An Invitation to the Darkness

As Akiha scrambles to interpret the colossal and momentous stewardship she has been charged, Honoka declares her visceral objection but relents after she realizes that the Shishido family is not the adversary Nerval is before leading everybody to Leopard. As Sakura has demonstrated for her, Leopard is not thrilled with having company disrupt his computation of Nerval and Xanthippe's next move and the necessary countermeasures thereof -- especially if that company wishes to add a woman's touch like Kazane and Takane. While bathing in the hot spring, Kazane explaining the prologue of the Shishido family and the brain colonies like Leopard gives way to a Crocodilas leaping onto the scene to steal the Golden Orb's cooling system and the research adventure in the library defined by a knight that is none too thrilled to have visitors. Itsuki inhibits the knight long enough to discern its volition and define the group as its allies; after a protracted messy search, the requisite map is in hand and the chase continues. It seems that the Crocodilas took the cooling system to avail as a plaything for its child relatives; while a gentle explanation is enough to retrieve the stolen cooling system, it does not keep Bougainvillea and Mintao from getting read the riot act for their damaged QT-Arms and their unsuccessful capture of Itsuki.