Akagi was annoyed, a feeling she had been experiencing far too frequently lately.

She had spent the entire journey back to the Sakura Empire aboard the Nagato, sulking and brooding. She was hoping to spend some more time at Azur Lane, if only to have a few more chances to carry out her plan of approaching the Commander, but alas, she got distracted with the matters of Aquila and Yorktown, and without realizing it, the moment to return home had arrived.

Her thoughts wandered to her detestable kohai for a second, and she gritted her teeth in frustration. It was all Shoukaku's fault for openly interfering with her attempts at accosting the Commander and for roping other Kansen into it. Akagi still remembered the other carrier's mocking smirk and the gaze full of contempt she had sent her as the fleet left the joint base. She should have taught her the lesson she deserved while she still had the opportunity.

She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. No use crying over spilled milk; seeing how the war was going, she'd have another chance to see Ryan again in the future. Right now, she had other things to worry about, like her sister.

The Northern Parliament and Dragon Empery delegations had detached themselves from the fleet to head to their respective homelands the day before, and now the remaining Kansen had arrived at the port of the Sanctuary, with the massive presence of the Sacred Sakura Tree towering over the base.

After letting Kiyomi and the shipboys disembark, Nagato recalled her hull, and the shipgirls gathered on the pier around the flagship and the chairwoman. They all began making their way toward the harbor, where a welcome committee awaited them, but Akagi grabbed Kaga's wrist before she could get too far.

"Do you need something, Neesama?" Kaga asked her sister as the other members of the fleet went ahead.

"What do I need? Kaga, we haven't talked in days; you barely even showed up for meals during the journey," Akagi said, her voice having a pleading undertone to it. "Can you tell me what in the gods' name have you been doing?"

Right after departing, Kaga had offered to call out her hull with the pretext of extending their range of scouting, and Kiyomi herself had given her the go-ahead. Sure, the chairwoman had raised a questioning eyebrow at the black marks she had on her neck, openly calling her out on them, but Kaga had simply chalked them up to bruises she had gotten from sparring with the other carriers at the base. It had been enough to convince the human woman, who even praised her for her dedication to training. Of course, Kaga, after thanking her with a stone-faced bow, had immediately summoned her hull next to the Nagato and then had proceeded to go radio-silent for hours, ending up spending the majority of the trip on her own ship.

Kaga breathed out a sigh. She knew her sister would make a huge fuss about it, so she was trying to put it off for as long as she could, but this confrontation was bound to happen, sooner or later.

"I was with Kurama," Kaga declared.

Akagi blinked, her words echoing off in her head. A hesitant smile came to adorn her lips as she tried to process them. "So you were with that mutt. I wager you were training and didn't want to be disturbed right?" She tentatively asked her.

Kaga averted her gaze from her, trying to fight back the blush that was coming to her face.

"You were just training, right?" Akagi pressed, her smile faltering.

"We were…" Kaga trailed off, unable to look her sister in the eyes.

Akagi grabbed her by the arms and forced her to look at her. "You were training, right?!" She all but yelled in her face.

"We were fucking, Neesama!" Kaga yelled back at her, shoving her off in annoyance. She was immediately reminded of her surroundings and turned to check on the others, but they were all too far to have heard. "You've been pestering me about our relationship since we were still at the base. We are… together now, if you must know," she added in a calmer tone after clearing her throat.

To say that Akagi was stunned would be an understatement; she was completely paralyzed. Her jaw dropped in disdain and betrayal, not only at the revelation but also at Kaga's attitude.

Kaga felt a pang of guilt assail her. She didn't mean to snap at Akagi, but sometimes her sister was just impossible to deal with.

"We'll talk about this matter later…" Kaga declared, turning her back on her sister and leaving her behind with her woes, her jaw still on the floor.

At the head of the welcome committee were the senior Kansen stationed at the Sanctuary. Mikasa, who had taken Nagato's place in her absence, Amagi, who was eager to welcome her sisters back, and Shinano, who made sure to stay awake for the occasion.

Behind them were the human officers and the rest of the Kansen to whom the port was home, all eagerly awaiting the return of the Priestess of the Sakura; the flock of shipgirls in the front row was brimming with excitement.

Not as much as a certain cyan-haired shipgirl, though. Aoba was literally licking her lips, pen and notepad in hand, her tail wagging with impatience behind her. Nagato's return from the summit with the other faction leaders was already a gold mine of news on its own, but the presence of the chairwoman made for an even juicier scoop.

She made her way to the front row and pushed over the line of senior Kansen to lunge at the returning delegation, ready to hit her flagship with a barrage of point-blank questions, but before she could utter a word, she slammed face first into a mass of orange fur that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

She let out a wince of pain as she fell on her butt. She was about to lash out at them, but her hair stood up on her neck, and her words died in her throat as her gaze met the piercing red eyes of the owner of those imposing tails.

"Watch your steps, squirt," Kurama regarded her with a menacing glare before walking away, a few steps behind Nagato and Kiyomi.

While she tried to process what just happened, someone grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and gently hauled her up on her feet.

"Sorry about that; my brother gets rather cranky with so many people around," Freedom said with a smile and an apologetic tone of voice.

"R-right…" Aoba hesitantly responded.

Still a bit dazed, the shipgirl watched as this other stranger fell into step beside the male Kitsune to reprimand him for his rudeness, with Massachusetts following behind him.

At that moment, it hit her. Those were male Kansen!The renowned shipboys were right there!

Once the existence of the male Kansen became public knowledge, rumors that one of them had arrived at the Sanctuary even before Nagato and the others departed for the Azur Lane joint base ran around the port for a while, but Mikasa and the other senior Kansen neither denied nor confirmed it. Eventually, everyone just stopped giving it thought, like it regularly happened with all other rumors, but now that they were in front of her, Aoba couldn't possibly ignore them. She had the opportunity to be the first reporter to interview one of the famous shipboys, and she'd be damned if she blew it.

Her gaze fell on the last pair following the delegation in the back of the group—a blindfolded, white-haired man with a cane in his hand and a blonde destroyer under his arm.

A sly grin appeared on her face.

"Hey there!"

Carabiniere jumped as a bundle of cyan hair appeared out of nowhere in front of her and Sparviero, blocking their way.

"I'm a reporter! Name's Aoba! Can you spare a minute to answer a couple questions? Great! Let's begin!" Aoba said, twirling her pen in her hand and bringing up her notepad.

"I'm sorry-?" Carabiniere tried to speak, but the reporter set off like a rocket.

"What's your name? What's your ship class? Where are you from? When did you wake up as a Kansen?" Aoba began bombarding the shipboy with a barrage of questions.

"Wha-?" Sparviero was too taken aback; Aoba was too unrelenting in her assault for him to keep up.

"Have you always been blind? Are you really a man, or are you just crossdressing?"

"Hey, what kind of reporter are you, making all these inappropriate questions?!" Carabiniere came to his defense.

"You two look very close; are you a couple?"

The unexpected question made Carabiniere blink. Her complaints died in her throat, and once she registered her words, a hard blush came to adorn her face.

"W-well… Officially, I'm supposed to be his bodyguard…" Carabiniere said, squirming and fidgeting in her place.

"Actually, we are. Though it's a pretty recent thing," Sparviero quipped with a smile. He could answer that question without qualms, and as expected, his words elicited a squeal of embarrassment from the destroyer next to him.

While the information about him and his brothers coming from another world was officially classified, many people were already aware of it, even Kansen without a position of command or a higher rank. Word would eventually get out on its own, so instead of keeping the information hidden for too long and risking it leaking out, Kiyomi had decided to propose to the council to make it public with an official press conference, using the shipboys' situation to explain everything in detail—at least the details they were willing to share with the masses. Until then, the less people knew about it, the better, in order to avoid randomly spreading misinformation and alarm around the place.

That's why Sparviero decided to jump to the occasion and take advantage of Aoba's last question to change the topic to something more mundane, like his relationship with Carabiniere.

On that note, things were going well between him and the shipgirl; after retrieving Lenin from the Sirens, they had decided to actually try dating.

Nobody knew about it… except for his brothers and their destroyer friends… and the Commander, who was too smart to be fooled… and Aquila, who seemed to have picked up on something based on the shit-eating grin she wore when they left.

Okay, maybe a few people already knew about it, and to be honest, Littorio wasn't aware of it only because she had been too busy with the other flagships to have noticed. In any case, they were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, mostly because they wanted to figure things out on their own.

But even after making that decision, things hadn't actually changed much between them. They would keep going about their days like they had been doing since the beginning, between Carabiniere's other duties and spending time with their friends; the only difference was that every now and then, they'd find a quiet, isolated place to have some... privacy for themselves. Although, after that one time when they almost ended up sleeping together, things never went any further than that, much to the shipboy's chagrin.

With a barely concealed smirk, he kept answering Aoba's questions as best as he could without giving out too much while waiting for the others to come to their rescue.

While the exchange was taking place, Nagato and her retinue were being welcomed by the rest of the committee. As the group walked and waved to the crowd that had gathered around the docks, everyone wondered not only at the sight of the head priestess returning home, but also of Chairwoman Tamayo and the shipboys accompanying them.

Nagato had to remind herself that she wasn't at Azur Lane anymore and that they were surrounded by other shipgirls and officers, so as much as she was happy to see her fellow senior Kansen, she had to hold back the smile that was fighting to come out to her lips and keep a poised expression.

The highest-ranking human officers present were doing the same with the chairwoman as she briefly explained the situation to them and quickly made up an excuse for the presence of the male Kansen. No one even dared object; the poor bastards didn't know who was more intimidating, the woman or the imposing figure of the male Kitsune standing menacingly behind her and glaring at them with his piercing red eyes.

"You are finally here, Outlander," Shinano stepped forward to address Kurama, drawing his attention away from the officers, much to their own relief.

"We came as quick as we could, Dreamer," Kurama replied, his impatience evident on his face. "And I brought my brothers, as per your request," he added, introducing Freedom next to him and Sparviero, who was still busy with the cyan-haired shipgirl further behind.

"So you are the one who'll help us get in contact with our world?" Freedom asked the carrier after greeting her.

"Indeed, but it won't be that simple. I insisted you come here because I need your help."

"What do you need us to do?" Freedom inquired.

"For now, just rest," Shinano replied with a reassuring tone. "You'll need to be in peak mental and physical condition."

"For what?" Kurama and Freedom shared a look of confusion.

"Fret not; all will become clear later," Shinano reassured them.

After a few more minutes of exchanging pleasantries, the chairwoman, deciding they had spent enough time dillydallying, clapped her hands to catch the attention of both human officers and Kansen before dismissing them by telling them to go back to their duties. In only a few seconds, the crowd dispersed, and the docks were cleared, except for the delegation and the senior Kansen.

"Aoba, stop troubling our guests. We need Sparviero for something important; you can chat as much as you want another time," Kiyomi's stern voice made the poor cruiser jump, interrupting the exchange between the shipboy and the reporter shipgirl, much to the relief of the two Sardinian Kansen.

Nagato internally sighed at the Aoba's incorrigible attitude, then turned to address those present.

"Everyone, I suggest we retire to our lodgings for the moment. Mutsu, please show them the way. I'll be expecting you all later at the foot of the Sakura Tree."

"Ryokai!"

"Amagi-neesama~!" Akagi ran up to her sister, wrapping her in a bear hug.

"Akagi, Kaga, it's so good to see you; I trust everything went well," Amagi said, returning the hug.

"It was-"

"We had a wonderful time, Neesama~" Akagi said, cutting Kaga off.

"You didn't cause any trouble for Nagato-sama, did you?" Amagi inquired as the three crossed the threshold of the small apartment they shared.

"But of course, Neesama; don't you have any faith in me?" Akagi said, taking off her shoes before setting foot on the tatami floor with a spring in her steps.

"And what about Musashi and the others? How are they?" Amagi folded her wagasa before putting it inside the umbrella stand.

"They were-"

"They were doing great! They send their regards," Akagi interjected again, making Kaga suck in a breath of annoyance.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'd really like you to tell me about your stay; why don't we get started with lunch so we can have a nice talk?" Amagi said with a smile.

"That's-"

"That sounds great, Neesama; let me help you with the-"

"Akagi!"

This time, it was Akagi's turn to be interrupted, but it wasn't Kaga who did it. Amagi's booming voice echoed through the house, making the other foxes pause as she regarded Akagi with a reproachful expression.

"Akagi, there's a limit to how rude you can be. Kaga has been trying to say something for a while now, but you've interrupted her, not once, not twice, but three times. That is no way of conducting yourself," Amagi remarked calmly but firmly.

Suddenly, all the cheeriness disappeared from Akagi's face, as if she had been trying to forcibly put up a smile the entire time.

"Ara, since when do you need Amagi-neesama to speak up for yourself, Kaga?" Akagi turned to address the white fox with a smirk.

"I need all the help I can get to deal with the likes of you," Kaga said, frowning at her sister. "I know how annoying you can be at times, but today you've been truly insufferable."

"Well, if you find me so annoying, why don't you just keep ignoring me like you've been doing for the past few days?" Akagi shrugged. "Why are you even here when you could be spending your time with your precious mutt instead?"

"What's the matter, Neesama? Upset because I successfully secured my prey while yours still eludes you?" Kaga mocked her, ticked off by her attitude.

"Ara, look at you flaunting your success like a little kid with a new toy," Akagi said, anger slowly rousing within her. "Keep dreaming if you think such a meager achievement holds any worth compared to my goal."

"You know, you might have a shred of a chance with him if you learned to keep in check that ugly attitude of yours," Kaga retorted. "Why don't you start by apologizing? I might even give you some advice."

Akagi clenched her teeth, a menacing glint passing through her eyes. "Oh, and what sort of advice, you ungrateful vixen? Something like throwing myself at him like a whore-?"

"That's enough, you two!"

Amagi's voice halted their arguing again, but this time, the sudden strain of yelling twice in a row caused her to fall into an intense coughing fit, and she doubled over in pain, gripping her chest with a hand.

"Neesama!" Both carriers set aside their quarrel and rushed over to her in concern, but the sickly Kitsune raised her hand, intimating them to stand back. Once she recovered, Amagi straightened her back and glared at them.

"Something happened between the two of you while you were away. I don't know what, but what I know is that insulting each other won't solve anything," she chided them, her voice still straining a bit. "First of all, make peace and shake hands, and then discuss it like the senior Kansen you are."

Akagi and Kaga hung their heads in shame, sulking as their elder rebuked them. Once she was done and their eyes crossed, they turned away, pouting and sulking even more.

Amagi's stern expression was replaced by a tight grin. She had already foregone her umbrella, so she had to make do with what she had. She grabbed hold of their fox ears and twisted, eliciting a series of pained yelps from her sisters.

"Apologize to each other. Now," Amagi commanded, letting go of her hold on them.

The two carriers tentatively glanced at each other as they nursed their ears. Knowing that defying Amagi wasn't a good idea, they complied, reluctantly shaking hands in shame.

A satisfied smile appeared on Amagi's face.

"Good, now, as punishment, you both will make lunch together while I sit down and take it easy," she said with a clap of her hands. "I was craving for some karaage today, but I also wanted to try those new ingredients for the oyakodon, and some miso soup would be fine as well... Oh, and don't forget that I still want to hear what brought this all up, so don't think I'll let you off the hook just yet."

Akagi and Kaga groaned as they followed Amagi into the kitchen, ready to get to work.

Kurama gazed up at the imposing figure of the Sacred Sakura Tree, whose branches spread like a net in the sky, blocking the sunlight and casting a large portion of the base under its shadow's reassuring embrace. Its presence was a symbol of pride and tenacity to all the subjects of the Sakura Empire, and awe to all those who came from outside.

But it wasn't like that for him. To him, the Sacred Sakura was only the symbol of the country that had brought pain and suffering into his life, and whenever he used to gaze upon it, back into his world, the only feelings it brought forth in him were anger and scorn.

And yet, upon gazing up at this Tree, he could sense a feeling of longing bubbling inside him, like a strange nostalgia that brought back to his mind the few fond memories he had of his world. Some of the most recent ones were the time he had spent at sea with his brothers; others were the times he had spent with his Nagato, back when they were still enschackled by the Empire and the military.

At the time, Nagato was just like his counterpart in this world, the symbol of the faith of an entire country. Just like Kurama and the other Sakura male Kansen, he was also subject to the tyranny of their jailers, who treated him with white gloves in comparison to the others, but still took advantage of him to have a better hold of the people's hearts. Thanks to that, though, Nagato had a lot more liberty than his fellow Sakura Kansen and took advantage of his position to do everything in his power to improve their condition, going as far as to reach for his contacts in the other factions to ask for help, before being found out and executed.

Kurama shook his head to dispel the image from his mind. Every time he happened to think back to that time, the memories of that moment would come to haunt him, highlighting his failure to save his mentor as guilt and sorrow took over, accompanied by nightmares. Thanks to Kaga, he had been able to avoid thinking about it during the journey, but now that the moment was rapidly approaching, he could feel the anxiety eating at him from the inside.

Apparently, his distress must have been evident on his face since Shinano approached him as they walked.

"Something's troubling you…" she addressed him. Freedom, Sparviero, Massachusetts, and Carabiniere were also there. The group had spent a few hours making themselves comfortable inside their temporary accommodations, and now the busty Kitsune was escorting them along the path that led to the temple at the foot of the Sakura Tree, the same one where Nagato had introduced him to the senior Kansen of the Sanctuary the first time they had met.

"I was just lost in thoughts," Kurama half-lied. He was indeed thinking, and those thoughts were indeed troubling him, but it wasn't the time to bring up his woes, especially to Shinano; she had to stay focused.

Then something came to his mind—something he should have realized much sooner.

"Dreamer, where were you exactly when you entered Nagato-niisama's dream?" He inquired.

"Right where we are heading now… I was sleeping inside one of the temple's inner chambers…" Shinano replied, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I've been thinking about the reason why that happened in the first place. Maybe it's the Sacred Sakura. There's one back in my world too, and Nagato-niisama is being kept under observation right beside it," Kurama said with a contemplative expression on his face. "He used to say that his connection to the tree was deeper than I imagined, but he never explained what it exactly entailed."

Shinano's eyes slowly lit up in realization as he spoke, and then a soft smile appeared on her lips.

"The Sacred Sakura is an entity that transcends our own understanding… You see, my abilities seem to dwindle whenever I get too far from it… I wouldn't be surprised if I was able to transcend the fabric of reality with my power only thanks to its close proximity."

"If it acts as a resonator for the energy contained within our Wisdom Cubes and a point of contact for both worlds, then it might be possible," Sparviero interjected from behind them. "It could even be the reason why we ended up here instead of any other random world."

"I don't understand," Massachusetts said. "Kurama's mentor has been in a coma for four years, right? And Shinano spends most of her time here at the Sanctuary. It could have happened at any moment; why now of all times?"

The group fell into a pensive silence. No one knew the answer to her inquiry.

"It doesn't matter. What we need to do is focus ourselves on Shinano…" Sparviero spoke up after a bit of pondering.

"That way, she might be able to talk to Nagato without the risk of the dream collapsing too soon," Freedom concluded, looking at Kurama with an encouraging expression. "It'll work, brother; we will make it work."

With a newfound confidence, the male Kitsune took a breath.

"Damn right we will."

Shinano and the three shipboys were sitting in the middle of the square room, kneeling down on the tatami floor of one of the temple's indoor chambers. The room was the closest to the Sacred Sakura; its hulking trunk, emerging from the water of the bay in all its glory, was perfectly visible through the open paper window walls.

Everyone else was sitting cross-legged or kneeling on the floor to the side of the room. Nagato, Mutsu, and Kawakaze were next to each other, flanked by Kiyomi on one side and Carabiniere and Massachusetts on the other. The senior Kansen were all present, including Amagi, Akagi, and Kaga.

"My initial intention was to have the four of us fall asleep together in the same room, in the hope that their Cubes' connection to their world would help stabilize the dream… But now, with our newfound understanding, I'll be the only one sleeping," Shinano explained to all those present. "What you need to do is focus on myself and fuel my power with your own mental energy," she addressed the shipboys, who replied with a nod of their heads.

The tension was palpable, but everyone was eager to begin and see the ordeal's outcome, and thus, when Nagato gave the go-ahead, Shinano went to lie on her back, her hair and kimono spilling around her form. Kurama kneeled down right in front of her, bringing her head to rest on his lap as Freedom and Sparviero sat down to his side and put their hands on his shoulders. Shinano regarded him with a soft, encouraging smile, to which Kurama replied with a nod as his hands delicately came to rest on the side of her head.

The shipboys closed their eyes and focused on their Cubes, the two on the side adjusting to the male Kitsune's wavelength, before they all fell into a trance, their breathing stabilizing and their bodies relaxing.

Shinano also closed her eyelids. She could feel their energy course through her, like a river meandering itself toward the ocean.

She took a deep breath and let herself go with the flow, quickly falling asleep.

Shinano's eyes fluttered open.

It worked, and wonderfully to boot; the transition was smooth, the surroundings were clear of any foggy texture, and her senses were sharper than ever. She was dreaming, but she had never felt so awake.

She was standing on the same path on the same island, with the same beach and the same cobblestone stairway that had become so familiar to her after the several failed attempts she had made at interacting with the dream.

With an unusual spring in her steps, the usually sleepy Kitsune began making her way up the cobblestone path.

When the top of the stairs came into view, she noticed that the huge torii gate was still there, but this time, there was someone beneath it.

It was him. He was awake and standing at the top of the stairs, still wearing his pristine white kimono. His long, black tails were swaying in the wind, and his long, lustrous black hair was framing his gentle features as he regarded her with a welcoming smile.

When Shinano reached the top and came to a stop before him, he spoke.

"So you made it."

His statement made her pause in confusion. "You were waiting for me?"

"When I first met you, I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but after that time, I felt someone try to break into this space time and time again until they eventually stopped. I thought you had given up… but here you are," he explained; his poised, gentle voice was like a lullaby to her ears.

A smile came to adorn her lips.

"It's good to finally be able to speak with you, Nagato-dono," Shinano said, bowing her head to him.

Her words took him by surprise, and he raised a confused eyebrow at her.

"You know my name?"

"It was Kurama… He told me about you and everything you've done for him," Shinano replied.

"Kurama-kun? How do you know him? You are not a…" he trailed off as realization slowly settled, and he looked at her with wonderstruck eyes.

"It's a long story…"

"So I was dreaming all along…" Nagato mused aloud. "No wonder this all felt so surreal."

The two Kitsunes were sitting next to each other on the porch of the temple situated in the middle of the area at the top of the stairs. Shinano had just finished explaining everything to him.

"I was certain I had died on the day of my execution, and that this place was some kind of domain inside the Sacred Sakura for my soul to rest," he continued, his voice full of surprise but also a bit of uneasiness. "That is… a lot to take in."

"I can only imagine how perturbed you must be, Nagato-dono," Shinano said. "I'm sorry for dumping all this onto you all at once."

Nagato's hand came to rest on hers as he looked at her with eyes full of fondness and gratitude.

"Don't fret, Shinano-san. Up until now, I was convinced I had to spend the rest of all eternity inside this place doing nothing but meditating. Your words and your mere presence have been my lifeline. Without you, my fate would have been to eventually go mad with loneliness."

"In that case, I'm glad I could be the one to turn the tides of your fate, Nagato-dono," she responded, returning the smile.

Reluctantly, Nagato retracted his hand. While he'd have loved to keep making small talk with her and hear more about his protégé and his exploits in her world, Shinano was there on borrowed time, and they had more important matters to address.

She had told him that her visit here was just a trial run—a way to verify if she'd be able to actually cross the fabric of reality of her own volition and connect to the dream of an otherworlder with the help of the shipboys. In the end, the fact that she had entered his dream that first time had been pure chance; after waking up, she'd try to reach the dream of another Kansen who could actually tell her what she wanted to know, that is, the date of the next planetary alignment in their world. It was upsetting, but he couldn't even do something so simple in his condition… or could he?

Now that he knew that his body was still alive, albeit in a coma, maybe there was something he could do.

"Shinano-san, how much time do you have before waking up?"

"I'm not sure… As long as the others have energy to spare… but I can't tell how long exactly." She had discussed this before with the shipboys; this being a trial run meant they had to test how long they could keep up the energy transfer, which meant she had to stay here until they got tired and her time ran out.

"If I'm truly dreaming and my body is being kept in close proximity to the Sacred Sakura, I can try to reach it from here and ask it about the situation."

Shinano's ears perked up at his words and her eyes widened in shock and surprise. "You can… talk to the Sacred Sakura?"

A small grin appeared on Nagato's lips. "Talking is a bit of an overstatement; what I mean is that if I manage to reach it with my consciousness, I might be able to gather something about the state of my world."

"How do you know that? Is that even possible?" Shinano scooted closer to him, more and more thrilled by his words.

"Indeed. You see, I've always felt a deep kinship with the Tree, and I've always tried to explore it, albeit without much success. What I've learned, though, is that it's extremely sensitive to anything that could upset the world's balance—something like a planetary alignment, for example."

Shinano clasped his hand in hers and brought it to her chest, beaming at him with the brightest smile she could muster. "Thank you so much, Nagato-dono… It's more than we could have possibly asked for."

A sudden gust of wind ruffled both their hair, and a bunch of pink petals swirled around them as Nagato lost himself in her deep, blue eyes for a second.

He managed to keep his composure as he brought his other hand to clasp hers, marveling at their softness. "It's a bit early to celebrate. Allow me to give it a try first."

"By all means, please do…" Realizing how close she had gotten to him, Shinano let go of his hand, awkwardly scooting over, giving him some space as he crossed his legs on the porch of the temple. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and fell into a focused trance.

Shinano took advantage of the breather in the conversation to better study his features from up close. The more she looked at him, the more she noticed how much he resembled a grown-up Nagato of the opposite sex. She found herself admiring his set of nine tails, covered in black, lustrous fur, that were resting idly on the porch behind him; her own tails were indeed long, but bushier, while his were even longer, but slenderer, just like Kurama's. Unlike his protégé, Nagato seemed a much more soft-spoken, poised man, just like his shorter female counterpart; she wondered if he also showed some temper every now and then, as it happened to the Nagato of her world whenever she needed to discipline some of her unrulier subordinates.

While lost in thought, she noticed a frown appear on his relaxed features. His lips pursed shut and he sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes fluttered open. His frown deepened as he turned to address her.

"Shinano-san, we might have a problem on our hands," he declared gravely.

"What's wrong?" Shinano asked, concern creeping in her voice.

"It already happened... six days ago."

"You mean…"

"The planetary alignment. The portal... they've already created it. The Original Sirens have already arrived in your world."

A few days before…

Another explosion resounded in the distance, followed by several more a lot closer than the previous ones.

The walls of the throne room of the Siren main base shook under the blasts, but Zero was unperturbed. Her job wasn't to worry about what happened outside, but to focus on the inside.

The Original Sirens had arrived, bringing with them every single unit and piece of ordnance remaining at their disposal after their loss in the other world at the hands of the male Kansen. It hadn't taken them long to locate Zero's hideout, and now they were desperately trying to seize control of the seed; without it, the entire journey to this world would have been in vain, and they'd be doomed to die out like a flickering flame. This was their last chance of survival, and they were doing everything they could to desperately follow their self-preservation instinct, just like a cornered, wild animal putting up one last act of defiance before biting the dust.

Of course, Zero knew it, and she couldn't allow them to do as they pleased. But the Original Sirens had taken them by surprise, and most of their units around the globe hadn't yet been recalled, so they were lacking the numbers to effectively fend off the threat.

The armada besieging their lair was just a diversion to distract them from the true danger—the group of Original Sirens that had infiltrated and was running amok inside the base.

While the others were tasked with holding back the enemy outside, her job was to prevent the intruders from reaching the seed, which was located at the bottom of the throne room she was in; if that happened, the consequences would be disastrous.

But that wasn't the only one of her worries. Her eyes scanned the multiple screens before her as her fingers danced across the holographic keyboards. Helped by her rigging's tentacles, she sifted through the endless lines of text and numbers of their program code.

Once she was finished, she willed her rigging to unplug itself from the seed's main console and let out a satisfied hum. With that, the seed's time leap protocol had been disabled. If the Original Sirens did manage to take over the base, they'd have no way of fleeing to another timeline, and if they tried to restore it, they'd be left with a handful of flies since she had completely erased the program.

Doing something like that was a piece of cake for her; after all, she was the avatar of the seed. She had tried to start it off as soon as she realized the enemy was gaining the upper hand, but something was interfering with it, preventing them from time leaping and restarting in another timeline, so instead of wasting time trying to work around the disturbance, she decided to erase the time travel function straight up from the seed. Sure, that meant she and her subordinates were now in the same predicament, but there was nothing else she could have done.

No, there was one more thing she could do...

Suddenly, the automatic door to the throne room opened to reveal Purifier's bruised and battered figure.

"What do you want, Zero?! I'm busy here!" She yelled at her as she half-limped and half-strutted toward her.

Unperturbed by her appearance and her attitude, Zero produced what appeared to be a weird combination between a USB drive and a smartwatch of Siren manufacture.

"Purifier, I want you to take this and deliver it to the Azur Lane Commander," she said, handing it over to the other Elite. "Of course, you have to warn him about what's going on."

"What?! You want me to flee right when the fun is about to begin?"

"I won't repeat myself, Purifier... You are the fastest of all of us; you are the only one who can get out of this situation unscathed."

"Aw shucks, if you put it that way!" Purifier snatched the thing from Zero's hand right as the automatic door on the opposite side was blasted open to reveal one of the intruder's monstruous forms. "I'll do it right after I'm done with this nuisance here," she said, summoning her rigging as she began hovering menacingly above the metal platform suspended in the middle of the throne room.

She was about to lunge at the unidentified creature, but Zero's rigging wrapped its tentacles around her and all but threw her in the opposite direction. The automatic door from where she had arrived opened and closed in a flash to let her through as she disappeared behind it with a yelp.

With a satisfied hum, Zero switched her attention to the new arrival, which was slowly floating toward her. It wasn't as big as her rigging, but it was still much taller than her. It resembled a mix between a jellyfish and a squid, with long, strand-like tentacles sprouting from a thin, borderline vestigial trunk, atop which stood a disproportionate, glassy cap pulsing with red and yellow lights.

Zero raised her arm at the Original Siren's unsettling form, and her rigging lunged its tentacles at it. Her opponent's sleek form was a lot more elusive than she expected, as it dodged with ease each and every one of the swings and blasts from her rigging's tentacles and weapons.

For the first time, Zero was staring down their destined foes, and she could feel a mix of weird emotions spreading through her—trepidation, fulfillment, amusement… fear, hesitation, pain, regret…

The last four came one after the other in quick succession as the monster weaved through her rigging's attacks until it came to stand right in front of her.

It pierced her skull and brain with its string-like appendages, making her lose consciousness in the blink of an eye.

AN: So, Fanfiction alerts are still broken. My intention was to wait until they fixed the problem before updating, but when I was told that app notifications are working just fine, I went ahead and downloaded it; which means I can finally see reviews and PMs without missing any of them. If you are also tired of not getting notifications, I recommend you do the same. The other option is to head over to Archive of Our Own. I've been posting without delay over there, so we're a couple of chapters ahead, but that's not a problem. I'll just publish those over the next few days to catch up before returning to updating regularly here as well.

Anyway, anyone remember Code Lyoko? I have so many fond memories of that cartoon. I loved everything about it when I was a kid (and I still do). The characters were really well written, the main plot was really good, and even the usual "encounter of the week" kind of stuff was very entertaining. Also, the CG was way ahead of its time, and the OP was an absolute banger!

All this to say that this Original Siren is inspired by the Scyphozoa from Code Lyoko… Yeah, you can draw your own conclusions from that.

Next Chapter: The Storming of the Basilica