Akihito often found that his most enlightening conversations with Mirai occured at the train station.

It had been like that for five years now. It was a place they could both reliably be expected to be at at around the same time each day. They didn't live together yet, after all-if only. Money and age had never permitted. They did come to each other's houses pretty often, but that was different. It wasn't like being with them every day, all the time.

For now, though… these daily meetings were enough. Routine? Perhaps. But ever since what had happened, routine was their lifeblood.

Mirai waved to him when she saw him, sitting down next to him at the bench. "Hello again, Akihito," she said.

Even all these years later, and this deep into their relationship, Akihito had almost expected a 'senpai'. He smiled. "Hey, Mirai."

Mirai pulled her glasses off and rubbed her eyes a bit. "How has your day been…?"

"Same as it always is." Akihito ran one hand down the arm Mirai was holding her glasses with. "You, on the other hand… you seem tired. You didn't sleep well, did you?"

Mirai shook her head. "Afraid not… but I'll be okay."

"Nightmare…?"

Mirai pulled a little cloth and started wiping down her glasses, even though they weren't actually that dirty. "N-n-no, I just stayed up too late…! Need to work on that…!"

Akihito sighed. "Come on now, Mirai. You know I can tell."

Mirai looked down, bringing the glasses to her eyes again. "Sorry… I just don't really want to talk about it, honestly."

Akihito scooted closer now, resting his hand on hers. "That's okay. Just… know I'm here for you. Always."

Mirai smiled softly. "You'll still text me once my college classes start up, right?"

"Of course I will." Akihito wrapped one arm around Mirai and played with her hair. "And call you. And whatever else you need."

Mirai smiled, leaning into Akihito's side. "Thank you."

They sat in quiet stillness for a few minutes, as they often did. Mirai fell asleep-Akihito saw her eyes close and her body slump. Internally, he decided to let her sleep until the train came, which wouldn't be for a bit. She needed it, obviously.

But alas, she was awoken when his phone made a loud buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out checked the caller ID.

Mirai looked to the phone groggily. "Who is it…?"

Akihito took a deep breath. "...Izumi."

Mirai sat up now. "What…? Why would she call us?"

"Let's see." Akihito put the phone to his ear. "Hello…?"

He heard Izumi's unmistakable voice on the other end. "Kanbara. Are you with Kuriyama?"

Akihito gulped, looking to Mirai. "Yeah, she's right here."

"You need to come to the mansion, now. And bring her."

Akihito blinked. "...What? Why?"

"I'll explain there. I don't know how much time we have, and I don't know if this line is being monitored. Just get here."

Akihito sat up all the way now. "What the hell? Are we in danger or something?"

"Yes. Now go."

Izumi hung up. Akihito found himself shaking, struggling to control his breathing. He looked to Mirai. "...We need to go to the Nase's place. She won't explain why, except that we're in danger."

At that, Mirai looked more scared than Akihito was-her face went pale, and she skipped a breath. "N-n-no explanation at all…?!"

"Hey." Akihito placed his hand on her head again, as he always did when she was starting to freak out. "It'll be okay. It's probably the same political bullshit as it usually is."

Mirai grabbed Akihito's arm and held on tight. "R-right… right… let's, let's get going, then…"

Akihito stood up, letting Mirai keep hold. "We'll be fine."

"Right. Fine."

0=0=0=0=0=0

As the doors locked behind them and the men in black suits with submachine guns stood to guard the doors, Mirai was struck with a little sense of dread that always seemed to come up when things would definitely not be fine.

She walked down the halls, hiding behind Akihito for the most part. Akihito, in turn, was following close behind Izumi, who navigated the sprawling hallways with ease. Mirai had never liked the Nase Manor, during the rare times she entered it. It was cold, both literally and figuratively. Its massive space gave a sense of everything being far apart, and made it harder to heat. It wasn't a home, it was a status symbol. No place for small, anxious, perpetually poor 20-somethings.

She and Akihito were led to a large staircase, but instead of walking up them, they were shown around the side of it to a door without a handle. Izumi snapped her fingers, causing the door to briefly glow blue, then open and let them in. The room inside was plated with metal on the ceiling, floor and all the walls, and in the center was a large glass table, covered in books and papers.

Somehow, it was even colder than the rest of the house.

Izumi turned to face Mirai and Akihito now. "This is our safe room. Specifically designed to weather any… violent confrontations."

Mirai bit her lip. "Is there about to be a 'violent confrontation'?"

"Hopefully not." Izumi looked to the door and sighed. "But better safe than sorry."

Mitsuki and Hiroomi, who were both sitting around the table, stood up. Hiroomi waved for the others to come over, and so they did, all gathered around the table together. It was like the Literary Club, almost, if the Literary Club was less inviting.

Hiroomi tugged at his scarf, looking devoid of his usual energy and casual air. "I suppose we should be upfront about this?"

Mitsuki nodded. "Yes. We've been kicked out of the Society."

Akihito raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'kicked out'? Can they even do that?"

Izumi sighed. "Apparently, yes. And it means we can't vote to protect you two anymore. In fact, that's almost certainly why they kicked us out."

Mirai looked between the Nase siblings. "You mean they're planning to hurt us?"

"Absolutely." Izumi pulled some papers from the center of the table. "Which is why we brought you here."

Akihito stood up straight, his expression calm-Mirai could tell he was trying to mask his fear. "So we're staying here, then?"

Hiroomi shook his head. "That would be a bad idea. Too easy for them to just attack the house while everyone's in it."

Izumi passed the papers to Mirai and Akihito now. "Exactly. What we're actually going to do is have you lie low."

Mirai looked over the papers she had been handed. They mentioned a new college, different names, different clothes, washing out the hair dye… she put the paper down and looked to Izumi again. "What is this, secret identities…?"

"That's exactly what it is. You'll be spending a year in hiding. That will buy us time to get this mess sorted out."

Akihito was still focused on the paper, his plain facade giving way to a frown. "...It says we have to be seperated a while…?"

Mirai blinked, looking to her own paper, which indeed said that, then to Mitsuki. "Do we… do we have…"

Mitsuki looked down, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry. It'd be too conspicuous if you were both together. Too easy to find you."

"Can we still talk with each other somehow…?"

Izumi thought on that. "...That can be arranged. But it would be infrequent, on secure channels. Anything else might get picked up by the Society."

Mirai looked to Akihito, frowning. "I mean… that's better than nothing…"

Akihito sat down, putting the paper down and rubbing his face. "...As long as you're safe, I can do it."

Hiroomi laid a hand on Akihito's shoulder. "We'll do everything we can to keep both of you safe."

Izumi nodded. "We've arranged everything at the colleges for you already, and all your studies should transfer over seamlessly."

Mirai tilted her head. "You arranged everything that fast?"

"We've had some contingency plans on this for a while. Given how to Society has acted about you two since the last appearance of Beyond the Boundary, we would have been stupid not to." Izumi grabbed her papers again. "You'll be under our guard. Mitsuki will watch Mirai, Hiroomi will watch Akihito, and I'll hold the fort here and help coordinate things."

Mirai thought of something. "What about Sakura?"

"She can be arranged to stay with you, of course." Izumi looked to Mirai. "Trust me, we can handle anything that might come up. We've been preparing this for five years. We call it Contingency Amber."

Akihito crossed his arms. "Sounds like an American action movie."

"Well, yes, but when you're in a position of power, you assume you could be thrown into an action movie at any moment." Izumi put the papers down on the table and clasped her hands together. "After all… you make a lot of enemies."

Akihito and Mirai looked each other in the eyes now, both processing all this. Akihito offered a hand across the table, which Mirai grabbed hold of tight. She never wanted to let go.