Gyoza Senbei

Looking out from the classroom window, a shadow that seemed to cover everything was slowly curling up on the ground, moving at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Because the central school building was located on a high ground in the suburbs of the city, the evening star was able to observe the masterpiece brought to the city by that giant "curtain" in the sky.

However, for the evening star, seeing this scene meant that it was not long until school was over. Sure enough, before the teacher who noticed her daydreaming and looking out the window could remind her, the classroom and blackboard automatically switched to dismissal mode, and the students quickly turned off their desk terminal's student system and got up to leave the classroom.

“Well, class, that's it for today. Please pay attention to safety on your way home.”

“Evening star, you were daydreaming again and not paying attention in class.”

Another short-haired girl bowed to the teacher and then turned around to gently tap the head of the long-haired girl, still gazing out the window, with her personal terminal.

While complaining, “Ugh, what’s up, Dream Butterfly? Is the last social science class on Tuesday afternoon too boring for you to pay attention to…” she got up from her seat, withdrew her gaze, and looked at the girl named Dream Butterfly beside her.

Facing the gaze of the evening star, Dream Butterfly shyly turned towards the classroom door and then hurriedly added, “Isn't Zhang's class also social science?”

“Her class is so interesting! Those anthropomorphic teachers can't compare at all!”

Hearing the name Zhang, the evening star suddenly became excited, and a gentle spring breeze blew in from the window, stirring her waist-length hair.

“Ah… I shouldn't have mentioned her,” Dream Butterfly walked to the classroom door, sighed softly, and then turned back to look, “I need to go to the school's library. If you don't come with me, I won't care about you anymore.”

“What? You’re going to the library again…”

The evening star complained somewhat speechlessly, tidied up her personal terminal and desk, and followed her.

“Yeah, I want to borrow the book that the teacher mentioned in class earlier.”

“You really went to find it to read, and you could just sync it directly from the cloud to the terminal, why go to the library?”

The anthropomorphic teacher smiled slightly at the evening star and Dream Butterfly, who were complaining as they walked out of the classroom, only Dream Butterfly said she would see them tomorrow in response to the anthropomorphic teacher's smile.

“I think holding a physical book in hand has that, how to say, the breath of our Earthly hometown?”

She said, pressing her index finger against her lips, her eyes slightly squinting upward as if she was thinking about how to express her thoughts.

“I don't understand you, why do you like something from a place you've never been to so much?”

“But isn't that the hometown of all of us?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know you're very 'homesick', although that part of you is also very cute.”

This sentence made Dream Butterfly's face flush, but at this time, the evening star looked towards the end of the corridor, where the school library was located.

“Evening star, Dream Butterfly, welcome to the library of the high school department of New Osaka Central School. How can I help you two?”

The anthropomorphic teacher at the reception greeted the two warmly.

Dream Butterfly took out her personal terminal, tapped on it a couple of times, and then handed it to the anthropomorphic teacher, “Sorry, I would like to ask you to help me print out the physical copies of these two books.”

The teacher glanced at the book titles displayed on the personal terminal and nodded, “Okay, I will retrieve the text resources from the cloud database immediately, and the printing program will be initialized, please wait a moment.”

However, not long after the teacher said this, she turned around and took out two books from the equipment behind her, “Here are the books you wanted to borrow, please take care of them.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Once you finish reading, or if you no longer need these books, you can come here or to any resource center in the node city for recycling, hehe,” the teacher smiled slightly, “These rules and regulations, I believe Dream Butterfly has already heard enough of them.”

“Hehe, thank you for your consistent service, I will read them carefully.”

Dream Butterfly smiled at the teacher in the library.

“Shall we go to the city center later? I saw on Witter that someone is making a sweet dish called crepes over there.”

The evening star mumbled while swiping the display screen of her personal terminal.

“Sweet dish? I'm not really…”

“I heard it's a dessert that used to be very popular on Earth, it seems like someone dug out the recipe from database 6…”

As the evening star spoke, she pushed the display screen of the terminal in front of Dream Butterfly, startling her with the sudden action, but after she touched her chest and calmed down, she looked at the photo on the screen,

“Then, let's go try it…”

A few minutes later, the two appeared on the shuttle heading to the city center. There were still a few students in academic department uniforms from the central school scattered throughout the carriage, their eyes glowing faintly blue, a sign that their eye implants were receiving messages, and these students had access to more advanced technology than personal terminals.

“Hey, we're almost there.” The evening star glanced at Dream Butterfly, who was enviously staring at those upperclassmen, and casually reminded her, but for the evening star, this was also a common occurrence, so she looked out the window in boredom.

The giant white building hovering in the center of the city gradually came into view, but compared to that giant object in the sky, it still paled in comparison, so one could only see its true form by coming to the city center. A few clouds that looked like cotton candy surrounded it, creating a fairy-tale atmosphere. A small black oval object was approaching the floating building, trailing a light blue tail flame from a distance.

Looking away from the sky, the streets were lined with various small buildings. They should be the residences of upperclassmen who chose to stay in the city after graduating from the central school. Although the evening star quite liked the various novel things in the city, she still wanted to build a house in the suburbs after graduating from the central school, staring blankly at the sky every day, and of course, it would be best to go with Dream Butterfly.

“Dear passengers, we have arrived at Shin-Umeda Station…”

Along with the gentle announcement of the shuttle, Dream Butterfly's voice came, “If you get off again, I won't care about you?”

“Ah!”

The evening star came back to her senses and caught sight of Dream Butterfly, who had already walked to the door of the vehicle, and hurriedly followed her.

“Uh, couldn't you have called me earlier?”

“Didn't you remind me last stop?”

Looking at the evening star, who was stumbling down the vehicle, Dream Butterfly covered her mouth and laughed, then seemed to notice something and pointed to the street across.

“Is that it?”

“Hmm? What?” The evening star looked confusedly in the direction Dream Butterfly was pointing, and upon seeing the stall with two people in front, she suddenly realized, “Oh, the crepe stall. Uh, this…”

What made the evening star suddenly stutter was a long line, which included students in the same uniform as herself, upperclassmen in academic department uniforms, and even students from the elementary and middle schools, as well as various adults.

“What should we do? Should we still go eat? Where are the people? Uh, how did you already get in line!”

Without saying a word, Dream Butterfly walked to the end of the line, as if she had heard the evening star's voice, turning her head back to say, “If you don't catch up, just go to the back of the line.” After saying that, she seemed to intentionally point to the figures gradually approaching not far away.

“Hello everyone, I am Rika, who loves to cook! Oh~ there are still quite a few school juniors here, this uniform makes me feel so nostalgic! Today I specially came to Shin-Umeda Station to set up a special stall to bring you a new dish I found from the database of small 6 a while ago, which is crepes made with wheat flour, cream, and various fruits. It is said that on Earth…”

After about half an hour in line, the two finally approached the crepe stall, and then they heard what seemed to be the stall owner wearing a tall white hat and an academic department uniform enthusiastically introducing.

“Oh! Isn't this little Dream Butterfly? You're back!”

The stall owner, who called herself Rika, saw Dream Butterfly, who was about to reach the stall, put down her spatula and waved excitedly at her.

Seeing this, Dream Butterfly felt a bit embarrassed but politely replied, “Hello… it's nice to see you again.”

“Eh, do you know this stall owner?”

The evening star asked curiously, turning to Dream Butterfly, who was chatting with the stall owner.

“Well, sort of…”

Before Dream Butterfly could continue explaining to the evening star, the stall owner Rika enthusiastically chimed in, “Dream Butterfly, you ate so deliciously when you came to the restaurant last week, it made me very touched. Did you see the promotional post I sent on Witter? Hehe, you really came, I'm so happy to see you again, which flavor do you want? Or should I get you the same one?”

Rika was busy making crepes with a student in an academic department uniform beside her, her eyes glowing faintly blue, but she quickly apologized, “Haha, I forgot you can't use this.” Then, a simple menu was airdropped to the personal terminals of the evening star and Dream Butterfly.

“I want this, chocolate cream flavor.” The evening star quickly scanned the menu and then maliciously squinted at Dream Butterfly.

“Why are you looking at me like that! I just saw that Rika-senpai's restaurant was making local Earth cuisine online, so I went to try it a few times, actually… it was quite delicious. I didn't expect it to be her again this time…” Dream Butterfly hurriedly explained, “Ah, sorry, please give me a strawberry cream flavor.”

“Hehe, you're so cute.”

“Okay, this girl in the same uniform as you, who is flirting with you, is your classmate?”

“What, flirting! Ahem, her name is Evening Star Ist, she is my, um, good friend. This senior beside you is?”

As Dream Butterfly introduced, she secretly glanced at the evening star, who was just about to say something but was distracted by the chef's superb cooking skills.

“Haha, her name is Anjie, she is also my classmate and good friend, and my tool.”

After Anjie finished speaking, the girl named Riko, who was wearing an apron over her school uniform, clearly rolled her eyes at her.

“This person's cooking skills are quite impressive…”

“Hehehe… here are your crepes, take care, be careful not to burn yourself.”

The two received the crepes from Rika's hands, and since there were still many people behind them, Dream Butterfly led the evening star to a bench in the park across the street.

“This is a crepe, it looks a bit like the rolled pancakes in the school cafeteria, but the vegetables and meat inside are replaced with cream and chocolate…”

The evening star carefully examined the pancake filled with cream and chocolate in her hand and then took a bite.

“Wow! This smooth and rich taste!” Dream Butterfly, who also took a bite of the crepe, suddenly exclaimed with sparkling eyes, “And this portion seems so big, after finishing this, I might not be able to eat dinner tonight…”

“The taste is indeed quite good, it was worth coming here.”

After taking a few more bites, the evening star glanced at the girl beside her, who was focused on the delicious food in her hand.

“But speaking of this portion, is it because you know the stall owner that you got extra?”

“It shouldn't be. Hmm, I should send a message to my mom saying to make less for dinner.”

Dream Butterfly stammered a couple of times and then took out her personal terminal to fiddle with it, then seemed to discover something and suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, is this your mom?”

She stretched out her personal terminal's display screen to show the evening star. It displayed a poster of the extracurricular activity results report from last year, which was supervised by the professors from the academic department of the central school, along with this year's enrollment advertisement.

However, the evening star didn't seem too interested, glancing at it casually and responding with a somewhat absent-minded “Hmm.”

“Your reaction is so cold, what's wrong, did you have a fight with your mom again?”

Dream Butterfly, who had poked her head out from behind the screen, asked in confusion.

“Uh, no.” The evening star immediately turned her face away and said somewhat unhappily, taking a bite of the crepe and looking up at the sky.

The oval-shaped cargo shuttle was just arriving to dock with the giant floating building, and the shadow that fell was just passing over the evening star.

“That person said that work is entering a critical stage, and hasn't returned to the surface for about two months.”

“Didn't they leave before the winter break? Professor Ist has been on a business trip for so long? No wonder you've been so distracted this semester… I respect Professor Ist a lot, but being away for so long is indeed a bit excessive. If you want me to accompany you…”

Dream Butterfly spoke in a slightly reproachful tone, just as she was about to retract her hand holding the personal terminal, she was suddenly grabbed by the evening star, who had a serious expression, and then she slid her pinky finger across the screen.

“Extracurricular field trip organized by the gravitational wave observation station, are you going to participate in this?” The evening star asked abruptly.

“Ah! You scared me… um, yes, it seems like I'm the only one in the class who signed up.” Although Dream Butterfly was a bit startled by the previous action, she seemed to have realized something and just smiled helplessly, “Actually, I was eliminated during the data review stage after signing up last year…”

“So you were brushed off right away?”

The evening star released the delicate arm of the girl who was telling her past failures and returned to her usual expression, finishing the last bite of the crepe.

“Wuwu, Evening Star… you shouldn't say it so bluntly. That time I just wasn't prepared enough, sigh, it's all my fault.”

“Then you should write the written application materials and send them to me.” The evening star said while waving her hand to summon an automatic recycling station to throw the crepe's packaging into it.

“Eh?”

A warm breeze gently blew by, the evening star stood up from the bench, looked up at the shuttle that had just unloaded and was accelerating towards the giant screen in the sky, and then continued,

“I'll ask my mom to help you revise it.”

“Eh!?” Dream Butterfly almost choked on this sentence, coughing a couple of times, then showing an expression of disbelief as she asked back, “Really? Isn't Professor Ist very busy…”

“Hmm… of course, it can be.”

“Wow! Thank you so much, Evening Star. With Professor Ist overseeing it, it feels like this year's activity is definitely secured. No, this is too much cheating, it's not good, I have to work harder myself.”

“Actually, I should thank you…”

“Ah? What did you say?”

“It's nothing, let's go home, I'll just crash at your place for dinner tonight!”

The evening star said as she pulled Dream Butterfly's arm and walked towards the bus station.

The ringing of the incoming call woke the evening star, who was still sleeping in her room.

With sleepy eyes, she glanced at the incoming call reminder window floating in mid-air, waved her right hand to accept the call request, and then the face of a short-haired girl wearing white round-frame glasses appeared in that window.

“Ah! Finally connected, I’ve called you several times, why didn’t you answer! Huh, why are you still in bed...? You actually slept until the afternoon…”

“I just didn't sleep well last night, and since it's the weekend, I caught up on some sleep.”

“Hmm, is that so? Did you sleep well?”

The girl in the window showed a hint of worry. Meanwhile, the evening star slowly got out of bed, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she walked to the wall opposite.

“Ah, I slept well, slept well.”

As she spoke, she called up a menu from the wall, tapped a couple of times, and then the wall seemed to come alive, transforming and twisting. A fully equipped washbasin appeared before the evening star a few seconds later.

“Really? Anyway, don't forget to gather at the Monument Subway Station at 3:30 PM. If you're still very sleepy, we can gather a bit later.”

“Oh, I remember, I remember.”

“As long as you remember, I won't disturb your washing up, see you later!”

The call window closed with a snap, and the evening star seemed to remember something and spoke up, “Little Te, did you manage to send out the things I asked you to send out at noon this morning?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a call window popped up on the mirror of the washbasin in front of her, where a young woman’s face appeared, a housekeeper robot, answering her question in a gentle tone.

“I have already sent it out at 12:30 PM as you instructed, and it is expected to arrive at the designated location between 5:10 PM and 5:20 PM.”

After answering the evening star's inquiry, the housekeeper robot in the window smiled slightly, covering its mouth.

“Hehe, making gifts for your good friend Dream Butterfly overnight, and going to stay at your friend's house, our Miss Evening Star has finally surpassed her mother, Ms. Star.”

“Uh, that last part was unnecessary. Hmm, but I don't know how long I will be staying at Dream Butterfly's house, so after I go over today, you can clean the house thoroughly and then enter standby mode.”

“Okay. Your mother, Ms. Star, sent a video communication this morning, but you were not up yet, so it went to the voicemail channel. Would you like me to play the recording?”

“Play it on the mirror.”

“Okay, connecting you now.”

A new window opened on the mirror in front of the evening star, showing a woman in a white tight-fitting spacesuit. Although she had long hair like the evening star, her hair color was a bright golden yellow, tied in a neat ponytail, and she seemed to be walking hurriedly on the corridor of a space station, with the vast starry sky on one side and a metallic wall on the other.

“Little Evening, I'm so sorry, Mom has been on a business trip to Station 2 for so long. I originally said I would go to your grade to give a guest lecture… but this time it really is a very important job, I can't get away, please forgive me, okay? After I return this time, I will spend time with you. Ah, but I might be busy until next year…”

At this point, the evening star's mother clasped her hands together and repeatedly apologized.

“Oh, by the way, about the message you left me the day before yesterday, I will take time to help little Dream Butterfly look into it. Also, after you go to little Dream Butterfly's house, please say hello to her for me, I miss her cream baked rice and braised pork so much. Once I finish my work, let's find a time to go to the beach for a few days.”

As she spoke, several communication windows suddenly popped up beside Evening Star's mother, and a woman's urgent voice came through:

“Comrade Ist, the AI preprocessing is complete, the data is out, I have sent it to you, please check it as soon as possible, on several frequency bands you marked…”

Before that person could finish speaking, Evening Star's mother apologized and hurriedly cut off the communication signal with the evening star. The screen froze on the last frame and automatically closed after a few seconds.

“Hmph, every time it's just wait until I'm done with work…”

The evening star murmured in dissatisfaction, letting the washbasin return to a normal wall.

“Well, I'm heading out.”

“Okay, I wish you a pleasant time at your friend's house.”

“That sentence is also quite unnecessary.”

As the evening star walked down from the shuttle with Dream Butterfly, she looked towards the huge building ahead.

At the bustling entrance, a similarly huge sign hung, “New Osaka · TONO Supermarket” boldly proclaiming its existence.

“Is this the supermarket on Earth that you mentioned before? It's so big… I saw it from the spaceship when I looked down at New Osaka before, so it's actually a supermarket.”

“Yes!” Dream Butterfly answered while her eyes sparkled as if they were shining gold, looking at the building called the supermarket, she seemed unable to contain her excitement, and the two large braids floating behind her also swayed.

“It looks a bit like the back storage area I visited on the fourth day of the new year.”

“Hmm! Actually, it does resemble that warehouse, but I've only been here a few times, after all, it costs credit points, so I usually hesitate to come. Ah, let's go over there first!”

“It actually costs credit points? Then like last time when you came to my house, couldn't you just use the public resource allocation service?”

“Hehe, how could that work!”

The automatic door of the supermarket sensed the incoming customers, and a crisp melody rang out as it opened to the left and right.

“Ah! This music is said to also imitate the supermarkets on Earth!” Dream Butterfly, who was walking in front, excitedly explained, but she didn't forget to answer the evening star's question. She turned her head, causing the two large braids floating on her left side to come to a sudden stop and change direction, “Hmm, last year when I stayed at your house, the food was very sumptuous, so this time when you agreed to stay at my house, my mom said she wanted to treat you well. Just in time, I also wanted to come and take a look, I accumulated quite a few credit points from the practical activities with the school in the previous two semesters.”

Hearing Dream Butterfly's words, the evening star smiled slightly.

“Oh? Are you planning to sign up for that observation station's field trip as well to earn credit points?”

“Of course not!”

“Hmm, indeed, I can't say for the others in the class, but you are unlikely.”

“What? Are you making fun of me?”

Dream Butterfly said this and continued to walk forward.

“Because you look so cute. Hey, why isn't there an anthropomorphic to greet us?”

“Hehehe! You don't know this, do you?”

Dream Butterfly said as she tapped a couple of times on the screen of her personal terminal, and then a mechanical sound came from the wall on the right side, and a small cart carrying a small square box slowly drove out from the hole that opened in the wall.

Looking around, many people in the entrance hall were calling out similar small carts from the wall.

“There are no anthropomorphic waiters in the store, and the products are placed on the shelves for self-service.”

The two continued to walk into the store, and the small cart moved along with their walking speed to the front of them.

“Self-service? So all the products are not produced on-site, but rather displayed here from what has already been produced?”

As they walked from the entrance hall into a wider area, this should be the main part of the huge building, with huge cabinets extending to the ceiling arranged in several directions as far as the eye could see, bustling crowds and various sized unmanned vehicles passing through.

“Yes, that's why such a large store is needed, it's quite spectacular. Oh right, this little cart in front is used to hold the selected items.”

Walking among them felt like walking in a jungle made of these metal shelves, reminding the evening star of the towering trees she saw when she visited the ecological sector far from the city under the school's guidance during elementary school.

Although this place didn't have small maintenance drones flying around like in the ecological sector, countless mechanical arms were running on the tracks of the metal support columns and beams, seemingly to help customers select goods from the higher shelves.

While the evening star was watching this busy scene with great interest, Dream Butterfly continued tapping on her personal terminal.

“Evening star, come this way, I have already synced the route to the shopping cart, let's go buy the necessary items first.”

The cart, which Dream Butterfly referred to as the shopping cart, seemed to respond to her, immediately projecting part of the supermarket's map and real-time navigation route in front of the two.

So this little cart is called a shopping cart, the evening star thought while complaining in her heart, and followed Dream Butterfly as they walked towards another shelf area.

“By the way, there are really a lot of people here, I didn't expect you to have so many peers.”

The noisy flow of people and vehicles continuously swept past the two.

“Hmm, the nostalgic faction in New Osaka is the largest among the six node cities, so this New Osaka Earth supermarket was built here.”

As she spoke, her face involuntarily beamed with pride.

“Moreover, the products here are not produced by public nano-printing factories, but rather by suburban automated factories and agricultural factories in the ecological sector. For example… this beef!”

A mechanical arm used for transport stopped right in front of Dream Butterfly, delivering a tray with a box of bright red beef on it. Dream Butterfly took it down, showed it to the evening star, and then placed it in the shopping cart.

“Oh, it seems like I've seen many buildings that look like agricultural factories and several gathering points in the eastern suburbs.”

“Yes, those are the production facilities under TONO supermarket. This meat is not printed muscle fiber tissue, but rather cut from real cows bred using IPS cell technology after slaughter.”

As Dream Butterfly continued to take several ingredients from the tray delivered by the mechanical arm, the evening star watched and continued speaking.

“Hmm? Are you buying so much? Is this flour? There are so many types.”

“Flour comes in high, medium, and low gluten varieties, and different types of flour are needed to make different types of pastries.”

“Low-gluten flour? What is it used for?”

“Low-gluten flour is mainly used for sweets…” Dream Butterfly suddenly stopped halfway through, cleared her throat, “Ahem, this is for my mom, I don't really know what she wants to make.”

The evening star glanced at Dream Butterfly, whose tone had become noticeably unnatural, but she didn't plan to continue asking and instead spoke up.

“Oh, is that so? Speaking of which, my mom received this kind of beef as a year-end benefit one year, and I remember feeling that it tasted similar to the printed meat in the school meal.”

“But it is basically indistinguishable from real live cows, it almost tastes like Earth.”

“But on a molecular level, there shouldn't be much difference, how much difference can there be in taste? Oh, real beef muscle tissue would have blood vessels, fascia, fat, and so on, so the texture might be…”

“Hmph, Evening Star, you really don't understand what romance is!”

Seemingly annoyed by the evening star's statement, Dream Butterfly dropped a line and then quickly walked past her.

“Ingredients are selected, I want to browse the daily necessities shelf!”

Following the shopping cart, they passed through several shelves that required looking up to see the top, and the evening star arrived at an area with lower and sparser shelves. Looking around, there were various tools that Evening Star had only seen in history textbooks: electric toothbrushes, round flat old-style vacuum robots, washing machines, refrigerators, and various knitted items…

However, when the evening star saw the required credit points displayed on the shopping cart's interface, she instinctively exclaimed.

“These antique things are so expensive!?”

Dream Butterfly had just taken out a piece of clothing from the nearby shelf and was trying it on when she saw her friend walking over slowly and hurriedly put the item back.

“Ah, so you are here, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing, just browsing.”

The evening star glanced sideways at the mechanical arm that was organizing the clothing items that had been taken out and put back.

“Oh, these are ancient clothes.”

“Hmm… I originally wanted to come and see the knitted pajamas here, but they are all so expensive,”

As the shopping cart that had come to Dream Butterfly's side projected the information of the nearby shelves, the dazzling list of products made her a bit dizzy.

“Uh, this price is already beyond the outrageous range…”

“After all, these indoor clothes are sewn with wool stitch by stitch, although they are machine-sewn. There are also handmade ones on the front shelf, which are even more expensive.”

“Is this the pajama you just took out and tried on?”

The evening star tapped a couple of times on the shopping cart's projection screen, and then a mechanical arm brought a loose dress with a bowl of curry printed on a pure white background in front of her.

“This one looks pretty good, it seems very suitable for you, buy it.”

“Hmm?”

Dream Butterfly responded and turned back to look.

“Ah… yes, this one. But it's too expensive…”

Then she quickly turned her slightly blushing face back, speaking rapidly.

The evening star glanced at the shy girl beside her, who was acting awkwardly, and then swiped a couple of times on the display screen of the shopping cart, and the displayed price was indeed not an amount that a student could easily afford, but thanks to her mother's job, it was still affordable for the evening star.

“Uh, speaking of which, these things are priced so high, and they don't have much practicality, will anyone really buy them?”

The mechanical arm methodically returned the clothing to the shelf, and the evening star asked this while watching the busy scene, while Dream Butterfly, who was walking in front, heard her words and spoke up.

“For me, just being able to come here and browse around makes me very happy, maybe other people think the same way. The things that need to be bought have already been bought, um… actually, we can go back now, but do you still want to continue browsing, Evening Star?”

“The time is still early, let's browse a bit before going back.”

“Hehe, since you said so, let's go over there and take a look.”

Suddenly, Dream Butterfly turned around and pointed to a shelf nearby.

A gentle slope extended before the two, reaching the horizon where the blue sky met the earth, with buildings of various sizes scattered across it. Looking up from below, it felt like gazing at a miniature world model.

Dream Butterfly was complaining to the evening star about how outrageous the prices of the stargazing equipment they saw in the supermarket, as she stopped in front of a pure white two-story house's fence gate. The half-height gate opened inward, and a small cargo drone that had been following her flew directly towards the house with a cargo box.

The two walked through the gate, stepping onto a well-maintained lawn in front of the house. The glass front door of the house opened, and a pure white ferret dashed out from inside, swiftly leaping into the arms of Dream Butterfly, who had crouched down to greet it.

“Alright, Little Snow, that tickles, stop licking me, I'm back.”

As she spoke, she stood up while holding the ferret named Little Snow.

“Little Butterfly, you're back! Oh my, Little Evening Star is here too, it's been a while, welcome, welcome.”

A short-haired woman who looked noticeably more mature than the two girls walked slowly out from the entrance of the house where the ferret had just flown out.

The ferret in Dream Butterfly's arms raised its head and immediately jumped into the woman's arms, then curled up on her head. Upon seeing her, Dream Butterfly greeted her and walked forward.

“Mom, we're back.”

The evening star looked at the warm exchange between the two with a slightly complicated expression and greeted Dream Butterfly's mother.

“Hello, Aunt Zhou, thank you for allowing me to stay at Dream Butterfly's house.”

“Oh my, Little Evening Star, it's been a while, too polite, too polite, come inside.” The young woman, called Aunt Zhou, had a faint blue glow in her eyes, as if the drone had just completed unloading and synchronized the shopping information to her implanted terminal, “Oh my, you bought so many good things. Treating Little Evening Star to a meal is quite generous, Little Butterfly.”

“Mom! Stop wasting time standing at the door, hurry up and go prepare the ingredients.”

Dream Butterfly, who had been teasing her mother with the ferret, suddenly urged her and pushed her mother towards the house. The ferret jumped to the ground, exchanged glances with the evening star, and then quickly darted into the house.

“Evening Star, come inside.”

Not long after, the general-purpose housekeeper robot quickly served the dishes that Dream Butterfly and her mother had prepared on the dining table.

“It feels a bit like the table of dishes you took me to eat at Rika's restaurant after class the day before yesterday.”

The evening star examined the various delicacies in front of her and took the utensils from the housekeeper robot. After finishing the last dish, Dream Butterfly and her mother also sat down at the dining table.

“Hehe, I just wanted to replicate the dishes we had that day by hand. And Evening Star, didn't you say it was delicious…”

“Don't be polite, eat quickly while it's hot.” Under Dream Butterfly's urging, the evening star picked up her utensils and began to taste.

“This beef…”

“The texture is different from the steak at Rika's restaurant! Rika and her team used printed beef, after all, it's understandable not to use real cows, so the taste is quite different from printed meat.”

Before the evening star could finish speaking, Dream Butterfly quickly explained, but she immediately changed the subject.

“By the way, I heard the doorbell ring while cooking.”

“Oh, that was my luggage being delivered.”

“Eh? Didn't you say you would bring nothing and just use the supplies from the resource bureau?”

“Hmm… not daily necessities.” The evening star said, turning to the housekeeper robot and gesturing for it to bring over the package placed at the entrance.

“This is…”

As she received the package from the housekeeper robot, the evening star explained while tearing open the outer packaging to reveal an exquisite gift box.

“A gift for you.”

“Ah? A gift!?”

Dream Butterfly was a bit surprised as she received the gift box from the evening star across the dining table,

“What is it? I didn't know Evening Star would also give gifts to others.”

“Uh, don't make me sound like those reclusive types who don't interact with people. Just open it and see what it is.”

“Oh, Little Evening Star and Little Butterfly have such a good relationship, speaking of which, didn't you prepare a gift for me?”

Dream Butterfly's mother looked at the two awkwardly, revealing a comforting smile.

Being asked this by Dream Butterfly's mother, the evening star replied somewhat shyly, “Ah, sorry, I forgot to prepare a thank-you gift for you…”

“Mom!”

Hearing her daughter's slightly reproachful tone, Dream Butterfly's mother smiled and clasped her hands together,

“Oh dear, I was just joking. Being able to see Little Evening Star is the best gift. Speaking of which, I haven't seen your mom in a while, I really want her to try the dishes I just learned.”

“Mom, you’re really…” as she spoke halfway, Dream Butterfly was attracted by what was inside the gift box, “What is this…” She took out a transparent sphere larger than her palm and examined it in her hands.

“Hmm, it's an ecological ball made from the moss that grew in my moss ball.”

“What!? The moss in your ecological ball is the offspring of authentic Earth moss!?”

“Uh, you could understand it that way. In short, this is the gift I’m giving you.”

“Wow! I'm so happy! It reminds me of the first time I went to your house to play, I envied your mom for giving you such a great gift.”

This time it was the evening star who felt a bit embarrassed, lowering her head and silently eating her food.

“Oh dear, Little Butterfly saying that makes me jealous.”

Dream Butterfly's mother puffed up her cheeks adorably.

“Mom, you're so troublesome… ah, no, actually I really like the real wool pajamas you gave me for my birthday last year!”

“Then why do I feel like you've never worn it?”

“After all, I like it so much that I can't bear to take it out and wear it.”

After saying that, Dream Butterfly picked up a piece of fried chicken and fed it to her mother.

Watching the warm interaction between the two, the evening star quietly murmured, “I envy you a bit…”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

Hearing Dream Butterfly's mumbling, she turned her head to ask.

“It's nothing. There should still be something under the ecological ball.”

“Eh? Is there more?”

Saying this, she handed the ecological ball to her mother and flipped through the contents of the gift box.

“Wow! This is!!” She excitedly tore open the plastic wrap, and it was the pajamas she didn't have the heart to buy in the supermarket that afternoon, “Isn't this the loungewear? Why!!”

“Actually, I secretly set it as a gift purchase back then.”

“But! It was priced so high!!”

“It's fine, my mom shared her credit account with me, saying I could spend freely, since it resets every year.”

“Wuwu, that's still so expensive. Thank you, Evening Star, but actually…”

“Actually?”

“Actually, I originally wanted to buy it to give it to you… this piece of clothing feels like it matches well with the pajamas your mom gave me!”

Dream Butterfly handed the clothing to the housekeeper robot beside her.

“Hehe, then let's do it this way. Little Evening Star, I'll transfer the points needed for that piece of clothing to you, just consider it a birthday gift from Little Butterfly to you.”

“Hmm…”

Although Dream Butterfly seemed to be lost in thought, the evening star readily replied, “I'm fine with that.”

“Eh, since Evening Star is okay with it…”

“Then it's a pleasant decision.”

Dream Butterfly's mother clapped her hands, seemingly celebrating the resolution of a problem, and then she looked at the ecological ball and asked, “By the way, is this the native moss from Earth? I've never seen something authentic from Earth before.”

“Hmm, Evening Star's mom said it was a souvenir given to her by a pioneer when she first went to the No. 1 gravitational wave space station as an intern.”

Dream Butterfly answered before the evening star could speak, but at that moment, the evening star raised her head to add an explanation,

“Yes, it is said to be a personal item brought over from Earth by that pioneer.”

“Wow, isn't that an Earth antique from over 2000 years ago? This is much more impressive than the clothes I gave you, Little Butterfly, you should cherish such a precious gift.”

“Alright, alright, Mom, I know.”

“Hehe, then you two enjoy your meal, Mom has to go attend a cooking enthusiasts' association annual meeting later, so I might not come back tonight.”

“Eh? Oh, that's the event you mentioned a couple of days ago.”

“Yes, so I'm leaving now, you two don't stay up too late, tomorrow is not Monday.”

Dream Butterfly's mother stood up to leave, preparing to walk towards the entrance while winking at Dream Butterfly.

After finishing their meal, the two took a shower, changed into the clothes prepared by the housekeeper robot, went upstairs, and entered Dream Butterfly's room.

“I'll turn off the lights.”

Dream Butterfly, wearing the pajamas her mother gave her, which were pure white with a large bowl of curry rice printed on the chest, said.

“Hmm.”

Receiving the evening star's affirmative reply, Dream Butterfly gently tapped the interface in front of her, and the room that had just been brightly lit suddenly turned pitch black.

“Please wait a moment, the adjustment of transparency takes a little time.”

Looking at the walls slowly becoming transparent, the evening star couldn't help but exclaim, “Can public housing still be customized with such flashy functions now?”

“Yes, that's why I moved to this new area last year, the residential buildings here are all about high customization.”

As the lights from other houses outside gradually illuminated the originally dark interior, the evening star saw Dream Butterfly looking up, gazing at the still dark ceiling.

“At night, you really can't see any stars, but during the day, you can observe through some filter effects.”

After pulling her gaze back from the sky, Dream Butterfly called up an operation interface in front of her and started clicking.

“I was just about to ask, isn't the sky blocked by the solar sail panels at night? So isn't this function a bit useless? Besides, we can't see the position of the solar system from our New Osaka.”

The evening star looked at Dream Butterfly, who was fiddling with the operation interface in front of her, while complaining and bending down to prepare to sit down. The originally empty floor seemed to come to life, accurately protruding a section where she was about to sit, then forming the shape of a sofa to support the evening star.

“Hmph, you underestimate me. Alright, connection complete!”

After Dream Butterfly said this, the ceiling that had completely turned transparent suddenly flickered twice and then transformed into a dazzling starry sky.

“This starry sky seems to be something we can't observe from our position…”

“That's right, this is the position of the solar system! I called the real-time data interface of the New Shenzhen sector 2 synchronization automatic station and connected the optical observation data to the ceiling's streaming media channel.”

“Oh, your plan is quite impressive.”

“Hehe!” Dream Butterfly also sat down, “Aim at the solar system direction, execute optical zoom, magnification 10,000 times, highlight the solar system.”

With her command, the image on the ceiling seemed to board a light-speed spaceship and rapidly flew towards the solar system's position, stopping a few seconds later, and then a small white dot in the center of the image was circled.

“A white dot.”

“Hmm… it's a small white dot.”

“Can't we zoom in further?”

“Under the maximum communication bandwidth allowed by the public channel, we can only zoom in this much. Using the academic department's dedicated line should allow for greater magnification, but according to the senior in astrophysics, at that magnification, it would still be a small white dot on the screen.”

“After all, it's over 600 light-years away, from Earth, we are just a small white dot, oh, but the transit interference might be greater than that of ordinary planetary systems.”

“Yes, although no one over there can look towards us anymore.”

Dream Butterfly, who was staring intently at the starry sky, revealed a sad expression.

“Speaking of this position, we can also see the other five colonial destination star systems.”

“Hmm, the closest one to us is HD 85512 b, the others are farther than the solar system, but on the optical imaging system, it is still a small white dot…”

“HD 85512 b, I remember that place is also over 400 light-years away. That's why Teacher Zhang said Nia mondo estas la loko ekster la observado de dioj. Haah… Huh.”

“Hmm, you also started learning the hopeful language of Teacher Zhang. However, the other colonial star systems should have already established contact, it's just us, indeed outside the observation of the gods.”

“Haah… the hopeful language is the universal language you miss the most from Earth, why don't you learn the hometown language? Speaking of which, the entangled communication system can no longer be used, and gravitational wave communication takes at least 600 years to receive a reply. I wonder what my mom is busy with on that space station.”

“Wuwu, I can't learn as quickly as you, although I can understand a little by memorizing words bit by bit.” Dream Butterfly looked at the evening star lying on the sofa, and she also lay back, “Hmm… the scholars should have very important work to handle. Hey, are you sleepy? You've been yawning.”

Dream Butterfly, who turned to look at the evening star lying on the sofa, said gently.

“Hmm, I fell asleep so quickly.” She looked at the evening star, who was breathing evenly as she fell asleep, smiled and said, “Hehe, if you're asleep, you're quite cute.”

Once again, she called up the operation interface in front of her and watched as the sofa beneath the evening star slowly transformed into a bed that supported her entire body, softly saying.

“Good night, Little Evening Star.”