God Eater is owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment. This is a fanfic, which I only own Akiko and her grandmother. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy~

The next day after both Akiko's and Kota's first field training, Akiko found herself getting up early and dressed in her more casual wear of a black wild zoisite hoodie and black Maroon pants with boots. She turned off the artificial blinds' morning grassland image and opened them to reveal the real light of the outside world. Watering her plants, brushing her teeth in her bedroom small kitchen sink, and checking her emails at her bedroom terminal were done in quick succession when her stomach growled loudly.

Dropping her head tiredly onto the terminal's screen she moaned, "... Hungry." Turning off the machine, she quickly grabbed hold of her class notebook and was off.

Akiko grabbed a simple breakfast of four ration bars and canned soda from the vending machine, as a few other God Eaters from the common floor, like Kanon Daiba, and Shun Ogawa greeted and walked past her for an early mission with their respective Units and teammates.

"..." Looking up at the vending machine area's clock she yawned. "It's time.."

Stepping into doctor Sakaki's office and lab, Akiko yawned loudly into her hand. Clutching tightly onto her notebook as tired tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. 'Ah~ I really need to work on my insomnia.' She thought.

"Ah, there you are. Good morning Akiko. It's good to see you are still punctual as peruse." Sakaki greeted as he stood before a still very half-asleep Kota, who sat slumped on one of the man's couches.

"Good morning Saka- I mean Doctor. Kota." Akiko nodded at the two, moving to take her seat on the other end of the L-shaped couch Kota sat on. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long."

"Ah, not at all my dear. Kota here is still in the process of waking after all."

"Cookies!" Kota jolted awake, trying repeatedly to blink the sleep out of his eyes only to groan from the tiredness. "Uh! And I thought becoming a God Eater meant no more early morning schooling." He moaned.

Sakaki shakes his head at the boy with a frown as Akiko tiredly laughs at the Kotas' complaint. "Cheer up, Kota. At least we don't have exams. And the homeworks pretty light and interesting all things considered." The orange-haired boy barely even responded to his friend's attempt of support as he tried to pinch the sleep out off his face. "Um… Doctor…"

"Yes, better just jump right in before Mr. Kota here ends up falling asleep again." Sakaki sighed, before stepping over to a projection he set up. "As per usual we have a lot of ground to cover. So a quick review shall we. What is an Aragami?" Pulling up an image of the usual small fries of the aragami species onto the screen, Sakaki turned to point. "Ms. Akiko?"

"Um… Do you mean outside what most people think or what Fenrir has classified them?" Akiko asked. Knowing from the few days of lessons Kota and her had been having with the Doctor over the past week that he preferred a show of knowledge unless stated otherwise.

"The first if you will. Mr. Kota, I would recommend actually writing this down if you can't pay attention."

"Gah!" Kota jumped awake scrambling to open his doodled-filled notebook, "Yes sir!"

Taking a deep breath Akiko sighed, "Well… Many things would come to mind when ordinary people think Aragamis. 'Apex predator', 'devourer of mankind', 'Gods given flesh.' Though it should be noted that some from your generation that have survived from before the Great Collapse still call Aragami by the original name most people had given them back when they first started to appear."

"Oh! Oh! I know this one!" Kota excitedly cut in, "There was this old man near my house who always used that term. Back when Aragami first appeared, people didn't really know what to call these monsters. So most everyone just dubbed them Horrors!" He exclaimed, puffing his chest up proudly.

"My, my, that's very good Kota. All that and your answer would be correct in a way." Sakaki hummed impressed, "Though I do believe you cut off Akiko as she was still responding to my question."

"Oops." Kota winced, "Sorry Aki."

"It's okay Kota, I get that you got a bit excited." Akiko laughed, waving the boy's concern off.

"I will let it slide for now. Just remember to wait your turn next time okay."

"Yes, Doctor…"

"Now as for where I am going with this," Sakaki changed the screen to show a more biological scan and diagram of an Ogretail before turning back to the teens. "These phrases, you've described, while dramatic, aren't misconceptions. Rather, you could say they simply evolve from wonderment. The speaker clearly has their eyes fixed on the phenomena before them. Today for our lesson, we strive for a deeper answer. Tell me, have either of you ever wondered from whence the Aragami come?"

"Um well…" Kota trailed off scratching the back of his head. "Don't the history books just say they suddenly appeared?"

"Yes." Sakaki nodded and began to pace back and forth in front of the two seated teens, "As though from air itself. Since then their numbers have grown."

"But Doctor?" Akiko cut in holding her hand up. "From what my Mima once told me, didn't Aragami numbers only start to grow once the Great Collapse occurred."

"Wait seriously! I thought Aragami came after that event!" Kota exclaimed in shock as Sakaki smiled at the two teens.

"Oh no, Kota. Akiko here is actually quite right. Though it has been in many ways forgotten, Aragami did begin to appear in small, almost innocuous ways long before the calamity that was the Great Collapse." Frowning, the man began to pace again. "Strange, no? Even before the world was torn asunder by the Thorns of Judgement, Aragami were already beginning to appear. And were ripping through the very core of the evolutionary process."

Yawning loudly once more Kota tried to whisper to Akiko, "Hey, do you think there is any chance of Doc actually giving us an intermission this lecture. Or a point? Isn't our job just to kill 'em. What does it matter where they came from?"

"Oh, it matters." Sakaki cut in, suddenly appearing behind Kota and making the orange-haired teen jump fully awake from fear.

"Woah!"

"Should have seen that coming Kota."

Leaning down to poke the boy's head, Sakaki continued to explain, " Aragami have no heart. Neither do they have a brain, or a digestive system, or… spinal fluids." Standing up straight he looked between the pair, "Frail humans that we are, a powerful strike to the chest would cripple or kill us. But no, that won't bring down an Aragami."

Switching the image again another in-depth slide appeared on his projector screen. "You see, these beasts are clusters of Oracle Cells, each individually a single-cell organism of its own, ever devouring the others."

Turning to have his back face the teens, Sakaki said dramatically, "Mad? Ha! Perhaps. But each Aragami is a colony of hundreds, nay, thousands of individual life-forms. Each striving to survive. And this dangerous, deadly, elegant fusion of cells cannot be destroyed by conventional weapons. They are impervious to all assault." Turning back to face them he held up his hand to stop either one of them from cutting off his lecture, "So how then are we meant to survive? How can we defeat such a powerful predator?"

"Um… Well," Kota began seeing that they were now allowed to talk. "They die when we hit them a lot with a God Arc, or shoot them a lot with a God Arc, so…"

"Precisely! A God Arc. A biological weapon infused with the same Oracle Cells that inhabit an Aragami's body. That's the key. They are the only weapons capable of cutting through their ever-fusing Oracle Cells. But cutting them down will do no good. The rogue cell colony will grow and heal, or worse, form new monsters to be defeated."

"Aragami evolution and variants?" Akiko frowned.

"Correct!" Sakaki excitedly exclaimed, finding joy from imparting his wisdom. "There is as such only one way to ensure victory: tearing out the core. The cells that serve as a control center. But of course, such a task is challenging to say the least." Meeting the pair's gaze Sakaki continued, "Even with our God Arcs, we have no way to deliver such a devastating blow. At some point, people recognized in these monsters, in their immortality, the spirit of the many Gods once worshipped here. They deemed these new creatures 'Aragami', and we fight them still."

Hearing a set alarm go off from his terminal, Sakaki hummed as he went over to check what it was for, "I think that's as good a place as any to hold for today. As homework, please refer to the NORN database for more on the history of Aragami, the Great Collapse, and the Thorns of Judgement. Dismissed."

Stepping out of the lab Akiko watched as Kota moaned slumping onto her shoulder. "Uh! Why do we have to do these classes so early, why!"

"...Maybe because they'd like us to know what we're fighting?" Akiko deadpanned, as Kota clamped down on her arm to shake her.

"Don't just brush this off! How can you be so calm about this? I see the bags under your eyes!"

"Yeah, but I'm a natural insomniac. So-"

"Aki! This! Is! Serious!" Kota whined, continuing to shake Akiko roughly.

"Stop... Shaking... Me... Then!"

Stopping Kota slumped back into Akiko's arms, "Uh~ It's still too early for this! I just want to go back to sleep."

"Then go back to bed." Akiko sighed, gently leading the tired boy to the floor's elevator as she caressed the top of his head.

"I can't! I have a mission with some other God Eater today." Kota groaned.

"Ah~ I see. That's rough man… Why not-"

"I'm not doing my homework!" Kota exclaimed, jumping away to point at Akiko as she snickered at his dramatics. "Uh! No, no, no, no! I think my brains gonna melt if I try learning anymore while half asleep!"

"Okay, okay I get it." Akiko hummed in deep thought as the elevator opened on the floor of their rooms, "Oh, I got it." She snapped her finger. "Why don't you watch something on Norn?"

"Hold on, we can watch things off our personal terminals?" Kota deadpanned staring up at Akiko as he slumped over where he stood.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Akiko honestly asked, surprised as she stared down at the boy's wide eyes.

"..."

"Um... Kota?"

"TO BUGARALLY!" The boy suddenly yelled, making Akiko yelp.

"Eep!" Akiko covered her ears at the boy's sudden jump in pitch.

Watching as the boy ran out before the elevator doors could close and passed a white-haired God Eater with an eye patch as she tried to enter the lift. Running straight for his bedroom door before the elevator doors closed, cutting both Akiko's and the curious one-eyed God Eater's view of the boy.

"Huh…? Well, that was… interesting." The God Eater before looking at Akiko. "You newbies sure seem to be settling in finally."

"Oh, yeah! I guess we are. Um, who are-" She was cut off as the God Eater held out her hand.

"Gina, Gina Dickinson." They shook hands, "I'm part of the third unit as a sniper." Gina said smiling, "You're Akiko right? I hear you went on a mission with Lindow. You're very lucky, you know!"

"Oh?" Akiko hummed remembering the mission from the day before, "Am I?" She asked. Remembering the many stares she and Lindow got as he treated her to a meal of beef stew the night before.

"Seriously! If I'm gonna have to treat you, at least have something actually good." Lindow scolded when they went up to order their meal.

"Okay!" Akiko laughed, quietly sweating as she tried to ignore the many stares they were getting.

Gina laughed, "Of course. Nobody here knows how to survive better than Lindow. Stick close to him, and you'll stay alive."

Elevator door opening, Akiko noted Yuta and Shun angrily arguing with one another, while a blonde long-haired male exaggeratedly watched the two of them argue. Gina sighed in shame as she rubbed her temple in a sign of a rising headache. "Not again."

"We're doing it!"

"Hell no! You can't-"

"Um…" Akiko muttered out as she and Gina exited the elevator.

"Don't mind them." Gina insisted. "This is sadly a norm between those two. I'll go and break them up." Gina explained as she began to walk towards the still arguing teens, "Let's chat some other time~!" She waved goodbye with a wicked wink and smirk, waiting for Akiko to nod in agreement before she turned to fully face her teammates. "Oh, Boys~!"

"Gina!" Shun yelled.

"Oh, thank you, sweet God Arcs! Gina! Help me talk some sense into this idiot!" Yuta moaned.

"Now, now, boys. What seems to be the issue this time?"

Deciding it best to listen to Gina and walk away, Akiko moved down to the lobby's reception desk to try and see if she could greet Hibari.

Hibari was already there, but she was not alone as a brown-haired boy wearing a red jacket seemed to be trying to gain her attention. "I made it back alive again, Hibari! So how about a date?"

"Uh, sorry Tatsumi, I… Have a lot of work to do today for the Major today, maybe some other time."

"Oh, uh, I understand."

And…

"Hey~ Akiko! Good morning!"

Lindow.

Lindow who was waving at her from beside his sister Tsubaki not that far away from the front desk near the bottom of the steps she came down from. "Where've you been rook, we missed you at breakfast?"

"Yes, Ms. Amano. Where were you this morning? I believe I saw Mr. Fujiki, but you were considerably absent from the morning meal." Tsubaki glared, making Akiko gulp in fear as she noticed the obvious disapproval.

"I… Um…" Bowing in apology she whimpered, "I'm sorry Major, Captain, I sorta overslept due to my insomnia and didn't really have much time to get a proper breakfast outside of four snack bars and a soda from the vending machine before my early classes with Sakaki."

Lindow whistled at this, "Damn, only four? With the way you ate last night I'd have expected you to need more than ten to get full." He joked, only to shut up when he noticed his sister's venomous glare. "I mean- For shame Akiko, don't you know that breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day."

"I know, I'm sorry! I was going to fix that now after checking over my missions for the day."

"Ms. Amano, I do believe this isn't the first time that this insomnia of yours has caused this to happen in the past week you have been here at the Den. Did I not order you to see the Doctor over this condition of yours?" Tsubaki reprimanded, making Akiko stand up straight to look up at her.

"Yes, Major."

"And?"

Stopping herself from looking away, Akiko forced herself to meet Tsubaki's and Lindow's gaze. "Doctor Sakaki said there was not much he could do to help me, outside prescribing sleeping pills. But my medical records show that I have already been prescribed them before to not much success."

"And…?"

"He thinks it might be due to my sudden change of environment, but also recommended a change of diet and routine just in case. Though I've technically already started that with having become a God Eater and now living here within the Den now. So I don't know how much good that would do. He did say there wouldn't be any immediate changes though so who knows. But he did also say that if things continue as is he would consider prescribing me the same medication he used to knock me out originally when he performed my medical." She shivered in disgust at that last part sticking out her tongue as she thought of that bitter pill once more.

"So basically it's just a waiting game for now." Lindow summed up as Akiko nodded her head at him.

Smiling, Akiko leaned back with her hands behind her back in a more chilled pose, "Pretty much. Though honestly, I'm fine, I've always been a bit of a night owl, and never been a real deep sleeper before." She didn't dare to explain how she still carried that trait from her time before the Far East. After all, deep sleeping in an Aragami infested landscape was far from recommended, that was usually a shoe-in for getting caught off guard in the night. "I did tell Gen about my insomnia acting up again though, and he says that he knows a tea that can help. He just had to place an order in for them for his next rations. So hopefully, either my body will get used to everything and settle down, or Gen's tea will at least help me get drowsy at night."

"Or, you know, you could end up needing to take Sakaki's medicine." Lindow joked with an evil grin, watching Akiko gag at the thought before whimpering.

"No~ Please don't jinx me." She almost cried, Lindow snickering at her whines as Tsubaki gave the two a deadpan stare.

"Well, seeing as you have not eaten a proper meal yet today. I order you to go and get a proper morning meal for the road," Tsubaki annoyingly glared. "And get changed and ready to be shipped off for your mission of the day. It seems you'll have to meet your teammate out in the field."

Looking between the Amamiya siblings Akiko blinked in shock, "Huh? Wait… Aren't I going on a mission with you again Lindow?"

"Nah, sorry Akiko. Today you'll be with my oh-so-lovely second in command, a Long-ranged specialist God Eater by the name of Sakuya Tachibana. You remember don't you, short black hair, laughed as you insulted my attempts at a beautiful first impression." Lindow teased as Akiko simply smiled up at him mischievously.

"Oh but sir, it was a good first impression! It captured that lax persona so greatly."

"Why thank you, Akiko, I do so try." Tsubaki cleared her throat purposely, making Lindow sweat in place as he was met by her reprimanding glare. "Anyway… I have another mission today, so I can't help oversee your field training today. But don't worry. Sakuya and I are old frenemies, she's okay, so don't be scared of her." Lindow explained nodding to himself, only to stop as he remembered something, and gave Akiko a very serious stare. "Also keep my lovely comment between us."

Seeming to catch on to what he was implying, Akiko tilted her head innocently with a smile, "What comment?"

"Exactly. I knew we were going to get along." He ruffled the top of her head once more making Akiko whine, before looking at his sister. "Well, I'm all done here. Make sure not to scare this one too badly, okay Sis."

"That's Major Amamiya, Captain. Now get to work."

"Yes, Ma'am." Lindow mock saluted before walking away with a final wave to a still whining Akiko as her hair was knocked loose again. "Good Luck! I'm counting on you."

"Bye, Bye! Don't let the Aragami bite!" Akiko waved, before turning to look back up at Tsubaki as the Major stared down at her. "Um…" Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise she began to slowly step away as she noticed the waiting expression on the Majors face. "I… Um..." She bolted yelling, "Better get to work, I mean eat, I mean eat and work, bye!"

Smirking, Tsubaki turned to look at a surprised Hibari and Tatsumi, "Hibari."

Hibari stood up straight in attention, "Yes, Major Amamiya!"

"Please file that Recruit Aki will be joining in on the Corrupt Cocoon mission alongside Medic Sergeant Sakuya out on the field," Tsubaki ordered.

"Yes. Right away ma'am!" Hibari nodded, turning to update her system with the new information and plan.

Nodding back to this, Tsubaki began to walk away but was still acutely close enough to be aware of when the brown-haired God Eater by the desk began to question Hibari rapidly. "Woah, what was that just now? Hibari! Spill, please! Did the Major just do something nice for that rookie? That's so rare! Who is she? What's her relationship with Lindow and her?"

She thought it best to not add any more fuel to the Defense Units Captain's questions. She had to sigh though when she stepped into an elevator to find Gen inside.

"Rough morning?" He asked.

"You could… Say that." Tsubaki hesitantly decided to admit.

"Let me guess…" Gen smirked teasingly, "Akiko."

Rubbing the temple of her head Tsubaki nodded, "Yes."

"I did warn you that it would be hard to separate your feelings from your position of command over her." Gen prompted leaning back, "You should have expected it with how you are with the others sometimes."

Tightening her grip on her signature tablet, Tsubaki took an even breath, "I can still do my job Gen… Are you questioning my capabilities to command?"

Scratching the back of his head, Gen sighed, "Nah, you know that I trust your judgment and ability to lead." Looking at the back of her head, though, Gen couldn't help but frown. "I'm just an old man trying to look out for you kids."

The elevator door opened, and Tsubaki took a few quiet steps off before stopping, "..." Taking a deep breath she turned back to the aging man. "Thank you, but I can look after myself just fine. You should worry more about-"

Stopping her eyes widened as she fully turned to confront Gen as the smirking man was quickly swept away by the elevator's closing door. Scoffing with a shake of her head Tsubaki quietly smiled to herself then. "I see, so that was what you were trying to get through. Cryptic ass."