A/N: Hey AB fandom, it's been a while! The preview section is all well and good for Angel Beats vibes, but it also means I can't upload one chapter without writing and titling the next. The price I pay... But it's done and I like updating close to anniversaries, so here's a little something for your patience. Thanks to ZainR, Hayashinkage17, qwerty19, Seiram, and serial napper for the reviews!

ZainR: It sure sounds like the Programmer, doesn't it? Felt the same when I was writing it. Also, "are we getting what I think we're getting?" Read and see... ;) I'm so thrilled Iwasawa's story resonated with you - I hoped it would seem poignant after all the buildup to finding her, since she is the one who basically kicked off all of this. Plus your comparison is so true, Sleepwalking still gives me chills with that. Gold says something similar in OUAT's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." I guess that's why I love using dreams to convey messages in this series. Glad you're appreciating the GlDeMo love!

Hayashinkage17: I know what you mean, and no worries! Heck, it took me three months to update, so... (shrug). But finally we get to see GlDeMo again! Told ya they were coming. Well, technically I "told ya" a full year ago, but hey, "ASAP" was still only ten chapters. Not gonna lie, the "creepy boyfriend" was a little deliberate. I wanted him to be just ambiguous but detailed enough that you could project Nishida onto him XD Hope that's cool with you (I'll be glad to see the legit Nishida again whenever you do continue!). Natsukashii apparently means nostalgic or reminiscent of good memories - I myself had to do a little research for exactly the word and mood I was going for.

qwerty19: Thank you so much! I knew I had to get this particular reunion absolutely perfect, especially for Yui - because you're right, it IS a GlDeMo slowburn. I think that's true about them and Yui. Honestly they just needed some time to miss her, especially while they have Iwasawa back. And YES! That's what I like about TLO, more stuff to characterize Irie and Sekine. (Naoi and Yuri? Eye contact? I hope they used protection.)

Seiram: Nice catch ;D (instantly pictures Nagisa carting around a wagon of mapo tofu) And hey, you're thinking! Wherever TK is, I'm sure his GlDeMo senses must be tingling. Not even another continent could keep him away from this concert. Also, thank you! Wanting to include and write characters into this reunion, I think, has caused me to appreciate a lot of them more than I used to. (Now I want to rewatch the second OVA, I do love Sekine and Irie's shenanigans)

serial napper: Thanks a lot! There's just something about the term "songbird" that says "Iwasawa" to me... I also appreciate that you caught that aspect with the group pictures! It's a little thing but I thought it'd be fun to tie it in and have it mean something. As for the book, good question. Naoi's definitely been preoccupied on such an eventful Battlefront weekend, GlDeMo being a welcome distraction from his Rumple mystery. But he'll be reminded of his curiosity in due time. And there's plenty more he ought to know.

Hope you enjoy!


[Chapter 54]: Natsukashii


As afternoon ebbed to early evening, thin wisps of cloud teased at the falling sun just above the park, providing a background Yui deemed suitably artsy enough for the final group shots of the weekend.

The Battlefront (and company) had returned to the park entrance at Yui's behest, herded carefully into their usual spots. This time, they were sandwiched between the two halves of GlDeMo – Irie and Sekine cheerily hooking arms on Matsushita's right while Hisako and Iwasawa struck casual poses next to Fujimaki and Ooyama. To the left of the girls was Shiina, who, Ayato would note later, looked a bit more surly and dark without a puppy in her arms. Yusa resumed her pose with the phone for each of the three shots (Iwasawa, Hisako, and then Sekine and Irie at once), to make it clear as each GlDeMo girl joined the shot that she was the one who was summoning them.

Part of Yui's artistic process, of course – the Battlefront members were content to just go with it.

After that, they all wound up hanging out near the pavilion as the evening began to cool down – the evening, but not Yui. The realness of getting a picture with Girls Dead Monster had ramped Yui right up. She hastily assured Iwasawa she would have come to find her right after the concert had she not been distracted by Hinata proposing to her ("Sorry, I didn't know it was a bad time," Hinata had teased), and chattered herself into a tangent that went from her brief venture to look for GlDeMo by herself, to finding Shiina instead, to discovering Yukine and her charm books, to some of the music charms she'd read about.

"—all sorts of cool spells we could use to make this the most epic and powerful concert EVER!" Yui was gushing to the band, hands clasped and well into her dreamy glittering trance mode. She blinked and whirled to face them with a nervous squeak. "Not that you really need any help with that!"

The GlDeMo girls exchanged amused and secretive glances amongst themselves. "I don't know, Yui," Iwasawa said with a small cryptic smile. "I think we could use all the help we can get."

Yui beamed briefly before switching into serious mode with a salute. "I'll do my best!"

Locus Felicis came back up, and she proudly took it upon herself to explain it more thoroughly to the girls, who were intrigued and wistful. "Where has this been all my life?" Hisako harrumphed. She glanced at Iwasawa. "I believe that we're all meant to meet, but man, why did it have to take so long?"

"I wonder if there were ever moments where some of us almost met and we didn't even know it," Irie mused.

Yuri offered, "Eight years ago Hinata almost hit a baseball at my head."

"Did not!" Hinata yelped.

"Did too," Ayato said, smirking, before he could help himself.

"Seriously!" Irie said, distracting him just as he was about to sneak a glance at Yuri. "We could've passed each other by so many times. Like in those stories where a couple is in the same picture at an amusement park when they were kids. Maybe at one point in the past we were just another face in the crowd."

"Good point, it has happened to us before," Hinata said, rubbing his chin and looking intrigued. "Maybe we've even already seen one of the people we haven't found yet. Anybody remember seeing a guy take off his shirt at a totally inappropriate time?"

Sekine considered. "Well, one time during a class trip to the mountains Irie and I saw a guy try to go skiing shirtless…"

"Wait a minute – was that at Shiga Kogen in January 2011?" Yuri asked.

"You were there too?!" Irie gaped at her.

"Our school went there for our second-year trip as well." Ayato studied Sekine and Irie for a moment before realization dawned and smoothed his brow. "That's right. I remember," he said, and pointed to Irie. "Weren't you the girl who tried to adjust the binding on your skis, then—"

"—slipped and fell on her butt?!" Sekine finished for him excitedly. Irie groan-squealed and covered her face in despair.

Ayato nodded, switching his pointing finger to Sekine. "Ah yes. Then that would make you the girl who was standing next to her laughing too hard to help her up."

"That sounds like her…" Irie sighed, while her best friend looked very pleased with herself.

"You and Yuri went to the same school?" Hisako asked in disbelief. When Ayato silently confirmed, she huffed the bangs out of her face and rolled her eyes until they fell upon Iwasawa, with whom she shared a rueful half-smile. "Ugh. So unfair, right? Even Naoi and Yuri had each other."

This time Ayato purposefully cut his gaze in the opposite direction, his face heating up, but he could still hear Yuri making a small indignant sound at the back of her throat. Probably pursing her lips, too, twisting them into a pink heart-shaped scowl.

"Never mind that," Yuri said, as evenly as she could. "Weren't we talking about the shirtless skier? It was definitely Takamatsu. I remember now, I heard his friend yell his name."

"Before throwing a rolled up shirt at the back of his head," Ayato muttered under his breath, trying not to laugh but breaking into a smirk anyway. "So hard that it—"

"—knocked his glasses askew," Yuri said softly, lost in memory and in budding realization. She giggled to herself. "He didn't even flinch! He just rubbed his head, straightened his glasses, picked up the shirt and draped it over his arm before walking away."

Shiina raised her eyebrows. "He's as stupid as ever," she said aside to Otonashi.

"Aren't we all," he replied with a chuckle.

Thinking back, Ayato shook his head with a light scoff. "That was… an interesting ski trip."

"It was," Yuri agreed, rather absently. And this time he couldn't help but look at her, thinking wryly: Yes, but how much do you remember of it, really…

She seemed to hear his thoughts, because her faint nostalgic smile dissipated and she fixed him with an uncertain side-eye. He held his ground for a few seconds before biting back a scoff and turning his attention back to the rest of the group. Why were they all staring?

Hinata and Otonashi in particular had twin knowing expressions on their faces. Ayato narrowed his eyes at them warningly. If they started up with the texting again, someone was getting hypnotized tonight.

"Too bad we can't go to Shiga Kogen and see if he's still there," Matsushita the Fifth said lightly, breaking the tension.

"Any excuse to go up to the mountains, huh?" Fujimaki joked, elbowing him.

"Well he's gotta be training somewhere…"

And as that conversation progressed, it eventually reminded the Battlefront that they hadn't done the bet for next time, which spiraled into a debate over who technically won this weekend. They'd never found more than one person at a time. Obviously the bet should be based on the first person that they ran into –

"Who bet on me?" Yusa had asked, still puzzled by the concept.

"I did," Ayato had said firmly, earning him a few baffled blinks from the girl, "and the band was summoned by you, not the charm. I thought we were betting on who Locus Felicis would lead us to."

"Careful, I wouldn't suggest Yui wasn't meant to meet GlDeMo if I were you," Ooyama said. Ayato winced upon noticing Yui's death glare. "Yusa called but she didn't invite them, so how do you know the charm didn't inspire them to come here? Maybe it should still count if it's within the timeframe of the charm's effects?"

"But we never specified any of that," Hinata insisted, frowning a little as Yui latched onto Ooyama in an affectionate side-hug. "It was always about who we thought we'd find next week."

"Then let's be more specific this time," Yuri said sternly. "It has to be the very next Battlefront person we meet within the timeframe of Locus Felicis' effects."

Matsushita the Fifth raised his hand. "But what if sometime next week one of us runs into one of them at the store or during a lunch break or something? It could happen!"

"Yeah, and then they'd be out of the running for the weekend even though technically they were found first!" Fujimaki pointed out.

Then that dissolved into a discussion over whether a discovery like that should count if they weren't all together, and if it didn't, couldn't the person who found them just secretly invite them to town on Saturday and coordinate a "chance" meeting anyway? Which went on for about five minutes and featured at least three "this is so stupid" comments from Shiina.

Finally, on the third one, Yuri told them all in her most child-friendly way to shut up already, and that the bet was officially on the very next Battlefront person they meet after tonight and they would just bet again when they met on Saturday if the situation called for it.

Content with this arrangement, the Battlefront happily started making their bets—

"Wait a minute, was Kanade right again?" Fujimaki asked.

Kanade let out an alarmed peep and clapped her hands over her mouth.

GlDeMo eagerly got in on the bet, with Irie and Sekine agreeing on Takamatsu while Hisako and Iwasawa were dead-set on TK. Yusa was significantly less interested, choosing to be the one writing down everyone's guesses (but Ayato would later notice she'd put TK next to her name as well). Yui, simply content to have GlDeMo here at last, decided to retire while she was ahead. Then Hinata guessed Takeyama and Yui reacted with: "What?! On a hot day in June? He's going to be inside somewhere with air conditioning and computers! It's obviously going to be Fishing Saitou!" (Matsushita the Fifth smiled at this but was still rooting for TK.)

Ooyama seconded the Takeyama bet. Yuri lazily repeated last week's bet on Chaa. Otonashi appeared to debate with himself for a while, engaging in what looked like marriage telepathy with Kanade before hopping on the TK bandwagon. Ayato wondered very seriously if he should get in on that. Still, despite himself, he went with his gut and chose Chaa, as did Fujimaki.

"You sure about that, Naoi?" Hinata said with a smirk, while Yuri looked flabbergasted at the concept of Ayato agreeing with her. "You know Chaa used to call Yurippe his wife, right?"

"Why should I care?" Ayato scoffed, though his eyes had briefly widened and inside he was seething. His WHAT?!

"He only called me that because I reminded him of his real wife from back when he was alive," Yuri chided Hinata, and looked thoughtful. "I wonder if he found her again in this life…"

"Well if not, maybe you'll be the next Mrs… Mrs…" Hinata lost his big stupid grin and started scratching at the back of his neck. "Crap, what was his last name…?"

"Save your brain cells, he was more of the big brother type," Yuri said firmly, and Ayato felt his nerves settle a bit.

"Yeah, I got that feeling from him too," Otonashi said. His eyes turned distant like he was either reminiscing or pondering very deeply over something.

Hinata's grin swiftly returned. "A protective big brother, eh? Even better."

"What are you getting at?" Ayato said warningly.

Hinata laughed. "Nothing. I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine." Fujimaki mimed hitting someone over the head with a shovel, complete with sound effect.

While the GlDeMo girls' expressions turned speculative, Ayato growled lowly and waved him off as he started to walk away, somewhat validated by Otonashi's murmured "that's not funny…" behind him. He hadn't gone more than a few steps when Okazaki got up from one of the pavilion's tables and met him in the middle, shortly followed by Ryou, Kyou, and Nagisa. The littlest Okazaki was with Noda, continuing their zombies versus robots debate and dragging him by the hand over to Kanade while insisting the woman would side with her. Ayato smirked at the sight, greatly cheered by Ushio's take-charge attitude.

"Naoi," Okazaki said, pulling his attention back to the group. He faltered at first, twisting his eyebrows just so and briefly looking over his shoulder at the others before nodding to Ayato. "We, uh, talked it over."

"I see." Ayato continued to grin unabashedly, feeling rather smug. "Then, is there something I can help you with?"

Okazaki frowned, crossing his arms and staring at the ground as he chewed on his lip. "If I don't take this chance now, I'll probably kick myself for it later," he grunted down at his shoes. "I don't know if the memories are good or bad. Or if they're anything at all. But that's the thing. Not knowing, it just… eats away at you." With that, he looked back up into Ayato's eyes. "I don't know if this is for real, or what exactly I'm walking myself into. But you're right that it's worth it to try. So, what I'm saying is… yes, please use your hypnotism to help us get back whatever it is we've lost."

Ayato stared at him for a moment, more than a little intrigued by his candor and humility. He did say please…

"Alright," he said with a nod. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

"I'll go first," Okazaki replied, then lowered his voice as he stepped closer. "And no dangos this time."

Ayato chuckled but said no more, narrowing his eyes as he linked them with Okazaki's. Nagisa muffled a gasp with her hand, likely at the red glow that had set in, but Ayato's focus didn't waver. All outside noises were lost to the steady keening sound that rose up from the back of his mind, a sound he could only describe as like a ringing in one's ear that echoed down an empty hallway. It always grew louder during memory recall. Compared to his usual mind tricks, this required much more concentration. Perhaps exercising a different part of his brain. But he kept at it, monitoring Okazaki's reaction with moderate curiosity.

After a minute or so, the man's expression began to change. His eyebrows lifted considerably and a choked sound tumbled from his mouth. Ten seconds more and he blinked three times, staggering back a couple of steps as he uttered another low cry. He almost backed right into Nagisa, who stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Did it work?" she asked hopefully, as he turned to look at her in shock. "Did you remember something?"

"I—" Okazaki paused, eyes still wide, and excitedly grabbed Nagisa by the wrists. "Nagisa, you have to try this! It explains so much! The wedding, the time we fell asleep in the school – the starfish!" He gave her wrists a light but emphatic jostle. "The starfish, Nagisa!"

Nagisa looked positively bewildered at him. "Tomoya, what are you talking about? What starfish?"

"Just – see for yourself!"

Reeling and dumbfounded, Nagisa nonetheless stepped up and met Ayato's eyes with no hesitation, only wonder. Like a still warm burner, his mind was ready for her. He delved blindly into her memories and unlocked more doors he couldn't see. The keening sound in his head buzzed ever louder. It left an echo when she broke away, her hands flying over her mouth as she whirled around to face her husband.

"Do you remember?" Okazaki asked, gazing at her expectantly.

The corners of her eyes crinkled and began to tear up with happiness. "Yes!" she cried, letting her hands fall from her mouth to her heart. "Fuko!"

"Fuko?" Kyou repeated, looking to Ryou for help. "Who are you talking about?"

"Fuko Ibuki!" Nagisa burst out impassionedly. "Kouko Yoshino's little sister! Remember, Kouko was the former art teacher who had her wedding at our high school! We all went to it because Fuko gave us those wooden starfish, and – oh, I can't believe we forgot her again! You have to remember too!"

Kyou, now alight with intrigue and finding the mystery simply irresistible, trotted up to Ayato for her turn so as not to be left out of whatever inside joke she'd apparently forgotten. He obliged, though as he reached her the heat of the hypnotism was now searing uncomfortably at the back of his brain. A strange pressure not unlike the onset of a headache, but he ignored it as best he could and kept going until Kyou startled with epiphany and backed away.

"That's right!" she uttered in astonishment. "Fuko!"

"Sis…?"

Kyou grasped Ryou's arm and pulled her forward. "Go on, Ryou, you have to get in on this! It's actually really interesting!"

And so the second Fujibayashi sister stepped up, her curiosity outweighing any reservations she might have had. And again, Ayato focused his mind. But at this point the searing heat behind his eyes was harder to ignore. He'd felt this kind of pressure before, back at the bridge with Yuri when he'd held the trance and waited for it to take effect. The keening buzz had gone from a whine to a wail, jarring and distorted. He could feel it circling in his head and humming in his ears like a bumblebee attacking a microphone. By the time Ryou finally blinked and spun to face her friends with a gasp, the feedback screech was so sharp it left Ayato squinting. He blinked as well and shook his head, turning away from the fuss lest it aggravate his growing headache.

What in the world…?

"Who's Fuko?" he could hear Matsushita asking. Apparently the newly enlightened group had gained the Battlefront as an audience at some point.

"Long ago, back in high school, she was a very good friend of ours," said Nagisa. "She hand-carved wooden starfish and gave them as gifts to the students at our school, hoping that they would honor her big sister by coming to her wedding. Not even being in a coma could stop her from achieving that dream." Her eyes sparkled with emotion and admiration. "We all had so much fun helping Fuko and had a lot of good times together, I'm honestly a little heartbroken that we could forget about someone who was so dear to us."

"It was beyond our control," said Okazaki. "I guess memory gets complicated when you make friends with a lingering spirit."

Ayato sat down on the bench of one of the pavilion tables with a barely audible sigh, rubbing at his temples. The ringing had died down but the discomfort remained. His mind felt rather like an overheating laptop battery right now…

"What's wrong?" a female voice asked, quiet and tentative among the clamor of the crowd. It sounded a little bit like Ryou.

He groaned softly, continuing to massage his forehead. "Too much at once."

A pause. "Are you okay?"

Eyes squeezed shut, he blindly waved her away with his free hand. "I'm fine. It's just a headache." Then, to prove himself, he cracked them open just a sliver and looked up.

Yuri was standing in front of him, arms crossed as she fixed him with a doubtful stare. His headache struck again, and his vision was still raw and sensitive and thus compromised so he almost immediately fell into a grimacing squint. But – his eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to focus on her – was that concern in her eyes just now?

For a moment she looked a bit thrown, but she promptly composed herself with an impassive frown.

"I won't bother you, then," she said coolly, cutting her eyes to the side. His vision – or the fading light under the pavilion – must be playing tricks on him, because for a moment there he thought her cheeks were flushed. "But maybe it's a good thing Sunohara is visiting his little sister." She started walking away to rejoin the group. "You probably shouldn't hypnotize anyone else tonight."

Hinata, overhearing as she passed him, glanced over at Ayato with raised eyebrows and an intrigued grin.

"Oh yeah…?" he said, rubbing his hands together like a greedy little fly.

Ayato glared at him, flashing a warning red glow until he looked away. Then he winced and clutched his head again; Yuri certainly wasn't kidding about that.

Maybe it was true what he'd considered earlier today. Hypnotism was like a muscle that needed to be stretched, at least if he was going to use memory recall on four consecutive people after a couple weeks of nothing. No one could laze about for months and then go out and run five miles without any warmups. He and Yuri had heard enough about track in high school to know something like that could cause injuries.

Ayato drew in a deep breath, leaned back against the edge of the table, and waited for the malaise to subside. Perhaps it was best if he took it easy.

"Isn't Fuko still in the hospital? We should go visit her right away!" Nagisa was saying. Then she hesitated. "Or do you think we'll forget again, like Sunohara did when he went to see her there…?"

"No, I don't think we'll have to worry about that anymore," Okazaki said thoughtfully. "But if we drove back now, we'd get there pretty late. Let's plan to see her sometime next week, alright?"

Nagisa nodded, twiddling her fingers. "I guess I hadn't thought of that in the excitement of remembering an old friend."

Iwasawa gave a faint smile like she knew the feeling, and then stared towards the horizon as the sun was descending behind the trees. "It is getting kind of late, isn't it…?"

Yusa looked down at her phone, checking the time. "Don't you have rehearsal in an hour?"

"Wow, it's 6:30 already?" Hisako was checking her phone too. "Damn. Time flies."

"We'll have to go soon," Iwasawa said, prompting a despondent sigh from Yui, "but hey – the night doesn't have to be over just yet. You're all welcome to come watch if you want."

Yui's sad sound did a 180-degree turn and became an inflected peppy gasp. "Really?"

Hisako shrugged. "Why not?"

Irie chimed in, "Yeah, we could use a live audience to practice on."

"Well, I'd love to," Nagisa said cheerily, and bent to pick up a yawning Ushio. "But Tomoya and Ushio and I probably need to head back soon. It's been a very long day of fun."

Iwasawa gave her an understanding nod. "It has. I'm glad we got to see each other anyway," she said, and Nagisa happily agreed.

"And the rest of you?" Hisako asked. "I know Yui's in."

Ooyama looked eager as well, but then frowned contemplatively and motioned to their amnesic friend. "I don't know, what about Noda? What if the live music helps him regain his memories?"

"I don't have to play 'My Song' in front of him," Iwasawa said. "We can save that for the concert."

"Or just boot him out of the room until it's over," Hinata suggested.

"No-no, this sounds like a thing for Battlefront members who know what they're doing," said Kyou, dismissively waving the thought away while Noda made a face at Hinata. She linked her arm with his and smiled at Ryou. "I think we'll just opt out this time, stay home and hang out with my little sister."

Ryou serenely agreed to this, even offering to watch after Mitsuo at her place while Ooyama and Fujimaki were gone (Ooyama was hesitant about taking the dog with them to a place with loud music, especially if they might stay late). Fujimaki, of course, was thrilled, and merrily joked about how Mitsuo and Botan "could use the bonding time" as Ooyama arranged things with Ryou, while Kyou rolled her eyes. ("It'd be their very first sleepover together!" Fujimaki said, wiping a tear from his eye and beaming at Ooyama. "Our boy is growing up.")

The Okazakis, Fujibayashis, and Noda said their goodbyes to the Battlefront and GlDeMo and headed back towards Ryou's, most of them still talking about Fuko while Noda snuck furtive, lingering glances over his shoulder at the group looking for all the world like he was actually deep in thought about something. Not long after they left, the GlDeMo girls gave the Battlefront directions to their rehearsal place so they could meet them there whenever, before returning to their car and driving away.

The rest of the Battlefront walked back to Ayato's, where they all stood in the driveway and loudly discussed getting to the rehearsal in the first place.

"This is gonna take a few cars," Otonashi considered with a laugh.

"Those of us from out of town should probably take the cars we came in," said Yuri, who was in fact leaning against Otonashi's as she gazed over at her own parked on the curb. "After tonight, I think I'll be heading back home. We should end things on a high note and wrap up the operation for the weekend." She shrugged absently to emphasize her point. "Mission accomplished, you know?"

The gang agreed with this, even Yui (only she could say "the weekend can only go downhill from here" so giddily), and the out-of-towners went inside to get their stuff. Yuri was the quickest about it, the first in and out. Ayato watched her as she walked briskly to her car with her bag, then turned away to stare doubtfully at his own.

"Naoi – you're not going to take that hunk of junk, are you?" Fujimaki asked, getting his attention. He chuckled when Ayato shifted his eyes in annoyance. "No offense, I just don't know how you even make it to work in that thing."

Ayato frowned, kneading at his temple again. "I'm not sure I should be driving at all right now," he mumbled.

Fujimaki looked scandalized. "Oh my God, what did they put in your ice cream…"

"Nothing," Ayato said sharply. The tone grated at his condition with a biting twinge, so he added more softly, "It's just a headache."

Ooyama still furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Then, won't loud music aggravate it?"

Ayato considered for a moment. "…No," he said at last. "It's fine. I should be alright by the time we get there." He had a feeling it wasn't like most headaches, after all. He just didn't want to focus on anything for a while, like driving for instance.

"Then you should ride with us," Fujimaki said grandly, throwing an arm around Ayato as well as Ooyama and pulling them in close. "We Mizuzaka guys should stick together." When Ayato managed an eye-roll and small nod of confirmation, Fujimaki sent Yusa a welcoming grin. "Oh right, and girl. What about you, Yusa? Wanna squeeze in with us?"

Yusa eyed them warily.

"I have more room in my car." Yuri stepped forward from the end of the driveway and came up alongside Yusa. "She can come with me."

Yusa nodded to Yuri and started to turn toward the latter's car. Then she glanced back towards the guys and – was his vision messing with him again? – smiled faintly at them. "Maybe on the way back," she said.

Fujimaki let go of Ooyama and Ayato just to clutch his chest with emotion. "Boys, I think she actually trusts us."

Giving Ayato a strange look that he wasn't able to read in time, Yuri abruptly turned on her heel and marched Yusa down to the curb. They waited by the passenger door and seemed to be talking about something. Or Yuri was talking; Yusa almost immediately looked puzzled. She shook her head and started to check over her shoulder, but Yuri made a flustered chastising noise and turned Yusa back to face her. Then she caught Ayato staring, muttered something to Yusa, and promptly rounded the front of her car and got in.

Matsushita and the Shibuya crew emerged just as Yuri and Yusa were pulling away. Everyone piled into two cars to follow after the girls. For a moment, Ayato stopped to look back at the house.

Perhaps he should go inside, let the Battlefront have their fun without him while he slept off… whatever this was. Even as early as it was, it was a tempting thought. The comforts of home called to him; many internal signs seemed to point in that direction.

When he turned back around, he could see Yuri's car's taillights at the end of the road, turning out of their neighborhood and growing smaller as she drove farther and farther away.

Ayato got into Fujimaki's car, sat in the back with Matsushita, and pulled his cap down over his eyes. He leaned his head against the half-rolled-down window, listening to the evening sounds of Mizuzaka until they faded into the distance.

After all, the night wasn't over just yet.


Preview:

"I don't think we've ever seen Yui this happy."

"Let him do it."

"This was better than I could've ever imagined."

"There you go again, knowing things."

"I knew you loved me more than Otonashi does."

"Mind if I join you?"

"So you really are one of us."

"It wasn't your fate this time."

"You got out too, didn't you?"

[Chapter 55]: Congruent.