Atlantis

[Bloodedge]

And so, there was victory. The racer in third place fell to sixth, and Kou stood alongside Hikari while she claimed a rather interesting prize. There was a great deal of satisfaction to be taken from this, interestingly enough. It was good to see the lass, even in another form, being both happy and healthy. What better way to see that than in a state of victory in a fun little game?

The day continued, eventually resulting in the pair walking around and snacking on their own treats of preference. Kou had, once again, obtained a plate of fried dough to consume along the way. Between bites, he managed to pause his consumption long enough to answer Hikari's query. "Iie. It was a good time for me, and as long as you're good, I'm satisfied. If there's anything else you're up for though, let me know now. I'm coasting on a sugar high, so I've got the energy~" he said. True enough, every time they had gone to grab something to eat this day, Kou loaded whatever he had with sugar. He intended to make great use of that, mostly to finish his little project. However, he could easily make use of it for Hikari's sake as well, should she have the desire.

[Apollymi]

Eating her confection of choice, and watching her brother eat his, made Hikari happy. It wasn't the random happiness of getting something one wanted, but instead a happiness caused by the simple feeling of inclusion. Besides that point, it'd been quite a while since she'd been able to spend time with her brother while not just being looked after. She considered this an optimal situation, as she was able to feel like they were more on the even ground that siblings should be. She smiled happily as she enjoyed the amounts of food she'd eaten that alternated between sweet and salty. "Oh? Sugar highs are fine and all but you shouldn't work yourself too hard or anything. And no, I'm happy with today and I got some other stuff I wanna do... ya' know?" she asked of her brother. She'd pieced together over the course of the day that he'd likely been awake for a while and doing something strange. She wasn't quite sure what all that strangeness entailed but she was pretty certain it was directly related to Miki. She was quite certain the girl had done something for the lad on Valentine's Day and she was certain he was just enough of a shut-in to have thrown himself completely into trying to return the favor without the softest of approaches. Even so, such an approach was uniquely him, and if they got along already she was sure the lass would appreciate it. As such she once again decided not to prod and instead she'd get her fix of information by exploiting other sources. She needed only to speak to the Queen to find out most of what she wished to know. With that she'd already started walking back towards the Palace and as she entered the throne room there was quite an interesting sight taking place.

Miki, unseen for several days, was very obviously being dragged along by the hand. This action was being perpetrated by Queen Seriri, much to the blonde lass' protest. "Oi, oi. I remember agreeing to get you ingredients. Which I did, I don't remember agreeing to cook..." there was disdain in the blonde's voice. "Kaiba dinner." she finished as if disgusted by the thought. "Yare yare, I already told you. You aren't cooking, I am. You're tasting and it's been a while since I did this, so it's gotta be perfect... Besides who complains about a free steak dinner, wine and dessert just for standing around in the kitchen," she said happily seeming to be oblivious to the lass' current state. Miki had been quite anxious these last few days and had almost completely shut down. Seriri was doing her best friend duty and making sure the girl didn't lose herself to her own thoughts. Part of this, included making sure she ate and took care of herself, which she did under the guise of needing assistance to preserve the lass' dignity. Was it manipulative? A little, but it would be well worth it, to not have the girl fall apart, knowing that she didn't have enough to do to distract her when the days activities didn't directly include her. "Well, when you put it like that, me... but... I don't remember volunteering, nor you being so pushy..." she let out an exasperated sigh but still was moving forward, though she wanted to be properly contrary. Whether she was aware of this manipulation or not, being included was fine, and though she didn't want to cook for Kaiba, it did give her something else to do besides think. Given that thinking was currently dangerous due to being able to talk herself into nitpicking at her own insecurities with nothing to distract her from them.'Ugh, I miss No Man's Sky.'

[Bloodedge]

Other stuff to do, she said. Yes, indeed. Kou had things of his own to do, and not much time to do them. In a way, he was glad Hikari had no other intentions for their outing. He enjoyed this time, sure, and he would seek so many other times like it... but there was something else he needed to do as well. "Alright, fair deal. It was fun, though... We should plan another day, just us two," he said as they parted ways, and he wound up yawning once more.

Back to work he went.

Meanwhile, Diva was having a rather interesting time with the small Guardians of Atlantis. Those little egg-like creatures who were once his siblings... they seemed to be aware of current events. One in particular was especially attached to the lad for the duration of this day, until, at the very end of the day... it began to take on a new form via an ocean-blue glow. The egg shape wasn't just there for shape alone, it seemed. It was... hatching, while also consuming some of its brethren which offered themselves to the cause.

Ah, but that was a matter to be unveiled at a different time. Onto the next day, in which Kou stumbled to the floor of his secret workshop. He had that golden sphere in hand, but it was just shy of being finished. More time, more work, more meticulous crafting. Little did he know, he'd be able to finish! It would take basically the entire day, in which he wouldn't be seen by anyone. However, in one shining moment... the sphere erupted with a golden glow that signaled its completion. He'd done it! There was hardly any time left in the day, but he'd done it! All he had to do now was... find Miki before midnight.

So, out he'd go at last.

[Apollymi]

"Hai hai, whenever. Doesn't really matter when. We've got like forever~" she mentioned, knowing that this world didn't work like their own, and their life spans weren't limited by a natural progression of time anymore. Whatever the case, they'd part ways here, and she'd go about looking for something entertaining to do. But after witnessing the Miki/Seriri incident, she'd decided to seek out her other companion of choice, Diva. Whatever she found there, would likely keep her busy for some time to come.

As the day shifted, time passed. A great deal of it, all the way into the next night even. After hanging out with Seriri, Miki had taken the other lass' advice. She'd been out today, busying herself. Fortifying the stones, collecting the income she was owed by certain business owners, and other such things. She'd set up some open business relationships with a couple of new providers as well. She'd found a way to busy herself with something more familiar to herself. But whenever her mind stopped this day the same questions and insecurities came crawling back. 'What if he doesn't show?' she asked herself. 'Maybe I was stupid to think he'd just like me too...' she mused. 'Maybe it was just Akashi... and Dragons stuff,' she thought absently. 'I really shouldn't have done that, I always go too far,' she continued throughout the day. Closer to the end of the day, she'd all but given up. A single stop at one of the taverns she'd helped out a bit, and given her a bottle of new spirits to try along with the twenty percent profits on the week. Strange as this might have been, she didn't want to drink if there was no one to consume it with. As she floated along atop her pillow, she found herself stopped in front of what had previously been the Lich King's Obelisk. Now it was nothing but a Great Runestone in the middle of a Runestone Circle. Now it was simply the kind of monument the type of people she belonged to prayed to. 'Maybe, I scared him off...' she thought she reached out over her pillow to touch the runes running through this stone statue, making it so that she could feel the magic of the universe. She felt accomplished, and down. Resolute but skittish, time was already gone right? He wasn't interested but at least, she'd put herself out there. And there was a lot to look forward to right? They could still be friends, and the girls would probably want to do random cosmetic activities. She could fully devote herself to a dealing with business, and become the same kind of lonely CEO she would have been back in her home world. But with magical powers. That could be fun. 'I really didn't want to be alone anymore...' she thought earnestly. It was like her last prayer to the universe, the only thing she could offer it as a sentiment. She opened her eyes and a strange glow tainted them, it was one which belonged to this sort of magic. She wasn't aware of this by sight though, only by feeling. She'd not cry now though, instead her hand just gently fell away from the stone and she turned on the spot with her pillow clutched closely to her chest. Just another coping mechanism, even this world knew she needed.

[Bloodedge]

He could make it. He would make it. The entire week had been spent working toward a single purpose, meant to be completed within a certain frame of time. He just had to find the girl of the hour, and present the item in question. Where would she be found, though? He had so little time, and so little ability to locate Miki. She wasn't in the room, nor in the throne room. Time wasn't being friendly at all, and it didn't help at all that Kou could hardly see where he was going at this point.

Still, he had to move forward. He needed to figure out where she could be found, and after stumbling through the throne room for a few minutes, something came to mind. Everything thus far had looped back to the Obelisk at some point. As such, he made every effort to reach the structure in time. He ran, at least in his mind, until he found Miki floating atop her pillow before the obelisk in question. With a haze over his eyes, he wasted no time before holding out the puzzle sphere and panting through his speech.

"Oi... Here... have..." Nothing more. He collapsed then and there, the moment he felt the relief that came with knowing he'd made it in time. Sadly... he wasn't in time at all. To be precise, he was about 13 minutes past midnight, and he hadn't even managed to properly hand off the item before losing consciousness.

[Apollymi]

As her hand fell away from the Obelisk, Miki heard a voice which was quite familiar to her. She looked up from the clutched pillow and saw a rather haggard looking Kou standing before her. Beyond his appearance he claimed he had something for her. Or rather, he tried to, before the words could properly leave his mouth he was falling into unconsciousness. The potential of him falling couldn't be allowed at all, as such her weapon flew beneath him in its pillow form and she landed lightly on the ground holding the golden orb within her open hands. "Holy Shit!" she managed not really knowing how to react and instantly in a panic. He wasn't awake. She transferred the rather heavy ball to one hand and reached out for the lad's head. He wasn't hot or anything, so it wasn't a fever, but obviously there was something wrong with him. 'Shit, is he okay?' she wondered, not thinking immediately of the object in her hands. Even so, she hung on to it, knowing it was meant for her. Well, she was in a panic and what did she do when she panicked and didn't know what to do, she sought out Seriri.

A few moments later within the Throne Room the Queen of Atlantis would be found. Not because she'd been there before, but because she'd seen the lad looking around and wanted to be present to see what would become of their budding relationship. "Tsu-chan, he like passed out. I don't know what happened. Help!" Miki's words as the lad floated along atop her pillow unconscious likely. Seriri, paused frowning intently but also walked up with her brow raising. "Jeez, can you two get through a single interaction, without someone ending up unconscious?" she asked outraged by the unconscious lad. She took a single look at the distress in Miki's face, and the golden ball in her hand. The lad who couldn't speak for himself atop her pillow and she sighed. She'd get to work obviously, choosing to look over the lad with a single bead of water, her face exceedingly serious for several moments. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she didn't say anything at all. "What? What? Don't just stand there looking stunned what is it? Is he going to be alright?" asked the concerned lass.

[Bloodedge]

Naturally, Kou was going to be fine. It was a simple matter of exhaustion which felled him, brought about by the fact that he hadn't had a wink of sleep since before receiving Miki's initial gift. The lack of sleep was nothing new for the lad, but never to such extremes, requiring so much focus. He'd likely be unconscious for quite some time to come, but in his mind, he'd accomplished all he needed to. He would rest easy, knowing he'd found Miki after finishing the gift he prepared for her. He couldn't explain that the sphere was a puzzle requiring Mana, a series of button-like inputs of said Mana for the sake of filling the grooves within the sphere, only to create something of a magical map toward the true treasure, which could only be truly located and accessed with the map itself. Perhaps, though, he didn't need to be capable of explaining it. Perhaps he wouldn't have explained all of that anyway...

[Apollymi]

Miki's concern was exactly what Seriri expected of her friend and the boy she obviously liked. A sigh escaped her as she did the actual scan and came to a few conclusions about the lad's condition. Even so, she simply chuckled after she was done and after hearing the lass' quick words. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. He isn't dying or anything..." she said, which relieved Miki quite a bit. A lot more than she could even be comfortable telling anyone. "He's exhausted. I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept in days and he's expended a shit ton of Mana. He's also a little hungry but he can take care of that when he wakes up," she said knowing the lad would require absolutely no other treatment she walked over to her friend laying her hands on her shoulders. "Get yourself together woman. Take him to bed and relax. It will all be fine." she assured the blonde lass. "I'm cool. I'm calm... I was just..." she didn't know how to explain her state before this but Seriri knew exactly what was wrong with the girl. "You were just freaking out, and probably anxious because you didn't know how he'd respond to your feelings and it's like super late now so you were probably somewhere moping," she said softly. A small sound came from Miki as she turned her nose up. She wouldn't admit to doing anything like that. Instead the pillow with the lad atop of it would continue floating as she stepped away. "Fine, I'll make sure he gets to bed." she said softly. Wandering off towards her own room with the lad in tow.

Miki was far more honest than she intended to be. And quite relieved to know the lad would be alright. As such she settled him into her own bed with enough ability to focus on something other than his potential death. When she dropped him gently in bed, she did so only after removing her extra bits of clothing and her shoes and allowed him to sleep using her lap as a pillow. "Baka. No one told you to go do something crazy like completely exhausting yourself..." she mentioned in her own bad habit of talking to herself, when no one else was around to hear her. "I don't really know how to feel about this..." she said softly. "Still, I admire the ability to throw yourself into something like that... for me even. Was this what you were working on?" she asked somewhat rhetorically. Obviously, it was meant for her. The golden ball was rather intricate. She turned it in her hands multiple times touching all the buttons and grooves wondering briefly what it was meant to be. "Well, what exactly would you give me for White Day..." she wondered aloud. "It's really well made, stunning even," she mused. "No one ever really gives me things I don't ask for. And usually if I want something I'll buy it. Something like this... is really thoughtful," she said her words rather soft. "Actually, thoughtfulness is kind of one of your best features," she said, placing her hand gently against his head for just a moment. "Well, that and your enthusiasm about puz...." she paused. "Oh, it's a puzzle, huh?" she said with light excitement. She rolled it over in her hands and finding it to be a bit strange. It had to be like a 3D puzzle, but this was a magical world so it was probably magical, she exuded a bit of Mana while pressing a button finding her Mana traveling along the ball before getting to the end of its groove only to stop near the next button. "Huh, I wonder how long it will take me to figure it out? I was never really good at puzzles that didn't involve words or numbers," she mentioned as if he could hear her. "I guess I have more than enough time until you wake up to figure it out..." and just like that she began, still musing to the lad while she struggled her way through figuring out this particular puzzle.

[Bloodedge]

Kou would remain unawares. Given the amount of time he'd spent concentrating so intensely, focusing his Mana to such an extent, and participating in other activities of the week, he'd likely be out for ages. Luckily, he was cared for.

In the meantime, Kaiba Seto was out and about. He remained without a reason to leave Atlantis just yet, and today, his own experiments had given him even more of a reason to find Hisakawa Hiromi, or... Bulma, as this world knew her currently. She had something of great interest to him, and he needed to have it. So, naturally, he barged into the room he gathered she could be found in. "Hisakawa! I'm here for the Dracolite!"

[Apollymi]

From one button to another, the first of her movements of this puzzle was rather simple and rewarded her efforts. "Alright so I am trying to fill in these lines, and light it all up, obviously. But..." there was a pause from the lass as she worked her way through this puzzle, why? Because her next shift of the object in her hands let her see that the line that she was aiming to fill, couldn't be reached from the place it was at. There was a line which could connect to it laterally but... how to make it work. "It... turns?" she questioned softly a gentle twist of this segment would lead to the alignment of the lines and its continued flow towards the next well button. She noted then that there were several of these rotatable rings which seemed to work in conjunction with the the flow and other engravings. "This is beyond intricate. It's complicated, in a way I've never thought of anything complicated," she said as her fingers made contact with the lightly engraved hieroglyphs. "Actually, that isn't entirely true. I thought talking to you was pretty complicated at first as well. I wonder if you work a similar process to this one while you do things?" she asked of the lad who slept peacefully in her lap. "It's like a round magical Rubix cube. I wonder if you meant for it to be this way... whatever the case, it's worth finding out what it's for..." she mused softly. And as such her work would continue. For quite some time to come.

The room Kaiba Seto entered was put together like a workshop. In fact, over the last few days it had become more like one than ever. Several unfinished projects and blue prints decorated the space. It seemed cluttered but was also just cozy. The room itself had a settling of a smoke like haze, and smelled of menthol ever so lightly. Parked to the left was her motorcycle which was plugged into a diagonistic system which she had a screen for in front of it. Beyond all of that, in the middle of this room was a large glowing light table, which she was currently standing before. Hisakawa Hiromi in this world known as Bulma had her blue hair down. Her Dragon Radar placed on the corner of the light table, closed but emitting that light beeping noise which seemed to be helpful to her in some way. And her focus centered upon a drawing which she was compiling based on some older blue prints also on the table. 'No... that isn't quite...' she blew a stream of smoke out of her face as Kaiba burst in. He claimed he wanted her Dracolite which caused her to look up at him in wonder. Firstly the audacity of such an accusation, secondly there was the matter that she was currently standing in this room without pants, shorts or shoes, only a pair of panties and the tank top she always wore. "Don't you have an entire Metal Dragon made of Dracolite and Magisteel?" was all she replied, not even willing to entertain the idea that he wanted hers. "Also, knocking is a thing... Kaiba."