After the intense battle had settled, Yura and Kentaro were transported to the Halcyon ship, where Yura would finally be introduced to the not-so-attentive team.
"Hello, human…" she muttered, doing her best to follow Kentaro's earlier advice:
Be nice.
Tenka smiled warmly.
"Hey, Yura. It's a pleasure to meet you." She extended her hand for a shake.
Yura looked at it blankly.
"I think you've mistaken 'pleasure' for 'honor'… but this will do." She said, taking her hand.
Kentaro could almost see the anime-style red tick mark appearing on Tenka's forehead, but thankfully, she swallowed the reaction and let it slide.
"Soo, Yui-"
Shogo stepped forward, striking a dramatic idol-like pose. "It's time for my introduction! I am none other than the great, the funniest, Shogo!"
"Tsch. How bizarre," Yura scoffed, staring blankly at him. "Such a strange man… You called me 'Yui', do you wish to be erased?"
"NO NO NO!" both Kentaro and Shogo shouted in unison.
"Please, my lady! Let me try again."
Shogo dropped to one knee, lowering his head dramatically.
"My name is Shogo, and I am but a humble servant, Miss Yura."
This time, Yura gave the faintest smirk.
"Very well. That should suffice. Good job… servant."
The crew, including Kentaro, stared at Shogo in disbelief as he gave them a goofy smile and a proud thumbs up.
"Dumbass…" Tenka muttered under her breath.
She clapped her hands to reel the conversation back together.
"Right. Everyone listen. It's been a rough day; what was meant to be training spiraled into chaos. Yura, please follow Haruka to get checked out. I've got some paperwork to handle. Kentaro, you can rest, we'll call you once everything's sorted."
Everyone nodded and began to split off. Haruka opened the door, waiting patiently.
Yura, however, didn't budge. She turned back toward Kentaro and walked up to him.
"C-can't you come with me? What if this woman tries something?" Her face was serious, too serious.
Kentaro smiled softly and gently patted her head.
"Don't worry, Yura. Haruka couldn't hurt a fly. If anything happens, I'll be right back, okay?"
Yura looked into Kentaro's eyes and slowly nodded. Something about his calm presence seemed to pacify her.
"V-very well. I shall go with this woman. Haruka… don't go too far," she said with authority, slowly making her way over.
Kentaro chuckled, waving as the door closed behind them. Her expression lingered in his mind, not the broken, fearful look from the island, but something else… a sad reluctance to leave.
But the moment wouldn't last long.
A small door beside him burst open.
BOOM!
"What the!?"
He couldn't react in time, and a full-speed blur crashed into him, sending him staggering back.
He opened his eyes, but all he could see was dark hair covering his vision. He swiped at it quickly, trying to see the culprit.
"Kentaro… I've missed you."
The voice was familiar. The tone shaky. She was crying.
It was Serica.
For what felt like ages, Serica had been gone, undergoing tests to see if she was fit to return to normal life. Just now, she'd been cleared. The moment she was let go, she sprinted through the corridor looking for Tenka… but when she spotted Kentaro alone, standing there by himself.
She couldn't help herself.
She tackled him at full speed.
"Serica… It's really you. I've missed you too," Kentaro whispered, holding her in his arms.
But the embrace didn't last long.
Because Kentaro realized something.
During the moment, he hadn't felt it. But Serica wasn't wearing any underwear beneath her oversized shirt. And the position they were in… meant he was getting about 80% of the full experience.
His face lit up like a bonfire as he gently pushed her off him and stood up immediately afterward.
He laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
"So, Serica… how've you been?"
Serica, oblivious to why Kentaro looked so flustered, answered with her usual happy energy.
"Well, I had fun! We did some of that testing stuff, then Tenka gave me this. Sweet, it was sweet! It was so yummy! Kentaro, have you had it?"
Kentaro saw the sparkles in her eyes. Though she wasn't specific about what sweet this was, he saw she was practically drooling just thinking about the mysterious sweet.
"Haha, yeah, of course I have. It's delicious, isn't it?" he said, scratching his head.
Serica nodded quickly.
"Yep! Yep!"
Then her tone shifted. From bubbly to shy.
She began twiddling her fingers.
Kentaro gulped. Uh oh.
"H-Hey K-Kentaro… Tenka said there's the sweet on the island. C-could we maybe… get some?" she asked, her voice soft, like a kid asking permission from a parent.
Kentaro sighed in relief and smiled.
"Of course we can. It's only been like, what, a day, and we've barely explored the island. We've got six whole days, we can do tons of stuff."
Serica's eyes widened.
"Do you promise we can explore everything?"
Her eyes sparkled. There was no way he could say no to that.
"I promise," he said with a grin.
Serica smiled and stood up. But since she was only wearing a long shirt and had only pink bunny panties on underneath, Kentaro quickly turned away, his eyes clenched shut.
She ran to the main door, the one Yura and Haruka had left through, and shouted:
"OKI, Kentaro! I'll hold you to that promise! But for now, I've got to go find Haruka, okay?!"
She waved as she disappeared out the door.
Kentaro waved back with a small smile.
"Sure. I'll see you soon."
And just like that, Serica vanished behind the sliding door.
Kentaro finally let out a deep breath, his shoulders dropping. A long, wild day.
Shogo was seated in a chair, eyes glued to a monitor playing back footage of the fight and the beach.
That's when he noticed something.
"Hey, Kenny. Look at this."
Kentaro walked over, peering at the screen Shogo was watching. It was the feed from the beach trip with Yura, nothing seemed off at first.
"What's up, Shogo?" he asked.
Then Shogo zoomed in. Cleaned the image up.
And Kentaro finally saw it.
On the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean and beach… stood a figure.
Silver hair. Watching them.
And then, she vanished in a flash of light.
"Silver hair. Powers… Rin…" Kentaro muttered, piecing it together.
Shogo nodded.
"Must've been her. She's been watching. Wonder what her goal is…"
Kentaro frowned.
"Most likely watching me. Whatever she's up to, she's planning something."
As they discussed theories, Tenka walked into the room holding some paperwork.
"Hey, Shogo, finish these off and deliver them to HQ. Everything that happened today needs to be documented and sent up the chain."
But before Shogo could stand, Tenka's eyes locked onto the screen.
She stepped forward, staring at the paused footage.
"…Hmph. What's your plan…?" she muttered, as if talking directly to Rin through the screen.
"You know why she'd be here, Tenka?" Kentaro asked.
Tenka nodded slowly. "Not sure. But you need to be careful of her. She's watching. And I think she knows what you've done."
Kentaro said nothing, but he agreed.
Whatever Rin was after… it was about him.
The three of them continued theorizing until a fourth person stepped in through the door.
Haruka.
Ahem.
"Let Kentaro leave now, the school's probably getting worried," she said, tone flat as always.
The group snapped out of their thoughts and stood up.
Shogo headed toward the exit, paperwork in hand. Kentaro followed after, walking to the teleporter.
ZWWWWP.
And just like that… they were off.
Each to their own next chapter...