It was a few days since Blair temporarily joined the Eden's Zero. Hermit was working on trying to pinpoint where the Black Moon Star was going to lead them next in the meantime. For now, Blair was wearing a hospital gown, sitting in the infirmary while Sister looked her over. "Alright, I guess it's been long enough. It's time for your checkup."

"Did you really need me to change into this thing?" Blair's expression was uncertain.

"It's part of the procedure. Don't complain, unless you want me to get the crop rider." Sister gave Blair a smile.

"Ugh." Blair rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What am I supposed to be doing exactly?"

"I'm a nurse, so I'll be making sure there's nothing wrong with you that we have to be worried about." Sister explained. "Well, more things we shouldn't be worried about." The Therion arm of Blair's was of a natural cause for concern. "It's basic stuff, don't worry. First, we're taking your measurements."

"Oh boy…" Blair sighed. There was nothing to really complain about.

While the checkup in the infirmary, Rebecca and Shiki were carefully listening in. It's not that they didn't trust Blair, they just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. "She's been complacent lately." Rebecca told Shiki. "Even if she has been a little distant."

"She has been keeping her word at least. I don't think she's that bad a person." Shiki nodded in agreement. "I wonder if she'll at least join us for dinner or something…"

"She likes keeping to herself. I don't think we should push her to join us for anything." Rebecca rubbed her arm. She did want to get friendlier with Blair, but Blair's personality made it difficult.

"Whoa! I knew they were big, but THIS is insane!" Sister's voice was loud, even though the door.

"H-hey! Stop staring at them…!" Blair grunted through the door. "Yours are no different…!"

"Yeah, but I was built with these. Yours might be bigger than Rebecca's. What's your excuse?" Sister said.

"Just hurt up and finish already!" Blair shouted.

Of course, this was all happening behind the door, so Rebecca and Shiki couldn't see what was happening in there. They could only hear. "Why did she use me as the example…" Rebecca had a slight blush on her face.

"…Sounds like things are going well in there." Shiki was a little bit curious and started to walk to the infirmary door. Rebecca started to drag Shiki in the opposite direction.

"No way are you going in there right now, Mister." Rebecca said. "I think Hermit wanted to see you anyway, so go talk to her."

"Alright, alright." Shiki's curiosity wouldn't be sated this day. A shame, but he could live without it.

.

.

While Sister was busy with Blair, the others met in the Meeting room. On the table was the Black Moon Star shared they recovered from Iceberg. "We sure have gone through a lot just one of these five shards." Weisz grunted. They practically went to hell and back just for this one piece. "But we know these little things are the real deal."

"It gave Jigan a real power boost." Shiki said while rotating his shoulder. "I'm sure I could've taken him without Overdrive if he didn't use that. I didn't expect it to give him that much power, though."

"And this is only a fragment of the Black Moon's power? That's frightening." Kleene said with a frown. "We really have to find the rest of these before anyone else does. Who knows what could happen."

"Hermit has caught me up on this Black Moon…" Homura said. She was out of the loop since she had been kidnapped. "Is it not true that one shard will lead to the others? We should begin our search that way!"

"Yeah, that is true." Hermit said. "Unfortunately, I don't know how to activate that sort of trigger. It's just been inert since we got it back from the Fiertia."

"So we just have to sit around and wait for it decide to tell us where to go?" Laguna asked. "It feels like we'll be wasting quite a bit of time."

"I do know one thing, at least." Hermit said. "While I don't have exact locations of the shards, I have been able to track down the general locations of the opposing shards…from the perspective of the various cosmoses, at least."

"What did you find?" Shiki asked.

"So…as it turns out, there is another shard in here in the Kaede Cosmos." Hermit said. "There's one in the Aoi Cosmos, and two in Sakura Cosmos. But that's all I know."

"Damn, that's unfortunate." Jinn said. "We were just in the Aoi Cosmos. If Justice and his force didn't come in, we might have been able to grab the one that was there."

"An unfortunate turn of events." Laguna said. "But we can make do with the other shard here."

"Just give me a little time to pinpoint exactly where it is." Hermit said. "I'll try to have it within the next day or so."

"Don't forget to pace yourself." Weisz said. "I'll help you out."

"What about Blair?" Pino asked.

"She's still to be treated like one of us. Sister is looking after her right now." Shiki said. He was the captain of the ship, so the others would do their best to treat Blair like a fellow crewmate. The rest depended on the woman's attitude. All they could do for now was wait until they knew where to go next.

.

.

After the meeting, Rebecca and Happy made their way to the Eden's kitchen. Rebecca was hungry and could really go for some lunch right about now. As she ate, she decided to pull out her laptop and edit a video. Recent events made her pause the B-Cubing, but there was a window to get back to it. "I can't wait to post this one!"

"It's a pretty good one!" Happy said while raising his paw.

Weirdly enough, Rebecca could hear her own voice approaching the kitchen? Blair walked into the kitchen with her phone. "Blair?" Rebecca was not expecting to see Blair in the kitchen, especially after the whole 'she can't taste' incident.

"What?" Blair turned her gaze to Rebecca. "I can't taste, but food at least keeps my energy up. It's not entirely worthless. I'm still mostly human."

"F-Fair enough." Rebecca gave an uneasy smile. It was hard to tell if Blair was in a bad mood or not. "…I didn't know you had a phone."

"I don't use it much." Blair said.

"Are you watching one of Rebecca's videos?" Happy was the one who asked.

"…No." Blair shook her head. That was a lie. She was sharing a ship with two of the most popular B-cubers in the cosmos. Of course she'd be curious about their content after having watched some of it before. "I'm reading the comments."

"Are you one of those people?" Rebecca asked with a sweat drop/.

"Shut up." Blair didn't really give that an answer. Her thumb scrolled down the comments section and her expression progressively turned more and more disgusted. "…There are a lot of people who are asking to see your panties. Just what kind of content are you making?"

"I-I swear it's nothing bad at all! But it feels really dirty when you phrase it like that!" Rebecca waved her hands.

"Your panties are dirty?" Happy asked.

"NO THEY AREN'T!" Rebecca then looked away and scratched her cheek. "Well…"

"I don't think I want to hear any more of this conversation. I see why they ask." Blair put her phone in her pocket. She grabbed something random from the menu and walked off, leaving Rebecca and Happy alone.

"We're not making very good impressions on her, are we?" Rebecca said with a sweat drop.

"No. I don't think so at all." Happy said with a nervous laugh.

.

.

"The training room is down this way." Homura was leading Blair to the training room. She came here every day, and now that there was a bit of a reprieve, she had to get back into the swing of things. "I haven't had the chance to train lately. I must sharpen my form!" Once they arrived, Homura changed into her gi to prepare training. "Do you wish to train with me? We can clash blades at last!"

"You're a little too eager for that. Is training all you think about?" Blair asked.

"There is never enough training!" Homura replied excitedly. "Fight me, please!"

Blair shook her head. "I prefer to train on my own."

Homura deflated. "I…I see. I suppose everyone has their own way to improve." She was a little disappointed, but she didn't plan to infringe on Blair's time. "That is disappointing to hear, but I won't let her know that."

"…" Blair was about to open her mouth and say something, but she decided not to. She and Homura were just going to occupy the same space and train. There was something that crossed Blair's mind after some time, and she figured she may as well ask. "…So you're one of the Four Shining Stars, is that right?"

"That is correct." Homura nodded while swinging her sword. "I am the Valkyrie – the Sword of Eden's. Hermit is the Mind, and Sister is the Healer. And Witch was…the Shield." Her expression fell for a moment, thinking about Witch.

"I see." Blair stopped her movements for a bit, her back turned to Homura. "But you're the only human among them."

"Ah…so you noticed." Homura had a sad smile on her face. "The former Valkyrie – my teacher…she too, died. So I decided to take her mantle. Even though I have her title, I am still nowhere near her level of strength. Even now, her strength still makes mine pale in comparison. I felt a great deal of shame after my defeat to your former android crewmate." It was a battle Homura felt she could have won, she even had Rebecca and Happy on her side! Yet her weakness to the heat wore her down.

"…Well, I've never seen Waltz more pissed off about a fight. So you made him mad at least." Blair said. Was this her attempt at making Homura feel better? Hard to say. Blair was anything but straightforward.

"Did you just try to make me feel better?" Homura asked.

"No. I was just remising about how funny it was seeing Waltz so angry." Blair replied. "The whole 'no killing' people who aren't your enemies is going to bite you all in the ass."

"It is a rule you must abide to as well while you're here." Homura said.

"I don't get it." Blair shrugged her shoulders, staring at her bandaged arm. "The government already wants you all behind bars, or even dead if it comes down to it. You're just handicapping yourselves by holding back. That's why you lost to Waltz."

"That is not the type of people we are, Blair." Homura replied while shaking her head. "It is as simple as that."

Blair let out a heavy sigh. What an annoying crew she'd gotten herself involved in. "Ironic for the Demon King's ship to be pacifist most of the time…" She then started to walk off. "I'm done for the day."

"…" Homura pursed her lips as Blair walked off. "I cannot tell if she is showing concern or irritation…"

.

.

It was about the time where everyone was resting up for the next today. Kleene found sleep elusive for some reason. Either it was just one of those sleepless nights…..or it was just the fact she heard some noises right outside her door. Curious, and a little annoyed, she slipped out of her room and stepped out to see what the noise was. "What is going on-?" She blinked. It was Blair, sweeping the hallway. "Blair?"

"…Yeah?" Despite being the one who kept Kleene up with her sweeping, Blair was somehow the more annoyed one.

"What are you doing? It's like…3AM?" Kleene rubbed her eyes.

"It's 1AM." Blair corrected. "And what does it look like I'm doing? I'm cleaning. I can't sleep."

"You don't have to…" Kleene yawned.

"…Yeah, it's kind of pointless with a ship this big. But the Fiertia was messier." Blair suddenly stopped sweeping. "I guess I'm done. I'll go to bed now."

"Um…goodnight?" That was sudden. Kleene didn't really understand it, but she was too tired. She would just slump back to bed.

Blair waited for Kleene to step back into her room, then started to make her way somewhere else. She had a destination in mind. It was the area before the kitchen, where they were keeping the Black Moon Star shard. She glanced around before slowly wrapping her bandaged hand around the star. It was an incredible source of ether and that's what she needed to keep her Therion urges at bay. "How is this still not enough…it's part of a damn star for crying out loud…"

This soon turned into an awkward moment, because Couchpo walked out of the kitchen with a burger half stuffed into her mouth. The two locked eyes for a moment, the tension in the air growing thick and heavy as the stare down continued. Couchpo swallowed what was in her mouth before speaking. "What are you doing!?"

"The same as you." Blair replied calmly. "Eating."

"You know you shouldn't be touching that, it's dangerous!" Couchpo said. "What do you mean you're eating?"

"Did you forget? While physical food only keeps my energy up, it doesn't satiate me." Blair replied. "Only ether does. Something like this, that has a large amount of ether, is what I need to eat. And even then…" Somehow, it just didn't feel like this shard was enough.

"We need that to find the other shards." Couchpo argued. "You shouldn't be draining away all of its Ether!"

"It's a star…or at least, part of one." Blair retorted. "It has more Ether than you could imagine. It's not exactly limitless, but…"

"Is this because I forced that burger on you?" Couchpo's gaze went down the floor. She felt guilty about that, since Blair said she couldn't taste food after. "I'm really sorry about that, you know? If I did know…"

"…" Blair didn't respond. Her yellow gaze went elsewhere, not confirming or denying Couchpo's question. But she did let go of the Black Moon Star shard. "So what? Is this the part where you rat me out to the others?"

Couchpo sighed. "How long have you been doing this? Not every night, I hope."

"No." Blair shook her head. "I've had the idea for a few days, but this is the first time I actually went through with it. And I can't believe I had such shit timing to run into you getting a midnight snack."

Well, that at least lessened the offense. If it was only the one time, Couchpo would look the other way, as long as this didn't impact the crew's search for the rest of the Star. "I'll look the other way just this one. But if it happens again, I won't have much of a choice to tell the others."

A mercy, was it? Blair let her arms drop. "…Fine. It won't happen again. I'd rather not break the thin ice I'm already on."

"You're not on thin ice." Couchpo said. "You're currently one of the crew. That's how the others have been treating you, right? You're making it a bit hard, you could at least try to meet them halfway. You don't want to be stuck in this attitude forever, do you?"

"I just need this crew to last long enough for me to get my revenge. How they treat me doesn't matter…I endured Jigan, so I can endure anything worse." Blair said while walking off.

"…" Couchpo didn't have any words. Blair wasn't making getting along with anyone easy. "…She must be really hangry…"

.

.

Alexei stared out the window of his ship: The Galactic Cruiser. They were in the Aoi Cosmos, waiting patiently. The blue haired man had his arms crossed behind his back. "We're getting closer. Vanessa."

The red haired woman adjusted her glasses. "Mildan will be within our sights soon. If I may ask, was it truly necessary to intercept that communication to bring the Interstellar Army to the Aoi Cosmos? We could have simply waited things out."

"That was not an option." Alexei shook his head. "The Eden's Zero and the Fiertia were in the way. Had the battle lasted even a little bit longer, there was a chance they would have noticed the planet's approach. From that point on, it would be a messy endeavor."

"But with your power, we could easily defeat them." Vanessa replied. "Besides, I spent all that time searching for my Therion test subject. She was within my reach and we had to chase her away." The scientist pouted.

"Worry not; you will get the answers you seek. As will I." Alexei's expression did not change. His cold gaze focused on the empty space ahead of them. Slowly, but surely, a planet was starting to move into view. "That is the Time Oracle's purpose. With her guidance, I will begin to cleanse this universe of all of its strife." Along with Vanessa, there were three more figures behind Alexei. The Galactic Cruiser was a ship that doubled the size of the Eden's Zero, and further more…aside from the figures that served directly under Alexei, there were numerous foot soldiers as well. The Galactic Cruiser was nothing less than a war vessel and its path was clear.

.

.

"So, he approaches at last. Even sooner than I expected as well. Perhaps it is due to the shift that Nero 66 created." Xiaomei was unsurprised. She'd seen it all, after all. Even in this new Universe, where the outcome of events was unknown to even Ziggy, she had the power to see everything. "The man who seeks to change the universe…Alexei Alexandrite."