A heavy silence permeated through the now empty base zone as not a single speck of life was present in the room.
–VROOM
However a single Voidranger suddenly distorted the air around itself and appeared in that very room.
It looked at its surroundings and following its instincts to act on destruction, began to search for any targets to attack.
As it continued to search, colorful blocks began to form from the ground up and the figure of a girl quickly appeared in the room.
Her blank face stared at a holographic screen in front of her but her eyes shined with interest when she read the catalog that appeared on her screen.
"[Rating Pistol]? I wonder if I can quickly swing by to see what kind of score I'll get."
"Gahh!"
"Hmm?"
Her bored eyes suddenly looked at the source of the sound she had heard and noticed that a lone Voidranger began to run her way.
"Oh. It's just a small fry."
Returning her gaze back onto the screen, her fingers began to type something and a large bit-like cube suddenly dropped on top of the Voidranger.
With no time to react, the enemy distorted as it formed into a circle of energy indicating its quick demise.
The girl hopped on a desk and waited for her partner to arrive while she continued to casually browse through the catalog she hacked into.
"Oh my, you look pretty lonely here Silver Wolf."
The girl looked up and heard the sounds of heels clicking off the ground as a woman passed through the door holding a red katana.
"Not really, I had a Voidranger accompany me not so long ago."
"It seems like its presence wasn't to your liking."
"Well it bothered me when I was looking at something. Wouldn't you feel the same way Kafka?"
The woman broke into a faint smile not saying anything as she walked towards the girl and scanned the room.
Her eyes picked up the damaged walls alongside faint traces of white crystals spread throughout the room.
"It looks like someone was here before us. Do you think it's Herta?"
"Elio had said that we wouldn't run into Herta so it's probably someone else."
Kafka began to follow Silver Wolf as they inspected the white crystals on the ground.
"How beautiful~"
Kafka lifted up a piece and felt the chill it emitted but what caught her attention was how the light reflected into the crystal.
"Has there been any mention of this in the script?"
Silver Wolf asked as she saw Kafka pocket the crystal and followed along with her towards the room where they would find where the Stellaron was.
Tapping her chin, Kafka tried to remember if there was any mention of this 'extra' but shook her head softly as she recalled nothing.
"There wasn't any mention of this person in the script so Elio must not think of them as a hindrance to our mission."
"Alright if you say so."
Silver Wolf raised her shoulders and proceeded to guide Kafka through the hallway in order to reach the monitoring room.
As they walked, they began to take note at how quiet it was and the increasing signs of a fight that had taken place in the area.
"They did a pretty good job in clearing out this place for us."
Kafka whistled as she began to wonder the mystery identity of the person who was a few steps ahead of them.
Being faced with the door to the monitoring room, the two heard faint sounds coming from the other side of the door.
"Shall we find out who's our mystery person?"
Leading the way, Kafka opened the door and inside was Yuuto who was mumbling to himself as he faced a flickering distorted wall.
"I should be able to enter the room if I just pass through here…"
Yuuto stared at the wall for a bit before reaching his hand over but suddenly turned his head when he heard the sounds of the door opening.
A woman with red wine colored hair alongside a girl with a blank face stared at him as he stood in front of the flickering wall.
Locking eyes with Kafka and Silver Wolf, Yuuto flashed them a small smile and a wink before disappearing to who knows where.
""...""
The two of them stood in silence as they tried to comprehend what they had just seen.
They gave varying reactions with Kafka smiling in slight amusement while Silver Wolf felt her right eyebrow twitch.
"It seems like our mystery person is pretty playful~"
Silver Wolf ignored what Kafka said and walked up to the flickering wall as she tried to figure out its identity.
A holographic screen began to appear in front of her as she quickly scanned all the devices in the room to see what kind of item this was.
"Item Number 211, "Blind Spot".... So this is what's keeping the Stellaron hidden…"
"So that person bypassed this to get where the Stellaron is being hidden huh."
Looking at the wall herself, Kafka tapped her cheek before putting her hand on the wall and disappearing just like how Yuuto did.
Silver Wolf followed along and the two suddenly appeared in a room where an object floated in the air.
It flickered in a deep golden color and excluded an immense amount of energy which was being contained to what seemed like a holographic shield.
"Ouu, it looks just like a sun. I wonder if it's able to emit heat like one…"
The two finally saw Yuuto who was immersing himself as he looked at the Stelleron intently and mumbled to himself about his thoughts.
Kafka took the initiative to walk towards him as she carefully scanned the person who was in front of her.
"You saved us a lot of trouble handling all those Voidrangers that it became too quiet for my liking."
"I had no choice, they all ganged up on me that it became too noisy for my liking." Yuuto gave an exaggerated sigh as he mentioned his grievances.
"So Miss Beautiful #1, it looks like you're pretty eager for something. Is there anything you want to say?"
"Before that, you seem to have a pretty frivolous tongue on you." Kafka gave a faint smile as she heard how natural Yuuto complimented her despite meeting for the first time.
"Hmm? But isn't it natural to compliment a lady if I think she's beautiful?"
"Oh, how sweet of you~."
Kafka moved a few steps closer as Yuuto gave her a calm smile watching her actions.
"So there must be a #2 if you called me #1, so who's the second one?"
"I would say your companion over there but…"
Silver Wolf suddenly felt two pairs of eyes land on her and felt suspicious as she noticed the pause in Yuuto's sentence.
"I would say she's cute rather than beautiful."
"I have to agree with you on that. Hahh– she usually skips her meals to play games so I think that's the reason for what's hindering her growth in certain 'areas'."
"Is that so?"
Silver Wolf's expression turned dark as she heard Kafka sigh and how she voiced her complaints to Yuuto to which he just gave an understanding nod.
"...I'm going to break down the shield and prepare the receptacle."
The two slowly watched Silver Wolf bluntly say her words as she returned back to her blank face but Yuuto noticed her eyebrows twitching despite her attempts to hide it.
"Anyways back to our previous topic."
Yuuto turned his gaze away from Silver Wolf as he felt Kafka come ever closer as she began to speak in a gentle tone.
"[Listen]: Do you mind telling me your reason for coming towards this hidden Stelleron where only Herta knows its location."
Yuuto heard this tone and his thoughts suddenly began to waver in favor of answering Kafka's question.
However in his mind, he felt the floating book stored in his mental library began to flap its cover as it drove off this strange sensation and Yuuto's mind repelled this feeling.
'Damn, she actually used her [Spirit Whisper] on me.'
Yuuto thought as he recalled that strange sensation during the last sentence she had towards him.
He thought of the possibility of this happening when he knew that he was about to meet Kafka so he thought about any sort of protection against it.
However he took a gamble as he recalled how the Cremator was unable to access his [Nexus] that one time so he began to wonder if he had a resistance to mental attacks.
Such as a person manipulating his memories or an ability to control such as Kafka's [Spirit Whisper].
'It looks like my risk paid off.' Yuuto thought as he continued to keep a calm look on his face.
"I don't know what you mean. I was just simply walking around and I accidentally found this place."
"Hmm…"
Kafka's eyes shined in an unknown glint as she heard Yuuto's response and crescents began to form as an alluring smile appeared on her face.
"[Listen]: Can you tell me how you found this room then?"
"I'm not sure what you're getting at."
"Oh my~ it seems like it really doesn't work on you."
"Yeah and I would appreciate it if you stopped using it."
"I'll see about that~"
Yuuto gave out a sigh as he heard Kafka's playful tone but a faint chuckle escaped his lips finding the situation a bit strange.
"What is your name?" Yuuto asked Kafka despite already knowing as he didn't want to accidentally slip out calling her name.
"Oh? You don't seem to mind that I tried to control you just a few seconds ago."
"How does that tie to me asking your name?"
"Usually people avoid conversing once they find out they're being controlled right? I could call it a red flag per say."
"What a coincidence, red is my favorite color."
Kafka glanced at Yuuto as he said this with a sly smile and she gave out a small laugh as thoughts began to appear in her head that were only known to her.
"Kafka, the receptacle is ready." Silver Wolf suddenly interrupted in their conversation and Kafka began to walk towards the console to complete what she was here for.
"It looks like Silver Wolf answered your question."
Kafka left Yuuto with those words as she began to busy herself with the console while Silver Wolf replaced her spot.
"So your name is Silver Wolf? I'm Yuuto."
"...."
Yuuto saw how she just nodded and quietly stood by him as she tinkered with the holographic keyboard in front of her.
"Do you want some? I got this from my trip to a planet and the taste is pretty good."
Silver Wolf glanced at what Yuuto was offering and saw a packet of gum. Yuuto was already opening a piece and she just stared at the package before finally taking his offer.
"I usually get bubble gum but the mint flavor from this company is pretty good. How is it?"
"...It's alright."
Silver Wolf felt a bit awkward as he tried to initiate a conversation with her and she didn't know how to respond to this large amount of energy he was giving off.
Yuuto finally stopped when he saw some movements appear in the space near Kafka and a tall girl with gray hair began to appear out of thin air.
Kafka held the Stelleron in her palm as she slowly pushed the object into the chest of the girl and held her still to make sure it got inserted properly.
'So our MC is going to be Stelle.'
Yuuto and Silver Wolf got closer as the Stelleron eventually settled into Stelle.
Kafka gently lowered Stelle onto the wall and waited for the two of them to appear before her.
"Do you mind taking care of her?"
"This seems like a pretty big responsibility to suddenly give to a person you've just met."
"You look pretty reliable so I don't mind doing so."
Kafka gave him an innocent look and Yuuto felt his lips twitch at hearing her reason on thinking so.
Yuuto tapped his chin as he pretended to think about it before finally speaking.
"So this could be considered a favor right? How about I accept this favor and in return you do the same for me."
"Oh? So what's the favor you're going to ask?"
"I'll think about it for now but just make it so you owe me one."
"Hmm…."
Kafka fell into deep thought as she thought about his offer.
"Sure I'll accept it but nothing that crosses the line."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh you know~"
Kafka stared at him with her normal face but Yuuto was able to see the slight coldness in her eyes if he were to say a request that crossed the line.
"Don't worry if I wanted to do something like that I'll just count on my own efforts to do so and not on some favor."
"How cool of you~"
Yuuto rolled his eyes after hearing her response and walked closer to Stelle who's eyes began to open.
"Kafka…?"
"Great, so you remember me."
Stelle's blurry eyes began to focus as Kafka stood right in front of her and spoke in a gentle tone.
"[Listen]: In the near future, you will encounter all kinds of perils and hardships, but you will also have many wonderful experiences. You'll meet companions who treat you like family, and embark on surreal adventures with them…"
Yuuto watched as he listened deeply to Kafka's words and a weird feeling hit him knowing that he was finally at the start of Star Rail's story.
As he was listening Yuuto felt a scratchy feeling assault his eyes as a hot sensation began to appear. A whitish glow suddenly appeared in his eyes and he noticed that he was now staring at a person's [Nexus].
Precisely Stelle's [Nexus].
'What the…'