Emptiness

*This is a piece of his past*

On the red sea full of blood, there is a pirate ship dyed in black known as the Black Pearl. The ship was bobbing on the sea of ​​blood along with two personnel on board who're talking to each other.

The two personnel were leaning against one of the masts of the ship as they witnessed the dark fantasy scene before their eyes.

"Zei...What do you think about getting married and having a family?"

"I don't know, I've never thought of that matter."

The two people were Zeimachi and Cera. Zeimachi's appearance looks very dirty with many bloodstains on him, while Cera's appearance is very similar to her first form when she was introduced.

"Ehhh...I thought human really like to copulate and some? Isn't this body one of that reason? How about it, want to try some~?"

"...No."

"Fuuuhn~ You're boring. Then, next question."

"There's more?"

"What does it mean to be loved? I've never taste something like that...You got one persona inside who had these "Love" thing right?"

Cera twirled her hair while blushing at her own question, meanwhile Zeimachi fell into his own thought.

"Yeah...But I killed him."

"You what? That's one piece of you right? Why did you killed him considering he's a very friendly guy?!"

"...There're many kind of "Love", Cera. That "Love" is also the reason why I killed him."

"Kuuuhhh...You humanity biggest idiot. Then at least answer my question about how it feel, how does it feel to be loved."

Moments after Cera finished the next line of questions, suddenly a huge wave of bloody water came rushing towards their ship. The waves were so great that it was possible to swallow the Black Pearl and drag it to the bottom of the sea of ​​blood like it had been hit by a tsunami.

"...Do you really want to know? Its unusual for you to ask about these useless thing."

"Its not useless if you take it for your own benefit~ Ahhh...When'll I felt something like that~ Founding my loved one~"

However, Cera who was talking to Zeimachi easily turned the bloody tsunami into steam which apparently limited their vision.

"...You're unexpectedly so girlish, and would you mind to put your feet away?"

"So?"

In the fog that filled the entirety of Black Pearl and its surrounding, Cera was still more concerned with the answers to her questions, it wasn't the same though for Zeimachi who was annoyed at the girl who purposely stepped on his feet.

"...We need to focus with Kronika."

"Ehhh...You're running away. It turned out this human is the biggest 'coward' champion~ Oi Oi! Don' escape from me!"

"...Let's go. You don't need "Love" to stay living."

"Liar~ You're a petty LIAR~"

Not long after that, a bunch of skeletons appeared and intending to drag them down into the sea of blood. It's very unfortunate that those weaklings could only serve as Cera's punching bag.

*End of Piece*

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Contrary to the past where Black Pearl sailed through the sea of ​​blood, the sea that the Black Pearl currently sailing is the usual blue sea, although it wasn't much of ordinary considering all kinds of Siren's threats in it.

"...*Sniff* Nhhm..."

"Hylia-san, please stop crying...Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Don't cry, Lia. There're us beside you so we'll help you out together, along with Javelin and Ayanami too...Maybe, commander too?"

"...I'm fine. *Sniff*."

On the same Black Pearl pirate ship, there're Z23 and Laffey who're trying to calm Hylia who is crying on the deck of the ship. The feasty haired girl sat while hugging a furrball between her chest and her knees.

"Fuwa..."

"Nn...I don't know."

"Fuwaa."

"But..."

"Fuwa."

"*Sniff* Alright..."

Her parting with Cera had a bigger impact than what to be expected. Until now, Hylia is not in her brightest mood because not only she has parted with those in Hestia familia, but she also experienced the same thing not long after that with Cera.

'Lia-san could understand it?'

'Maybe.'

All of that happened in a short span of time, and she need to parted away from them who've taken really good care of her.

In the midst of the confusion of the two shipgirls, Hylia was having a conversation with Fuwa who was on her lap. No one knew what they were talking about, but Hylia seemed to have starting to stop her sobs.

...

....

.....

On the other side of the deck where Z23, Laffey and Hylia are, there're Javelin and Ayanami who're busy with their own doubts.

Javelin looked confused to decide whether she should go to her two friends who were calming Hylia down, or to her commander who was quietly watching the ocean in the ship's Crow nest. She kept walking back and forth while scratching her head as a form of her confusioness.

"Awawa...What should I do, what should I do?! The moment I wake up we're back on the sea along with this ship, Yjor-san and Cera-san is gone, Commander doesn't want to talk and Lia-chan is crying. Ughh...What is going oooon!!!"

Javelin let out her inner turmoil by screamed out to the blue sky of her world.

"Commander~ Commander~"

Meanwhile, Ayanami who kept looking at her commander while tilting her head to catch a glimpse of his face, continuously called the man to come down.

"...Commander."

Unfortunately the commander paid no heed to Ayanami's call and continued to gaze at the ocean from that high and windy place.

A gust of wind allowed her to see the look his commander gave to the ocean, it was a gaze that was cold, lifeless, and completely different from the person who had pinched her cheek with a goofy smile.

'Commander...What's going on with you? Eh? He's looking this way?....'

Ayanami didn't know if Zeimachi could actually hear all the conversations going on on the deck of the ship. It's just, right now he's trying to hold back his emotions so he wouldn't take it out on those innocent girls, that's why he ignored them all.

At least until this moment arrived.

'C-a-t-c-h? Catch? What did he mean by...'

Zeimachi muttered something from a place far above from Ayanami while taking out an object that had ties to someone he knew.

"!!! Hup!"

He then dropped the ornate object towards Ayanami who was able to swiftly grab it, and luckily Ayanami was able to avoid crashing into Javelin who was still in her inner turmoil.

"Wuaaah?! What's wrong Ayanami-chan?"

"Ah sorry Javelin, its just...Commander threw this earrings and told me to grabbed it. Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm alright. Eh? That earrings..."

"Do you know about it Javelin?"

Ayanami then extended her arm that was holding the earring towards Javelin.

"Hmm...Aren't those belong to Cera-san? Didn't you remember it Ayanami-chan when Cera-san explained all of those theory?"

"...Is it...desu? Ummm sorry, I don't remember it well since I fall asleep halfway."

"Ayanami-chan..."

The earrings do bear a resemblance to the ones Cera had when she used her human body. A pair of earring that is purple in color, and is in the shape of a slightly bent water droplet. Only Zeimachi and Cera know the truth about where the earrings came from and what they're made of.

"Ah Commander! Did you jumped all the way down from there?!"

Unbeknownst to them, Sakura Zeimachi had actually jumped down when they're discussing the earrings. By now he had landed behind them and reached the floor of the ship's deck.

"...Commander, your eyes..."

"What's with the blind fold commander?"

Sakura Zeimachi slowly raised his head to stand on his feet again. It was there where Ayanami and Javelin were surprised by the new appearance of their commander who covered his eyes with a red cloth.

"Hahaha...It's nothing, I'm thinking to learn six sense so I could open my third eye."

"...Liar desu."

"Commander, I intend to say this too. Lying is bad."

But he casually stroked the heads of the two ship girls in front of him while letting out a lie so they thought of this new appearance was a joke and brush their own question off.

"Okay alright you smarty little destroyer. The truth is..."

"..."

"..."

He added a moment of suspension to increase their tension.

"Hiyaa~ There's dust caught in my eyes when I was up there. Now my eyes are sooo red, so don't look at it okay~? More importanly! Let's go to Hylia-san, she'll hurt her eyes just like me if we let her cry longer than this."

His tone of voice didn't sound serious at all and instead sounded like he's joking to them. He then hurriedly pushed Ayanami and Javelin's back to quickly rush them towards Hylia who was on the other side of where they're now.

"please keep it a secret ayanami-kun, and then could you..."

"...yes...yes desu...i can do it!"

Before Ayanami stepped together with Javelin to their direction, Sakura Zeimachi touched Ayanami's shoulder to whisper something regarding what she saw back then and also to ask her help about the earrings in her hand.

"C-C-C-Commander!!!?"

However, Javelin misunderstood and thought that his commander was trying to kiss Ayanami's hair.

...

....

.....

Ayanami then walked first to the other two ship girls who were beside the feasty haired girl.

Behind her is Javelin who was nagging at Sakura Zeimachi to not do such an indecent act, despite the fact that she would be happy if she was the one who got treated like that.

"Ayanami, Javelin, and...Commander? What's wrong with that blindfold?"

"Six sense dayo Nimi-kun!"

Z23 who then realized they were coming towards her then showed more or less the same response as Javelin about his appearance, meanwhile Sakura Zeimachi skillfully used his lying skills continuously.

"..."

On the other hand Ayanami still thought about that cold and lifeless gaze, every time she saw the cloth covering Sakura Zeimachi's eyes, she kept imagining if that gaze is still there.

Ayanami kept staring at her commander until she forgot that her actions were so obvious to all of them.

"Seyyy."

"Hwahhh!?"

There came Laffey who poked Ayanami's stomach to stop her from being dumbfounded and continued to stare innocently at Sakura Zeimachi and also to brighten the mood surrounding them. This made Ayanami surprised and accidentally dropped the earring she was holding.

Seeing the jewelry they thought was a fragile object about to fall to the floor, Z23 and Javelin quickly jumped up to grab the earring. But unfortunately...

"I got-Khhgu."

"I got it-Bhuaah."

*Klink*

Their steps were interrupted by Fuwa who nimbly jumped using the faces of the two ship girls to get the earrings. The furrball gripped the earring she had gotten, and without any sense of remorse floated back onto Hylia's lap who was watching the scene unfold before her.

"Fuwa!"

Fuwa announced her great harvest to Hylia who've starting to calmed down. The furball then raised its tiny arm so that Hylia could see it more clearly, meanwhile the feasty haired girl wiped her tears by using her sleeves.

"...Cera...*Sniff* Rabell...Estia...Haruharu...Everyone...Why?"

After receiving the earrings from Fuwa who happily gave them away, Hylia began to remember her experience when she enjoyed adventures with the people in the Hestia familia along with Cera who act like her fairy godmother.

Her emotions began to overflow and her eyes starting to filled with tears again.

"Ayanami-kun could you please."

Before Hylia had time to shed tears, Sakura Zeimachi asked Ayanami for help about the things they were talking about. Ayanami then nodded and immediately spread her hand towards Hylia and what happens next is very easy to predict.

"Yosh...All done."

"Huh...Ayaya?"

Now, the earring that had been on Hylia's palm had moved and was attached to her ears. Hylia didn't feel the slightest pain, what she realized was when Ayanami leaned closer to her, and when Ayanami moved away, did she realize that the earring was already attached to her ear.

"Thank you Ayanami-kun."

"It's easy desu. Maybe you didn't know, but I got used with these thing whenever Javelin used my room to dress her self up with make-up and stuff."

"A-Ayanami-chan!!!"

"Laffey remember it too. That time, Javelin used too much powder and we got scolded by a maid."

"Laffey-chan!!!"

"Ahaha...Yes. Javelin stumbled and then she pulled a box full of facial powder, we later got scolded by Belfast-san to clean it up."

"Not you too Nimi-chan!!! Muuu, there's nobody who pick my side! I'll go with Lia-chan then!"

Javelin hugged Hylia because she felt if her friends had betrayed her by telling embarrassing things in front of her commander.

"E-Eh? Jaberin?"

Javelin hugged Hylia so tightly that she forgot the sadness she was feeling. This is what Sakura Zeimachi fears the most from what is called a hug. Actions that are not very useful in his eyes, but have a very powerful effect on others.

"Huumm~ Lia-chan smell good, I think I could understand what Laffey felt when you gave her a lap pillow~ Hwaaa...."

The two girls continued to hug each other and forgot the original reason why they hugged because of the comfort they felt, and secretly, Sakura Zeimachi took out a camera to capture the rare moment in his view.

Of course the other three ship girls,Hylia and a furrball realized his intentions. Only Javelin didn't know if a shutter from a camera is aiming at her.

For Fuwa, the furball wasn't too much of a bother regarding privacy and permission matters so she was ready on Hylia's lap as usual. As for Ayanami, she enthusiastically joined the train and stood behind Javelin's back.

"Ready~"

Needless to say, Laffey was thrilled to tease Javelin with this opportunity. She then took a pose by using her fingers as if showing horns from behind Javelin's head to add more of aesthetic value.

"Uhh...I don't know about this-"

There are also Z23 who got dragged to join their fun and felt that all of this will end up in a sulky Javelin.

"Say seaweed~"

Since everyone was in the right position, Sakura Zeimachi didn't wait any longer to press the button and take their picture. He pressed the button so many times that it could be possible to make a moving animation.

And then...

"Jaberin..."

"Javelin...Ummm..."

"Ah...Just like what I expected."

Javelin was so sulky that she didn't want to let go of Hylia who was in her arms.

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*PoV of Sakura Zeimachi*

'...This way, she wouldn't be alone. Right, Cera. I've done what you asked for, hopefully...'

'Everyone had their own desire, and so you chose to keep chasing it leading to your ultimate huh...'

'I wonder...What kind of girl she is, this Hylia...'