As exhausting as Aika's day had already been it was still far from over. After the emotional reunions with Souji and her grandfather, not to mention the time spent doing battle in Nekorea and crawling around that enormous underground facility, she wanted nothing more than to go home and enjoy some hard earned leisure. Maybe she and Souji could just hang out for a while, and she could listen to him ramble on and on about twintails until her parents called her back for dinner. They could spend the last few days before the Summer Holidays ended with the other members of the Twintail club doing something stupid like fishing in a nearby river, or go to a movie together.

Unfortunately, there were still plenty of things she needed to take care of, including at least two more emotional reunions with Isabella and Erina, as well as figuring out some way to break the news to her family that she was Tailblue. She also needed to get Twoearle to open up about the problems she was having, as well as get her Tailsuit repaired. Thinking about it, maybe she didn't need to do all that today. Maybe this afternoon she could reassure Erina and Isabella she was alive and get her Tailsuit repaired, and tomorrow she could talk to Twoearle and her parents. Oh, and she needed to consult with everyone about a lot of other stuff as well, like maybe it was time for them to go on the offensive against the Elemerian ships that were in their atmosphere, or even maybe the Twintails should just go public with their secret identities. Basically, war stuff. They needed to talk about war stuff.

There she went, letting tomorrow's problems get the best of her again. One thing at a time. She reminded herself before returning to the secret base.

The reunion with Isabella went about as well as could be expected, with the younger girl clinging to Aika and bawling until she was able to calm herself down. Isabella might have tried to act composed and cool for her age, but in reality she was still only fourteen so Aika was willing to indulge her. Just after Isabella had dried her eyes and return to her usual self, Erina showed up and the whole process started again. Apparently, Erina crying set Isabella off as well, and she found herself trying to soothe both of them while Twoearle watched, bemused. All in all it took close to an hour for the excitement to die down, when after their tears were dried Isabella and Erina suddenly became incredibly energetic and demanded to hear all of Aika's story about what happened.

"You really defeated a whole army untransformed?" Erina's eyes were shining, as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Isabella, who looked just as fascinated.

"Not quite." Aika answered honestly. "My other form was basically fried, so I couldn't move or do anything while transformed, but the inertial dampeners on the suit were still working, so she was still bulletproof. Whenever I couldn't dodge their bullets I just transformed and waited until they needed to reload."

"That's so creative!" Erina clenched her hands excitedly.

"How many of them were there, senpai?" Isabella continued, eagerly.

Despite herself, Aika smiled as she started to count them up. "A hundred-ish soldiers, a few vehicles, one tank, and one helicopter."

"You really are a gorilla." Twoearle smirked from the back of the room.

"Don't be rude." Erina chided while at the same time as Isabella glared angrily.

It was great to see those two getting along, though there was almost a four year gap between them, and Isabella still seemed to think Erina was her age. We should probably clear that up at some point…

"So you're really okay?" Souji still seemed fretful.

"Not even a scratch." Aika promised him. "But I don't know how long it will take to repair the tailsuit."

"Speaking of which." The group turned their attention to the scientist who stood up. "I've been meaning to do some maintenance on everyone's suits for a while now, anyway. It probably won't be a good idea to take all of us out of commission at once, so maybe we should take these two at a time?"

"How long should this take?" Souji asked.

"For the red suit and yellow, probably just a few hours, but I'm not familiar with the pink suit, and the blue has been completely wrecked." She shrugged. "It could take days."

"Hmm…" Souji tapped his lip and glanced at Aika.

"We're currently down a warrior." She pointed out.

"Yeah…" He agreed with a nod. "I think the first thing we need is to get Blue back up and running, and then we can worry about updating."

"Alright." Twoearle agreed. "I can take these two at a time, though. Who wants the other?"

"If mine is going to take longer as well, why don't you get the big ones out of the way first?" Isabella suggested.

Erina frowned worriedly, and looked at Isabella. "But that would leave Catyu without anyone to defend it on their side of the portal? It can take us a little while to get over there when trouble starts."

"It can take a bit to get to the base just from the mansion." Isabella pointed out with a grumble.

"Alright…" Twoearle tapped her lip thoughtfully, before offering a solution. "We have the beds in the spaceship already set up, not to mention showers and a stocked kitchen. One of the active tail warriors could sleep on the other side. Just for the few days it takes to get Pink and Blue up and running again."

Erina perked up. "Like a sleepover?"

Despite her best efforts to seem nonchalant, Aika noticed Isabella's ears flickered excitedly at the suggestion too.

"That depends on the host." Souji answered, and looked at the younger girl. "She might prefer to sleep in her big manor you know?"

Once again, Erina's eyes were shining brightly and she looked expectantly at Isabella..

"Oh, I mean, uh, it would be rude of me not to join you in the Spaceship." She tried to play it cool, but her excitement was clear for everyone to see. "And obviously I can get the maids to prepare plenty of entertainment."

"Can we build a pillow fort?" Erina grabbed her hands and clasped them in front of her chest. "Please?"

"I'll uh, see if we have enough pillows."

If Aika had to guess, Isabella would probably buy the pillows if she didn't already have them and act like she'd dug them out of storage somewhere. "Sounds like you two will be having fun."

"Will you come too, Senpai?" Isabella asked, eagerly.

"Sorry." Aika shook her head. "I'm exhausted, and pillow fights sound a little uh, intense for me right now."

"Yeah, and if she threw a pillow at you it might break the sound barrier." Twoearle pointed out, smirking slightly.

"I'll throw one at you in a moment!" Aika snapped at her.

"Aika." Souji called her name, and she looked towards him. He made eye contact with her, before looking about the room at everyone else and clenching his fist. Do we talk about our war plans now?"

No. She shook her head and yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. I'm too tired right now.

He nodded. Later then.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Aika noticed Twoearle glancing between the two of them, jealousy written on her face. A twinge of guilt pricked at Aika, despite herself.

"Well, I'm gonna go to bed now." She announced to the room. "Sorry guys, but I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, and I haven't slept either since, well…" Souji trailed off. "The bad news."

"I'll get started on things down here." Twoearle held out her hands to Isabella and Aika, and they handed over their tailsuits.

"Aren't you tired, too?" Erina asked, concerned. "Didn't you spend all of yesterday and last night searching?"

That was news to Aika. "She did?"

Twoearle looked faintly embarrassed and explained, "I needed to recover the suit, if nothing else."

"Ah." That made sense.

"Oh, don't pretend you weren't worried about Aika." Souji rolled his eyes.

Rather than react how anyone expected, Twoearle just glumly turned away. "I'm going to go get started on these." She turned and carried the tailsuits back into the lab, while speaking over her shoulder. "If I get too tired I'll just come up for a power nap."

While her back was turned, Souji and Aika exchanged glances with each other, both of them thinking the same thing. We really need to talk to her. And considering the recent fight between her and Aika, it probably needed to be soon.

Tomorrow's problems. Aika shook her head and reminded herself. Together, she Souji and Erina rode the elevator up to the surface together. They were silent for a while, the only sound they could hear being the dim humm of the machine rising upwards. "You seem to be getting along with Isabella." Aika began, looking to Erina.

"I think she thinks I'm younger than her." Erina admitted, worriedly touching her fingers together. "I'm not sure how to tell her that I'm eighteen. I don't want to embarrass her."

"Probably better to tell her sooner rather than later." Souji pointed. "The longer it lasts, the worse she'll feel." He smiled. "Maybe you could get her to call you 'Senpai' as well?"

"It'd be nice if she admired me like that." Erina admitted, shyly.

"Honestly, she'll probably just be happy to have a friend, again." Aika sighed. "The elemerians got to her other friends before she got her suit, and now they're not willing to hang out with her anymore."

"Oh, that's sad." A look of sympathy came over Erina's face.

"She got attached to you pretty fast." Souji looked at Aika.

"I think she was just lonely." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Erina shook her head in disagreement. "It's a bit more than that, I think. It might be because you saved her so dramatically, at least a little bit."

"You think it's hero worship?" Souji asked.
"...Sure, close enough." Erina glanced at Aika nervously, as if afraid to say more.

The elevator dinged open, and the three went their separate ways. Despite the fact that it was still the afternoon and the sun was still up, Aika wasted no time saying goodbye to the other two and heading out the front door. After a much needed shower to wash off some of the blood that was still clinging to her hair and skin, she carried out some much needed maintenance on her hair. She nearly fell asleep as she sat in front of the mirror, her grooming habits causing her to relax quickly. When Aika finally laid down and closed her eyes, she was asleep in one breath.

The entire bridge of the spaceship was paved with a layer of silk and fluffy down. The walls were made with unfurled futons that had been laid on their side, and bed sheets had been used to create something like hanging curtain, giving a door to the structure. Mikoto had offered to build it for them, but Erina felt like that would be defeat the purpose of it. Instead, her maid had simply stood in the hall, passing construction tools like pillowcases and blankets to the two as they requested them.

Wearing their pajamas, Isabella and Erina stood shoulder to shoulder and surveyed their work. To Erina's untrained eye, it looked like a mighty pillowfort and she was pleased with her efforts. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Isabella shrugged and admitted. "I've never built one before."

"But it was fun, right?" Erina turned to look up at her.
"Yeah." A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I'm worried if we have a pillow fight we'll ruin it."

"Hmmm... I think we're supposed to have that in the morning, that way it's okay if we accidentally bump into it." That seemed logical to Erina at any rate.

"Oh, that makes sense." Isabella nodded, thoughtfully. "So what now?"

"...I think we go to bed?" Erian turned around and asked over her shoulder. "Mikoto. What traditionally happens at this stage of a sleepover?"

She bowed low. "My lady, normally a sleepover would happen inside the comfort of one's home, so a parent or an elder sibling would now interrupt to ask you to quiet down and go to sleep."

"Oh." Erina tapped her lip. "Okay, well then if you would please?"

"Of course my lady." Mikoto stood up and left the room, closing the door behind her. After few moments went by, she knocked on the door loudly and called out, "Would you girls knock it off?! I have work in the morning!"
"Sorry, Ms Sakuragawa!" Isabella called back, before giggling and covering her mouth.

"Nice touch." Erina complemented her, before yelling out. "We'll be quiet, I promise!"
"Goodnight!" Mikoto called back, before pretending to walk away, back down the hall by stomping her feet loudly. "How was that, my lady?"

"Excellent!" Erina clapped her hands excitedly. "What next? Do we go to bed?"

Mikoto explained through the door. "Traditionally you would, but instead of going to sleep you're instead supposed to lay awake and gossip with each other."

"Oh, that sounds fun." Erina smiled brightly.

Excitedly, the two of them climbed into their beds and lay flat on their backs, staring at the ceiling with their heads close to each other from opposite directions.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Erina started.
"No, not right now."

"Right now? So you've had one?"

"Yeah, just at the start of the year I was dating a boy named Insuke." Isabella sighed. "But I didn't really like him."

"Oh. Then why did you go out with him?"

"Because he asked, and I thought it might upset Daddy." She groaned and covered her face with a pillow. "I did a lot of stupid stuff because I thought it might make him mad."

"Oh, that's no good." Erina glanced over at her sadly. "How are things between you and your father now?"

"Um… They're better." Isabella sighed. "We've started talking again, which is nice."

"That sounds nice." Erina agreed. "What about the rest of your family, are you getting along with them?"

"No, they hate me."

"I'm sure that's not true!" Erina rushed to protest.

"It is! My mother was dad's mistress while he was still married to his first wife, so all my brothers hate us both."

"Oh, no." Erina breathed out as she covered her mouth. Despite her youthful appearance, she wasn't naive about such things. Among society's upper class, where power and money changed hands with arranged marriages, flings of passion were common and the results of them were often painful and messy. Her mother had certainly never been above the occasional dalliance, though no children had been born as a result.

"I didn't make things any better these last few years." Isabella admitted. "And I bet my father has another family out there I haven't met yet, too." She gave a grunt of frustration and kicked her leg. "He's really frisky for a fifty year old man."

"At least that means he's fairly healthy." Erina pointed out.

"...What about you?" Isabella turned her head to look at her. "Your family sounds a lot stricter than mine is."

That made Erina silent for a moment. "It's…" She began and trailed, unsure if she should say, 'Not too bad.' Or maybe, 'A little difficult.' She felt that both were true. "I respect my mother." She started.

"Buuuut." Isabella drew out the vowel.

"But." Erina agreed softly. "And I love her, but... Sometimes it feels like she holds me to a standard no one could ever live up to."

"Like what?"

"...My grades have to be perfect, for one thing, which takes an enormous amount of time just studying alone. Then there's being Student Council President, which I didn't really want to be, but she demanded I take the office, that takes a lot of time. She expects me to get engaged, and very soon, so there's constant marriage interviews."

"At your age?" Isabella gaped, and Erina continued, not noticing her shocked expression.

"I don't have to be the best athletically, but I absolutely have to stay healthy, so the staff is careful to control my diet and make sure I get enough exercise." She breathed out. "It's only thanks to Mikoto that I have any time for my hobbies at all, though of course she never lies to my mother."

"What about the twintail club?"

Erina glanced up at her. "What about it?"

"That sounds like a crazy schedule, so how do you have time to visit the club?"
"Oh." She blushed, hotly. "Um… My mother allows me to attend the club, because she thinks I'm… uh, I'm… working towards s-s-seducing Souji."

Isabella sat up and turned to stare at her in disbelief.

"What is it?"

"Souji? Really?"

"What?" Erina covered her face in embarrassment. "She wants me to marry as soon as possible."

"And… do you like Souji?" Isabella continued.
The question brought Erina up short. All she could do was nod and not make eye contact.

"You and Senpai too, huh?" Isabella groaned and lay back down. "Why, though? What's so great about him, anyway?"

"He's a nice person."

"Not nice enough to notice how you or Senpai feel." Isabella pointed out, before bitterly adding, "And she's terrible at hiding it."

"...He can be a little dense." Erina admitted. "But he really does care about people."

Isabella grunted with annoyance. "He's not even really handsome, he looks more attractive as a girl than he does as a guy."

Erina didn't reply.

"And he's not even rich!" Isabella continued to complain. "Senpai is soooo much cooler than he is!" Her voice became a low, almost whisper. "What does he have that I don't? Some people just don't know how lucky they have it."

"That's not fair." Erina protested and the two of them fell into silence for a minute.

"Why is your mother so desperate for you to get married, anyway?"

"So I can succeed the clan leadership smoothly." Erina explained. "I don't think my family is as rich as yours, but we're really old money. Our ancestors were samurai. Other branches in my family will look for any excuse to have their own children inherit and usurp the main line. If they can argue that I'm unable to have suitable offspring or something like that, they'll use that as ammunition against me."

"That sounds terrible." Isabella sympathised. "Why do you even want to inherit in the first place?"

"W-well, because my mother only has one child, so there's no one else."

"That's why you have to inherit, not why you want to."

"I don't want to disappoint her." Erina murmured.

"But do you actually want all that responsibility?"

"..."

"It sounds like a lot." Isabella yawned and rubbed her eyes. "But maybe you should think about if you even want to do this?" She rolled over onto her side, facing away from Erina.

"I want to do it." Erina answered firmly.

"Okay." Isabella sounded disbelieving.

"I do." Erina insisted.

"Sure."

With a sigh, Erina rolled over so she was facing away from Isabella. The two lay in silence, until Erina heard the sound of Isabella's breath slowly even out, and found herself growing sleepy as well. I do. She insisted in her own mine. I want to lead the clan... Don't I? The uncertainty in her heart fed into her dreams, and she found herself tossing and turning all night.