Myriad Dreams eventually decided to head out to her usual convenience store to buy some breakfast and, while she was at it, calm her nerves.
After all, the messages from last night and this morning had been far too stimulating.
She stood before the wide array of shelves, her gaze landing precisely on her favorite brand of chewing gum.
"At least there's this..." she muttered to herself, reaching out to grab a pack.
She skillfully tore open the packaging, just about to take a piece and let the cool minty flavor disperse the chaos in her mind.
In that very instant, disaster struck!
A massive burlap sack, smelling of old grain, descended from the heavens with the speed of a lightning bolt, accurately cloaking her entire upper body!
"Wha—?! Kidnapping! This is a kidnapping!!"
Her vision was instantly stripped away. Myriad Dreams let out a startled shriek, dropping her gum in the process.
She struggled instinctively, but felt her hands and feet being efficiently (though not too roughly) seized as she was hoisted into the air.
"Heh heh heh, capture successful!"
That was the iconic voice of Gold Ship, dripping with the glee of a prank gone right.
"Come back with us quietly, little sister~" added Stay Gold, her voice bright with excited laughter.
Myriad Dreams instantly realized who the culprits behind this outrageous encounter were.
She gave up struggling weakly, offering only a muffled protest from inside the sack: "I told you I'm not! This is false imprisonment! Let me go!"
However, her protest was ineffective.
Myriad Dreams felt herself being carried along a bumpy path, her ears filled with the sound of Gold Ship and Stay Gold enthusiastically discussing hopeless topics like whether "this sack has better breathability than the last one."
After an unknown amount of time, the jostling stopped.
She heard the sound of a heavy door opening, followed by the voice of the butler, who maintained a perfect, calm composure regardless of the situation.
"Welcome back, Lady Ship, Lady Gold. And this is...?"
The butler looked at the sack the two ladies were carrying, appearing somewhat puzzled.
"This is Myriad-chan~" Gold Ship replied with a giggle.
"Mhm! We put in a lot of effort to 'invite' her back," Stay Gold chimed in.
Myriad Dreams was set down, and the sack was suddenly yanked away.
Returning to the light, she squinted as her eyes adjusted, discovering that she was standing in the grand hall of the Gold family estate.
The place was decorated in a style that was extremely expensive and magnificent.
The butler, whose face was stern but whose eyes betrayed a hint of "business as usual" helplessness, stood slightly bowed to the side.
Stay Gold put her hands on her hips and leaned into Myriad Dreams' face, wearing a disappointed expression.
"Little sister, really now. Did you really have to make us 'invite' you like this before you'd come?"
Myriad Dreams straightened her messy hair and clothes, letting out a sigh as she attempted to clarify for the umpteenth time.
"I've said it a thousand times, I am not a member of the Gold family!"
"Impossible!"
Gold Ship immediately countered loudly.
She leaned in close to Myriad Dreams, sniffing near her neck before saying decisively, "You clearly have the scent of our Gold family on you! It's a little different, but the essence is the same! My nose is never wrong!"
Myriad Dreams was momentarily speechless.
When she had crossed over into this world, her body indeed contained the factors of "Gold Ship."
This caused her to carry a bit of the Gold family's "spirit" in certain aspects— like her occasional eccentricity and her strange intuition about things.
But how was she supposed to explain that? Tell them she was a transmigrator who inherited their family's ancestral "troublemaking" genes?
"...Regardless, I'm not," she could only insist weakly, though her tone wasn't quite as firm as before.
Seeing this, Stay Gold immediately adopted a mysterious expression and patted Myriad Dreams on the shoulder.
"Alright, let's not talk about that for now. Anyway, you absolutely must attend this banquet!"
Myriad Dreams blinked in confusion. "Banquet? What banquet? Is your family throwing another weird party?"
Stay Gold and Gold Ship looked at each other, then simultaneously extended their fingers to point at Myriad Dreams, shouting in unison:
"It's a banquet prepared for you, of course!"
"F-For me?!" Myriad Dreams was completely stunned, pointing a finger at herself in disbelief.