Every action of the Masked Clown, that self-proclaimed ally of justice, was for one thing and one thing only!
Making trouble! Making trouble! And still more trouble!
It was either on its way to make trouble, or already in the middle of making trouble.
Of course, its attempts at troublemaking would also fall apart along the way for all sorts of reasons.
For example, being stopped by Clockie.
For example, before it had even started making trouble, the target it meant to mess with had already lost.
Although DESTRUDOS's defeat had been within the Masked Clown's expectations, losing this quickly was still a little beyond what it had imagined.
"If only THEY had held out a little longer, I could have..."
The Masked Clown had left so many things for the world of stillness. It had prepared so much, and so many of them still had not been used.
No. It absolutely could not slink away like this!
After all, a grand, spectacular concert was about to take place!
And that concert had invited Clockie, invited Brother Hanu, invited Origami Bird...
Only one guy had not been invited.
Guess who that was?
The Masked Clown fell silent.
So it absolutely had to get even!
It would make them understand that the price of not inviting the Masked Clown was very frightening!
And so, when everyone inside the train had gone outside to help prepare for the concert that was about to begin, when even Pom-Pom had plastered their face against the train window, waiting for those old friends to make another appearance...
The Masked Clown made its move!
From beneath the table where it had been hiding, it quietly slipped over to the wrapped Stellaron.
And so, without anyone noticing, that Stellaron vanished from the tabletop.
Normally, Pom-Pom kept track of everything aboard the train. Things like this almost never happened.
But the Masked Clown was different. There was a very special guy backing it.
That guy had once lurked on the train for quite some time and had practically figured out the train's Trailblaze-made mechanisms inside and out.
That was why the Masked Clown could so easily take the Stellaron and leave the Parlor Car.
"Heh-heh. As expected, when Phantom Thief Clown makes a move, I never return empty-handed!"
In a dark corner of the train, the Masked Clown examined the spoils it had acquired.
If it stuffed this Stellaron into the train robot's reactor, it would surely create an extremely interesting scene.
Just imagining that sight made the Masked Clown unable to wait.
However, it still had to hold itself back a little longer. Something like this would only be interesting if it happened at the climax of everything!
Before that...
The Masked Clown was thinking about something.
Suddenly, it stopped all movement and no longer made the slightest sound.
Because it sensed some inexplicable movement outside.
The tap-tap sound seemed to be someone passing by here.
And this person was one the Masked Clown was quite familiar with.
Judging from the sensation, it should be the guy "Touslehead" had just talked through things with.
"How strange. Didn't he already leave the train?"
Why had he suddenly come back?
Feeling somewhat puzzled, the Masked Clown poked a small part of its head out from the corner.
It felt confused by Sunday's behavior.
But after it stuck its head out, all it saw was a retreating back.
It looked as though he had some business.
Seeing this, the Masked Clown let out a sigh of relief. It seemed it had overthought things.
"But this place isn't exactly safe either. Better move somewhere no one else can find first!"
The Masked Clown took the Stellaron and prepared to run.
But after taking two steps, it seemed to suddenly notice something and turned back in confusion...
"Were that person's clothes just now a little different from what he was wearing before?"
If it remembered correctly, Sunday had been wearing very ordinary, ragged clothes.
The person who had just walked past, with the same fluctuations as Sunday, had been wearing a proper trench coat.
"Mm, I probably remembered wrong. Whatever!"
In any case, it would not interfere with its plan!
Thinking this, the Masked Clown let out another giggle and quickly ran off.
After it had gone far away, a figure slowly stepped out from the darkness.
It was a man whose face was mostly hidden beneath the hood of a trench coat.
At this moment, he was holding a round object in his hand.
Looking closer, wasn't this the Stellaron the Masked Clown had stolen?
Somehow, that Stellaron had ended up in his hands.
"Although the dream of ORDER has already shattered, a thread of ORDER still remains here."
That thread of ORDER had been woven into Penacony's original foundation.
It was the ORDER that Gopher Wood had secretly buried from the very beginning, when the Family first took control of Penacony.
That was why, here, he could block the observation of that guy in the starry sky and swap this item out without anyone noticing.
To eradicate this would require a great deal of time.
It might even take the efforts of many generations to finally succeed.
"And that task should be left to those who can accomplish it..."
The hooded man held the Stellaron in both hands, almost as though he were praying.
Immediately after, something unbelievable happened in his hands.
Bright, vivid gift wrapping suddenly appeared around the outside of the Stellaron.
The Stellaron was wrapped within, and no one could sense the power leaking from it.
Of course, the Stellaron could not be the only thing placed inside. There was another extremely important item that had to be placed within as well.
The hooded man took something from among his belongings and placed it inside.
"Then what comes next is delivering this gift to the person who ought to receive it."
And so, a short while later, an attendant came before someone.
...
"Mr. Sunday, this is a gift a gentleman arranged for you."
Sunday froze outright after hearing this.
"A gift... for me?"
He felt utterly baffled by this sudden situation.
Who would send him a gift at a time like this?
"Are you sure it's for me?"
Sunday asked the attendant again.
After speaking with others earlier, he had discovered that for most of this period, he had been in a missing state.
He had also learned that Robin had been searching everywhere for news of him.
While this made him feel gratified, it also left him extremely puzzled by what was happening now.
No one in all of Penacony could possibly know that he had returned. How could someone be sending him a gift?
And as Sunday looked at the beautifully wrapped gift before him, he kept feeling that something was wrong with it.
"There is absolutely no mistake. That gentleman was referring to you."
As the attendant spoke, he took out a photo.
And when Sunday saw that photo, he was also surprised.
Because the clothes he wore in the photo were exactly the ones he was wearing now.
But if he remembered correctly, whether in the Penacony of the past or the present, he had never taken a photo.
"Sir, then I'll leave this gift here for you."
"Thank you."
After thanking the attendant who had come to deliver the gift, Sunday turned his gaze to March 7th, who was currently tidying up the stage.
Because she was the only one who carried a camera with her.
Could this gift be from her?
"But I clearly haven't even spoken with her before..."
That was right. From the moment Sunday arrived until now, he had not spoken to March 7th once.
Before this, all he had known was that this girl was a Nameless who rode the Astral Express and drifted across the universe.
Then why would she randomly take a photo of him now, and even send him a gift?
Sunday immediately wanted to get up and find March 7th to ask what had happened.
But just then, March 7th was called away by someone.
There was nothing he could do. Seeing that they were busy, Sunday ultimately chose to give up on disturbing her for the moment.
He could still ask once she had finished.
Before that, he would first examine this special gift...
Sunday sat down again and looked at the gift with its special wrapping.
And just then, he suddenly noticed a small card beside the gift.
"This is..."
Sunday picked up the card. A line of writing was written on it.
[If you wish to start over, you must bid farewell to everything in the past and atone for your sins.]
The moment Sunday saw this card, his eyes suddenly widened.
And at that moment, he suddenly saw a crack split through the wrapping of the gift placed before him.
And inside was...
"A Stellaron?!"
Sunday only had time to cry out before he vanished completely.
That sudden fluctuation of energy instantly drew countless gazes.
However, when people focused their gazes on that place, they discovered there was not even a single figure there.
Sunday had seemingly vanished from Penacony without a trace.
No one would know where he had gone this time.
...
Penacony Paperfold University College was one of Penacony's landmark locations.
As a top art school in the galaxy, its students were naturally a varied bunch.
However, even among its extremely diverse students, an even more special figure had come here today.
It was actually a round trash can.
Although people could freely adjust their forms after entering the dream, there were still very few who chose to appear as a trash can.
Normally, a sight like this would definitely have drawn a crowd.
Unfortunately, Trailblaze Brave's battle with DESTRUDOS had just now also affected Penacony Paperfold University College.
The once-glorious school gate was now sparsely populated, with almost no one passing through.
Such a contrast truly made one sigh.
Thanks to this, Mr. Trash Can's special appearance did not cause any commotion.
"DESTRUDOS has successfully been defeated, so I should be able to start over too."
Mr. Trash Can arrived at the entrance of Penacony Paperfold University College and confided what he had kept hidden in his heart to the strange-looking fruit tree here.
Over the past several hundred years, his former friends had left, died, vanished...
"Although you were cultivated by that bastard, in the end, you're the only one who stayed with me until now."
Several hundred years had passed. In the end, the only one who had accompanied him to this day was this fruit tree.
After hearing Mr. Trash Can's words, the fruit tree seemed to come alive with emotion. Its branches immediately shook with a rustling sound.
The fruits above instantly fell like raindrops, smashing onto Mr. Trash Can with clanging sounds.
One had to know that the fruits on this tree were not the same as ordinary fruits.
When Sunday had opened the samsara dream earlier, the fruits had not fallen.
When Trailblaze Brave and DESTRUDOS had fought earlier, creating an enormous tremor, the fruits had not fallen.
Yet now, because of one remark from Mr. Trash Can, they came crashing down all over the ground.
However, this was nothing strange to Mr. Trash Can.
So facing the other party's attack, Mr. Trash Can very calmly grabbed a fruit from the ground and stuffed it into his lid.
From how practiced the motion was, this had definitely happened more than once or twice.
And the reason Mr. Trash Can had specially come here was not to chat with this fruit tree.
He had come to retrieve something...
"It's time to give me what I left with you."
Those things were of great importance. He had been afraid someone might see them and trigger a time paradox, so he had kept them stored in a safe place all this time.
And in all of Penacony, there was no place safer than this fruit tree.
Now that DESTRUDOS had been completely defeated, time and space had already formed a closed loop.
Whether there was a paradox or not no longer mattered.
After the fruit tree heard his words, a large splash of soil suddenly burst up beside it.
The tangled tree roots lifted, revealing what he had stored here below.
It was a gift box with extremely worn-out packaging, and what was placed inside were yellowed blueprints.
On the blueprints, the structure and forging methods of each part could be seen.
And on closer look, these parts actually corresponded one by one to the components installed on Trailblaze Brave in the distance.
"This is my way of atoning for toying with trillions of lives."
Mr. Trash Can snapped his fingers, and a handful of flames immediately appeared in his hand.
Those yellowed blueprints stood no chance before the flames.
They were lit with ease, and the fierce fire instantly swallowed them.
As the ashes drifted toward the sky, Mr. Trash Can seemed to let go as well.
However, he had indeed let go of a great deal, because...
"I did give that bastard something very nice, after all."
He chuckled.
His gifts were not so easily taken!
After failing so many times, he had finally managed to win once. It had truly not been easy.
Hearing this, the fruit tree immediately began shaking its body again, attacking Mr. Trash Can.
But these tricks were nothing to Mr. Trash Can.
Because he had already seen figures rapidly flying toward him from the distance.
They were furious members of the Iron Cavalry.
"You bastard!"
Each of them burned with anger as they charged straight toward Mr. Trash Can.
They could hardly be blamed for this. After all, something like that had just happened...
When the Iron Cavalry as a group wanted to execute Operation "Snatching Food from the Bird's Beak", their first objective was to find the target.
And for them, Sora's coordinates were not that difficult to figure out.
After all, they had trackers on him. With a quick check, they could easily find him.
And so, Robin's secret base welcomed the most guests it had ever seen.
There were so many guests that they surrounded the entire mansion in layer after layer, inside and out.
It was sealed up tight, with not a single gap exposed.
Of course, perhaps this also meant the people inside could not casually escape later.
"You all came running here in such a hurry. Did something happen?"
Naturally, the Iron Cavalry could not casually reveal this plan to outsiders, so in front of Sora and Robin, they could only act as if everything were normal.
In Sora's eyes, since they had practically come out in full force to find him, there must naturally be some urgent matter.
"Well..."
The moment Sora said this, their eyes began to wander.
Of course, although their gazes wandered, they still had a clear priority.
For example, every now and then, they glanced at the girl who was being led around by Robin to learn about all kinds of precious music records.
Kohane. She was their target.
No!
They could not put it like that. Rather, her existence was the focus of this plan.
What they had come here to do this time was...
"Why are you all looking at that little one?"
Sora naturally noticed Mitsutake and the others' purpose with ease.
Their gazes had wandered, yes, but they could not help the fact that each and every one of them kept glancing over there.
That alone had already basically exposed their goal completely.
This only made Sora curious. "Do you care that much about this little girl?"
"It isn't that we care, exactly. She's just, uh... very rare..."
Mitsutake suddenly lost the ability to speak.
All right. Having her explain the goal of the plan really was a bit too forced.
"Hmph. Look at you. Better leave it to me!"
Seeing Mitsutake be so useless in such an important matter, Unkyō immediately stepped forward.
It seemed that for something this important, it still had to be her!
"Ahem. We actually came here this time because of a very important matter!"
An important matter?
Sora's expression grew somewhat grave.
"What important matter?"
He had promised them before that he would absolutely never let them feel wronged.
Now, so many people had come together to say they had something important to ask of him. Naturally, he had to do his best to satisfy them!
"The important matter is..."
Unkyō's expression suddenly grew excited.
Since they were letting her speak, then naturally, this could not end simply and easily!
At the very least, each of them needed one... no! Three!
As people walking the Path of PROPAGATION, how could just one be enough?
It was time to display the terror of the Path of PROPAGATION!
However, just as Unkyō was about to speak, a hand directly covered her mouth.
"You sit down!"
Sora said bluntly.
"Why?!"
"No reason. Since all of you came together, letting Shunji speak is the same."
As for why he would not let Unkyō speak, that was naturally because Sora had suddenly realized just now.
If she were the one to speak, she would absolutely say something explosively outrageous.
After all, one could tell from Unkyō's recent behavior alone.
Speaking of it, it really was strange. When they had first met, she had clearly worn glasses and seemed like a quiet, refined person.
Back then, on Zieltworth, she had even been the one arranging Sora's ward and taking care of him.
How had she now become such a social menace? It was truly puzzling.
So for the sake of the current atmosphere, Sora personally snuffed out that spark.
With no way to express her true wish, Unkyō could only sit down in a huff.
And after the topic was passed to Shunji, her choice was...
"This matter concerns our needs!"
Shunji said to Sora with a solemn expression.
"Needs?!"
Sora was somewhat surprised. At the same time, another figure sat down beside him.
It was Robin, who had brought Kohane with her.
She wore a gentle smile and gestured for the conversation to continue.
Only, when this topic continued, Sora kept feeling that the wording being used was just a little off.
"Do all of you collectively want something?"
If it were just an individual need, they could simply come to him directly.
Just like before, when Hotaru had come to him alone wanting to find Doctors of Chaos to treat her condition.
As for such requests, Sora would naturally satisfy whatever he could.
Only, for so many members of the Iron Cavalry to actually have one shared need was indeed an extremely rare thing.
Something like this was definitely very important.
Otherwise, why would they come straight to Sora?
Thinking this, Sora's expression could not help growing serious.
"Say it. What do you need? If I can do it, I'll do my best to help!"
He had promised them back then that he absolutely would not abandon them.
Now that the Iron Cavalry had developed such a collective need and he had failed to notice it, this was truly his problem.
So he had to take this seriously!
Seeing Sora so solemn, Shunji from the Iron Cavalry instead grew somewhat embarrassed.
After all, by this point, the situation seemed to have gone just a little beyond expectations.
What had the plan they drafted at the beginning been?
It was "Snatching Food from the Bird's Beak"!
Yet events had already developed to this point, and Robin still showed no reaction at all.
She sat beside Sora with a gentle smile on her face while Kohane sat in her arms.
The "bird" they were about to steal from showed no reaction at all.
This could not help making them puzzled.
Could Robin-san have some method capable of reversing everything?
Otherwise, why would she still be sitting so steadily, as though she had everything under control?
So the more the other party refused to move, the more pressured they became.
And so, the situation became what it was now...
Faced with this, Shunji truly found it a little difficult to bear.
Honestly, compared to this situation right now, she would rather go argue with Sora's number one hater in the comments section for a few hundred replies.
Having her do this was really too hard.
And so...
"We'll have Hotaru-nee explain this matter."
Shunji chose to give this opportunity to the person everyone in the Iron Cavalry approved of.
Hotaru!
Right now, she was the one all the Iron Cavalry looked to, the one they all trusted.
And so, under these circumstances, Hotaru stepped forward!
Only, after being pushed into the role, all she could do was scratch her head at the situation.
Need? What need? She didn't understand any of this!
Hotaru looked helplessly toward the others behind her.
And their encouragement was clearly conveyed to her through their eyes!
'We'll leave our needs to you.'
Mitsutake nodded slightly to her.
'You can do it, Hotaru-nee!'
Shunji lightly patted her shoulder.
'Why isn't it me? Wouldn't it be better to just let me do it?'
Unkyō bit her handkerchief, her eyes glistening with tears.
Seeing them like this, Hotaru could tell they really did have a need.
In that case, she did indeed have to put forward a few suggestions!
"Inhale, exhale~"
After taking a deep breath, Hotaru looked at Sora seriously.
Seeing her like this, Sora could not help becoming serious as well.
Their current state was practically the same as when they had first met, facing each other here face-to-face.
Come, then. Let me see what exactly has brought all of you here at this moment. What exactly have I failed to do properly?
Sora stared straight at Hotaru's face, waiting for her to continue.
However, the two of them remained facing each other for quite some time, and neither took the initiative to speak.
Sora only watched as Hotaru's face slowly went from firm to flushed.
Immediately after, she actually looked away!
The reason Hotaru looked away was nothing else. She had discovered that her heart, whose physiological functions had recovered, had once again started beating faster beyond her control!
They were clearly only looking at each other. She was clearly only looking at his face...
Before this, she had even played a game of "whoever moves first loses" with Sora.
Why? Why had she become like this now?
Could it be...
A flash of realization suddenly crossed Hotaru's eyes!
So that was it. This was what they meant!
"I understand, Sora!"
Hotaru's words instantly drew many people's attention to her.
Not only the Iron Cavalry, but even Robin!
What exactly had she understood? What had she realized?
And that was...
"After long periods of battle, our bodies may have developed hidden injuries that are difficult to detect!"
Her heart suddenly speeding up just now was the most obvious example.
"So our need is for you to inspect all of us for hidden injuries!"
Hotaru spoke with a sincere expression while grabbing Sora's hand.
"Please. That feeling you let me experience before—let all of them experience it too!"
Only, what she had not expected was that after those words came out, everyone's eyes focused on her and Sora.
"What feeling?"
Mitsutake asked blankly.
Was that their goal?
"A very comfortable feeling."
Hotaru responded seriously.
"But comfort isn't what we want!"
Unkyō could not help scratching her head.
"Huh? But it's so comfortable, like riding a cloud up into the sky."
Hotaru remembered the sensation from that time. It had been like flying into the sky and bathing in a rainbow.
After hearing Hotaru's explanation, Unkyō's face instantly turned bright red, and a cloud of steam burst from her head.
"C-clouds?!"
Had they developed some new kind of play? Why had she never known about it?
Hotaru then looked toward Shunji, who said, "Don't look at me."
Shunji indicated that she had not been involved in this matter from the very beginning.
In that case, this matter passed three to zero.
And so, Hotaru solemnly requested of Sora, "Please, Sora. Let all of them experience it!"
That warmth, like riding a cloud into the sky to bathe in a rainbow, was something they could not miss out on!
This was a request Hotaru made out of consideration for her companions!
And after hearing Hotaru's request, Sora finally came back to his senses.
"Of course I can do that, but if you're going to describe how it feels, could you not use those words from just now?"
That was one hundred percent going to make others misunderstand...
Thinking this, Sora looked at Robin beside him.
He wanted to explain the misunderstanding in those words to her, but discovered that she actually had no particular emotional fluctuations.
"Don't worry. I'm not the type to make a fuss."
Robin smiled and patted Sora's shoulder. "Since they need you, then go."
"All right, then. Remember to call me if anything happens."
Sora looked back at Robin every few steps, but she did indeed not seem angry.
Since that was the case, Sora could relax.
"Mom, look on the bright side!"
Kohane comforted Robin.
"What is there for me to look on the bright side about? Aren't you already proof of one fact?"
Robin gently stroked Kohane's cheek.
She looked perfectly normal, but Kohane's gaze involuntarily shifted downward...
Robin had, at some unknown point, placed one music disc into the case of another.
She would absolutely never make such a basic mistake normally.
In other words, although she looked as though she had not been affected at all on the surface, deep down, she inevitably had a few thoughts.
Faced with this, Kohane thought about it for a while and discovered...
She did not seem able to do anything.
This matter involved far too much.
She had no way to interfere. It was better for her to stay here and quietly keep Robin company.
Only, what neither of them expected was that, not long afterward, the Iron Cavalry came to find them in a panic.
"Miss Robin, something terrible happened!"
The other party's flustered appearance made both Robin and Kohane stop what they were doing.
"What happened?"
Although she had felt some private feelings just now, after seeing the other party's current appearance, Robin also understood the severity of the matter.
"Sora disappeared!"
?!
Robin and Kohane both froze at once.
...
And when they arrived at the place where Sora had vanished, they discovered a familiar wrapped gift box still remaining on the ground.
"Talk! Where did you send Sora?!"
Seeing this situation, Mr. Trash Can could not help feeling somewhat helpless.
"That bastard really has gathered quite a few admirers..."
At this point, Mr. Trash Can could not help turning his gaze toward Robin, who was being guarded in the center.
"Can't you at least let me explain?"
"Then before you explain, tell me where he is."
Those cold words made it hard to believe this was Robin, who had always treated others with such extraordinary gentleness before.
Or perhaps, after everything she had experienced, how could she not have changed at all?
So...
"The fact that I'm allowing you to speak is already out of consideration for the help you gave us before."
She slowly walked forward and spoke in a cold voice he had never heard from her before.
"Where is he now?"