*Osamu*

I glanced at the sea below. Setsuko, Kohri, Serrano, Azami, Rosa, Yuko, Onami, Eiichi, Sabine, the High Priestess of Xian, Hideaki, Anis, Jun, my aunt, and Rene and her kids, and I were accompanying Eri, Feng, and Ocarina to Wahkan. We were to meet with the so-called 'Guardian of the Abyssal Tower'. Apparently, Setsuko and some of the others had met her during their big clash against the Apocalyptic Beasts and the Abyssal Rulers.

"We're here," Eri said as he landed.

Ocarina smiled as she glanced around. "Feels like forever since I've been here. To think my sister was so close to me at times. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that Feng confused me for her when we met."

"Yeah, you turned out to be Harmonica's sister and doppelganger," Feng said.

"That still sounds strange," Rosa said, tilting her head.

"Yuko can't wait to meet Harmonica in person!" Yuko said, grinning. Was that why she had taken a break from her training with her uncle? She would've done well to be as diligent as her 'Master'. The guy had asked Adela's mother and Grace for large quantities of herbs and locked himself up.

"You folks go on ahead," I said, waving my hand.

"Where are you going?" Setsuko asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to sit down and enjoy the waves." Back home, the only thing closest to this was the coast of the big lakes. But the air there wasn't this salty. Plus, I didn't want to join such a big group.

"I'm gonna go build a sand castle!" Nate said, running ahead. He had worn swimming trunks and had gotten himself a floatie for the occasion.

"Yeah!" Layla said, running after him.

Alexis clung to his parasol. "Me too!"

"Hey, don't overdo it, Alex. Remember the hot springs?" Silas asked as he chased after his siblings.

Seemed that I would be stuck with company regardless.

Azami chuckled. "Seems you have to play babysitter, little bro!"

Rene smiled slightly at me. "Sorry, Osa."

I sighed. "It's fine."

Hideo laughed. "I'll watch over them, your majesty."

"As will I!" Kiara said.

"M-me too," Camila said.

Amun sighed. "The little ones are too carefree."

"That's a good thing," my aunt said, giggling.

Amun smiled slightly as she watched her siblings gather around Nat. She glanced at Dossie. "Not going to join them either?"

Dossie clung to her mom. "I'm okay. I don't want to get sand on my cute dress."

I chuckled. She sounded like Eiko. Too bad she and Miyu couldn't have joined us on this short getaway.

I walked over to a palm tree on the opposite side of the beach from Rene's kids and sat down. This place was like paradise. The sun, waves, and wind seemed to take away all of my concerns with them.

I closed my eyes and chuckled. The cat would've liked this place. Too bad he couldn't experience it.

*Sabine*

We followed Eri to the place he had grown up in. It looked like a nice house, even if it was small.

"Welcome back, Feng, Eri," a purple-haired woman in a blue apron said as she stepped out of the house.

"Sis!" Ocarina said, hugging her.

"Ocarina?!"

She nodded. "It's me. In the flesh this time!"

Onami chuckled. "It's nice to see sisters uniting."

Yuko smiled at her big sis.

"Thanks, Feng," Harmonica asked, glancing at her husband.

He rubbed his neck and looked down. "I wish that the reunion was the only reason we are here."

"It's not?"

"We need you to go to Rios or to Zionia with our allies. The land north of this place is going to become a battlefield. The clash will likely be felt here if we fail to contain it," Ocarina said as she let go of her older sister.

She gasped. "Alright. I'll go and get the kids."

"Wait, I've been wondering. Have you considered fighting alongside us?"

Harmonica stopped and looked over her shoulder at her sister. She nodded before looking straight ahead. "But, if something goes wrong and Feng and I both perish, who will care for the triplets?"

"Assuming we save Xeleria, our attendants back in Rios would. They're pretty dependable people."

She shook her head. Her face looked as pale as porcelain. "I'm not saying that they aren't to be trusted, but I rather not put them through that."

"Same," Feng said, keeping his head down. He put a closed hand against his chest. "But I swear that I will come back. Xeleria won't be destroyed. Nor will the knights' home."

"It's similar to Yuko's uncle and aunt's situation," Yuko said, lowering her head.

"Where are the rugrats anyway?" Eri said, looking around. "I don't see my sister or brother either."

"They're playing outside," Harmonica said as color returned to her face.

"Then we need to go fetch them," Serrano said. He hummed and turned to look at Setsuko. "Shouldn't we alert the governments nearby to evacuate everyone?"

"My uncle Daisuke should be addressing that. At least I imagine so. We don't wish to cause the populace to panic. All talk about beast of the apocalypse, Abyssia, and Abysmals was censored. To the majority of people here, what happened during the games was nothing more than a rampage of long lived creatures that had escaped and were recaptured," Ocarina said, moving her hands up and down for emphasis.

"They were lied to?" Setsuko asked, furrowing her brow.

Serrano sighed. "It's a similar case back home. Some things just have to be kept a secret."

"Is that really wise? I understand keeping mum if nobody is asking, but telling outright lies is different. People deserve to know the truth."

Eiichi snickered. "You really think that telling people that the end is nigh is a good idea?"

"I didn't say that!"

He shook his head. "That is basically what we will be telling them."

"No. We will be informing them of our plan to turn the upcoming dark tide."

Eii shugged and sighed. "And you think people will just accept that? You must be as naïve as your little sister if you do."

Rosa shot him a death glare. "Should of all people be insulting me?"

He averted his gaze. "Right, sorry. Might've gotten a little carried away there."

"Let's go look for the kids. We can talk about this later," Setsuko said, running off.

"She's awfully calm today," Anis said. She smiled. "Seems she's grown a little too."

Rene nodded. "I think all of the knights have."

Eii scratched side of his neck and sighed. His cheeks were slightly red, causing me to giggle.

"Come, I'll help you pack," Ocarina said as she walked shoulder to shoulder with her sister. "I'll tell you all about Rios! And Dad and Mom. Eu too!"

Harmonica beamed. "Thanks."

"Say, that lady has a familiar vibe," Kohri said, tilting his head at the older sister as she walked away.

"Well, she is a doppelganger of Rosa and Yuko," Astra's mother said.

"It's not that. She reminds me of someone apart from them."

I touched my chin. "Same."

"Didn't Rosa say that there was another one who resembled Akari?" Eiichi said, folding his arms.

"Yeah, it seems she's linked to Harmonica for some reason," Rosa said. "Like fused kind of link."

"Like Tetsu and Serra did?" Azami asked, tilting his head.

"Probably something like it, but since they share the same soul, it's barely noticeable," Kohri said.

"Too bad Xime isn't here. She might've been able to come up with a theory," Yuko said.

"I did tell her about it. Although, hearing about it and seeing it for oneself are different things," Rosa said, sighing.

I lowered my gaze. Akari's sister. If I was Sabrina, then that meant one of my daughters was gone.

"What's the matter?" Eiichi asked, eyeing me.

I shook my head. "Sorry, all this talk about doppelgangers is taking me for a loop."

"Yeah, I recently discovered that Tetsu and I used to be you king in our previous life, and the only reason there's now two of us is because some demon had it out for said king," Eri said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Eiichi laughed. "You seemed to be understanding it fine just a moment ago, Sabine. But I guess I cannot blame either of you. It is above my pay grade too."

"Uh, you have no job. Well, had no job," Kohri said, chuckling.

"It's a figure of speech!"

I giggled. Well, whatever the truth was, there was no use stressing about it. Like Eiichi taught me, it was better go with the flow.

*Osamu*

The cry of a child and the subsequent thud drove me out of my state of slumber. A honey-brown haired child had faceplanted on the white sand. Not too far from him was some kind of book. My eyes widened as I drew closer. No, it was not a book. Rather, it was a manga and not just any old one either. It the one I had written years ago. I squatted and picked it up. The main character graced the reader with his signature smile on the cover. Takeshi used to make such a face when he was a teenager. The same smile that his youngest son had. But something about Takeshi's felt more special than either of theirs. Perhaps, because he rarely smiled so widely. He was not as bombastic as Tetsuya nor Orantu.

I flipped through and dusted off the pages. This one contained the chapters where the sort-of-friend betrayed the main character, nearly killing him in the process. If the main character was Takeshi, I would have to be the blinded by revenge best friend. Except, it wasn't revenge that blinded me, but the desire to protect my family. Sadly, I had lost sight of that. If only I had been as hyper-focused as the rival, then maybe Mammon would've had no control over me.

My eyes darted toward the blue yonder. It wasn't much different from the sky back in our world. Maybe some of the corny stuff I wrote in my younger years wasn't so wrong after all. We truly were all connected by the same sky.

"H-hey! That my manga! Give it back!" the kid said he dusted his himself off. I stepped aside as he lurched toward me. He would've fallen into the sand again if he hadn't caught himself with a gust of wind.

The physical volume was, but creatively, it was my manga.

I handed it back to him. "You should take better care of it. And of yourself too."

He put a hand on his hips and smiled. "I'm fine! Like a faceplant will bring me down!"

I smiled. "You got those words from Orantu, right?"

He grinned and clung to the manga. "Yeah! Hey, you read it too?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

The kid tilted his head. "Watch the anime?"

Right, they made it into a show.

"Neither."

He chuckled. "Guess one of your kids must like it then." 

I smiled slightly. Setty and Rosa did use to read it. Hearing Setty's reactions were always comical. Yet, neither of my children knew who had written and drawn that manga, apart from the pen name, Mizato Naito. Only Azami knew, but he had managed to keep it a secret. Probably one of the few secrets that guy could actually keep.

"Well, I'm off to find my sister and brother!" He put his hand against his brows and surveyed the area. "I don't see them anywhere. Well, time to play hide and seek."

This kid sounded an awful lot like Setsuko.

"But where do I start? Hey, Mister, have you seen anyone who looks like me?"

I stared at him. His hair was braided like Feng's. "Say is Feng your dad?"

He jumped. "You know Papa?"

So, he is his kid. Wait, was this the famous Lei?

"Yeah. He's one of our allies."

"Woah! Nice to meet you, Papa's friend!" he said, grabbing my hand and shaking it.

"I would not claim we are friends," I said, sighing. The kid sure was full of energy all of a sudden.

"You're not? So sort of friends?"

"Nor would I assert that."

He hummed. "I see. Well, it was nice meeting you anyway!" He turned around and ran off. His pace slowed the further he got. His breathing appeared to become a little weaker. When he tried to get the manga, he caught himself, but why hadn't he done that when he originally fell? Was he too exhausted to do so?

"Hey, Dad! Have you seen a kid around here who looks like Feng?" Setsuko asked.

"Yeah, there's one right there," I said, pointing toward the kid.

"Say, isn't that Lei? Hey, Lei!" Setsuko said, rushing toward him. I got closer and saw the kid had a hand against his chest.

Lei smiled forcefully. "Oh, it's you. Is your knight friend here too? The one Kun calls 'Second Papa'?"

"Second Papa? Oh, Tetsu?! No, he's busy with stuff. But what about you, your face is looking a little discolored."

"I'm okay! Gonna go look for Kun and Yen!" The kid took a step forward and would've face planted again if not for Setsuko catching him.

"You don't look fine. I know, how about we take a seat and you can tell me all about that manga you have in your hands. Oh, and I can reintroduce you to a superfan of it too."

The shine returned to his turquoise eyes. "Really?! Wait, but I'm the biggest fan!"

She chuckled. "He might beg to differ."

"I gotta meet this guy! I need to challenge him to a trivia battle!"

Setsuko picked him up. "Alright, but no more overdoing it, okay?"

He sighed. "Okay."

My daughter ruffled his hair. "Good kid!"

Seeing her like that reminded me of when she and Rosa were little. She used to care for her sister the same way. To think that Rosa would be the first one to become a mother. Life sure was full of surprises.

I glanced at the ocean waves. Just what awaited us on the other side of this conflict?

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Pardon the among month long unplanned hiatus. God-willing, I should have Episode 39 out soon (as early as tomorrow if everything goes well).**