At this moment, Standing before Stelle were the Stellaron Hunters whom she knew, but they felt both unfamiliar and strangely familiar to her.
"These memories ..."
"They clearly don't exist in my mind, yet they feel so real, and it's the first time that the Express has felt so unfamiliar..." Stelle shook her head.
She didn't think too much about it and walked toward the nearest person, Firefly.
This girl was completely different from how she'd been back in Penacony. Back then, she had seemed reserved, almost cautious.
But the Firefly appearing in these memories was far more melancholic, more profound. Her face was filled with unspoken worries.
When she noticed Stelle approaching, Firefly raised her head.
"Stelle... Can I help you? Her tone was a little cold.
So cold that even the audience felt unaccustomed to it.
Stelle thought for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "Why are you here... Why am I here?"
Firefly blinked, her tone softening slightly. "What's wrong? You seem... very nervous. Don't worry, the dust will eventually settle. Let's go through the "script" one more time..."
Something wasn't right. The dialogue didn't line up. Stelle felt a strange sense of dissonance.
Firefly's words didn't seem to be responding to Stelle's question at all.
Yet the concern in her eyes was undeniably real.
"Firefly? What "script"..." Stelle tried to question.
But this nonexistent memory was already cooling, being sealed over by frost. Firefly turned her head away, no longer responding to Stelle's calls.
Left with no choice, Stelle shifted her gaze to Silver Wolf in the distance.
The moment she drew close, Silver Wolf had already lifted her head, impatience written all over her face.
"...What's up? I'm in a raid and don't have time for small talk."
Stelle let out a sigh. Her mind was completely flooded with questions by now.
So she asked directly, "How did I join you guys? Stop playing and tell me the truth!"
"Huh?" Silver Wolf looked surprised. "Oh... I've only just joined recently. If you have questions, can't you just ask Kafka? Anyway, online games cannot be paused. So, if you don't mind."
As soon as the words fell, Silver Wolf froze again, just like Firefly.
The audience finally caught on at this point.
....
: So this is a memory.
: Like a pre-recorded video. Firefly and Silver Wolf are responding to the questions Stelle asked back when she was with the Stellaron Hunters.
: Right now, it looks like they're replying to her, but they're really just repeating dialogue from the memory.
: Judging from the lines, you can roughly infer what was going on back then.
: But something still feels off. It really does feel like these memories are responding to Stelle.
: Tch … I can't make sense of it. It's so mysterious.
: Is this what memory is like?
....
While the comments continued speculating over whether these memories could truly respond.
On screen, Stelle walked toward the third person.
Blade.
This was someone who, on camera, displayed a calmness and logic never seen before.
Stelle no longer held any hope that these people would give her the answers she wanted.
Still, she spoke, "Why am I with you guys? I need an explanation..."
Blade replied flatly, "Guided by the "script," we've assembled here to temporarily accomplish a common goal... That's all."
"I don't care about anything else."
"But I'll give you one piece of advice, don't let Kafka down. She sacrificed a lot to keep you here... furthermore..."
To everyone's surprise, the one Stelle had least expected ended up revealing the most information.
Especially those words about something Kafka had sacrificed.
Just as Stelle, and the audience, held their breath in anticipation, Blade froze right after saying the word "and."
Just like the other two, he was locked in place, frozen by the memory.
....
: Damn it! Finish the sentence!
: Not again, don't cut it off there!
: "And what"?! I really want to know!
: Tch, Kafka really does feel like a mom here, holy hell.
: I can already imagine fifty tragic stories about Kafka and Stelle.
: So what exactly was he going to say?!
: Never thought Blade would be the most straightforward one.
....
The comments scrolled past.
On screen, after seeing Blade freeze as well, Stelle stood there, visibly irritated and restless.
"That pink creature said this is my memory."
"Memory? When did I ever have memories like this ..."
"Stellaron Hunters, me, Kafka ... But, if what it said is true."
"Then why … do I have no recollection at all? And why did I forget all of this ..."
Stelle had never felt such hollowness before.
From the moment she could remember, her memories began from the Herta Space Station and then she'd boarded the Express, she had companions, purpose, stories...
And now, standing among these frozen remnants of memory, the words, expressions, and every subtle gesture of the Stellaron Hunters were like puzzle pieces, each one unmistakably telling her the same thing.
If all of this had once been part of her life, then who really was she? The her who woke up on the space station and set out on the Path of Trailblaze, was she merely a fragment that had been cut away, reset?
Forgetting itself wasn't terrifying.
What was terrifying was not even knowing why she had forgotten, or what she had forgotten.
Stelle felt as though something was missing from her chest.
This delicate emotional shift, through the camera, her inner voice, and her expressions, was conveyed with absolute clarity to the audience.
....
: Sigh, even Stelle is starting to feel lost.
: Poor Stelle, someone give her a hug.
: Hold on, don't get too sentimental yet. I think this is actually a good thing.
: Look at the villains across the Honkai: Star Rail, most of them started their ruthless arcs with the question "Who am I, and where am I?"
: Rupert, for example.
: This feels like the prelude to Stelle's villain arc.
: Makes sense.
: Can you guys be serious for one second!
....
Inside the Express.
Almost instinctively, Stelle looked toward the distance. By the window of the carriage stood a graceful purple figure.
Kafka. Her expression was serious, frost seemingly clinging to her face, giving off a dangerous, inscrutable aura.
As for this woman, Stelle had always felt a complex yet instinctive closeness toward her.
An emotion she couldn't explain. All in all, she was willing to trust this "bad woman."
But after hearing Blade's words, that feeling grew heavier.
"She paid a great price … for me?" Stelle thought silently.
Paid what? For what? The unfinished words made her heart sink even further, filling her with unease.
Unconsciously, Stelle walked closer to Kafka.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, Kafka turned around.
When she saw it was Stelle, the frost on her face melted, her brows softening with warmth.
"What's the matter, Stelle?"
Kafka asked gently, a faint smile at her lips.
"I..."
"I..."
Stelle looked at Kafka, opened her mouth, and yet the many questions in her heart ultimately condensed into a single sentence that came out wrong.
"Why did I forget about you?"
"...Forget?" A trace of confusion flashed through Kafka's pupils. She asked tentatively, "Stelle, did I do something that made you unhappy?"
"Memories. Memories about you… all of you." Stelle spoke with a longing for the truth.
But beneath that expectation lay even deeper disappointment. Kafka was still gentle, yet she answered with something completely unrelated.
"We're partners, and I don't want anything to come between us, not even doubt. I think..."
The memories began to freeze. All questions received no answers.
"W-wait! I still have so many things I haven't asked yet…"
"Kafka... Kafka? Kafka!!!" But Kafka had already turned her head away, no longer responding to Stelle's calls.
They were clearly so close, yet the voice calling from Stelle's lips seemed to be cut off midway.
The atmosphere gradually grew sorrowful.
Within this atmosphere… Words struck many minds like a bolt from the blue.
[Memory]
Wasn't this memory itself? Not a continuous narrative, not pages that could be flipped through, but like the crystals displayed within the Express.
It sealed away a single moment, an unfinished sentence, a gaze that stopped short of speaking.
It never provides answers, only cold proof of existence. Memory makes you feel with absolute clarity that something immensely important once existed.
Yet it leaves that very thing, along with all your feelings tied to it, stranded forever on an unreachable shore.
What you are left with is only the regret of "having once had it." And a longing at the bottom of your heart that will never be fulfilled.
This feeling… Instantly made the audience seem to understand the Path of Remembrance.
Even more deeply than other Paths, they grasped a fragment of its core. This was the ultimate experience: a profound sense of loss.
...
: Damn… I feel like I suddenly understand what memory feels like.
: Th-this is insane.
: Memory talking about memory… this writing is on another level.
: So through Stelle's memories, we're experiencing the Path of Remembrance?! Is that it?
: Holy hell, this experience is new, but it hurts!
: Experiencing this once is enough, please don't do it again!
...
On screen. The still-lost Stelle suddenly heard an even greater echo.
"Happiness... sealed away..."
"Mother... Are you still there?"
"Are you watching?"
This was Oronyx's voice. That voice instantly pulled Stelle out of her sorrow.
Amid her surprise… Stelle suddenly realized she could now understand what Oronyx was saying.
"Memories flowing in reverse... Pounding." Oronyx's whisper continued.
Along with it came an unknown feeling.
"Outside the window... Remember. Look outside the window." Oronyx's voice grew clearer.
Stelle subconsciously turned her gaze toward the window.
At the moment her eyes shifted, the potted plants, the tables and chairs, the Stellaron Hunters, those things that had been gradually fading were dyed with color once more.
The frozen Express began to come alive.
And amid the dreamlike sound of ice crystals, Oronyx's wistful whisper exploded in her mind.
"Sky father... are you watching?"
Pure white flooded all vision.
And then,
Fuli, wearing a crown and wrapped entirely in ice crystals, appeared before everyone without warning, accompanied by grand background music.
The audience's scalps exploded in that instant! Why would Fuli appear at a time like this?!
...
: Holy shit! Fuli!
: Why is the Aeon of Remembrance showing up now?!
: Is this a Glimpse?!
: Like Nanook and the Amber Lord, another Aeon's Glimpse?
: Wait, wait, something's off! Every Glimpse comes with a major event.
: But nothing seems to have happened this time, right?!
: Damn… wow! Never thought an Aeon would appear directly! And this is only episode one of Amphoreus!
...
As everyone stood stunned, Stelle also saw Fuli through the window.
But reflected in her pupils was her own image in the mirror, along with countless overlapping reflections.
Within those infinite reflections, the pink creature appeared once more.
"Mem mi mi!"
Along with the adorable cry, the pink creature appeared clearly before Stelle this time.
It looked happy, excited. Flying around her, spinning in circles.
"I've finally found it... Precious memory. At long last... I've caught THEIR gaze."
"Walk with her. Mem."
"She will make the memories of this world complete once again... She will find... Mother..."
Oronyx revealed the little creature's true name.
On the subtitles, Mem's name changed from question marks into the two characters: Mem.
"Is your name Mem?" Stelle questioned the pink creature.
"Name? Mine? Don't remember."
"Mem... Address. Temporarily."
Mem openly expressed its attachment to Stelle.
Then, through a series of pieced-together words, Stelle received a surprising response.
"Go and say goodbye! Companions!" Mem stomped its little feet adorably in midair.
"Say goodbye?" Stelle looked at the frozen phantoms of the Stellaron Hunters and smiled bitterly.
"How am I supposed to say goodbye to memories that 'don't exist'? They won't respond to me."
"Mi-Mi… Mem!" Mem grew anxious, but being clumsy with words, couldn't explain clearly.
It could only point at the Stellaron Hunters and say, "Regret!... none! Mem… do!"
Stelle stared at Mem in shock. From what Mem was saying, she could make these memories respond?!
But… How would that even work?
And the audience, already overwhelmed by surprise after surprise, was left speechless.
They could only watch as Stelle tried to walk toward the Stellaron Hunters.
By the left and right windows of the Express stood Firefly and Kafka respectively.
Setting aside whether these memories would truly respond, Stelle herself fell into a dilemma.
"Who should I say goodbye to?" She scratched her head.
"All!" Mem cheered from the side.
In the game, this scene only allows choosing one person. But adapting it into a series could allow Stelle to fill regrets and details.
This time, the Stelle on screen could leave no regrets.
"Mem! Here!"