The group stood far away from the mermaid's citadel. Venus said she needed to give them something and left suddenly, giving the three friends some time to reflect on what happened.

"So Silv came here before." Neige thought aloud "Why would she need this stone?"

"Isn't it for time travel? Emely told us she needed it to create an anchor, maybe Silv is doing one."

"I don't think so..." Said Silva with uncertainty "I feel like she would make sure we're not getting it if it was that important. I think she wants us to go to the past and prevent the anomaly's existence."

"So she's letting us do the dirty work. It shouldn't matter though, we'll take care of her before she can do anything. And once Ada is taken care of, we'll finally be able to rest. We can fix every little problem in other worlds with time."

"So... You're not from this world, right?" The three friends turned toward Venus with surprise, none of them noticed her presence until she spoke "When you said that you'd leave, you meant to say that you'll go back to your world."

Sepide stepped toward her, a bit sad she had to admit it.

"Yes, we're only here temporarily. We're fighting against something that could threaten the universe."

"So... I'll be lonely again... It's fine, I'll get used to it."

Sepide walked toward Venus and held her hand, trying to comfort her.

"We have a lot to do but... I promise I'll come back when everything is over. I won't be able to stay, but I'll come back sometimes."

"You're a wonderful person Sepide, don't change please." Venus put a bracelet around Sepide's wrist. It wasn't fancy but the seashell on it made it unique enough for Sepide to love it.

"I'll come back, it's a promise."

"I'll wait for you, go save the world, Sepide."

Venus waved one last time at Sepide and smiled before leaving. Sepide took a few minutes to look at the vast ocean in front of her before turning back to her friends.

"Let's go back to the ship, we have a mission to finish."

"Yes, I had enough of this world..." Complained Silva "I can't navigate properly here, it sucks to be blind."

"You say that, but I feel like your blindness made you way better at feeling your environment."

Silva shook her head at Neige's words, clearly disagreeing.

"Anyone can reach that point, you just rely on your vision so much that the thought never occurred to you while I was forced to learn that. I wish I could use mundane things without help or even just see everyone's smile."

"I would have imagined that you'd feel bad about your blindness on missions." Said Sepide "I never imagined you'd feel bad about your everyday life, maybe Emely can do something about it."

"I don't want that, it's just who I am. If I change things like that, then I'm not really Silva anymore."

"You're too harsh on yourself." Neige put his hand on Silva's shoulder, trying to make her feel better "The only reason you should stay blind is because then you'd look at people's... Intimate area too much. You're still Silva no matter what."

"I guess it's true, but then I can't put my hands on Emely's face to feel her smile. Or touch her boobs by 'accident' and blame it on my blindness."

"Touch her boobs on accident? You called me in the middle of the night when you did that, you were so flustered."

"Really?" Sepide looked at Silva with surprise "I didn't expect that from you."

"Let's just go back, this world gives me nausea. When you'll go see your girlfriend, it will be without me."

"She's not my girlfriend."

After a moment of innocence, the group returned to the ship, ready to rest for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group barely arrived on the ship and the lights suddenly turned off. Neige looked around but saw no one who could explain the situation.

"We should go see Emely, she probably knows what happened."

"Elle doit se sentir mal, Emely se sent pas a l'aise dans le noir..."

Sepide and Neige both turned toward Silva but Sepide couldn't understand a word that came out of Silva's mouth.

"Why are you speaking in this language?"

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Wait, the translators aren't working." Noticed Neige "We need to find Emely as soon as possible."

"Thank the Goddess I learned the ship's language. It should be alright, everyone learned it here."

"Not everyone." Neige answered to Silva "Ina and Emely never needed it, they always used the translator. I taught them the basics though, so it should be alright."

The group was about to go to Emely's lab but stopped when they found Gwyn, trying to make her way into the hallways of the ship. She approached the group, surprised to see them there.

"You're back already? You're not lucky, everything stopped working a few minutes ago."

"Everything? So it's not just the translator and the lights?"

"No, all my medical equipment stopped too, which is weird since they have an emergency battery."

Neige and Gwyn continued talking about the situation but Sepide wasn't interested in that. She instead turned toward Silva and asked her with curiosity.

"What was that language you spoke in?"

"That's my native language, French."

"Really? It's so beautiful, it sounded like butterflies flying in an ocean!"

"Neige and Emely said something weird like that too, French is such an ugly language, I'm glad I know another one."

"Don't say that, can you teach me something in it?"

Silva thought for a moment before smiling with amusement.

"Sure, the most important of all, putain."

"Oh, sounds fancy. What does it mean?"

"It's like period, you put them at the end of every sentence. Then there's, suce ma bite, a classy sentence you can use in any situation."

Neige arrived in the middle of the conversation and stared at Silva with a mix of concern and confusion.

"I don't even want to know what you're talking about. Anyway, Gwyn explained that Emely tried explaining to her but she couldn't understand a word from her."

"Other than her native language, she's not great." Said Silva "I know some basics but I'm not sure it's enough for a conversation."

"Oh, what do you know?" Asked Sepide with shining eyes.

"Hentai and Yamete Kusasai."

"Let's just go..."

Neige went toward Emely's lab and was quickly followed by the two others, hoping to solve this situation soon.

The group entered in Emely's lab only to see the young engineer holding Remiel in her arms. The robot seemed inactive with Emely whispering words to herself, horrified by the situation.

"Kurai... Kurai desu..."

Silva immediately went next to her and took Emely in her arms, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay, I'm here now... Take your time..."

Emely grabbed Silva with her right arm, still holding Remiel in the left one. She stayed like that for a moment until Emely stood up thanks to Silva, still holding her tightly.

"Sutonu, datusu turobolu surusu."

"What?" Neige stood there, confused by Emely's words "You can speak your native language, you don't need to talk in this... Amalgamate of language."

"Are you dumb?" Asked Silva "She clearly said that the stone is the source of the problem."

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Emelysh." Neige took the stone out of his pocket and handed it to the shaking girl "Can you fix it?"

"Hai." Emely took the stone and went toward a box in the back, bringing Silva with her. She threw the stone in it and turned toward the others "Taimu hanka, faivu minuto."

Neige stared at Silva, knowing he couldn't understand her words.

"She said that it's the time anchor, five minutes. I guess everything should go back to its normal state soon."

"Seriously, how do you understand what she's saying? Is that a made-up language you created together?"

"No, it's your language dumbass. She's speaking in... Err..."

"Kronosian."

"Such a dumb name... Anyway, I feel like she's doing well and I can easily understand."

"Sankyu, Shiruba."

Neige looked at Emely, trying to understand.

"I guess she said... Thank you Shiruba... Who's Shiruba?"

"It's me." Silva pointed at herself, proudly "It sounds good in Emely's language, right?"

"I didn't know love made you that blind... She'll need to improve her pronunciation."

"Fakyu, Neijo."

"Did she insult me?" Asked Neige.

"Possibly, I'm not sure myself."

Sepide raised her hand, trying to get Emely's attention.

"How do you say my name in your language?"

"Sepide."

"That's... Disappointing." Sepide looked away, a bit sad "I wish I had a cool pronunciation too."

"Sori, Sepide-Chan."

The lights turned on, bringing a bright smile to Emely's face. Remiel woke up and looked around, confused by what happened.

"What happened, my program was forcefully closed."

"You were sleeping." Answered Sepide "Looks like you need more rest than me after all."

"You'll bicker later, Emely, can you tell us what happened?" Neige turned toward Emely but the only answer he got was her pouting face. She turned toward the other, purposefully dodging him.

"Sepide, Remiel, Silva, I'll explain to you since a certain someone thinks that my pronunciation isn't good enough for him."

"I mean, you still have a lot to learn. I can teach you-"

"The stone doesn't react well with the technology I'm using. I'll fix it, it should be simple enough. I just hope it doesn't happen again."

"And why did it not affect us in the other world?"

Emely ignored Neige's question, waiting for Silva to ask instead.

"My little inventor, can you tell us why it didn't affect us in the other world?"

"Of course my adorable bat, it's because the translating and world traveling is done on my computer. When the stone approached it, it disabled the watches and the uniforms. It's sealed for now so we should have no problem with it."

"That's annoying, but when you'll unseal it to use it, everything will fry again?"

Silva chuckled when she saw Neige being ignored by Emely once again.

"You really made her mad."

"Who made me mad?" Asked Emely, clearly mad "I'm not mad at something who made fun of my pronunciation when I purposefully try to improve my language."

"I didn't make fun, I just meant that-"

"I'm sorry Neige, you lost your Emely privilege. So, will everything stop working again when you use it?"

"The first time yeah, I'll need to analyze its frequency to make sure everything is immune to it but it will shut down everything when I record it."

"So the light will shut down again... Will you be alright?" Silva asked with concern.

"It will if you're here."

Emely held her lover in her arms while Silva showed her tongue at Neige, annoying him a bit.

"It's fine, I didn't need to talk with Emely."

"I think I'll shut down the watches of every man on the ship since none are left."

"W-Wait! Don't do that! Silva is having a bad influence on you." Neige took a deep breath, ready to apologize "I'm sorry Emely, I didn't mean to say you had a bad pronunciation."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course, I can even teach you if you want."

"No, I want my bat to teach me."

Neige was relieved that Emely didn't keep her grudge for long but was surprised by her reaction. She seemed bolder ever since she started hanging out with Silva, who ironically acted softer ever since they got together. Neige smiled softly, watching his two friends holding each other in their arms. Silva noticed his smile, amusing her.

"What is it Neige? You wish you were lesbian?"

Neige let out a sigh, regretting to find the lovers cute together.

"How did you get into a relationship..."