"Okay you guys can go we've got this"

"Thanks for helping us with the surprise"

"Oh we're glad to do so, he's earned this big time, now get going we want to make sure you guys are in place before he gets there"

"Oh he's going to take up to an hour to get there due to the false errands he's going to have to run"

"Good, but you'd better still get going"

"Right"

His firefighting team left and quickly got to the Rescue Fire base

"So does he suspect anything?"

"Nope, he even apologized about having to leave and possibly taking a long time being gone, I had him leaving with the belief I was simply going to get someone to cover him until he came back"

"And do you guys have coverage?"

"Oh yeah, we cleared this with the department beforehand and they were totally for it, in fact they decided to get in on the surprise themselves Juri-san"

"Oh?"

"Yep, but you're going to have to wait until he gets here to find out what the surprise is but needless to say it's good, oh and we have the rest of the day off as well"

"What would have happened if a fire had happened before the scheduled phone call Juri-san?"

"Obuchi-san's Captain would have found a way to let us know until after the fire was taken care of"

"So this still would have happened just delayed a few hours"

"Exactly"

Finally Obuchi was at base and at the designated location and discovers all the lights off so he cautiously enters the room just in case

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

Suddenly the lights turn on and several people call out to him plus he sees a banner he wasn't expecting a banner that had words that one would think would show up sooner but for some reason hadn't for a reason that only Captain Ishiguro had known for months now

"Surprise!"

The banner itself had these words on it

Welcome back to life/Happy Birthday Obuchi

When he saw the banner Obuchi had finally understood why Ishiguro hadn't held more than a small dinner back when he was revealed to be alive

"Welcome back Obuchi-sempai, it's good to see you alive, sorry for not celebrating everything sooner"

"I understand, I completely forgot it was both my birthday and the anniversary of my sacrifice"

"Indeed and I wanted to celebrate it properly"

"Captain how long have you known about this?"

"Two months now"

"That's a long time to be setting up a surprise"

"Yeah it is but we managed"

They enjoyed the celebration for several hours before finally people had to leave because of the fact that there were jobs that needed done including Obuchi and his crew

"I'll see you guys whenever there's an emergency or during my rotation next month"

"Right, we'll see you then"

The next day Obuchi and his team covered the shift the other firefighters had covered for them and it was a pretty easy day, one visit to a school because of a fire drill and one visit to a factory because of an explosion that had been caused by improper mixing of chemicals but otherwise things were fine that day, though everyone noticed Obuchi being a bit moody. Three months went by like this and they were starting to wonder what he was doing on his days off to make him like this when finally the Captain confronted him

"Okay Obuchi, what's going on? I know it can't be about the promotion you got at the surprise party which is long over due"

"Sorry Captain I really can't explain it right now, I might later but for right now I really can't"

"Fine, if it becomes a problem let me know"

"Will do"

Suddenly the team was called out to a fire that had Extreme Disaster written all over it though that call hadn't been made yet, but Obuchi knew it would as soon as he entered the scene

"Guys I have to call my other team, this is too big for us alone"

"Right"

Obuchi brings out his Rescue Commander and calls the base which promptly responds

"Okay let's get going then"

"Right"

So they go to the site of the disaster and that's when disaster struck for the part time Rescue Force members because one of their own was trapped in the building when it exploded and despite all their efforts they couldn't find any sign of them dead or alive

"He's dead"

"No, he's being declared Missing In Action, we won't declare him dead without proof for a bit, not this time"

"But Obuchi-san was..."

"We know, but we declared him dead before without proof and he turned into Daen, then we did it again but it made sense because no one should have survived such a fall, this time we know where he was so he's not being declared dead so quickly. In time we'll have to declare him dead but not right now, for now we assume that the enemy captured him or his body to use against us"

"Understood Captain Ishiguro"

They stay at the site with his firefighting team who had informed them a while back that he'd never gotten a change to Chakusou as far as they knew until they're sure the fire is out and then leave not knowing that the one they were missing was still alive and long gone from the scene. Several hours earlier

"Okay, never want to do that again it makes me a bit groggy"

Suddenly he heard voices and stayed still in case they were fellow firefighters or Rescue Force/Rescue Fire members but it turned out to be members of the current enemy

"Come on, you know our orders let's find the Rescue Force member's body and use it against their teammates

(Thinks) "I don't think so, you may think we don't know anything but I have been researching you guys long enough to know how you work, just you wait you'll get what's coming to you soon enough"

With that Obuchi slips into civilian clothing making sure that his spare sunglasses were over his eyes since his main ones were broken

"I'll be back guys, but for now Akeshi Kazuhiko must be brought back to life so that others can survive when otherwise they might not"

With that Obuchi who was now once again Akeshi left the scene of the disaster knowing that a search would be going on, a search that would not reveal anything except a few articles of clothing that wasn't proof one way or the other

"Okay, time to tell the government about the situation and then get into a job that will make them notice me, maybe as a mechanic hope the government agrees to keep things a secret from everyone once I explain myself"

Obuchi then heads to the nearest phone that he knew how to make secure and talked to the government about how Obuchi Aobi was going to be declared Missing In Action within the next few hours and that he had to reactivate Akeshi Kazuhiko to keep everyone safe and alive and that he wasn't going to go back into firefighting under that name for the moment for reasons he wasn't going to get into to keep them safe as well and they agreed easily knowing there was a reason Obuchi was being secretive about why he didn't want anyone to know he was alive, though they did make sure he had the proper prescription for his sunglasses under the Akeshi name still and he confirmed that he did. Two days later he landed a job in a factory as a mechanic as was his plan and when he explained the sunglasses his boss knew what kinds of jobs he needed and also what to do if he ever had to be a transporter. Meanwhile back at the fire station he had worked at