"Passenger Aidan! You've turned back into a human! A living one! Not a bug! That's wonderful!"
After returning to the Astral Express, Pom-Pom looked at Aidan and was clearly greatly relieved.
Immediately after, Pom-Pom became a little bit angry again.
What was that all about!
"Passenger Aidan! Do you know how worried the Conductor was yesterday, pom! Such a huge bug sprawled in the carriage, the Conductor thought you were going to turn the carriage into a bug nest, pom!"
"I'm sorry." Aidan squatted down, looking Pom-Pom in the eye. "I made the Conductor worry."
"Hmph!" Pom-Pom turned away, but turned back less than two seconds later, eyes full of concern. "Is your body okay now? Are you hungry? Do you want the Conductor to heat up a portion of curry rice for you, pom?"
"Sure, but Conductor, can I bring a little fellow on board?"
"A little fellow? It's not a Proboscis Beast, is it?"
"Of course not."
Aidan held out his hand; a beautiful blue bug was resting on his palm, looking very well-behaved.
"It looks a bit like how you were yesterday, pom..."
"To be precise, it's the rebirth of a Propagation Emanator."
It wasn't a simulation, but a Propagation Emanator he had truly created, but its Path had been forcibly locked by yesterday's him.
This meant that this blue bug was merely a very durable bug.
Pom-Pom's short little hands froze in mid-air, those round eyes staring intently at the beautiful blue bug in Aidan's palm.
"You said... this is... what, pom?"
"A Propagation Emanator" Aidan answered frankly. "But don't worry, I've locked its Path. Now it's just a relatively sturdy ordinary bug. It won't divide, it won't infect, and it won't suddenly grow large."
Pom-Pom's little finger pointed at the bug, then at Aidan, and finally at itself.
"It's very well-behaved." Aidan held the bug up to Pom-Pom. "Look, it even glows."
As if to cooperate with its master's words, the blue bug gently fluttered its wings, and a layer of soft fluorescence shimmered on its shell. It was indeed... quite pretty.
"This isn't a question of whether it glows or not, pom!"
"Then what is the question?"
"It's... it's..."
Pom-Pom opened its mouth, finding it actually couldn't say why. The Conductor thought about it carefully: the bug wouldn't divide, wouldn't infect, wouldn't grow large, and it looked quite pretty...
It seemed there really wasn't a problem?
"It's like a part of myself that I separated off. So it's naturally inclined to be close to the people on the Express and won't hurt anyone."
"...Does it bite, pom?"
"No. Its mouthparts have degenerated; it can only consume liquids now."
"Does it poop everywhere, pom?"
"No. Its metabolism is very clean and produces almost no waste."
"Will it disturb the passengers' sleep, pom?"
"No. It spends most of its time dormant, and its wing-beat frequency is very low, making it almost silent."
Pom-Pom asked a question, and Aidan answered one.
By the end of the questioning, Pom-Pom found it actually couldn't find any reason to refuse.
"Then... then what is its name, pom?"
Aidan was stunned for a moment.
He looked down at the little fellow in his palm, then up at Pom-Pom, and suddenly laughed.
"It doesn't have a name yet. How about the Conductor gives it one?"
"Really?!" Pom-Pom's eyes instantly lit up. "Pom-Pom can name it?"
"Of course. You are the Conductor, after all. A new member of the Express should naturally be named by the Conductor."
"Then, then let the Conductor think..."
Pom-Pom put its little hands behind its back and circled Aidan's palm twice, the expression on its small face as serious as if it were about to give an important speech at an Interastral Peace Meeting.
"Its color is so blue, and it glows... and it's such a small thing..."
Pom-Pom suddenly stopped and clapped its little paws.
"Let's call it Cyan, pom!"
"..."
Aidan's expression froze for a moment.
Cyan?
This was the Conductor's level of naming?
But looking at Pom-Pom's eyes full of expectation, he really couldn't say anything in opposition.
"...Good name." He nodded. "Simple, easy to remember, and descriptive."
"Right, right, pom!" Pom-Pom was so happy its ears twitched. "Cyan! From now on, you're a member of the Express, pom! Be good, and no causing trouble, pom!"
The little blue bug seemed to understand, gently fluttering its wings and emitting a faint hum.
"It says thank you," Aidan translated.
"It can talk, pom?"
"Not exactly talking, but I can roughly understand its meaning. After all, it's a part of me."
Pom-Pom carefully took Cyan.
"It seems to be nuzzling me, pom!"
"It likes the Conductor." Aidan smiled. "I told you, it will be close to everyone on the Express."
"Then, then where will it sleep, pom? Should I prepare a little nest for it?"
"No need for too much trouble, just find a corner and put down a soft cushion. It's not picky."
"Then the Conductor will go find a cushion, pom!" Pom-Pom, holding Cyan, trotted away, completely forgetting it was still angry with Aidan just now.
Aidan stood in place, watching Pom-Pom's retreating figure, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
"You're quite good at making the Conductor happy."
March 7th popped out from somewhere.
"It's not about making Pom-pom happy." Aidan turned around. "I truly feel that the Conductor should have a little fellow to keep them company. We usually run around everywhere, and the Conductor stays behind to watch the Express alone. Although Pom-pom doesn't say it, they must be lonely."
March 7th was stunned for a moment, the teasing on her face fading into an indescribable expression.
"...You guy."
"What?"
"Nothing." She walked over and stood beside him. "I just feel that whether you're a bug or a human, you seem to be the same person."
"I was always the same person."
"I know." March 7th nodded. "But this morning when you became Erudition, I was actually worried. After all, yesterday you were that timid big bug, and today you're suddenly so... so calm, I almost thought you didn't remember us."
"I remember." Aidan looked at her seriously. "I remember the food you brought me, I remember you talking to me, and I remember you sneaking into the Seclusion Zone to find me, March 7th Senior."
That last "Senior" made March 7th shudder all over.
"Don't, don't call me that! It's so awkward!"
"But you are indeed my senior. When I boarded the Express the day before yesterday, you even taught me how to use various facilities on the train."
"That was yesterday's business! And yesterday you were Propagation, today you're Erudition... why do you remember so clearly!"
"Because I experienced it," Aidan said as if it were a matter of course. "Whether it's Trailblaze, Propagation, or Erudition, it's all me. It's just a different perspective on things."
March 7th was silent for a while.
"Then... is yesterday's you, the big bug you, still there?"
This question made Aidan think seriously for a few seconds.
"Yes," he finally answered. "But not as a bug. Rather as a memory, an experience, a... part of me. Just as today's Erudition will become a memory tomorrow. All the Paths are me, they just can't exist simultaneously."
"Sounds so complicated."
"It is complicated. But also very simple—I am me, just changing skins every day."
The scenery outside the Express window became dreamy and blurred.
"It's so beautiful."
March 7th sighed.
The dark red scene outside the window looked somewhat hallucinogenic. Like dust, like mist, or like countless fine particles floating in the starry sky. They flowed slowly as the Express moved, casting a hazy red light on the porthole.
"What is that?" March 7th leaned closer to the window, her palm pressed against the glass. "So pretty... but also so strange. When we just warped over, the route map didn't mark any nebula in this area."
Aidan didn't speak.
His brain was processing at high speed—his thinking speed under the Path of Erudition was many times faster than usual. Visual information, route data, star map memories, deductions of various possibilities...
"Aidan?"
"...Don't get close to the window for now."
His voice was very calm, but that calmness carried something unsettling.
March 7th instinctively took a step back: "What's wrong? What did you see?"