A few hours later
"This is your new room," Himeko says as she gestures to the huge room in the newly built car. Stelle can't help but gasp in awe and excitement as she drops her baseball bat with a trash bag wrapped around it.
"D-do you really need to bring this with you?" Zhi Jiang asks as he pinches his nose. He had to deal with a rotten smell during his time in deserted island, mostly from the insides of the animals he hunts. He had to endure it till his arrival on the train, and he had enjoyed his time not having to deal with rotten smells for days.
Then, this random space raccoon had to ruin it.
"A-ah, sorry!" Stelle has at least the decency to look sheepish as she tightens the wrap and pulls it away. Zhi Jiang can't help but furrow his brows, wondering why this girl even want trashes.
Sure, a lot of trash can be recycled, and he knows how important recycling is. He had to recycle old stuff over the years. But he had accidentally glimpsed inside the trash bag, and Zhi Jiang instantly regretted it as there were leftovers in there.
"So, that's why she's staring at robots dumping trash into the junkyards...." March says with a sweatdrop, also pinching her nose.
"We are happy for you to join," Himeko says with a smile, but Zhi Jiang and March can see her eyes twitch at the smell of trash.
"Thanks for having me here..." Stelle says while rubbing the back of her head. "So...is there a trial or anything to make things official? We're not gonna go into a secret dungeon and make me do some sort of trials of passage, right?"
"As fun as it sounds, we don't do that here," Himeko says with amusement. "We do have a few set or rules to follow, though. And as a new member, we had a tradition where they had to recite the oath."
"Again?" March groans. "Do we have to hear the oath for the second time in less than a week?"
"Huh?" Stelle asks in confusion.
"I joined the crew not long after the battle ended, and I recited the oath, which March seems to hate," Zhi Jiang says as Stelle nods in understanding.
"Hate is a strong word. I simply...dislike it," March huffs.
"Why do you even dislike it?" Zhi Jiang and Stelle ask in unison, which causes them to blink as they stare at each other.
"Because it's cringe!" March exclaims as Zhi Jiang tilts his head.
"It's...not..." Zhi Jiang mutters in confusion, scratching his cheeks. He didn't understand what's so cringe about the oath. To him, it sounds cool.
"Can you tell me the oath?" Stelle asks curiously.
"It's better if Pom-Pom told you. Being the conductor, they're the ones who maintain the tradition," Himeko suggests as Zhi Jiang simply nods while March groans once again. "Anyways, before we left, we should bought you some clothes and perhaps some furniture."
"Oh, cool! I was wondering what I should spend the money I got from Asta on!" Stelle beams before she blinks as she notices Zhi Jiang has disappeared from thin air. "Where did Zhi Jiang go?"
"Huh? He was-!" March blinks as she turns around and sees no one. "W-where did he go!? I swear he was here!"
"Indeed, I wasn't expecting him to be stealthy..." Himeko mutters in confusion. Meanwhile, Dan Heng blinks as Zhi Jiang hides behind the archive room's door, looking paler than usual as cold sweat drips from his head.
"...are you okay?" Dan Heng asks as Zhi Jiang trembles.
"N-no more shopping..." Zhi Jiang mutters in fear as Dan Heng tilts his head in confusion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Several Hours Later
"I understand we had a new member, but do we have to delay our departure again!?" Pom-Pom exclaims in disbelief as they pace around the parlor car. "And why are the girls taking so long with their shopping!? Pom-Pom swears buying necessities doesn't need that much time! What do they need more than beds and stuff!?!"
"...sorry," Zhi Jiang grimaces as he continues to read his book.
"Don't apologize to Pom-Pom if it's not the passenger's fault!" Pom-Pom exclaims as they point at Zhi Jiang.
"Why do you even apologize anyway?" Welt can't help but ask.
"...I mean, I also take my time shopping with Miss Himeko and March. Although it was mostly them dragging me around the stores..." Zhi Jiang mutters the last part, but Pom-Pom easily hears all of that.
"You have nothing to apologize to Pom-Pom..." Pom-Pom says in a much calmer tone as they pat Zhi Jiang's left knee.
"..." Dan Heng sighs as he sips a normal coffee, glancing at the window before he notices Himeko, March, and Stelle have returned.
Saying Pom-Pom is not amused is a complete understatement of the Amber Era.
After an earful from Pom-Pom to the girls, Pom-Pom immediately gets ready for departure. Zhi Jiang glances at the window and sees Asta and Arlan waving at them while puppet Herta stands at the back. Zhi Jiang, along with March and Stelle wave back as Herta walks away.
Zhi Jiang watches the window as the train leaves the Space Station, and he is once again greeted with the sight of the starry sky. He is in awe as he hasn't gotten used to the beautiful scenery, and it didn't help that his situation didn't let him enjoy it. He turns to his side and notices that Stelle also shares a similar expression.
It seems that he wasn't the only one who was in awe at the scene.
"Attention, passenger!" Zhi Jiang sits down as he listens to Pom-Pom's announcement. "The Astral Express is leaving its current stop and is on the way to our next stop! Pom-Pom here is preparing for our next jump by keeping a safe distance from Herta's Space Station. We have around a few minutes before the jump, so Pom-Pom hope you all prepare yourself. And yes, Pom-Pom specifically means March7th!"
"H-hey, don't call me out like that!!!" March exclaims as she looks flustered. Himeko and Welt chuckle at her while Dan Heng holds a snort. Zhi Jiang returns to reading his book while Stelle scratches her head in confusion.
"So...why is our conductor calling March out?" Stelle asks as she adjusts the train pass on her coat.
"March loves to challenge herself to try and stand while the train warp jumps," Himeko says with a chuckle. "Unfortunately, she always ended up falling harshly."
"Please don't do it again," Zhi Jiang says, wincing as he remembers the first time he heard March falls during the warp jump. It was so loud that Zhi Jiang couldn't help but wonder if she was okay (which was answered with March casually running out of the Astral Express and shooting down the Antimatter Legion's Voidranger).
"Hmph," March pouts as she stands up, attempting to try again. Himeko simply shakes her head as she walks out of the parlor car along with Welt, while Dan Heng remains in his seat, reading his book, before the ceiling displays a hologram of the starry sky and a giant glowing whale. Before Zhi Jiang could return to his reading, he noticed Stelle staring at the hologram in silence.
"The Astral Express..." Stelle muses. "Aeons...Did I get dragged into a science fiction movie or something?"
"Heh..." Zhi Jiang can't help but chuckle. "I honestly thought the same thing..."
"Hmm..." Stelle glances at him before she raises her hand and glances at it. "This 'Stellaron' thing inside my body..."
"Are you trying to catch the stars?" March asks, startling Stelle as the hologram disappears. Zhi Jiang glances at the ceiling in confusion as he wonders how the hologram is being operated.
"Hee-hee, I've done stuff like that before," March says with a smile as she sits between Stelle and Zhi Jiang. "But, it wasn't stars for me though...it was lights."
"Huh?" Stelle can't help but be confused by this.
"When I first woke up after being rescued from the ice, I could see clusters of stars in front of me. I reached out for them automatically, but they turned out to be the carriage ceiling lights." March says as she lowers her head. "The whole crew is watching me - It was pretty embarrassing."
"...did I hear it right, rescued from ice?" Stelle blinks.
"Yup, like some sort of weird alien! I don't blame them for being curious, though - they have no idea where I come from." March says as she looks away. "You might not believe me, but I was stuck in a huge block of ice drifting through space."
"You were...?" Stelle asks in disbelief.
"Yeah. Himeko and Mr. Yang, and...who was it again? They figured out a way to melt the ice and saved me." March says with a smile, in which Zhi Jiang notices there's a hint of sadness in it. "I don't remember a thing."
"Like me..." Stelle widened her eyes in surprise as March simply nodded.
"Who am I, where I'm from, my name...it's like everything was erased from my mind. 'March 7th' was the day they found me, so it stuck." March continues. "Ever since then, I've been hanging out on this train and following it to whatever destination it decides to stop at. I'm hoping that one day, I can find my past..."
Zhi Jiang had heard the story before, but that didn't stop him from feeling bad for March. Not knowing about anything at all feels terrible.
He had forgotten a lot of things as well, and it sucks, especially that one of the things he forgotten is everything related to his parents: their looks, their voices, and so on. He started to forget many things since the day he slowly recovered from his head injury. He had tried to write a lot of things down, but he destroyed everything after enduring the streaks of bad luck.
His body seems to restored to back at the early days, and he notices he stops feeling any pain in his head (ever since his head stopped bleeding, the headache lingers for the rest of his life on the deserted island, and nothing he did could stop the headache), but his memories weren't restored. He had to deal with the fact that he won't remember his parents for the rest of his life.
"What about you?" Zhi Jiang blinks as Stelle asks him with a curious expression. "What's your story?"
"...I was pretty sure I had told how I was stuck on a deserted island and somehow got teleported into the train..." Zhi Jiang says as Stelle nods.
"Yeah, but is there anything you would like to add? Like how being on the island had affected you?" Stelle asks as Zhi Jiang frowns a bit before sighing.
"...I have this injury on my head that causes me to slowly forget stuff, one of them including my parents..." Zhi Jiang mutters, which made the girls widen their eyes. "I lost count of how much time has passed, losing any hope of anyone going to save me, and my..."
Stelle may be an amnesiac girl with almost zero knowledge of anything, but she didn't need to hear him completing his sentence to understand what he meant.
"...sorry," Stelle winces as Zhi Jiang shakes his head.
"Nah, don't be." Zhi Jiang says with a small smile. "I...eventually got rescued, even if I somehow got teleported by a space god. I...take this as a second chance in life and decided to join the Astral Express..."
"Oh..." Stelle mutters as an awkward silence fills the car. Dan Heng had heard everything, and he couldn't help but feel like he shouldn't be here. "...huh, is it a coincidence that there are three members of Nameless dealing with memory trouble?"
"...huh, you're right..." March mutters.
"...this is too much of a coincidence..." Zhi Jiang agrees before they hear an announcement again from Pom-Pom.
"Choo choo! Passengers, please sit down, no one fights, and warp jump watch your head!! Choo choo!! Seat belt, fasten up, buffet car speeding up!!" Pom-Pom exclaims through the speaker as Stelle tilts her head and March stands up to prepare herself for another challenge, as Zhi Jiang hears Dan Heng groan quietly.
"Warp jump in three, two, one!" Once again, the stars from the window turn into millions of glowing lines as the train speeds up. As expected, March once again fails the challenge as she falls.
"Oww!!!" March groans before she realizes where she falls, and glances upward to see Zhi Jiang's surprised look as his cheeks start to blush a bit. March's face turns bright red before crawling away to her seat, which is next to Zhi Jiang, as her face turns redder.
Stelle looks confused at why their faces turn red while Dan Heng tries his best to ignore the situation.
To be Continued