After living in the other world for over a month, suddenly returning to their original location, Mei couldn't quite remember where they were.
"Where is this place?"
"North America. We went to the Anti-Entropy headquarters to see your father before, and then went shopping. Do you remember?"
It was only after Takatsuki's reminder that Mei recalled the matters that had been pushed to the back of her mind due to their month-long date.
"I remember now. Let's head back quickly then."
Their original purpose for coming out was to enjoy some time alone as a couple. However, unlike others who might think of a few hours, the two of them experienced over a month of couple's time in less than an hour. Although there were disturbances from androids later, they could simply ignore them.
After sending a message to Yang, Takatsuki and Mei returned directly to the Anti-Entropy headquarters via [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart].
"You're back so soon?"
Yang quickly arrived in the reception room. The previous beacon was still there, so he knew that Takatsuki and his group would land in the reception room.
"Yes, and we brought back some things that require your help."
"Oh? What is it?"
Yang pushed up his glasses, but Takatsuki always felt that this old fellow already knew about this matter.
"A few space Bunkers. Does Anti-Entropy have spaceships? I need to go to space."
"Space? I understand. I'll arrange it right away."
"?"
Takatsuki looked at Yang in surprise: "No, you actually have them ready?"
"Heh heh, Takatsuki, you're underestimating Anti-Entropy a bit too much."
"So you knew about this beforehand too?"
"..."
Yang lightly coughed twice: "You guessed right. Let's go. Einstein and the others are already waiting."
Good heavens, this old fellow really did know, and yet he didn't tell him.
When they followed Yang to the aircraft, Einstein and Tesla were already there. Ryoma wasn't present, but another figure was with them.
"Bronya!"
"Sister Mei—!!"
Looking at the two long-separated friends reuniting, Takatsuki turned to Yang: "Has Bronya's training finished?"
"It finished today. And for the upcoming matters, she'll have to get involved sooner or later, so it's better to take her along."
As Yang spoke, Tesla, standing in front of the control panel, said to Yang: "Stop chatting there, Welt, come here and help."
"Coming, coming."
Yang responded to Tesla, then looked at Takatsuki: "You two chat first. We'll be done here soon."
After speaking, Yang went to the other side to help the two great scientists.
Meanwhile, Mei and Bronya had also finished their brief reunion.
"Long time no see, Bronya. You suddenly ran off and left me with a mess."
Perhaps some time had passed, as Bronya showed no awkwardness upon seeing Takatsuki. It was as if what happened during their final farewell hadn't occurred.
"Bronya felt that following Welt, she would quickly finish her studies and return to St. Freya Academy, so there was no need to add to the trouble of parting."
"But didn't Old Yang say he'd have you inherit Anti-Entropy? Is it appropriate for Anti-Entropy's leader to stay in Schicksal's territory?"
Yang, from a distance, paused his movements, then continued to assist the two scientists who were looking at him.
Bronya also glanced at Yang and said: "Anti-Entropy already has executors, so there's no need to personally handle everything."
"Bronya, why don't you come back for dinner? Seele has missed you a lot lately."
Mei spoke from the side, and Bronya looked at Mei.
"Sister Mei, Anti-Entropy's headquarters is nearly half a globe away from St. Freya Academy, how could I..."
Bronya suddenly thought of something and looked at Takatsuki, seeing a half-smile on his face.
"Takatsuki, did you already think of this?"
Takatsuki naturally knew what Bronya was referring to with her sudden, nonsensical question.
"That's right, I was wondering too. I thought you had other ideas, Bronya."
"Ahhhhh... Bronya, what an idiot."
Bronya suddenly remembered that Takatsuki possessed the ability to traverse space, but Takatsuki had previously mentioned distance limitations and the need for beacons as anchor points. So, she had wishfully thought that Takatsuki's ability couldn't cross such a long distance.
But seeing Takatsuki and Mei, she suddenly realized that they could do it.
She squatted down, holding her head, then looked at Takatsuki with some resentment: "Why didn't you remind Bronya?"
"You suddenly ran off that day, and your phone was always off. Seele called and texted you, but you didn't reply."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Bronya took out her phone and quickly turned it on.
A series of missed calls and messages popped up.
From the records, Seele's change in mindset could be seen. Initially, she asked why she left without saying goodbye, then mentioned asking Takatsuki to pick her up to come home for dinner every day, and finally expressed understanding of Sister Bronya's thoughts, supporting her resolve not to meet anyone before succeeding, stating that Seele would always wait for Sister Bronya to return.
But...
What resolve did Bronya have? She had simply forgotten about it!
From the changes in Seele's messages, her change in mindset was evident, and it was clear that Takatsuki had said something.
She sprang to her feet and grabbed Takatsuki's clothes. Although Bronya wanted to grab his collar, she simply wasn't tall enough.
"Today, you must take Bronya back!"
"Alright, alright..."
After appeasing Bronya, Yang's side was essentially finished.
"Alright, you can board the spaceship now."
As they boarded the spaceship with Yang and the others, Bronya suddenly remembered to ask Takatsuki: "Welt just said we're going to space. What happened?"
"Ah, nothing much, just deploying a few space Bunkers."
"Space what?"
It wasn't that Bronya couldn't understand... it was just...
Alright, she just couldn't understand. Looking at this small spaceship, which was clearly just a regular manned spacecraft, were they telling her they'd use this small ship to deploy space Bunkers? And several of them?
But since crossing worlds had already happened, this... was probably still normal.
Bronya comforted herself this way.
"Takatsuki, Chicken Head asked if you need a spacesuit prepared?"
Tesla ran over.
"Prepare one for me. I might not necessarily use it."
Takatsuki wasn't sure if he could open the Gate of Babylon from inside the spaceship, so he prepared a set just in case.
"Got it."
Although flying out of the atmosphere sounded like a distant matter that would take a long time, in reality, if the speed wasn't sufficient, the spaceship wouldn't even be able to escape Earth's gravity.
After breaking through the first cosmic velocity, breaking through the atmosphere didn't take long.
In just a few minutes, they arrived in space.
The technology in the Honkai world was quite outrageous; for example, this spaceship had a simulated gravity function, preventing people from being unable to adapt to the weightless state of space.
"Alright, we've reached the designated orbit. What do we do next? Doctor Tesla and I will cooperate with you."
Einstein said to Takatsuki somewhat listlessly.
"Please wait a moment, I'll try something first."
Looking at the spaceship's window, which offered a direct view of outer space, Takatsuki walked to the window and attempted to open the Gate of Babylon through the spaceship.
A huge golden light curtain unfolded in space.
"Woah, what is this?"
Tesla nearly jumped. Einstein, seeing a small section of mechanical construct appear from within the golden light curtain, spoke: "It seems to be some kind of spatial ability, storing that space Bunker elsewhere."
The Gate of Babylon could "spit out" the space Bunker extremely quickly, but Takatsuki didn't do that. Instead, he "gently" placed it onto the orbit bit by bit. Fortunately, Einstein had considered the effect of Earth's gravity when stopping the aircraft, otherwise, there might have been big trouble.
"Alright, I can just take you over. Is it okay to leave this spaceship parked here?"
"I'd like to say it's fine, but isn't there a better option?"
"?"
Takatsuki didn't immediately react to Einstein's words. Einstein explained: "You can use that ability of yours to store this spaceship after we've gone over, couldn't you? And the range of that space-traversing ability should be enough to return directly to Earth, right?"
"Indeed, I was being foolish."
"Under the lamplight, it's dark. That's the situation, isn't it?"
Following Einstein's suggestion, Takatsuki took everyone and leaped into the Bunker, then stored the spaceship.
Tesla stomped on the Bunker's floor.
"It seems this place also has a gravity system."
"Indeed, that's right. Its technology might be a bit more advanced than ours, or maybe not; each has its own advantages and disadvantages."
Takatsuki wasn't some tech mogul either, and he couldn't judge which side's technology was more advanced.
"No more talk, I'll take you to see the person in charge here. You can chat."
At Takatsuki's request, all YoRHa members were in slumber. After Takatsuki arrived, he used a pre-set system to wake them up in their respective rooms.
Soon, the YoRHa members gathered.
"Lord Takatsuki, have we arrived in your world?"
The Commander of the YoRHa, after rushing over, saluted Takatsuki. Although the original "Glory to Mankind" protocol had been canceled by Takatsuki, this etiquette was already etched into their core.
"Yes, let me introduce you. These are the scientists and the leader of Anti-Entropy, one of the human organizations fighting against Honkai. They will also be our partners in the future. You are not yet very familiar with the situation in this world, so you can obtain some basic information from Anti-Entropy to understand this world. Also, both sides can conduct some technical exchanges."
The Commander nodded: "Understood, Lord Takatsuki. I will arrange for our technical personnel to liaise with the Anti-Entropy members."
Behind Welt, Tesla nudged Einstein: "Hey, Chicken Head, are these really robots? They look no different from humans."
Einstein didn't speak, just shook her head, but the Commander still heard the voice that Tesla had deliberately lowered.
"Madam, we are indeed not biological beings, but artificial robots. You can also call us androids. Regarding the relevant technology, I will arrange for our technical personnel to liaise with yours."
Being overheard discussing someone behind their back was quite embarrassing, but Tesla wasn't shy about it. Instead, she boldly extended her hand to the Commander.
"No problem, no problem. We're helping each other, right? I'm Tesla, and this is Chicken Head."
Einstein: "I'm Einstein."
The Commander looked at Tesla's outstretched hand with some confusion.
"This is for humanity's benefit, let's shake on it."
Takatsuki said from behind, then turned to Tesla and the others, saying, "They don't quite understand human etiquette. You can transmit that information along with the other data."
"Understood, understood. So, shall we begin now?"
Tesla withdrew her hand. Clearly, she was more interested in technology she didn't understand than in social niceties, which were merely a means to better access these things.
"Alright."
Tesla, Einstein, and Welt left with the technical staff arranged by the Commander.
Bronya, however, stayed behind.
"Bronya, aren't you going with them?"
"No need. Bronya doesn't need to concern herself with those things for now. More than that, Bronya is more interested in where Takatsuki got all this from."
"From a world where humanity perished."
Takatsuki didn't intend to say much more.
"We'll talk later. I need to arrange their work in this world."
Takatsuki looked at the Commander: "First, report how many androids are still left, and what models they are."
"Alright, currently there are 70 B-types, 30 S-types, 30 D-types, 30 H-types, and 20 O-types, 10 E-types, totaling 190 units. Including myself, the Commander, there are 191 in total."
B-types are combat models, S-types are reconnaissance, D-types are defense, H-types are healing, and O-types are stationed in the Bunker.
"Can the Bunker continue to manufacture androids now?"
"No, YoRHa androids are manufactured by several other space stations."
"Ah, I brought back all the space stations except for the satellite ray. But I didn't see any androids inside them, what's going on?"
Hearing Takatsuki's words, the Commander paused: "Is that so? But that shouldn't be. Those space stations usually handle communication with the ground Resistance. Although the YoRHa are more advanced than the Resistance, their numbers are not large, so other space stations are responsible for direct communication. However, I have also heard that the Resistance often reports not receiving replies."
The Commander's words made Takatsuki think of many things, but when he played the game back then, he didn't delve deeply into the plot; he just played it simply.
"Then never mind. I will release the other space stations later, and you can arrange some people to manage them."
"Understood."
"Next is the arrangement of your work."
Takatsuki opened his terminal and pulled up a calendar: "This is the calendar of this world. You will synchronize yourselves with it. You decide your own work schedule. I only have two requirements: first, you must arrange people to monitor Honkai Energy occurrences on Earth daily, and assign people to fixed areas in various regions on Earth. If a small Honkai occurs, you must provide timely rescue. Second, if a large Honkai is detected, everyone, whether on vacation or elsewhere, must be immediately mobilized to provide support at its location. Do you understand?"
The Commander nodded, but still spoke with some uncertainty.
"I generally understand the work, but... what is 'vacation'?"
"..."
Takatsuki asked incredulously: "You mean, you didn't used to have vacations?"
The Commander shook her head: "We androids are semi-perpetual motion; we don't need vacations."
"..."