Eternity]."
"You can make a wish to them, or ask a question... they'll fulfill it for you."
"So... you asked them for a weapon that suited you?"
"Exactly! The baseball bat in my hand was a gift from them. It's said that this weapon was made from a modified [Elation] mask and can change its form."
"Huh? How come [Elation] is involved too?"
"I know this one!" Stelle raised her hand to answer first. All those days playing the Simulated Universe hadn't been for nothing!
"The Masked Fools stole all their masks from the Mourning Actors. The answer's obvious! The Aeon of [Eternity] actually stole this bat from the Aeon of [Elation]!"
"Hey~ can you really call it stealing when Aeons do it? They have a very good relationship with Aha."
Ye Yan was working to rid Stelle of these preconceptions, though... it was true that the baseball bat contained the power of [Elation].
As for why Ye Yan got along with Aha, setting aside his own love of finding amusement, Eternity and Elation were inherently a good match.
Keeping the laughter of Elation ringing throughout the universe forever was something Aha liked in the first place.
"Eternity isn't unchanging. It's full of diversity. Everyone has a different view of eternity, and they respect every form of eternity."
With that, Ye Yan tightened his grip on the baseball bat. Under March 7th and Stelle's astonished gazes, the bat in his hand turned into a longsword.
"Wow, that's amazing! Wait... so I've spent these past few days only using this bat to fight? What a waste." Stelle began reflecting on herself and took the longsword.
"If you want it to change form, remember... you have to gain a deep understanding of the [Eternity] within it."
"Got it!"
Stelle squeezed her eyes shut, continually pondering the [Eternity] in her heart.
What was eternity? Eternity...
Wait, something gray, wide, and cylindrical appeared!
"I can feel it!"
Bang!
With a loud crash, the weapon changed again.
The longsword in her hand turned into a trash can lid.
Stelle: ...
At that moment, there was only silence.
"Pfft~" March 7th was trying hard to hold back her laughter.
"I'm doomed. Whenever anyone mentions [Eternity], all I can think of is trash cans!"
Stelle wanted to cry, but no tears came. This really wasn't her fault! The sight of that giant trash can monster beating Nanook senseless was still vivid in her mind. She couldn't forget it at all.
"I bear some responsibility for this."
After all, Ye Yan had been the one to make fun of himself first, fooling Stelle into believing his true form was a trash can.
"It's fine. Who says a trash can lid can't be a weapon? The Foxians on the Xianzhou even use folding fans as weapons."
Aside from a certain white-haired Foxian who swung a battle-axe in melee, the others all used ranged weapons. Harmony was precious; they avoided getting physical whenever possible.
"Exactly, Stelle, don't be discouraged. Doesn't Uncle Yang use a cane too?"
"But he can make black holes with his bare hands!"
"Uh, that's true... then why don't you just keep using the baseball bat?"
"Ah~ on second thought, using a trash can lid as a weapon is pretty novel."
As expected of Stelle, her adaptability was impressive. She had accepted the fact that her weapon was a trash can lid so quickly.
"That's the spirit! If I become an Emanator of [Eternity], does that mean I can make a request of the Aeon of [Eternity] too?"
"Oh? What would you ask for, Miss March 7th?"
"Hmm... to remember my old memories and explore my past... oh, that sort of thing definitely isn't realistic. I'd be better off asking them to chat with me a little longer! Then I'd take a picture with them at the end as a keepsake."
"I get bored to death when nobody talks to me. There are lots of people on the Express, but Himeko's busy, Uncle Yang's busy, Pom-Pom's busy, and Ye Yan's nowhere to be found!"
"Dan Heng isn't busy, but he doesn't like chatting..."
"Looking at it that way, you're the best after all, Stelle!" March 7th hugged Stelle. Friendship between girls was the most precious thing!
Looking at Stelle's thoroughly contented face, Ye Yan decided not to disrupt their affection and left the room.
"Huh, did we forget something?"
In the parlor car, Ye Yan sat on a soft sofa as Himeko walked toward him with freshly brewed coffee.
"Miss Himeko, we're about to warp, and you still haven't forgotten your coffee."
"What do you remember about Jarilo-VI? The Express last went there thousands of years ago. I think... you should have been there at the time."
"Isn't it recorded in the Data Bank? It was a lush, very beautiful planet."
"Indeed. So many years have passed... perhaps it's already undergone earth-shattering changes."
"A thousand years is only an instant in geological terms, but that amount of time is enough to change a planet's climate."
"Jarilo-VI used to be a tourist destination. As for now... I couldn't say."
Jarilo-VI had been ravaged by a Stellaron, yet it had also been briefly saved because of that Stellaron.
The power of [Preservation] was faint. With this planet's level of technology, there was simply no way to stop the Fragmentum corrosion born of the Stellaron.
Unfortunately, these Supreme Guardians' commitment to [Preservation] was too strong. None of them had anything to do with [Eternity].
In other words, the successive Supreme Guardians didn't need to set foot on the Path of [Eternity]. These women were extremely steadfast in their faith in Preservation, and Ye Yan had no need to poach them. That would go against [Eternity].
What could draw Ye Yan's interest would be even one cautionary example among the Supreme Guardians: someone whose wavering convictions allowed the Stellaron to bewitch her as soon as she took office, directly overturning the ancient order of the past to welcome a new world and ensuring Belobog never knew another day of peace.
But... how could more than seven hundred years of bitter perseverance not count as a form of [Eternity]?