"Hey, should I be worried about how far out we seem to be going form the city?"

Senshi and Kurauchi turned to Terashima who, for obvious reasons, was breathing more heavily than he had been before. The trio had made it to the edge of Mikado City and were now walking towards a place even further out than the edge. It was a familiar place for Senshi and a semi-familiar place for Kurauchi, but it was almost a complete unknown for Terashima. That fact alone had made him a bit worried about where exactly they were going.

Kurauchi was the first one to speak up to ease any worries.

"We're fine. Senshi just lives very far out. If anything, we should be more worried as to why nothing bad has happened to us yet."

"Oh, are you talking about Senzai's Side Effect? Shūsei has told me about it a few times."

"That's right. We should have at least had to dodge some cars or falling trees by now."

Kurauchi glanced next to him to see what kind of reaction Senshi would have to his words. He had purposefully made them sound harsh and antagonistic to him to see what sort of reaction he would get. It was not his style to do so, but he had wanted tomato sure of a few things while on their way to Senshi's house and the tunnels leading from it. This was the perfect opportunity to do so and he would not miss the chance. But when he looked over, he saw nothing.

Well, not noting. Senshi had been nodding his head as if in agreement with Kurauchi's words. From experience, he knew what all could happen on his way to his own house form Mikado City. The fact none of that stuff happened to them as of yet did make for some concerning thoughts. At least, if he was not already aware of what was happening.

One facet of his bad luck Side Effect was the way it interacted with his teammate's good luck Side Effect. During the time they were near each other, a certain feeling would always come over the two of them as their Side Effects canceled each other out. It was just one of the things that happened because of his Side Effect.

He would feel like a weight had been lifted while she would feel like there was a weight placed upon her.

He would feel very light whiles would feel more heavy than before.

He would feel like he was finally free of something while she would feel like she was being restrained by something.

Everything bad surrounding him would seemingly vanish while everything good around her would seemingly disappear.

It was the duality of the two Side Effects. They're opposites, so canceling them out meant to basically place half of everything on both of them. Or in a different sense, place them on the level of other people. Where everything was truly a chance instead of something bad or something good. It had been something they knew for a long time now and made sure to account for it when the times called for it.

At the same time, Senshi always found himself trying to stay away from that happening. While he would be getting freed form his bad luck and gain at least a possibility of something good happening, he did not want anything bad to happen to Shingai. If he had a chance for something good then she had a chance for something bad. That was he just could not stand to think about. It had been the reason as to why he knew what was happening.

"Ite is nearby. And if I had to guess…so is Taichi."

"Betsuyaki?"

"Nn."

While not being something like canceling it out completely, Senshi had found that his bad luck would go down whenever Taichi was nearby and that the boy's clumsiness would also go down a bit. It was a strange occurrence that seemed to be unexplainable, even to someone who has a high calculating rate.

Knowing this, Senshi nodded to Terashima while still facing forward. With the duo stopping his Side Effect from kicking in, there would be no worries as to whether or not they could safely make it to his house or not.

"If those two are nearby, why not call them over?"

"Because they might be having fun thinking that we don't know they are there."

"What if they want to walk with us?"

"They would've told me then."

"Really now…"

Terashima raised na eyebrow at the certainty that was coming from Senshi's tone. It was something that showed his lack of hesitation in things he believed to be true.

"Well, why don't we ask some people then?"

Pulling out his phone, Senshi began typing on his phone. He would not send a message through the general chat, knowing that it would end terribly and that both Shingai and Taichi would be able to see his words.

SenSen: "If someone is following you and you know they are following you, what would you do?"

Everyone: "You call the cops on them!"

Haru: "Uh, SenSen, should we be worried for you? If someone is stalking you then that's a real issue."

"Stalking me? I guess you can put it that way."

Kurauchi let out a sigh upon hearing Senshi's words. It was clear that his messages lead them to a wrong conclusion that could only go downhill from there.

Feeling bad for him and knowing that he would not understand, he began typing his own response to the now ongoing chat. It seemed that the misunderstanding had quickly turned into something else.

Kuni: "To be fair, I have read enough of Suzume's doujinshis to know that the bara types are usually the victims of stalking. Well, those, aaaaaaaand also the shotas, lolis, traps, and weak willed."

Artist: "Kunichika, Kunichika! You can't take everything in her doujinshis as fact! You might end up getting lower grades because of it!"

Demon Child: "Okay, but doesn't she base a lot of her stuff on actual facts and stuff? So it wouldn't be wrong to think that way."

Kuni: "See!? Seeeeeeeee!? We need someone to go and fine Sen-chan before some mob character does! Oh, oh! And Minoru too! Actually, wouldn't Arafune and Hokari also need some protection?"

Kage: "If we're talking muscles, Kiyoshi has nothing to worry about."

White Fox: "Hey Kage, shut up. Also, prepare for the most uncomfortable feeling in the world the next time we are getting lectured by the class rep."

Kage: "Don't you dare! The last time that happened I ended dup getting smacked on the head and had to go through another lecture."

Kura-uchi: "You all are something else… He had messed up in the way he had put that. It's not stalking. I am with him, along with Terashima-san."

Kuni: "I have read enough of Suzume's doujinshis to figure this out! Terashima-san is the mob character!"

TetsuG: "Does that mean Prez is an accomplice?"

Haru: "I mean they used to be friends… Is this some revenge plot at getting back at SenSen? It would fit, considering he's the prez."

"Um… Kurauchi, why are you holding your phone so tightly?"

"No…reason…"

Even with how patient of a man he was, Kurauchi could feel his blood start to boil at the conversation.

Senshi seemed to be nodding his head as he read through the messages himself. It was rather worrying when he thought about how Senshi might interpret all of those lunatics and what they were saying to each other and to him.

After a few seconds, he finally turned to both Kurauchi as well as Terashima. His face was terrifyingly calm as he stared them right in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Terashima-san, but I'll need to reject any advances. And Kazuki…"

It hurt more when he averted his gaze away, yet continued to wear a calming expression. In a way, it was actually for worrying than knowing his Side effect was active.

"I suppose it does make sense… Fine. I won't fight back, if that's what you want. You can do whatever you want with me… If it will make things better between us."

"Um… Kurauchi, why did I just hear a crack coming form your phone?"

Not a moment later, Kuauchi brought up his fist and slammed it down onto Senshi's head. The sound of the hit went through the air, giving Terashima enough of an idea as to how much it hurt. Not just Senshi either. Kurauchi quickly grabbed his hand as Senshi grabbed his head. The both of them were muttering about the pain, but he felt like this was not something he should get involved. He knew just how dangerous the chat Border had could be at times.

After calming himself down, Kurauchi held up his phone again, this time glaring at the screen in front of him. The messages seemed to keep coming, but he ignored them in favor of putting his own message into the mix.

Kura-uchi: "You guys are… The next time I see some of you, I will make sure not get some revenge for myself."

Kuni: "Uwah! He swings both ways! I've read enough of Suzume's doujinshis to know where this is goooooooing!"

Artist: "Kunichika, Kunichika, you need to calm down! I'm sure that he will at least provide child support! He looks like the type!"

Boys: "Disgusting."

Kura-uchi: "!"

Senshi could only pat him on the shoulder as a way of fake pity for him.

Kurauchi glared at him while ignoring the questioning look coming form Terashima. There was no winning in the chat for sane people like him. It was likely why even Kimura seemed to fit well enough with the rest of them. Her own sanity level was very questionable recently and he did not want to think about how all fo this was effecting him mentally.

"So what have you decided on?"

"I think it's fine if we just leave them be. Besides, if they wanted to be close, Taichi would already be hanging off of me. There's no harm in pretending that they aren't here right now."

"If you say so."

With that settled between them, the atmosphere around them seemed to finally be cooling down. With nothing else to get on his nerves, Kurauchi felt himself calming down once more. With the way things would usually go with Senshi, he knew that he would need to be clam for a song a possible. Even if his Side Effect had been shut down, it did not meant that something could not go wrong. It only meant that it was less likely to happen than it usually was.

Something that he knew was that the bad luck was not always canoe out. A secret that very few knew due to it not coming up much.

Looking back to Senshi, who seemed to be focused on the new conversation in the Border chat, he could clearly remember the past. What happened before that made him worry for what could possibly happen.

It had been back when they could still call each other friends. A time where Kurauchi had been blissfully ignorant of so many things that did not mater what was being kept from him. He knew that he could trust Senshi as a good friend and rely on him.

Nothing bad had happened for some time. It was something that he had been glad for, not knowing what would happen. Senshi had always been given a hard time by others for the Side Effect that he had no control over. People would keep away from him, whisper things about him, and generally ridicule him for all of the bad things that seemed to happen around him. There had been exceptions like Arafune, Inukai, Minoru, and Kurauchi himself. They would all stand by Senshi no matter what was being said about him and they would hang out with him when others wouldn't want to get within meters of him.

Kurauchi had been particularly persistent in wanting to spend time with his friend. Even with his work on the student council, he would find time to go place with everyone else and would always end up inviting Senshi. No one had been against the idea. It had also been what had him going to Senshi's house multiple times. Even with the great distance they had to go, it always ended up as something fun, if not a bit worrying because of the bad luck.

But this particular day his bad luck had not been doing anything. Nothing at all. There were no scrapes by the end of school, no bruises that needed to be tended to, and nothing that needed to be cleaned up. It was a rather peaceful day that would lead into a join defense duty by both the then Yuba Squad and the newly formed Senzai Squad.

Because of finding out about the way the good luck Side effect and the bad luck Side Effect worked, they had made it a point to keep Senshi and Shingai near each other to make sure that nothing bad would happen. It had put a lid on Shingai's good luck, but that was fine since that was made up for with her genuine skills. It had been the first time that Kurauchi had seen the true skills of Senzai Squad when they did not have their Side effects to fall back on.

It had been an amazing sight to see.

But then something happened. Something that, for all intents and purposes, should not have happened.

They had been fighting the Neighbors that were coming though the Gates, managing to take them all out with relative ease. Nothing more than a Bambster and a few Marmods. With the way that Shingai had fired her shots and Senshi moved around the battlefield with ease, there was nothing remaining for them to fight within the small amount fo time they had been fighting.

Kurauchi and the rest of Yuba Squad had gone over to form Senzai Squad that they were also done when it happened. A Gate opened.

The Gate itself had started out small when compared to the other ones they had seen. The first thing to come out had been another Bambster. While they were usually annoying to deal with due to their armor, they were not much when it came to attack power and could be taken out easily enough.

But then another one came out.

And then three Marmods came out.

The Gate grew larger two different colored Bambsters came from it. Their pink coloration seemed odd. They had not been the only ones as green Marmods had started coming through the Gate as well. By the end of it, the Gate had closed, leaving multiple pink Bambsters and green Marmods behind. This had been something new and something that none of them were sure about. It did not stop them from attacking though. The issue was that they worked differently than the pure white ones.

The pink Bambsters had armor much stronger than the white ones. Their firepower was still low, but it became difficult for one or two of them to take one of them out in a good amount of time.

The green Marmods seemed to have gained some speed a she tore through the Forbidden Zone. Their bladed legs seemed to cut through the buildings with much more ease than the white one. They were the same Neighbors, but the models were clearly different.

Then an explosion.

The pink Bamabsters, after being defeated, would explode on the spot. The explosion would not be large, but the power behind them shook the ground as well as took out Ōji, who happened to be the one to finish it. Thinking that the rest of them could do that, it had been up to the distance fighters to take out the pink Bambsters while the close ranged fighters went after the green Marmods.

At some point one of the Neighbors had managed to reach Shingai. The one who no longer had her good luck active due to being close to her captain. The Neighbor had taken her out before she could react, sending her back to the base in a flash fo green light.

That had been when everything went to hell for them.

Upon her leaving, two more Gates opened in the area. Within two minutes, the area of the Forbidden Zone had been filled with the pink Bambsters and the green Marmods. While not being on the scale of the first invasion, the sight alone was terrifying for two team who had just lost their members.

Yuba had reacted quickly by informing the base of what was going on and had been told that reinforcements would be on their way. For the time being, the rest of them would need to hold off those Neighbors until they had others who could help them take out these special Neighbors.

While this was all going on, Kurauchi had to wonder what exactly happened. The day had gone so well that he was sure nothing bad would happen. Then he had caught a glimpse of Senshi.

Senshi had been clearly holding back when fighting the Neighbors. His movements were nothing like they had been before, those moments ago when he did not have his Side Effect active. His expression became much more solemn as he managed to take out one of the Marmods with a combined effort form Kanda.

It had been that time that Kurauchi had figure dit out for himself. Something that Senshi likely knew the entire time.

All of the bad luck that had not effected Senshi doing the day had all appeared at once. It had accumulated through the day, leaving him with a relatively peaceful day. At least until his moment.

This single moment, all of that bad luck had come rushing towards them. There had been so much built up that it seemed to have overwritten Shingai's good luck that had been meant to cancel out that bad luck.

He had felt like there was even more reason to worry for Senshi at that point.

By the end of it, they had managed to take out all of the Neighbors with the help of some of the A-Rank Squads. One of which had been Ninomiya Squad. The explosion had shook the ground and had taken portions of the ground with them, but the area was otherwise fine.

With the time to do so, Kurauchi had gone up to Inukai to tell him about his findings. If there had been anyone who would not even try to place blame on Senshi for his Side Effect then it would be the Gunner who had already been help some others people out.

Inukai had responded with a simple response, saying that he would make sure to pay attention to Senshi if something like this happened again. That he would also see if all of that bad luck was building up again. It seemed good enough at the time.

But that had all been at a time when Kurauchi could call Senshi his friend.

Kurauchi sighed at the memory. It had been a while ago, but he could still feel some pain from a time where they viewed each other as friends.

I suppose it would be a bit awkward to try anything now. And there had definitely been some bad things happening to us before we left the city, so I guess it isn't building up like that time.

If something like that were to happen to them now then it would not be good in the slightest. Since they were not in the Forbidden Zone it meant that any accumulated bad luck would like not involve any Neighbors. But that seemed even more dangerous.

They all had their Triggers on them, so they would not be able to be hurt by anything that was not made of trion. But the same could not be said of anything around them. All of the scenery around them were natural things or manmade things, so should a person not related to Border be dragged into the accumulated bad luck, there would be no way of having them get out without something happening to them. Anything could happen at that point.

And even if they had their Triggers, it would not mean much if something happened while they're int he tunnels. They would not be able to Bail Out at that distance and they would not be able to communicate with anyone else. It would basically leave them stuck in a worse position where they would not be able to do anything if trapped.

No, no. I need to stop thinking like that. If I keep that up, it will be like I am already planning on something bad happening because I am with Senshi.

Even if they were not friends anymore, he did not want to think that anything having to do with bad luck was because of Senshi. That was just how he felt after all of this time.

Letting out a sigh, he looked up to see where they were. When he did, he could see it.

"There it is. My house is right over there. Nearby are the tunnels. I would like to get Shingai and Taichi with us before we go in there, so let's just go to my house first."

Another small pain appeared in his chest at those words.

The reason for it this time was obvious.

When was the last time I went into that house…?