Alien Detective Agency - Chapter 9 [NanaMiki, Sae+Mako/Rena/Milky] 21/08/2015

[saeyu]

I am so glad that NanaMiki is loved by you guys hehe. I'm personally divided between NanaMako, NanaMiki and MakoMiki...wait, did I just mention all the couples possible in three musketeers? LOL

Anyways, here is an update on the next chapter. It's more on Sae so consider it to be a continuation of the previous chapter rather than a new one.

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Chapter 5 - Stars

Sae still finds it unbelievable that she's standing outside the science museum as she waits for Milky to arrive. Is this like, a date or something? Ah~~what am I thinking? She just wants to meet up to fill up her free time, and I, I am here for investigation...for investigation!

"Hey, Sae-chan!" Milky waves energetically.

Sae looks to the direction of the voice and saw Milky dancing towards her in a knee-length dress, her hair flowing in the breeze effortlessly. She looks so carefree and out of this world, like a...

"Fairy..." Sae accidentally blurted her thoughts out.

"Heh?" Milky waves her hand in front of the dazed Sae, trying to get her attention. The clueless and innocent look on the ikemen girl's face is what attracted Miyuki's attention that day when they literally ran into each other's lives.

"Ah..ah! Sorry!!" Sae blinks and felt her cheeks turn red. "I was just...I'm just....Well, haha! So here we are! Why pick this place? Is there a project you need to do?"

"Hahaha, no, Sae-chan!" Milky laughs and wrap her arm around Sae's, like they've known each other forever. She didn't notice that Sae tensed up at the contact. "I'm not in middle school anymore! This is just a place that I love to come every so often."

"Why?" Sae finds herself slowly relaxing and getting used to the closeness as Milky leads her into the giant hall of main exhibits. She turns her head to look at the girl beside her, who just smiles and shrugs.

The museum is quite empty at a regular day, save for a few group of elementary school tours. The couple played through a few exhibits in the main hall casually, until they reached the end of the hall, which leads to another exhibition on the astronomy section.

"This is what I came here for..." Milky looks at Sae, who smiles and nods back. Funny that a girl like Milky, who majors in biology, would take a special interest in what happens in the outer space...

The couple kept chatting and walking through exhibits, watching videos and experiments here and there, enjoying their time alone in that hall. The astronomy room is quite spacious, and much more dimly lit to show models and photos of stars, planets and orbits...etc. They started debating about Pluto's status.

"It feels like a family finding out that their youngest little baby is in fact not blood related, and then they all turned against her..." Sae said that in a half joking, half reminiscent manner. "Ever since I was a little kid, Pluto's always been part of the planets. See, even Sailor Moon has a Sailor Pluto...I just can't 'disown' her like this!"

"You sound like a father," Milky chuckles and continue to read about Pluto's description on the plaque. "At least, she still has five moons orbiting her...look...look at this-- 'Charon and Pluto are also tidally locked, so that they always present the same face toward each other'."

"That's true, they'll always have each other no matter what happens, that makes me happier." Sae grins.

"There's always going to be an end in everything we see today: when the sun dies in a few billion years, all of the planets here will be engulfed..." Surprisingly, Milky sounds abnormally defeated from her usual cheerful self.

"Five billion years sound awfully far away, don't mind don't mind!" Sae tugs her hand and smiles brightly, trying to cheer Milky up.

"Yup, it's quite far off... I mean, everything has its end one day, I understand that..." She releases Sae's hand and walk towards the the exhibits about stars and outer galaxies, her head hanging low. "Is it wrong to do everything we can to save something we treasure, or shall we just accept what fate has in store?"

"Milky," Sae walks up from behind her and turns her around, hands resting on her shoulders, looking into her eyes seriously. "Is there something bothering you? Tell me."

There's a sadness in the girl's eyes, but she smiles bitterly and shakes her head.

"I'm okay...I'm just, unsure of myself sometimes." She continues to walk along the large spread of stars lining along the curved wall of the exhibition hall. "Every time I feel this way, I will come here to reassure myself."

Sae stood there and looked on at the lonely figure of this girl, realising that she's not as carefree as she looks. Silly me...She thought. Of course, everyone has their own troubles, no matter how well of a facade they put up.

It's almost lunch time as they left the museum. They've started to talk about college, and then about this town, when Milky revealed that she was born in Nara and moved to this town about a year ago.

"It must be quite tough to be away from your family, isn't it?" Sae learned that her parents had divorced when she was young, and that her mum has gone out of the country for work, so she is now all alone in this country, let alone this relatively new neighbourhood she's move to.

"Yes it is, I'm thinking about them all the time." She then winks again and smiles brightly. "But it's okay! I've met new friends here, and good people like you!"

Sae smiles in relief. "Of course, with a pleasant personality like yours, it wouldn't be too hard to make new friends?" Then, she thought of Mako's photo at the manga cafe and the lost girl of their client's husband. "By the way, have you heard of the kidnappings of middle and high school girls? Do you feel unsafe moving this this town?"

"Ah~" Milky stop on her steps and shrugs. "A little bit. I saw on the news that there's a kidnapping again yesterday. From the photo, I recognise that I've actually met this girl before. We go to the same manga cafe..."

"This girl...do you know her well?" Sae continues to probe.

"Seina-chan? Yes, we've chatted a few times already. She also lives alone and have divorced parents, and we read the same manga, so...so I'm really sad that she's missing..."

"I guess that's why you feel down just now.." Sae moves closer and wrap her arm around her shoulder, patting her to comfort the girl. She feels so wrong about ever doubting Milky's involvement in the kidnapping cases.

"It's going to be fine..." She continues to pat as Milky rests her head on her shoulder.

"I really miss home. I want to see the stars..." Mily chuckles pitifully at her own words. "What am I saying? It's high noon right now."

They walked to the bus stop that'll take them back to the university. The bus arrived and Milky boards, looking back as Sae suddenly pulls her hand from behind.

"I know where to take you. Let's skip class today."

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*at Don Quixote High School

Nana types away at the corner of the computer room, scanning the list and a number of variables, confirming what she's suspected. First of all, the girls who had ever been kidnapped are all in that list, including Mizuki's daughter, Seina-san. Second, all of the girls had been adopted at some point in their lives, a fact that is not known to the authorities because they haven't made this connection yet. These girls are not necessarily orphans; they might have just changed guardianships due to divorces, relocation and a list of other common reasons.

That makes the list a lot smaller. She's now looking at the list of around fifty girls. Twenty two of them had already been kidnapped and returned unharmed. Now it all makes sense.

Her phone buzzed with a mail from Kojima Mako.

"Nana-san, did you have a chance to see that list yet? There are hundreds of girls in it, but I found that all the kidnapped girls fall into that list! Do you think that the kidnapper is also trying to find out who your princess is? This makes the other girls all vulnerable...but there can't be so many possibilities! I'm still scanning the list. Give me a call when you see this."

Nana typed a short message and replied, "Yes I saw it. It's a very long list. Don't worry too much Mako-san, it may be a coincidence."

She put the phone away, looking at the list of fifty and determined to keep it a secret for now. The cursor blinks at her while she stares at the screen, not knowing what to do next. The text beside the blinking cursor reads:

"Nishino Miki"

The door slides open, interrupting Nana's thoughts when she's about to move down the list. It's none other than Miki and Naanya.

Quickly saving the files and shutting down everything, Nana stood up before they both reached her seat.

"Naachan! We finally found you! We looked everywhere!" Miki exclaims and almost smacked the girl's head. "Do you know how worried we are when we learned that you didn't go to the infirmary?"

"Come on, " Naanya also urged. "It's P.E. now, let's go to the gym and join everybody else so you won't get caught!"

Nana looked at Miki and studies her for two seconds, and move her head to look at Naanya calmly, as if she's not sensed the urgency in their voices.

"Stop standing here like an idiot..move!" Miki took Nana's hand and started running, with Naanya following behind them.

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*At Rena and Nana's flat

Rena came home from classes, puzzled that Sae didn't join the afternoon. Did this sleepy head totally forgot to wake up? She texted her and got a reply saying that she's working on an urgent case, but Mako was also caught in surprise about that, so they both went home without learning what happened to her.

Mako has told Rena about the list already, warning her that someone else is looking for the princess too.

Now, Rena is just lounging in the sofa with the tiny piece of crystal in her hand, day dreaming about the fight at the gangsters headquarters. The words Sae said to defend her still rings in her heart. She's the first, perhaps the only, person who knows about her everything and still accepts her for who she is.

She put the key up above her head and look into the tiny rays of light, which radiates a warm glow in the room. There's still so much that's unknown in her life here, and her life at home.

What kind of a planet is SKE?

What kind of species is she?

What kind of a person WAS she?

She thinks back again at the day the earthquake happened back in Nagoya. She's attending a yankee school back then as one of the strongest fighters at their school. At that time she's no memories of her past. It was the loneliest time in her life. Being adopted to a family who had no kids of their own, at first, little Rena was doted on and raised like the Matsui family's own. Then one day, she recalls her mother getting pregnant, and everything starts to change. The baby boy was born, and...passed away due to sickness. Her parents never recovered from the grief. Glasses and things started to shatter in the house, and there are more and more shouts, yells and fights. Little Rena was completely forgotten.

The super human strength grew with her age, and she didn't know what to do with it, nor did she understand why she had it. She only wanted to act friendly and yearned for some warmth in her life, but every time, her strength scared people off. At last, she found her place as a distant but feared loner in a yankee girl's school. It was then that the earthquake struck, hitting her head and cracking it open.

She recalled how the spaceship went out of control, with the dials all going out of control in front of her panicking eyes as they crashed onto Earth. She recalled her companion, Nana, who instructed them to lock themselves into pods at the last minute before the ship hits the atmosphere. The sound of the ship's screech as it collides into the air rang as her own body transforms under the liquid-filled pod...

Both Nana and her had regained only part of their memories back. They tried to piece together what they know, but it was scant. She doesn't even remember why she's sent to take the princess away. What if...what if they're the bad guys, trying to kidnap the baby princess? And what if, the person coming back for the princess now was the one who shot their spaceship down? After all, it couldn't have crashed without a reason.

A ray reflecting from the Key shone right into Rena's pupils, as they dilate at the sudden stimulant. She shudders and some scenes flashed quickly in her head.

Springing up from the couch, she mutters, "We're not alone."

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It's night time when Sae and Milky reached the neighbouring town of Sawaguchi. It is a small countryside town that houses one of the area's largest observatory.

"But we haven't applied for the lottery for night-time star-gazing."

"What did you think I do while you were asleep in the bus?" Sae winks and show the admission mail on her phone.

"I never thought we'd travel this far to see it." Milky takes a deep breath and takes in the beautiful view at the entrance to the telescope.

"Let's go in."

The tour went on well as they are blessed with clear skies that night. Milky has never seen anything as clear and as far away.

"So this is the Albireo...." She exclaims happily.

"It's also my first time here..."Sae says as she scratches her head around the explanations from the tour guide. In truth, she knows nothing about stars and galaxies. The closest thing she did was accompany Mako once when she had a night photography assignment to take pictures of the Orion. She still feels guilty about ignoring Mako's message earlier today, but she doesn't feel like telling her about Milky, whom Mako seems to have developed a hostile suspicion on...

"The world is so big, with so many things important to protect..." Milky said as they continue to peer into the telescope. "It's wonderful," she continues, "I think, I'm peering closer at it than I ever could..."

"It?" Sae asks.

"It's nothing..."

"As long as it makes you feel better, that's okay. I know Milky-chan has troubles that you cannot share. If you are ever unsure of yourself, just believe in your heart, and do as it says."

Milky stood up from the telescope and looks into Sae's eyes.

"Even...even if...it could turn out bad?"

Sae's stunned at the conflicting pain in her watery eyes. Is it wrong to throw reassuring words out callously? I don't know what happened to her, I'm in no position to give out any advice...

But Sae rests her hands on Milky's shoulders, squeezing them gently and nodded in conviction.

"You can't care about what every one else feels. There's always going to be a need to make choices. I promise you, I will be by your side and believe in you no matter what. So, have some confidence in yourself."

"Thank you." Milky smiles at those kind words.

After all, Sae thought, I can't bear to see her sad... Watanabe Milky, what kind of magic did you cast upon me?

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"What are you thinking?" Milky nudged Sae as they left the observatory, sitting in a nearby open space where they can still see the stars in the sky clearly.

"Nothing..." Sae murmurs and huddles closer to Milky as a sweep of night breeze blew at them.

"Thank you, Sae-chan. You have no idea how much it means to take me here today."

"Anything that makes you a little happier." Sae said and looks back at the girl, who now wraps her arms around her waist and rests on her.

"You are such a nice person...we've barely known each other, and yet, you're willing to do so much for me..."

"I don't do this to anyone," Sae raises Milky from her embrace so that they can face each other. At first, Milky is still giving her usual carefree smile, but when she saw the seriousness in Sae's eyes, her heart started pumping madly, and she looks away.

Sae sees the hint in her look, and felt encouraged to move closer.

"I like you, Miyuki."

Milky looks back and simply nodded, closing her eyes as the nervous girl draws close. She felt her lips touched by a warm softness. In return she wraps her arms around Sae's neck and brings her even closer, as they taste each other's passion. Sae tugs Milky in closer so she can feel her with her own body as they drown in each other's kisses.

Breaking from their kiss finally, Milky asks in a breathy voice, "Are we going back tonight?"

"Let's find a place to stay here instead..." Sae answers in a tone that's asking permission for something more. "Is that okay?"

Understanding what she means, Milky squeezes Sae's lap gently and answers, "Sure."

[niineechan]

Woooh...
SaeMilky... (///_///)
Hohoho.. U're obviously enchanted, Sae-chan.
More please..

[Weird Panda]

What? I don't understand what she means. Would you kindly explain it, author-san?
Or maybe you wanna make it clear by showing us what Sae and Miyuki had just experienced that night at the next chapter?

[junchan48]

Its more interesting now><
Poor little Rena T.T
And dat SaeMilky moment~
What do you mean with Sae want something more, author-san?-,-
SaeMilky progress is fast

Gonna wait the next chap!
Thanks for the update, Saeyu-san^^

[kimseoyeonc]

I love the nanamiki moment!! I hope that you can make more of nanamiki moment!! 

[saeyu]

I love the nanamiki moment!! I hope that you can make more of nanamiki moment!! 

Thanks for dropping by! I missed messages in your tumblr box a while back coz I was on a break for a long time NanaMlki will be featured prominently in this chapter!

What do you mean with Sae want something more, author-san?-,-

 

What? I don't understand what she means. Would you kindly explain it, author-san?
Or maybe you wanna make it clear by showing us what Sae and Miyuki had just experienced that night at the next chapter?

Sorry they are NSFW. I wonder what they can do in a hotel room at night....

Woooh...
SaeMilky... (///_///)
Hohoho.. U're obviously enchanted, Sae-chan.

They are really in love but being a fanfic, how can things just progress smoothly 

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Chapter 6 - Safe

Like previous kidnapping cases, Seina-chan was found safe and sound back in the manga cafe one morning when the staff came to open the store. Similar to other cases, no footage were captured in nearby cameras as they all went short-circuited shortly before dawn. This time, the girl appears to have her wallet and a pair of earrings stolen; therefore, the police continues to file it as another robbery case and hope that nobody will try to stir things up again.

Meanwhile, Mako had used this opportunity to let her client know of the existence of her husband's illegitimate daughter, telling her how it's not the girl's fault, and asking her to consider the situation, now that she's kidnapped. The woman was shocked and angry, but she's willing to see the reason in Mako's explanation, and forgave her husband in the end.

"Case closed and cheque cashed!" She leans back on the chair happily in the agency, while Sae types in notes on another case about some petty theft at a local boutique, where the owner has asked them to find out who the culprit is.

"That's right! I'm glad everything is fine now!" Sae clicked and saved the file, turning off the computer. Swinging her chair around, she faces Mako and smiles appreciatively.

"I would've never known how to handle that case so tactfully like you. She thought it was just her husband cheating, but it turns out to be a much bigger case. I'm so glad to have such a partner like you."

"Hehe!" Mako laughs cheekily and folds her arms together in pride. "Of course I'm the smart one of the two! By the way, did you look at the list of girls I sent?"

"Yes...it's very long, but quite troubling too."

"Yes it is..." Mako said. "Anyway, let's grab dinner!"

"Em...sorry, I can't make it today." Sae stood up and grabbed her coat, heading toward the exit suddenly.

"You've been busy with things that we don't know lately." Mako stands up and her face turns serious as well. "What are you hiding from me?"

"What?" Sae turns around and laughs forcefully. "What are you talking about? I'm just going back to college to finish my lab report." She left and close the door, without letting Mako question her further. In truth, she's meeting with Milky tonight again. After that night, they've become a couple. She shouldn't have to hide anything, but somehow, it's turned out like that when she meet Mako's eyes the day after. She lied to her that she's felt sick and skipped class at that moment, and so, the lie continues.

Mako sighs and sits back down on the chair. In truth, her attention has been divided between worrying about Sae, and the list of girls that's sitting in front on her desk. She thought it's a good idea to elicit help from the aliens to solve cases, and it had been. From reading minds to actually fighting off thugs, Rena and Nana have proven to be very useful resources. Without them, she doesn't know if amateurs like Sae and her, with school and family to take care of, can continue to run the agency so smoothly.

However, she would never have guessed that finding the princess and the spaceship will be a case so close to her heart. She's dug into the list of girls that's been abducted before, and all the cases have one thing in common: a piece of jewellery-- a necklace, or a ring -- had always gone missing, along with other things like money, accessories and whatnot. She's sure that this is not just to throw the investigators off track, because she's now laid out drawings or photos of things that'd gone missing on the table, and they are all made with some sort of precious stone.

This may not be an interesting finding. After all, girls with jewellery is a common place thing, and having them stolen seems to make sense. Kojima took the file of the laboratory report on the yellow powder and read again.

"The material appears to have interacted with crystals or stone-like elements in great heat, causing it to disintegrate and mingle into powder."

This girl, Watanabe Miyuki, must have something to do with the kidnappings. Moreover, she must have something to do with the aliens. And the princess...oh, the princess.... Mako feels a headache in her head and turns the list of girls over so she doesn't have to see that name staring back into her eyes.

"Owada Nana"

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Nishino Miki smiles happily back at Okada Nana, who's sitting at the bleaches under the sun with an umbrella, watching Miki play soccer in the field.

Miki kicks and scores a goal at the match as everyone cheers. She dances around to celebrate and the audience roars in laughter. Looking back up at the girl with umbrella, who merely gives her an unwilling smile, Miki snorts and turns around proudly, smiling to herself though, at Nana's awkwardness. Lately, not only is that stiff-necked allowing Miki to follow her around; she's also accompanying her at club activities, even though she's the stay-at-home type.

Naanya hands her a bottle of water after the match. "Good job today!" They walk together back to the changing room.

"Hey," Naanya nudges as she sees Nana moving slowly with the crowds to leave the bleaches. "It seems like things are going well with you two, isn't it?"

"With Naachan?" Miki asks. "What...what are you talking about?"

Naanya smiles and whispers into Miki's ear. "Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about. When it comes to things like this, don't chicken out!" She releases Miki from her grab and winks goodbye as Nana approaches them.

"I'll leave you two on your own, I still have something to do!" She skips off with Miki wanting to protest, but stopped on her tracks as Nana looks at her questioningly.

"What's wrong, Miki?"

"Errrr...nothing!" She coughs and laughs. "Let me change quickly so we can walk home together!"

Nana waits dutifully outside the changing room, glancing her watch and then gazing absentmindedly at the cloudless sky. She recalled the day when she brought the weight of Miki possibly being their princess home, and decided to keep it a secret from Rena after all. There's both an excitement inside her heart, that she's found her kind in someone that she likes, and also a morbid fear that this will put her in danger. There's someone competing to get her hands on the princess, and if Miki is really their target, what could they do to her, and will she be able to protect her if the time comes? This burden is kept in further silence after Rena told her that some of the memories have been reactivated in her earlier via the Key.....

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*flashback to Rena's discovery of more memories the day Sae skipped class

"Rena," Nana spoke carefully as she picks the crystal up. "Did you mean that you recall us being chased and shot down by another spaceship?"

"Yes," Rena answered. "I recall the moments when I came to pilot our ship, with you and Princess Wako, originally chartered to SKE...I think your country is in war...in war with a planet called NMB. That's why the princess had to evacuate, and the one that caused us to crash was a fighter pilot from NMB. However, I remember clearly that the shield on our ship had reflected some of the missiles back; I'm 100% sure it got hit as well...they could not have survived, could they?" The fear in her voice have betrayed her words.

"Yet here we are, with enemies trying to get hold of our princess too..." Nana said, recalling Mako's text message.

"I know, but since the plane has crashed too, I think our enemy is in the same position as ours." Rena tried to comfort herself on this.

"You are right, if that person is from NMB, they clearly have no information more than we do, otherwise, they won't be getting the wrong girl." Nana said.

"How...how do you know that Seina-san is the wrong girl?" Rena said.

Nana refused to answer and took the Key back to her room, closing the door behind her. She threw herself into the bed and went through the list of 'suspects' in her mind. Then the ray of light in the crystal that she's been holding up synced with her and caused her to convulse in pain.

In the dreamy sequence, she saw and recall her Queens, Yui and Paru.

*"I cannot see this child die...no, not even if it's for my people."
*"Are you sure?"
*"Yes. I will protect her with my life. You should go too."
*"No. This is my homeland, I will stay till the end with you."
*"Come, my dear Azura...."

Nana gasped...that's my name, they were calling me. She watches herself walk towards the throne.

*"I'm not allowed to, even touch her Highness."
*"Please don't say that. As a nagaith, your piety remains crucial, but special times yields special needs. You must bring this child away. I only trust you."
*"Thank you my Ladies. I will do as you say. I will keep her safe." She took the baby into her own hands.

The scene flashes to the moments before crashing into Earth's atmosphere. She opened the hatch, carefully put her baby princess in, and before closing it, she kissed her forehead.

*"Stay safe, my princess."

The banging pain in her head subsided and she tasted salty tears that has flowed to the corner of her mout. She now recalls her previous identity in AKB. A nagaith, a holy caste in the planet of AKB, the epitome of faithfulness and stoicism. They are sworn to uphold rationality, and thus sever all things that generate passion from their lives, including basic physical contact with other beings. With this level of sacrifice, they are allowed to advise the planet with clear and unbiased minds, obtaining the highest of power and authority in the kingdom, second only to their rulers.

When I bring my princess back, she'll be my Queen...and, I will never be able to touch her.

*end of flashback
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Nana checks her watch again and half an hour has passed. She knocks on the changing room door but no one answers. Panic takes over the girl but she calmly opens the door, walking into the empty small space of the changing room, with not a soul in sight.

Narrowing her eyes, she walks towards the showers and calls out, "Miki! Are you in there?"

Her voice echoes back from the shower stalls. Is she...kidnapped right under my nose? Nana starts pulling open the shower curtains one by one in a fit of frenzy, discovering in despair that all the stalls are empty.

"Miki...Miki!" She shouts urgently and dashes out towards the door, only to see a figure jump in front of her.

"BAH!!" Miki jumps out of nowhere to stop Nana on her tracks. The stunned girl widened her eyes at the clueless, cheerful Miki, who is congratulating herself at her foolish prank.

"Yes!!" She pumps her fist, looking back at the larger locker from which she jumps out. "What a great place to hide. It works every time...on Pikarin, on Ryoka-chan, on Naanya, and even on my pokerface Naachan!"

When Miki turns around again, she found that Nana gritting her teeth, her lips quivering and all the blood on her face drained.

"Na...Nana..." Miki has miscalculated the effect this silly prank has on her normally emotionless friend. "I, I didn't mean to, make you angry...I'm sorry."

"I am not angry." Nana finally mutters after a long pause.

"You are...stop lying." Miki puts her hand on Nana's cheek to stop her from shivering. "It's...okay to be angry at me. I don't like to be hated, but...I don't want to see you hiding your feelings from me. I know it, something is up. I'm not that stupid, thinking that you like to follow me around, after avoiding me for weeks since you saved my life."

I'm not that clueless, Nana. Please let me take some load from your burden.

Nana closes her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's nothing. Let's go home now." She brushes Miki's hand off calmly, and turns to leave.

Nana, am I really just a child to you? When will you ever open your heart to me? Miki thought as she holds her tears back and follows her from a distance. Both of them didn't say a word on their way home.

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*in the Kojima residence

"Naanya!" Mako calls out as she knocks and enters Naanya's room.

"Mako-neechan!" Naanya is delighted to see Mako, and stood up from her desk to hug her.

"How's your day been? Have you finished your homework?" Mako sits Naanya down on her bedside and starts making small talk. There is an absentminded look on her face, and Naanya immediately noticed that.

"It's okay." She said and looks deep into Mako's eyes, trying to detect what's wrong with her.

"Eh?" Mako looks away embarrassingly like she's caught. She was planning to ease in to the topic naturally, but it looks like her acting skills are still a bit lacking. "Why...why are you looking at me this way?"

"This is what I should be asking you!" Naanya laughs and answers back. "You almost never bother me at this time of the day. It's not even five yet. How could I have finished anything? I am just back from school. Ne, Mako, what's going on?"

"I em..." Mako moves close and leans in, hands reaching down the blushed girl's collar. Naanya straightens her back at such a sudden move. She quickly tries to act normal as it's should be for sisters to be intimate with each other, and she doesn't want Mako to notice that she's nervous.

Mako grabbed hold of the thin chain and pull the necklace carefully out. The amber glistens in front of their eyes.

"Naanya~you are still keeping it around you at all times, ne?" Mako marvels at the beauty of this pendant and remember how she noticed the way it shines when it dangled from Naanya's neck the first time she ever saw her. The day she's been brought back home by their parents. Ever since Naanya was young, she refuses to part with the necklace, not even in showers or at places like the swimming pool. Both Mako and their parents have stopped trying to make her take it off, and no one knew where it came from. Slowly, as Naanya grew up and went to school, she started wearing it beneath her uniform so that it wouldn't be against school rules. In time, her family has forgotten about it as it didn't draw any attention or brought any trouble so far.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Naanya smiles. Even though Mako is holding the pendant in her palm, it feels to Naanya like her heart is being touched by her sister. The feeling is so indescribably close, that she shudders inadvertently when Mako let go of the stone.

"Are you okay?" Mako noticed the shiver and thought Naanya's feeling cold. Pulling her into her arms, she hits the girl lightly and said, "How many times have I told you to put on something if you decided to turn the AC up?"

"No, it's not like that, I'm..." Naanya wanted to continue, but she's cut off by Mako.

"Naanya..." The younger girl felt Mako's cheek resting on her head as they snuggle closer to each other. "Will you miss me if some day, I have to travel far, or...if let's say, you have to leave town?"

"Huh? Neechan are you leaving me? Why are you saying weird things today?" She wants to sit up from the embrace but Mako locks her in closer with her arms. She doesn't want Naanya's questioning gaze to pierce into her eyes.

"I'm just asking what if... just chatting casually, you know. Naanya, we see each other every day, and I've gotten so used to having you by my side every day. I...I had a dream that you grew up and is leaving home for college...and that made me realise that I will miss you so much if you go..." Mako is making her story up as she goes through the emotions she first felt when the possibility of Naanya being the princess looms suddenly in head, after the connections on her birth, the necklace, the kidnappings, the list....all suddenly snapped in place. She keeps telling herself that it's too far fetched, and how in hundreds or dozens of girls, it should still be unlikely for Naanya to be the one. However, this idea began to grow the more Mako wants to get rid of it.

"Ma...Mako?" Naanya struggles off the embrace and sits up, alarmed to see tears in Mako's eyes. Her sister rarely cries, and to see her in such a state over a dream is even more surprising. She hugs her close and comforts her in return.

"I have just got into high school, stop worrying about such things...haha!"

"That's right..." Mako sobbed and laughs too. "It's a bit early, isn't it? It's so embarrassingly...hahaha..." Mako paused a bit and continues, "I really...don't wish to see you leave me..."

"No of course I won't. I love you, remember?" Naanya looks at Mako's eyes earnestly, searching for hints on whether she fully understands what she means.

"Em...Ne, Naanya-chan," Mako sits up and puts on a dead serious face suddenly. "Is it okay, if you lock the necklace away in the cabinet for the time being?"

Naanya looks at Mako's grip on her hands, and then back at the serious face. "Eh...it's not like I don't want to....but I really can't bear separating from it..."

Mako sighs and smiles. Yappari, it wouldn't be easy to convince her like this, without saying anything. Besides...it's just a wild guess--she may be completely wrong.

"I, I just don't like it to think that you could lose it some day." She explains awkwardly.

"It's going to fine, Mako-chan!" Naanya smiles and pats her head. "I always hide it under my uniform, no one hardly ever sees it."

"Well, just promise me, not to show it to anyone. And, and don't tell anyone about it."

Naanya feels a strange tension in Mako's voice. Why bother about a necklace that's always been around so suddenly? However, Mako seems too fixated about it.

"Okay, I won't." Naanya nods and see a relieved smile in Mako's face.

I really can't afford to lose you, Naanya. I will do everything to keep you safe.

[Ruka Kikuchi]

KYAAAAAAAAAAA THAT MAKONAANYA AT THE END!!!!!! KANPEKI!!!!!!!

[niineechan]

Yaaayy.... update... yaayyy....
Sae-chan being sneaky... kekekeke... 

Meh. U r right. things won't go smoothly in this fic.

However, loving NanaMiki ssooo much!!
NanaMiki NanaMiki all the way...  

Seems like I know who the princess is. But I won't say it. Don't wanna be a spoiler tho~ 

Thanks for the nice job, author-san. Come here. Let me give you a hug for updating this...(hug)
Keep it up!!!

[saeyu]

@Ruka:  Mako is having a sister complex hehe

@niineechan: yes the princess is pretty obvious, I think I have handled that part quite badly! Glad that you liked the NanaMiki parts!

Hello everyone~
This chapter should mark the final one where things are still in a slow pace. From next chapter onwards, there will be a small climax where things will happen rapidly. Boy it's hard to finish this fic with so many characters! I think there will at least be 5 to 6 more chapters to go. Here is an update below, enjoy~~

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Chapter 7 - the Kidnapper

Rena stands behind the lamppost round the corner of a building block, looking across the streets at the store, whose lights are blinking open at the middle of the night. According to Mako's photos, the thieves had been coming in at two to four in the early hours, stealing cash or goods from the store. Rena is tasked to find out more about them tonight, as the owner specifically requested them not to call the police. She should have been doing the shift with Sae tonight, but she needed to take care of Miki, who fell sick. After a few minutes, the lights were turned off again, and the thief emerged from the front door.

She's asked to follow and not engage. Armed with a mini camera, she continued to take pictures and stalk behind as quietly as possible. She walked silently as the thief walked down the street, removing the mask he had on his head in order to blend in when they hit the main streets. A loud thump beside Rena startles her as she looks to her side, relieved to find that it's a cat that's landed on top of a dumpster. However, the man turned around and noticed Rena too, who barely caught a glimpse of the thief's face before he starts running off.

"Hey! Stop!" Rena, catches up to him in lightning speed and caused the man, who's now inches in front of her, to panic and trip. She's planning to jump on top to trap him, but a weird force resists her movement, like she's suddenly swimming in water.

"What the..." Rena notices that the man is literally suspended in the air instead of falling down. She wants to zap in front of him to see his face clearly, but she found that her power is not working. Instead, everything, including herself, is glued into its place. The air particles became dense. In fact, Rena has a distinct feeling that she's the only thing capable of moving now, in a slightly slower than normal human being speed.

She pushes forward with great effort and reaches the front, so that she can observe the distorted face of the man in detail.

"HaHAHA!!" Rena laughs loudly at the comical looking man, who's frozen like a slow-motion video that's stopped in the middle. Ah~~ she recognises him as the owner's cousin, one of the employees of the store.

"But why?" She said to herself out loud. "Is that part of my powers?" She looks down to her hands and wonder what she's done to literally stop time.

A cranking voice rang behind her as a metal door swings open in a nearby building block. Rena turned herself around and looks on, as a figure dressed in black carries a girl in pyjamas on her back, walking away from her.

That's strange, Rena thought, how can there be other people moving in this time suspended reality?

"Hey!" Rena shouts, causing the black figure to turn around. She's startled to find that it's an ordinary, pretty looking girl. Why is she carrying someone on her back in the middle of the night? Before she can think, the girl who's dressed in black looks visibly shocked.

"How could you..." She seems to have murmured, and starts running. But carrying another girl with similar weight on her back, she couldn't go far, and soon, Rena catches up with her, panting and sweating.

"Why....does...it...take so much effort?" Rena grabs the shoulder of the pyjama girl's and pulls her back. The caused the figure in front to loose her balance and drops the girl on the floor.

"Yabai!" Rena shouted as she didn't mean to hurt the girl. Then, she noticed that the girl's eyes are opened and her figure is locked in the piggyback position. Like the thief, the pyjama girl is also time suspended.

"It's you, isn't it?" Rena looks back at the girl in black accusingly. "You stopped time. What are you trying to do with this girl?"

Instead of answering, the girl lunges forward to hit Rena. Unlike the alien, this girl doesn't seem to be affected by the density of air particles stopped in time. Even with her super-human strength, Rena finds that she's no match to her enemy. She saw a throw at her head coming, but before her hand could reach to block it, she's hit on the face. A sense of dizziness takes over her as her body sinks into a fall, like she's plunged into a pool.

Finally hitting the floor, Rena tried to shrug off the dizziness. In a snap, she felt that the heaviness of the air is lifted and she's back to normal again. Rubbing her temples and looking around, the black figure and the girl is nowhere to be seen. She turns around again at the thump of the thief tripping onto the floor.

"Don't run away!" Distracted by the thief, Rena decides to chase the guy and leave the strange girls alone for now.

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*At the Detective Agency

"Another kidnap case!" Mako throws the morning papers on the desk angrily. She looks around at the solemn figures of Sae, Nana and Naanya. The crew was told to gather here by...

"Suuumimasen~~~" Rena rushed into the door with a bag of cabbage in her hands. "I went to get breakfast..."

"Morning, Rena-chan!" Sae greets her with her usual smile. "What could possibly make you gather all of us here so early in the morning?"

"I found who the thief is!" Rena sits down and cracks open the package happily.

"Wait...is that why you ask us all to come?" Naanya yawns and thought how she's violently woken up an hour earlier by Mako this morning.

"No no no!" Rena stood up and fling her hands animately. "Oh, Naanya, your face is too cute so I can't face you when I'm talking..." She fans herself a bit to recollect herself in front of a bunch of confused and sleepy audience.

"I saw something strange last night..." Rena told everything she saw about the mysterious girl and how she stopped time.

"Did you say..." Mako stood up and took the newspaper towards Rena. "that she's carrying a girl in pyjamas with her? A girl had gone missing this morning. Look!" She pointed at the photo of a school girl. Rena eyes shot wide open.

"Oh my god, it's her, it's her!"

Everyone flocked towards the newspaper to have a closer look.

"Rena, you ran into the kidnapper." Nana said finally as the group sits back down on the couches and chairs. "Do you remember how she looks like?"

"Yes, she's not disguised at all. She was clearly shocked when she found out that I was able to move."

Naanya handed a notepad and a pencil to Rena. "Rena-san, you must draw the kidnapper out."

"Me?" Rena gave a crooked smile and looks around at pairs of expectant eyes. She lowers her head and starts to concentrate. For five minutes, she tried to scribble, rubbing off some strokes here and there. She could even feel a drop of sweat sliding down her temple.

"Okay, finished!" She puts it up happily for everyone to see. "I think I did a great job."

Her self-congratulatory remark is met with silence, and Naanya's ashen face even betrays a sense of contempt.

"Rena-san," she said with knitted eyebrows. "This looks like...I don't even know what it is...Betty from the Flintstones?"

Rena pouts and glares back at the loli, who pretends to cower in fear.

"All right...that's enough." The level headed Nana came in between them and put her hand on Rena's head, closing her eyes.

"I can see her now. But I too, am not good at drawing." Nana open her eyes and breathes heavily to catch her breath. Reading minds of an alien is a much harder thing, and that's even when Rena consciously opens up that part of her memory for her.

"Yes, I can vouch for that." Naanya snickers, thinking back at the time when she saw Okada's portrait homework for art class.

"Well, think of it this way, at least two of us know who the kidnapper is." Mako stood up and move towards the cabinet to pull up a file. "If we can run through..."

"Aww wait!" Sae stood up and exclaims suddenly, cutting Mako off. "Rena and I will be late for class. So will you two if you don't walk now!"

Naanya glances at her watch and yelps, grabbing Nana's hand and rushed out before saying good bye.

"Okay, we have to leave too. Let's talk about it in detail tonight!" Taking Rena's arm, Sae drags Rena off as she continues to focus her attention on the bag of cabbage.

Mako's smile wears off after the door shuts on the Agency. She opens the file and look at the photo of Watanabe Miyuki, wondering if that is who Rena had run into last night.

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Naanya follows Nana closely from behind as the two walk in silent. She's never said it out loud, but she always wanted a chance to talk to the alien in private.

"Ne...Naachan..."

Nana paused from her deep thought about the kidnapper. She seems like a formidable foe, and once again, the pyjama girl is in Nana's own short list of potential princesses. She's once again reminded of Miki's vulnerability, and she doesn't know what to do about it. What good does her telepathy skills do when it comes to someone who can stop time?

"Is," Nana turned around and faces Naanya. "Is Miki feeling better now?"

They haven't spoken much since that day in the locker room. Nana, with all those complex and conflicting feelings in her heart, began to keep a distance from the poor girl again, while Miki feels upset with herself for making Nana angry. Even when Naanya pushes her friend to talk with the alien honestly about their feelings, Miki just sighed and refused.

"You know how she hasn't been her usual self lately. If you really care about her," Naanya looks crossly at Nana, whose eyes are ridden in guilt. "why don't you go ask her directly yourself?"

"I...It's okay..."

"Stop being a coward, Okada!" Naanya suddenly raises her voice. "You may be able to fool others, but not me." She looks into Nana's eyes and Nana realised that the young girl is right. Her gaze is so piercing that she find herself unable to conceal any feelings from her. Naanya is surprised too, at how much she could see into Nana's heart. Not in literal sense of what she's thinking, but more on the connection they've built ever since Nana tried to wipe her memories but backfired that day.

Naanya clutches her heart and softens the look on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't realise how much pain you're going through..." The girl wipes a drop of tear from her eyes. "You love Miki. You love her so much that you're scared to hurt her, but don't be such a fool. She needs you too."

"I am not allowed to love anyone." Nana closes her eyes to recollect herself from Naanya's sudden intrusion into her heart, which has caused ripples to run through her carefully suppressed emotions.

"You are, this is Earth, not a planet so far away that you don't even know how to return to." Naanya walks past Nana, who stayed stunned in her position. "What you aren't allowed to do, is to hurt my friend." She then continues to walk on.

Nana stood there for a moment more and took a deep breath before opening her eyes. Somehow, Naanya's words are like magic to her, settling the thoughts that have been battling for weeks inside her mind. She decided to go visit Miki after school.

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*In the university

"Let's go to lunch!" Rena stands up and yawns after their lecture.

"Lunch? Em...I, I'm sorry, Rena-chan! But I can't today!" Sae clasps her hands together and bowed slightly in apology.

Rena sighs and smiles again. "It's okay, Sae-chan, next time then!"

Sae looks up and beams an innocent smile, relieved that Rena didn't ask anything further. "So, see you later!" As she runs off in a puff of wind, Rena stood there and an idea crept into her mind...

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"Sae-chan, here!" Milky waves happily as Sae sat down on the grass beside her girlfriend. She has made pack lunches for both of them, and they started eating and chatting off under the sun.

After the meal, they both retreated under a tree in a quiet corner away from the crowds, and sat beside in each other's arm. Sae looks at her partner's satisfied face and chuckles, before leaning in for a kiss. She never knew that being in love could be so happy, and she treasures every moment she spends with Miyuki, even if it's not something that happens often.

"Sae-chan," Milky asks shortly after they broke their kiss. "I don't mind meeting like this, but lunch hours are too short. Do you want to...hang out tonight too?"

"Sorry Milky...I have a job to go to."

"A job?" Milky sits up and look at Sae in a puzzled face. "Do you like, work at a pizza joint?"

"Haha, no, no! I wish it's like that. But me and my friends, we are sort of running this, erm, detective agency."

Sae didn't notice how the expression on Milky's face has changed, and she continues, "It used to be owned by my father, but...things happened, and now I came back to take over his business, and reunite with my sister, Miki-chan. So, I guess I'm busier than an average college student, and I'm...sorry I get into this relationship without telling you this..."

"No..." Milky holds her head and stands up abruptly. "It's all right, that's totally fine."

Sae sees the blood in Milky's face almost gone, and stands up as well, propping her swaying body up. "You don't look fine, Milky."

"Ah...it may be...just the sun. Nishino Sae...Nishino...that's your name, right?"

Sae nodded. Looking at Milky for a moment, there's a realisation that emerged into the pained expression of Sae's face. She finally said, "We work in a number of cases for our clients. Even for cases like the kidnapping of school girls...we are working on that too."

Milky looks up fearfully into Sae's eyes. She knew what she's trying to get to.

"But the girls always came back safe and sound, right?" Sae smiles weakly at her and broke the silence.

"Yes...I don't really feel well. I think I should leave. See you later, Sae..." Milky clutches her things and walks off briskly. Sae followed for a few steps but stopped, sighing and sitting back down.

"It doesn't make a difference on how I see you." She murmurs to herself.

Rena retreats back into the building as Miyuki walks past her with head bowed low. Rena looks on back to the dejected Sae and bites her lip. That girl, that Watanabe Miyuki, was whom Rena ran into last night. Could she be an alien too? That explains her powers. Could she be NMB's fighter pilot, who crashed her ship along with theirs? She recollected from her last flashback that they are after the princess too, but she don't know why. She should've chased after her to find the kidnapped girl, but she didn't. Instead, she looks onto Sae, who's just slumped back down and is now sitting in silence, staring absentmindedly at the fallen leaves.

Deep down in Sae's heart, she knew she's never stopped suspecting Milky. She knew that her suspicion is magnified when she saw how the girl struggles with guilt and a desire to do the right thing. Of course, she'd like to share the burden to her, but she's trying to deny the truth she fears, so she decided to shut herself off of anything beyond the happiness they share together. Even this morning, she doesn't know why she's panicked when Mako suggests Rena to look at Milky's photo from that secret file. Perhaps, she knew it all along, and is just not willing to accept it. Then why, why did she just reveal her identity to her so casually just now? What was she thinking? Maybe, there's a deeper desire to learn why she's doing it. A deeper desire to walk down the path with her, no matter how thorny it is...

Sae-chan, Rena watches and thinks to herself, now that you knew, what will you do? She clutches her chest at the realisation that Sae's in love with someone. Someone that's not her. Someone that's her enemy.

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*at the Nishino residence

It's around four, when Miki climbs out of bed to make herself some food. It seems to laborious though, with her fever still simmering and teeth clattering in cold.

The door bell rang, and Miki thought it's Naanya, who will bring class notes to her.

"Na...Nana-san?" Miki exclaims when she sees the girl standing at the door.

San? Nana's eyes fluttered at this distant honorific. But that's how much they've grown apart these past few weeks.

"I brought you notes from class." She handed a few notebooks over, legs still glued onto the centre of the door mattress.

"Thank you." Miki took the notes and continue to stand at the doorway, not sure whether she should invite the girl in or not.

"I have something to tell you." Nana proceeded to say.

Realising what Nana wants, there's a dash of hope visible in her face, but she quickly suppresses her delight in case she's wrong.

"Do you..do you want to come in?"

"If you allow me to." Nana bows properly.

Relieved that Nana really wanted to come in, Miki led her to the living room to sit down.

"Do you want a glass of.." She's about to turn to the kitchen when Nana grabbed onto her hand suddenly.

"Miki," She said with all seriousness in her face. "I'm sorry."

"Nana-san, there's nothing to be sorry..."

Nana cut Miki off and hugs her tightly. "Please don't call me with a "-san"." Miki's shocked by Nana's move, and didn't know how to react. But finally she pushed the girl away.

"I can't deal with this. I don't understand what's going on in your mind. You never show your feelings, even though I've always bare my heart towards you. I don't understand why you can be so cold, and so good to me at the same time." Miki thinks back to the first days of school, when she tried and tried to pry her neighbour's mouth open, but she just refused her robotically.  A mist starts forming in her eyes, as she laughs at her own desperateness. "Then one day, you saved my life. Then you started letting me follow you. You allowed me to hold your hand...you even watched me play soccer when you hated the sun so much."

Nana continues to look at Miki without change in her expressions.

"Then all of sudden, you shunned me again. Is it because I'm too childish? Because I'm too noisy? Or am I really that annoying to you?"

"I am an alien. You are a normal, human, girl." Nana said as Miki cries out loud and wipes her tears with her fumbling fingers. "This is the reason."

"I know you're an alien...so why does it matter? I say it now, and I'll say it a million times again." Miki takes a deep breath and prepares to say it properly, once and for all. "Okada Nana, I, Nishino Miki, am in..."

Nana suddenly plunges forward and put her hand on Miki's mouth, stopping her from saying the word. Whispering into her ear, she said with conviction, "Certainly, I want to be the one that makes this confession."

She pulls a little distance so they are now facing each other properly, Miki still being shocked at Nana's bold behaviour.

"Miki, I love you. I love you very much."

A broad smile, which hasn't appeared on Miki's face for weeks, once again adorns this lovely girl.

"I love you too, Nana."

The two of them embraced and Miki feels a warmth encompassing her body. When they part, the fever is gone.

Nana looks up and down at Miki and nodded satisfactorily, but this time, Miki was the one who clenched her fist and hits Nana's head.

"I forgot that you know how to heal people!" Miki shouts as she fumes in madness. "I've been suffering in fever for two days, you bakanana! You should've come a lot earlier!"

"I am not supposed to use my powers like that." Nana explained with a straight face.

Still trying to sniff and sob her tears away, Miki took Nana's hand and began to wipe on her own cheek. "Baka...why did I fall in love with such a stubborn bore! Look, you should be wiping my tears gently with the back of your hand, telling me how sorry you are...like those princes in shoujo manga...now!"

Nana's body jumped a bit at the strict voice and she starts to wipe obediently at Miki's command, totally clueless on what to do to make her girl happy.

"Like this?" She asks while brushing the tears off Miki's cheeks carefully.

Miki nods and blushes at the gentle gesture. When it comes to Nana, all her boldness and boyishness are gone.

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*A few days later, at night

Milky unclenched her fist to snap time back into motion, after she's a few blocks away from the girl's house. She pants as she moves down the main street into the crowds of people shopping on the main street. Once again, that girl is not the one. Every time she tries to verify, she's using a bit of her own core energy, an energy that she found no way of replenishing, at least on Earth. She brushes off the remaining traces of yellow powder off her sleeves and walks on as casually as possible.

Her breathing become more and more laboured this time and she realised she has to stop and rest. Her body sways and almost slides down at a moment of dizziness, but she felt her weight bolstered by a pair of arms behind her.

"Are you okay?"

It's Sae.

Milky quickly stood on her feet and tries to walk away fearfully.

"Why haven't you returned my calls?" She calls back and stopped the girl on her tracks.

"I knew you would come back to return the girl safely." She said with a much softer voice as she walks up and turns Milky around gently.

"So...I am caught." Milky simply said coldly.

"No," She said. "Come with me inside. It's getting cold."

Sitting down at a nearby cafe, Milky sips from a cup of tea and recovers while Sae begins.

"Why are you after the girls? You must tell me so I can help you." Seeing that Milky didn't reply, she continues, "What will you do if you found Princess Wako?"

Milky looks up from her drink in amazement.

"How do you know..."

"Just tell me. I promised you that I will always be by your side."

"Even if it means that I will kill her?"

"What?" Sae asks as Milky looks guiltily away.

"I don't have a choice. I need her to save my people. Every person in planet AKB and NMB have their own corestone. It is like the heart for human beings. We were once the same species millions of years ago, but slowly, we evolved into different kinds. Anyway...my planet...my people, they are facing extinction if we don't use the princess' corestone to rejuvenate the decaying production of epsilonmana, our primary source of energy."

"But there must be another way..." Sae asks, even though her voice quivers in uncertainty.

"I know you have alien friends from that planet. I saw her that night." Milky sighs and stands up. "We will have to end here, Sae. We...we are never meant to be."

"No!" Sae hugs her tightly from behind.

"Milky, I've promised to walk down this path with you, no matter the consequences. I don't care about what others think. Even if they hate me for betraying them, I...I will do everything I can to help you!"

"You can't!" Milky breaks away and glares at her with a pained look. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes I do! I know...I know that Miki is in the list, isn't she?" Sae's voice dies down at the end of her sentence.

"Are you saying that you will allow me to test on her and see if she's the princess? Are you saying that you will allow me to kill her if she's the one?"

Milky slaps hard on Sae's face. She doesn't want to see Sae turn against her friends and family.

"I..." Sae clenched her fist, unable to answer back. "I don't know what to do. I just know I love you." She lowers her head in shame.

"You can't...I can't." Milky reaches her hand out, wanting to comfort the girl she still loves deeply, but stops halfway. "There's so much more that you don't know....Sorry Sae. We have to break up." I would rather we become enemies today, then to see you hate me more one day.

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Eventually, Sae left the cafe since it has to close. Walking aimlessly into a nearby park, she sat down on a bench.

"Sae-chan, it's about time to go home."

Sae looks up, surprised to find a solemn looking Rena.

"Rena...have you been, following me?" Sae asked the obvious question, since the answer is written all over Rena's face.

Sae lowers her head in shame. It's the worst time to see Rena, and even worse that she knew what has happened between Milky and her.

"I really wanted to betray you. I really wanted to betray my own sister...and Mako, and Naanya too. I'm the worst." Sae hits the bench repeatedly with her fists.

Crouching down and grabbing hold of her arms, Rena stopped Sae and takes her shivering self inside Rena's embrace.

"It's fine, Sae. It's because of love, so don't feel bad anymore..." Rena pats on her back and rubs it gently. "Everyone does silly things for love..."

Rena continues to hold onto Sae, who's crying uncontrollably in her arms. She thought back on that day, when Mako showed Milky's photo in private to her, asking if she was the kidnapper she saw that night. She never knew she would tell a lie that will be against the welfare of her princess, but she shook her head, and saw Mako put the photo back into the file in disappointment.

"I promise I will keep the secret about Milky for as long as I can."

"Rena-chan, you don't have to do that. I should...I should probably make up my mind soon."

"Don't worry. I will wait for as long as I need to." If love is about seeing the person you like being happy, then I don't mind doing everything I can to make you smile, Sae.

[kimseoyeonc]

The nanamiki moment!!!!   
Update soon!!

[niineechan]

The confession... So sweet..
Despite being cold, Nana wanted to confess first.

Rena lied to Mako for Sae's sake.. O God..

Nice update, autor-san. Keep it p!!

[saeyu]

Hello everyone~ thanks for dropping by again! Here is the new chapter! It's a bit fast paced (I think), hope you'll enjoy!

Chapter 8 - the Spaceship (1)

*In the Detective Agency

"I have a theory..." Mako laid out the map again after weeks of investigation. "that your spaceship is still in the Yuiichi Zone."

"I understand that you are referring to the large unmarked territory within the facility, but it is too small." Nana points at the greyed box in the map.

"I think that just serves as an entrance or a portal to where it really crashed." Mako continues. "That's because of the magnetic activity they recorded at the perimeters."

"Magnetic activity?" Rena asks.

"Yes," Sae handed another document to her. "That's what the figures meant in the file I stole a while back. With such great activity, there must be something with enormous energy below the facility..."

"That the government isn't able to get their hands to somehow." Nana interrupts, recalling how she had read the mind of a top official by disguising herself as a waitress to get close to him at a private party. "They can't even get close to the void."

"Even if that is true, what makes you think we can get into it?" Naanya asks.

"Perhaps," Rena held the Key up for every one to see. "This can?"

"Bingo!" Mako taps her pencil on the map and circles an area right outside the Zone. "We will enter from the air duct to find out."

"The whole zone is heavily guarded!" Miki says in concern. "How are we all gonna get inside without anyone noticing?"

"No, we aren't ALL going to go inside," Sae looks sharply at her sister. "All you high schoolers are not going to take part in this operation."

"Even me?" Nana said in confusion.

"Yes," Rena said. "There's no telling what will happen if we can get into the grey zone. We still have to find our princess, so for safety reasons, we can't go together. Besides, I want you to take care of these two while we're gone." Her look gestures towards Naanya and Miki.

"This sounds too dangerous!" Naanya exclaims and clings onto Mako's arm. "Why must you go too?"

"Don't worry Naanya," Mako smiles and pats on the girl's head. "We must try this time because there's only two months left before the stars align. Rena and Nana have helped us so much...we must do everything to repay all the cases they have solved for us. Besides, only I have obtained this pass."

She put a worker's permit on the table, with her photo and a fake name on it. "I will be the contract cleaner that goes into the facility by the front door. Once I get here," She points to a section near the grey zone, "we will hack the cameras to make a video loop, and I will unlock the ventilation cover from the inside so they could both enter from the shaft."

"That's all good, but how are they gonna climb back up the shaft when they leave? It's eight hundred meters deep..." Nana ponders at the trio's plan.

"That's where I come in," Sae said. "While Mako leaves from where she comes, she will need to go underground again to the public sewers. Meanwhile I will go here. "she points to another side of the facility, where the research lab is. "A control system is in there, where I will redirect water into the unused passageway that's right above the grey zone. Going back to meet with Rena, hopefully with more information on the ship, we will both exit by swimming from the pathway as the water fills up and brings us all the way back to the public sewage system. Mako will let us out from there and our mission will be accomplished."

"OK, sounds like a plan!" Rena exclaims cheerfully to lighten up the situation.

"I don't like the idea of you taking so much risk, Rena..." Nana pulled Rena aside after the meeting. "Let me go with you too."

"Just stay here and support us," Rena eyes the two younger girls again. "For all we know, the kidnapper is still roaming freely in this town."

"Yes, I wish I knew his name."

Rena gulps and walks away guiltily, after being reminded that 'Watanabe Miyuki' is still a secret she needs to keep dutifully from her friend.


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*Two days later, at the Detective Agency

"Mako, it's all clear." Nana speaks to the headset as Naanya and Miki huddle beside her to get a good view of the computer's monitor, which is showing the views of cameras in the government facility they have hacked in. They see Mako wearing a clean blue jumpsuit with a trolley of cleaning supplies, steadily heading towards the grey zone.

"Three, two, one... now switched." The camera's feed is changed to a video loop so that no one is able to see Mako trail off to the cover of the air duct, where she unscrewed the plates and let Sae and Rena in.

"Where is the grey zone?" Rena asks.

"It's here, " Sae points to the a small dot marked in the middle of the room. "We cannot see it with naked eye, and it's only found out that there's this void when they tried to map out the area. That dot represents about 20 square meters of space, and god knows what else beneath it."

"All right, see you guys then." Mako looks into Sae's eyes and added, "Stay safe."

Both of them nodded as Mako head towards the exit. Suddenly a voice rung through their earpieces.

"Stop. There is someone coming from 20 meters. He's heading towards your room." Nana said. "Rena, you must try the Key now, there is no other options to hide."

"Bugger! Why is there suddenly someone coming?" Rena took the key out in panic and directed the light rays towards the dot. A whirlpool of blackness opens up.

"A few more steps. There is no way out.  All three of you, jump in!"

Mako ran back and with a last confirming glance from her companions, all three of them jump into the hole.

"What the crap, Naachan!" Naanya shakes her also stunned friend's arm. "They could die!"

Just at this moment, the door opens and the guy walks in, taking a glimpse of the black circle that has just closed back into a dot.

He blinks and rubs his eyes, not sure if what he's seen is true. He looks around again, and scratches his head, before reaching out to the walkie talkie to report something.

Nana shot up from her seat and heads to the exit of the agency.

"Where are you going?!" Miki pulls her and asks in a shivering voice. What just happened there completely derailed the plan early on, and they barely had time to react before her sister and good friends are gone.

"Miki," Nana turns back and cup the cheeks of her panicking lover. "I need to get in to the facility now. They will soon find out that Mako is missing. Stay here with Naanya and don't go anywhere."

"No! I'm coming with you!"

"Me too!" Naanya runs up toward the other two girls. "I can't leave Mako-chan in there and do nothing!"

"You two..." Nana furrowed her eyebrows and began to raise her hand, but it was firmly put down by Miki.

"Don't you dare hypnotise us! Stop wasting our time, let's go now!"

Nana sighs and runs off, followed by the two girls behind her.

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"Wait here." Nana instructs as she is about to jump into the ventilation shaft. "Seal the entrance after ten minutes and meet me at the bushes over there. If I am not back in twenty minutes, leave this place."

She looks sharply into Naanya's eyes to make sure she's holding Miki back before sliding down the chute. That's the fastest way to get to the records room, although this method could be found out by now.

The slide seems to take ages and she's starting to get dizzy. Suddenly she saw a speck of light, and in no time, she found herself popping out the of chute into the empty room, hitting the floor and rolling a few feet to take the momentum of falling to a halt. Shaking her head in pain to regain focus on the surroundings, the door opens with two men coming in.

"Who are you?" One man immediately demands while they both reach for the guns.

Nana quickly raises her hand and hardens her gaze. The men were hypnotised in a second and forgot what they've seen. Nana shifts her head to learn what they're thinking, finding out that the man who ran into Sae and others has reported some strange activity in the surrounding zones, and they were just making rounds to check on his report.

She made the men guard the corridor with more mind controlling, and walked further down the corridor to reach the video room. Once more, she controlled the lone personnel there to make sure all cameras and videos of today are wiped, and from the computer there, she accessed the database to erase all records of the cleaning company's contract, including Mako's access records. By now, she's sweating profusely, holding her head as she reaches back out of the room to regain control of the two original guards. Her power is quite formidable but the weakness is that she must be physically near a person to use it. Moreover, she had never needed to wipe memories, read minds and control their thoughts at the same time. She wonders if she can make it back out of the facility in time.

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Mako slowly got on her feet and adjusted her vision on the pitch dark surroundings. The last thing she remembers is falling into the hole, with gravity feeling lighter and lighter until she passes out. She is positive that Sae and Rena both jumped in with her, but where are they now?

"Sae-chan? Rena-san?" She calls, finding a few eerie echoes returning, and nothing more.

She hears her own breathing intensify as the darkness engulfs her.

"Sae?" She calls out again in a shaky voice.

Suddenly a dim light in front is visible, beckoning her to come forward. She took a small step, scared that she will step on nothingness and fall deeper into the abyss, but luckily, it didn't happen. Slowly she began to move toward the light, until she sees something the size of a helicopter, standing in front of her. That object looks nothing like she'd imagine of a spaceship, as it is simply shaped like an orb, with a smooth surface, save for a little handle, protruding out in front of her.

She reaches out and pulls at it, which opens easily, to her surprise. She walks into the much more lit interior, which is immense and full of panels on one side of the room.

"This must be the spaceship..." She marvels at the futuristic design. She walks around the edge to feel the surface, which doesn't feel cold like metal surfaces at all. "This place looks huge..." she whispers.

"Mako?" A voice ahead alerts of her and she found herself frozen in place. It's...

"Naanya?" In front of her, Naanya stood in the same creamed colour dress she wore when she came back home the day she's adopted. Only now, she's all grown up, with the stone on her necklace shining as brightly as ever.

"Why are you here?" Naanya smiles bitterly as she walks towards her sister.

"Shouldn't this be my line?" Mako's eyes widen in shock. Aren't they in a mission? Did Naanya tagged along in the end?

"Mako-chan, you shouldn't be here. You can't follow me home." She said as she brushes her hand gently on Mako's face. It feels cold.

"NO!" Mako grabs her into her arms and shakes her head violently. "You're not! You're not the princess! Don't go!"

"But I am." The younger girl slides her hands off and pushes a little bit away, so she can cup her palms on Mako's pale face.

"I know what you're scared of, but it's all true. I will leave you. I will leave you forever."

Naanya turns around and walk towards a glass chamber that appears out of nowhere. A strong beam of light shines into the centre of that square chamber.

"No, don't you go in!" Mako chases after Naanya, who walks into the chamber. She tries to snatch her hand, but caught only air as she enters the door. The light disappears and the glass became solid walls that surrounds her.

"Naanya!" She looks around in panic and her sister is nowhere to be seen. However, she saw Sae crouched in a corner of the room, shivering anxiously and mumbling to herself.

"Sae!" She ran towards her and shakes her. "Did you see Naanya? Did she really leave?"

The short haired girl slowly looks up and saw Mako. "I killed you, Milky...I'm sorry!" She cries and pulled Mako down into her embrace, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry, I meant to protect you, but why do we have to be enemies? I love you, I still love you, please don't die, come back to me!"

"What are you talking..." Mako struggles off Sae's violent clutch, holding her shoulders and trying to push her back. Who is she mistaking her for? Why is she panicking? Her thoughts aren't even coherently formed, before the familiar face of Naanya appear in front of her again.

"Why don't you just let me go?"

Mako sees a pitiful plea in Naanya's eyes, the thing she most feared about.

"I..." She tries to explain to her sister, "I just..."

"You knew it a long time ago, that I am the princess. Why didn't you just tell me? I could've missed my last chance to go home!" Her plea turn into an angry accusation.

"Naanya...but I...I just don't want to...I will miss you so much!" Mako protests, tears finally rolling down her eyes.

"Are you sure it is not something more than that?" Naanya smirks as she moves closer to the flustered face of Mako's.

"How...how can it be? Stop it, Naanya." Mako hates it that she's insinuating something so sinister. This is impossible. She is having a huge crush on Sae-chan, and Naanya is just a sister to her. Or is she just a sister? She's afraid to search her heart for an answer.

"That's right," Naanya breathes onto Mako's neck. "You're the older sister. You must set the right example. But aren't you curious about what I have to offer?"

"Besides...we are not blood-related..." Naanya starts to nibble on her neck playfully. Mako feels her grip on the younger girl loosening as she surrenders to the toxic sensation of her touches.

"But, you can never have me. I will leave you now. I will leave you forever!" With a forceful yank, Mako was pushed off to the ground again.

She shook her head and found herself pinned to the ground by Sae.

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"Let's do it, Miyuki...just one more time, before we part our ways..." Sae looks lovingly at Milky, who's breathing heavily beneath her. Everything that happened after falling into the hole was a giant jumble of mess, but it didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter that she thought she's stabbed Milky to save her friends, now that she's back again. Even if it's just one more time, that's enough.

"Sae...we will always be enemies...aren't you... scared that you cannot turn back?" Milky's panting gets heavier as Sae kisses her cheek lovingly.

"Yes I am," Sae admits. "I am scared to death every day. My only comfort is having you."

Sae reaches to the back of the girl and tries to take the jumpsuit off.

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The sudden exposure of her skin in the cold air caused Mako's body to tense up as she can only imagine where Sae is heading towards next.

"Sae...Sae!" She shouts finally, halting the brushes and caressing of the hypnotised girl.

Sae blinks and gapes.

"Mako?" She looks at the girl beneath her and backs off in widen eyes.

"The reason why you've been acting so strangely these past weeks....it's all because of Watanabe Miyuki, isn't it?"

Sae can't tell whether Mako's flushed cheeks were due to anger or something else, but she felt her right hand grabbed. She felt her neck hooked and pulled down by Mako's arm, until they are face to face with each other.

"Now that you've started it, don't stop." Mako feels her lips nourished by warmness and decides to let go of her mind for the time being. She closes her eyes and sees the creamy dress and shiny pendant dangling above her once again. Sae, let's use each other for now...to satiate the fears and desires we can't contain.

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"There's one more minute to go!!" Miki's yell at the watch in her hands while Naanya continue to look down the shaft that reveals no clues other than darkness and silence.

"Stop looking and put the cover back on!" Miki said and grabs the cover from Naanya's hands, slamming it onto the opening.

"But!"

"Nana said she'll not come back up from here...so there's no use to look! Let's seal it now."

She took the tools out of the pocket and reassure herself that Nana must be far away from the grey zone now, probably walking out the front door of the facility like a boss now.

They sealed the shaft together with little fuss, and look back at each other for any assurance they can get.

"There's no turning back now..." Naanya speaks in a soft voice.

Miki wanted to answer with some comforting words, but her eardrums are suddenly assaulted with a high pitched screech, and she felt like she's thrown upside down.

In less than a second, she felt herself thrown violently onto the floor.

"Ittai..." Miki tried to balance her head and to her shock, she sees Naanya and the entrance of the shaft standing around twenty feet away from her.

Naanya blinks at the sudden thump she heard from the distance and yelps in surprise. Wasn't Miki just right beside her a second ago? Then she realised that they were not alone. There are two other figures rolling and fighting on the ground beside Miki.

Miki tries to orient herself and finally lays her eyes on the commotion that's happening right beside her.

"Nana!" She exclaims when she saw the struggling look of the girl fending off a punch at the bottom. She looks even paler than her usual self.

"Stop it! Argh!!!" The girl who's throwing the punch looks in pain also, holding her head with one hand and finally rolls off from Nana as she clutches her head with both hands in pain.

"You....you're..." Nana struggles to stand up, holding her hand out towards her foe, but she collapses on one knee as she pants. "You're the...kidnapper."

"What are you doing to my head!" Milky screams in agony as the pang of pain increases.

She had originally planned to abduct Miki at the agency, knowing that her protectors would be away. After that night when Sae confronted her, she knew that she had to continue her mission no matter what. Besides, the list of her targets are running short, with a few girls, including Miki and Naanya, remaining. She could no longer avoid testing on them. Although she desperately hopes that neither of them are the princess, if it really comes to that, she really has no choice. It's either them, or her own people. Her entire planet.

Making sure that the two girls were unguarded, she picked Miki and froze time. However, just at the moment of her freezing, her eyes met with Nana's, who's running out from the bushes. At first, it seemed that there's no effect. Everything still stopped on its tracks, with Nana frozen in place as Milky went towards the girls and carries Miki off from the ground. Walking back to the tracks, she's about to pass by Nana when her head is hit with pain and forced to cease her powers, which required a lot of her energy. At this point, the girl lunges toward her, throwing Miki off her shoulders and they began to fight. Nana's physically weaker, not to mention that she's already taxed by her mission back in the facility. Quickly, Milky gained the upper hand, but the pain in her head persists with Nana's powers channeling continuously in an attempt to stop her from freezing time again.

Finally, Nana could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, releasing her effect on Milky.

"Nana!" Miki rushes forward and holds the girl in her arms. "Are you okay?"

"Run..." Nana manages to utter as she takes in all the air she can. Meanwhile, Milky starts recuperating from the assault, and realise that she won't be able to freeze time in a while with the damage in her head.

"Who are you?" She questions Nana angrily. "I tell you...this trick won't stop me from getting her."

"Why are you looking for my princess?" Nana questions her in return, as she props herself up from Miki's arms and glares at her enemy.

"Your princess?" Milky ssexy beasts and realises that the girl in front of her is from AKB. "With all the talk and dogma about rationality, your people is nothing but a bunch of selfish assholes. We're just asking for one life...one corestone, so that millions of people and families can be saved."

"She's not just one life. She's our Princess Wako." Nana answers flatly. "Leave these two girls now, or I'll kill you." She raises her hand up again, but she knew she's bluffing. She's too tired to use her powers.

"Don't think that the only thing I can do is stop time." Milky clench her fists and started walking towards the girls.

"Die!" Suddenly, Naanya dashes toward Milky with a hammer in her hand. Milky turns in surprise but throws out a strike in the air, which repels Naanya even before she's reached her. The hammer is knocked off her hand and she hits the ground, groaning in pain.

"Naanya!"

[kimseoyeonc]

YAY!!!! A update!! 
What happen to Naanya?! 
Update soon!!!

[niineechan]

What's happening??
Seems like that spaceship thing playing with Sae n Mako's minds n showing them what they fear most..
But this helps Mako to realize what she true feels for Naanya
Is Naanya the real princess?
Uhm. Seems like I need to wait 4 the next chapter to find the answer..

[saeyu]

Hello everyone~~

Sorry I was out of town last week so I couldn't update. Is Naanya going to be fine, of course....! You will find out below.

@niineechan: you are very observant thanks for always dropping by!
@christy:Sorry about the late update!

Chapter 9 - the Spaceship (2)

Rena rubs her backside as she stands up and look at the pitch-dark surroundings. So this is what the bottom of the hole looks like? She blinks and adjusts her vision, quickly finding two distinct tunnels laying in front of her.

"Sae-chan? Mako-chan??" She calls out with no answers.

She hits her head hard and scolds herself. "I should've hold onto their hands when we jumped! Itttaiii..."

Looking at the two identical pathways in front, she sighed and did a quick eenie meenie, before choosing the path on the left. She wonders how Sae and Mako will be able to find their way, as they don't have heightened vision like Rena's. As she calls out their names walking down the path, she felt something strange in the air.

"Yabai!" She covers her mouth and quickly turns back, running to where she started.

That's a dangerous gas, Rena can tell reflexively. Where had she come across it before? She searches her mind hard by rubbing her head, and reaches for the Key that's resting deep in her pocket. At a touch, the memory came back.

It's a war gas that NMB has been using on the planet. It's actually a simple type of material degradable by simple tetronomium, but its power lies on its slowness. It works by firing up the nerves of living beings and caused them to reach a hysteric state, so that the victim will be consumed by fear and hallucination, eventually burning out their energy and die. The tinge in this gas is not easy to detect, but as a warrior, Rena has been trained to do it and she remembers how it was the hardest test to past in the academy, with a lot of her classmates loosing control and started doing strange things instead of fighting the trainer drones.

"Wow...fond memories..." She chuckles at the thought of her classmate eating imaginary food in front of tank and then shakes it off. "Ah! Focus Rena!" She rolls up her sleeve and tries going into the other path.

The smell seems fine this time, and in no time, she's reached a larger chamber, with a giant disc-like aircraft that has a jagged edge on one side, indicating quite a violent crash that it had experienced.

"Yikes!" Rena looked at her baby with a painful expression. More memories flow back now as the ship that's taken them to Earth now lays right in front of her eyes. "I remember now..." she murmurs as she goes around for the latch to enter the ship.

She remembers that before getting into the pod herself, she has activated the stealth mode, which is designed to keep the ship off hands of enemies from 90% of the known civilisations to SKE, including Earth. Once it crashed, there is a mechanism to shield it in a fifth dimension, so that her companions can come and retrieve it with a key that's encoded with the proper serials of the ship. Evidently, none of them has come for them yet.

"Sugoi!!" She went into the ship used the Key in her hand to activate the panels. "This is amazing! It's 85% intact... okay, basically, only part of the shield is damaged, by that stupid NMB fighter ship.... and not by the crash. The propellers can probably be fixed...even if not, we can still leave..."

Rena start punching the keys and dials, exhilarated that she can finally lay her fingers on the thing she loves most, flying a fighter spaceship. They had let her take the fastest one, though being nimble means that it has less offensive capabilities. Never mind; she should be able to find some useful stuff here.

She explored and checked every part of the ship, satisfied to find two sets of basic armours that were prepared for her and Nana when they boarded.

She went back to the seat again to access more details on the stealth mode. She's recalled that they might have a possibility to set off and dock in the same way, perhaps this time under the Nishino Magic Agency, without any Earth technology from detecting. She fumbles with a few more settings, and...

"Bravo! It can be done! Sae, Mako! We can leave without that swimming plan of yours!!" She yells and looks around at the empty ship.

"Shit!" Jumping up from her seat, Rena finally realises that Sae and Mako are STILL missing. If they aren't here, then...

"Fuck!" The girl bites her nails anxiously as she grabs onto the mask of her gear set and put it on, stumbling off back to the first path she'd originally tried. They couldn't be breathing stupid NMB toxins all this time could they?!!

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Naanya climbs up from the floor, clutching her stomach on a sudden impact of Milky's mysterious power.

The worried expression on Milky's face worn off quickly as Miki leaps forward to catch her attention again.

"Stop hurting my friend!" She shouts and throws a stone, which is easily deflected by Milky's kinetic force.

She walks up slowly with a smirk on her face, knowing that Nana is too weak to do anything now.

"I will borrow her for a test and give it back to you soon, priest."

Nana knew that she's referring to her nagaith status, and realises that she knew much more than her on what's happening between the three planets.

"You can't take Nishino Miki. Whether she's my princess or not, I will not let you touch her."

"Touch? I thought that you yourself, with your holy status, aren't allowed to touch anyone as well?" Milky smiles smugly as she sees Nana cringe instinctively and let go of Miki's hands.

"Shut up!" Miki shouts, but Milky continues to mock, seeing the guilt in Nana's eyes.

"Or did the despicable Yui granted you an exception?"

"She's Queen Yui!" Nana finally stood up and glares at her tormentor.

"She's just a traitor of our planet! This is so typical of her, to do anything she wants, disregarding the others! You have broke your oath and touched the princess, all because of an outsider...an NMB traitor who decided to marry into your planet, breaking her engagement and putting shame into our planet!"

"What...whatever happens is necessary. And this is Earth, I am not bound by any rules here." Nana rebutted but her eyes flickered with uncertainty.

Milky laughs in contempt and took out a dagger. "Is that so? Is that why you feel okay to indulge in human pleasures with the girl beside you?"

"Cut it out!" Nana roars but her contorted face tells Milky that the attack is right to the point. Her mind is once again torn between the guilt of falling in love and her duty to her people.

Milky sees this opportunity and dash forward to finish off her opponent.

"Nana!" Miki sees this and puts herself forward to take the stab, but Nana was even quicker. They both fell onto the ground with Nana on top, facing Miki.

"Iyaaaaaada!" Naanya saw the dagger stab right into Nana's back as she shielded Miki from the attack. A glow from her pendant suddenly shoots out a beam, knocking Milky out as she turns to the source of the energy in shock. She flew a few feet away, crashing to the fence of the Yuiichi Zone, and went unconscious.

Blood starts seeping out from the back of Nana's wound, dripping down on the ground beside Miki, as she looks in shock at Nana, who's still trying to prop herself up to shield her.

"Nana! Nana!" Miki springs up and allow the injured alien to slump into her arms, as she feels the warm blood soaking through the grey shirt of Nana's back onto her hand.

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Rena blazes through the corridor until she reaches a smaller chamber, where a sphere-shaped spacecraft lies.

"An NMB kaze-fighter..." She gritted her teeth and adjusted the mask on her head before moving in.

"Sae-chan? Mako-tin?" She calls out and glances through the panel of controls and screens, looking for clues on how much damage this ship has taken when it crashed. The stealth mechanism from her own ship must have created a dimension that accidentally engulfs this ship too, keeping it safe from human hands, and ironically, from NMB's own detection. She must be careful not to trigger any contact.

The main controls must lie in the centre chamber, Rena thought as she moves towards the solid walls that are mounted dead at the centre of the otherwise round and smooth design of this ship.

Hovering the hand on the access, the door slides open.

Rena did open her mouth to yelp, but she's so shocked that no voice came out of her. Amazingly, the two persons she's looking at didn't even notice her entrance and continue on with their heated session. Rena closes her eyes instinctively, her senses deeply shaken, as those expressions on their faces, especially Sae's, imprinted in her mind like a stab into her heart.

A loud scream escaped from Mako as Sae rolls away, forcing Rena to open her eyes too.

She looks at the two panting heavily like they're about to suffocate. Yet as Sae rolls off, she pulls onto Mako and brought her back into her embrace, begging her for more. That's when Rena is reminded of the toxic gas they've both been breathing.

"Milky..." Sae utters with great effort.

They're not going to stop until they die! Rena suddenly realises and plunges in the separate them.

"Sae-chan!!" She slaps hard onto the girl's face to wake her up and did the same to Mako.

"Naanya..." Mako replies in a sheepish smile and tries to caress Rena's face. She realises that she's almost going to pass out.

Throwing Mako onto her back, and grabbing Sae into her arms, Rena rushes out of the chamber, but Mako's flinging arms hit the panel as Rena dashes off, however, the alien was too busy to notice this tiny detail. By the time they're back to her own spaceship, a glow blinks on a small screen in the NMB's spacecraft control room.

"This is Sayaka...copy that? Is it you, Miyuki, sending out a signal? Are you...are you in Earth?"

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Back in the AKB spaceship, Rena laid her friends down and took off her mask, scratching her head on how to revive those two.

With the toxins starting to wear off as fresh air fills their lungs, Sae suddenly jolts in realisation of what just happened. Grabbing her clothes, she quickly huddled to the corner to dress up, but she's too weak to move fast.

"What's...what's going...on?" She finally gave up on dressing and asks as she buries her head between her knees, too ashamed to look into Rena's eyes.

"It's okay," Rena takes off her jacket and wraps it around Sae. "You both were hallucinated. You were poisoned...it's not your fault." She rubs her back and soothes her.

On the other hand, Mako felt that all her muscles are paralysed as she lays on her back, her mind finally getting a bit clearer on the situation.

"What have I done..." She whispers and passes out.

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Miki and Naanya carries Nana to the car and sped off, with Naanya taking the wheels.

"I...I don't know Miki, where should we go...the hospital??" She's grabbing onto the steering wheel nervously. None of them have a license but Nana drove like a pro when they came here. It's a miracle that Naanya hasn't crashed, applying the limited skills she's learned from Mario Kart.

"We can't! They don't know how to heal an alien!...Wait Naaaaaanya!!" Miki screams as Naanya almost crossed to the other lane.

"What about the others...where are they?!" Naanya calls out to the earpiece desperately, even though there had been no reply from Sae's side since they fell into the hole.

"Take..take me...home." Nana breathes out slowly. "Don't panic. I...I will be fine..."

"You don't look fine! Come on, heal yourself!!" Miki shakes her a bit but continues to cup her hand on the wound so that blood won't gush out like a fountain.

"I can't...."

"Idiot!! Then why didn't you just let me take the blow? You can heal me then, right?" Miki's bawling tears like a baby, but Nana simply smiles.

"I can't bear...to see you get hurt...not even for one second..."

"Nana, stupid Nana!" Miki cries hugs her tight. Isn't she supposed to be the logical one?

At this moment a cranking voice is heard from their earpieces.

"Guys...guys?" It's Rena.

"Rena-san!!!" Naanya yelps in joy. "Where are you guys?"

"We're back in the agency, but where are you?"

"Huh?! How?!!!! What the...how can this happen?" Miki looks around but no one's able to calm her down.

"Ok, Miki-chan, calm down first...is there something wrong on your side?"

Both Miki and Naanya shout in synchrony, "Yes!!"

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Nana blinks her eyes and adjusted to the lighting. Her bones and muscles feel like they're thrown to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. With great effort, she raises her hand, but winces in pain.

"Naachan!" Miki face appear in front of her, blocking some of the harsh light. "Stop moving around, you are hurt!"

The poor girl turns her head as Miki sits down, holding her hand and intertwining their fingers as she sits down.

"Where...am I?" Nana feels the dryness on her throat as she cranks out a question.

"You're safe here." Another voice beside her answers. Nana turns to find Rena smiling at her. Then, she saw a bunch of panels behind the girl, and made a few quick glances around her.

"Rena, this is..." She gasps.

"Yes, this is our spaceship, we found it!" Rena's hands clasps together in joy, and moved a bit to the side so Nana can take in the whole view. She remember's SKE's state of art technology, the pods in which she puts the baby princess, and the seat she took when she piloted the plane with Rena. The scenes of crashing came back vividly...

"It's okay, Nana-chan..." Rena came forward and strokes her hair gently, seeing the hollow fear in her eyes. "I found something that helped you recover in the ship." She points to a device that is connected to an empty unused pod. "All your human-tissues are healed, but don't risk it again next time!"

Nana made a small nod as she admitted that she had been too rash. Remembering the scene of confrontation with Milky, she gently slips her hand away from Miki's fingers.

"How did you come back? Or...are we all inside the spaceship, in the Yuiichi Zone?"

"No no, don't be silly..." Rena laughs and continues to explain. "We erm..found the ship after a bit of poking around, and using the stealth mechanism, did a parallel transport so that the condensed zone switched from the crash site to here -- right below Nishino Magic Agency! F-ing amazing isn't it?"

"Parallel transport?" Nana squints and concentrates on the panels, trying to recall what that was. Rena started a barrage of technical talk that drove Miki to scratch her head in confusion, but Nana listened intently as the terms triggered more memory of her previous life. "Ah~Rena-san, this is a good move." Glad that they're all safe, Nana finally relaxes and smiles. As for the pain on her back, there's still another question in her mind...

"How did we escape? I can't remember a thing." She sits up and holds her head with one hand, the other reaching out to grab the cup of water beside her.

"I don't know... the attacker just....suddenly passed out." Miki answers and sits closer. "Sorry, you were on top of me so I couldn't see a thing."

On top? Nana chokes in her drink and coughs suddenly in Miki's horror. Taking the cup from her hand, she rubs her back to soothe the coughing.

"Watch out and don't take huge gulps, you've just woken up!" She reprimands worriedly.

However, Rena's seen through what happened and smirks as she walks away towards the door.

"Oh my Nana-robot-san! I can't believe that dirty thoughts will ever take over your mind until today!" Nana tenses up and tries not to glare back at Rena while Miki looks on to the older girl, again with a confused look. "I will leave you guys to catch up alone. Let me check on the others now..."

"O right..." Miki recalls. "Where are the others? Is Naanya taking care of them? They both looked like they came back from a battle."

"Yeah..." Rena smiles embarrassingly as she slides the door open. "They em...got pretty lost with the dark surroundings...haha... so they must had been running around like headless chickens..."

Miki nods as the door slides close, even though she has no idea what she means.

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Right up there outside the condensed void, Naanya sits in the couch at the middle of the detective agency, glancing sideways at Mako and Sae, who currently occupy two corners of the office in dead silence. Other than looking traumatised and battered, the two of them are acting weirdly, like they can't stand each other's presence.

Not only that, instead of acting relieved or happy to see her safe, Mako avoided Naanya's eyes as she ran towards her and gave her a hug when they reunited from the mission. Rena had just brought the three high school girls back from the middle of the town, where Naanya was driving through in completely wrong turns trying to find their way back to the agency. She wanted to ask what had happened to her sister, but was hushed by Rena, telling her to prepare the Key quickly so they could bring Nana into the spaceship as soon as possible to heal her.

"Ano...don't you guys want to know what happened to Naachan?" Naanya tries to break the silence.

Sae stole a glance at Mako, who's sitting by the window, still pretending to look out onto the streets.

"Eh, yes..." Sae finally clears her throat and rolls her chair nearer towards where Naanya is. "She...I hope she's doing fine. How did you end up out there?"

"Sae-chan! You wouldn't believe who we've run into! We were trying to cover your tracks after the plan botched, and guess what? The kidnapper appeared out of no where. She just looks like a pretty ordinary girl! And she said a lot of confusing things...I think she's an alien too!"

Naanya continued non-stop, babbling in incoherent sentences about how Miki got "teleported" in front of her eyes, how Nana and the kidnapper wrangled and wrestled, and how she was suddenly propelled by a force as Nana got stabbed.

Sae sits there and listened on with a sunken heart.

"When you left, is the kidnapper still...alive?"

"Sae-chan, what are you talking about? Who cares about that girl when Naachan is almost dying? We're all running for our lives!" Naanya looks towards Mako's direction in an attempt to seek assurance on how weird Sae's remark was, but as her eyes met with the older girl's, she sees a pained expression on her face.

"Are you all right?" Naanya springs from her seat and rushes toward Mako.

As if she's suddenly jolted from a daydream, Mako cowers from her sister and tries to cover up that odd reaction, seeing the hurt on Naanya's face. When the younger girl was describing what happened, Mako didn't miss the little detail about an unknown force propelling the kidnapper, whom she's now sure is Milky.

"Naanya," She moves forward and holds her hand. "I was just too tired in this crazy heist, sorry." She pats her head and forces a smile. "I am okay...and I'm glad that you are unhurt too. Can you...can you tell where the unknown force came from...is it..can it be from Nana-san?"

"Impossible." Naanya looks up the ceiling as she tries to recall. "Naachan was already stabbed and the force doesn't seem to come from her direction anyway...in fact... it does seem that it's from behind me, because that girl is flying right away across from me, while Nana and Miki were on my left! Oh my god, could there be ANOTHER alien around?"

Mako closes her eyes and smiles bitterly at her sister's slowness. Naanya, it was you.

"I see..." She whispers and pats on her back, before returning to her seat beside the window sill.

"Naanya..." Sae tugs the girl slightly and signals her to move back to the couch. "Mako-chan must be too tired from the mission today. Let her take some rest."

Naanya nods and opens her mouth to ask about the mission, but Sae already knew what's coming and sits her down on the couch.

"I er...will go back home to check on what I can bring to Miki. Naanya, you'll have to take care of Mako-chan while I'm away, okay?" She gives an awkward smile and hurriedly left the office. She needs to find out whether Milky is all right.

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"Miyuki!"

The girl whose name is called upon shrugs and wakes up from her deep dream. In the dream, she went back home and was spending her time shooting in the simulation facility, like she was back in the old days, training as a special agent. All the good memories from planet NMB was back; the time she snuck out of practice and got into trouble when her sempai found out. The time when that sempai cheered her up after punishing her. That time when she waved her a tearful goodbye, when she made her promise to come back after the mission. After that mission in the kaze-067, the ship that she crashed onto Earth.

She blinks her eyes to adjust to her surroundings and sits up, looking at the person who's called out to her.

"You are..." She hesitates at the girl in front of her, lifting up and grabbing the blanket sheets nervously.

"Don't you remember me, Miyuki?" The girl smiles and touches her face gently. In human form, Milky finally recognises the alien comrade standing in front of her.

"Sayanee? Is that really you?"

The girl smiles satisfactorily and sits down beside the bewildered and teary Milky.

"Yes. I have finally found you, my dear baby. Have you found the princess?"

Milky recalls the force that knocked her unconscious. The beam of light that came from that girl's chest.

"Yes, I believe I have." The brightness and power from the girl, or precisely, from her corestone necklace...She murmurs to herself as she considers Naanya's relationship with Sae.

"Well, then, I will get her. And I will hunt down those who keep her from us, those who hurt my precious Miyuki. I will make them pay."

[niineechan]

I luv dropping by since i luv this fic
So.. Everything is clearer now.. Yui eloped with Paru.. Lol. and Naanya is the princess..
I'm wondering what NanaMiki did after Rena left..
But the most epic in this chap is that Naanya was able to drive the car just from her experience in Mario Kart.. LOL
Princess Wako is the MVP.. Haha.
Thx for the update, author san.
See u soon.. :bye:

[kimseoyeonc]

Update soon! Can't wait to read!

[yocelin17]

please update, can't wait to read the story after this