It has been a few days since I went to the Golden Emporium, and now I am at sea on Prydwen, sitting on a pstic chair, and smoking.

  Today is a beautiful sunny day, so I'm taking a break.

  Prydwen isn't fully repaired yet so I can't just ram straight into Mu, or else the ship would break and sink.

  Oh, and Mitsuki is here with me too, she's practicing her new spear on the deck, she's really good at it in fact. So for the most part, she is just training her body.

  Her spearmanship is... how should I say this? Equal to me? Of course, she can't win against me with my set of skills... hah... what I am trying to say is... she reached the peak of the spear.

  And those items she got from Qaeidat Dhahabia... they are strange. The stick she used for her new spear was a strange kind of wood, it was very light but as strong as steel. Then the hairpin, I can sense something is flying around her, something she refused to tell me about. And finally, that purple butterfly tattoo on her lower back is the weirdest, it's as if that thing was alive, pulsing and crawling.

  Oh well, since I could probably maybe sue The Golden Order, an Eldritch God, if Mitsuki ever finds anything strange. Heha... suing an Eldritch God seems fun.

  Bzzzt!!

  "Hmm?"

  Who is calling me now... Deliah...

  "What's up, sis."

  [Hello, Charlotte. Sorry for missing your calls, but... I want to invite you to my wedding.], her voice has warmth in it, a bit shy. Still, it was a mask.

  "Sure, when will that be?"

  [Haha... Charlotte, have anyone ever told you that your tone is cold?]

  "Yes."

  [And blunt too. Anyway, my wedding will be held at my house... no, our house. August 8th will be the date of my wedding... so I hope to see you there, Charlotte.]

  "Mhm, I will reschedule my pns.", and Greece is close to Saudi Arabia... where Romulus is. Might as well use this chance to go there since he decided to hide instead of confronting me.

  Well... he is still the First King of Rome, the Progenitor of Civilization. No way he would've accepted such cheap provocation... it would've been not very pleasant if he did.

  [I hope to see you again, my little sister...]

  "Me too."

  [Oh! You might get to meet our aunt. I haven't told her that I contacted you, so let that be a surprise for her!]

  My aunt, huh... I wonder if Athen knows anything about that.

  "Sure, I would love to meet her."

  [I think she's dating a secretary, hehe... so make sure to bring it up. Making her angry is fun... though she says a lot of bad words, even if she tries to hold back.]

  Mhm, that sounds like Athen. It would be funny if she was actually my aunt.

  [Anyway, I am busy pnning. I hope you will be there... I want you to be my bridesmaid.]

  "I see. So, what do you want me to gift you?"

  [Surprise me, sister.]

  And she ended the call there... very rude.

  "Hey Mitsuki.", I called her out while lighting another cigarette, "Wanna go to a wedding?"

  She turned to look at me, "Wedding?! Count me in! I haven't been to a wedding ever!"

  She seems to be on board with me ever since that night, even though she's an idiot... no, she's not an idiot. She chose to remain ignorant.

  Well, that won't do for my pns.

  "Say, Mitsuki. What if I say I was a part of a secret organization, would you believe me?", I smiled.

  "What's with you all of a sudden?", she approached me, "Well, I had my suspicions... is that true?"

  "Think about it, my friend.", I grabbed her hand, pulling her into my embrace, "How could I have reached you so fast? Why was everything so convenient for me? If I didn't have such backings, you wouldn't be here today."

  "Ch-Charlotte...? What are you doing?", I can feel her body getting hotter.

  "You don't need to worry about that. I act however I want. So, are you interested in joining?", I ced my words with Euphoria.

  That power... is called Desire, one half of a whole. It amplifies Euphoria's suggestive power into straight-up brainwashing. Of course, I won't use it... much.

  Just a tiny amount to guide Mitsuki to my side...

  Am I evil? No, of course not. I am just a human.

  "Join... you?", Mitsuki chuckled, "Is this something like the Akashic Insurgency?"

  "No, it's nothing like that. My organization isn't a terrorist group...", I hug her tighter, letting her feel a bit of pain. This is my revenge for associating me with those fakes.

  She flinched, so I released my hold.

  "Have you ever heard of the Tower of Babel?", I whispered in her ears... they are red.

  "N-No?", she hesitated.

  "There was a legend long ago, of a tower built by humanity in order to reach God. Though God didn't want that, so he scattered the people who built the tower and made them forget their original nguage. To the religious kind, it was a dispy of God's power and the arrogance of humanity. But to us, the tower is a symbol of unity, an achievement, a dream we have..."

  I still have no fucking clue how that story fits in the wider narrative. But who cares.

  "So, in order to fulfill that dream. Babel, the Organization, was created to protect humanity till that promised time."

  "So, Okita Mitsuki, the spear master who had reached the peak of the spear, do you want to join us and protect humanity?"

  I let her go, and swapped my position with hers, letting her sit on my chair. Then I locked the ship's controls with a hand scan... as expected, my fingerprints are identical to Sincir so it worked.

  "Sit there and think about it. I'll go finishing.", I wonder if there are any normal fish left in the ocean...

  I left Mitsuki there to think about it. Well, she will join in the end, she has nowhere to go after all...

  She is in my hands... heha... hehahahaha!!

  =0=0=

  Meanwhile, on the Moon.

  Hoshimukade y there on the dark side of the moon, with its body facing the vast void... It sees them, the tendrils of The Original One, reaching out across the universe. Followed by countless sparks of light...

  It was a light show, beautiful and mysterious... wonderful... the Bde of the Void reached its hand out, trying to touch those tendrils...

  It does not know why... but it must reach out toward those tendrils... to reach the stars.

  "So you are here, Fragment of the Universe.", it heard countless voices, jointing it up and reaching for its sword.

  "Who are you?", it asked, pointing its bde at the individual in front.

  There, was a being in the form of a glowing white cloak, but they have no head, instead, it was a golden slit in reality. Something about their gaze made Hoshimukade uncomfortable...

  "I am The Pale Court, the First Harbinger of Life.", they introduced themselves, "The one who granted life."

  "What do you want...", if it had a face, it would be frowning right now.

  "Just checking on the newest suicide attempt... not bad, not bad at all.", they approach without a sound.

  The Pale Court, now stood right in front of Hoshimukade, looming over it... it cannot help but feel intimidated.

  "Suicide attempt...? What do you mean?"

  "It simply is that, a suicide attempt. To that Child, you are simply another attempt for her to kill herself...", then they pced a thin white hand on top of its head, stroking the Fragment of the Universe, "What a poor future she had given you."

  "Wait... wait... I don't understand...", it spped the hand of The Pale Court away, "Give me more context..."

  "That is all we can say without disrupting her little game.", countless chuckles were coming out of them, some of mockery, some of amusement, and some... of pity.

  "Though we must warn you, you cannot get out of the Oort Cloud. Until someone pierced it again..."

  And then they vanished...

  "What... was all of that?", it wondered, staring into space...

  Not really though, as in the darkness of the moon, it sees an outline of a castle...

  =0=0=

  PAK!

  I hit a shark with one of my spears, luckily it was attached to a chain so I didn't need to dive into the water to get the shark.

  "Mitsuki! We are eating shark meat today!", I smiled, pulling the shark onto the deck.

  Pulling the spear out of the shark, I returned it to Ouroboros Omniscia. The spear supply may be close to infinite, but it isn't.

  "We are eating shark?! I haven't eaten one before! Let's roast it!!"

  She seems pretty fired up after our st conversation. I could force her to join, but I honestly don't want to, she is my friend after all...

  The only normal one at that... no, she isn't normal.

  I don't have a single normal friend... fuck.

  "Section 45: Cooking."

  The sides of the coffin opened up, revealing cooking utensils. I took out a compact grill, and set it up right away. I also took out all the necessary tools and spices...

  Now... I need to remove the mercury in this thing's meat... somehow.

  Or...

  "Hope.", I touched the shark with the golden dew of Hope, letting it seep into the meat... I have no idea if this would work but...

  I gnced over to Mitsuki, who was really excited, she began to pick out the seasoning.

  "Charlotte! Can I season it?"

  "Wait for a bit. I haven't finished taking out all the mercury."

  This dosage of mercury may be insignificant for me, but Mitsuki is another problem. She is Japanese, a fairly traditional one at that. Assuming that she eats fish daily... the amount of mercury in sharks may cause problems for her, especially when she is a normal human now.

  And... done, Hope had removed all of the mercury.

  I got two knives, one flexible and a very long and sharp. Channeling the best chefs of humanity, I began to fillet the shark, slicing its underside from the anus to the throat, creating an opening for me to stick my hands into and pull out all of the guts and organs.

  Now...

  Taking a rope on the ship, I tied the shark to the mast.

  Then I began to punch— bursting blood vessels to make it bleed more while tenderizing it. The blood reeks.

  "Reverie..."

  I let Reverie absorb the blood on the deck.

  Hmm... this won't do it...

  In the end, I resorted to tying the shark to the ship and dragging it across the ocean wave.

  "You sure this will work?", Mitsuki asked, looking at the shark leaving a blood trail.

  "It will work, better than waiting for blood to drip all night. Plus, I can't just punch all of the blood out of it, the meat would've been mush.", I crossed my arms, smiling.

  Hmm? For some reason, she leaned on my shoulder. It would've been uncomfortable a few months ago... but due to my sudden growth spurt after getting hit by lightning, I am only shorter than her by half a head.

  "Mitsuki?", I questioned.

  "Could we stay like this for a bit, please?", she whispered under her breath.

  I frowned, "Mitsuki, I'm not gay."

  "I wasn't implying that!", she jolted up, pouting cutely, "I just want to... stay with you, is that okay?"

  "It's fine.", I closed my eyes for a bit, "You can do whatever you want..."

  Why am I just letting her touch me... I usually hate others touching me, so much of a gnce.

  I try to feel my heart... nope, it isn't some unconscious love. I guess I'm just getting used to her presence...

  No...

  Is this... maternal instinct? Heha, I'm just joking. My experience with Seria fucked over my image of what a mother is supposed to be.

  "So... about your organization...", Mitsuki muttered, "Can I join?"

  I smiled, patting her head, "Of course you can."

  I might need to pull some strings to pull this off...

  But everything will fall into pce.

  Heha~ I think I am getting a hang of this puppeteering stuff...

  This is fun.

  At the end of the day, we grilled the shark meat and ate it together under the night sky. Enna decided to fly down from her usual spot in the sky despite her fear of boat, her hunger was greater. Everyone had fun, even if things were hectic a few days ago.

  These small moments, even if they are simple... I enjoy them a lot.

  Rhaps