"?"
Almost instinctively, Yorktown turned her gaze toward the door.
After Alicia stepped aside, Yorktown was able to clearly see Gwen and the others entering behind her.
Besides the familiar Gwen and Eden, there was also an unfamiliar...
When she saw Little Ai, who looked almost identical to Alicia aside from slight differences in hair color, eye color, and clothing, Yorktown nearly thought she was a clone Alicia had created—if not for the obvious difference in their temperaments.
"Hello!
A new day begins with a wonderful encounter."
Seeing Yorktown's bewildered expression, as though a question mark might pop up above her head at any moment, Little Ai felt an inexplicable emotion rise within her. Her lips curled into a smile as she greeted Yorktown.
"Gwen, this is...?"
Though those were words Alicia often said, the entirely different temperament and tone made Yorktown basically certain that this person was not Alicia.
Still, considering Alicia's personality, it was not impossible that she was disguising herself.
Thus, Yorktown turned her gaze toward Gwen.
"We already knew each other before, you know. Have you forgotten all those unforgettable words we shared?"
Before Gwen could speak, Little Ai had already stepped forward and sat beside Yorktown. She wore a pitiful expression.
However, Yorktown, who had spent time around certain strange-natured shipgirls, could sense the emotion called "delight" that Little Ai had failed to conceal properly.
"..."
Because of that, Yorktown found it even harder to determine whether the person before her was Alicia in disguise using a clone, or truly a new "sister."
"Gwen..."
Unable to reach an answer after thinking it over, Yorktown chose to seek outside help.
"It's Little Ai."
Although Gwen also felt rather delighted by Yorktown's troubled expression, he was not low enough to simply keep watching the show. He smiled