A/N: Hey, posting this three hours early since I'm leaving for a wedding! I seriously love this chapter, so better early than late. Thanks to Zain for the review! And the predictions too. I'm still chuckling over your "Dang it!" 'cause I'm sure Yui would share the sentiment. XD Poor dear just keeps getting disappointed, but will she this chapter? You'll have to read on to see...

Enjoy!


[Chapter 33]: Puppy Love


Just as their zealous pink weathergirl had predicted, it was a perfect mid-May afternoon in the park. The sun peeked out behind a mist of thin white clouds, enveloping the park in a modest spring warmth. There were food-stands here and there; Otonashi could barely hold onto Kanade's hand when she spotted a taiyaki vendor. And the crepes stand? Ayato hadn't seen her run at such a speed since her guard skill days. Matsushita the Fifth helped himself to grilled corn and marveled at the blooming wisteria.

Oh, and Shiina was having the time of her life as well. There were indeed plenty of dogs out on a walk. Many of them sensed her yearning love and pulled at their leashes to whine and sniff their hellos. Out of politeness, the owners did their best to pull them back on track while they apologized and scurried off. Hinata would touch her shoulder consolingly when this happened, which seemed to placate the woman. She leaned into his touch.

Was Yui seeing this? Possibly not. She was on Shiina's other side, using one hand as a shield over her eyes to scan the park surroundings for Iwasawa. The other hand, she occasionally used to slap at Shiina's arm when she needed to point out another cute animal.

Fujimaki and Matsushita were up near the front, just behind Yuri. Matsushita had started out talking grandly to Yuri about his judo teaching job (or his dream job of teaching judo, not like Ayato was paying that much attention), but one of his stories about a student's unfortunate and painful judo lock mishap had caught Otonashi's attention so he kept turning around to talk to him. Now he was asking Kanade about her sunflowers and sharing his takoyaki with her.

Hinata made a disgusted face as Kanade devoured the snack in seconds.

"Kanade's been eating some real weird stuff these days," he said aside to Otonashi, while she and Matsushita were deep in conversation. "What's up with that?"

"Uh…?" Otonashi began to sweat. He flailed his arms and laughed nervously. "Heh, she's always been a weird eater! I mean who was the one who introduced us to mapo tofu? That's strange too, right? Nothing different about a little fruit and some octopus!"

"Yeah, but what about when we went to Nakau and she ate all those bowls of—"

"Completely normal!"

"But when she added in all of that—"

"You did it too! And you even admitted it tasted good."

Hinata shrugged in passive acceptance, but scratched the back of his hair. "Even so," he said, and lowered his voice to a polite whisper, "you know, I think she might be putting on a little weight—"

He yelped in pain as Shiina and Yui latched onto his ears and tugged him backwards.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT ABOUT A GIRL!" Yui hollered.

"How shallow-minded!"

"Ow, ow, ow-ow-ow!" Hinata cried as he was pulled away from Otonashi. "Ladies, please! Not the ears, not the ears!"

Ayato snorted with laughter as he watched the spectacle. Kanade seemed unaffected and was still chatting merrily away with Matsushita about her Afterlife garden. Then his gaze shifted between the two, and Yuri was smirking over her shoulder at Hinata and his new human earrings.

They met eyes again; her grin dissipated and she abruptly turned her head forward.

He frowned as well, watching as she fell into a conversation with Fujimaki. His field of vision decided to hone in purely on the space between them, which kept wavering from small to very small. His jaw clenched tightly, along with his fists.

If Fujimaki thought he knew so much about Ayato's feelings for Yuri, then why wouldn't he mind his damn distance? The idiot kept stretching his arms behind his neck as he walked, and Ayato was just waiting for him to pull that one stupid move and drape his arm around her shoulder. Pull her close or something.

If he did, Ayato could promise him one thing: he'd be in the river faster than Yuri could say "Rumpelstiltskin."

It would be easier for him to get over Yuri if Fujimaki would stop sniffing around her like a wolf in rut. Twirling her like he once did, trying to make her laugh, whispering smug things in her ear. What a lecherous oaf – and the man had jokingly flirted with his mother too!

Why can't he stay away from my women?! Ayato thought furiously. Then he reddened in embarrassment, averting his gaze even though the "outburst" had stayed safe in his mind.

Yuri wasn't "his woman" anymore. But Fujimaki could still stand to find someone else to dote on. Someone who wasn't a friend's ex-wife. Someone who actually needed him to hulk over their shoulder like that. She didn't need his protection!

Ayato's eyes narrowed sharply when the man's hand rested on Yuri's shoulder.

Wrap your grimy arms around someone else—

"Dude!" said a chuckling voice. "Stop leering like that. Your jealousy is about to burn the leaves off the trees!"

He glowered at his mocker. "I'm not jealous."

"Sure you're not." Hinata grinned back at him, raising his eyebrows. "You were just trying to hypnotize Fujimaki's backside."

"That's impossible, idiot."

"Oh, okay." He tilted his head at him, rubbing his chin and blinking innocently like he was trying to follow along. Or trying to look clueless, which wasn't a difficult feat for him. "Then you were being hypnotized by Fujimaki's backside—?"

Ayato grabbed him by his collar, clutching the fabric tightly in his fingers. "You're hypnotized by Fujimaki's backside," he snarled, irises searing a merciless red. "Go on now, go kiss his ass—"

"NO!" Otonashi snapped, but Hinata was already off. The tail of his shirt slipped just out of the reach of Otonashi's fingers.

Barreling to the front of the group, Hinata flung himself headfirst towards Fujimaki with puckered lips. But just at the last second, Fujimaki's cell phone buzzed and he side-stepped absently out of the way to fish it out of his back pocket and answer it. Hinata skidded off the path and fell face-first with his butt in the air, opting to kiss the grass instead.

"Oh, that's a pretty sight," Ayato said out of the corner of his mouth as he kept walking.

Hinata rolled over on the field, sitting up before Otonashi and Shiina could help him (Yui had stayed back, and was now holding her camera and whining about how that would've been a good picture). "You'll pay for that one, kid," he said, narrowing his eyes.

He snorted as he passed him by; somehow he didn't feel too threatened.

But Yuri, who had stopped where she was to watch this go down, thinned her lips as she looked back and forth between the two of them.

"You're just going to let him pull that crap on you?" she scoffed. "After you're the one who vouched for him last week?"

"Relax, Yurippe. It's what we do, it's kind of our thing." After Shiina and Otonashi pulled him to his feet, Hinata grinned and cracked his knuckles. "I already said I'd get him."

Yuri made an unimpressed noise, then turned on her heel and kept walking. She threw Ayato a warning frown over her shoulder.

The group didn't wander more than just around the path's bend, as they'd noticed Fujimaki had vanished from the front of the pack. And then they'd heard a distinctive frustrated growl ("MAN!") and turned toward the voice, where Fujimaki was standing under a nearby tree and making faces at his phone.

He ended the call and marched back to the trail, muttering under his breath.

"On Saturday? REALLY?!"

"What is it?" Shiina asked, looking wary at his grumblings. She protected her toy's floppy ears from some choice words.

"That was work," he admitted, the frown on his face tinged with regret. "They need me to come in."

Matsushita the Fifth wrinkled his nose. "Right now?" Beside him, Otonashi managed a sympathetic half-smile but didn't look too pleased.

"Afraid so." He muttered some more as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. "It's not a huge emergency or anything but they could really use the manpower."

"If it's not a big emergency, why are you going?" Kanade asked, sounding gravely upset.

"Because I could really use the money," Fujimaki said matter-of-factly. He scratched his hair; the apology on his face was clear, but so was his conviction. "Haven't found anybody nice offering a room yet, and staying at a hotel for this long is getting a little expensive. For now I'm gonna have to take the extra work time I can get."

Matsushita heartily clapped Ayato's shoulder, almost knocking him off-balance. "Why don't you just room with Naoi?"

At this, Fujimaki looked to him and gave a sad shake of his head, placing a fist over his chest.

"Because he'll just end up breaking my heart," he said mournfully.

Yuri reached up and whacked the back of his head. "Shut up, deserter!"

"Yeah! You'll miss Iwasawa!" Yui wailed.

"You'll miss the puppies!" Shiina said more adamantly.

Fujimaki backed up a few steps, holding his hands in the air in surrender – or as shields from the women's outrage.

"Hey, come on, I'll be gone thirty minutes!" he defended himself. His eyes widened a little when Yui bared her teeth at him. "An hour, tops. And besides, we don't even know how long it takes for the charm to have an effect. It wasn't immediate with Matsushita the Fifth. Maybe I'll be back before you find anyone."

"And if you're not back before Iwasawa gets here?" Yui prodded, crossing her arms.

He smirked. "Then you have my full permission to rub my nose in it."

"Deal!" Yui said happily, dismissing with him a nod as he started heading towards the park exit.

"And what if it's TK?" Otonashi called after him.

"Penalty dance battle!" Fujimaki yelled over his shoulder.

Hinata, Otonashi, and Matsushita laughed gleefully and fell back into step behind Yuri. Even Yui, assured of the truth in her heart, cracked up at the mental picture.

"Ah, I love this game," Hinata said in wonder.


Yui recovered from Fujimaki's absence after seven minutes. She spotted the amphitheater in the distance and squealed with delight, at such a high pitch that they heard the next puppy passerby before they spotted it. Shiina was alight with happiness, scratching its ear when it came up to her. Yui was so distracted by Shiina's joy that she promptly forgot about the amphitheater and joined in.

And so the Battlefront kept along the walking trail, Shiina getting four-legged visitors here and there. Many owners were luckily very accommodating. Or their dogs were just too powerful and drawn in by some kind of aura radiating from the normally stern ninja. A few times, their trek down the path would be interrupted by curious sniffs and happy panting.

Shiina scratched heads and rubbed floppy ears and kissed wet noses. There were a couple of opportunities where she was allowed a hug, falling on her knees and throwing her arms around a fluffy neck. The owners usually watched with gentle understanding smiles.

However, it drew some odd looks when the dogs would wag their tails and Yui wagged her devil tail back at them. Yui personally thought this was hilarious. She did it five times until the last one made the owner retreat in fear. She apologized to Shiina, as that dog had been particularly cute and fluffy. (Her words, not Ayato's.)

This went on for about twenty minutes until they seemed to hit a lull in dog-spotting. It was actually a shame because the group was getting a kick out of the way the lovey-dovey Shiina would snap back into stony-faced mode as soon as the animal was out of sight.

"You actually look sort of sad," Yuri noted, eyebrows knitted together in thought. "If you love them so much, why don't you have any pets at home?"

"Hey, yeah!" said Yui, perking up. "You know we don't like the thought of you living all by yourself."

Shiina smiled awkwardly at the ground, looking rather sheepish.

"I grew up living with my grandparents," she said. "In this life, I mean. They were fairly strict and they liked things clean, so they convinced me I was allergic to animals. Dogs and cats. Just so they wouldn't have to clean up after one."

Kanade gasped aloud and clung tight to Yuri's arm, teary-eyed at the injustice.

"Screw that!" said Hinata, furious. "That is so unfair!"

"Didn't they think you'd notice when you ran into one and didn't have a reaction?" Otonashi asked, narrowing his eyes. He seemed genuinely offended, possibly by the idea of medical misinformation.

Shiina gave a small chuckle. "Oh, I did notice. In my daring moments, I would pet some strays. And I never sneezed," she said loftily. "When I asked them why, they just told me that the pet hair and waste built up when it lived in your home."

"Well, sure," Matsushita said, skeptical. "But when you clean after it regularly…"

"That's what I thought," Shiina agreed. "So I grew up into a very tidy teenager, always keeping the house spotless and trying to show them I could take care of it. They liked this, of course, but they never rewarded me."

"What about when you moved out?" Ayato asked, frowning.

If it were him, that would've been the first thing he did once he was free. His father had tried to get in the way of him and Yuri, after all. And the first thing he had done when he moved into his house in Mizuzaka was—

Well. His face warmed at the thought.

"I never did," Shiina said, bringing him back to the conversation. "They fell ill when I was barely eighteen. I stayed to take care of them until they died over a year ago. Then I went to the doctor's for a checkup and finally thought to ask." She laughed bitterly. "I was twenty-three when I found out the truth."

"You should've gotten a dog that very day," Hinata said, with an empowered fist in the air.

"Thought about it, but it was too soon after their deaths." Shiina bowed her head in reverence. "It seemed disrespectful."

Ayato snorted with mild disdain. "A year's more than enough mourning period."

"Yes, well," Shiina side-eyed him, then briefly Yui, before continuing, "then I started dating Yukine, and she really was allergic." There was a pause as her eyebrows furrowed in reflective suspicion. "I think. She may have just not wanted to bring home animal hair on her clothes when she'd be working with charms. Or maybe one of her gang member friends was allergic…?"

Yui scoffed, puffing up like a brooding hen. "Why did you date her," she started to say, but was interrupted by her husband.

"Well that settles it," Hinata said importantly, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist. "Yui and I are going to get a dog and a cat. Then you'll have to come to Shibuya and see us more often!"

Alright, it was not just Ayato's imagination. That inflection at the end sounded distinctly like flirting. He turned to Otonashi and made a swooping gesture towards the three, as in are you not seeing this?! Otonashi just smiled and shrugged at him.

Ayato rubbed his temples. Nothing made any sense, anywhere.

"Or Shiina could just get her own pet and you could come to Kyuuya to see her," Yuri said, sounding almost practical in her unattached way.

Hinata laughed uncertainly as Yui looked up at him, eyes bright and hopeful.

"We'll have to talk about that," he said with a tight smile. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned to the ninja in question. "What do you think, Shiina—"

"PUPPY!" the woman cried out.

She dashed down the trail faster than she'd ever gone before, blue hair flying behind her. Leaving the rest of the Battlefront with nothing but a sharp breeze and a cloud of kicked up dust.

The seven members remaining exchanged bewildered glances. Then they looked at the spot where she'd vanished, and something finally kicked in.

"Shiina, wait!" Yuri shouted, breaking into a run.

The rest hurriedly sprinted after her, Ayato privately thinking between puffed breaths that this dog had better be the cutest damn thing anyone had ever seen. They followed each curve. They dodged at least six human obstacles. Matsushita patiently ignored the branches that crashed against his head.

And then Yuri froze at an intersection in the path. Ayato skidded to a halt behind her. Hinata and Otonashi were not so graceful, and accidentally pushed him forward a few inches so that he stumbled forward slightly and managed to steady himself on Yuri's shoulder. He flinched and drew his hand back. She hadn't noticed.

What held her attention so raptly? Had they found Shiina – just how cute was this dog?

He shifted to the left, following her gaze.

Sure enough, Shiina had fallen to the ground by the railing near the river. She was fine, of course, resting on her knees in front of a small floppy-eared sandy-brown dog. She'd cupped its chin – or muzzle, rather – lovingly in her hands, and it was giving her thumbs excited little licks. Crying and warbling the whole time.

It tugged at its leash, but the owner didn't seem to be too strict on the restraints.

"Mitsuo!" said a familiar merry voice. "Have you made a new friend?"

The sunny cheer in that tone tugged at Ayato's memories. He followed the leash to a hand, and the hand to a small smiling figure. And then to a mop of dark reddish brown hair and large green eyes.

The boy beamed down at Shiina and Mitsuo.

"She thinks you're cute, doesn't she?" he said proudly.

Mitsuo wagged his tail. Then he sniffed in the direction of the others and yipped in interest. His human, finally noticing them there, blinked in confusion and gave a slight wave.

"Um. Hi?"

Otonashi, Matsushita, Hinata, and Yui promptly lost their minds.

"HAH!" Hinata whooped, punching a fist in the air. "I WIN!"

Yui flung herself at Ayato, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him again. "YOU SAID!"

HE THOUGHT! "I said it would increase your chances!" he told her, dodging out of her firm grip. But truth be told he was as shocked as she was. Consider this the last time he'd invest money on her!

Yui let out a despairing cry and wilted to the ground like toilet paper, falling face-first. Mitsuo barked worriedly, pulling on the leash and scrambling over to her. A resigned Yui let the dog sniff at her hair and lick the river of tears off her cheeks.

"Can you all please get ahold of yourselves?" Yuri said, face-palming. "You're scaring the poor guy."

Ooyama smiled bashfully. "I'm alright. I just don't really know what's going on."

And, well, that confirmed what they'd all guessed by now, so Hinata eyed the rest of the group meaningfully for a moment. Then he turned to Ooyama with an abashed chuckle, sweating a bit.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Cute dog," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Are you new around here? I think my friend Naoi here would've told us if he'd seen you in Mizuzaka before."

Ayato glared so hard he almost bored holes in the back of Hinata's head. Idiot! That made them sound like stalkers!

Luckily, the strangeness of that statement seemed to have eluded him. He continued to smile in a friendly fashion while trying to control Mitsuo's leash.

"That's okay. I don't stand out much anyway," Ooyama said, very blithe about it. "But actually I moved here about a month ago, on the other side of town. I heard about this park at work and thought maybe it was a good place to meet new people."

"Define 'new,'" said Otonashi under his breath.

"Haven't you made many friends in this town?" Kanade asked kindly, while helping Hinata pull Yui into a standing position.

Ooyama turned his eyes to her, staring for a few seconds before turning red for some reason. Then he shrugged and laughed it off like it was nothing.

"Not really," he admitted. "Which should make it feel just like home, I guess! But I really do need to think about renting out my guestroom because it's pretty expensive on my own." Mitsuo looked up from Matsushita's shoes he was sniffing and sneezed aggressively at Ooyama, who smiled. "With me and Mitsuo, I mean."

Turning, Hinata muttered aside to Yuri, "He just gives out all this personal information with no qualms!"

Yuri nodded, rubbing her chin. "This is exactly why we used to think he was an NPC."

Ayato opened his mouth to make a comment—

"Don't say it," she warned.

He grinned anyway. Fine, whatever. The quip had already satisfied him in his head; she could let her imagination run wild.

Suddenly, Otonashi perked up and slid past Ayato to get to the front of the group. "Wait a minute," he cut in, a particularly enlightened lilt in his voice. "Did you say you needed a roommate?"

Ooyama remained blissfully ignorant. "Oh, yeah! I've tried the ads, but some guys out there are so scary…"

While Ooyama chattered to Otonashi about a few unsettling roommate interviews, the others exchanged furtive glances as they realized what the latter was getting at. In fact, from what Ayato could remember, Fujimaki and Ooyama had been quite close in the Afterlife. They'd shared a dorm then. They both needed someone to live with now. And for Fujimaki, who'd been milking his hotel stay for three weeks, this couldn't have come at a better time.

Besides that, it would mean shifting Fujimaki's attention to someone who wasn't Yuri. It was almost too perfect.

Locus Felicis had certainly worked its magic, hadn't it? Although his wallet and his pride were a tad too raw for him to be celebrating just yet.

"As such, it's hard to know who to trust," Ooyama finished.

Hinata couldn't help but chuckle at this, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You sure don't have a problem trusting us."

"Huh, you're right." Ooyama tilted his head – weirdly enough, in the same time and fashion that his dog did. "You know, it's kind of funny! I'm so comfortable talking to you that it's almost like we've already met. Like we're just old friends who happened to bump into each other." He laughed, embarrassed, and ran a hand through his hair. "I've never been this popular before."

Yuri and Hinata side-eyed each other, just as they had done in Kyuuya last week. He recognized that look; he'd used his hypnotism moments after that look.

Then Hinata said, cautious, "What if you were once, and you just don't remember?"

Yui choked on a gasp. She eyed her husband suspiciously.

"Huh?" Ooyama blinked at them, doing that puppyish head tilt again.

"If you used to have a lot of friends—"

"Hinakins!" Yui squealed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "You're not going to do it now, are you? We're supposed to wait! We have to wait for Iwasawa!"

"Iwasawa's not here," Ayato reminded her, still bitter about his losses. He prepared his eyes for hypnotism. "You were supposed to bring her."

Yui whined again. "We can wait! I'll get her next time! He already likes us, we don't need to—"

"I think he'll be happier if we give him his memories now," Hinata told her in a careful whisper, laying a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be scared of Fujimaki otherwise – and those two kind of need each other right now. C'mon, Yui, you know we can still have a Battlefront reunion concert."

"It's not the same," Yui mumbled.

Beside her husband, Otonashi lightly bumped her chin so she'd meet his eyes.

"Don't you think they should have this chance?" He looked very serious for a moment, at Hinata and then at Yui again, like he was saying something else with his gaze. "When people are as close as they are, it only makes sense. I think they'd be great roommates."

Yui looked distracted for a moment, choosing instead to look very interested in Mitsuo (who was back to being admired by Shiina). Otonashi took this opportunity to clap Hinata and Ayato on the back encouragingly.

Hinata startled out of some sort of stupor, clearing his throat. He set his eyes on Ooyama again, who was still standing around with a puzzled smile on his face.

"If you used to have a lot of friends before this life," he pressed on, "wouldn't you want to know about it?"

Ooyama thought for a second, tapping his chin as he mulled over the question.

"Yeah," he considered. "I suppose I would."

Yui squeaked sadly. Ayato began to warm his hypnotism up again.

"Great!" Hinata said enthusiastically, turning to Ayato with an expectant look. "That's all we needed to hear."

Ooyama glanced at him as well – and seemed to notice the red glow in his eyes. Swallowing hard in great fear, he backed up a step or two.

"Wait… you guys aren't a cult, are you?"

"No, nothing like that," Hinata said with a dismissive wave of his hand. The other hand, he used to push Ayato forward. "Just stand still and let my friend Naoi here hypnotize you for a minute—"

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!" Ooyama yelled, tugging firmly on his dog's leash. "RUN, MITSUO!"

Mitsuo, who already liked Shiina and the Battlefront very much, stayed behind. But Ooyama fled down the road screaming at the top of his lungs, the leash slipping out of his grasp in his haste to get away.

Hinata sprinted after him, throwing his limbs about like a gangly scarecrow on fire. "OOYAMA, WAIT! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

"CREEP! WHY DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!"

The Battlefront watched them go, Otonashi breaking into a sweat and burying his face in his palm. Yui looked happy again and Kanade was giggling hysterically, while Shiina and Matsushita were keeping an eye on the dog. Yuri closed her eyes and thoroughly massaged her temples.

"Bunch of morons," she groaned under her breath. Her signature phrase.

Ayato tried very hard not to smile.


While the chase between Hinata and Ooyama had been wildly entertaining, he'd admit it was satisfying when Ooyama succumbed to his curiosity at last and allowed himself to fall under a spell of hypnotism. All the more satisfying to do it with Yuri and Yui watching – for different but equally pleasing reasons.

Ooyama broke into tears the moment he recognized them, which made Ayato step back a bit. Just in time, too, because Hinata and Yuri immediately burst forward and engulfed him in a hug. Mitsuo barked and jumped at their legs, prompting a few adoring tears from Shiina. Ooyama pulled away and eagerly hugged her too. The ninja looked just as happy as if she'd been hugged by a giant dog.

After apologizing profusely for running away (Hinata and Otonashi just laughed and mussed his hair), Ooyama was only too glad to regale the Battlefront with stories of his present life while they walked and talked. He'd had a few friends (more like acquaintances) growing up in Suginami, but they all had specific talents and goals in life to focus on. They'd left him alone to study and go after their callings.

Still, he'd always remembered the things they'd been able to compliment him on – being friendly, comforting, and supportive. And, well, animals needed those things the most. So after working hard just like them, he moved to Mizuzaka to become a vet tech. Because hey, at least animals thought he was amazing! (Mitsuo barked his agreement.)

Shiina had looked so jealous at this. When he found out that she'd grown up without pets, Ooyama nicely let her hold Mitsuo's leash. She cheered up immensely after that, letting the dog lead her to the front of the group while the rest of the Battlefront filled Ooyama in on things.

Like the Locus Felicis charm, for example. Ooyama was absolutely fascinated when he found out about it.

"Yeah, remember when you pretended to cast healing spells on me?" Hinata said wistfully. "Heh, guess your patients are lucky to have you."

"Can I cast it once, Yurippe?" Ooyama asked. "Next time? Please? I want to try out the magic!"

"No way!" Yui insisted, devil tail swishing in agitation. "I have to be the one to do it! We need to find Iwasawa as soon as possible or we'll run out of people to surprise at the concert!"

Ooyama pouted angrily.

"You already got to do it twice!" He pointed a finger at her in a moment of bravery. "Let someone else have a chance! I want to find Fujimaki!"

Yui opened her mouth for a fierce retort, but Yuri's hand quickly shot out and covered it.

"Actually, Yui, I think I should do it next time," she said smoothly. "I mean, as the leader… and I kind of met her first. Besides, of the two of us, only one has actually ever been in the same band with her before."

Yui squeaked beneath her hand, gawking at her with eyes wide as baseballs.

"What?" Yuri shrugged. "I'm just saying, if you want results…"

"Low blow, Yurippe," said Hinata, taking Yui by the arm and pulling her to his side. He stroked the back of Yui's hair comfortingly until she calmed down.

"Please, Commander?" Yui asked in a soft, sad whine. "Give me another chance! You know how much I believe in GlDeMo."

Yuri hummed in acknowledgement but kept walking.

"And don't worry, Ooyama. We'll find Fujimaki," she said lightly, falling into a confident stride that was only marred by a lingering tiredness. "Maybe even sooner than you—"

Like a spoiler alert warning, her phone interrupted her with a sharp buzz. She checked the caller ID. A subtle smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth, and she turned to wink at the group before answering the call.

"Hey. You're free now? Good, we're still here at the park." She paused, then eyed Ooyama with a grin and added coyly, "Oh, sure, there's still time. Come meet up with us. We'll be over at…" She gave him the directions, then said her goodbyes and hung up.

"Who was that?" Ooyama asked.

"A friend." Matsushita clapped him on the shoulder, almost knocking the guy over.

Otonashi beamed. "A friend who's been living in a hotel for a few weeks," he said, clearly pleased to be going along with the mystery. Leaning towards Ooyama, he added in a conspiratorial hush, "He could sure use a place to stay."

"Oh." He looked lost in thought after that.

While he pondered this, a few members did some inconspicuous shifting around so that Matsushita the Fifth's body as well as Hinata's and Yui's blocked him from view. And of course, Shiina was still at the front of the pack with Mitsuo leading the charge. Yuri fell behind her human shields, lingering with Ooyama and the Otonashis.

And then there was Ayato, who was now watching her closely from the back.

She'd woken up some since the mission began, but he couldn't help but notice there was still something subdued about her. Besides that, she'd paid him entirely too little attention today and that just wouldn't do. He was suddenly filled with an unyielding desire to bug the woman.

Emboldened, he came up alongside her, meeting her stride. She eyed him warily but didn't protest. They kept walking together in sync for a couple of minutes, a prickly silence between them.

"You're still quite the little matchmaker, aren't you?" he said out of the corner of his mouth.

Yuri let the comment hang in the air for a moment, frowning in silence like it was a fly she couldn't decide whether to kill or shoo away.

"I'm a problem-solver," she said, closing her eyes. "At least, I try to get rid of most problems."

He chuckled at her, willfully ignoring the sting in his chest. "With questionable methods."

"If it works, it works." She huffed a little and folded her arms more tightly. "And look who's talking, Mister Hypnotist. Don't act like what you did earlier was so honorable."

"It rids me of nuisances," he said easily. "And it's funny. Admit it – it's useful."

"For now," was her crisp reply.

He raised his brows, quietly studying her face. She was bluffing. She was definitely bluffing. It was clear as the shadows under her eyes. Satisfied with what he found, he went on, "Maybe I could even help you sleep better—"

Yuri turned her head sharply and gave him a suspicious glare.

"—with hypnotism of course. Clear your mind of what's keeping you up at night, since that's your preferred method," he added, keeping his smile innocent. "Honestly, Nakamura, you don't look yourself."

"I'm fine." Yuri stared resolutely ahead, as if Matsushita's shoulders were much more interesting than this conversation.

"Hm," Ayato said doubtfully. He spotted a loose curl that hadn't been brushed straight – a telltale Yuri sign of lingering unmanaged bedhead. "When was the last time you cut your hair?" He gave the curl a playful tug. "It's getting a little long—"

"Stop it!" Yuri snapped, knocking his hand away.

"Hey, you two," Otonashi warned, leaning forward to peek over at them. "I hope you're behaving over there. Play nice or don't be near each other at all."

Yuri marched ahead and took her place at the front of the group, cheeks flushed with anger. Placated, Ayato grinned to himself and straightened his cap at a job well done. Her hair length was a sensitive spot since it marked a difference between her sister Ajisai and herself. One she faithfully upheld. He was only giving her a reminder on maintenance – God was compassionate!

But Otonashi threw him a familiar disapproving grimace that effectively spoiled his fun. So he sulked, but he left her alone after that.

The group journeyed on, taking a diagonal path back to the trail they'd come from. There were a couple of temporary stops only because other dogs wanted to say hello to Mitsuo, and damned if Shiina wasn't thrilled to let them be friends. One dog with a pink bow on its ear licked Mitsuo's noise and Shiina almost short-circuited. Lucky for her Hinata was able to catch the leash in time.

Otonashi was right in the middle of swapping patient stories with Ooyama when Hinata and Yuri abruptly stopped to shush them over their shoulders. Realizing, Otonashi craned his neck and peeked around them. Just in time to hear a gravelly voice yell out, "Hey! I'm here!"

Ooyama perked up at the voice, instantly curious. Making a sound that could only be described as "!", he tried desperately to sneak a glance past Matsushita's imposing stature. But Otonashi held him back by the shoulder and put a finger to his lips.

As Fujimaki broke into a jog to get to them, Mitsuo started barking up a storm. The dog whined and trilled and fought against the leash until Hinata couldn't hold on any longer. Running as fast as his little paws could take him, he met Fujimaki in the middle and leaped into the startled man's arms.

Shiina's heart apparently couldn't take this. She wilted against Hinata's shoulder with a feeble whimper.

"Whoa!" said Fujimaki, laughing in disbelief as a wriggling Mitsuo licked relentlessly at his cheek. "Whose dog is this? I think I'm in love."

Matsushita turned to Yuri, who nodded at him.

"Well, to answer your question," he said, gesturing grandly as the two of them shifted aside, "…meet our newest recruit!"

Ooyama took a step forward hesitantly, eyes shining.

"Fuji…maki?" he said softly, a sort of wonder in his still childish voice.

The amusement vanished from Fujimaki's face, leaving an entirely different expression Ayato wasn't sure he'd seen on him before. The sharp angles of his features smoothed into pleasant but baffled fascination.

"Ooyama…!" he managed, after a couple of muted choking sounds. He lowered Mitsuo to the ground and approached a few steps.

(Rather, the dog tugged him forward by his own leash.)

Fujimaki shifted a glance over to the group, looking upset. "I missed out on an Ooyama reunion? Seriously?"

"That's what you get, deserter!" Yui crowed triumphantly, apparently having already gotten over her mourning period for Iwasawa.

Ooyama just beamed at him.

"It's okay," he said, stuck in that simple happiness of his. "I'm glad you're here now."

Yipping quietly, Mitsuo pulled Fujimaki the rest of the way over and danced at Ooyama's feet. Fujimaki handed out the leash to him while Hinata and Matsushita fanned at Shiina's face.

"Either way, Hinata and I won the bet." Fujimaki looked smug for a moment, then his grin faded in favor of a sheepish chuckle. "Y'know, I wanted it to be you... I wanted it to be you really bad."

Throwing a look over his shoulder, Hinata hissed to Otonashi, "And you thought I was—"

"Hey, Ooyama," Otonashi interrupted in an encouraging voice. "Remember what I said about our friend who's been living in a hotel for a few weeks?"

Puzzled, Ooyama turned to him with a little "huh?" But it didn't take too long for a light to come on in his head.

"He needs a place to stay…"

He brightened instantly, turning back to Fujimaki and finally taking the leash from him. Mitsuo was still dancing and trilling between them, so Ooyama knelt on one knee to give him some attention. But still, he looked up at his human friend hopefully.

"Fujimaki, for old time's sake… will you be my roommate?"

The man in question stared down at him, once again in shock, before he broke into an earsplitting grin.

"Hell yeah I will!" he shouted, and when Ooyama made the mistake of standing back up, the man picked him up in a huge bone-crushing embrace that lifted him right off his feet. "You've just made me the happiest man alive!"

Passersby looked wildly interested, while Kanade, Yui, and Matsushita exclaimed with joy. Fujimaki noticed neither of these things as he turned the hug into a headlock and a noogie. Despite yelping a little in protest, Ooyama laughed and didn't seem to mind it much. Mitsuo barked protectively a few times but seemed more curious and happy than anything.

Meanwhile, Otonashi threw an arm around Kanade and heaved a weary but content little sigh. She looked up at him with a knowing, or even proud, half-smile.

"What, no comment from you?" Hinata said aside to Otonashi, who rolled his eyes but gave a patient grin.

"Yes, Hinata. It's very gay."


A/N: Do you ever accidentally turn a friendly reunion into the ending of You've Got Mail? Legit wasn't planned at first, save for the roommates thing, but once Mitsuo started being straight-up Brinkley I figured, "You know what, I'm gonna let this play out." (Also, I guess the rule of thumb is if you're writing a scene between a pair and you fling yourself from your computer at least twice to dry-sob with joy, then you might actually ship the characters more than you thought.)

Anyways, hope you liked this chapter even half as much as I liked writing it!

P.S. Apparently "Mitsuo" means "shining hero"? I hope that's right. I wanted the perfect dog name for Ooyama's puppy. A sunny brave dog for a sunny brave boy!


Preview:

"Man, I'm beat."

"Why are you so tired?"

"Tell us about the dream, Nakamura."

"What was that even like?"

"It was in my room."

"You don't want the power?"

[Chapter 34]: Shadows of the Past.