A/N: This is gonna be yet another interlude. It's been a while since I've done this, so I went ahead and did what I've done in the past, and that's randomize the characters featured in this chapter via random number generation. The ones I got weren't my preferred picks (especially because of what's gonna happen next chapter), but I decided to stick to them. As always, I'm trying to cover just about everyone before I start doing repeats.

Naoko was yet again in a position where he felt he had quite a lot of free time. Thus far, there were no solid plans as to what people would be doing, and they still hadn't gotten much detail in the way of when they'd be able to access the third floor of the facility. They were able to access the second floor starting at the fourth day. It was currently the eighth day, and they hadn't even been given any information on it thus far. Was it going to take longer for it to be opened up? Actually, the topic of the floors of the facility was a dense one, and could probably prompt an interesting conversation.

But that sort of conversation wasn't what Naoko was interested in. Everyone had just gone through a lot of drama, and after something like that, what was needed was an opportunity to breathe, so to speak. With any luck, some light conversation would be enough to put some people at ease, especially after what they had all just been through.

When Naoko left the room where he had just been speaking to Eryu and Yori, he wasn't doing so for any particular reason other than to make his way through the facility, in search of other people. Fortunately for him, though, searching wasn't really a necessity, as there was already someone in the hallway. It just so happened to be Mine, which caught Naoko's eye. She went to check on Bankei, hadn't she?

"Sup, Naoko?" Mine asked conversationally.

"Oh, not much," Naoko replied. "Were you checking on Bankei?"

"Well, yeah!" Mine said confidently. "I just wanted to see her for myself, though. Not much to report yet!"

"Nothing?" Naoko questioned.

"Nope," Mine responded simply. "If you'd like, I can tell you a bit about what happened."

"Sure," Naoko replied. "That sounds like it'd be a good idea."

And so, Naoko listened as Mine explained what happened in the medical room when she stopped by. The synopsis didn't go on for very long, and didn't reveal anything particularly noteworthy, but hey, conversation was conversation. If anything, it was nice to see that Mine was doing okay, so overall, the two of them did end up feeling a little closer than they were before.

Naoko was fairly content with their conversation, so he figured he'd be nice and give Mine something interesting. He had a few different things in his possession by then, but as for what she'd like? Well, he had a sweatband in his possession. It was red in coloration, and seemed to be one of those soft and fluffy sweatbands athletes would wear on their wrist. It was simple, but given Mine's general interests, it didn't seem like a bad fit for her.

"Awesome, Man! I love these things!"

Despite the fact that she seemed relatively content, there was something about her that made Naoko worry. It was subtle, but he got the feeling that Mine had a lot on her mind, even if she didn't make it immediately obvious.

"Hey, Mine, are you feeling alright?" Naoko inquired.

"Eh?" Mine uttered, seeming very puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"I just feel like you might be feeling troubled by something-"

"Oooh," Mine cut him off. "Riiight. Sorry, man, I didn't want to worry you about any of that."

"No, it's alright," he assured her. "You can talk to me about it if you're comfortable."

"I mean, if you're cool with it, then...Okay!" Mine said. "I was just thinking about us, in this place. You know what I'm saying?"

Naoko hesitated before replying. He felt like the exact meaning behind what she was saying was being lost on him. "I'm...not sure. What about this place, exactly?"

"I just, I feel like we've been here for a while, y'know?" Mine asked. "Longer than we'd want to, anyway."

"Well, yeah, I can't really argue with that," Naoko replied. "It's been a little while, for sure."

"And I'd like to get outta here. You do too, I bet," she posited.

"Right," Naoko replied. "There are a lot of things we can't do while we're trapped here."

"Yeah!" Mine said excitedly. "Once we get outta here, we can do whatever we want! We could go hiking on a forest trail! We could run around on a beach, like in those training montages in sports movies! We could, uh...We could…"

Mine trailed off for a moment, as if she was trying to think of more examples of things that they could do. Naoko, not fond of the idea of simply letting her struggle for new ideas, decided to chip in.

"We could go to a movie theater," Naoko suggested. "Y'know, watch a good movie."

Mine looked at Naoko strangely after he said this, as if she didn't understand. "Wait, what? Are you asking me out or something?"

"No, that's not what I'm doing," Naoko explained. "I'm just saying, it'd be nice to go out and watch something. We can't do that while we're in here, you know?"

"Okay, I get that. It's just that going to see a movie with someone is kind of a date-thing, right?"

"So's going hiking with someone," Naoko countered.

"Oh yeah," Mine mused. "Touché, Naoko. Still, though, hiking is exercise. Going to see a movie isn't exercise, it's something people do for fun. So it's sort of a more date-like activity."

"I can see the logic behind that," Naoko responded. "Still, at least here you can exercise if you want."

"Eeeh," Mine said, making an uncertain hand gesture. "I guess I can, but I dunno. I feel like here, in most places, there's less space. I feel like if I'm gonna exercise properly, I gotta have a lot of space, y'know?"

"I don't know how exactly much space you need to exercise," Naoko replied, "but I wouldn't think you'd need that much."

"Well, I'd like to not just exercise, but practice, since I'm a practitioner of Capoeira. You remember that?"

"I know, I know," Naoko replied.

"Yeah, and that means I gotta make sure I'm not at risk of hitting anything. Or anyone! If I'm gonna practice my moves, I need space. You know why?"

"Because it's a martial art," Naoko answered.

"Well...yeah, that's true!" Mine said. "But that's not the only big reason! If it were just 'cause it's a martial art, that'd be one thing, but it's a very specialized martial art, y'know?"

"It is?" Naoko asked.

"Yeah! You don't know?"

Naoko felt like he had to think about why exactly. His knowledge of the martial art was by no means extensive, and he felt a refresher certainly wouldn't hurt, but he also didn't want to just say that he didn't know. He felt like Mine wouldn't be very happy if he seemed ignorant of the topic...Or maybe she'd be totally understanding. Naoko wasn't actually sure about the former, but being able to guess seemed intriguing.

"Is it because it uses a lot of kicks?" Naoko guessed.

"Yeah!" Mine said exuberantly. "That's exactly right! It's not all kicks, but they're a big part of it, y'know? Because it's like dancing!"

"You've said that before, yeah," Naoko responded. "It incorporates dance, and music."

"Totally!" Mine replied. "I mean, to some people, that's all it is. People think Capoeira is all about those dramatic roundhouse kicks, and breakdancing, and stuff like that, but it's a lot more than that! You can be a total fighting machine if you're good enough!"

Naoko chuckled at this phrasing. "That's kind of a funny way of putting it."

"Well, don't underestimate me, man!" Mine boasted. "It's not just dancing for me!"

"I never thought it was," Naoko replied.

"Well, that's great!" Mine said. "Tell you what? Next time we get to talking to one another like this, how about we pick up from here? I'd love to talk to you about this more!"

Naoko nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Nice! See you when I see you!"

After saying this, Mine excitedly left Naoko's line of sight. Despite what she had said about her athleticism, it dawned on Naoko that he hadn't yet really seen much in the way of her athletic prowess. Sure, she had the muscles to back up a good deal of her claims, but that didn't mean much when she hadn't been using it. Still, if the issue she had was a shortage of space to perform, then that was understandable. Kicking wouldn't exactly be safe in a small environment. He could only imagine what would happen if she accidentally broke something...or hit someone.

That little social interaction ended up not taking very long at all, really. This was to be expected, though, and had the upside that Naoko would be able to look around a bit more. That way, he'd be able to check in on more of the others.

Then again, that was perhaps a bit concerning. Sure, it was worrisome, considering the state in which people seemed to be at the moment, but was it really right for him to think that they needed to wander around, making sure everyone was okay? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. It seemed like when things got tense between them, bad things were bound to happen to them all, so it wasn't like it would be a good idea to let things get worse between them all.

Still, they were all mostly good folk, as far as Naoko was concerned, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to have some faith in them. So when Naoko peeked into the conference room to see if anyone was there, and saw Yori standing in the room by herself, he decided to stop to speak to her.

"Oh, hey," Yori said, looking over at him. "Sorry if this surprises you. I just wanted to do some thinking in here. Does everything seem alright thus far?"

Naoko nodded. "I think things'll be fine for now. You want to talk for a bit?"

Yori raised an eyebrow at him. "Us? Sure. Not what I expected, but...Hm. Might be okay."

Naoko and Yori then began to initiate a conversation between each other. It wasn't very lively at first, but then again, Yori seemed like her heart wasn't super in it. Perhaps she just needed a little while before she was comfortable enough to really open up to him. Naoko hoped that was the case, because he felt that even still, the two of them were becoming a little bit closer.

Maybe she'd be more comfortable if she were given a present, Naoko wondered. To test this, he gave her something he figured she would probably like, that being a small rubber toy that appeared to be a stereotypical "gray alien". It was cute, if a little weird looking.

"Well, this is quaint. Thank you for this."

Though Yori, for the most part, seemed up to the task when it came to speaking to Naoko, something that Naoko couldn't shake off was a feeling that Yori was being, to put it simply, laconic. It was perhaps a bit of an unorthodox way of putting it, but it felt accurate. Yori spoke, yes, but she only did so to a certain extent, as if she was just trying to say the bare minimum necessary to hold the conversation. Was Naoko imagining it? It didn't seem that way.

"Hey," Naoko began, "I don't mean to worry you, but, well, I'm a bit worried about something."

Yori looked at him confusedly. "You being worried definitely worries me," she replied calmly. "After all, if something's bothering you, it's a sign that something is wrong."

"Well, I don't know if I'd say that something is wrong," Naoko replied.

"Then what are you worried about?"

Naoko felt a bit pressured to answer at that point, so with just a little bit of hesitation, he gave his answer.

"I feel like you aren't really talking to me that much."

Yori's eyes widened slightly. "Oh," she said in an understanding tone. "I see. That certainly makes sense. And I can explain why if you'd like."

"Are you comfortable with explaining?" Naoko asked.

"Yes, thank you for asking," Yori replied. "I said it when we first met, but I'm afraid I'm simply not good at small talk. It's not something that I can do particularly well in most cases."

"Most cases?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Yori responded. "It's not as though there aren't times I'm able to speak at length with others."

"I'm sure that that's true," Naoko replied. "Is there anything in particular you'd be interested in having a lengthy conversation about?"

"Hmmm…" Yori looked reflective for a little while. "I doubt you would be very interested. I have...I suppose you could say that my interests are rather niche."

"What are your interests, then?" Naoko asked.

"To be perfectly honest, one of my primary interests is computer programming," Yori explained. "I specialize in security analysis, after all. It's only natural that I'd develop a good understanding of how computers work."

"That makes sense to me," Naoko replied.

"It does at a basic level," Yori agreed. "However, if I were to go more in-depth, I worry that I'd not make sense to you. Even if you understood, though, you'd likely be bored by the topic."

"Well, you don't know that, do you?" Naoko inquired. "I actually think programming is really interesting."

"You do?" Yori asked curiously. "Well...even if that's the case, I'd rather not risk boring you."

"Really?" Naoko asked disappointedly. "Okay, then. What else are you interested in?"

Yori went stiff as she contemplated the question. "Science fiction," she eventually replied.

"Well, that's great!" Naoko replied happily. "Science fiction is awesome."

"I agree," Yori nodded. "Still, I'd rather not spend too much of your time speaking of it. Perhaps another time."

"Another time?" Naoko asked. "We haven't been talking for that long, though."

"I know," Yori replied. "However, like I said, this isn't my strong suit. When we're both comfortable doing so, I'm sure we could have a nice conversation."

Naoko was bothered by this, considering the fact that he felt like the two of them had just been onto something. Was it really the best idea to avoid prolonging a conversation for just a little while? Well, he thought, it'd be rude to force her to continue.

"Alright. I like the idea of us talking about science fiction, so whenever you're ready for it, we can pick this back up again."

Yori nodded. "Good. See you then."

From there, she promptly left. Naoko was surprised, really. That whole conversation was quite brief, and from what he was hearing, Yori wasn't very good at talking casually to people. He briefly considered what that meant for any future conversations between them. Would they be equally short? Maybe, but he didn't like that idea. Maybe if they spoke enough, she'd warm up to the prospect of small talk.