OMG I started this fic BEFORE the episode of her dad coming! XD Sooo just pretend tht didn't exist? Haha. I don't own sentai.
It was like any other day at The Jurer, Touma was in the kitchen cooking, Umika was waiting tables, and Kairi was talking with customers. The four Patrangers sat at their usual table when a couple walked through the front door.
"Umika!" the woman squealed as she rushed toward the yellow ranger.
Umika's eyes opened in shock, "Hi. What brings you here?"
"We could ask you the same thing sweetie," the woman replied, "You drop out of school just to work here?"
Kairi was soon up next to Umika, "Can I help you?"
"Was it because of this boy? I knew it had to be a boy," The man accused.
"No. No. Just sit down," she pointed at a table, "Give me just a minute and I'll be back to talk with you."
She rushed to the kitchen and Kairi followed, "Those are my parents. I haven't seen them in over a year."
"Did you not tell them where you were going?" Touma wondered.
"Well, just explain that you like it here and you are an adult now, they can't take you away," Kairi offered, "but I do suggest catching up with them, you never know when and if you'll get another chance."
She sighed, "I just don't want to deal with this right now." She went out and sat down with her parents. Kairi snuck over and placed the sign to closed because he wasn't sure if this would turn into a screaming match and didn't want to scare off too many customers.
"So why are you here?" Umika wondered.
"We came to see you of course," her mother responded, "We haven't heard from you in a while."
"I've been busy," she responded.
"Too busy for your own parents?" Her father scolded.
Her mother explained, "We just worry about you. You drop out of school to run off and live with two random guys in a café. There are monster attacks all over the city. We just think you might be safer at home, or back at school."
"There was an attack at the school, that's part of why I dropped out."
"Really? Why didn't we see it on the news?"
"I don't know, but a bunch of students went missing because of one of those monsters."
"Well, we don't have any weird monsters in our city," her father assured, "You'll be safer there."
"Anyone can die at any time," Umika said darkly, "whether it's from a monster attack or something else. I'm not leaving. I've made some great friends here, including those police officers," she tried to calm them down.
"Speaking of friends, where has Shiho been?"
Kairi and Touma, who had been listening in, looked up to see her reaction.
"She went missing too," Umika admitted.
"Oh Shiho was a great girl," Umika's mother remembered, "Hopefully all of the missing people come back safely."
Umika just nodded.
"Alright," her father decided, "We won't make you leave yet, but you should spend the day with us while we are here."
Umika's face lit up at the fact they weren't forcing her to leave, "Let me just finish up a few things."
"Umika?" Sakuya called her over, "I didn't mean to overhear, but did you say one of your friends went missing?"
"Look Sakuya, I don't really want to talk about it," Umika explained.
"It was a gangler though, wasn't it?" Tsukasa questioned. Umika nodded before walking back to the kitchen.
"Ok. I'm off the hook for now, but I have to spend the rest of the day with them…"
"It's fine, I've got everything taken care of," Kairi winked.
"Have fun," Touma focused on the plate he was filling.
After they left the restaurant, Sakuya called Kairi over. "Did I upset her?"
"Her parents upset her for sure," Kairi pulled up a chair, "but she doesn't like to talk about Shiho."
"So all of you lost someone before coming here?" Tsukasa wondered, "she lost her friend, you lost your parents, and Touma's fiancé left him. I understand why you'd all bond together."
"Yeah, something like that," Kairi tried to hide the pain in his eyes.
"That was that weird ice gangler, wasn't it?" Keiichiro thought back.
"Zamigo," Kairi growled under his breath.
"You know his name?" Keiichiro questioned.
"Did he kill someone you know too?" Sakuya prodded.
Kairi got up without a response and stormed out of the restaurant. Touma watched with a plain face before going back to cleaning the kitchen.
"Zamigo has a human disguise so he blends in better than most ganglers," Noel explained.
"I remember Kairi freaking out when I mentioned a guy who was chewing on ice," Keiichiro recalled, "I wonder if that guy is the gangler."
"But why would Kairi know him? Unless he did kill someone Kairi knew," Tsukasa wondered.
There were no other customers in the bistro so Sakuya yelled, "Hey, Touma."
Touma exited the kitchen and took off his apron.
"Did a gangler kill someone Kairi knew?" Sakuya spit out.
Touma kept an entirely straight face they couldn't read, "his past is his to tell. Now if you don't mind, I have no waiters so the bistro is now closed."
Noel stood first as the other three tried to keep reading Touma's expression, "Thank you for the wonderful meal," Noel handed him his cash.
Touma nodded and then took the others cash as well.
"If they all had someone killed by a gangler, they would have motive to be the Lupinrangers," Tsukasa thought.
"We proved that theory wrong, and it wouldn't explain why they steal things," Sakuya responded.
"What do you think Noel?" Keiichiro looked at their fourth ranger who simply shrugged in response.
Touma found Kairi at the park shooting his basketball, "I thought I'd check here first but I honestly thought you'd be out looking for ganglers."
"This helps me clear my head," Kairi caught the ball then tossed it at Touma.
Touma shot toward the basket and made it in.
"Maybe you should go into basketball," Kairi analyzed.
"I'd much rather stick to cooking."
"I'm sorry about earlier. I can't always keep such a straight face like you can."
"You know I lose it sometimes too, but they are our enemies and losing it in front of them could blow our cover."
"Yeah," Kairi sighed, "I'm just worried about Umika right now and then thinking about Shori again…"
"I know," Touma comforted, "Umika will be fine though, she's tough."
Kairi heard his phone ring, "Hello?"
"There's a gangler here," Umika whispered, "I can't do anything because of my parents."
"We'll be right there," Kairi answered before hanging up, "Umika found a gangler, let's go."
When Lupin Red and Blue arrived on the scene, Kairi ordered Touma to get the civilians to safety while he distracted the gangler. Umika conveniently got separated from her parents so she could morph and join her team.
"Having fun, Yellow?" Red blasted the gangler.
"Yeah, as much as they bug me, I have really missed them."
The Patrangers appeared on the scene and started attacking their rivals.
"You should really pay more attention to me," the gangler attacked them all. Noel appeared as Lupin X and attacked the gangler while the others tried to stand back up.
"We need to get his collection piece," Blue reminded.
Lupin X managed to get a hold on the gangler, "Go for it."
Yellow rushed forward and got the piece out before the gangler got free.
The Lupin X gave a finishing move and blasted the gangler. Soon he grew and the patrangers formed their megazord.
Yellow handed the piece to Kairi, and escaped back to her parents. Later Umika arrived back at the bistro and collapsed onto one of the bar stools, "I'm glad today is over. That was too much to deal with."
Touma came around the corner, "Well tomorrow won't be much better, we are back on the Patrangers suspicion list. Kairi and Noel are working on a plan to trick them again."
Umika groaned, "great." She headed up the stairs, still hoping the next day would be slower.