"Seems like everything is wrapping up nicely." Senzo muttered, overlooking everything that had just happened from above together with Yugiri and the other two ladies.
But Fujiko just gritted her teeth with a determined expression on her face.
And with a serious look, she turned to Senzo, staring him straight in the eye.
"W-Will you protect Hyoubu and the others when things go south?" she barely managed to say.
"Hmm?"
Senzo raised an eyebrow at her heartfelt question, and his earlier nonchalance vanished.
"Of course, Yugiri and Sophie are also on the ship, so I'll do my utmost to protect it, including the major. So even if Babel comes again, I will not show any mercy like this time."
"That's good. And see you later, Senzo. I hope we can meet in more favorable circumstances next time."
Then Fujiko teleported away back to the fleet Minamoto was leading.
"Hah, seems like things are going to get busy from now on." He muttered before he, Sophie, and Yugiri also vanished from the spot, reappearing aboard the Catastrophe's deck
Looking down at the whole fleet Babel had assembled, he saw Sakaki run around like a madman trying anything to not let the Catastrophe and Pandra escape, but it was futile; the children were exhausted, so was Fujiko, and their fleet could not fly.
"Fuck!" He screamed, clutching his hands into fists so tightly his nails dug into his palm.
Senzo stood still, looking over all of them with a neutral expression, but his right hand was also clenched into a fist. The next couple of days would become quite hectic, and he would have to go all out.
"No use in worrying about it; I'll just prepare as thoroughly as I can and hope for the best."
"Um..."
He suddenly heard from beside him, and he saw Princess Sophie trying to say something.
"Go on, don't be shy," he gently encouraged her.
"Would it be better for me to return to Monarch for a while? It looks like I might become a burden by staying here."
She said, staring at the floor, she couldn't muster the courage to meet his eyes after causing so much trouble because of her whimsical behavior.
Especially now, it felt like Senzo had chosen his strategy based on her being here. So if she hadn't been present, wouldn't it have played out more favorably for him and Pandra?
She felt horrible just thinking about her holding him back because of her childish wish to get to know him better.
While staring at the floor, she kept her jaw clenched tightly, waiting for the answer he would eventually give.
But before he could, Yugiri smacked her nonexistent chest with her fist. A fierce expression on her face.
"Don't worry! I will protect you even if Senzo can't! I'm strong after all." she proudly declared.
Hoping this would let Sophie stay, she really wanted her and Senzo here after all. The major was always very busy and left her care to Senzo most of the time, and Sophie would stick close to him; with both of them here, she would surely enjoy every second of it.
Senzo chuckled a little at Yugiri's display. And patted her hair gently with a wink.
"Don't worry, she can stay," he whispered in her ear so softly that Sophie couldn't hear it.
A massive smile instantly appeared on Yugiri's face as she sat back down on the lounge chair, bouncing her legs back and forth while humming.
Then Senzo took a seat next to Sophie and patiently waited for her to actually look at him.
When Sophie felt him take a seat next to her, she wanted to turn her head to him immediately, but the feeling of guilt didn't let her; she felt so useless and worthless here, like she was baggage that was dragging him and Yugiri down.
She didn't deserve to be here just because she wanted to be here.
Suddenly she felt taps on her shoulder, and finally she turned and looked at Senzo, who was sitting right next to her.
Her face instantly turned bright red, but she still continued looking him dead in the eye; that was the least she could do.
"Don't worry, Sophie, you aren't useless or a bother at all. Even if you weren't here, I would have taken the same course of action just now." Senzo gently reassured her, also patting her head like he always did with Yugiri.
"Oh, my bad; it's become a habit." He said, pulling his hand away and awkwardly scratching his cheek.
"I didn't mind, you know, and..."
She stared straight at him; she needed to know for sure that he wasn't just sweet-talking her and actually meant what he said.
"Did you really mean it? T-That I'm not a bother?" She asked with upturned eyes, tears forming at the edges.
But instead of a long speech or anything, Senzo just nodded and wiped her tears gently with his fingers.
Yugiri sat next to them with a massive smile on her face; she could hardly contain her excitement.
Without warning Sophie suddenly embraced Senzo and started bawling her eyes out.
Senzo was initially surprised but quickly regained his composure and gently patted her head while lending his shoulder so she could let all her feelings out.
"Don't worry, Sophie. I also want you here, and look at Yugiri over there; it looks like she also wants you here."
Senzo said with a smile on his face while he pointed to Yugiri with his free hand.
"Mmn" was the only thing Sophie could muster while still bawling her eyes out.
***
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Catastrophe, Hyoubu had reappeared and was overlooking the monitors that were showing the three girls sitting there staring with wide eyes at the flying ship.
"What a horrible country Japan must be." Andy suddenly stated, Just thinking about everything that had just happened made him clench his fist.
"Hm?"
"Am I wrong? Even though they're espers, those children have been turned into government agents."
"Hehe, those children aren't as delicate as they seem." Hyoubu replied, a small smile on his face.
While they were casually chilling aboard the Catastrophe Minamoto, the children were gawking at the flying ship.
When suddenly the sky cracked open and the ship vanished into thin air.
All the helicopters that had been flying after it stopped dead in their tracks while the pilots' eyes bulged at the phenomenon they had just witnessed.
"Tch..."
Minamoto could only glare at the place where that massive flying ship had just been with hatred, another failure in capturing Pandra.
Turning around, he approached the three girls that were looking at one another with gloomy expressions.
"Girls?"
"Uwaaaah!"
All three cried out, running straight toward Minamoto.
"Wha!?"
Who was taken completely by surprise as he tried to calm them down to the best of his abilities.
"This sucks! They got away!" Aoi cried out.
"Even though we almost had them!" Shiho added.
"Kyousuke is a coward! And where the hell did he get that pin!?" Kaoru screamed.
"..."
Minamoto had a slight smile on his face looking at the three girls expressing their frustrations, but this was also a good thing; they were still children after all.
"Don't worry about it! The three of you did a great job," he reassured them with a big smile on his face.
Then their faces instantly lit up with joy.
"Hehehe"
"The one who didn't do well this time is Sakaki-Sensei!" Kaoru exclaimed with a big smile.
"Eh?"
Sakaki, who had arrived at some point during their meltdown, suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
"You womanize too much." Aoi stated, glaring at him.
"And you womanize too much." Kaoru added while holding him upside down above the water.
"I want him to stop breathing." Shiho said, leaning on the railing casually.
"Wha—!" he shouted while thrashing around in the air.
"Put me down, you brats! Don't take your anger out on me!"
"Hey, hey. Stop it, you guys."
Minamoto tried to save his friend, but it wasn't looking too good for him.
"Oi, Minamoto! Stop them, seriously!"
But without hesitation he was dropped into the water by Kaoru with a smug look.
Aoi and Shiho both heaved a sigh of relief when they heard the water splash.