"Of course. Doctor Edward always welcomes guests seeking excitement! Shall I use your dream, sir?" Doctor Edward replied politely.
"Mhm, use mine." Sparkle raised an eyebrow. "Last night's dream will do."
"Um... what's happening?" Firefly asked, confused.
"Allow me to explain. This is a service our shop provides for experienced customers. You can give me a dream you've recently experienced. Combined with the appropriate Emotion Prototype, it can be turned into a personalized dream bubble that can be experienced over and over again."
"So you can do anything you want?" Stelle asked.
"Exactly. Looks like you've caught on." Sparkle nodded. "You've had dreams that left you wanting more after waking up too, haven't you?"
"A dream that leaves you wanting more..." Firefly's expression suddenly turned lonely as she quietly repeated the words.
To her, they were both incredibly tempting and completely unfamiliar. She had never been born with the ability to dream.
But alongside that loneliness, she also found herself quietly looking forward to this so-called dream experience.
"Looks like Miss Firefly can't wait anymore." Sparkle smiled. "No rush, no rush. As a demonstration, let's experience my dream first."
"I believe you've already prepared the materials. Please hand them to me," Doctor Edward said.
Sparkle handed over the items she had collected from the Pepeshi Salon, along with the Emotion Prototype that the Stelle-Nero duo had looted from the Stone Boss.
The items seemed to be made of memoria. Under Doctor Edward's manipulation, they slowly merged into his enormous eyeball.
"Thank you for your contribution. Reading complete! Adjusting the memoria and generating the dream bubble..."
A moment later, Doctor Edward split a giant dream bubble off from his body.
"Generation complete! Please close your eyes and press your forehead against the dream bubble."
"Come, my dears. I wish you a wonderful time."
Stelle had already experienced this here before. She was the first to press her forehead against the dream bubble. Nero and Firefly followed.
The next moment, a feeling of weightlessness washed over them.
Everything before their eyes turned black as the memoria slowly wrapped around their thoughts. It felt like swimming on top of a slime.
A brief bubbling sound reached their ears, and the weightlessness gradually faded.
When they opened their eyes, the three found themselves lying on beds covered with white sheets. One after another, they sat up.
Stelle rubbed her head and looked around.
The sky outside seemed dim. The small room was lit by lamps. Not far away were chairs and hospital beds, with blue curtains separating the beds.
Directly ahead, an old-fashioned mechanical wall clock hung in the center of the wall. Bookshelves stood on either side, filled with neatly arranged books. The remaining wall space was covered with posters, medical information, and notices.
The scene looked strangely familiar to Stelle. It felt as though she had experienced something like this once before.
Firefly also examined her surroundings right away.
"Mm... where is this?"
Nero's voice came from nearby, "It looks like Natasha's clinic in Belobog."
"Belobog? Sister Natasha?" Firefly looked even more confused.
Nero briefly told Firefly about what had happened in Belobog.
She seemed to like the story.
Meanwhile, the little raccoon's face showed confusion and unease. She looked around before asking, "This is Sampo's dream? If it's his dream, then being in Belobog isn't strange, but... where is everyone? Where did they all go?"
Firefly and Nero both shook their heads.
They didn't know either.
Just then, the voice of Sparkle disguised as Sampo reached everyone's ears.
"This is a surprise. We'll reveal it later. But you need to understand, in dreams, anything is possible.
"Don't rush. You should get used to what it feels like to dream inside a dream first."
Nero casually waved an arm.
"It's fine. No big deal. After experiencing the Simulated Universe, this kind of thing is actually pretty easy to adapt to."
Stelle nodded in agreement.
Firefly, standing beside them, didn't understand.
'The Simulated Universe?'
Still, she tried moving around a little herself.
There didn't seem to be any problem.
The three of them didn't hurry outside. Instead, they first searched the room.
Stelle found a note on the table.
It seemed to be a piece of advice from Sampo. Written on it were the words,
"Become the King of Trash, even if the garbage bag has long since torn apart."
Nero leaned over to read it.
His eyes suddenly widened.
'Familiar.'
'Way too familiar!'
A message carried by falling leaves...
Stelle slowly put down the note and looked up.
"What do you mean by this?"
Sparkle answered immediately, "No idea. I've never been to this place in my dreams."
"Ah, don't worry about the details. I'd say it's time you went outside and had a look. Just don't get scared."
The three exchanged puzzled looks.
Still, Sparkle was right. There was nothing left to explore inside.
The three walked to the door together, pushed it open, stepped outside the clinic, and looked up.
They froze instantly.
Stelle: "...!!!"
Nero: "Whoa!"
Firefly: "...Huh?"
Outside, standing across the open ground, were golden ones, silver ones, and bronze ones; ones with long legs, ones with long arms, and even sleeping ones.
Every single one of them was a tall, powerfully built, strong and sturdy trash can.
"W-What's going on...?"
Firefly was still confused.
Beside her, however, Stelle was overjoyed, almost moved to tears. She looked like she was one step away from hugging Sampo and calling him her best brother.
"This place is heaven..." Stelle murmured.
"...Huh?" Firefly turned toward Stelle in shock.
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
At that moment, a woman's voice came from not far away.
"You've finally arrived..."