Ichi crawled into the giant robot outside of the house. Oni and Renya were waiting inside, the little girl with her arms crossed and the maid knight with her arms folded. Ichi turned and waved to Grandpa who waved back with a tight grin on his face. What, Ichi thought, I can't have a giant robot?

The chest closed down as Ichi hit the button himself.

"Renya, please take us to the fort."

"What? You don't want to pilot again?"

"It's a bit... stressful."

Ichi looked down at the chair with disgust on his face. Too much stimulation. Piloting it with a direct mind to mind interface felt much more like suddenly walking on stilts underwater with a fierce current.

Oni uncrossed one arm, raising her hand.

"I will do it."

Ichi half-heartedly nodded at the man who could change into a little girl. Rikya was right about her family. Ichi had misgivings about letting her come, but he didn't want to bother trying to deny Rikya the chance to meet her family before she left.

Oni's shiny black hair swayed as she sat into the chair. Her black eyes closed in deep meditation.

"I see. This is an ingenious magical tool, whoever created it is a genius beyond any I have ever seen."

Renya immediatedly stepped forward giving Ichi a snarp glance. "Ichi created it."

Ichi's bafflement quickly turned to resignation as the giant robot boosted into the air. Oni began muttering acceptance of Renya's lie.

"I would expect as much from a druid. No wonder it's black, it came from Ichi's ability. Perhaps when the black stick fused with him, he gained the ability to manipulate 'darkness'. We are alike, Ichi, although I specialize in much weaker magic involving shadows."

Oni prattled on as she flew over the town. Ichi looked down at the village as it sped by below him. He casually gave directions to Oni when prompted. Even Renya didn't remember where she built her fort before they fought Scipio. Ichi got some amusement out of that, and it prompted him to digest what he didn't know himself.

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Myon and Syon were captured because of Rikya. She admitted that. Ichi was a druid, whatever a druid was. Renya doubtless knew something, and Tamamo would doubtless knew more, but when he thought of asking either of them, he couldn't stomach it.

Renya knew Ichi was clueless, so she'd exploit it. Renya would probably tell the truth, but frame it in a way that left out important details. She's too smart. Ichi sneered at Renya who returned with a glowing smile. What worried Ichi the most was that he might end up trusting her. Too reliable a person, she did too much for him too quickly and too loyaly.

He'd sooner accept Tamamo explanation about druids than Renya. At least Tamamo had bre- no no, at least Tamamo- Ichi lost his train of thought a second time. Ichi realized it in that moment as he guided Oni to land near Renya's fort. He wanted to see Tamamo. In a moment of weakness he thought he might as well just give in and let her manipulate him. That scared Ichi more than Renya.

As Rikya waved at him from the open doorway, he finally realized the situation. Renya would do whatever he said, but she had her own goal for Ichi. Tamamo would do even more than that, but she had her own goal for Ichi. Ichi could trust neither of them until he knew what they really wanted. Both of them were no better than strangers. Not to mention there was an actual stranger here who tagged along, Oni.

Rikya, however, was the only one whose plan was revealed. 'Get away from her family'. That was something Ichi could trust. Something he felt himself. He'd ask Rikya first. That way when he asked Renya, he'd have more information. Ichi nodded to himself. Oni as well. As a stranger, he could trust Oni more. Then Tamamo, because she wasn't trying to decieve him about his existence. That phrase, 'Danzaburo's experiment', if Ichi remembered right he heard that from Tamamo when he first met her when Miko was controlling him body.

Renya would be last. He looked over to the smiling maid knight as he crawled out of the giant robot. Oni and Renya leapt out like superheroes, Renya landing behind Ichi without changing her stance at all and Oni crouching before Rikya.

Rikya let out a big sigh as she saw her older brother transformed into a little girl. If Ichi didn't know any better, he might have assumed Oni was the younger sister.

"I should have known," Rikya said.

Her hands held her head as she lowered it into them. Ichi looked at Rikya's despair with a smile on his face. Perhaps it was because he also got an unwanted servant recently? Although he couldn't call Renya 'unwanted' so much as 'someone he didn't abandon'.

That felt about right to him. Ichi walked forward to the suffering Rikya, patting her on her shoulder.

"I could kill him if he bothers you that much." Ichi said.

Rikya balked and head out her hands waving them. "No, no, it's fine."