Shattered Memories

by MangaFreak15

Sometimes Yamato has dreams, strange, unexplainable dreams that slip from his grasp like water when he wakes up. All he knows is that, in every dream, there is a boy with dark curls of hair and eyes bluer than the sky, whose name he cannot recall. And with the dreams comes the inexplicable feelings of both deep affection and utter betrayal. Protagonist/Yamato pairing.

Note: This fic references the Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker game, not the Devil Survivor 2 anime. Character dialogue in the dreams is recreated from memory, so they will not exactly match the lines used in the game.

The OVERALL rating of this story is T. There is a bit of sexual content but nothing too explicit. There is some violence as well. You have been warned.

---

Shattered Memories

Protagonist/Yamato

---

Summary: Sometimes, Yamato has dreams. Strange, unexplainable dreams that always slip through his grasp like water when he wakes up. He isn't sure what to think of them. All he knows is that, in every dream, there is a boy with dark curls of hair and eyes bluer than the sky, whose name he cannot recall—and that with the dreams comes the inexplicable feelings of both deep affection and utter betrayal.

---

They stand in a courtyard. A slight breeze dances around their feet, ruffling hems and loose sleeves. He smiles, amused.

"Are you concerned about my well-being?" he asks. He knows the people standing around them are, regardless of whether they like him or not. It is a dangerous mission, after all. But none of their opinions matter to him, for they are mere pawns. The young man directly opposite him, his senior by a year, is the only one who he truly holds in high esteem. He watches as the boy's eyes flicker with an emotion he can't quite decipher.

"Yes." The response is curt. The emotion is gone from his eyes, like it was never there.

He chuckles. "I appreciate the sentiment, but it is unnecessary. I ask that you leave this matter to me. I am Hotsuin Yamato, the Chief of JP's, and I refuse to stand idly by and watch the proceedings," he assures the boy confidently. "I am not a mindless twit sitting on a worthless throne. If the pawns cannot act, the general must do so in their stead. Do you understand?"

The boy nods reluctantly. Yamato turns to address the rest of the group, but doesn't miss the way the boy's fists clench ever so slightly, or how his companions—Shijima Daichi and Nitta Io—cast worried glances at him.

"That is all. I suggest you begin preparations for the upcoming battle against Alioth. Dismissed."

The pawns disperse, leaving only Kujou Hinako, the boy, and the boy's two companions behind. He turns on his heel to leave so he can play his role in the plan.

"Yamato."

He turns at the call.

The boy walks up to him with a steady, unwavering gaze. He admires the strong mental fortitude of this miraculous civilian, something that most of his subordinates seem to unfortunately lack. If he can get this boy to agree to be by his side after the whole Septentrione mess is over and done with, it will be the most ideal future. Together, they will be unstoppable. "What is it?" he says. "Be quick, I must get to Sapporo to enact the first phase of our plan."

The boy stands and looks at him for a long moment.

"…Be careful," he finally replies. And no more words come afterward.

Yamato smiles, feeling strangely delighted. "And you as well. I trust you will not let me down… J—"

---

Yamato wakes with a quiet gasp and a shudder. Again—he had one of those dreams again. He can no longer remember the details now, just a vague recollection of blurry faces. And like all the other times, he wakes up just before he hears the boy's name come from his own mouth. It is frustrating. Other names that he heard in the dream clear as day are also muddled in his memory. He frowns at the plain alabaster ceiling. Strangely enough, he feels as though some of the faces he saw in the dream are rather familiar, but why, he does not know.

He rolls over and blindly gropes around until he locates his phone, which is shoved partway underneath his pillow. The digital display reads 6:30 A.M., and Yamato sighs because he knows it isn't time to get up yet. He always woke earlier whenever he had one of those dreams. To top it off, he could never fall back asleep afterwards.

No helping it, he supposes. He pushes the midnight-blue coverlet off and swings his legs off the edge of the bed. The carpet is pleasantly cool against his bare feet. He briefly glances at the other side of the room, which is bare save for the minimum furnishings provided by the university. He had been told that he was being given a new roommate after the previous one left, unable to stand his personality and ideals. The university should have just given him a single—it would've saved him a lot of trouble and headaches. Apparently his rows with Kuriki Ronaldo are now considered legendary among the staff and RA's.

The new roommate is scheduled to arrive sometime this week. Yamato hopes that the new roommate is more tolerable than Kuriki was. He grabs a change of clothes from the closet and makes his way to the bathroom for his morning shower. It is still early, so no one else in the university apartment is awake yet. Well—he spots the yellow glow coming from under someone's door—no one except Kanno Fumi. This is a normality, though. Kanno is always up at odd hours because of her science research.

Yamato twists the shower knob, waiting for the water to heat up before he steps in. The water is blissfully warm and washes the tension from his muscles. He tilts his head back so the water can soak through his silver hair. His mind is blank now, something he is thankful for because he would rather not think about his mysterious dreams at the moment. He did not understand what they meant or why he had them. It hadn't always been this way, he remembers. The dreams began to come shortly after he had turned seventeen. They came irregularly and in no particular order. Yamato does not—and cannot—understand them. In all his dreams, there is that one boy with black hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. He, or rather, his dream self, has felt a myriad of emotions for this one boy: curiosity, fury, awe, irritation, and strangely enough, love. He's never met this boy before. He doesn't know who he is or what his name is. It's frustrating to the core. Yamato shakes his head and grabs the soap.

After his shower, he returns to his room. The door across the hall opens and fourth-year student Sako Makoto shuffles out, yawning, rumpled, and bleary-eyed. A few stray strands of her dark-blue hair stick up in the air. "G'morning, Hotsuin," she greets sleepily, wobbling past him on her way to the bathroom. He murmurs a quiet 'good morning' back to her before he enters his room.

His earliest class begins at ten. He picks up his phone, noting that he has a new email from the university housing office. It is currently seven-thirty. Plenty of time to make breakfast, review his notes from the last class, and kick back with a good book. He slips the phone into the back pocket of his jeans and heads for the kitchen.

He washes the rice and slips the pot into the cooker. As the rice cooks, he pulls up the email on his phone. The email reads:

"To: hoyama {at} sepuni . edu

From: alcorhouse {at} sepuni . edu

Subject: Roommate Arrival Info

Hotsuin Yamato,

In an earlier message, we informed you of the pending arrival of your new roommate. His confirmed move-in day and time is Friday, September 23rd, at 3:00 P.M. We hope that you are fully compatible with your new roommate to prevent further disruptive ordeals in the future. His contact information is listed below should you wish to get acquainted prior to his move-in. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at alcorhouse .

Name: Totsui Jin

Email: tojin {at} sepuni . edu

Phone: 0XX-458-209X

Assignment: Alcor House

Room: 933A

Thank you for your cooperation, and best wishes for a bright future.

Al Saiduq

Residential Office Assistant"

Ah, perfect. Today is Tuesday. His new roommate arrives in three days. Yamato looks at the contact information and contemplates looking him up. Seconds later, he shakes his head and closes his phone. He would find out in three days. He would much rather make a first impression in person than over an electronic device. First impressions are powerful things. He can't deny the possibility that this person may contact him first, but for now, he will wait.

But for some reason, he can't shake the feeling that the name Totsui Jin sounds horribly, eerily familiar.

---

"Yamato!"

He sees the Megido hurling his way with frightening speed, a faint trail of angry purple sparks left in its wake, but knows with unfailing certainty that he will not be able to dodge it. A well-aimed Power Hit from an enemy demon had broken one of his legs earlier. He grits his teeth and attempts to crawl behind his Koumokuten, who is far more durable than he is. He needs to realize his ambitions. He can't die here. Not in front of him.

The blue giant braces itself to withstand the powerful Almighty attack. But there is no need, for another figure zooms in front of it and takes the Megido straight on. Yamato blinks slowly. It is Alilat, one of the boy's summons. The boy comes running, looking panicked.

"Oh god, your leg—I'm going to call Otome, she'll take care of this," the boy says. "Alilat is tough, it'll protect you for now."

The Deity-class demon withstands the Megido without much effort. It counters with a vicious Mazandyne. The enemy demon screeches in dismay as the powerful winds rip it to shreds, dispersing it in a shower of magnetite particles.

Yamato pulls himself to a nearby flat stone that neatly sticks out of the ground. His Koumokuten rumbles as it keeps an eye out for any other enemies. He rests his head against the cool surface of the rock, closing his eyes. It is a struggle to open them again, but he does. Where is the boy? What's taking him so long? He doubted the boy would die even with only one of his demons protecting him. Perhaps Yanagiya had another patient to look after. He's fine. His leg barely hurts anymore.

"Hey, don't fall asleep! Otome, hurry up!"

Yamato blinks drowsily, confused. Hadn't his eyes just been open? A gentle, but firm hand presses against his back and tilts him forward from the rock.

"You're going to be alright, Yamato. I promise." The boy's voice is soothing to his ear, a low tenor caught somewhere between the lilt of a male teenager and the deep bass of a fully-grown adult man. His vision swims as he reaches out.

"J—"

An explosion sounds, along with a screech of pain. The boy leaps to his feet and hurries away, throwing back, "He's all yours, Otome!"

There is a blond woman leaning over him now. Her eyes are too soft, too kind for the world he wants, but her talents make her a valuable asset to JP's. She speaks to him in a quiet voice, but he can't make out the words. He turns his head slightly, half-lidded eyes falling upon the dark-haired boy once more. The boy is patting his friend—Shijima—on the back. They laugh together.

Something in Yamato's gut clenches at the sight, but he does not understand why.

Yanagiya just smiles knowingly.

---

He stares dully at the ceiling, clenching the edge of the blanket. Another dream. It's one of those times, isn't it? A time when he has a dream every night for a week, before it stops. It's Wednesday morning, and he is awake at six-thirty again. He rolls over and muffles a groan into his pillow.

Two days until his new roommate arrives.

Yamato pulls his phone out and peers at the screen. He blinks when the message icon flashes on the screen. Upon opening it, he grimaces and heaves a resigned sigh. The new message is from his twin sister. He wishes his family would just leave him alone—he likes being alone without their constant presence hovering over his shoulder. Miyako, however, does not appear to share the same opinion.

"From: Hotsuin Miyako

Dear brother, Mother and Father request your presence at dinner tonight. Do not be late."

Short and to the point, as always. He supposes that is one thing to be thankful for. Too many people try to dress up their words in an attempt to mask their true intentions, he thinks. At least he won't have to eat cafeteria food for dinner. Sako usually cooks dinner for them, but she has a night shift at the restaurant she works at on Wednesdays, and thus is unable to make them dinner. Loathe as he is to admit, Yamato only knows how to make basic things. Perhaps he should start buying a whole meal's worth of takoyaki for Wednesdays.

He goes about his early morning routine as usual. Kanno's light is on again. And like clockwork, Sako stumbles from her room at seven-thirty, passing him with a muttered 'good morning' as she walks into the bathroom.

Yamato turns the TV on so he can watch the news while he eats his breakfast. He only has one class in the afternoon today, thankfully. The only downside is that he has to return to the Hotsuin estate for dinner tonight. They always began at exactly seven o'clock. His class ends at four o'clock, so he would have to book it to his car directly after class. The drive is at least two hours long without traffic. He scowls at the TV. He hates it when he isn't told things ahead of time.

Not that he has "friends" to hang out with. Aside from his housemates, most people are turned off by his cold personality. He has no interest in befriending the vapid girls who flatter him shamelessly and are incapable of intelligent conversation. He can feel himself die a little on the inside every time he is forced to speak to one of them during his classes. Group projects are especially nightmarish. This is why he does not mind Kanno and Sako. Neither of them fawn over him like lost puppies, and both of them are capable of discussing matters and hypotheses with him without needing a dumbed-down explanation. He also—grudgingly—admits that his previous roommate, Kuriki, is quite sharp. Had it not been for their opposing views on questions of ethics, morality, and the like, Yamato supposes he could have tolerated him as well.

The next news story catches his attention with its bold headline: Prized Pendragon Breaks Free! He watches with vague interest as the news reporter on screen goes on and on at the scene of destruction about the Snake-class Pendragon that killed two of the demon tamers and escaped from its cage. They are still trying to recapture it. He sees it distinctly in the background—its massive, reptilian green head rising just above the buildings in the distance. He hears the screams too.

Just as he grabs the remote to switch the TV off, the reporter gasps and turns towards the demon. Yamato squints at the tiny white speck that descends upon the demon's head. It looks like… a person? Must be another Demon Tamer, he thinks. What are those things trailing behind his head—bunny ears? They seem too long to be bunny ears, but he doesn't know what else to call them. The white speck unleashes a powerful Ziodyne spell that electrocutes the enormous creature and sends it crashing to the ground with a thunderous roar. Amidst the clouds of dust, he can no longer see the white speck. It would be terribly ironic if the demon tamer that brought it down was crushed underneath the massive bulk. He decides to watch for a little while longer.

"Oh my god, are we seeing this?" the reporter gabbles excitedly, clutching her microphone tightly in one hand and wildly gesturing at the enormous dust cloud with the other. "Indeed we are! Ladies and gentlemen, I believe the Pendragon has just been subdued! That was quite a breathtaking display of power, I must say. Stay tuned for another news update!" The news changes into a commercial about a new deodorant product that Yamato could care less about. He sighs and turns the TV off. So much for learning about the mysterious demon tamer. He can just look up an online news report later for more details.

Class is dreadfully dull, as always. He wonders why he even bothers to come when he already knows the information the professor drones on about. He idly twirls his pen and subtly glances around. Sako is studious, of course, constantly scribbling notes in her notebook along with notations marked along the sides in red pen. There's Akie Yuzuru in the corner, fast asleep. Despite his rather unassuming appearance and flaky personality, Yamato had seen instances where the man came up with analyses that not even he had thought of, few and far between as they were. Kuriki is still in the class, but he is sitting on the opposite side of the room. No one wants them to start arguing in the middle of the lecture.

All the other people are nameless and faceless to him. How boring. He stifles a yawn and continues jotting down notes.

When class ends, Yamato packs up his things. As he walks out the door, Sako striding beside him, he overhears a hushed conversation coming from behind them.

"Did you hear about that Pendragon that broke free?"

"Yeah, I did. I got nervous because that zoo isn't all that far from here."

"Well, they're saying that someone our age killed it in one zap!"

"Huh?! No way, I heard it was some dude in a bunny costume!"

"Well, whatever. But get this, the person apparently vanished afterwards. Nobody knows who did it—no name, no face, nothing."

"Gee, if I did that, my face would be all over TV by now. I wonder why the guy doesn't want the credit?"

"As if your Obariyon could take that thing on, hahaha! But, man, I don't know why. Maybe he's shy?"

"D'you really think a shy guy could take out a Pendragon in one shot? That thing looked massive even on TV."

"You've got a point there."

Yamato tunes out the rest of the conversation as he turns a corner. Sako walks quietly next to him, seemingly deep in thought.

"What do you think of the Pendragon incident?" she finally asks.

"Blown out of proportion," he answers bluntly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "But there is some truth to it. The Pendragon was struck down by someone in a white jacket who used a Ziodyne spell."

"Did you see it on TV?" Sako's boots click over the pavement.

"I did. It happened live as a reporter was talking."

"I see. I'm glad it was handled quickly. Many more could have died if it wasn't for that person," Sako murmurs, gripping her bag strap tightly.

"Because they're weaklings," Yamato snorts. "You have to be strong to survive."

Sako just sighs at him, having heard these particular lines multiple times. "Not everyone can become a Demon Tamer, Hotsuin. It is our duty to defend the citizens who have no way of defending themselves," she says.

As if he hasn't heard those lines before. "Tch." He looks away. The rest of the walk back to the apartment is silent. Yamato flings his bag onto his bed, only stopping to grab the keys from his coat pocket. He has a family dinner to get through. He is definitely not looking forward to driving back to the campus afterwards.

---

It is a poison festering within him. Yamato knows that he will die eventually, but to be defeated by some mongrel who he could have easily defeated in his prime—he knows that his time is over and he must hand the mantle of power down. That is the law of the world that he wished for. But the truth is bittersweet.

He senses a presence near him and opens his eyes. The boy—now a man—sits on his bed and looks at him with a serious gaze. "Yamato."

He opens his mouth to say his partner's name, but it doesn't come out. Only a somewhat wheezy breath.

The man's smile is sardonic. Yamato's eyes widen—it is a look that, in the twenty-five years they've known each other, is rarely seen on the man's face. He wonders why the man is wearing it now.

The man reaches out to run his fingers through Yamato's hair. Yamato closes his eyes, a quiet sigh slipping through his lips. "What are you thinking about?" he mutters. He knows that the man only does this when he is deep in thought or when they are intimate.

The fingers don't pause even as the man replies, "I… I don't think I can do this anymore."

Yamato's brows furrow and he opens his eyes. "What are you talking about?" he asks.

The man pulls away. Yamato instantly wishes he hadn't. "This." He gestures vaguely at the window and the space around them. "Us." He grabs Yamato's hand and holds it over his heart. "This meritocracy is wearing me out, Yamato. I've followed you wherever you went, walked beside you for years, went along with most of your decisions. But I've been watching you lately, too. You're not the same anymore. What happened, Yamato?"

"You—" Yamato suddenly sits up, disbelief on his face. "You're having doubts about this now?!"

The man shakes his head. "This isn't about me having doubts about a meritocracy," he replies, letting go of Yamato's hand. "This isn't about our relationship, either. This is about your way of doing things. Look around you, Yamato! All of our friends are gone! People are killing each other in the streets! A revolution is coming and Japan… Japan is dying. Is this what you wanted?" He abruptly stands and paces to the window, gazing out at the dark night sky. Yamato gazes at his shadowed back, at a loss for words.

"I'm tired, Yamato," the man whispers, placing a hand on the cold glass of the window. Faint yellow light flickers against the worn lines on his face.

Yamato eases himself out of bed, walking over to his longtime partner. "You've lost your trust in the system," he murmurs, standing beside him to look out the window. There are fires in the distance that light up the horizon with a myriad of warm colors. "In me."

The man doesn't refute him. Yamato bows his head bitterly. "Have I driven you away?" he mutters. He exhales, his eyes falling on the swirling patterns on the carpet. "Is this the end?"

The man laughs softly, turns, and embraces him. "Yeah, it is. This is it, Yamato," he breathes into Yamato's ear. They stay like that for a while, Yamato leaning back so that his head rested on his partner's shoulder. All is quiet except for the distant sirens and sounds of war. The man takes a deep breath, "…I'm sorry, Yamato."

Before he can ask why, Yamato is shoved backwards until his back hits the bed. Then the man is kissing him, hard and fierce. He tastes like bitterness and regret and apologies. He tastes like the ashes of defeat. Yamato wonders briefly if there is some way to bring the sunlight and victory back. Where did they go wrong? When had they gone astray?

When they part, the man pulls out his phone. Yamato's eyes widen, "J—"

"I'm sorry, Yamato," the man repeats, cutting him off. A single tears runs down the length of his right cheek. He leans forward and embraces Yamato tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Forgive me." The phone lights up. "This is the end for us. Goodbye, Yamato. I love you."

"No, stop! Don't—" Then a brilliant blaze of violet light assaults him, and he knows no more.

---

Yamato shoots up with a gasp. His heart beats frantically in his chest, and sweat cools rapidly on the back of his neck. That dream—it felt more real than all of the other ones combined. Shivering uneasily, he places a hand on his chest. That dream… he died in it. At least, he thinks he did. That man—he wishes he could remember his name—killed him. Killed both of them. Why? Why did he do it? Yamato feels like pulling out his hair in frustration. Had it really been just a dream? It had felt so real.

He gropes for his phone. It's Thursday morning, and it's six-thirty again. He lets it slip from his fingers, hearing a soft thump as it lands on the blanket. Damn it, why does he keep having these dreams? Are they memories of a past life or something else? He wants to understand, but he can't. Yamato briefly entertains the idea of asking Kanno if she can discover anything about this mysterious dream phenomenon, but quickly dismisses it. He would rather not end up as the guinea pig of a mad scientist.

He glances at the ceiling. One more day till his new roommate arrives. He doesn't know if he's supposed to be excited or apathetic. A new roommate signals future possibilities if they get along well, but it could also mean the second coming of Kuriki. He fervently hopes not. He loves his peace and quiet, thank you. The new roommate better not be some brainless twit that the university stuck him with just because the other side of his double room had been empty—ah, wait, the Alcor House is reserved for those who show extraordinary academic prowess. His new roommate must be intelligent if he had been assigned here. Thank god for small miracles. He was never contacted either, so Yamato thinks that this person must have the same idea as he does about face-to-face first impressions.

Yamato rolls out of bed to begin his morning routine, and wonders if anything interesting will happen today.

Compared to yesterday, the day is peaceful and drama-free. Yamato half-hopes that another demon will escape so that there would be something interesting to pay attention to, but nothing happens. The day is as mundane as the rest.

When he gets back to the apartment, the smell of curry rice floods his nose and makes his mouth water. Excellent, it seems Sako has already started making dinner. Yamato goes to his room to start on his essay. His professor wants at least five pages comparing the different classes of demons and the methods that are used to classify them. Ignoring the textbook sitting on his desk, Yamato pulls out a piece of paper and starts to outline his essay.

He is roused from his thoughts when Sako calls them to dinner. When he gets to the table, Kanno is already seated, with Sako handing her a plate of steaming curry rice. She gives him a plate as soon as he sits at the table, then she seats herself with her own plate. There are two empty chairs at the table, one for his future roommate, and the other for their absent fifth housemate, Yanagiya Otome. Yanagiya is a pre-med student who volunteers part-time at the health center on campus, so she is usually absent.

Yamato frowns subtly at his plate. Yanagiya Otome? Strange, wasn't she in one of his bizarre dreams? Why would she be in his dream when he's known her for all of six weeks? He digs into his rice and chews thoughtfully. If he could recall, some of his earlier dreams featured Sako and Kanno too. A connection begins to form in his head. What if…

"Something on your mind?" He looks up at Sako's questioning voice. Both she and Kanno are looking at him.

"It's nothing you need to be concerned about," he replies. "Just a hypothesis of mine."

Kanno's eyes brighten noticeably at the mention. She leans towards him, purring, "What kind of hypothesis are we talking about here?"

"None of your business."

Kanno laughs and pulls away. "No need to be so snappish, Hotsuin. I am a scientist, you know. We are a rather curious bunch," she says, scooping a spoonful of curry into her mouth. "Mm. Your cooking is delicious as always, Mako."

"Thank you, Fumi." Sako smiles at the compliment. She turns towards him again. "If you want to talk to us about it, feel free, alright?"

Yamato hums noncommittally, and polishes off the remainder of his meal.

---

Yamato sees the boy walking towards him and goes over to greet him. When the boy asks about what he is doing, he chuckles and replies, "I went out to scout the masses, to see if there are any other interesting civilians like you. My search was unsuccessful. They are all just frightened sheep, hiding away and waiting to be saved."

The boy hides a smile behind his hand. Yamato continues, "I wonder what it is about normal civilian life that can produce someone like you. Someone who, after only a few days of fighting, can fell the Septentriones with such ease."

The boy shrugs casually and answers, "Just inborn skills."

Yamato laughs at the boy's easy, confident response. "Hahaha! Of course, I should have known better than to ask such a question. I do respect your power." He surveys the boy's relaxed posture with a small smile tugging at his lips. "Yes… perhaps… with you, I might—"

He is rudely interrupted when a bald man wearing a shabby, oil-stained apron runs up to them. "Hey, you there! You should have these!" The man produces a plate of odd-looking food from behind his back.

Yamato stares at it distastefully. "What is that?" This peasant dares to ruin their conversation with some disgusting street food!

"Takoyaki!" the boy gushes beside him. He looks at Yamato with a small grin, blue eyes sparkling. Yamato can feel a headache coming on.

"Business has been rather slow these days, with the demons attacking and all that," the vendor admits, shaking his head. "So I used the last of my ingredients to make this batch. I consider it my masterpiece!"

"I do not need your paltry civilian food," Yamato growls, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, take it! I insist!" The man shoves the plate into his hands and walks away without looking back. Yamato looks down at the dish with a pinched expression. It looks like… fried balls of batter with some kind of sauce drizzled on top. What the hell are those things on top of it? They look like they're still… alive, which is a disturbing thought. Do civilians actually eat this kind of dubious food?

"Try it, it's good," the boy pipes up. "There're pieces of octopus inside."

Ah, well, that explains the name. But he is still not convinced that this "takoyaki" will taste good to him.

The boy laughs at his sour countenance and picks one up. "It's not poisonous, Yamato. It's good, trust me," he says, popping it into his mouth. He makes a contented noise as he chews.

Well, if he says so… Yamato picks one up. It doesn't smell bad, if he's honest, but scents can be deceiving. "Ridiculous, vulgar, civilian food," he mutters. Here goes nothing. He takes a bite, fully prepared for an overwhelmingly greasy taste. But the taste that spreads over his tongue is the complete opposite of what he expects. What on Earth? The sauce, the batter, the octopus—everything melts into a harmonious blend of flavor in his mouth and it is nothing like he's ever had before. He swallows. It's… it's—!

"…Delicious," he murmurs, staring down at the plate in surprise.

"Told you so," the boy tells him, grinning. Cheeky boy, Yamato thinks, hiding his own smile. Now that he knows what the mysterious takoyaki tastes like, he wastes no time devouring the rest of the dish. When all of it is gone, he is almost sad. He decides to tell the JP's chefs to make these for him. He must have more of this delightful food.

"So?" the boy prompts him.

Yamato clears his throat. "I… did not expect that it would taste good," he admits.

"I told you I would teach you about civilian life," the boy says. He grabs Yamato's hand and starts to tug him down the street. "C'mon, let's go."

Yamato allows himself to be dragged, feeling rather content despite the failure of his original mission. This civilian boy is quickly becoming one of the best things that has ever come into his life. He focuses momentarily on the warmth of their clasped hands. It is strangely nice. For once, he doesn't want to let go.

---

It's finally Friday, the day his new roommate moves in. Unfortunately he has class during the guy's move-in time, so he will not be here when his new roommate comes. Yamato knows he can skip the class if he really wants to. The professor doesn't bother taking attendance because it is a fairly large class, and Yamato already knows the material anyways. Decisions, decisions.

He decides to forego class today. Sako will undeniably get on his tail for skipping, but she's easy enough to placate if his argument is both logical and sound. Besides, he wants to meet his new roommate and personally evaluate his character. His peace and quiet are at stake here.

Yamato gets up, but pauses when a tiny green notification light flashes above the screen on his phone. He picks it up and unlocks the screen. It's an email from the housing office, which in itself is rather odd because the email had been sent long after their usual hours. He opens it.

"To: hoyama {at} sepuni . edu

From: alcorhouse {at} sepuni . edu

Subject: New Roommate Arrival Info

Hotsuin Yamato,

I apologize for sending you such a late email. Please do not be alarmed. We received a message from your new roommate that he will be arriving earlier than the expected time. The new move-in time is set at 9:00 A.M. Please be awake and ready to greet your new roommate as he arrives. Best of luck to you both, and we hope that you will become good friends.

Best,

Al Saiduq

Residential Office Assistant"

It's 6:45 A.M. There's less than two and a half hours before Totsui Jin moves in. What the actual fuck. Well, looks like he isn't going to skip class today after all. Yamato grabs his hairbrush and clothes and walks to the bathroom for his morning shower.

Afterwards, he surveys the room with a critical eye. He's a somewhat-compulsive neat freak, so his side of the room is tidy. He doesn't have much—some books, a laptop, a printer, a couple of sticky notes, his bag, and writing utensils. All of his clothes are either in the dresser or the closet. There are some things stashed in the desk drawers, but all in all, he is fairly minimalistic. Why waste money on useless, trivial things?

He makes his bed too. First impressions are important.

He hears Sako moving about in the kitchen and decides to join her for breakfast. For once, Kanno's light is off when he passes her door in the hallway. Even mad scientists need their sleep, he supposes.

"Good morning, Hotsuin," Sako greets as she spoons rice into her bowl. "Your new roommate is arriving today, isn't he?"

"Correct. He moves in at nine," Yamato replies, helping himself to his share.

Sako frowns in confusion and turns towards him. "At nine? I thought he was supposed to come in the afternoon?"

"The housing office told me he's coming early."

"I see." Sako deftly rolls and cuts the omelet sitting in the pan on the stove. "At least that means he'll be coming when you and I aren't in class."

"I would have skipped today," Yamato says as he eats his rice.

Sako whirls around. "Hotsuin! You know you're not supposed to," she admonishes, brandishing her spatula. But then she sighs and lowers the plastic cooking utensil. "Well, it's the day your new roommate is moving in, so I suppose I can't fault you for thinking about it."

Yamato smirks victoriously, although he hides it behind his bowl of rice. The rest of breakfast passes by in relative silence, Sako occasionally speaking up to ask his opinion on the topics being discussed in their shared class.

Yanagiya joins them for breakfast today. Yamato remembers that she is free on Friday mornings. The blond woman smiles softly at them as she delicately seats herself at the table. She has faint bags underneath her eyes from all the studying she has to do, but to her credit, she doesn't complain about the workload even once.

"I haven't seen you all week, Otome," Sako says, placing Yanagiya's breakfast in front of her. "Is the health center that busy?"

"Oh, it is. It's only September, but people are getting sick already," Yanagiya laughs. "Nothing too bad yet. I'm sure I'll be needed a lot more once the snow comes in during the winter seasons."

"You should get some more rest, you know. You need to look after your own health, too," Sako exhales.

"I know, I know. You're a real motherhen, Makoto. I think it's sweet. You'll make a great mother one day." Yanagiya smiles disarmingly.

Yamato hides another smile as Sako flushes beet red and starts to sputter incoherently at the pre-med student, "O-O-Otome! What are you saying?! I—I don't—oh, forget it!"

Yanagiya's smile turns serene. "Oh, Makoto. I'm just teasing you," she giggles. "From one woman to another." Sako's blush remains fiercely red.

Leaving the women to their conversation, Yamato stands up to make himself a strong cup of coffee. He glances at the clock mounted on the wall. It's already eight o'clock. One more hour until Totsui arrives.

While waiting for his coffee to brew, Yamato heads to his room to grab his laptop. He may as well start studying for the midterm exam now even though it won't take place until mid-October. It pays to be prepared. He gets his computer and its charger, then settles on the living room couch to do his work.

He notices that Yanagiya has helped herself to some of the coffee, but doesn't call her out on it. God knows she needs it more than he does. He stands up to pour himself a cup, then returns to his seat on the couch. He takes a sip, reveling in the strong, bitter flavor. Ah yes, freshly-brewed black coffee. Just the way he likes it. He puts the mug down on the coffee table and resumes typing on his computer.

Yamato is roused from his intense study session when the apartment door opens and two strangely-familiar voices come through. He saves his work and sets his laptop aside. He hears Sako greeting them already, and stands up.

"—really no problem, I'm glad to be here. This is my best friend, Shijima Daichi. He's helping me move all of my stuff."

Yamato pauses in shock on his way to the door. Shijima Daichi. That is one of the names he vaguely recalls from his dreams. The dream-Shijima was that boy's friend, too. Does that mean—it can't be!

He rounds the corner, "Sako, what—"

All words die on his tongue as he gets his first look at his new roommate, who looks equally startled to see him. That hair—that face—those eyes—the young man standing in the hall holding a box of his belongings looks like the boy in his dreams.

No, 'looks like' doesn't do him justice. They look exactly the same. How is this possible?

"Aah!" Yamato snaps out of his thoughts as Totsui—no, Jin—makes a noise. "You're the guy who keeps showing up in my dreams!"

Yamato stares blankly at him for a second.

What.

"Dreams? Do you two already know each other?" Sako questions, glancing between them.

"Ah, nothing, it's a little complicated to explain," Jin says, turning back to her. He gives Yamato another cursory look. "So, where's the room I'm staying in?"

"This way," Yamato speaks up, feeling a little numb. "You're rooming with me."

"Oh." Jin blinks, but gives him a small smile anyway. "Lead the way, then."

So much for first impressions. As Yamato turns on his heel to show Jin their room, he hears Shijima whisper loudly behind him, "You're kidding, right? Is that guy really the one who appears in all of your weird dreams?"

"Well, he looks the part. I guess we'll find out," Jin replies, not bothering to be quiet about it.

Yamato opens the door to the room and steps in. "Here we are. The empty side is yours. We can discuss our living agreement conditions once you have fully moved in," he says, gesturing to the left side of the room. He watches as Jin and Shijima scope out the room.

"Pretty nice digs, dude," Shijima says, putting down his box at the foot of Jin's bed. "You've got a lot more space than I do at the Dubhe House. I can't believe you have an actual closet instead of a wardrobe." He walks over and pulls the doors open. "Yep, tons of space. I'm so jealous of you right now."

Jin laughs. "Well, this is the Alcor House. I bet the university spoils the people who live here."

"Yeah, but still!" Shijima closes the closet doors and heads out of the room. "C'mon, man, we've still got your luggage and the other boxes to bring in."

"Right." Jin sets his box on top of the one Shijima carried in and follows his friend out the door. Yamato returns to the living room and resumes studying. As he works on his laptop, he constantly hears them walk back and forth, to the room and back out the door. He hears them laughing and teasing each other. The words on the screen are suddenly a lot less interesting, Yamato thinks. His brain can barely compute the fact that apparently Jin also has dreams. About him. How does that work, then? In Yamato's dreams, he never once heard Jin's name, only the sound of the first letter. Does that mean that in Jin's dreams, he didn't hear Yamato's name? How come they share the dreams anyway? What does it all mean?

Yamato hates being confused.

Half an hour passes by, and they are finally done lugging Jin's belongings into the apartment. Jin bids farewell to his friend and closes the door. Yamato leans against the doorway, watching as Jin starts to unpack his belongings. There are quite a few boxes. He thinks it will be a while before the room looks neat again.

Jin looks up and catches his eye. "Yes? Do you need something?" he asks, standing up and brushing off his jeans.

Yamato stares at him with a thoughtful expression. "…You said you had dreams," he begins, "featuring me in them. What were they about?"

"The dreams? They're about a lot of different things, so I can't say for sure," Jin says, ruffling his black hair and making the curls messier than they already were. Yamato resists the sudden urge to walk over and do the same thing. "I don't really remember much about them. I think the one I had this morning was about takoyaki?"

That instantly confirms Yamato's suspicions. He huffs and sinks down onto his own bed, making Jin look over him in bemusement. "Let me guess—you found me walking down the street looking for other extraordinary civilian Demon Tamers, talked to me for a bit, and then you encouraged me to try the takoyaki that was shoved into my hands by a street vendor. I ate it and liked it. Then you dragged me by hand down the street," he says, watching as Jin's eyes grow wide. His mouth drops open a bit.

"That's… exactly it," Jin admits slowly. He looks at Yamato warily. "How did you know?"

"How do you think I knew?" Yamato grumbles, lacing his fingers behind his head. "I had the same dream, idiot."

"What? You're kidding me!" Jin exclaims, leaning over Yamato's bed. Yamato swats at him half-heartedly. "So does that mean that this whole time, we've been having the same dreams from different perspectives?"

"You're in my personal space," Yamato gripes, but Jin ignores him. "To answer your question, yes. I believe we have been sharing dreams for a little over two years."

"They did start once I turned eighteen," Jin muses. "You?"

"When I turned seventeen. You're a year older than I am, I believe."

"Huh, really? You're still nineteen?" Jin leans back and Yamato is glad. On a whim, he turns his head to the side and catches sight of the back of Jin's white hoodie. He blinks at the trailing fabric, which reminds him of rabbit ears. He frowns. Hadn't that person he saw drop the Pendragon on TV have the same thing?

"Hey." He speaks up. Jin looks at him. "Were you the person who dealt with the loose Pendragon on Wednesday? I recall you used a Ziodyne spell."

"Uh, yeah, that was me. How'd you know?" Jin gives him a puzzled look. "I'm pretty sure I managed to evade all the reporters, so…"

"It was the ears on your hoodie," Yamato explains. "I saw them trailing behind you when you got on the Pendragon's head."

"Aw hell."

Jin resumes unpacking. Yamato slides off his bed and heads back to the living room to finish his work. Before he leaves the room, Jin calls out to him.

"Hey, do you mind if I call you 'Yamato'?" he asks. "Now that I know your full name, calling you 'Hotsuin' just… feels wrong, you know? I've been calling you 'Hoya-san' this whole time because those were the only two syllables I could make out. You can call me 'Jin' if you like." He gazes at Yamato imploringly.

I already have been, Yamato thinks silently. Out loud, he answers, "I don't mind. Do as you like."

"Awesome, thanks," Jin says, grinning. He rummages around the box in front of him and pulls out a leather-bound notebook. "Ah, here it is. Yamato, do you want to compare more dreams? I always write down whatever I can remember after I wake up."

For some reason, Yamato likes the way his name rolls off the other boy's tongue. He has a sneaking suspicion that it's his dream self's fault. "I have time," he acknowledges with a quiet hum. "I will retrieve my laptop first, then we can talk." Jin nods and sets the notebook down. Yamato leaves the room to grab his laptop from the coffee table in the living room. He glances at the clock again. It is a few minutes shy of ten o'clock. He doesn't have class until the afternoon. Plenty of time to discuss the dreams and what they can possibly mean.

When he returns to the room, Jin is sitting on his bed and flipping lazily through his dream journal. He looks up when Yamato enters. "Oh, hey. Got your laptop?"

Yamato doesn't reply. He walks over to his desk, carefully avoiding the mess of boxes and scattered belongings strewn across the floor, and puts his computer down. Then he climbs up on his own bed and makes himself comfortable.

Jin lets out a quiet laugh. "Let's get started, then," he says, going back to the beginning of the journal. "The first entry I recorded in here was the first dream I had. We were fighting a powerful entity—I think its name was Polaris? We were fighting to help you realize your ambition of creating a true meritocracy."

Yes, Yamato vaguely remembers that dream. It had been a long, arduous battle. Jin had nearly been killed by Polaris' energy beam. If it hadn't been for Yamato's quick action and the Diarahan he had had his Norn cast, it was unlikely that Jin would have survived. Yanagiya had been too far away at the time, healing the others. If Yamato hadn't been by Jin's side at that moment… He shakes his head. No use dwelling over it. It was a dream.

"We won, I think. The dream ended after you dealt the final blow," Jin continues. "What do you think these dreams are? Honestly, to me, they seem a lot like… memories."

"You think so too, huh?" Yamato responds slowly. "We can hypothesize later. What of the other dreams?"

"Right." Jin flips to the next page. "The next one was about something called Dubhe—which is coincidentally the name of one of the apartment buildings on this campus. I also think it's pretty weird that they called this thing a 'Septentrione', which is, as you know, the name of this university. Septentrione University. Come to think of it, isn't Polaris also the name for one of the apartment buildings?"

Yamato's eyes widen at the connection. Of course, he should've seen it sooner!

"Then there's—" Jin's cheeks suddenly flush pink and he closes the notebook with a loud snap. Yamato just raises an eyebrow. He attempts to recall the dream himself, but comes up blank.

"L-Let's just skip that one, it's embarrassing," Jin mutters, trying his hardest not to look at Yamato. "It's about, you know… sex."

Oh. That explains things.

Yamato turns slightly pink himself, but he speaks up, "Human copulation is a natural desire borne from our base mating instincts. It is not as disconcerting as you make it out to be."

Jin's blue eyes meet his. He looks incredulous. "Oh god, I don't get how you can say all of that with such a straight face," he croaks. "But when you put it that way, it does sound more scientific and less… awkward."

"Like I said, sex is a natural desire."

Jin groans and covers his face with his journal. "But this was a dream about us. You can't say there's nothing disturbing about having a sex dream about someone you've never even met." His voice comes out muffled behind the notebook.

"Why not? I hear some people dream of copulating with a faceless partner," Yamato says bluntly, smirking as Jin seemingly shrinks into a ball on his bed.

"Y-you're having fun with this, aren't you?" Jin sputters, peering over the top of his journal. "Bastard."

"My parents are married, thank you."

Jin silently screams. Yamato just keeps smirking.

"You're impossible," the dark-haired man grumbles, falling on his back. "Well, since you're so insistent on it… fine. We had a dream about the first time we had sex after creating a meritocratic world. Happy now?"

"Quite. See, it is much simpler than you made it seem with your unnecessary theatrics," Yamato says. Jin looks like he wants to throw the journal at him.

"Whatever." Yamato: 1, Jin: 0.

Yamato does remember the dream though. Sort of. He remembers a lot of heat and skin-on-skin contact. He flushes a little as he recalls the erotic face Jin made as he orgasmed and the way they collapsed together on the bed in a tangle of limbs, tired, aching, but ultimately satisfied.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Jin. His new roommate sits up, a mischievous grin on his face. "So you do remember. If you also recall, you were on the bottom and it was my cock up your ass—"

"You are vulgar. Refrain from using such profane language in front of me or I will strangle you myself."

Jin laughs at the empty threat, which brings a small smile to Yamato's face despite his attempt to keep a straight face. He likes the way Jin laughs. It is a pleasing sound.

"Anyways, moving on. The next dream was about…"

Yamato quietly sits and listens to the sound of Jin's voice as he goes over more of the dreams. Perhaps it is a side effect of the dreams, but it seems his dream self has transferred some of his feelings over to Yamato. He has an inkling of where it will lead them should Jin happen to reciprocate, but he has no intention of forcing Jin into a relationship with him, especially when they just met officially for the first time in real life rather than the dreams. This is how his dream self felt, after all. He will feel much happier if Jin chooses him of his own volition rather than if Yamato forces him to choose him. Choices matter. Decisions are important.

Jin will come to him. He knows it.

---

Fingers trail hesitantly along his jawline, leaving a trail of warmth in their wake. Yamato doesn't look away, returning Jin's steady gaze with one of calm acceptance.

"Are you sure about this, Yamato?" Jin breathes, leaning in so that his nose barely bumps Yamato's. "You won't regret it?"

"I should be asking you that. Most people are put off by my acerbic behavior, yet you have remained. Perhaps I should be wondering when you will tire of me and leave," Yamato responds quietly, his eyes flickering past Jin's face. He has never been so close to anyone, and as much as he hates to admit it, the close contact unnerves him. The fact that it is Jin, his closest confidant and friend, eases his nerves a bit.

Jin smiles tiredly, closing his eyes. "I'll be here, Yamato. I'll be by your side. This is the path I chose," he says. "But… being a right-hand man is far different than what you want now. So—"

Yamato has had enough of talking and words and dancing around each other in circles. He closes the distance between them and kisses Jin hard, like he's been wanting to do for months. Jin flinches slightly in surprise and opens his mouth. Although his lips are slightly dry, the warmth and wetness of his mouth make up for it. Yamato's hands grasp Jin's narrow hips and he wheels them around so he can crush the other man against the wall. Jin retaliates by biting on his bottom lip. Yamato hisses at the slight sting.

They wrestle for dominance and control. Neither of them win—they are forced to separate when oxygen becomes a pressing need. Yamato eyes Jin's lips with a pleased expression. They are swollen and gleaming from the intensity of the kiss. A trail of saliva drips from the corner of Jin's mouth. Excellent.

Jin's eyes gleam with anticipation and lust. Yamato shivers even though the gaze makes his blood boil with excitement. Whatever nervousness he had felt earlier had disappeared with their intimacy. He wiped the saliva from his own chin with the back of his hand. He smirks at Jin. There's no going back now.

A loud knock on the door distracts them and effectively kills the mood. Irritated beyond measure at the interruption, Yamato stomps over to the door and wrenches it open, snarling, "What?"

Sako is standing there looking startled. "Chief Hotsuin, I came to make my report. Is it a bad time?" she asks, looking over Yamato's shoulder as Jin slowly ambles over. She takes in both of their disheveled states and frowns in confusion. Yamato can see the gears turning in her head, and knows the exact moment when it finally clicks. His subordinate turns bright red. "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chief Hotsuin! I-I see you're in the middle of s-something important. I-I-I'll come back later," she stammers quickly. Then she flees down the hallway in such hurry that one might think she had teleported.

"What was that about?" asks a puzzled Jin.

"Nothing important, leave her be," Yamato grumbles, shutting the door. He turns towards Jin. "I have work to do now. You're dismissed."

"Alright, you workaholic. I'll leave you to your endless piles of paper," Jin sighs. He pushes past Yamato to leave the room, but Yamato stops him.

"Wait." When Jin looks at him, Yamato grasps his chin and tilts his head up. They kiss again, just as fierce and passionate as the first time. Yamato pulls away and smirks. "I expect you to join me for dinner tonight." He releases Jin's chin and walks back to his desk.

Jin makes an affirmative noise and exits the room, closing the door behind him.

---

Six-thirty on a Saturday morning is really a terrible time to be awake, Yamato thinks. He wants it to end. There's just three more days left. Only three more days until the week-long dream streak finally ends and he can sleep in. He wonders if Jin also wakes up at ungodly hours after the dreams. Yamato turns his head, trying to find Jin's face in the darkness. He fails.

He receives his answer when Jin's quiet voice cuts through the silence, "Yamato? Are you awake?"

"…Yeah."

"Oh." There is a shuffling sound like Jin is turning over in his blankets. Yamato squints as something moves in the darkness and realizes that Jin is getting out of bed. The dark-haired man muffles a curse as he trips over something. Yamato hides his smile. He flinches when Jin turns the desk light on and grabs a pen.

"What're you doing?" he mumbles, pulling the blanket over his eyes. It's too bright.

"Writing the dream down so I don't forget it, remember?" Jin sounds strangely coherent even with a sleepy voice. There is a pause and all Yamato hears is the pen scribbling over the page. He burrows his face into his pillow and attempts to fall back asleep. It never works, but he stubbornly refuses to get up this early on a weekend morning. The steady scritch-scratch of the pen on paper is rather soothing and Yamato is lured into a sleepy daze, not quite awake, but not quite asleep.

He wakes suddenly when Jin sits on his bed. He grumbles and tries to ignore his roommate. Then Jin leans over and blows in his ear, snickering when Yamato yelps and bolts up, blinking furiously and rubbing at his ear.

Yamato glares at the laughing man. "I was trying to sleep, you incorrigible pest," he hisses, laying back down and attempting to become one with the bed.

"Nope, no going back to sleep! Stay awake with me," Jin says, ripping the blanket away. Yamato curls up and tries his hardest to ignore the other. "I don't think it's a coincidence that we had the 'first kiss' dream after we went over the 'first sex' dream yesterday."

"I am not talking about this right now."

"Well, too bad. I am. Anyways, I was thinking—hey now, don't turn away, I'm talking to you. Yamatooo," Jin whines, shaking the younger man's shoulder.

Yamato violently rolls over to face Jin. "What part of 'I'm trying to sleep' don't you underst—nngh!" One of his legs knocks into Jin's and makes the dark-haired man fall on to Yamato, smashing their groins together. A bolt of heat jolts through him, one that he is highly familiar with thanks to the dreams. He hopes Jin doesn't notice his reaction.

Jin is up in a flash and scooting backwards with an embarrassed blush across his cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that! I just wanted to talk!" he babbles, waving his hands frantically. "Let's just… forget it happened. Yeah."

Yamato sits up slowly, subtly arranging the blankets in his lap so he can will his awakening hard-on away as they talk. "I am blaming you for my inability to sleep longer," he says casually. "Shall I tell Sako not to feed you?"

"I can cook for myself," Jin counters defensively.

"Indeed, the ability to make rice is a top-notch quality in restaurant-worthy chefs everywhere," Yamato replies blandly. Jin kicks him in retaliation. Yamato holds in a wince as his leg starts to throb from the force. He rubs the sore spot, giving Jin a baleful glare, and props his pillow against the wall so he can lean into it. "Well? What did you really want to talk about?"

Jin blinks at him and lets out an unintelligible noise. "Uh. Well, I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't think having the 'first kiss' dream was a coincidence," he says slowly, rubbing absently at his chin. "So… what do you think the purpose of these dreams is? We didn't get to formulate any hypotheses yesterday."

"Jin, it's seven in the morning," Yamato seethes. "And it's Saturday."

"So?"

"So nothing. Leave me be. I am not going to discuss dream significance or hypotheses with you right now. And get off my bed, you are hogging my space." Yamato grabs his pillow and flops back down, burying his face into it.

"Oh fine, if that's the way you want to be, mister grumpy. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between you and dream-Yamato," Jin grumbles, sliding off Yamato's bed and getting back on his own. "Hmm, it gets confusing calling both of you 'Yamato' all the time. Maybe I should call you 'Yama-chan'."

Yamato shoots up and glares at Jin. "No."

A wicked grin surfaces across Jin's face. "Yama-chan," he sing-songs.

"STOP."

"Too late, I've decided. You're 'Yama-chan', now," Jin says, nodding sagely to himself. "And everyone will know before the day is over."

"Don't you dare, Jin. I will throttle you."

"Ooh, I'm so scared, Yama-chan—ack!" Yamato throws his pillow at Jin, smacking his roommate directly in the face.

"Oh, it's on!" Jin throws the pillow back at him, but Yamato expects it and catches it with ease. Jin is already in motion by then, and Yamato is forced to use his pillow as a shield when Jin chucks one of his fluffy cushions at Yamato's head. He hears the mattress groan a second before Jin lands on top of him, having jumped from his own bed. How the older man had managed to do that, Yamato has no idea.

They roll around on top of his bed, which is barely big enough for the two of them at the same time. Yamato squirms and kicks at Jin while the other valiantly attempts to suffocate him with his own pillow. Yamato manages to knee him in the groin, which earns him a pained yelp as Jin freezes up. Yamato takes the opportunity to roll them over so he is on top and Jin is face-down beneath him. He promptly sits on the other man, ignoring Jin's flailing.

"Yield," he says, trapping both of Jin's wrists.

"You're heavy, damn it. Get off!" The dark-haired man struggles futilely, only able to kick his legs.

"Not until you admit defeat."

"Never!"

Yamato leans back just in time, narrowly avoiding Jin's attempted headbutt. "You have terrible accuracy," he teases, amused. After making sure Jin isn't going to try again, Yamato leans down and whispers, "Submit to me, Jin."

It seems the emphasis on his name does the trick, because Jin shivers beneath him and goes still. "…I yield," he mutters, his voice oddly raspy. Yamato nods—this is how it should be—and releases him. He gets off the bed and walks to his closet to grab a change of clothes. There is no way he can sleep now, so he may as well take a shower. He looks at his phone. It is only seven-twenty. On weekends, usually no one is up and about until at least ten, with the exception of Kanno.

When he steps into the shower, warmth cascades down his skin and washes the filth away. Yamato is content. His thoughts turn back to the last dream. Jin has a point—it is highly suspicious that they would dream about their first kiss the night after they met, and after they had gone through some of the more… adventurous parts in Jin's dream journal. If they go by dream sequence, it looks random. The dream before it had been about takoyaki. He rubs at his face and tilts his head up, letting the water drench his hair. Perhaps they are reading too much into this. A dream is just a dream.

He places a hand against the tiles on the wall. A dream is just a dream, he repeats to himself. So then… why do they feel so real, like he had experienced them before? Why do they feel like long lost memories? He is sure that they cannot be his memories—after all, demons are a normality in this world and JP's is not a top secret organization run by his family. JP's doesn't exist in this world at all. He supposes that the public equivalent is the DT's Organization (short for DEATs, or Demon Extermination and Taming). DT's monitors the demons in Japan and trains Demon Tamers to take care of rogue or unruly demons. Many of the low-level demons are kept as pets because they are considered too harmless to do much damage. High-class demons can only be summoned by humans with an equivalent amount of power, so DT's is always on the lookout for people with potential.

Yamato wonders if Jin was ever scouted by them. Being from the Hotsuin clan, both Yamato and Miyako were subjected to a different, but brutally efficient and strict training regimen than DT's uses for its new recruits. Their family name alone is enough for DT's to leave them alone, so Yamato has never had to deal with DT's hunters sniffing around him and attempting to bring him into the fold. As much as he prefers to keep his family at arm's length, he admits that they do have their uses.

He turns the water off and steps out. In a few short minutes, he is dry and dressed, vigorously toweling his hair. He scowls at the mirror when he sees the short, spiky silver locks at the back of his head pop up again. Damn things never stay down.

Jin has migrated back to his own bed when Yamato returns, taking his fluffy cushion with him. The man is curled up on the covers fast asleep, one hand on a book that he had probably been reading while Yamato was in the shower. He doesn't stir as Yamato dumps his clothes in his hamper. Yamato grabs his laptop from his desk and proceeds to exit the room. He needs coffee right now. On his way out, he pauses by Jin's bed and looks at his peaceful face. At once, he is hit by both a strong sense of affection and the deep, agonizing feeling of betrayal. Clutching his head, Yamato staggers out of the room.

Yamato's hands shake a little as he preps the coffee maker. His dream self is messing him up. As himself, he only met Jin yesterday, but with the feelings of his dream self seeping into him, it feels as though he has known Jin for a lifetime. Maybe he has, he thinks. Maybe they were reincarnated together. But the world that his dream self creates is a true meritocracy. Yamato's Japan is not.

What is going on? Yamato does not know.

He settles on the couch with his laptop. Perhaps he will formulate his own hypotheses for now. Once Jin wakes up, Yamato will share them with him.

Unsurprisingly, Kanno is the first one to wake up. She walks into the kitchen and empties the rest of the coffee into her own cup. After grabbing a bag of chips from the pantry, she returns to her room, presumably to work on more experiments. Yamato turns his eyes back to his computer. He contemplates what he has written thus far. He has managed to organize his thoughts more cohesively now and has made a few extra connections that he hadn't thought of previously.

Jin wobbles in at around nine, covering a yawn behind his hand. "I can't believe I actually fell back asleep," he mumbles, plopping on the couch next to Yamato. "You should've woken me up."

"And listen to more of your incessant chatter? I think not."

"Rude," Jin mutters, but flops his head on Yamato's shoulder anyway. He peers blearily at the screen. "What're you writing?"

"Hypotheses on our dreams," Yamato replies, resisting the urge to ruffle Jin's messy black hair. "Now be quiet, I am thinking."

"Sure, Yama-chan."

Yamato shoves Jin to the floor, careful to move his laptop out of the way. The dark-haired man squawks indignantly at the treatment. He crawls back on the couch and glares at Yamato. Yamato thinks it's cute. Jin's glare isn't threatening in the slightest.

"I told you to be quiet. And don't call me by that ridiculous name."

"I'll do it just to spite you," Jin counters, sinking into the couch cushions with a sigh. "What hypotheses have you come up with so far?"

"None that come close to a solid theory. I have considered reincarnation, but that idea doesn't account for multiple discrepancies between the dream world and our reality. I have also considered the possibility of there being a demon that can fabricate memories, but that doesn't explain the reason they would appear in a dream state. I hypothesized that perhaps this reality is not 'reality' at all, but a warp in spacial fabric that distorts our senses and makes us believe that we are living in the real world when we are not. But in that case, the dreams make no sense, because there is the dream shown to us where we died. Seeing as we are still among the living, I have since discarded that idea," Yamato explains. He knows from prior interactions between their dream selves that Jin is a highly intelligent individual who will have no trouble following his long-winded explanations. Indeed, Jin is nodding slowly and looking to be deep in thought.

"What about parallel worlds? If I recall, there is another person I often see in the dreams. He calls himself the Anguished One," Jin mentions. "Or maybe we were in an accident and think this world is our world when we're in comas? But that also doesn't account for the dreams. What if we're overthinking things and these are just dreams? But they seem too much like memories to be simple dreams, so…" Yamato smiles a little as he listens to Jin speak his thoughts out loud. The people in the Alcor House were placed here based on academic merit, so it isn't out of place to hear someone talk to themselves out loud about different ideas and theories.

Yamato pauses at that. Merit? Hadn't his dream-self created a true meritocracy? He frowns. He already went over this idea, though. DT's exists here, not JP's. The Hotsuin family does not work as the shadows of Japan. He has a twin sister. Demons are commonplace. He and Jin are alive, as are other comrades. And Japan is not a true meritocracy.

He taps a finger against the keyboard. Jin's idea about parallel worlds is worth thinking about, but how does one go about proving their existence? He remembers the Anguished One, too. A shining figure in a striped red-and-black shirt, with white hair even messier than Jin's. There is another name he calls him, he remembers. It begins with an A. Al… Al… Alcor? That's… the name of this apartment building, isn't it? That's no coincidence.

There is another name that Jin calls him, but he cannot remember it. He pauses his furious typing and turns towards his roommate. "Jin. Do you remember the name your dream-self used for Alcor?" he asks. At Jin's blank look, he amends, "The Anguished One."

Jin frowns at him. "There's another name for him? Mm, I don't know about that. Someone named Joe calls him 'Angy', but I doubt that's the name you're looking for," he says.

Indeed, it's not. But if Jin doesn't know… why does Yamato think that there's another name?

There are too many questions he has and no solid answers.

He looks at his phone. It's almost nine-thirty. They should eat breakfast. He knows Sako will not be getting up anytime soon, so he decides to make it himself. Usually Yanagiya helped him if she happened to be awake when he started, but Jin is the one here this time, not her. He is surprised when Jin volunteers to make it instead, but decides to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I can cook more than rice, you know," Jin huffs, walking into the kitchen. "You just sit there and hypothesize."

"What will you be subjecting my stomach to this morning?"

"You've never even tasted my cooking! The rice doesn't count!"

Yamato smirks. "Make it good, then."

Jin snorts and turns away without replying. Yamato looks at his computer screen and saves his file. He then closes his laptop.

That is quite enough thinking for the time being. He may return to it once breakfast is over, but he thinks it will be a good idea to go out for a stroll today. He hears the demons near the Nerima ward are starting to get rowdy.

"Jin," he calls out.

"What?" comes the distracted reply.

"I will be going to the Nerima ward later. I would like you to accompany me," Yamato says.

Jin pops into view, holding a bowl of beaten eggs. "To Nerima? Why?" he inquires, mixing the eggs a little more. "Something going on over there?"

"No, just increased demon activity. It will be the perfect opportunity to give my demons some exercise," Yamato explains, getting off the couch. "I would also like to make sure my skills are not rusting."

"Battle maniac," Jin remarks without bite, rolling his eyes. "Sure, I'll go. Not like I have much to do anyway. Do you mind if I call Daichi and see if he wants to come?"

No, Yamato's heart and mind both vehemently protest. "If I recall from the dreams, Shijima is not fond of fighting demons," he says instead.

"Well, we grew up with the demons this time, so he's not scared of them," Jin explains, shrugging. He casts a scrutinizing look at Yamato. "If you don't want him to come, you can say no."

Yamato walks over to him. "Then I would prefer it if Shijima does not tag along. My dream-self barely tolerated him—I imagine my behavior would be similar," he says, passing Jin to get to the fridge.

"Daichi is my best friend," he hears Jin say quietly as he returns to his cooking. Yamato opens the fridge door and grabs the chilled bottle of water he left in there last night.

"But he is nowhere near as intelligent as you are," Yamato counters coolly, closing the fridge door. "There is a reason that you are here at the Alcor House and he is not."

"Daichi can be slow sometimes," Jin admits. "But I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult him in front of me."

"Duly noted," Yamato says dryly, making his way back to the couch. He drinks the rest of the water in the bottle and tosses it into the recycle bin.

They don't talk again while Jin makes breakfast. Just as Jin finishes putting the omelets on a plate, Sako walks in, pulling a brush through her damp blue hair. "Good morning. I'm surprised you're not making breakfast, Hotsuin," she says.

"Jin said he would do it," Yamato replies, looking up at her.

"It's ready," he hears Jin call from the kitchen. Sako smiles at him and sets her brush down. Yamato follows her into the kitchen.

He half expects to see a disaster on the table, but is pleasantly surprised by the neat arrangement of plates at each of their seats. He sits in his usual chair and waits for everyone to be seated. Sako looks around, then stands back up. "I'll go get Fumi and Otome."

A minute later, she returns with the other two women. Kanno looks sulky—probably because Sako pulled her away from an interesting experiment—and Yanagiya looks like she just got out of bed. She probably did.

"Totsui made breakfast today," Sako says as they sit down. She looks at Jin with a warm smile that makes Yamato's chest throb jealously. But he quashes the feeling with ease. "Thank you, Totsui."

"You can call me Jin," the dark-haired man says, returning the smile. "And you're welcome."

Sako looks taken aback, but she recovers quickly. "Call me Makoto, then."

"I don't mind being called Otome," Yanagiya says softly.

Kanno shrugs half-heartedly with one shoulder. "I don't care which name you use, I'll respond if I feel like it."

Jin smiles at all of them. "Alright then. Makoto, Otome, and Fumi it is," he says. Yamato suddenly feels irritated. He glowers at Yanagiya when she gives him a sympathetic look. He doesn't need her pity.

Breakfast is delicious. Yamato thinks that Sako's cooking is just a slight notch higher than Jin's, but his roommate has proven himself quite capable in the kitchen. He ignores the smug look Jin briefly flashes in his direction.

Afterwards, Yamato and Jin prepare to leave for the Nerima ward. Yanagiya sees them as they are walking out the door and she giggles. Yamato gives her a suspicious look.

"Oh, it's nothing," she says airily, smiling at them. "You two look like you're going on a date. My, that was fast."

"Oh, no, we're not—" Jin attempts to correct her.

"Yanagiya." Yamato looks annoyed. "We are going demon hunting. Stop jumping to outlandish conclusions."

Yanagiya just clasps her hands behind her back and ignores everything he says. "If you say so. Well, have a safe trip, you two. I hope you know the procedures involving safe sex," she says.

Yamato is sure that both he and Jin look equally horrified at the moment. Yanagiya giggles one last time and turns on her heel to return to her room down the hall. Yamato trades glances with Jin. "Never speak of this to anyone," Yamato commands. Jin agrees without hesitation.

---

It is midnight, and Yamato stands alone in the grand foyer of the JP's Osaka Headquarters. He is waiting. Waiting to see if his path to meritocracy is the one that Jin will choose. He hopes Jin comes. Whatever he decides will be where mankind ends up.

He hears them coming; quiet footsteps, slow but certain. He cannot help the smile that blooms across his face when Jin emerges from the shadows of the hallway, bright blue eyes alert and filled with determination.

"I knew you would come," Yamato says, swooping across the floor to meet him halfway.

When Jin smiles, he suddenly looks a lot more tired. Yamato feels a strange warmth blossom in his chest when he realizes that the older boy must have done a lot of thinking on what to do with the world, and in the end, he chose Yamato's way. The meritocratic way. He has no words appropriate to describe how utterly elated he feels inside.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Jin says, coming to a halt in front of him.

Yamato almost reaches out to cradle Jin's face in his gloved hand, but he refrains. "No need to apologize. You are the only one I would wait for, the only one worth waiting for," Yamato responds. "I will be frank, Jin. Be my right-hand man. No one but you is worthy of such a position. You have power, charisma, and intellect in spades. A mere week ago, you were a helpless lamb, lost among all the civilian sheep. But you have proven yourself these past six days to be a true warrior and leader. When this world becomes a meritocracy, we will be the driving force at its helm. The truly meritorious will reign supreme, while the weak shall fall and rot like the world we live in now. Join me, Jin. Though I say to be my right-hand, we will be equals in this new world. You and I can create the perfect world together."

He finishes his impromptu speech and waits expectantly for Jin's response. The dark-haired boy looks to be deep in thought, and for a very, very short second, Yamato fears that his speech may have had the opposite effect on Jin.

Then Jin looks at him straight in the eye, smiles, and tells him, "Okay."

A single word, that is it. One simple word has the power to ignite the flames of righteousness that Yamato keeps locked inside of him, so that they burst forth in a mad shower of exploding sparks. Yamato throws his head back and laughs, long and loud. Finally! Finally his ambitions will be realized! And it's all thanks to this boy, someone who he had originally thought to be just another face in the crowd, but turned out to be a predator in disguise. Yes, if it hadn't been for Jin, Yamato would not be here now.

The other three who chose to follow him, Sako, Kanno, and Wakui, enter the room. He is most displeased when they jump right into the conversation and take Jin's attention away from him.

"I'm talking to him, you fools. Wait your turn," he grumbles, bringing their eyes to him.

Kanno smiles, slow and languid. "Of course, Chief," she replies, gracefully bowing out. Sako and Wakui follow suit, although the younger boy is smirking like a cat that got the canary.

As Yamato begins to outline their plans from there on out, he keeps a closer eye on Jin than his other subordinates. They should all get to bed soon. He can see the exhaustion in Jin's stiff posture and the fatigue seeping into his face even as he struggles to hold a neutral expression. They will be going up against both of the other factions tomorrow, along with the seventh Septentrione. He needs all of his fighters at full strength and in the best health possible. With Yanagiya gone, they must rely on their demons and equipped Healing spells to take care of their wounds tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow will be a big day. Try as the other factions may, Yamato knows that with Jin on his side, he won't lose.

No one can take Jin away from him. Not now, not ever.

---

It's Sunday now. Two more nights, then he wouldn't have to see them again for a while. Yamato opens his eyes, blinking up at the dark ceiling, then frowns. Something doesn't feel quite right… He feels strangely warm, more so than usual. And he hears… breathing?

He almost leaps out of his skin when someone stirs on the bed next to him. "Yamato?" Jin's voice, thick and slurred with sleep, comes from the lump lying next to him. "Why 'm I in your bed?"

Yamato doesn't know how to answer that. He is certain that they both fell asleep in their respective beds last night. Did Jin sleepcrawl his way into Yamato's bed during the dream? He didn't do it the previous night. Maybe it was just a one-time thing?

"I don't know," he says. Jin doesn't move, and strangely, Yamato doesn't have the heart to tell him to go back to his own bed. If it had been anyone else, Yamato is sure he would have shoved them to the floor and gone back to sleep. But Jin is Jin. Their shared dreams make him feel like they've been connected for longer than the few days they've actually known each other. This closeness is certainly not unpleasant. In fact, he can see himself getting used to this.

But the bed isn't made to accommodate two fully grown adult men. Yamato barely has any space to move since Jin's body is wedging him against the wall. He wriggles experimentally. Nope, no room.

"Jin," he hisses quietly. "Get up. I can't move."

Jin muffles a sound against the bedsheet. Yamato makes a frustrated noise and squirms, attempting to wiggle his way out. He freezes when Jin's arm shoots out and lands directly across his chest. Any attempts to death-glare Jin will be lost in the darkness, unfortunately. So Yamato resorts to his last possible method.

He turns his head and bites the outer rim of Jin's ear. There is a cry of pain and Jin's eyes fly open in shock. Yamato releases his ear and stares at him balefully. "Awake now? Good, get off. You are crushing me against the wall," he says.

Jin's arm retracts from his chest as the man reaches up to rub tenderly at his ear. "You didn't have to bite me! That really hurt," he complains, slowly sitting up.

When he takes his fingers away, Yamato notes that his ear is now bright-red. He stubbornly refuses to feel any guilt over it.

"That is your own fault. You did not move when I told you to," Yamato explains, stretching out his limbs. Ah, it is good to have some space again. "Consider it revenge for your little stunt yesterday."

"Yeah? Well, how do you like this!" Jin promptly sprawls all over him, pressing Yamato into the mattress.

"Get off!" Yamato snarls, attempting to push the other man off of him, but Jin stubbornly refuses to move. "Jin!"

"I'm not moving, Yama-chan. It's comfortable here," Jin mumbles, his eyelids sliding closed. "You're warm…"

Yamato stops struggling and stares at Jin with wide eyes. The feelings from Jin's dream-self must be affecting him more than he thought. Yamato is quiet. He listens to Jin's breathing in the darkness as it slows down, indicating that Jin has fallen back asleep. He sighs, settling his head back down on the pillow. Well, it is Sunday. He has nothing pressing to attend to. He may as well… sleep more…

For the first time since he began having the dreams, Yamato can feel himself drifting off again. His eyes flutter shut. Vaguely, he feels himself settling an arm over Jin's back, holding him close. Then he lets the darkness take him away.

---

Yamato wakes slowly. What time is it? He reaches for his phone. Jin is still snoozing on his chest, so he tries not to jostle him awake. Yamato nearly snorts out loud. Since when does he do things out of consideration for other people? This is Jin's fault. And the dreams' too, he supposes.

Jin moves a little as Yamato checks his phone. It's already past nine o'clock. He glances at Jin and sees that the other man has woken up and is attempting to go back to sleep by burying his face in Yamato's chest. It is a terribly endearing sight. Yamato wants to kick himself.

Realizing that it is an exercise in futility, Jin huffs and sits up, rubbing at his eyes. "Morning, Yama-chan," he says, yawning.

Yamato's eye twitches. He takes it back. Jin is not endearing at all.

Jin looks around blearily. "So… how did I end up in your bed? Did I sleep on you? Sorry—huh, did we have his conversation before?" he mumbles, absently rubbing at his ear. "Why does my ear hurt? Oh! That's right, you bit me." He stares accusingly at Yamato, who rolls his eyes.

"I needed a way to wake you up. Considering my arms were trapped, my head was my only option," Yamato elaborates. "Now get off my bed. It is past nine o'clock and I would like to shower."

"I'll make breakfast then," Jin says, mussing his unruly black curls. His brow furrows slightly, "I should write down the dream, too."

Yamato secretly looks forward to the meal, even though he doesn't let it show on his face. He pulls the blanket off and climbs out of the bed. After gathering his clothes and his comb, he heads to the bathroom. He hears a rustle as Jin slides off his bed and closes the door.

Before Yamato gets into the shower, he studies his reflection in the mirror. Narrow lavender eyes stare back at him. He grimaces at the sight of his bedhead—the silver locks in the back always stuck up more right after he woke up. His skin is fair, unlike Jin's natural tan. His overall coloring is pale in general, which is why he likes to wear dark clothing. Yamato examines himself a little longer, then turns away and steps under the warm spray.

He thinks back to the dream last night. Jin's dream-self had chosen to follow Yamato's dream-self on the path to true meritocracy. He wonders what the other options had been. Alcor had probably mentioned them to him at one point or another. Yamato remembers the intense rush of elation that filled him when Jin's dream-self had agreed to be his right-hand man and stand beside him in the new world. But he also remembers their last time together, twenty-five years into the future, where Jin had been utterly broken. What had happened in the twenty-five years of meritocracy that they had spent together? He only knows bits and pieces because of the dreams, but… Yamato's eyes narrow. Could something in those twenty-five years be linked to the reason that he and Jin were receiving the dreams?

Ah, it's no use to think on it when he doesn't have all the details in front of him. A puzzle is incomplete without all of its pieces. He and Jin will get to the bottom of this, then... Yamato pauses. Then what? What will they do once they find out the truth? What if the dreams are merely a fabrication of where they could end up? But that would clash too heavily in comparison to the real world. If they find out the truth—will the dreams disappear? If the dreams disappear forever… what does that mean about their feelings? Sometimes Yamato cannot tell the difference between his own and the ones inherited from his dream-self. But does that make his current feelings towards Jin false? Are they living in a fictitious reality?

There is a pang in his chest when he tries to think of Jin as an ordinary roommate. He doesn't want to return to what they once were before—a JP's chief with an extraordinarily heavy burden, and a civilian whose talents lay slumbering within. But that can't happen in this world, can it? JP's doesn't exist. And Jin's Demon Taming abilities have already bloomed.

Yamato turns the water off and gets out. Breakfast is waiting for him.

Jin greets him with a smile, followed by that awful nickname. Yamato is tempted to dump a cup of cold water over his head. Everyone else is already sitting at the table, so he refrains.

"How did your trip go yesterday?" Yanagiya asks, smiling sweetly.

Yamato hides a smile when Jin gives her a suspicious look. He probably remembers what she said to them before they left yesterday.

"The demons were pitifully weak. No challenge at all," Yamato says, taking a bite of his rolled omelet. Yanagiya's yellow eyes switch over to him. He sees Jin sag slightly in relief and inwardly huffs in exasperation.

"I see." Yanagiya looks unperturbed that Yamato and Jin caught on to her true motive. "Did you do anything else?"

"That is all. Keep your sick fantasies to yourself," Yamato growls, looking away from her.

"Hotsuin!" Sako sounds disapproving. "Don't be so rude to Otome."

Yamato gives her a flat expression. "Then tell her not to insinuate that I am having sex with Jin."

Sako gasps and blushes profusely. "W-what? Otome, you didn't!" she cries, whirling on her friend.

Yanagiya appears unrepentant. She merely tilts her head to the side and smiles. "Oh, calm down. It's not like I suggested you were in love with him or anything," she says airily. "But you shouldn't hold back, Hotsuin. I've seen the way you look at him when you don't think anyone else is looking. As an inspiring doctor, I think I should make sure you two know all the safety precautions to take when entering a serious relationship."

Kanno leans over the table with an interested expression on her face. "What's this? Did you hook up already? My, it hasn't even been three days. You guys sure do move fast," she hums nonchalantly.

"Fumi! Not you too," Sako groans.

"You guys have it wrong!" Jin protests, waving his chopsticks around. He leans over and whispers to Yamato, "They don't know about the dreams, do they?"

Yamato just gives him his patented 'are-you-fucking-stupid?' look. "Of course not," he replies.

"What are you two lovebirds talking about over there? I'm sensing a positive chemical reaction in the air," Kanno says teasingly.

"Are you done?" Yamato rumbles in irritation. He is finished eating, so he thinks it will be best to return to their room for the time being. "Then I will take my leave." He stands up and carries his dishes to the sink. After a moment's hesitation, Jin follows suit. Both of them ignore the smile that Yanagiya sends their way as they walk back to their room. Best not to look the devil in the eye.

"Do you want to go out again?" Jin inquires as they enter the room.

"Yanagiya will pester us again."

"You don't really care, do you?" Jin peers at Yamato's face. "They're just kidding around. Besides, they're… not exactly wrong."

"We are not in a relationship. Our dream-selves were," Yamato says testily. His eyes look down at Jin. "Or have your feelings melded together to the point where you are not averse to the idea?"

"You'd consider it?" Jin raises a brow.

Yamato looks away. He grabs his laptop from his desk. Jin is still standing between their beds, waiting for an answer. He looks expectant.

Yamato leans against his bed and sighs heavily. "I… do not dislike the idea," he says carefully, setting his laptop on his bed. "I am willing to experiment if it is with you."

His heart does a funny skip-jump in his chest when Jin smiles at him. "Okay," Jin acknowledges softly, moving forward. He stops in front of Yamato. "Want to go out? They won't be able to interrupt us."

Yamato is reminded of the dream. Okay. From Jin, that is all he needs to know that everything will be just fine. Okay. It is an agreement, like a one-word binding contract. Okay. Jin will follow him to the ends of the Earth. Okay. Jin has come to him. Okay. The world isn't wrong. Okay. They are the ones who are right.

Okay.

A hand touches his cheek, jolting him from his thoughts. "Hey," Jin says quietly, blue eyes dark with a touch of concern. "You're overthinking things again. Just trust me."

Yamato stares at Jin for a long, hard moment. His lips part, and only one thing slips out, "…Okay."

Okay.

Their kiss is nothing like their dream counterparts'. It is awkward, clumsy—neither of them really know what they're doing. Dream experiences can only do so much.

Yamato exhales softly when they part. He opens his eyes—when had he closed them?—and looks at Jin. The dark-haired man gives him a small smile. "See? It's not complicated." Jin embraces him. Yamato doesn't push him away. His own hands come up and perch on Jin's lower back. It feels familiar. It feels comforting. Jin's curly hair still smells faintly of the shampoo he used last night and Yamato breathes it in.

Jin…

Yamato hopes that this is not a fabrication. But at the same time he wonders if it is too good to be true.

Jin is the first to let go. He backs up a few steps, looking sheepish. "Sorry, forgot myself for a moment there. So…" he coughs into a fist and averts his gaze, a light layer of pink dusting his cheeks, "…do you want to go somewhere?"

Yamato doesn't speak at first. For once his mind is blissfully blank. Jin is right, he is probably overthinking everything. He settles a hand on Jin's shoulder, marveling at the solidity of the man in front of him. Before, in the dreams, what physical contact he had had with Jin seemed surreal, as if he was there but not at the same time. But this Jin—his Jin, not the Jin in the dreams—is real.

Jin gives him a questioning look. Ah, he hasn't answered yet. "I have no particular place that I wish to go. You choose today."

"…Shibuya then. I need to buy a few things."

Shibuya, also known as the shopping district. Yamato dislikes crowds, but for Jin, he'll go (reluctantly). He nods and turns around to grab his wallet. Jin fishes through his bag for his own wallet. When they are both ready, Yamato leads them from their room and down the hall.

Only Sako is around; Yanagiya and Kanno have both returned to their respective rooms. Sako looks up as Yamato and Jin put their shoes on. "Going somewhere?" she inquires. Yamato knows that of the three women, Sako is the least likely to tease them due to her somewhat-austere personality.

"We're going to Shibuya," Jin replies. "We'll be back later."

"Alright. Have fun, you two." Sako turns back to her laptop and resumes her work.

Thank god for small mercies.

---

Shijima is dead.

Yamato stares out the window as Jin cries into his gray shirt, his shoulders shaking violently. The city is burning. Of all the friends who accompany Jin into Yamato's meritocracy, Shijima is surprisingly the last to go. Yamato's opinion of him had risen drastically in the last twenty-two years. Shijima had not been, by any means, an intelligent man by Yamato's standards. But he had been resilient, sticking by Jin's side with a fierce and unwavering loyalty that Yamato had respected. But now the man was gone. Killed in action trying to protect his two children from a horde of rioters. Only one of Shijima's kids made it out alive from that brutal skirmish, just barely, thanks to Yamato's and Jin's efforts. She was currently resting in the infirmary.

Yamato knows that no words can comfort Jin right now. Shijima had been Jin's longest friend, made when they had been small children. The cold, meritocratic side of him wants to say that only the strong survive and the weak die off. But Yamato knows better. Shijima had survived in his meritocracy for twenty-two years. For someone with an incredible lack of spine—during the Septentrione battles, at least—Shijima did rather well in the new society. It was likely due to Jin's influence.

Jin's sobs have quieted down. The extra weight against his chest indicates that he has fallen asleep. Yamato carefully lays down on the bed, absently stroking through his partner's black curls in an attempt to offer some measure of comfort. The stress of the war being waged between Yamato's meritocracy and the weak rising from the bottom of the talent ladder has taken its toll on them both. In his fitful slumber, Jin's fingers curl tightly around the fabric of Yamato's shirt. His head turns slightly so that his ear is directly over Yamato's heart. When his expression pinches in the beginnings of a nightmare, Yamato tugs him closer and strokes his hair. He can only offer so much. Unlike with his trash subordinates, the loss of a valuable ally and friend creates a void that cannot be replaced.

He can only hope that this will not be the final straw that breaks Jin.

A knock on the door catches his attention. He frowns. All of his subordinates know to never disturb him once he has retired to his room unless it is an emergency. "Enter," he commands, careful not to raise his voice too loud.

The door creaks open and a JP's agent steps in, holding the hand of Shijima's daughter. Yamato stifles a sigh. The young girl is sniffling and hiccupping, her eyes red from long hours of crying. "W-where's Uncle Jin?" she asks. "I want Uncle Jin!" Her voice grows loud. Yamato has never liked children.

"Be quiet, your uncle is sleeping. If you wish to ask him something, wait until tomorrow," Yamato snaps, irritated. The girl shrinks back at his harsh tone, but then spots Jin sleeping on top of him.

She lets go of the agent's hand and runs up to them, jumping on Yamato's bed. Yamato glares and snarls at her as Jin stirs, his brows furrowing. Flustered, the JP's agent tries to take her off the bed, but she clings to Jin's soot-stained jacket, crying his name over and over again.

"Uncle Jin… Uncle Jin…"

Jin's eyes suddenly snap open and he lunges up with an animalistic scream, grabbing the girl by the throat and slamming her against the wall. Alarmed, Yamato grabs Jin's arm and tries to pry him away. The girl is rapidly turning blue, her eyes wide and bulging in fear. Her flailing doesn't do anything to Jin. Yamato involuntarily shivers at the unrelenting hatred and fury that burns in Jin's eyes. The agent is pleading with him to let the girl go, but he doesn't seem to hear her. Jin's gaze is distant, as if he's not seeing what is directly in front of him.

The girl's eyes are starting to flutter shut. Her struggling is getting weaker. Yamato knows that Jin will be in a far worse state of mind if he wakes up and realizes he killed his best friend's daughter. So he reaches out and pinches the nerve at the back of Jin's neck. The man collapses on the bed, unconscious. The girl scrambles away from him, choking and coughing and hacking and crying all at once.

"Take her back to the infirmary and fix her up," Yamato tells the agent, who is trying to comfort the young girl.

The agent salutes. "Yes, sir!" She takes the crying girl by the hand again and leads her from the room, closing the door behind her.

Yamato exhales, feeling drained. He looks down at Jin and smooths the black strands away from his partner's face. Jin still looks exhausted in his sleep, an occasional pitiful whimper escaping from his mouth. Yamato lays down beside him. He leans in and lightly presses kisses against Jin's nose and cheek and the corners of his mouth. Usually Jin is the more affectionate one, but tonight, Yamato must be the one to support him.

Jin's breathing eases as Yamato wraps his arms around him and holds his head to his chest again. Yamato closes his eyes as well.

He no longer knows if he can still hope for Jin to stand up and walk again.

---

When Yamato wakes up from the dream, he hears a gasp from the other bed. There is a loud rustle, as if Jin has flung off his blankets. The mattress creaks, and suddenly Jin is scrambling on to his bed and flinging himself down on to Yamato's body. A startled noise escapes Yamato's mouth at the action. Jin clutches at his night shirt, trembling. Yamato can hear him crying. He awkwardly brings a hand up and rests it on Jin's back.

They stay like that for a while. Yamato can feel his shirt sticking to him with the weight of Jin's tears soaking through the thin fabric. He should do his laundry today, he decides. The laundry room is usually empty on weekdays because the students have classes.

Jin finally quiets down, only an occasional whimper or sob escaping from his throat. Yamato tries to sit up. The dark-haired man lets go of him, scrubbing at his eyes. A raspy apology comes out of his mouth. Yamato rolls his eyes even though Jin can't see him in the darkness of the room and claps a hand on his shoulder.

"It was just a dream, Jin. Shijima is still alive. You saw him yesterday while we were in Shibuya," Yamato says firmly.

Jin lets out a dry laugh. "Yeah… I know. But it seemed very real," he murmurs, drawing up his knees so he can rest his arms on them. "Too real."

Yamato wriggles his way out of the covers. He grimaces at the damp state of his shirt and decides to peel it off. The shirt is tossed into the hamper in the corner. "Call him then," he says, clumsily embracing the older man. "If it is you, he will answer."

Jin hesitantly returns to the hug, shifting around so that his cheek rests on Yamato's shoulder. "…Can you do it? I—I don't think I can… right now," he whispers, his voice shaking a little at the end.

"I will need to get your cellphone. Where is it?" Yamato asks.

"It's next to my pillow." Jin lets go of him so he can retrieve the blue phone. Yamato walks over to his desk and switches the lamp on, bathing the room in a warm golden glow. Jin blinks at the sudden brightness, but quickly adjusts. Yamato climbs back on to his bed and Jin takes his phone. He flips it open, punches a few keys, then hands it back to Yamato and proceeds to occupy his lap. He grabs Yamato's arm and loops it around his torso so Yamato is holding him.

Yamato presses the call button and holds the phone up to his ear. The other line rings for a long time. Finally, Shijima's sleep-heavy voice answers, "Jin? Why're you callin' so early… 's barely sev'n…"

"Shijima. I have borrowed Jin's cellphone for the moment, so listen to what I have to say," Yamato begins. "I believe you know of Jin's dreams, correct? He had an especially bad one and needs to—"

Shijima interrupts him, "Jin? Did your voice change? Sounds deep'r than usual… huh, wait, why're you calling me by my last name? Did you hit your head or something? …Wait, you're not Jin."

Yamato holds the phone away from him and winces as a loud "who the hell are you?!" screeches through the receiver. He feels Jin shaking in his lap, but a muffled chuckle indicates that the man is laughing, not crying. His eye twitches as he slowly brings the phone back to his ear.

"Are you quite done?" he snaps, his arm tightening around Jin's waist. "It appears your puny brain is unable to decipher that it is I, Hotsuin Yamato, who is calling you from Jin's phone."

"Huh? You're… Jin's roommate. Where's Jin?!" Shijima asks, a note of concern entering his voice.

"Calm down, Shijima. Jin is right here." Yamato hands the phone to his roommate, who has calmed down considerably upon hearing Shijima's voice through the receiver. Jin answers the phone with a soft laugh and a strained smile.

Yamato snorts when he hears Shijima announce to Jin, "Bro, your roommate is a total asshole."

Jin just pats Yamato's arm, flashing him a small grin and mouths 'sorry'. Yamato just shakes his head and waves for him to continue his conversation. It isn't the first time someone has been put off by his harsh personality. Sometimes he wonders how his dream-self got Jin to like him in the first place.

The dark-haired man leans back against Yamato as he talks, his expression relaxing the longer he talks to Shijima. Yamato feels strangely glad. Too many times he has seen people go mad watching their loved ones or objections of affection talk to someone other than them. Yamato does not consider himself such a shallow person, but jealousy is a human emotion. He feels it whether he likes it or not. Many things had been trained out of him during his childhood, but even his family could not have predicted something like this.

Yamato leans against the wall and closes his eyes. He feels himself start to nod off again to the sound of Jin's voice. Odd, that. Before he met Jin, he couldn't fall back asleep after the dreams no matter how hard he tried. Now he can. Yamato blinks his eyes open, then shuts them again. He feels so drowsy…

He feels a hand shake him and lets out a grumble. "Yamato? I need you to let go of me. I have class soon." Jin's voice sounds distant, yet close at the same time. Yamato opens his eyes. Huh, when did he fall asleep? He looks tiredly down at Jin, who has twisted around to look at him. His phone is laying on the sheets, indicating that he has already stopped talking to Shijima.

Jin smiles at him, all traces of stress from the nightmarish dream completely gone from his face. "Good morning, sleepyhead," he greets teasingly. Yamato just blinks at him, not entirely awake yet. "I need to get up and prepare for class. Could you let me go?"

Oh. Yamato hadn't realized that he had been holding Jin so tightly against him. He loosens his grip, allowing Jin to slip off the bed. He locates his own phone underneath the pillow. It's already eight o'clock—he had been asleep for about an hour. He should shower now. He gets off the bed and walks to the closet for a change of clothes.

Today is Monday. That means there is only one more dream to get through before he can finally have a peaceful, uninterrupted night of pure, oblivious sleep. He doesn't know when the next one will come after this, but he hopes it doesn't come too soon.

He opens the door just as Sako walks past, heading back to her own room. Sako looks startled and turns pink. Oh, that's right. He doesn't have a shirt on. "Good morning, Sako," he says, turning towards the bathroom.

"G-good morning, Hotsuin," Sako replies. He hears the door to her room open and quickly shut. He shrugs and enters the bathroom.

He has class in the afternoon today. After showering and grabbing his share of breakfast, he sits on the couch and turns the TV on. Jin runs to the door, stuffing something into his bag. "Bye!" he calls out. Shijima is waiting for him outside. Yamato sees him very briefly before the door closes and his attention returns to the news.

There is nothing particularly notable on the news today. A person got eaten by a wild Garm. Two police officers patrolling on Suparna saved a person who tried to jump off the Toujinbou cliffs. A traffic pile-up occurred at an intersection when an Ogre pushed a child out of harm's way. Yamato sighs, and chews on his rice.

His thoughts turn to last night's dream. Shijima had died, the last of Jin's friends to go. He had clung to life in a world that began to crash and burn, even as all of their comrades died, one by one. Shijima had been one of the last remaining lines keeping Jin's sanity intact. When he died, Jin's mental stability followed, and—Yamato thinks back to the other dream—three years later, so did they. Here, Shijima is alive and well. They are mere university students in a demon-filled world.

Yamato frowns. Now that he thinks about it, why is it that only he and Jin are getting these dreams? Shijima, Sako, Kanno, Yanagiya—none of them show any signs of receiving the dreams. Why?

Sako walks into the living room at that moment, holding a textbook under her arm. "Ah, Hotsuin, you're up. Good, I want to talk to you about something," she says.

"What is it?" he asks.

Sako sits next to him and opens the textbook. She points to the reflective questions listed at the end of the most current chapter. Yamato discusses them with her for the next half hour. Knowing their professor, some of these questions will probably be on the midterm exam.

Afterwards, he returns to his room and boots up his laptop. The Septentriones from the dreams had been seven alien stars under the command of the entity Polaris, who proclaimed herself the Administrator of Worlds. The name Septentrione refers to the Ursa Major stars, specifically the Big Dipper constellation that consists of Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Benetnasch, which are clustered around the northern pole star, Polaris. He does not find it a coincidence that the names of the Big Dipper stars are also the names of the seven alien stars, nor does he think it is mere chance that the university houses are all named after them. In that retrospect, the Alcor House is a bit of a mystery. In astrology, Alcor is a binary star system that is considered Mizar's companion. When viewed in the night sky, Alcor's light is fainter than Mizar's, which prompted some people to nickname it "the forgotten one". Yet here at the university, the Alcor House is reserved for people of exceptional academic merit, people who stand out and are not easily forgotten. Why and for what purpose? Someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes and Yamato does not like it.

Jin returns while Yamato is trying to organize his thoughts. The thoughts he has on this confusing tangle of Septentrione business have been listed on the same document as the dream hypotheses. He had thought he might find something if he cross-referenced them, but nothing else had popped out at him yet.

He looks up when Jin enters the room, his bang slung over one shoulder. "Hey, Yama-chan," he greets cheerfully.

Yamato's eye twitches. "Stop calling me that," he grouses, albeit without any real heat behind it. The fact that Jin seems to be back to his normal, joking self relieves him.

Shijima follows Jin into the room. "Um, hi," he greets awkwardly at Yamato's bland stare. "Sorry for screaming at you this morning. I was really confused."

"Apology accepted." Yamato looks back at the screen of his laptop.

"We'll be playing games in the living room, if you want to join us," says Jin. "Daichi, you brought the new Super Demon Smash game, right?"

"Hell yes I did. I'm going to beat you this time, just you watch!" Shijima grins.

"You're going down!"

The two men exit the room, bantering lightly with each other. Yamato tries to pick up where he left off with the theorizing, but the words on the page no longer process in his brain. He curses Shijima and the untimely interruption. He may as well do his laundry now. Maybe his train of thought will return in the process.

He steadfastly ignores the envious pang that throbs in his chest when he hears Jin and Shijima's laughter coming from the living room. He is not jealous of Shijima. Not at all.

Later that night, when his laundry is washed, dried, and put away and his one afternoon class is over, Yamato walks into the kitchen. Jin has volunteered to cook dinner tonight. He looks forward to seeing what his roommate will make. Sako looks like she's had a burden lifted off her shoulders now that she isn't responsible for cooking all the meals. She and Jin have decided that they would switch off every day. Sako now cooks on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, while Jin makes food on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sunday is considered a toss-up day; whoever loses the coin flip on Saturday night will have to cook on the following Sunday.

Jin turns around at the stove as Yamato walks past him. "Hey, Yama-chan. Feel like having noodles tonight?" he asks.

Yamato sighs at the nickname. "It does not matter. I will eat whatever you cook," he replies. His pulse quickens slightly when Jin beams at him.

"I'm glad you like my food." Jin turns and stirs the sauce he has simmering in a pan.

Yamato boils some water and makes himself a cup of tea. He settles himself on the couch, his eyes falling upon the game console and its controllers sitting innocently beside the TV. If he recalls correctly, Jin and Shijima had been playing a game called Super Demon Smash. Yamato does not play video games—his family had beaten that urge out of him a long time ago—but he is curious. He picks up the game box and reads the description. It's an arena fighter game where players can use demons to fight each other. From the lightweight Poltergeist to the devious Loki, each demon features a unique skill set and has different stats. The more powerful demons can only be unlocked once the player met the specific requirements for each one.

Basically, it's a digital demon fighting game without the actual danger. Yamato does not understand how such a thing can be considered fun. He likes hunting demons with his own demons. There is a certain thrill he gets watching the decimation unfold in front of him, knowing he is the cause of it.

"Oh, are you interested?" Jin's voice cuts into his thoughts.

Yamato looks up from the box. Jin is standing near him, holding a wooden spatula. He gestures to the object in Yamato's hands with it and repeats his question. Yamato shakes his head and puts the box down.

"I would rather fight demons myself," he answers.

"You should try it," Jin tells him with a small grin. "It's better than you think."

Yamato gives him a skeptical look.

Jin laughs. "I'll show you after dinner," he says, walking back into the kitchen. Yamato looks down dubiously at the game box, but supposes it can't hurt to try it. The graphics of the still shots displayed on the back along with the game description do look rather nice.

Dinner is delicious, of course. Yamato wonders why he ever had doubts about Jin's cooking abilities. Yanagiya is the only one absent, as usual. Her duties at the student health center take up a huge chunk of her time. Yamato doesn't miss her. Without Yanagiya around, there is much less teasing to endure.

Sako persuades Jin to allow her to do the dishes because he cooked dinner. Jin leads Yamato to the couch and shoves a game controller into his hands. "Here," he says. "You will need this to control your character on screen."

Yamato looks down and does not know what any of the colorful buttons are supposed to do.

Jin sits beside him after turning both the TV and the game console on. He explains which buttons perform what actions and points to the screen, where there are two players—them—and two computer-controlled characters.

"Daichi and I didn't rack up that many wins this morning, so we only have the lower-level demons to fight with for now," Jin says, selecting the Genma-class TamLin. The fighter is a humanoid demon with flowing silver hair and sleek aqua armor, whose primary weapon is a spear. Yamato looks through all the available demons on screen. He settles for the Snake-class Makara. Its high Agility statistic made up for its unimpressive Vitality.

Jin selects an Avian-class Itsumade and a Dragon-class Toubyou as the computer opponents. The battle begins and Yamato tries to make sense of the small 3D characters moving around on the screen. Jin has far more experience than he does, and in no time at all, his TamLin has knocked off two of the Itsumade's lives and one of the Toubyou's. Yamato's Makara dances around the other three, but a well-placed Zan from the Itsumade sends it flying off the stage and out of the screen. One life lost. Jin still has all three of his.

When his Makara respawns on the stage, Yamato readies himself. He still prefers fighting demons in person, but he supposes the game isn't as bad as he thought it was. It takes skill to maneuver around the opponents and get them to fly off the stage instead of his character.

In the end, Jin wins, being the more experienced fighter (in the games, at least). Yamato gives him a look when he grins.

"Don't look so sulky, Yama-chan," Jin chides playfully. "We can play more rounds if you want."

Yamato agrees.

They stop three hours later so the noise doesn't disturb their neighbors in the other Alcor House apartments. Jin is laughing, bright and open and carefree. Yamato smiles to himself, even though he only won twice out of the countless battles they fought. In spite of his initial views on the game, he had had more fun than he had expected.

Jin leans against his side, his messy black hair nearly blending in with the dark-gray shirt that Yamato is wearing. Yamato grabs the remote and turns the TV off.

"We should do this again when Daichi's here," Jin says.

Yamato makes an undecipherable noise, but Jin seems to take it as a 'yes' because he grabs Yamato's hand and just holds it. Yamato is incredibly glad that Yanagiya isn't around to witness this moment. Kanno is probably too absorbed in her research to bother coming out again. Sako would just blush, stammer, and walk away as quickly as she could.

Jin sits up, a small, genuine smile curving his lips up just a bit. It makes Yamato's breath catch in his throat. The dark-haired man puts his other hand on Yamato's cheek and leans up to kiss him. Yamato doesn't resist. His free arm snakes around Jin's back to pull him closer, and then he is devouring Jin, the love and affection and passionate feelings from his dream-self spilling over.

It's only when Jin lets loose a quiet, breathy moan that they separate. His lips are swollen red and glistening—Yamato thinks it's a pretty sight and wants no one to see it but himself. He stands up, dragging Jin along with him. Jin blinks at him and smiles lazily.

"Back to the room?" he murmurs, his voice sounding strangely husky.

Yamato doesn't reply. Keeping his grip on Jin's hand, he leads them back to their room. Even though Yamato's bed is barely big enough for the two of them—Yamato with his lanky body and long limbs, Jin with his slender, waifish figure—they fall on it anyway and kiss again. Yamato knows that they aren't quite ready to go further than that, experiences with memory dream sex aside. Jin apparently knows it too, because he just cuddles into Yamato's side, letting out a content sigh.

"Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?" he asks. "In case this upcoming last dream turns out to be another… unsettling one."

"This bed isn't made for two grown men," Yamato points out, but his protest is half-hearted at best.

"So? I'm comfortable. And you're warm." Jin buries his nose into the folds of Yamato's shirt and breathes deeply. "You smell nice, too."

Yamato feels a faint heat rise in his cheeks. "…Idiot," he mutters, glancing away. He doesn't get embarrassed easily, but Jin seems to know all the right places to poke to get a reaction out of him.

"You're blushing. How cute." Jin sounds amused. "I'm going to take a shower. I'll be back." Yamato feels the covers shift under him as Jin slides off the bed. The dark-haired man leans over him and gives him a chaste kiss that leaves Yamato blinking dazedly at the ceiling. Yamato listens to the drawers of the dresser open and close before Jin walks out the door.

They've—officially—known each other for four days. In the dream world, their partnership lasted for twenty-five years.

Yamato can no longer distinguish between his own feelings and the ones transferred over by his dream-self, and that may be the one thing that both scares and excites him the most.

---

It takes all of his willpower not to smash his desk in half upon receiving the latest report from a JP's agent. Sensing that he is in a horribly foul mood, the agent bows and quickly flees from the office. Yamato sighs harshly and settles for smacking his head against the hard surface of his desk.

Jin has been missing for a month. A whole fucking month. If Jin had been a regular civilian, Yamato would have literally given zero fucks, and his agents knew better than to report something so trivial to him. But this is Jin they're talking about. His partner. His equal.

None of his other friends had seen him either. Shijima and Kujou had gone on the mission with him, but Kujou had returned in critical condition and Shijima had been nearly catatonic. Yamato had gathered the free JP's agents he had had on hand and ordered them to find Jin and bring him back. None of them had succeeded.

Without Jin, this meritocratic world wouldn't have existed in the first place. Without Jin, Yamato would not have come to understand aspects of normal civilian life that he would not have bothered to learn on his own. Without Jin, he is nothing but half of a whole. Without Jin, what is Hotsuin Yamato but a lonely king on the throne?

"Yamato!" There's Torii, bursting through the door without knocking. "Has Jin come back yet?"

"No." His voice is clipped and curt. Torii visibly deflates and mutters something about wanting Jin to try his new chawanmushi. Yamato waves the dejected chef out of his office. He misses Jin—an alien notion for him, really, but he is human in the end. Where are you, Jin? he wonders. Where did you go?

There is nothing more he can do about it. He cannot go off to look for Jin on his own without leaving JP's in a state of disarray… unless…

He calls Sako to his office. "Chief Hotsuin, what can I do for you?" she asks.

Direct and to the point. Excellent. "Seeing as none of my agents are able to find Jin, I will go out and look for him myself. Sako, I leave you temporarily in charge while I scout around," he says.

Sako looks surprised, but schools her face into a serious expression. "Yes, sir. I hope you have far more luck than we did."

Yamato has had enough of waiting. If his agents can't do it, he must go out and look for the damn idiot himself. When this is over, he's going to have a word with Jin about worrying him. The hem of his black trench coat flaps around his ankles as he departs from his office.

He first tracks down an agent to have them give him a report of all the places they have searched thus far. Jin's mission had been to deal with a demon outbreak in the area around Mt. Fuji, but the agent tells him that they have thoroughly combed the area twice, with the help of Jin's non-hospitalized friends, and have come up with nothing. They are still in the process of searching Mt. Fuji for any signs of the missing man. So far, the only thing they have unearthed was Jin's cellphone, which had been half-buried in the dirt close to the base of the mountain. The battery had died a long time ago. That at least explains why Jin hadn't called him earlier, but Yamato doesn't feel any better knowing that his partner is somewhere out there, alone, and possibly near defenseless. Jin is strong. Yamato knows he's a survivor, if his performance during the Septentrione invasion is any clue. He believes in him. That doesn't change the fact that the idiot has been gone for a month. Something definitely happened to his beloved partner.

He has a JP's agent drive him there. When they get to the Five Lakes at the northern foot of the mountain, Yamato disembarks. A group of yellow-clad agents greets him as he steps out of the car, "Chief Hotsuin, you've arrived. We have yet to locate Totsui Jin's current whereabouts."

Yamato levels a cool stare at the agent in command. "Have your men fall back for now. I will search for him myself," he says.

"It is too dangerous for you to go alone, Chief Hotsuin. I will accompany you."

"Very well." Yamato turns and walks towards the mountain. The JP's agents in charge order their squads to continue searching around while they escort him. He is thankful that his subordinates in this meritocratic world are far more efficient than in the previous world. Polaris' ability to modify the root of human will is terrifying indeed.

He spends well over two hours searching before he finds something amiss. Something glitters out of the corner of his eye. There is an unnatural bump in the earth, a tiny shard of crystalline glass poking out of the soil. The detail is so miniscule that he isn't surprised his agents missed it. He kneels down, brushing away the dirt.

"Did you find something, Chief Hotsuin?" The agents move forward.

Yamato stands up. "Dig here," he orders. "There is something under our feet."

"Yes, sir!" The agents salute, then summon their demons to uncover the rest of the strange crystal.

Yamato expects many things, but… this is the first time he's ever seen something like this. Ribbons of aquamarine crystal-glass flow and spike outward around an elaborately designed black and gold coffin. Thick chains are wrapped around it, as if preventing something inside from getting out. Yamato knows, without a doubt, that Jin is inside the coffin.

"Open it. Hurry," he barks at the agents, who heave it out of the dirt. He doesn't know how long Jin has been inside that thing, but humans cannot survive long without food, water, or oxygen.

Just as one of the agents reaches for the lid, Yamato hears a quiet rustle and whirls around. A gunshot echoes. The bullet whizzes past his ear. Yamato has his phone out and is ready to retaliate, but the JP's agents jump in first.

"Sir, get behind us! We'll take care of this!" an agent says, standing directly in front of him with her phone out. The next moment the unknown assailant sends a powerful Agidyne in their direction. Yamato steps back to allow his subordinates to fight. He turns his attention to the coffin and attempts to open it himself. He summons Cerberus to bite the chains off, which it does with ease. But now his problem is how he's going to remove the crystal ribbons. He presses a gloved hand to cool, hard surface and thinks for a moment. He commands Cerberus to try and break them with its claws. The beast roars and slashes away furiously. Yamato sighs when there isn't a single crack to show for its efforts. He dismisses the demon and examines the crystal further, pressing his fingers into the seemingly-delicate curl and weave of the glassy ribbon. Perhaps an elemental attack will work. He kneels down, uncaring of the dust that gets on his clothes.

Yamato uses Agidyne to heat a small section of the crystal up, then quickly freezes it with a Bufudyne. He repeats this process again two more times before he is rewarded with a loud cracking sound as the ribbon snaps in two. He tests out an extra-strong Zandyne to see if it will shatter the remainder of the crystal sealing the coffin shut. The powerful Force winds bear down on the shining aqua fragments and disintegrate them into tiny, powdery pieces. Yamato smiles victoriously.

He quickly opens the lid. Jin is laying inside, as he thought. For a moment, his heart seizes with a jolt of fear when he sees how unnaturally pale and still his partner is. Yamato reaches in and clasps one of Jin's limp hands with his own, questing fingers seeking the soft thrum of a pulse in Jin's wrist.

He doesn't find it at first. He presses his fingers harder into the curve, gritting his teeth and hissing, "Don't you dare die on me, Jin! You're stronger than this. I know it."

It's faint, but he can feel it—a weak, steady beat beneath his middle finger. Unexpectedly, Jin's fingers twitch, and slowly curl around his hand. His eyes don't open, nor does he show any signs of consciousness, but there's the softest upwards tilt of his lips and Yamato knows everything will be alright. He smiles in spite of himself, happiness, warmth, and relief bubbling up inside him. Jin is alive. He's okay. He survived.

The background noise dies down with a final shout of triumph. He looks over his shoulder to see his agents capture the struggling man and pin him face-first to the ground. The assailant is shouting for the agents to let him go and clawing angrily at the dirt.

Yamato's eyes darken with fury. This man dared to try to get to him through Jin. This man had left Jin in a coffin underground to die. Yamato will show no mercy. Not to the despicable scum who almost took Jin away from him.

He lets go of Jin's hand and stands up, stalking towards the man with pure displeasure radiating almost palpably from his aura. The man's eyes widen and he stops struggling. Yamato stops in front of him, eyeing his enemy with a frigid glare. "You are cowardly trash," he spits coldly. "If you are after my life, then come after me instead of using my partner to set up an amateur ambush. For Jin's sake, I cannot allow you to live. Who knows what you will try next time if I let you go free?" He motions for the agents to step back. They release the man hesitantly.

The man springs up, nearly foaming at the mouth, "You bastard, I'll fucking kill you—"

Yamato incinerates him on the spot.

---

Yamato opens his eyes to a dark ceiling. Jin shifts beside him, the tip of his nose brushing against the fabric of Yamato's nightshirt. He makes a grumbling noise. Yamato absently strokes through the soft curls and Jin lets out a sleepy, contented sigh.

Today is Tuesday. It has finally been a full week since the dreams began and Yamato can now look forward to having a night of actual, dreamless sleep. Despite the limited space in his bed, Jin is warm and snug against him. Yamato doesn't mind it all. Jin is the only one he is willing to stay in close contact with for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Mmph… Yamato?" Jin moves his head from Yamato's chest. "Good morning." Yamato feels slender fingers pat his cheek just before Jin kisses him. It is a pleasant thing to wake up to in the morning. Jin pulls back quickly and pillows his head against Yamato's torso again.

Using his free hand, Yamato digs his phone out from under his pillow. He raises an eyebrow when he realizes there's a text message from Miyako. He stops playing with Jin's hair to read the message, ignoring the whine that comes out of his roommate's mouth.

"From: Hotsuin Miyako

Dear brother, I will be visiting you tomorrow morning at 9 A.M. I expect you to be awake and fully dressed by then."

Goddamn it. So much for having a full night of sleep. He groans and shuts the phone, shoving it back under the pillow.

"What's wrong?" Jin hovers above him, blue eyes concerned.

"My sister is coming here tomorrow morning," Yamato replies, his voice bland.

"…You have a sister?" Jin sounds completely surprised. That is to be expected; Miyako doesn't exist in the dream world.

"Twin sister," Yamato confirms.

"Weird, you don't have any siblings in the dreams," Jin muses. "What's her name?"

"Hotsuin Miyako."

Even in the darkness, he can feel Jin side-eye him. "Do you guys actually refer to each other so formally?"

"No. She calls me 'brother'. I refer to her as 'Miyako'." Yamato sits up, the blankets pooling around his and Jin's waists.

"Does she go here, too?" Jin asks, wrapping his arms around Yamato's torso. His chin rests on Yamato's shoulder.

"No. She is being groomed to take over the family business and has no time for mundane university classes."

"You weren't considered?"

"I refused. My dream-self may have pursued the path of meritocracy, but I've no interest in leading sheep," Yamato says bluntly.

Jin chuckles, turning his head to press his lips against the side of Yamato's neck. "Of course." He is silent for a moment. Yamato can feel small puffs of warm air ghost over his skin. "Last night's dream was… weird. I don't know how you viewed it on your end, but it felt like I was floating in nothingness. I could hear your voice, but it was very warped and distorted, kind of like I was hearing it from underwater. Then there was this tiny silver light dangling in front of me and I grabbed at it without thinking."

Yamato almost snarls when he remembers the dream. "…You went missing. For an entire month. When I went to find you myself, you had been buried underground in a coffin. Someone used you as bait to lure me out so he could assassinate me. I thought… I thought you were dead, you lied there so still and pale—"

He cuts himself off to prevent himself from degenerating into a babbling mess. He can feel Jin whispering comforting words to him, his hand rubbing slow circles into Yamato's back. He takes a deep breath.

"I could not forgive the man who tried to kill me using you. I incinerated him with no remorse," he finishes, staring blankly down at the blanket. His fingers tightly clench the soft fabric.

"Yamato…" Jin whispers softly, nuzzling his neck. "It's okay. I'm here with you."

They stay like that for a while. Yamato doesn't count the minutes tick by. He relishes in the feeling of warmth and safety exuded by his partner and takes comfort in the very real presence sitting behind him, touching him, embracing him, loving him. He appreciates the sweep of dark curls over the junction between his neck and shoulder, the fan of Jin's dark lashes brushing just barely against his skin. Lips and nose touch his ear, his cheek, his jaw line. Then Jin is releasing him, turning him around, and what little light illuminates the room from the window makes his eyes glow bright and blue.

There are no words that need to be exchanged. Yamato grips Jin's chin in one hand and uses the other to tangle his fingers into Jin's curly hair, pulling him close. Jin lays pliant in his arms, although the way he challenges Yamato with his tongue makes a thrilling heat thrum through his veins. It takes a good deal of his willpower to maintain this level of affection and keep his arousal down. Jin seems to understand and doesn't push him to go further.

When they separate, Jin cups Yamato's cheek with one hand and smiles. "Want to get some takoyaki later today? Just the two of us, I promise," he says.

Yamato agrees. With Jin living here now, his half-formed plan to grab takoyaki for dinner every Wednesday had shriveled up at the back of his mind and disappeared. "I have three classes today. When are you free?"

"I have a class at eleven, another one at two, and one at seven at night."

"Quite a small window of time. I have one class at ten, a second one at noon, and another at five. Perhaps another day when we are both free," Yamato replies, feeling disappointed.

Jin sulks and gnaws lightly on his bottom lip. "Does your sister like takoyaki? We can all go together tomorrow," he says, a little hesitantly.

"Unacceptable. You said it would be just the two of us."

Jin rolls his eyes and pulls away. "That doesn't answer my question, Yama-chan."

Yamato is tempted to kick him. "I do not believe she has ever tried it. How does my dream-self put it… ah, yes. I imagine she also may view it as 'ridiculous, vulgar civilian food'. She has expressed many times doubts about the quality of food I eat that is not prepared by the chefs at the Hotsuin estate. Ludicrous," he scoffs, crossing his arms. "I am fully capable of taking care of myself."

He sounds childishly petulant and Jin can't help but snigger behind his hand. "Except your culinary skills leave a lot to be desired," he teases. Yamato shoots him a glare, but it turns into more of a sulky expression that makes the dark-haired man laugh even harder.

"Go write in your journal," Yamato grumbles, swatting at him.

"I'm going, I'm going." Jin grins at him, although most of his face is hidden in shadow. He climbs off the bed and walks over to his desk. Yamato blinks when he turns the desk light on, but gets used to it quickly enough.

He grabs his phone from under the pillow and checks his email for any new messages. There is one from his Demonology professor saying that class is cancelled tomorrow because he has a meeting to attend to out of town. Excellent, that means he only has Miyako to deal with. Other than that, there are no new emails. He closes his phone.

Yamato starts a little when Jin suddenly appears in front of him, although he hides it with a well-timed poker face. "What is it?" he asks.

Jin extends his open notebook and a pen towards him. "I think you should write your side of the dream. All I experienced was floating in inky blackness, hearing your warped voice, and grabbing a silver light," he explains. "You can just write your entry below mine."

His handwriting is messy. Yamato's own neat, exact strokes look awfully strange on a page filled with the scrawled characters. Jin takes one look at it and shoots Yamato an incredulous stare. Yamato just shrugs. He doesn't think it's necessary for Jin to learn about what he was put through in his childhood to make his handwriting that perfect.

Jin closes the journal and tucks it away in his desk. Then he rejoins Yamato on the bed. He looks at his own bed across the room and laughs lightly. "Maybe we should ask for a queen size instead. They already spoil us with these big rooms—what's one big bed to them?"

"They would need to rearrange the room in that case," Yamato replies dryly. "Just sleep in your own bed. That's what it's there for."

Jin pouts at him. Yamato can't decide if he thinks his expression is cute or dumb. "But I like sleeping with you!" the dark-haired man complains. His face goes pink when he realizes how scandalous he sounded just then. "…I-I mean… in the same bed."

Yamato smirks at him, making him look away in embarrassment. "Why, Jin, are you volunteering?" he purrs in a low voice, trapping his partner against the wall. He puts one hand on either side of Jin's head and leans down so that their noses are barely touching. Jin's eyes are wide, his lips slightly parted. He swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing noticeably. He's only teasing him, really. Yamato chuckles at his reaction and starts to pull back. He only has a second to blink before Jin is grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him forward, smashing their lips together. He makes a noise in his throat—a protest, a startled sound, he doesn't know—and reciprocates with equal ferocity.

His hand tangles in Jin's hair and the other snakes around his roommate's waist, tilting his head back so he has better access. Jin's hands wander under his shirt in response. Yamato shivers as he feels Jin skim over his flat stomach and slowly wander up the sides of his torso. He plunders the dark-haired man's mouth fiercely, feeling vicious satisfaction as Jin's hands noticeably falter in their exploration. His partner lets out a quiet keening noise that sets Yamato's blood ablaze.

Harsh breathing fills the room when they break apart, but only for a few seconds. Jin pushes him back against the mattress and dives for his throat this time. Yamato's eyes open wide when he feels his partner bite and suck on his clavicle—at least Jin is smart enough to leave the mark where nobody can see it under Yamato's shirt.

He gasps when Jin lowers his hips. Raw heat washes through him at the firm press against his groin and his toes curl against the bed sheets. Fuck—

Jin grasps the hem of his nightshirt and tugs it off, discarding it with a careless fling of his arm. Yamato's shirt comes off just as quick and is unceremoniously dumped on the floor below. Then Jin is grinding against him again. Yamato is lost. All caution has been abandoned and all he can feel is heat and pressure, fire and passion. He struggles to clamp down on the noises threatening to escape his mouth. He doesn't want anyone in the apartment to hear them.

There is a near-silent chuckle and Jin whispers breathily into his ear, "Is this okay, Yamato?"

It is okay. In fact, it is more than okay and Yamato wants him to move. He bucks up, smirking triumphantly when Jin chokes and buries his face into the crook of Yamato's neck, his breath hot and heavy against bare skin. "N-not… fair… nngh—"

Their grinding pace increases as they race each other to completion, Jin's hands tweaking and twisting his nipples while Yamato gyrates his hips with extra force and claws angry welts down the expanse of Jin's back. Yamato's breath catches in his throat when Jin thrusts hard against him. "Ah…!"

He shuts his mouth to muffle the moan that nearly slips out of his throat. Jin laughs quietly and breathlessly. "Don't hold back, Yamato. I want to hear you," he rasps, kissing the tip of Yamato's nose.

No, Yamato thinks. It's embarrassing. He shakes his head, fanning his hair out across the pillow under his head.

Jin grins and stops moving. Yamato feels both confused and distressed at the loss of heat and friction. Jin shifts backwards so that he is no longer sitting above Yamato's erection. He slips one hand down, teasing with the waistband of Yamato's pajama bottoms. Yamato's eyes widen and he sits up on his elbows. "What are you—ah!" He releases a startled cry when the dark-haired man shoves his hand down the front of his pants, past his boxers, to grip firmly around his arousal. The fabric suddenly feels ten times more confining and he lifts his hips so Jin can pull them down. Then Jin's hand begins to rub the sensitive organ and he falls back on the mattress, the sheer pleasure wiping out all coherent thought from his head.

Yamato can only thrash underneath his partner, his eyes wide and his veins feeling like they are filled with lava. Jin's hand moves and strokes with an erratic pace, but it feels so good and Yamato doesn't want it to stop.

"That's it, Yamato," Jin murmurs, his blue eyes dark with lust and watching him. Yamato's brain can't quite comprehend the words, so focused is he on the fingers toying with his cock.

"Nngh—J-in!"

There's fire everywhere. Yamato's chest heaves with his frantic, muted gasping and there is a coil in his belly and his heart feels like it's going to explode right out of him with how fast it is pumping—

Jin scratches a fingernail over the tip of his erection. That's the final push that sends him hurtling over the edge. Yamato turns his head and muffles his scream into the pillow as he comes hard into Jin's hand, waves of his powerful orgasm crashing into him and leaving him trembling and spent, boneless and breathless all at once. His head feels like it's made of cotton candy and he can't think. His whole body seems to have melted on the mattress, limbs feeling limp as soggy noodles, and his heart pulsing so violently it echoes in his ears.

Soft lips press against his cheek, gentle and languid compared to the hard, fast tempo they were moving to earlier. He appreciates it. He forces his eyes to open, blinking dazedly at Jin's amused face.

"Hey. Feeling alright?" his partner asks quietly.

Yamato just stares up at him and utters an unintelligible noise. His brain hasn't quite recovered yet from the intense climax he just experienced.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Jin says cheerfully. He moves backwards so Yamato can shakily sit up. Yamato grimaces at the feeling of sweat and semen drying on his skin and sticking his clothes to him. He mourns the state of his blanket and bedsheets—he just did the laundry yesterday, for Lucifer's sake.

Jin follows his gaze and laughs sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I guess my bed's good for something after all. We should probably shower now, I feel really gross," he says, wiping his hand on Yamato's soiled sheets.

"Open the window first. I don't want to come back to a room that stinks of sexual activity," Yamato grumbles, sliding off the bed. A shower sounds absolutely phenomenal right now.

"Want to take one together?" Yamato scowls when Jin waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

"No," he promptly tells his partner, and opens his closet to retrieve a change of clothes.

Instead of taking offense, Jin chuckles at his blunt response. "So what do you think, Yama-chan? How much did you enjoy this activity borne of natural desire?" he asked, switching subjects.

"Don't call me that," Yamato mutters distractedly, pulling out a navy polo shirt. "As for… that, it was quite satisfactory."

"Good to hear."

"And don't think I didn't notice that you tried to use my own words against me."

"Aw, you found out."

"Of course, you were about as subtle as a lion in a city parking lot. I highly suggest you take a shower now. You reek."

"Love you too, Yama-chan."

"I told you not to call me that."

The rest of the day passes without incident. Neither Yamato nor Jin breathe a word of their mutual activity to anyone. Yamato makes absolutely sure that the mark Jin left on his collarbone is hidden by his shirt. No telling what Yanagiya—or god forbid, his sister—would say about that.

---

Yamato wakes up to the shrill blare of his phone alarm. Jin groans beside him and buries his face into the pillow in an attempt to block out the irritating sound. Yamato peers blearily at the screen and stabs clumsily at the number pad to gain access to the alarm. He promptly turns it off. Jin huffs happily, but doesn't move.

It's Wednesday morning, and the week-long dream sequence is finally over. He could've had the day off if Miyako hadn't said she was coming today. Yamato reluctantly extricates himself from Jin's warm embrace and goes to take a shower. His alarm had been set for eight o'clock. He has an hour to get ready before Miyako arrives. She had met Kuriki before he had moved out and had a high opinion of his intelligence, but not his general behavior. Jin is very different in terms of personality, so he doubts Miyako will have anything bad to say about his new roommate.

He frowns when a chill runs down his spine. Odd, he still has all his clothes on. He dismisses it and starts to undress.

The mark on his clavicle stands out starkly against his pale skin. Yamato frowns at the mirror, lightly brushing against the dark bruise with his fingertips. It isn't a particularly big mark, thankfully, but Yamato is intelligent enough to understand the underlying meaning behind it.

This man is mine.

Like he'd ever consider another person after doing that with his roommate. They already shared intimate dreams; what's a round or two in real life? Yamato has never taken interest in these sorts of things before because it had seemed troublesome and a waste of time. Not to mention, the extraordinary people that Yamato had more interest in were few and far between in a crowd of vapid women and brainless men. And the times he did find them, they just didn't quite feel right. Sako, Kanno, Yanagiya—he'd sooner chew off his own arm than go on a date with any of them.

But Jin is something else altogether. Whether it was a byproduct of the dreams or genuine affection, Yamato likes Jin, with all of his ridiculously cute smiles and disgustingly charming wit. Jin is quite handsome for a twenty year-old man, he thinks. Tousled black hair, electric-blue eyes, slender limbs, and a toned body. Yamato shakes his head and resists the urge to bang it against the wall. After his dream-self's feelings have leeched into him, he now finds Jin's physical attributes to be highly appealing. And he cannot stop thinking about how much he wants to engage in more sexual activity with the dark-haired man. Yamato is tempted to kick himself.

They've known each other for five days, not counting today. But can he really say that when, according to the dreams, they've been acquainted for twenty-five years? Their dream-selves have known each other longer than they've both been alive, and yet, Yamato still doesn't know what the purpose of the dreams is or why they had them in the first place. And why start after his seventeenth—and Jin's eighteenth—birthday? Is it because those are the ages that their dream-selves met at?

Ah, he should get in the shower now. His sister is coming soon.

Jin is already up and getting ready for his morning class by the time Yamato gets out. "Guess I'll meet your sister when I get back," he says, pulling his bunny-ear hoodie on. "Breakfast is on the table, help yourself."

Yamato nods, dumping his clothes in the hamper. He checks his phone. There is a message from Miyako saying that she is on her way. "I will introduce you when you return," he replies. "Bear in mind that though we are twins, we do not share the same personality. She can be… difficult to deal with, at times."

"She's your sister, she can't be that bad," Jin chuckles, slinging his bag strap over one shoulder. "See you later." He gives Yamato a quick peck on the cheek before he walks out the door. Yamato feels strangely pleased.

Breakfast is indeed waiting on the table, still gently steaming. Sako is sitting on the couch with a book and a highlighter, her empty bowl left on the coffee table next to her open notebook. She looks up when he enters. "Good morning, Hotsuin," she greets.

"Good morning, Sako. My sister will be visiting me today and she will arrive in approximately—" Yamato glances at the wall clock, "—twenty minutes."

"Your sister? Oh, your twin. It'll be confusing to call both of you 'Hotsuin'," Sako sighs.

"You may refer to me as 'Yamato'. I do not mind," Yamato says, walking to the table.

"Very well."

Miyako arrives at the apartment at 9 A.M. sharp. Yamato opens the door for her and lets her step in. "Good morning, brother," she says. She takes off her thigh-high yellow boots and lines them neatly against the wall. "I trust you've been well?"

"I am well enough. Your concern is unnecessary," Yamato responds, leading her into the living room. Honestly, they are both scions of the Hotsuin family. Miyako knows that he is fully capable of living on his own. "Tea?"

"Yes, please." Miyako sits on the couch. Sako has already retreated back to her room for the time being.

Yamato brews a cup of tea and gives it to his sister. She takes a careful sip. "Your new roommate arrived last Friday, yes? Is he in?" she asks.

"He has a morning class, but he will be back in approximately one hour," Yamato answers, giving her a suspicious glance. "Why do you ask?"

"Am I not allowed to be curious about this new person sharing your living space?" Miyako arches an elegant silver eyebrow at him, taking another sip of her tea.

"I do not appreciate you nosing around in my business. You are lucky that I had planned to introduce you to him regardless." Yamato returns her stare with a scornful look. They had been playing word games with each other their whole lives. Miyako isn't going to get the upper-hand over him now.

Miyako says nothing and continues drinking her tea. "Is he at least more tolerable than that Kuriki fellow?"

"Yes, now stop asking about him. You'll meet him when he gets back." Yamato refrains from telling her about Jin's nickname for him. The less said, the better. Miyako can formulate her own impression of him when she meets him in person.

His sister's eyes slide off of him and move around the room, cataloguing what has changed in the apartment since she was last here. Her eyes fall upon the game console sitting beside the TV and she frowns disapprovingly. "That was not here before. Your new roommate is a gamer? I hope you do not indulge him and waste time with such trivial activities," she remarks, disdain clearly coloring her voice.

"Trivial, yes, but far more interesting than I would have expected out of a game mimicking real demon combat," Yamato counters, narrowing his eyes at her. He has learned—from both his dream-self's experiences and his own—to try something before he can make any judgments on it.

"So you have played it. I am disappointed by your lack of discipline, brother."

"You have yet to experience it for yourself. Do not speak as if you are superior—you are only the heir to the Hotsuin family business because I voluntarily gave up the position. Your false verdict is worthless to me." Yamato gives her a steely-eyed glare. This is why he hates having her around. He always ignores her criticisms of his current lifestyle, but that doesn't make her any less irritating.

Miyako's face is blank, having slammed her poker-face into place. But she can't hide the fury simmering in her lavender eyes at his jab. Still, he knows that she has no counterargument against what he just said, because it is the truth.

"If you are done, let us move on. What did you come here for?" Yamato looks at her coldly. "Did Father send you to do his bidding?"

Her eyes flash angrily. "How dare you. I am no one's pet. I forge my own way through the world," she hisses. "I am Hotsuin Miyako!"

"And I am Hotsuin Yamato," he retaliates, feigning a yawn. "Well? What brings you here today when I already attended the family dinner a week ago?"

"I came to assess your new roommate and your current living situation for myself," she replies stiffly.

Yamato can't help himself; he snorts. "Clearly you do not trust my judgment. Has the power of being the family heir addled what little brains you were born with? You seem to believe that I am a child that bears looking after when I am far more capable than you."

He can see her fists clenching tightly and hear her teeth clenching together in an effort to suppress her rage. He sighs.

"That is enough for today. I will not waste more of my time to sit here and argue with you. If you cannot see the truth of my words, let my actions show you." Yamato picks up the remote and turns the TV on, then the game console.

As the opening movie clip plays across the screen, he gives his sister a subtle glance. Her face is blank, but her eyes are focused solely on the screen. Good. Yamato turns his attention back to the TV. The gameplay trailer finishes and goes to the starting menu, displaying a big, bold logo at the top and the various game options below. He extends the second controller to Miyako. She gives him a questioning glance.

"If you do not try it for yourself, you will never believe me," Yamato says firmly. Miyako takes the controller hesitantly, glancing at it with a doubtful expression.

"Such… colorful buttons. What are they supposed to do?" she asks, sliding her thumb over the plastic nubs.

"They control your game character. Press the power button in the center to turn it on, then you should be able to move your cursor with the joystick," Yamato explains, selecting the Dragon-class Bai Suzhen.

He sees the orange Player 2 cursor pop up on the screen after Miyako switches the controller on. She fiddles with the joystick. The orange cursor lands on the Avian-class Itsumade.

"Are these the only demons available in this game?" she inquires, brows furrowing.

"They are for now. Jin told me that the higher-class demons will only be available after certain conditions have been met," Yamato replies. "Press the green A button to select your character." He goes on to select their opponents and set their fighting levels. Then he presses the START button to begin the battle.

Having played with Jin for well over three hours, Yamato beats Miyako with ease. The computer-controlled characters go down without much trouble, too. Looks like he should up their fighting levels.

"This is ridiculous," Miyako mutters. "Real demons are much easier to predict."

"I didn't think you were fond of whining. You are the heir to the Hotsuin family business. Act like one."

"Then I would not be sitting here playing this silly game with you."

Yamato doesn't reply. He selects Bai Suzhen again. Miyako chooses the Megami-class Sarasvati this time, and they start the next battle.

Half an hour later, Yamato hears Shijima's loud laughter outside the door accompanied by solid footsteps. Jin is back. He sends the computer-controlled Toubyou flying off-screen, thus making him the winner of the battle, then puts the controller down.

The door opens and Jin steps in, grinning, and replying to something Shijima said. Yamato stands up, drawing Jin's attention to him. "Hi, Yama-chan," he greets, shutting the front door after Shijima steps in. "Playing Super Demon Smash, are you? Daichi brought more controllers, so all of us can play together."

Yamato nods, then turns so Jin can see his sister. "Jin, this is Hotsuin Miyako, my twin sister. Miyako, this is Totsui Jin, my roommate," he introduces, gesturing between them.

"Nice to meet you," Jin says, smiling. He holds out a hand.

Miyako grasps it and responds, "Pleased to make your acquaintance. However, I must ask that you refrain from referring to my brother with that degrading nickname." Her gaze is stony, but Jin appears utterly unaffected by it. Yamato resists the urge to snicker into his hand.

"Degrading nickname?" Jin looks adorably confused for a second. "Ah, you mean 'Yama-chan'? It's not degrading, it's affectionate! Right, Yama-chan?" Despite being shorter, Jin manages to sling an arm around Yamato's shoulders.

He lets out the half-hearted, familiar grumble of "I told you not to call me that", but there is no heat behind it. He has been minding it less and less each time Jin calls him that. Jin is the only one he will allow to call him that.

Jin beams when Yamato doesn't shrug his arm off. "See?"

Miyako's cold eyes slide over to Yamato. "Brother, you permit this with such little complaint. I see I was right to be concerned."

"And I have told you countless times that I do not appreciate your nosiness."

His sister opens her mouth to say something back, but they are interrupted when Shijima blurts out, "Hotsuin—erm, I mean, uh, Yamato—your sister is hot."

Jin gives his childhood friend an exasperated look while Yamato slaps a hand to his face and sighs deeply. Miyako just looks confused, a small frown marring her features, "I beg your pardon? Who are you?"

Shijima turns red. "I-I'm Shijima Daichi, Jin's best friend. Um, you're really cute, Miyako-chan," he stammers nervously.

Miyako's gaze turns frosty. "Please do not refer to me so informally, Shijima-san."

"Eep!" Shijima quails underneath her icy expression. "I-I'm sorry!"

Yamato is disappointed when Jin removes his arm. "Wow, Daichi, jumping right into a first-name basis without asking for permission. I didn't think you were so bold," the dark-haired man says teasingly, directing his friend to sit in the other chair in the living room. Shijima flushes red in embarrassment and sputters at him. Jin laughs, patting him on the shoulder. "I'm going to put my bag down. We can all play Super Demon Smash together afterwards. Do you want to join us, Miyako-san?"

"I will pass, thank you. I have played long enough," Miyako answers. She turns to look at Yamato, who glances at her expectantly. "The experience was different than I expected, brother. Thank you for showing me." Yamato nods.

As Jin walks back to his room, Shijima quietly speaks up, "U-um, Miyako-chan? Do you like the game?"

"I believe I told you not to address me so casually. As for your question, I do not dislike it, but it is also something I would prefer not to occupy my time with." Miyako settles herself comfortably on the couch, her back held straight and hands folded demurely in her lap. Yamato knows that it is only a projected public image. No one in the Hotsuin family is ever truly modest. Reserved, perhaps, but not shy.

Yamato takes the controller his sister had been using and hands it to Shijima. "Choose your character. Jin will be back shortly," he orders, sitting on the couch. Shijima fumbles with the controller for a moment, almost dropping it on the floor, but he manages to keep it in his hands. He selects the Genma-class TamLin, which Yamato knows is the demon that Jin usually uses. In Jin's hands, TamLin is deadly—a real force to be reckoned with. Yamato hasn't seen Shijima play before, but if their dreams are anything to go by, TamLin in Shijima's hands may as well be harmless.

Jin returns and seats himself on the couch between Yamato and Miyako, although his thigh is pressed against Yamato's leg. Yamato can feel the warmth seeping through the material of his pants and revels in it.

Shijima powers on the third controller and gives it to Jin, who sends him a deadpan look upon realizing that Shijima had already taken his current favorite character. "Gosh, Daichi, do you really think you can beat me with TamLin?" he asks dryly.

"Why not? You're always kicking my ass when you use it," Shijima retorts childishly.

Yamato's current favorite is Bai Suzhen, who was unlocked the last time he and Jin played the game together. He hears Jin sigh and pick the Fairy-class Kijimunaa, a small, somewhat creepy demon resembling a bush with glowing yellow eyes and flesh-colored hands and feet. Kijimunaa doesn't hit very hard, but it makes it up with its Agility stat. Yamato sets the Snake-class Makara as the computer opponent and begins the battle.

Between the three human fighters, the Makara is the first to go. Yamato gleefully chases after Shijima's TamLin with his Bai Suzhen, shooting one ice attack after another at the armored humanoid demon. The tiny Kijimunaa zips around the stage, pelting them with the occasional Multi-Hit—if they had enough damage, one or two hits from the small demon would send one of them flying off-screen. Yamato uses Bai Suzhen to freeze the floor temporarily, causing both of his opponents to slip and slide across the strip of ice. Then he launches his attack.

The Kijimunaa's superior Agility stat allows it to narrowly escape the hail of ice shards that rain down upon the frozen section of the stage. The TamLin isn't as lucky and takes a large amount of damage. But before Yamato can move in to finish the job, Jin does it for him.

"Aw man! You're too good. I can never beat you," Shijima groans when TamLin finally loses its last life. Jin flashes him a quick grin.

The battle is now down to Yamato and Jin. Yamato only has one of his lives left, while Jin has two. He narrows his eyes challengingly at his roommate, who reciprocates by landing a vicious Force Dance attack on his character. He has Bai Suzhen retaliate with Ice Dance. The Kijimunaa dodges it. The ice strip on the stage has already melted away, so the little Fairy-class demon can easily run around without sliding. But not for long.

Kijimunaa can't fly, but it can do an air step combo that keeps it afloat for a few seconds. But Bai Suzhen's airborne capabilities far exceed its abilities. Yamato freezes the stage floor, then boosts his demon into the air to rain a storm of icicles down onto the hapless Fairy-class demon below. To Jin's credit, he moves the joystick with enough grace that the Kijimunaa takes minimum damage from the wide-range ice attack, then he launches Force winds at Bai Suzhen that knock the Dragon-class demon from the air.

The elemental attack didn't do much damage, but Yamato knows that isn't Jin's goal. The Kijimunaa darts forward to intercept Bai Suzhen's graceless plummet to the stage. Yamato manages to thwart its attack by shooting ice shards at it as it approached. Jin directs the little demon up using its air step combo, then throws a Force Dance down at Bai Suzhen form above. Yamato avoids the miniature tornado winds, but he is unable to get Bai Suzhen to react in time when Kijimunaa kicks it in the face and sends it crashing to the stage floor. Jin follows up with a relentless Multi-Hit attack that builds up enough damage that the damage gauge turns red and goes over one-hundred percent.

Yamato knows what's going to happen before it does.

Jin's Kijimunaa lands another Multi-Hit attack that blows Bai Suzhen right off the screen when it's finished, despite its lack of physical strength. Jin wins again. Yamato is tempted to shove the grinning idiot off the couch.

"Jeez, no one can beat you at this game," Shijima says, sounding half joking and half resigned. "You're a total battle maniac. I don't know how you do it."

"Just inborn skills," Jin replies, giving Yamato a subtle wink. Yamato snorts. Of course only the two of them would know that that line is straight out of the memory dreams they shared.

"Man, you should give me some of that. Go easy on poor ol' Daichi, would you?" Shijma complains, waving the controller around. "I'm like a peasant to your Highness."

"Ugh, don't start that again," Jin groans, covering his face with one hand. "It was bad enough when Io stuttered through her whole part of the play."

Yamato just arches an eyebrow at Jin when Shijima starts laughing uncontrollably. Jin shakes his head. You don't want to know.

Yeah, he probably doesn't. Anything that Shijima finds hilarious usually isn't that funny.

"Brother, I would like more tea," Miyako cuts in, holding up her cup.

"Get it yourself—" Yamato begins to say, but Shijima immediately flies out of his chair and offers to do it instead. Yamato rolls his eyes. Shijima is comparable to an overly eager puppy, who aims to please, but is not very smart. Despite a difference in opinions between him and Miyako, even he knows his sister would never go for someone like Shijima. Not that Miyako has time for romance, anyway. Being the successor of the Hotsuin family business leaves little room for idling.

Indeed, Miyako merely raises a silver eyebrow in response, but allows Shijima to take the cup from her hand.

It's going to be a long day, Yamato thinks. At least having Jin around makes his sister's intruding presence a little more tolerable…

…well, until she catches them making out in their room. Yamato doesn't think he's ever been so mortified in his entire life.

---

Hotsuin Yamato.

Who's there?

Hotsuin Yamato, you must wake up.

Who are you?

You and your Shining One must escape.

Answer me.

He is coming.

Who is coming?

The Fallen One. You must wake up.

Hey—

Quickly!

---

Yamato jolts awake with a gasp. Beside him, Jin sits up quickly, breathing heavily. He feels Jin's hand grasp his and lace their fingers together, although Jin is shaking.

"What was that?" Jin's voice is quiet and confused. "That wasn't a dream, it was like… someone was telling me to wake up."

Yamato isn't sure either. "The voice sounded familiar," he says, slowly getting up. He feels Jin tilt sideways to lean his head against Yamato's shoulder. He frowns. For some reason, he can't place where he had heard the voice before, or who it belonged to. Someone from their dreams, perhaps?

"Sounded like a guy. I think he said something about a Fallen One? What does that even mean?" Jin strokes a thumb over Yamato's skin.

"I believe he called you 'Shining One'. There must be some connection—Shining One and Fallen One," Yamato muses thoughtfully.

"Do you think it's another alien star invasion? Another Administrator coming to destroy this world?" Jin asks.

"It is possible. However, the Fallen One also has its roots in astrology. It is no coincidence that we had dreams about sentient star creatures attempting to eradicate mankind and are currently attending a university based off those names as well. I will look into it today," Yamato replies. "Stay on your guard, Jin."

"You too, Yamato." Jin takes his head off Yamato's shoulder and gives him a kiss. "For both of our sakes, and the world's, I hope it isn't anything bad."

They are silent, simply taking comfort from each other. Yamato digs his phone out from beneath his pillow and checks the time. It is almost seven in the morning. He can't shake the feeling of foreboding that is rising within him.

You and your Shining One must escape.

But escape to where? Whoever tried to warn them was unhelpfully vague. Yamato pulls up an online search engine and decides to start researching about what this "Fallen One" might refer to. It pays to be prepared.

Jin is nodding off against his shoulder. Yamato shifts around so that Jin's head falls on his lap instead. He cards his fingers through the curly black strands, marveling at its fluffiness. His roommate makes a half-coherent sound of content. How cute. He turns his attention back to his phone and opens the first page he finds about a star called Zosma.

Zosma—also known astronomically as Delta Leonis—is a star of the Leo constellation. It is associated with people who voluntarily enter dangerous situations, willing to make sacrifices or become victims. Additionally, the planet Uranus appears to exert a minor influence over Zosma, because it is commonly associated with people who uproot or destroy established societal systems and taboos, question religion, or publicly show their personal eccentricities. It also has ties to homosexuality. Zosma's astrological influences include benefit by disgrace, selfishness, egotism, immorality, meanness, melancholy, fear of poison, and a shameless, egotistical nature.

Yamato frowns at the article he just finished reading. The description of this star matches up quite eerily with some of his personality traits, his dream-self's characteristics, and his and Jin's dream world experiences. His dream-self had created a meritocracy because he couldn't stand how rotten the old world was.

…commonly associated with people who uproot or destroy established societal systems and taboos…

Yamato knows he is shameless for the most part, and he is egotistical to a degree. He can't label himself a homosexual though, or, for that matter, a sexual being at all. Growing up in the shadow of the Hotsuin family, he didn't have the time to consider that sort of thing. He didn't think about sexual activities until he turned seventeen and started having those dreams. Considering his current relationship with his roommate, did that change things? What did that make him then? A Jin-sexual? That is laughable and he isn't sure Jin will appreciate it. Then again, Shijima is Jin's childhood friend. He's probably used to it, as sad as that is.

Suddenly, Yamato shivers. The foreboding feeling grows stronger than before. There is a sinking feeling in his stomach. He looks around suspiciously, but there is nothing out of ordinary about their room. Jin jerks awake in his lap, wide-eyed and terrified.

"The window," he breathes, bolting up. "Look out the window!" He scrambles off the bed and runs over to the two windows in their room, opening the blinds in a frenzy—

—just in time to see the distant Polaris House explode.

Yamato is off the bed and over by the window in seconds. "An explosion? Here?" he mutters incredulously, eyes trained on the burning building. He's starting to hear the screams of agony and distress. A siren wails in the distance. "What's going on?"

Jin doesn't seem to be listening though. He points to a dark shape against the dimly-lit sky, a bright orange glow illuminating the figure's black clothes. "There. That must be the Fallen One that voice was talking about," he says, one hand tightly clenching the white windowsill.

Someone knocks on their door frantically. "Jin! Yamato! Are you two alright?!"

It's Sako. Yamato strides to the door and yanks it open. "We're here and fine. What's the situation outside?" he demands sharply. "We just saw the Polaris House explode."

"We need to get out of here fast! The Alcor House might be next," Sako rushes, grabbing his arm and attempting to bodily haul him outside. "You too, Jin! Hurry!" Jin snatches his hoodie from his desk chair and follows them out.

Everyone else in their apartment is already gathered at the door. "Everybody here? Good, let's evacuate," Yanagiya says, her usual smile absent from her face. She opens the door and steps outside, keeping a careful lookout. Yamato follows after her, craning his head around to see if he can get a better glimpse of the mysterious floating figure. His eyes widen.

"Run!" he yells, grabbing Jin's hand and sprinting into the thick grove of trees to the left of the Alcor House. The three women heed his warning and do the same, putting as much distance between themselves and the apartment building as they can.

An enormous fireball—an overpowered Agidyne, Yamato thinks—impacts the Alcor House a few seconds later, destroying the entire east wing and setting the building ablaze. Yamato feels Jin trembling beside him and squeezes his hand reassuringly. Jin gives him a strained smile.

"Why is this happening?" he questions sadly, turning his attention back to the Alcor House.

"There will be time for reflection later. We need to move," Yamato hisses, turning around to run deeper into the cover of the trees. "Sako, Yanagiya, Kanno! It will be best if we split up to divert enemy attention. We part ways here." Sako shouts an affirmation and disappears in the opposite direction with Kanno and Yanagiya in the tow. Jin protests as Yamato drags him away, but Yamato makes sure he has a firm grip on Jin's hand. Jin is the most important one here. He is the one person in this world that he cannot afford to lose, no matter what. It isn't a question of love or deep emotional attachment—it's about their shared lives and their possible past connections from another world, in another place and time, and what the future holds for them.

It's also about finding out who the real targets are.

Yamato's fingers tighten around Jin's hand. He understands that coincidences exist, but the timing and magnitude of this attack on Septentrione University is far too great for it to be a mere coincidence. The Polaris House was the first apartment complex to be attacked. That by itself was suspicious enough. The Alcor House was next. In their shared dreams, Alcor had been the final Septentrione they had had to defeat before the path to Polaris could be opened. Yamato thinks he knows exactly what it all means, and the conclusion he comes to is… well, "bad" would be the understatement of the century.

He feels Jin yank powerfully on his arm, bringing both of them down to the ground. A moment later, a Mazandyne rips through the canopy of leaves above their heads and wrecks a good chunk of the forest area they had headed into. Yamato looks up and sees a shadowed figure hovering in the air, barely visible against the lightening morning sky. It's the person Jin had seen outside the window.

"Did you grab your phone before we left?" Yamato whispers to Jin, eyes still trained on the figure.

"Yeah, I have it here." Jin pulls it from the pocket of his white hoodie, now stained with dirt. He glances up at the floating figure. "You're not thinking about… attacking that guy from here, are you? Whoever the person is, they're too high up."

"I'm not an idiot, Jin." Yamato gives his roommate an unimpressed look. "I'm making sure you have the means to defend yourself."

Jin fiddles with his jacket, looking embarrassed. "…I'm prepared," he says, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

"Good, let's go. Keep low to the ground and stick to the shadows as much as you can. We want to avoid being seen by whoever is up there." Yamato slowly crawls into the shadow of a nearby bush, which had miraculously escaped the elemental assault completely intact. He keeps an eye on the floating figure ahead. Jin inches his way after him.

Yamato sees the figure glance around a couple times, then fly off in a different direction. He stays still for a minute, making sure that the person doesn't come back. When the figure doesn't reappear, he carefully stands up. With a Force attack that strong, the forest won't be able to protect them from it. Best to keep low-key for now until they can find out what the figure is after.

"I hope everyone else is alright," Jin murmurs, taking Yamato's hand. He looks distressed. Yamato lightly squeezes his hand and leads him in the opposite direction. They need to get some distance between them and the mysterious person.

"They are not weak. I believe they will all survive," Yamato reassures his partner. "Yanagiya is with them, and she is not stupid enough to leave the apartment with no medical supplies on her person."

"I believe you." Jin walks steadily along, trying his best not to step on too many fallen twigs. Yamato almost laughs at his clumsy attempts.

"You're doing it wrong, Jin," he informs his roommate. He stops him so he can take the lead. "Like this. Follow me." Yamato effortlessly moves across the ground without making any noise, having been stealth-trained since he was old enough to walk. He patiently guides Jin after him. The amount of noise Jin makes is reduced as he shadows Yamato's footsteps. He keeps an eye out for the figure in case it decides to return.

Yamato doesn't know exactly how long they've been walking, but it feels like hours. The forest area has thinned out and pale sunlight is streaming through the leaves. He is aware that his body is feeling fatigued and weak, a side effect of not having any food or drink with them. Jin had suggested that they try to find a river or creek of some sort, but Yamato knows that the university campus does not have any. Quite a predicament.

"Let's take a break, Yamato," Jin says softly, pulling him underneath a large tree. "We need to rest in case that person shows up and tries to attack us." He summons a Pixie and asks it to forage for edibles in the area. The Pixie bobs her head and zooms off, disappearing into the foliage. Yamato summons his own Pixie to do the same. He sits down at the base of the tree and leans back, feeling the rough bark through the thin fabric of his nightshirt.

There are no words that need to be exchanged at the moment. Yamato feels Jin settle beside him so that their shoulders, hips, and thighs are touching and their entwined hands lay across their laps. Jin doesn't lay his head on Yamato's shoulder, but that's okay. They both need to stay alert for possible future attacks.

Yamato hears a quiet rustle and he and Jin are instantly on their feet, phones out and ready for action. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Yamato barks.

Someone steps out from the cover of the foliage, smiling benignly. "Hello Hotsuin Yamato, Totsui Jin," he says. "I'm glad to see you escaped safely. Where are the others from your apartment?"

"Ah, you're… Al Saiduq, right? The Alcor House's housing office assistant?" Jin asks, lowering his phone. Yamato knows better than to lower his guard. He knows there are demons out there capable of solid illusions.

"Correct." The broken beams of sunlight coming through the trees illuminate on his snow-white hair, wispy and curly and messy—almost as if he has a cloud sitting on his head instead of an unruly mop of hair. Yamato's eyes narrow. He can count on one hand the number of personal interactions he's had with the office assistant, but all the previous times, meeting him didn't produce a strange feeling in his chest that the man looks, acts, and sounds startlingly familiar. Not in that 'I've met you before' sort of way, but as if Yamato knew him from somewhere other than the university. It is the same feeling he had when he first saw Jin's name in the email Saiduq sent him last Tuesday. Where…?

"It's just the two of us here. We split up with the girls," Jin explains. "What about you? Were you with anyone else?"

Saiduq shakes his head, a leaf falling out of his hair. "I was by myself. I tried to get as many people out of the Alcor House as I could before it was destroyed," he answers sadly. He runs a pale hand through his hair and winces when it tangles. "Do either of you have a hair tie, by chance?"

Jin shakes his head. Yamato sends the man a scathing look. To his chagrin, Saiduq merely looks amused. "Well, that's alright. It would just be easier to get around with my hair tied back. Anyways, Hotsuin Yamato—"

Hotsuin Yamato. Yamato jolts, his eyes growing wide.

"—Totsui Jin—" He sees Jin stiffen out of the corner of his eye.

"—would you mind if I join you for now?" Saiduq inquires politely. He then dons a bemused look. "Why do you look so surprised? Am I unwelcome?"

Yamato snaps out of his funk and walks up to the office assistant. "You can stop pretending, Alcor. Drop the human façade," he snarls. "Why are you here? Jin and I killed you before we fought Polaris."

Saiduq merely looks perplexed, increasing Yamato's ire. "Alcor? Polaris?" he repeats, his white brows furrowed. "Are you referring to the Alcor House and the Polaris House? They were the first two apartment buildings on campus to be attacked, I believe."

"I have no time for your games." Yamato folds his arms, looking down at the slightly shorter man. "Answer me."

Jin touches his arm. "Yamato, he might not remember," he says quietly. "We spoke of the possibility of parallel worlds before. Maybe he's an actual human this time."

"Of course I'm human," Saiduq follows up, appearing utterly baffled by the conversation. "What else would I be?"

"A sentient being created as a Sword of Polaris."

"Sword of… Polaris? I have never heard of such a term. My knowledge of astronomy is rudimentary at best, so perhaps it's an obscure term you are referring to? My, I did not take either of you to be interested in stars and space." Saiduq smiles again, and now that Yamato is aware, the man and the Alcor from the dream world are definitely identical. But this Alcor—Saiduq, he calls himself, that is the alias and other name that Yamato thought dream-Alcor had—he doesn't know about the Administrator System or the Astrolabe or the Akashic Record or dream-Yamato's meritocracy.

Then… who was the one who told them to wake up this morning?

Who…

He exchanges a glance with Jin, who shrugs. "…My apologies, I thought you were someone else," Yamato says, turning back to Saiduq. "You can join us."

Saiduq looks elated, one hand coming up to cover the genuine smile on his face. That gesture is familiar too. "Thank you. I will not slow you down, I promise," he replies, taking out a red and black striped cell phone.

The two Pixies return a moment later, each carrying a stick taller than they are. Yamato regards the bright red berry clusters hanging off the sticks with suspicion. His stomach has other ideas and lets loose a loud grumble that has him flushing pink in embarrassment. Jin laughs at him as his Pixie hands him her twig. Saiduq politely covers his amused smile with his hand.

Jin plucks one off, examines it, then shrugs and pops it into his mouth. Yamato stares as the berry's juices stain his lips an appealing shade of red. He swallows and looks away. He takes one of the berries off and hesitantly bites it. It's surprisingly sweet. Jin is already offering some to Saiduq. Yamato almost regrets saying that the white-haired man can stay, because he would like to push his roommate against the tree and lick the red juice from his lips. But it's private and he would rather not perform such an act in front of someone he has no romantic or sexual inclinations towards.

"Delicious," Saiduq comments, swallowing the berry he had been chewing on. "Thank you for giving me some." Jin nods and turns to Yamato, a mischievous smirk surfacing on his face. It makes the hair on the back of his neck prickle.

"Yama-chan, share one with me." Jin puts one partially in his mouth and leans forward, his eyes shining. Yamato gives him a baleful look.

"No."

Jin grabs his face and shoves the other half of the berry past his lips anyway. Yamato feels faintly mortified because—Saiduq is standing right there—well, Jin is spontaneous sometimes.

"I see you two are getting along rather well. I take it you have no complaints about your roommate placement then?" Saiduq inquires, amused. He looks utterly unfazed by the fact that two grown men kissed in front of him. The fact that he is not asking questions about whether it was some kind of human courting ritual convinces Yamato that Saiduq is, indeed, a human and not an alien star being.

The peace doesn't last long.

A distant explosion catches their attention. Yamato frowns. "We should get moving," he says, quickly eating the rest of the berries. Jin follows suit.

"The sound is coming from the east," Saiduq elaborates, one hand cupping his ear. "We should move westward or farther south."

Ring!

The noise makes Jin jump in surprise. He hurriedly opens his phone, "Hello? Daichi?"

Yamato hears Shijima sob in relief on the other side of the line, babbling something about fires and demons and people panicking and what the hell is going on.

His own phone rings, an extremely rare occurrence. "Yamato speaking."

"Good, you're safe." Miyako's voice comes through the receiver. "Where are you? I have sent someone to pick you up and bring you back to the estate."

"I am quite far from civilization at the moment," Yamato answers dryly, casting a look around. He wasn't even sure he was on the university's campus anymore. "An escort will be unnecessary. I have two others with me."

"Totsui is one of them, I presume."

"Indeed."

"I see. I will tell the driver to get to the nearest establishment. Try to make it to the AstroCafé, he will get you from there."

"Very well, but only if I can bring the two I have with me."

"I have no objections. Be safe, brother." Miyako hangs up.

Yamato closes his phone and turns to the other two. Jin is still speaking with Shijima, but his eyes look questioningly at him. Yamato says briefly, "Our new goal is to find a way to the nearest AstroCafé. A chauffeur from the Hotsuin estate will meet us there."

Jin nods in understanding. Saiduq offers no complaints, meaning he is on board with the new itinerary as well.

Then a black-clad figure drops from the sky, landing in front of them with a loud booming sound as the person's impact with the ground created a small crater. It's the figure who was chasing them earlier. Yamato jumps back with a curse. Saiduq and Jin both get some distance from the mysterious person as well.

But the person's attention doesn't go to them. Blood-red eyes glared at him from beneath a black hood outlined with blue.

"Hotsuin… Yamato…" the person hisses, drawing out a blue phone from their pocket.

Yamato steps back warily. "Who are you?" he asks sharply. "How do you know me?"

"You… how dare you… you don't remember." The person's disturbing muttering collapses into gibberish. "Yamato… you betrayed me… you betrayed us…"

"I have never met you in my life," Yamato calmly declares, narrowing his eyes at the person. "I'll only ask once more time: who are you?"

"…You don't remember… hehehe… then I'll help you remember… I'll kill you… I'll kill you, Hotsuin Yamato!" The person lunges at him, a powerful Megido blasting from their phone. Yamato barely dodges it. He flings a Holy Dance attack back just as Jin and Saiduq execute their own attacks as well.

The black-clad figure whips around and stares at Jin. "You… you have them… ehehehe… I'll obliterate you two… if I can't have him, no one can!" the person cackles, unleashing a Mazandyne and an Agidyne at Jin in quick succession. Yamato ignores the stab of fear that runs through him at that, as well as the relief that follows when Jin evades the attacks with ease.

"Go, Loki!" Jin summons the mischievous Tyrant-class demon in all its purple glory. "Hit him with a Megidolaon!" The demon powers up an Almighty blast and throws it at the person. Dust flies up into the air as the attack bears down on the laughing figure, seemingly crushing them to the ground. But something's not right… he can still hear the person's laughter echoing from the dust cloud. What on earth…?

Yamato has little time to analyze because he suddenly finds himself up in the air, gripped by the claws of a Suparna. He hears Jin's and Saiduq's panicked shouts from below. He turns his head to examine the enormous, magenta-colored claws tightly clamped around his body and wiggles a bit to see how much mobility he has. The claws tighten around him in response and Yamato gasps as he feels his lungs and ribs protest. Not much room, then. He blinks away the spots in his vision.

"Yamato!" There's Jin, riding on the back of his own Suparna along with Saiduq. "I'll save you, just hang on!"

"No… I won't let you have him!" A mighty Mazandyne is hurled towards Jin and Saiduq, blowing them back. Yamato grits his teeth. If only his arm was free!

"You are mine…" the person croons above him, making an involuntary chill run down his spine. "Forever mine… always mine… mine, mine, mine…" Yamato hears Jin scream his name again, but they are already too far away. Don't worry, he wants to say. I'll be fine. I will survive.

He examines the passing scenery to figure out where he is and where he may possibly be headed. Something twists in his gut when they pass over the burning remains of what used to be the Phecda House. Judging by the flight speed and the direction they are traveling—north-west, it seems—they will be approaching the Dubhe House within two minutes. Shijima is associated with the Dubhe House, isn't he? The man is likely en route to meet up with Jin at the moment, but he can still check if Shijima is in the area.

Yamato's hand feels a bit clammy from holding the phone for too long, but he refuses to drop it. Without his phone, he's as good as defenseless and Jin may as well not bother to rescue him because Yamato is sure he'll be a sticky red smear across the ground if that happens—

Ah, there's the Dubhe House now.

Then his phone rings in his hand and he curses the caller's unfortunate timing. His phone nearly slips out of his hand as he tries to turn his head to see if he can check the screen, but it's impossible to tell. A shadow falls over him and he's suddenly faced with the creepily grinning face of the mysterious person floating in front of him.

"I'll take this… wouldn't want you fighting back, heeheehee…" Yamato watches with concealed irritation and resignation as the person plucks the phone from his sweaty fingers with ease and tosses it behind them. The yellow device falls through the trees and disappears from view.

A hand grabs his chin. Yamato snarls as the hooded person brings their faces close to each other. Crimson eyes glow wickedly from beneath the black hood, mouth stretched into a leer. Yamato can barely make out the network of scars crisscrossing the left side of the person's face. He frowns. The scars look like—wounds from an Almighty attack. And although he can't completely make out the person's face, the person looks awfully similar to…

Yamato's eyes widen and he feels cold.

No.

The person moves so that their lips are right next to Yamato's ear. "Hotsuin Yamato… I will make you remember me… you are mine and mine alone…"

No, no, no, nononononono—

An unwelcome hand caresses his cheek, then slides down his neck and to his collarbone.

NO. NO. NONONO. STOP.

The same hand tearing his nightshirt apart so it can trail down his bare chest.

Yamato shakes his head violently, dislodging the person's grip on his chin, and bites down hard on the hand. A coppery taste fills his mouth—blood.

"Bad boy… I'll have to teach you a lesson, mortal," the person growls, their other hand sharply tweaking one of Yamato's nipples. Yamato just bites down harder, refusing to let go. With his body trapped in the Suparna's claws and his phone gone, his head is the last measure of defense he has left.

Pain explodes through his mind as he is backhanded with enough force that his head snaps to the side and he briefly sees stars in his vision. He blinks dazedly. The person retracts their bloody hand and glowers down at him. Seeing such familiar features twist into an ugly expression, Yamato knows that this person—this man—is nothing like the one from his dreams.

"You're not him," he states firmly, glaring.

You can't fool me, Zosma.

"Foolish man… you should have just given yourself to me… you will die slowly and painfully… I will enjoy hearing you scream and cry and beg for mercy before you choke on your own blood and die in agony before your loved one." The star entity taking the form of dream-Jin in his late twenties grins murderously. Zosma floats back up, out of Yamato's view.

The ground starts to get closer, indicating that the Suparna is descending. He hopes beyond all reason—to the point of nearly believing—that Jin shows up before he gets mauled beyond recognition and has an actual plan to defeat the star entity, otherwise they and everyone else are screwed. He doubts he'll have enough time to retreat. Zosma can fucking fly and that is a hugely unfair advantage.

They land in an open field, where Yamato is unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The Suparna flaps its wings once before Zosma dismisses it. The man looms over him, hideously criminal grin transforming dream-Jin's features into a grotesque parody of a smile. Yamato is instantly on his feet. He knows enough self-defense that he's sure he can fend off physical attacks from the star entity, but elemental and Almighty blasts are going to be trickier to deal with. He keeps himself alert. It's more difficult to read muscle movements underneath the black clothes that Zosma is wearing.

"Poor, poor Hotsuin… having to fight his dead lover… a lover who betrayed him," Zosma taunts, taking a step towards Yamato.

"Keep your mouth shut, scum," Yamato retaliates, his eyes narrowed at the entity. "You are not and will never be like Jin."

"I am Jin… I am also Zosma… I am egotism and despair, negativity and homosexuality, sacrifice and eccentricity. Hotsuin Yamato, you cannot hope… to win again me…" Zosma's voice echoes around him even though they are in an open field. Darkness radiates from his being, a crushing pressure being exuded that makes Yamato's body feel heavier than usual. Yamato bites down on his lip to prevent himself from succumbing. He has to survive here. He has to see Jin again.

Zosma takes another step forward. Yamato steps back, searching around the field. He quickly makes and discards various plans as he maps out the field with his eyes while keeping his attention on the advancing madman.

There's no helping it. He'll have to run. The forest begins about seven hundred yards south of his current position. If he can make it to the trees without being caught or dying…

"Not so fast, human." Yamato curses in his head as Zosma suddenly appears in front of him and grabs him by the throat. Although Jin's body is shorter, Zosma has no trouble lifting Yamato off the ground so his feet dangle. Yamato tries to kick the star entity, but Zosma blocks his feet with his other arm. The pressure around his throat doubles and all of Yamato's attention goes to making sure his windpipe isn't crushed by the entity's insane grip. It feels like needles are prickling his lungs because he can't breathe.

"D-damn… you…" he chokes out, his fingers struggling feebly against the man's hand.

Zosma grins and slams him to the ground. Yamato's eyes open wide—something feels like it just cracked. He's lifted up again and smashed against the ground. A hot burst of pain flowers in his abdomen. He coughs weakly and feels copper in his mouth.

"Heh… hahahehehe… geheheheeheeha… ahahaha!" Zosma laughs maniacally as he lets go of Yamato's throat and stomps on him. Yamato bites back an agonized scream as his ribs break under the strain. He tries to roll on his good side to spit blood out, but Zosma pulls him up by his hair and throws him. Yamato has to bite down on his own arm to muffle the pained shout that comes out of his throat as he lands hard on the ground. He lays there, trying to fight past the pain that wracks his body in waves.

"Humans are so frail," Zosma booms, approaching him.

Yamato tries to get up, although his head is spinning and there are black spots in his vision. Where's Jin? He needs Jin. Jin…

He stumbles away from Zosma, breathing hard. Air rattles painfully in his lungs. He feels like someone just shoved a hot poker right into his stomach and didn't pull it back out.

"You can run, but you can't hide." Zosma is closing in on him, he can feel it.

Yamato takes a labored breath. His legs wobble underneath him and he staggers to the side, blinking tiredly. The landscape seems to swim in front of his eyes. The forest. He needs to get to the forest. It's… five hundred—no, four hundred? Maybe three hundred yards, he can't really gauge the distance right now.

A hand grabs his arm. "Gotcha," Zosma hisses close to his ear.

Snap!

Yamato howls as the star entity easily breaks his arm. His good arm flies to his ribs as his now-broken arm dangles uselessly by his side. He is in so much pain right now—how long has he been here? Where is Jin? What….

Huh, he's on the ground now. When did that happen? The grass feels slick under his body and smells coppery too. He must be bleeding. Huh, did he have an open wound? Maybe a broken bone went through his skin when he fell down.

Zosma's foot comes down on one of his hands. Yamato barely flinches; he's already in enough pain that he barely feels it. He just feels numb. Kind of cold. And tired. Very tired. But he can't go to sleep. He's still waiting.

For who?

Who is he waiting for?

Ah, yes.

Zosma's foot then rests solidly on his back. "I wonder, how painful will it feel for you… if I break your spine?" the entity croons, grinding his heel into Yamato's back. "Let's hear it, a beautiful chorus of screams!"

What…? Yamato can't understand. There's a ringing in his ears and Zosma's voice sounds so very far away. Crap… is he going to die? No, he's Hotsuin Yamato, he can't die here. But it's so… hard to stay… awake…

"Get the fuck away from him!"

A furious shout. Jin…?

The sky seems to turn dark with a brief moment. There is a roar, elements clashing as attacks are pitted against each other. Yamato blinks at the grass. Zosma's foot is no longer on his back. Huh.

Someone puts their hand lightly over his broken arm. "You're going to be alright now, Hotsuin," the person whispers. Ah, that voice… must be Saiduq. No, Alcor? Sounds like Saiduq. But Saiduq is Alcor, right?

Soothing warmth sweeps through his arm and his body. Healing magic. He relaxes as Saiduq murmurs unintelligible words beside him. He's safe now, isn't he? Can he sleep now? No, he can't. He needs to see Jin. He has to stay awake for Jin. Doesn't he have a concussion? He should probably keep himself awake. Unless Saiduq heals it.

"Megidolaon! Just die, you fucking bastard! How dare you wear my face and hurt Yamato like that! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Haha, Jin sounds angrier than Yamato's ever heard him before. He's never sounded so wrathful even in the dreams. Zosma doesn't stand a chance. He closes his eyes.

"No! I cannot lose! Not to a… a human! Argh!"

He hears a screech and Jin's triumphant cry. He smiles. He knows Jin has won.

Mere moments later, he feels someone lift his head. He cracks his eyes open. Jin sobs and cradles his head to his chest, whispering, "Yamato… Yamato… I'm so sorry… I'm glad you're alive…" He's shaking, Yamato notes.

He reaches out and touches Jin's cheek, which is wet with his tears. I'm okay, he wants to say, but his throat doesn't feel up to talking any time soon. Jin just gives him a watery smile.

"I killed him, Yamato. He's gone now. You're okay. I—I-I—" Yamato understands even as Jin fumbles with his words and tangles his fingers in Yamato's bloody hair. Yamato's head rests in his lap. Smells like blood and dead grass and smoke. But smells like Jin too, like fire and excitement and something sweet. Healing magic washes over him again and he closes his eyes.

"Sleep now, Yamato." Lightly calloused fingers touch his cheeks. "I'll be with you when you wake up."

Yamato obeys.

---

It's dark.

Quiet.

Empty.

Is this… the Void?

No, it can't be. He has thoughts. He has consciousness.

Where is he?

Where is this?

Why is he here?

What was he doing before?

A smiling image comes before him. Then a vague memory of pain.

That's right. He was attacked. And Jin… Jin? Come to think of it, he's alone here. Where is Jin? He looks around. Nothing. He's alone, floating in a giant black space of nothingness.

He reaches a hand out. His arm isn't broken. His head doesn't hurt either. He carefully flexes his fingers, watching as the inky darkness ripples around him. Very strange. He doesn't like it. He must be dreaming, then.

"Very perceptive, Hotsuin Yamato."

A bright white light suddenly shimmers in the darkness, momentarily blinding him. Alcor is standing there—the real Alcor, with his messy, cloudy hair and eyes, lanky body clad in the familiar red and black striped sweater with a ruffled collar and form-fitting black pants.

"Alcor. I thought you were dead." He's surprised by the steadiness of his own voice. He isn't the same Hotsuin Yamato who defeated the Septentrione in front of him, but he does have the memory of the experience. Does that make them one and the same Hotsuin Yamato?

"I am dead," Alcor agrees. "My body perished after my defeat at your hands. I am but an imprint that has been left upon the world, a guide and a reminder of what humanity is capable of doing."

"Why are you here now?" Yamato asks. He gestures to the empty space around them. "What—where is this?"

"Like I said, I am a guide. I have no corporeal form. My existence lies within the realm of the unconscious. Hotsuin Yamato, you and your Shining One are not fated to die such meaningless deaths. You are to live, the way your other self and the Shining One's other self could not," Alcor explains, rather ambiguously. "As for this place… you are dreaming, are you not?"

"You… you were the one who told us to wake up, to escape. You were warning us about…"

"Zosma. He was a lone star entity gifted with a human consciousness much like I was, but he's far more malevolent than I ever was. Worry not, the Leo constellation system of Administrators and Swords will not attack mankind. This world is outside of their jurisdiction." Alcor smiles lightly. "It is as the Shining One believes. The world you live in is a parallel world of sorts. I cannot explain how it was created, but it is thanks to the wish of the Shining One's other self and the sacrifice he made to ensure you and your Shining One can have the happy ending he didn't."

Yamato crosses his arms, absently tapping a finger against his arm as he reviews his thoughts and connections. "What was the sacrifice he made? I thought he killed himself and my other self in a murder-suicide," he says, giving Alcor a confused look. Then his eyes narrow. "Unless… he pulled away at the last second and only killed my dream self? But he has no access to Polaris or the Akasha Stratum in the meritocratic world. So how…?"

Alcor shakes his head, fluffy bangs falling over his eyes. "That I cannot answer," he replies, floating closer to Yamato. He holds out a pale, slender hand. "Do you trust me, Hotsuin Yamato?"

Yamato snorts. "You know I don't. What do you intend to do now?" he inquires, ignoring the offered hand.

"We are going to see him. The Shining One's other self," Alcor elaborates.

"He's here?" Yamato is surprised.

"A portion of himself slumbers deep within your Shining One. He has been dormant the Shining One's whole life. We may not be able to wake him, but we can try," Alcor answers. His hand is still held out to Yamato. "Coming?"

Yamato sighs and takes Alcor's outstretched hand.

The blank space around them flashes once, twice, and then they are next to a shimmering silver cage. Yamato's eyes widen when he sees what's inside.

Completely naked from head to toe, dream-Jin—in his forties, when he had killed Yamato—floats in the cage, suspended by nothing. His skin is semi-transparent. Yamato can vaguely see the cell bars through his body. Thin silver chains are draped over him, attached to the thick cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Dream-Jin's knees are pulled up in a sitting position, with his cheek resting against one knee and his arms circling his legs. His black hair waves gently back and forth.

Just by looking at him, Yamato can tell that waking the man up will be impossible. He turns to Alcor and shakes his head. "It's best to leave him. We can try to figure things out on our own," he says, floating away from the cage. He glances around. "I should wake up now. This… isn't where I should be."

The Septentrione laughs softly, one hand coming up to politely cover his mouth. "Indeed, it's not. You should go back to the living. The world of the dead and lost is not for you," he tells Yamato. He pulls his hand away from his mouth, revealing a bright smile. His thick white lashes flutter as he blinks. "Go on, Hotsuin Yamato. It is unlikely you will see us again, but you should not dwell here. Your Shining One is waiting for you."

Before Yamato can say anything else, the inky darkness ripples violently. Alcor and dream-Jin vanish from view, and then he feels like he is falling down, down, down…

---

The first thing he sees is white. He blinks slowly, attempting to comprehend where he is. The smell of antiseptic is in the air. A hospital? Someone is holding his hand. He turns his head and sees Jin some ways down the bed, fast asleep. His head is pillowed against his crossed arms on the white sheets, his back bent over the edge of the bed because he was sitting in a chair before.

Yamato feels thirsty, throat as parched and dry as rough sandpaper. His whole body feels sluggish and weak. He hates feeling like this. At least he won't have to be stuck here for too long. Healing magic is a wondrous thing. He knows that Diarahan can't actually fix everything—and using too much Healing magic on a human being at one time can actually overload their systems and kill them—but it did speed up the recovery process a lot. Now, how to wake Jin up so he can get some water down his throat...

He tries to squeeze Jin's hand. Jin just makes a vague sound. Yamato huffs. He lets go of Jin's hand and attempts to sit up, going slowly so he doesn't jostle his ribs. He hisses as his abdomen twinges with phantom spasms of pain, but his ribs don't seem to be broken anymore. Good. He looks at Jin, who stirs when Yamato rustles the sheets. His blue eyes blink open lazily and he scrubs at his face with one hand.

"Yamato…?" he murmurs. His eyes widen and he shoots up out the chair so fast that it falls over on the floor, making a loud clanking sound upon impact. Yamato gives him a puzzled expression as Jin tears up, a myriad of emotions chasing each other across his face. Then he sobs and practically throws himself at him. "Yamato!"

"Ow! Watch the ribs, you idiot!"

Jin mumbles an apology as he wraps his arms carefully around Yamato's torso, crying into the thin hospital gown that Yamato is wearing. Yamato sighs and puts his good arm around his roommate's back, holding him close. He can put up with this for a little while, even if the sensation of tears soaking through and sticking the gown to his skin is highly unpleasant.

He's released a few minutes later. Jin stands back and scrubs at his face. When he removes his arm, his eyes are red-rimmed and bloodshot and have bags underneath them, but he smiles anyway and chokes out, "Welcome back, Yamato. You were asleep for a week. Had me worried, you know?"

Yamato arches an eyebrow in surprise—he'd been in that black space for seven days?—and manages a weak smile back. "Who do you think you're talking to?" he quips teasingly. "I'm Hotsuin Yamato. It'll take more than this to keep me down." Jin laughs and it feels bright and real and warm and less fragile than he sounds.

Then he rubs at his throat. "I need some water." He coughs. Jin immediately grabs him a glass. It's cool and fresh and crisp and feels like heaven going down his throat. He hands the cup back after he's drained it. Jin refills it and sets the glass on the stand next to him.

"I'll go tell Otome that you finally woke up. Makoto and Fumi want to see you too." Jin leaves the room. Yamato gingerly eases himself back down on the bed, mindful of his ribs and his healing arm.

There's a small bouquet of flowers resting on the stand beside his bed. A simple card embossed with black and gold lettering perches next to it, juxtaposed against the background of green leaves and colorful flowers. He instantly knows who it's from and rolls his eyes inwardly. Despite being the heir to the Hotsuin family business and a royal pain-in-the-ass bitch, his sister can be such a girly sap sometimes. He carefully reaches for the card with his good arm.

"Yamato,

We heard the details from your roommate, Totsui Jin. Although we expected better of your performance against a strong and unknown adversary, we wish you a quick recovery. Do not disappoint us again.

Hotsuin family"

Tch, typical. Not just his sister, but his parents too. He puts the card back on the stand, but face down this time.

The door opens and Yanagiya, Sako, and Kanno all walk into the room, followed by Jin. "Hotsuin! Glad to see you're awake," Sako greets, smiling in relief.

"Yes, I'm glad you're back in the land of the living again. You worried us a lot when Jin contacted me and said you needed urgent medical care immediately," Yanagiya says, standing by his bed with a clipboard in her hand. "Do you feel alright? Any lingering pains? Your arm and ribs are still healing, so no strenuous activity for at least a month, alright? And no 'but's." Yamato knows better than to argue with her.

Kanno leans against the wall with her arms crossed. "Good to see you alive, Hotsuin. Lover boy over here has been glued to your side the whole time. We had to pry him away with a crowbar before he starved himself to death," she tells him, hiding a grin behind her hand as Jin sends her a deadpan look. The tips of his ears flush red. Yamato smirks.

"Is that so?" he purrs, inwardly laughing at the way Jin whips his head in his direction, eyes wide. "I'm flattered." He purposely closes his eyelids partway, giving his roommate a teasing come-hither look.

Jin gulps audibly, causing the three women to giggle at the adorable expression displayed on his face. Kanno shoves him forward so he stumbles and almost falls on Yamato. He catches himself before he does and shoots Kanno a dirty look. She just feigns innocence.

"You should kiss him. He's awake now," she suggests in a somewhat sing-song voice.

Jin chokes. He hesitantly sidles up to Yamato, smiling apologetically. "Do you mind?"

Yamato just sighs. "No tongue. I just woke up from a week of sleep and my mouth probably tastes like rotten fish." Jin makes a face. Yamato snickers.

His partner leans over, grasping the railing behind Yamato's pillow for support, and gives him a quick peck on the lips. Kanno whistles in the background. Yanagiya titters behind the clipboard. Yamato is sure that Sako is bright red and hiding her face in her hands.

"Alright, enough teasing for now. I need to run some tests on him now, so I need everybody out of the room," Yanagiya says, making a shooing motion. "You two can make-out when I'm done. But no sex in the hospital, okay? Hotsuin's ribs haven't fully healed yet."

Jin turns red. Yamato is sure his own face resembles a ripe tomato. Yanagiya giggles, then pushes Sako—who's blushing so hard she looks like she's going to faint—and Kanno towards the door.

"I'm sure you'll be allowed to get up and walk around. And brush your teeth," Jin whispers into Yamato's ear. "I'll be back later. You must be hungry, so I'll grab you some food that's easy to chew and digest, okay?"

"Takoyaki," Yamato promptly says.

Yanagiya lightly taps him on the head with the clipboard and shakes her head disapprovingly. Sako sighs in exasperation, a helplessly fond smile playing about her lips, as Kanno sends a sideways glance at Jin and subtly waggles her thin eyebrows. And Jin…

Jin just bursts out laughing.

---

Hi. As you can see, I'm still very alive. I've just had major writer's block and was dealing with some real life issues (depression, anxiety issues, frustration over not being able to get a summer job, and an exchange student program to Hong Kong). This was actually written in roughly three weeks over the summer (July/August) and I finally got around to finishing up with the editing process. Damn, this is one helluva long one shot. More than three times longer than my previous record.

The plot is pretty much nonexistent, okay. I just wanted an excuse to write this pairing. I think they're utterly adorable. There's a lot of loose ends that I don't feel like tying together, so just think of this being open-ended.

I made an AO3 account, so I will post this there at a later date.

If you liked it, please leave a review. Please do not leave a review that doesn't even reference the story. If you want to talk to me, send me a PM, not a review.

Peace out.

MangaFreak15