[Calling Card]
[Tonight, I'll come to take Lynelle's body.]
[Phantom Thief Sparkle]
"..."
Lynelle stared at the calling card on the table, pinned under a Sparkle fumo, then at Sparkle's Wondrous Button sitting beside it.
For a moment, she fell into true silence. This one had really left her speechless. She couldn't decide whether she should laugh or put up a few polite precautions.
What was she even supposed to say?
Back on Jarilo-VI, she'd put Sparkle through all sorts of strange little gadget-based "training," and she'd even let that tiny gremlin under one meter forty experience what round-the-clock chaos felt like.
But surely Sparkle wouldn't be so eager to run over and get revenge already, right?
If Lynelle remembered right, it'd only been three or four hours total since she'd arrived at Penacony and reached her room in The Reverie.
For Sparkle to hear the news, sneak in ahead of time, and leave a calling card that more or less said, "Just you wait and see if I get you back tonight"...
Didn't that mean some Sparkle-chan had been camping outside The Reverie every day, waiting for Lynelle to show up? She couldn't have awakened some weird new preference after last time and come back to indulge it again, could she?
Thinking back to the first run, where Sparkle had also been put through all kinds of punishment routines under Lynelle's hands, Lynelle found herself giving that guess a little more credit.
She moved the Sparkle fumo aside and picked up the button on the table.
"And this button..."
"This can't be the one that's supposed to be used later in 2.3, right? Forget it. Whether it is or not, I'll press it first. If anything goes wrong, I'll just put it on Sparkle's tab."
After a brief pause, Lynelle pressed the button without hesitation.
"Hehe... I knew you'd press it!" Sparkle's voice suddenly came from the fumo beside her, nearly making Lynelle jump.
"Well, you can relax." As if she'd expected Lynelle to be on guard, the fumo explained at once, "What's playing here now is only a recording from Sparkle. There aren't any traps."
"If you don't believe me, then I can only say this... Since you're hearing this recording, that means the bet I made with a certain Miss Peacock has already been settled. So, Lady Sparkle's in a very good mood, and I won't tease you this time."
"Still, the calling card remains in effect. Before midnight tonight, you'd better watch out for Lady Sparkle's sudden attack, okay?"
"To tell you the truth, this time Lady Sparkle has the power of the script on her side. Bringing down a mere Lynelle will be as easy as turning my hand. When that time comes... hehe."
A wicked, candy-sweet laugh came through the recording. "Every single 'game' you used on me back on Jarilo-VI... I'll pay it all back twice over~"
With that, the recording cut off with a soft click. Lynelle was left staring at the Sparkle fumo on the table, still wearing the same expression of someone trying not to laugh.
"She knows about the script... and she actually thinks that's an advantage?" Lynelle felt it getting harder and harder to keep the corners of her mouth down.
"That's impressive. If I'm guessing right, her script should've come from Silver Wolf, right...? Did Silver Wolf really not tell her that the scripts Elio gives everyone only cover that person's point of view?"
After dealing with Sparkle's calling card, Lynelle had a rare stretch without much trouble.
Maybe Aventurine thought Stelle would be easier to deal with than Lynelle, because he still chose to go find Stelle, just like in the original story.
Acheron also got lost at just the right time and helped drive Aventurine away for her.
By then, everyone could finally lie down in the Dreampools and begin their first dream entry. Of course, this dream entry wasn't only for sightseeing.
Himeko had gone out of her way to remind everyone about the second half of the Watchmaker's invitation, so gathering clues about the Family's abnormalities in the dream was also one of their tasks.
As the liquid in the Dreampool rose over her body, Lynelle closed her eyes. She had to admit, even without its dream-entry function, Penacony's Dreampool would make a pretty good sleep aid. At the very least, it was much better than some shoulder-and-neck massager or miracle fawn brand from an ad.
[Lynelle, Lynelle, have you entered the dream yet?]
Not long after Lynelle sank into the dream, Stelle sent a message to her terminal.
[Lynelle: I've been in for a little while already. I think I'm in the Golden Hour right now... Where are you all?]
[March 7th: I'm in the Moment of Dusk, getting ready to head to the grand auction!]
[Stelle: I'm in the Golden Hour too, but this place is huge. Should we look around on our own first?]
[Lynelle: No problem. But... where's Corruption-chan?]
[Corruption-chan: The signal on my side seems pretty bad... I don't know how long this message will take to send.]
[Corruption-chan: I think I'm in a very strange place right now. None of Penacony's Twelve Hours seem to match it.]
[Corruption-chan: Anyway, you don't need to worry about me for now. With my life form, this dreamscape won't be able to do much to me. It's just that this damned place doesn't even seem to have a single person around. I don't know if it's tied to the Family secret Big Sister Himeko mentioned before.]
"A damned place without a single person?" Lynelle looked confused. "Where's that supposed to be? Dream's Edge? Dreamflux Reef?"
"Don't tell me Corruption-chan ran off to some bug-related place... That kid really does have the kind of physique that attracts trouble."
Lynelle rubbed her head with some frustration.
"Forget it. Corruption-chan has my power mark on her anyway. If something really happens, I can just use a card and teleport straight to her... For now, I should gather some intel in the Golden Hour first."
Yet just as Lynelle set her worries aside and began wandering through the Golden Hour, she had no idea that someone else had already set their sights on her from the dark. Sparkle wasn't the only one watching.
"So she's the child named Lynelle... Mm, she really is quite cute."
Not far from where Lynelle stood, a beautiful lady with a purple veil and a tall, full figure was murmuring to herself, an oracle card pinched between her fingers.
"I didn't expect to meet her so soon after entering the dream... Perfect. It's still early, and the various factions haven't even begun to enter the stage yet. This is a fine chance to probe her for information."
"I hope... that colleague from the Garden of Recollection didn't lie to me. I hope this adorable child truly does hold a great secret that'll satisfy me."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL