She always wondered why he kept trying to get close to her; she was too… her. If he liked her in that way, then she really had to question why and refused to believe it. She, naturally, brought it up to him and his response was as expected and yet unexpected at the same time. He didn't have a reason nor did he need one, he said. He just wanted to. She'd be all alone with how most of Fire Moth was treating her, and he couldn't just sit idly by, watching her suffer alone.

"Humanity got through everything because they stood together, right? Then why should I let you stand by yourself?"

"…You're starting to become a real headache for me, you know…"

Having narrowly escaped Fu Hua's rage with her life, Senti found herself strolling through the confusing halls of Anti-Entropy's airship. She wasn't lost, definitely not, but damn did she wish they had put a floor plan somewhere around here. For now, she just wandered whichever way she thought might lead her back to those two. 'Wonder what they're talking about now…' Senti ponders as she rounded another corner and right into—

"Oh, Miss Senti." Welt briefly apologised for accidentally bumping into her before asking why she was seemingly wandering around. "Are you… lost, perhaps?"

"Whaaaat? Pfft. No, of course not," Senti naturally denied such a claim before quickly changing topics. "What about you? Any reason you're not at the bridge doing… captainy things? Actually, what do you even do as Sovereign anyway, now that the Honkai are gone?"

That managed to make Welt laugh briefly before replying, "Not much nowadays, but I am rather glad since it allows me to focus more on my animation studio. As for right now, we've already set our course and it'll be a few hours before we reach St. Freya. I was hoping to listen to more of young Fujimaru's stories to pass the time."

Yeah, that made sense to Senti. "Great timing then, I was about to head back there myself." She put on a grin and told him he could lead the way. No, it's not because she had no idea where to go, of course.

As they walked together, Welt had decided to fill the silence by asking her the last thing she wanted to hear. "If I may ask, what exactly is the nature of your relationship with Fujimaru?" That stopped Sent in her tracks with a groan.

"Does everyone know about that?"

"Miss Fu Hua confided in us her belief that the two of you shared a past with him somehow. Was her gut feeling correct?" Welt continued with a hint of a grin.

"…Technically, we did," Senti finally admitted after a few seconds of silence. "There was a Fujimaru Ritsuka in the Previous Era. Fu Hua already knows but uh… she doesn't know how close we were."

"Close? Do you mean—"

"No, not in that way," Senti immediately denied, crossing her arms with a huff. "The old timer didn't have many friends back then but he was one of them, that is, till he keeled over and died."

Welt's previously amused grin turned to a slight frown at her dismissive reveal. "That's a rather callous way for you to put it."

"Oh please, he died thousands of years ago. I'm over it," the Herrscher continued to brush it off like it was nothing. "Besides, I shouldn't be all mopey about that Ritsuka when the one with us now is a completely different person… Well, actually, he's basically the same but you get what I mean. My relationship with the Previous Era Ritsuka wouldn't affect my feelings towards this one."

"I do understand what you're trying to say but knowing that now, I believe it would be impossible for you to separate your feelings towards him," Welt voiced his thoughts without holding. "It's one thing if you accept that this one isn't quite the same as from the Previous Era; it's another to pretend to be dismissive and say your previous relationship doesn't seep into this current one."

Senti just rolled her eyes at him. Of course, she could. She isn't some normal human; she was her, and getting all depressed about someone dying shouldn't affect her that much… right? "Well, you better believe I can 'cause I am. And even if my view of Ritsuka is a little bit biased, that doesn't change who this new Ritsuka is. He's his own person and one that trusts others a bit too freely if you ask me."

"I can't deny that…" Welt sighed but agreed with Senti. "However, that just worries me more. History may repeat and some aspects of this Era already do match the Previous one, but this Fujimaru Ritsuka doesn't belong to our universe. And of all the possibilities, he just so happened to run into the one person with some semblance of a connection to him?"

"Could just be a coincidence, you know," Senti shrugged; sometimes, coincidence could just be that— a coincidence. There doesn't always need to be some mastermind with an ulterior motive hiding in the background. And if there was, why would they pull someone like Ritsuka who died a soldier's death? Why not a Flamechaser or even a Herrscher? Why a nobody like him?

Welt once again conceded to her point but maintained that they should keep the oddity of his situation in mind. Soon enough, the two finally arrived at their destination to find Ritsuka and Fu Hua conversing on the bed. "Oh, hello Mr Yang," the former waved upon seeing him with Senti.

"We're… not interrupting anything, are we?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. Fu Hua was just telling me a bit about her past."

Senti didn't even get the chance to open her mouth before Fu Hua shot her a glare, promising pain if she uttered even a word. Senti internally debated whether she valued her own life over the chance to get the old timer all red again. Ultimately, self-preservation won out and she settled for pouting instead.

"Is there a problem, Mr Yang?" Fu Hua then asked, satisfied after seeing Senti give up.

"No, everything is quite alright. I was just curious to hear more about Fujimaru's adventures. We have a bit of time before we reach St. Freya," Welt replied, repeating what he told Senti earlier.

"Hmm… In that case, there are a few stories I could tell," Ritsuka nodded before jokingly asking, "Is there a specific genre you want to hear about? I promise you I've probably experienced it at some point."

Welt took a moment to give it some thought as Senti headed for the couch she had lazed around on before. Finally, Welt has his answer— "Even space opera?"

"Yes, I've been in space as well," Ritsuka replied with an amused grin. "And let me tell you… I met a lot of familiar faces. You'd think in the vast universe, you'd run into a lot of different people. I mean, there were definitely new faces but most of them were still people I knew."

His long-winded tangent made not only Welt chuckle but also Senti and even Fu Hua as well. "I'm sure it's a fantastic tale, Fujimaru," the former told him. "Let's hear it then. I'm admittedly in need of some inspiration for my other job."

Ritsuka was about three-quarters of the way through recounting his adventures aboard the Maanna when Welt received a message. "We'll be arriving soon," he relayed to the others before addressing Ritsuka. "Why don't we finish this story another time and head up to the bridge? St. Freya is quite the sight to see from above."

Curiosity piqued, and with no reason to argue otherwise, Ritsuka followed along as Welt led the group back to the ship's bridge. It was a rather short walk and soon enough, they entered the massive control room. The familiar sight, not unlike that of the Border, made him feel right at home. Right now, their view was obscured by the clouds, but it won't be for long as the ship slowly descends from cruising altitude. "Just how big is St Freya?" Ritsuka asked the first thing that came to mind as he stared at the screen with slight nervousness.

"The academy's campus is roughly the size of a small town or village," Fu Hua answered as she walked up next to him. "It was designed to be a micro-city where those enrolled would have most of their wants and needs fulfilled. That way, they could focus on their studies and training. It's self-sufficient for the most part, but of course, some luxuries would still need to be imported."

"I see…" Well, they were training the next generation of warriors to protect humanity. It made sense to make their lives as comfortable as they could as a courtesy for asking them to put it on the line.

"Of course, as with any other boarding school, the students are encouraged to seek employment and run some of the facilities so—" Fu Hua continued on about St Freya and while he did his best to take in the information… most of it ended up going over his head. She was speaking too much too quickly for him to keep up.

Fortunately, Senti came to his rescue— coming in between the two and tossing her arms around their shoulders. "Come on, old timer. You're giving the poor guy a headache with all that droning," she teasingly scolded Fu Hua who rolled her eyes in response before apologising to Ritsuka. Senti lets go of him to gesture towards the screen as— "There it is. Our alma mater: St. Freya Academy."

At last, the airship descended past the layer of clouds, letting Ritsuka see the academy in its entirety. Scores of Western-style buildings filled the campus grounds, with people dotting the streets going about their day. Most of the architecture was the same— white walls with multiple stories donning various types of roofs. However, there were some notable standouts; a large track field as typical of an academy, a shop on a street corner with a massive hot dog on its roof, presumably a fast food joint. There was also a bridge leading to an island where a cathedral sat alone in all its splendour. But most importantly— the thing that made Ritsuka question everything he was seeing… "Why do you have a game store as big as the cathedral?"

Their landing zone was a bit of a distance away from the main campus but luckily, there was a small welcoming party waiting for them. Most of them were in uniform with Welt telling him they were members of Schicksal; their leader stood in the middle with her arms crossed and a hardened expression. It would be intimidating in any other circumstances and it still was to an extent.

…Unfortunately, Ritsuka found it difficult to take the sight of a girl roughly half his height seriously.

The overseer of Schicksal— Theresa Apocalypse —kept her serious expression as the group disembarked with Welt leading them. They stopped before the other group with Ritsuka standing beside Hua, and doing his best to hide his nerve as he glanced between the two leaders silently staring at each other. As he begins to wonder if there was some bad blood between the two…

"Your hair is starting to grey." A small grin appeared on Theresa's face before he glanced towards Tesla, "Is it from stress or age?" Her question managed to draw a small laugh from the researcher, who answered that it was both.

"And you are the same as always, Miss Apocalypse," Welt replied with a hint of annoyance in his voice. However, he couldn't hide the small grin showing his true feelings. "It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Thanks to Kiana, things have been a lot easier than in the past," she answered with a small sigh. "Still, it does get stressful from time to time but I guess I can't complain too much considering the alternative." Theresa then turned towards Fu Hua and Senti. "How have you two been? I haven't gotten a new postcard in a while."

"We've been well, Theresa," Fu Hua replied with a rare smile on her face.

"I hope so. Now, that just leaves you." Finally, Theresa's attention was on the one unfamiliar face. "You're the one then, I assume? Our extradimensional visitor— Fujimaru Ritsuka."

Ritsuka nodded at the question while Theresa studied his appearance. "That would be me, yes. Fu Hua told me a bit about you, Miss Apocalypse."

"Is that so? Still, allow me to introduce myself." A confident smile spread across her face before she continued— "I am the principal of St Freya Academy, the overseer of Schicksal, and the world's cutest Valkyrie, Theresa Apocalypse. Now, let's have a look at your little problem, shall we?"

A/N: Couldn't help it with the slight HSR reference with Welt. Sue me.

Anyway, Ritsuka has finally arrived at St Freya. I meant for Mei to appear too but decided to save it for the next chapter. I promise you she'll be here then, I've stalled long enough with her.