Part 2

Wu Shi: Look! Maids! Maids! Actual Maids!

Ji Hengsheng: Jeez, you're acting the way I was acting when I saw that sea turtle.

In front of us was a mountain of unbelievable delicacies!

All sorts of unrecognized rare foods were piled there, free for the taking.

Wu Shi: French blue lobster!

Ji Hengsheng: A thousand five hundred per pound!

Wu Shi: A5 grade kobe beef!

Ji Hengsheng: Also a thousand five hundred per pound!

Wu Shi: A GIANT CRAB WHICH I CAN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE AT ALL!!!

Ji Hengsheng: A GIANT CRAB WHOSE PRICE PER POUND I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO ESTIMATE!

Yu Guang: Guys... I still exist........ C'mon, folks.

Yu Guang hides his face with one hand.

Yu Guang: I'm embarrassed to even say that I know you two.

Ji Hengsheng: I say, have the two of you been leeching my fortune away from me or what? I feel like I haven't been able to meet a single cute boy since I started hanging around the two of you.

Yu Guang: Well, yeah, you hang around Wu Shi too much, of course boys aren't going to approach you that way.

Ji Hengsheng: So what you're saying is it's Wu Shi's fault, then. Hey, Wu Shi, I demand reparations. Give me your lobster.

She tries to snatch away the lobster on my plate with a swipe, but I reach in and intercept.

Wu Shi: Rather than give you my fifteen-hundred-per-pound lobster, I'd rather suggest that if that's a problem, you can just stop hanging around the two of us.

Ji Hengsheng: What, our ten-year-relationship isn't even worth as much as a piece of lobster?

Wu Shi: Ayep.

Yu Guang: You two act like this all the time, but I haven't seen you actually break up or anything over these last ten years over it...?

The Tsundere Couple: BECAUSE I CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF THEM FOR ONE MOMENT WITHOUT THEM GETTING INTO TROUBLE, OKAY?!

Ji Hengsheng: Okay look enough about us, how about you, Yu Guang? You got anyone that you're... ehehe... crushing on?

Yu Guang: Oho, well, that. Well, in fact, I-

Wu Shi: HE TOTALLY HAS A CRUSH THAT HE TOLD ME NOT TO TELL ANYBODY ABOUT!

Wu Shi: Yeah, his crush is one of his kouhais on the basketball team, even though he doesn't want me to tell anyone-

Ji Hengsheng: Ooooo. Scandalous! What other dirty laundry of his do you have, Wu Shi? Spill!

Wu Shi: WELL, it's his first love, soooooo, he's emotionally confused about it and not sure how to handle it, isn't that adorable-

Yu Guang:

Snatch the lobster out of the air with an incomparable secret technique.

Block the attack with a second lobster.

Grab the kobe beef steak knife.

I grab the kobe beef by the knife handle, trying to parry the incoming lobster-

But the lobster cleaves the beef right in half and smashes right into my head!

Wu Shi: Abusing your food like this- you'll suffer the karma of your actions!

Yu Guang: This is a lobster whose heart is devoted to justice. If its soul in the great beyond could see this, I'm sure it'd approve of the way its remnants were put to use.

Wu Shi: Anyways, Yu Guang, didn't you forget something? When we first met I told you that if you ever told me any of your secrets I'd give them away immediately. So, really, it's your fault for being dumb enough to trust me with your secrets, heh heh heh.

Ji Hengsheng: Oh yeah I remember that. Sorry, Yu Guang, this one's entirely on you.

Yu Guang: This is bullshit.

Ji Hengsheng: In fact, I believe you should apologize to Wu Shi for your unprovoked lobster assault.

Wu Shi: Yeah, exactly! Apologize, now! Apologize for your betrayal of the trust I placed in you that you would never place your trust in me!

Ji Hengsheng: So I'm pretty sure this legally means you have to tell us who it is you're crushing on now.

Ji Hengsheng: If you tell me, I'll help you come up with a plan! Don't underestimate me- since I've been born I've never misstepped on the romantic battlefield!

Yu Guang: BECAUSE YOU'VE NEVER EVEN ASKED ANYONE OUT BEFORE!

Ji Hengsheng: Well, no, but, if I got serious, it'd be trivial for me to get a cute boyfriend and experience a true romance, okay?

Ji Hengsheng: In fact, I bet I'd be so good at it that I could do multiple romances at the same time.

Yu Guang: IF YOU'RE DATING MULTIPLE PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME IT'S NOT ROMANTIC ANYMORE!

Yu Guang: Hey, wait, look back there.

Ji Hengsheng: Ah! Who do you think you're fooling?! Don't you even think about escaping!

Yu Guang: No, really, I'm serious, look.

Wu Shi: Wow, look at her. Suuuper ojou sama energy.

Ji Hengsheng: Men like that kind of girl, right?

HELL YEA WE DO!

HELL YEA WE DO!

HELL YEA WE DO!

Wu Shi: Hell yeah we do.

Ji Hengsheng: No, no, that won't do. Wu Shi, when a girl asks you if you like a different type of girl, no matter what you're thinking you ought to tell her that your answer is no.

Wu Shi: Uuuuugh. What a pain.

Ji Hengsheng: Come on, let's try that again!

Wu Shi: Are you seriously trying to act like some kind of romantic coach for me?

Ji Hengsheng: So, again- men like that kind of girl, right?

Wu Shi: .....Well, really, this kind of extremely-better-than-you type, it makes them feel difficult to approach, y'know? So actually, not all men are into that type, I'd say.

Ji Hengsheng: Mmmhmm! Yep! That's the way you should react-

Wu Shi: BUT I DEFINITELY LIKE THAT TYPE!

Wu Shi: Honesty is a virtue.

Ji Hengsheng: No, you're just an asshole.

Yu Guang: Okay, I'm going to interrupt you two's inability to stop flirting for more than five seconds at a time to point something out. Look at the way the princess is sitting over there- don't you think something's off about it?

Wu shi: Is she... disappointed??

Wu Shi: Is she hoping someone'll talk to her of their own volition?

Yu Guang: What, come on, no way. She's the Se family heiress, after all!

FOLLOW HER

DON'T FOLLOW HER

Wu Shi: I'm going to the bathroom.

Even though I knew this probably wasn't the best thing to do, I just couldn't contain my curiosity.

I hid at the very rear of the sixth train car to peek out quietly at Se Yue.

I wasn't, like, stalking her or anything. I just felt like it'd be awkward if i went out right then and there.

Because...

Se Yue: Uuuuuuugh. I even put on makeup and everything for today.

Se Yue: I just wanted to be able to make, at least just one single friend, before graduation.

Se Yue: Why don't any of my classmates want to talk to me?

Se Yue: Is there something weird about me?

Se Yue: Should I have worn a more conservative outfit? Or maybe I should have worn a shorter dress instead?

Se Yue: Uuuuuuugh. I spent so much effort arranging this trip on the Tour of Time, too. But why... is it that, besides saying 'thank you' and 'you're incredible', nobody has said ANYTHING else to me?

Wu Shi: I feel like I've discovered an incredible secret truth or something.

The heiress princess of the Se family actually arranged all this... just to try to make a friend before graduation??

Wu Shi: Yeah, okay, no, this is too awkward, I should just sneak back before I'm found out.

Se Yue: Eh?

Se Yue: Did I see it wrong? No, that really IS-

Se Yue: ...No good. Can't get a close look from here...

Se Yue: I have to confirm it.

Se Yue: How could this...

Se Yue: Impossible. This can't be possible.

The train car looked like it- wasn't of this world, somehow. A chill ran down the back of my spine as I looked at it- a car that wasn't supposed to exist on the Tour of Time.

Se Yue had seemingly entered a light panic upon seeing it, and that didn't help my reaction to it one bit either.

Se Yue, normally implacably calm, takes a step back, then another step back.

Se Yue: How could this car exist? Who was it that utilized the Tour of Time?

I'm sorry, what? Weren't we all on the Tour of Time?

Se Yue: Wait, if... the Tour of Time has been deployed, then doesn't that mean... I used the Tour of Time?

Se Yue: But how could this happen? I would absolutely never use the Tour of Time, not unless- unless-

I held my breath because at this point if I didn't, I would probably shout out loud myself, such was the tension.

Se Yue: -unless someone... died?

Se Yue: Someone died, so time had to be reversed?

Se Yue: Someone... is going to die, on this end-of-year trip?

Wu Shi: Ugh!

Wu Shi: There was... so much water... and I drowned. I drowned there, floating helplessly in the water that'd filled the whole train.

Wu Shi: Just what... was that?

Se Yue: You saw it, right?! Answer me! Did you see the thirteenth train car?! Did you hear everything I said just now?!

Now, staring into her deep blue eyes so closely as she kneeled over me, another image appeared in my brain.

-- I was lying on the floor, looking up at Se Yue's beautiful face.

Will I have met her eventually?

Where? When?

Se Yue: ANSWER MY QUESTION, WU SHI!

When she shouted out my name, my headache reached its apex. Crushed by the overwhelming pain, I sank into the darkness.

??: Did you know?

Know what?

??: Many famous works of literature and media have depicted the world after death as a train trip.

??: Such as Night on the Galactic Railroad.

??: But what few of them know is that this is not a simple metaphor, but the actual truth.

??: Everyone, in their subconscious, knows the methodology behind time travel.

??: The true Theory of Time is the same as the travel of a train.

??: Then, by understanding, and analyzing, the Theory of Time-

??: Free travel through time becomes possible.

I open my eyes slowly.

??: Oh, so you're awake now, Mr. Wu Shi.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a maid whose expression was all smiles.

Qian Yuan: Allow me to introduce myself! This girl's ordinary persona is that of a seemingly harmless average high-school student who loves basketball!

Qian Yuan: But, she hides a second, secret persona- that of the ULTIMATE MAIDSERVANT! With a heart full of justice, at night she fights the evil enemies of the CESIUM MEGACORPORATION, serving her beloved princess's will in secret and protecting the world!

Qian Yuan: Ultimate Cesium Meido, Qian Yuan, has arrived!

Qian Yuan: Alright, that'll be it for the performance. Let's get down to business.

OH ARE WE BACK

Qian Yuan: Mr. Wu Shi must surely be very confused on what exactly he's doing here, so let me give you an explanation.

Qian Yuan: After you fainted, six more hours passed on our trip. We're now about to reach the second day of the trip.

Qian Yuan: Since you've learned about the Thirteenth Train Car, the mistress has ordered me to bring you to her room, and not to let you out until certain important information has been imparted to you.

Wu Shi: So what you're saying is... I've been kidnapped and am now under house arrest??

Qian Yuan: If I said you were, what would you do about it, exactly, sir?

> Wu Shi: ...Are you threatening me?

> Qian Yuan: Oh, I could never do such a thuggish thing as threatening your life, sir.

> Even though she was smiling lightly, I felt a threatening sense from her. Wasn't she just supposed to be an ordinary underclassman?

> Was the ordinary her just an illusion?

Qian Yuan: Cesium is a superconglomerate megacorporation, you know.

She pointed at the Cesium crest on her uniform.

Qian Yuan: But the bigger the organization, the more darkness there must inevitably be.

Qian Yuan: This corporation's absolute success- do you know what it's built on?

Qian Yuan steps up to me and raises one finger to my forehead, with a dark smile.

Qian Yuan: It's our ruthlessness- our ability to do whatever it takes to achieve the goals we want.

She moves her finger to my throat.

Qian Yuan: Do you know what will happen to you, if you let anything slip out about the Thirteenth Train Car?

...This girl really did live in a different universe as well, huh.

I fully understood at this point that this girl would kill me if I went against her wishes.

Qian Yuan: Oh, that's a splendid expression you've got there, Mr. Wu Shi.

Qian Yuan: Now, having understood each other fully, let me ask you, formally, once more:

Qian Yuan: Are you willing to help the family keep our little secret?

YES

NO

........

Qian Yuan: Very good! The agreement is made.

Even though I stayed silent the whole time, Qian Yuan made the call to force the agreement's completion all by herself.

Qian Yuan: With regards to the thirteenth train car, please hold the secret of it eternally.

Wu Shi: What... exactly is the thirteenth car, anyways? What was the meaning of all those things Se Yue was talking about?

Qian Yuan: If you were told, you would have to Die.

Qian Yuan: But don't forget...

Qian Yuan: I'll always be by your side, watching you.

Observation Car

Dining Car

Men's Dormitory Car

Random Student Who Has No Portrait: Ahhh- it's Wu Shi, right?

Wu Shi: I am. By the way, did you know that this train has a TIME MACHINE attached to it? Yeah, apparently the Cesium Corporation has a TIME MACHINE, and using it they found out that one of us is going to die on this trip-

Random Student: WHOA! WHAT?! I NEED TO TELL EVERYONE!

Qing Yuan: Oh, Mr. Wu Shi. You shouldn't have said that.

Wu Shi: Oh yeah? What're you going to do about it, huh?

Qing Yuan: This.

Chang You: That girl that's always with you... what was she called again?

Wu Shi: You mean Ji Hengsheng?

Chang You: Yeyeye, her.

Wu Shi: What about her?

Chang You: I mean, I don't know why, but she was looking all over the train for you just now. She looked really worried or something.

Yeah, that would probably be the whole, I got kidnapped for six hours thing.

Wu Shi: Alright, I got it. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll go rendezvous with her.

Chang You: Mmm, you'd better hurry, last I saw her she was wearing a sign that said. "Looking for missing child" with your face and name on it.

Wu Shi: .....I will strive with all of my power to meet up with her immediately.

Wu Shi: Alright, time to go find Ji Hengsheng- what the fuck.

Wu Shi: Eh....?

I turned around and behind me was an extremely suspicious person.

Suspicious Shadow: ..........

This wasn't some kind of play set up by the Cesium Corporation, was it?

The guy sure looked like he came straight out of a play.

Faceless Student With No Portrait: Dude, are you okay?

Wu Shi: DID YOU SEE THAT?!

Faceless Student: See what?

Wu Shi: Oh my god I'm going insane.

Yu Guang: But that's enough of that. Now- out with it! Tell us of all the sordid things you did alone in the princess's private boudoir!

Wu Shi: What happened... uh.....

I tried to get my bearings straight, recalling what'd happened over the past few hours.

Wu Shi: Honestly, I've got no idea myself.

Yu Guang: Eh? What do you mean, you don't got no idea yourself?

Wu Shi: ...Yu Guang, if you saw something that wasn't supposed to exist in this 'reality', what would that make you think?

Yu Guang: ...Going to have to get a liiiittle more specific than that, buddy.

Wu Shi: What I'm TRYING to say is-

Before I could say anything, a soft, girlish voice, one which sends chills up my spine, interrupts my words.

??: Wu Shi Sennnnpaaaaaaiiiiiii~

Qian Yuan: What're you two senpais talking about? I'd like to hear about it too!~

Qian Yuan: Oh noooooo~, did I interrupt too suddenly and scare you off, senpaaaaaai?

Qian Yuan: I'm just a cute kouhai that wants senpai to notice that she's always here watching him! What's wrong with that?

Wu Shi: Holy shit, she was being literal when she said that she would be always watching us, wasn't she.

Yu Guang: Qian Yuan, you, uh, buh, uh, what, uh, what're you doing here?

Wu Shi: Yu Guang pull yourself together you're my only hope please get me out of this-

Yu Guang: So, uh, Qian Yuan, your... relationship... with... Wu Shi... is a friendly one?

Wu Shi: NO, I'M BEING BL-

Qian Yuan: YEP! We've got a WONDERFUL relationship!!

Yu Guang: Ss-so- you are dating, then??

Qing Yuan: Nope.

Yu Guang looks relieved, for a moment.

Qing Yuan: My interest in senpai is entirely one-sided, tee-hee!

AAAAA NO STOP THAT DOESN'T HELP THAT MAKES IT SO MUCH WORSE

Qing Yuan: But it seems like my relentless advances have turned senpai away from me... He's always been so cold to me.........

Yu Guang: yyyYYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU...

Stop looking at me with those hateful eyes, Yu Guang! I don't want to be in this situation any more than you want me to be here either!

Witnessing his utter destruction at the hands of this woman, I decide...

Wu Shi: Let's get the hell out of here before anything else stupid happens.

A year ago, I was in a major accident.

Thanks to the supernal efforts of a 'certain person', I was able to survive, but because of it, I was left with this scar.

Whenever I'm feeling uncomfortable or uncertain, I have a tendency to rub that scar- to remind me how miraculous it is that I'm still alive, and of the value of the gift of life that my benefactor bestowed upon me.

Wu Shi: Oh, hey. A wild Ji Hengsheng appeared in my bed.

Wu Shi: WAIT, WHAT is Ji Hengsheng doing in MY BED?

I put the covers back on immediately.

Wu Shi: Nope, I must be imagining this. I'm sure that once I flip the sheets up again it'll turn out that I was imagining Ji Hengsheng sleeping in my bed and there'll just be pillows there instead.

Ji Hengsheng, From Under The Sheets: Mmmmmffff... Stop.... I can't eat any more.......

Wu Shi: .........

Ji Hengsheng, Still Under The Sheets: Please... Stop... Shoving.... Million... Yuan... Bills... Into... My.... Mouth...... I'm full.........

Ji Hengsheng: A bed's like a respawn point, right? I figured that I'd just go to sleep and that way the next morning I'd wake up and magically find you respawned there. Ta-dah, I find you without having to waste any more time and energy!

Wu Shi: What the FUCK kind of plan is that?! If any of the other students find you here I'm going to be in so much trouble!

Ji Hengsheng: Trouble?? From who? The teachers that aren't on this train?

Ji Hengsheng: Anyways, I was very careful. I pretended to be you whenever any of the other boys came by!

Wu Shi: Oh god in heaven no.

Ji Hengsheng: Hey, I managed to make them all go away!

Wu Shi: How did you do that.

Ji Hengsheng: I just told them, "My name is Wu Shi and I'm a dumb-dumb, and my one true love is Yu Guang." That stunned them into speechlessness every time.

Wu Shi: My social life has been rent to tatters.

Wu Shi: Anyways, come on, you've got to get out of here- if people hear about you being in my quarters at a time like this your reputation's going to be ruined, you'll never be able to get a boyfriend-

Ji Hengsheng: Eh, I don't mind.

Ji Hengsheng: I'm used to gossip.

Wu Shi: Okay, but, uh, if you don't go back to your quarters how am I supposed to sleep?

Ji Hengsheng: We'll sleep together, duh.

Wu Shi: ..........

Ji Hengsheng: Come on, we've had enough sleepovers as kids, right?

Ji Hengsheng: Look, there is no amount of money that will successfully convince me to leave your bed tonight.

Wu Shi: Oh no you brought the big guns out.

Whenever Ji Hengsheng swears that no amount of money can get her to do something, she means it. That girl has a serious mode. She once swore not to eat anything for two days and actually pulled it off. Granted, by the end of it she'd wound up in the hospital due to severely low blood sugar levels, but she pulled it off.

Wu Shi: But, uh, okay, look, I'm just going to address the elephant in the room. We're not kids anymore, we're high-schoolers. At our age, you don't- sleep with someone of the opposite gender unless you're lovers.

Ji Hengsheng: Or family.

Wu Shi: Okay, sure, or family, yeah, but-

Ji Hengsheng: And we're family, right? (note: they're not actually family, she's saying this in a found-family sense, please don't cancel me)

Wu Shi: Uhhhhh.

Well, shit, she got me.

Wu Shi: Yeah, okay, fine. We're family.

Ji Hengsheng: So what were you doing while you disappeared for this whole day?

Wu Shi: ......

Ji Hengsheng: Something I can't be allowed to know, huh?

Ji Hengsheng: Not even family?

Wu Shi: ESPECIALLY not family.

Ji Hengsheng: ...Don't do anything too dangerous, okay?

Wu Shi: I knowwww.

Ji Hengsheng: If something happens to you, I just might cry, you know.

Wu Shi: Forget the just might part, last year you were bawling your eyes out, remember?

Ji Hengsheng: Don't get yourself in anything that dangerous ever again, okay? If I lost you again I'm pretty sure my heart couldn't take it.

Ji Hengsheng: Hear me, Mr. 'Can't take my eyes off you for one second without you getting into trouble?'

In the midst of the night, two teenagers- a boy and a girl- share the same, tiny bed.

It was the kind of lascivious scenario that would normally make one's heartbeat race.

But, for some reason, my own heart just didn't speed up at all.

Instead, what replaced that sort of burgeoning romance was the sense of familiarity we'd shared for years, the kind that utterly precluded flaming passions.

Wu Shi: ...Thanks for looking for me, Ji Hengsheng.

Ji Hengsheng: Of course. If I were the one missing, I know you'd do the same thing.

Wu Shi: Yeah.

The serious discussions ended, there. We spent another hour chatting about totally irrelvant things, before...

Ji Hengsheng: Hey, one more question.

Wu Shi: ...Bout... to sleep... what?

Ji Hengsheng: Do you actually like the heiress?

Wu Shi: I mean... uh... she's hot, sure... but... eh. Status... social roles... too different. Impossible.......

Ji Hengsheng: Well, promise me one thing.

Ji Hengsheng: If you ever do run into a girl you like, make sure to let me know!

Mysterious Savior: Don't worry, I'll save you.

Mysterious Savior: If I can't save you, then nobody can save you.

That reliable smile- it was like it was telling me, 'the situation we're in is nothing- no matter who it is, I can save them'.

Ever since that incident when I was 17 years of age, a question had followed me in the back of my mind.

--Having sacrificed another person to save myself, did that make my life qualitatively different from the lives of everyone else?

Wu Shi: Poached eggs!

Ji Hengsheng: Ten yuan per egg!

Wu Shi: Eggs benedict!

Ji Hengsheng: Also ten yuan per egg!

Wu Shi: Some kind of egg-based cuisine I can't even name!

Ji Hengsheng: No matter how you prepare it, it's a ten-yuan egg either way!

Wu Shi: I say, aren't you miscaculating, here? Shouldn't you incorporate the chef's skill into the pricings?

Ji Hengsheng: No matter how you change the outer appearance and taste, eggs can only be eggs; they'll never become anything more valuable than what they already are.

Wu Shi: I guess you're right. Just like how, no matter how he tries, Yu Guang will never be anything other than Yu Guang.

Yu Guang: I haven't even said anything. What an unprovoked insult.

Yu Guang: Are you two trying to pick a fight with me?

Ji Hengsheng: Ooh! Concerned for her? Concerned for her? Are you concerned for the heiress?

Wu Shi: No?

Ji Hengsheng: Oh, you're crushing on her! You're crushing on her! Oh, little Wu Shi has finally learned how to get crushes on girls-

Wu Shi: I said no!

Ji Hengsheng: Want me to go find her and invite her and you on a date?

Wu Shi: What, you know her?

Ji Hengsheng: Not in the slightest.

Yu Guang: If you want to get to know the heiress, why don't you just ask your shared friend for help?

Wu Shi: My what?

Yu Guang: You know, Qian Yuan.

Wu Shi: ...Yu Guang, I, uh, really have to advise you, as a friend, to give up pursuing that girl.

She's way too dangerous for my friend to be with.

Yu Guang: WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT HER HEART ALREADY FULLY AND COMPLETELY BELONGS TO YOU?!?

Yu Guang: I'm not finished yet! Come! Let us settle this once and for all with one final duel!

Wu Shi: I'm not fucking dueling ANYBODY! Just listen to me!

Ji Hengsheng: Ooh! I heard argument over a girl here! Did I hear you right- there's a girl that likes Wu Shi? What's she like? How's she look what's her personality when'd she get her crush on Wu Shi? Are we about to get a reenactment of a bittersweet love triangle romance over here??

Wu Shi: Oh no do not you get involved in this too Ji Hengsheng-

Qian Yuan, Arriving Just On Time: Hi! I'm here now!

Wu Shi: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ji Hengsheng: Oh, so this is the legendary Qian Yuan, girl-with-a-crush-on-my-little-Wu-Shi? Not bad, Wu Shi! You've done pretty good for yourself with a snag like this.

She slaps me on the back as if to congratulate me.

Done pretty good for myself? Done myself in is more like what I've done.

Qian Yuan: So, is there an empty seat for me?~ I'd love to be able to sit with you, senpai.

Wu Shi: Absolutely not. Ji Hengsheng and Yu Guang are my faithful shields that will not waver nor desert me-

Ji Hengsheng, Who Immediately Deserts Wu Shi: THIS SPOT IS VACANT!

Ji Hengsheng: Wu Shi's got plenty of space!! We were just finished with breakfast and about to leave!

Yu Guang: Wait, no, I haven't even eaten yet-

Ji Hengsheng: Let's leave the lovebirds to their sweet nothings, c'mon, us third wheels can just get right out of here.

Yu Guang: I REFUSE TO BE CONSIGNED TO THE SAD FATE OF BEING A THIRD WHEEL-

Ji Hengsheng drags Yu Guang physically out of the area.

Qing Yuan: What lively friends you have, senpai.

Wu Shi: I'm warning you now, if you do anything to them I'll-

Qing Yuan: Ara ara, what a terrifying threat.

Qing Yuan: As long as you don't do anything to violate our... agreement, I won't do anything to them.

Wu Shi: And if I do?

Qing Yuan: Oh... you know.

She slices a piece of beef in half with a single swipe of her knife.

How absolutely detestable- using my friends to threaten me.

Wu Shi: You are an absolutely unbearable person, you know that?

Qing Yuan: That's fine! I don't need you to like me.

Qing Yuan: I just need to complete the missions assigned to me by my mistress.

Wu Shi: Your mistress is also detestable, in that case, if that's the kind of order she's given you.

Qing Yuan: YOU WATCH WHAT COMES OUT OF THAT STINKING MOUTH OF YOURS.

Ji Hengsheng: So this is the legendary technique- the lovers-feeding-each-other-with-their-forks romance technique! I am blessed to see the arts of the ancient masters in action.

Yu Guang: Aaaaaauuuughhhhhhhh.....

Ji Hengsheng: Look, Yu Guang! Wu Shi is saying 'aaaahhhh'!

Yu Guang: AAAAAAAAUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!

Wu Shi: This is one of those requests I'm not allowed to say no to, isn't it.

Qian Yuan: Excuse us. The mistress has low blood pressure and finds it difficult to get up in the morning. Please wait a moment for us.

Eventually she does manage to get up, and though she addresses me with every bit of her usual dignity and poise, something about the way her cheeks are puffed up red due to Qing Yuan slapping her a bunch of times to wake her up ruins the effect.

Wu Shi: So what does the high-and-mighty princess want to do with one such as me?

I said it passive-aggressively with intent to sting, but Se Yue didn't seem to notice the scorn in my words at all.

Se Yue: I thought about this for some time, and second-guessed myself multiple times- but, since you've seen the thirteenth car, I feel like I still have to, within the lowest possible limits, explain to you just what the Tour of Time is.

Absolutely not no thank you. I turn to leave. Who's she kidding? Just SEEING the damn thing made them put a paramilitary maid superspy on me to watch my every motion. If I learn anything more about this thing, they're going to have to implant a chip into my brain to control my actions.

Se Yue: W-wait!

She rushes up and grabs my hand as I try to leave.

Se Yue: W-why are you leaving? Have I been rude to you?

Wu Shi: Yyyyyes. Yes, you have. You put a superspy on me. That is rude. You are rude.

Wu Shi: Blackmail, stalking, extortion, threats to harm my loved ones- people like you who abuse your power are the kind of people I hate the most.

Wu Shi: You think that just because the Cesium Corporation is so powerful, you can do whatever you want to the peasantry beneath you? You think that because you're powerful you can make everything go exactly the way you want it to go?

Se Yue: ....I don't know what's up with the misunderstandings you have, but, I'm really here just so I can explain the truth to you.

Wu Shi: Not interested.

Se Yue: Don't be like that, this is very important, as the heir to the Se family I've brought you here especially to have a conversation with you-

Wu Shi: Stop talking to me like I'm some sort of lower life form! Have you thought about why you don't have any friends, princess? It's because you constantly, in every single action you take, act as though you're some kind of higher being that's deigning to grace us with your presence!

Se Yue: ...You undecorous-

Wu Shi: Apologies, your highness, but we peasantry don't get to attend classes in decorum and etiquette in our peasantry schools. If I have offended your royal highness, I hope thou canst forgiveth mine transgressions.

Se Yue: STOP CALLING ME A ROYAL HIGHNESS!

Wu Shi: Or what? You'll kidnap me and lock me up again? Or you'll target my friends?

Se Yue: We put you in protective custody for your own protection! Do you KNOW how many malevolent factions would try to capture you for their own interests if they knew about what exactly you'd seen?! Now I'm here to apologize and explain to you!

Wu Shi: So why didn't you just explain to me WITHOUT locking me up?

Se Yue: ...Because I was indecisive between whether I wanted to explain anything to you at all.

Wu Shi: Yeah, so you threaten to kill me and my friends if I spill any secrets-

Se Yue: I'm doing this for your sake!

Wu Shi: I don't need you to decide to do things for my sake, thanks!

Honestly, at this point, I completely regretted following her out of the dining car. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have seen everything that came after, and I wouldn't have gotten involved with any of this. I'd have just hung out with my friends and had a great time on this trip.

Now that I was thinking about it, really, my excessive anger was one that'd been born from the difference between expectation and reality.

When I saw how lonely she'd been in the dining car, I'd thought that maybe she was the same kind of person we were, fundamentally- just another ordinary person like everyone, chained by her own high station. Maybe all she needed was someone to make the first move and break through the wall.

When I heard her talking about her own inability to make friends, I'd been sympathetic to her plight- and I'd thought that maybe I could find a way to become her friend.

But then- well, look what that's gotten me. Kidnappings, threats, stalking...

No wonder she doesn't have any friends. Nobody would want to be friends with someone like that.

In the end, she's the kind of person who thinks that she can do as she pleases with those who are beneath her. We are people of completely different worlds.

Wu Shi: I don't want to have anything to do with you or your family's affairs. Am I clear?

Se Yue: ...Alright, then.

Se Yue: If you're so convinced that I'm nothing more than a heartless young mistress, then let me become exactly that kind of person.

Se Yue: If you tell anybody about the events related to the thirteenth car, I will kill you.

Wu Shi: K-kill?!

Se Yue: That's right. I will put the full power of the Cesium Corporation behind killing you and ensuring that you never tell your tale to anyone again, no matter how much it takes.

Wu Shi: So that's how the Cesium Corporation treats the people of the world, huh? Just what do you take human life for?!

Se Yue: Before the secret of the Tour of Time, human lives are meaningless.

Wu Shi: ...What could the Tour of Time possibly be...?

Se Yue: The Tour of a Time is- when certain conditions are aligned- capable of replicating the effects of what you might call... a Time Machine.

Well, in any case, it wasn't like anybody would believe me even if I said it out loud. Time travel was the stuff of science fiction, after all.

Yu Guang: Hey, uh, man, you, uh, doing alright? You look pooped.

Wu Shi: Oh thank god it wasn't you waiting in the bed under the covers for me this time.

Yu Guang: ...Do I want to know who and what you're talking about?

Wu Shi: Nevermind.

Yu Guang: So, look, how'd it go?

Wu Shi: How'd what go?

Yu Guang: Your tryst with Qing Yuan, is what I mean, of course!

Just let him keep living under his misunderstanding of the situation. After all, watching him bounce about ineffectually in the anguish of unrequited love's pretty funny too.

What I should do is take this opportunity to get some intel on Qing Yuan for my own sake.

Wu Shi: So, you're on the basketball team with Qing Yuan, right? What's she like?

Yu Guang: She is a perfect incomparable goddess who can do no wrong!

Yu Guang: Her sweat is the most fragrant of perfumes, her body constantly emanates a faint but distinct glow, and for some reason she chooses to smile at me- no, I mean, she only chooses to smile at me, her most favored.

Wu Shi: My man, if your girl's sweat is fragrant, her body glows, and she smiles at her favored cultists, that's not your girl, that's the merciful bodhisattva Guanyin.

Yu Guang: I have no idea why she decided to pursue you. You must have some kind of blackmail material on her.

Wu Shi: Kiiiind of the opposite- nevermind.

Yu Guang: So you're saying she's blackmailed you- with her smile, of course.

Wu Shi: Your shallow understanding of my words has exposed your fundamental lack of ability to understand anything.

Yu Guang: If you get together with Qian Yuan... you'll make Ji Hengsheng sad, you know?

Wu Shi: Um... No??? Did you not see how gleeful she was about the fact that a girl was interested in me? You were next to her while it happened. Plus, I'm not dating Ji Hengsheng.

Yu Guang: Defiant to the end, I see... Lemme ask you a question.

Yu Guang: How would you feel if Ji Hengsheng got a boyfriend, like, immediately? Today, in fact? Would you want to say anything to her?

Wu Shi: I think I'd probably congratulate her.

I may make fun of Ji Hengsheng for having nothing but the clinking of coins in her head, but really, that's the virtue of financial competence. Any man Ji Hengsheng decided to date would surely also be an excellent man who was just as financially talented as she was. If such a man appeared, I would surely pull away from Ji Hengsheng, in order to not harm the burgeoning relationship between the two of them and to help Ji Hengsheng achieve her lifelong happiness.

Yu Guang: ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yu Guang: ...Okay, fine. You've called my bluff. I was selfishly invoking Ji Hengsheng in order to sow doubts inside your Dao heart and make you suspect your own devotion to Qing Yuan, so that I may exploit your moment of weakness and steal her away from you.

Yu Guang: I see now that such despicable tactics could never have succeeded. If I am to win my love from you, I must prove myself the greater man by defeating you in head-on conflict, not through trickery and deception such as this!

Wu Shi: Uhhhh..... yeeeeah. You, uh, you do that. Whatever makes you happy, my man.

Yu Guang: But, no, seriously... with the strange nature of the relationship between you and Ji Hengsheng, even if there were any girls who were interested in you, I feel like they ought to give up.

Wu Shi: Why do you say that? What's so weird about me and Ji Hengsheng's relationship? I feel like our relationship is entirely normal.

Yu Guang: YEAH, that's the PROBLEM. You're too normal with her.

Yu Guang: Normally, the process of dating goes through several steps. First you have a crush on someone, which is how you fall in love with someone then you start dating them, and hopefully before the initial flare of the crush wears off, you can intermesh your lifestyles together to the point where being with each other becomes the new 'normal', resulting in a situation where you love someone but also find it normal for them to be with you.

Yu Guang: With you and Ji Hengsheng, it's like you... shortcut that process. You were both too young to have crushes when you first met, but you've been with each other so long that you've long since reached the 'normality' stage of the relationship. And yet- I mean, you said it yourself! You wouldn't feel anything if Ji Hengsheng were to date anyone else!

Yu Guang: And it's not like we can make you un-familiar with each other so you can start the process all over again, so now you're stuck with this weird relationship where it's like you've attained the final stage of romantic completion without, y'know, actually being in love with each other.

Wu Shi: .....That is weirdly insightful for you, dude.

Yu Guang: That's what's abnormal about your normal relationship, man. And, because of it, neither you or Ji Hengsheng are able to find anyone else- because, who would feel comfortable dating someone who clearly has a life partner? The kind of life partner they CLEARLY care about way more than they care about you?

Yu Guang: You've occupied the place in Ji Hengsheng's life that ought to be occupied by the most precious person to her, the one who's made promises to her, and you've done it without actually making a promise to her at all.

Yu Guang: If you're not dating her, you should really either date her, or figure out a way to not spend so much time with her so that both of you can properly start dating.

Yu Guang: Really, the point is- as a friend, I have to tell you- Qian Yuan isn't going to be able to find happiness with you, not while you're like this.

Wu Shi: OH MY GOD THIS AGAIN AAAAAAAAA

Wu Shi: THAT'S ALL YOU'RE ACTUALLY TRYING TO SAY, ISN'T IT?!

I flying-kick him off the bed.

The Tour of Time takes place on a circular track.

Over 48 hours, across three days, the train will always return to Origin Station.

That's to say, the start and end of the journey are the same place.

The experience of the Tour of Time is one of freedom; there are no requirements for what you should be doing at any given time.

No matter when you visited the sixth car, there would always be skilled chefs to provide fine food for you.

No matter when you visited the dormitory cars, there would always be clean, soft bedding for you.

No matter which car you were in, as long as you looked outside the window, you could see the mysterious and beautiful world of the sea.

Besides the ability to freely enjoy delectable food and wonderful views, the Se family had also arranged plenty of other entertainment for us.

The third car of the train was the Performance Car, and at certain designated times it'd engage in various performances such as singing, magic, and dancing, not to mention the latest in cinema.

The fourth car of the train was the Entertainment Car; in it, one could engage in all sorts of indoor activities, like ping-pong, badminton, and bowling.

The fifth car of the train was the Aquatic Car; there, one could engage in indoor swimming.

Wu Shi: It'll be fine. But- make sure you grab my hand when we disembark. Don't let yourself get separated from me and Yu Guang, if anything happens.

Yu Guang: ...Hang on. Do you smell something?

Se Yue: The place we're at now is Midway Station, a location designed expecially for this trip.

Se Yue: With the sea as our sky, and the fish as our stars, this is a bonfire party set within the water itself. We hope everyone enjoys it!

Wu Shi: Dude, come on, can you not bring up, like, horror movies, when everyone's supposed to be having fun? This is why your romantic power level is so terrible.

Yu Guang: My what?

Wu Shi: You know. Your romantic combat power. Your power to create romantic situations. Inviting girls to dates and paying for their part of the bill's a 100-power thing, buying girls flowers is 120, convincingly and favorably comparing your own girlfriend to a 10/10 hottie the two of you see randomly on the street's worth 2000.

Yu Guang: I'm sorry, how come that last one is worth so much?

Wu Shi: This is why you'll never be anything more than the Yamcha of the world of romantic power levels, Yu Guang.

Yu Guang: There is a question of great import I must ask you two.

Yu Guang: What must I do to be able to enjoy a dance with Qian Yuan?

Wu Shi: Uhhhh... you could... ask her?

Yu Guang: But what if she rejects me?!

Wu Shi: Then you'll know she's not into you.

Yu Guang: But I want her to dance with me.

Wu Shi: Then ASK her.

Yu Guang: But I don't want her to reject me!

Wu Shi: So you're saying you want to be able to dance with her but also to avoid the risk of rejection?

Yu Guang: Ohhhh, what am I saying, it's hopeless! Of course the two of you would never understand the battered nature of a lovestruck teenage heart, you're absolute blockheads who've never even tried dating because you're glued to each other like clamshells.

I look at Ji Hengsheng, and in a glance we can tell that we know what the other is thinking- and that we're both set on the same plan.

Wu Shi: QIAN YUAN!

Ji Hengsheng: YU GUANG WANTS TO DANCE WITH YOU!

Yu Guang: Qian Yuan!

Yu Guang: I've always liked you, since we met!

Yu Guang: I don't expect or demand that you give me a response immediately.

Yu Guang: But since this is the final night of the Tour of Time,

Yu Guang: I hope I can at least get a dance together with you!

Wu Shi: excellent, he's distracted my plant. time to execute on my plan by sneaking back onboard the train while everyone's distracted by my friend so i can investigate the 13th traincar on my own,

Ji Hengsheng: Jealous?

Ji Hengsheng: If you're jealous, you should go ask a girl out yourself!

Wu Shi: Wow, you make it sound so easy.

Ji Hengsheng: How about the ojou-sama?

Wu Shi: ...Why bring her up now?

Ji Hengsheng: Well, you seem to pay particular attention to her. Weren't you watching her out of the corner of your eye just a moment ago?

Wu Shi: Tch. Can't hide even a glance from you.

Ji Hengsheng: Heh. I know you better than you know yourself, kid.

Wu Shi: Hengsheng, would you ever like to dance with me?

Ji Hengsheng: Ehhhhhh~? Why?

Ji Hengsheng: Ehhhh, I've never liked dancing. You've never liked it much, either, right?

Wu Shi: Yeah, you know me. Still, I feel like we ought to, y'know, do something, here. Everyone else is dancing, right?

Ji Hengsheng: Ehhhhhhh, I wouldn't put too much stock in what everyone else is doing. You don't have to dance just because someone or everyone tells you that you have to dance with girls you like.

Wu Shi: So, have you ever gotten a crush on me?

Ji Hengsheng: Naaaaah. You?

Wu Shi: Yeah, me either. Guess neither of us have crushed on each other before?

Wu Shi: So, want to date me?

Ji Hengsheng: Oh, you're just asking like THAT?

Wu Shi: What, do I have to ask with a blush and with a stuttery voice for it to be 'real'?

Ji Hengsheng: Oh, absolutely not, no. Ew.

Ji Hengsheng: But, okay, lemme think about it. Formally moving from platonic childhood friends of opposite genders to actual boyfriend and girlfriend... hmmmmm.

Wu Shi: Ayep. Take your time.

Ji Hengsheng: I have no idea what you're thinking exactly, but whenever you make that face it definitely means you're overthinking something.

Ji Hengsheng: And you really shouldn't! I, for one, am thinking extremely simply right now. I know exactly what I want.

She may look on the surface like she wants money, but I knew that all the money she'd scrounged up, she'd saved, because she wasn't the kind of person who wanted money to buy lavish luxuries with.

Ji Hengsheng: I've had the same dream ever since I was small. I'm going to save up money, and I'm going to use that money to buy a home, and I'll spend my time with the person I love there in that home.

Ji Hengsheng: A happy and stable life- that's my dream.

Ji Hengsheng was a conservative person, fundamentally- in the sense that she didn't need to have more than what she had right now. She just wanted to hold on to the things she cared for, here and now, rather than reach for some distant goal that had nothing to do with the dream she'd always held onto. To conserve the things she loved- that was what she wanted.

Ji Hengsheng: Wu Shi.

Ji Hengsheng: Just like you said, I may never really get any such thing as a 'crush' on you.

Ji Hengsheng: So, because of that, I don't think we'll ever be able to date.

Wu Shi: Mmmmm...

Ji Hengsheng: But if that's the thing you're worried about, I feel like you really don't need to worry at all about it!

As she said that, she got out a small rectangular box from her pocket.

Ji Hengsheng: Just as it so happens, I prepared this for you.

Ji Hengsheng: It's a christmas present.

Wu Shi: ...For who?

Ji Hengsheng: For me, of course.

Ji Hengsheng: The box I just gave to you, is a christmas present for me. Open it?

I do so.

Ji Hengsheng: We've moved kind of far beyond the point of just dating each other, but- that's fine, right?

Ji Hengsheng: Since we can't go backwards, I want to go forwards.

Ji Hengsheng: This is an investment in my future that I've made. I'm giving it to you. I want a home, a big and happy home. I want to get married to you. I want you to propose to me, eventually, with that ring.

Wu Shi: I...

Ji Hengsheng: You don't need to give me a response immediately. Hold onto that ring for me. When you're ready to give me a reply, I'll be waiting.

Ji Hengsheng: I'm sorry I can't be the girl who makes your face blush and your heart beat.

Ji Hengsheng: If you want to enjoy your youth first, you can go date anyone you want, no problem.

Ji Hengsheng: As long as you, a member of my family, are happy, no matter what your decision is in the end, I'll always be happy for you.

Ji Hengsheng: My choice has been placed in your hands.

Ding-dong! A body has been discovered!

The time is now past midnight. All personnel, please return to the Tour of Time so that we may once again embark on our journey.

And then, as though the kiss had triggered an explosion within me, I felt a surge of heat within my head.

Wu Shi: AGH!

Wu Shi: And, the person...

Wu Shi: Who transported through time.....

Wu Shi: Was....

Wu Shi: Me.

The moment I said that, a massive amount of information flooded into my brain, cutting off the entirety of my consciousness.

And, in the darkness, I recalled the last end-of-year trip...