Senzo and Yugiri had returned to their room, where Sophie was pouting and glaring at Senzo.
"Explain yourself!" she demanded, hugging Yugiri while staring at Senzo.
"..."
Senzo couldn't help but chuckle slightly; even though she was acting tough with him, it looked super cute, especially when she was hugging Yugiri.
"You know, princess..."
But before he could continue, Sophie turned her head around and didn't even spare him a glance.
"Ahem, my bad. Sophie, happy now?"
The moment she heard her name, she acted as if nothing had happened and grinned at him.
"So you know, you technically aren't a part of Pandra because you're a normal, and the only reason you can stay is because the major's whims allowed you to. So of course you weren't allowed at his party..."
When the words left his mouth, Senzo felt quite bad. After all, she had risked it all just to come here.
"Ah, that makes sense. But still, why am I being locked away in this room the whole time? It's so damn boring!"
She stated, relaxing her whole body and falling onto the mattress together with Yugiri, who was so tired after the party that she had no clue what was going on anymore as her eyes were drooping heavily.
"How about you let her sleep?" Senzo said, placing Yugiri on her own bed with a single motion of his hand.
"Ah... oopsie. I might have let my emotions get the better of me," Sophie said, sticking her tongue out.
"I do understand your frustrations. How about I take you somewhere tomorrow, and if she wants, Yugiri can join us?" Senzo offered.
When Sophie heard that, her whole demeanor suddenly changed; her earlier frustration and even slight disappointment vanished.
"I will hold you to that! Be prepared; I will run you completely ragged!" she exclaimed with a smirk on her face, as all kinds of ideas ran rampant in her head.
But it all depends on where they will be going, so she couldn't plan too much yet.
Heehee, you will regret offering that. I'll also take Yugiri with me so that he can't talk back at all. Devious plans were being made by the beautiful princess while Senzo was just staring at Yugiri, completely oblivious to the scheming princess.
***
As the night slowly passed, Andy was all alone in a small room; through the window he saw a calm sea with the beautiful sun in the sky.
In front of him on the table lay a revolver. With practiced ease, he checked if everything was in order.
He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, staring at the ceiling with a hollow expression.
"It's about time," he muttered.
Then his superior appeared in front of him in the form of a hologram.
"It seems like the preparations are finished. Andy Hinomiya."
"Yes," Andy replied with a determined gaze.
"What about Hyoubu and his comrades?"
"I'll leak information to Babel and use it to distract them. However, if the children show up, it would be a real problem," Andy explained, glancing at the door to make sure no one was near.
"Please apply pressure behind the scenes to keep them away."
"We can do that. But without the children there, how will you deal with Hyoubu and Senzo? It seems rather unrealistic to be able to steal it with both of them defending it."
"..."
Andy wanted to retort and say he would manage, but that would be a lie. Hyoubu alone was already troublesome enough as is, but now you add Senzo to the mix, and it was basically impossible to handle both at the same time without the children.
"I'll try to get one of them to leave the premises one way or another, so how about you have Babel send the children to the one that leaves?" He suggested, though he had no idea how he'd manage it.
"Okay, we'll finally execute the plan to recover Ihachigo!"
"Understood, Hinomiya out."
After saying that, he gave a military salute. The hologram vanished, but Andy had no time to relax. Immediately, he left the room and went through a portal that Hyoubu had personally created.
"That sure is handy…," Andy muttered, looking at the portal he had just stepped through; just a moment ago he was back on the Catastrophe, but now he was back in Japan.
"It's merely a shortcut created with teleportation; there are many other routes that connect various sites in the world via the Catastrophe." Magi casually explained.
Then Senzo, Sophie, and Yugiri also stepped through the portal.
Sophie looked around curiously. Seeing all the important members of Pandra gathered together here was a surprise.
She'd hoped only one of them would be here so she could ask permission to leave and explore the country with Senzo and Yugiri, but now it was a rather tall task.
That's when Yugiri stepped forward, clenching her tiny hand into a fist.
"Major!" she suddenly said.
"Oh? What is it, Yugiri?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.
"C-Can Senzo accompany me and Sophie…," was all she managed to say before she quickly hid herself behind Sophie's leg.
Hyoubu looked at Sophie and Senzo with a puzzled expression, hoping one of them would continue her sentence.
"Ah, she was hoping Senzo could accompany us in exploring Japan." Sophie clarified, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
"Sure, why not? We are more than enough to complete this mission anyway."
After he said that, Magi approached him with a serious expression.
"I've just received word from our comrades. We've confirmed that the ECM has been taken to Japan, as our intel stated."
Hyoubu gave a satisfied nod. "Let's go. And Yugiri, have a good time with Senzo and the princess."
Hearing that, Yugiri enthusiastically nodded her head at the major's words.
Momiji and the others also waved goodbye to Yugiri, Senzo, and the princess while leisurely following after Hyoubu and Magi.
"It's been a while, so there's no harm in being flashy!" Yo stated, smirking.
"My arm's going to be sore after this~" Momiji happily added.
Then Yo turned toward Andy, who was walking all the way in the back.
"Well, you'll at least be assigned as the lookout or something, Hinomiya!"
"Yeah... I'll do that…," Andy absentmindedly replied.
When Yo heard his reply, he took a good look at the newbie.
"You good? Did something happen?" he inquired.
"No, nothing…," Andy replied.
"Oi, slowpokes, hurry it up! We don't have time to waste!" Hyoubu shouted.
But Andy wasn't in the mood for shenanigans; he had a deeply concerned expression while holding his limiter necklace in his hand.