With his hands tucked into his coat pockets and a slightly worn-out expression on his face, one Kiryu Sento was quietly making his way away from the coffee shop that he had so often frequented in the past. The purpose of his visit had been rather serious, all things considered; with the safety of this new world still not promised, his role as Build was far from over. The same went for the three other Kamen Riders who he so often fought side by side with, and that naturally warranted a discussion in it's own right after things had quieted down a bit again.

The results were, as expected, inconclusive; it was rare to have to worry about the presence of threats like those they had recently faced, but given their luck it would only be a matter of time before something new reared it's head to try and take them out. The only conclusion that had been reached, for better or worse, was that they needed to spend more resources on researching Phantom Liquid—and he, for better or worse, was the only one with any expertise in the subject to do so.

"Aah... Well, if it's just research, I suppose it's not a problem," the scientist said to himself, gazing up quietly at the darkening evening sky. "And if Gen-chan is paying out of pocket for me to do that, things should be okay for a while..."

With a quiet breath, Sento closed his eyes and stopped for a moment as he considered, briefly, how to handle that going forward.

"I guess we could start with identifying where pockets of that might be present. It'd be bad if people started messing with that stuff on a whim... Eh?"

When he opened his eyes again, the world around him had drastically changed. Gone were the paved streets of concrete and asphalt, replaced now by a carefully pattered plaza at the end of which stood an elaborate—if non-functional—fountain. Night had been replaced with day, though the light shining above felt somewhat more artificial than that of the sun.

But most concerning of all to Sento was the lack of presence of people around him. It was as if he had been teleported straight into a ghost town without even being given a chance to response.

"This might be a problem..." he muttered to himself as he instinctively reached for the driver tucked away inside of his coat. "...No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions quite yet. There's too much up in the air right now."

As he slowly forced himself to relax and analyze the situation, the faint outlines of other figures began to appear in the plaza around him. Having since chosen to gauge the situation first, Sento quietly watched as people began to appear one by one, giving form to what little had been present when he had first started paying attention.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

It’s quite lively tonight.

On the street, people of various ages and backgrounds are laughing, talking to each other in a joyous atmosphere. After a long year of war, Konoha Village finally finds peace once again. And what would be more worthy of celebration than the wedding of the one and only Konoha hero, the one who brings people together in times of need. Though for one Aburame Shino, the meaning of this wedding is far more than the celebration of a hero. Because the bride is none other than his long time friend and teammate, who has been together with him through thick and thin.

“Who would have thought Hinata would be the first of us to tie the knot. She was even more shy than you, Shino. But hey! If she can do it, maybe my dream beautiful sexy superhot woman might be around the corner too!”

Listening to the rambling of his sharp-fangs friend, the bug user in a grey hoodie just tags along quietly. Although that doesn’t seem to bother the other person much.

“So? Now that the war has ended, what are you going to do? Our future has just begun, you know? There is endless possibility...”

Future huh?
That’s a topic he hasn’t thought about for a long time. But now maybe it’s a good time to start.

“What about you Kiba? I believe you have something in mind.” Shino asked knowingly.

“Aww man, you are no fun. But yes, I am applying for the police force. Me and Akamaru, of course. I bet we will be unstoppable!”

Even someone like this guy has a future figured out. Sometimes Shino feels like he alone has been left behind by time, while his friend has been moving toward the future without fear. But what does the future even look like for him? Sure, he decided to be a teacher and it's a noble career, guiding the new generation. But until now Shino is still not sure if it is what he truly wants.

The path toward his house, the Aburame clan, is still as quiet as it always has been. Shino touches the edge of the wooden door, intending to go in. Suddenly, he feels a strong headache, and his vision begins to blur until he can’t make out what’s in front of him. When his vision comes back again, the surroundings have already changed beyond recognition. Night becomes days, What was once an empty street becomes some form of a Village gathering square, albeit with quite an unusual design. Even if he can’t place a finger on it, something feels very off about this place.

As a decent shinobi, of course the first thing he would do is try to dispel an illusion. Putting his fingers in a hand seal, pumping chakra through his vein, and saying the word of dispelling.

“KAI!”

When it fails, Shino suddenly has a premonition that he might be in more trouble than he initially thought. More alarming is the fact that the bugs he has sent to scout the surrounding comeback to report nothing. Not the usual kind of ‘nothing to report’ nothing, but an honest nothing as in ‘nothing exists beyond this point’ nothing.

And then there is a man not far from him who doesn’t have one drop of chakra, not even at the non shinobi level. He somehow just has none, despite looking quite normal except a little weird choice of clothing. At least he doesn’t seem to be a puppet or one of those weird automation the research division has been playing with recently. That man seemed to be observing the surroundings just like he did. So it would stand to reason that he too, is not a native of this place. Maybe a further observation might give him some more insight?

Shino decided to wait quietly, observing how things would develop from this point.

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

With the world no longer at threat from ancient priestesses, mad scientists, alchemists, or primordial goddesses (hopefully for good, but at least for the time being), Hibiki was free to resume her ordinary life. Disaster relief instead of fighting, still doing poorly at school, and Miku. Living with Miku, eating with Miku, still sharing a bed as they had done for years now…

It was embarrassing how long it had taken for Hibiki to acknowledge her own feelings and the rather extreme situation required to force this acknowledgement (and the less said about how it may have become worldwide knowledge, the better), but after all that had happened and the number of times she had nearly lost Miku for good, it was just a relief for things between them to finally be in the open. Not that it changed any of the big things between them, they couldn't possibly be closer there.

The little things, though? Finding somewhere out of the way where they weren't going to be interrupted for a little while? That was a new thing for the pair of them, even if Chris would be annoyed when they met back up later (but getting annoyed like that was just her way of showing affection, Hibiki was sure). Even if they'd gotten things quite a bit out of order in other regards, like this, it was an ordinary teenaged romance.

Of course, with all of her attention firmly on Miku and not her surroundings, Hibiki was very reliant on her girlfriend to notice anyone coming. After all, she couldn't see anything except Miku and the wall behind her, and the brunette did everything with the maximum enthusiasm that she could muster – combat, crane games, making out…

So it was, of course, the green-eyed girl that actually noticed the extreme change in their surroundings, pounding at Hibiki's shoulder until the other girl caught on.

And reacted about as well as could be expected in the situation, with at least two random men having shown up first and gotten a rather good chance to look: immediately make space and try to distract from the massive blush on her face.

"Wh-What's going on? Where is this!?" It looked like a nice plaza, but… it wasn't Japan, as far as Hibiki could tell, and she wasn't the best at geography, "Miku, did you see what happened?"

"No, I closed my eyes for a moment and we were here."

… well, maybe one of these other people would notice?

Penacony -> ????
@FujiwaraPhoenix

---

Alas, her vacation at Penacony was coming to an end. Soon, she'd have to go back to the Loufu and start, ugh, working again. While dealing with the four foot hall and being turned into an Origami bird, overall, her vacation was definitely enjoyable. Ugh, maybe she could feign illness? No, anyway she thought about it there wasn't any particular or easy way for her to just get out of going back, especially since the Madam Diviner thought she was on the Yaoqing.

Ah well, best not to think about it then.

"Aha! Victory!" She slammed the tile down onto the table. Normally she wouldn't be playing Celestial Jade, but after that last incident something more familiar was a nice change of pace. Besides, the dream slots and other things really couldn't compare to good old fashioned Celestial Jade. "Alright, now that I can leave on a good note, I am satisfied. I have no regrets about heading back to the Loufu." Taking her winnings, the Diviner dismissed her table and headed out of the hall, heading through one of the doors on the Trailblazers ship and...

"...huh." Suddenly, daylight. The nighttime of Golden hour was replaced with somewhat artificial seeming Daylight. Not only that, buildings that definitely didn't seem anything like Penacony. Not the grand, luxurious halls, or the retro looking Golden Hour with its skyscrapers and gilded signs. It wouldn't be unheard of to walk through a door and end up somewhere weird in Penacony, after all it was a Dreamscape filled with Memoria.

She'd turn her head just to check, and yep, door was gone. Still, it might be Penacony.

"...hm." On one hand, she had probably been kidnapped again. On the other hand...extended vacation? She could find a way out, but if this place wasn't dangerous and if she could find other people and food and some books, then...she'd quickly check her phone, too. Yep. No signal with anyone. Out of service range?

"Oh well, guess I'm just going to have to postpone my return trip. Shame."

She glanced around the presumably large Plaza. More people here, though she didn't recognize any of them. Well, it'd probably be fine to talk to them.

"Heeeey!" Qingque jogged over to one of the lone guys, waving in a friendly manner. "You wouldn't have happened to be walking around Golden Hour and end up in this weirdly creepy place too?"

Xianzhou Luofu -> ???

---

The duties of the Master Diviner are paramount for the entirety of the Xianzhou Fleet. To see the future is to witness the path forward, to divine the best possible outcome is to select the strategem that the Xianzhou will adopt for every single motion. It is only through dedication to this duty, through sureness in oneself, that these choices can guide the future.

To put it simply, shirking these duties is pointless and destructive.

One must be a beacon, a guiding star that the fleet can follow. One must dedicate themselves to that purpose.

Of course, it is a purpose that is carried with pride.

---That being said, at times a particularly long day may lead to one needing to unwind somewhat.

Not, of course, that I am the sort of person who accepts laziness. Slacking off is simply not acceptable for one in my position especially. However, utilizing time to refresh oneself in order to approach work energized and prepared for what is to come is far from unwise.

It is for that purpose that I have purchased this Startaro Bubble Tea. The sugar content? It is merely because it will energize me and refresh my mind, leaving me a sharp as the edge of a Cloud Knight's blade.

---Well, I cannot ignore the fact that I prefer this flavor to my other options. But there is no need to dwell on such matters.

This day was a rather full one. Tomorrow appears to be less so, but at the same time those who are unprepared reap the rewards for their lack of foresight.

Would it not be embarrassing for the Master Diviner to lack in foresight?

Of course, such a thing would never happen to me. In fact, the very nature of one who fills the role of the Master Diviner means that I cannot lack in foresight.

I straighten in my stead, and lift the straw for my bubble tea. After the foiled attempt at freeing Hoolay by the Borisin and the end of the successful conclusion of the Wardance, no direct crises have threatened the Luofu. While this does not mean I can act like some sort of shiftless slacker, it does mean that even full days do not carry with them the same air of immediate severity.

---Speaking of slackers...

It is rather strange, not seeing Qingque there as I perform my divination duties. And not because she is slacking, but because she isn't present at all. I wonder how she is doing on the Yuque. I hope, at least, she is well.

Not that it is of particular concern to me, but she is my subordinate. It would be poor form for me to lack any care at all for her wellbeing, regardless of her habits. There's no other reason.

Still, she should be ready for further work when she returns.

Not that she ever is, but even with the gift of the Ominscia sometimes one can wish for the impossible.

I raise the straw back, preparing to pierce the lid of my bubble tea, and---

The air feels different. The scenery is different.

Suddenly, it's blurring---

"Uwah?!"

---Ah... ahh...

The sharp impact travels up through the point of landing and into the base of my spine. It's not going to do any damage, but it certainly doesn't feel pleasant.

My chair is gone. My desk is gone.

Everything is gone, instead replaced with unfamiliar buildings.

And my bubble tea...

...

...

The lid has torn open, the strain of its impact on the stony ground having proven too much. Everything within has burst out, spilling onto the ground and completely, utterly, undrinkable.

...

---To begin with, I cannot forgive whatever force has brought me to this location. It's either some form of physical transportation, or a manner of illusion similar to that of a Heliobus. Either way, there is a good reason that I am not permitted to leave the Xianzhou fleet, and an illusory assault is also unacceptable.

And they have also ruined my drink and unceremoniously dumped me onto the ground.

To say I am displeased would be an understatement.

"... Nnngh..."

Irritated, I rise to my feet. There's no point in being shocked, as much as I cannot help my eyes widening at the sight of the unfamiliar surroundings. No, it is for the best that I focus on analyzing my new location and determining its nature. The thought of something being able to assault me directly from outside the Luofu and remove me to a different location is a concerning one, but I cannot rule it out even if an illusory attack would be the preferable explanation.

I reach my feet and close my eyes. Without the benefit of the greater terminal, on such short notice I cannot read the future over a great length of time. But I can still---

... Hm?

... It's dark. There's nothing there at all.

The past, then?

---

My heartbeat quickens ever so slightly. It is one thing to teleport me to some other place, but to cut off my divination...

No. There's no change in the functions of the Ominiscia. I can discern that much. And the Matrix of Prescience, too, is without any malfunction.

Then, could it be a trait of this location? Perhaps...

I shut my eyes once more. This time, I will not attempt to look into the past or the future, but instead the unseen present.

The image of a great plaza fills my mind. Unfamiliar faces, a... pair of girls who... are her hands---

I open my eyes, feeling heat flood into my cheeks for a moment.

What, exactly, was that?! Why... was she... they...

...

N-nevermind.

There was another face there. A familiar one. Not only do I have an idea as to what is occurring here already, but I have a goal in mind as well. It is only about a block away, so there's no need to further delay.

In fact, as I arrive---

"The 'Golden Hour', Qingque?"

The words leave my mouth no sooner than I hear her voice. She told me she had gone to the Yuque. I had, only moments before being brought here, considered what she may be doing and how she may be doing.

But she wasn't at the Yuque at all, was she? She told me as much, but I'm well aware of where this 'Golden Hour' is located.

"That certainly does not sound like anywhere on the Yuque, hm?"

I will not allow her to get away with this, even with consideration to the bizarre situation that we find ourselves in.

---And those girls were indeed quite close before stepping away from one another. At least they look just as embarrassed as I felt witnessing that, even if it was not in person.

"---As for the rest of you, you were all teleported to this location without warning, were you not?" I ask, casting my gaze towards the unfamiliar faces. I may as well confirm my suspicions.

Having since chosen to stay silent and observe the situation, Sento watched as a few figures began to materialize around him. The first was, by his judgement, a conspicuously inconspicuous young man—between his jacket, hood, and shaded glasses, it was difficult to figure out anything meaningful from his appearance alone. The fact that he opened his arrival with an odd hand gesture and a shout only left Sento with more questions than not.

Then came the pair of schoolgirls, who were both clearly in the middle of some more intimate time when they had been spirited away to wherever this was. Some part of the scientist's brain felt some secondhand embarrassment at the scene, and that only got worse when the two realized that they were no longer in what had been, presumably, the comfort of their home. It felt almost instinctual to turn away from them to give them a moment to adjust.

No sooner than after he had turned his head, away, though, did yet another young woman's voice call out towards the now-forming group; it was but a given that he would move to face her. Compared to the other three that had appeared, though, the newcomer had an outfit that was far more ornate than anything else the three of them were wearing. It wouldn't have been all too odd to dismiss her as a cosplayer, but given the context of where they were right now, her words made no sense if she had been one. Things were only further complicated when another young woman—with what Sento considered even more fancy clothing—arrived to press the other woman about where she had been—never mind the complete lack of knowledge about this "Yuque" that the pink-haired girl was speaking about.

"I'll confirm that much, at least. I'm not sure where you'd find the ability to walk through time, so this 'Golden Hour' isn't something I'm all too familiar with. I've never heard of a city with that name, though. This 'Yuque' isn't exactly familiar, either; is that Chinese, by any chance?" Sento asked in response, half-hoping that their answer would shed some more light on the situation. "I live in Tokyo, so I don't exactly speak the language myself..."

Maybe trading information would be the best thing they could do for the moment. By their reaction, the two seemed to be acquaintances. That meant absolutely nothing with regards to why they were here now, though. If the pattern was that they were coming in pairs, then maybe Banjou would have also been dragged here; the lack of anyone that seemed to know the other teenager also shot that theory down, though. Maybe there was some other connecting thread between them all that justified their presence here?

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

Putting herself forward was the obvious thing to do now that it seemed nobody else had any idea what was going on… and it gave Miku some more time to discreetly move aside and make sure that all her clothes were back in position. If this had just happened a few minutes later–

Best not to think about that one.

Aside from her and Miku, there were two unremarkable looking guys and two absolutely adorable looking girls, one of them wearing the fanciest outfit she thought she had seen anybody wear. Once you excluded Carol's robes or some of Maria and Tsubasa's concert outfits, at least. And the girls knew each other, same as her and Miku, but they were brought here separately? And the even smaller one had thought Qingque was somewhere else…

"Sorry, I haven't heard of anywhere called Yuque either," Hibiki said, shaking her head. Not that this meant much, if her test scores were anything to go by, and she'd never been to China except… which side of K2 had they landed on again? That might have been the China side. "But Golden Hour sounds like a restaurant?"

Miku sighed at that. Of course Hibiki would think of food immediately.

@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Cmmelody

????
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix

---

Of everything Qingque was expecting, it was not the sound of the death knell of her vacation, or more importantly her actually finally getting truly fired. Not even seconds after running over to the guy did Fu Xuan's familiar voice meet Qingque's ears. Of all the rotten luck, why did she have to get dragged here to? Was this some cruel Aeonic prank?

"Haeh?! Master Diviner!?" She couldn't help but to let out a particularly loud yelp, eyes wide and a clear look of fear plastered on her features. "A-ahem. Uh, ahem. Y-yeah, Golden Hour. I uh. There was a...game tournament on the Yuque. I uh, just happened to win and uh, yeah, so I was there." Right, that wasn't important right now though, was it? Change the subject, that'll work.

It seemed they had all been spirited away. The work of a Heliobus? Doubtful since well, they all seemed to be from other places and -

"Wait wait wait, you guys don't know Golden Hour? At least tell me you guys know of Penacony? The Planet of Festivities?" Surely everyone knew the name of the Planet of Festivities unless maybe they were from some world on the edge of IPC space or something.

Tokyo? Chinese? Golden Hour? Penacony?

Now Shino is completely lost. Coupled with the fact that none of them have any chakra on their body and he is starting to get a picture of what is going on here.

“Have all of you considered the fact we might come from different realms altogether? It is most probable, I would say. And why is that? Because we don’t seem to know many things others find obvious. In fact, I have never heard of Tokyo, Penacony, or Golden Hour in my life.”

He said after coming to the conclusion. Shino might not have experienced those so called ‘realms’ before but he of course, knows of their existence. One such example is the infamous summoning realms where all the summons reside. It is also said that Otsutsuki Kaguya herself came from a different realm to the Ninja world. Those realms are often described as having rules and places not like his own.

After saying that to all of the newly formed group, he then turns his head to another guy in the room.

“You are the first one here. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? The perpetrator must have some kind of motive, no one is messing with a space jutsu without a good reason.”

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

???

---

"... Hm."

I have known Qingque far too long to take her word on its face when it comes to matters such as this. I don't need to divine the truth to conclude that she is, at the very least, attempting to heavily mislead me for fear of being punished. Before anything else, I think it is time to unveil to her the cold, hard truth of her situation.

"If you expect me to believe that, Qingque, you are quite terribly mistaken," I respond without a moment's hesitation, "You informed me of where you were going, and even if this explanation is true you did not inform anyone of where you were going after winning this supposed prize. That alone is reason to doubt your words."

I let out a heavy sigh.

"I suppose it would be foolish to level an immediate punishment upon you in this situation, however..."

Pulling my attention away from my subordinate, no matter how frustrated I may be that she saw fit to try and mislead me, I contemplate the situation at hand.

'China'.

'Tokyo'.

These are the names of locations that I have never before heard of. While I am not omnipotent, certainly, I am well aware of most notable locations across the universe.

Even before noting the peculiarities of this space, this would be a significant detail. There is no reason to currently suspect that anyone else is constructing these unfamiliar names from whole cloth.

"Realms, you say?" I comment, tilting my head towards one of the men, "I have a suspicion something along those lines may be the case."

The Xianzhou Fleet is well-known across the galaxy. Even without knowing the name of individual ships, it would be strange to encounter someone completely and utterly aware of us unless they hailed from a planet that has yet to achieve travel beyond its upper atmosphere.

So, it is an easy test.

"Tell me, are any of you aware of the Xianzhou Fleet?"

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@Cmmelody

Despite the brown-haired girl's immediate confusion, none of the names that she rattled off held any meaning to him. The fact that she was referring to a planet in that context was noteworthy unto itself, given how humanity hadn't achieved interstellar travel yet, but that didn't change that his answer remained the same. The other teenager seemed to have reached a similar conclusion to his own, though he had been the first to put the theory into words.

"Honestly, alternate realities seems to be the most likely answer," Sento replied with a brief nod. "The terms 'Penacony' and 'Xianzhou Fleet' are just meaningless names to me, and I assume that'd go for a lot of places you might try to quiz me on. Unless you know what the planet Earth is—the third planet in the Milky Way, if that helps any—then I don't think we're going to get anywhere with this kind of questioning."

With that, the scientist crossed his arms as a pensive expression crossed his face.

"A motive... I'm quite unsure myself. I might have been the first to arrive, but that doesn't mean much when the time between my arrival and yours was only a few seconds," he stated towards the young man beside him. "Putting aside the possibility of magic bringing us all here, I didn't see any technology set up to facilitate a transfer. The plaza was as empty as it was when I arrived, minus all of us."

With his explanation finished, Sento vaguely waved his hand towards the fountain nearby.

"At this point, it might be best if we consider fanning out and looking into... Eh?"

A strange noise coming from his flank—the same general area where he had gestured mere moments before—caused the scientist to turn his head out of curiosity. There, in front of the fountain where there had been nothing moments prior, Sento saw space itself seem to twist and warp, folding into and out of itself before a perfectly rectangular gateway stabilized. There was a brief pause as tension seemed to hang in the air, and a few seconds passed before a white-haired woman wearing a black clean-cut blouse and dress with a coat draped over her shoulders crossed through and closed the gateway behind her.

"My apologies for the delay in greeting you," she said, bringing one hand to her chest as she gave a slight bow. "I had to finish some measures to stabilize your worlds."

"Stabilize our... Sorry, could you please elaborate a bit more on that?" the physicist asked, to which the white-haired woman nodded in response.

"Of course, Mr. Kiryu; I'll start with a brief introduction. You may call me Wynn. I am the arbiter of this space, while my brother acts as the administrator; together, we oversee a multitude of branching timelines across different planes of existence. I believe that you may consider this to be something akin to multiverse theory, if that helps your understanding any," the woman spoke in kind. "We noticed a multitude of anomalies originating from a few worlds that began to cascade out of control. As we cannot directly intervene, my brother and I made the decision to isolate the worlds from which you came and placed them into stasis so as to prevent their collapse."

"That would certainly be a problem," Sento said as he brought one hand to his chin. "But that doesn't quite explain why we're here."

"While the anomalies in your own home worlds place them at risk, utilizing those who had the highest likelihood of being able to intervene in our stead became a priority. Unfortunately, we could only move so many people at once without over-taxing our ability to maintain stability. It is a rather utilitarian explanation, I admit, but it is as succinct an explanation as I can give at the moment."

With a sigh, Sento crossed his arms and glanced at the others who had been so suddenly displaced before speaking again.

"Are you implying that we wouldn't have been able to resolve the situations on our own?"

"Unfortunately, yes. While I have no doubt as to the power that you and those you all worked alongside in the past, the problems plaguing your worlds are more fundamental in nature than even that," Wynn stated. "Now, before I proceed: are there any other questions you all would like me to address? I will do so to the best of my ability, but I cannot promise answers that will satisfy you."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

Hibiki started off following the conversation… mostly. They were from separate worlds, she had no problems believing that part, even if it was a bit out of her usual experience. After all, the Noise had been in a sort of parallel thingy, and Finé was a reincarnated ancient priestess. Being literally pulled to another place that wasn't some pocket dimension was a perfectly reasonable escalation.

… probably. It had happened and she wasn't going to overthink it.

But what she was going to (fail) to understand was exactly what was going on. Something bad was happening at home and they'd… uh, done something?

That was about the point that the brunette stopped following along and started panicking as the explanation got more technical and she could only latch onto the vaguest point: something about collapsing and stasis. The entire rest of the following conversation went completely past her.

"W-Wait! Our worlds are collapsing!?" Hibiki asked, not wanting to move past that point, "Are Chris-chan and everyone else alright!?"

At least Miku was here and perfectly safe (for whatever amount of safety an interdimensional abduction counted for), but everyone else was unknown and they had been late to meet Chris and if something had happened to her… and then there was Tsubasa, the commander, Maria, Shirabe, Kirika, Elfnein, all the other command staff, the rest of their classmates…

A (now-presentable) Miku's hand taking hers brought the wielder back to something approaching calmness, "She means that she paused our worlds to keep everything safe, right? And everyone here was chosen to help fix the problem?"

The white-haired woman nodded in response, and Hibiki was glad to now be at least (somewhat) on the same page as everyone else. If the first explanation hadn't been so complicated… well, that wasn't important, what did matter was that everyone was safe for now, and she had a clear goal!

… and no idea how to accomplish any of it.

"I don't have any idea how we can help, but I'll do my best!"

"Me too," Miku nodded beside her, "But Hibiki's the only one of us with a Symphogear. I'm just an ordinary girl."

@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Cmmelody@Rune_Alchemist

????
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix@Cmmelody

---

Pushing her oncoming punishment out of mind, Qingque decided to take this a little bit seriously and listen to what everyone else was saying. Different realms? If she were to remove all of the other possibilities and consider the situation as a full - it certainly made sense. So they had just gotten into some other branch of the Imaginary Tree for some reason? Hm. That was outside of the area of her expertise. She had only really read about it.

Lost in a bit of thought, she barely noticed the arrival of Wynn. What she said certainly seemed to track with her own knowledge, at least.

"Huh, so, we've just somehow stumbled into another branch of the Imaginary Tree or something?" Qingque mused aloud before a second, more concerning part of what Wynn had said caught her attention. "Wait, actually, hold on, intervene? Me? You sure you got the right librarian? I'm just a door guardian for the Divination Commission. I'm not like a Cloud Knight or something."

This wasn't just her trying to figure out a way to wiggle out of this whole thing, definitely not.

There she is, the one who is responsible for his predicament. Judging by the manner of her entrance, there is definitely some kind of space-time jutsu involved. Shino is quite doubtful about the whole danger thing, having just attended his friend’s wedding after a long war. The world he just left is at the most peaceful state he has ever seen in his life. Also, he is not so naive as to trust a stranger who clearly just confesses to be their kidnapper. Still, the white hair woman seems to be quite powerful, crossing her at this moment would be unwise. In the end, Shino decided to play along... for now.

“I believe you will explain what we have to do later.” The teenage boy puts his two hands in the pockets of his grey cloak, the words as emotionless as ever. “I’m rather curious about the way you choose people to do your... work. I am clearly not the most powerful person you would find in my world, I imagine others here might be the same.”

He sweeps his glance across multiple people in the plaza. It’s true that looks can be deceiving but some people, like the black hair girl for example, are clearly not the combat type. So it is safe to say that power is not the main criteria, or a criteria at all. By asking this question, he also hopes to gain some insight on the woman named Wynn and the nature of her ‘mission’ in general.

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

???

---

---Hm.

So there's some sort of catastrophic problem with not only one branch, but multiple branches of the Imaginary Tree? Travel between them has been a theoretical possibility for a considerable amount of time, but I had never seen any proof of it actually occurring directly. It's a considerable amount of process, even with consideration to myself.

Additionally, how did I fail to foresee this problem? Is it due to the origin being outside of the individual branches? There's a considerable number of unanswered questions.

At the same time, I cannot detect any insincerity. There is no reason for this 'Wynn' to lie, even before I utilize any form of divination to discern intent.

If something is a threat to an entire branch of the Imaginary Tree, an entire universe, it is something that cannot be ignored.

"Obviously, she discerned some value in your participation, Qingue," I comment as I step forward, "I would hope that is enough for you not to slack on this duty as well."

---And that the information of such an existential threat is not to overwhelming.

"In any case, while I have many questions I cannot see any reason to doubt your words," I say, addressing 'Wynn', "Something that is a threat to not just one but many branches of the Imaginary Tree would call for suitably extreme measures. As the Master Diviner of the Xianzhou, I offer my services, as well as Qingque's."

@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@Cmmelody

Having not been given any further questions beyond Miku's, Wynn nodded her head in response to Qingque's and Shino's reticence about the situation before responding with one of her own.

"While I understand your hesitance, I can assure you that we've chosen you both for a reason," the woman replied as she briefly gestured toward the pair. "After analyzing a series of projected values and running through multiple simulations, we came to the conclusion that your collaboration would have the highest projected chance of success—especially when we considered the possibility of... Ahem, corrupted variables muddying the waters."

Sento's gaze narrowed at the word "corrupted"—a change that was not lost upon the arbiter as she continued speaking.

"Deviance from expected values from multiple major entities were detected as a recurring symptom in each of your respective worlds, but they do not reflect the underlying cause," she said with a bow. "Thus why your assistance is greatly appreciated in resolving this matter."

Having heard that, the physicist could not help but grimace as the faces of a few of his past adversaries popped into his mind.

"I understand," he said with a nod. "Of course, I'll do my best to help where I can. So, where do we begin?"

"Before we can begin, I must inform you that we must unfortunately start with gathering resources," Wynn said as she raised her hand. Behind her, the same gateway she had reached them through re-opened—wider this time, and with a clear view to a different region of whatever space this was. "Please, follow me. I'll explain as we walk."

As Wynn crossed through the portal, Sento gave the briefest of glances towards the others before following Wynn through the portal. The marvel of science—or, well, he assumed it to be science—that allowed her to create stable transfer between arbitrary distances like this was piquing his curiosity to the extreme, but for the moment the physicist managed to suppress his desire to pry further and instead looked upon the empty city that they were now walking through.

"While this used to be a bustling city, a past incident resulted in it's near-extinction," the white-hair woman said as she continued forward, "leaving it in the state that it is in now. A majority of the remaining energy is being diverted towards stabilization as mentioned prior, which leaves us wanting. As such, my brother and I have made the call to temporarily place deeper investigation on hold until we've determined that we have the leeway to do so."

As she finished, Wynn came to a stop in front of what seemed to be a rather unassuming three-floor building and gestured behind her.

"This is where you all will be staying between missions; please divide yourself among the rooms here as you so choose. I'll give you all time to speak among yourselves as needed, but when you're finished, please let me know. Your first order of business will be to retrieve resources from worlds that have been 'pruned', as a matter of speaking—ones that have encountered such catastrophic dead-ends that they have begun to collapse," she said.

Sento stared at Wynn with a barely-disguised look of incredulity at how blasé she had stated that last sentence before taking a deep breath and shaking his head.

"...I have far more questions to ask you in the future, but I suppose they can wait for now," he said before turning towards the others in the group. "Right, then. I guess that since we're probably going to be living here for the foreseeable future, introductions are probably in order. Kiryu Sento—genius physicist and hero. I'll be in your care, everyone."

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Cmmelody

Shino followed the woman and the man through what appeared to be a space-time gate. As he expected, the other side of the gate is yet another location he is unfamiliar with. The white hair woman did some explaining and then left him alone with a bunch of strangers, who apparently, would be his teammates for a foreseeable future.

He still doesn't know how to think of all this, but there is no point in dwelling in those thoughts right now. Adaptability is an essential part in his line of work after all.

And adapt he will.

“I’m Aburame Shino, an active shinobi.” Shino introduced himself next. “I suggest we survey and secure our base first, as we might be here for a long time. For my room preference; I’d like a room with good window placement, it would be a lot more convenient for my friends to work with.”

While he said those words, tiny black insects started coming out of his clothes’ sleeve and collar. They crawled all over the shinobi’s face, hands, and all the skin surface, visible for all to see. Shino himself doesn’t seem to be bothered by the bugs, still looking as calm and collected as ever, as if they don’t exist at all.

“Anyway, I hope we get along.”

@FujiwaraPhoenix @VitaVitaAR @Rune_Alchemist @Raineh Daze

There were some hushed whispers as Miku continued to dumb down the explanation to layman's terms. Something hardened in the girl's expression when she looked at Wynn – the idea of sacrificing the remnants of entire worlds to prop up whatever they were doing not one that sat well with the girl – but Hibiki didn't raise any fuss. Or question the teleportation; after being pulled to a parallel world and having been teleported to the moon before, this was already becoming strangely routine.

And then it was time to introduce herself—

"Tachibana Hibiki, age 17! My hobby is saving people, and my favourite things are Miku and food!" her introduction was delivered with enthusiasm, enough that she seemed to miss her girlfriend covering her face in embarrassment. "I'm no good at explaining things, but I can transform with Gungnir! I hope we can all be friends."

"I'm Kohinata Miku. As I said, I don't have any way to fight," the black-haired girl had recovered from her latest bout of embarrassment, "But if there's any other way I can help, I will."

There was a moment's pause, before Hibiki added, "We'll only need one room, we've been sharing for years."

Miku could only sigh at the phrasing. "Hibiki…"

@Cmmelody@FujiwaraPhoenix@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

????
@FujiwaraPhoenix@Raineh Daze@FujiwaraPhoenix@Cmmelody

---

"Huh? Me?" Honestly, she shouldn't be surprised. Ugh, if there was work to be done then she was going to no doubt be sent to do it if it was important. Should she be happy she was trusted to such an extent? Mngh, alas, that was the final absolute nail in the coffin to her leisure time.

"Well if the Master Diviner says so and if Wynn is counting on me, I guess I better put in some effort, huh?" A small, genuine sheepish but well meaning smile crossed her features as she spoke. She couldn't say she hated this kind of thing, even if she would much rather be doing something else. She'd listen quietly as Wynn continued to explain, following her through the portal. Resource gathering from Pruned worlds? So Branches of the Tree that met a dead end or were deemed irrelevant or incorrect so the tree could keep growing by recycling their energy.

Interesting. She wondered what a pruned world looked like. Or if they might have some interesting games that couldn't be played anywhere else...

"My turn? Qingque. Part of the Xianzhou Loufu's Divination commission." She'd offer a friendly smile to the others. "No-one special. Just a Librarian and Glorified door guardian. I mostly deal with paper work and other errands. The Master Diviner over there is my boss. Dont rely on me too much unless you guys want to play a round of Celestial Jade - wait do you guys even know how to play that..." A quick glance at Fu Xuan silenced any thoughts of currently teaching them to play. "We can do that later."

???

---

The number of questions only grows. What sort of catastrophes could these worlds have faced that would result in them being pruned, as a gardened would trim a real tree? Was that the threat that faced the universes each of us originated from?

Certainly, it does not take a genius intellect to come to that conclusion. How does such a place come to exist? How does a position such as the one held by this Wynn come about?

I suppose there will be time for further questions, though I cannot deny my impatience. The least that our host could have done was explain a little more.

Hmph.

---In any case.

"As Qingque has already mentioned, I am the Master Diviner of the Xianzhou Luofu's Divination Commission. It is my duty to sift through the disparate threads of the future and select the choices that will guide the Xianzhou to the most beneficial outcome," I explain, scanning the others as I speak, "The great sea of stars would be impossibly treacherous without the divination commission's guidance."

I cross my arms over my chest.

"It is just as well that whatever method of placing a universe in stasis is in play, as I cannot leave the Luofu under normal circumstances."

It is difficult to wrap my mind around the idea of freezing an entire universe, a feat that not even an Aeon has been said to accomplish. If it had not been carried out...

My disappearance would assuredly have resulted in chaos. It is not blind pride that informs my conclusion, though I certainly see no reason not to be proud of my efforts, but simple logic.

---Are those girls still flirting with one another? Are they shameless?! Even while introducing themselves---!

... Ah, there's no need to get distracted. Nor is their any need to focus on the insects crawling over the shinobi's body, no matter how unpleasant it may seem. How can one stand the legs?

"While the presence of the Matrix of Prescience is required for more insightful and long-term divination," I continue, in part to explain my capabilities and in part to distract myself, "I am still able to peer into the future in order to guide our strategies in the coming tasks. After all, a branch must bend rather then break in face of the oncoming wind."