Hyoubu looked at the princess for a while, thinking about what to do with her now. On the Catastrophe, he couldn't just return her to the Kingdom of Monarch because he had other things to do.
Then he looked at Yugiri and Senzo, and a genius idea hit him; with a smirk, he approached Senzo.
Senzo felt something was wrong with the way Hyoubu was casually approaching him, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was wrong.
"So princess, why did you come with us? Or well, what are you going to do now?"
"Hyoubu?" he asked, placing his hand on Senzo's shoulder.
"To be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I just wanted to stay close to Yugiri," she said, while looking around.
"And I wanted to spend some more time with Senzo as well." She whispered so quietly, hoping no one would have heard her.
But the people in front of her were all high-level espers, and all three of them had clearly heard it. Senzo just stood there, his mouth agape, as he stared straight at her.
Yugiri's cheeks started blushing slightly. Did that mean what she thought? Just thinking about it made her cheerful.
Hyoubu, on the other hand, knew for sure what he had to do with the princess.
"I see, so how about this then? You can stay with Senzo in his room, and Yugiri can stay there from now on as well." He teased, "So you can try out what it's like, being a family."
"..."
"W-Wha?!" The princess shouted, her cheeks flushing.
Senzo, on the other hand, just stared at Hyoubu; he had no idea how to react to such a statement.
"What do you think, Yugiri? Would you like that?"
Hyoubu straight up ignored the two and went straight to Yugiri; he knew that if she agreed, the two of them wouldn't dare protest.
Yugiri stared at the major with her eyes wide open, but when she saw him stand in front of her, she snapped out of it.
"Nnn!" she said, nodding her head vigorously.
"Alright then, it's decided; I'll leave the princess and Yugiri to you." After saying that, Hyoubu teleported away, he had to take care of some urgent business, and putting those two under Senzo's protection was also a way to make sure they were safe.
"..."
Senzo just stood there, not knowing what to say. He stared at the place where Hyoubu had been standing, but now it was totally empty.
After slapping his cheeks, he finally snapped out of it. Turning toward the princess whose face was hidden behind her hands.
"What do you want to do now? Want me to show you around?" Senzo asked, hoping this could let her forget everything Hyoubu had just said.
Sophie opened her fingers slightly so she could see again and saw Senzo and Yugiri standing there waiting for her to come back to her senses.
"You can come get me in a while; I need some alone time." She replied, trying to stay calm.
"Alright, if you need me, just say my name. And I'll come immediately."
After he said that, Senzo put Yugiri on his shoulder and left; if she wanted some alone time, he would give it to her. He had missed his own room as well.
While he was strolling through the ship, he saw Yo, Momiji, and Andy seated next to the pool, all wearing swimsuits.
"Hey, how did it go for you guys?" he casually asked while taking a seat on one of the free lounge chairs.
"Hello Senzo~," Momiji said, with a big smile on her face.
Yo and Andy just waved casually to him before jumping in the pool.
"The mission went perfectly as long as you don't count Andy's screw-ups." She said, rubbing her temples.
Senzo had placed Yugiri on his lap and was gently patting her head, with a silly smile on his face.
"He is still a newbie, so cut him some slack. His power is very useful for certain situations and mostly against other espers, so in the missions against normals, he's basically a normal as well." Senzo said with a shrug.
"That's true, well enough about that. How was it for you?"
"..."
Senzo looked around nervously and signaled for Momiji to take a seat next to him.
Momiji raised an eyebrow at his sudden shift in behavior, but she wouldn't miss such an opportunity; she quickly stood up, letting go of the towel she was using to cover her bikini.
Senzo's eyes widened when he saw what she was wearing, a pitch-black bikini that accentuated her curves nicely.
But he regained his composure just as fast, but not before Momiji had noticed his gaze, of course.
She gave him a teasing smile and took a seat next to him. She also started patting Yugiri's head.
"So what could you not say loudly?"
She asked, raising an eyebrow; she was very curious now after he acted like that. It wasn't often that you could see this guy flustered, after all.
Senzo brought his mouth as close to her ear as he could and started whispering about what had just transpired.
"So Princess Sophie is also on board, and she will be sharing a room with me and Yugiri; that's what the major ordered, at least. So I'm basically a guard and guide."
"What?" Momiji blurted out, but she quickly regained her composure and covered her mouth with both hands.
"Yeah, that was also my first reaction. She's one hell of a daring princess."
Senzo had to give it to her; that was some impressive mental fortitude and risk-taking, joining the criminal esper organization that kidnapped you and doesn't accept normals on the spur of the moment.
Momiji's left eyebrow started twitching slightly, and she stared straight at Senzo and the little girl on his lap.
"..."
But she couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence; it was just so unexpected. Senzo had been assigned as a guard by the major in the Kingdom of Monarch; she understood that, but now even here?
Then how would she get closer to him? She started forming plan after plan to try and get the princess back to the Kingdom of Monarch to get that nuisance away from here, but the next destination was already decided, so it wasn't easy at all to come up with an actual viable plan.