Yoru places the card full of credits into his bag. He would need to check the system's conversion rate to rolls when he got the chance.
"What are you standing around for?" A voice calls out from a small distance.
Yoru's head tilts to his left. March stands near the couches of the Parlor Car. She waves him over with her hand. "Come on!"
"Yes ma'am." Yoru replies monotonously.
"Hey!" March responds, her face turning into a small scowl. "You make me sound older than I am!"
"Bleh."
Yoru makes a face towards her, only for March to immediately turn away.
"That's rude," Yoru sighs, moving to place his bag down near the couch as his system pops out directly in his face.
[You're still ugly.]
"Right. Wait—I'm not agreeing to that-"
"Hi."
Breaking out of thought, Yoru turns to the voice behind him. Stelle stands there, a blank expression on her face. "The parlor car is comfy, don't you think?"
"Of course it is!" March cheerfully replies from behind Yoru, seemingly forgetting about the face she just openly showed disgust towards.
"Feeling better?" Yoru asks, looking at Stelle. He knows she should be okay, after all—he knows how the story goes.
Stelle nods at Yoru's worried question. "I'm fine. But are you alright?"
"Never been better..."
"You did better than I was expecting, you know?" March adds, a hint of playfulness inside her comment. "I didn't know that the Doomsday Beast hated your face!"
Yoru's face turns back to a deadpan expression. "Please stop bringing that up."
"No, she's right," Stelle adds. "Nice job on distracting it with your face."
"Please just stop..."
March hums for a second, before turning her heel, starting to walk away somewhere else. "I'll be back you two. Why don't you explore together?"
Deciding to listen, Yoru and Stelle start walking around the Parlor Car together.
"This is a weird looking radio," Stelle comments, looking at the Phonograph.
"I don't think that's a radio," Yoru replies, pointing towards the table near the couches. "I think that's a radio."
"That's a Phonograph. Himeko likes using it a lot. She says it can play melodies from the past."
Another voice beside the two new additions to the Express cuts through the air. Turning around, Yoru and Stelle spot nobody.
"Did you hear something, Yoru?"
"Yeah. Look down."
Stelle looks down. Near the floor was a rabbit wearing a red conductor's uniform. Her face contorts into a dumbfounded look. "A... pet?"
"You over there looking dumbfounded," the rabbit says, pointing its small paw at Stelle. "Yes, Pom-Pom's talking to you."
"Ha. You got called out," Yoru remarks, pointing a finger at Stelle to receive a smack on the head with a bat.
Looking up, Pom-Pom regards the two new trailblazers. "Himeko told Pom-Pom about the situation. Now listen up, Pom-Pom will only say this once."
Pom-Pom's ear twitches slightly as it continues to speak to the two.
"Pom-Pom's sure there have been lots of people telling you how special you are lately," Pom-Pom says, looking at Stelle specifically, to which Stelle grins like a gremlin towards Yoru. "But this is the Astral Express, and everyone on here has their secrets."
"I'm catching strays here..."
"Since you chose to board, you can abide by the rules. You're not the only special one here. You'd best remember that. You too."
Pom-Pom points to Yoru after its message to the two of them, before putting its arm down and introducing itself properly. "I'm Pom-Pom, the conductor. Just come find me if you have any trouble."
"You called Pom-Pom a pet, Stelle?" Yoru teases lightly.
"It was a logical guess," Stelle grumbles back. "Pom-Pom, where's March?"
"Oh? Why are you interested in her room?" Pom-Pom inquires, before pausing. "Ah. Pom-Pom remembers Himeko saying that you saved her..."
"Yes, very brave of you Stelle," Yoru says, patting her on the back, trying to be as much of a nuisance as he possible can.
"Mmm, indeed! Very brave, very foolhardy! But that is what a Trailblazer should be like." Pom-Pom adds. "Her room is in the Express Sleeper Compartment. She's always running around, so she might not be there. Dan Heng lives in the Archives, so if you want to visit him, it's next to March's room."
Having nothing better to do, Yoru follows Stelle through the Express, looking around at the sites he always saw from in the game.
Eventually, the two come back to the Parlor Car. Deciding to take a break, Stelle splits off from Yoru to go sit on the couch.
A voice on the intercom, Pom-Pom, rings out throughout the car.
"Please meet in the Parlor Car in a few moments to discuss our next location!"
Yoru watches Stelle sit at the couch. Only a few moments later did March come out of nowhere to talk with Stelle.
"Some alone time. Perhaps now I should check out the credit conversion?"
The system appears at Yoru's thought. He had left his card in his bag near the couch, but he could always convert it later.
Switching through the tabs, he eventually comes across the conversion tab. "Let's see, let's see..."
Clicking into the tab, the conversion rate pops up in the middle of the hologram.
[100,000 Credits = 1 Roll]
"Not bad," Yoru thinks. "Credits were always easy to get. Getting more rolls to hit pity will be easy! But speaking of rolls..."
Yoru navigates back to his roll tab. As much as he thinks having an ugly face is terrible, it also served him decently well.
But he doesn't want to be ugly when heading into Belobog. That would make those wanted posters they would put up even worse!
Looking at the information on the hologram, Yoru notes his 5 rolls and his 2 pity. "Eh. Why not?"
He presses the roll button. The hologram blanks out for a small while, before reappearing.
"New Ability: Control Over a Singular Fly"
"Erm. Singular? House Fly? One."
Looking above him, he sees a singular fly buzzing around his head. "It's annoying."
But still, following his usual routine, he swaps to the information tab.
"Control Over a Singular Fly - You can control a singular fly perfectly and communicate with it."
"That doesn't sound too bad, actually." Yoru thinks, coping with his luck.
Yoru was the type of guy to always test out new things. Even if they sounded useless, it would be a shame to get rid of something new. He would make sure to use it well for a little, before moving on.
"Stop flying! Now!"
The fly, heeding the command, crashes into the wall, falling to the floor. It stops moving for a few seconds, before it starts to walk around on the floor.
"Do I have to be ultra specific on how to do things?"
Testing his theory, Yoru gives another command. "Fly up above my head gently without unnecessary movement..?"
However, the fly doesn't attempt to fly up.
"I think I broke my ability."
[It broke its wing. The fly has broken wings.]
"... how ideal," Yoru remarks sarcastically. "And since when did you start talking to me?"
There was no response.
Yoru kneels down to pick up the fly, placing it into his pocket before heading over to the main gathering. All the Express members were in a circle, waiting for him.
"Everyone is here!" Pom-Pom says as Yoru joins the circle. "We will now announce our next destination!"
"Ah, Belebog. I love Belebog!"
"We will be heading to Penacony - the Planet of Festivities!"
"... huh?"