Aiko was breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath only to realize how much effort it was taking to do so, to her left Aiko's friends were in a similar situation Uli and Bethany were sprawled across the soft white sandy beach of the Okinawa coast. The soaring sun setting over the horizon the girls still sweating you could still see pouring down their silk-like skin. Noel is the only one looking reasonably comfortable in her childlike posture as if she was sleeping upon the sand.

The only way of knowing Noel's discomfort was her ragged breathing as if it was hard for her to catch her breath. Aiko realizing this shuffled over to Noel.

"Noel...you okay?" Aiko spoke quietly just loud enough for Noel to hear her.

Noel slowly opened her eyes somehow maintained her trademark expression of no emotion, "Yes, thank you" she replied gently. She then took one deep breath, "I feel a lot better now, thanks to you" Noel smiled gently at Aiko, the latter responding in kind.

Ashlee then walked over to the girls her once terrifying look from moments before was gone, and she back to her usual laid back self. "Well I think that paid off quite well" Ashlee calmly announced.

Uli let out a loud sigh, "Y-You were...trying to kill us! How was that successful?" she was clearly dumbfounded by Ashlee's comment.

Smiling Ashlee responded, "Oh trust me if I wanted to kill you I would have" she let out a small chuckle.

Hearing that, Uli quickly and suddenly gulped. Soon the other girls followed in suit feeling somewhat unnerved by Ashlee's comment. Without warning, Ashlee jumped up seeming more enthusiastic than before, "Well I say we join the others seeing that it's almost dusk" she then quickly turned to head further down the beach back towards the beach house.

Further down the beach not too far away from the Eto summer beach house, Kanami was putting the Familiars through their paces. Yuki having mouthed off again to Sachika's older sister about the training the latter was putting them through Kaname decided to teach them a valuable lesson in following orders.

The girls were up to their chest in seawater wearing their sports apparel holding a large boulder above their heads. The salt from the seawater was starting to stiffen their clothing making it harder to move their limbs, and even though the sun was setting in the horizon the heat emitting from it was still intense.

"The hell we doing this for anyway," Yuki grunted to herself the sweat pouring off her whilst holding the large boulder above her head.

Sachika sighed clearly irritated, "If it wasn't for your loud mouth, Kaname wouldn't be putting us through this"

Yuki turned her head to Sachika her eyes glaring at her venomously, "Watch it Sachika"

Hibiki who was just to the left of the two girls just looked on she looked uncomfortable both from Yuki and Sachika bickering at one another and holding a boulder up above her own head. Looking to her right she noticed that Roselle was clearly in pain her arms slightly wavering under the pressure of the boulder.

On the shore of the beach, Kaname was casually lying upon the soft white sand in her bikini to top off her tan. The girls in the sea looked on in distaste especially Yuki feeling as if Kaname was rubbing it in that she was enjoying herself compared to them.

It wasn't long before Ashlee and her group of girls appeared in the distance noticeably the Familiars partners were equally as exhausted as they were. It was starting to become evident that their glorified beach holiday dream was slowly into a nightmarish joke.

When the group had met up Aiko, Uli, Bethany, and Noel instantly collapsed to the floor. Kaname looked out at sea she shouted out to the others, "That's enough, get yourselves out!"

Sachika and the others haphazardly dropped the large boulders into the sea only to feel the strain of walking water at chest height with virtually stiff clothes. Their skin was itchy from the mixture of sweat and salt water mixing together upon the surface of their skin.

The Familiars reached the shoreline they too collapsed upon the sand all of them were breathing heavily from the respective training regiments they partook in.

Rubbing the back of her head Kaname suddenly spoke up, "Well it's already late enough get yourselves back to the house and wash yourselves down for supper"

The young girls begrudgingly stood up walking slowly towards the house making it perfectly obvious various parts of their bodies were in pain from the strenuous physical training that both Kaname and Ashlee put them through. The latter pair hanged back as if contemplating between one another.

"I feel a little sorry for them to be honest" Ashlee muttered.

Kaname nodding was playing with her hair without realizing it, "Well, the Mistress did ask us to put them through their paces and that's exactly what we're doing"

"But she seemed more concerned this time around, more so than before" Ashlee stated looking to Kaname for an answer.

In respond, Kaname shrugged her shoulders, "Look I have no idea what it's all about, it's way above both our pay grades to question such orders"

Ashlee huffed at the short and unuseful answer her partner gave her, "Yeah I guess so" she reluctantly dropped the subject at hand.

As soon as the girls got back to the house they didn't waste a single moment jumping into the outside hot bath and showers to wash the sand and water off their bodies. As for Aiko decided to wait it out for a bit, to past a bit of time she decided to head to the large balcony on the ground floor to her surprise she could see Ms. Eto sitting at a table on the balcony.

Ms. Eto was in her nightwear, she turned around locking eyes for a moment with Aiko.

She motioned her hand to the spare seat, "Please sit down" she had a gentle smile on her face.

Aiko bowed slightly, "Thank you Ms. Eto" she kindly took the woman's offer sitting in the spare seat next to the table. Aiko noticed a jug of clear liquid originally she would have thought it was water but it an unusual yet familiar scent to it that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Ms. Eto commented as she looked at the last few moments of the setting sun. Aiko nodded wholeheartedly agreeing with the older woman. Ms. Eto who was drinking out of her glass glanced at Aiko noticing the young girls troubled expression.

"Something on your mind?" Ms. Eto asked taking Aiko out of her dazed state. The latter couldn't help but think back to those unusual moments she would witness in a state of unconsciousness, the two different women she encountered and the weird happenings with her Composed Fibril. Aiko didn't feel comfortable talking about any of these things to anyone but, in the presence of Ms. Eto, she felt at ease.

Aiko nervously laughed, "Yeah just a few things involving academy".

"It's more than that isn't it?" Ms. Eto asked.

Aiko looked down glumly upon hearing that question, "Yes, Yes it is..." she whispered quietly at first "...I've been having these unexplainable happenings w-with my body recently" her cheeks blushed slightly feeling rather embarrassed about the thought of even mentioning this.

Ms. Eto chuckled slightly, "Well I'm the last person to ask about how your reproductive organs work"

"No!..." Aiko quieted her voice upon realizing her sudden outburst "...it's other things"

Ms. Eto looked generally embarrassed by her mistaken perspective on the matter, "I'm so sorry I thought that was what you were implying but, if it's related to your status of being Coordinator I'm sorry to disappoint but I'm not an expert on that topic either"

"It's okay I wasn't expecting you to be a professional on such matters" Aiko waved her hands to the side frantically. "I-I just don't know to handle it is what I'm trying to say, I guess" she muttered.

A moment of silence passed for a moment before Ms. Eto suddenly spoke up, "Sometimes the best option is just talking to someone no matter how trivial or embarrassing it can be, just speaking to someone is all it takes to make it all better"

In all honesty hearing, those words made Aiko think, she was too worried about the outcome wondering what her friends would say and the faculty at the academy she attended. Instead of addressing the issue she was hiding in her own little bubble, she then remembers how Sachika reacted to the news of what during the Third Nebula Invasion and how it didn't affect her as a person.

"Thank you, Ms. Eto..." Aiko stood up and bowed slightly "...I think talking to you has helped see things a lot more clearly now" a small and sweet smile appeared on Aiko's face.

Ms. Eto nodded, "Glad to of helped you" she watched as Aiko quickly left the balcony when out of sight, the smile on her face had vanished, she looked at the clear liquid as she slowly swirled it in her glass. After a few seconds, she quickly gulped it down then slammed the glass upon the table.

Ayano had returned back to Essentia Japan Academy she was under her bed covers in her academy uniform curled up like a baby almost, she reached for under her bedside drawers pulling out a picture. It showed her and Yuki standing in the photo clearly happy and smiling there too was a third girl in the photo around their age.

She looked at the picture in earnest losing track of time in the process she brought out of her reminiscent gaze when she heard a knock at her door. Ayano quickly hid the picture under her drawers suddenly the door to her dorm room opened a girl from her dorm wing entered.

The girl turned away embarrassment pasted across her face upon seeing Ayano. The latter having jumped out of bed completely forgot she hadn't fully dressed her corset was only half done up showing her cleavage clearly and her tights weren't even on which revealed her silky skinned slender legs.

"Sorry for barging in like that" the girl apologetically said.

"It's fine, it was my fault for not being dressed properly" Ayano replied trying to reassure the girl. "Anyway what was it that you came here for?" she asked whilst putting on the finishing touches to her academy uniform.

"The Mistress wishes to see you, she has another assignment for you" the girl replied continuing to look in the other direction.

"Thank you I'll be there right away" Ayano responded, in turn, the girl turned around briefly to bow before leaving then exited Ayano's room. Once Ayano was properly dressed she walked over to the door before opening it she let out a big sigh then instantly opened the door leaving her dorm room.