Before we get started on this chapter, I would like to thank Wyran cost for his review he left me awhile back. At the time, I was seriously considering abandoning this story and moving on to something else. I had even started brainstorming details for a string of Transformers fics I planned to write. Then came his review. After reading his kind words and ideas I knew that I couldn't just let it end this way. So here we go, the next chapter of this grand fic! I can't promise that updates will be as quick as they were before the hiatus, but I'll try.
Yuka was in a sour mood today. She went into the new school year looking forward to spending a year alone with Kouta. Getting closer to him and finally having him realize her feelings for him. But now they had a house full of people, some of which Yuka was convinced had brain damage. To add onto that, they had just welcomed another girl into the Maple Inn. When was it going to stop!
When she opened the door, she found the orange one, plopped down in his usual seat, eating all the cereal again. He was out of his armour, exposing his messy brown hair, unkempt beard, and pot belly.
"Hey." He nonchalantly greeted her. Wrong move.
Yuka strode right up to him to get up in his face, though she put a little more space between them than usual. He smelled disgusting!
"Are you eating all the damn cereal again!" Yuka screams at him.
"Uh, obviously." Grif says in his same tone as if Yuka wasn't completely infuriated with him.
"Whatever happened to cleaning this place top to bottom?!" Yuka exclaims.
"About that, Sarge isn't actually here right now, so I don't have to follow his orders." Grif answers
Yuka sighs at this. "Then where is he?"
"Someone left the front door open, so he and a few others went chasing after the little rascal." Grif explains.
"So he went chasing after Wanta?" Yuka questions.
"He went chasing after Caboose." Grif clarifies.
"Yeah... what is up with that anyway? Why is he so..." Yuka searches for the right word.
"Retarded?" Grif supplies.
"Childish." Yuka chooses.
"I dunno. I heard an ongoing theory between Church and Tucker. They think it's God's way of compensating due to his strength." Grif explains.
"Strength?" Yuka asks.
"He lifted a bomb when no one else in the group could." Grif supplies. "There might have been other examples, but I forgot and I don't really care."
Yuka simply huffs, tired with the conversation as is.
"What's with you?" Grif asks.
"All this! All this nonsense going on! It was just supposed to be a normal year!" Yuka exclaims.
"Yeah... I know what you mean..." Grif replies.
"I'm excited to spend the year at school with Kouta, next thing I know; a bunch of soldiers show up at our place to live with us, and if that wasn't enough, Kouta's bringing in more girls to live here too!" Yuka rants. "And the chances of spending even a little bit of time with Kouta is getting smaller and smaller! How am I supposed to get him to see how I feel about him?!"
"Wait, you have feelings for Kouta?" Grif asks, his tone a bit more engaging. Yuka's face grows red at her slip up.
"Wha- N- I um..."
"Oh..." Grif simply says. "This got interesting."
"What does that mean!" Yuka exclaims.
"Kaede has feelings for him too. I guess you two are just gonna have to fight over him." Grif says before sipping his drink.
'I knew it!' Yuka exclaims in her head before dashing out of the room.
"Man, I wish I didn't eat all their popcorn. This is gonna be a great show." Grif says to himself.
Kouta stood looking out the yard. Wanta was there, but no one else was. Where did they go?
"Hey Kouta..." He hears behind him. He turns to see Kaede, timidly standing there. "Would you maybe like to hang out for today?" She asks him.
"What about Aiko? Won't she be a little uncomfortable with everyone in the Inn that she hasen't met yet?" Kouta asks.
"Oh, that's not a problem at all." Kaede assures him. "Her and Tucker really hit it off."
"Well, that's good for them." Kouta smiles.
Aiko/Kaede's room
"And this one here is the one my Mother did that earned her an award two years ago." Aiko says as she presents a copy of said picture.
"I never realized art could be so cool." Tucker says, attention fully on the picture.
"Mine aren't as good, but I try to utilize a similar style." Aiko takes out her own sketch pad and opens it for Tucker and gives him a brief glimpse of each of the drawings before flipping them over.
"H- Holy shit that is a lot!" Tucker exclaims.
"Yeah. I try to practice whenever I can." Aiko sheepishly says. No one has praised her art like this before.
"How much for one of em... or a lot?" Tucker asks. He never would have thought there would be a woman in the world that enjoyed drawing nudity so much, much less two, but here was one of them.
Maple Inn doorway
"Maybe, but I think there's something Aiko didn't tell me about her drawings..." Kaede musses.
"I'm sure it's fine." Kouta assures her.
"So anyway-"
"Kouta!" They hear Yuka interrupt. The girl in question then comes rushing into sight before taking her place beside Kouta. "It's a nice day today, so let's go out!"
"Hold on." Kaede stops her. "I asked him first!"
"And he said you should stay with Aiko!" Yuka exclaims.
"No, he asked about Aiko and I answered." Kaede corrects her. "I'm spending time with Kouta today."
"Uh, we can't we all just go someplace together?" Kouta asks.
"Because I want to spend time with you!" Both girls exclaimed at once.
"Won't you both be spending time with me, then?" Kouta asks. Realizing he had a good point and with no real way to argue, both reluctantly agreed and went on their way to hang out together.
"Hey, where'd everybody go?" Aiko asks as she and Tucker look out into the yard.
"And I was wondering why it was so quite..." Tucker says. "At least I wasn't left behind with Caboose this time."
"Sorry, I'm still kind of new here. Who's Caboose?" Aiko asks.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll explain in great detail. You should feel lucky. Most don't get a thorough explanation of the guy before you meet him." Tucker says.
"What does that mean?" Aiko asks.
"You'll understand when you meet the guy. Trust me, I'll... well I can't help you understand what he says as I can't even tell half the time, but I'll help you get accustomed to his logic." Tucker exclaims. "Which I don't entirely understand..."
"So, What are you going to tell me about then?..." Aiko asks.
"...I don't know." Tucker admits.
"Caboose! Damn it!" Washington cries out as he and the small group chase after him.
"He seems to be making a habit of this." Mayu comments.
"Gee, ya think!" Simmons exclaims.
"But guys!" Caboose cries out as he runs. "Wanta has shown me some new friends but he got hungry before we could talk to them. I want to go talk to them!"
"Esa es una mala idea en todos los sentidos." Lopez says.
"Damn right, Lopez. It is a bad idea to have this blue talking to ANYONE." Sarge agrees.
"Realmente adivinaste bien lo que dije, por una vez." Lopez says.
"Hehe, good one, buddy." Sarge chuckles. Caboose then stops somewhere, overlooking the beach.
"Aw, they're gone." Caboose sags.
"Caboose, they're people not objects. They probably had someplace else to go." Washington assures him.
"Yeah... yeah you're probably right." Caboose agrees.
"Now come on. Lets get back to the Inn." Sarge says. With that, the group head back the way they came.
"I think we should consider getting a leash for him." Simmons whispers to Washington.
Yuka suggested they take a look at the zoo that they had here. Kouta and especially Kaede were fine with it, seeing as it was where they went together all those years ago.
While they seemed to be taking the day off, there was someone else who had decided to get to work.
"Mind if I pitch a suggestion?" Church asked his companion.
"What do you have in mind?" Carolina asks her companion.
"If those people at the facility were official, then this is probably a just a job to them." Church starts. "And what do people do when their shift is over?"
"They go home." Carolina answers.
"Yup. I'm willing to bet the majority, if not, everyone lives somewhere in this city." Church says.
"So, we stake out the facility and try to catch someone heading home." Carolina realizes.
"Yup. Who's to say some of those scientists aren't particularly weak willed." Church says. "They might be able to spill some info on the situation going on."
"Great. Radio Wash about our plan, we'll take it upon ourselves to start immediately." Carolina orders.
The sun was setting when the team of three consisting of Kouta, Kaede, and Yuka arrived back at Maple Inn, though the two girls still grumbling to themselves regarding not spending one on one time with Kouta. Sitting at the table for dinner, they thankfully noted that everyone was present. Everyone except Carolina and Washington.
"Hey, where are Washington and Carolina?" Kouta asked to anyone who would answer.
"Oh. Wash said he and Carolina had to go out and do something." Tucker answers.
"I don't think we should worry about them. I'm sure they can handle themselves." Yuka assures everyone.
"Yeah. Thats a bit of an understatement if there every was one." Simmons mutters.
"In any event, lets dig in!" Yuka exclaims.
After a bite, Aiko can't help but express her feelings. "This is so good! You're an amazing cook, Donut!"
"Aw thanks. You all wanna know the secret ingredient?" Donut asks.
"Please don't tell us." Grif mutters.
"Its love." Donut whispers.
"I'd can feel it." Aiko says. "This has been the best day of my life. With all of you here, people who care for me. I'm so grateful you took me in. I...I don't know how else to describe how thankful I am."
"Me too." Mayu adds. "Its almost like one big family."
"A big Dango family." Caboose chimes in.
"Uh, what? I don't know what that is." Doc says.
"Un Dango es un tipo de comida originaria de Japón. Pensé que alguien se daría cuenta de eso considerando que estamos en el puto Japón." Lopez explains.
"We're all happy to have the both of you." Kouta says with a smile on his face. Kaede and Yuka have to auickly look away to hide a blush forming on their faces.
Elsewhere, Professor Kakuzawa walked the long trek to his apartment after the setting sun. He had just finished with a late emergency meeting regarding the emerged Diclonius queen and the recent attack on the institute. Kakuzawa couldn't make sense of it in anyway. Why would the queen submit to capture? And if she had forces to break her out, like they had, why not break out some of the Diclonius test subjects with them? He HAD to speak with the Queen if he was gonna piece this all together, as well as let her know he was on her side.
As the Professor continues to walk, a voice called out to him from the darkness.
"Don't move." Said the voice, one that belonged to a strong sounding female. Sure enough, out of the darkness came the teal coloured soldier from the report, aiming a rifle Kakuzawa had never seen before. "You're way back is blocked, by the way." Kakuzawa looked back to see the black and yellow coloured soldier from the report aiming his rifle of the same model as the real soldiers at him.
"I understand. I surrender." Kakuzawa calmly said as he raised his arms.
"Pretty calm to be having two guns held by two dangerous individuals aimed at you." Washington commented.
"If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead right now, correct?" Kakuzawa inquires. "This is just a guess, but there is probably something you want from me."
"That's right." Carolina says, still refusing to lower her rifle.
"Information regarding the Institute I'd presume." Kakuzawa continues.
"Yes. Now if you'd be so kind as to spill the beans..."
"Gladly." Kakuzawa interrupts Washington.
"Really? You'd fork over what I'd assume is sensitive information so easily?" Washington suspiciously questions.
"For the Queen. Without question." Kakuzawa states.
"Queen?" Carolina questions.
"Follow me. I'll take you to where I work most of the day. It'll have more comprehensible information for you." Kakuzawa states.