Chapter Text
“Seeing as you’ve been so kind to allow me to board the Astral Express,” Sunday spoke, looking over the Nameless who remained his judge and jury even after agreeing to allow him temporary passage aboard. “I promise to aid the functionality of this train as much as I can. Please teach me everything you need me to learn so I can be useful. Use me whenever you require my assistance. Other than that, I will stay out of your way as much as possible. I do not wish to be a hinderance.”
“Pom-pom would appreciate the help,” the little conductor said.
“We’ll be sure to teach you everything you need to know,” the gracious Himeko assured. “And if you don’t understand something, don’t be afraid to ask.”
Sunday nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to do so.”
“You are welcome to do whatever you feel most comfortable with,” Mr. Yang added on. “But do not feel like you need to stay out of our way for our sakes. Make yourself comfortable here. You’re going to be here for a while.”
The offer was kind, polite, but Sunday knew better than to take advantage of that. “I will keep that in mind.” In mind, yes, but not in practice. He already was planning to keep to his room most of the time, a task that would be more easily done once he figured out the schedule and duties of this train.
“Well,” Mr. Yang continued. “With that, I suppose the only thing left is to ensure you have a room.”
“He can take mine,” Stelle offered.
“Really?” March flatly questioned. “You just finished decorating it, and you’re going to give it up so quickly?”
“That’s unnecessary,” Sunday was quick to cut in. “Surely there is an unused room, however small, that I can take.”
“Why not?” Stelle continued, ignoring him. “I can go back to sleeping in my box.”
A box? His mind came to a screeching halt as he processed what he thought she’d just said. She’s slept in a box?
No. Surely he was misunderstanding something.
“We threw it away cleaning up your room,” Dan Heng said.
Stelle looked highly offended at that, her hand flying to her chest and eyes going wide. “Why would you do that? It was such a comfortable box.”
“You have an actual bed now.”
“Says the man who sleeps on the floor.”
“A futon is a perfectly respectable bed.”
“It’s only respectable if you make it.”
… Sunday was so very confused. The desperate need to break up whatever this was with… something was growing. “T-There’s no need to give up your bedroom for me,” he loudly cut in.
Thankfully, they stopped.
“I do not require much space,” Sunday continued. “So please, I am fine with whatever is most convenient for you.”
“My room,” Stelle insisted once again.
Sunday felt his hope deflate.
“Where are you going to sleep, then?” March challenged.
“Sleepover?” Stelle asked.
“Yeah right.”
“Then with Dan Heng.” Stelle looped her arm around Dan Heng’s elbow.
He sighed, looking more exhausted with the brazen proclamation than uncomfortable. “Stelle, no. We’ve been over this.”
“We’ve done it before.”
“Stelle.”
Sunday cleared his throat. He seemed to be the only one embarrassed by this turn of events. Even Himeko and Mr. Yang were chuckling by his side.
Before he could speak up or even find the words to say, Stelle reached for his hand. “Come on.”
“W-wait!”
“She’s not going to let up,” March bemoaned, already moving out of the way.
“Best not to fight her,” Dan Heng suggested to Sunday as Stelle dragged him past.
“Neither of your beds are safe from me!” Stelle shouted back behind her.
“As long as you stop sleeping on the parlor couch.” The conductor cut in, trying to look intimidating by placing their little hands on their hips. The steam cloud coming off their head was quite convincing, though.
“No promises.” Stelle stuck her tongue out and shot the conductor a peace sign.
Behind him, Sunday could hear Himeko’s laugh grow.
But this was no laughing matter!
“M-miss Stelle,” he spoke, trying his hardest to force words past the lump in his throat caused by the panic of his flustered heart. “Please, I insist. I cannot take your room.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she dismissed. “Just take it while we figure something out for you.”
“Surely that can be determined now instead of later.”
“Meh, too much work.”
Rendered speechless, he simply allowed her to drag him through the railcars until they got to a large one that looked like a high-class bar.
“Greetings, Nameless,” a robot called out from behind the bar. “We have a guest, I see. Is he joining the Nameless or just nameless. Get it? Because I do not—”
“Shush,” Stelle cut in, marching right past the robot.
If Sunday were honest, that was about how well he was expecting to be treated by… everyone. They had put on a kind face so far. A faint hope in his heart told him that they’d stay amiable until he disembarked, yet his mind warned him against clinging too tightly to that.
For now, he submitted to being dragged up a set of stairs off to the side of the car, up to a large attic space.
“My room,” Stelle introduced, wearing a proud smile as she propped her hands on her hips. “You can borrow it for now.”
His eyes shot wide as he took in the size of her quarters, one containing not only a bed but a private bath, a gaming corner, a section for knickknacks, and even a kitchen and gathering area. This was practically a small house.
“Are… all the rooms like this?” he found himself asking.
“No. The passenger car has actual rooms, but there’s only four rooms to a car. I was the last to board, so they were all spoken for. They don’t really have another permanent living quarters car at the moment, so we figured something else out until I took over this storage shed.”
He hated to burst her bubble, but this was far more than just a storage shed.
“You can stay here for now.”
“No!” he hastily cut in. “I couldn’t possibly—”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s your room.”
“So?” Stelle grabbed a pillow from the bed, then went over to the knickknack corner and grabbed a baseball bat. “I’ll go bug the others.”
“That’s unnecessary—”
“They won’t mind.” She was now rummaging through her closet, pulling out a stack of rumpled clothes. “And I don’t mind sleeping in the parlor car. I did it for a while. I can face Pom-poms wrath.”
Was this girl capable of listening at all. Didn’t she understand this was totally impractical on many levels? Yet, there seemed to be no way of talking her out of it. His gut was in an uncomfortable knot he knew wasn’t going to unravel anytime soon.
“Everything all right up here?” Himeko entered carrying folded fabric that Sunday took too long to realize were bedsheets.
“Oh yeah.” Stelle pointed to the sheets with her bat. “I meant to grab those from the laundry room.”
Himeko swiftly held out one of the sheets to her. A pillow case. “They’ve been in there all morning.”
“Kinda forgot.” Stelle tucked the bat behind her, sitting on the end like a one-legged stool. With her clothes crammed under her other arm, she began shoving the pillow into the case.
… Maybe this was offensive to say, but she was a strange girl. Then again, maybe Sunday was judging her too quickly. Maybe he was judging all of them too quickly. He didn’t know them all that well, and who knew what kind of people they were beyond their professional front.
He didn’t even know that answer of himself. He may not be a strider of the trailblaze path, but even he had self-discoveries he needed to make.
After winning her pillow fight, Stelle took her bat, swung it up on her shoulder, and marched from the room. “I’m gonna dump these in March’s room. I can show him the way.”
“I can take him on a full tour,” Himeko said. “It’s the engineer’s pleasure to show off their work, after all.”
“Roger.” Stelle tapped her forehead with the bat, using it to salute Himeko before bouncing down the stairs.
Himeko turned back to Sunday, holding out the sheets. “Here, you’ll need these.”
He took the sheets from her. “Thank you, but… are you certain it’s okay for me to stay here?”
“Stelle wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t.”
Well, there was no way around it. He supposed he’d just have to accept her offer.
“We’ll try to be mindful of your privacy,” Himeko said. “However, we do like gathering in the kitchen here. I don’t know how she does it, but Stelle collects the best snacks.”
That made perfect sense. It also made him uncomfortable. This room was not as out of everyone’s way as he had hoped. He’d have to find other ways not to be a nuisance. “She has quite the room.”
“She worked hard to make it happen. I think we’re all a little jealous. But with pros comes cons. Given the location and size, it lacks the privacy individual rooms have. Give and take, I suppose.”
Sunday nodded as he listened. “By the way, the robot downstairs. I didn’t catch its name.”
“Shush.”
“Pardon?”
“Its name is ‘Shush’.” Himeko explained. “And don’t be worried about telling it to do so. It has a tendency to ramble. It also has a tendency to come up and visit here every now and then. I think Stelle was just complaining about it keeping her up last night.”
Suddenly, Stelle handing him the room was beginning to make a bit of sense. “I still feel guilty about taking over her room. Thank her for me. I did not have the opportunity to do it properly.”
“It’s not like you won’t see her again,” Himeko said with an encouraging smile. “Thank her then.”
“I will.”
“Now, you can explore the room later. Allow me to show you around the Express.”
“I would much appreciate it.”
To My Dearest Sister,
I’ve just boarded the Astral Express. It is a beautiful train, and the Nameless have been kind to me. I wish you could be here with me as well, but I understand well that our paths must diverge for the time being. I will strive to use this time to find the answers I’m looking for. Once I do, I hope to return to your side. Even if that is not the case, then at least I hope to face you with my head held high once again.
Although, there is a good chance I’m saying such things because I’m already homesick.
So much of my life has been on Penacony that I fear the journey ahead. The trailblaze may not be a path I follow, but it is the path I need. I will be brave and face it head on, despite the fact that compared to the others aboard this train, I am a coward. One much more selfish and proud than I have any right to be.
I hope in our time apart that you will be well, that you will have adventures of your own. I would give you all my luck, but I ask for your forgiveness: I need to keep some for my own adventure ahead.
I will write to you whenever I can. I don’t know how much free time I will have, but I have the impression I will have a lot of time to report very little to you. Maybe this is too much to ask for, but please, wish me luck. Only some of it will be necessary. It will be a blessing if it’s coming from you.
Your Loving Brother,
Sunday
“Why’d it have to be my room?” March bemoaned.
“Because Dan Heng kicked me out,” Stelle flatly answered, already tucking herself into March’s bed.
“No surprise there.”
“I’ll let you read that new detective story off my phone.”
“They don’t update today.”
“Special Side Story.”
“OH! Gimme!”