章 3: Astral Express Crew
'Warm'
This was the only thought that came to Yuuto's mind as he felt his consciousness float around in something akin to swimming in a steady body of water.
The temperature that surrounded him was a very familiar coldness that had been with him since his childhood but a stark contrast was now apparent when the now frigid cool gave him a strange feeling of warmth.
'Where..am..I.."
Yuuto felt his numb senses start to return as he noticed that he was now able to move his body and he opened his closed eyes to see the environment around him.
Opening his eyes he felt a bright light attack his blurry vision but his eyes began to adjust to the change and he was now able to see what was around him.
What he saw in front of him was a man that had brown hair which had a white streak flowing by his fringes. As Yuuto's vision returned to normal, he gave a blank stare as the person in front of him was someone he was oddly familiar with.
'This person looks like Welt…no wait there's also Himeko, March 7th and Dan Heng too..'
Yuuto's thoughts became even more confused as he noticed more familiar people standing behind the Welt who was kneeling right in front of him as he was sitting on the floor.
Due to the influence of Yuuto's friend, he was introduced and urged to play the game of Honkai Star Rail which he surprisingly enjoyed. He didn't play games all that much but this one somehow stuck to him as the characters and story itself was enjoyable which made his friend excited to have another person join him in playing the game.
Going back however Yuuto was still unsure how to react and wondered if he was dreaming and all the strange things that had happened prior was just one big dream.
'No that pain from the gunshot was definitely real.'
Yuuto went to quickly feel the wound that he received but to his surprise all that was left was the texture of smooth skin underneath the clothes that had punctured holes on it.
"Are you feeling anything off with your body?"
"Ah, no.. currently I'm feeling fine—"
As Yuuto tried to look at Welt to reply, he suddenly felt his eyes burn up and a faint whitish glow started to appear as the outline of the person in front of him started to shift strangely.
If his previous perception of Welt was normal, now it was vastly different as he was able to see some strange fragments float around inside of him. What Yuuto saw was the general outline of Welt's figure but the finer details were now absent and a black space had now replaced it.
Yuuto was able to see fragments that looked similar to pieces of a mirror that had been broken off and each dimly lit fragment had a different size to a certain extent. He noticed that there were fewer fragments that floated around on its outside compared to the center which had more in abundance.
In the center of all these fragments stood a bigger piece but this one however took a slightly different appearance to it. It still had the shape of a fragment but the image of a grayish white crystal was strongly engraved onto it.
Yuuto subconsciously tried to peek closer and was able to see a faint outline of an outstretched hand underneath the crystal but a sudden headache caused him to clench his head stopping him from looking closer.
"Is something wrong?" Welt quickly approached Yuuto as he saw him suddenly clenching his head and held onto his arm to provide some support.
"Sorry, it might be because I suddenly raised my body."
Yuuto faintly laughed as he reassured Welt while also thinking about the image he had just seen and the pain he had just felt. After a couple of seconds of helping him sit down on a chair, Welt began to open up a conversation with Yuuto.
"If you don't mind me asking, do you have any recollection of who you are and what happened to you prior to meeting us." He calmly looked at Yuuto as he asked his question.
"..Yes I do have some recollection of who I am. My name is Yuuto.. and I was somehow caught up in a strange scuffle with some unknown people. Ah, do you mind if I ask something back?"
"Feel free to do so." Welt nodded his head as he kept the words Yuuto had said in his mind.
"How did I end up here before I woke up?"
This was a question he had been wondering as he looked at the open window in the room and saw a vast amount of stars appear beyond it.
'Did I somehow appear out of nowhere and land on the Astral Express or was it through some other means. Also…'
Yuuto thought as he clenched his fist and as he remembered the vivid pain he received from the headache and became sure of himself that he wasn't in some sort of lucid dream despite being in a situation where he was now talking with one of the characters he had seen in a game he had previously played.
'Panicking won't do me any good. I should learn more about my surroundings even if it was one I already have a general knowledge of.' He took a small breath to calm his thoughts and tried his best to understand what was happening around him.
"We actually noticed that there was a person trapped in a comet that had floated by the Express and after bringing it in, we managed to break you free from the ice." Welt recalled the details to Yuuto who intently listened.
'I was stuck in a comet?' Yuuto's eyes widened up after hearing Welt's words. 'So it was by chance they had saved me… if they had missed me and I was somehow discovered by someone or something else…'
Cold sweat began to appear on Yuuto's back as the thought of being discovered by the Antimatter Legion or some other force during his time inside the ice.
"Thank you so much for saving me." Yuuto bowed slightly as he felt grateful that he didn't encounter the chance of being turned into a monster or some kind of immortal abomination.
"I didn't really do anything, if you really want someone to thank then you should give it to March who found you first."
"It was nothing really..haha."
Yuuto followed Welt gaze as it landed on March who shyly rubbed the back of her head.
"You said that your name was Yuuto right! My name is March 7th but you can just call me March just like how Mr.Yang did." March who stood behind Welt, quickly approached Yuuto who was sitting down and placed a bright smile on her face.
"Oh, I seem to have forgotten to properly introduce myself too. My name is Welt Yang."
Hearing March's introduction, Welt also introduced himself and the other two who were standing behind with March beforehand did the same.
Himeko briefly left the room they were in saying that she would get some food and drinks for Yuuto despite him urging not to while Dan Heng quietly took a seat beside Welt.
Following the brief introduction Yuuto had with each person, March started to lead the conversation as she was oddly invested in the world Yuuto had come from.
"So you lived in a country called Japan?"
"That is right."
Yuuto nodded his head at March's clarification after hearing a bit about Yuuto's world and urged him to talk more about it.
"Japan huh…"
Welt who heard the name of this familiar country, looked at Yuuto deeply before asking a question himself.
"Yuuto have you ever heard of an organization called the Anti-Entropy?"
"I don't think I have."
"How about the word Honkai or Herrscher?"
"..Sorry it doesn't ring a bell for me."
Yuuto smiled wryly as he responded to Welt's question and watched how Welt's body posture turned slightly relaxed after hearing his answer.
"Don't mind it, I was just curious since your country's name is similar to one that is from my world too. A parallel world maybe…."
Welt gave a faint smile as he shook his head and leaned into his chair while he quietly mumbled the last piece of his sentence.
Yuuto briefly looked at Welt and thought about his knowledge about him. The only piece of information he knows about him outside of the game he played is that he was originally from another game made by the same company.
His knowledge outside of Star Rail was a bit superficial when it came to its other Honkai game while the other game that was also fairly popular, he had dabbled a bit in it after once again being urged by his friend to play it.
'Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact if my memory serves me right.'
Following Welt's question, the conversation continued to go on with March leading the most of it while Dan Heng surprisingly contributed from time to time.
"Haahh I wonder if I was also a student from Yuuto's world. This could be my 68th version of my potential life…."
"Who knows but from what I've gathered it seems like a world that contains no supernatural elements. So you who has your powers might not have originated from there." Dan Heng replied to March who began to lower her eyebrows after hearing his words.
"You don't know that! I could have been a person that was given powers through a failed experimentation that caused me to escape. Then I would have to travel the world on my own and…."
March began to wave her finger around as she fabricated a story about her origins causing Yuuto who was listening to give a small smile.
"She's very expressive huh."
"I guess you could say that."
Yuuto chuckled when he heard Dan Heng's reply and inwardly thought that seeing these people conversing in front of him felt oddly familiar but also foreign at the same time.
As he was thinking, the doors to the room opened and in came Himeko pushing a trolly that contained a few plates of food while a tiny rabbit-like creature with large ears followed right behind her.
"Don't be shy and feel free to dig in." Himeko placed a plate of food in front of Yuuto and also gave him a deep smile urging him to not reject her offer.
"Pom-Pom didn't have enough time to make the best meal but I hope you will find this one to be just as tasty!"
Yuuto watched at how Pom-Pom waved their big ears around and decided to dig into the food since he needed some energy to fill him up.
After experiencing a series of unusual events, that ranged from getting chased by some people to now being in a world where he was previously known through a game, the warm food in front of him brought a satisfying level of comfort.
Himeko stood up as she watched Yuuto eat the food with such gusto that it made her feel a great sense of satisfaction.
"Have you decided on what your next plans are, Yuuto?"
"...I haven't decided yet."
He bit onto the piece of bread that was on his plate and contemplated Himeko's question.
'There weren't that many organizations that I know so far other than the Herta's Space Station, the IPC or even the Astral Express that may allow me to join.'
He tried to recall some details about each of the organizations and wanted to think of things that he could offer that would place some sort of worth on him.
"If that's so, would you like to board our Express?"
Yuuto snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards Himeko who had just given him the offer.
"Is that alright with you?"
"Of course, the Astral Express welcomes all passengers plus it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if we just dumped you somewhere else after saving you."
Himeko said while she also thought of something else. 'And there might also be a reason he may need to find as to why he was floating around in space just like March.'
"Yeah come join us!!" March jumped up in excitement hearing the conversation and looked expectantly at Yuuto.
"It would be nice to have another passenger that had come from similar origins."
Welt nodded his head as he liked the thought of this while Dan Heng just gave him a slight nod.
Yuuto was quiet and thought for a bit before saying his answer.
"I would like to board the Express."
***
"What an eventful day.."
After finishing his conversation with the crew, he was then brought to an empty room for Yuuto to stay in.
Laying down on the soft bed, Yuuto raised the green and white train ticket he was given to by Pom-Pom and inspected each bit of it.
"Maybe I could get a five star if I use this one pull…" He quietly joked to himself as he let the soft mattress support his back.
"It looks like I arrived on the Express before the trailblazer did. I wonder how long until the main story starts."
Recalling the information he had about the story, Yuuto's eyebrows frowned as he recalled all the dangerous creatures he would meet during his time on the express.
"Luckily I have some sort of power."
Raising his hand, a cold iridescent white mist suddenly appeared in his palms as he recalled Welt briefly instructing him as he suspected him having a similar power as March.
"There's also that strange fragment thing I saw earlier."
The memory of that phenomenon was so potent that even if he tried to put it into the back of his head, it would always resurface back up. Like something was in his mind urging him to look more deeply into it.
Closing his eyes, Yuuto fell deep into his consciousness and a sudden pull appeared in his mind, leading him to whatever thing that was pulling on the back of his mind and urging him to explore.
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