Once the two girls finished their rainbow-making project, Leon thoughtfully handed them each a thermos.
"Rinse your mouth."
March 7th took a few sips. After cleaning her mouth, a gulp of warm water brought a faint sense of post-disaster relief to her heart. Warm and cozy.
"Thanks… eek!" Halfway through her thanks, a pile of snow slid off a withered branch and landed right down the back of her neck. That sharp sensation—she'd be a saint to endure it.
Stelle's eyes flicked upward, and she wisely stepped out of the withered tree's range.
"Leon, where'd you pull that thermos from?"
"From the consumables slot in my inventory, of course."
"Huh?" Stelle was baffled. "You dragged us into a game world?"
"What game world? The inventory's just an inventory—the special portable space tied to our train tickets."
March 7th's gaze landed on the baseball bat slung across Stelle's back, her expression odd. "Sis, what's with that look?" Stelle felt uneasy under her stare.
"I'm wondering if you didn't read a single word of the Nameless Trailblaze Guide I gave you last night."
"Based on my current memories, yeah, I didn't." Stelle thought seriously and answered confidently.
March 7th couldn't help but roll her eyes. "No wonder you're running around with a bat on your back. I thought you were having a chuunibyou moment, trying to look cool."
"Keep roasting me, and I'll go red-hot on you!"
"Oh yeah? Wait till this girl lands a couple of solid punches and shows you what a beautiful girl's heavy hammer feels like." March 7th flashed a threateningly cute expression, waving her little pink fists.
Stelle didn't mind, taking off the train ticket clipped to her collar, her eyes full of curiosity. "So how do you use the space inside?"
"Just think about it. Like how I'm thinking about giving you a tap right now and then acting on it." March 7th really did give Stelle a light tap.
"┗|｀O′|┛ Ow~~ Why elbow me? And where's the beautiful girl's heavy hammer you promised?" Stelle let out a dramatic yelp but managed to grasp how to use it, successfully storing the item in her hand.
"You ignored your senior's words—how's a hammer enough? Gotta elbow you!"
"Pause the playful bickering. Someone's coming our way." Leon wiped the smile from his eyes, stepping forward casually to shield the two girls. His peripheral vision glanced at the landing shuttle, dismissing the idea of stowing it away.
"Awesome! We just got here and already ran into a local. Looks like this Trailblaze journey's off to a great start—smooth sailing from here." March 7th giggled.
…
Player perspective. Ah Xian clicked to depart immediately, and the screen went black, unexpectedly transitioning to a cutscene animation.
The camera zoomed through the clouds, slowly descending onto a snowy landscape. "Did the public release add a Jarilo-VI map preview animation…?"
As she was admiring it, the camera suddenly shifted, showing a streak diving diagonally from the sky. The impact of hitting the ground made the game screen shake violently for a moment. "No way, did we crash?"
Before her words faded, a semi-static story illustration filled the screen. Before anyone could examine the details, familiar voices jumped out, accompanied by strange sounds hitting the eardrums.
"Ugh…"
"Who throws up from riding a shuttle? That's just too lame… ugh—"
At that moment, everyone could clearly see the scene in the story illustration. The shuttle in the background was tilted, half-buried in snow. Below, two familiar girls were hunched over, spewing flowing rainbows of color. Next to them was Leon, holding two thermoses, looking calm and composed. Clearly, he was fine. Patiently waiting for his companions to finish throwing up.
"Hahahahaha!" Ah Xian laughed uncontrollably.
"I haven't had professional training, sorry—I can't hold it in."
[Man! What can I say?]
[Can't handle it—who piloted that shuttle? That driving skill is terrifying.]
[I bet it was Stelle. She did roast March a bit.]
[But why do I feel like it was Leon…?]
[Laughing to death—it's definitely Leon. His combat return line is too obvious.]
["Kids, I'm back!"]
[Who would've thought the guy who keeps saying he's reliable is a vehicle killer?]
[Say what you want, but didn't they land safely?]
Leon: "Seasick at such a young age? You should've said so—I've got motion sickness pills."
The subsequent scenes—snow falling down March 7th's neck, Stelle not knowing how to use the train ticket's function—filled the stream with a cheerful vibe. Pure joy.
[Elbow strikes are here! How MiHoYo uses memes to make a game.]
[Gotta elbow you, huh?]
[March's elbow? How could that be an elbow? That's a reward!]
"So the characters can pull weapons out of thin air because they really have an inventory."
"I thought the train ticket was just a decorative symbol of the Astral Express."
[Then here's the question: how do non-Express characters pull weapons out of thin air?]
"Don't meddle in anime logic. The Astral Express gets an inventory, but others can't have storage rings?"
"The later Xianzhou maps tie into space technology, so don't sweat the details."
The semi-static story illustration faded.
Leon: "Pause the playful bickering. Someone's coming our way."
March 7th: "Awesome! We just got here and already ran into a local. Looks like this Trailblaze journey's off to a great start—smooth sailing from here."
"Oh no, we're doomed!"
"In games, lines like that are practically a guarantee things will go the opposite way."
"Not sure if it's Sampo or Gepard coming."
In the game screen, the figure in the snow slowly became clear. Seeing their face, Ah Xian wasn't surprised at all.
"Yup, it's Sampo, as expected. But why's he limping toward us…?"
???: "Ouch, that hurts! I'm telling you, you three heroes, you've gotta follow traffic rules when piloting a vehicle, or it's dangerous!"
Noticing the newcomer was a tall man, March 7th glanced at her companions. Seeing neither had any intention of speaking, she took the lead to ask.
"We shouldn't have hit you. With Leon's speed, if we did, you wouldn't still be alive…"
Stelle leaned closer to Leon, musing: "Did we run into a scammer?"
Leon: "How about we elbow him unconscious and call it a day?"
Stelle: "Sounds good to me."
March 7th's head exploded: "Hey, you two, don't plot so loudly!" She knew Leon's personality could be impulsive, often spouting 'nonsense' for fun outside. Now, great—here comes Stelle, who's even more impulsive. They're gonna get Aha's attention sooner or later! Is this how Nameless are supposed to act?
???: "No elbowing—I'm old Sampo, not a scammer! I was just looking at the sky, didn't watch my step, and took a tumble…"
Oh, mama. How scary are these three? Talking about elbowing someone unconscious like it's nothing—in this snowy wasteland, passing out could mean freezing to death.
[Such scummy Leon, such scummy Stelle!]
[Laughing to death—they actually look like they're seriously considering it.]
[How are you guys like March, not picking up that Leon's joking to scare him?]