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I'm worried that school will affect how much time I have available to write. So yeah. I might not be as active as right now later on ;;

Also apparently, I need way more chapters than I thought I would need, aha.

Notes

- Splat

- Fluff

Sphere II

"Aries, Cancer, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces are still empty."

Artemis made a noise of agreement to Blue. "Yes."

"Mom. We've figured it out."

"Figured out what, Moon?"

"The Essies and Novarros."

Henry's face lit up. "Is it a theory?"

"No, Henry."

"Awww."

"Anyhoo," Moon said. "The Essies basically want the throne back."

The grand duchess placed her hand over her chin. "Makes sense. They'd want to find their father and claim the throne back from the Takoizus."

"It's royal blood war." Sun commented.

"But for now," began Artemis, standing up. "We should focus on the Novarros. The Essies aren't a huge problem to deal with now."

The grand duchess walked towards the zodiac sphere. "The Novarro family are hiding something in here according to one of the letters. And according to the tone of Astrid in the letter, it's important."

"Okay," said Blue. "We're going to open it."

"Hey," declared Henry. "You sure you all good with doing this? If y'all are, I'm in. We can't let any of the Novarros know of this."

"Taiyono, you don't have to."

"No, I'm in."

"Oh alright."

Artemis turned her head to her brother and smiled. "You really are a Libra, Henry."

He shrugged. "Eh."

"And by the way, fix your kiddie tone, you're a grand duke."

He shrugged again. "Eh."

"I'm older than you."

"Eh."

"Ugh."

"Egh."

"I'm in!" Blue beamed. "And so is Red!"

"I said maybe." the earl told her.

"Awh." whined the duchess.

"I've got stuff to do and you gotta get back to Kanto before your mother gets even more worried about you."

"She has worrying issues."

Blue then turned to Moon. "I'll video call you."

The marchioness nodded and hugged the duchess. "See you."

"See ya."

Henry nudged Artemis. "By the way, I gave her the book."

The grand duchess slapped him in the face and hissed, "Without telling me."

⇺⇻

After news of the storm subsiding reached Yellow, she went back onto the boat and set sailed for Alola. The Grand Duke of Kalos had asked if he could come along and the countess didn't have the heart to say no.

"Thank you so very much!" he told her. "I have a meeting with one of the royals and I wanted to explore Alola a little bit before I go."

"Alola is a very nice region." Yellow commented.

"It is, indeed."

"Which island is your destination?"

"Poni Island."

"Oh, that is my destination too."

"Great!" the grand duke remarked. He took his hand out. "Forgot to introduce myself. Evan Novarro."

She took it without any hesitation, which made her way more nervous. "Oh! Y-Yellow Sparks."

"Oh so you are her!"

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

Evan flashed her a smile. "You are the famous Yellow Sparks with healing powers."

Her face went hot. "Oh! I guess.."

"So what can you exactly heal?"

"I can heal wounds on the human body."

"Uhh thassit?"

"Um yeah, that's it. Did I disappoint you?"

"To be honest, yeah. Kinda. But that's alright."

"People expect more of others?"

"Sometimes," the grand duke told her. "Not always."

"May I ask which royal you're meeting with?"

"Princess Stella Lumanlan of the Alolan Monarchy."

⇺⇻

Moon Lumanlan called Sun Taiyono over to her room. "Here. Read this part."

Sun bent down and squinted. The word were tiny.

The zodiac sphere is round chest that can be unlocked by all of the twelve zodiac constellations and locked by people with connections to celestial myths.

"The Novarros are.. connected to celestial myths?"

"Well.. nova is in their name." Moon noted.

"Nova is a star, right?"

"A star that becomes bright, but then doesn't overtime. Basically."

Sun sat down on Moon's bed. "Okay. So how are they connected..?"

"Library."

"What?"

"I'll look it up in the library."

"What about the in-ter-NET?"

"The internet is filled with liars."

"Not necessarily."

"Proof?"

"I googled how to tie a tie. And it worked."

"Duh," Moon deadpanned. "That's a tie. This is a myth."

"Right."

"And besides, there are hackers out there. The Novarros could easily hire one."

"Right."

"Just an FYI," she said. "I'm teaching myself how to hack."

"Cool," Sun told her. He knew how to hack into someone's internet history, but that was about it. He just had to get on the same WiFi as them. Sun wanted to brag to her about it, but couldn't. The boy followed her into the hidden library. "So what book you going to look at?"

"I'm just going to re-read some of my myth books," the marchioness replied, crouching in front of the books she mentioned. "That just might help me."

"M'kay."

"Hey Taiyono?"

"Sun, please."

"Okay, Sun?"

"Hm?"

"I appreciate your company."

"And I appreciate yours."

Moon gave him a warm smile and left the room with books in her arms. When she was out of sight, Sun wore a genuine grin. He finally felt how real his happiness was. A hundred percent real.

Walking out of the library and into the second living room, he spotted Moon flipping through the books. "Same old, same old story."

"Moon?"

She glanced up at the sound of her name. "Oh. I was just looking at Orion."

"Orion?"

"Yeah, how the goddess Artemis fell in love with him and how her twin brother Apollo killed him for that reason."

"Jealousy?"

She closed the book. "Apollo was only trying to protect his sister's virginity. The goddess is known for it."

"How did it affect her?"

"Doesn't say," Moon said. "There are different versions of how Orion was killed. Some say he was killed by a scorpion, representing Scorpio. He was a hunter and threatened to kill every living thing on Earth. Gaia, the mother of Earth, was furious and decided to punish him with death. In all cases, he dies."

"Oh."

Moon sighed. "I know. Myths are crazy."

"Why do you read them?"

"To be real honest with you," she began. "I read myths to see how people make gods stupid. Myths are meant to teach a lesson or represent something. Greek myths are like all about power, love, or whatever."

"I see."

"Wanna play a game?" Moon asked, stretching her arms.

Sun tilted his head. "What.. kind of game?"

"I have card games, board games, virtual games, social games."

"Social games?"

"Like truth or dare. I don't know."

"How about virtual games?"

"Sure," Moon beamed. "Which one?"

"What do you have?"

Sun followed Moon into the living room. She knelt down by a box of games. "I have Splatoon, Minecraft from Henry, Little Big Planet, and et cetera."

"Splatoon? I guess."

Moon smiled, "Sure."

The marchioness inserted the game card into the Nintendo Switch and connected it to the television. Sun and Moon took turns playing Turf Wars on Splatoon.

First, it was Sun:

"Woah, that person and I just splatted each other."

"Blue calls it the 'Romeo & Juliet death'."

"What?"

Moon shrugged. "I mean, they do die together."

"Okay.."

Moon was up next:

"You could've killed that guy with your special move, Moon!"

"Geez! I didn't see him!"

"Well, I saw him."

"Well, that is because you're not stressing out over painting this area!"

Sun's turn came up:

"This guy keeps killing me with his purple ink!"

"That's because he's not on your team, idiot."

"I knew that."

"You sounded like you didn't know that."

Next was Moon:

"Moon."

"What?"

"You know you could just use your special move?"

"Shut up. I'm saving it."

Just then, someone came in and killed her avatar.

"You lost it."

"Shut up."

Sun was up:

"OHHH YEEEEAAAH I KILLED HIM LIKE SIX TIMES!"

"No, you killed him like five times."

"Oh."

Moon:

"Shoot, this girl is chasing me."

"It's a guy."

"No. Oh wait, there's two people chasing me."

"Use your special!"

"You idiot I don't have it anymore! Look!"

"Oh look, you just got it again."

Sun's turn was up:

"Just gonna teleport to this dude.."

"Did you look at the map clearly?" Moon asked. "He's clearly battling someone."

Just when his avatar landed by the "dude", Sun's avatar got splatted along with the "dude".

"Idiot." hissed Moon.

Moon came up next:

"Aye!" Sun shouted.

"What?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you see?"

"See what?"

"You just killed a person."

"Oh, didn't see him or her."

Sun facepalmed his forehead.

Sun's turn came around after:

"Oof."

"Too bad this isn't Roblox." remarked Moon, staring at Sun's now dead avatar.

Moon was up:

"Moon, press X."

"Why?"

"I want to see the map."

"Why?"

"It says your team is in danger."

"Why?"

"Because your team sucks."

"Thanks."

"I didn't say you did."

Sun's turn was up:

"Yellow ink here we go!"

"No. That's gold."

"It's yellow!"

"Last time, I was a brighter shade of that color."

"It's yellow."

"It's gold."

"Oh come on."

Moon was last:

"Moon!"

"What?!"

"Go right!"

"Why?!"

"That area looks cool."

"Not a good reason to go there."

"Aw."

"Fine."

⇺⇻

Sun pressed the power button on both the Switch and the television, shutting them down. Moon was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. "Hey, Taiyono—I mean Sun?"

"What's up?"

"I'm thinking of dropping out of school."

"What?"

"I mean," she started. "Homework's only going to take some time away from me trying to figure out this Novarro problem. I'm stressing out."

Sun frowned. "Oh. Is the homework easy for you?"

"Yeah, apparently. It's just a time-consumer."

"We'll work it out."

"Taiyono, I mean Sun, you really don't have to include yourself."

"I don't have to. But I want to."

Moon smiled to herself as she heard him continue, "You don't always have to worry about it. I want to help you."

"Why?"

"Because I care."

Moon stayed silent, which made Sun's face go hot.

"I-I mean, you're my housemate."

"I know."

"I'm sorry that sounded weird."

"It didn't," Moon told him, putting down a plate of garlic knots on the dining table. "Don't think that."

"Garlic knots!"

"Not yet."

"Aw."

"Our main meal is going to be a healthy one."

"Oh."

"Your zodiac sign likes healthy stuff."

"I don't know about my sign," Sun told her. "But I hate greens."

"But you have to eat 'em."

Sun sighed. "What're we going to have?"

"Since you don't like greens, bento."

"Ooo! May I help?"

"Sure, you can do the sausage octopuses and the rice."

"Are we going to shape the rice into something?"

"Yup, stars. For sea stars. Lettuce leaves are going to represent the water."

"Cool!"

"I'm going to cut some seaweed for eyes, smiles, and kelp."

⇺⇻

"Blue! Hey!"

"What?"

Red was frowning as he dragged himself way behind her. "You keep running away from me."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm excited to go into the lobby with Green."

"Why are you running away from me?"

"I'm not running."

"You're avoiding me."

"I'm not."

"What's wrong?"

"Your existence."

"You're mad."

Blue threw her arms up in the air rather violently. "I hate my mother worrying about me! I can't go anywhere! I'm stuck with you! I wanna go here and there! And I can't! Even when I'm a trustworthy duchess!"

Earl Red looked down at the ground.

"So you hate me, huh?"

Blue didn't respond to him. Instead, she responded to a call. "Hello?"

Silence. Then, "Dad! What's up?"

Another pause.

"Alrighty, coming!"

Blue hanged up and said without looking at Red, "He said you're coming too. And no, I don't hate you. I hate myself."

The boy looked up. "I think I now know why Green hates me. Now I know how it feels and how satisfying it is to hate me."

"I don't hate you, Blue."

"Suit yourself." she told him.

⇺⇻

Countess Yellow waved goodbye to Evan Novarro as they both parted ways. Grand Duchess Artemis met up with the countess by the dock. "Hello."

"Greetings, grand duchess."

"I believe you are Yellow Sparks of the Kanto Monarchy?"

"Yes, that is me."

Artemis smiled. "Follow me."

"Okay."

The trip to the underground room was a bit longer than expected by Yellow. It was close to seven o'clock and the sun was noticeably starting to come down. Yellow wouldn't admit it to herself, but she was exhausted.

"Here we are," Artemis told her. "Under we go."

The two hopped in, entering the underground room containing the zodiac sphere. "Woah, pretty." Yellow commented.

"Go on. Touch your zodiac."