In the Sky with You

by a-shifty-sword

A Waifu Catalog Contractor isn't satisfied with how easy the default starting conditions are, and asks for a custom challenge similar to a Minecraft Modpack he played before, the Skyblock. He has to start from nothing and grow his way into power and adventures beyond his wildest dreams.

13. Day 014

For the first time ever, I'm writing this journal somewhere other than the Skyblock. And also for the first time, I'm writing it in the morning. It's currently pretty early in the morning, but the world on the other side of the portal is one pretty close to Earth. Which means arriving at midnight sucks because every store is closed and most people are asleep. So we've got time to kill until morning.

Not that we haven't been productive. But I should tell things in order.

Levy and I had done what we did last time, though we woke up just an hour ahead of the Portal opening this time. Which was more than enough time for us to eat a couple blapples(just in case we didn't get a chance to eat while in the world), bathe ourselves(individually so we weren't tempted to do anything that would slow us down or dirty us again), put on some clean clothes, grab our bags with just a few essentials in them, and get Tinks and VV into their Pokeballs in our pockets.

So we were ready when the strange blue portal opened up and I immediately used the app to check what world it was.

"Sekirei," I said out loud for Levy's benefit. Her expression twisted to mirror my own feelings as she recognized the name from our planning sessions. It was a very good opportunity in some ways, but a pretty bad one in others.

Sekirei themselves were fantastic. Decent fighters, easy to recruit, sexy, and there were several that would be game changing to get. In theory, it was one of the best possible worlds.

In practice, there were a ton of complications. First, for all that they already naturally bonded themselves to an 'Ashikabi', a master, the reality of that meant that many of them were already bonded, depending on when exactly the portal opened up. Early on many, but definitely not all, were unbound and free for interception, but even just halfway through the series would leave me with practically no options.

I was sure the Stamp would override the existing bond, but the idea of stealing Sekirei was not something I wanted to entertain. Well… there were a few assholes who forcibly winged their Sekirei. Maybe some of those. I wasn't familiar with those ones though.

So the timing was incredibly important, especially due to our twenty-four hour window. The events of the Sekirei plan took place over months, and we'd only have a small slice of that to influence. Not knowing when we'd arrive made it difficult to come up with plans.

There was also the fact that we couldn't repeat what happened in Pokemon and just trick random strangers into accepting my Stamp. Sekirei already had a system that was part of their biology where they had a Crest that would appear when they had bonded with their Ashikabi. There was a very real chance that, even if I stamped them as a familiar, it would override that Crest, making me their Ashikabi.

Which I wasn't okay with. It was one thing to 'capture' Trainers that were set as Familiars and would never be inconvenienced by the process. It was another to abandon a Sekirei who couldn't find another master after that.

So no, I couldn't Stamp any Sekirei I wasn't going to bring back with me. And with our lack of space, I was hesitant to bring back too many. Which means for all that Sekirei was a target rich environment, I'd likely only come back with a few captures.

All of which was something Levy and I had already hashed out. It was actually nice to see that our planning sessions were actually useful. The timer had started, and we didn't have to waste time talking about all of that. We just had to exchange looks to make sure we both knew what going to Sekirei meant.

So, before we stepped through, though it probably didn't matter, I immediately took out a ten Credit loan and bought Bounty Tracker. For all the downsides of Sekirei, there were a handful of Sekirei that I would love to have, and Bounty Tracker would be how I found them.

It was a bit of a risk to go ahead and pull the trigger, but we had done the math on the loan, and the risk was minimal. Just seeing who was where would make Bounty Tracker worth it, as I'd be able to tell which Sekirei had been winged and which were still available.

"Let's go," I said as the purchase went through before stepping through the portal. This time I was ready for the relative cacophony of noise that was a modern city compared to our unnaturally quiet home. It still wasn't fun, but at least I didn't feel like I was flashbanged this time.

I looked around and saw that, once again, we had arrived in an alley of some kind. I'm not sure if that's by design or coincidence, but it was convenient. It was night out, and I felt it was safe to assume it was midnight here as well(it was, I checked later).

Levy kept an eye out as I pulled up the map for this area. At first glance, the map looked like your normal GPS. But then you opened a menu, and rather than locations or traffic, it had settings for toggling people.

I hit the view all button, which would show me the location of every single person that was considered 'canon' within the city. Instantly the screen was filled with dots, each with a label above it showing a name. The spread wasn't even, so it didn't cover the whole map, but it was certainly too much for me to parse.

I navigated the settings and reduced the tracked targets down to just the big players. The main characters, major influences, and other people who I recognized. Random Sekirei that I'd never heard of or had forgotten were toggled off.

I was still left with a lot of dots on the map, but it was significantly more manageable. And most of the ones that were left were clumped together in a few places. The first person I looked for was Akitsu, a powerful Sekirei who couldn't be winged through normal means and would be fiercely loyal to anyone who accepted her.

Unfortunately, it seems that that had already happened, as her icon indicated she was in the south part of the city, in close proximity to Hayato, one of the 'great' Ashikabi, and Mutsu, one of the stronger Sekirei. The three of them were moving along a road, away from us at a speed that indicated they were in a car. She'd already been found and picked up then, which meant it was too late to recruit her.

There were two other clumps of targets on my map. One near the center of the city that a quick check revealed was the MBI building, the company in control of the Sekirei, and the other was Izumo Inn, where the main character was. Him being there meant that we weren't here pre-canon, which was worrying, but a quick check showed that of the Sekirei he would get, only Musubi was with him right now.

I felt my excitement rise as I realized that if Akitsu had been claimed but the main character only had one Sekirei, then things were still pretty early, and I might have arrived just in time for the Sekirei I wanted the most. I searched for the Sekirei I had in mind and found her immediately.

"We're moving, now," I said, striding from the alleyway with Levy on my heels.

"Which one?" she asked.

"Kusano," I said. "She's alone in a park right now. There are a few names I recognize surrounding the park though. If my memory of the timeline is right, she should have just arrived a few hours ago. A few people will know she's there, but word shouldn't have spread yet. Ideally we'll be able to slip in and talk to her without having to fight another Sekirei."

"If we do have to fight, how strong are the people we're likely to face?" she asked as we quickly walked down the street. I didn't see anyone, despite it only being midnight.

"None of the Ashikabi you need to worry about," I said. "And only a few of the Sekirei should be your match. I'll be able to recognize those on sight. The rest are inexperienced and you can overpower them anyway. I'd rather it not come to that though, if only for the attention it would bring from the people who are very aware that you're not a Sekirei."

The park wasn't too far away, but even jogging it took us twenty minutes to get there. I made us stop a few blocks away, for several reasons. First, to catch our breath. If we were going to fight, we needed to be ready. Levy was fine, the distance barely a strain for her. But I was not. Of the exercises I was in the habit of doing, training my cardio wasn't one of them.

But we needed to assess the situation more anyway. As we approached I noticed two things. First, that there were a lot of helicopters in the air with "MBI" printed on the side of them. They were large helicopters with two rotors as well, meaning they were equipped to carry a decently sized group.

And second, that all the shops around us had signs in Japanese. Which, of course they did, this is the capital of Japan. But it made me realize, or perhaps it would be better say it made me remember, that I didn't speak or read Japanese. At all. I knew a few random words I picked up just from being a weeb watching anime and reading manga, but that was it. I hadn't ever studied the language.

"Levy, can you read that language?" I asked her, pointing at a storefront with a lot of signs in its window. I knew she was skilled with languages, and I had a vague memory of some kind of oriental language existing in her world.

She glanced at it, frowning. "Yes, I can, though it's a little different from what I'm used to."

"Like a different dialect or something?" I asked.

"Maybe. It's hard to say just based on short phrases like that."

I nodded in understanding. "Alright. So the problem is that I can't read it at all. For most things that won't be a big deal. English is common here and you can translate most of the time. But Kusano…"

"You have to talk to her directly to recruit her," Levy agreed, coming to the same conclusion. "Another loan then?"

"No choice," I said with a grimace. "Just have to hope I don't fuck things up recruiting Kusano. Thankfully, Communication Talent will help with more than just speaking her language."

So as I caught my breath I used my phone to take out another 10 Credit Loan and purchased Communication Talent, which, among other things, would let me speak any language I encountered "immediately".

It was a necessary purchase. Really, it should have been necessary in Pokemon, but perhaps the Company had given me a break and made everything in English there? Either way, Japan was a common setting, and who knows what other languages I might run across. I wanted to be able to speak with people and reach an understanding with them though, so it was now or later. My hope was that I'd use it to successfully recruit Kusano and I'd be able to pay back all the loans, though it wouldn't leave me with many Credits left over.

I looked back around after getting the Talent. I still couldn't ready any of the signs, but the immediate effects only worked for verbal speech, so I hadn't really expected to. Instead, I turned to Levy. "Say something to me in that language."

"Greetings, Roland. My name is Levy McGarden, and I love you very much," she said in Japanese.

I blushed at her words, but I felt knowledge settling into my mind. "I love you as well," I replied, also in Japanese.

She beamed at me, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. But I forced myself to refocus. "Right, now that we can communicate, let's figure out how we're going to approach." I checked the map again, turning off the filtered view. Kusano was within the park, somewhere near the center. The only other tracked individuals that were nearby were three Sekirei, all of whom I recognized. Homura, Hibiki, and Hikari.

None of them were on my list and they were grouped up roughly a block away from the park. Unfortunately, they were between us and the park. Hikari and Hibiki were twins, both winged by the same person. I wasn't entirely sure what their goal was, but they often targeted unwinged Sekirei, but despite that were relaxed and even nice to winged ones. Homura considered himself a defender of unwinged Sekirei from Ashikabi or other Sekirei with ill intentions.

The twins might get in my way if I went for Kusano. Homura almost definitely would, unless he thought I was fated for Kusano or he had time to judge that I wasn't going to take advantage of her. And I didn't really want to take a chance on his judgment.

"We'll have to go around, there are two troublesome groups in our way," I said. "With any luck they're busy fighting each other. But let's take the long route, go around to the other side of the park."

"Understood," Levy agreed, and we took off. I kept a close eye as we jogged parallel to the park. The park was rectangular, and we were on one of the long edges, near the 'bottom'. But rather than lead us south to the closer edge, I led us north. I wanted us to be on more than just the opposite side of the park from the others, I wanted to be on the opposite corner.

It was another ten minutes of jogging that left me gasping for breath, but we eventually reached our destination, one block away from the park and on the opposite corner of where we were before. The three Sekirei hadn't moved, and no other Sekirei had arrived. But now that we were closer to the park, I could see what was going on there much more clearly.

I had no context for what the park looked like before, but the park I saw was a dense thicket of trees that looked like a massive pain to navigate. I also saw what looked like military vehicles with large mounted guns and the MBI logo stamped on their side. They were surrounded by armed people wearing gray that also had their MBI logo on their uniforms.

"Hey Levy, your world has guns, right?" I asked.

"What gun mages use to cast their magic?"

"Yes… but no. What those men carry are non-magical, meaning anyone can use it. It fires small projectiles faster than the eye can track. Armor can stop it or slow it down, but if either of us get hit, we'll be badly wounded or killed depending on where we are hit."

"So those men are dangerous," Levy concluded.

"I didn't think they'd be here yet, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking," I continued. "We need to slip past them without them noticing or raising a fuss."

"Let's look for a blind spot," Levy suggested, and I nodded.

It was slow work, going street by street and carefully checking to see if there were men stationed there. Every entrance to the park was definitely guarded, but we quickly realized that the stretches of walls were more lightly guarded. Eventually we found a section that didn't have any guards on it, whether due to lack of manpower or just some kind of oversight. It didn't matter.

Levy and I quickly darted across the street and towards the wall. As we approached her hand lit up with her Solid Script magic. The word "BOUNCE" appeared on the ground right next to the wall.

We both threw ourselves at it and the ground underneath the word sank down unnaturally, stretching like a trampoline rather than the solid concrete it was. And then it retracted, launching the two of us in the air.

It was all I could do not to cry out as my gut churned and my arms windmilled in the air in an attempt to keep myself upright. We cleared the eight foot wall in a single leap and then a tree branch slammed into my gut, knocking the breath out of me.

I sputtered and desperately clung to the branch even as pain shot through my ribs. I slipped though, and ended up hanging from it, arms above my head. My shoulders popped uncomfortably and my abs pulsated with pain.

"You can drop," Levy said. I looked down and saw that my feet were only a couple feet off of the ground. Levy was standing on the ground just fine, having apparently dodged all the branches.

I let go of the branch and fell the short distance to the ground, wincing as I did so. "Ow," I said. "Okay, that was awesome, but warn me next time we're gonna do some acrobatics."

She grimaced. "Right, sorry. But we got in! And I don't think anyone noticed."

"Maybe," I agreed. "But rule number one of this city? Assume MBI knows what you're doing at all times." I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked our orientation before heading in Kusano's direction.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Levy asked as she followed.

"Maybe, maybe not," I said. "The man who runs it is an eccentric. So long as we don't interfere with his goals and we play by his rules, he might find us more entertaining than annoying."

"And are we going to interfere with his goals?"

"No," I said, though it was a lie just in case he could hear. I gave Levy a look over my shoulder and she seemed to understand why questions like that were more harmful than helpful. She nodded and the two of us fell silent.

Navigating the park was pretty difficult. The trees grew so close to each other that they practically merged together. It was like a procedurally generated maze where all the paths through were just the places where the trees happened to be far enough apart to squeeze through. No wonder it would take so long for anyone else to reach this point. Finding her in that mess would be a nightmare if you didn't know where she was.

But I did know where she was, and what I saw around me was extremely encouraging. If she could turn an open park into that dense forest, then she could give us all the crops we could ever ask for. Hell, we could give her a seed of any kind of vegetable and she could probably grow it to full in minutes. The ability to turn seeds into meal ingredients on command would do wonders for our meals.

The trees only got more dense as we got closer to where Kusano was. We had to detour a lot, taking circular paths or even backtracking to find a path through the woods. I wondered how the protagonist got through so easily, but then I remembered he was right on the heels of that scythe-wielding Sekirei, and she probably just cut a path through.

When we finally got to her though, there was another problem. She seemed to be inside a tree that looked like a ring of trees that had merged together, forming a bumpy circle around her.

"Kusano?" I called out. "Are you here? We've come to help."

There was silence for a moment, and I wasn't sure she heard me. But just as I was about to repeat myself, a muffled voice called back. "A-are you with MBI?"

It was only then that it really clicked for me that this wasn't fully the Kusano I knew. I could tell from her voice that, rather than the small child she was in canon, she was instead a young teenage girl thanks to Universal Calibration.

She was similar enough in personality that things had turned out the same, but I had mentally been preparing for the little girl, that detail having slipped my mind. Still, in the end it didn't change much. I never planned on deceiving her in the first place.

"We're not," I answered. "My name is Roland, and with me is Levy."

"Hello Kusano," Levy added in a kind voice.

"Are you here to take me?" came the scared reply.

"No, we're here to rescue you," I assured her. "Would you like to know what has happened since all of this started?"

"Is Takami-san okay?"

"She's fine," I assured her. I was going off memory, but I knew she showed up later. "After you protected yourself MBI was able to save her and get her all patched up. She'll be back on her feet by morning. The Sekirei who did it and her Ashikabi ran away rather than face MBI."

At least, that was my best guess. I couldn't think of any other reason for them to retreat only for them to come back the next day to try to get Kusano again. Because there was one key difference between right now and tomorrow afternoon.

"But I'm sorry to say that MBI isn't coming," I continued. "They have no plans of retrieving you."

"What?!" Kusano exclaimed. "But why?"

"I'm afraid I can't be sure why, understanding Minaka's thought process is a bit beyond me I'm afraid," I said. "But come morning… he'll send out a message to all Ashikabi, telling them that you're here, and inviting them to come 'claim' you."

There was silence. If she reacted to that, it was too quiet to hear through the thick wall of trees. I gave her a moment before speaking up again. "Kusano? You alright?"

"Is it because I insisted we go outside?" I heard her strained voice say. Thanks to Communication Talent, the small clues were enough for me to pick up the fact that she was either crying or on the verge of doing so. "Because it's my fault Takami-san got hurt?"

"It wasn't your fault Kusano," I told her. "Wanting to go outside is perfectly normal. It's that Ashikabi who should be punished, if anyone. Minaka is just… Well he's a bit of a jerk. You did nothing wrong. That's why I'm here to save you. Before the others find out you're here, before people start fighting over you."

"H-how do you know all this?" she asked. "How do you know what he's going to do, and how did you know I was here?"

I had to make a choice then. I had no problems with telling Kusano the truth in my attempt to recruit her. It would only help, and even if I told her everything and failed to recruit her I wasn't worried about her knowing that information. But I'd prefer for MBI to not find out, if only so I could avoid the headache.

But I decided that it was pretty unlikely that they'd be able to hear what we said here, so I took the risk.

"Because that's what I do, I know things," I said. "I might not be much good for anything else beyond that, but I know things about the past, the present, and the future. I know about you, I know about MBI, and I know what could come to pass. I don't want those things to come to pass, so I've come to save you."

"By winging me?" she asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"I won't lie, I would like to become your Ashikabi," I admitted. "But I won't force it, and I'll help you even if you don't want that. I know a place where you can be safe, and I can take you there. Or you can come with me, and…" I trailed off, thinking about how I wanted to phrase this. "There are things you would need to know about me before you become my Sekirei. I'm not like the other Ashikabi. I won't be participating in the plan, and I won't be staying here in the city."

There was another moment of silence. "You won't be fighting other Sekirei?"

"Only to protect me and the people I care about," I said.

Another beat of silence passed before she spoke again. "Can you get me out of here? I might have trapped myself…"

I glanced at Levy, who nodded. "Kusano? I can get you out. Can you get really close to the ground?"

"O-okay!" she called back, nervousness clear in her voice. "I'm laying on the ground!"

Levy took a step back, making as much room as she could between her and the ring of trees. I made sure to not be between her and the tree and watched as she performed her magic. The word "DRILL" appeared in front of her at about chest level, the letters a couple feet tall.

I watched as the letters started to spin, building up a ludicrous speed that stirred up the air around it. And then it shot forward and hit the tree. There was a grating noise as the magic drilled through the wood of the tree, making slow progress. I worried a little that MBI would be able to hear it, but I hoped that the surrounding trees would absorb the noise.

If Kusano made a noise in reaction it was drowned out by the drilling. I was a little worried about scaring her, but there wasn't much else to be done, short of trying to climb over the trees somehow.

But it took only a few seconds for the drill to cut through the wood, leaving behind a tunnel within the trees. I coughed from all the sawdust that had been thrown into the air. "Kusano? You okay?"

I heard the sound of clothes rustling and watched as a blonde head poked up into view. "I'm okay," she replied, her green eyes wide and voice a little shaky. "A little dirty I guess."

"Why don't you come on through so we can talk face to face. Here, we'll back up and give you some room."

Levy and I backed up to give her some room as Kusano pulled herself into the tunnel. I wasn't doing it just to make room for her to get out, but also so she wouldn't feel like we were waiting to grab her as soon as she was within reach. I was basically treating her like a wounded animal, which really wasn't a bad analogy. Animal, human, or Sekirei, we all tended to act pretty similar when we were hurt or scared.

So we watched as Kusano crawled through the hole and carefully stepped onto the ground on this side of the ring of trees. She looked down at herself and brushed herself off, and I took a good look at her.

I wasn't very good at judging ages, but I'd put her at around 15 or 16. She was shorter than Levy by several inches and had long blonde hair that hung loosely to the middle of her back. Her face was a little round and her figure was a little curvier than Levy's, with Kusano's breasts being a bit larger despite her smaller size. And instead of the white dress she wore as a child, she was instead wearing a white school uniform with green accents, for some reason.

"Is there a particular reason behind the outfit choice?" I couldn't help myself from asking.

"I, I saw some girls my age wearing it, and I thought it was really cute…" she replied in a quiet voice.

"That's a pretty good reason," I allowed. Then, deciding to move on because it wasn't, I continued. "Now that we're face to face, allow us to introduce ourselves again. I'm Roland, and it's nice to meet you."

"My name is Levy," Levy said with a gentle smile. "And I agree, that outfit is very cute on you."

Kusano smiled, a hint of nervousness on her face but seeming genuinely happy with the compliment. "Thank you. Uhh, I'm Sekirei number 108, Kusano. It's nice to meet the both of you." She then looked at Levy. "Are you a Sekirei too?"

"Nope, I'm a mage," Levy said cheerfully.

Her eyes widened. "Like in the books I read? Magic is real?"

I had to resist the urge to point out the trees all around us that she had brought into being in just a few minutes. The powers of Sekirei were psychic in nature, but in my opinion there wasn't much of a difference between the two beyond the label used for them.

"That's part of what makes me so different from other Ashikabi," I explained. "Magic isn't real in this world. But I can travel to other worlds, like the ones described in your books, and magic is real in a lot of them."

Kusano's eyes widened and she took a step forward, closing the distance between us. "So you're from another world?"

"Yep," I said. "I'm from a world that is pretty similar to this one, and Levy is from a world that is very different."

Kusano frowned, and stepped closer. "Is that why you feel so… strange?"

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Kusano shook her head. "I'm not sure. It's just… you two feel different from the scientists and the other Sekirei. You feel… endless. Like the sky."

Levy and I exchanged looks. With Communication Talent in play I found that I could read the micro-expressions she made and better guess what she was thinking. She was just as confused as I was, but her eyes flickered to my pocket, where Tinks' Pokeball bulged slightly, and then at her backpack. I quickly reached the same conclusion that she did.

In Pokemon we had an issue where most Pokemon were skittish around us and we didn't really understand why. We had talked about it, and even tried asking Tinks and VV, but neither of them could properly articulate a response, and Levy and I couldn't come up with an explanation.

But if we just had a weird vibe to us, that could explain it. "Is it bad or uncomfortable?" I asked as Levy and I turned our attention back to her.

"No!" Kusano replied immediately before blushing slightly and subduing her voice a bit. "Actually, it's kind of nice. It's comforting, and feels like home." She shook her head. "Which doesn't make any sense because my home has always been the lab."

"No, it might make sense," I said, thinking. Sekirei, as their name and various terms related to them implied, were bird-like in a lot of ways. They lacked wings or a means of flight on their own(unless their special ability indirectly provided them one), but the affinity was there.

"You see, Levy and I live in a special world," I continued, explaining. "Our home is a small island floating in an empty sky. And I mean that it's empty. There is no ground or water below us, and no other land other than what we make. Our goal is to grow it into the perfect home we can enjoy. What you're feeling is probably a result of us being there."

It was a little concerning that it left that kind of mark on us, but that was a problem for future us to figure out.

"Wow," she breathed, once again stepping closer to us, coming about an arms length away from us. "That sounds amazing."

"You can see it, if you want," I offered. "If you accept me as your Ashikabi, it will be your home as well. But… our time here in this city is limited. By this time tomorrow, we'll be back there, for good, with no way back here."

She suddenly didn't look as excited as she did before, the smile falling from her face. "Forever?"

I hid a grimace. I'd have liked to leave that part out, but it would have been a pretty big deception. "For a pretty long time," I said. "There's a chance we can come back for short visits, but I can't control when that will happen. Eventually, probably after years, we'll be able to come back whenever we want though." The Escape Clause was something I only planned on getting once the challenge of Skyblock was trivialized, and even then it would take years to save up for it.

That seemed to mollify her a little, but not much. "So I wouldn't be able to see Shi-chan?"

I frowned at first, now knowing who the nickname referred to. But then I remembered Shiina, Sekirei 107 who was Kusano's opposite in that he controlled Decay where she controlled Life. Despite their opposite elements, they were very close. But wasn't -chan a feminine suffix?

Of course, the answer to that was obvious. Universal Calibration must have changed Shiina from being one of the few male Sekirei into being female. In fact, if I had to guess, there was a good chance that every Sekirei was female in this version of the world.

"When is Shi-chan's adjustment going to finish?" I asked.

"We were supposed to be done in a month," Kusano said. "We were going to go out together."

"Exactly a month?"

Kusano paused, thinking about it before shaking her head. "No. A little less I think."

Getting Shiina, or whatever she was named now, would have been nice. But if she was in the middle of her adjustments, the process of tuning Sekirei so that they could control their powers and not accidentally injure their Ashikabi, then that meant she was in the most secure location of the MBI building. There was no way of getting her through force, and there was nothing I could offer Minaka in return.

"You might be able to see her again later but… I'm not sure I could become her Ashikabi," I admitted. "Like I said, I won't be able to control when we arrive, so she might be winged by someone else first."

Kusano frowned, but nodded. "I- that's okay," she said. "I think it would be nice to have the same Ashikabi as Shi-chan, but we knew that it might not happen." She looked up at me. "Will Shi-chan's Ashikabi be nice?"

I gave it a moment of thought. "Yes, her Ashikabi will be a gung-ho but kind hearted young woman, and they'll get along very well," I said. I doubted anything I did would change that. It was possible, butterfly effect and all that, but I had a feeling it would work out.

She relaxed a bit at that, and I was surprised that she trusted my words so easily. Nothing I told her could really be proven, she just had to take my words on faith. And she was, without me even having to ask her too.

"Then… yes," she said slowly, nervous. She looked up at me with a blushing and timid expression, but a small smile on her face. "I think I'd like you to be my Ashikabi. I don't want to fight, and I want to see that Sky."

I capitalized Sky there because she definitely placed an emphasis on the word with how said it, but I wasn't exactly thinking much about it at the time. I was just glad I had successfully recruited the single most important Sekirei for my purposes.

I held out my hand. "I'll happily show it to you," I told her. She accepted my hand and I used it to pull her closer, leaning down. We both knew what was needed for me to become her Ashikabi. She closed her eyes as she tilted her face up towards me, and I leaned down to meet her in a chaste kiss.

Kusano's lips were soft and the scent of grass filled my nose as light burst forth from her back. I was only barely aware of that though, as most of my focus was on the girl in my arms and the lips on mine.

After a few moments I pulled back, breaking off our kiss. I was treated to the sight of a beaming Kusano, face flushed and happy.

"You never mentioned that binding them involved a kiss," Levy teased, pulling both of us back to reality. Kusano blushed harder and the two of us looked at her. Rather than annoyed, Levy's grin was filled with amusement.

"I didn't?" I asked.

"Are you two…?" Kusano started to ask, looking between the two of us with concern on her face.

"Yes," I said. "But don't worry. I have an ability that lets me… it's basically the same as winging, but I can do it with anyone," I explained.

Kusano looked at Levy. "So… he's your Ashikabi too?"

"Hmm, I guess so?" Levy replied, a finger on her chin. "From what Roland has told me about how you Sekirei work, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in the bonding process except for how long it takes."

"I'll explain everything later," I said. "For now, we should get out of here."

"Back the way we came?" Levy asked.

I shot her a grin. "Nope. We're going out one of the main entrances."

Levy looked at me with concern, and Kusano just seemed a little confused. "And MBI?"

"Won't do anything to the latest Ashikabi to join their little 'game'," I said. I looked at Kusano. "Keep the fact that I have no plans to participate secret. I can get away with a lot so long as Minaka thinks I'm playing along. I'll have to lie to him, so don't react if I tell him, or anyone else, something that contradicts what I've told you. You can always ask me about it in private."

"O-okay!" Kusano responded with an earnest nod.

"Is there an advantage to revealing ourselves?" Levy asked.

"He already knows Kusano here has been winged," I explained. "Nearly every Sekirei is implanted with tech that lets MBI track their location and status. So he knows someone slipped past his men and found her, and he'll discover us when we leave."

"So we take the initiative by not even trying to hide," Levy concluded.

"That and the MBI should provide money for living expenses and such," I added. "We spent a lot of money in Paldea, almost half of our monthly budget. And in a world like this, we'll have a lot of supplies to pick up."

Levy sighed. "I suppose that's also a benefit."

The three of us started heading towards an exit. The map on my phone had each of them marked, so we were able to head for the closest one that was on the opposite side of the three Sekirei who were still watching.

"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble," Kusano said in a sad voice as we had to double back to find another path through the trees.

"Don't be," I reassured her. "You kept yourself safe, that's way more important than a minor inconvenience."

She nodded, but she didn't really seem mollified by my answer. There wasn't much I could do to cheer her up though.

When we finally stepped out of the trees and through the park exit, we were instantly surrounded by men pointing guns at us. I had mentally prepared myself for that though, and my hands were already raised. "Hey guys," I greeted them casually.

Kusano hid behind my back and Levy raised her arms as well, mirroring me but remaining silent, trusting in me to handle this.

"State your name!" one of the men called out in Japanese, his voice calm and collected.

"Roland, no surname," I said. I had decided to abandon my surname and earn a new one when I started the Skyblock challenge. It was a clean break from my old life.

"Show me some ID," he demanded.

I flashed a grin that I hoped looked cocky. I had a certain image I needed to present after all. "Sorry, it was in my luggage, which I lost. I'm afraid I don't have anything like that on me."

The armed men were all wearing face concealing masks so I couldn't see his reaction to that, but I doubted he believed me. But then the walkie talkie on his hip squawked. He lowered his gun so he could speak into it, talking too quietly for me to make out the words.

"Stand down!" he ordered as he put the walkie talkie back on his hip. "You. Someone important wishes to speak to you."

"I'd be happy to answer Minaka's questions," I said as I lowered my hands. I immediately mentally kicked myself for it though. I was pretty sure it was Minaka, but if it wasn't it would be a huge hit to the all-knowing air I was going for.

I stewed in uncertainty as we were motioned to approach, unable to see the soldier's face to read his responses to what I said. He led us to one of the vehicles and opened the back. Inside was a lot of tech that I didn't recognize, but my attention was mostly on the monitor facing us that had the familiar face of Minaka Hiroto, mad scientist and CEO of MBI.

"Do you greet all new Ashikabi like this?" I asked, confidence restored by the confirmation that things were going as I hoped they would.

"I apologize for that," he replied, his almost manic grin not looking at all apologetic. "You see, number 108 there was involved in a bit of a situation, and we hadn't decided how we were going to handle it when we got the notification that she had been winged."

"I hope I didn't inconvenience you too much," I said, making sure to keep my face just as unapologetic as his. I needed to match his energy to catch his interest so that he'd be more inclined to let us serve as entertainment rather than view us as threats to his game.

"On the contrary, it made the decision quite easy," he replied easily. "Though I'll admit to having some curiosity about how a couple of foreigners not only entered the city without any record to show for it, but how they also managed to wing a Sekirei still undergoing adjustments who had only been outside of MBI control for a few hours, an event which was only known to a few individuals."

"For the former, you'd be amazed at the paths you can find just by doing a bit of wandering," I answered vaguely. "As for the latter… Well, I happened to be in the right place at the right time I suppose." I tapped my nose. "I'm very good at ending up in the most interesting spots."

"I see," he said. "I'm sure your friends find this a useful skill."

It took me a moment to realize he was insinuating that I was a foreign spy. "My only friends are the two right next to me," I said as I spread my arms and put my hands on Levy and Kusano's shoulders. "I'm not affiliated with anyone else, and the only interests I serve are my own."

"Is that so?" Minaka replied, seemingly amused. "Well then, Roland-kun, as our latest Ashikabi, do you have any questions?"

"I understand the gist," I said. "Fight and fight until there's only one remaining, right? A battle royale is easy enough to understand."

"I'm glad you're so quick on the uptake," he replied with a dark chuckle. "Very well, if there's nothing else-"

"There is one thing," I interrupted him. "My passport wasn't the only thing I lost with my luggage. I don't suppose MBI offers monetary compensation for Ashikabi?"

"Of course!" he replied enthusiastically. "It wouldn't do to have an Ashikabi who couldn't provide for their Sekirei. Wait there for a few moments, and someone will come by with an MBI credit card. Feel free to use it to buy whatever you need."

"MBI is truly generous," I complimented him.

"We can afford to be," was his simple boast. "Now, I'm a busy man, so I must unfortunately end this conversation here. But just know that I'm very interested in seeing how you perform in this game of mine, Roland-kun."

The screen cut off with his final statement, going dark, and I allowed myself to relax slightly. I was really putting Communication Talent to work already. But it seemed to work, and I'm pretty certain Minaka had no idea what I had planned. He should think that I'm either a foreign spy, despite my assurances that I wasn't, or someone who had a personal connection to MBI and a reason to interfere with the Sekirei plan.

So he'd be investigating me, and with Kusano by my side, the entirety of the city in his reach, and the MBI credit card telling him exactly what I buy and where I bought it, he'll have plenty of avenues to do so.

And I was perfectly fine with him knowing that information. It wouldn't lead him to the truth. In fact, I'm sure he's going to get very confused when we start shopping for things. The worst conclusion he could reach is that I planned on running away with Kusano. If he did, he'd strengthen the border patrols, and keep a close eye on Kusano's tracking. But there was no way he'd be able to predict escaping through a portal filtered from his perception.

So all I had to do was not bring Kusano to the portal or let her through until we were ready to leave for sure. That'll put a bit of a limit on what we can buy though.

Speaking of buying, I've gone on a bit of a tangent. Another soldier, or maybe the same one, told us in a gruff voice to wait there. A few minutes later a car pulled up and a woman in a suit stepped out of it. She was directed to us and she gave us the MBI VIP credit card, explaining that it didn't have a limit on it and it could provide us with whatever we needed.

She also gave us a cell phone pre-loaded with a few 'helpful contacts'. It was obviously another way to track us, but I pretended not to notice that. At a guess, MBI couldn't find any trace of my Company phone, so assumed I didn't have one, and I'd be forced to use theirs.

We left after that, and I dumped the phone into a trashcan. Tracking our location was one thing, but there was too much of a chance that the microphone was listening into us, and I needed to be able to talk about things that I didn't want them to hear.

MBI saw much of what happened in the city, but they weren't totally omniscient. They had satellites and control over the extensive camera network of the city, but a quiet conversation away from any tech they could tap into would remain private.

The newly recruited Kusano holding my hand and the MBI credit card in the other, I was ready to start loading up on supplies. Only to realize that, unlike Pokemon, stores here weren't open 24/7. In fact, most weren't going to open until nine in the morning. Considering it wasn't even two yet, we had a long time before we'd be able to start our shopping trip.

I hated wasting the time, but I decided to bring us to a manga cafe, which was one of the few things open all night long. The plan was simple; get a computer with internet access, download a ton of books, look up local places to plan our shopping later, and practice speaking and reading Japanese.

And that's where we've been for the last several hours. Kusano and Levy had spent most of the time reading manga. Kusano had found some fantasy shoujo series I'd never heard of, but amusingly Levy had found some Fairy Tail volumes and was reading them with great interest. Meanwhile I was using my phone and the computer I had paid for, courtesy of MBI, to plan things out.

Did you know that you could download Wikipedia? The entire thing, images and links included? I didn't, not before today. But I gladly grabbed a copy to put on my phone. Wikipedia wasn't the best source for detailed information, but it was a great deal better than an encyclopedia, and it would provide enough information for most of what we needed. Including how to make various kinds of concrete and the exact ratio of ingredients used in it.

I also searched around for various craft and construction books. I had to find some english websites to do it, but I was well versed in pirating PDF's from an 2020 era internet.

I also paid off the Loan I took from the Company. Of the thirty Credits I got from Kusano, I was down to just ten, which wasn't ideal, but there was no getting around it. Even if there wasn't much of an actual risk, I didn't want that loan weighing on my mind.

I spent a lot of time looking over the city with Bounty Tracker too, searching through them to see if there were any Sekirei by themselves that I wanted. But of all the Sekirei I could track, most were either in the MBI building, part of a group, or seemed to be in a residential building, likely sleeping with an Ashikabi. The only ones moving around at this time of night were people like Homura or other Sekirei who I recognized.

So the chances of getting any more Sekirei are slim. That doesn't upset me too much, Kusano is the best possible one I could have gotten, especially since this older version of her is so cute. Even as she reads her manga she always remains close to me, pressing against my side or looking over my shoulder as I work on the computer.

But the lack of Credits is a little concerning. Ten Credits won't be enough to do much back home. It'll barely cover the cost of getting another skyblock to use as a farm for Kusano. And it will delay me training with magic or some other force by another week, unless I get another loan. But I'd rather not rely on those.

Although… missions are something that are available to me, aren't they? If I'm not recruiting more Sekirei, then there's not much I have to do in this world besides shopping, which won't take the entire day. Using the remaining time to try to do a quick mission could earn me a few more Credits.

It's about six in the morning right now. The city should be waking up soon. We have our shopping planned, which is why I took the time to write this update, but I think I'll spend the rest of the time talking with Levy and picking a mission. If I can earn even twenty more credits, or even just five, I'll be able to spend next week getting started on something more supernatural, and I really want to do that.

I'll finish this entry when I have time again.

---

I'm reading back over what I wrote this morning and it feels like such a long time ago. But it wasn't really. In fact, I'm writing this on the same day, at night. It's just been pretty hectic since this morning, so a lot happened.

After I finished writing the last journal segment I checked out the missions that were available. It had completely slipped my mind while we were in Pokemon, but I had access to these Company-given tasks while the portal was open and they'd give credit rewards.

There were three different missions available and at first glance none of them seemed like something I wanted to do. They were to either acquire a Jinki(a local macguffin), steal the main character's Sekirei, or steal three Sekirei from other Ashikabi.

The latter two were just not going to happen. Even if I was inclined to steal Sekirei like that, actually doing so would be difficult. Once winged, Sekirei were bonded for life. The Stamp could override that, or so I assume, but it would take three days. And, according to the mission description, I'd have to bring them back to my skyblock with me before they'd count as stolen. That would require serious levels of kidnapping that I just wasn't into and don't think I could even pull off.

And at first, I dismissed the Jinki mission too. There were eight Jinki, and they were mystic items related to the Sekirei, able to control them to a degree. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're used in the adjustment process, or the technology used to adjust Sekirei was based on them, one of those.

So, of course, most were held by MBI, who were holding on to them extremely tightly and that wouldn't change until months from now.

But one of them was outside of their control, in the hands of an unwinged Sekirei who had fled after stealing it- Sekirei 02, Matsu. She wasn't on my list of potential recruits, not because she wasn't useful, but because… well, she wasn't useful to me. Not yet. She was the rare information type of Sekirei, and her ability was that she could mentally interact with electronics and technology.

Her hacking skill is pretty high for someone that isn't an AI, but in a Skyblock with no electricity, much less computers and an internet, she would be miserable with nothing to do. At best she could play overwatch in modern worlds we visit, but that wasn't enough of a reason to try to recruit her, even though she's cute.

But the point is, she had a Jinki and she was hiding from MBI, and I knew where she was. The mission rewarded 30 Credits, and I needed that. So, after discussing some strategy with Levy, we decided to go for it. I had a pretty solid plan that I was confident would work.

But before that, we needed to do some shopping. On the off chance that the plan went very bad, or something else came up later, we decided to do our critical shopping first. So when shops started opening up at around 8am, we left the manga cafe and went on a shopping spree, courtesy of MBI.

We couldn't get everything we wanted, if only because some of the things we wanted were really big, and I didn't want to risk visiting the portal now that MBI was keeping an eye on me. They wouldn't be able to see the portal or go through it, but they could block off the area or realize that I had some kind of portal there if they saw me going through it.

Which meant we were restricted to what we could fit in mine and Levy's bags. That was still a pretty sizable amount, but not endless.

We didn't get much food. We still had a bit of meat in the cooler back home, and we didn't have a way to keep it cold, so we only got stuff that didn't need to be kept cold. Bread, sauces, and blocks of cheese, mostly.

We avoided any fruit and vegetables, instead purchasing just an absolute ludicrous amount of seeds for those things. Kusano expressed a lot of interest when I asked if she'd like to start a farm that would feed us and picked out a ton of different food seeds.

I also let her pick some herbs and other non-food seeds, including a few different kinds of flowers and cotton. I didn't know how to process cotton into fabric, but the downloaded wikipedia probably had an answer, and it was something we could figure out eventually.

Then we picked up some toiletries, topping off our supply and adding extra to account for the new person, before heading to the hardware store.

The tools provided in the survival kit were nice and all, but we needed more. And we had to avoid anything that required a battery. I had some ideas about using Levy's magic to create gas for a generator, but we wouldn't be able to get a generator this trip.

In the end we settled for a decent selection of small tools. A hatchet, a hammer, a few hundred nails, several dozen hinges, a handsaw, a trowel for digging, a hand drill, and a few large plastic tarps. We also stopped by another store so I could grab an air pump, like the kind you use to fill your bicycle's tires, for a project idea I have.

We also tracked down an outdoors and sports store to find a new tent. Fitting three people and two pokemon into our current one would be a pretty tight squeeze. And there was always the chance I got another Sekirei here, or used the Credits to purchase someone. Until the house was built, we'd need a place for us to sleep.

The tent we purchased was big enough for four people to lay in comfortably, and we could probably squeeze six if we got a little friendly. It was fancy too, with a thick padded bottom to make things more comfortable. It didn't compress very well, but its rolled up form had straps attached so it could be worn like a backpack, and Kusano had no trouble carrying it like that.

With it being already padded, I decided that we didn't need more sleeping bags, especially since we already had two that were acting as more of a bed. The temperature on the skyblock never dipped to an uncomfortable level, even at night, especially with both of us keeping the other warm with our body heat.

So instead we just got as many blankets as we could fit in the remaining space in our bags, which was only a few. We still lacked pillows, but we had been making do without them for a while, and we didn't have room. I considered some inflatable ones, but they didn't seem comfortable at all.

Due to having to visit so many different stores for all of our stuff it was almost noon by the time we finished. Our bags weren't quite full, but there wasn't much else we could fit in there. So, shopping done, we headed to where Matsu was. Izumo Inn.

The Map provided by the Mapper perk had the location of Izumo Inn clearly marked. And even better, only a few of the cast were there. The main character and his Sekirei were both absent, and I found them pretty close to the park where Kusano was. I vaguely remembered the main character working on a construction site there, though I didn't recall why his Sekirei followed him.

Still, it worked out for me. Homura was gone as well, which only left Miya, Matsu, and Uzume in the house. I wasn't concerned about Uzume one way or the other, and Miya and Matsu were just the two I needed to talk to.

Yes, talk. The mission was to acquire a Jinki, not steal it. Levy might be able to burst in and steal it fast enough for us to run before Miya catches on. But that wasn't a chance I wanted to take, and quite frankly, I didn't think I needed to.

Levy and Kusano stuck close behind me as I knocked on the front door of Izumo Inn. "Coming!" came a voice from inside, and I patiently waited. I had already asked Levy and Kusano to remain quiet unless I asked them to speak, and I had an approach planned out, so I was ready.

Though I was immediately caught off guard when Uzume opened the door instead of Miya, who I had been expecting.

"Hi there, what is it you need? If you're looking for a room, it just got taken the other day," she said. Uzume is pretty attractive, but then again, so are most Sekirei. She had long brown hair that went down to her knees, a portion of which was tied into an off-center ponytail. She wore tight jeans that stopped at her knees and a thin and very tight sweater that emphasized her rather large breasts.

"Hello there, my name is Roland. I'm actually here to speak to two of the people who live here," I said, shifting my plans slightly. "Miya and Matsu, to be precise."

Uzume instantly stiffened, though she tried to hide it. No surprise there, as Matsu was living here secretly, and no one was supposed to know.

"Miya-san is here, but I don't know anyone named Matsu," Uzume insisted, her face hard.

"You don't need to lie to me, Uzume-san," I said calmly. Her eyes narrowed as I named her without her introducing herself. "I'm not with MBI, and I'm not here to cause trouble. In fact, I have an offer I'm hoping we can all benefit from."

"Look, I don't know who-" Uzume started, getting angry, but I cut her off.

"Matsu, you have a camera somewhere, right?" I asked, looking for a lens pointed at the door. I didn't see any, but I was sure that just meant it was hidden very well. "Have you had enough time to look me up yet?"

"I'm telling you, there's no one named Matsu in this house, and there aren't any cameras!" Uzume insisted.

"Uzume-chan? What's going on?" a voice came from further in the house. A moment later, another woman stepped into view. Miya, Sekirei 01, Goddess and Queen of the current generation of the Sekirei.

Miya had long purple hair that was tied into a neat ponytail and wore a white and purple kimono. At the moment she was also holding a ladle and wore a concerned look on her face.

"Miya-san," I greeted her, making sure I maintained control of the conversation. "I'm here to speak to you and Matsu about something important. No, I'm not from MBI, and no, there's no point claiming she's not here."

Miya's face hardened slightly, but she did a much better job hiding it and after a flash it was wiped away completely, leaving behind only a serene smile. "My, my, you're rather insistent aren't you? I suppose you should let them in Uzume, I don't think this young man will take no for an answer."

"Not until you at least hear me out," I agreed. "But I promise I won't force anything beyond that."

Uzume glared at me, but, after an uncertain look back to Miya, who nodded, she stepped aside. I nodded in thanks and entered the entry, Levy and Kusano right behind me. Kusano had grabbed onto my jacket, silently seeking support, but she hadn't said anything yet.

After we took off our shoes, Miya led us to a dining room. "I'll prepare some tea. Uzume-chan, if you could go upstairs for me and check on things?"

Uzume shot another uncertain look at Miya, her eyes glancing at us, but Miya paid it no mind, and Uzume's expression settled into grim acceptance. "Sure thing Miya-san." Shooting us another glare, she left the room. Miya left through another entrance, leaving us alone.

We took a seat at the table. Kusano kneeled, but Levy and I sat with crossed legs. I knew that I wouldn't be comfortable kneeling for any extended period of time, unused to it as I was.

Kusano tugged on my jacket. "Is… is this okay?" she whispered, clearly nervous. "They seem really upset…"

She hadn't been part of the discussion, but she had been right next to us when Levy and I planned this, so she knew what I was aiming for and why. She also knew that I was also trying to be truthful and helpful.

"It's fine," I assured her. "I just need them to take me seriously, and I didn't want to waste time. Matsu being here is a secret, but she needs to be part of this conversation, so I need to draw her out. Once that happens, we can be friendlier."

Kusano looked a little unsure still, but she nodded. I was quickly realizing that this aged up Kusano was pretty skittish. Of course, that could just be the aftereffects of her near forced-winging at the park, and seeing Tamaki attacked. Time will tell.

Miya came back into the room a few minutes later carrying a tray with a teapot and six cups. She started setting them around the table in silence, still wearing that serene smile. As she finished I heard footsteps on the stairs coming towards us. And there was more than one pair of them.

Uzume entered the room, followed immediately by the most important person here, Matsu.

Matsu had light brown hair, almost red, and two portions of it were tied into long braids. She wore round glasses on her face and a plain white dress with a strange design.

And she was the one to speak first.

"To answer your earlier question, yes, I did have enough time to look you up," she declared. "And what I found was extremely suspicious!"

"Guilty as charged," I admitted easily. She only had access to information that MBI did, since she was hacking their servers, and I had deliberately made myself look suspicious to them. "But please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roland. This is Levy, my partner. And this is Kusano, Sekirei 108, who I winged this morning. With her consent, of course."

That drew out several reactions. Matsu didn't react much at all, though she seemed curious about Levy. Uzume's eyes flickered to Kusano in surprise. And Miya also looked at Levy with curiosity.

"Matsu, Uzume, why don't the two of you sit down?" Miya suggested after a moment as she started pouring tea into the cups. "It's rude to remain standing while having a conversation."

The two of them grumbled, but did as she asked, kneeling on the other side of the table from us. Miya poured all of us tea as the rest of us looked at each other from across the table. Matsu watched us with open curiosity and Uzume with distrust. I maintained a confident and easy going smile, and while I couldn't turn to look, I assumed Levy was the same. Though Kusano was definitely nervous, I could feel it in the way she squirmed and held on to the hem of my jacket.

As Miya put the teapot down after filling all of our cups, she looked up at me. "Now, Roland-san? You said you had something important to speak to us about?"

"Before we begin, I want to confirm two things," I started. "First, is it safe to assume that MBI cannot hear any conversations that happen here?"

"The only one spying on this house is me!" Matsu declared smugly. "I wouldn't let them get their dirty fingers on any of my cameras or mics."

The other two looked slightly abashed at her words, but didn't react otherwise, already fully aware of Matsu's voyeuristic ways. I took it in stride as well.

"Second, I plan on bringing up some rather… sensitive topics," I continued. "While I don't mind either way, are you fine with Uzume being here? I don't believe she knows everything."

Three sets of eyes narrowed at me. "Who are you?" Matsu demanded. "I don't know what you think you know, or how you know it, but what I do know is that you didn't exist before today. MBI is pretty sure you're a spy."

"That's what I wanted them to think," I said. "But it's more accurate to call me…" I trailed off, thinking about it. "A wanderer who has seen much. More than should be possible by conventional logic. The past, the present, and the future."

"Bullshit," Uzume said instantly. "There's no way you can see the future."

"I've seen it," I said. "That's not the same as being able to see it. But would you like me to offer proof? I remember the story of how you met your Ashikabi. You'll need to find a better solution for her situation soon. Your current deal won't last forever. You can't trust that man."

There was a bang as Uzume shot up and slammed her hands on the table. Kusano jumped and clung to my side and I felt Levy stiffen on my other side, ready to move. Uzume's cup of tea fell over with a dull thunk, spilling the hot tea over the table, but no one paid it any mind.

"You…! You!" Uzume sputtered, tight with rage. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

"Uzume," came Miya's calm voice, cutting through the tension. I looked at Miya and saw that she wasn't smiling anymore, her face expressionless. "Don't let that tea spill onto my floor."

Uzume looked like she wanted to argue, but she backed down, anger twisting her face. She stood up to get a towel and Miya made eye contact with me.

"I'm willing to hear you out, but please don't antagonize my residents," she said cooly.

"Sorry," I apologized, meaning it. "That wasn't my intention. But there are very few ways I can prove the things I know without revealing them, and most of them are things you understandably don't want to talk about. Uzume especially." Uzume came back into the room with a towel. "But my advice was in good faith. Your situation is untenable. You have some time, but not an infinite amount."

She glared at me as she wiped up the spilt tea but didn't respond. I mentally shrugged and then moved on. I tried to help, and that was enough for me.

"If it makes you feel better, I will be revealing most of my secrets," I said.

"Secrets we'd have no way of confirming, presumably," Miya pointed out. "But perhaps we should stop talking around the issue. Uzume, you are free to stay if you wish. There's nothing truthful about me that I would not want you to hear, and anything I haven't mentioned has been only because there hasn't been a need to. However, information can be dangerous, so if you'd rather not be burdened with that, feel free to leave. I leave the choice in your hands."

"I'm staying," she replied immediately, sitting down and leaving the tea-soaked towel on the table.

"Very well," I said, already feeling tired from this conversation. "How do the three of you feel about the Sekirei Plan? Specifically, its goals?"

"Well… I do want to find an Ashikabi but…" Matsu trailed off. "The rest of it… I don't really understand."

"It's bullshit," Uzume agreed. "Fight and fight until there's only one left? I hate it. I just want to stay with my Ashikabi."

I looked at Miya, waiting for her answer. She shook her head. "The Sekirei Plan has nothing to do with me," she said.

I frowned. "Is this your way of testing my knowledge, Sekirei number one?" Uzume's eyes widened and her head whipped to face Miya, but I ignored her. "Considering the role you'll play at the end of it, I'd say that it's very relevant."

Miya's face remains passive, not showing a hint of surprise. "My apologies. You are correct, I doubted the extent of your knowledge. Still, what I said is true. While I will inevitably play a part at the end, as you said, I have no intention of interfering with the Plan one way or another before that point."

"Miya?!" Uzume asked, confused. "Wait, I thought you were just Takehito's wife!"

"I am," Miya said. "But before that I was the first Sekirei, guardian of the 107 others."

Uzume looked like she was struggling to process that. "Now, now," Matsu said. "Let's not get distracted."

"You knew?" Uzume asked her.

"All of the single digits do," Matsu explained. "At least the ones active in the early days."

I decided to get the conversation back on track as Uzume gaped at that, too shocked to say anything. "Then tell me this; what is the point? I know how it ends. But it was never clear why this chain of events was started in the first place. I know it's not necessary for your species- the previous generations didn't need it. So why?"

"You even know about the previous ones?" Miya muttered, more to herself than as an actual question. "Will you stop delaying telling your side of the story if I answer?"

"Depending on what it is," I said. "Because I'll tell you this- I have a way to potentially delay or even halt the Sekirei plan entirely. So unless there's a damn good reason, I plan on doing so and preventing all the fighting and killing to come."

All three of them were looking at me sharply with that declaration, but I steeled my spine and didn't back down. "And how do you plan on doing that?" Miya asked cooly.

"Tell me the purpose of the Sekirei plan, and if it's not good enough, I'll explain who I am and how I can stop it. If there's a good reason, I'll accept that, and I'd rather not reveal all of my secrets."

Uzume looked like she wanted to protest that but she controlled herself. Matsu's brow was furrowed, lost in thought. But Miya was giving me a searching look, one I returned, showcasing my unwillingness to back down.

She broke eye contact first, eyes falling to the table as she took a sip of tea before speaking. "Truthfully… I do not know," she said. "Whenever Minaka was asked that same question he always gave vague answers about the Age of Gods and Ascension. My best guess is that he's using it to determine who most deserves to control the Jinki, but even that theory has flaws."

She looked back up to me, and this time her gaze was more piercing. "But that's why you're here, isn't it? That's your plan for stopping things. You want Matsu's Jinki."

The other two gasped, whether because Miya casually revealed their hidden treasure, stolen with great difficulty from MBI, or at the boldness of such a plan.

"Yes," I said.

"And you know what they are," she said.

"Probably not as well as you do, but enough," I confirmed. "I know one by itself is dangerous, and all eight together are potentially apocalyptic."

"Wait, what?" Uzume asked. "I know I helped steal the thing, but all I knew was that it was important. How is it that dangerous?"

"Why don't you explain, Roland-san?" Miya suggested.

"Have I not proven my knowledge enough?" I asked before shaking my head. "But I don't mind. There are eight Jinki, each one coming from one of the ships bearing 108 Sekirei landed when they originally arrived here on Earth."

"There are more Sekirei?!" Uzume asked in shock.

"There were," I specified. "You all arrived several hundred years ago. But your ship didn't come down onto land. It fell into the sea. So while the other Sekirei emerged, you continued to slumber until an island was formed under you and you were pushed out of the sea. But in the meantime, those other Sekirei emerged, found their Ashikabi… and fought wars with each other. All of them fighting for the Jinki. I don't know the details of those wars, but it's easy enough to guess that the worst never came to pass because the eighth Jinki, the one in your ship, was beyond their reach."

"But why were they fighting over the Jinki?" Uzume asked. "And what is this worst case scenario you keep hinting at?"

"The Jinki are closely tied to the Sekirei. Specifically to their cores. It is able to manipulate them to a degree. I don't know everything it can do, but it can remove the restrictions that were placed on all of you by MBI. Or it can be used to turn your core off, terminating you. Or reversing that process. And if you bring all eight together… you can do that to every Sekirei core, no matter the distance."

Matsu, who apparently didn't know this, and Uzume stiffened. "That means-" they started, but I shook my head.

"It's even more serious. Those other Sekirei, the ones in the past? They had children with their Ashikabi. And those children grew up and had children with other humans. And so on and so on for hundreds of years. And traces of that Sekirei DNA persisted. In fact, all Ashikabi of this generation are descended from those original Sekirei."

"It's impossible to know how many humans today have traces of Sekirei in their blood," I continued. "But one thing's for certain. If the Jinki were used in that manner, not only would all Sekirei be terminated, so would countless humans."

A small frown, more an expression of distaste than anything else, was all that crossed Miya's face. She was well aware. But this was news to Matsu and Uzume, and the two of them paled. "And we've been keeping that here?" Uzume whispered in horror.

"Under Miya's protection is the safest possible place," Matsu explained with a shaky voice before turning to Miya. "Is- is it really that dangerous?"

"Everything he has said has been accurate," Miya confirmed, unshaken. She took another sip of her tea and looked back at me. "You know what the Jinkis are. You don't approve of the Sekirei Plan. And you plan to stop it… how?"

"Minaka cannot enact Stage 4 of the Sekirei Plan without all eight Jinki being available," I said. "Without all eight being placed in the proper spots, all Ashikabi brought to the stage for the fourth match will perish. It will halt there, and the ending will never be reached. So, to stop the Sekirei Plan, all I have to do is get rid of one Jinki, and make sure Minaka knows it is gone."

"Impossible," Miya denied instantly. "They can't be destroyed. It has been tried many times throughout history. And there is nowhere on Earth that you can hide it that MBI won't track down eventually."

"Then it's a good thing I don't plan on hiding it on Earth," I said with a grin, causing the three of them to look at me strangely. "This is the part where I reveal my secrets. My name is Roland, and I'm not from this universe."

I didn't mind telling the truth. I'd be gone from this world soon enough, and I didn't see a way telling them could backfire on me. Maybe Higa, the man that was blackmailing Uzume, would find out. But I don't think he'd believe it, and even if he did he wouldn't act on it fast enough. And even then, we'd be able to get away fast. I was checking Bounty Tracker periodically, his group included.

I was met with stunned silence. "Like… you're an alien?" Uzume asked.

"I'm from an alternate version of Earth, originally," I explained. "I'm not sure if that qualifies me as an alien. But that Earth is no longer my home. My home is… a special domain owned entirely by me. It's a world between worlds with very little in it, but I'm slowly growing it. Once a week I can venture out into other worlds, but I have a time limit. Once that time limit runs out, that's it, I'm forced back."

"That is ridiculous," Uzume scoffed.

"Would that be an isekai?" Matsu wondered. "A multi-isekai?"

"It's true!" Kusano spoke up for the first time. I hadn't planned on having her help convince them but I didn't say anything and let it happen.

"How do you know?" Matsu asked. "You were just winged this morning. You have to admit, it sounds crazy."

"Can't you feel it?" she asked, voice confident. "He told me the place he lived was a floating island in an endless Sky, and I believed him because I can feel that Sky on him."

Once again, three sets of eyes focused on me, but this time it was with disbelief and curiosity. Miya's expression was the first to change, her eyes widening slightly as she picked it up, eyes flickering to Levy, who had remained silent but also carried that same feeling.

Matsu's brows furrowed a moment later, like she wasn't sure she was sensing, and her gaze intensified. Uzume frowned, her expression turning confused and unsure.

"If you'd like more proof… Levy here is not a Sekirei. She's a mage from a world totally unlike Earth, where magic is something one tenth of the population can do and filled with story-like adventures. Levy?"

Levy raised her hand and wrote the word "LIGHT" in the air, creating a lightsource that did slow circles through the room. Miya and Uzume watched it with interest and curiosity, but Matsu was staring at Levy with widening eyes.

"L-Levy McGarden?" Matsu stuttered. "From Fairy Tail?"

It was only then that I realized the implications of letting Levy read Fairy Tail. It wasn't the information that she'd gain from it like I had thought. No, the real implication was that it meant that people here in Sekirei knew Fairy Tail and could recognize her.

It hadn't been immediate because she had attracted so little focus so far, and Levy was admittedly not one of the main cast members, even if she was fairly major. She was also wearing an outfit she got in Paldea, not her 'default' one. But her appearance and her magic are both rather iconic.

Levy looked at me, unsure. We met eyes, and I could see the question in hers; should she confirm that?

"What do you mean, Matsu?" Miya asked. "Do you recognize her?"

"She looks just like a character from a manga!" Matsu insisted. "And she can do the same magic!"

After thinking about it, I nodded, giving Levy the go ahead. Denying it wouldn't help, but confirming it would. If I had a 'fictional' character here with me, then it would lend a lot of weight to my words.

"That's right," Levy confirmed. "My name is Levy McGarden, and once upon a time I was part of Fairy Tail. But now I've joined Roland in his journey to grow his home and visit different worlds."

A huge, nearly manic, grin grew on Matsu's face. "Does that mean, the worlds I read about… they're all real?!"

"All worlds are real," I said, taking over. "You may view them as fictional in this one, but the multiverse is an infinitely big place. Everything exists."

Matsu started breathing heavily, excited, as Levy spoke up again. "Though I will say, I read the Fairy Tail manga this morning, and there are some differences between what is in it and what I remember. The broad details are the same, at least the ones I knew about, but some of the details are different."

"You read the entire thing that fast?" I asked. "I meant to ask you how far you got, but I was busy. I thought we'd talk about it over dinner or something."

"I used my Gale-Force Reading Glasses," she explained, referring to her magic glasses that let her read books several times faster. "I wanted to make sure I finished in time. And I would definitely love to discuss it with you later, so we could compare-"

The next second was a blur in my memory, but it was easy to piece together afterwards. I had turned, looking at Levy, but from the corner of my eye there was a flurry of movement and a banging sound, causing me to flinch.

And then something soft and warm was knocking me back and there were lips on mine. My eyes focused on Matsu's face that was suddenly very close to mine, and I noted how behind her was a great flash of light, and then I finally understood what was happening.

Matsu had winged herself on me, making me her Ashikabi.

The light faded… but Matsu was still kissing me, and if anything she was pressing herself even more against me. Her tongue brushed against my lips, but before it could go further, my instincts screamed out that I was in danger.

"Matsuuuuu," said a cold and sinister voice from behind her. Matsu instantly yelped and sat up straight, looking over her shoulder with fear on her face. I leaned to the side to see past her and spotted Miya… but all was not well. Despite her cheerful smile, Miya was somehow exuding a visible aura of darkness, and inside that darkness was a threatening mask that instilled fear in me.

My mind instantly started racing, trying to understand what was happening. I had always thought the mask was just a manga thing, something to represent a feeling she gave off, but it was a clearly visible phenomenon. Was it real? An illusion? Could it hurt me?

"There are to be no inappropriate sexual acts in the Izumo Inn," Miya insisted in her ominous voice.

"R-right," Matsu said. "Sory Miya. I got carried away."

"I'll say so," I commented, still reeling a little as I came to terms with the unexpected recruitment. My eyes glanced around the room at the others. Kusano was wide-eyed and seemed stuck between fear and happiness, probably afraid of an attack still but glad I winged another Sekirei. Levy had her hands half-lowered from where she had presumably had them up, her expression a little nervous but mostly happy. Miya had retracted her threatening aura, and Uzume was just looking at Matsu, her mouth agape in shock.

Matsu looked down on me, a teasing smile instantly growing on her lips. "I couldn't help myself! I couldn't pass up a chance to see all those different worlds!"

I sighed, but made no effort to get up. "I'm not opposed… but you probably should have listened to more details first."

She paused. "Oh… I guess I don't know much about it, do I? Well, I'm sure it's not too bad-"

"We don't have any computers," I said, ripping the bandaid off, and she froze. "We've actually really just begun and sleep in tents most of the time. We don't even have electricity, much less an information network. And I can't choose the worlds we go to, it's random. I can revisit worlds, but my ability to do so is limited, and it might be a long time before I can come back to this world. And now that I'm your Ashikabi, you're linked to me. Neither of us has a choice in you coming with me. When the portal closes, you're being pulled through it, no matter what."

The room was quiet as Matsu processed that, her face frozen. "Umm. Well…." she said, before falling quiet.

"Oh, Matsu…" Miya said softly, part pity and part exasperation.

"It'll be fine!" Matsu insisted. "If you don't have computers… I'll just have to make some! I can make my own internet! And I can still see the other worlds, right?"

"I'll be counting on your help for them," I agreed, accepting the reality of the situation. "Though, for now, I'd like to get up."

Matsu shifted back into her playful mood, uncertainty instantly forgotten. "Oh? You don't like someone else being on top?" She shifted her hips in a suggest manner, rubbing herself on me.

"Matsuuuuu," came the expected response for Miya, and Matsu instantly stiffed and scrambled off of me, sitting in a proper kneeling position facing Miya.

I rolled my eyes before sitting up. "It's not the time or place," I told her. "Ask me again later though."

Uzume snorted in amusement and Miya looked at me with slight disapproval, but Matsu was cheered up and pressed against my side.

The room was off balance then. Matsu and Levy were to my right and Kusano, who looked like she was still trying to catch up to what happened, was to my left. That left only Uzume and Miya on the other side of the table. The balance of the room had shifted.

"Hopefully Matsu's outburst helped convince you I'm telling the truth," I said. "Only me and the people connected to me can go through the portal, or even see it. If I take a Jinki there and leave it, it will be impossible for MBI, or anyone else really, to retrieve it. Even when we come back, so long as we don't bring the Jinki, that can't change. The same is true for any Sekirei I take with me."

Uzume's brow furrowed, but she remained quiet, thinking about something. Miya also looked thoughtful. "If what you said is true… then yes. The loss of a Jinki would prevent Minaka from continuing with the plan. It would ruin his 'game'. He would likely extend the first or second phase indefinitely as he searched for it. Though some Sekirei would keep fighting each other, I'm sure."

"Musubi would," Matsu confirmed. "Unless…" She turned to me. "Do you think you could take two more people? An Ashikabi and his Sekirei? They live here, though they're both out right now, and I'm sure they'd want out."

"Minato and Musubi," I said, naming them. "Do you really think that's true? Minato barely has any idea what's happening and it'll be months before he comes to grasp the situation. All he wants is to get into that University. And Musubi has a promise to keep with Karasuba. If offered a chance to escape she'll have no interest in it."

And I also really didn't want them in the Skyblock, but that felt rude to say about two people who I'd never 'met'.

Matsu grimaced. "That's… true. I guess we shouldn't try to force them either."

"How about me?" Uzume said, causing my eyes to snap to her. Her expression was deadly serious, her eyes nothing like the cheerfulness from before, or even the anger and suspicion she had for me earlier. They were fierce and determined. "If you know about my Ashikabi, then I don't need to explain. If you can use your magic-whatever to heal her, and if you can bring us away from this game, I'll give you anything."

If I'm being honest, her intense stare and determined declaration was a little unnerving, and I wasn't entirely sure how to respond at first. But a dozen reasons not to accept her came to mind, and I opened my mouth to say as much, but Levy cut me off.

"Roland, before you answer, can we talk a bit in private?" she asked.

I looked at her in askance, but she just smiled at me. So I nodded. I trusted Levy's judgment, and if she wanted to talk to me about this decision, I'd hear her out.

"Please excuse us for a moment," I said as the two of us stood up. "Kusano, you can answer any questions they have for you truthfully, I don't mind." Kusano looked a little confused at that, but nodded. "We'll be right back."

Levy and I headed back to the entryway, far enough away from the living room that we could have a whispered conversation without being overheard. Matsu's cameras might have still been able to pick us up, but with her as my Sekirei now, I wasn't too concerned about that.

As we came to a stop Levy gave me a look. "You were about to say no," she said in a quiet voice. "Why?"

"Because there would be too many people," I explained. "The blapple tree only has five fruit a day, and accepting the two of them would bring us up to six people and two Pokemon."

"We have Kusano now," Levy pointed out. "And we've bought enough food to feed everyone even without those fruits, at least until the next portal opens up. Food isn't a concern."

"Space is though," I argued. "More blocks are expensive at this stage, when there's so much else we could buy that would help us earn credits."

"We'll buy a bigger tent and let the two of them use the smaller one," Levy countered. "We can't fit four of us in the current tent anyway. We have room for that much, and with the extra hands building the house will go much faster and we'll have plenty of room."

"She already has an Ashikabi!" I said, a little forcefully but still keeping my voice down. "I don't want to get between them."

It wasn't a good argument, and I regretted it as soon as I said it. A look of realization came over Levy's face. "You don't want anyone there that won't be part of your harem," she guessed.

I grimaced. I didn't want to admit it, but she was right. "Is that so bad?" I asked weakly.

But she shook her head. "No, not at all. The Skyblock is your home. It's not strange at all to only want to invite your family and loved ones to it." She paused. "Tell me about her and her Ashikabi. I don't think you went into any detail about them during our planning. Her Ashikabi is the sick girl, right?"

"Yeah," I said, calming down. "I don't know with what, but she's been hospitalized her entire life. Shortly after Uzume helped Matsu escape from MBI, stealing the Jinki in the process, she came across Chiho in a park near the hospital, and it was love at first sight. Unfortunately for both of them, the hospital is one of the only ones in the area that can treat her, and it's owned by a man named Higa… something or other. Another Ashikabi, and one of the worst ones."

Never let it be said that Levy wasn't smart. "He's blackmailing them," Levy guessed, seeing where it was going.

I nodded. "I don't know how bad it is right now, but he'll use her as a sacrificial pawn, having her eliminate other Sekirei at no risk to himself. And she's good at it. Her power is that she can control cloth, and at first that might not sound very impressive, but her success speaks for itself."

"I can see a lot of uses for a power like that," Levy said. "Especially if we can get our hands on some special cloth."

"I guess," I admitted. "Someone good with cloth isn't high on the priority list, but it would certainly be useful. But-"

"How does their story end?" Levy asked.

"In the short term… poorly. The longer it goes on, the more guilty she'll feel. The secret will come out as well, and she'll run from this place. The others here will learn more about what's happening and will stage a rescue, transporting Chiho to MBI who can also take care of her, and has agreed to for whatever reason. They'll succeed, but as they flee Higa's Sekirei… Uzume will be terminated."

"We have to let her come with us then," Levy insisted. I opened my mouth but she cut me off again. "You'll have to Stamp Chiho, right? To heal her?"

"Kusano might be able to do it," I said. "It depends on what Chiho's condition is. And how Kusano's healing works. It should be enough… but yes, Stamping and getting Body Tune-Up is the only way to be sure. And it's something we'd need to get sooner or later. I guess I can just Stamp her with the intention of her becoming a Familiar."

"Or a Companion," Levy suggested. "I know you don't want to steal either of them away from the other, and I'm glad you feel that way. But is there any reason you can't just make them both fall for you? They'd maintain their relationship, but they'd also be part of your harem. They'd be happy and free of this game and that blackmail, you'd be happy because you've helped them and there are more girls for you to love, and we'd be happy to see you happy and to have more people that make you happy. Everyone wins."

I couldn't bring myself to argue against Levy's logic. She was right, of course. I had been hesitating because well… I'm still getting used to this whole Contractor thing. I know what I signed up for, but dealing with it in person has been surprisingly daunting.

But there was no denying how much I liked the sound of the picture she was describing. I was a hot blooded male after all, and the idea of getting it on with two girls who were also into each other was something I had often fantasized about.

"...alright, we'll agree," I said, giving in. I couldn't think of any arguments against doing so, not except the moral ones which would have felt hollow at best, and hypocritical at worst.

Levy's face lit up with a smile and she stood on her tiptoes so she could give me a small kiss on the lips. "You won't regret it," she promised.

I didn't answer that and just nodded. But that seemed to be enough for her, and the two of us headed back into the dining room.

"-hasn't touched me like that, no," I heard Kusano say as we approached the room. I sighed as I realized what she was talking about and stepped in the room.

"Really?" Matsu asked before she noticed me.

"I winged her this morning after she went through an extremely scary event," I said. "And even if that hadn't been the case, I don't see any need to rush to that kind of thing. We'll go at a pace that everyone is comfortable with."

Kusano relaxed as she saw me enter the room, and I patted her on the head as I sat down. She clung to me, giving me a hug and not letting go.

"So if I said I was comfortable with immediately-" Matsu started.

"We'll talk about it later," I cut her off. "In a more appropriate location and time, and not in a place with a scary landlady who has forbidden such things."

"Ah, good idea," she admitted. Miya glared at the two of us, but it was half hearted and felt more in jest than anything.

"So?" Uzume asked, eyes still serious.

"Just to make it clear, this is a permanent choice," I said. "And right now, with this many people, things will be a little cramped. We're working on growing, but there are other things we have to put our resources into first. We also just started, so we don't have many basic amenities you might be used to. We do have a toilet and a bath though."

"That doesn't matter," Uzume insisted. "So long as Chiho and I can live together without this Sekirei plan hanging over our heads, that's all I want."

"I can provide that, but it will be your home forever. That's a big commitment. It's possible that at some point in the future you'll be able to move to the world of your choice, but I can't even guess how long that would take. Years, at the very least."

"I said I'd do anything, didn't I?" Uzume said. "I'd even give you myself if it meant Chiho could be healthy and happy."

"And would you be happy if I took you up on that?" I asked. "Would that be any better than your current situation?"

She paused, and then shook her head. "No. But the fact that you asked me that proves that I can safely make that offer to you. That and the way you've treated Kusano and Matsu."

I didn't entirely agree with her assessment. Especially since I was being a little deceiving. But I didn't want to push her away, and she had more than proven that she understood the decision she was making and was okay with it.

"I won't ask that of you," I agreed. "Just help us and contribute. And come with us to other worlds. You'll probably be our strongest fighter, and some worlds might be dangerous."

"Uzume is stronger than Levy?!" Matsu said, surprised.

I frowned, thinking. I looked at Levy but she just shrugged, not knowing how strong Uzume was. "It would be a close fight I think," I finally said.

"So we have a deal?" Uzume asked, seeking confirmation.

"We do," I said. "I'll heal Chiho and bring the two of you back to my home, and you'll assist in our efforts there."

A giant smile broke out on her face. "Let's go right now!" she said, standing up.

"Not yet," I said. "We need to plan this out. Higa won't just let her go without a fight."

Miya chimed in for the first time in a while. "Higa?"

Uzume grimaced. "My Ashikabi is sick, and the hospital she's staying in is owned by another Ashikabi, Higa. He's a bastard who is collecting as many Sekirei as he can, treating them like tools. But if I don't agree to do what he says, he'll stop treating Chiho. He hasn't asked me to do anything yet except to tell him about any unwinged Sekirei."

The temperature in the room dropped a couple degrees. "I see," Miya said, anger barely hidden. "What an awful man."

"We'll have to see if we can't do something to slow him down before we leave," I said. "But we don't have the manpower to fight him directly."

Uzume shook her head. "Between him and his assistant, they already have six Sekirei. I could take on any one of them, but they're rarely alone." She looked at Matsu. "One of them is also an information type like you."

"There goes my plan to hack into all of his accounts and ruin his life," Matsu said with a frown. "I could probably beat her, but she could delay me long enough that I'd run out of time."

"If we can terminate her, he'd lose a massive advantage," I said. "The other Ashikabi will be able to handle him if he acts up."

"Terminate?" Levy asked. "Isn't that a little extreme?"

"Sekirei biology is a little different," Matsu explained. "It's possible for one Sekirei to basically 'un-wing' another one without harming them. The unwinged Sekirei do fall into a coma, but they don't die. MBI will take care of them after that, and then…" She frowned. "I'm not sure what."

"The winner of the Sekirei plan would be able to do with them as they please," I explained. "For better or for worse. With the Jinki they can be revived in an unwinged state, but their memories will be affected. In the future, we'll come back and set things right, when we're strong enough to do so in just a day. In the meantime… the Ashikabi and their Sekirei will have to fend for themselves, just as they did before, but this time there won't be anything pushing them to have to fight."

No one looked particularly happy about that, and I didn't blame them. But it was the best option we had, so no one disagreed.

"So how are we going to do this?" Uzume asked after a moment, breaking the silence.

"Matsu, does MBI have a method of tracking us that isn't through tracking Kusano's location?" I asked.

"They can manually track you using the cameras," she said. "In fact, they're already doing so. They're very suspicious of you."

I frowned. "Do you think you'll be able to hide us from them while on the move? I don't want them interfering or finding the portal location, and we'll have to leave in a hurry after getting Chiho."

"I think they already suspect where it is," Matsu said. "Or at least, they should by now. They'll have looked over the footage and found you. I could search for that data and erase it, but they might have written it down somewhere, or they'll remember. But us, with a Norito I can probably keep them from tracking our movements for a bit, but it won't be subtle."

A Norito was a Sekirei's special move. Really, it was just their normal ability but boosted to far greater strengths, and it required them to kiss their Ashikabi and recite a chant. Noritos are why Winged Ashikabi are much stronger and more of a threat than unwinged ones.

In general, at least. There are some outliers. Most of the single digits, for example, were a major threat to any other Sekirei without needing a Norito.

"Matsu, I'll need you to confirm what MBI suspects about the location we arrived at. I'll show you where the portal is before I leave. If they haven't traced the footage yet, delete it. If you can't tell if they have or not, leave it alone. Maybe delete a random portion of our shopping trip today, throw in a false lead towards that spot."

"Can do!" Matsu said.

"After that we'll start making a plan of attack. We'll get a list of Higa's Sekirei, all the information about them that we can, and figure out where they are. With any luck, only one or two will be at the hospital and we can take them out before running."

"And do you plan on bringing the Jinki with you when you rescue her?" Miya asked, speaking up for the first time in a while."

"Unless Izumo Inn is between the hospital and our portal, I plan to, yes. Why?"

"MBI can track the location of the Jinki," she said. "They'll know as soon as you move it."

"What?!" Matsu shouted. "I've never seen anything like that!"

"You've never found any information about the Jinki, correct?" Miya asked, unphased by Matsu's outburst. "I'm sure they keep it more secure. I assure you though, they definitely can. It gives off a unique energy that they have spent a large amount of time and effort studying."

"Doesn't that mean they've known where I've been the entire time?" Matsu realized, voice nervous.

"Yes, but they wouldn't dare chase you here," Miya agreed. "Besides, Minaka was not as upset over your theft as you seemed to think. The plan was always to distribute them, albeit much later in the Sekirei Plan. The loss of one was inconvenient I'm sure, but not worth angering me, and it would end up in an Ashikabi's hands eventually."

Matsu slumped onto the table. "So I've been living like a hikikomori for nothing?"

"I'm fairly sure I remember you frequently declaring that you'd like nothing more than to stay in bed all day," Miya replied with a small smile.

"Fighting off foreign armies is tiring work!" Matsu protested. "That's completely different."

Miya smiled at Matsu's antics, and I took the chance to cut in. "Thank you for the information, Miya. In that case…" I frowned, thinking about it. "I can hide the Jinki somewhere they can't track it, but they'll still know something is up when it disappears, right?"

"I can't say how close they're paying attention to it, but presumably yes," Miya said. "Though I wonder how you intend to hide it without even knowing about it beforehand. Lead, or any metal that I'm aware of, is incapable of blocking it."

"Easy," I said, pulling out my phone and opening the Catalog. Matsu's eyes instantly latched on the unrecognized piece of tech, but I ignored her and made two purchases- Pocket Space and Body Tune-Up, the latter of which I'd need for Chiho so I just got it while I had the app open.

"Kusano, can you give me the tent?" I asked. She had taken it off of her back while we were sitting down. She reluctantly let go of me with a nod and picked it up from the ground next to her, passing it to me. Once it was firmly in my hands I used the new app on my phone to push it into my new Pocket Space.

There were some widening eyes as the tent disappeared. "A Pocket Space, also known as hammerspace or pocket dimensions. I don't need to block any energy if it's technically not in this world."

"What is that?" Matsu asked, staring intently at the phone in my hands. "I can't connect to it at all!"

"A special device that lets me do the things I do," I said. "I'll give you the full rundown later, when we have more time. Which we'll have plenty of after we get Chiho out of the hospital."

"A thought occurs to me," Miya interrupted. "Shouldn't you be asking Chiho-san if she wants to go on this one way trip with you?"

""She'll agree,"" Uzume and I said at the same time before giving each other a look. I smirked, glad that I had such a good read on these people, and Uzume seemed to relax a bit.

"I see," Miya replied. Then she looked over at the clock. "Oh my. It seems our talk has taken much longer than I anticipated. Roland-san, Levy-san, will the two of you be staying for lunch?"

"If you don't mind," I said. "Especially since it will probably be Matsu's and Uzume's last meal here."

The mood dropped a bit at that, and for a second I regretted speaking up. But on the other hand, it wasn't something that should be glossed over in my opinion.

"The Izumo Inn is going to suddenly get much quieter," Miya said, a hint of wistfulness in her tone.

"Minato-san will liven it up, I'm sure," I reassured her.

"Is that so?" she replied with a small smile. "I'll have to make sure he behaves then." With that she stood up and exited the room, leaving just the people who would be in another world by the time dinner came around.

There was an awkward silence hanging over the room, but I had one more thing to say. "Uzume and Matsu… There's nothing else we have left to do in this world. After lunch we'll put together a plan and then we'll put it into action, booking it to the portal once we have Chiho. These are the last few hours you'll spend here for a long time. If there's anyone you want to say goodbye to, this is your time."

Matsu shook her head. "Just Miya-san," she said. "Homura-san knows I'm here as well, but we aren't close. And I think saying goodbye would just slow us down. He wouldn't believe you at all, and he'd try to stop us."

Uzume nodded in agreement. "He would. Chiho is the only one important to me. The others… Miya can tell them. We haven't gotten that close, they won't be broken up about it. Especially if she tells them I'm just with my Ashikabi in a safe place."

I nodded. "When you pack up your stuff, only take the important things. We'll have to do the entire rescue with you carrying your stuff, so pack lightly. Sentimental things only."

"But what about all my computers?" Matsu asked.

"Bring one laptop," I said. "We'll get a gas generator sooner or later and you'll be able to charge it then, but we're not running something like that just to power a bunch of computers without internet access."

Matsu's brow furrowed. "I'll have to move some files around…" she muttered. "Can't you just put them in your hammer space? For later?"

"I have a pretty limited amount of room in there," I explained. "And we might need to put Chiho in there to get her out without straining her."

"Is that safe?" Uzume instantly asked. "Is there like… air in there or something?"

"Time doesn't move within the space," I answered. "From her perspective it would be more like teleportation."

"And there's no chance of it failing? Or of something going wrong?" Uzume asked, worried.

"So long as I'm not killed she'll be perfectly safe," I said.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're not just saying that to encourage me to protect you, right?"

"The phone is connected to me on a deep level," I explained. "The pocket space is controlled through the phone. You're not doomed if something happens to me, Levy can use it as well, but only for a short time after my death. And the Skyblock will likely disappear after a while as well. So, while no, I wasn't lying to you just to get you to protect me. But now that you mention it, you probably should."

"I'm suddenly less sure about this…" she said. "What happens if you die of old age?"

"I'm unaging," I said. I wasn't, technically. But Everlasting Talent was cheap and I'd pick it up sooner or later, and it would make it true. "And anyone who joins me is as well. At least, once they hit adulthood."

"That's…" Uzume said, trailing off. "You're just going to keep dropping crazy things like that as if they were nothing, aren't you?"

"Probably," I admitted. "Resurrection is possible too, even if I die. But I'd rather avoid it if I can."

"I can't imagine why," Uzume said with a roll of her eyes. "Fine, I'll trust you to put Chiho in that pocket whatever. At least that way she won't be in the line of fire."

"I won't disappoint your trust," I promised.

Not long after that Miya came back into the room carrying a variety of dishes and we enjoyed a simple lunch. The others asked us questions about the Skyblock, fascinated by the details. Sekirei must really have an affinity for the Sky because none of them seemed perturbed at all by the idea of an infinite one.

Matsu spent most of lunch muttering and half distracted, and I was pretty sure she was connected to her computer's upstairs, remotely controlling them as she did her own prep.

After lunch, all of us piled upstairs and through the secret door into Matsu's room, which looked like it came straight from a 90's movie about hackers. Dozens of screens displayed different feeds, some maps, some video feeds, and others were just strings of code that I couldn't make heads or tails of.

Between Matsu's hacking of MBI records and my Bounty Tracker app, I was able to get a pretty good idea of what was going on.

First off, yes, MBI had traced the footage of me and Levy back to the alleyway where the portal was and were investigating the area. On the bright side, they were looking for sewer entrances, hidden basements, or other places I could have hid or traveled, and not… well, a portal. And better, they had only sent a small and discrete investigation force rather than block off the area. It would paint the area as very suspicious when we fled there later, but I didn't really care about that.

The other good news was that the portal wasn't too far away from the hospital, residing in the same section of the city instead of on the other side of it. It was a distance I could run, now that I had Body Tune-Up. Or so I guessed.

Speaking of that. You'll notice how I didn't mention anything about the changes when I purchased it. That's because, when I purchased it, I didn't notice anything. But later, when I got up, I noticed that moving was much easier. A quick self inspection showed that my body had indeed changed without me noticing a thing. What was once lean muscles with just a hint of definition was now powerful chiseled muscle that surpassed even most pro athletes.

I couldn't exactly test out the effectiveness of my new strength, but I had enough faith in the Company that they weren't going to fuck me over on the stamina front and judged that I could make a running retreat if need be.

We also found out that, despite the fact that I rescued Kusano, something was going down at the park. MBI didn't have any reports on it, and the vague satellite views that Matsu could get without drawing attention weren't helpful. But there were a few Ashikabi in the area with their Sekirei. This number included Minato and Musubi, Seo and his two Sekirei, Homura, and some Sekirei I vaguely recognized but couldn't remember anything about.

None of them were Higa's Sekirei though. Most of those, at least the ones currently winged by him and his assistant, were at the office building that was the headquarters of a pharmaceutical company that was MBI's biggest, and only real, competition.

Honestly, the fact that they were managing to compete at all when MBI had been cheating by researching Sekirei technology for over a decade was extremely impressive.

But it was this company that Higa was the heir of and he was involved with a lot of its work already. It was also the company that owned the hospital that was treating Chiho, and was the only company producing the medicine needed to combat Chiho's illness.

Chiho's actual illness was an unnamed but aggressive viral disease. The medicine she received only served to slow it down, rather than stop it, buying her time. Without it she'd succumb in weeks. With it… it was hard to say how long she had. Months, certainly. Beyond that? It was anyone's guess, though development of the medicine was continuing, so improvements were being made.

MBI was also working on a version though, based on their research into the Sekirei tech.

Unfortunately, I had no idea if Kusano could heal it. Kusano herself didn't even know she could heal, and had only displayed the ability once or twice in canon, surprising people when they realized it wasn't just plants she controlled, but Life. But I strongly suspect that Kusano could, at the very least, replace the medicine to keep Chiho stable until the Stamp took effect.

And I would have to use the Stamp. There's no way for me to know if Kusano can heal her, not without waiting for a full bloodwork to be done after Kusano tries to, and we didn't have the time for that. Body Tune-Up would heal her for sure though, and for that she needed to be part of my Retinue.

I had hesitated before to do so, but Levy had convinced me. It's not like I was opposed to Stamping people. I know what I signed up for. If I'm being honest, I have some mixed feelings about what the Company does, but in an infinite multiverse, does it even matter? If not the Company, then it would just be others doing the same thing, or worse.

At least I could use it to do some good and enjoy some rewards along the way. There were limits, of course. I had no interest in forcing people to join me, if you didn't count purchased companions, and I didn't want to screw anyone over. Not anyone I respected or liked at least. There were some real dickheads out there in all the stories I read and games I played that I would love to screw over.

Minato wasn't one of them, but I didn't feel too bad about taking two of his potential Sekirei. Kusano barely played a role beyond being cute and funny until the end, and that ending wouldn't happen when I removed the Jinki from the equation. Him not getting Matsu did mess with the dynamic of his future flock a bit and deprived him of a source of information, but that was also something he wouldn't need as much in this new form of the Sekirei Plan. Homura could probably provide the important parts, now that I think about it.

The point is, if Chiho and Uzume were willing to flee with me and live on the Skyblock, I was willing to Stamp Chiho with the intent of making her a Companion, not a Familiar, so she'd fall for me. And since Uzume was effectively Chiho's Familiar, my capture of her would automatically extend to Uzume. And intent was enough there as well, so the moment the Stamp finished, Chiho and Uzume would both become Companions, with enforced romance and loyalty to me. I'd get both, not just one, and their feelings for each other would remain unchanged, since the Stamp encouraged Retinue members to get along as well.

This wasn't just my libido making this decision. Because, first of all, I've gotten quite fond of being nude at the Skyblock and being able to see Levy naked all the time, as well as being able to initiate some love making with her. That wasn't something I was willing to give up just because there were more people around. If they were all part of my harem, I wouldn't have to, as it would just be normal behavior instead of something that made them uncomfortable. So really, it was better for Skyblock morale.

But I've gotten off track. I'd reaffirmed that I could heal Chiho. We mapped a path from the hospital to the portal. I had the ability to get there quickly. Now we just needed a plan.

While most of Higa's Sekirei were with him at his office, there were some at the hospital. Three, to be precise.

"Is she normally so heavily guarded?" I asked Uzume as we huddled in a group planning session in Matsu's room.

"Not at all," Uzume replied, confused. "There's usually one Sekirei there, but considering Chiho's condition I'm pretty sure it's just a show of power. A reminder every time I go to see Chiho that he not only has control over me, but he has enough Sekirei to spare one to watch a girl that can't be moved."

"So either he has somehow cottoned on to our plans to stage a rescue mission… or something else has brought more Sekirei there."

"Looking over historical tracking data courtesy of MBI, it's not too unusual of a circumstance," Matsu says. "Kochou seems to visit every few weeks, usually accompanied by one of Higa's Sekirei."

I frowned. "That's the information-type, right? Is it possible she's doing a check of the hospital's records or security or something entirely unrelated to Chiho?"

"That was my guess," Matsu said. "The security for the hospital is actually pretty significant. Some of their more sensitive data isn't even on their network, so I can't access it without going there myself. She could be checking that, or doing a dozen other things. But yes, it's probably unrelated to Chiho."

"So we just got unlucky," I said. "In that case we'll wait until they're done-"

"No, we should go as soon as possible," Uzume interrupted. "If it's two Sekirei that can fight and one information type, then I can maybe take them down by myself. I can at least get the information type and defend myself from the two others."

"That seems unnecessarily risky," I pointed out with a frown.

"Didn't you say you wanted to weaken Higa before leaving?" Levy asked. "I agree with Uzume. I know it's not why you chose me, but I can fight as well, and if Uzume and I work together I'm sure we can take out and 'terminate' all three of them. That should give the other Ashikabi a chance, right?"

"Yeah, Levy can kick demon ass, so she can definitely take on some newbie Sekirei!" Matsu cheered.

I ignored her though and looked at Levy, analyzing her expression. If I'm being honest, I didn't remember much of Levy's fights from canon. I remember her being part of the main group fairly often, but couldn't recall any specific instances of her fighting. So I just couldn't be sure how she'd stack up against a Sekirei.

But her expression was confident and even eager. She wanted to do it, to help the people we'd be leaving behind by fighting against an evil man. And I couldn't deny her that. Not when it was one of the things I loved about her.

"Alright, we'll go with that," I acceded. "I assume you won't have any problem fighting with Levy, will you Uzume?"

"Only so far as I don't know how she fights, so I'm not sure how good our teamwork will be," Uzume said.

"How do you fight?" Levy asked. "I usually fight in groups, supporting others from the back, and I specialize in battlefield control, though I can switch to more offensive types of magic easily."

"You don't share Roland-san's knowledge then?" Uzume asked. Then she looked at me. "Out of curiosity, how would you describe my fighting style?"

"Another test?" I asked. "You have… I'm not sure what the term for it would be. Textile-kinesis? You can telekinetically control cloth. This puts you at an odd in-between point of the elemental and weapon using Sekirei. You fight at both short and mid-range by using large lengths of cloth in a melee style."

"That's pretty much it, yeah," Uzume agreed. "I prefer sticking to the mid-range though, outside the reach of any weapon users."

"Both of the combat Sekirei there are weapon users," Matsu supplied. "Kaie, Sekirei number 62. She uses multiple whips at the same time. The other one is Kazue, Sekirei number 81, and she uses a pair of tonfa. MBI doesn't have combat records on either of them beyond the basic training they received during their adjustment."

"I don't think we'll have any problem with either of them," Levy said confidently. Then she looked at me. "You can leave the clean up to us."

I nodded and gave her a smile. "I'm counting on you. And for more than just that. The real danger is Kochou calling for backup. We'll be on a rapid timetable. So… the two of you are going to need to be distractions. I need you to draw the Sekirei to the roof or a nearby area where the fighting won't put the patients at risk. And while you do that, the rest of us will sneak in, grab Chiho, and leave. Hopefully by then you two have won your fight and we can meet up and book it to the portal."

"I'll want to make sure Chiho is okay before we go through," Uzume said. "Even if you use the pocket-thingy."

"That's fine, so long as you meet up with us without being chased," I said. "I'm not gonna take her out of it while we're on the run."

"Then I'll just have to make sure to put the other Sekirei down fast," she said.

We spent another fifteen minutes putting the final touches on our plans, figuring out how Uzume would draw out the other Sekirei and where they'd fight. I also instructed her to act as if she had snapped and was being foolish rather than having a solid plan to rescue her. The fewer hints that they were being distracted, the better.

And then it was time to go.

Matsu had chosen a few sets of clothes, a pack of cards, a laptop, and a large external hard drive to stuff into a small backpack she had. Uzume hadn't packed anything aside from a few changes of clothes. All that was left was to say goodbye to Miya.

We gathered right outside of the front door of Izumo Inn. All of us except for Miya and Kusano carried a backpack, ready to leave this world forever.

Miya stood in front of Uzume and Matsu wearing a smile that was both happy and sad. "I've removed myself from the Sekirei Plan, so I can hardly say that the two of you should not as well. So I'll just say this. I hope the two of you find your happiness and are able to freely fly outside of this cage. And if you ever come back, whether because things don't work out or just to visit, you'll always have a room here at Izumo Inn."

Uzume smiled back. "Thank you Miya. It means a lot to me that you've helped me so much when I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"When did you guys get so sentimental?" Matsu teased. But she stepped forward and gave Miya a hug, which the older Sekirei returned warmly. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. My gut says so."

"I suppose I can't argue with that, can I?" Miya replied with a touch of amusement. The two of them separated and Miya turned her attention to me. "Make sure Matsu's gut isn't wrong, okay?"

Her tone was sweet, but the dark aura forming around her with the shadow of a strange mask within it made the consequences of failing to do so very clear. "Yes ma'am!" I agreed on reflex. The aura faded as she smiled, so I took the chance to do something that I had been considering. "If you'd like, you can come with us as well."

"Thank you for the offer, but I have no intention of leaving this Izumo Inn," she said.

"I figured," I replied with a nod. "Just wanted to make sure."

She nodded, accepting that. "Now, I'm sure you're all eager to get going. I'll be right back with the Jinki."

Miya left the room and the rest of us waited, a tension in the air. We had made our plans and packed our things. If all went well, in less than two hours we'd be back on the Skyblock.

As we waited for Miya I remembered something. I dug into my bag and pulled out a couple blapple seeds before turning to Kusano. "Hopefully, you won't need these," I said as I gave them to her. "But these are blapple seeds, a fruit bearing tree. You can use these if something goes wrong."

I remembered her carrying around a potted sprout in canon and being able to use it to great effect. But I also remember that she didn't like fighting, so I didn't put her on the fighting team. Still, being able to wrap up opponents was a useful thing when we were expecting to be pursued.

I scanned over the others, making sure there wasn't any other preparation that we'd forgotten about. Matsu had a phone that she'd be using as a relay point to do the hacking she needed and a bag on her back. Levy was ready as ever. Kusano was now ready. And Uzume was wearing her 'battle' outfit, which was just several long lengths of cloth that wrapped around her provocatively and also hung in the air around her, controlled by her power and ready to be used.

Three heads turned at the same time as all of the Sekirei looked at the door. A moment later Miya walked through, Jinki in her hand.

For being such a dangerous macguffin, it looked rather plain. The outside was a clear crystal, both in material and shape, that had the number eight engraved onto it. And floating within it, with no visible structure or support, was a red spherical gem.

Kusano stared at it, while Matsu and Uzume shook off the effect of whatever made it so entrancing to her. "There it is," Matsu said. "Without that, Minaka can't continue the plan."

Miya reached me and held it out. I slowly and carefully reached out to grab it from her hand. I was half expecting some kind of reaction. It being a strange temperature, or a rush of energy, or some kind of mental link, or anything. But no. As far as I could tell, it was completely mundane save for the floating inner gem.

But it did increase the tension of the room. As soon as I put it in my Pocket Inventory, MBI would know, and there was no going back.

I looked across the room again, gauging each person. "You guys ready?" I asked.

Uzume's expression became determined, and I could practically see her mental process. She was ready to rescue Chiho and escape the metaphorical Sword of Damocles hanging over her head.

Matsu was grinning, confident and happy with how things were going. Levy was also smiling, though she looked more determined than excited, but also more relaxed. This wasn't her first rodeo.

Kusano looked nervous, her grip tight on the blapple seeds I had given her. She was sticking close to my side, so I used my free hand to pat her on the head to reassure her. I had to remember that just this morning the closest thing she had to a parental figure was attacked in front of her. The idea of getting into another fight was clearly daunting for her. But she also didn't protest or hesitate to nod when our gazes met. She was scared, but she was going to be with us, and that was that.

"Alright team, let's go," I said, and the Jinki disappeared into my inventory.

The timer started, and so did we. Matsu strode up to me with a smile on her face before wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips met mine and there was a burst of light as energy coursed through her.

"Wisdom of my pledge, bestow the teachings of the world, to my Ashikabi!" she said, chanting her Norito after we separated. The phone in her hand lit up as she used it as a jumping point to hack into MBI remotely and scramble their camera feeds, just as we had planned.

It was also important that we did that as soon as possible but after I made the Jinki disappear. Hopefully it would distract them from checking whatever they used to keep track of that, which would delay them coming for us specifically for a bit, hopefully.

"We're good," Matsu said.

"Uzume, lead the way," I ordered.

She nodded and took off, the rest of us close behind.

It felt surprisingly refreshing to just let loose and run, putting my newly tuned-up body through the paces. Though that feeling of contentment faded quickly as I was wrapped up in Uzume's cloth and our horizontal run became vertical as we headed for the rooftops.

I was the only one that needed to be carried like that too. Uzume, as a combat oriented Sekirei, was already strong enough to climb buildings and roof hop on her own, even carrying another person. Kusano and Matsu weren't combat oriented, but they both had the dual advantages of not having been adjusted down in strength very much and having Body Tune-Up applied to them as well, bumping them up to the max they could reach with mundane training.

And Levy was from a world where such maneuvers were just normal parts of combat. She wasn't the most physically oriented, but traversing by rooftop was something she was capable of, especially as she made liberal use of the "BOUNCE" Script Spell she had used to get us over the park wall.

I wasn't thrilled about the idea of being literally carried while the others, all girls, ran. But I was the only mundane human of the group, and we just didn't have time to be slowed down for the sake of my pride.

It didn't take too long to reach the hospital like that though, only ten minutes. Uzume led us there using the quickest and most efficient path, her frequent trips to see her Ashikabi giving her a familiarity with the route.

We stopped a couple blocks away though, descending to an alley out of sight. I was glad to have my feet back on solid ground as Uzume's cloth gently set me down.

We didn't need to discuss the next part of the plan. We had already scouted out a good location for them to fight the other Sekirei and come up with a plan to draw them there. The combat types at least. Whether or not the information type would follow was up in the air, so we had planned for both.

So all I did was pull Levy in for a kiss, ignoring the anxiety welling up in my gut over the idea of being separated from her. I had done it once in Paldea, so I could do it here again, even if this situation was infinitely more dangerous.

She returned the kiss but didn't let it go on too long, breaking it off after just a moment. She knew we had to act quickly. "We'll be fine," she reassured me in a soft voice, somehow understanding my worries without me having to say anything.

I nodded. "Good luck," I told her. Nothing else needed to be said.

She gave me a smile and then she and Uzume took off down the alley. Levy would head for the place they were going to fight, and Uzume was headed for the roof, ready to act as if she was going to storm the hospital and remove Chiho by force.

I watched them until they were out of sight and then turned to the others. Kusano was pouting and Matsu had a teasing grin on her face. "Dear Ashikabi, if you show us so much love and passion there's no way we'll be able to hold ourselves back you know?"

I felt my cheeks warm but I ignored it. "Save it for after we're done," I said. "Don't worry, I'm not the monogamous type. You two will get just as much love from me in time."

Kusano's jealousy ebbed a bit, comforted by my words, and Matsu's grin got wider. "I can't wait to receive your big-"

"Dirty jokes later, checking hospital cameras now," I lightly chastised her.

She pouted, but did as I said. "Uzume just landed on the roof and is pacing. Looks like they haven't noticed her yet- oh, there we go. Kochou has spotted her. And yep, there go the two others up to the roof top. Kochou is headed for Chiho's room."

"So plan B then," I said with a nod, walking towards the hospital. "Matsu, you know what to do."

"Already done~" she said in a sing-song voice as she and Kusano followed me. "The camera in the adjacent ward has been looped. She hasn't noticed yet, but I did a really sloppy job of it, so she'll notice soon."

I nodded and then raised a finger to my lips. We were at the hospital entrance, so we'd have to be careful about talking from here on out. The other two nodded, and we entered.

Thankfully it was visiting hours, so no one batted an eye at us striding past the front desk and onto the elevator, choosing the floor where many long term patients were staying. An old woman followed us on, but didn't seem inclined to chat, just giving us a smile and a nod. She pressed the button for floor six, and Matsu pressed the button for floor ten.

Matsu pretended to look at her phone. "She noticed," she said, keeping it vague due to the other passenger.

I nodded. We weren't sure what she would do if she approached Chiho, so the plan was for Matsu to draw her away by interfering with something in a nearby area in a way that looked like we were trying to cover our tracks, but really was just a distraction.

"You shouldn't use your phone in a hospital young lady," the old woman chided Matsu.

Annoyance flashed over her face, but I gave Matsu a stern look. She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll turn it off. See?" she held up the now dark screen before slipping it into a pocket on her dress.

This seemed to mollify the old woman, who then side eyed me as the elevator came to a stop. "You keep an eye on this one, she's a troublemaker." Before I could come up with a witty response the doors opened and she left.

I waited for the elevator doors to close before shaking my head. "Old people are the same no matter what world you're in, it seems." I looked at Matsu. "Are we still good?"

"Of course!" she replied easily. "Kochou is patrolling that ward, alone." She gave me a look. "Are you sure you're okay with this plan?"

The plan being how I was going to distract Kochou, potentially grabbing her if I could, while Matsu snuck up behind her and touched Kochou's crest while reciting her Norito. That was the least violent way of terminating a winged Sekirei, though it usually only happened after said Sekirei was beaten enough that they couldn't resist.

"It'll be fine," I said with a confidence that I didn't feel after the roof-hopping had shown me just how wide the gap was. The fact that Matsu and Kusano wouldn't have been able to do that without Body Tune-Up was the only reason I hadn't changed my mind. "The two of you will be right there."

"I could help maybe?" Kusano said, gesturing with the blapple seeds I gave her.

"No, not indoors," I said, patting her on the head. "The guy who owns this place might be an asshole, but the patients here are just innocent sick people. I don't want to risk any harm or inconvenience to the hospital."

Kusano frowned, pulling her hand back towards herself and holding the seed against her chest. But she nodded, and I gave her a quick side hug before the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

"Where?" I asked Matsu, shifting back into a more serious mindset.

"I'll lead the way," she said, stepping out of the elevator. Kusano and I followed, tracing Matsu's hurried steps.

"How are the others?" I asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I'll check after we take care of Kochou. Even with a Norito there are limits to what I can do. Scrambling the MBI satellites and watching through the cameras without Kochou noticing are all I can do right now. She knows this system well, and it's really hard to be subtle."

I swallowed my worry and nodded. "Got it. Focus on our task then, we'll trust them to do theirs."

The hallways were fairly empty, with only the occasional nurse rushing somewhere or other. None of them paid us any mind, too busy with their own worries to care about three seemingly normal people in an area they were allowed to be in.

But soon Matsu pulled us around a corner and leaned close. "She's coming from that direction," Matsu whispered, pointing towards the direction we had been heading. "Wait until she gets close, pass her, then get her attention."

I nodded and we settled in to wait. Each second ticked by slowly, nervousness stretching the time out to painful levels. I clenched my fists before forcing myself to relax. More than fighting, I needed to be prepared to perform an act. Lying and acting was never something I was good at, but it didn't need to last for long.

Finally I heard the sound of tapping heels against vinyl tiles echoing sharply in the hallway. I tensed up, waiting. I made eye contact with Matsu and she nodded, confirming that it was Kochou.

A few moments later, she was close enough to hear.

"-anyone yet, sir," she was saying. "There's nothing of interest in the area either, I think it's probably a diversion. It might be prudent to ask Higa-sama for some backup."

I grimaced. The three enemy Sekirei here were already a handful, adding more would make things very difficult.

Matsu signaled me to go, making shooing motions, so I took a deep breath, forced myself to calm down, and then turned the corner. And I instantly stiffened as I saw the Sekirei in person.

She was attractive, like most Sekirei were. Her short silver hair and half-rimmed glasses gave her a strong 'sexy librarian' vibe that was rather eye catching. Her outfit was also very attention grabbing, looking like a strange mix between a kimono and a dress that had ruffled bits of fabric sticking out.

I forced myself to remain calm by thinking about other things, such as how all Sekirei dressed weirdly and how you could probably play 'spot the Sekirei' with access to a camera feed just by looking at who was dressed weirdly.

I also pointedly ignored the strange look Kochou gave me, her eyes narrowing. "Hold on a moment, Ashikabi-sama," she said, moving the phone from her ear. "You! Who are you and why are you here?"

My mind went into a panic. I was just a couple steps in front of her and to the side. I needed her attention on me, yes, but not until I had passed her. Her back needed to face the hallway where Matsu was waiting, so I needed to be on the other side of her.

"Just here to see a family member," I said awkwardly, speeding up my steps.

However, she stepped in front of me. "Is that so?" she asked sternly, clearly not believing me. "Who? And what room are they in?"

"My father, and that room right there," I said, pointing at a door behind her. She turned on reflex, looking, and I made to step past her.

But she reacted quickly, grabbing on to my arm and half turning. "That room is empty, sir," she said, voice ice-cold. "So I'll ask you again. Who are you, and why are you here?"

I was probably visibly shaken at this point, because I know I was internally panicking. All I could think of was the fact that I needed her to turn around more and that she was on the phone with her Ashikabi, so we were running out of time even more.

Which is probably why I, instead of pulling away from her and shoving my way through, turned on her and threw myself at her, slamming her into the wall. Her eyes widened and her head cracked against the hard wall, leaving a small dent in the drywall. Her phone was flung from her grasp as well, clattering to the floor.

But she was made of tougher stuff than that, and her eyes focused in anger on me. She shoved me back, causing me to stumble, but I caught myself before she fell. I saw her mouth open, probably to yell, so I rushed forward again. Clamping a hand over her mouth and using the other hand to grab her by the upper arm.

I could see the anger and hate in her eyes, but also fear. My gut twisted, but there wasn't anything I could do. All I could think about was getting her locked into position with her back exposed.

Her free hand found its way to my chest and tried to push me away, but I was ready this time. She was strong, but I was bigger than her, and I had the leverage, so I didn't let go. She started hitting me instead, fist pounding into my ribs, which were already sore from where I hit a tree branch getting into the park this morning. I grunted in pain, but I just tightened my grip, ready to commit to my position and hope Matsu could make it work.

And she did, a moment later. "Wisdom of my pledge, bestow the teachings of the world, to my Ashikabi!" I heard once more as Matsu put her hand on the back of Kochou's neck. All of a sudden the Sekirei that had been struggling fell limp to the ground, my grip on her not suitable for holding her up.

My chest heaved as I caught my breath. My chest and ribs throbbed in pain. "That… could have… gone better…" I said, looking at Matsu.

"It's because you were too suspicious," Matsu said as she picked up the phone Kochou had dropped and snapped it shut. Kusano peeked around the corner from behind her, eyes wide.

"It worked though," I said, standing up with a wince. "Running is gonna hurt like a bitch."

"Come on, let's find an empty room to hide her in," Matsu said. "Though MBI will know something is going down here. I can't hide a termination signal."

"Then we better be quick," I replied. "She said that room was empty."

Matsu nodded and we knelt down to pick up the limp form of Kochou. It unnerved me just how still she was. I knew termination wasn't death but… if you told me that body I was carrying was dead, I would have believed you.

Thankfully we got Kochou into the room without anyone seeing us. I was half expecting the sound of our fight to have drawn attention, but we were alone.

Once she was in the room we headed for Chiho's room as fast as we could go without running. "How are the others?" I asked, now that Matsu could spare the attention.

"The fight just started," Matsu reported. "She just lured them to the parking garage we picked out, and Levy ambushed them. That seemed to catch them off guard. But- no nevermind."

"But?" I asked.

"Uzume's not fighting very well," Matsu admitted. "She didn't capitalize on Levy's ambush, and now it's an even fight."

I ground my teeth. "We'll just have to be fast then, so they can run if they need to."

Thankfully we had purposefully chosen to ambush Kochou at an area close to Chiho, so within a minute we were at her door. I paused for a moment, collecting myself, and then knocked.

"Come in!" I heard a faint voice from the other side of the door. I pushed the door open and looked to the bed to see Chiho sitting there. She had light brown hair that fell loosely behind her and was wearing a peach colored pajama set. It was hard to tell how tall she was, but she looked on the smaller side, and her bust was a bit on the smaller side, around Levy's size.

She tilted her head at us in confusion as we stepped in, but didn't seem overly concerned. "Are you sure you have the right room?" she asked.

"You are Chiho, Ashikabi of Uzume, yes?" I asked. I was certain it was her, I recognized her after all.

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Did something happen to her?"

"Yes, but in a good way," I said. "We don't have much time, so I'll make it quick. I'm a traveler from another world. I can heal you and take the two of you away from this world and bring you to my home, which is a floating island in an infinite and empty sky. Doing this would permanently bind the two of you to me and that place, but you'd be healthy and free of the Sekirei Plan. Right now Uzume is fighting other Sekirei to distract them because the person who owns this hospital has been using your presence here to blackmail Uzume into doing what he wants, and we're going to break you out. She has agreed to this plan, but I need your permission as well."

"I'll do it," Chiho said immediately, a determined look on her face.

That threw me off. I had expected her to say yes of course, but not so quickly. "You don't want to think about it? Do you really understand?"

"I don't, but I understand the important parts," Chiho replied. "Someone is using me against Uzume, and you can stop that and bring us both somewhere we can be happy, and Uzume agreed. That's enough."

"Oh my god she's so cute," Matsu said from behind me.

Chiho looked up from me and to the two Sekirei behind me. "And you two are?"

"I'm a friend of Uzume-san," Matsu said. "We live together. Or did. And will again, since you agreed. I'm this guy's Sekirei now, so where he goes I'll go!"

"I'm Kusano, Sekirei number 108, and I'm also Onii-chan's Sekirei," Kusano introduced herself. My mind came to a halt as I heard her refer to me as Onii-chan, years of anime having ingrained a very specific response to that title into me.

But that wasn't the time to indulge in embarrassing fantasies, so I shook it off. "I'm a fellow Ashikabi as well, since I ended up winging these two. But I have no interest in or ability to participate in the Sekirei Plan, and I'm leaving this world. Not for good, but for a very long time most likely. Truth be told, I have very limited control over the other worlds I go to."

"I don't really get it, but so long as Uzume is with me and she's happy, then it's okay," Chiho said. "What do you need from me?"

"You're entirely too trusting, you know that right?"

"I can tell you aren't a bad person," Chiho insisted. "And what you claim is hard to believe… but I do. It doesn't feel like you're lying."

Her agreeing so easily didn't sit right with me, but it was how I expected it to go more or less, and we didn't have much time, so I decided to go with it. "Lay back and lift your shirt up a little bit. I just need access to your stomach." I could have stamped her anywhere really but… well, I was going to move the Stamp to above her womb anyways, so I might as well put it there from the get go, right?

She did as I instructed, showing her stomach. It was smooth and pale, but lacked any muscle, which wasn't a surprise. She had to use a wheelchair to move around. She was barely strong enough to sit up.

I took out the Stamp and pressed it against her stomach. "Unfortunately, I don't have a way to directly heal you," I said. "But I can form a connection between us, and when that process finishes, you'll be healed and gain a strong body as a side effect," I explained. "The downside is that it'll take three days to set in." I lifted the stamp, leaving behind just the gray off-angle square that was my emblem on her stomach.

"But we have to go right now, don't we?" Chiho asked, looking at the mark on her stomach with curiosity.

"We do. But we have a plan. I'm going to put you in what's known as a 'pocket space'. This is a little cut off section of reality where I can store things."

"Like Doraemon's 4D pocket?" she asked.

"Exactly like that!" Matsu agreed, saving me from admitting that I had no idea. Doraemon was one of those things I vaguely knew about but didn't know any details about it.

"I'll put you in that," I continued. "Time doesn't move, so for you it'll feel like teleportation. I'll put you in, probably take you out so you can say hi to Uzume before putting you back in and then the next time I take you back out we'll be on the Skyblock, my home. Do you understand?"

"I think so," she said with a smile. "I'll get to see Uzume soon, right?"

"From your perspective it will just be a few seconds," I agreed.

"Then yes, go ahead, I'm ready."

I nodded and pulled out my phone before using the app to store Uzume in my Pocket Inventory. She was willing, so it had no issues storing her, and Chiho disappeared from my bed.

"You have to explain what's up with that phone," Matsu said, looking over my shoulder. "I've never seen a design like that, and it's totally invisible to my power."

"Later," I said, standing up. "It's time for us to move."

We left the room and booked it for the elevator. "The fight?" I asked Matsu as we descended to the ground floor.

"Levy is doing well, she has the Sekirei on the ropes," she said. "Uzume looks like she's stalemated, but once Levy wins it should turn in their favor."

"Send Uzume the message as soon as we're out of the hospital," I said. "What is MBI doing?"

"They've dispatched a team that is headed to us to collect Kochou," she said. "They also dispatched the Disciplinary Squad before that, shortly after we scrambled their cameras. Presumably in response to that, but there isn't a listed reason or destination."

"Is that unusual?"

"No. The Disciplinary Team has a lot of freedom in how they operate. It's not strange for them to be given verbal reports and the details only recorded in the reports afterward."

"No way you can track them?"

"Not if I don't know where they are right now, not while maintaining the scramble."

"Let's hope they waste time looking for you at Izumo Inn then," I said as the elevator doors dinged open.

"Why me?" Matsu asked as we hurried out.

"Who else would mess with MBI's satellites?"

"...good point."

Once we were on the street we broke out into a run once more, ignoring the strange looks we got. Who cared if these random passerby thought we were weird, when we were fifteen minutes away from leaving this world behind?

"Fight?" I asked between breaths. We had to run along the street instead of taking to the rooftops since neither Matsu or Kusano were strong enough to carry me over the gaps.

"Levy won. Teamed up against other. Matter of time." Matsu said in short bursts. "They'll meet us."

I nodded, not wanting to spend the breath on further talk, even as my gut churned in worry. We ran in silence, weaving through the crowded streets and heading for the portal. There was no sign of pursuit, at least nothing that Matsu mentioned.

"They're done," Matsu reported. "Had trouble, but they won. Headed our way."

The worry didn't fade, but I felt some relief to know that they had finished their fight. "Backup?" I replied, asking about the Sekirei Higa must have sent.

"Not there yet," she answered. "Won't make it in time."

I nodded, satisfied, and focused on running. A few minutes later two figures dropped from a roof in front of us- Levy and Uzume. A smile broke out on my face and we rushed to meet them. I barely slowed down in time to not knock Levy over as I gave her a hug. "You're not hurt, are you?"

She laughed. "Just some bruises, I'll be fine," she said, returning the hug and patting me on the back.

"Do you have her?" Uzume asked, interrupting.

I grumbled, but let go of Levy. There would be time for cuddling later. "I do," I answered. "Let's step out of the street, away from prying eyes," I said as I glanced at the nearby pedestrians who were staring at Uzume's strange outfit.

We ducked into an alley and none of the onlookers were brave enough to follow us or stay and stare, moving on with their lives. I pulled out my phone, opening the Pocket Inventory app. "We don't have much time to waste, so you'll have to be quick. She's laying down, hold out your cloth so you can catch her."

Uzume nodded and did as I said, levitating a stretch of cloth in front of me like a table. With the press of a button Chiho appeared on top of it, gently sinking into the cloth before it supported her. She blinked, confused and disoriented, but as soon as she spotted Uzume a massive smile broke out on her face and she reached for her.

Uzume's face also lit up in an expression so happy it was weirdly heart wrenching. No words were said as Uzume leaned down and kissed Chiho, the two of them embracing without a care that we were there.

Matsu squealed in excitement, or perhaps enjoyment. I spotted her pulling out a phone and raising it to take a picture. I elbowed her and shook my head when she looked at me. She pouted, but put her phone away, and I rolled my eyes. It's not like she wouldn't get plenty of chances to see it again.

They finally broke apart. "He told you what's going on?" Uzume asked.

"We're going to live on a magic island, together," Chiho said with a smile.

"Close enough," Uzume replied. "We'll be there soon, okay?"

"As sweet as this is, we should get going," I said. The two of them looked at me and blushed as they realized they were alone. They really were adorable. But Uzume nodded, squeezing Chiho's hand one more time before floating her over to me.

I put Chiho back into my Pocket Inventory. "We're almost to the portal, just a few blocks away," I said. "One last stretch. Anything to watch out for Matsu?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not as far as I can tell," she replied. "Higa's Sekirei are at the hospital and MBI has retrieved the terminated ones, but they have no idea which way we went."

"Let's keep going then," I said. The others nodded and we took off once more. The door home was so close.

But there was one final obstacle in our way.

We turned down the alley at a full spring, with me leading the way and the others right on my heels. But as soon as we did I skid to a halt, the others almost tumbling in to me.

There was a woman with gray hair tied into a ponytail leaning against the wall, the hilt of a katana poking from her cloak, coincidentally right in front of the portal she couldn't possibly be aware of.

She looked up at us and smiled. "You know, the other two said it was a long shot, but my instincts told me I'd find you here," she said, entirely too many of her teeth showing.

Karasuba, the Black Dog of MBI and the most dangerous Sekirei in the setting, was between us and the portal home.

"Fuck," I cursed. Because really, there wasn't much else to say.

"Karasuba! What are you doing here?!" Matsu demanded.

"Catching the spy trying to flee, of course," she said, slowly walking towards us. "MBI can't allow a foreigner to leave the city with a Jinki and three Sekirei."

"He's not a spy though!" Matsu protested.

"Eh, he's suspicious enough," Karasuba said with a shrug. A click echoed through the alleyway as she loosened her sword in its scabbard, baring just an inch of the steel. "I don't really care what the eggheads decide to label him as. I just know I've been given permission to stop you."

I'd never felt killing intent before, and in fact I had doubted it was an actual thing, but I felt it then. Bloodlust filled the air, sending my mind into a frenzy. Any other Disciplinary Squad member and we'd have a chance to fight them off. Or, if there were too many, we could surrender and wait until the portal forced us back.

But Karasuba would just kill us. She had no interest in the Sekirei Plan, in MBI, in the world. All she wanted was to fight and feast her blade on blood.

Levy and Uzume could maybe slow her down, but even working together I didn't think they could beat her.

That didn't stop them from pushing to the front. "We'll clear a path!" Levy said. "Do you see it, Uzume?"

"I do!" Uzume replied.

At the time I wasn't sure what they were talking about, my thoughts little more than static fuzz and sporadic images of possible solutions(and discarding them), but in hindsight it was clear she was talking about the portal. And while Uzume wasn't officially mine, I intended to bring her into the portal, which must have been enough to put her on the perception whitelist.

The alleyway was too narrow for us to just run around her, even with two people keeping her busy. The only positive was that she'd have trouble swinging her katana.

Or so I thought. As Uzume sent a thick bundle of cloth at Karasuba there was a flash and a burst of noise. I blinked and realized that, faster than my eyes could follow, Karasuba had drawn her sword and cut through Uzume's cloth, leaving thin gouges in the wall where her katana had cut through it like butter.

I resisted the urge to shout at them to be careful. Everyone here was smart enough to see that and understand just how dangerous Karasuba was, and any shouting would just distract them.

Though it was hard for me to make out the fighting. I could see that Uzume and Levy were both throwing out attacks, but with a flash of light, a burst of noise, and more scars appearing on the surrounding walls, they'd be ripped to shreds or redirected.

There was a pause in the fighting as both Levy and Uzume hesitated. Uzume's tentacles of cloth were tattered, nearly useless with scraps littering the ground. Levy was panting, tired from the attacks she had been flinging on top of whatever she had done in the earlier fight.

"Now, isn't that interesting," Karasuba said, her eyes focused on Levy. "You're no Sekirei, but I don't think a human is capable of doing things like that. None that I've heard of at least. Then again, I've never heard of a Sekirei with an ability like that either."

"There are plenty of things beyond this city that you've never heard of," Levy retorted. "Perhaps you'd like to see them?"

I gaped at her. "Levy, are you serious right now?"

"Oh? Is that a job offer?" Karasuba seemed more amused than anything.

"What do you want?" Levy asked. "We can probably provide it."

"And if I said all I wanted to do was kill?" Karasuba asked, voice cold and sharp as the steel she wielded. "To fight against the truly strong and slay them? Or to cut down the weak who get in my way? Or spill the blood of anyone who happens to annoy me?"

"Uhh…" Levy said, clearly caught off guard by the reply. "I mean- I can't exactly-"

She suddenly threw herself backward as there was another flash of light. I felt something wet hit my cheek. I wiped it off with the back of my hand, which came away smeared with red. Blood.

I looked back to Levy in a panic and saw with both horror and relief that there was a cut along her cheek dripping the same red blood that was on my face. Horror at the fact that she was wounded, that the lethality of the situation was finally sinking in, but relief that it was 'only' a minor wound.

"Levy?" I called out, voice a little shaky.

"I'm fine," she said, voice harsh. "But we might need to run."

"I don't think so," Karasuba said with an evil grin. "I've never fought someone with abilities like yours, and I'm not letting you go until you're broken. Then I can pass your corpse to the brainiacs back at MBI. I'm sure they'll clamor at the chance to cut you open and find out how you can do the things you do."

I don't remember much of what happened after that. I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins and all I could hear was a pounding noise. I think I stepped forward, fist clenched, and yelled something, but the details were lost in a blur of anger.

Anger that was pushed to the side, almost literally, by a yell next to me. "Leave Onee-chan alone!" Kusano demanded. A thick burst of wood sprung from her hand, or more accurately the seed she held in her hand, and arced over Levy and Uzume's head and slammed into Karasuba before she could react.

In my head I can still see the moment it hit her, frozen in time in my mind like a picture. The sword being flung from her hands, her eyes bugging out as the wood slams into her chest, the utter surprise on her face as the youngest one there caught her off guard with an unexpected attack.

An attack which slammed her into and through one of the brick walls of the alley. I stood there, jaw hanging as the most dangerous threat was taken care of, just like that.

"Come on, we need to move!" Matsu said, pushing me forward.

I shook my head, clearing the surprise and pushing aside the emotional rollercoaster the last few minutes had been to be processed later(like right now, writing this entry). Matsu was right, we couldn't assume that Karasuba was taken care of, we needed to get out as fast as possible.

We sprinted down the alley, booking it for the portal. I didn't dare risk over the shoulder, not wanting to risk tripping. But I kept my ears peeled. And I swear, as I leaped through the blue portal suspended on the alley wall, I heard the cracking of wood.

But then the world went silent and all I heard was the sound of bodies hitting the ground as we all collapsed on the other side of the portal, followed by the sound of heavy breathing and groaning as we took a moment to recover.

"Everyone here?" I called out, too exhausted to get up and look.

"I'm here," Levy said from right next to me.

"Me too," Matsu said with a groan.

"Yeah, I made it," Uzume said next.

"Uh huh," came Kusano's reply.

I did a mental tally. Tinks and VV were still in our bags in their Pokeballs, and Chiho was in my Pocket Inventory, so that meant everyone was accounted for.

"Mission success then," I said, pushing myself to my feet. "Now, is everyone okay? Levy, Uzume?"

"Just some scrapes and bruises," Levy said, also getting up.

"My cloth was basically ruined, but I'm fine," Uzume said as she sat up. She sent a wary look at the hanging portal. "More importantly, she can't follow us through, right?"

"No, she can't even perceive that there's a portal there," I said. "Even if she did see us go through it, which I don't think she did."

"Good," she said, her shoulders slumping. "Because that was the scariest thing I've ever faced."

Matsu snorted, still laying on the ground. "You've never seen an actually angry Miya then."

Uzume thought about that for a moment and then shuddered. "Yeah, no thanks. Especially now that I know she's number one." Uzume looked around. "So… this is it, huh? You were telling the truth."

"Pretty crazy right?" I said. "But yes, this is my Skyblock, my home. And it's going to be your home… pretty much forever, probably."

"It's a little small…" Uzume commented. "Especially for how many people?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, Chiho! Bring her out right now!"

"Alright, alright, calm down," I told her. "Levy, can you get one of the sleeping bags from our tent? So I don't just lay her on the ground." Levy nodded and headed for the tent.

"There really isn't an internet here," Matsu commented as she looked around. "But… It's nice. It feels comforting in a really weird way."

Kusano nodded in agreement, eyes wide as she slowly turned in a circle.

Levy came back out with a sleeping bag and laid it on the ground next to Uzume. Uzume watched me carefully as I crouched next to it and once more took Chiho out of my pocket inventory, hopefully this time for good.

Chiho appeared, once again looking confused at the change in her surroundings. And once again she found Uzume and instantly relaxed. She reached a hand up that Uzume grabbed immediately, and they spent a moment just looking into each other's eyes.

"We made it," Uzume said with a smile. "No more Sekirei Plan and no more sickness. We won't have them hanging over us, threatening to take one of us away from the other. We can just live."

Chiho nodded, also smiling. "I can't think of anything I'd like more."

They spent another moment just staring lovingly at each other until Matsu cleared her throat, reminding the two love birds that they weren't alone. They looked over to see us staring at them and they both blushed. Uzume looked a little chagrined, but Chiho just looked embarrassed but pleased.

"You were right, mister," she said. "That was just like teleporting."

I was confused why she was calling me mister until I realized that I hadn't ever introduced myself. "My name is Roland," I said. "You also haven't met Levy yet, my partner."

"Hi Chiho-san, it's nice to meet you," Levy said with a kind smile.

"Partner as in lover?" Chiho asked.

"That, and she's also my partner in crime," I joked. "I wouldn't be able to do anything without her."

"That's not true, you'd do fine without me," Levy disagreed, though she sounded pleased. "It would just take you longer."

"Is… is it weird?" Chiho asked. "I mean, you two are lovers, but now he has Sekirei…"

"Oh, no, not at all," Levy said. "In fact, I kind of wish we had found a few more. Because the more he has, the better protected he is." She glanced at me as I opened my mouth to argue. "Of course, I know there are practical reasons we can't do that. But from the start of our relationship I knew it wasn't going to be monogamous and that's fine."

"Wow bro, you were aiming for a harem from the get go, huh?" Uzume said. "Chiho is off limits though, she's mine."

I had to stop myself from doing a double take. From the moment I had opened my mouth, Uzume had been on edge around me. Which was definitely my fault, with the way I had introduced myself.

But now she was relaxed and talking to me casually, all the seriousness and fear absent. And she was almost like another person entirely.

"I have no intention of splitting the two of you up," I said, meaning it.

"But if you both wanted to join, we'd be glad to have you," Levy followed it up with a wink. Her tone was joking, but I knew she wasn't. She was just laying the groundwork for what would eventually happen once Chiho's stamp finished.

Uzume rolled her eyes. "Sure, we'll keep that in mind," she replied sarcastically, causing Chiho to giggle. But then she looked at me. "So… Chiho is healed, right?"

"Not yet," I said. "I've started the process, but it will need three days to take effect. I can't speed that time up."

"Are… are you going to be okay for three days?" Uzume asked, unsure.

"It might be a little rough, but I'll survive," Chiho reassured her Sekirei.

"Kusano can heal her to alleviate the worst of the symptoms," I told them.

"...what?" I heard Kusano ask. I turned to see her looking at me in confusion. "I control plants though?"

I blinked. "Did I not explain?" I said before thinking over it. "Huh. I guess I didn't. No, you don't control plants, you control life. Plants are just easier." I held my hand out to her and smiled. "Do you want to try a Norito?"

A myriad of expressions showed on her face as she processed that new information. But she eventually settled on a shy excitement and she nodded bashfully.

Knowing that this wasn't just about a Norito, and that this was our first kiss that wasn't her winging, I stepped close to her and took her into my arms. Her hands were trapped between us, resting on my chest, and she looked up at me, blushing but happy.

I leaned down and captured her lips with my own. They were as soft as I remembered, and holding Kusano in my arms like that felt good. It felt right.

Green light filled the air behind her and I took that as my cue to break the kiss and let her go. As much as I would have liked to keep going, the urge to not stop at just a kiss was growing dangerously strong now that we weren't in danger.

"Just focus on all of us, like we're the plants you normally control," I tell her, trying to coach her through it. "Fill us with Life."

She nodded, and then recited her chant. "Life of my Pledge, Shine on my Ashikabi."

Kusano shone with light and I felt a rush of energy well up inside of me, invigorating me. All my fatigue, my bumps and bruises, my aches- they just disappeared, washed away by the healing energy.

I looked over at the others who were experiencing the same thing. The cut on Levy's face disappeared, and I could see her stand up straighter. The others were just looking down at their bodies, amazed at what they felt.

And then it faded away, taking away all the aches and pains with it. The rush of energy faded, but I still felt good, like I had just woken up from a really good nap that had also healed me.

I looked at Kusano and patted her on the head. "You did a great job," I said. "That was amazing."

Kusano grinned, proud of herself. "Your advice really helped," she said. "I've never tried using it on people before, so I wasn't sure how to do it."

"I'm glad it helped," I replied, still patting her.

"No fair, I wanna use my Norito too!" Matsu butted in.

"On what?" I asked before shaking my head. "You can just ask for a kiss if that's what you want."

"I can?" Her expression turned lewd. "Then can I ask for more?" She grabbed onto my arm, pulling it between her large and soft breasts.

"You can ask for anything," I replied with a grin. "But right now the answer is no. We have more introductions to make and things to talk about before we can relax."

"You're such a tease," she grumbled as she let go of my arm. "But you won't get away from me forever."

"I have no intentions of doing so," I replied with a grin. "Patience is all I ask. Also remember that, right now, the only privacy we really have is the tent and the outhouse, and the outhouse is off limits for that kind of thing."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ugh, agreed," she said. "Though I don't mind a little bit of exhibitionism. They can watch all they want."

"Yeah, no," Uzume cut in. "I realize that that kind of thing is bound to happen, and that's cool, but I'm not interested in watching, and no way am I letting you corrupt Chiho like that."

Chiho herself was blushing, but she seemed more embarrassed about the topic rather than anything else.

"Oh please," Matsu replied with a roll of her eyes. "You two already can't keep your hands off of each other, you've been holding hands the entire time. There's no way you don't have a bit of fun on your own."

"And we'll do it in the privacy of our own tent," Uzume declared boldly, causing Chiho's blush to grow stronger, but she didn't protest.

"Now, now," I said. "We're all adults here- or close enough. We can acknowledge that sex will happen, and with limited space there won't be much we can do to hide it. But I think we're also all mature enough to accept that while still being respectful of others and making use of what little privacy we can, right?"

"I can agree to that," Uzume said.

"Fine, if you all want to be prudes about it," Matsu begrudgingly agreed.

Levy just laughed, amused. "Is this a good time to mention we normally go nude?" The others looked at her with various levels of surprise. She shrugged. "Laundry is a pain to do and the weather is always perfectly temperate, so it feels nice. A little bit of nudity isn't a big deal, right?"

"Fuck yeah!" Matsu said before immediately stripping off her dress. Underneath it she wore a matching set of bra and panties that were orange with floral patterned lace.

"Wait just a second!" Uzume said, raising a hand in protest as Matsu started to undo her bra. "I'm not against minimal clothing, but…" she turned to Chiho. "Are you, Chiho? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Chiho hesitated. "I think…" she started. "I think that this is their home, and they were kind enough to help us and bring us here. And that we shouldn't impose on them and they can do what they want."

As much as I liked the sound of that, there was a specific part of that I couldn't let slide. "No," I said, causing both of them to look at me. "You're not our guests. You might not have a romantic or psychic connection to me, but you're here, which means you're part of my family. There's no us and them, we're all one group, albeit with a few subgroups. Your feelings about this matter just as much as Matsu's or Levy's or mine. So don't hold back. If you're not comfortable with it, we can compromise by wearing just our underwear or something."

It wasn't a compromise I wanted to make, but I knew it would be a temporary one anyway. But until the Stamp finished, I wanted to make sure the two of them were comfortable and felt like part of the group.

"That… would be okay, I think," Chiho said.

"Ugh, so I have to wear a bra all the time?" Matsu asked, annoyed.

"Matsu-" I started, ready to chide her, but Chiho cut me off.

"I would be okay if you decided not to," she said with a blush. "I… I don't have a bra either."

Uzume looked at her with concern and then looked at me. "Did you not grab her clothes?"

I paused. "...was I supposed to?"

"Of course!" Uzume said. "Or do you expect her to just wear her pajamas forever?"

"In my defense, nobody mentioned it, and it didn't even occur to me."

"I didn't think it needed to be said!"

I shrugged. "I'll point you to the aforementioned 'nudity' norm. When me and Levy arrived we also only had the clothes on our back, which is why we started not wearing them in the first place."

Uzume just sighed before turning to Chiho. "I packed extra panties, we can share. But I don't think my bras would fit you." She looked at Levy. "You're about the same size, do you have any to spare?"

"I don't have any," Levy said. "I typically don't wear them. I'm not so big that it's uncomfortable not to wear one."

"She's right, it's fine if I go without one," Chiho reassured Uzume.

"Next week, when the portal opens again it will hopefully be on a world where we can do some clothes shopping," I said. "And, to be clear, what we're discussing is the minimum amount of clothing to wear outside of our tents. It's not a dress code, you can wear more if you want. And it sounds like that amount is lower underwear, right?"

Uzume grumbled, but nodded. The others nodded as well. To my surprise, Kusano didn't really look like she cared and was just silently following the conversation. Matsu already had her bra off, having taken it off while I wasn't looking, and I caught myself staring for a moment. Matsu was just so much bigger than Levy, and while I'm a man of culture who appreciates boobs of all sizes, at least below the comically large levels, there's something eye-catching about larger ones.

Matsu saw me staring and grinned, shaking her chest side to side and causing her boobs to sway.

"Didn't you say we had more introductions to make?" Levy asked, pulling my attention away from Matsu's boobs. I looked over at her to see her smirking, amused by my reaction, and I blushed.

I cleared my throat. "Right. VV and Tinks. If you would?"

Levy and I reached into our bags and pulled out their Pokeballs. I hadn't wanted to use them while on Sekirei, especially after Matsu recognized Levy. Pokemon were iconic, and there was no way they wouldn't be recognized. And they weren't mentally prepared for fighting against non-Pokemon, not yet.

Matsu gasped as she saw what Levy and I were holding. "You guys have Pokemon?!" she exclaimed in excitement.

"What, like Pikachu?" Uzume asked with a frown.

"Not Pikachu," I said. "Meet them for yourself." I hit the release button on the Pokeball and Tinks appeared in a flash of red light, which was mirrored by Levy doing the same and releasing VV. "This is Tinks the Tinkatink, and VV the Eevee."

"Oh my god it's a real life Eevee!" Matsu said, immediately kneeling down and getting close to them. "And I don't know what you are, but you're adorable too!"

Both of the Pokemon looked initially surprised to be suddenly surrounded by so many people. VV took it in stride though, used to living in a city as a 'tame stray' as he was. But Tinks looked nervous.

"Tinks is from a generation that hasn't been released yet in your world, or so I assume," I explained. I kneeled down as well and put a reassured hand on Tinks' head. "Hey guys. As you can see, we're back. There wasn't really a chance for you guys to help out, but things worked out and we have a lot of new family members."

VV let out a bark as he looked around, happy to see so many new people. Tinks let out a warble of nervous acknowledgement. Both made me realize that Communication Talent was helping a lot to let me read the nuance in their cries. It wasn't true communication, not yet, but it was very helpful.

All the newcomers introduced themselves to Tinks and VV. Their familiarity with the Pokemon franchise varied. Kusano had no idea what they were, not having had access to games like that while she was being adjusted. Uzume was vaguely aware just through social osmosis. Chiho knew and had played one of the games once when a fellow patient let her borrow her handheld console. And Matsu was a big fan of the anime, but hadn't spent much time on the games.

But while they were fawning over the Pokemon, VV soaking up the attention like a sponge, Chiho started coughing. It wasn't violent, and in fact they were light coughs, but it was enough for Uzume to shift into protective mode.

"I think that's enough excitement for now," Uzume said, helping Chiho lay back.

"I'm fine," Chiho insisted. "There was just something in my throat."

"I'm sure you are, but you're going to be resting until the three days are up, okay?"

"Okay, if it will make you feel better," Chiho said with a soft smile.

"Dummy, it's you that I want to feel better," Uzume replied without any heat. Then she turned to me. "Where will we be sleeping?

I pointed at the small tent. "That was mine and Levy's tent, but we bought a bigger one in your world. We'll set that up and switch that, and you two can enjoy the intimate privacy of that one."

Uzume nodded before suddenly pausing. "You two had sex in that tent, didn't you?"

I hesitated. "Well uhh… yes?"

Uzume stood up and walked over to the tent, opening the flap and sticking her face near it. I couldn't see her expression change, but when she turned back her nose was wrinkled. "You two are washing this out before we start using it. It reeks of sex."

Matsu cackled. "I thought you guys haven't been here that long?"

"There's not a lot in the way of entertainment here," Levy said, not at all ashamed. "But of course we'll clean it. Just let us give a quick tour to everyone first. Not that there's much."

"We've got the tent, the kiln, the bath, the outhouse, the pond, the crate, and the blapple tree," I said, pointing at each one as I named them.

"Blapple?" Chiho asked, causing Levy to sigh.

"One of these," I said, walking over to the tree and grabbing a low hanging fruit. "Magical fruit that can feed a person for a whole day. Provides all the nutrition you need and prevents you from getting hungry."

"And it's not called a blapple," Levy insisted.

"What is it called then?" I asked. When she didn't immediately answer I continued. "It looks like the cross between a blueberry and an apple. Therefore, blapple. If it has a different name, we don't know it, so I took it upon myself to name it."

"I'm not letting you name any of our kids," Levy said, crossing her arms.

"That's fair," I replied, trying to ignore the complicated mix of emotions the mention of 'kids' sent through me. That's… I'm not ready to think about that yet.

We briefly explained the way we had things set up and how to use the outhouse before Levy and I started working on cleaning out the tent, scrubbing it with hot water, soap, and sponges that Levy conjured, using some of the clay pots as buckets.

While we did the others relaxed and settled in. Matsu, still in just her panties, entertained herself by playing with VV, teaching him tricks like he was a dog. Of course, as a Pokemon, commands like sit and roll over where easy. Being able to understand spoken language and not just associating specific sounds with certain actions certainly made it easy.

They'd moved on to more complicated things, with VV doing a series of complex maneuvers, showing an impressive amount of acrobatic ability as Matsu made him flip and twirl. I would have stepped in, but VV looked like he was having fun, so I left them alone.

Kusano had paired off with Tinks, and Tinks was showing Kusano her hammer, taking pieces off and putting it back on to show how she built. To my surprise, Kusano had also stripped down to just her panties. She had done so casually, seemingly uncaring about being seen nude. Perhaps she got used to it? I don't know what the Sekirei adjustment process looked like, but I know clothes tend to get in the way of many medical procedures.

Uzume and Chiho were still sitting together, quietly talking while Chiho's head rested in Uzume's lap. Chiho was still dressed in her pajamas, while Uzume was in a more casual version of her battle outfit, the extra lengths of cloth folded neatly nearby- the bits that weren't torn to shreds at least.

It didn't take too long for me and Levy to scrub the tent clean, both of us having stripped down to our underwear so we wouldn't get our clothes wet. I caught Matsu staring a few times, but I just grinned at her and gave her a wink.

Uzume checked after us and agreed that the tent was sufficiently sanitized for Chiho to use, so we started setting up the new one. With more hands and a bit more experience, it didn't take nearly as long to set up as the first one did.

The Skyblock felt a lot smaller with the inclusion of such a big tent. We'll have to purchase another Block or two soon, but those kinds of decisions can wait until tomorrow. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

At least, until dinner.

When I felt my stomach starting to rumble, I frowned, looking around. "I uhh. I don't suppose any of you girls know how to cook?" I asked.

"Miya did all the cooking," Matsu said.

"I helped chop vegetables sometimes," Uzume agreed a little sheepishly.

"MBI prepared all my food," Kusano admitted.

"The hospital did the same for me, and I was really young when I was admitted," Chiho explained.

I slumped over in despair. "Six people and none of us can cook?" I asked rhetorically. "How does that even happen? What god did I piss off?" Faerie Feast was looking more tempting than ever, though I knew it was a waste of credits that we can't afford yet.

"I'm sure we can whip up something!" Uzume said confidently. "I've seen Miya cook a bunch, it's not that hard!"

"You are free to take the lead, and we'll help," I said.

"Fine, I'll show you how it's done," she continued.

Well… she was certainly enthusiastic. And she did better than Levy and I did. The stir-fry she tried to make was edible, even if it was both burnt and undercooked at the same time. And we didn't have much in the way of seasonings so it was kind of bland. But we could eat it, and it filled our bellies.

"If this is the best we can manage, we're going to die," Matsu groaned in complaint.

"Don't be dramatic," I told her. "We just need practice. I think I downloaded some cooking books onto my phone."

"A thousand yen says we'll still fuck it up somehow," she retorted. "I can already see it. We're doomed to be hilariously bad cooks."

"We'll recruit someone who can cook sooner or later," I said.

"I've been meaning to ask about that," Uzume said. "Like… what this whole deal is. You mentioned the portal opening up in a week? Does that mean that one is gonna close?" She pointed at the still open blue portal.

"At midnight tonight," I said. "It'll open exactly six days later and stay open for another 24 hours, this time leading to a random new world."

"And you plan on doing… what, exactly?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Go in, earn some Credits, maybe recruit anyone who might be willing, and help out if I can before leaving."

"Credits?" Uzume asked.

I sighed. "Look, the full story is very big, and quite frankly, Levy and I have been up since midnight, and I don't feel like getting into it tonight. Tomorrow I'll answer all your questions and give all the details. For now? My main goal is to turn this Skyblock into a proper world of it own. I want it to flourish and grow, filled with amazing people and technology. I want to help the worlds I visit, because it's only right if I'm going to be taking resources and people from them, and I have the knowledge to do so. I want the power to make those important to me happy. That's all."

"I think that sounds wonderful," Chiho said, putting a hand on Uzume's. "And I'm really grateful you helped us."

Uzume was quiet for a moment. "Earlier… Matsu mentioned how Levy there is from a manga, right?"

"Considering she's right here and very real, I'd phrase it more as there is a manga in your world that is very close to her world and the things that happened there, but yes," I said.

"Is our world the same?" Uzume asked, looking at me. "Did you read about us in a manga? Is that why you knew so much?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to that or why she was asking at first, but I didn't see a reason to lie. "Yes," I said with a slow nod. "I read about your world and the Sekirei Plan in a manga."

Chiho, who had no context for this, looked at us in surprise. "What happened to us in the manga?" she asked, curious.

"In the end, you were together and happy," I said, brushing over it. "Fun fact-"

"And before the end?" Uzume said, catching what I didn't say.

I grimaced. "Things… got a little bumpy. The details don't matter, because when all was said and done everyone got a happy ending. At least, most people did, you two included."

"What does 'a little bumpy' mean?" she asked.

"There was some danger, the Sekirei Plan was pretty crazy after all," I answered. "The details don't matter because I changed things as soon as I arrived. Taking out the Jinki would have thrown everything off and who knows what might have happened."

"Stop dodging the question," Uzume demanded. "I want to know what would have happened."

Levy put a hand on my arm, and I could tell from the way she looked at me that she thought I should tell them. I sighed and turned back to them.

"You died," I said bluntly. Both of them sucked in their breath and held on to the other a little stronger. "Once all Sekirei were winged, the Ashikabi started competing with each other for the Jinki, thanks to Minaka. Higa used you as a disposable weapon, having you cut down the opposition with no risk to himself. Eventually the other members of Izumo Inn found out, and they discovered the entire situation. Unbeknownst to you they rescued Chiho like we did today and brought her to MBI, who agreed to heal her, again thanks to Minaka, whose reasons were unknown. Or just petty rivalry, since Higa's company was their only real competition. At this point Higa had ordered you to steal the Jinki that Minato had won, but you switched sides as soon as you heard that Chiho was out of his hands. Unfortunately, his Sekirei that were backing you up didn't take kindly to that, and attacked. You protected Minato from an attack he didn't see coming, but it killed you instead."

It was dead quiet around the fire as everyone absorbed that. I shook my head. "On the bright side, Musubi went on to win the Sekirei Plan, and she used her power to revive all the Sekirei and they all found their Ashikabi again, at least the ones that were winged willingly. That includes the two of you, and with Chiho healed you would go on to live together in peace. Like I said. In the end, it worked out."

"That's…" Uzume started before trailing off, clearly unsure how to respond to my info dump.

"Don't think about it too much," I suggested. "It didn't happen, not to you. Multiverse theory is a bitch, and if you get wrapped up in what could have happened or what is happening in parallel worlds you'll never stop worrying."

"How did my life get so weird so fast?" Uzume said with a shake of her head.

"Welcome to the family," I replied. "With any luck, that feeling won't ever go away. You wouldn't believe the worlds that are out there." I stood up, stretching. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish today's journal entry."

While I did need to finish, I was also hoping to give them some time to process everything, without overwhelming them with more information. I don't know if it worked. I went into our new large tent(which is very nice and comfy compared to the old one) and started writing. It's been a few hours since then. The others have joined me here in the tent, but I've been so focused on writing this that I didn't pay attention to anything they said.

I assume Uzume and Chiho also turned in for the night. My more perverted side is wondering what they're doing, if anything? I know they probably haven't progressed past kissing considering Chiho's condition and the fact that she was in the hospital. But now that they were more alone would they do more? Or is Chiho's illness too much of a concern for her almost overly protective Sekirei?

It doesn't really matter, but the number of tits in my life has increased dramatically and now that we're home and safe I find myself horny and eager to start getting to know my Sekirei better. Matsu has made her intentions very clear, and I'm not planning on making her wait long. Kusano… it's strange. With her aged up so much from her 'canon' version, she feels like almost an entirely different person who just happens to share the same power and role. But even so she's still on the younger side of what I'm willing to go for. But I guess what I said to the others earlier will have to do. We'll see how things develop naturally, without rushing things.

Too bad they're both asleep already. Oh well, I'm tired anyway, and there's always tomorrow.

This entry ended up massive, but I blame Communication Talent for that, it's made me much wordier. I'll leave the rest for tomorrow though. Until next time.

---

Shifty's SubscribeStar: subscribestar com / shifty-s-fiction

Shifty's Discord Server: discord .gg/shifty-writing

AN: Sekirei… There's not much to say that I didn't cover in the chapter. Other than to reiterate that Roland is just at the start of his journey, and these are his feelings right now. If he comes back later, he might view things differently, depending on what's happened before then. Still, the choices I made as the writer for this world and chapter are the cross between what he would do as a character, and what sets up his corruption the best. Honestly, the subplot of corrupting Roland's morals, at least about specific things such as Capturing, is the only thing I have planned out to any degree. The rest of it is largely improvised.

Though I'm glad Sekirei was randomly chosen. Kusano is even more useful than Roland has realized yet, and she'll play a core part in some fun ideas I had. Finding a good reference picture for her was difficult though.

Uzume's out of character at the start of this because Roland instantly put her on the defensive and that soured things. She's normally pretty chill, but she can be fierce when backed into a corner.

I had no plans of recruiting Matsu here. In fact, my thought process was the same as Roland's. She's cute, but not helpful. But then I started writing that conversation in the Inn and it just… turned out that way. I wasn't sure if I was going to let it, but half the fun of writing this fic is adapting to the new situation and figuring things out.

The next chapter will be a special one, from Levy's perspective so she can show off her side of the fight and her views on a few things.