➶ ➴

➶ ➴

Herro, again! I don't really need to mention anything so...

Enjoy!

Notes

- A look in another region!

Stars I

Blue Takoizu and Red Akagi hopped onto a yacht. "Dad?!" she called out. "Where are you?"

"Over here, Blue!"

"Dad!"

King Leo Takoizu came into sight and hugged his daughter. "Hello."

Red greeted the king with a handshake. "Thank you for accompanying my daughter on the behalf of my worrying wife."

"You're welcome."

The earl smiled at him. He kept that smile while glancing at Blue. She only smiled when her father was looking.

"I need to talk to you two," Mr. Takoizu said. "It's very important information regarding the Novarro-Essie situation. We shouldn't talk here. Let's talk inside."

The king led his daughter and the earl into one of the guest rooms containing two beds. Mr. Takoizu locked the door and sat on a chair. Blue and Red each sat on a bed. "Viscountess Phoebe Novarro of the Johto Monarchy was trying to free her daughter, Miss Astrid Novarro, from Hoenn's grand prison. I stopped her and asked Phoebe to lead me to the Novarro lobby. I stole some letters and documents there."

"Oh wow," commented the duchess. "What'd you find?"

"The letters weren't any help at all. But the documents were. The documents I retrieved talked about scrolls. They said something about spheres and constellations and how they have a connection.."

"The zodiac sphere!" said Red.

"That exists?"

"Yes, Dad!"

"How do you know?"

"It's in Alola!" answered Blue. "Red and I touched our zodiac on its belt!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes!"

"Then we've got to turn back." King Leo said, standing up.

"Dad?"

"They're hiding the scrolls in there."

"My king," Red said. "Are these scrolls this important as you say?"

"Yes," he replied. "And please, call me Mr. Takoizu."

"Sorry."

"No need."

"Dad, why are they important?"

"Let's just say, they unlock stuff that we can't normally unlock."

"What can they unlock?!" Red asked.

Leo was leaving as he said. "Literally anything."

Then the door was closed. The king left the two staring at the door. "Hey Red?"

"Hm?"

The earl expected an apology from her. But instead, she said, "Nothing."

The yacht made a big U-turn. They were turning back. Blue then asked, "Could you go for me?"

"Go..?"

"Back to Alola. I want to stay here."

"Well.. on behalf of the queen. I'm staying wherever you are."

"Ugh. I want to be alone."

"She trusts me."

"For some reason."

⇺⇻

Sun Taiyono and Moon Lumanlan ate bento together and basically had fun together all night. Including homework.

"Wait what was the formula of slope again?"

"y equals m x plus b."

"Numbers.."

"M is the slope. X is x. B is the y-intercept."

"Okay.."

Moon had shown Sun that Zodiacal Keys had some missing pages. Six in total. "I wonder what happened to them. I forgot to ask my uncle about it."

"Oh."

"Anyways," she said. "Splatoon?"

"After this one last problem."

"Okay!"

"You seem very excited to play again."

"I am."

"Why is that?"

"Playing with you is fun."

"Really?"

"I don't know."

Sun grinned. "Playing with you is fun, too."

The marchioness's phone suddenly rang. Moon sauntered over to it to answer. She regretted it when she heard Blue cry through the phone. "Moon! Come over here now, please!"

"Blue! Where?"

"The dock."

"Hang in there. I'm coming."

"Please."

"I am, I am!"

Moon hanged up and said without looking at Sun, "I'll be back."

She left right after that with her suitcase, leaving Sun confused and worried.

But he didn't have the heart to chase after her and make her tell him what's going on. Basically, he didn't want to bother her.

Sun decided to call Polarri.

"Hello?"

"Sun! What's your report?"

"I have nothing."

"..."

"Does this gate of eternal life exist?"

"Sun."

"What?!"

"Do you not trust me?"

"I never did."

"Hand me over the marchioness."

"What?!"

"Now all I want you to do is hand her over to me."

"Why?"

"She's more valuable than anything now."

That was when Sun hanged up and ran after Moon. He worried.

⇺⇻

Moon was there about three minutes later. Red was in Blue's arms, slightly unconscious. "Blue!"

"I don't know where my dad is!" she cried. "I wanted to look but.. but.. Red wouldn't let me."

"Red's pretty scathed," said Moon, rummaging through her suitcase. "I'll fix him up, but he'll need to rest after."

"Moon."

"What?"

"You don't want to know what happened?"

"I already know what happened."

"So, what happened?"

Moon sighed, wiping the blood off of Red's skin. "Yacht crashed. Everyone passed except for you two."

"Dad is alive!"

"Face it, Blue."

"No! He's right there!"

Moon glanced over her shoulder and saw Kanto's king standing behind her. "Hello."

"Wow, Mr. Takoizu, your head."

"Thanks, Red."

"Red? You can speak?"

"Well. Yeah."

"Oh thank god!"

Moon coughed out of amusement. Blue wore a small smile. "And by the way Blue," her father said. "We were the only ones on the yacht."

"Wait, what? Oh."

Before Mr. Takoizu became king, he used to practice sailing ever since he was ten. His father was too busy ruling Kanto so he never really got fond of him. He made sure that Blue wouldn't feel the same feeling he felt while being ignored by his father.

"Anyways, Moon, we need to talk."

"Yes, king?"

Blue's father cleared his throat before speaking. "Lead us to the zodiac sphere, won't you?"

"Sure."

"Moon!" a voice hollered.

She glanced behind the king and saw Sun. "Taiyono? I mean, Sun?"

"Oh. You guys are back."

"Yep," said Red. "Back with a bang."

"Red isn't well enough to walk now," informed Moon. "We need to carry him somewhere he can rest for now."

"Your house!"

"It's far, though. Can we carry him all the way from here?"

Then, suddenly, a voice was heard. "My house is closer to the dock than both of your houses."

"Yuliana!" hissed Blue.

The princess revealed herself, coming out from a bush. "That's my name."

Connie appeared alongside her sister, which angered Blue more. "We heard you talking about the zodiac sphere," she told them. Connie then looked at Moon. "You have room for Aries and Cancer?"

"Coincidentally," began Moon. "Yes."

Mr. Takoizu glanced down at her too. "Aquarius?"

"Open."

"Great."

"I don't trust them." Blue muttered.

"Nobody does." Moon muttered back.

Yuliana decided to say something. "Blue Takoizu, I've heard that you're a swordswoman. And Moon Lumanlan is a toxophilite."

"What's a toxophilite?" asked Connie.

"Basically a person who loves arrows and bows above everything else."

Moon didn't say anything. So Blue barked at them. "Hey! What do you guys want of us?!"

Yuliana only smirked in response. Sun sighed and asked, "Moon?"

"I'm fine, let's go."

⇺⇻

"Heyo, SSG!" Earl Gold beamed on her screen.

The marchioness with twin-tails groaned. "Hi, Gold. What's up with you?"

"Nothin', just wanna see how Johto's doing from Sinnooooooh."

"Johto's fine with or without you. Well, more of without you."

"Well! Great! 'Cause I plan to stay here forever."

"Right," Marchioness Crystal responded sarcastically, glancing up at her chandelier. "Gold, I want you to know something."

"What is it?"

Sighing, she looked back down at him. "Your parents are embarrassed by your behavior. And that is why you are not getting promoted on your birthday. You get all of this, right?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"You're not taking this seriously."

"Why can't I not? I mean, I know they've already decided that you would replace me-."

"Gold! That's what it is! I don't want to become queen!"

"So.. we both don't want to have the throne, eh?"

"I just feel like I'm stealing the throne from you."

"We'll talk about this another time," the earl told her seriously. "I assume you understand something's happening in the Alolan Monarchy."

"Try-hard trying to change the subject."

"For the better," he said with narrowed eyebrows. "I just received something."

"What?"

Gold pushed a paper against the screen, causing Crystal to flinch a bit.

Takoizus Exposed?

Read more on our website!

"What's the website? I'll kill them."

"Problem is, we don't know who's them."

"Then where in the world did you get that from?" retorted Crystal.

"Silver found it in our monarchy lobby, but didn't tell me until moments ago."

"Where in the lobby?"

"In the trash can."

"What do you suspect?"

Gold put his hand over his chin. "Silver and I were thinking that somebody in the monarchy did this."

"Who do you suspect?"

He put his hands through his hair. "Viscountess Phoebe Novarro."

"Why?" asked Crystal.

"Because she's not coming to my birthday party!"

"Eh?"

"This seems to be something way more important than my up-coming glamorous party!"

"Seriously, Gold?"

"Yes, seriously!"

"Did Silver agree to this?"

"Of course!"

"Not." Silver's voice was heard in the background.

"Silver! Contribute for once."

"Never to one of your silly ideas."

Crystal cackled at the two of them. "Anyways, I'll go look into it. See you two."

"See ya later, Chris!" said Gold

"Bye, Chris." she heard Silver say before pressing the red button. She frowned. Crystal hadn't gotten a hold of Blue ever since she became duchess.

Red's with her. She should be fine.

Then there was a call. Crystal gazed at the name. Phoebe Novarro.

"Phoebe..?" she asked herself. "Oh no."

⇺⇻

"Moon!" Yellow beamed when the raven-haired marchioness and the others met by the zodiac sphere. Blue stayed with Red in the Yuliana's vacation house. "And the Essies!"

The blondie noticed Sun. "Hello, who might you be?"

He held out his hand. "Taiyono. Er, Sun Taiyono."

She shook his hand. "So what shall I call you by?"

"Sun, please."

"Will do," Yellow told him, releasing her hand. "And the king himself!"

"Greetings, countess."

"Greetings, Mr. Takoizu."

The grand duchess greeted everybody with a handshake except for Moon, Sun, and Yellow. Artemis had shaken hands loosely with Yuliana and Connie.

"Hello. Welcome!" Moon's mother said. "If you haven't already, go ahead and touch your zodiac."

Yuliana touched hers first. Aries.

Connie palmed Cancer and Blue's father tapped on Aquarius. All of the touched constellation carvings glowed up.

"Scorpio and Sagittarius are the only ones left."

Moon stepped beside Yellow and whispered, "By the way, Red and Blue are at the Essies'."

Her eyes widened in surprise and she immediately nodded in response.

Connie frowned and nudged Yuliana. The princess followed her sister's gaze. Sun. Yuliana shook her head, leaving Connie's heart sinking. Moon saw it all happen. Her eyes flicked from the Essies to Sun, and then back to the Essies. Connie caught her eye. No.

Never.

The marchioness flinched which caused Connie to smirk. Moon wasn't happy.

After that, Sun and Moon went back home and continued what they were doing. She called her uncle about the missing pages.

"That's odd," Henry told her through the phone. "All the page numbers you mentioned are all crucial.."

"Crucial?"

"All the missing pages contain crucial stuff."

"So you're saying the book had these pages when you had it?"

"Yes."

"I'll look into it tomorrow. I'm exhausted."

"Alright."

"Goodnight, Moon."

"Same to you."

"And also, keep that book safe, alright?"

"Yes. Always."

"Always."

Grand Duke Henry hanged up before she could. He lied. She frowned. But she didn't let it ruin her night. Sun and Moon decided to check out Grizzco's Salmon Run in Splatoon.

"From what I've heard," Sun began. "It's about collecting eggs and teaming up against salmonids."

"Salmonids, eh?"

"Yup!"

"Why salmonids?"

"I don't know."

"A question to ask."

"Yup!"

Moon smiled. "Shall we play?"

"Why not?"

"Eh, I still feel like I want to play Turf Wars instead."

"Try it out first, then make a judgement."

"I know," she said widening her genuine smile. "And thanks, Sun."

The boy felt his face go a bit hot. "What for?"

"You know, your company. Thanks for it."

"And thanks for yours."

Moon let out a laugh. "Yeah. No prob."

"Same to you."

And then, the long and uncomfortable look at each other occurred. It lasted for about a minute, but it felt like five to them.

It was six-thirty in the evening and Moon's cherry blossoms were continuing to lose its pink petals. All of the repeat-blooming roses were starting to take over. It has been a long day for everyone. A lot happened.

Moon hated the awkwardness. So she spoke up. "So.. Salmon Run?"

"Yeah!"

"Alrighty."

Taking turns, they played and had one or two precious moments. It was an amazing feeling of having a friend. It made Sun uncertain about the time when he'd have to reveal himself. He didn't want to, but he had to eventually.

Or he wouldn't get paid to the maximum.

Sun tried to get his thoughts out of the way, but nothing worked. So he used his frustration against the salmonids. And that worked every single time. Moon noticed that he was a little more tense than usual. But she didn't mind it.

The time was around nine o'clock when they stopped playing. Moon read Zodiacal Keys on the couch as Sun flipped through channels to see if there was anything good to watch. Nothing.

Sun sighed. "I'm bored and tired."

"Then go to sleep."

"Fine."

The raven-haired boy got up and walked away to his bedroom. But before he entered, he asked with a loud voice so she could hear him. "What about you?"

Moon shut the book and closed her eyes. The only thing Sun could see of her was her ponytail. "I'm going to sleep too," she told him. "I'm exhausted."

"You don't look like you are, to be real honest with you, Moon."

She laughed. "I've been told that before."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the marchioness said. "Not just you."

"Goodnight, Moon."

"Same to you, Sun."

He began to take a step, but stopped when Moon said: "By the way, Taiyono means 'Sun Of' in Japanese."

"Hah," sounded Sun. "Wish I knew that earlier."

Moon still wasn't looking back at him. "Sorry."

"It's fine."