#I actually did reach the translation goal I set before the next cour of bleach tybw airs

[kachikirby]

Kirby: Mysterious Incident on the Pupupu Train! - Chapter 3: The Midnight Ghost Disturbance!?

Previous Chapter

Shortly after the party ended, all of the passengers returned to their rooms. For a while, everyone’s chatter echoed through the passageway, but little by little, it became quiet. The lights in the rooms one after the other were turned off. Tired from the trip, everyone crawled into bed. It was after midnight when the passengers went to sleep...

A single Waddle Dee walked through the passageway, in his hand a cup of water. King Dedede had ordered him to bring it. The Waddle Dee, who was walking slowly so as not to spill any water, stopped when he thought he heard a strange sound.

“...u...uu...u...”

It was a sad-sounding voice.

“...huh? Is there anyone there?” The Waddle Dee, his eyes wide open, looked around. There was no one there. The voice continued.

“Uu... hic... uuuuu...”

The voice was a broken sob, and it came from the other side of a certain door. However, it was a room that was used as storage, so there should have been no passengers in there. The Waddle Dee became scared. He couldn’t believe he was hearing a stifled sob coming from a room that should be empty...

At that moment, the crying suddenly grew louder.

“Uuu... UWAAAAAAAAAAAAN!”

“Eep!”

Horrified, the Waddle Dee jumped up. The momentum caused him to drop the cup he was carrying.

CRASH!

The sound of the glass breaking echoed. The sound made the Waddle Dee tremble even more.

“Wawawawawawa-!”

The Waddle Dee screamed and ran away at full speed until he reached the Waddle Dees’ room...

~~~~~~~~

The Waddle Dees who heard the story all turned pale.

“Sobbing coming from an unoccupied room?”

“N-no way! That can’t happen! You were hearing something else!”

“No! I’m sure I heard it!” The witness Waddle Dee said in a serious tone. “It was horribly sad sobbing. Like a ghost...”

“A ghost!?”

“The mere sound of that voice was enough to make my cup break into a million pieces! It must have been the voice of a ghost!”

In reality, it only broke when the Waddle Dee dropped it, but he believed it was all the ghost's fault.

“N-no way...!”

The Waddle Dees trembled.

“W-why is there a ghost on this train...?”

“How did it get in?! No, could it have slipped in with the passengers...?!”

“Everyone calm down!” Bandana Waddle Dee told his friends. “There can’t be a ghost. You need a ticket, or you can’t ride the Pupupu Train. Kirby did a good job of checking at the ticket gate, didn't he?”

“But... if it was a real ghost, you could get on the train without needing to go through the ticket gate. You could just pass through the walls!”

The Waddle Dees trembled even more.

Suddenly, the door opened with a loud noise and the Dees turned around in horror.

“KYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

“THE GHOST IS HERE!!”

The one who peered into the room was King Dedede.

“Who’s the ghost?” He asked with a confused face.

“Ah... your highness!” The Waddle Dees all jumped up at once.

“Did you forget that I told you to bring me water? It’s inexcusable to ignore my orders and skip work...” Dedede said bitterly.

“Your highness, something terrible has happened!” The Waddle Dee reported.

After hearing the story, Dedede was taken aback. “A ghost crying in an unoccupied room? That can’t be! You must’ve been half asleep!”

“No, I really did hear it!”

“Hmph! That’s nonsense! I’ll go see for myself!”

Dedede then headed towards the room, but the panicked Waddle Dees clung to him.

“Your highness, it’s dangerous to go by yourself! You should call Kirby or Sir Meta Knight...!”

“You’re talking dumb. If I wake them up for such a small reason, I’ll be a laughingstock!”

Dedede advanced through the passageway without hesitation. Seeing his brave figure caused the Waddle Dees to finally regain their composure and follow after the king.

~~~~~~~~

Upon reaching the storage room, there was no noise.

“It’s quiet, isn’t it...” One Waddle Dee said in a soft voice.

Dedede looked down at the Waddle Dees.

“Did you really hear something from this room?”

The Waddle Dee who reported the ghost nodded.

“There’s no mistaking it! Earlier there was a terrifying, otherworldly crying coming from the other side of this door!”

“Well, let’s see.”

Dedede put a hand on the door.

“Y-your highness! That’s dangerous! You shouldn’t open...!” Bandana shouted.

“If we don’t open it, we won’t know if someone is in there, right?”

He reluctantly opened the door. It wasn’t locked, so it slowly opened. The room was empty except for spare blankets, towels, pillows, and others that were piled up on the edge of the wall.

“Looks like there’s no one in here.” Dedede said.

The Waddle Dees entered the room with trepidation, climbing on piles of blankets and tucking themselves in between towels, looking around for signs of a strange presence. However, they couldn’t find any.

“H-huh? That’s strange...” The witness Waddle Dee uttered in a daze.

“As I thought, you were half asleep.” Dedede said.

“It shouldn’t be... I clearly heard it...”

“Couldn’t this mean that the ghost escaped?” Bandana said.

“Where to?”

“That... I don’t know, but...”

“There’s no hiding place on the train and there’s no such thing as ghosts. Hmph! What a waste of time!”

Dedede let out a big yawn and returned to his room. The Waddle Dees also returned to their own room.

“I wasn’t half asleep. I really did hear it...” The witness Waddle Dee said in a depressed way.

“Don’t worry! I believe you!” Bandana blurted out. “The ghost passed through the walls and went outside the train! So there’s no reason to be afraid!”

“...that’s right.”

The other Waddle Dees nodded, but all their faces remained grim.

~~~~~~~~

The next night, the Waddle Dees talked in hushed voices.

“Will the ghost come again tonight...?”

“N-no way! It should already be outside the train!”

“But if there’s crying in the storeroom again...”

The Waddle Dees shuddered.

“Being scared like this will only make us more scared! I’ll go check!” Bandana boldly said.

“Bandana-senpai?!”

The other Dees clung to Bandana.

“Please don’t go! It’s too dangerous!”

“What will happen to you if you’re attacked by a ghost!?”

“It’ll be fine. Wait here, everyone.”

“You can’t go!” The Waddle Dees said altogether. “We should go together!”

“We can’t beat a ghost alone. We should go with King Dedede...” A single Dee said in a trembling voice.

Bandana shook his head.

“He clearly said “there’s no such thing as ghosts” last night, didn’t he? If you try to push it any longer, he’ll be offended.”

“That’s true, but...”

“It’ll be fine. I’m just going to go check it out. If it’s a ghost, I want everyone to run.”

The unit of Waddle Dees, with Bandana at their head, walked down the passageway.

~~~~~~~~

As they got closer to the storeroom, they could hear a stifled sobbing coming from inside.

“Uuuu... hic... ueee...”

The Waddle Dees stood at attention.

“I-I really can hear it!”

“It’s the ghost’s voice! We should call his highness, Bandana-senpai!”

Bandana hesitated, but it bothered him that the sobs sounded so sad.

“Even if it’s a ghost, wouldn’t it be better to comfort it?”

“Wh-What are you saying, Bandana-senpai?!”

“I feel sorry for it because it’s crying so much.”

He boldly opened the door.

“Hello? Is someone crying in here?”

Then the voice inside suddenly stopped. Bandana called out in a gentle voice.

“Did you open this door for me? If you wanted to talk to someone because you were sad...”

“S-senpai, senpai!”

The other Waddle Dees clung to Bandana.

“The ghost left after the door was opened!”

“This is too scary! We should run away!”

Of course, Bandana was afraid, but he couldn’t bring himself to run away like this.

“Let’s listen to them.”

He put a hand on the doorknob, however, it would not open. The door seemed to be locked from the inside. Bandana shook the knob.

“Open up! Hey, please open up!”

Just then, the Waddle Dees heard a voice from above them.

“What are you guys doing?”

The nervous and trembling Waddle Dees were surprised by that sudden voice. They turned around all together.

“KYAAH! KYAAAH! IT’S A GHOST!”

“DON’T COME NEAR ME! STAY AWAY!”

The one who picked up the crying Waddle Dee was King Dedede.

“Pipe down! It’s the middle of the night! Don’t’ be so loud!”

“Ah! Your highness!”

The Waddle Dees breathed a sigh of relief.

“We heard a faint sobbing coming from this storeroom and we were trying to open the door but...” Bandana reported.

“I don’t hear any voices.”

“The voice stopped when I tried to open the door.”

“Hmph. You must’ve heard wrong...”

King Dedede looked around at the Waddle Dees and then said, as if suddenly realizing. “...wasn’t there more of you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Ten of you total should’ve boarded. One of you isn’t here.”

“Huh? It shouldn’t be...”

Bandana counted the number of Waddle Dees and became shocked.

“Y-you’re right... there’s only nine!”

The Waddle Dees began to panic.

“What happened?! Since when?!”

“There were ten people until now!? Wasn’t he there!?”

“He...was there, right? I didn’t count but...”

“Maybe he was caught by the ghost...?!”

“KYAAAAH! KYAAAAHHH!”

“I told you to pipe down!”

Dedede pushed past the Waddle Dees and put a hand on the door.

“Open up this door or I’ll bash it in!” He shouted in a harsh voice.

With the clattering sound of a key, the door opened. What appeared was a Waddle Dee with tears in his eyes and trembling.

“...huh?!” The Waddle Dees shouted together.

“By any chance... were you the one crying in the storeroom...?”

“I... I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” The Waddle Dee knelt on the floor, bowing his head.

Dedede then picked up the Waddle Dee.

“What the heck were you doing?”

“Well... um... I...” The Waddle Dee said as he fidgeted. “I... wanna go back to Dream Land...”

“What?”

“Um... the train’s rattling is a bit scary... and there are no forests, fields, blue skies, rain or rainbows here... and when I think about Dream Land, the more I want to go back and the more I can’t stop crying...”

“In other words, you’re feeling homesick?” Bandana said, taken aback.

“Homesick? What does that mean, Bandana-senpai?” The Waddle Dees asked.

“It means you miss your home or hometown.”

Dedede dropped the Waddle Dee he had been holding in disbelief and the Dee started crying again.

“So you shut yourself up in the closet and cried...” Bandana said.

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”

“If that was the case, you should’ve said so sooner! Why did you hide it from us?” The Waddle Dee who heard the crying yesterday said.

“Well... because...” The crying Waddle Dee said as he rubbed his eyes. “I’m a member of the Waddle Dee Unit...so I have to be strong...”

“Last night, after you heard the glass break, you snuck out of the storage room and joined us in the hustle and bustle, didn't you?” Bandana said.

“...yeah.”

“Then tonight, while everyone else was talking, you snuck out of the room and cried here alone, right?”

“...yeah.”

“Geez! This Waddle Dee may be homesick, but so are you guys who can't even notice that one of your friends has disappeared! You’re slacking off!” Dedede said in a grumpy tone.

“Y-yes sir!” The Waddle Dees straightened up and spoke in unison. “We’re sorry, your highness!”

“Don't cry because you're homesick or something stupid like that. It's pathetic for a subordinate of mine!”

Hearing that, the Waddle Dee who was crying felt dejected.

“Whether it’s Dream Land or the Pupupu Train, wherever I am is where your home is! Isn’t that right?” Dedede said.

The Waddle Dee quickly raised his head.

“Or would you rather return to a Dream Land without me?”

“N-no!” The crying Waddle Dee said as he jumped up. “I want to be next to your highness! Being next to you is the best!”

“Hmph. Idiot.” Dedede turned his back to the Waddle Dees and let out a big yawn. “Go back to your room and sleep. You need it badly.”

The Waddle Dees followed after King Dedede.

While walking back, Bandana spoke. “Your highness, did you come here to find out about the mysterious crying?”

“...wha?”

“Last night, you said that there can’t be any ghosts...”

“So what?” The king looked back and stared at Bandana. “And there was actually none there.”

“Yes, but I’m glad that you came all this way to check it out.”

“Stupid. I didn’t come to check it out. I just happened to be passing by.”

“Yes! You happened to be passing by!”

King Dedede and the Waddle Dees then returned to their own rooms. Thus, the case of the mysterious crying was solved...

The next day, an even more mysterious incident befell the Pupupu Train.

~~~~~~~~

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