Shingai sighed as she moved through the streets of Mikado City.
She was well aware of where her captain lived and that they were headed in the direction. The most amount of underground systems and tunnels around Mikado City would be connected to that house that was placed on the outskirts of the city and away from anyone else.
"The amount of spaces that are probably underneath that house must be counted on at least two pairs of hands..."
"Does Senzai-san really like that stuff that much?"
"Indeed he does. While not on the level of Tsukiko-san liking ice cream or Tamakoma's Kagerei-san liking mythology, but he does enjoy this quite a bit. Enough that he moved far out of the way so that he would not bother anyone with his tunnel findings. That and..."
"His bad luck, right?"
"Correct. He also moved far out here so that his bad luck would not reach the city in some way. We have tried to get him to move more towards the city, but he has refused. So instead, Tenki-san usually comes by biweekly to make sure he is fine. Sthénos and I come by when we can as well. Although he tends to come to the inner city more than we go out there due to school and wanting to be with others."
She recalled the time he had left after defense duty to meet with the others his age at the strange café/bakery called Red Lightning. It had a wonderful atmosphere, but it was hard to tell what the feel of the place was supposed to be when they made a lot of strange items and their works were a strange mother-son duo.
It was a relief that he was not keeping himself locked up in his house away from the city or underneath the city within those tunnels. The fact he was free to go out with friends and speak so freely was something she would never overlook and found that it was a bit freeing to her as well. There was not much to worry about when she new there were people who were just as ready as she was to help him out when he needed it.
Although that thought did bring it's own downsides with it. One of those downsides was that this was all happening because he was alone whenever he was not with those people.
"I suppose we must be trying to fill in for him. It is a bit selfish of us, but he is just that good of a person."
"What do you mean?"
The comment had surprised Daisuke a bit since it seemed to come from nowhere.
They were having a small conversation while keeping an eye on where Senshi, Kurauchi, and Terashima were going, but Shingai must have had been thinking about something else to have gotten to this point. It sounded like a regret, but he could not say that he understood her well enough to say that. That was exactly why he had taken the chance to question her instead of letting it pass by as a fleeting comment.
For her part, Shingai seemed fine with speaking to him about it, even if did give her a sad smile. The smile itself seemed to tell a story that he did not know about, but would likely find out about right now.
"Senshi is alone when at his house. No parents, no siblings. Due to where he lives, it becomes too much for others to simply visit him, so he has little interaction with others when over there." She was telling him about her captain without holding back, something he was not expecting. "He does not seem to mind, but that does not apply to me as well. I worry for him. Especially when I know that he goes in those tunnels alone."
"Wait, he doesn't take anyone with him!? Even if he has a Trigger, that is still extremely dangerous!"
"That is why I worry. Given his bad luck, it is amazing that he has not had anything particularly dangerous happen to him as of yet."
He wanted to point out that she could be jinxing it by saying that, but it was hard to believe that would happen with the amount of good luck she was known for. It seemed that such a thing would have an opposite effect the it came to Shingai, so he keep that thought to himself and instead said something else.
"So you really like him, don't you?"
The reaction he got was not the one he was expecting.
Although he was not sure what kind of reaction he was expecting exactly, he knew that the one she gave was not any he thought she would give. It was a small smile that could only be reserved for people she would care about. She was bluntly showing him her answer to her question. It was an obvious answer that left norm for misunderstandings. That fact seemed to place an unknown pressure on his chest.
Describing it was hard, but it was there now. The pressure that came with that answer to his own sudden question. A question he had asked out of curiosity had ended up backfiring and had ended up putting this pressure on him.
As if to add insult to injury, Shingai began speaking as she smiled.
"I do like him. I am not too sure why, but I am positive that he has helped me quite a bit before. Allowing me onto his squad, accepting my wish, never turning away, never allowing his own misfortune get the better of him. Those are all great, but I feel as if I owe him for more than just those. I..."
She as she moved her hand from the ever-present flower that was in her hair. Daisuke didn't know the meaning behind the action or even the flower itself, but it wasn't hard to figure out how important it was to her.
"Shinya-kun, can I tell you something?"
She was already being so open with him right now. Why did she feel the need to ask that in the first place? He could only wonder that question as another one came out.
"Why are you telling me so much?"
It may have been a stupid question that he wanted to sack himself for, but Shingai let out some air through her nose before looking to the side. It seemed that she was trying to make sure they would not lose the trio they had been following.
"I wonder... Maybe because you also accepted my wish? Whatever the case, I do feel that it is fine to tell you this much. If you want me to stop then I will. I will not push anything onto you and will not force you to listen to these tales that have nothing to do with you. It is your decision on if you want to continue listening."
It was his choice, that was what she had said. Even when he felt this pressure, questioned her on why she was saying so much, and made his way into the self assignment of hers, she had said he was given the choice to stop listening to her and everything she was saying. It was clear that these things were not things that she told just anyone and he had questioned why he was hearing it at all.
She could have stopped him herself from going along and she could have not said a thing to him, but that had not been the case at all. She had let him go along with her and told him everything she has for likely something as a simples accepting something she wanted to believe in. He had rejected her wish while accepting it, something that her own squad captain had not done when asked by her. It was enough for her to feel fine enough to say all of this around him.
That much alone seemed to be enough.
But it was also likely because of his honest answer. More than just accepting that wish, he had told her the truth and spoken without trying to trick her. There had been nothing false or harsh about what he had said to her and that could have been something she found comfort in.
Maybe I'm just looking too into this... I hardly know her, so thinking about all of this is probably because of that. Yeah, it's better if I think about it like that.
With his mind made up, he nodded his head towards her while saying, "I want to listen. What did you want to tell me?"
She smiled again, this time it was not as wide or caring as the other one, but it was enough for Daisuke to figure out that his answer had made her happy.
"I am not too sure why, but I cannot recall my past. My childhood to be specific. Likewise, Senshi cannot remember his own childhood either. With that in mind, it makes me feel like there was something that had happened to make me feel indebted to him. Something big enough that it has made me think that I need to be there to help him. So I do like him. He feels like a hero to me, as well as someone who watches out for me and makes me worry about."
That sounds like...
"I suppose... I could say he is like a brother to me."
It had suddenly vanished.
The pressure that had built up in Daisuke had suddenly disappeared, making him feel free again. Everything that had been built up was gone and he could see what she had meant now. He felt rather bad that he had that pressure build up in the first place.
"Oh, but please do not tell him I said that. He can be difficult when subjects like that are brought up."
"Huh? Uh, sure. Yeah. I won't tell him what you said."
"Thank you very much. It does mean a lot-"
Before she could finish her sentence, something had come barreling in from the side. It cut between the two of them, forcing them to take a step back. The people nearby looked over to see what had happened.
Shingai and Daisuke looked over as well and saw that what had cut between them was a body. More specifically, it was the body of a boy they both knew for the same reason. His capped head was on the floor while his legs hung over his body in a weird angle and his eyes seemed to be spinning a bit.
Feeling bad for the both, the two of them moved over to help him up. They started by lowering his legs to the ground and each grabbing him by one of his arms to lift him up. That was the same time he seemed to gather himself and look at the two.
"Taichi-kun, are you okay? Why were you coming in so fast?"
"Uwah wah wah wah... Shinya? Shingai-san? Oh yeah! I came by when I saw you two! I thought you were on a date or something and wanted to move away! I guess I tripped ad landed over here."
The duo looked to each other before looking away with some pink dusting their cheeks. In doing so they had let go of Taichi's arms, sending him to the ground with a quick, "Uwah!?"
"That is not the case, Betsuyaki. We were doing something else. Although I cannot deny that we were surprised to see you coming in the way you did. I almost kicked you as you came in. Stepping back felt more right though."
"Kick me!? Why would you kick something coming towards you without waiting to see what it was? That can be dangerous for other people!"
"The fact you didn't say it would be dangerous to her..."
"Huh? But I've only ever seen Shingai-san be dangerous for others! Never the other way around."
"Betsuyaki, I believe it would be best to stop talking now."
Taichi was quick to shut his mouth and cover it with both hands. When compared to others, he knew that she could be as scary as Kon when angered enough.
Looking to the sighing girl and the chuckling classmate, he thought about what they had said in response to his initial thoughts about them and was unsure if they were telling the truth. it seemed much more like an intimate outing than a simple walk around the city. He himself had been busy with something until he had seen them after all.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he removed his hands from his mouth as the people looking their way began to move away from them to get to their own things. He seemed to be in the clear now since Shingai was making no threatening movements. Hw was rather grateful for that, but he couldn't help but think it was because of Daisuke's being here that he was safe.
"So what are you two doing anyway? If it's not a date, why were you walking around here?"
That seemed to remind them of something as they both straighten dup and looked around the area.
"We forgot to keep an eye out for him!"
"This is bad. It is likely because I have been nearby that his bad luck has not hit them yet!"
That was enough for even him to piece it together. when speaking about luck, there were two people who quickly came to mind for members of Border. Even more so for Snipers and some Attackers.
The first one was the girl standing there. Her good luck was known by other Snipers who had gone to practice at the same time she did. Her shots would usually make it easily enough with only the top members beating her out, showing the their skill was on par, if not above, her good luck. Even some times she had accidentally shot seemed to make the mark well enough to place her pretty high when compared to other Snipers.
Taichi had always been amazed by that, the way she could fire at almost even a strange angle and still manage to hit her mark. If hit was her good luck then he was amazed by its seemingly limitless potential. But he knew just as well that she hated that Side Effect of hers. It downplayed her own skills in such a large way that it was always hard for him not to hear the faint whispers and fumbles from others who were jealous of such a Side Effect.
She had always been nice enough to him, so he had ended up yelling against those people at times. Some of his most frequent visits had been to Senzai Squad's operating room and at times they had been training. He knew how the bad and good luck Side Effects worked so he had gotten a full view multiple times on just how much skill Shingai had when her good luck had been locked down by her captain's Side Effect.
The second person to come to mind was that same captain. The one who had luck that seemed to only be on the bad side of things. If Shingai had been envied for her good luck getting her shots to hit, then her captain's Side Effect had been blamed for other people losing due to mess ups. Trips, things falling on them, being placed in the wrong place. All of those were petty things that he hated hearing about. They were just excuses to blame that captain for something that was uncontrollable.
Taichi was even more interested in what Shingai had said due to his own friendship with the bad luck captain. Senshi had always been kind to him and had always overlooked his clumsiness. Over time the two had found out that Taichi's clumsiness would go down when around Senshi and Sensei's bad luck would get a bit better when Taichi was around. It was a strange thing that they were both fine with and would not complain about.
"Are you talking about Sensen-san!? Is he nearby!? Oh, were you trying to find him? Can I come along! It's always fun being around him!"
"Um... Betsuyaki, we were only..."
"Yeah, Taichi-Kun. It was more like..."
The "Shin" duo looked away as Taichi's eyes grew wider and wider in anticipation for a favorable answer. They looked to each other for a moment, unsure as to how they should go about answering him.
It finally came down to Taichi giving them a pleading look that reminded them far too much of a dog wanting to be with its master.
"Y-yes. Th-that is fine, Betsuyaki. You may...come along with us..."
"Just be careful along the way, okay...?"
They both gave each other a look that clearly read, "I just couldn't deny him!" At the same time, Taichi began yelling out his tanks to them before marching off without waiting for them to follow.
Noticing this, Shingai and Daisuke ran after him. Once catching up to him, they both pulled him back as hard as they could. The sound of a loud car horn could be heard as a speed car went by in front of them. Looking up, they saw that the light was green for the car, but red for them to walk.
Taichi gave an apology to them as he stood back up. They forgave him easily enough, but both were now keeping a close eye on him.
Once the light turned green for them, Shingai took the lead from them and began walking. But instead of crossing the street, she began to walking to the side, still on the sidewalk.
"Um, Shingai-san?"
"You do not know where to look properly, Betsuyaki. Senshi is headed to a place near his house. I am sure even you have not been there yet."
"Oh... No, I haven't. I don't know anything about Sensen-san's house."
"It is a bit outside of the city and most definitely not in that direction. Follow me and I will lead us there. We first needs to get to the outer part of the city before having to walk the rest of the way."
"Does he not live near any roads either?"
"Shinya-kun, remember what I had said about him before? About what could be around his house?"
"Oh yeah... I guess it would make sense for there to be no roads then. Still, that is kind of crazy to think about."
"Why is Sensen-san to secluded out there? Do you think he'll let me come by other times after this visit? I don't know about going by myself since I don't know if my parents would be fine with that, but maybe if I go with others! Oh, but then I would need to tell others about it, right? Would he be fine with that? He's really cool when I'm around him, but I don't know if he wants to stay so secluded and away from others. Why doe he live so far out anyway? Is he fine? But what about when he needs to get food and stuff?"
"Would you like those answered in order or any order?"
Daisuke looked over with wide eyes. He had not expected for Shingai to actually answer the questions coming from his classmate. The boy had always been energetic, but that had usually been left to the likes of Suzume, Satori, and Hisato to deal with during class. Outside of class he would usually be taken care of by his squamates or others who could keep up with him. Shingai seemed fine enough to handle him at the moment.
When he thought about it some more, she may have just decided to view him as an energetic kid and went along with that thought process.
"Senshi likes it out there. Away from the city. I am sure he would be fine with you going after your first visit. If your parents would allow it, I would be fine with taking you there again. He does not mind if someone knows about where he lives, but he will not go out of his way to tell others. He is fine being over there, where the rest of us are not. It gives him time to indulge in his hobbies. He is fine when it comes to food and the like. Tenki-san takes him what he needs since we do not want to run the risk of his bad luck getting the better fo him."
"You really answered all of those."
"Of course. You need to always answer the questions of children or they will not properly understand."
"So you do just see him as a kid..."
He had been right on the mark.