After hearing those words that night, she waited for another two months.
During this time, she didn’t mention Trailblazing again.
Every morning, she still went to find Isee to learn words.
In the afternoon, she occasionally went to find Dolly to play the violin.
Occasionally, when she met those Nameless in the corridor, they would still greet her and slip her snacks, and she would still take them and eat them.
But in her heart, she was always waiting for an answer: Why weren’t they living out Trailblaze?
Instead, they were just using it?
That afternoon, Akivili stopped her in the Parlor Car.
“Get ready.
There’s a stop tomorrow.”
“What?”
“A planet that has already been Trailblazed.
The residents have invited the people on the train to participate in their festival.
If you want to go down, you can follow along.”
She wanted to say something, but hesitated, opening and closing her mouth.
In the end, she just nodded.
“I understand.”
When she walked out of the Parlor Car and returned to her room, Flowey poked his head out of the flower pot.
“You’re going?”
“Yeah.”
Flowey was silent for two seconds.
“Then I’ll go with you.”
The next morning, the train warped to the vicinity of that planet.
Chara stood by the window looking outside.
A blue-green planet emerged from the distant starry sky, with vast oceans and scattered landmasses.
The silhouettes of cities of various sizes could be seen on the land.
She followed the crowd to the carriage door.
When the door opened, air smelling of plants rushed in.
It was humid and warm, completely different from anything she had smelled before.
This was her first time stepping off the train.
When her feet touched the ground, she looked down at her shoes.
They were new shoes given to her on the train.
She looked up at her surroundings.
Not far away was an open grassland.
The grass was dark green, a bit taller than her knees, and swaying in waves as the wind blew.
● What a beautiful day.
Birds are singing, flowers are blooming.
There were people waiting for them on the grassland, about a dozen or so.
They wore brightly colored clothes embroidered with various patterns.
Bracelets and anklets hung with small bells jingled as they walked.
At the very front was an elderly woman with graying hair and a smile on her face, walking towards them to welcome them.
Well, actually, she just didn’t have a [Synesthesia Beacon] injected, relying entirely on the translator on her ear.
But sometimes there were translation errors.
The festival grounds were in an open space behind the grassland.
Many tents were set up, with tables and benches underneath.
The tables were filled with various foods she had never seen.
Some people were dancing, children were chasing each other, and others were beating a type of drum she hadn’t seen before.
The sound was deep, beating into the ground thump by thump.
She followed the crowd in and stood under a tent, watching the dancers.
Their movements were large, arms swinging up and falling down, footsteps thudding dully on the grass, bells making faint jingling sounds as they swayed.
Flowey poked his head out from her shoulder.
“It’s quite lively.”
“Yeah.”
She turned to look around.
The Nameless had already scattered.
Some were eating, some were chatting with people, and some were sitting under the tents holding cups, looking relaxed and at ease.
She also walked around and looked at some stalls.
Most of the stalls sold food and accessories.
She couldn’t really understand the styles of many of the accessories.
Some sold feathers, some sold stones, and some sold metals, hung in rows on wooden racks.
Then she saw that pendant: a Heart Locket.
It was hung on a wooden rack in the furthest corner.
It was red and heart-shaped, with a very smooth surface that gleamed slightly in the sunlight.
There were no extra decorations, just a red heart.
She walked over and stood in front of the wooden rack, looking at the Heart Locket for a long time.
She wanted it.
The stall owner was a young woman sitting in the back.
Seeing Chara staring at the pendant, she smiled and said something Chara didn’t understand, but she guessed she was asking if she wanted to buy it.
● Buy: Heart Locket
● Sorry, you don’t have enough Credits.
She put her hand in her pocket and felt the emptiness.
She didn’t have any Credits on her.
Eating on the train didn’t cost money, and the Nameless who gave her snacks wouldn’t take her money.
As a result, she didn’t have a single coin on her.
She pulled her hand out, shook her head, and turned to leave.
A hand reached out from beside her, placing a few Credits on the stall.
Chara turned her head and saw Isee standing there.
His hood was down, his light golden-white hair gleaming with a pale gold hue in the sunlight, his eyes purple.
There was no expression on his face.
He nodded to the stall owner, then took the Heart Locket off the wooden rack.
He bent down, opened the chain of the pendant, and hung it around Chara’s neck.
The chain was neither too long nor too short, and the pendant hung right at her chest.
Chara looked down at the pendant and touched it.
“I don’t have any Credits.”
“You don’t need to pay me back.
Consider it a celebration for your first Trailblaze.”
Chara wanted to say something, but in the end, she just touched the pendant.
“Thank you.”
The festival lasted until evening.
When the sun went down, someone lit a torch, illuminating the entire grounds in red.
The drumming didn’t stop.
The dancers changed in shifts.
Some of the Nameless were drinking a light green beverage, some were clapping along to the rhythm, and some were sitting on the grass leaning against trees, looking at the sky.
They looked like they hadn’t relaxed like this in a long time.
Chara sat under a tree, holding Flowey’s flower pot, watching the firelight reflect on everyone’s faces.
Dolly was also dancing, her long pink hair swaying with her movements, the hem of her dress glowing softly in the firelight.
Akivili stood at the edge of the grounds, holding a cup and speaking some strange words with a local.
She touched the pendant on her neck.
The outline of the heart was clearly discernible under her fingertips.
After the sky completely darkened, the crowd began to head back.
Chara followed behind the group, stepping on the path they came on to return to where the train was parked.
When she boarded the train, she looked back.
The firelight in the distance was still shining, like a small patch of stars on the ground.
● You look at those beautiful things.
If your hometown hadn’t been destroyed, would it have been like that too??
Back in her room, she placed Flowey’s flower pot on the nightstand, then stood in front of the mirror.
The mirror reflected a little girl, her long brown hair loose, wearing a light gray coat, with the red Heart Locket hanging on her chest.
The pendant reflected the light slightly, and its color and shape reminded her of something else.
She reached out and unzipped her coat, revealing the pajamas inside.
The red heart SOUL slowly seeped out from her chest, floating in the air, stopping next to the pendant.
Two red hearts floated side by side in front of her.
One was physical, one was light.
Their shapes were almost identical, and their colors were almost identical.
One was metal, and one was a SOUL.
Then she pushed the SOUL red heart back into her chest.
It disappeared into her body.
She looked down at the pendant, untied the chain, took it off, and placed it on the nightstand.
● You unequipped the Heart Locket.
The pendant lay on the wooden cabinet surface, the red heart quietly reflecting the light.
Then she turned and walked out of the room to eat dinner in the dining car.
● I don’t know what else to say, just being filled with DETERMINATION is good enough.