Fluorescent Castle was ablaze with light, nobles twirling gracefully on the dance floor; Wuyao Snake Manor was alight with roaring bonfires, commoners holding hands and singing and dancing together.
At Russell's dragon-riding festival, all the noise seemed so vivid.
However, as the host of the festival, Russell himself felt a tinge of loneliness in the midst of all the commotion.
It wasn't exactly loneliness; more accurately, it was a sense of not fitting in.
He stepped out of the ballroom and walked onto the castle's corridor, leaning on the balustrade with both hands, gazing up at the stars. The stars were so dense, yet each one, seemingly packed together, was actually millions of light-years apart.
"Isn't it the same with people?" Russell thought to himself.
But he was not one to wallow in sadness. He soon found a reason to be uplifted: "But every star has its own planets, its moons… just like me, with my family and friends, and Rossay, Polly, Hape, huh, and Ice Cream."