It was twelve minutes after Ryuko's fight with Sanageyama. After the fight Ryuko vanished from the dojo. Ben flew after her and found her waiting for him in the courtyard. He turned into XLR8 and challenged her to a race which she was only too happy to oblige. They ran across the entire island, over Tokyo Bay to Tokyo itself and back to Honnouji Academy with him arriving a nanosecond faster.

Still got it.

Ben decided to celebrate her first successful battle against someone who mattered by treating her at a bar. They were at the second floor seated by a wooden table near the wooden balcony overlooking the bar.

"Are you sure you're old enough?" Ben asked with an amused smile.

"Who cares about my age, Ben?" Ryuko rolled her eyes. There were two glass mugs on the table. One of them was half empty. The other one was almost full. Ryuko drank hers in excitement while Ben took his time with his.

"So how did it feel?" Ben asked.

Ryuko grinned. Her kamui was back to a sailor uniform, although it was now complimented by a sleek blackness accompanying glowing green lines resembling circuitry.

"It was amazing," she said. "Like you wouldn't believe. Senketsu all but admitted that the upgrade was incredible. He was jealous at first at having to compete with another piece of clothing. But after I convinced him it was clothes even clothes could wear he gave in and put it on."

"Wait." Ben pointed at Senketsu's yellow eye. "Your clothes talked to the upgraded scissor blades?"

"Something like that." Ryuko raised her mug, guzzled her drink and smashed it on the table, drawing the attention of other patrons. "This thing's good! Another!"

"Are you drunk?" Ben asked nervously. "That's it. This is the last time I'm taking you to a bar young lady."

She snorted. "You're not my dad, Ben."

"Well with the way things are going I might as well be," he grumbled. He eyed her empty mug and swore he wouldn't get her another one even if she'd asked.

"In other news," he continued. "You know you're practically unstoppable right?"

"Right?" She tilted her head. "So?"

"Stop fighting." He sipped his drink.

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Satsuki and her elite group of losers. Let's stop fighting them. It's getting kind of sad watching them struggle like that."

She scoffed. "They tried to kill me, Ben. Based on what I heard from Jack they ordered him to kill you too."

Jack was their friend and Ben's employee, although at first he was a club captain ordered to test Ben's strength by fighting him, and if he accidentally killed Ben that was fine too, is what he said Satsuki told him.

"I know," Ben said, looking at a spiderweb on the ceiling.

"Plus," Ryuko said in a lower voice. "I can finally learn who killed my father."

"Killing whoever killed your old man isn't going to bring him back," Ben said.

"Would you kill Satsuki if she killed me?" Ryuko asked earnestly.

"Yes," Ben answered.

She smiled warmly. He didn't.

"I'm glad I met you, Ben."

"Same same." He looked at his reflection from the surface of his drink. "You know they're probably talking about us."

"What ya mean?"

"Satsuki and her cohorts," he said. "They're discussing my powers. Yours too, probably. Satsuki would wonder where you got your power-up from. She'll be wondering if it was from your kamui." He pointed at Senketsu's eye. "Or from me." He pointed at his watch.

"So? I don't give two shits what she talks about behind my back. Now that I've got this upgrade I'm going to kick her ass and demand answers."

Ben put his elbow on the table, propped up his arm and leaned on his hand. "You know if you scare her off she won't tell you anything." He drummed the table. "If Satsuki was the one who killed your dad, would you kill her?"

"Hell yes!" The venom in her voice was nauseating.

"Even if it's in cold blood?" Ben continued. "What if she was defenseless, bleeding and beating when you find out she did it? Would you slice her head off then?" He closed his eyes and recalled a similar moment when he fought Kevin. The urge to kill was addictive. If he continued down that path he wouldn't necessarily regret it, but he would wonder what if he spared Kevin instead.

Not that it mattered anymore. His watch always made consequences seem trivial. Like they didn't even matter.

He peeked across the table.

"Fiiine," Ryuko drawled. She pouted and crossed her arms under her chest. "I can't do it. Not with you looking like that."

"Hmph." Ben nodded. "Good. Because if you did you wouldn't see my adorable face anymore."

She laughed. "You wish you were adorable, Ben."

"Ha." He poked his mug. "So what'll you do then?"

"If I find out she's the one who killed my old man then I'll beat her up good and send her to jail. You happy?"

"Eh. She's rich and the daughter of the CEO owning this city in everything but name. If she goes to jail, she won't stay there."

"Right." Ryuko frowned. "Revocs."

"Hey, I've got an idea." Ben snapped his fingers. "Let's look for some conspiracies."

"What, like some b rated thriller? You think Revocs is running some sort of human experimenting thingamajig or something?"

"Maybe." Ben shrugged. "Who knows. They might even be creating some sort of aliens looking like us!"

"Spooky," Ryuko said with a roll of her eyes. "What are the odds of that, huh? Next thing you tell me you're dating the daughter of the conspirator who ordered my dad's death."

Ben chuckled. "That sounds stupid, Ryuko." He took a sip of his drink.

"I know," she said. "Oh, and to make it more spicy let's add a twist and make your girlfriend an alien too."

Ben coughed.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Y-yeah. Ha. Aliens." He rolled his eyes. "What are you even talking about, Ryuko? Aliens aren't real!"

"Says the guy who can turn into a million of them," she said in amusement. "And I know things wouldn't be that easy anyway. I mean, what are the odds?"

"Yeah!" Ben agreed. "Aliens other than me aren't real!"

If he accidentally tipped his drinking buddy off on the nature of his friend she was going to flip.

"So what now?" Ryuko asked. "I mean, with my new power I'm pretty sure I'm going to find out tomorrow whether or not Satsuki killed my dad. And if she did, I'll probably break her legs."

"Ha. Funny."

"Yeah…" She forced a smile. "Funny."

If she was serious he'll just heal Satsuki after the fact. He might put the latter on house arrest while he was at it. But other than that they couldn't actually do anything to her. And he wasn't interested in killing a defenseless combatant no matter how evil they were.

Okay, he might make exceptions, but he doubted Satsuki reached that level of evil so he would still treat her with a softer approach.

"I dunno." Ben shrugged. "The reason I left my universe was because I was bored. If I grew tired of this one I might move on."

"Oh…" Ryuko looked at her lap.

Ben sighed. "Ryuko, just tell me you like hanging out with me and don't want to see me go."

"I didn't say that, you did." She made a goofy smile.

"I'm not going to be gone forever," he said. "I'll be leaving this world with technology that would allow them to travel through dimensions. Normally I'd be weary of doing that but only when it came to time travel. Alternate dimensions are kind of different."

He reached across the table and met her halfway. He opened his hand, the back pressing against the table's surface. She blushed and took his offer, holding his hand. He made a gentle squeeze.

"I'll be traveling across the multiverse. But that doesn't mean you can't join me," he said. "And if you're feeling homesick and miss the others you could always return. I might even visit sometime."

"H-how am I going to find you? If you don't visit…"

"Your scissors," he said.

She widened her eyes.

He made a cheeky grin. "You'll find me."

Or to be more accurate, he'll find himself.

He let go of her hand and pulled back. She did the same.

"Wanna go home?" he asked.

"Eh. Sure."

He finished his drink and left the table, Ryuko following after him. Their drinks were already paid for. When they left the bar they strolled upward. The orange sky greeted them. A flock of birds flew out to the west.

They walked side-by-side. Ben held his hands behind his head. Ryuko put hers in her pocket.

"I wonder what Mako's doing," Ryuko said.

"Probably buying food from her salary," Ben said. Mako was so happy when Ben pulled her family out of poverty.

"She loves you, you know," Ryuko said. "Mako. She has feelings for you."

"I know," Ben said. "It's pretty weird, though."

"Huh." Ryuko raised a brow and smirked. "No blushes? No stutter? No nothing? Were you a chick magnet where you came from, Ben?"

"Unfortunately." He grimaced. "It put me off dating for a while."

"Poor baby." She clapped his shoulder. He sighed exasperatedly.

"So no Mako?" She nudged his shoulder. "Not to your taste?"

"No." He glared at her. "And she's too young."

"How old are you anyway?"

"Nineteen?"

"And you're still a freshman. Are you sure you finished high school?"

"I finished college!" he hissed. He tried to swipe at her. She laughed and ducked away.

"So this girl you're seeing. She's the one, huh?" Ryuko quirked her brows playfully. "I'm kinda curious about her, actually."

"Oh yeah." Ben tapped his chin. "She was kind of curious about you too."

"Really?" Ryuko hummed. "Is it because I keep texting you? I hope she didn't mistake me for a stalker or something."

"Nah. She's totally cool." They crossed a pedestrian lane over the other side of the street. "She's pretty cute. Perky too. Thoughtful and an all around sweetheart." Ben sighed dreamily. "She's amazing."

Ryuko giggled and nudged his shoulder. "Geez, Ben, I'm getting embarrassed for her just listening to you."

He felt his cheeks warm, made a smile as he lowered a hand and scratched his head. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Ryuko looked ahead. "You going to visit her?"

"Probably…" Ben scratched his cheek. "You wanna meet her?"

"You don't want me to? It's okay. I'll go on ahead. Have to do some school work anyway."

"Ryuko, you don't do school work."

"Ha… You got me."

They reached a crossroad. One street led to his friend's house. The other led to the condo. Ryuko made to wave without looking at him and step away.

"Come on." Ben grabbed her wrist. She turned in surprise. "Let me introduce you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. What's the harm?" He dragged her with him to the sidewalk leading to his friend's house. Along the way they met a variety of distractions. Two cats were fighting for a scrap of food. Ben and Ryuko caught both cats, pulling them away from each other and bought them expensive fish from the nearest restaurant. Afterwards a bunch of two star students congregated and challenged them to a fight. Ryuko was eager to beat them up, but Ben dissuaded her and convinced the group of students to hang out instead. Although they looked at him dubiously, they made him promise to fight them tomorrow. He acquiesced and treated them to a meal. He got to know them better. Someone from the gardening club. Another from the juggling club. And another from the bowling club. An interesting group. They spent another half-hour just talking about random stuff. After the meal the group of students left with smiles.

"Oh dang it," Ryuko said. "We wasted too much time. It's getting late."

"It's not even eight."

"You sure she won't mind?" Ryuko looked like she was ready to bolt.

"It's fine," Ben insisted. He went behind her and held her shoulders. She dragged her feet. He pushed her ahead. When they finally reached the house of his friend he pulled Ryuko with him to the door.

"Ben, it says closed," she said.

"It's fine," he insisted. He opened the door.

"Hello?"

The house was dark. He turned XLR8, turned on the lights and checked every room in the blink of an eye, returning just as Ryuko stepped inside. He flashed back to normal.

"Huh. She's not here."

Ryuko whistled. "Is she rich?"

"Very." His phone ringed. Well, not his phone exactly, but the one she gave him.

"Speak of the devil," Ben said. He read the message. "Went on a trip. I'll be back later tonight. xoxo"

"Too bad," Ryuko said.

"That was so stupid of me," Ben said. "I should've checked the lovers app."

"You two lovers?"

He blushed. She smirked.

"No, you idiot!" Ben said. "It's just an app on her phone. Kind of like ours. Tells me where her phone's at. I'm sorry, Ryuko. Looks like she isn't here."

"It's fine," Ryuko said. "Come on. Let's grab some ice-cream." She extracted her upgraded scissor blade which grew in size and reconfigured into a scythe. "Race you to Seoul."

Ben smirked and tapped his watch, turning into XLR8. "You're on-"

But Ryuko was already gone. He laughed and ran after her, following the green streak and leaving a blue one as they raced down the hill to the port of the island leading to the Korea Strait.

As they ran across the water's surface, one thing crossed his mind.

Ryuko was so much fun to be with.

Nui was going to love her.