Stelle thought about it for a long time, but she still couldn't remember where that strange feeling had come from.
Maybe it was just a dream. There hadn't been any little things on the train that should have made soft, squishy sounds.
After that, following Pom-Pom's instructions, she first woke Nero, then took him to find March.
But in fact, before Stelle could wake Nero, he was already awake.
He looked around and immediately realized that he had successfully entered the dream.
March called Penacony the biggest and most luxurious amusement park in the universe. The three of them then got off the train together and went to meet up with everyone else who had gotten off earlier.
The Reverie Hotel was built in an extremely luxurious style, giving off a dazzling golden feeling. Lifeforms of all kinds of races could be seen everywhere.
It wasn't just Stelle and the other two craning their necks and looking around. The people who had gotten off earlier were acting about the same, especially Hook and Clara.
The sights inside the Reverie Hotel left the two girls dazzled, and they didn't even know what to look at first.
As for Svarog, he was constantly scanning, calculating, and recording everything around him. As an old machine, he was doing his best to preserve and store information from another planet.
"Whew... We're finally here." Walking across the red carpet into the reception hall, March stretched hard.
"The Family's entry procedures are way too complicated. We had to go through more than ten inspections along the way. They even searched our suitcases four or five times... I was starting to worry they'd take the Stellaron out of Stelle's body just to have a look."
Stelle blinked, then looked at Nero beside her before glancing at Svarog not far away.
"Actually, it wasn't too bad for me. Getting through security was pretty easy. Svarog is carrying so many heavy weapons, and Nero even walked right in with Black Cutter..."
"That's exactly why I think they have too many inspections." March said,
"This was after Nero showed them the power of Harmony. I don't even want to imagine how many inspections there would be under normal circumstances. But letting Svarog and Nero just walk in like that... in a way, the Family is really pretty tolerant..."
"I think they probably weren't searching for weapons." Stelle said. "After all, this is the Family's territory, and they say it's protected by the power of Harmony. I don't think they're afraid of things like that."
"Whatever. We're here to have fun anyway, and at least all that painful inspection wasn't for nothing." March shrugged and looked up at the hotel's magnificent decorations glowing under the lights.
"This hotel lobby is amazing! Are all those rooms? How many people are staying here?"
"I wonder which room is ours. Come on, come on! Mr. Yang and the others must already be lining up at the front desk. Let's go meet them! Besides, everyone else still needs Nero to check in."
Smiling, March walked ahead first.
Stelle and Nero followed behind at a slower pace. Just then, someone walked over from not far away.
He was a young boy dressed as a hotel attendant, with a very soft and adorable appearance.
He gave them a slight bow.
"Welcome to the Reverie Hotel. I hope you have an unforgettable vacation! If you'd like to check in, please head straight to the front desk."
As the boy spoke, Stelle froze for a moment. She suddenly had the strange feeling that she had seen this scene somewhere before.
She frowned as she looked at him. An unexplained sense of familiarity lingered in her mind, but she couldn't remember any details. She opened her mouth and said, "You..." but couldn't continue.
The boy didn't seem to notice anything unusual and kindly said, "I'm Misha, a hotel attendant here in Penacony. It's a pleasure to serve you. If you need your luggage taken to your room, you can come to me anytime."
After greeting them, Misha left. The faint sense of something being off was like ripples spreading across the surface of water after a leaf fell into it. After gently rippling for a moment, it quickly faded from Stelle's heart.
By the time Stelle came back to herself, Nero was already gone.
She looked around but couldn't find him nearby. He had probably gone after March while she was talking to Misha, so Stelle quickly headed toward the front desk.
Nero was handling everyone's check-in, so nobody was lining up here. But the rooms reserved for the Astral Express couldn't simply be left unused.
That wouldn't be proper etiquette, so Himeko and Welt decided to first accept the invitation as Nameless guests. However, they seemed to have run into a bit of trouble.
Nero had his own way of solving it, so there was nothing to worry about. The problem was that among the invitations for the Nameless, Stelle's name wasn't included.
The registered name was Dan Heng's... Only then did the two adults remember something. When they replied to the invitation, Stelle and Nero hadn't boarded the Express yet.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Nero came to a corner of the lobby because he had heard someone quietly calling his name. There, he saw Robin and Sunday.
"Nero, long time no see~" Robin greeted him. For a celebrity like her, moments like this, when she could take a break from her busy schedule, were rare.
If she hadn't happened to spot Nero, she would probably be busy receiving some of the more important guests instead of chatting here.
That's just how the adult world works. Not everyone can be like Nero, talking to people when he feels like it and ignoring them when he doesn't.
He can almost completely ignore social relationships and whether he's being polite when speaking or doing things, acting entirely according to his own habits...
He was as free as a Galaxy Ranger.
As she spoke, Robin pointed toward Nero's friends from Belobog and the Luofu, who were waiting by the edge of the front desk.
"I noticed the two people who came with you went over there. Are they all your friends?"
Hearing Robin's gentle voice, Nero scratched his head and smiled.
"Yeah. I figured that if we're going out to have fun, it's more fun if everyone comes together."
Beside them, Sunday looked at Nero, then at his younger sister, and finally back at Nero. He narrowed his eyes.
The current head of the Oak Family didn't say a word. No one knew what he was thinking.
Nero noticed the somewhat complicated look in Sunday's eyes when he looked at him. Although he found it a little strange, he didn't think much of it.
"It looks like there's a little trouble over there."
That was the first thing Nero heard Sunday say.
Nero turned and followed Sunday's gaze. He saw a familiar blond man, Aventurine, whom he had met before when he visited the IPC with Topaz. Aventurine had even given him a set of new clothes as a gift.
After thinking about it for a moment, he remembered this part. During the Charmony Festival, Penacony was crowded with all kinds of people, so it wasn't convenient to transfer Dan Heng's invitation to Stelle. Aventurine had stepped forward to guarantee it.
Thinking back carefully, the Aventurine from that time had given him the impression of someone who smiled sweetly while hiding a knife behind his back.
But now, after getting to know him in the Honkai: Star Rail universe, Nero actually had quite a good impression of Aventurine.
The three of them soon headed over. Just as they arrived, they heard Aventurine say, "My friends, yes. Nothing is more precious than friends, especially trailblazers as open and honorable as the Nameless."
"From here on, I'll have to rely on all of my trailblazing friends to look after me during this trip to Penacony. I hope we'll... get along well."