He stepped out of the shower, steam freshly curling off his body. He wiped a towel over his wet hair before stepping from the bathroom, and headed for the bed. As he passed by the table, he stopped in his tracks, glancing down to find that someone had left behind a small pile of containers on the counter. He smiled slightly as he walked towards it, grabbing clothes off the chair. The first thing atop the containers was a small note with what looked like hearts scribbled around the message: "I grabbed these tonight from the galley, I hope you enjoy them~!" He grinned as he picked up the first container and examined it. It was clear topped he noted as he looked in through the lid, containing two servings of pasta in a thick creamy sauce. He set it down gently and pulled his shirt over his head before doing the same with the rest of his clothes.

"You didn't have to do that…" he mumbled, eyeing a girl at the foot of his berth. She was curled up against the bed-frame, knees against her chest and head resting atop them, seemingly asleep. Her long black wavy hair flowed about her shoulder as she laid curled up. He sighed softly, moving slowly across the room. "Had a long day, huh?" He asked quietly as he reached the edge of the bed. She continued to sleep despite his voice, but that was okay, he didn't expect an answer anyway.

He grabbed a blanket off the bed, humming gently, and placed it over the sleeping girl. She didn't stir, not even a bit. When he moved to lift her up, however, something tugged on his sleeve. A pair of amethyst eyes opened lazily, blinking up at him. She sat up quickly in his arms and clutched the fabric of his shirt tightly with one hand.

"Haruto…?"

He shushed her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding onto her waist with the other hand as he held her close to him. Her grip tightened around his shirt and her breathing quickened as he carried her back towards the berth. "You can go back to sleep, ok? I'm just putting you on the bed." he murmured, setting her carefully onto the mattress and tucked the blankets under her chin. She nodded slowly as he removed himself from her grasp. She rolled over so that she rested facing him and he could see her face more clearly. His fingers lingered as she stared up at him, those familiar violet orbs filled with exhaustion. "You need all the rest you can get, right?"

She smiled as she turned away, pulling the sheets up to her ears, but not before giving him a soft sleepy murmur. He felt his heart flutter in his chest at hearing her say his name so sweetly, knowing full well how much it meant to her. Then, with a final gentle touch, he stood, straightened his back and cleared his throat. He backed away from the bed. She didn't budge; She wouldn't wake up again until morning when she had breakfast, he blithely thought.

He made his way back to the table, picking up his meal again and took a seat. He started eating quietly as the night crept by. The only sounds in the room were faint hums of the ship itself, cruising through the interstellar void. Occasionally she would shift around beneath the covers, causing him to look up every so often, but she remained asleep and soon enough, she settled down once more. He finished eating, closed, cleaned and stored the empty containers, washed his utensils, rinsed and dried them and put them into their appropriate places, and put them away. With a quick glance back to the bed, he left the room and went into the hallway, shutting the door softly behind him. He turned around. His footsteps padded softly down the hall, echoing off of the walls as he made his way to the specialized hangar for the Valvraves.

He walked down the metal corridors of the ship, each of the lights illuminating a different part of the hallway. Each light seemed to blink to life as he walked pass them, creating an odd sort of rhythm of lighting. It made it feel alive. It sent warmth to his bones and kept him comfortable walking down the otherwise dreary corridor. There were no other crew members in this particular section of the ship; of their living quarters. No one else was allowed to enter this restricted section beyond a very specific list of people. It was similar in regard, but to a greater extent than their hangar.

Eventually, he arrived at the hangar bay. It was a short trip, all things considered; their quarters were practically the next door over after all. He entered the enormous chamber, stopping briefly at his workstation and locker, as he took care of the few tasks that needed tending to before going on. Grabbing his flight suit, he stripped and dressed quickly. After securing his under-suit, he attached the chest plate and other various pieces of armor to their corresponding hard-points on the suit. It was admittedly difficult without the aid of a partner, as they usually put it on. But, this suited him just fine. He strapped his utility belt around his waist alongside a holster. Finally, he retrieved his sidearm and slotted it inside the holster. He stood for a moment, visually checking his suit to ensure everything was properly fitted. Satisfied, he took a seat at his workstation. There, on top of a desk with some tools laid out next to it sat a flight helmet of sorts. He picked it up, turning it over in his hands. It wasn't particularly heavy, despite the tough armor plating and wide array of devices nestled inside it. He had issues with it on his last deployment, and so he needed to make sure everything was properly working in short order—it wasn't too long before he needed to sortie. As he worked, he glanced up every now and then at other crewmen performing their various duties, before looking back down occasionally at the helmet and continuing his maintenance of it. He ran his hand along its smooth surface, before continuing onward to whatever tasks needed attending to before launch. Eventually, he found it necessary to power on his helmet, which he did.

So far so good.

His eyebrows knitted together as he stared down at it. Slowly, he placed it onto his head. With practiced ease, it slid into place, secured. He gave it a few test runs before deciding it was working perfectly fine.

He stood, stretching his arms above him, and made his way toward the true occupants of the hangar. Inside the bay sat several machines in their respective berths, all in different shapes, sizes, and even color. He stopped in front of one, his. The original Valvrave. The Progenitor. Man.

Hito.

"Hey Haruto!"

Ah yes, how could he forget? Each Valvrave had its own personal maintenance crew, this was also his. He turned at the sound of his name being called, only to witness his crew chief whack another technician upside the head.

"How many times have I told you not to be disrespectful? Address him properly," the chief growled, glaring daggers at the offender.

The younger man groaned, rubbing his forehead, and stood straighter. He bowed and apologized.

"Sir, forgive my rudeness!"

Haruto raised a brow and chuckled softly, "and how many times have I said it was okay? But, apology accepted. Now let's get to business." He turned to the mechanics, "I'm about to launch soon, is it ready?"

They nodded eagerly, "yes sir! The Valvrave is ready to go whenever you are!"

He grinned lightly—not that they could see it—, nodding at them. "Alright, thank you guys. I guess that means I can get going then, huh?" he mused. He turned his attention back to the Valvrave, it was time for his flight. With a cheerful smile, he clapped his hands in front of him, causing everyone to jump slightly in alarm. They all looked up at him in surprise, wondering what the fuss was about. "All right then, I'll see you all when I return!"

Don't get into any trouble in the meantime, he privately added.

Once more, Haruto began to walk forward. He clambered forth, up the catwalks and directly into the cockpit, where he stepped inside and sat right down in the pilot's chair, strapping himself in. Once seated, he took a breath, closed his eyes and brought his hands to rest on the controls and powered up the great machine. He moved his hand forward, reaching for the toggle to the main hatch to close it. As soon as he pressed on it, the massive hatch swung shut, sealing itself tight and locking securely in place with a click.

He activated the external speakers, "this is the final check! Everything checks out fine! All systems are green to go. RM-011 'Hito' is launching!" before quickly shutting them off upon noting his new guest.

"Haruto, you're back!"

He couldn't help the smile that grew on his face.

"Hi Pino, I'm home."

He looked around the cockpit as he made himself comfortable in the seat, watching her as she flew beside his head. She seemed to be in a good mood. "What did you guys do this afternoon?"

"I was busy moving my things from my old room to the new one here on the Liberator. Thankfully, I didn't have too much to carry around, but it still took me a good hour to get everything done," Haruto responded, looking somewhat sheepish. "But well, you see... the things is I forgot something back on the module. So, I got permission to go back and grab it before the ship takes off."

"We get to go on a trip? Oh, oh! Haruto show me your house when we get inside!"

Haruto couldn't stop the grin from growing wider. It'd been a while since they went out on some kind of outing. Especially with just the two of them. "Of course, Pino. After we land, we can walk there together. We'll even go sightseeing for a bit before we leave if we have time." Pino nodded happily and turned her attention towards the controls, starting the launch procedures for the Valvrave, as she spoke. "Oh, oh! Haruto, what's going on with you and Saki?"

"Um. Well, that's not really—" He began, before quickly deflecting. "I've got some cool news for you."

She looked back at him curiously, tilting her head. "A surprise?" The Valvrave shifted as Haruto moved it from it's crouched position on the hangar floor to an upright position, "A surprise! What is it Haruto? Oh come on, you've got to tell me!" As she flew around his head, he continued moving toward the elevator that would bring them top-side to the catapult launch system. As soon as their feet settled on the elevator, the platform began to rise into the air.

"Jeez, relax a bit Pino. It's supposed to be a surprise," the steady hum continued as they passed the 13th deck of the ship. "You'll find out what it is when we get it… just, ah. Well, try not to freak out too much okay?"

Pino grinned widely as she leaned forward, propping herself onto her palms and onto the console, stared eagerly at Haruto. "Okay!" Her response came out so quickly, like an excitable child. She sat atop the console, humming, and leaned back, crossing her legs and clinging at the screen to stop herself from falling.

He paused, and chuckled as he saw her excitement begin to bubble over. "Well, I guess we'd better hurry then, seeing how worked up you are." She pouted slightly in response. Suddenly, Pino stopped humming; in sync with Haruto. He looked at the clock within the cockpit's HUD, and sighed heavily. 10:30PM, local time. Glancing back atop the metal console, he noted she had vanished for the time being. He could talk more about this with her later, right now he needed to focus. Haruto looked down at the console, full of switches, buttons, and knobs. One of them had a small blinking red light at the top of it—Pino's guidance. He flipped it up and waited patiently, as a veil spread across the exterior of the Valvrave.

With a metallic click, the elevator had reached it's destination, the launch catapult—and as far as one could see, there stood nothing upon it.

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"Hey, are you seeing this?"

"Hm, what now?"

"The platform elevator just came up here, but there was nothing on it."

"Well, check the schedule. Is there supposed to be a departure right now?"

"…"

"What?"

"No, there's nothing marked to come up here for the next thirty-six hours."

"Well… I dunno, log it. Must be a malfunction—let someone else deal it; our shift is almost over."

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Haruto slowly walked past the magnetic clamps, carefully avoiding them. Lightly kicking off the beginning of the launch rails, they flew through the unlit tunnel, until eventually… a vast hangar door came into view.

He came to a brief stop, waiting as Pino worked her magic, and the first set of doors opened before him with a gentle whir; he entered, feeling himself relax slightly when the doors sealed behind him. The interior was dark and cool. He could hear the hum of a motor far in the distance.

The sound was calming.

A screen appeared on his console screen, picture-in-picture, showing Pino standing, dusting off her hands on the skirt of her outfit. "It should be okay, we're clear for take-off now," she said as the room depressurized and the next set of hangar doors opened.

"Thanks again, Pino. I owe you one," He replied, watching as the image disappeared from the screen and with it, Pino.

The Valvrave slowly began to move, passing through the open doors and toward the end of the exterior runway, where the tunnel opened to space. Kicking off the edge of the platform, they began to slowly float through space, watching the screen as objects appeared in view as the distance between the Liberator and the Valvrave.

Once clear of the ship, he activated the autopilot after making sure that everything in the cockpit was properly secured. Turning back toward the screen of the forward exterior camera, Haruto found it had changed position. Rather than watching the exterior walls of Module 77, it had turned in line with the head of the Valvrave to watch the coming and going ships between the module and the Liberator.

"What do you think they're doing at this hour?" Pino asked, as she magnified the images tenfold.

Haruto shrugged, "maybe they also forgot to grab stuff last minute?" He half suggested, half asked.

"That's a lot of stuff to forget..." she said, highlighting a heavy-cargo freighter on approach to initiate docking in the Liberator's open cargo bay—and then the line of similar ships preceding it; an entire convoy.

Huh, okay. Maybe she had a point.

After that brief conversation, about twenty more minutes passed of nothing but silence. He checked the flight plan on his console screen, "they should be in range of the Liberator in less than an half an hour, Pino." He eyed a pair of larger ships, both armed, approaching the Liberator's hull. Escorts. They were big, scary-looking ships, and he didn't quite like the thought of trying to make it past them right now, in any reasonable amount of time.

"Alter the flight plan, bring us around to the top of the cargo bay. We'll hitch a ride on the next ship out." She nodded, reappearing within the screen as she manipulated the data with her very hands. The video feed moved upward, bringing it into view just above the top of the cargo bay and the loading dock where they needed to wait. Panning down slightly, it showed the inside of the bay, the loading dock, the two large ships in front of it, and a single corvette readying for take-off, having delivered it's own cargo.

He frowned, that last one was too small to use in his improvised plan. They'd have to wait for one of the larger vessels to come out. He paused, glancing over at Pino, "that last one, what's its name?"

She blinked and leaned closer, examining the screen—how that worked exactly, he wasn't sure—, "the one with the Dorssian markings?" At his nod, she continued, "it's registered under the name, 'FPGR–Karl der Große,' and is listed as light corvette… what's curious, however, is it's hull designation of 'AGI-49776.'"

He groaned, "spooks?"

"Yup!" Pino grinned cheerily. She tapped the image a couple times, changing the screen view to that of the hull itself. She scrolled down, and pressed a few keys to zoom in, highlighting a portion of the side. It looked like a simple star with a sword going through it. "See that spot near the port-side corner? Look at that emblem."

"Yeah. I see it," he muttered.

He felt the thrum of engines beneath him, the vibrations traveling through the metal surface of the Liberator's hull. He looked up, watching as one of the armed escorts flew above and around the Liberator, having safely delivered it's precious cargo. It would shortly be turning around and flying past his location.

"We need to get moving soon…" he said quietly.

His gaze dropped back down, to a new screen watching the departure of the shuttle. They were close enough that he could make out figures standing on the observation deck; two male passengers. He narrowed his eyes as he watched them glance over in his direction, before they faded out of view as the corvette continued to move further away. He shook his head and focused back on the other screens,

There was one more ship coming out—one of the larger freighters.

Perfect. It was large enough to not take notice of the added weight and subsequent drift when he hitched a ride. As soon as it cleared the hangar, it began to speed forward through space. The second ship soon following suit, accelerating behind and to the side of the first.

It would be a tight fit, but Haruto knew he could pull it off.

He sent the Valvrave into a sudden dive off the hull of the carrier, using his thrusters at full burn and relying on the emissions of the nearby ships to drown his out. As he approached the rear of the second ship, he slowed and leveled himself out, pulling into a sharp turn to avoid flying directly into the thrusters of the second vessel.

The space around him lit up with the blue glow of the engines as he skirted around the edges of the thrusters. He was becoming uncomfortably warm in here, but he kept his attention on the rear view camera screens, keeping track of the convoy he was passing through in the wake of these two freighters. As soon as the last of the incoming vessels faded into the distance, he pushed the throttle forward a smidgen more, and the Valvrave shot forward, quickly overtaking the freighter and gaining altitude. He maneuvered the Valvrave just past the ship's engine block and slowly lowered himself toward the hull. Reaching out with the Valvrave's hand's, he managed to latch onto the top of the hull, leaving cosmetic dents in the metal of the ship in the process.

Hopefully they'd assume it was caused by micro-asteroids or other space debris.

Now, he sat back and waited for the ship to close in on the exterior walls of the Dyson Sphere. And he waited. He shifted slightly against the cushion of the seat, briefly wincing at the soreness. He'd been in this thing for too long today.

The freighter had been traveling for a little over an hour at this point, and Haruto took the opportunity to glance at the camera once again as they neared their stop. The vessel began to decelerate, slowing dramatically as they initiated docking with a nearby module's hangar.

As the last few seconds ticked away, and the engine cut out, he took that as his cue to ditch the ride. Opening the Valvrave's hands, it let loose of the ship and coasted through space on inertia, with the occasional adjustments courtesy of Pino, slowly but surely coming to an eventual stop as they reached their temporary destination.

His gaze was met by the sight of the massive bulkhead of the outer shell looming ahead of them; there seemed to be no end to its sheer size.

Increasing the throttle slightly, they began inching forward bit by bit away from the current module's exterior wall and toward Module 77. As he drifted along the wall, his eyes remained locked on the camera feeds. His view stayed fixed on the screen, searching for an entrance.

There, a single maintenance shaft was situated on the exterior of the module, large enough to fit the Valvrave's frame.

Haruto eased up on the throttle, allowing the Valvrave to come to a gentle stop atop the sealed doors of the shaft. No ships, no people. Nothing to worry about. He sat back in his seat, taking a moment to relax before continuing on—only to freeze as the doors unexpectedly began to open, throwing him off balance.

"What the hell!?" He scrambled backwards in the Valvrave, using the thrusters to jump back off the moving slabs of metal. Landing lightly on the surface of the module wall, he stared as the doors fully slid apart. He waited, cautiously glaring at the cockpit display for anything of note. Nothing was visible, not a sign of movement, not even a heat signatu—wait. He saw a faint distortion passing through the doorway. A moment later, it revealed itself; first on his console, as the silhouette of a shuttle was revealed and passively targeted while passing through the open void. Then, as the doors began to retract, an entire vessel appeared on the cameras in the visible spectrum. He could now see it with his own eyes. Once again, he paused; waiting. Watching. With another glance at the camera feed, he decided to take a chance.

With practiced precision, he bounded forward and accelerated, throwing the Valvrave into the shrinking gap before the doors closed completely.

He quickly pushed the controls forward and the Valvrave immediately responded by ramping up its speed. Steering himself though the large, winding corridor, away from the closing metal doors.

He looked down at the console screen once again to ensure everything remained clear—no threats or activity, nothing that would stand out at all. No one seemed to have noticed him. He breathed a sigh of relief, finally relaxing as his wildly pounding heart slowed. The worst of it was over.

After several minutes of travel through the tunnel, flying in the narrow space, he slowed the Valvrave in preparation of an upcoming turn going straight up above. Somewhere around the end of this stretch would be where the exit was located.

When the time came, he pulled up and away, flying through the interior maintenance hatch, and out into the open night sky. He let out a heavy breath as he watched their descent through the artificial atmosphere. They made it in without any complications. He heard a thump behind him and turned to look at the headrest, where Pino was sitting upright again, before she leaned against his helmet. She looked into his eyes, staring at him.

"So, which one is your house?"

He snorted, causing Pino to lose her balance.

"Hey! Watch out."

"Don't get so close next time if you don't want to fall," he quipped. "Also, look." He pointed off to the right, at the vague cluster of buildings down below.

Pino flew up above his head and watched, eyes narrowed. "I can't see a thing," she complained. "Which one is yours?"

He glanced up at her, as he prepared to answer her question. "That one. That one over there, in the middle of the bunch."

Pino followed his finger to it's destination wherein the screen magnified thrice over, nodding after a second of consideration. "Yeah, that looks like it's yours."

"W-what's that supposed to mean?!"

She merely giggled in response.

Hmph, "whatever." He turned back toward the front, watching carefully as they neared the surface. Not a single person was awake, nor outside, at least none they could see. Haruto guided them toward it slowly, making sure to keep an eye out for any potential threats. As the Valvrave landed softly onto the open field, Haruto unbuckled his harness and removed his helmet. He lowered his hand back to it's place in his lap as Pino took over the finishing steps of the landing from him, and he pushed himself out of his seat to stand. He stretched his arms upward, feeling a satisfying crack and pop in his shoulders. This mission shouldn't take too long but… better to be safe than sorry, right?

He fiddled with a small pouch strung along his waste, a second later he revealed a green crystal suspended by a wooden rope wrapped around his hand. "Come on Pino, let's get going."

She nodded, and quickly flew into the crystal. With that said and done, Haruto moved the rope around to his neck, fastening it securely and letting it hang along his front.

The Valvrave's cockpit opened and he climbed out, then quickly dropping to the grass below. Turning his head up, he watched as the cockpit closed itself once more, restoring the seamless illusion of nothingness; he'd ought to do the same. Placing his helmet on his head once more and raising his armored forearm, he pressed at the built-in device until he too, was cloaked.

Haruto walked forward toward his house; his home was located near the outskirts of the city, along the artificial ocean. And with a final glance behind him, he stepped away, into the lone metropolis of Module 77.

He walked casually through the streets, taking a moderate pace with his hands tucked away at his side. His gaze wandered to the different buildings they walked past, taking in the view. Most of them were small houses and built in the manner of traditional JIORian architecture, some were larger with walls and a decent plot of land. He had always wondered why his dad chose to live in this part of the city, of all places. But then… maybe it wasn't his dad's choice, he mused. Perhaps it was his mother's?

Eventually, he ended up coming across his family estate, and walked up the cobble-stone path leading to the house proper.

The front entrance creaked as he slid it open, and he sighed at the noise the old wood made. It was never very well maintained, and the entire thing was falling apart; his father was never around to do so, and as for himself? Well, he had been too young at first and then when he could, circumstance too took that opportunity from him. Oh well. He took advantage of his own momentary hesitation to turn off his stealth device. Pushing past the open sliding-door, he walked straight inside, closing it firmly behind him.

The hallway was dark, and the only light source was the dim glow coming from the crystal on his neck. He stood there quietly for another moment, taking in the familiar bitter-sweet sights. Flipping on the switch along the wall, the lights flickered to life.

"Mom, Dad. I'm home."

The sound rang off the walls, and echoed down the hallway leading away from the entrance. As expected, there was no one to answer him. Sighing, he walked down the hall. His boots clacked against the hardwood floor as he made his way deeper into the house. The living room was empty. He looked to the kitchen, bit found no one there either. The dining room was unoccupied as well. And so it went, throughout his home. The house seemed to have been abandoned, with a thin layer of dust settled upon every surface. Even though it was hardly a surprise… it still sent a pang of hurt through his body. The last time he checked on it had been… it had been two years ago.

He was alone now.

Well… his lips quirked up in an odd half-smile. Maybe not quite.

"Alright Pino, you can come out now."

"Jeez, I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgot about me!" She crossed her arms angrily, huffing.

His feet came to a stop beside the wood staircase and he began to ascend, and without missing a beat he spoke. "Of course I didn't!" The second room on the left was his old room, and was in-fact his destination. "I take you everywhere with me. And besides, it's not like you haven't been able to watch this entire time—so, what do you think?" Stepping through the doorway, he closed it gently behind him. The room sat largely empty, but for a bed and a single chair and accompanying desk.

"It's so empty! Where did everyone go, Haruto?" She sneezed, "and it's–ugh, it's so dusty in here too!"

He stood there for a moment, staring at the lone picture on the bed-side desk. He then glanced at the chair, remembering how she would sit in that very chair beside him in bed, reading him a bed-time story. She loved to read, and used to tell him stories all the time.

"Huh? What's that you're lookin' at Haruto?" He watched as Pino flew past him, and landed on the surface of the desk. She looked intently at the photograph, before turning back to him. "Wow!" She exclaimed, grinning at him like a child with a birthday present on the way. "You were so cute. Is that your mom?" And so, he listened as she sprouted off question after question.

"Uh, yeah," Haruto laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I don't really remember much of anything from back then, sorry Pino." He smiled slightly though, walking up to the desk. Reaching out for the picture frame, he opened it up and carefully transferred the photograph into another pouch at his waist. He reached for the drawer and pulled out a few old children's books and flipped through a few pages. He smiled again, bitter-sweet. It had been awhile since he'd touched those things. Gently, he placed them back into the drawer and closed it. He'd be back for them, one day.

But for now, it was about time they get on their way. It hadn't been a complete lie; he really did forget to take this photograph with him all those years ago. However, this wasn't what they were really here for.

"Let's go, Pino."

After having returned everything to its proper place upstairs and walking back down, he slowly approached the door, opening it and stepping outside. He turned around and looked at the house one last time, before shutting the door behind him.

He walked down the stone pathway, re-activating his cloaking device, and soon enough he arrived at the outer walls of the estate—although this exit was not the one he'd originally come inside from.

Haruto began walking once more, and headed along a small dirt trail at the end of the estate. This trail led to the small forest beyond the walls—the forest surrounding the estate, the forest surrounding memories of a simpler time. He passed through the forest, and as he walked further into the woods, the night grew darker still. His gaze focused ahead, on the lookout for something of great importance. As he walked and walked and walked on the winding dirt trail, he occasionally looked back at from whence he came. He tried to see it from where he currently stood; but he just couldn't make out any detail, save for the outline of the top of the house visible beyond the trees. He continued walking, still a ways yet to go.

A cool wind began to pick up speed, causing a soft gust of wind to sweep through, making leaves rustle and sway and shake and dance. There was little sound aside from those same gently blowing breezes or leaves crunching underfoot, the only other noise being that of his armored boots crunching through the occasional clump of thick grass and brush beneath his feet; the trail long since having become overgrown with wild-growth.

Dirty, moss-encased stone stairs—flanked on both sides by similarly dirtied statues of lion-dogs—emerged before him, as he began his short hike upward, a small coastal hill in his way. Looking at the sky above him, his eye's caught sight of the bright stars shining directly overhead, visible through the artificial clouds. He stared at them for a brief moment, before continuing on.

The end of the dirt trail finally became visible, looming close. The forest around him disappeared completely; the clearing atop the hill came closer and closer and soon he was standing directly at the edge of the forest, with his destination in sight. He inhaled sharply, and exhaled softly; the salty scent of ocean filling his nose.

"Pino, come out." He said, and he waited, looking toward a simple structure at the end of the path, a shrine. In response, Pino flittered around him, landing on the top of his head as he stared ahead. She squinted at scene before them, watching with curiosity.

"What are we doing up here, Haruto?" She asked, glancing down at him.

He shook his head, "Pino…" he stepped forward, and slowly, he started walking the final distance between them and the shrine. "Did you forget about the surprise I had for you?" She took off, flying in front of his face.

However his words fell flat as they reached Pino's ears, she looked at him, perplexed, "Surprise? What kind of surprise is this? This is just an old shack on a hill, that's no sort of surprise! Wait, is it some sort of surprise for humans? No, I'd have remembered somethin' as ridiculous as that," she ranted, gesturing at the building behind her.

Hearing the skepticism in her voice, he sighed, stopping a short distance in front of the small shrine and Pino. Turning to face the young girl, he pointedly looked at her.

"Ah.. aheh, uh. Sorry, Haruto."

Shaking his head, he pointed at the shrine door, "open those. Like I said earlier, you'll recognize it when you see it."

She nodded in understanding and dove headfirst toward the wooden door, coming to a quick stop before she crashed. Pino clicked her tongue as she struggled to lift the iron rings serving as door handles. A loud creak echoed through the air as she managed to pull the doors forward. A loud thud sounded as she let the heavy iron rings drop back down against the the neglected shrine, the wood cracking from the impact. Her head snapped back to look at Haruto, tears in her eyes and shock written across her face.

"P–Pino?" Rather than offerings and incense within the doors of the shrine… "Pino. Pino! It is you!" a similarly green crystal lay flat across the floor in the hall of offerings.

"PRUE!"

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A special thanks to PanzerHippo and to a lesser extent, Twisted, for both providing beta services for this chapter. I would've had a fair amount of repetition especially—and hilariously, Haruto's Valvrave accidentally blaring music from DOOM Eternal—among other things this chapter, without them.

Now onto a different note… it might be a fool's dream, but beyond my want to tell this story, I hope to revitalize the Valvrave category with this fanfic. It's been awhile since we've had any new one posted, or even merely updated. Not to mention the lack of art or anything else. That's a shame. I'd especially love to read some more on Haruto and Saki, myself.

In any case, I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter.