It was still raining when we woke up. It had died down somewhat from the storm it was before, but it was still heavy enough that no one really wanted to go out in it, even if we didn't have to worry about getting sick. Even Bisky didn't try too hard to change our minds, though she insisted that we'd still do our daily training as soon as the rain stopped.

So rather than a quick breakfast of magically filling fruit, we made a whole thing of it and had pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Even Kyouko couldn't resist the allure of that and joined us at the breakfast table. Honestly, I suspect Akitsu had something to do with that decision, but even if so, that would still be a good sign.

It took some time to make enough pancakes for eleven people, and a couple of small ones for the Pokemon, more as a treat than a meal, but Kusano, Bisky, and Mami's combined efforts streamlined it as much as we could have without building more cooking stations.

As we were eating, I decided to broach a subject that I had been thinking about for the past day. "So, during our last trip to Shinto Teito we earned quite a few things," I said between bites of pancake. "First, we got the Jinkis, enough for all the Sekirei to each have one. Eventually, Matsu will be teaching you how to use them to activate your own Norito, and you'll get one to carry on your own. But there are a few things we have to take care of first." I looked at Matsu. "Have you made any progress on Takehito's notes?"

"A bit, but Matsu most of it is just more details about what Miya mentioned." The others looked at her with confusion. "Ah, allow Matsu to explain."

Matsu then gave them a more succinct version of the explanation Miya gave us about Rei, how Noritos work, what removing their limiters did, and the risks involved.

Some of the others, Kusano and Chiho especially, looked pretty nervous by the time Matsu finished her explanation, so I jumped back in. "We've already taken steps to prevent that from happening," I said. "First off, only Noritos risk it, which is why I haven't been using them. Second, we earned quite a bit of Credits, and I used some of them to buy a Law that allowed me to boost your Rei reserves like I already did for your aura and magic, you should already be at like triple your normal reserves. Third, I'm looking into ways to sense your reserves, either doing it myself or figuring out a way for you to do it, possibly with the aid of the Jinki."

"Matsu will keep reading over those notes," she declared.

"And at some point today you and I are going to sit down so you can help me try out a few things," I added. She grinned and nodded. I looked back at the others. "I just wanted to let you guys know. It is a concern, but not a pressing one, and one we're already working to prevent." I glanced at Shiina and Akitsu. "Though, just to be safe, we won't be removing your limiters until we have more safeguards in place."

"Understood," Akitsu replied, expressionless. She didn't seem particularly upset. I wasn't actually entirely sure if she had her limiters, since her adjustment was messed up. But it was messed up pretty late in the process and the limiters definitely could have been placed earlier.

"Okay Nii-san," Shiina replied. She also didn't seem put out by that. Her power was pretty strong even with it though, I supposed.

Assured that everyone was on the same page for that, I continued. "We also got a bunch of cash, Science Talent, and Covert Talent. Neither of those were particularly high priority, but all Talents are useful. And we got both stages of Body Defense, which is important. All of you now have two complete heals that you can trigger at any time. But they don't regenerate. That's two, forever. On the other hand, I'd rather you use them wastefully than not use them at all. If you need a heal and waiting for someone who can do that for you is risky? Just use it. Understood?"

"How do we use it?" Levy asked.

I opened my mouth to answer before realizing that I didn't know. I closed it and grabbed my phone, which was on the table next to me, and started digging through the documents that explained everything. "Uhh… Just want it, it seems like. I can check how many you have available, and I can trigger it for you from my phone, but you can also use it just by willing it." I kept reading a bit more. "It has a note saying it has protections against using it accidentally, but there's no way to have it be used automatically. Which is unfortunate."

"You get them too, right?" Kusano asked.

"Yes, I do."

She smiled. "Good."

"They're the most important for you though, Ku-tan," Matsu pointed out. "You can't heal yourself if you're too hurt, but you can heal all of us."

"I won't let that happen," Shiina insisted.

"Let's hope none of us ever need to use them," I cut in. "We're strong enough and have enough people now that most things we do should be safe." I wasn't actually entirely sure about that, if I'm being honest. But I wanted to reassure them.

It seemed to work, as the others nodded and relaxed a bit.

"Now, the last thing we got was a whopping 102 Credits," I said. "Plus a bit more from Defense Rebates. After buying Laws of Cognition, we have 64 Credits to spend. Now, I have a few ideas on things we can spend them on, but I wanted to open a discussion on what we should get. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

"It's starting to get a little cramped, an expansion to the house would be a pretty good idea," Uzume said.

"That's probably a good one to do, yeah," I agree. "Especially since Kusano has been coming up with some stuff to make a sturdier home."

"I could do a second floor too," she said. "Oh, and we could dig underground. Anything we don't dig up should stay in place, right?"

"Yes, any dirt or stone that we don't disturb should remain, unless it's disconnected from the rest of the block," I said. "So we could hollow out the inside of the block as well and the top would be safe. That could get us some extra space without needing a block."

"If we're going to be upgrading the house, then there's something we really need to fix," Levy said.

"What's that?"

"We need a bigger bath."

"""""""Yes!"""""""

I flinched in surprise as nearly everyone else vehemently agreed with her completely in sync with each other.

"Got it, a bigger bath. I guess that never happened, huh?"

"No, it kept getting pushed back, but we can't keep going like this," Levy said. "We have a dozen people now, and only two of us can fit in that little bathtub at a time. And it's not very comfortable."

"As much as I enjoy getting close and intimate with Chiho… yeah, it's pretty bad," Uzume added.

"Even I didn't have to deal with shit like that when I was living on the street," Kyouko growled.

"Alright, alright, I understand," I said, raising my hands. "We'll prioritize a bigger and nice bath."

"Onii-chan, I have some stuff that can help," Kusano offered. "I'm not done with them yet, but I've been working on a flower that can filter water to keep it clean, and to keep it hot too. That way Onee-chan doesn't have to keep filling it up with water. And my Building Tree can form the bathtub. I've also been working on a way to store and distribute water."

I nodded, and a thought occurred to me. "Okay, how about this. When we built the bathroom it was made much bigger than the tub with the intention of later going in and turning most of it into a large tub. That could work, but it's still not large enough for all of us, though we could easily do two shifts. But, why don't we future proof it even more? I'll buy another block and we'll turn it into an onsen, an outdoor bath large enough for twice our number to use at once."

"An onsen does sound really nice," Mami agreed. "But an onsen is more than just hot water! It has to have the right kinds of minerals mixed into it. I think."

"Between Levy and Kusano, I'm sure we can figure that out," I reassured her.

"I haven't been to an open air onsen since I was really young," Chiho added. "I can't wait to make our own."

"I just want a bath that doesn't scratch at my skin," Kyouko grumbled. "Seriously, who makes a bath out of bricks?"

"We didn't exactly have a lot of options at the time," Levy said. "But you're right, we should have replaced it much sooner. I think devoting an entire block to it is a wonderful idea. It would be nice to have a place like that to relax after a long day of work."

"Then we'll get started on that as soon as possible," I conclude. "Though I don't want Kusano having to build too much in one day, so we might have to spread it out over a couple of days."

"Especially since we're not stopping training," Bisky added firmly. "I'll take into account any labor you do, but all of you are still going to be spending your time in the training yard. Speaking of which." She turned to me. "I would like to request an expansion to the training yard, and to make the walls higher with Kusano's new trees. We need to step up the training a bit, and we'll need more room for it."

I nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Two more blocks. Anything else?"

Kusano raised her hand. "Actually, Chiho and I were going to ask for another block as well. We're making do with the room we have, but we've been planning ahead for the things that Chiho needs for her potions, and we're going to need more room. Just one more block though, that should be all we need for a long time."

"Three more blocks it is," I agreed easily. "Like I said yesterday, whatever you two need to improve our quality of life and to make your potions, you have it. Are you sure you don't want the upgraded Laws of the Jungle while we're at it?"

Kusano and Chiho traded glances before looking back at me. "We're sure," Chiho said. "There's still more we can squeeze out of our current version, and we haven't hit any important roadblocks yet. We'll let you know if that changes."

"Alright, if you insist," I allowed. "So, three blocks, that brings us down to just 34 Credits. Is there anything in particular anyone else wants?"

"Is there anything useful that we can get with that much?" Bisky asked.

I pull up the Catalog and scroll through it for a bit. "Hmm. Not too much. We've picked up a lot of the immediately useful cheaper options. There are a few defenses we can pick up, I'd still prefer to pick those up as needed, rather than just because we can afford them. There are a couple things that catch my eye though."

"The Green Eye Orb would let us travel to a place where other people like me, Contractors for the Company, meet up. We could buy some stuff there, stuff we need for various projects or to power us up. Though they'll probably charge an arm and a leg for it." I paused. "Not literally. Probably."

"Feels kind of like the Jungle thing you were talking about," Uzume said. "That's probably pretty helpful, but we have what we need so far. Might want to save that for when we run into something we can't get through other means. Especially since we never know what world the portal will open up on."

"That's a good point," I admitted. "Let's see. Oh, Psychic Paper. Levy and I talked about picking it up ages ago, it would let us bluff our way into certain places or doing certain things. It's pretty cheap too."

"Can't we get that whenever though?" Levy pointed out. "We might as well wait until we need it."

"True. That applies to a few other things as well. Hmm. Okay, one last idea. Command Seals."

"Like from Fate?" Matsu asked.

"Exactly like that. I'll gain three magical seals that I can use to give any of you a command you have to follow."

"Why the fuck would we want that?" Kyouko snapped, immediately tense.

"Because they also empower you!" Matsu explained. "Like, he can command you to teleport to his side, and even if you don't know how to teleport, the Command Seal will give you the juice to just do it anyway! Or he can command you to use your finisher attack and multiply its power. They're very useful! And they can be resisted too, to a degree. They're not perfect control, especially if the command is vague or long term."

"Yes, that," I agreed. "I'd get three of them, and each one would take 24 hours to recharge once used. I can pay five credits for another set of three, up to a certain limit. But the downside is that there are restrictions on who I can use it on. Normally it's only usable on Servants, but for ten Credits I can use it on anyone who is T6 or higher. Which applies to… more of you than I thought. Including you Levy. Congrats on reaching T6."

"I see. I haven't even been training very hard though."

"You've quintupled your magic reserves and learned Nen well enough to create a Hatsu," Bisky pointed out. "You've grown quite a bit."

"That's true," she agreed. "It just feels weird to put a number like that on how strong I am."

"It's not strictly about strength… but no yeah, I get your point," I say. "Still. Ten credits for Command Seals isn't bad, especially for emergency use."

"I think we should save the Credits, personally," Bisky said. "Command Seals does sound useful, but you still wouldn't be able to use it on those of use who would need it most. I think we should keep those credits in case we do need a Defense. We have most of the cheap ones already, no?"

"There are a couple cheaper ones left that we could afford. But yes, most of the ones left cost more for one stage than we can afford, at least after buying the extra blocks."

"The smaller the loan we have to take out to get them, the better," she said. "If there's nothing non-situationally helpful we can get right now, then we should wait until we need them."

"The only other possible things would be a Template Stack for someone, or another companion," I mused. "But those are the same thing, we don't have any pressing needs to fill those roles."

"Have you put any more thought into a Template Stack for yourself?" Levy asked. "I know I spoke against it early on, but you have a more defined role now, and style. Especially since you've figured out your Nen. You have a better idea about what gaps you need to fill, or areas to specialize in." She paused. "Not that I'm saying you should definitely get one. I'm just curious if you've been thinking about it."

"A bit," I've admitted. "I have a few ideas, actually. But I can't afford to stop focusing on my Nen yet, especially since I'm going to be exploring this Rei thing. I'm going to keep thinking about it for now though." I looked around. "Anyone else feel like they need a power up?"

"You're not the only one that still needs to work on their Nen," Uzume replied. "I still haven't even decided what my Hatsu is going to be."

A few others nodded at that, and no one else spoke up, so I shrugged. "Alright then. I'll purchase three more blocks, and then save the rest."

"After training," Bisky said sternly. "It sounds like the rain is dying down. I'll give you some time to digest breakfast, but I don't want you getting distracted by the exciting new additions."

"Yes Sensei," I said. "We'll do our exercise first. None of us are trying to skip that."

We spent another thirty minutes letting our food digest and the rain die down while we planned what the new layout would be. Chiho and Kusano had some really cool ideas for their expanded garden and I'm looking forward to seeing it come to life. We also made a plan for the onsen and new house, scribbling some rough outlines into a notebook until Bisky dragged us out onto the training yard.

We started as we normally did, by running laps. Which, no, does not work very well on a slightly less than 25 by 25 meter area, and is probably one of the biggest reasons that Bisky wanted a larger space. It was just big enough to not get dizzy from running in circles over and over again, but it still wasn't fun.

But today, we were joined by a new addition. Three, actually. Shiina and Akitsu joined us, of course. Unfortunately neither of them had their own workout gear, but Akitsu was able to borrow some from Uzume, and Shiina from Bisky.

However, I had expected those two to join us. The one that took me by surprise was VV, who was running laps alongside us. Bisky was taking it in stride, and aside from a few glances from the others, no one else really seemed to pay it any mind.

Not that VV exercising was strange… though it kind of was. Levy would train with him occasionally, practicing moves and commands, but he didn't really join us for the more physical conditioning parts of training. He had always seemed content to sit on the roof and watch us.

I slowed down a bit to match pace with Levy. "What's up with VV?" I asked quietly as we jogged.

Levy grimaced slightly. "We… had a talk yesterday. He was upset that we ended up fighting during the portal trip but he was kept in his Pokeball."

I frowned. "We were fighting people with guns, I wasn't going to risk that."

"But everyone else fought, so he took that as a sign that you didn't think he was strong enough."

"That's not-" I started before snapping my mouth shut. My frown grew as I stopped to consider my own feelings. "Okay, so maybe that was part of it," I admitted. "But it's just… the idea of having him fight against people still just feels wrong to me."

"I know it's not traditionally what Pokemon do, and I don't think VV would want that in a more… normal situation. But he wants to help, and he can fight, so he wants to be a fighter as well." She met my gaze while we continued to jog. "And I agree with him. There's no reason he can't become one. He's smart enough and capable enough, he just needs more training. Training I intend to give him. I've been slacking on working with him, distracted by other things. If he's getting serious, then I'm going to get serious about becoming his trainer as well."

"I see," I replied, thoughts churning in my head. We continued to run laps in silence for a couple of minutes as I processed that. But eventually, I let out a sigh. "Well, if that's what the two of you want, I don't really have a good reason to say no. Have you talked to Bisky about it?"

"Yes," she confirmed with a nod. "She said she did not know what training a Pokemon was like, but we asked Matsu a few things as well. And I did end up buying the game I saw with an Eevee on the cover. I figured I could play that to get the same experience you and Matsu have."

If I remember correctly, the Let's Go series changed quite a bit about the basic formula, but I had never played either of them so I wasn't sure. And to be honest, it didn't really matter. "Then I don't have anything else to say," I reply. "Except maybe to apologize to VV, I guess. Again."

"Don't," Levy said. "Not yet, at least. He's… prideful. But right now, his hurt pride is serving as motivation. He's used to living a pretty sedate life, so having something spurring him onward is good for him. Wait until we improve some, then apologize and compliment him. That way he can 'prove you wrong' and his pride will be what motivates him after that."

"When did you get so people savvy?" I asked. "Fine, fine. I'll wait until then." I wasn't entirely sure that was the best way to handle it, but I trusted that Levy knew VV and social situations like this better than I did. Someone feeling too weak and wanting to train was a situation straight out of a shounen battle manga after all.

"I should check with Tinks too," I continued.

"I already did, she's more than happy to not fight," Levy cut in. "She's satisfied working on her forge, though we're running low on useful things for her to make."

"I'll talk with her soon anyway. We should at least hash out a plan for what she'll be doing. I'm her trainer after all. I should act like it."

"That sounds like a good idea," Levy agreed with a nod. "You can handle Tinks, and you can leave VV to me."

"I'll do that then," I replied. "Thanks Levy. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You would do just fine, I think. Maybe you'd run into a couple more issues, but nothing you couldn't handle. You're smart and kind, and you're always working hard for our sake."

I felt my face warm up and I averted my gaze. "You girls need to stop making me blush, that's my job."

Levy giggled. "What was that Matsu said? Turnabout is fair play?"

I grumbled and then sped back up, picking up my pace to something that pushed me a little bit more and pulling ahead of Levy, who was entirely too amused.

The rest of our morning training went as normal. I hadn't had time to talk to Bisky about using Chiho's Steelfall potion yet, but we were taking it pretty easy anyway. We did our cardio, we did some stretching, then we did some weight lifting using Levy's conjured weights. And then we ended it with a group Ren training.

Though I didn't do Ren training. Instead Bisky had me watch the others while practicing my Hatsu. Progress is slow, but I am making progress. I was able to focus it a bit more, reducing how many other of their alternate selves I saw to just two, or three max, instead of four or more. It's a small step, but honestly it's faster than I expected.

We stopped the training there. Normally that would be when the combatants stayed behind to do some sparring or other training and the others scattered to take care of their own duties, but not today, and honestly probably not for the next few days. Because that's when we started our renovations, which we kicked off by purchasing three more blocks.

Before that, we had three blocks arranged in an 'L' shape. There was the initial center block with our home, portal, and forging area. Then to the north of that was the garden block. And to the east of the center block was the training block.

The new training block was put north of the first one, which was also east of the garden block, and turned the Skyblock into a square. The onsen block was purchased second, and it was placed directly west of the center block. The extension to the garden was also placed on the garden's west side, and now our Skyblock is a neat rectangle, three blocks long and two blocks wide.

After that, we broke into two groups. Levy, Chiho, Uzume, Shiina, and VV went to the new Garden block, and they started digging. Well, it was mostly VV who dug, since his move Dig made it really easy for him to excavate a large amount of soil.

Said soil was dumped over the edge, which I had been hesitant about at first, but Levy reminded me that she could make all of the dirt that we wanted, which Kusano could ensure was healthy soil using Laws and her own power.

The new garden block was measured out into four different ten by ten quadrants, with wide paths between each of them and a meter of room around the edge. Two of those quadrants were what VV was digging out, under Chiho's direction, down to almost the bottom of the block. Though once he reached the stone layer, that was when Shiina and Uzume took over.

Shiina used her power to cut out the stone in one large block, showing an impressive amount of control and precision with her decaying power. Then she cut that block into thin slabs, which Uzume used her cloth to pick up and the rest of them worked together to remove them from the hole and set them aside, so we could use them later as flooring for the onsen.

Levy started using her magic to fill them with water. Laws of the Jungle allows you to alter weather and general ecology of areas as well, which Kusano said she could use to turn one of the pits of water into salt water, for raising ocean fish. The other would be altered as well, for freshwater fish.

VV hadn't dug out the entirety of the quadrants though. Part of them went down all the way, but there was also a shelf that ran along two of the sides that was a couple of meters wide and only a meter or so deep, for things that lived in the shallows. It would be annoying if Kusano or Chiho had to dive down to the bottom to harvest some coral or whatnot each time they needed an ingredient like that.

And creating mini-biomes where she could harvest fresh ingredients was the plan for both of the garden blocks. They have plans for several different mini-biomes where the plants and animals that Chiho needs can be raised, controlled and kept in their areas by Laws.

Which is just a really cool idea. Having a hundred square meters of desert with cactus and other stuff growing, right next to the fishing pond filled with fantasy fish literally from a game I loved playing? I love it and I can't wait to see it finished.

But it'll take a few more days before we're done. While they worked on that, the rest of us started working on the onsen and house upgrade. Which, unfortunately, didn't start with building an onsen but with building a new temporary house.

Kusano used a few of her new Building Trees, as well as a Builder's Potion from Chiho, to turn the onsen block into one large empty house. Honestly? It was nicer than our current home. The new branches made for far better looking floors and walls than the more natural-looking intertwined branches she had used before. It looked built, rather than grown, but still had an organic feel to it that I had come to associate with our home. It was a bit too uniform looking, but we'd fix that with some decorations.

It wasn't fancy in shape though, and was basically just a few rooms. A room large enough to fit our bed in, a smaller room next to it for Kyouko and Akitsu, one massive room to shove all of our stuff in, and the rest of the space was turned into a copy of our dining room, table and all. But the point of it was to serve as a temporary house for the next day. Because after we moved all of our stuff from the old house and into the temporary one, Shiina came over and used her power to get rid of our old home.

It was a bit bittersweet to see it turn into ash and get blown away in the wind. It felt a lot like moving and leaving behind the memories of that old home. Well, maybe not that strongly, we had only had it for like a month. But it had been one of the most amazing months of my life.

Still, I consoled myself by knowing that we'd have an even better one soon, one that hopefully we wouldn't have to replace for a long time and could just expand as needed. The entire south part of the Skyblock was reserved just for expanding the house as needed. The training area will expand to the east, and the garden, and any future larger workshops we need, will expand to the north west and north.

Once the way was clear, we all came together to help VV dig out a basement, one deep enough that the floor was the top of the stone section of the center block. Mostly we all just hauled clay pots filled with dirt back and forth from the pile that VV dug up to the edge of the block where we dumped it. Not the most exciting work, but it was necessary, and by the time the sun started to set, it was done.

We all gathered in the temporary dining room, sweaty and covered in dirt, but excited. Unfortunately our only option for bathing that night was just wiping ourselves down with a wet rag. We still had the old tub, since we could reuse it as a storage box of some kind, but no one wanted to get back into it now that an onsen had been promised.

We hadn't set up the kitchen stuff either though, so for dinner we made do with magical fruit. Thankfully though, since we purchased three more blocks, we had three more saplings with new fruit types that we were excited to try out.

Kusano handed out the first of the new fruit. It was a berry, similar in shape and texture to a strawberry, but it had a more round and uniform shape. And instead of red, it was a bright orange color.

"Three… two… one!" I counted us down, and we all bit into it at the same time. It had a soft and sweet flavor, almost creamy. It was also very easily recognizable. "Mango?" I guessed, mouth half full still.

"It's certainly very similar," Mami agreed. "But it's a little different."

"Tastes like a mango to me," Uzume said with a shrug before popping the rest of it into her mouth.

"Let's see… a mango berry…" I mused, considering it. "Manberry?"

"No!" Levy said. "You can't! That is by far the worst name you've come up with yet!"

"But Strawngo sounds pretty dumb," I argued. "And it's hard to say. Manberry… isn't my best work, no. But I'm not thinking of anything better."

"Mangberry?" Chiho suggested. "It's a little more awkward though."

I considered it for a moment. "I don't like how close 'mang' is to 'mangy', but I guess that's better than naming it something that sounds like a euphemism for balls. Mangberry it is."

Levy sighed. "I'll take it, I guess." Kusano reached over and patted her consolingly on the head, but the effect was ruined by how clearly amused she was.

The second fruit looked like a yellow pear, but under the rind was basically banana, though more firm and more sweet than a banana would normally be. I dubbed it a Banear, which no one had any complaints about.

The final fruit was also yellow, though darker than the Banear and mottled with brown spots. Its rind was hard and had to be broken up, but the insides were similar to a pomegranate in that it was filled with small little juicy blobs of fruit, except they were yellow in color and had the distinct sour and sweet taste of a pineapple. So of course, it was called a Pinegranate, which also was not protested.

Not by anyone except Levy, anyway, who looked personally betrayed that we had all agreed on such boring and uninspired names. But that was what made it so great for the rest of us.

Everyone was pretty tired after dinner, and we didn't have much in the way of entertainment set up, but Kusano and Chiho started showing everyone else the things they were working on, especially the ones that would be part of the house, like the Light Blooms that were already growing from the ceiling above our heads.

But I had something else I wanted to work on tonight, so I grabbed Matsu and I dragged her off to the garden and the bench under the tree there, far enough from the others that we could focus.

"Ooh, is it Matsu's turn to receive a spanking?" she asked as we sat down.

"Unfortunately, no, we've got work to do," I said. I straddled the bench to face her, and she mirrored my position. "I want to get started on learning how to sense Rei."

"Oh, Matsu has some ideas!" she replied excitedly. "Matsu has been reading Takehito-san's notes, and she found some interesting stuff in there."

"Great, because I have no idea where to start with this," I admitted. "What's your idea?"

"Allow Matsu to explain a few things first," she said. "Remember how Miya-san said that Sekirei produce Rei, that it's part of their life force and it's how they use their powers?" I nodded. "We do this through our cores, which are special organs Sekirei have. Though they're only kind of organs? Takehito-san didn't really understand how they worked, and had trouble analyzing their makeup."

She shook her head. "That doesn't matter. The point is, Sekirei use their core to create and control Rei. But part of what we use Rei for is making a connection with our Ashikabi. In fact, the physical manifestations of reacting, how our heart starts beating and we get all hot and bothered, are caused by our cores suddenly preparing a bunch of Rei in order to form that connection. The kiss works to create both a physical and emotional link, which the Rei uses to link with the Ashikabi that creates a direct line between them and our core." She raised a finger. "But what about the Ashikabi? What does the connection look like on their end?"

I frowned. "They don't have a core, so… it latches on to something else?"

Matsu grinned. "Nope. You're right, Ashikabi don't have a core. Except they grow one when they wing a Sekirei."

"I… huh…" I said, blinking. "How does that work?"

"Weirdly," Matsu explained with a shrug. "Not everyone can do it, only those with the right… potential? It's partially biologic, partially psychic in the immaterial sort of way, but there's a certain something you need to create a bond like that. Naturally, it's pretty rare in humans. But after the other Sekirei landed and interbred with the few Ashikabi they found, all of their descendants gained the trait, which means that quite a bit of Japan's population had that potential, and a relatively small amount of people in other countries."

"That makes sense, I suppose. And of course, I cheated that using Company means, but that's not new. But those with the right potential form a core after they wing a Sekirei?"

"Yep! But it doesn't grow from nothing. The connection between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi is deep. Sekirei are Terminated if their Ashikabi dies after all. That's because, when the link is made, they pass on a part of their core to their Ashikabi, which is what creates the Ashikabi's core. The link is the resonance between the part of themselves that they gave to their Ashikabi and their own core."

I looked down at my chest, touching it. "So… I literally have some of all of you inside of me?"

"Yep! Kinky, right?" Matsu giggled. "Don't worry, it's not harmful to us. It was designed to do it that way after all! But that's why a Sekirei can only have one Ashikabi. Normally, at least. Matsu has no idea what is happening with Uzume or Akitsu. We're outside of the normal situation in that regard."

"But an Ashikabi can have multiple Sekirei, and if each Sekirei gives part of their core… is that why Ashikabi with multiple Sekirei are more powerful?"

"That is exactly right! Winging more Sekirei grows your core! The first one creates it, but each additional one adds to it, growing it larger and more powerful. Though that is only half of the process."

"What's the other half?"

"Emotions. Love, mostly, but any strong sense of trust and respect and stuff like that. Rei and emotions are tied together pretty deeply, though Takehito-san couldn't unravel how that worked either. His notes are filled with a lot of deadends like that. But he would just turn his attention to the next thing instead of getting frustrated. Though he didn't have many Ashikabi to study, there were very few winged Sekirei before he died."

She shook her head. "Anyway. Rei is passed back and forth between a Sekirei and her Ashikabi, and the more positive emotion it carries, the more potent it is. That Rei is received, used to reinforce the Sekirei or Ashikabi's core, and then even more energy is sent back."

"More energy?" I asked. "Where does it come from?"

"Nowhere!" Matsu said excitedly. "That's the real power of a Sekirei and their Ashikabi, they break the laws of conservation of energy, and create it from their emotions! It's slow, very slow, but the closer the bond between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi, the faster both of their cores grow, empowering them both."

I had to lean back and consider that for a moment. "That… explains a lot, actually. I mean, it makes no sense, but we've left things like 'sense' behind a while ago." I looked back at Matsu. "Does this mean I can use a Sekirei power then? Use my own Rei like you do?"

She shrugged. "Maybe? Your core is different. It's not just parts of our cores glued together, it grows into its own thing. Matsu thinks there's a part of Takehito-san's notes that studies it, but she hasn't gotten to it yet. But you have a core, and we have Psychic Talent now, so you might be able to figure something out."

I nodded. "Another thing to explore later, but it can wait until after you read the notes. Let's focus back on how I can learn to sense your Rei."

"Right, and Matsu's idea, but first, let her explain how her own power works. Matsu hasn't ever really thought about it before, but after learning about Rei and reading Takehito-san's notes, she has a theory. She believes that she uses her Rei to create a temporary link to machines, kinda like the one between her and her Ashikabi, and information flows both ways along it."

"That makes sense. It explains the range limit. Your Norito… widens the broadband, I guess?"

"Yes! But it also lets Matsu connect to more things. Matsu can form those same temporary communications with people and talk to them with telepathy! Or I can use the psychic connection that I already have to talk to you! But telepathy with people isn't as efficient for me as it is with computers. It requires more Rei to maintain, which is why it needs a Norito."

"So you think you can use that connection to read the others' Rei levels?" I asked.

"Nope! Well, maybe. But Matsu did try that and it didn't work. She'll keep working on it, but you still need to be the one who can sense that. But what Matsu can do is use that to help you learn how to sense the links between you and your Sekirei. Because she can use those connections! That's how she was able to include the others who weren't with us while we were at Miya's in the telepathy, by using you as a central hub and piggybacking on your connection with them."

"I see. Wait. That was Bisky, Mami, and Levy though? None of them are my Sekirei."

"Yep! But you have links with them too! It feels different but Matsu can use them while using Norito."

"Now I really want to learn how to sense it so I can figure out what the hell is going on with that," I admitted. "Alright. So you're going to use your Norito and guide me to help me find those connections?"

"That's the plan. Are you ready?" I nodded, and we both leaned forward to kiss each other.

The sight of Matsu's wings exploding into life, bright compared to our dark surroundings, was a familiar one, as was her muttered Norito. Of all my Sekirei, she was the one that used her Norito the most. Kusano used hers a fair bit, but not as much, and Uzume almost never used hers. Shiina and Akitsu were too new to have used it.

I could feel it when her mind brushed against my own, though I missed the actual moment of connection. To be honest, I had forgotten to try to feel it, distracted by the sight of her, naked and silhouetted by the light of her wings.

"Now, Ashikabi-tan, please close your eyes and focus on me," she instructed me telepathically. I did as she said. "Good. Now hold still."

I jumped a bit as I felt a hand suddenly wrap around my cock. I opened my eyes and glared at my naughty Sekirei. "Behave," I said. "This is training. You can wait until tonight for that."

Matsu just giggled and let go of me. "Matsu couldn't resist. But fine, fine, she'll focus." She switched back to telepathy. "Close your eyes again and focus. Matsu will behave this time, promise."

I glared at her for a moment before closing my eyes. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Ashikabi-tan. Right now it's just you and Matsu. No one else. Can you feel it?"

"I feel you, I think," I replied. And I could. Focused as I was, it wasn't just Matsu's words I heard, but I could vaguely feel her as well. I wasn't confident some of it wasn't just in my head- in a fake way instead of a psychic way- but I definitely had the impression of Matsu beyond just the words she was sending.

"I want you to focus on Matsu," she continued. "Focus on her words, on what you can feel. Breathe in and out, nice and slowly. Don't worry about you, don't worry about where you're sitting. Only think about Matsu."

I allowed myself to slip into a meditative state, like I had when I learned Ten, or when I updated my mental image for Nen, turning my attention away from my body and surroundings, and focusing inward. But not just inward this time. Instead of focusing on something that existed in my head, I focused on the Matsu that I felt inside of me, the connection that led from me to her. I couldn't feel the actual connection, not yet, but I knew it was there.

As I did, Matsu continued to softly encourage me to focus on her words. My own body fell away as I focused, and my awareness of Matsu grew.

I didn't just hear her words, I could feel the emotion behind each and every one of them. I could feel her love for me, her arousal and desire. I could feel her amusement. I could feel the seed of worry and anxiety buried deep inside of her, but I could also feel how it was kept in check by her trust and hope in all of us. Her playful side, her serious side, and everything in between was laid bare before me.

I came back to my own body with a jolt, heart beating and breathing heavily. My eyes opened in near panic, trying to get my bearings once more. "That… that was… intense."

"It was very intimate indeed," Matsu said with a gentle smile. "Matsu didn't think you'd get so deep inside of her on your very first try." She gave me a playful wink.

I snorted and shook my head. I turned my attention inward again, lightly this time. I could still feel that connection there, with Matsu. It was easy to pick out, and I knew that I could slip into a trance again, delving back down it. But I couldn't feel any of the others.

"Break the connection," I ordered her, since she was still using her Norito. She did so without any argument, and I could feel her presence fade from my perception. But I was still focused on 'where', as much as something like this could have a location, that connection had been.

I knew how her power worked. She could make new connections, but she also used the ones that were already there, and she had done so for me. So the path I had mentally traveled should be the link between our cores. I closed my eyes and focused again, trying to travel down that path once more.

The results were mixed. I was able to find the spot again, but the path felt… I want to say barred, but that's not right. I wasn't prevented from sensing along it, I just didn't understand it. It was like a river, one that Matsu's power rode along like a boat, but without her? I didn't know how to swim in it.

Still, I was pleased to be able to find it at all, to sense that connection completely unaided. And I could tell that it was hers and not anyone else's.

I tried feeling around for the others, but had no success there. It was like navigating a room in the dark, trying to find a specific patch of wall. I knew where Matsu's was, and I could feel the subtly different texture, but I couldn't differentiate anyone else.

I opened my eyes. "Well, that's some progress at least." I explained what I had accomplished to her. "But I could only feel your emotions. I couldn't feel your body, or your Rei."

"Progress is progress," she declared. "You first need to learn how to sense the connections. Sensing specific things through them can come later. Now, Matsu will help guide you to the others. She'll focus on the Sekirei for now and we won't go as deeply either. Ready?"

I nodded and closed my eyes, focusing as Matsu opened up the connection between us. Once again I could navigate that flow between us. I realized that the river and boat analogy wasn't perfect, because it flowed both ways and was practically instantaneous once a more firm connection was created. But it was still true that I couldn't navigate that path on my own, not yet at least.

I could feel her presence enter me more fully. It was a subtle thing, subtle enough that I'm not surprised that I hadn't noticed it the other day. Even if I did feel it, it would have been part of the telepathy as a whole and I wouldn't have noticed it on its own. But now that I was more familiar with it, I could vaguely feel her energy pooling more strongly in me.

I realized with a start that what I was feeling was her Rei in my core. I was feeling my Ashikabi core. But, strangely, I couldn't feel my own energy, if there was any there at all.

I pushed those thoughts to the side as Matsu reached out in my core. The spots that had been hidden from me appeared suddenly as her power 'activated' those connections and carried information to and from them. I could faintly feel the motions of both Uzume and Kusano, who both noticed as well.

"Onii-chan?" "Roland?"

"Just experimenting with some things, don't mind us~" Matsu sent in a sing-song 'voice'. I felt her focus on me. "Do you have it?"

"I do, you can disconnect," I replied, focusing on the two paths she had shown me. Her power, her Rei, pulled back from the other two, and out of my range, and once again the metaphorical room was plunged into darkness. But I remembered where the connections were.

I pressed my will against them, throwing myself into the river to try to swim, but I was washed back onto shore, rebuffed entirely, but not before I sensed a flicker of emotion from the bond I was trying to explore, Kusano's. She was my first Sekirei after all, I figured I would have the best chance with her, not counting Matsu.

I sighed and opened my eyes. "So, partial success. You've definitely helped me a lot, I'm no longer fumbling around blindly, but I'm going to have to figure out a way to emulate your power, the way you can transmit data along the connection."

"Sounds like more practice," she said.

"Yeah. For now, let me focus on the connection between both of us. I can feel your Rei when you use me as a path, so I want to give sensing your Rei another try."

I felt the link between us light up. "Okay, Roland-tan! Plunge deep inside of me as much as you want!"

I rolled my eyes, but I felt a grin tugging at my lips. Then I closed my eyes and focused before sliding my attention along the connection and once again sensing Matsu's deepest thoughts.

I spent a while like that. It was… well, it was intimate. Indescribably so. It's impossible to feel her emotions, her love and devotion, so completely and not be touched by it. But, unfortunately, that was all I could feel.

Matsu had said that Rei and emotions are tightly related, that Rei carries emotions with them and is empowered by them, so maybe what I was sensing was really her Rei, and not her emotions. But it didn't change the fact that it was only her emotions I could make out. I couldn't feel any Rei that wasn't emotion-laden, I couldn't sense a pool of it anywhere. I knew logically that the deep point inside of her psyche that I was sensing had to be her core, but I couldn't make out the shape of it.

I pulled back out after a few moments, once again having to shake my head and blink as I focused on my own body. "Do… do I stop breathing when I do that?" I asked, feeling lightheaded.

"Dunno, Matsu wasn't paying attention to your body," she admitted. "She was too focused on the feeling of her Ashikabi inside of her."

I frowned. "You could sense my emotions?"

"A little," she admitted. "But Matsu felt something more too. Your energy, or something. Maybe your Rei?"

I frowned. "I thought Sekirei couldn't sense Rei. Or was it just their own Rei?"

"Matsu can't sense the Rei of the others either, even through telepathy," she said with a shrug. "Only Roland-tan's."

I sighed. "There's just too much we don't know. I-" I cut myself off as I let out a big yawn. "I think that's a good place to stop for now though. I'm too tired to make any more progress."

"Matsu thinks you did a great job though," Matsu said with a nod. "You picked up on it really quick!"

"Good, because I need to figure this out before so I don't feel anxious each time one of you uses a Norito," I replied, standing up. "We need Kusano to build stuff, but she's exhausted herself doing that before, and each time she does it I get anxious. If it weren't for me having increased her Rei reserves, I wouldn't let her build at all until we got this figured out."

"Well, Matsu is glad she is," Matsu said as she followed me back to the house. "The onsen is going to be a lot of fun. Everyone naked and wet together… hehehe."

I rolled my eyes. "Matsu we're naked all of the time. Most of us, anyway." Akitsu remained clothed, but she hadn't so much as blinked at the rest of us going nude. Kyouko had probably warned her.

"But it's different in a bath!" Matsu insisted as we entered the house.

"Sure, sure," I placated her. "I'm looking forward to it as well. Relaxing in it after training sounds heavenly, honestly. I wish we had it today."

"Matsu too."

I sat down at the dining room table, where most of the others were relaxing. Uzume looked up and caught my eye. "How'd it go?"

I shrugged. "Some progress. I might have to work with you and the others as well, but I'll let you know before I do."

"Sure, no problem," Uzume agreed with a shrug. "I think all of us would be more than happy to help you figure out a way to sense our Rei." Chiho, who was listening in, nodded.

"That'll be tomorrow though," I said, pulling out my phone and grabbing the keyboard from Matsu, who had predicted what I was going to do next and retrieved it for me. "It's getting late, and I still need to write up everything."

"Just say the word," she replied before turning her attention back to the book she was reading.

And that pretty much is everything we did today, I started typing this up and here we are. It's late, some of the others have sent me glances in a way that I recognize as them wanting to go to bed but they're waiting on me. So I won't make them wait any longer. Tomorrow will be another full day of renovations after all.

Until next time.

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AN: I am not taking TS suggestions for Roland. I more or less have his future development figured out. I'm going to keep it a secret for now, but I will say that I plan on him having a trio of main skills. The aura he's been training since early on, the psychic abilities he just started to explore in this chapter, and a form of magic that will give him some options that the other two don't. I just want to get him into a better place with the Nen and Ashikabi powers before I give him anything else.

For those of you on QQ or Discord, I'll be releasing the updated map in a few chapters, once they're actually done with their work.

This chapter finally lets me start exploring some of the headcanon I came up with to explain Sekirei's power system. I drove myself insane over two days, rereading parts of the manga trying to figure out how it worked. Is this how it works? Probably not, I doubt the author put much thought into it. But I've come up with a theory that should be as canon compliant as possible. Not all of it is revealed in this chapter though, there are aspects that no one has figured out yet.