As for what the manager was thinking, the victorious Stelle didn't care at all. Looking at the prize the game store manager handed over, the girl's eyes instantly lit up.
Stelle happily accepted the reward, then stuffed it all into Himeko's hands in one go.
"Himeko, sorry—help me hold this for a sec!"
"Huh? Wait! Stelle…!"
Feeling something suddenly added to her hands, Himeko quickly called out to Stelle. But in that split second, Stelle had already dashed into the next game store.
Himeko: '…'
Lowering her head to look at the prize in her hands, then at the various other trinkets already hanging all over her body, Himeko couldn't help but sigh.
"This is really… sigh…"
After Himeko had forcefully dragged Stelle—who had been planning to play third wheel—away from the scene to comfort this "baby who wasn't even a year old yet," she had gritted her teeth and generously offered to let Stelle play freely in the Golden Hour arcade.
Who could have known the child had such outstanding gaming talent? In just half a system hour, she had already won a huge pile of prizes—her body was practically covered and couldn't hold any more.
"I never thought there'd come a day when I'd experience what it feels like for a guy to accompany a girl shopping."
Himeko gave a wry smile and shook her head. Then she looked toward the direction of the Dream Café and muttered under her breath, "Yun Fan, I don't know what choice you'll make, but please… don't hurt little March's heart…"
Inside the arcade…
"Aaaah! How is this possible?! I lost three in a row—this can't be! I'm the arcade boxing king!"
In front of two arcade machines, Stelle was locked in a game battle against an intelligent machine. Around the two of them, a huge crowd of onlookers had gathered.
"Take this! Hya! Wula wula wula wula!!"
Stelle rapidly worked the joystick with one hand while her right hand blurred across the buttons. In just one or two minutes, she KO'd the arcade's so-called "boxing king" intelligent machine player.
"Im-impossible! You must be cheating—you have to be cheating!"
Unable to accept defeat, the intelligent machine player roared in anger and began questioning Stelle's skill.
However, as an intelligent mechanical lifeform, it actually knew full well whether she had cheated or not.
Facing the intelligent machine's slander, Stelle—who called herself the Galactic Baseballer and dreamed of becoming the universe's top delinquent—naturally wasn't going to indulge it.
The gray-haired girl stylishly wiped her nose and left the other with her back.
"If you're trash, practice more. If you can't afford to lose, don't play! If you want to beat this Baseballer, come back in twenty thousand years!"
Stelle turned and left coolly, leaving the intelligent machine player impotently pounding the floor in rage and roaring in frustration.
After Stelle left, no one noticed that a mysterious figure—wrapped up tightly and blended into the crowd—also quietly slipped away from the scene.
"Hm? Had enough fun?"
Watching Stelle walk out of the arcade, Himeko smiled faintly. Secretly, she breathed a sigh of relief—if Stelle won any more prizes, she really wouldn't have anywhere left to put them.
"Ah, so boring. Everyone here is so weak." Stelle replied somewhat listlessly.
"In that case, let's head back to the hotel first. Yun Fan just messaged me—little March and Miss Robin went off to play together. He seems to have some things to handle, so he asked us to go back ahead."
"Mm." Stelle nodded. Then she took back about half of the items from Himeko. After all, these were things she had won—how could she let Sister Himeko carry them all back alone?
After shouldering the prizes, Stelle—who had just started to walk—suddenly felt a faint, almost imperceptible gaze on her. Reflexively, the girl turned to look behind her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… probably just my imagination." Stelle shook her head, then continued walking with Himeko toward the Daydream Hotel [Dream].
And right after the two left, less than ten meters from where Stelle had paused—
Behind a massive Sulauda advertisement billboard.
"Hah… hah… such sharp instincts. As expected… she's already grown to this level…"
The speaker was a female voice. Removing her hood, the girl smoothed her soft silver-gray hair. In her vast, starry-sea-like blue-pink eyes flashed a trace of delight.
She turned around, using the billboard to conceal her figure, and once more gazed at Stelle's departing back.
"We will meet… but not yet. There's someone… no, I need to confirm some things first…"
— — — —
The next day… mid-morning… inside the Zhu Ming Xianzhou star chariot…
"Hah, where am I…"
Welt woke from his drunken slumber. Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.
But soon, a flood of memories surged into his mind. In an instant, the events of yesterday became clear.
"Oh, right… after I left that region, I happened to encounter a star chariot from Zhu Ming Xianzhou…"
Welt rubbed his brow. After sorting through his memories, he understood where he was now.
However, as more memories resurfaced, cold sweat began to slide down Welt's forehead nonstop.
It seemed… probably… perhaps… last night, while drinking and singing with that Candle Abyss General, he had somehow spilled the entire family secrets of the Astral Express…
Thinking of this, Welt couldn't help but shiver. Fortunately, the other party was a high-ranking member of the Alliance—an ally of the Express—and what he had said weren't really secrets. Anyone with intent could investigate and easily learn these things.
Sigh… drinking really causes trouble!