Our renovations continued today. We're not quite done yet, but all that's really left is the training area, as today we finished the onsen and put the final touches on the garden blocks. Kusano and Chiho focused mostly on the garden blocks, aided by Uzume, Tinks, and VV, arranging the final biomes and creating a couple of structures, including a new forge area for Tinks.

I didn't really witness most of what they did myself though, as I was on the onsen block with the others, preparing it. Shiina dug one big hole for the main bath, plus a smaller one in one corner for a cold bath. The rest of us moved the already cut slabs of stone harvested from the holes we dug into the other blocks and created a nice tiled surface, both within the pools and in the space between them. It was cut thin enough that we had just enough stone to cover pretty much the entire surface, save for a small area around the perimeter.

We sealed the gaps using some kind of, well, sealant that Levy had apparently learned how to make a while ago in preparation for making a bath just like this. I didn't ask questions about it to be honest, I just did as I was told and applied it between the cracks of the stone slabs and trusted in her research.

Normally I'd have expected a project like that to take all day, if not two, but with half a dozen superhumans working in sync with each other, we were done by the time the sun had reached its zenith.

Mostly, anyway. We then had to wait a couple of hours for the sealant to dry before we could fill it with water, and Kusano needed to add the privacy fence as well as a few other touches. And the flowers she made would need time to heat up and clean that much water.

While we waited, I decided to go check out what the others were doing on the garden blocks, and was instantly surprised by how much had changed. I had crossed over from the onsen block, which put me on the same block that I've now mentally dubbed the Biome block, because it's the one most clearly separated into different biomes.

The sea and lake were the same as ever, though I noticed that the color of the water for both had changed. The sea's water was a little more green, while the lake's water had turned more clear and become a paler blue. They were still empty though, at least as far as I could tell.

Across from them were the two other biomes. To the north was the patch of sand I had noticed yesterday, forming a perfect square in its corner of the block. It had changed as well though, because as soon as I stepped into it I was hit with a wave of heat. The air was dry and oppressive, and the sand would have burnt my feet before I had started training myself. Even now it was uncomfortably hot.

I stepped out of it and the feeling disappeared, the air and ground returning to their normal perfectly mild temperature. I had known that they could control the climate of an area, even one as specific and small as that, with Laws of the Jungle, but experiencing it for yourself was different.

Besides the heat though, there wasn't much in the artificial desert they had made. I spotted a few Waterleaf plants scattered about, but that was it. But when I turned back south to look at the final biome, I was finally treated to some variety.

The last biome was the temperate biome, which I later heard the others calling the Sky field. It honestly looked pretty similar to the default block, which I supposed made sense. If it weren't for the fact that the ground between the biomes had Building Tree wood paneling in place of the grass, I wouldn't be able to tell where it started or ended.

There were a couple of trees and bushes scattered around, as well as several different kinds of flowers. I spotted Dayblooms, sunflowers, roses, and other colorful flowers I didn't know the name of. And in the back, just a short distance from the house, was the new coop for the chickens, which freely roamed the field but never left its confines.

I also later learned that the wood used to make the coop had been modified to absorb sound and smell, which did a lot for my worries about how close it was to both the onsen and the kitchen.

I made my way to the garden block. It was also divided into quadrants, but I couldn't really call them biomes. The north-west quadrant was just a space dedicated for trees. One of each of the magical fruit types was there, fruit ready to be plucked whenever. I also knew she had a couple of other trees on her shopping list, such as a maple tree to make syrup and a cork tree to make our own, well, corks.

The south-west quadrant was a condensed version of what the garden block used to be. It was a patch that was largely left alone, at my request, as a place where I could still go and relax and sit down. Though a portion of it was dedicated to Kusano's planters, where she could grow ingredients on demand, and where our Pokeberry bushes were still planted.

The other two quadrants were vastly different though, as small huts had been erected in both of them. They both looked pretty similar, each with a door on two different sides and windows that peered out onto the rest of the garden block. But the one to the south was a darker wood, almost gray. And it was in that one that I sensed people, so I headed inside.

"What's up guys?" I asked, looking around. The hut was just one large room and largely undecorated. Tinks, Kusano, and Uzume were all moving things around though, and I spotted the kiln where we fired our clay creations tucked in one corner and Tinks' forge equipment in another. "Is this Tinks' new workshop?"

"Roland!" Kusano turned and greeted me with an excited smile. "Yes, this is the Hot Shop! We were going to call it the workshop, but we have workshops in the main house and we thought that might be confusing. So since these are the workshops that use a high amount of heat, we decided to call it the Hot Shop!"

"Well, so long as it remains a shop and not a box," I joked. Kusano tilted her head in confusion, and I shook my head. "Never mind. It looks great. So the clay stuff is being moved in here too?"

"Yes, and Chiho's glass blowing equipment as well," Kusano confirmed. "Well, we're leaving a space for that. She's told Uzume what she needs though, so Uzume is in charge of setting that up." Uzume gave us a thumbs up from across the room.

"And Chiho and VV are down below setting up other stuff?" I asked. I sensed them as well.

"They're putting the final touches on the underground biome areas we're making. Well, the ones we're ready for at least. We still have some testing to do before we add any lava down there."

"Lava?" I asked, mildly alarmed.

"Yep! For the uhh… Flamefin Koi I think she called them?"

"Flarefin Koi," I corrected her, recalling the lava dwelling fish from Terraria.

"Yes, that one. We don't have the Koi we need as a base though, so it's a lower priority for now."

I sighed. "Just… Please be very careful with the lava. I can get Environmental Defense too, if you need it."

"I think we can control the heat issues with Laws and plants, but we'll let you know!"

"Kusano, could you add a tool rack here?" Uzume called over, standing in an empty corner of the room.

"Okay!" Kusano replied. She nodded to me and then headed over to help Uzume, which freed me up to take a closer look at Tinks' new setup.

I walked over next to her, kneeling down to be more level with her. "How do you like it, Tinks?"

Tinks looked over from where she was arranging her tools, the number of which had grown while I wasn't looking, all of them bearing the signs of having been made by her, and warbled happily. She pointed at how she had her anvil arranged just across from the forge, and the clay bucket of water right next to it. She reached into a couple of clay pots pushed against the wall and pulled out two items. Both were words of metal, made by Levy, "IRON" and "GOLD".

It was a strange setup to be sure, as everything was designed to be used by her, who was just two feet tall. So everything was small and shrunken, or had its openings much lower to the ground. Pretty much anyone else would struggle to use it as a forge, but it was perfect for Tinks.

"It's looking really nice," I agreed. "Are you liking this then? Blacksmithing?"

She nodded and wore a big smile on her face. I smiled back and patted her on the head. "I'm glad. Your spear and shield were super helpful. And I know all the metal bits we have are thanks to you. Is there anything you need or want to help you? A new type of power, or a new resource, or something?"

She tilted her head and thought about it for a moment before pointing to the forge. "A new forge?" I asked. She nodded and pointed again, this time sticking her hand into the opening of the forge. Then she held her hands close together and pulled them apart as far as she could reach. "One that is bigger on the inside?"

She started to shake her head, but then paused, and nodded reluctantly. "Yes, but that's not what you were saying?"

She pointed at me and nodded. Then she took her hands, balled them up into fists, and shook them. She then lifted them up and opened her hands again before shaking them side to side.

"Fire? A forge with a bigger fire?" She pointed at me again excitedly and warbled, but then she pinched her fingers close together, but not quite touching. I was close. I thought about it for a moment and it clicked. "Oh. A hotter forge."

Tinks nodded. She pointed at the forge, then at the two pots that held the iron and gold chunks and gave a thumbs up. But then she reached into another pot and pulled out a bit of metal shaped like a different word. 'STEEL' was what it said. She pointed back to the forge and shook her head.

"Ah. You can't get it hot enough to work with some metals, huh? Yeah, I guess I can see that being a limitation. Alright, when we get Chiho's equipment we'll see about getting you an upgrade as well. If we can't… well, I'll figure something out." There are powers out there that could help her make the metals she wants to.

Tinks cheered, her warble sounding more like tinkling wind chimes, and she did a little dance. My smile grew. She really was adorable.

"While we're talking about things you want," I started, drawing her attention back to me. "I wanted to talk to you about battling." Her smile shrank a bit, but she didn't pull back or seem scared. Just less enthused. "Now, you don't have to do anything you don't want. If you never want to battle again, that's fine. But I do think it would be a good idea to at least practice a bit. Keep working at using your moves at the very least. Maybe do some practice battles against VV sometimes?"

I watched as she considered that. She glanced at her hammer where it was propped up against the anvil before looking back at me. She nodded, letting out another warble, one that was fairly neutral. But she seemed okay with doing that much at least.

I grinned. "Alright. We'll try that out then and see where we want to go from there, alright? You don't have to be a fighter, I just want to see you improve and be able to protect yourself." She nodded in understanding and I pet her on the head again, which caused her to smile.

After a few moments I stood up. "I'm going to go check up on Chiho alright? You have fun setting up your forge." She warbled and waved, and I waved at the other two as well as I left and headed for the other hut, just across the path.

I stopped just inside of the threshold and looked around. To my right were lines of clay pots and planter boxes, filled with soil but all of them empty. If things had been planted in them, Kusano had yet to grow them.

To my left was the railing of a set of stairs that led downward, and pushed against that railing was a desk with a chair in front of it. There was a stack of papers on it, and a quick glance showed notes about the Fireblossom on the topmost page. Between that and the couple of small pots with the Terraria flowers on the desk, I assumed that it was Kusano's desk for her projects.

In the back left corner was another desk and chair, this one also had notes on it as well as a few glasses filled with potions. Chiho's desk then. To the right of that desk, in the other corner, was a thick table. There wasn't any chair or anything on it, so I wasn't sure what it was for. I'll have to check later.

I could sense Chiho and VV below me though, so I headed down the stairs, descending into the depths of the garden block. It opened up into a room the same size, or close enough, as the hut above. The room was fairly bare, but there were tables or shelves that ran along the walls and the center of the room, waist high surfaces for things to be put on. But what they were for, I had no idea.

Thankfully Chiho, who likely had sensed me coming down, stepped into the room. "Come to see what we've been up to?"

"Indeed I am. I could figure out what was going on upstairs for the most part, but I have no idea what you plan on doing here. More plants?"

"Not plants, bugs," Chiho explained. "Bugs seem to be a common potion ingredient. Some of them we'll be able to put into the biomes upstairs, but for a lot of them it would be really inconvenient to grab them from there, or they need special containment. So we'll have terrariums down here. Probably some fish tanks as well, for the more exotic fish."

"The ones that don't swim in salt water, fresh water, or lava?" I asked.

"Did Kusano mention the lava room?" Chiho guessed. "Don't worry, we'll be careful. We shouldn't need much lava. But we still need to figure out how to keep it contained. And how to get the fish we put in there out so I can use them."

"Do they have to actually live in it? Can't you make them but then modify them to live in hot water or something?"

But Chiho shook her head. "If they don't live in lava, they won't work. I'm barely able to make them qualify by modifying other kinds of fish. They have to match the…" She paused and furrowed her eyebrows. "Genetic makeup or magic or whatever doesn't matter. They have to fit the same traits and role? I'm not sure how to explain it."

"I see," I replied with a frown. "Ah well, if that's how it's gotta be, that's how it's gotta be. Let me know if I need to pick up Environmental Defense though, and be careful."

Chiho smiled. "We will. Do you want to see the other rooms? They're pretty barebones still, but I can tell you what we have planned."

"Sure, lead the way."

I followed her out of the door and into a long hallway that ran from south to north along the block. All the way on the south end I could see where it led to the storage room under the main house. And on the north end, just a little to my right, it ended in another room. Immediately in front of me was another doorway, and I could see another one just a bit south down the hall, on the same wall as the door I just stepped through.

Chiho took me into the room immediately opposite us first. The north wall was just a few feet away from the doorway, but it extended as far as it could south. It was dim and hard to see, but it contained rows and rows of planter boxes, all filled with soil already. Well, most of them were. I spotted VV in the dark, kicking dirt into one of the planters on the far end of the room.

In the planters closest to me, I saw a row of small bush-like flowers with yellow flowers that pulsed with light. I recognized them as Blinkroots, like the one she had shown me the other day.

"This is where we'll keep all of our plants that need to be underground and out of the light," Chiho said. "Or just those that don't need light, so we can leave room upstairs for ones that do. We don't currently have enough plants like that to fill all of this, so some of it might get repurposed into something else, but we'll make good use of it either way."

"Worst case scenario you could probably use some of it as storage," I mused as I looked around. Then I called out to VV. "Keep up the good work VV! We're almost done." VV barked in reply, a happy look on his face, and hurried his work.

Chiho led me back into the hallway and down south, to the other door I saw there. It led to another just as dark but a little smaller than the planter room. But this one was very different. Aside from a few teeth on the north and west edges, the entire room was one big pool of water, dark and still, barely visible in the low light.

"I assume this is for the fish that live in low light conditions," I guessed.

"That's right, both the underground and the deep sea variety. It'll have some plants and other marine life too though, not just fish. It's not very deep though, less than two meters."

"No wonder we still have stone left over from the bath," I commented. I didn't think we'd have enough from what we harvested from the Sea and Lake holes we dug in the other block, but with the sheer width of this pool, the excess stone made sense.

"You did? That's good, it might be useful later," Chiho said.

"Yeah, we stored it in the basement over there," I indicated. "It's not enough to do another bath, but it should be more than enough for replacements if we crack one somehow."

There wasn't much else to see in that room, so she brought me to the final room, the one at the north end of the hallway. It was the smallest room yet due to the planter room taking up some of the space of its corner of the block, and it was empty save for a square hole dug into the far corner.

"And this is the future lava room," Chiho declared. "For the lava fish, as well as plants like Fireblossom that prefer an environment like that. We'll have special stone planters filled with ash instead of soil."

"As nervous as it makes me to just have lava out and about, this room would look pretty cool with a lava pit in the corner," I admitted. I could almost see the orange-red glow it would cast on the otherwise dim room.

"Won't it?" Chiho agreed excitedly. "Sadly I have more important things to figure out before we start working on that, but hopefully I'll be able to do it soon."

I nodded. "I'll help, I think. I'll be too nervous about you guys handling lava if I'm not there."

"No, you have more important things to focus on," Chiho argued with a shake of her head. "But we'll get Levy to help us, how about that?"

I thought about that for a moment and then nodded, accepting the compromise. Levy was responsible and could respond better than me to any issues that cropped up. "Deal."

After saying my goodbyes to Chiho and VV, I headed back upstairs to the little park area and I took the time to do some Ren training. My Ren has improved to the point where it took me over an hour to exhaust myself like that, which made training it a little inconvenient, but since we had a few hours before the onsen was finished anyway, it was a good time for it.

The others didn't disturb me when they saw what I was doing, save for Uzume joining me and silently using Ren next to me to do her own training as well. I could hold a conversation while doing Ren training, but no one ever tried to start one with me. It was probably better that way, it let me meditate and focus on my aura.

I did watch though as Kusano made her way over to the onsen block and started putting up privacy walls, more like fences, around it. I also heard it when Levy started filling the pools with water.

I finished my Ren training not long after and entered Zetsu to recover my aura just a bit faster. It didn't help all that much, but every little bit counted, and it was good practice for maintaining Zetsu for extended periods of time. I'm not sure how useful that is when most people can't sense aura, but it's something at least.

After that we had dinner, and by the time we finished eating, Kusano declared that the onsen was ready for use.

We all eagerly filed out of the house and into the onsen. Despite having helped make it, I was shocked when I stepped onto the block. The walls surrounding it, the steaming water, and the setting sun all added an atmosphere that had completely transformed it since the last time I saw it.

"This is amazing!" Chiho said. I realized then that all of us had come to a stop and were looking around. "You guys did all this just today?"

"We certainly weren't going to go another day without a proper bath," Levy commented, her tone half joking. "Not after sweating in the dirt all day."

I glanced around and noticed we were missing a couple of people. "Did someone tell Kyouko and Akitsu?"

"I did," Mami said, glancing back at the house. "I'm hoping they'll come, but it might be a bit."

That wasn't too surprising, so I just nodded. "We'll go ahead and get started without them then."

We disrobed first, and by which I mean Bisky stripped down and a couple of the others removed a few minor accessories they sometimes wore, and put their clothes in one of the cubbies right next to the door. There was also a stack of towels there, for drying off after.

As we approached the edge of the steaming pool, all eyes turned towards me. The unspoken message was clear, they wouldn't enter until I did, despite the fact that they had been much more excited for it than I was.

I decided not to make them wait long by carefully stepping into the water. It was hot, hotter than expected, but not painful. "Oooh," I sighed just from putting a single foot in. I quickly stepped fully into it and then sat down, sinking into the water until it covered me up to my chest. "Oh my god, that feels so good."

The others quickly followed me once I was settled and the next few seconds were filled with the sounds of sighs of contentment and light moans of pleasure. It probably would have been arousing, or at least a little amusing, if I hadn't been so distracted by just how relaxing it felt.

"This was such a good idea," I said as I sank further into the water, leaving only my head above it. I closed my eyes and focused on just relaxing. The stone slab below me was smoother and more comfortable than I expected. Then again, Shiina's power had been used to cut them, so them being smooth made sense.

"And we get to use it every single day," Levy agreed from nearby. The others were all slowly spreading apart, filling the massive pool. I heard gentle splashes from where I sensed Kusano heading towards the center, Shiina close behind.

Even VV and Tinks had joined us in the bath. VV was swimming around, fur wet and hugging his body, but a clear look of enjoyment on his face. VV was perhaps a bit more hesitant, staying close to the edge and on one of the raised stacks of stones that served as a sort of bench, but I thought she was enjoying it too.

A comfortable silence settled over us as we all just soaked in the hot water. I felt something bump into me and looked down to see one of the plants that floated on top of the water. It looked like a flower growing out of a lily pad. A peek below showed roots that extended deeper into the water.

Kusano explained it later, but apparently the roots absorbed water, breathing it in. Then it filtered out everything except for the balance of minerals and whatnot that they had put in the water to make it more onsen-like, used that as fuel, and then breathed the water back out at slightly above the 'correct' temperature. Holding it close to me, I could feel the water get slightly hotter around it.

I then pushed it away, letting it float in the gentle currents caused by us moving around. With it filtering the water, we didn't really need to worry about dirtying it. Which wasn't to say we could skip using soap, but we could use the soap in the onsen without worrying about leaving the water soapy and dirty.

I then poked my head up as I felt the two people who weren't with us already head for the bath. A few moments later Kyouko and Akitsu stepped out of the house and onto the onsen. I saw surprise flicker over Kyouko's expression, and even Akitsu was looking around with interest.

Of course, neither of them could ignore all the heads that had turned their way when they entered. Kyouko stiffened and then glared at all of us, daring anyone to say something.

"I'm glad to see that you changed your mind," Mami said warmly, a smile on her face.

Kyouko glanced at her before looking away. "I just didn't want to wait, that's all."

I saw a hint of something in Akitsu's expression, but couldn't figure out what it was before it disappeared. She was as hard to read as ever.

Kyouko pointedly turned around as she approached the cubbies, exchanging a few words with Akitsu, too quiet for me to hear from where I had floated to in the pool. Most of the others looked away, giving Kyouko the privacy she obviously wanted. I did as well… but only partially. They were the only two girls on the Skyblock I hadn't seen naked yet and I wanted a look.

Akitsu finished undressing first, since she apparently hadn't been wearing any underwear. The chains of her kimono-like clothes clinked as she stuffed them into a cubby.

Like all the Sekirei I had seen, she was beautiful. Her skin was a pale white, almost unnaturally so. Her boobs were on the bigger side, not quite as big as Uzume or Matsu, but still more than you could hold in both hands. Her waist was slim, but widened back out at the hips, and stayed wide at her thighs before narrowing back down, giving her a curvy hour-glass figure.

Kyouko was her opposite, I realized as she shed the last bit of her clothes. Her body was lithe and lean, and her curves weren't nearly as pronounced. Her boobs weren't very big, somewhere between Shiina and Levy in size, but they were perky and cute. Her ass was similar, small in size but very shapely. Overall, the lines of her body were more elegant and smooth, and I could see the shape of her muscles.

It was hard to say which one I preferred more between the two of them, as each appealed to me in different ways.

Kyouko turned around as she headed for the pool and she caught me staring. "What?" she growled, glaring at me.

I didn't let myself get flustered though. There wasn't any point. She knew that I was interested, and what joining us on the Skyblock meant. I hadn't even been there to make the deal, but she understood it properly. I hadn't been pushing it because it was really just a matter of time, but we were both aware that I wanted her. So hiding it was pointless.

Still, there was no need to antagonize her and draw out the process even longer. "You look different with your hair down," I said instead. She normally kept her hair in a ponytail, but now it was down, hanging freely on her back. It really showed just how much hair she actually had. It also made her look less aggressive.

Again, I wasn't sure which look I liked more because I liked both of them for different reasons.

She clearly hadn't expected my reply as her glare shifted to surprise and confusion. But then it snapped right back to anger and she turned away from me and headed for the least occupied spot of the onsen.

But perhaps most confusingly of all was Akitsu who quickly gave me a thumbs up before following behind Kyouko, getting into the water beside her. I guess she approved?

Honestly I'm still a little confused by it, a couple of hours later. I'm not sure what Akitsu's motivations are. Not that I don't trust her completely, she's winged and part of my retinue. I'm just not sure what she wants, or the dynamic of her relationship with Kyouko. I'm going to have to get Levy to use her Hatsu on one of them sooner or later, just to get an idea of what is going on there.

No one made a comment about it beyond that, just accepting her presence as we all enjoyed the onsen we had crafted with our own hands and powers. It was silent aside from the occasional splash or ripple of water, deep sighs of enjoyment, and snippets of conversation in quiet voices.

I was the first one out, eventually feeling too waterlogged to stay in any longer. I grabbed a towel and dried myself off while ignoring the many eyes I felt watching me. I wasn't the only one that enjoyed a bit of eye candy after all. And then I hung the towel up to dry and headed back inside to start writing this journal up.

The others trickled in one after another over the next few minutes. Akitsu and Kyouko were the last ones out. They headed straight past where everyone was gathered in the living room and went back upstairs. Kyouko ignored everyone, but she didn't seem quite as on edge as before. And Akitsu had a small smile on her face as she nodded towards us in acknowledgement as she followed her.

But before I could finish writing this journal entry, and before I could call it a night, I had one more thing to take care of. More training to see if I could sense Rei reserves. And I had a plan for today.

"You two busy?" I asked Kusano and Shiina as I stepped behind the couch they were sitting on. They were side by side, reading a book together. The two of them had been nearly inseparable in their downtime ever since we got back from Shinto Teito. "Need some more help with my Ashikabi training."

"We can do that!" Kusano agreed excitedly. Shiina nodded in agreement, smiling.

"Thanks," I said. "Let's head out to the Garden, I'm going to need you to use your powers."

The three of us headed out the door and into the park area of the Garden block. Once there I had Kusano grab a flower pot and some seeds and we settled down, sitting on the ground in a triangle formation like I had with Uzume and Matsu the other night.

"I'm going to connect to Shiina," I explained as I reached out and grabbed each of their hands. It wasn't necessary, but it didn't hurt either. "Kusano, I want you to grow something thick and hardy. Shiina, I want you to use your power on it. I need to be able to sense when you're using your Rei. Got that?"

"Okay Nii-san." "Yes Onii-chan!" were their simultaneous replies.

I closed my eyes and focused on my connection to Shiina. I could pick out all of my Sekirei now, after Matsu had shown me their paths. I still hadn't turned my attention to the non-Sekirei yet though. I might have if I thought it would help, but figuring out how to sense Rei was an immediate priority, so I disregarded everything that didn't have to do with that.

It was easy to reach out to Shiina and connect with her. Well, simple perhaps. It still required effort to push my energy along that connection, and I still didn't know if it was a slow and steady push or if I was forcing my way through a barrier. Too much of this was fumbling around in the dark.

But what wasn't dark was Shiina's core. Connecting to her brought a rush of bright emotion. Shiina is often pretty reserved and quiet. Part of that is her still getting used to the Skyblock and everyone I think, but she's also just naturally like that. And, as I connected with her, I could feel the undercurrent of anxiety that ran through her, a constant presence in her emotions. But, thankfully, a minor one, at least at the moment I connected to her. No doubt there are times where it's worse.

But the majority of her emotions were pure and positive. I could feel how comfortable, safe, and happy she felt here. I could feel her love for Kusano and her love for me, similar in intensity but different in flavor. She was also just a touch nervous.

Shiina gasped as I connected to her, no doubt feeling my own emotions, perhaps even better than I could parse them myself. It certainly felt like I could feel my Sekirei's emotions better than I could feel my own. It was just that intimate of a connection. I tried to push my feelings of love and support towards her, and I felt her nervousness ebb a bit, so I think it worked. But I didn't take the time to confirm.

"Go ahead and start," I said, my eyes still closed as I focused on the feeling of Shiina's emotions. I can't sense anything at first, but I do hear the occasional sound of a plant turning into dust. Not that it's much of a sound, just the faintest hint of dust or sand brushing against itself, but in the quiet of the Skyblock I can pick it out. There's also a few murmurs between the two of them as they coordinate growing and destroying the plants.

But my focus wasn't on that, it was on Shiina. I focused as hard as I could on her feelings and our connection, trying to sense a change. It was difficult though. Not because I couldn't sense a change, but because there was too much change.

Emotions aren't exactly stable things. They flow and shift constantly, from moment to moment. They respond to our thoughts and to what we observe. I could feel Shiina's focus on her task and the trickle of boredom that kept encroaching on her, only for her to beat it back with guilt and determination. Her anxiety ebbed and flowed, pulsing like a heartbeat.

But there was another pulse as well. One that took me a while to notice, but it was different. It wasn't a distinct emotion that appeared within the currents of the rest of her emotions. Instead it was something that changed the emotions already there, in a way that I still haven't figured out how to put into words. It was sort of like a pressure, or a light maybe. Neither of which make sense.

Maybe it's better to just say it was a change in intensity. Every now and then everything would feel a bit more. It was hard to pick out at first, because it shifted naturally, but once I got used to it, and as Shiina settled into a more stable routine and the currents of her emotions calmed down somewhat, I was able to pick up on it.

I opened my eyes and watched the two of them for a moment, letting my focus on Shiina wane slightly. I saw Kusano push a small seed of some kind into the soil of the clay pot she had grabbed. From it, a small tree grew, trunk and branches slim, but still clearly wood. The branches grew at strange angles, bending and curving until it was fully grown in the rough outline of a cat. Flowers bloomed from the top of its head, which Kusano pulled a few seeds from, and then Shiina touched it and the entire thing turned into dust as it disappeared.

That was when I felt the pulse. I watched a few more iterations to be sure, each time Kusano forming the mini-tree into a different shape, clearly finding her own entertainment. And when Shiina used her power to erase it entirely, that was when her emotions grew more intense, and they faded as she finished using her power.

"I think I've got it," I announced to them, making both of them turn their attention to me. "But to be sure, keep going. I'm going to connect to you now, Kusano."

I mentally pulled back from Shiina, ending our connection. It was always a little sad to do that, to lose that intimacy. It was a little scary actually, to think that something that I only learned how to do a few days ago and did only a couple times a day could feel like such a gaping void where something was missing.

But that feeling faded after a few moments. At least it usually did. This time I immediately shifted my connection back to Kusano. I wasn't willing to try for two connections at once again, not after what happened last time. Yet another thing to practice in the future, but not now.

Connecting to Kusano was an intense experience. Her emotions were so much stronger. Except that's not a good way to describe it. Sharper perhaps? I'd say more intense, but that overlaps with how I'm describing the other effect, and they're not the same. Ugh, English doesn't have words for it. To put it simply, they were more in some ways than Shiina's were, though lesser in others.

Though, amusingly, once I got used to it and could properly process it all, they were actually very similar in composition. The same undercurrent of anxiety was there, as were the feelings of love towards Shiina and I. And the same mix of determination and boredom and nervousness. The proportions of each weren't the same, and nor were the flavors, but the rough structure of their emotions mirrored each other.

And I knew that wasn't simply just how all emotions were organized. Uzume and Mutsu were completely different. It was just that the two of them are very similar in ways that aren't immediately apparent. They weren't officially twinned Sekirei like some others were, but they were close.

I nodded to them to keep going and sure enough, I discovered the same thing with Kusano. It took some time to adjust so I could feel it, but I could sense when Kusano was using her power, and when she was not. We even did a quick test where I turned around and stuffed my ears and I leaned towards Kusano whenever she was using her power. I was right one hundred percent of the time, so it wasn't just me imagining it.

It was nice to make such smooth and easy progress for once. But unfortunately, that was all I could do then. So we called it a night and headed back inside, where I picked back up writing today's entry.

The next step to my Ashikabi training is learning how to check if their Rei is nearly depleted, but I can't do that with Shiina or Kusano. To deplete Shiina's Rei would require consecutive Norito uses where she destroyed literal tons of material. It would probably take the entire mass of the Skyblock several times over before she started showing a strain. Actually getting that mass would require Kusano also repeatedly using her Norito to create it.

But I'm not going to risk tiring Kusano out like that. Shiina still has her limiter so pushing her to the limits of her endurance is fine, but Kusano doesn't and I'm not risking pushing her.

That leaves Akitsu as the only Sekirei I can safely test that with. Kyouko will probably complain, but even she's not stubborn enough to not help with something that is life and death.

Still, that's all for the future. Tomorrow we just have one last small bit of construction to do of the training area, and our renovations will be complete. The Skyblock has changed a lot over the past few days, leaping ahead to something really really cool that should serve us well for a long time. It's been very exciting and very motivating. And I can't wait to see how it continues to grow.

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AN: This chapter took me a bit because I'm writing the next Akitsu PoV alongside the chapters now, just to make sure they line up properly. The second part of that will probably be released around the next portal trip, either right after or before. And the third and final part will be right before the portal trip after that. It also took me a bit because I got my wisdom teeth pulled in the middle of me writing it and I spent like a week recovering.

Not much more than that to this chapter, besides renovations being nearly complete. I'll include the map on QQ and Discord with the next chapter. Also, to be clear, the last Tales from the Skyblock chapter might have been uploaded before this one, but Roland hasn't read it. It's from a point in the future, and Levy decided to put it in early, trying her hand at story telling by interweaving it in parts within Roland's journal. I'll get to explaining that within the journal when it actually happens.