no it hasn't been just shy of a year since the last chapter was released what are you talking about


"You'll just let us work here? Just like that?!"

Akiko nods. "Well, yeah. If we're going to help you guys get back on your feet, this is just part of it. And it's not like you can exactly get work anywhere else yet, now is it?" She smiles warmly when they both look away. "Don't worry about it. You guys'll get papers soon enough, Emu's team's already figuring out what forms you'll need."

"You wouldn't be the first people to have worked here technically illegally, anyway." Philip calls from his spot where he's 'reading'. "I'd like to reiterate the 'actual adults versus literal teenager' comment I made the other day with regards to your situation. Just watch out for some of the Irregulars and you'll be fine."

Ryuuga squints. "Irregulars?"

Shotaro comes through the door as they're talking. "My contact network. Santa-chan and Watcherman can get a little overwhelming sometimes. Queen and Elizabeth have chilled out, though."

"Only because they can't pass as high-schoolers anymore." Philip chuckles. "Other than that, those two are the same as ever. I do wish they'd stop flirting with us, though. Especially after losing the pool."

Sento raises an eyebrow, to which Shotaro sighs.

"Nearly half the city had betting pools on when Philip and I would get together. The girls had a joint bet on how long we'd go between officially dating to proposing. They were off by a week, and Jinno has yet to let them live it down." He scoffs. "Which is saying something, because he had us going a full year between, and lost handily."


It's an adjustment period, for sure. Eventually, Sento and Ryuuga manage to settle into the fact that they're living normal-ish lives now. After a while the chore rotor for the apartment has been more-or-less decided on.

A few weeks in, Ryuuga pales when he sees who's assigned to handle breakfast. Both he and Sento have proven that they are physically incapable of making coffee, so it's a small mercy that Philip and Shotaro are willing to cover that.

So, that's one fear to deal with. Unfortunately…

"I'll just make myself some toast, thanks."

Sento pouts from his station at the stovetop. "I'm insulted."

"Good!"

Shotaro gives Ryuuga a stern look. "That's uncalled for."

"It is very called for! I value my taste buds, thanks, and I recommend you do the same!" He edges around Sento as he says this, going after the bread.

"My omelettes are good, you just don't know it!"

"Are you using your mom's recipe?"

"Of course."

"Then I'm having toast."

Philip gets up and drags Ryuuga to the table by the back of his shirt. "Let's just give them a try, okay?"

Resigned to his fate, Ryuuga slouches.

Several minutes later, Sento brings out several rolled omelettes. "Here we are! Now, I don't quite have these down yet, but they should be good."

"So they might be edible to anyone who's not you?"

"Just keep talking, funny man."

Sento, Shotaro, and Philip all look judgingly at Ryuuga, who sighs. "Fine, fine… Let's just try these…"

All four take a bite of their respective wedges of rolled egg, and all their faces fall in slightly different ways.

Sento sighs, and sets his chopsticks down. "Damnit. Still not right."

Blinking incredulously, Shotaro looks carefully at Sento. "You… mean that you used too much sugar, right?"

Ryuuga shakes his head. "No. No, he does not."


Poking his head down into the garage, Ryuuga's shoulders slump. "Here we go again…"

"Oh?" Shotaro doesn't look up from his typewriter. "With what?"

"How possessive of those whiteboards is Philip?" Ryuuga grimaces, turning back to the office. "Because Sento may just start fighting him for them. He's doing obscene amounts of math on one, and it's gonna start spilling over soon."

"He can't be that bad." Chortling, Shotaro sets down the case file he'd been reviewing, and goes to look. "You haven't seen Philip on a real research spiral ye- oh boy."

In the garage, Sento has, indeed, covered one section of whiteboard in equations and diagrams, and is eyeing the next one over. The white is almost covered up with how much he's written.

"Okay, so you weren't exaggerating. How much space did he use before?"

Ryuuga closes his eyes, thinking back. "There were at least three times that his designs wound up going off of his two whiteboards and the chalkboard, onto the actual walls, and the floor was almost invisible under all the sheets of paper he'd used." Opening his eyes, he shrugs. "On the plus side, we don't have to worry about him breaking out the explosive chemical stuff – all of that was nebula gas related, and that's not a problem anymore."

Shotaro bites his lip and shakes his head. "So, basically, if Philip and Sento start bouncing ideas off of each other, we're screwed." He shivers. "I'm still not sure where he got some of the costumes from…"

Ryuuga raises an eyebrow.

"I came back one day after a case, and somehow Philip had gotten a Tibetan Mastiff costume. I'm still not sure how, since it was a new research topic, and he was still staying at the agency 24/7, due to how incredibly in hiding he was." Shotaro shrugs in response to Ryuuga's blank stare. "I've learned it's best not to ask."


Philip peers over at the other side of the garage. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Designing." Sento's answer is absent, only paying a bit of attention. "You may need to get a second ladder down here, if we're both going to be like this."

Philip chuckles. "True enough. I need that back, by the way." At Sento's nod, he crosses the gangway over to where Sento is. "What's this for?"

"I'm trying to figure out why the Cross-Z Dragon hasn't turned on, and how I can improve it once I get it going again. Or before I get it going, in case that's where the problem is." Frowning, Sento switches markers, and starts writing notes attached to one of the diagrams. "I can't figure out what could have caused it to shut down. I've tried recharging him – he uses a standard micro-usb charger, and those are the same between our worlds – and he's fully powered, but he will not activate. Even if Ryuuga doesn't use him to transform, it'd be nice to have the little guy back up and running."

Philip leans against the ladder. "So, it's Ryuuga, huh?"

Sento freezes.

Philip smiles. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. I've just noticed that you call him Banjou so often, which feels strange after all you've gone through."

There's a pause before Sento answers. "…It's habit. We didn't know each other well at first, and I can't call him anything else at this point. It'd be weird."

As he gets the ladder closed, Philip looks over his shoulder at Sento. "You might want to rethink that. You two have been through a lot – it might not be as weird as you think. Besides," he hefts the ladder under his arm. "I've seen how you look when you talk about him." He grins, catlike, when Sento fumbles the marker he's holding. "I'm just saying."


Later, when it's just the two of them and Shotaro in the office, Akiko waves a slipper in Philip's direction, with 'CHEATER' written in gold. "How dare you! No influencing them into taking it further! You'll ruin the betting pool!"

Philip shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm not influencing anything. I'm just pointing out, from one formerly amnesiac researcher to another, that what he calls his partner matters." He grins. "If it plays to any of Sento's other emotions, that's hardly my fault."


"Sento, it's fine. I don't need to transform, you know."

"Nope!" Sento raises a hand to stop Ryuuga's train of thought. "I am going to figure this out, and I am not taking no for an answer!"

Ryuuga rolls his eyes. "That's all just dandy, but…" He steps over to where Sento's crouched, writing on the very lowest portion of a board, and lifts him up from under the shoulders, ignoring the incredibly undignified yelp. "You're not going to be doing any good unless you get up here and eat something, damnit."

"Oh, come on, I just had breakfast!"

Snorting, Ryuuga hefts Sento over his shoulder. "That was six hours ago. It's noon."

"…Oh." Sento stays quiet for a moment, until he realizes his current position. "Hey, put me down! I can walk there myself, you know!"

"Mmmmm… nah. This is more fun." Ryuuga smirks, not that Sento can see it. "'Sides, I don't get many chances to show off lately. If I'm gonna have absurd strength, I might as well get to use it sometimes!"

He does have to pause when they reach the door out of the garage, though. "Aw, damnit." Frowning, he kicks the base of the door. "Hey! I've got my hands full, can someone get this?"

"Coming, coming! If you break that, you're paying for it!" Akiko's voice carries, and she opens the door – and promptly starts trying to hold in her laughter.

"Yes, yes, laugh it up…" Sento droops, hanging down along Ryuuga's back. "Will you put me down, already?" He glares as Ryuuga puts him on one of the chairs. "I loathe you sometimes."

Ryuuga smirks. "Do ya, though?"


Sento fidgets with the sleeves of his semi-formal shirt. "I don't know how Katsuragi could stand these things. It's so stiff and coarse, I don't get why anyone would wear this type of thing willingly."

"I still say you should have gone to Windscale-"

"I tried those, too, and they still feel wrong!" Sento sulks. "This is so annoying, why do we have to get dressed up like this again?"

Ryuuga chuckles. "Emu insisted. Said something about it being simpler to demonstrate that we're functional people if we dress at least a little formal. And this isn't 'dressed up.' You haven't seen that until you do a press gala. Those suck." He glances over at Sento and rolls his eyes. "Come here. Your collar's messed up."

Grumbling, he obliges. "How do you know all of this, anyway? Ugh, so stiff…"

"It wouldn't be so starchy if you had listened to me and washed it before wearing it the first time. The stores stiffen dress shirts so they can display them all tidy and perfect. There, that's better." Ryuuga steps back. "And I know this stuff because being an athlete isn't all training and matches. There's publicity stuff, and vying for sponsorships, and meetings, and it's a whole industry. So there." Sticking his tongue out, Ryuuga grins. "I do know stuff, Sento."

Sento smiles fondly. "I suppose you'd have to know some things to have gotten by."

"Hey!"

"Messing with you." Despite his grin, Sento still shifts uncomfortably in his shirt. "Hope Emu gets here soon, I just want to get this over with. The sooner we get legal ID, the better."

There's a knock at the office door, followed by Emu and Parad coming in. "Hey, guys." Emu waves. "Sento, Ryuuga, are you two ready to go?"

Ryuuga nods. "Yeah, close as I can see. …What?"

Shotaro and Emu had both winced at Ryuuga's turn of phrase. Parad smirks. "You want 'as far as I can tell'." He reaches into his jacket, where he must have a giant pocket, and pulls out a hand-stapled mini-book. "I spent the last couple days going over everything I remembered about your world, and wound up putting a thing together." He hands it to Ryuuga, and Sento comes over to join him in looking at it.

Sento looks up briefly. "What's this?"

His shoulders tightening just a little, Parad shrugs. "A lot of sayings and stuff are different from what you're used to. Figured you could use a cheat sheet to convert 'em. I put in holiday differences and stuff, too, all those little things that people take for granted and don't think about until they suddenly change."

Emu sighs. "You can look over it later. We've got a schedule here, guys. Who wants to take which bike?"

Parad raises a hand. "Dibs on driving ours. It's Emu's turn to deal with the phone-bike."

"Hey!" Sento pouts. "It's not that bad!"

Parad narrows his eyes. "Maybe if it's not being used to do stunts, it's not."

"You weren't even on it when I went down the column!"

"No, because I knew better!"

Ryuuga buries his face in his hands. "Clearly, you're way smarter 'n me. Or got lucky."

"Heh." Parad rubs the back of his neck. "Luck has nothing to do with a healthy respect for not falling to my demise."

Ryuuga's expression tightens, but Sento doesn't seem to notice as he protests. "I wouldn't have let you fall! I am a far better driver than that, and besides which, I'd put you through enough-"

"Gentlemen? If we could focus?" Emu taps his wrist. "Like I said, we have an appointment to make."

All three look away. """Sorry."""


"Sorry about mentioning heights back there." Parad calls over his shoulder to where Ryuuga's seated. "I forgot about the whole… everything with the chasm. Emu told me."

"Just… don't bring it up again, would ya? I… still haven't been able to tell Sento how me 'n Emu met that Eiji guy…"

At that, Parad sighs. "Not like you're the only one keeping secrets about that day. Emu's a little ahead of us, so…" He pulls off to the side of the street, and turns off the motorcycle. "Guess neither of us have said everything about what happened, huh?"

"Thought you two didn't hide anything from each other?"

"To a point." Parad fidgets with his glove before continuing. "Those bottles that Sento made from Emu's power, the ones that I used to contact back here… didn't really… agree with me." He grimaces. "Like, 'passed out the first time' and 'could barely stand' the others. I haven't been able to tell him because… it's his power, y'know? I mean, yeah, that stupid wall you guys had was messing with me already, but it was… bad."

Ryuuga looks towards the road, rather than at Parad. "We… prolly ought to tell them, huh. Or else we're gonna get in even more trouble."

"Yeah. After this, though. Once you two have all your legal stuff sorted out."


"Okay, the records department is right… or, should have been right here." Emu frowns. "The records department was right here."

Emu, Sento, and Ryuuga have all come to the government offices, in order to file the forms to get the two made official. (Parad teleported off, citing 'government offices make him nervous' as his reason.) Problem is…

"They were here. Where there's all the scaffolding. Sure." Ryuuga states, in a flat deadpan.

"Okay, so… we just have to figure out where the department was moved to, that's all..." Emu frowns at the directory on the wall. "And it hasn't been updated. Drat."

"Excuse me, are the three of you lost?" A deep voice asks from behind them.

"Erm, a bit." Emu smiles, ashamed. "We were looking for the records department, but it's… not where it was last time I came here..."

The man shakes his head. "No, there was an… 'incident' with the sprinklers. The files and systems came through fine, but the floors were… a bit of a loss. They've been relocated temporarily."

He starts to give Emu directions, but Ryuuga and Sento look anywhere but at him.

Once they set back off, towards their new target, Emu speaks up. "Something wrong, you two?"

"Er-" Sento starts nervously. "Well, we had to come here a lot back during, well."

Ryuuga huffs. "'s just weird, is all. The floor plan's the same as ours, but what things are where is all different."

Emu gives them a suspicious look, but doesn't press further for the rest of the day.


Emu has come online

Emu: Be honest with me.
Emu: He was Rogue, wasn't he?

Ryuuga: don't know what youre talkin about.

Emu: At the offices. The man I spoke to – I looked him up when I got home.
Emu: He's the assistant to the prime minister.
Emu: and also his son.
Emu: Himuro Gentoku.
Emu: You mentioned that 'Rogue' was in the government, and Sento's boss a couple times over.

Sento: ... ... …
Sento: okay, SO we've been had.

Shinnosuke: Hi, yeah! That's kind of something we'd have liked to know!
Shinnosuke: Any chance we can learn everyone else's names?

Ryuuga: id rather not

Sento: You get why we don't want people to remember now?
Sento: I, for one, would rather not break some of the leading government officials

Ryuuga: again.
Ryuuga: wasnt lying about the floor plan thing, tho
Ryuuga: thats weirder than the roads being different.
Ryuuga: its freaky.

Sento: the more things change…
Sento: also I really really want to change the subject
Sento: and say that it's messed up that kids don't get Halloween off here

Emu: wait what

Parad has come online

Parad: Hey, delurking for a little
Parad: Emu, we got ROBBED with that
Parad: ROBBED I TELL YOU.
Parad: Halloween was a bigger thing in Japan over there than it is in America here.

Shinnosuke: Okay, you guys can NEVER tell Eiji and Haruna about this
Shinnosuke: You know that, right?

Emu: Now that I have this knowledge I can nEVER UN-HAVE IT
Emu: I WORK WITH KIDS YOU GUYS
Emu: THIS IS THE WORST MUNDANE THING YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME
Emu: NOW I HAVE TO CARRY THIS FOREVER

Sento: ._. I am so sorry
Sento: I forgot about the pediatrics thing

Ryuuga: wow were just batting a hundred here today arent we

Parad: cursed information
Parad: also wtf the guy you talked to to get info on that gear asshole was your enemy

Sento: I was nOT AWARE AT THE TIME

Ryuuga: there were a whole lotta clues man

Sento: you were living in the basement
Sento: and in hiding
Sento: so you don't get to say jill on this

Shinnosuke: uhhhh

Emu: try again

Ryuuga: what?

Parad: The phrase is 'to say JACK', guys
Parad: Seriously, read that guide all the way through.
Parad: It'll be SO much easier.