The silver-haired girl rolled over in bed. Her face, which had looked so peacefully asleep, suddenly drew into a faint frown.
In the end, she had no choice but to open her eyes.
Still moving with the limp heaviness of a body that did not seem fully awake, she flopped upright, turned on the light, and looked at the clock.
The hour hand was pointing at the number two, but the minute hand seemed to be missing.
Oh. No, it was almost completely overlapping with the hour hand.
She rubbed her eyes a little, stretched, and let out a small yawn.
The result was that her already-shifted nightgown slipped down from one shoulder, revealing a glimpse of her fair, lovely skin.
As she lowered her arms, her brain seemed to finish booting up, like a computer finally starting properly.
"Only one hour of sleep?"
Was her sleep quality really this bad?
It was probably because Mr. Golden was coming tomorrow. She had been too excited, and even after getting into bed, she had tossed and turned for nearly an hour before finally falling asleep.
"This is bad. I'm getting more and more awake."
Tessa murmured uneasily.
Now that she was awake, she found herself becoming more alert by the second. Her drowsiness was fading fast.
Originally, she had planned to get up at six, wash up, and then make the formal invitation at seven.
But in her current state, there was no way she would look fresh and well-rested by seven.
She had to find a way to fall asleep again as quickly as possible.
There was just one thing she needed to do first: go pick a flower.
She had woken up because she needed to pee.
That was strange too. Before going to sleep, she had specifically avoided drinking much water for exactly this reason, so why did it feel so urgent now, like she had somehow stored up an absurd amount anyway?
A moment later, after finally relieving herself, she quickly climbed back into bed and shut her eyes again.
Wait.
She grabbed the alarm clock and adjusted it so it would ring at six.
Mm. She even tapped it lightly with her foot.
Then she picked it up again and started setting the time.
The time...
Wait.
Tessa blinked hard and stared carefully at the time displayed on the phone.
2:15 PM.
"Ah!"
She had not slept for just one hour at all.
She had overslept clear past noon.
She hurried through washing up, tied her hair into a braid, got dressed, and rushed out of the captain's quarters.
And when she reached the bridge -
"Lieutenant Commander, Major, why didn't you wake me up?!"
Tessa complained bitterly to the two of them.
"Captain, didn't we already say so? We wanted you to be in your best possible condition."
Without even turning his head, the executive officer answered in his usual calm tone.
"I think you'd better fix your appearance first, Captain."
The major, the commander of the Special Response Team, gave her that reminder.
Only then did Tessa notice that the other bridge personnel were all looking at her a little strangely.
Uh...
Quite a few strands of hair were sticking up, her ponytail was crooked, her clothes were slightly off, the buttons on her jacket were fastened wrong, and worst of all, the cap on her head was tilted so badly it was almost ridiculous.
"Give me five minutes. I'll be back in order immediately. Lieutenant Commander, Major, you two get ready too."
Five minutes later...
Correction, make that seven.
Those extra two minutes were for Tessa, the lieutenant commander, and the major to head once more to the Lady Chapel.
More precisely, they went to the corridor outside the Lady Chapel's core chamber, all the way to the first quarantine door.
That section of space would serve as the area for his arrival.
Originally, Tessa had wanted him to appear directly inside the Lady Chapel, but both the lieutenant commander and the major felt they still needed to be cautious. Most importantly, they did not want to let him into the core chamber itself.
And that stretch of corridor had already been outfitted with some additional equipment by the two of them.
Disinfection equipment.
Normally, that would be rather rude to a guest, would it not?
As for that, Tessa had already apologized in advance and explained everything clearly to him beforehand.
He had said he understood and did not mind.
"Lieutenant Commander, Major, I'm starting the invitation now."
After she said that, both men nodded. It was obvious from the tension in their bodies that they were fully prepared to enter combat at any moment.
As for the invitation itself, naturally that meant activating the "Cross-World Invitation" button. Since Tessa did not have any energy coins, the acceleration cost was paid by the other party.
As the other side poured energy coins into it, the button charged up as if filling with power. Once it reached one hundred percent, the "Cross-World Invitation" changed from gray to gold, even giving off a faint glow.
Without the slightest hesitation, Tessa pressed it at once, directly locking onto him and confirming the summons.
Then, within the quarantine corridor ahead, visible through the observation window, a young figure appeared without warning.
He looked about the same age as her brother.
At the same time, the disinfection system activated.
He also removed the clothes he had been wearing, making Tessa blush.
It was not that he was being indecent or anything like that. It was simply to ensure proper disinfection. He also placed his clothes into the cabinet that had been prepared inside.
No, that was not a disinfection cabinet.
It was a destruction cabinet.
His clothes would be incinerated inside it.
Of course, they had also prepared a fresh set of clothes for him, standard-issue attire matching what personnel aboard the Tuatha de Danaan wore.
As for the fact that a person had suddenly appeared out of nowhere aboard the ship, some people might not notice at first. But a strange face would definitely attract attention, and someone would likely try to verify his identity.
That problem, however, had already been handled by the lieutenant commander and the major.
Using footage Tessa had downloaded, they had captured an image of him and forged identification records so that, on paper, he became a perfectly reasonable member of the submarine's crew.
Naturally, if someone conducted a targeted, in-depth investigation, the false identity would never stand up to scrutiny.
But then again, once the identity had been personally approved by the captain, the executive officer, and the commander of the Special Response Team, no one else aboard would be foolish enough to question the judgment of those three.
Once the disinfection process ended and he had changed into the new uniform, Tessa took a small breath, then confirmed the release.
The quarantine door opened, and his full appearance came clearly into view.
Seen from this close, he really did resemble her brother.
Not in facial features, but in build.
He did not give off the impression of a warrior at all, but rather that of a technician or researcher.
And yet, with that kind of body, he had gone through battles beyond imagination.
"I'm Tessa Testarossa. Welcome to our side, Mr. Golden~"
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]