Okay, we're back.

Uh… wow. That took a while. What was that, two, three years?

So basically, the hiatus is over. This, I believe, is a good thing.

And a few more things to note—first of all, yeah, I don't ownSplatoon 3, but I did read up on the lore and watch the cutscenes. And suffice to say, I'm no longer canon compliant. Now, if that really matters is up to the individual. I could just say "AU" and be done with it. That said, I didset off on this whole project like five years ago with the intent to stick to canon (or rather, build something off of it, but still).

For Alias… nothing really changes because all of the events I've referenced and plan to reference fit just fine into the preexisting canon. TAoI, however… uh…

Through some miracle, the way I wrote it wouldn't take that much rearranging, because most of the changes I'd have to make are… "off-screen" so to speak. Characterization and such would not change. There'd really be only one slight amendment to the exact details of Simon's and Octrope's actions… and that's it. (ive already written the changes I just need to upload them lmao)

Second of all, the TAoI rewrite went way better than I was expecting. Still, the earlier chapters don't hold a candle to the later ones, but hey, that's just another sign I'm getting better at this, right?

I did make a couple of key changes—most notable being a line from Eileen in the penultimate chapter, the one directly before the epilogue. I plan for that to come into play in a future chapter here.

Third, how's the new cover art? I do get that it's a picrew (plus a bit of Photoshop), but I haven't seen anyone else using this exact one. And in any case, I thought it was an improvement over my sorry attempt at pixel art. But what do you guys think? I think it looks really cute, but that might just be me.

And the last thing… Well, I'm in college now. Since last August. And I've been doing this since February of 8th grade. Does that in any way affect my determination to finish this fic? Not in the slightest. I basically fell in love with the characters I was writing and I needto see it to the end. Nothing short of death will stop me now.

But if you've been keeping up with everything I've been rewriting up to this point, you know my update schedule has been reduced to nothing more than "whenever, but probably later". That weekly plan I started with? Out the window. I've come to appreciate quality over quantity. Especially when it comes to my own writing because whewsome of that stuff I rewrote was bad(also Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is out I just finished chapter 5 aaaa).

But wow, I'm back. And hopefully, I'm here to stay.

The first thing I was aware of when I woke up was that I had planted my face on the boat's floor. It was a miracle that there were no splinters involved.

The second thing I was aware of was that I woke up. Which meant I had fallen asleep sometime.

The third thing was that Rose was having quite the freakout over me falling.

Over her apologizing, I pushed myself up and crawled into something resembling a sitting position. The boat rocked, and I put my palm on the floor behind me so I wouldn't fall over. Rose was doing something where she was reaching out to me but apprehensively, as if I were poisonous.

"Morning…?" she said after pulling back. "Sorry, I should've woken you up, it's just that you looked so…"

"Y— Yeah," I yawned. I looked around. The boat's cabin looked way less untrustworthy in the sunlight.

Wait.

Sunlight? The sun was out? Did… Did she just fix my broken sleep schedule?

"Where are we?" I asked her, standing up and stretching my arms. It was all really bright. I was beginning to wonder if it was still a dream. That was how foreign sunlight was after… What, three, four days?

Rose took a glance out of the windshield. "I got to shore," she said, still in an apologetic tone. "The ship's docked. You're free to go."

I looked at her. "Uh… What?" That was all? She was just gonna do that for me and let me go?

Well, now that I considered it, it wasn't that surprising. Rose had no idea how much of a favor she had done for me. But for some reason, I didn't want her to leave just yet.

All at once, the night before rushed back to me. I blinked at the floor. "Sky…" I whispered to myself. "Hey, is there something else you need to do?"

Rose smiled, and her eyes widened from their usual tired appearance. Suddenly, I realized that was how it always went when she smiled. I could see more of her eyes. They were pretty. "Nope," she chimed, "I can just leave the boat here."

"Could you go for a walk, then?" There were still a few things I had to tell her. And I could hopefully get her to tell me some things as well. "Everyone else I know is still asleep. I think."

"Hu— Huh?" she stammered. What was with her? "A— Alright, of course."

I had to squint at the sidewalk, but that was what I deserved after spending the last few days… at night. We were side-by-side, just aimlessly wandering as far as I could tell.

"Eileen said she'd take the chance you gave her," I said, hands in my pockets. "The one about redeeming herself somehow."

"Oh… Good, I guess. We'll have to wait and see until she actually…" She trailed off.

"Yeah…"

"Can you do me a favor and not tell her about this? Anything. She's gotta do this on her own."

Really? That was her idea of a favor? "I wasn't going to tell her anyway," I said.

"Oh—" She jerked upwards, but from where I was, it looked like she'd bounced. "And the constellations, those star patterns, don't tell her about them, either." Her voice fell to a whisper, and her gaze dropped to the ground. "I want that to be something kept between us."

Oh? What was she getting at here? "How much do your teammates know about them? Those… what was it, constellations?" There I was, going down that conversation topic again.

"Uh. Less than you, now." Rose looked at me and smiled. "They don't really care too much… They just picked their battle names and left it there."

I tried and failed to suppress a giggle. Her eyes were open again. "You look nice, with your eyes like that."

And then she looked away. She didn't even try to respond. We walked in silence until the next block.

Out of the corner of my vision, her pink hair was swinging like a pendulum beside her. It was just as hypnotic as it was the last time.

How did this girl reenter my life so quickly? I hadn't seen her at all since Sharktown, but after running into her underground, I couldn't seem to shake her off. Not that I was trying to, anyway.

And even before then, she made a scene at that protest.

…Right. The protest. With how frantically she'd avoided it last time, there must have been a reason she wanted to hide it.

I said that to myself, yet I brought it up anyway. "About the protest, what you… said about me…" I would've gone on, but there was nothing more to say. She knew where I was going.

"Oh, that…" Rose said, still hanging her head in the other direction. "Y— Yeah. I did say a bunch of things, didn't I?" She gave a weak laugh.

"Is that really what you think?" Like I had to ask.

We passed a lamppost to our right, and soon enough, we had already passed another. "Yeah," she admitted, in a voice almost too soft to hear. "I… yeah."

Why were we treating this like she was revealing her deepest secrets to me? She had to know I would've found this out eventually. She'd said all of that without a moment's hesitation. To the kind of public that wanted me gone, no less. Was she counting on not seeing me?

Then again, she did invite me out to the ocean.

"You think too highly of me," I said to her, as gently as I could. "I don't even know why I can do any of that."

She turned her eyes to the ground. "Do you really have to? You're great, and we both know it." A little more wind, and I wouldn't have heard her.

She really did overestimate me.

"Thanks," I said. I didn't know what else I could've said.

I knew I had "fans." There were those two that ambushed me before I went with Simon to Deepsea. And then the other Inkling who recognized me in the tower during the protest.

But hearing Rose say it… It was different. It meant more to me than random people's musings, and I knew exactly why. It was because I knew her, and somehow, she'd shot up the ranks of people who were important to me.

"You should show me around Inkopolis sometime," I said. "I know I've been up here for six months already, but… I spent most of that time in hiding."

"…Huh?" Rose looked at me, finally, with eyes wide open. Was she doing that on purpose, now?

"You know how Marina's really popular?"

"Yeah?"

"Everyone would notice if she went missing, right?"

"Um… Yeah."

"I did the opposite," I said. "Nobody would notice if I went missing. But if nobody knew I existed, nobody could… turn me in, or something. So I'm still kinda lost with this city."

I shut my eyes for a moment and sighed. Even I, the Girl With No Memory, could tell that was out of the ordinary.

Rose flashed a grin. "…I'd be glad to. When are you free?"

And to celebrate the return, we get… a pretty short chapter. Nothing really too odd. At least if you count me uploading as odd.

I'm glad to be back.