March 7th planted her hands on her hips and puffed up angrily at Dan Heng and Welt.
"I'm really mad!"
Her furious look made her seem like an inflated pufferfish.
Though she looked like she was throwing a tantrum, somehow it still felt like she was acting spoiled.
The reason was simple.
After going through that whole series of events and returning here, she had discovered that not a single person was worried about her safety.
When she came back, she had even seen Welt leisurely playing on his phone.
March had always dreamed that when she returned, someone would fuss over her and ask if she was all right.
But instead...
"Not one of you cared about me!"
She had nearly been caught up in a fan riot!
Did they understand what a fan riot was?
That was a fan riot caused by Miss Robin, famed across the cosmos!
Inside Penacony Paperfold University College, if there weren't hundreds of her fans, there were at least thousands.
What if the beautiful, young, and gorgeous March 7th had gotten caught in a stampede by accident?
Then the future of the entire universe might have been deprived of one peerlessly beautiful, top-tier Trailblazer!
What a tremendous loss that would be!
And yet her companions had not worried about her safety at all.
That made March 7th extremely angry!
They shouldn't think they could disregard her just because she was usually cheerful and had a good personality!
If she got angry, she would really—get angry!
So March 7th absolutely and definitely had to get a reasonable explanation for this.
However, when it came to such a simple matter, Dan Heng and Welt naturally could not come up with any reasonable explanation.
If they kept tangling themselves up in excuses, the stories they had agreed on earlier would only become shaky.
So it would be better to tell her the compensation plan the two of them had discussed from the start.
"We're also very sorry about this."
"So we've decided to give you our portions of pudding as compensation."
Dan Heng said it with a serious expression.
"Do you know what I went through out there—huh?!"
March 7th had been in the middle of delivering her endless speech, but when she suddenly heard their compensation plan, she froze.
"Really?!"
She could hardly believe it.
That pudding was no ordinary pudding. It was special pudding!
It was a local specialty they had bought earlier at the car wash.
They had originally only bought it as a snack, but unexpectedly, it had tasted far more delicious than they imagined.
After everyone in the Astral Express crew tasted it, they discussed it and divided the puddings evenly between them.
After a stretch of cosmic travel, March 7th's share had long since been wiped out.
After finishing it, she had been longing for that flavor even more.
Now that Dan Heng and Welt were using it as compensation, March 7th naturally found it a little unbelievable.
"R-Really?"
The anger in her heart disappeared all at once.
For the sake of good food, she could still be very magnanimous.
"I've been trying to lose weight lately."
Welt struck the same pose as Commander Ikari.
"It was my idea," Dan Heng said calmly.
That pudding could make March 7th think about it nonstop, but to him, it was merely a dessert with a rather good flavor.
Trading one dessert for a moment of peace was, to Dan Heng, a worthwhile deal.
"Then it's a deal!"
March 7th agreed at once.
Immediately afterward, she cheered and dashed off toward where the pudding was kept.
My pudding... I missed you every day you were gone!
Seeing March 7th's rapidly departing back, Dan Heng and Welt knew this matter was settled.
"Oh, my. March really is still so easy to handle."
Even Himeko, sitting nearby drinking coffee, could not help sighing.
What the three of them did not expect, however, was that not long after March 7th left—
A scream suddenly came from the back!
That scream was long, winding, and lingering, echoing throughout the train.
The three members of the Astral Express crew immediately became alert the moment they heard it.
Because the person screaming was none other than March 7th, who had just left.
"What happened?"
The three hurried anxiously to where the scream had come from.
However, when they arrived, they found March 7th standing there with a face like she was about to cry.
"It's gone! It's gone!"
She had her butt stuck out, her entire upper body buried inside the fridge.
"What's gone?!" Himeko asked.
"My precious pudding is gone!"
March 7th sobbed out the words.
Inside the fridge used to store the pudding, there was no sign of any pudding now.
Aside from a few glistening traces, almost nothing else could be seen.
Could the Astral Express have been robbed?
After dragging the grief-stricken March 7th to the side, the meticulous Dan Heng stepped into the fridge and carefully inspected everything inside.
Suddenly, he discovered something unusual.
It was the sparkling grains near the fridge compartment where the pudding had been placed.
He carefully picked some up and examined them, and was able to identify what they were.
This was...
"Sand?"
Dan Heng spoke the truth of those glittering grains with a puzzled expression.
That was right. The true form of this thing was sand that should never have appeared inside the train!
The entire train, after all, had Pom-Pom, who kept it clean at all times.
Something like this should not have appeared here.
Then what in the world was it?
Carrying this doubt with him, Dan Heng returned to the Parlor Car.
"I've ridden this train through two hundred and seventy stops and tasted hundreds of snacks... so how could I miss out on that one pudding?!"
By this point, March 7th looked like her heart had died.
Himeko and Welt were comforting her at the side over her shattered wish.
"March, you're going to become a great figure famed throughout the galaxy. How can you be unable to let go of a single pudding?"
Himeko guided her patiently, wanting March 7th to escape her current state.
March, who served as the Astral Express crew's source of energy, was actually showing such an expression.
It seemed the severity of this matter had exceeded her expectations.
"But if I don't eat that pudding, how will all living beings in the galaxy know the illustrious name of March 7th?"
March 7th's somehow-Zen reply left even Himeko out of ideas.
It seemed this matter really had dealt quite a blow to March 7th.
So she could only signal Welt with her eyes to hurry and think of something.
Welt's glasses flashed as he offered a simple solution.
Find the pudding, or find the culprit. In that case, the entire matter would be resolved at once.
Easy to say, but there were no security cameras inside the train, so who exactly had taken the pudding?
When Welt heard this, he immediately set his gaze on the only person who could possibly have committed the crime!
That person was...
Pom-Pom, who was currently wearing a thoughtful expression!
One had to know that the Astral Express crew had all gone to Penacony together before.
After they returned, everyone had stayed together, so none of them had enough time to commit the crime.
If there was someone who had enough time to commit the crime at this moment... then on the whole train, there was only Pom-Pom!
So even if it wasn't Pom-Pom, it absolutely knew who had done it!
"Y-You don't actually think I did it, do you?!"
Pom-Pom took several steps back, unable to believe that they would suspect the conductor.
"Pom-Pom, we believe you didn't do it. But how do you explain this?"
Himeko took out a bottle. Inside it were flowing grains of sand.
"Given how strict you are about the train's cleanliness, something like this shouldn't appear, should it...?"
This was the biggest flaw in the entire case!
"Tell us, Pom-Pom. Who did something so awful?"
Faced with such powerful evidence, Pom-Pom had no other choice.
It could only lower its head somewhat sheepishly, its two round little hands rubbing together anxiously.
"T-This..."
Those damned jerks!
Since they had already pressed it this far, Pom-Pom naturally could not keep hiding it.
Judging by the time, it was probably about right. In that case...
"All right, I'll take you to find them!"
After saying that, Pom-Pom turned and left.
The Astral Express crew exchanged glances, their faces carrying the composure of victory.
Then they followed Pom-Pom, preparing to meet the pudding thief aboard the train.
What they did not expect, however, was that Pom-Pom would lead them straight into the Astral Express cockpit.
"So they were hiding in the cockpit? No wonder we couldn't find any trace of this guy right away."
Dan Heng nodded silently.
They might suspect other parts of the train, but they would absolutely never suspect the train's cockpit.
So the other party had hidden right under their noses.
"They were hiding here?!"
March 7th swept her eyes over everything around her, afraid of missing any detail.
The bastards who stole my pudding!
Come out already. I can smell that stink on you.
Aside from the two of them, Himeko and Welt wore very different expressions.
As the first two to board, they knew plenty about the Astral Express.
For example, the Astral Express cockpit was not a place any random nobody could casually enter.
To enter this place, there was one prerequisite.
The conductor's consent.
Otherwise, no outsider could possibly open the door to this place.
Then came the question.
Why would a pudding thief be able to sneak into the cockpit, whose door could not be opened without the conductor's agreement?
There were undoubtedly only two possibilities.
First, Pom-Pom knew the thief, which was why it had invited the other party in.
Second, Pom-Pom had been threatened by the other party, which was why it had no choice but to open the door.
No matter what, this place was not that simple!
So compared to the two juniors' relaxation, the two of them instead raised their guard to the highest degree.
They were afraid something bad might happen here.
Only, after entering and looking around, they discovered that there seemed to be nothing particularly special about this place.
Aside from a bit of sand in the corner, there were almost no other traces.
"Where's the pudding thief?"
March 7th looked at Pom-Pom in confusion.
"I'll take you to find them right now!"
As Pom-Pom spoke, it started the train and slowly moved it in a certain direction.
Those words left the others dumbfounded.
They actually needed to start the Astral Express to chase down a pudding thief?
Just what kind of background did the other party have?
As the conductor, Pom-Pom controlled the train and drove it straight toward a location in Penacony.
...
"Still kind of a shame. I never got to try this universe's special pudding."
"Ah~ I didn't think you'd get hung up on something so small too, senpai."
"Shut up, pervy turtle! You don't understand what pudding means to me!"
Looking at Momotaros and Urataros, who seemed about to start arguing again, Sora helplessly covered his head.
There's so little time left. Even when you two are saying goodbye, you can still ramble this much.
He truly did not know what to say.
This special sense of looseness was something only the Imagin from the DenLiner could create.
But although they were, to a certain extent, not very serious, they were still earnest when it came to certain things.
When the time to part drew near, the Imagin no longer chose to dwell on these little matters.
They gave Sora and Sunday their final farewells.
"This journey was most enjoyable! Hoshigaki-san, I liked it very much!"
Hearing Kintaros's words, Sora kept feeling there was some ambiguity in them.
"Goodbye, wobbly-legged chick and Sora!"
Ryutaros waved goodbye to the two of them.
"My two new retainers, I hope you can take good care of yourselves while I am away. I would hate to arrive next time and find no one there to greet me."
Sieg still held his attitude high above them, but from his words, one could also feel his concern.
Faced with their farewells, Sora and Sunday naturally accepted them all.
Finally, as they sailed toward the universe, the train turned into countless points of light.
Only when the train before them had completely disappeared did Sora and Sunday finally stop waving.
At the same time, one notification after another rang beside Sora's ear.
[THIS RANDOM POWER COUNTDOWN HAS ENDED. RETRIEVING...]
[KAMEN RIDER DEN-O'S POWER RETRIEVAL COMPLETE.]
[THE TEMPORARY DENLINER HAS EXPIRED.]
[HOST WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO USE THE DENLINER TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME.]
The notifications meant that the DenLiner and the Imagin had temporarily bid farewell to Sora.
The ears that had originally been filled with noise somehow seemed a little quiet without him realizing it.
Perhaps he had grown used to those guys' clamoring...
But perhaps they would suddenly come over noisily again at some point in the next moment.
So Sora quickly lifted his spirits, preparing to face what came next.
"They're gone. How do you intend to face what comes next?"
Sunday, who had remained beside him all along, could feel that the threat Sora posed to him had sharply decreased.
Given Sora's current state, he could probably suppress him casually.
But now was not the time for the two of them to clash.
Because of the farewell just now, Sora had specifically told him not to say some of the things he had discovered and disturb the atmosphere of parting.
Now that the farewell was over, only the two of them remained to face what came next.
"DESTRUDOS is still alive."
Sunday quietly stated an extremely terrifying fact.
DESTRUDOS, who had brought deathly STILLNESS to all of Penacony, had not dispersed.
THEY were still alive in this world, still hidden somewhere unknown, ready at any moment to plunge the planet of dreams back into STILLNESS.
Now that they had lost the Imagin's help, the two of them had to face this colossal god alone.
As for this situation...
"I already knew that. If even a guy like you had a chance of surviving, why wouldn't THEY?"
Sora spoke blandly.
Even Sunday could inexplicably appear many years in the past, so why would DESTRUDOS die directly?
"Hmph. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would rather have died."
After a moment of silence, Sunday said those words.
If he had learned before that the end of his ideal would be a land of STILLNESS where all living beings fell silent, he absolutely would not have wished to live.
"But someone doesn't want you to die."
Sora once again said something capable of landing a critical hit on Sunday.
Things were different from before. Now, there was someone who did not want Sunday to die like this.
That wobbly-legged chick was very fragile, but it still stubbornly lived.
Not to mention, one certain family member of his had never believed the news of his death either.
"Deciding to die on your own only causes trouble for the people left behind."
For that sentence, Sunday unexpectedly did not know how to argue back.
In the end, he could only gather his words into a silent snort. "Hmph."
"So, better to live badly than die well."
Sora stood up and looked at the sky blooming with starlight above. "I'll handle DESTRUDOS!"
"You?!"
Sunday looked at him somewhat suspiciously.
"You should know that thing is very likely waiting to join forces with the other DESTRUDOS from the future."
If those two things fully joined together, the power they would unleash at that time could be called extremely terrifying.
And most importantly, they did not currently exist within that diverging future.
They could only wait quietly as the two futures continued to overlap.
But that was precisely the problem.
By the time the futures overlapped, perhaps both sides would have already fused completely.
A twin-hearted God of ORDER was a top-tier existence capable, to a certain extent, of devouring HARMONY.
Under such circumstances, Sora was actually saying he would still go face that thing himself.
"Are you insane?"
"I'm not insane. In that future, I still have friends waiting for me!"
A smile appeared on Sora's face. "As long as I keep moving forward, the road will keep extending. DESTRUDOS can't stop my road at all!"
"Besides, AEONS aren't that big a deal. It's not like I've never run into one before."
"You, you..."
Although he did not know where Sora's confidence came from, Sunday was truly shaken.
"I'll seize the best future myself!"
Sora reached toward the sky, and dazzling light shone from his hand.
A new power was echoing within his body.
That was...
...
When DESTRUDOS saw the mechanical crows circling by THEIR side, THEY faintly understood something.
In this Penacony, there was only one existence who manifested in the form of crows.
That was—Gopher Wood.
There was no other.
In other words, the crows were equivalent to his manifestation, equivalent to his expression.
But now, those crows that symbolized flesh had been replaced by machinery, and even revealed a power extremely similar to THEIRS.
All of this pointed to one thing...
[DID HE SUFFER WHEN HE LEFT?]
A slight fluctuation appeared in DESTRUDOS's calm tone.
No matter what, Gopher Wood was the servant who had awakened THEM and assisted THEM.
Now that the other party had returned to STILLNESS, DESTRUDOS naturally felt somewhat emotional.
After THEY asked this, the crows circling beside THEM also flapped their wings according to a certain rhythm.
It was as if they were answering DESTRUDOS's question.
From the other party's answer, THEY understood: the pain had only lasted an instant, and after that came eternal peace.
[IS THAT SO?]
DESTRUDOS felt somewhat moved for reasons unknown. [IN THAT CASE, WE MUST ALSO COMPLETE THE DREAM HE ONCE HELD.]
Gopher Wood had offered up his body so that the two AEONS of ORDER could gather together.
Then THEY naturally had to complete his ideal as well.
The mechanical crows circled as though agreeing with DESTRUDOS's view.
To answer prayers and reward grace was what an AEON should do.
Needless to say, the other party's grace toward the two of THEM was immense.
In that case, THEY would use all THEIR strength to complete the other party's dream.
That was an eternal land of STILLNESS without any class, any pain, or any loss.
[FUSE.]
The moment DESTRUDOS said this, the silence around THEM was instantly broken.
"Eh, eh, ehhh? Little birds, what are you doing?"
Masked Clown, hanging upside down, looked ahead in some terror.
It saw those mechanical crows charge into the black mist like they had gone mad.
They bathed in the black mist. They devoured the black mist...
Immediately afterward, flesh could be seen growing from the gaps in the machinery with the naked eye!
That flesh seemed to possess its own consciousness, twitching and devouring in an extremely grotesque posture.
Any normal person who saw this scene would feel a tremor from the depths of their heart.
But there were no normal people here.
Aside from DESTRUDOS, there was only Masked Clown, hanging upside down here.
However, the clown soon discovered that after the black mist and machinery fused to a certain stage, the proliferation of flesh stalled.
It was as if it lacked one final breath, abruptly stopping there.
"What happened?"
The clown voiced its question.
Why had it suddenly stopped at this point?
And all of this was, of course, because there was not enough power.
The DESTRUDOS who had previously served as the main tone had been born by devouring Sunday.
THEY had originally possessed enough power to support the completion of the fusion ritual.
But now, after being defeated by the other party, THEIR power had been greatly reduced and was no longer enough to support the fusion ritual.
So at this moment, power from others had to be used to fill the gap!
And it had to come from existences walking the Path of ORDER.
Were there such things?
The AEON of ORDER had long since been swallowed by XIPE the HARMONY. How could there still be so many people walking the Path of ORDER?
But when DESTRUDOS recalled the events of the past, THEY discovered that there truly were such people in this Penacony.
Thus, Masked Clown soon found that the force suspending it upside down had loosened.
[YOU WISH TO BECOME OUR COMPANION, DO YOU NOT?]
DESTRUDOS's voice was incomparably ethereal, like a god issuing a question.
Masked Clown did not react immediately to the sudden call.
[DO YOU WISH TO BECOME AN ALLY OF JUSTICE?]
But when the other party asked again, Masked Clown immediately became ecstatic.
"Yes, yes! I want to become an ally of justice!"
Although it did not know why DESTRUDOS would ask it this at a time like this—
Wasn't this exactly what it wanted?
[THEN WE SHALL GRANT YOU POWER.]
The black mist poured into Masked Clown's body, transforming it from a Memory Zone Meme into a truly existing living being.
But this was not given for free.
Now that Gopher Wood had left, it also had to complete DESTRUDOS's task.
[TAINT 107,336 MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY WITH THIS.]
A mechanical feather fell into Masked Clown's hand.
The reason DESTRUDOS wanted Masked Clown to do this was because THEIR power was insufficient, so THEY needed it replenished.
The targets for replenishment were the 107,336 members of The Family Gopher Wood had once possessed.
Because of Gopher Wood, these members of The Family could, to a certain degree, be considered Pathstriders walking the Path of ORDER.
So THEY now needed these people to fill the gap.
[GO. THIS WILL GUIDE YOUR WAY.]
After saying this, DESTRUDOS fell completely silent, quietly waiting for Masked Clown to complete the task.
The moment Masked Clown received the feather, it sensed the general distribution of those members of The Family throughout Penacony.
"All right! To become an ally of justice, I'll complete this mission perfectly!"
It bowed, then immediately took the feather and vanished from this place.
At that moment, fierce contention was also taking place inside DESTRUDOS.
One consciousness held suspicion toward Masked Clown: [IT IS VERY SUSPICIOUS.]
[WE KNOW.]
[THEN WHY DO YOU STILL...]
[BECAUSE OUR SERVANT HAS RETURNED TO STILLNESS, SO WE CAN ONLY USE IT.]
The suspicious consciousness stopped speaking. To a certain extent, this seemed to still be THEIR fault.
There was nothing to be done. THEY had already used all THEIR power for the fusion, and letting that fellow help THEM complete this task was the best choice.
[BUT I IMAGINE IT WILL NOT DO ANYTHING. AFTER ALL, ONCE WE JOIN TOGETHER, WE WILL BE THE STRONGEST.]
The suspicious consciousness was filled with confidence in itself.
[YES. ONCE WE JOIN TOGETHER, WE WILL ABSOLUTELY BE THE STRONGEST!]
The God of ORDER whose twin hearts beat as one was not something any random nobody could compare to!!
What followed was a long and quiet wait.
Both consciousnesses displayed patience toward this.
There was still some time before the two dimensions fused, and that fellow could not threaten THEM yet.
Once all THEIR power gathered, taking care of that fellow would naturally be no problem.
And so, time flowed little by little.
...
One minute, ten minutes, one hour...
Normally speaking, time was something very difficult to sense by feel.
But for DESTRUDOS, the passage of time became extremely keen.
Not to mention, THEY seemed to have already seen those people from Dreamville frantically advancing toward this side.
If this went on, then before THEY completed THEIR fusion, those Memory Zone Memes that had come out of Dreamville might very well arrive here first!
Even so, the two consciousnesses did not show the slightest fluctuation.
To THEM, even if those things had already closed in, the THEM after fusion would be able to repel them instantly.
That was confidence.
As time passed, Clockie and his friends had even already charged along the rails into Penacony!
And Masked Clown?
Still no news!
Clockie, who had fought his way out along the railroad, also saw the mixture of flesh and steel coiled in the sky.
It hung silently above the sky like some kind of tumor.
"Tick-tock. Could this be the culprit behind everything?"
Clockie spoke in shock.
The others also voiced their thoughts.
"This thing is seriously weird!"
"Looking at this thing makes me feel sleepy for no reason."
"Hmph!"
After seeing the tumor in the sky, the Memory Zone Memes were all affected by it.
They seemed to sense something proliferating within their bodies.
That thing was guiding them toward the perfect land of STILLNESS!
"I didn't expect we'd still get to see something like this..."
Those figures faintly flickering with seven-colored light felt a certain resistance from deep within their hearts when they saw it too.
This feeling was even more uncomfortable than killing ten True Stings on a Swarm battlefield.
Only the Iron Cavalry, who had once faced Titanironia, could remain unaffected.
"Then we'll take the vanguard, and you'll support us from behind!"
Although they were unaffected, they could also sense how wrong this thing was.
So they directly formed the most efficient combat arrangement. That way, they could ensure that everyone's combat strength would play some role!
But just as they were preparing to launch an attack on the tumor in the sky, a sudden change occurred.
"Heeheehee, now this is when things get lively!"
After Masked Clown saw them rushing out from the rails, it directly shoved the feather into the body of the last person.
Immediately afterward, everything seemed to become different at that moment.
The tumor in the sky instantly lowered one hundred thousand threads. THEY connected to the thoughts of all living beings and gathered the wishes of all souls.
As those human figures vanished, the tumor also completed its final stage after its power was replenished.
DONG—!
An ethereal bell sounded out of thin air, as if reminding all living beings in the world of the god's descent.
A burst of intense light instantly stole everyone's sight.
When the light dispersed, the dark clouds in the sky had also split open with a crack.
Holy light shone upon all living beings, purifying all distracting thoughts.
The faces of 107,333 people were evenly spread across THEIR body.
Behind THEM, the Twenty-Four Moments shaped from two Penaconies divided life and death.
A pair of steel wings guarded those Twenty-Four Moments, preventing the outside world from influencing the interior.
These Twenty-Four Moments were the land of STILLNESS THEY had created by using THEMSELVES as the core to link all living beings.
THEIR face held myriad appearances, but joy could be seen within it.
[I ONCE TASTED THE JOY OF BIRTH...]
After THEY chanted this line, THEIR head suddenly rotated in a full circle, switching to a grief-stricken face.
[AND I ONCE TASTED THE SORROW OF DEFEAT.]
THEY had once revived after failure, and THEY had once been defeated while in THEIR prime.
Joy, anger, sorrow, delight, shock, hatred, and fear were the foundation that formed THEM.
And within the shifting of all these emotions, THEY comprehended the truth!
[SINKING DARK IN THE VOID, FLOWING ETERNAL IN THE QUIET RHYME.]
This was the supreme melody praised by dead silence!
It was also the perfect note of THEIR land of STILLNESS!
THEIR name was: [GOD OF ORDER AND STILLNESS — DESTRUDOS!]
Behind THEM, the Twenty-Four Moments began to spin constantly under the protection of the steel wings.
An inexplicable wave of power, centered on THEM, enveloped everything.
Whether Clockie, his friends, or the Iron Cavalry, all of them were completely covered.
In that instant, it was not only Penacony—the entire universe lost its color!
[SHH~]
THEY emphasized once more the order that belonged to THEM alone.
It did not matter whether you obeyed or not. THEY would forcibly spread this order throughout the entire universe.
Was this world left with only silence...?
"TAIL!"
At the cry of the nine-tailed fox, a thread of noise suddenly appeared.
It leapt and bounced, outlining the figure of a person.
All living beings opened their mouths and widened their eyes, yet could not make any sound.
Because at that moment, with the fox's leaping movements, one person appeared here.
That was...
"Hm? What's going on here?"
Sora, who had been sent to the parallel spacetime by the nine-tailed fox, looked at them, all drained of color.
"Such a grand welcome?"
---
T/N: woah another fox one
ohhh this is gotchard?
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