The following morning, Hayami went down to the Chimerans' quarters. At the entrance, he met Deidson, who immediately allowed him to enter. The four Chimerans were out of the water tank having their breakfast. They had all been given fish sandwiches to eat. They all seemed to enjoy their food, which was probably a given since three of the four were at least part feline. Mutio was closest to the door, and when Hayami entered the room, she wasted no time in rushing over to him. The other three Chimeran women stopped eating and looked at her. Giorgia was glaring at Hayami.

"Hayami!" she said excitedly.

Hayami bent down to speak to her.

"Hi, Mutio." he said. "Sleep well?"

Mutio nodded happily.

"I told you that we'd do something together, right?"

Mutio nodded again.

Hayami stood up for a moment to think.

"So..." said Hayami. "I was thinking..."

Mutio blinked.

"Maybe it would be the right time to...introduce you to everyone." said Hayami, hesitantly. "I mean, everyone in the crew. They're all having breakfast right now, so now would be a good time."

Mutio's face wore a concerned expression. She seemed to think this was a bad idea, and Hayami could hardly blame her; he was flat-out inviting her to meet the very people she was at war with, and was completely at their mercy.

"Don't worry, Mutio." said Hayami. "I'm sure it'll be okay. I just want to take you up there for a little bit. I've already met your people, so it's only fair you meet mine. And if things go South, I'll bring you back down here and you'll never have to talk to anyone else again. Besides, there's a chance your American friends will be there, too."

This made Mutio smile a little more.

"Now how's about we get something to eat?"

Mutio nodded in agreement. The two left. Giorgia leered after them.

"What's the matter?" asked Amonyushuu.

Giorgia snorted.

"Your sister is happy where she is, Giorgia." said Amonyushuu. "The fact that they're together is just what papa would have wanted."

Giorgia ignored her, as she was fixated on Hayami. She could remember the day when she first saw him, when Hayami was on the floating wreckage of Blue Dome, surrounded by dozens of angry nereids. When she, from inside her fully-functional Kumo, was so close to impaling him with her blade. The only reason why she didn't kill him on the spot was because she was confused by how he made no attempt to dodge her attack. She didn't even care about her sister's protests at the time. And there was a high chance that if Red Spot hadn't appeared at that moment, she still would've killed him either way. He was the enemy back then, and as far as she was concerned, he was still her enemy now. The fact that the war was over did little to change her attitude. But she still respected papa's dying wishes, so she had made no attempt to lash out at him now, especially when she is in the custody of Hayami's people.

But if Verg ever decided to start another war with the humans, she would waste no time in killing Hayami and avenging their creator's demise. And there would be nothing Mutio or anyone else could do to stop that.

Kino, and several other members of Blue-6's crew were eating in the galley. The Miami team (minus Cyrus, who was still in sickbay) joined them. This would be their opportunity to for them to get acquainted with the crew. They still didn't know if Mutio and the other Chimerans would be joining them. Tsuji, who was the vessel's cook, and his assistants Tan Li Zhang and Kenji Hasimoto were preparing a large helping of potato pancakes, sausages, toast, scrambled eggs, and other typical breakfast food for more than seventy men and women, plus the new arrivals. Kino shared a table with Yamada, Huang, Trey, and Matt. Pete and Alex were sitting at a table with Alexander Cekeros and Freeda Verasko.

"Huh, so your name is Alex, too?" asked Cekeros.

Alex nodded.

"Ain't that the craziest coincidence...?" said Pete, sarcastically.

He took a bite into his sausage.

"Wow, that's pretty good." said Pete. "That cook guy knows what he's doing."

He quickly gobbled up the rest of it.

"I know, man." said Cekeros, as Pete ate the sausage. "Tsuji's food is the best I've ever tasted in my entire life. And if you think the breakfast is good, you should try tasting that sushi he makes for dinner."

Pete almost choked on his second sausage.

"Oh, please no." he groaned. "I've eaten nothing but fish for so long. I'm sick of that stuff."

"Suit yourself, buddy." said Cekeros, putting his hands behind his head. "Where are you from, anyway?"

"Miami, Florida." said Pete, who finished the second sausage and was now in the process of eating some egg.

"Miami, huh? I heard about that city. They say it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I disagree, though! Palermo was better in every way...before it got flooded, of course."

"Yeah, so both cities are destroyed, and that means there's no point in comparing them." said Pete. "So you're from...what, Italy?"

"Yep." said Cekeros. "Born and raised. And before you ask, no. I don't sit around eating pasta all day. Hell, I don't eat pasta. Period. I hate the stuff."

"Really." Pete raised an eyebrow. "So you don't eat lasagna?"

"Nope. That stuff's nasty. Makes me sick to my stomach before it even comes anywhere near my mouth."

"Ravioli?"

"Nope. I still never got over my mom making me eat it all the time when I was a kid."

"Spaghetti?"

"The only noodles I like are in Tsuji's ramen dishes."

"What about pizza?"

Cekeros shrugged.

"Ah...pizza's okay. But it depends on the toppings."

"Like..."

"Pepperoni and sausages? Good. Pineapple and olives? Bad."

"Same here, but replace sausages with bacon." said Pete. "And lots of cheese on it, too."

"What kind of cheese?" Cekeros bent forward.

"As many as you can have on one pizza." said Pete.

"And that's the right answer, pal." said Cekeros, offering his hand. "Put 'er there."

Pete and Cekeros shook hands, while Alex and Freeda were conversing to each other in Spanish.

"Su amigo le gusta hablar de comida, ¿verdad?" asked Freeda.
(Translation: "Your friend likes to talk about food, huh?")

"Le gusta hablar de cualquier cosa por la que pueda quejarse." replied Alex.
("He likes to talk about anything he can complain about.")

"¿De que pais vienes? ¿Colombia? ¿Cuba?"
("Which country do you come from? Colombia? Cuba?")

"Soy de Puerto Rico," said Alex, grimly. "pero me mudé a Florida antes de las inundaciones. i perdido todo de vuelta a casa."
("I am from Puerto Rico," said Alex, grimly. "but I moved to Florida before the floods. I lost everything back home.")

"Perdón por escuchar eso."
("Sorry to hear that.")

Now that Cekeros and Pete were finished with their own conversation, they began looking at Freeda and Alex.

"Pasé años viviendo entre estos gringos." said Alex. "Este idiota gordo a mi lado en realidad piensa que yo era un traficante de drogas. ¿Puedes creerlo?"
("I spent years living among these gringos." said Alex. "This fat idiot next to me actually thinks I was a drug dealer. Can you believe it?")

Freeda burst out laughing.

"Hey, Freeda." said Cekeros. "What are you two talking about?"

"None of your business, Alexander." said Freeda. "Just keep talking to your new friend there."

Meanwhile, Kino and Huang were talking to each other.

"I'm so happy that you're back, Kino." said the young blonde girl. "I've been so worried about you."

"I felt the same about you, Huang." said Kino. "Has Juju been giving you a hard time at all?"

"Juju was transferred to Blue-9 before we came up here." said Yamada. "They needed him for his psychic abilities."

"So that leaves us with an empty seat for a Grampus, right?" said Kino.

"It seems so, Kino." said Yamada. "Maybe Katsuma could take his place. I mean, he was a Grampus pilot before he got...changed."

The door opened, and Hayami and Mutio entered the room. The latter was immediately met by scolding glares and suspicious eye movements. Hayami cleared his throat.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Mutio." he said. "She helped bring the war to the end. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for her."

Mutio looked around at everyone. The response she got was lukewarm at best; some of the crew nodded in approval, but others grumbled and said unsavory things under their breath. Ignoring this, Hayami led Mutio to a table. As soon as Mutio seated herself next to Hayami, the crewmen that were sitting there scooted over and made no attempt to acknowledge her existence, and a couple even picked up their plates and then moved to another table. Mutio frowned.

Rockefeller and Luke took the vacated seats.

"Hey, don't mind them." Rockefeller told Hayami and Mutio. "We know Mutio doesn't mean any harm."

"But don't worry; I'd say there's hope they'll warm up to her eventually." said Luke. "I know I did. You just gotta keep your distance from them until the right time, and then they'll be totally fawning over her. Really, I had no idea that Mutio could operate one of those lobster-things like she did back in Canada. That's badass!"

Luke patted Mutio on the shoulder. In turn, Mutio smiled at him and her cheeks turned red.

"Well, at least someone around here has some sense." said Hayami. "Thanks, guys."

"No problem, Hayami-dude." Luke smiled. "So what's on the agenda today, man?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." said Hayami.

He looked over at Pete, who was noisily stuffing his face with potato pancakes.

"Maybe you guys should hit the gym. I think you could use a real workout. I know that fat loudmouth over there could spend a few minutes on the treadmill."

"Damn right he can." said Rockefeller. "Maybe you should do it too, though. Do some working out, I mean."

Hayami raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, maybe Mutio could join you." said Luke, half-chuckling. "You know, be your gym partner."

Mutio looked at him, then at Hayami. Her smile grew even wider, and she started nuzzling against Hayami. She didn't even seem to care that this behavior was making even more people stare at her.

"Uh...Mutio." whispered Hayami. "Would you please let go?"

But Mutio wouldn't obey, so Hayami just sighed and shook his head. Rockefeller and Luke looked on in delight.

"Well, this is an interesting development." commented Rockefeller.

In a small, dark room lit only by a small ceiling fan, Iga and Yuri were both interrogating Katsuma. Katsuma was sitting in a chair, while Iga and Yuri stood before him, with their arms crossed.

"Tell me again, Katsuma." said Yuri. "What happened out there? Why did it take so long for you to return?"

"I don't remember, Yuri." said Katsuma. "I...I just don't."

"Did you come in contact with Zorndyke's creatures prior to meeting Mutio and those mercenaries?"

Katsuma said nothing.

"Katsuma, this is important." said Yuri. "This was an important mission, and we need to know whatever you know."

"Yes." said Katsuma. "First, I came across some of them in an underwater cave someplace near the Strait of Magellan..."

"Did you try defecting over to them?" asked Iga.

"No, sir." Katsuma rasped. "I did try talking to them, though. But none of them wanted anything to do with me. They left shortly after I arrived, and they threatened to kill me if I tried following them. But I did, anyway. I came across other hybrids, and none of them were any better."

"Interesting." said Iga. "From what I recall, they listened to you during the war down in Antarctica. Hayami and Kino told us how you stopped Zorndyke's creatures from attacking them on the way to his village."

"Verg probably heard about what happened." said Katsuma. "He probably wouldn't want anyone that contributed to his papa's death to be anywhere near his people. That's not getting into the fact that after I did that, I also went back to the Phantom Ship to free Mutio. They were holding her prisoner aboard the ship, and her sisters all put up a hell of a fight."

"Mutio?" asked Yuri.

"The nereid." said Katsuma. "The one that Hayami saved in Tokyo. She got into a lot of trouble with her own kind, but I was able to get her off the ship before your sub crippled it with those torpedoes. And it's a good thing I did, too. If I wasn't there, Mutio would probably be dead and you'd have to give a huge apology to Hayami."

"Well..." said Iga, smiling a little. "Good job, Katsuma. We owe you one, then."

"What Hayami thinks is irrelevant, Katsuma." said Yuri. "All three of us know that the mission came first, not whether Hayami's fish-lady managed to make it out."

"Whether she made it out was more important than you'd ever believe, Yuri." said Iga. "Hayami's 'fish-lady' was the whole reason why we knew that Zorndyke anticipated the use of nuclear arms, and that Hayami was able to reach Zorndyke and get him to dismantle the pole shift device. If it weren't for her, we would probably all be dead. And it all would've happened because our superiors forced us to resort to the nuclear option. It's not like we wanted to blow everything up."

"Maybe so, but..." Yuri began, before changing his mind. "Never mind. Katsuma, is there anything else you can tell us?"

"Nothing that I can remember off the top of my head." said Katsuma.

"Are you sure, Katsuma?"

"Positive."

"Then I guess you're free to go...for now." said Yuri, who added with a smile: "And welcome back."