Quick A/N -

aaaAAAHHH MORE COMMENTS!

FIrst of all- thank you so much to all of the people that were reading this story before, and waited patiently for dumb-ol' me to update! It means so much to me, and I'm sorry this chapter came so late!

And second, thank you to everyone who found this story after the last chapter, and thought it was good enough to continue reading! Your follows, favourites, and/or reviews mean the world to me!

Alright, and without further ado, please enjoy the chapter! Thank you for your support and patience!

"…Mikumo?!"

I gave a lazy wave, stretching my cheeks into a sickeningly sweet smile as I stepped into the classroom. "Hi."

Mizunuma continued to gape at me, although Moribayashi had already recovered and tapped a finger in my face. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Skipping school for so many weeks is not only unacceptable but also—!"

"Sorry Mizunuma-sensei," I interrupted, peeking around Moribayashi to wave at the friendlier teacher. "My house got destroyed in during the invasion, so I ended up joining Border to raise enough money for us to find a new place to live. Sorry I haven't been around."

The classroom was deathly silent, and my eyes quickly caught the paling faces of the three, still slightly battered morons in the back.

'Good,' I thought for a moment, before I outwardly laughed sheepishly, ducking my head as I stepped towards my seat. 'Don't come after me every again, troublesome idiots.'

My eyes flickered around, just as Yuma gave me a sneaky thumbs up. I laughed under my breath in return, seating myself down in my seat as Moribayashi hesitantly started up the class again.

'…I guess that's the excuse I'm going with.'

I hesitantly sent him a thumbs up back.

I barely saw Miyoshi's eyes sparkling from the other side of the classroom, his bright eyes locked on me.

(Oh fuck, I forgot about the Border fanboy. Shit—)

-0-

"Alright!" I pumped my fist up, shoving a cookie into my mouth with my other hand. "The battle against Suzunari and Nasu squads is the day after tomorrow!"

Chika gave a polite clap, Shiori adjusted her glasses, and Yuma nonchalantly shoved a cookie into his mouth.

"You seem more excited than usual, Miku-chan," Shiori smiled. "Are you really that happy about how the Suwa and Arafune match went?"

"Oh buddy, you have no idea," I switched arms to pump my other fist up. "I'm also considering switching my Trigger set around again—"

"Again?!" Shiori wailed. "Miku-chan, you just started to settle in with the last one!"

"—And I'm also excited to see what a master class shooter can do," I finished off with a slight grin. "I didn't get to see Izumi-senpai in action too much during the invasion, but I think I heard a few rumours that Nasu Rei is one of the closest to him in terms of skill! Barring the Trion difference, of course."

"Does he have as much Trion as me?" Chika asked curiously, completely oblivious.

Shiori snorted. "Not even close, sorry Chika-chan. Izumi may be a prodigy in terms of Trion, but you're a monster."

Yuma tilted his head in my direction. "Still, why don't you just ask Izumi for advice, if you want to see how other shooters operate in battle—"

"—Aaaaannnndddd that's where I draw the line!" I huffed, chucking another cookie into my mouth. "Yeah, there's no way I'm doing that."

"Got it." Yuma saluted to me, a familiar smug expression slowly surfacing on his face. "Captain's too scared to talk to the No. 1—"

"Shut!" I jabbed a finger in his side, although he only laughed it off easily. "I don't need you to throw that in my face!"

"You should have seen big sister when we met Izumi-san, during the invasion," Chika began playfully, a soft smile of her face as I rapidly paled. "She was answering calmly to whatever he asked, but she wouldn't look him in the eyes and her face looked like she was choking."

I buried my flushed face in my hands, slumping down on the couch next to Yuma. "…Chika, why do you torment me like this…?"

Yuma guffawed, the sound practically reverberating in my head. "Mori, you didn't tell me that happened! How could you, neglecting to let your best friend know about an embarrassing moment—"

I groaned. "Shut… Up…."

"Miku-chan's surprisingly cute when she's embarrassed," Shiori commented across the couch, nearly making me choke. "…Or when she's sleepy. Say, Yuma, do you remember the photo we got of her sleeping on the couch with you?"

My head snapped up from where I cradled it in my hands, eyes blown wide as my face burned red. "What?" My voice came out strangled.

"Oh, I do." Yuma smiled, although the hint of smugness in it gave him away to me. "I saved it on the phone Jin got me."

"What photo?!" I whipped my head around between the two of them. "When?!"

"It was very cute," Chika admitted softly, having taken pity on me as she held up her phone in front of me. "I actually saved it as my lock screen…."

I promptly turned towards the aforementioned device, before screaming.

-0-

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Konami screamed, suddenly throwing the door open. "It sounded like someone was murdered!"

"Miku-chan's certainly acting like she was." Shiori sighed, patting the young teen's back with false sympathy as Mori rocked back and forth. The teen had buried her face in her arms and curled up into a ball on the couch, while Yuma and Shiori had switched spots.

Yuma, from his spot now beside Chika, was looking very smug.

"She makes it so easy," He only offered, throwing another cookie in his mouth. "She gets embarrassed so easily."

Shiori turned to him, arm still patting Mori's back comfortingly. "You're not helping!"

"Big sister, there's really no reason to be shy," Chika cut in soothingly. "No matter how strange your and Yuma's relationship is, we've all accepted the fact that you two are quite close."

"I still don't get why you two wouldn't want to date each other!" Shiori added with a pout. "You two would be so cute!"

"I think I'd rather drink a tube of that…" Yuma snapped his fingers impatiently, trying to recall the word, before giving up and turning to Konami. "… The green stuff."

"Wasabi." She offered blandly.

"Yeah, that." He turned back to Shiori. "We're just not interested."

"I think I'd rather be mistaken for dating Jin than Yuma," Mori finally spoke up, looking a little red in the face, although it was quickly fading. "I like Yuma better as a person, but there's just something… fundamentally wrong with the idea of trying to date him."

"There's not something fundamentally wrong with the idea of dating Jin?" Konami asked, already a little disturbed with the idea herself.

"You guys are really strange sometimes." Karasuma peeked his head out from behind the door, having apparently been right behind Konami. He stepped into the room and snatched a cookie from the bowl on the table, just before Konami did the same.

"Wait, speaking of which—!" Yuma pointed at Mori with a smug expression. "—We have a bet to settle!"

Mori buried her face in her hands once more, simultaneously groaning loudly.

"'Bet'?" Karasuma repeated, glancing at Chika. "What's this?"

"We had a competition to see how fast we could finish the rank wards match," Chika filled in for Konami and Karasuma patiently. "Yuma and I won, so we have a favour now."

"And we know exactly what to use it for!" Yuma trumpeted proudly. "There's something about Tamakoma's atmosphere that needs to be fixed!"

Konami blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, are you talking about Jin-senpai?" Karasuma intoned curiously. "I noticed that things were tense."

"Wait, what about Jin?" Mori lifted her head up with a very obvious scowl. "Nothing's wrong with Jin, what are you talking about?"

"Well, maybe not Jin in particular." Yuma sighed. "But you two have been avoiding each other, you know?"

"No, I don't know," Mori replied stubbornly, eyebrows creasing. "I think you're just imagining things."

"No, I'm really not." Yuma gestured to everyone in the room. "Everyone's noticed it, even Konami."

"What do you mean by, 'even Konami'?!" Said female shrieked, latching her arm around Yuma's neck and pounding a fist into the side of his head. "Are you insulting me?!"

"Maybe."

"Take that back—!"

"Yuma's point is," Karasuma interrupted smoothly, biting into another cookie. "You should go talk to him."

Mori was out of the room before they could blink.

-0-

The silence was interrupted by a loud 'slam' echoing through the building, most likely from the front door being slammed shut.

"…Maybe you didn't think this through enough…" Shiori lamented, turning to the rest of them. "I don't think it was very smart, saying it up front like that."

"What else could we have done?" Karasuma wondered out loud, taking a seat in Mori's previous spot nonchalantly. "She would have lost her temper if we danced around the topic for too long."

"…I don't think she should be running around so much yet, she said her wounds hurt yesterday," Chika mumbled, getting ready to stand up. "Maybe I should—"

"No, leave her be for now." Yuma sighed, rocking back and forth in his seat for a few moments. "She's probably not especially mad at us, she just doesn't want to talk about Jin. I don't really know what happened between them, but we shouldn't needle her too much." He paused. "Probably."

"…You think so?" Konami asked.

"Probably," Yuma repeated again, rolling off of the couch and heading towards the door leisurely. "I'm going to train for a bit, since our match is coming up. Mori's obviously tasked me with fighting Murakami, I need to have a strategy for that when the time comes."

"I'll pick Mori up later," Karasuma glanced down at his phone idly, walking out of the room shortly after Yuma. "Being angry or sad tires her out quickly."

Shiori stared at the door for a few seconds after the door shut, before sighing heavily. "Those two… They worry about her so much."

"I think it's funny how Yuma tries to pretend that he isn't." Konami laughed, jumping over the couch to sit beside Chika. "Chika, you wanna train together? You can get more practice coordinating with Shiori and hitting a moving target at the same time."

-0-

"Goddamnit—" I kicked the vending machine, hearing my drink finally come loose and hit the bottom. "Shit, fuck— My leg fucking hurts—"

A sharp sting ran through my thigh as if in response, and a hiss of air escaped through my teeth.

"Give me that—" I jabbed my hand through the opening, ripping the can of hot chocolate out and pressing it to my cheek. "God, I shouldn't have left Tamakoma. The cold makes my scars hurt."

I paused, unconsciously leaving a space of silence for someone else to speak, just before the sharp winter air ripped me out of my thoughts.

"You goddamn dumb fuck—" I opened the can with an echoing, satisfying 'pop' as I muttered to myself grumpily. "You left the building on your own… No one's here right now."

Honestly, it was jarring. For the past few months, everyone that I had suddenly met had refused to leave me with a second to brood. Yuma was in contact with me 24/7 via Replica, and also never slept. Whenever I was about to fall asleep, I would often fall asleep talking with both him and Replica. Chika had begun to meet up with me more frequently, as I had started to drift apart from her after Rinji left in a fit of frustration.

For the few months that we trained to join Border, Karasuma was a near-constant. He was often around, and spoke with me about training for most of my time at Tamakoma, with Yuma and Konami joining us every once in a while. Shiori was always around too, being a natural social butterfly that gravitated towards everyone in the building, flitting into different conversations quicker than I could've ever imagined. Rindou and Yotaro were always around too. Rindou was usually absent in his office, filling out and occasionally complaining about paperwork. But sometimes, he'd walk out of his stuffy office to grab a coffee and chat for a bit. The first time he had commented and offered advice on my fighting style, my eyes nearly bugled out of my head.

When I asked if he could fight, he only threw his head back and laughed.

(Sometimes, that moment made me wonder why he hadn't been helping out during the invasion.)

And even after the invasion, once I had woken up, there was always someone around. Yuma and Chika had slept over at my house more times than I could count, and someone was always worriedly hovering.

But all of a sudden, I was alone.

Why is this affecting me now, of all times—?

I tipped the bottom of the can up, quickly gulping the steaming drink although it burnt my tongue.

(I don't have time for this)

I tossed the can into a nearby trash can, already feeling a slight ache in my stomach as punishment for drinking too quickly. A burning liquid no less. But the distraction was such a relief, and I found myself more worried about the stinging burn on my tongue than the heavy pit in my stomach.

'I need some painkillers for my scars, I didn't expect them to ache so much,' I sighed inwardly, looking around for the nearest convenience store. 'I shouldn't have gone out in the cold, especially since I don't exactly have a scarf anymore.'

A flash of my scarf wrapped around Yuma's neck flashed through my mind.

'…I know he can't exactly suffer from hypothermia, but at least he has something now.'

I finally reached the convenience store, the irritatingly bright sign reflecting off of the light snow. I would have scowled any other day, but the flashing lights of the sign had thankfully helped me find my way.

'You win this time, Life. You win this time.'

I threw the door open quickly, internally wincing at the sudden rush of warm air that flushed through the door. I noticed the store clerk jolt at the chilly breeze that escaped into the store, but couldn't bring myself to feel sorry.

"What brand do I usually get…?" I hummed, scanning the labels from top to bottom, even glancing at the next shelf irritatedly. "… This isn't really anything worth bothering mom about…"

Honestly, most of this was a distraction. The aching from my scars was quickly fading now that I had stopped uselessly kicking vending machines, and I now had more brain space to properly focus on what I needed to.

Namely, Jin.

'… Christ, they'll never hear me admit this out loud, but they're right.' I squatted, bringing myself low to the floor to get a better look at the lower shelves, as well as rest my legs. 'Ever since the invasion… I've kind of been avoiding Jin. The time after I woke up from my coma was unavoidable, since he came to pick me up, but even then… I don't think I saw him really look me in the eye.'

It was jarring, but I had been too stressed and mentally strained at the time to notice. Undeniably, Jin was avoiding me too.

'Though I haven't really made an attempt to talk to him either, since I feel like I'd just blow up at him,' The miserable thought came. 'I just don't get why he… Didn't warn me. Unless that fucking around was his definition of a warning—'

"Four eyes. Don't do anything stupid."

'—He said that with such a blank face…' My hand wrapped around a small pill bottle on the shelf, my grip unconsciously tightening in frustration. '… Do I really mean… that little to him?'

Jin foresaw my death that day, I have no doubt.

Sure, my side effect is untrained, and generally only scratching the surface of it's potential, but it's strong enough to pick up most body language. Although sometimes my brain itself can't recognize the emotions being portrayed, I still notice the mannerisms. I can say, without a doubt, Jin saw my death.

But the sudden shock of what he saw… faded in seconds. Why does that frustrate me so much?

(Maybe you thought you were finally getting somewhere. Because underneath all of that passive-aggressiveness and envy, you really respect Jin. The admiration you feel for that guy might even be greater than what you feel for Yuma…)

... And that little, subtle lack of reaction… Made it seem like I was nothing to him.

'In the end, I just don't have the great side effect that he does. I don't have an iron grip on my emotions, I'm not a master strategist, I don't garner the respect that he does. I envied all of those traits just as much as I admired them.'

Is this why… I've been avoiding him?

Am I just scared to find out if he ever really cared in the end?

I sighed heavily and grabbed an only-slightly familiar brand of painkillers, stomping towards the cashier as my thoughts slowly settled down. 'God, this is almost pissing me off as much as the Rinji issue. And Rinji pissed me off a lot.'

"W-would you like a bag with that… i?" The cashier stuttered, although the heater had long restored the shop to its original temperature.

…Is my face that scary right now? And also, am I tall enough to warrant a 'miss'?

I sighed again, pushing a bill across the counter. "No thanks, I'm good."

He nodded nervously and handed me a receipt, my change, and the small bottle. "H-have a nice—"

The minimal movement from behind the glass doors to my left subtly caught my attention, and the sudden sight of some familiar faces caused me to pale.

A hasty 'thanks' spilt out of my mouth as I snatched my painkillers away from the stunned man, and ran off to duck into a short aisle. Just a second after I completely hid myself from sight from the entrance, the small bell hung up on the door let out a quiet 'jingle'.

"Gah, it's so cold out there all of a sudden! What gives, it was relatively warm this morning!"

"Don't you check the weather, spear-idiot? It said that we might get snow today."

"Who actually checks the weather other than adults? Why would I?"

"… I check the weather, idiot. And now you know why I wore gloves today."

"Don't worry Yoneyan, I didn't check the weather this morning either!"

"Why do you have a scarf today then?!"

"… Well, I was talking with Futaba-chan earlier, and—"

"—Oh, come on! Bullet-brains, give me your scarf, or buy me something to drink."

"Oh, I want a snack too! I didn't bring any money with me, Izumin!"

"… Remind me, why are we friends again?"

"You know you love us~!"

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—'

I peeked around the corner of the shelf, eyes barely scanning over the entire convenience store before I ducked back behind cover. My side effect naturally gave me good spacial awareness, but it wouldn't help me much in the actual process of getting out of here without being seen.

'Alright, Yoneya-senpai, Midorikawa-senpai, and Izumi-senpai are still by the door, preoccupied with their conversation. The cashier is still standing behind the counter, looking very confused and slightly stunned. Shit, if that guy gives me away, I'm going to fucking—'

"U-Um, excuse me?" The man called out meekly, flinching harshly as my head whipped out of my hiding spot to send a fierce glare in his direction. "D-do you… Know e-each other…?"

And with a pit of growing horror in my stomach, he shakily pointed over in my direction.

'I should throw you into the deepest, darkest pit of hell for you to burn.'

A grin stretched Yoneya's face as his eyes caught mine, and I could physically feel my skin pale by about five shades.

"Four-eyes-chan, what a coincidence!" He sang cheerily, striding over in one fluid movement that was way too casual to make me comfortable, before waving off his friends. "You guys get your stuff, we'll be right back~"

"Get off of—!" I shrieked, before he tossed an arm over my shoulder, steering me away from the two stunned teens at the front, but still within sight of both them as well as the nervous looking cashier. A scarf slapped me in the face during this process, which I distantly recognized as the one I had seen Izumi walk in wearing.

"C'mon, no need to look so tense!" He sang, before unhooking his arm and returning back to a neutral standing position beside me. His eyes slid to scan the other shelves almost absentmindedly, but I could tell that he wasn't paying them much attention. "Four-eyes-chan, If I didn't know any better I'd think you hated me!"

"Need I remind you," I bit out, eyes still darting towards the door desperately. "Our first meeting? When you tried to kill my best friend?"

"Oh c'mon, I thought we were over that," He muttered with a wince. "Besides, you weren't this mean to me last time we talked."

I turned away from him with a huff, although I didn't make a move to sprint away quite yet. "… I am having a horrible day." I shoved my hands into my pockets passive-aggressively. "I'll be less of a dick when today's over. And I don't want to talk to you and the rest of them."

He paused with a contemplative frown, before tilting his head curiously.

"…Are you that scared of talking to Midorikawa and bullet brains? You look really nervous."

I froze, surprised by the accuracy of the statement.

'Gah— I don't want to talk to anybody from Border right now, I'll probably end up lashing out at someone—'

"I'm having a rough day." My voice came out tense, but had lost some of its previous aggression. I prayed that he wouldn't hear the slight shake to my tone. "I just… need to be alone. I need to think."

His nonchalant expression told me I had been successful, but his eyes told a different story.

'…At least he's trying to be considerate.'

"Well, I know what you need!" He sang, suddenly gaining back some of his ever-present laidback cheerfulness. "Never-mind snacks, we'll treat you to dinner! There's a fast food place across the street, and you shouldn't be having medicine on an empty stomach!"

I shoved the painkillers from my hand into my pocket with more force than I intended.

"Who says my stomach's empty?" I denied, both hands now childishly stuffed in my pockets. "Not hungry."

"I'm best friends with Shuji, it'll take more than that to fool me," He laughed lightheartedly. "One of us had to pick up social cues properly."

There was a small pause as his laughter came to an awkward halt. "…Actually, please don't tell him I said that."

"What makes you think I talk to Miwa-baka on a regular basis?" I retorted, before sighing in aggravation. "Look, I'm not really prepared to talk with Izumi-senpai yet, with how we last met during the invasion— I'm too stressed right now. I'll probably end up yelling or just being annoyingly quiet."

"And I'm not saying that yelling at us is fine, but stewing all alone is probably worse right now. Just hang out with us for a bit, I think bullet brains wanted to talk to you anyways." His reply seemed much more genuine than I was expecting, and he laughed again as my eyes widened. "I pulled you away at the start for a reason, Mikumo. If you don't want to, it's fine, but I think you should just relax for a bit. You're probably stressed out, with your rank wars match coming up again soon, but just ignore that for now. There's no reason to go off looking for new strategies blindly, let it come to you naturally. Just take a break, and it'll help a lot."

I was silent after that.

'…I guess that's not exactly what I'm worried about, but maybe he's right anyway.'

Where was a long silence, where the two teens patiently waiting at the front of the store glanced over worriedly.

Yoneya even seemed to think that he had offended me in some way because he coughed awkwardly. "…Well, it was just an offer, so there's no reason to accept—"

"Yoneya-senpai." I cut him off quietly, sighing with slight reluctance. "…Sure. I'll take you up on that offer."

He stood still for a moment, so I hastily tacked on a muttered 'if you wouldn't mind'.

I had exactly two seconds for my slight reluctance to expand into full-blown regret as an arm linked around mine, I stumbled slightly from my lack of balance, and an unsettlingly large grin grew on his face.

'…MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE—'

"Bullet brains, Midorikawa, change of plans! Let's go to the Burger Queen across the street!"

-0-

"I feel like I'm forgetting something…" Shiori mumbled, unknowingly speaking into the headphone's microphone. "… But nothing's coming to mind…"

"Shiori-san, are you ok?" Chika asked over the communicator worriedly, sniping practice coming to a sudden halt.

"Don't worry about it, Chika-chan. I'm just trying to remember something." Shiori hummed. "I feel like I've forgotten about something dreadfully important…"

"You too?" Konami suddenly spoke up, a distant whine from Yuma letting them know that Konami paused their match. "I've been feeling that all day, so I tried putting it on the back burner while we trained… But it's bothering me."

"It's this nagging feeling that something's wrong…" Shiori sighed. "If Jin weren't so spacey nowadays, he would've been here right now to tell us."

"We've been relying on his side effect for that, huh?"

"I guess so…" The operator pouted. "I think—"

Her voice suddenly cut off, causing Konami to freeze.

"…Shiori? Are you ok—?"

A sudden scream pierced through their ears, Shiori's voice making its way into the microphone.

"THE FESTIVAL!"

"What?!"

"THE FESTIVAL!" Shiori repeated with a shriek. "WE FORGOT ABOUT THE FESTIVAL!"

-0-

A tray of fast food was pushed in front of me, without warning.

I raised a slightly amused eyebrow at the person in front of me, snark automatically covering up my nervousness. "…Is this the part where I'm supposed to thank you?"

"This is the part where you're supposed to eat," Yoneya cut in smoothly, apparently already used to socially awkward friends. "Just relax already, you look like we dragged you here unwillingly."

"… That is kind of what you did, Yoneyan." Midorikawa retorted, already picking up a handful of fries.

"No, she accepted! She just doesn't want to admit that to you guys—"

I shoved the burger in front of Yoneya into his mouth, cutting him off prematurely.

He didn't make a move to continue the sentence, instead biting down and chewing with a content expression. I pointedly looked down and chewed on a fry, ignoring Izumi and Midorikawa's piercing stares.

"—Oh, right." Yoneya swallowed, before turning to Midorikawa. "Don't you remember, there's something you wanted to do?"

All three of us gave him confused glances before Midorikawa jolted with realization. "… Wait, right now?!"

"I mean, I thought you wanted to get this over with ASAP…?"

"… Did something happen?" Izumi asked curiously as Midorikawa shifted around uncomfortably in his seat. He preoccupied himself with a handful of fries in his mouth, as Yoneya resigned himself to living the rest of his life having socially awkward friends.

"Midorikawa and Four-Eyes-chan had a solo rank wars match a while ago, from before the invasion," Yoneya filled in, and I tilted my head curiously.

"Was there something wrong with it?" I paused, memories suddenly resurfacing. "Actually, I never got to the bottom of why Yuma was all angry that time…"

"The shrimp was angry?" Izumi repeated incredulously, setting his cup down with a raised eyebrow. "Even during the two weeks you were unconscious, I've never seen him angry."

"That's cause he was sulking the entire time," I muttered, shoving another fry in my mouth. "But how would you guys know anyway? You all were avoiding both him and Chika."

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence after that.

"…How'd you know that?" Yoneya asked curiously.

"Kunichika-chan told me, and I do actually converse with my teammates in my free time," I ended the retort halfheartedly. "I guess that doesn't matter much at the moment though, what did Midorikawa-senpai want to say?"

The attention at the table redirected itself, once again.

Midorikawa didn't stall this time though— "Well, uh, Mikumo-senpai—"

Didn't stall too much.

"There's no reason to call me senpai, just Mikumo is fine." I paused. "Or Mori, I don't really care."

"Yuma told me to call you senpai though!"

I froze, before a brief flash of Yuma in the centre of the C-rank lobby flashed through my mind, thumbs jutting out as he pointed back at me. "Yuma does whatever he wants on the best of days. Just my name is fine."

Yoneya snorted lightly in amusement.

"Well, anyway—" Midorikawa took a deep breath.

"—I'M SORRY!"

Before bowing his head so quickly that it smacked again the table harshly. He cried in pain on impact, the noise garnering some attention from surrounding tables. Izumi winced sympathetically, and I hurriedly offered my ice-cold drink to him to prevent any swelling.

I cursed loudly, watching his hands immediately raise to his forehead in pain. "Jesus fucking Christ—! Wait, never mind that, why're you apologizing to me?!"

"He kind of humiliated you in front of a crowd, Four-eyes," Yoneya's monotone reply came, causing me to wince.

"Yeah, but it's not like that was his fault," I defended weakly. "Besides, it was all fair, and I wasn't really trying to win."

Izumi blinked, glancing between the three of us. "Wait, can someone please explain what's going on?"

"…After the rumours of Mikumo-senpai's record against Kikuchihara spread around…" Midorikawa pressed his hands together nervously. "I challenged her to a match."

"And what's wrong with that?"

Yoneya leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling with a forced, laid-back expression. "She was still C-rank."

Izumi paused, eyes flickering back to me momentarily as a monotone "Well, shit" slipped out of his mouth.

"Wait, why's that a problem?" I turned to him with a raised eyebrow, before glancing back at the very nervous Midorikawa. "He fought against Yuma too, it's not like it was anything special."

"…I baited you into the match by saying I'd give you points," Midorikawa pointed out.

"I didn't care about the points that much." I sighed, picking up another fry. "You just provoked me into accepting anyway."

Yoneya coughed pointedly. "Four-eyes, A-ranks aren't allowed to take or give points to C-rankers."

There was a long silence, as my eye began to twitch.

"… Oh?"

"I may have also—" Midoriawa squeaked out. "—Spoken loudly on purpose, to draw attention to us… For the C-ranks to follow… us?"

My grip tightened around my cup. "Oh?"

Yoneya turned to me, a carefree smile barely hiding the fear in his eyes. "Now, now Four-eyes, he didn't just bring it up just to—"

"I WANTED TO APOLOGIZE!" Midorikawa finally shrieked, getting the attention of our table neighbours once again. Izumi glanced around nervously as a few other customers glared at the loud teen, but he continued on unbothered. "I SHOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO HUMILIATE YOU, IT WASN'T VERY PROPER OF ME!"

...The silence was deafening.

"…Midorikawa-senpai… I don't really think you should worry about something like that."

Midorikawa jolted, head raising from the slight bow he had been in. "Huh?!"

I scratched my cheek unconsciously, expression slightly uncomfortable as I tried to focus more on stuffing my face with food. "Well I just— I guess now I understand why Yotaro and Yuma were getting all upset, but it doesn't really matter to me. I guess…"

My hand shifted from my cheek to the back of my neck. "… Could we maybe… be friends? None of that '-senpai' stuff, I guess… I'm sure it gets confusing for everyone around us when we both call each other that…"

I was pretty obviously uncomfortable, but the tension leeched out of Midorikawa in an instant after my words.

"SURE THING!" He cheered, taking me slightly by surprise. "Mikumo, can I call you 'Moriyan'?!"

Yoneya and Izumi jolted in unison. "A nickname already?!"

I nodded, some of the nervousness bleeding away. "I'd be fine with that... Should I just call you Shun?"

Once again, two of the group jolted in shock. "You're just rolling with it?!"

"Thank you so much, Moriyan! I swear it'll never happen again!"

"I'd sure hope not."

"Are you serious?!"

-0-

"Still Moriyan, why are you out and about anyway?"

I shrugged. "Everyone at Tamakoma was pestering me about something… So I left to sulk? It sounds really melodramatic when I put it like that."

"Pestering?" Yoneya whistled. "Amatori and Reiji didn't seem like the type… Jin and the shrimp I can believe though."

"Kizaki-san wasn't there," I grumbled. "And Jin was the topic."

"Ohoho?"

"Wipe those smirks off of your faces," I muttered, turning to Izumi and Yoneya. "It wasn't romance related, I'm just kind of pissed at him, and they want us to talk."

"What?!" Midorikawa turned to me with an indignant expression. "Why are you mad at Jin-senpai?!"

I glanced down at my tray of food, before realizing I couldn't eat anymore and pushed the rest of my fries towards the middle of the table for them to share. "I'm pretty certain that he foresaw my death before the invasion, and he barely gave me a warning."

There were a few beats of silence, in which everyone's expressions dropped. Izumi and Yoneya composed themselves as quickly as possible, but Midorikawa seemed frozen in shock.

"Well." Yoneya 'subtly' kicked Midorikawa under the table. "I guess that's a good reason to be mad as any."

I huffed. "He's also avoiding me now. So I just don't know what to think of it, and there hasn't been a time to ask him about it."

"Speaking of which," Yoneya jabbed a finger into Izumi's face, who blinked slowly in shock. "He didn't tell us that bullet-brains would get kidnapped either! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the cube in that Neighbour guy's hands!"

Izumi chewed on the food in his mouth, eyes narrowing slightly. "You're only saying that because you need my math notes in class, spear idiot."

"Ah… I've been caught."

"I'm sure Jin-senpai has a very good reason that he didn't tell you guys!" Midorikawa was quick to defend his idol.

"… I think I know why he didn't tell you guys about Izumi-senpai," I admitted quietly, causing their heads to turn towards me in shock. "But it's mostly speculation, so I'm not sure if you want to he—"

"No, tell us!" Yoneya poked me in the cheek, causing my eye to twitch. "Spit it out!"

"Don't poke me again," I began with, pushing his hand away lightly. "This makes me sound conceited anyway, but I think he didn't tell you guys because in a very twisted kind of way, Izumi being captured… Kinda saved my life?"

I grimaced at how the words sounded out loud. "In some convoluted, over-simplified way..."

"Wait, what?!" Midorikawa shrieked, and Izumi's eyes widened slightly. "Can we have an explanation?!"

I lifted my left hand to gesture aimlessly into the air. "Well, Tachikawa kind of fought off the Neighbour guy, right—?"

"Tachikawa-san didn't come until long after you guys got me back," Izumi chipped in, pointing at Yoneya for a moment. "…At least, that's just what this idiot told me."

Yoneya looked 100-percent ready to jump into the friendly banter, but I interrupted quickly again.

"Yeah, but based off of what Shiori told me," I tried to remember the exact words of her report, but ultimately gave up and paraphrased. "Tachikawa had cut off his communicator's connection from HQ while he was going over… Or he just didn't care what their orders were. Either way."

"With Tachikawa-san it could be either way," Midorikawa laughed tensely. "But what does this have to do with Izumin?"

This time, I was the one to give them a puzzled expression. "... Tachikawa went over there in the first place, to save Izumi-senpai. Didn't he?"

I was jerked out of the conversation rather abruptly, as the table was pushed to the side harshly. I blinked cluelessly, before glancing over at Izumi.

Izumi, who had stood up so abruptly that his chair had been knocked back, a horrible screeching noise having followed. Izumi, who's eyes were blown so wide with an unknown emotion that I immediately worried for what was going through his mind.

There was a long silence that almost seemed deafening.

Yoneya finally stood up though, much quieter and slower this time, finally drawing Izumi's attention away from me. He gestured carelessly to the other customers that had been staring at us worriedly. "Sorry 'bout that." He quickly shoved all of our food back into the paper bag that we had received it in, before waving a hand in front of Izumi's eyes.

"…Kouhei, let's go outside." He paused, before glancing at me. "You guys can continue talking out there, yeah?"

Izumi finally blinked, head tilting up as if he just realized his change in position. With his intense stare now broken, I slumped in my seat in unison with Midorikawa.

-0-

"… A festival?"

"That's right!" Shiori shrieked, slapping the desk excitedly. "The new years festival from a few weeks ago, that was supposedly cancelled because of the Illgar crash incident!"

"Oh right, that." Yuma shrugged with a duck face. "I kind of forgot about the Illgar, if I'm being honest."

"They decided to run the festival anyway though, especially after the invasion happened. To bring up peoples spirits apparently." Konami hummed, leaning against the arm of the couch. "You guys were too busy training to hear the announcement."

Chika at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Yuma… Not so much.

"What do you do at the festivals in Japan anyway?" Yuma tilted his head, leaning back in his seat. "And how long will it take? I still need to get in some training and planning before our match the day after tomorrow."

"It'll only take up the evening," Shiori reassured gently. "But a lot of the city will be going, so I think you guys should take a break and have some fun."

Yuma shrugged. "I guess, as long as it doesn't take up the whole day." He paused, before glancing off towards the door. "I wanted to talk with Mori about the match before it happened though."

"You guys can stick together during the festival if you want," Konami offered lightly. "You don't need to dress up or anything, just walk around and socialize if you need to. That's really all it is."

"There's food stalls and games all around too!" Shiori grinned at them. "It'll be fun, I promise."

"Whatever," Yuma huffed, standing up and walking towards the door. "…Tell me if Mori comes back."

The door shut behind him, and Shiori stood there awkwardly for a minute before laying a hand on Chika's shoulder with a sigh.

"He's in such a huffy mood all of a sudden…" Shiori pouted. "Is it because Mori left?"

"He probably thinks that big sister is mad at him," Chika reassured, patting Shiori on the arm lightly. "He's just worried that she's upset he was pushing the subject."

"Is she actually mad at him though?" Konami asked lightly, already heading towards the door to spar with Yuma. "He was the one that tried telling the rest of us that she wasn't mad at us, but maybe he's overthinking it himself…?"

"Probably," Chika sighed in unison with Shiori. "Those two, honestly."

"Honestly," Shiori repeated in a similarly exasperated tone.

-0-

"…That's a big mouthful," Midorikawa began with a tense expression.

"Tachikawa-san disregarding orders… Helping Four-eyes-chan get away from the Neighbour, technically saving her… And then keeping it a secret from HQ…?" Yoneya whistled, being the only one even remotely trying to keep a semblance of carefree energy. "You know four-eyes, the higher-ups would hound you if they found out you knew this? Since Tachikawa-san refused to fess up."

"I don't really care about what HQ is doing, as long as they're not going after Tamakoma again," I huffed, leaning against the armrest of the nearby park bench. Izumi himself was sitting on it, head in his hands as he processed everything that I had shared. "Besides, who's gonna tell them? Tachikawa probably doesn't even remember I was there, and you three don't really give off the impression of Kido-faction representatives… Not like Miwa-baka, anyway."

Yoneya hummed. "…I guess that's true."

"Still, it was a big deal!" Midorikawa tugged on my sleeve. "Tachikawa-san disobeying orders— Kido-san was debating for weeks what punishment to give him! Tachikawa squad nearly got demoted to B-rank after that stunt, especially after Tachikawa refused to tell them why he did it in the first place!"

"… Thank god that wasn't the final decision," I joked, turning to Yoneya. "Or else I'd need to fight them in the rank wars just to get promoted."

I think I saw Izumi crack a small smile at that. Yoneya might've noticed it too, because he shot me a thankful smile.

'…Does Izumi-senpai feel guilty? Maybe he feels like it was all his fault, for nearly getting captured…'

"I think the only reason he didn't demote the whole squad like that was because of the new rank wars season." Midorikawa began once again. "Even with Yuiga on their team, no one doubts that they'd completely demolish everyone else, and then get promoted in a month or two. And Tachikawa-san could get back his solo points in even less time, probably."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow with genuine curiosity. "How would he find enough people willing to fight him for that?"

"…Sometimes in the hallways, we can catch glimpses of Tachikawa-san latched onto Kazama-san's leg, begging him for a rank wars match." Yoneya snorted, barely muffling his chuckles behind his sleeve. "Or he'd just go bug Jin for a match."

"…Every time I hear something else about the high ranking Border agents, the less I'm scared of them." I admitted tonelessly. "My senpai get less and less intimidating every time I see them. Doesn't say very many good things about the future for Border..."

"... Oho?" Yoneya and Midorikawa both leaned over, breaking my bubble of personal space with matching, sly smirks. "Were you scared of all of your senpai at one point?"

"—Aaaaaaand, now I'm leaving." I spun around on my heels, already turning away.

"No, wait!" Midorikawa wailed, clinging onto my arm. "Were you scared of us?! If that's the case, I'm really sorry for approaching you the first time, Moriyan! For the rank wars match!"

"…Dude, I'm fine." I coughed uncomfortably, trying to pry my arm from his grip. "That was a while ago."

"Did you nearly trip over your feet in your nervousness when he asked you for a match, Four-eyes?" Yoneya grinned teasingly, loosely onto my other arm. "Is that why you didn't pull off even a single win against the shorty here?"

"I will actually murder you." Any threat I tried forcing into my voice was empty, and everyone knew it. "I'm going home now."

Their grips were loose enough that I could slip away any moment I felt like it, so I didn't feel all that uncomfortable. I had no idea that a bunch of morons could actually be this comforting.

Midorikawa pouted playfully. "But Moriyan—!"

A ball of snow slammed into his nose, the powder landing smack dab in the middle of his face.

The shock of the sudden cold substance caused Midorikawa's grip to drop from my arm, as his hands slowly rose to his face. He began to carefully wipe the frozen water from his eyes, as all of our heads turned to its trajectory direction.

And there, Izumi stood tall, hand still outstretched from where he had thrown the snowball. His usual playful smirk was once again present, as he held another snowball loosely in his other hand.

"Snowball fight," He began lightly, a laugh hidden in his voice. "Do you think you can beat the shooters in a snowball fight?"

Yoneya finally broke the silence after his statement, with a sudden shriek. His arms retracted from me as he dove to the ground to pick up some snow.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!"

Izumi threw the second snowball in his grip towards his friend, but Yoneya skillfully dodged with a laugh as he squished a pile of snow between his gloved hands.

"Wait, Yoneyan—!" Midorikawa gestured wildly, trying to get their attention. "Izumin, c'mon—!"

The two teens ignored his cries, already wrapped up in a heated back-and-forth battle of snowballs.

I also heard some shrieks in between that sounded suspiciously like they were urging us to join in, which I pointedly ignored with a snicker.

Midorikawa gave up on them as he turned to me with a slightly apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Moriyan, I was only kidding around, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable before—"

My head jerked suddenly and awkwardly, causing me to reflexively blink in surprise.

His words cut off very suddenly, and I wondered bleakly for a moment why his expression suddenly held horror. I turned around, looking up to catch Yoneya's eyes, which were also wide with a kind of horror I was for the most part, unfamiliar with. However, Izumi, across from him, had an expression filled with so much childlike glee that I nearly had to take a double take.

And suddenly, my hand rose to the side of my head, where I felt an unfamiliar lump of frozen snow squashed against my head.

'…Oh.'

I scraped the snow off of my head lightly, the white powder coming off easily and landing in my hand.

'…Yoneya threw this?'

My eyes widened near-unnoticeably.

Before a large grin spread across my face.

I packed the snow together in my hands, watching Yoneya's eyes widen with shock as I reared my arm back in his direction.

As the misshapen snowball was hurled towards his face with pinpoint accuracy, I yelled one thing.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!"

-0-

White gremlin: hey

White gremlin: ...im sorry for bothering you about jin earlier

White gremlin: i didnt mean to be nosy, i just could tell it was bugging you, and it was bothering everyone else too, and i just

White gremlin: i talked to chika about it, and we figured you wouldnt do it without being told…

White gremlin: are you mad at me?

Four-eyed weirdo: I'm not mad

Four-eyed weirdo: I'm sorry, I just didn't expect you and Chika to notice it really… I'll try to meet with him soon

White gremlin: oh thats good

Four-eyed weirdo: Maybe sometime after our next match...

White gremlin: ….really?

Four-eyed weirdo: Well, I'm not doing it right now, you hear me? I just got home, and I'm covered in snow.

Four-eyed weirdo: Karasuma-senpai picked me up and walked me home

White gremlin: no, its fine, i was just wondering

Four-eyed weirdo: Did you know that Karasuma-senpai and Izumi-senpai knew each other?

White gremlin: not really

Four-eyed weirdo: Does everyone at Border know each other?

White gremlin: …do we have a plan for our next match?

Four-eyed weirdo: Nope.

Four-eyed weirdo: I'll probably end up blowing something up though.

White gremlin: ….try to get some sleep, ok?

Four-eyed weirdo: Haha, no promises.

-0-

Izumi blinked.

"Tachikawa-san?"

Said adult waved with a casual grin, despite the stack of papers in front of him. "Yo." He was currently sitting at the small coffee table they had, papers resting on the wooden surface while he held up a pen.

"Jeez, what are you still doing here?" Izumi sighed, dropping his bag down by the door. "Is that the defence report that you were supposed to do yesterday?"

Tachikawa shrugged, shifting over to leave a spot on the couch for his friend. "I couldn't get my pencil, since Yuu kicked us out last night."

Izumi laughed, swinging over to sit on the couch, arms haphazardly thrown over the armrest. "You're just using that as an excuse, you could've borrowed one of Tsukimi-san's pens."

Tachikawa pouted, leaning back over the papers as he scratched his head. "I didn't want to use a pen."

Izumi laughed, but didn't deflect his second excuse again as he let his eyes slowly shut.

And there was peaceful silence. For a while, anyway.

"So, Tachikawa-san," Izumi began casually, eyes still closed. "When were you gonna tell me that you broke the rules during the invasion… To come get little ol' me?"

All Izumi could see was the darkness of the back of his eyelids, but he heard Tachikawa shift in his spot.

"… Now, where'd you hear that?"

"Someone," He replied nonchalantly. "Tachikawa-san, you could've told us. You know we wouldn't have ratted you out."

Tachikawa took a deep breath, the sound practically echoing in the empty silence of their operator room.

"Yeah… But then you'd be reacting like you are now."

Izumi shifted uncomfortably, finally opening his eyes to meet Tachikawa's.

"… I just," Izumi paused, eyes sliding to glance up at the ceiling. "… We let you down, didn't we? I got captured, even though you put your trust in us to take care of ourselves…"

"No," Tachikawa grinned, pulling the teen up to sit up straight. "…You didn't let me down. Not once."

And the two of them sat there, for the longest time.

Because that was all Izumi needed to hear, that he and Kunichika hadn't let their captain down.

Because as nonchalant as the No. 1 team seemed about their ranking, it meant a lot. It took hard work to get them to this spot with Yuiga around, and they didn't get there by not caring in the slightest.

Nearly every time, during the rank wars, Tachikawa and Izumi were the only two fighting. Tachikawa always put his trust in Izumi to watch his back, so they could make it to the top ranking.

… And when Izumi heard that Tachikawa nearly threw all of that away for his sake, he felt an undeniable amount of gratitude… But also, shame. He had let down their faithful captain, and Kunichika no doubt felt the same.

But Tachikawa wasn't let down. Not in the least.

"… It's been something Kazama and I have been thinking about… Maybe even Touma. Who knows." Tachikawa hummed, hand falling form where he had placed it on Izumi's shoulder. "When Jin stood in front of us, to fight us off… When we tried to retrieve the black Trigger. He talked about something… About how he didn't want the higher-up's faction battles to interfere with the future of his Kouhai."

He paused, eyes raising to meet the ceiling, not unlike what Izumi had been doing earlier. "We thought about it for a long while. But when I heard that HQ lost contact with you during the invasion… For some reason, it popped back up in the forefront of my mind."

He grinned, patting both of Izumi's shoulders, while the teen himself had a slightly shocked expression as he listened to his captain.

"… Us senpai really need to try harder for the next generation, you know? The faction battles will end one day, and we'll be the next people in line to guide and direct Border. All of us top squads… We need to be ready for that. We should reach out, to make more of an effort. And as for Jin… I'm still thinking about what he said. Maybe I'll figure it out one day, or I'll go ask Kazama. He's much smarter than me."

Izumi was silent, his head slowly lowering as he quietly listened to every word until his captain was finished.

"… Captain, you still need to apologize to Mikumo."

"Wait, my inspirational speech is over, just like that? And who?"

"The four-eyes you nearly cut in half during the invasion."

"Ah— You heard about that too!?"

"Of course I did, she was the one that told me in the first place! You better be ready to apologize to one of the 'next generation kouhai', No. 1 attacker!"