Chapter 51: March 7th Also Didn't Sleep
Upon learning that Stelle and Rekka had casually shared a nap during the noon break, March 7th's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"What?" The pink-haired archer threw her hands up. "Since when did the two of you get close enough to share a bed? Haven't you only known each other for a single day?"
Instead of answering the question, Stelle turned her attention entirely to the archer. Her ash-gray hair was tied up in a messy high ponytail, and her golden eyes practically sparkled under the cabin lights. "March, can I sleep in your bed tonight then?"
"Eh?" March blinked, completely derailed.
"I wouldn't recommend it. Her sleeping posture is an absolute disaster." Rekka leaned against the wall, his expression completely deadpan as he sold Stelle out without a second thought. "I got kicked in the stomach. She was basically throwing full-contact martial arts punches during her nap and managed to land a solid right hook squarely on my jaw."
Stelle stood off to the side, hiding her hands behind her back. She scuffed the toe of her boot against the floorboards, looking the picture of innocence. "Sorry about that. But your bed is just so incredibly comfy. The pillows, too. Hugging them feels really nice."
"You weren't hugging a pillow, you were hugging me," Rekka retorted, lifting a hand to rub his cheek. A faint, throbbing ache still lingered right where the Trailblazer's sleep-punch had connected. For an amnesiac, she packed a serious punch. "I almost got strangled to death in my sleep."
March 7th shook her head as she listened to the exchange. The sheer shock on her face slowly melted into utter helplessness. She planted her hands on her hips and leveled a stare at the tall girl.
"So, you have set your sights on my bed now?"
Stelle nodded vigorously. Her high ponytail swayed back and forth, her golden eyes brimming with shameless expectation.
"March, your bed looks so soft, and you always smell so nice. I will just borrow it for one night. I promise I won't hit anyone or kick you in the stomach." Stelle leaned in, catching the edge of March 7th's sleeve between her fingers and giving it a gentle tug. "Pretty please? Pretty please?"
March 7th possessed zero defense against this level of direct nagging. Her shoulders slumped as she let out a long, defeated sigh.
"It is not that I can't let you borrow it for a night. But you have to take a shower first. You have to smell nice if you want to sleep in my bed. Also, if you hit me in your sleep, I am definitely kicking you out into the hallway!"
"Deal!"
Stelle flashed a bright smile and happily slipped away down the corridor.
Once the gray-haired girl was out of earshot, March 7th turned her hands-on-hips stance toward Rekka.
"She has amnesia and doesn't know any better, but what is your excuse?"
"I am currently walking the Path of Trailblaze today. My entire focus is on being a helpful, upstanding citizen." Rekka spread his hands in a gesture of pure innocence. "Besides, she didn't even have a proper place to sleep. We couldn't exactly let her keep sleeping in a cardboard box."
March 7th froze. "Wait. She slept in a cardboard box last night?"
"Yeah."
"Tsk." March rubbed her temples. "Then again, she just wasn't willing to stay in the guest room we originally prepared for Dan Heng."
Dan Heng originally had his own designated guest room on the Express, but the stoic guard vastly preferred the quiet isolation of the Data Bank, choosing to set up his living space among the archives instead. The original plan was to have Stelle take over his vacant room. However, Stelle took one look at it and immediately demanded a bigger space.
There was only one place on the entire train that satisfied her absurd criteria—the Storage Room.
As the largest single compartment on the Astral Express, the Storage Room was genuinely massive. It possessed enough square footage to comfortably house a Doomsday Beast.
The two of them had eventually wrangled Stelle and spent the afternoon helping her clear out a corner of the massive space. To her credit, once she actually had people helping her, Stelle's cleaning efficiency was surprisingly high.
"I feel like she really is just like a giant child," March muttered, watching the empty doorway where Stelle had vanished.
"Actually, you aren't much different," Rekka noted casually.
"?" March shot him a glare.
"I mean you are very child-at-heart. Full of youthful wonder."
"Oh! Oh, I see." March 7th didn't suspect a single thing, happily accepting the thinly veiled jab as a genuine compliment.
Later that evening, Stelle flopped onto the freshly arranged mattress in her newly claimed territory.
"I am exhausted. Thanks for getting me this big bed."
Despite having help, Stelle had tackled the vast majority of the heavy lifting herself, and she had arranged her little corner of the Storage Room quite well.
"You actually have Rekka to thank. He earned a massive amount of funds for the Express recently." March 7th sat on the edge of the mattress, swinging her legs. "Last time, he went to dismantle an entire space station. He even took me and Dan Heng treasure hunting through a derelict spaceship, earning a huge pile of shared funds for everyone."
"Dismantle a space station?" The little gray-haired girl blinked. She turned her head to look at Rekka, who was currently leaning lazily against the metal doorframe. "Why did you dismantle a space station?"
"Work requirement," Rekka replied smoothly. "The Interstellar Peace Corporation had a massive batch of orbital scrap metal they needed to deal with. I just happened to need to vent a bit of energy."
"Vent?"
"He was stuck on the Path of Destruction that day," March 7th chimed in, clarifying the situation. "You know, the kind of mood where he feels physically uncomfortable all over if he doesn't smash something to pieces. Since the IPC had an open commission, he just went over and served as a one-man demolition crew."
Stelle nodded thoughtfully, absorbing this information. Then, her golden eyes suddenly lit up with dangerous enthusiasm.
"Take me along next time there is a job like that."
To emphasize her point, Stelle reached behind her and gave her trusty baseball bat a few practice swings through the air. The metal whistled sharply.
Rekka watched her. Although she was clearly missing a few screws in her head, this gray-haired girl's heartfelt directness and absolute sincerity made it completely impossible to dislike her.
"Alright," Rekka smiled. "I will take you along next time."
Late into the night, the Express grew quiet. March 7th was hovering in that hazy space between wakefulness and sleep when a soft scratching sound echoed from her door.
"...March. March, are you asleep? I came to find you."
March 7th dragged herself out of bed. Wearing a slightly crooked sleeping cap and a set of overly fluffy pajamas, she cracked the door open, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
March also didn't sleep.
Stelle stood in the hallway, clutching her pillow.
"Ah... oh..." March mumbled, her brain struggling to boot up.
"Well, let's sleep together then."
"Okay."
March 7th let out a massive yawn and stepped aside to let the taller girl in.
Exactly one minute after crawling back under the covers, March 7th opened her eyes. She stared blankly at the ceiling, then shifted her gaze to the gray-haired girl lying right beside her.
Stelle let out a soft, happy giggle.
"...Don't you have your own bed now?" March whispered.
"I want to sleep with you."
March 7th stared at her in utter silence.
"Sigh. I really can't do anything with you. After all, I am the senior Trailblazer here." March 7th turned her head and gently patted Stelle's messy hair.
In her heart, she couldn't help but compare the two newcomers. 'Sigh, Rekka is still the best. Stelle doesn't even call me Senior. Only Rekka calls me Senior with such absolute sincerity.'
Beside her, Stelle buried her face deep into March 7th's pillow and took a long, deep breath.
"Smells so good."
"Hey, hey, don't sniff!" March 7th's face instantly flushed a bright shade of red. She reached out to push Stelle's head away, though her hands merely pressed lightly against the girl's hair in a symbolic gesture of protest. "Are you a puppy? Sniffing around like some kind of hound."
Despite the late hour, the shared space brought a quiet comfort. The two girls quickly grew closer, the easy atmosphere cementing their status as good friends.
"March."
"Hmm?"
"Is Rekka... always like this?"
"Like what?"
"Just..." Stelle paused, her brow furrowing slightly as she weighed her words. "Is he that nice to everyone?"
March 7th was taken aback for a moment.
She turned her head, studying Stelle's face. In the dim glow of the room's night light, the usually chaotic girl looked exceptionally serious.
"It feels like the way he is nice to me is a bit different," Stelle continued softly. "The way he is nice to you all is different too. The way you all are nice to me, and to others... there is a difference."
March 7th's lingering sleepiness vanished completely.
She rolled onto her side, meeting Stelle's golden eyes in the quiet dark.
"Is... is there?"
"Yes," Stelle nodded with absolute certainty. "With Dan Heng, he talks a bit less, but he acts very serious. With Uncle Yang, he discusses complicated things I don't understand at all. With Sister Himeko, he is very obedient."
March 7th's slightly slow brain whirred into high gear. She pieced the observations together, finally getting a general idea of what the "different kind of nice" Stelle was trying to describe.
Now that Stelle actually laid it out like that, it seemed... indeed a bit different?
"Oh, that is totally normal," March whispered back, a smile touching her lips. "Think about it. Uncle Yang is an elder, and he shares similar hobbies with Rekka. He usually gets along really well with Uncle Yang because they are always thinking about getting their hands on limited-edition Mecha Models and stuff like that. As for Sister Himeko... cough, anyway, he just acts like an obedient little brother whenever she is around."
Stelle stared at March 7th's face for a long moment, absorbing the explanation, before nodding thoughtfully into the pillow.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]