"...If there's this much, there shouldn't be any big problems even if a God or two suddenly goes rogue and unleashes their Divinity." Yoruichi took one final peek before keeping the terminal within her inventory, 'Since most of these are Magic-based and Ki-based, I'll pass this to Serafall, Kuroka, and Medusa too for good measure.'
"So are you going to leave now?" Yoruichi asked.
"Yeah. After saying my goodbyes. Aika's preparations should be done too, though she won't really be using any of those when we go back."
Yoruichi looked him in the eyes and asked, "I had my suspicions, but are you planning to leave her there?"
Kisuke became silent for a few moments before answering, "That was supposed to be the plan and only take her back once she's ready and becomes more experienced with how the supernatural world works."
"Then what changed?"
"...I thought I should trust her a little more. I'm going to seal her abilities and senses and send her back to the secular world. Whether she truly wanted to continue this arduous and unforgiving journey or not, it'll be up to her."
Yoruichi also became silent and sighed. As they walked through the road she muttered, "Even I don't know what should be done so I don't really have an opinion about it. It's just that it's really surprising how we are treating her so differently compared to when we dragged Inoue and Sado to a war that they shouldn't have been part of in the first place."
.
.
.
At the top of the tower that Kisuke built, except for Medusa and Yoruichi who were busy with something, and Akeno and Irina, that could hardly stay awake for a few minutes each day since their souls haven't fully adapted to the changes within their bodies, everyone else had gathered to see Kisuke and Aika off.
While Kisuke was wearing his usual attire, Kisuke asked Aika to wear her school uniform and the latter didn't question it.
"Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama, please take care of things here for me."
Hestia pouted her mouth at her ever-so-busy child that he couldn't even make some time for her, "I'd do just that even if you didn't tell me."
Artemis, on the other hand, could only smile wryly, "Just promise us that you'll contact us every now and then."
"I promise."
Kisuke and Aika then proceeded to say their farewells to the rest of the crew. Sona wanted to boldly kiss Kisuke in front of everyone, but her sister's burning stare ultimately discouraged her from doing so.
After giving his reminders to the 'child' group since they were tasked in taking care of Akeno and Irina, Kisuke returned to Hestia and Artemis, "Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama. I would like to request the two of you to meet and mingle with the other Gods of the region, especially those who are sitting at the top of the power hierarchy."
"Why?" Hestia asked, because all this time, aside from Astarte and Astraea, they refused to meet other Gods because there's no real benefits in doing so. In fact, they'd only be putting themselves in danger because they knew how much worse the power struggle within this region was compared to that of Orario's. Despite the alliance looking good, it was striped with inner conflicts that each and every day, there would be small-scale conflicts within the shadow of Pandemonium.
"I want you to keep an eye on them and tell Yoruichi or Serafall your impression of them."
"You want us to gather information among the circles of Gods?" asked Artemis.
But Kisuke shook his head, "No. That would be too dangerous. I just want you to interact with them normally and just keep an eye out on their behavior without eliciting their suspicions."
"Since you're asking us this, there must be something weird going on. Shouldn't we actively gather information despite the danger?"
"No. Actual information gathering would be handled by Kuroka and Yoruichi. I just want you to give them your impressions of each notable God, because that's what they needed the most to make sense of the situation."
"That's easy! Leave it to us!" Hestia proudly proclaimed while striking her chest, "There will be a banquet hosted by Lugh three days from now on. We intended to ignore the invitation as usual but I guess this will be a good opportunity."
"That's great. With that said, always bring Serafall and Sona with you. If children are not allowed to follow you, Kuroka and Koneko will hide within your shadows as your guards. I won't allow any compromises on this."
It was a quarter of an hour later before Kisuke could finish his reminders to others that Aika couldn't help but comment, "Are you a mother!?"
With a final wave, Kisuke and Aika disappeared from the tower and arrived in the desert that became Serafall and Sona's venue for their training. Ensuring that his 'anchor' was functioning properly, Kisuke opened a rift in space using his cane, "Hold my hand tightly and never let go."
Aika did as Kisuke instructed and the both of them jumped into the void.