There was no need to worry about Nero, who had started in the same place, and Stelle agreed with that.
Black Swan noticed Stelle's gradually relaxing expression and smiled.
"They've already woken up in their respective rooms. Now you can stop worrying and come with me, right? Time waits for no one. Let's head to the lobby."
Stelle nodded. She judged that the other three who had entered the dream together hadn't encountered any danger.
After leaving the room, Stelle walked straight to a door across the hallway. She remembered that March's room wasn't far from hers. If the dream hotel's layout wasn't much different from the real one, then March should have already woken up in this room.
However, after Stelle knocked, no one answered.
Black Swan saw what Stelle was thinking and reminded her that March wasn't inside, and that the room before them wasn't March's room.
The Memokeeper explained that the moment they stepped into the memory zone, the layout of the buildings in reality had already lost its meaning.
She added that March was currently very far away from here.
What Black Swan meant was that within this primitive memory zone, the spatial structure was chaotic. Not only was it difficult to find their companions through normal reasoning, even finding the lobby, their meeting point, would take some effort.
That situation reminded Stelle of an old friend.
The Fright Maze. That's right, it was that thing again. The spatial structure of this primitive memory zone was similar to its domain. However, since it couldn't freely rearrange objects and the structure of space, it wasn't nearly as difficult to navigate.
That made Stelle smile.
There were professional ways to deal with mazes.
Nero was especially good at this. Everyone on the Astral Express knew what that kid would do when faced with a maze.
'How did that saying go again?'
'Solve the problem at its source. If you can't solve the problem, solve the one creating it. If there isn't a path inside the maze, then make one.'
The two continued forward. Several Dreamjolt Troupe members lay collapsed in the corners of the corridor.
Perhaps the dream hotel hadn't originally looked like this, but after becoming what it was now, these creatures that lived inside pleasant dreams seemed somewhat unable to adapt, each of them sprawled on the ground.
Pushing open the hallway doors, they entered the lodging area's main hall. Black Swan sensed a familiar presence there.
But when she saw the owner of that presence, even she was surprised.
"Ah... it's her? How is that possible?"
The woman with blue-purple hair and little expression on her face stood in the hall. She carried the same kind of natural air as Nero as she slowly walked toward two members of the Dreamjolt Troupe.
The Soda Hound and the TV-headed man stood opposite her. Amid what seemed to be a tense standoff, Acheron spoke with some confusion.
"...Isn't there any staff here?"
She seemed to be looking for someone to ask for directions, but the two Dreamjolt Troupe members couldn't give her the answer she wanted.
A complicated look flashed across Black Swan's face, while Stelle, who had met Acheron twice before, suddenly had a thought...
She couldn't have gotten lost again, could she?
Meanwhile, somewhere in this primitive dreamscape, Nero was doing exactly the same thing as Acheron.
Asking for directions.
However, the one standing before Nero was clearly not an ordinary member of the Dreamjolt Troupe. In fact, this towering, machine-like tyrannosaur covered in dark gold armor, with dark purple skin and taller than two Neros stacked together, was a memetic entity. Its name was "Shell of Faded Fury."
Tilting his head up to look at the dinosaur with faint ghostly flames burning across its body, Nero showed no sign of panic.
"You know how to get to the lobby?"
The Shell of Faded Fury lowered its head to look at Nero. It wasn't clear whether it was using the eyes beneath the dark gold helmet on its head or the purple eye moving on its chest.
Then it tilted its head.
The memetic entity put on the appearance of lacking intelligence. Immediately afterward, it suddenly raised its head and let out a deafening roar, spewing layer upon layer of flames from its mouth.
The Shell of Faded Fury opened its jaws wide and bit toward Nero.
However, just as its attack was about to succeed, Nero's fair little hand moved even faster, slapping it squarely across the face.
The next instant, the Shell of Faded Fury's vision flipped upside down. Its head twisted uncontrollably to one side.
Intense pain spread from its cheek. Its body began twisting unnaturally. It heard an alarming sound from its neck as some of the joints inside seemed to cry out from being twisted too far.
Then everything before its eyes spun like a tornado. Even though it was a memetic entity, it felt dizzy, saw stars, and heard buzzing inside its head. It felt weightless as it saw its own feet and tail while its huge, somewhat heavy body spun through the air.
Then, with a boom, the Shell of Faded Fury crashed into the wall of the dream hotel. The memoria here shook violently at that instant. The structure that had barely maintained its stability collapsed, and the wall was smashed to pieces.
After taking several seconds to recover, the Shell of Faded Fury finally became a little clearer-headed.
Then it saw a pair of small leather shoes in front of it.
Looking up, it saw the white-haired boy in a trench coat and top hat standing above it with both hands in his pockets, looking down at it.
Nero stared at the oddly colored dinosaur for several seconds. He didn't think the thing in front of him lacked the ability to communicate. At the very least, he felt this memetic entity had to possess that ability.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to ask anyone for directions. Besides, he'd communicated with the Luofu before. There was already a lesson from a previous attempt. No matter what, this memetic entity had to be capable of communication, and willing to communicate.
The Shell of Faded Fury noticed that the boy who had slapped it into a rolling mess had crouched down in front of it.
The boy wore what looked like a smile, but was in fact a sinister, unfathomably malicious smile. He reached out his hand. The hand that had beaten it half to death gently rested on its face as the boy asked the same question again in a gloomy voice.
"Do you know how to get to the lobby?"
'Damn it, he's actually threatening me like this!', The Shell of Faded Fury thought to itself.
It believed it had already seen through all of the boy's intentions. The moment it said no, or even refused to answer, he would immediately crush its head with one hand.
'What a terrifying monster that killed memetic entities without blinking.'
'Why would such a terrifying creature appear here?!'
That said, if it wanted to stay alive, resisting to the end obviously wasn't the right choice.
So the Shell of Faded Fury let out a series of grunts, roughly meaning, "I'll behave, please spare me. I know the way."
Nero blinked at the Shell of Faded Fury before him. His frost-like eyelashes trembled lightly, making it seem as though a ray of light flickered within his gray eyes.
A trace of confusion appeared in his gaze.
Just now, he had sensed this memetic entity's emotions changing several times. Many complicated emotions had tangled together until they finally turned into fear that said, "I give up, please stop hitting me."
Nero had no idea what kind of fierce inner struggle had taken place in the Shell of Faded Fury's mind over those brief dozen seconds.
But it didn't matter.
He didn't care.
As long as this thing could take him to the lobby now, that was enough.
So Nero stood up with a happy smile on his face.
"All right, then take me to the lobby!"
'Not bad.'
There weren't many creatures in this primitive dreamscape, but the very first one he met was so easy to talk to.
Watching the purple dinosaur wobble to its feet in front of him, the boy thought.
———
Inside the hotel's main hall, Acheron seemed to sense something. Or perhaps she heard Stelle's footsteps. She turned her head sharply. After recognizing the two people who had arrived, the expression on her face relaxed, but then she became puzzled.
"Hm? Why is it you two?"
Acheron's surprised tone left both Stelle and Black Swan with complicated expressions.
After two seconds of silence, Stelle asked, "...Did you get lost again?"
"I wouldn't put it that way," Acheron replied. "I just don't know where I am."
"Isn't that exactly what being lost means? That's no different from getting lost!" Stelle said, staring at her.
Black Swan, who had remained silent behind them for a long while, finally spoke, "You two, let's save the greetings for later... Shall we first work together to send these welcoming children on their way?"
As Black Swan's voice fell, another large group of rather abnormal Dreamjolt Troupe members gathered around them.
Or rather, they too had now become memetic entities within this bizarre primitive dreamscape.
Acheron nodded.
"It would be my pleasure. Then I'll thank you both for your help."
The memetic entities might indeed have been capable of some simple independent thought.
But they clearly had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
First, the dark gold and purple tyrannosaur had tried to challenge Little Nero.
Now, this group of unlucky little fellows was about to face a Memokeeper from the Garden of Recollection, the Galactic Baseballer, and the strange Galaxy Ranger, Miss Acheron.
The outcome was naturally one-sided.
With their final thoughts being, "We're truly sorry we couldn't satisfy Lady Acheron," the human side won this melee.
Acheron never even drew the blade from its sheath.
After dealing with these memetic entities, Acheron turned to face Black Swan and Stelle.
Only then did she ask, "Why are you two here?"