It had been three days since James received his new arm and sword. The girls also upgraded his boots and added a mounted blade to his prosthetic arm, giving him back the ability to use two swords at once. With this, he began increasing the intensity of his training day after day.

Throughout all this, he failed to take notice of what was going on with Akagi. In fact, no one noticed something strange was happening with her but much of the blame fell on James for obvious reasons. He had become too engrossed with his new toys that the usual one hour they'd spend together in the night was ignored in favour of getting more rest.

All of this would come to a head soon enough.

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James groaned a little and felt woozy. He tried to rub his head but found something holding his arm in place. Slowly and groggily, he opened his eyes and found that he was strapped to a chair his arms and legs bound tightly together.

"Ah, you're finally awake," said a voice and James looked from side to side. He noticed that he was in a dank room with a single light shining down on him. The room's circular structure led him to believe he was in some bunker which meant he wasn't on base.

He wondered how he got here and who could have taken him? After all, the security in the base was tight. He thought it was impossible for anyone to get to him without alerting Saint Louis or Belfast.

Then, as his captor entered into the light, a bit of understanding dawned on James. Not someone from outside, but someone from the inside.

When he saw the woman, his first instinct was to call out her name, Akagi. But, he did not when his vision cleared and he saw the woman before him was not Akagi, but someone else. She wore the same clothes as his wife did, but lacked the flowing auburn hair, ears and tails she usually had. Instead, the ears, tails, and hair were coloured a pale white. Her eyes too were now yellow but did not glow like the Sirens did.

It was that lack of glowing that prevented James from trying to attack. Though he knew she'd overpower him, he had no intent of playing nice with a Siren.

"I was wondering how long it'll take for you to wake up," she said, placing a hand on her hip "I half thought I'd have to throw some water on you."

James meanwhile recalled the reports Kaga and the other girls made during their last attempt on Omega's fortress. When he fell, Akagi apparently transformed into the thing before him and saved him before his condition worsened.

'Good,' he thought 'she saved me, which means she doesn't see me as hostile. I can use that.'

"Now that you're awake, I'm sure you'd like to know why you're here," said the woman.

"Actually," said James "I'd much rather have your name first. I'm sure you know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Of course you do," said the woman "it's me, Akagi."

James' eyes narrowed at the statement then said "you're not her. You may look like her but I know my Akagi. You're someone else."

He saw a flash of anger on the woman's face but it quickly vanished. She gave him a calm smile and said "what if I told you its really me and this change of appearance is just an idea I'm trying out."

"I'd call you out on your BS," stated James blankly "the only fashion style Akagi would try to emulate is her older sister. Hell, I had to convince her for a whole week just to wear a sundress for one of our dates."

"Not bad," said the woman "not bad at all. You really do know her well."

"The truth is, I don't even know what I am," she said, shaking her head.

At this, James' expression switched from disbelief to confusion. Based on her expressions, this woman was telling the truth.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"All I know is that I heard Akagi's voice screaming in my mind one day," said the woman "I opened it up and I saw you lying in a pool of blood. I didn't know who to trust, but all I knew was that I had to protect you."

"Then, when I carried you and Kaga came to help, that's when the memories, her memories started flowing into me," said the woman "I'm sure you know the rest."

James nodded and recalled the reports. At first, James simply assumed that this was one of the many mysteries related to the shipgirls. Perhaps it was a sudden surge of power, akin to an adrenaline rush.

Now though, he was starting to see it as something different. One thing he did know was it was definitely psychological.

"Miss," said James and she looked to him "you said you heard Akagi's voice screaming a day. Does that mean you've always been there?"

The woman paused and considered the question.

"I don't know," she replied "I've been alive for as long as I can remember but I have no idea how much time passed."

Then, an idea flashed through James' mind.

"Was this the first time you heard Akagi?" he asked.

"No," she replied, shaking her head "the first time I saw Akagi was when she was young, like really young."

"Was it after Amagi died?"

"Now that I think about it, yeah," she said in growing realization "that was the earliest memory I had. I'm positive I can't remember anything past that."

'Psychological,' he thought 'now the question is what to do next? Solve the issue or plan an escape?'

Escape would make sense. He could get her the help she needed. But, doing that might definitely destroy any trust in him and that could bleed over into Akagi. No, he needed to help her first before doing anything else."

"She was really sad that time," said the woman "in fact, she's been pretty sad for as long as I can remember."

"But then things changed. She'd gotten a lot brighter and peppier," she said, "I think it was after Akagi and the others joined the fleet."

James understood what he needed to. Now that he had enough information, it was time to use it.

"And how did you feel throughout all this?" he asked.

To this, the woman looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"My… feeling?" she asked.

"Yes. You were with Akagi for a long time. How did you feel when she was happy or sad?"

"The same as her," she replied "I was happy when she was and sad when she was. I wanted to help her with her sadness, so she'd be happy again."

"Did you ever have other feelings? Did you ever think about other things aside from wanting to help Akagi?"

This time, she looked at him and looked away. Though it was brief, James did notice a slight hint of red on her face, but she chose not to focus too much on that.

"To be honest," she said, somewhat meekly now "I think about you, quite a lot."

"Me?" asked James, as it was now his turn to be confused.

"Akagi's most intense emotions are all about you. Sometimes it gets so intense that it bleeds into my mind as well."

"So," he asked "why did you kidnap me?"

"Because I realized something important through all this," said the woman, almost immediately "I realized that Akagi is weak."

At this, James remained silent.

"She was too weak to protect you the first or the second time around and now, she's too weak to move forward while everyone else is."

"I'm not following," said James.

"The tests you gave to the girls," she elaborated "Akagi's the only one that got hit. Everyone else managed to beat their opponent."

"I realized that Akagi is too weak for the fights ahead. She's too weak to move forward. But I'm not."

Now he noticed the woman move closer to him.

"Think about it James," she said, looking at him face-to-face "with me by your side, you can steamroll over Omega, end this war, and bring peace. That's what you want, isn't it?"

"True, but…"

"Then let me help you," she said, putting both hands on the side of his face "I can do anything you want. Anything at…"

"But I want Akagi to overcome her weaknesses more than anything else," he said and she stopped. The woman moved back and saw the resolute look in his eyes.

"What you're saying makes a lot of sense in some ways," he began "but its not doing Akagi any favours. It should be her that overcomes these weaknesses and it should be her that moves forward on her own will."

"Why?" she asked, sounding angry "why do you want such a weak woman next to you when you can have me instead?"

"Because all you're doing right now is protecting Akagi when she should be the one facing the truth," he said and she was quiet.

"I think I have an understanding of your motive," said James "a good understanding at least."

"You care about Akagi in the same way that Kaga does. You want to protect her and you believe the best way to do that is to take the driver's seat and fight Akagi's battles for her."

"But that isn't helping her at all. All you're doing is hiding her," he continued "Akagi must be the one to overcome her weaknesses. No one can do it for her."

At this, the woman let out a wry chuckle.

"And here I thought I had you with that seduction trick," she said, covering her face with her hands.

"Sorry but the only one in this world who can get a rise out of me is my wife," said James with a smirk that bordered on arrogance.

"Even if I ignore that," said the woman "Akagi's scared of seeing you go into battle. She's scared you might not come back."

"That's unfortunately something I have no control over," said James, lowering his head "that said, I will still do everything I can to come back to her and everyone else."

"You know you contradicted yourself right?" she asked and James nodded, not at all concerned.

"I can understand why Akagi fell for you," said the woman, once again coming closer "more than the looks, you've got a good heart."

"Plus," she said, now a hair's breadth away from him "I know that you're a good kisser."

James knew what she was going to do and immediately turned his head away before her face closed in. Rather than getting her intended target, the woman instead landed a kiss on James' cheek.

"Sorry," said James "even though you have her body, it'd be like cheating."

The woman silently lowered her head.

"I guess I was overstepping my bounds by doing this," she said, sounding hurt "I want to help Akagi, but it sounds like all I did was make things worse."

"Your intentions are not at fault here. Just the execution," said James in an effort to make her feel better.

"That's nice of you to say," said the woman "but in the end though, I'm nothing more than a ghost lingering inside Akagi's mind. All my memories are hers, my feelings are hers, there's nothing I have that's my own."

"Maybe we can change that," said James and she turned to him, wondering what she meant.

"How about a name?" asked James and the woman remained silent.

"A name?"

"Yes. That will be something completely unique to you."

"Okay, but I can't think of any good names," said the woman.

"Then let me try," said James "what do you think of the name Kagami?"

"Kagami?" she repeated and her eyes began to sparkle "I like it. That sounds like a really good name."

"Then it's settled. From now on, you're Kagami."

"Since I know go by the name Kagami, then that would make today my birthday," said the woman.

Though James did not follow the logic, he simply nodded in the hopes it led to his eventual freedom.

"And I know exactly what I want," she said, her eyes shifting to the obvious.

"Wait… hold on a…" but it was too late and she was on him in seconds. Before James could turn away, Kagami grabbed his face and pulled him to her lips.

James struggled to break free but Kagami did not give any openings. Now, he could hear the sound of muffled voices outside and now furiously tried to break free.

The door to the bunker swung wide open and through it came Alec.

"James, Belfast used the locator in you to…" said Alec but stopped at the scene before him.

Kagami looked up at Alec, grew annoyed and said "could you come back later? We're in the middle of something."

"Get me out of here Alec," said a panicked James.

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Needless to say that when Akagi took control of her body, James had to explain what happened. When he did, it surprised no one that Akagi then chased him around the base and set him on fire a couple of times. After she tired herself out, she went back to their room while James headed to the hospital to tread the few injuries.

There, he was debriefed by Vestal on what happened. Vestal also came to the same conclusion he did: that Kagami is a manifestation of Akagi's insecurities and noted that James approach to helping her was the smart move.

"That said," added Vestal while applying some gauze on a burn wound "you're in a heap of trouble now."

"Tell me about it," said James, groaning at the thought of dealing with this new development.

Now the two saw Alec come in. Vestal excused herself from the room and let Alec go inside.

"Wild day huh," said Alec and James simply nodded.

"I'm pretty sure Akagi's mad at me so I think I'll be sleeping in the dorms tonight. Give her some space," said James.

"Or she wants to see you before going to sleep and you not coming to the room might make things worse," suggested Alec.

James muttered a 'Damn it' under his breath and lowered his head.

"Still," said Alec "you are perhaps the first person to experience the Schrodinger's Harem."

"The what?"

"The Schrodinger Harem."

"Never heard of it."

"That's coz I just made it up," said Alec "you see the Schrodinger Harem is where one meets and does not meet the requirements necessary to form a harem."

"Please stop," suggested James, but Alec didn't listen. Its not often he finds James in such a state and wanted to enjoy himself before Alexis came in.

"See on one side you have Akagi and Kagami who are both in love with you," said Alec.

"I don't think Kagami is in love with me," interjected James.

"That's not what I saw," countered Alec and James lowered his head.

"Now, typically having two girls like the same person means that's a harem. However, because Akagi and Kagami share the same body, you both meet and do not meet the requirements to form a harem. Hence the term."

"And Kagami is very much a real person," he added "she has thoughts, emotions, feelings, has an understanding of her existence. She is a fully realized person in every sense of the world."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" asked James with a grimace.

"Very much so," said Alec and continued his explanation much to the latter's annoyance.