Seeing the gear-like object Pei Guang had taken out, Stelle rummaged in her own storage and pulled some out too: "Huh? You collected these too? I dug through a bunch of stuff and got some. What are they?"
Pei Guang: "Emotional Manifestations. I don't know the exact use, but supposedly they help people find missing emotions. But can these things even be used on people here? …Wait, they can?"
He held his Emotional Manifestation over Cocona's body, and suddenly he saw gear-like structures appear. Right at the center was a piece missing—one that matched the Manifestation perfectly.
Influenced by him, Stelle could also see things that normally weren't visible: "That's… a gear? Looks like it's missing a piece?"
Pei Guang nodded: "Seems like this dream isn't as beautiful as it looks. Since it's called an Emotional Manifestation, it must be emotions people have lost. But why would people's lost emotions end up in trash cans? Could it be… the managers of this world are controlling emotions to keep people endlessly working here?"
Stelle: "Tss! That's terrifying. If that's true, then what do we do?"
Pei Guang thought carefully: "Manipulating hearts, playing with emotions—that kind of existence screams final boss. If it really is the final boss… then we'll just blow them sky-high."
Stelle: "Yes! Let's blow the boss sky-high! But what if there isn't a boss?"
Pei Guang: "Then we blow everyone we don't like sky-high, and take this place over ourselves."
Stelle gasped sharply, while Firefly cautiously asked: "But doing that… isn't it wrong?"
Pei Guang: "Not a big deal. Let me try this Emotional Manifestation first and see what happens!"
He prepared to place the Manifestation into Cocona's body, but just before he acted, Stelle stopped him.
"Ah Guang! Wait."
Pei Guang: "Hm?"
Stelle seriously but unreliably analyzed: "We just said we shouldn't mess with people's hearts. If we put this missing emotion back in, aren't we also messing with her heart? Doesn't that make us villains too?"
"…Hey? You've got a point. You're a real talent."
Firefly: "?"
Their conversation was so fast that Firefly could barely keep up. But Stelle, encouraged by Pei Guang's praise, grew even more confident.
She puffed out her chest proudly: "Of course! I'm your student, Ah Guang—you taught me yourself."
Pei Guang: "Oh? Then what's your idea?"
Seeing Stelle now with her own perspective, Pei Guang was happy.
As a player, he knew his own thinking was limited. He'd played too many games, and fallen into relying on experience.
He knew that kind of experience-trapped thinking wasn't always good, but sometimes he just did it unconsciously.
Stelle was different. She didn't have the same deep pool of experience, so her perspective was naturally different. And that difference might be the key to clearing the story more smoothly and making it more fun.
Stelle thought carefully, just like Pei Guang: "If someone, or something, can take emotions away… then maybe there's also a way for people to find their own emotions again. Instead of us just shoving one back in at random?"
Firefly: "But… is that even possible?"
Pei Guang, however, thought seriously: "As long as no one said it can't be done, then it means it can be done. Not bad, Stelle, your brain really is something else. Even I instinctively thought we should just shove the emotions we picked up straight back in.
Didn't expect you'd have a deeper idea. Alright, since this method came from you, let's go with your idea. How do you plan to do it?"
At that moment Stelle grew even more proud.
She puffed out her chest, imitating Pei Guang's tone as she spoke: "During story events, every item has its use. We've got the synthesis function, and along the way you and I both picked up a bunch of emotions. Let's throw them together, see what we can synthesize, and then test if it helps her?"
Pei Guang: "Alright! We'll do it your way!"
Pei Guang felt Stelle's thinking was right, so he decided to let her take the lead this time while he supported. Seeing Stelle come up with her own ideas, and even put them into practice, Pei Guang felt gratified.
As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. Alone, he'd always risk thinking wrong, but with Stelle alongside, the fun and joy ahead was undeniable.
With Firefly as witness, Pei Guang pulled out a cooking pot, and Stelle threw in all the emotional embodiments she had collected along the way. Pei Guang lit the Savory Truefire, and the pot crackled and popped.
When the sounds finally ended, Stelle lifted the lid.
The instant it opened, golden light shone out from the pot, but when they looked inside, the three of them were filled with question marks.
Inside lay a bottle of beverage.
This drink looked almost identical to a certain "R-B" brand Pei Guang remembered, to the point that he thought if someone brought this back to his own world, it'd definitely get sued for infringement.
Pei Guang picked it up and checked. The more he looked, the more question marks popped up.
[Emotion Recovery Functional Drink: Drinking it allows one to rediscover themselves, to return to who they are. Ineffective for those who have already fully released their nature.]
[Note: Sometimes finding yourself again is not a good thing. Please use cautiously.]
Reading the note, Pei Guang couldn't help cracking it open and taking a swig. The taste went down, and he nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm! Still the same flavor."
Stelle asked curiously: "What is it?"
Pei Guang: "A drink to recover your true self. Probably useful for someone like her, who's missing a piece. But for people like us, who are practically reverting to our primal roots, it's just tasty."
Stelle: "Hm? Tasty? Let me try."
Pei Guang handed it over. Stelle took a big gulp, then nodded in delight: "Mmm~ Not bad at all~ But I don't feel any different?"
Pei Guang: "That's because it's for people missing something in their hearts. You're not missing anything. C'mon, let's pour it into her."
He refocused on Cocona.
If this drink could restore the self, and if those gears really were called emotion embodiments, then in theory this would restore what she was missing.
Pei Guang and Stelle acted. When Cocona once again was forced to swallow the new liquid, an anomaly happened.
Golden light flared from her body. Along with it, the missing gear reappeared, now restored.
But the golden gear felt incomplete. This wasn't something solvable through outside help alone. Many struggles must be faced personally, but sometimes, to truly recover everything lost, external force was needed.
At that moment, the restored golden gear erupted with dazzling light.
And as the glow faded… Pei Guang vanished.
Seeing him disappear, Firefly's voice grew tense: "He? He… vanished?"
Stelle, however, crossed her arms calmly: "Relax. Ah Guang must've gone somewhere. Let's wait here. He'll be back soon."
"Really no problem?"
Stelle: "Don't worry, don't worry~ If Ah Guang can't handle it, us going along would be pointless anyway."
Compared to Stelle's calm and Firefly's nervousness, Clockie watching from afar was utterly slack-jawed.
What did it just witness? Pei Guang actually used a drink to help someone recover lost emotions—and the moment she did, she automatically pulled someone into her inner emotions to help?
Even in the dreamscape, Clockie had never seen something like this.
Inside Cocona's dreamscape at that moment, the memories she had once forced herself to forget suddenly surged back.
Her parents, coworkers, lover—each one resurfaced, and with them unbearable pain. Living felt suffocating.
She wanted to forget again. She had tried moving forward, but now… she couldn't.
Truly couldn't.
"I… can't do it…"
The world felt only darkness.
Even though this was a dream, she couldn't do a damn thing.
Unconsciously, she arrived at the rooftop.
She knew: if she jumped, she could once again erase those painful memories, cast away those heavy emotions, and return to being the person everyone expected.
She would still be her parents' "good child," still a "qualified manager."
Dreams? Hopes? Those should have been shattered long ago.
But just as she prepared, in anguish, to end it all… someone appeared before her.
It was none other than Pei Guang.
Flames roared across his body, and even within the dreamscape Cocona felt… fear.
Staring at him, Cocona fell silent.
Many people in her life had once reached out to her. They had shown her a flicker of light, but afterwards, darkness always swallowed her again.
She was never able to escape.
But Pei Guang's words next made even Cocona's consciousness tremble.
"Miss, since you're not afraid of death, then use that body, battered and broken by reality, to ignite this fire. If you're going to die anyway, then before you do, let's burn this whole terrible dream to ashes!"
Pei Guang then hurled a flame at her.
Cocona caught it instinctively.
The instant she touched it, she felt her body begin to burn.
If she were alone, she wouldn't have dared think this way.
But now she wasn't alone.
Seeing Pei Guang ablaze, and herself burning too, she felt she really could turn this wretched dream into ashes.