"Yo, rollup right on this here corner."

"Yo, nigga, what the fuck we doin' here?"

"Boss wants us to hit these faggots right here in about ten minutes. Shouldn't be so hard, right? These fucking faggots are getting what they deserved."

"Uh excuse me but your use of the word faggot is triggering me."

"Yo shut the fuck up faggot nigga, who even let you in the fuckin car nigga?"

Four men inside a black hummer, sitting on Philadelphia Avenue, waiting to hit another one of KitS spots. Fortunately Don Joestar and Spike had prepared, and sent of their best.

"Yo there's more niggas here than Shiki said, yo."

"Fuck, did they know? Or did they just get fucking lucky, yo?"

"You guys should pull out like my dad wished he did."

"Nah, we can do this, I believe in our abilities."

They pull up, roll down the windows, bullets fly. The Hummer crashes into a light pole, all four inside are dead. They never stood a chance.

"Report this to Spike immediately!"

Spike hears his phone ring and picks it up, "Moshi moshi? Spike desu. Mhm. Good work. I'll see you back here huh?" Spike turns around to face Maki, "We stopped one of their drive-bys. Down by Philly Avenue." Spike proceeded to light a cigarette, and then offered one to Maki. Maki hesitated only to turn it down.

"I don't smoke, you should know that."

"Sure, just thought I'd offer anyways."

Maki picked up something in his voice, she couldn't tell what it was. Affection? Probably, Spike loved his crew as family.

Nico walked in, and noticed Maki, greeting her, "Afternoon, Maki, how is Makoto?"

"Not back to her normal self, but recovering, I hope."

"hmm, told you she was weak."

"Don't tell me you're still upset over that."

"Why would I be? You only treated me like shit."

"You were gone for two fucking years without saying anything and you just come back and I'm supposed to love you like I did before with no questions asked? What the fuck do you want from me?"

"I still love you Maki! Can't you see? It's not like Makoto is interested in you."

"And I'm not interested in her either. Are we really having this fucking discussion?"

"Yes, and we will be, until I get you back."

Maki sighed, and looked down at the table she was sitting at. Maki knew she still loved Nico "Nico Nico Ni" Yazawa. So why not try to start something again? She sighed again and spoke up, "You busy this afternoon? I need to go apartment hunting, maybe you could come with or something. Not like I want you to or anything." Maki pulled the bill of her baseball cap down to hide her blushing.

Nico saw she was trying to hide the blushing, and had to comment, "Well I guess I'll have to take you up on that offer. When were you planning to go?"

"A-around 3."

Nico chuckled, she knew how to hit Maki's buttons, "I'll be ready. Oh, and Maki, maybe we could get something to eat afterwards?"

"I'd like to be home to take care of Makoto and make her dinner, if you want to come over you can. N-not that I would w-want you to do that or a-anything like that."

Nico couldn't contain herself anymore, she started laughing. Maki was wondering what was going on in that head, but was interrupted when Nico said, "Oh Maki, how I've missed you."

3 P.M rolls around, Maki and Nico head out, saying goodbye to Spike and My Dad. They headed out, first starting at one nearest to the hideout. Maki realized Spike never gave it a name, or maybe he never told her? Maki couldn't remember, and she frankly didn't care.

"This place seems okay, how much is it, Maki?"

"$700 a month, not bad I guess."

"How big are the rooms?"

"Have you seen my current apartment?"

Nico laughed, "No, you wouldn't let me, remember?"

"You had just come back, I hadn't seen you in two years and you're outside my apartment asking to come in? How the hell did you find me? I was seriously only living there for a month at the time. I don't think Makoto moved in yet."

"Makoto wasn't always living with you?"

"She had a boyfriend at the time, it reminded me of us." Maki paused for a second, realizing what she said, and what she was about to say. "They broke up after he moved away. She planned on moving in if they broke up, and they did."

"Oh, so Makoto isn't even-"

"Yes, you see why we're not interested in each other now?" Maki wondered if Nico was being serious, Maki and Makoto were close, family close. Surely if Maki and Makoto had it for each other they would be going out, but Maki wondered if the "family close" part was what made Nico think they had no interest in each other.

"Maki, can I ask you something?"

"You already are."

Nico didn't find that funny.

"Sorry, go ahead."

"Fine, but only if you answer it completely and honestly, none of your shit, okay?"

"No promises, but shoot."

"When I was gone, did you think about finding someone else?"

"To be honest, no."

The answer wasn't the one Nico expected, "Are you being 100% serious with me?"

"Yes, I am. I never once thought about it, not until I heard from you or about you for sure. I honestly figured I'd hear something about it at some point, but when I started asking around you came around."

"What about when I did come back and we weren't seeing each other?"

"I wasn't ready yet, so no."

"So you were still thinking about me even after I was gone, huh? That's sweet."

"Nico, let's have this discussion later, okay? Let's just go to the next place, I wanna see two more places before we go to my place."

They headed to the next apartment, in the middle of where the Maki was currently staying and the hideout.

"So this is it, huh? Looks nice enough, Maki."

"Yeah on the outside, let's check it out."

They stepped inside, looked nice, too nice. Maki checked the price, $900 a month, she almost took it then and there.

"Nico, since you're here, I might as well ask. Does this place seem….. weird to you?

"Yeah….. but I don't know why…."

"Let's check out a room huh?"

Nico and Maki checked out the room that would be Maki's and Makoto's if they moved there. Everything seemed fine, but there was still a feeling of uneasiness.

Maki and Nico stepped outside. "I like the place, but I don't like the place either, what should I do, Nico?"

"Check the last place out is all I can say."

Nico and Maki checked out the last place. Average apartment, not much to it. $800 a month, near the diner that got shot up.

"Yo Maki, isn't this the place you were at?"

"Yeah, it was, only one person died too, from what I heard."

"Who?"

"I think it was the waitress, Yukako. I saw she was the only one who got shot, I feel sorry for her boyfriend and her family."

"Why would you feel bad?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It wasn't your fault."

"That's arguable, but at least her killers were dealt with."

"And now Makoto-"

Maki quickly interrupted her, "Is suffering still, even though she wasn't physically injured. You know, Don Joestar came by, said she might have PTSD?"

"PTSD? I thought that was a thing for people suffering mentally from wars and shit."

"I thought so too, looked it up, happens in rape victims and people who witness violent acts, or have to commit them. Makes sense I guess."

"You take her to a doctor?"

"I scheduled something for next week, earliest I could get in. Comon, Nico, let's go back to my place."

Maki and Nico went back to Maki's apartment, when they entered, they saw Makoto. Maki immediately noticed that Makoto had a teddy bear. Maki wondered where it came from, had it hidden away maybe?

"Maki, this place is nice, real nice."

Makoto noticed Nico, and greeted her, "Hey Nico! It's been a while since I saw you with Maki, you guys hook back up?"

They looked at each other, they didn't say anything, but they nodded at each other. They both smiled, and Maki, without thinking, kissed Nico.