A/N: Fixed a MAJOR error in which I accidentally misspell Kenji's last name as "Satou". If this occurs anywhere else in the story, please inform me so I can fix it. Thanks!

Fixed another error in which Hisao magically knew Kenji's last name (deja vu, huh?) and fixed a minor typo.

My eyes snap awake, for what must been the fifth time tonight. Today?

For a moment I panic, because I don't remember falling asleep sitting up. And I don't remember doing anything that would cause practically my entire body to be stiff. And also there's this ringing sound that's ticking me off.

But my memories snap into place again, and the flutter of confusion fades...mostly.

What happened?

Rin.

That just about sums it up, actually.

Well, alright, what do I do now?

Find my stupid alarm clock. Oh, it's right in front of me.

Okay. There we go. I glance over at my bed.

...Rin's not there.

...

Goddamnit.

I stumble out of my room. All the lights are on, if dimmed, so at least Rin hasn't tripped in the darkness...probably. It's probably safer to avoid making any assumptions when it comes to her.

"Rin?" I call out, tentatively. I should've known better than to expect an answer, but I don't have very many ideas. Her name echoes softly in the darkness, down the empty corridor.

No Rin.

Damnit, it's cold, and I don't want to be here. This truly is an unpleasant feeling, and I can't help but wish to escape back to my room, where the warmth of my bed calls me. I didn't sleep well at all sitting on that chair. I just want to…

A tactical retreat.

But my sense of duty and bond of friendship carries me forward, calling my heart and mind to action, and they acquiesce.

Well, where's Rin?

The obvious answer is that she's simply wandered back to the girl's dorm, and that's a place I can't really check anyways. I am probably wasting my time trying to find her here.

The real question is…do I trust Rin to do the obvious thing?

…Let's think like Rin. What's the worst possible outcome? What's the worst thing that someone could accomplish in this situation?

Getting caught is probably at the top of that list, I think. Rin very well might not even recognize that she's not supposed to be here…found herself in an unfamiliar place, and decided to explore.

So…where would she wander? I'm crossing my fingers that she hasn't gone upstairs; if so, my life has gotten much harder. To keep things simple, let's assume that she stayed on the first floor. There aren't any staff patrols in the morning, so, if anything, she would have been caught by a student.

I'm an early riser, the earliest, because I have to wake up early for Emi…

Aw, crap, Emi.

No, no, that's not a factor, making sure Rin hasn't wandered off into a potentially dangerous situation, somehow, is more important than my own run, even if it leaves Emi waiting. I'll feel guilty, of course, but I'll feel more so if I went to do my own thing and later learned that Rin tripped off the roof or something.

So. Finding my runaway charge. I guess the best option is probably going back to my room and hunting for clues, and to see if she's left anything behind. I don't know where else to start, so I guess this is a good place as any.

My mind runs through various scenarios as I walk back to my room:

Rin getting caught by a teacher, implicating me in her 'kidnapping', and I get in trouble over what's primarily a misunderstanding;

Rin getting caught by a student, and said student making unwelcome advances on her;

Rin getting caught by a student, and said student making welcome advances on her;

Or — or, Rin getting caught by a student, and said student making welcome advances on her, and then accidentally I walk in-

I think there's something wrong with me for considering that the worst possible opportunity. I just - really - don't want to walk in on anyone doing anything like that. In terms of my fears, that's probably somewhere in the top five.

…Huh. I guess I've actually lived a pretty decent life if I can think something like that.

Either way, I'm prepared now. Prepared now for the possibility of confronting the worst possible option. I'm -

The door in front of me slams open abruptly, and noise filters out into the hallway.

"It was good to meet you, fellow soldier," a chillingly familiar male voice says, and then Rin appears, "But there are still many other missions that require my attention. So onto you, I entrust this." and a pale arm appears, bearing a small strip of paper. Rin stares at it blankly. I'm not sure if I'm obligated to step forward and accept it for her, and I'm pretty sure I very much desire not to, but in the next moment she leans forward and daintily snatches the tip of it with her mouth, and the arm retracts.

"Read it once, memorize it, and then get rid of it. That's the passkey to my room, when you've got the goods. Godspeed, soldier, godspeed."

The door closes, and the locks snap shut into place.

Rin turns towards me, and cocks her head to the side.

Slurp. Chew. Gulp.

…

"Have you been possessed by a ghost? You look frightfully pale, Hisao."

…

Blink.

"Ah!" I jump back about five paces, pretty impressive, actually, why is Rin in my face

She nods decisively. "I see, you can't talk about it. You'll have to hand over the goods later."

"What?" I ask.

"You're right, that doesn't matter. Do you have the items?" She doesn't seem interested in elaborating, dropping onto a new topic.

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

"How was your trip?" Rin asks.

"My trip to where?"

"How was your trip?" Rin repeats.

"Does this have something to do with Kenji? And, by any chance, does this have anything to do with the conversation you just had? And why did you eat that piece of paper?"

Rin looks disappointed for a moment. About what, I'm not really sure.

"Well, I guess that going backwards is too difficult, since everyone else will go backwards if you go backwards, so the only real way to go is forward." Rin says with finality, as if making some kind of important conclusion.

I admire her ability to confidently babble nonsense like that.

Doesn't seem to have any cooldown period, either.

"Yes. And whatever it is you're doing, stop." I say, because it's obvious that she's doing something, but I don't know what it is.

Her head goes in the other direction. "Could you specify what exactly it is you want me to stop doing? Because I'm doing a lot of things at once, and most of those need doing, and I don't think I could stop doing them even if I wanted to."

I want to tell her to stop being weird but that's way too general, so I have to specify.

"Well, let's apply deductive reasoning to this. What new things have you done or are in the process of doing this morning? Start in chronological order." I state.

"I collected a new person today." Rin says cheerfully.

"…Do you, uh, usually wake up in the wrong bed? On the wrong side of campus? Or have disturbingly familiar secret - conversations - with Kenji?" I ask, my voice growing progressively higher.

"What? No. It wasn't a secret conversation, because you were there." She replies.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk

"What - what - what," I'm robbed of intelligent speech for a moment, "What about that whole backwards thing you were talking about?"

"Emit eht lla ti od I. Taht, ho."

"…That actually made more sense than anything you've said so far." I reply, after having spent about thirty seconds trying to unscramble the words. And it is - I was actually able to figure out what she was talking about. "That being said, please stop doing that."

Rin looks somewhat disappointed. Personally, I'm impressed that she can manipulate her speech like that so easily.

And, uh, that whole time she was - was she directing my replies, or was it just coincidence -

No no moving on to safer topic -

"So…uh, did you eat the paper in your mouth because that was the reverse order in which you were given those instructions?" I ask.

"No, of course not. I ate it because you can't talk with paper in your mouth." Rin nods.

"Oh. Well, uh, you can't exactly read and memorize the contents on that paper. Because it's gone. In your stomach. So, uh, you've failed your mission."

Rin shrugs, and it seems to brighten up the world a little with its strange normality.

It strikes me that this is the longest conversation I've ever held with her about a topic that wasn't about paint or the questionable contents of my pants.

I think that's a pretty sad thing.

"We should probably smuggle you outside now before you get caught by everyone else…and I really should change into my running clothes. Emi might still be waiting for me."

"Okay." Rin says, and then she turns and walks away, presumably towards the front door. I can't tell if I've irritated her somehow, but then she stops and pokes her head curiously into the boy's common room, and that's when I know that it's just Rin being Rin.

This morning has been terribly surreal. Two great forces nearly collided today, and I'm pretty sure Rin won, somehow, in her usual mix of total apathy and aggressive strangeness.

But none of that was really important. Because…

There's no sign of the sadness that influenced her yesterday. And even if it's only for a little bit, I'm glad to think that my presence may have made her happier.

"You're late!" A scathing voice shouts as I make my way over to the track, and I cringe.

Emi stalks over, apparently having completed running her sprints already. Her clothing sticks to her skin as she comes to a stop in front of me.

"I was saving the world." I reply, deadpan.

"That's not an excuse." She says, and then, "Wait, what?"

"Do you know who Kenji is?" I ask.

"Oh, Hisao, everyone knows who Kenji Setou is. He's the reason I have a lock on my drawer." Her expression shows clear distaste.

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone else mention Kenji, and I'm curious to hear someone else's opinion on it.

"Really? Why?" I ask, although I'm pretty sure -

"Because he's a panty-thief."

Yeeeaaah, that's about where I was thinking.

"Have you ever caught him in the act?"

"Er….no. But everyone knows it's him." Emi says confidently.

"Has anyone ever caught him in the act?" Frankly, I don't think it's him - at least, not directly. I'm 95% sure that the guy is too terrified to send more than suspicious glances towards the girl's dormitory.

"Well, no. But we all know it's him." Emi says, and then as if to avoid dealing with the flawed holes in her logic, "It's time to run now! Go go go!"

"W-What? Emi, there's no time, I'll-"

…

I sigh heavily outside of the classroom, hand on the doorknob.

Why do I do this to myself?