The ship docked safely into the deep port within the armored harbor. Junna would press a hand to her heart for a moment as the deck rocked ever slightly to the full stop. The hanger started opening first, as the mechanics worked on retrieving the Empty Angel as quickly as possible. Most of the crew around Junna were content to make the small hop across the gap in the ship and the dock as things sorted out, passing the girl wordlessly. It was no different to any other mission in that regard.

  Even aboard her own transport ship, most of the crew seemed like they would rather not endanger themselves with any kind of extended association with the girl. She waited until the small bridge connected to the ship before bothering to leave it, and she wouldn't make it two steps off until she saw him. A man wearing a simple suit, looking like an average salaryman, thin rimmed glasses and a simple short cut of black hair made him almost blend into the scenery to most people. To Junna, he had a presence about him that made him unmistakable. He was the most important person in her life, Toreshi Shin. As she crossed, he offered a hand out to her, though there wasn't any chance she needed the help. Junna took the hand, as she was somewhat quickly brought to stable land with the warmth of Toreshi's always kind laughter.

  "We will need to review what happened out there." His voice was soft, authoritative and enthralling... at least to Junna's ears. As he spoke, the girl felt all of her focus go to him, in a way that hadn't been possible while she was piloting her Divine Arm.

  "I encountered the target, eliminated a number of them. They revealed to have access to prohibited items."

  "They had at least one aircraft, not to mention a Mortal Frame. Do you think either of these were simply taken from a local base? Mortal Frames are only just now getting their mass production orders."

  "Is that important?" Junna spoke in her usual empty, dismissive tone. Still she knew the answer. Of course, it was important. If it wasn't, Toreshi wouldn't bring it up. If it wasn't, she wouldn't need to listen to him explain it a little more. Go over that accomplishment she had, where she bested the enemy so easily. It qwas the first time she'd faced an enemy in a Mortal Frame, and she'd crushed them completely...

  "Very. I'll need your help diving into the data. I want to know everything we can about both of those items, Junna."

  The girl paused, before nodding her head. Toreshi was a good man, the best kind of man. He was the only person in the Holy Site to call her by her project title, rather than her project number. To her, it would seem inefficient and confusing.... but he called her sisters by their numbers. She wasn't certain to his reasoning. Perhaps it was a sign of concern or judgement. Her scores didn't always seem to match up to that of the others, her sisters. Maybe when she could best the others in the trials she'd be a true piece of the project. Not just an accessory, just another Junna.

  Releasing her hand, Toreshi would lead Junna through the facility. The pair walked a little ways, as they boarded an elevator, Toreshi placing a finger on the dive pad, taking them down a ways. Junna couldn't see where he'd selected, but given the time it took she was certain she was on the residential level of the Holy Site. Being led a bit further in, Toreshi would speak again.

  "Why don't you get changed? No reason to hang around in uniform when you don't have to. I'll grab something for you to eat and you can join me at our hideout."

  "Diving HUB, 0-NE?"

  "Given that's where we always talk, Junna. You need to be a little more flexible with your thinking still. Relax, look at the context, accept an assumption. You are plenty smart. You knew where we'd meet when I said we were going over the data."

  That earned another simple nod from Junna. She didn't want to process the mental side of her orders just yet, so she looked at the physical. The girl looked at herself briefly. The thick bodysuit she wore cave sizable protection to her torso, while allowing her to have freely exposed limbs, perfect for a diver. For whatever reason, Toreshi always seemed to hate them, though. Her sisters teased her quite a bit on this. It wasn't uncommon for a handler to give things to one of them, but it was a bit embarrassing for Junna.

  Deciding that she had enough of an excuse to part with the man, Junna split off at her own door, placing a hand on the pad, as the door would unlock and slide open. It was a timed puzzle for her, with a different iteration each time. When she was younger, she had to stand outside, making attempt after attempt to get in. Only a High Diver would be able to complete it quickly enough, and only one who was capable of thinking critically. Toreshi wasn't wrong, but hearing that from him felt different. It was easier when the door accepted her.

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  Leaving Toreshi behind, the room opened up into a nice common area. The opposite side had a small room for the stairs, as the next level existed as a balcony over the entrance room. Three doors on the first level were marked with ascending numbers, 1, 2, and the 3. The top levels contained the 4, 5, and 6. To the left on each level was a bathing and first aid area, while the right area on the first level held a kitchen and dining area, the space above was a matted dojo and gymnasium. Even in their off time, the girls were expected to maintain a level of performance.

  While Junna had simply intended to move to the stairs, she had no chance of being allowed this as she saw her eldest sister waiting for her. An adult woman, standing in the doorway to her room, Junna One acted as a place of softness for most of the others. She was kind and informative, but she was also a crutch. Her performance was much higher than that of her youngest sister, and she didn't even seem to mind her sister's weakness. The elder girl moved over to quickly embrace and squeeze her younger sister so tightly that it hurt a bit.

  "Six~ I heard you got to be so cool in your mission. Only you would both get the terrible luck of such a boring mission, and then make it interesting by discovering something so dangerous."

  "How have you already gained access to my logs? The ship only just came in." Six would frown as she didn't bother resisting the tight embrace of her eldest sister. It was awkward feeling, but she wasn't going to be able to challenge the girl in a test of strength. Time told that this would only last a few minutes at best, anyways.

  "That is a secret~ My cute little sister versus the Mortal Frame... what did you think? If one can get into enemy hands already, I'm sure more will. Do they compare to a Divine Arm at all?"

  "...the specifications indicate they could-"

  "Who cares about the specifications?" The girl pushed Junna back a bit with her longer arms, looking down at her with a smile. She was so much more energetic than her little sister, it was hard to believe that she'd shared the same face as Six. "It is about the feel. Did it feel like you were facing a threat, and equal?"

  The younger sister paused for a moment, contemplating before shaking her head. "No. The Mortal Frame is likely limited to projectile weaponry, and their response time is noticably slower. I could react quicker and better against it, and force it into a position where the Empty Angel excelled. However, if the Mortal Frame was larger and more physically imposing, it could be a threat. My abilities wouldn't matter as much if their weaponry was more advanced."

  "You sound so bookish. A cute little coimbat nerd,"

  "Toreshi says the same. He wants me to lighten up." Though, what that was supposed to mean was up for debate. She couldn't afford the eccentricities of the elite before she was one the elite.

  "Koboyashi tells me I'm far too light. He thinks I don't take anything seriously."

  "If he thought that, you'd be scolded more harshly." Junna pointed into the girl's room. She didn't need to specify. Junna One's personal accomodations were filled with shelves upon shelves. In neat order, stuffed bears were sat upon them, each wearing a different outfit, or having a different fur, or style.... no repeats. It was well known that the elder sister recieved a bear after each successful mission, each birthday, and each time she bested the other five girls in any event. Junna One was the best of their Project, which was likely why she got to have such a different approach to how she looked at things. "Anyways, I am supposed to change. I still have work to do."

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  "I see, I see. You are truly dedicated, Six. I don't know if Koboyashi loves me as much as Toreshi loves you."

  "Loves?"

  "I adore those bears, it reminds me that I am useful. That I do well. But they are more like tradition at this point. I can't go out and use them, and they don't improve my life. They are trophies. Toreshi gets you clothes to wear, music to listen to, books to read. You use those things, right?"

  "Of course, I was instructed to."

  "Doesn't part of you want to use them? They are things given to you by a precious person."

  "I don't know if being in a dress is effective for my job or what the purpose of the music is. The books are helping in my vocabulary, but I could get as much benefit from tighter materials. I don't think this is an ideal use of my time." Junna sighed a bit as she ran a hand through her short hair. "I also don't know why I seem attracted to them. I've been thinking about it a lot. I-"

  Junna's sentiments would be silenced, as the door opened, and another sister of hers stepped in. A girl with a much closer appearance to that of Six, being less than a year older herself. Junna Five wandered in, seeing the pair and shooting them a somewhat smug look of her own. While the entire project had always had a loose kinship, Five and Six never seemed comfortable around the other. Both grew stiff as the other came near, and while Five would choose to be more aggressive and haughty, her younger sister would grow more reserved and careful. As she approached, Five's voice would take on a obviously mocking song of a tone.

  "I hope you are making her feel better. She needs the extra attention, after all. I heard she had difficulty with infantrymen. While you were part of the imperial procession, and I was guiding the Bound Relic."

  "Six handled her own mission just fine." There was a sudden tightness in the air. Six felt it as she was so close to that vortex of pressure, but her eldest sister's switch seemed to have been flipped. The warmth and gentleness from before almost evaporated. She was defending Six, but it felt almost hostile in how it came abou/ "What of you, Five? Your own mission shows a lack of composure. Our role is not to hate our enemies, that leads to errors."

  Before Five could retort, Junna Six dislodged herself from her eldest sister, moving towards the stairs without adding to the discussion. She'd yet to win at any duel of words with Five, it was unlikely to start now. And none of the girls wanted to be near One when she decided to scold someone. Instead, Six entered her own room. A simple, unused space for the most part. The gifts she'd received from Toreshi carefully placed in the most sensible locations. Unlike her eldest sister, she hadn't taken the time to decorate. Slipping out of the bodysuit she wore for her missions, she'd once again try on the clothes Toreshi gave her. Looking at herself in the mirror, she simply couldn't understand what the point of it all was.

  The dress was a simple pastel blue and pink, and it was likely quite fashionable among the civilians that lives among the islands. Thin and loose, perfect for the warmer climate, as the material flowed with her moments, it was very soft... all the clothes Toreshi gave her were soft. They felt nice along the skin, very different from the uniform bodysuit, which was much more rigid and designed to be able to quickly dress and undress. As a Divine Arm's pilot, she was pushed into a tight chamber without anything as all. It was a bit uncomfortable, but the gel allowed her entire body to connect to the control matrix of the massive machine. She became a part of the machine, really, using the mechanisms of the Empty Angel to keep her alive and well as her dive no longer required her to feel the discomfort of her body. This didn't change how she felt afterwards, sore and tired mostly. It was embarrassing to dress around soldiers that didn't understand High Divers as well.

  But that embarrassment was strange. Junna paused as she stared into the mirror. Why was she feeling something so unimportant? Did her sisters also feel something? Junna One never said anything about it, and none of them seemed to feel it when they worked together. Not that they really talked about it too much, it was inconvenient to talk about things like that. Her nearest counterpart, Junna Five.... she was difficult to be around. Maybe she felt a desire to prove herself, or maybe she just saw Six as weak. They were often pit against one another for their training exercises, and she held a dominant place above Six's own. The Empty Angel was enhanced to help Junna in melee combat, but ideally a Divine Arm would never need for that. The fact that Junna relied on being so close to be effective was a serious problem, and she performed worse overall because of it. Is that why she felt so insecure? Is that why she could feel so embarrassed? Was she just inferior?

  Junna glared at the soft looking girl in her mirror, before turning away. The little bookshelf Toreshi gave her was about half full. That meant he planned on giving her more books, most likely. The girl picked up one of them. It was a novel talking about some ancient hero, a complete fabrication. It wasn't realistic, the hero fought magical creatures and sorcerers without fear. Without the protection that Junna's Empty Angel offered. Toreshi always said that reading a book page by page was better than just Diving and absorbing the feed, but it was so slow.... Junna wasn't even half way through, but she knew how the story had to end. This much exposure to magic would end up being his downfall, the hero would die. Did she need to spend hours to find out something so obvious?

  The girl would sigh again, before deciding to head back out. Her sisters weren't in the common area. Whatever yelling had occurred wasn't ever going to breach the solitude of their individual rooms either. It was better this way, she didn't want her sisters seeing her in such a colorful dress. Junna's feet led her away, to quickly meet with Toreshi.

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  Junna waited for Toreshi to catch up with her. They were both sitting at a terminal, a hand resting inside the wide slot designed for divers. Junna had already moved to the records that the Empty Angel had kept of her battle. Toreshi was going to be slower than her, but it was taking longer than expected. Junna refrained from voicing her annoyance, but even as she wanted to, she felt a firm hand on her free one, as Toreshi laughed lightly.

  "We are looking at different things. I'm not interested in your performance, Junna."

  Well. That opened a can of worms. Junna felt a lot of things. From the touch. From the words.

  The moment she felt Toreshi's hand on her own, Junna felt a warmth run through her, before quickly scouring to find where her mentor was in the logs. It was a comfort, a happiness. Only a few people ever touched her, and almost nobody did so to comfort her. Still, that sting. That violent, cruel stab at her. Toreshi wasn't interested in in her performance. There's only a small number of reasons why that would be, and all of them stabbed at Junna's heart. She wasn't good enough to worry about it. The pride she felt from the battle, it was over something that was expected of her. She was so stupid. So childish. So-

  Junna killed those thoughts with an effort. It was dangerous to have them while she was in a Dive next to the man. Quickly flying through, as she'd locate him within the ship's security footage. The man's Avatar was that of a shadowy suit, his face obscured by perpetual darkness, with a somewhat bright red tie being the only real personality to it. It clashed with Junna's own, being that of just herself in a bodysuit of her own design, a sleek black outfit with purple highlights along the side and belly. Avatars were forces of will and imagination, something the pair would appear to lack in their chosen designs.

  Toreshi was scaling through the footage, watching Junna with one screen, and looking over the rest of the crew in a multitude of others. They didn't appear to be doing anything too out of the ordinary. The little super soldier they watched simply sat in the room provided to her, uninterested with mingling. Toreshi shrank her window a bit, but kept it at a central focus, as he added manifests and other documentations to display next. He was fairly capable for a normal diver, but even Junna would have a hard time doing it more efficiently. Accessing and utilizing functions were like second nature to her, but actually comprehending the data was no easier for her than any other. After waiting some time, Junna finally spoke up.

  "You are not asking questions."

  "Is that what you want?"

  "I thought we were reviewing my handling of the mission." The girl felt a spike of anger in her. She was told to be here, to look over the mission. To show him how well she did. To-

  "Oh, I'll give you 82% on that. You did fine, nothing special. You handled the Mortal Frame rather well." The words were casual, matter-of-fact. He seemed preoccupied with something else as he gave Junna such a crushing score. "Why did you opt to isolate yourself? The crew didn't dislike you, and you could have learned something.... gained something."

  Junna flushed the emotion from herself again. She was just answering questions now, giving a report. "I didn't find any use in them. Their job was to transport me and the Empty Angel, then provide support and evacuation."

  "That's why you don't get higher marks, Junna. You are capable, endlessly skilled. You operate with ruthlessness and a passion for your mission. But that passion evaporates once you leave your Divine Arm. You aren't just a piece to make the machine function, you are a person who can grow from experiences."

  "...so I should talk to sailors more." Junna let slip her annoyed tone into her Dive. She knew Toreshi noticed it. She never tried to be difficult for him, but he was being a little absurd here. There's no way he didn't notice, but he didn't seem to react to it.

  "Not just talk, and not just sailors." Toreshi laughed as he gently moved to place a hand on Junna's head, rather than holding her hand. Doing real-world actions like that while diving was no easy feat. Toreshi might not be part of the Project, but his skills as a diver weren't a joke either. "Open yourself up a bit, learn from others and let others learn about you. Not about the Project, but about who you decide you want to be. To help facilitate this, I've entered you into another mission, this one is a bit long term."

  Junna frowned somewhat at that. Her missions had been fairly simple until this point. She went to a point, completed an objective, and then returned. Still, she wouldn't hesitate to accept it. "Of course, Toreshi. What are the details, what sort of preperations can I make?"

  The man would change the feeds, showing instead a girl about the same age as Junna herself. Quite the contrast from the small and darker colored Junna, this girl seemed tall and pretty. She had long, lightly colored red-brown hair, with an almost penetrating set of off-brown eyes. She looked intense, for a civillian. The uniform looked to be of a prestigious school, non-military. A large, genuine smile completely overtook everything else about the picture, setting the tone for the girl's peaceful and happy nature.

  "Her name is Yukari Aoishii, we have reason to believe a group is targeting her for a kidnapping or assassination. Your mission is to keep her safe from any would be assailant without revealing the nature of your relationship or her danger. To serve this purpose, you will be entering the Rinkai Elite Academy as a transfer student from the mainland. In order to support this mission, Class-C equipment is granted."

  "Light infantry, longguns and no explosives... What about my Divine Arm? Why send me for this?"

  "You are currently being outfitted with a Sìthiche, a submersible ship. The Empty Angel is already being loaded onboard. Due to the nature of the mission, use of it is restricted to emergencies only. You are expected to perform without your Divine Arm in general safeguarding. Go to requisitions to obtain your equipment, you have one hour."

  Junna's Avatar vanished from the dive, her hand raising from the pad as she sucked in a panicked breathe. Change her clothes, waste her time, boil her over... and now this. One hour to traverse the Holy Site and board a departing ship? It was possible. The girl stared up at the HUB's fauna overhead... this is why Toreshi loved the place. The various flowers and livery this topmost tower of the Holy Site showed. He liked to watch the plantsw grow and weed and thrive.

  Junna didn't have that kind of time, she ran for the elevator back down...