Nero entered the dream. Before his feet even touched the ground, he took a lap through the sky first.
Then he rode Black Cutter down, jumped onto the ground, immediately took out his phone, and snapped several photos of the sky.
Using a few tricks, he lit up the memoria in the sky and directed Black Cutter. It turned out he had drawn a Pom-Pom high above.
"Hehe... Since Pom-Pom couldn't come, I'll give it a little gift."
"Nero, what are you...?"
Robin's voice came from nearby. Nero turned around, raised a hand in greeting, and answered, "I saw the memoria here was really dense. Since the conductor couldn't come down with us, I thought I'd take a few pictures for it."
After hearing Nero's answer, Robin looked up at the Pom-Pom figure in the sky.
Nero hadn't planned to leave the Pom-Pom drawing floating there forever, so the glowing traces were already fading away.
Not far away, Sunday watched his sister talking with Nero. He called over the Bloodhounds to keep order. The two of them standing together were still far too much for ordinary people to handle.
Robin blinked.
"You can control memoria so skillfully?"
"I wouldn't call it skillful. I just learned it," Nero answered honestly.
"Huh...?"
Robin looked at Nero. For a moment, she didn't know what to say after hearing that answer.
Only then did Nero notice that quite a crowd had gathered around them. Some overly excited fans were being firmly held back by the Bloodhounds, while still shouting things like, "Miss Robin, please give me an autograph!"
So he asked, "Is Sister Robin holding a fan meeting here?"
"No." Robin shook her head. "We're just here for work... Most of the crowd actually gathered because of you."
"Huh? Because of me?"
Nero froze, blinked a few times, then finally realized just how eye-catching what he'd done earlier had been to the people in this dream.
Seeing Nero's face turn red in an instant, Robin smiled and asked, "I actually wanted to ask you this the last time we met. Would you be interested in performing on stage too?"
"Me? I-I... I-I'd better not... I... I can't..." Nero refused without even thinking.
Robin looked at Nero, a trace of regret showing in her eyes. But since he wasn't willing, she couldn't force him or keep pestering him.
"All right." Robin smiled gently and rubbed Nero's head.
It felt really nice.
Not far away, Sunday frowned as he watched them.
He agreed with his sister. Judging by appearances alone, this child really was suited for the stage. He didn't even need any special styling. If he showed some talent as well, there were probably very few people in the Iris Family who could compare with him.
If this child were to receive professional training, then across the entire universe, only his sister would probably surpass him.
For a moment, that thought appeared in Sunday's mind.
But soon afterward, he calmed down, and the look in his eyes as he watched Nero grew deeper.
He remembered the conversation he had with Mr. Gopher Wood not long ago.
If he remembered correctly... it was when the Knights of Beauty had arrived.
As the head of the Oak Family, he had been alerted by the Bloodhounds. The report they brought said that deep among the stars beyond Penacony, a terrifying giant beast had appeared.
They said no one had ever seen such a beast in the universe before. It had a majestic dragon's head and the body of a goldfish.
Its scales reflected countless colors of light. Its three tails spread across the stars like curtains, and it was charging straight toward Penacony.
Huge meteors flying in from afar turned to dust the instant they struck its body. Even entire planets drifting elsewhere weren't as large as the tip of one whisker on its dragon's head.
For a time, everyone in Penacony believed that this unheard-of giant beast had come to attack Penacony.
Yet when Sunday personally went out, all he saw was a dazzling flash of brilliant light passing before his eyes. Several magnificent starships were lined up in formation, requesting permission to dock.
Sunday recognized the style of those ships. Knights of Beauty had visited before. The most recent time, they had even worked together to deal with the Mirror Holders.
But this time was different.
Far too many knights had come.
After the order had split apart, most knights had wandered the universe alone. But with this display...
Was the Knights of Beauty reforming?
Sunday had his people send a signal to the knights' ships, granting them permission to dock. Those enthusiastic handsome men and beautiful women apparently had no idea how many people they had rescued along the way. They first asked the Oak Family to settle all those refugees.
Only then did Sunday begin speaking with the knights.
From those conversations, he learned that the Knights of Beauty really were reforming. However, they had not yet returned to the height of their former glory.
They had come to fulfill an appointment.
Faced with a force like this, even if it was only beginning to reform, Sunday didn't dare underestimate them. Having worked with the Knights of Beauty before, he knew exactly how powerful these strange people were.
Although the source of their strength remained a mystery, even when scattered, every one of them was an elite warrior. He had witnessed their abilities himself. Just two knights had crushed several Mirror Holders.
Sunday didn't believe individual differences could create huge gaps in strength among the knights. Unlike other groups, tempering themselves had always been one of the Knights of Beauty's core teachings. It was a rule they had followed ever since stepping onto the Path of Beauty.
Afterward, Sunday asked about the giant beast again.
But the knights replied that they had never seen any giant beast.
After bringing the knights into Penacony, Mr. Gopher Wood came to see Sunday immediately.
Faced with the reformation of the Knights of Beauty, the Dreammaster was far from calm. He even seemed nervous and uneasy.
He warned Sunday that the Knights of Beauty had fallen apart because the Aeon of Beauty had fallen, and there was no way they would reform without a reason.
Although they still didn't know exactly what was happening, he still told Sunday to keep a close eye on the knights in case something unexpected happened.
Sunday could tell that if exposing the fact that the invitations hadn't been sent by the Family weren't a concern, the Dreammaster would already have driven every one of those knights out of Penacony.
Then, the moment the Astral Express arrived in the Asdana System, Mr. Gopher Wood issued another warning and reminder. After observing them, he fixed his attention on the boy named Nero.
Sunday watched Nero for a while.
Honestly, other than being exceptionally good-looking like those knights, he couldn't find anything especially unusual about the child.
So he didn't think this child, who had a good relationship with his sister, could stir up much trouble.
But today, he felt he really should raise his level of attention toward Nero a little.
This ability to casually manipulate memoria really could create problems.
One problem would lead to more problems. If something unexpected happened because of it, that would be troublesome.
In the world of dreams, even the Charmony Festival could be forced to postpone because of such an ability.
Nero once again noticed the strange way Sunday was looking at him, but he still didn't care.
He just felt that every time he talked to Robin, Sunday looked at him like this. Sunday was so sensitive about anything related to Robin that it couldn't have been easy for him to let her leave the Family and develop her career outside back then.
After chatting with Robin for a while longer, he rode away on Black Cutter.