Herta Space Station, Support Zone, Platform.
The rain drizzled on, as if it would never stop, falling in everyone's hearts.
In the long period of time, there was only silence.
After a long while, Welt, who seemed to have become much more dejected and was staring blankly at the scepter in his hand, was the first to speak.
"...I'm sorry."
His apology was for everyone who had formed a deep bond with Zao Wu, and even more so for Zao Wu himself.
As the owner of the Star of Eden, the creator of the pseudo black hole, Welt knew better than anyone else that the space within a black hole would tear everything apart, let alone a mortal body.
Zao Wu's fate was sealed at that moment.
Tears welled up in Himeko's eyes. She had been biting her red lips and trying her best to hold them back, but the moment Welt apologized, they suddenly fell.
Because she understood that it meant that all hope was lost.
That's right, she was the one who had been expecting and disappointed on her own.
No one needed to be responsible for this.
Although she had only spent a very short, very short time with Zao Wu, Himeko had sincerely treated him as her own.
Even before he had even boarded the Astral Express to take a look, she had already treated him as a member of the Astral Express crew, even bypassing the consent of the conductor, Pom-Pom.
Zao Wu, along with Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle, this group of vibrant young boys and girls, were all her indispensable and most important companions.
On the journey of "Trailblaze," there were clearly so many beautiful and dreamlike sceneries. She wanted to appreciate them and see them all with Zao Wu and everyone else.
The woman's eyes were red as she looked up at the immortal bright moon.
Her red hair behind her, under the illumination of the starry sky, only seemed dim and without light.
March 7th had long since cried into a little tearful person.
They say that girls are made of water. March 7th had even joked in the past that she was made of ice, who made her a beautiful girl who had awakened from eternal ice.
But even the hardest ice would melt one day, not to mention that March 7th was originally warm ice.
The pink-haired young woman knelt on the ground, having lost her strength. She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling, whimpering and sobbing.
She kept calling out Zao Wu's name in her heart.
But in the void, it was destined that no one would answer again.
But suddenly, someone patted her shoulder.
The soft touch and force, even before March 7th had looked up, she could tell who it was.
Silver Wolf...
The young woman sniffled, raised her tear-filled eyes, and looked at Silver Wolf who had handed her a few tissues.
"...Thank you."
March 7th took the tissues from the young woman, and then said no more.
Silver Wolf also said nothing coolly.
But it was more likely that the current situation had made her lose her ability to speak.
The genius hacker girl, at some unknown time, had put down her goggles and had them firmly fixed in front of her eyes, refusing to take them off no matter what.
Dan Heng's eyes had turned red at some unknown time. He was holding the spear shaft with a force that was about to crush his own knuckles, or the long spear.
His fingertips sank deep into his palm, leaving a crescent-shaped blood mark.
In the end... he still couldn't protect anything?
Dizzy, his head splitting with pain.
His soul was like it was torn into two selves.
He saw another himself, with jade-like horns on his head, and a face like a crown of jade, looking at him with a faint mockery, and luring him with a mad and paranoid temptation.
—One more time, and I won't fail!
—You are me, and I am you!
—Don't you want to bring your old friend back to the world!
"Shut up... shut up!"
Dan Heng roared with angry eyes, a dragon shape appearing in the shadows.
And the young man's abnormality was discovered by Stelle beside him.
The Galaxy Baseballer, who would surely become famous throughout the universe in the future, made a decisive move. With a little more force, she swung her bat and hammered it on Dan Heng's forehead!
—"Bang!"
Only a crisp sound was heard.
A good sound means a good head!
At the same time, March 7th's panicked words came.
"Stelle! What are you doing!"
Stelle didn't explain, but Dan Heng, who had sobered up with the help of the bat, raised his other hand and waved in March 7th's direction.
"I'm... fine."
"Thank you, Stelle."
"This time—I won't make a mistake again."
Hearing this, the gray-haired young woman then put away her shining bat and nodded at Dan Heng, indicating that this was what she should do.
Stelle seemed to be the one with the best mental state among the crowd.
Although it was hard to hide her disappointment, and there were also traces of dried tears on her face, she just had a kind of inexplicable silliness, and firmly believed that Zao Wu would definitely come back.
Because, she had licked his wound, and he hadn't licked her yet!
Zao Wu was not the kind of person who didn't keep his promises!
If he was, then she, this older sister, would be responsible for educating him well!
Stelle seemed to have completely forgotten that she had only been born for a few dozen minutes.
Clearly, Zao Wu should have been her older brother...
"I probably won't be able to be with you all for a while."
"In my house, there are still two troublesome adults... waiting for me to take care of them."
Silver Wolf sniffled, and suddenly spoke in a somewhat hoarse voice.
To be fair, the bond between her and Zao Wu was not necessarily the deepest, but it was definitely the thickest.
The two of them looked similar in age from their appearance. Silver Wolf was a little older, so in the Stellaron Hunter's base, it was usually these two guys who got together and became each other's most important partners.
Recalling that carefree period, where she would play games, watch anime, and eat snacks and play with Zao Wu every day, Silver Wolf felt as if she were in another world, and also as if she had just woken up from a dream.
Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle all looked at her.
The four of them fell into a long silence.
Suddenly, March 7th gritted her teeth and brought out the aura that a beautiful girl of this age should have.
Both for herself, and also for... Zao Wu!
She suddenly took a step forward, and at the same time, firmly and forcefully extended one of her hands, and displayed it in front of the remaining three.
Silver Wolf was stunned.
Dan Heng was silent.
Stelle... without any hesitation, put her right hand on top!
She already knew the meaning of this action!
She also believed that Zao Wu would definitely come back.
To come back and praise her fiercely!
Stelle: OvO!
Dan Heng's heart was deeply moved when he saw Stelle and March 7th's action.
It was clearly like a re-enactment of a tragic history.
But it was similar, yet it didn't seem so similar.
A long time ago, there were five similar people who became close friends together.
But with the passing of one of them, the remaining four fell apart, each with their own plans, each with their own stance, and in the end, they were doomed!
But now, even though Zao Wu, who was the most important link in the bond, had "disappeared" and left, they had not scattered.
An inexplicable warmth rushed into Dan Heng's seemingly frozen and broken heart.
Although he was still silent, after Stelle, he solemnly placed his own palm on top.
Finally, it was Silver Wolf's turn, as a matter of course.
With her small hand, which was wearing a fingerless wolf-claw-print glove, she placed it on the very top.
And then the four of them tacitly pressed down together, and then raised it high!
Once again, the smile that Zao Wu should have wanted to see the most, belonging to them, appeared!
Even if there were tears in their smiles.
...
Never give up!
Never abandon!
Never say goodbye!
Joy is a unique right of living beings!
-------
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