Abby still attended the welcome party Chaldea held for her. Since the two parties were held so close together, everyone had already eaten their fill at the previous one. As a result, Abby was the only one eating throughout the entire event, which made her feel a little embarrassed.
"It's getting late. If this keeps up, Abby will become a very, very bad girl."
By now, Abby was feeling drowsy. Even as a Servant, her biological clock was still that of a child.
As Abby yawned, a wave of profound sleepiness washed over everyone in Chaldea, as if the world of dreams had simultaneously thrown its gates open to them.
"It's about time we all went to bed."
Da Vinci patted Romani, who was already on the verge of drifting off beside her. He can't fall asleep here. Though she felt incredibly drowsy herself, her years as a human spent pulling all-nighters for her creations allowed her to hold on.
"Romani, take Abby to her room, then get some rest yourself."
"Huh? Ah!... Right."
Romani felt as if he had just slipped into another world. It was like he had returned to his younger self, traveling the world just after becoming human. But this version of him hadn't witnessed the future where humanity lost its future. He was carefree, and everything was filled with boundless anticipation.
He walked as if floating, each step feeling like it landed on cotton. The scenery around him flickered back and forth between Chaldea's corridors and the landscapes of his travels. On impulse, he plucked a flower from one of the dreamscapes. When his vision snapped back to Chaldea, the flower remained clutched in his hand.
This manifestation was clearly wrong, but Romani couldn't muster the energy to care. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, making it impossible to form a coherent thought.
"Dr. Romani, if you're sleepy, you should just sleep. Staying up late is a bad habit, you know."
Abby herself was exhausted, but her symptoms weren't as severe as the others in Chaldea. She was merely drowsy, while many Chaldea staff members had already collapsed, lost in the world of dreams.
"I'm an adult now... and not the King of Magecraft anymore. It's okay to be a little selfish."
Solomon had wanted to become a mortal precisely to escape the shackles of rules and conventions. He yearned to truly experience life as himself. What was a single sleepless night in comparison?
"Dr. Romani is acting like a little kid," Abby giggled. She found this side of him rather endearing. In fact, she sometimes enjoyed throwing a little tantrum and playing the part of a "bad kid" herself.
"Then please try to hold on just a little longer, Dr. Romani, until you get me to my room. But hurry, or something bad might happen. Sometimes, being awake isn't a good thing."
Romani vaguely sensed that the current situation was related to Abby, but he was too exhausted to analyze the cause. His instincts told him she bore no ill will.
Fortunately, the Servant living quarters weren't far from the cafeteria. Romani managed to hold on until he reached Abby's room. After swiping the keycard to open the door and handing it to her, he was on the verge of collapse.
"You should really go to sleep now, Dr. Romani," Abby urged. "Any later, and it might be too late."
Before closing the door, Abby said with an apologetic expression, "Also, don't be surprised if you see other people in your dreams. Visiting each other's dreams is perfectly normal. But please don't try to dig too deep into it. This is just a simple, sweet dream, so please sleep well. Abby was very happy at the welcome party. Now, let Abby host you in the dream world."
-
"...Chaldea isn't responding."
The first thing Gudako did after waking up was to activate her communication device, a habit she'd developed after traversing so many Singularities. It served both to report her safety and to assess the situation nearby. To ensure immediate support, Chaldea always had staff on duty.
"Isn't this a different timeline? Can you even contact them from here?" Hakuno asked, not quite understanding Gudako's anxiety. They were in a completely different world—how could they communicate across spacetime?
"It's probably related to Spiritron Transfer Technology... To be honest, I don't really get it either..." Gudako scratched her head. She'd never had the time to delve into such things; as long as it worked, that was all that mattered.
"Losing contact with Chaldea makes me uneasy. Dr. Romani and Da Vinci-chan are both very responsible. I need to find a way back. I have to contact Jiang You! But he's not in this world right now... What do I do?!"
"Senpai, calm down. Maybe they're just performing system maintenance?" Mash said, trying to soothe Gudako's nerves, though she was worried herself.
Gudako was too panicked to think clearly, momentarily forgetting what Jiang You had told her before. She just needed a moment to collect herself.
Hakuno, however, recalled his words instantly. "Don't panic," she said. "Didn't Jiang You say that the dark-skinned attendants in this hotel are his people? That we could contact him through them?"
Soon, the three of them found Hundred Faces, dressed in a maid uniform.
"Master... he isn't in any of the worlds right now."
In truth, Hundred Faces had a clone in every world. After her visit to Chaldea, she had gained the ability to hold mental conferences across worldlines—the very reason Jiang You had left her as a contact. After consulting her counterparts in multiple worlds, she confirmed that Jiang You was nowhere to be found.
"How could that be...?"
Gudako bit her lip. The ability to traverse worldlines was exceedingly rare; as far as she knew, Jiang You was the only one who possessed it. Having weathered numerous crises, her mind raced, and she quickly devised two possible plans.
One option was to find Jiang You's true Master, Illya. (Although Jiang You had also formed a contract with Gudako after the Seventh Singularity, Gudako's Command Spells were so weak against him that the contract was purely nominal.) But she immediately dismissed that idea, because Illya most likely couldn't find Jiang You on her own either.
"Hakuno-senpai, you're my only hope."
Somewhere along the way, the two had started calling each other by their first names.
"Don't be so formal at a time like this. Just tell me what you need."
Hakuno nodded in response.
"Since we can't find Jiang You, I'll just go back myself!"
Gudako laid out her plan. "We'll split up. I'll find Prisma Illya and Miyu to get the Ruby and Sapphire Wands, while you go find Illya. She must have Jiang You's Servant Card!"
"Install!"
Hakuno instantly understood Gudako's plan. She intended to use that method to gain the ability to cross worldlines.