Chris was the first to arrive, glancing around the cafe for the most secluded table that also had enough seating for their party. They purposefully chose to come in after the morning rush, of worker bees and University students grabbing a quick cup of coffee, was over, leaving only a few stragglers scattered around the quaint shop. He quickly spied a good table located towards the back, with only a young man seated nearby, an old laptop open in front of him with bulky headphones pinning the messy mop of his hair down. Table acquired, Chris walked up to the barista as she wiped down the counters to place his order of a simple mocha with an extra shot of caffeine. He needed all the added energy he could get these days. He watched in silence as she bustled about to put his order together, occasionally sneaking peeks at him with a shy smile. Whenever they made eye contact, she quickly whipped her head back around, only to turn again seconds later. The barista appeared to be young, possibly around Chris' own age, however, he tries not to go off of appearance, since apparently, he looked older than he actually was; at least, so he has been told, to his chagrin.

His coffee was placed on the counter between him and the barista, she beamed at him, and he politely thanked her. Hot cup in hand, he made his way over to the designated table, prepared for the wait. Without thought, he had left earlier than needed, causing him to arrive almost ten minutes before the meet-up was set. Chris didn't mind, it gave him some time to organize his thoughts.

They hadn't planned on these gatherings to become regular happenings, they just kind of...happened. At first, it started off as a way to catch up with each other, since they all had a lot more on their plates to really sit down and chat. They still see each other around campus, of course; however, between classes, testing, applying for Universities, and general life, any extended interaction grew minimal. They no longer had that extra time after school hours and practice to hang out in the dorms. Chris had grown accustomed to always being up to date on everyone's current endeavors, regardless of whether or not he wanted to know.

The chair squeaked slightly against the linoleum flooring, a booming sound in the otherwise quiet of the cafe. Chris made himself comfortable, placing his bag down by his feet and out of the way. He blew gently into his cup, steam overflowing out of the hole with the force and brushing across his face. He took a tentative sip, scalding liquid nearly burning the tip of his tongue and throat as he forced it down so he wouldn't spray coffee along the table. Clearly, it won't be at a drinkable temperature for some time. Still, the heat of it was a pleasant contrast to the cooling weather as Autumn began to really settle in.

Baseball season had officially ended a month ago, not that he had had many opportunities to play, but it was still ingrained in him to pay attention. It has been a little over a month since Seido's appearance at Koshien. The achievement of them making it to Koshien now recalled bittersweet emotions; on one hand, he was proud of what his underclassmen and former teammates were able to accomplish, even if they didn't win this year, it was still huge. However, on the other hand, it was three days after that that some of them disappeared. It was shocking and very, very surreal. Even now, it didn't feel real, like if he goes to the Seido field, he'll see them there, going about their loud, yet productive routine as usual. In fact, a week after the news broke out, he did go check, just to see for himself. Chris didn't stay long. All it took was one glance at the field to know something was off; there was a distinct lack of yelling, cackling, and obnoxious banter. What really struck home; however, was the despondent looks on the rest of the team's faces. That was when it fully settled in that it really happened, that someone had the audacity to kidnap teenagers that still had a long life ahead of them. Since then, he hasn't set foot near the fields, only catching glimpses from afar when he passed by the windows that look out over them.

Chris pulled out his phone to check the time and to see if anyone messaged with their ETA when the bell above the entrance chimed to alert the workers of new patrons. He glanced up from the screen, to witness Yuuki and Tanba step over the threshold. Chris laid his phone down next to his cup as he lifted a hand slightly to garner their attention to his location. Not that it would have been hard to spot him with the minimal amount of people currently occupying the cafe. And sure enough, they both easily found him, and Tanba even raised his own hand in response before they both sauntered up to the counter to place their orders. Chris knows them well enough to guess their choices. A green tea for Yuuki, and an iced tea for Tanba.

They seated themselves at the table with their own cups. The conversation topics were kept minimal while they waited for the last two to arrive, so they didn't have to repeat anything later. Shortly after, the bell chimed once again, revealing Kominato right on time. He didn't even glance around for them, heading straight to the barista before plopping himself down into the empty chair next to Chris. Kominato didn't actively participate in the small talk that was being made, only occasionally throwing in his own opinions, but otherwise was content to listen.

Nearly fifteen minutes after their designated meeting time, the bell went off for a third time; however, the force of it was significantly different, the door flew open as if a raging storm was brewing outside, letting Isashiki in. He stomped his way past the startled barista, heading straight to their table with a crumpled sheet of paper held firmly in his fist. As soon as he reached them, he slapped the paper face down onto the middle of the surface, clearly fuming over what the other side contained. They all stared at it in silence, waiting for Isashiki to clarify, when he didn't speak up and continued to stand over them seething, Chris knew he was seriously pissed.

"What's this?" Kominato asked when it became clear Isashiki wasn't going to explain. Yuuki reached out and pulled the sheet to himself, flipping the paper over. Chris caught bold lettering and bright colors before it was completely facing away from him. He watched as Yuuki's eyes scanned over the page, brows furrowing as he read. Tanba leaned closer to Yuuki to read it over his shoulder, his own eyes narrowing as his mouth set into a tight, thin line. Impatient, Kominato reached across the table to pluck the sheet out from Yuuki's hands, who didn't even react at the action and simply watched it go. Kominato shook the paper slightly to straighten it out more. Curiosity instantly got the better of Chris as he copied Tanba by leaning over towards Kominato to read it for himself.

The first thing that caught his attention were pictures of Sawamura, Miyuki, Furuya, Kuramochi, and the younger Kominato plastered around the bottom half of the page, the images were slightly askew as a stylistic choice. The pictures appeared to have been taken straight from magazines that covered their previous matches, with each of them in uniform mid-game. Chris remembers seeing the pictures when the issues were first released but never would have guessed those same moments captured during some of their best games would be used this way.

After taking in the pictures, Chris let his gaze travel up to the bright, bold text at the top. It was a flyer for a fundraiser, which wasn't anything new. Back when it was first announced in the media of their disappearance, a lot of fundraisers started up to help find them. Communities got together on weekends to search the more rural areas for any traces, with no luck. In the beginning, Chris had seen multiple flyers spread around Tokyo of organizations setting up funds to donate to the cause. Lately, however, they have grown few and far between as little information came in with clues. So Chris didn't see much wrong with the flyer until his eyes drifted to the smaller text and frowned.

This organization was taking donations for a slightly different reason. Their goal was to acquire funds for all missing person cases, which is still a cause Chris could get behind. What baffled him was the wild claims they were making. As his former teammate's case had been blown to be the most widely spread; thus, most people have heard of it, making it a way to draw attention to their group. They were using their kidnapping as, essentially, clickbait. Using a widespread case to garner people's sympathy. Which, in some situations, was pretty common; however, it's normally a case for foundations to use tragedies that either were not solved or did not end well to fuel their agenda. And considering their disappearance isn't even two months old, Chris couldn't help but take it as them insinuating that they were dead. Going by everyone else's reactions, they came to the same conclusion.

The paper suddenly began to crumple and crinkle under the tightening grip of Kominato's hands, drawing Chris' gaze up to his face. Outwardly, Kominato's expression appeared to be blank, but Chris knew better. Kominato was never very expressive and tended to keep his emotions internal. For those who don't know him well, they would never be able to tell, but for those closest to him, they learn the small things that give him away. And right now, Kominato was angry, possibly more so than Isashiki.

At first, they tried not to discuss the kidnapping around Kominato, since it involved his dear younger brother as well as his former partner and friend. The incident was more personal to him than it was for everyone else. It just seemed inconsiderate of them to make him listen to their theories and worries when he had his own concerns to eat away at him. While they were all close to the victims, Kominato had that familial bond that had gone missing, and it was safe to say, that was significantly more grating on him.

Needless to say, Kominato quickly came to the conclusion that they were walking on eggshells around him and practically censoring themselves. He was not happy about that. They were very sternly informed that they better not treat him any differently than before, and if they wanted to talk about what was dubbed "The Incident", then they sure as hell didn't need to tiptoe around him. Isashiki had simply laughed, while Tanba apologized.

"What is this?" Kominato gritted out between clenched teeth, the question rhetorical.

"It was taped to the window of a convenience store," Isashiki informed them, his tone clipped with barely contained anger. "Saw it on my way here."

"So there's probably more posted elsewhere, too." Yuuki supplied. Kominato released the paper to lean back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Chris reached over, using a finger to slide the sheet in front of him to examine it further.

"Their humans!" Isashiki shouted, but was immediately shushed by Yuuki, who still had sway over them as their former captain. Chris glanced around the cafe, catching the few people hanging out staring at their table.

"We know," Yuuki replied calmly, almost in a placating manner.

"They're not animals that they can just write off!" Isashiki continued, though he toned his voice down to an aggressive whisper; he slapped both hands onto the table and leaned forward as if he thought they wouldn't be able to hear him now.

"They're not." Yuuki agreed easily.

"We can call." Chris pipped in, drawing their attention to him. "They put their number on here." He continued, pointing at the said number in the very bottom corner of the page.

"If we all call to complain, then they'll have to rethink their marketing strategy," Tanba added.

"Not just that, but Kominato's brother is a victim. His word would hold more weight than if we simply call to complain." Chris explained. If the family of the victim didn't want them used for such a ploy, then they would have almost no choice but to take it down, or possibly face lawsuits.

As one, they all turned to Kominato, who was digging his phone out of his pocket. Chris didn't think he would call immediately and was actually considering stopping him momentarily to talk it through. However, just before he could say anything, Kominato had his phone out, and noiselessly vibrating in his hand with an incoming call. He stared at the unknown number for several seconds, thumb hovering over the decline, ready to reject the call. Chris watched him hesitate for a split second, almost as if he were about to answer it when the call fell through, buzzing ceasing as his home screen was revealed. Kominato placed his phone down on the table, grabbing his cup to take a sip, but otherwise said nothing.

"Would he be able to call, or would it have to be his parents?" Tanba questioned, eyes lingering on Kominato's phone.

"His parents would probably be more effective." Yuuki offered. It was beginning to feel as if they were discussing this without Kominato being here with how quiet he got. Chris chanced a glance at him, not entirely sure what he was thinking, but he appeared to be listening at least.

Abruptly, Kominato's phone began to vibrate loudly on the wooden surface. Chris could feel the force travel through the entirety of the table as it rang. They all paused to glance at his phone, unsure if it was going to be an important call or not. Kominato's brows furrowed as he stared at the number, the last few of the digits appeared to be the same as the previous call from what Chris recalls when he saw Kominato pull his phone out. It continued to ring, but at the last moment, Kominato reached out to accept the call just before it dropped, bringing the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" He answered into the receiver followed by a pause. "Hello?" He repeated when he clearly didn't get a response. Chris could vaguely hear a muffled voice, but not what was being said. However, Kominato's reaction to it was instantaneous as he sat up ramrod straight, mouth falling wordlessly open, "You-san?!" Kominato uttered in complete shock.