So many reviews! So many feels! Haha! That's what I read whenever fans of this show get dramatic, can't blame them. Thank you so much for so many reviews! I didn't expect for people to still be reviewing after a week has passed.

evolution

The two employees of the little coffee shop stood frozen in their places. Jessica still had her deadly gun pointed at Daryl's forehead. Her slim fingers lingered around the trigger as if she thought if touching it would cause it to blow. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead while she felt her white teeth grind against each other. On the other hand, Daryl was a lot calmer than this girl threatening his life. In fact, he was not one bit perturbed at the situation.

Daryl stepped forward, triggering Jessica to hold the gun steadier and tighter. "Jessica. Drop the gun."

"Not until you tell me why you won't see this woman!" Jessica angrily yelled back. "My father sacrificed his life so you could live. He wanted a better future for you and you still can't come to terms with your past!"

"You wouldn't know what I had to suffer back then with that runt! You were only ten years old!" Daryl icily told her down.

"And I was ten years old when I found out my father died." Jessica whispered back in a low tone. She aimed her gun again and her finger rested on the trigger. "If my father's entire worth was for a weakling, I should have ended you when you came over!" She finally pressed down.

A shot rang out throughout the shop. Luckily, no one was currently around. No soul lingered in. No soul lingered out and about. Only two were able to hear the shot that drove through the wall behind Jessica. Before she even pulled the trigger, Daryl already lunged forward and twisted her arm upwards. Her numb arm was twisted behind her head and the gun pointed at the wall behind her. At that point, Daryl already wrestled her to the ground and pinned her against the wall. He skillfully pinched down on a nerve in her wrist, making her drop the gun to the floor.

Jessica groaned in pain while she wildly shook against him. It was no use. He was bigger and tougher than her. She was only a weak child compared to him.

"Damn you..." She snarled into his face.

"Choose your words carefully, Junior Officer", Daryl reminded her and stuck the gun up her chin. "I think you've forgotten that I'm still the Major General here. Everyone in the Japanese military works under me and it won't take much for me to annihilate you."

"You can't", Jessica confidently smirked. "I know you. You can't kill what remains of your only friend."

Daryl glared back at her and shoved her back into the wall when he released her. "Brat." he muttered while he walked away. "By the way, I'm taking this with me. Kids shouldn't be playing with firearms." He tauntingly swung the gun around his pointer finger. "And cover up the hole you made."

Jessica scowled and slammed her fist into a cupboard, revealing more guns. "How can I not when you stuff this place full of guns?"

He simply ignored little Jessica. She didn't know his pain. She didn't know how it felt to feel unloved by everyone. She didn't know how betrayal felt when the only person you thought loved you hated you in the end. It happened to him twice. One resulted in a dead father and the other, the cut ties of his first and only crush. Jessica didn't know. And it was not her place to know ever. Her job was to work as a barista and a college student, not his psychiatrist.

But he wondered…how she knew as well...

-GC-

"Funell? Funell!" Tsugumi tearfully grabbed onto the robot and held it close. "I miss you so much! Don't run away ever again! Thank you so much Jessica!"

Jessica weakly cracked out a smile. "Don't thank me. I only found him at the doorstep this morning..." Her eyes flickered momentarily to the figure in the back room of this shop, carefully watching them. After a few moments, that person finally relented and went away.

Tsugumi shook her head and she tightly hugged onto Jessica. "No. You brought him back to me. That alone is worth my gratitude."

"Um...you're welcome?" Jessica quickly shook Tsugumi off. "Anyways, turn Funell on! I want to see it working!"

Tsugumi happily nodded as she turned the robot on its underside. She pressed a small button with a long coffee stirring stick within the robots surface. She turned Funell upright once again and placed it down. Beeps and whirring sounds sprung out of this little robot. The ears moved up and down as the eyes wildly turned clockwise and counter-clockwise. Little beeps of varying tones blared from the robots speakers as if it sung a tune. Funell really looked like it was alive! But the noises stopped all of a sudden. The ears stopped flapping. The eyes stopped turning. The robot ceased all movement completely as if it was never turned on in the first place.

"Funell? What's wrong? Something's missing..." Tsugumi frantically scrambled to her robotic pet. She turned it over once again and began inspecting the inside. After a few minutes, she pulled out the main hardware from inside Funell. "Here's the problem: his activation chip is missing."

"Is that bad?" Jessica did not know much about the inside of robots. She only knew how to read them.

"Yes. Very..." Tsugumi fished out some sort of device from her bag. "Luckily, I brought this chip tracker with me. I only need his code to find it." She pointed out the empty space in the hardware that showed nothing but a long set of numbers. She scanned that general area with her tracker and punched in those exact numbers. "Here it is!"

Jessica looked at the screen. She watched the entire thing pop up completely into a hologram of Tokyo! Everything was in there! Tokyo Tower was near the edge of this three dimensional map, Tsugumi's school was also nearby, and right in the center was the coffee shop. But this map was not surprising with today's technology. What did stand out was a green blinking circle that travelled down a street and was preparing to turn the corner.

"That's weird. It's moving." Tsugumi zoomed in to this moving dot. "Hey! Someone's walking away with Funell's chip! Why that jerk!"

"Tsugumi!" Jessica tried to get her attention back, but too late! Tsugumi was already running out the door. Knowing she lost her, Jessica merely put Funell away. If Daryl ever yelled at her for this, it was completely his fault. How was she supposed to know that "chip" he wanted to use belonged to someone else?

Tsugumi bolted down each street possible while carefully following her map. For every street the dot strolled on, she was dashing through many shortcuts to cut off that dot. Simple enough right? Except, even if she was at the right spot at the right time, she was going to have trouble finding which person had her chip. If she wanted to use the tracker to its full potential, everyone had to freeze completely for about ten minutes. No one's going to do that!

She was closing in! If she ran down that street and make a right turn, she'll encounter whoever has her chip! She will get that chip back! For Funell! Even if it meant tackling that guy down and forcing him to give it back!

She was almost there! Only a couple feet were left! She didn't even bother looking at her map. She just needed to run. Three. Two. One.

"Got you!" Tsugumi prepared to jump, but at the same time, she didn't. Something, no, someone held her in her place. Someone familiar...

"You..."

'Runt...why?' Daryl also stood there mesmerized by such a familiar face. That small face of hers that held the wildest smile, her violet eyes that twinkled whenever sunlight had hit it, her violet-blue hair that reached down to her butt, that weird, childish, but unique headband that made her look like a cat, he still remembered all that. But he couldn't help but be amazed when he saw her face-to-face. Of course she looked older, but she was still shorter than him and she still wore that silly headband that made her...well her. But even if she also stood expressionless and shocked, he could still remember her anger when she tried to kill him. For that...he ran.

"Huh? Wait!" Tsugumi tried to reach out to this mysterious person, but he escaped out of her reach. "That was..."

Why did she have to show up? Why did they have to meet once again? These unnerving thoughts swam through Daryl's mind as he ran. He didn't want to ever run into her again. He didn't want to remember the fight that drove them apart. He didn't want her to see the monster he was. Thus, he ran and he kept on running, hoping to put this fated encounter to rest.

He turned the block and quickly dove into one of the doors of this building. It seemed like a clothing shop. He placed himself out of view once Tsugumi came near.

"Weird. That guy disappeared..." Tsugumi fished into her purse, pulling out her tracker. "Good thing I still got this."

Even though he had hidden away, he was still able to see her clearly through the window. She pulled out some strange device, revealing a hologram of the area she was in. Something green blinked in her 3-D map, something in the same store he was.

In there!

Tsugumi ran into the store next to her. It was a simple boutique. It was clean. It was classy, so classy that anything not classy easily stood out. Like her chip. She found it! It was on a table near a stack of cashmere sweaters. Her chip was in plain sight and no longer moving.

But, who was that guy? Where was he? She took a quick glance around, but it was no use! He was already gone...

"That guy...I swear I met him before..." Tsugumi quickly grabbed her chip and ran out of that store. Her head flew left and right and all over the place, trying to catch sight of this mysterious person. No luck.

"That person…" She held onto her chip. It was warm. Like somebody left it in their pocket for some time.

-GC-

"Tsugum! You found him! Thank goodness!" Ayase raced up to her close friend and happily picked up Funell. The little robot's black orbs showed signs of rejoice before leaping off Ayase's lap and towards his little family of robots. Ayase grinned with content while she gazed on at such a loving family. "How cute. He missed his family." She turned to Tsugumi, expecting a smart response or such, instead she saw something else. "Tsugumi, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" The short woman quickly snapped back into reality. "Yeah Aya-nee?"

"Are you okay Tsugumi? Do you have a fever?" Ayase reached up to feel Tsugumi's forehead.

"U-Uh yeah! I'm fine!" Tsugumi urgently backed away with a blush rising to her cheeks. "Hey Aya-nee...have you ever met someone twice?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know...if you already met someone before and all of a sudden, you meet that person again..." Tsugumi cast her eyes down to her feet.

"Oh! You mean meeting by coincidence!" Ayase chuckled, drawing annoyance from her friend. "I've had that happen to me. That's how I joined Funeral Parlor. Believe it or not, I met Gai for the first time on the streets. The second time was when I was exiting a hospital. The rest is history."

"Oh...wow..."

Her recruitment sounded much more interesting than Tsugumi's. Fated meetings and such, that was what every girl dreamed of having. As far as Tsugumi knew, she was playing with a robot at an orphanage and the next day, she was adopted into the Funeral Parlor gang.

"You know, my mother used to tell me something about meetings like these." That promptly brought back the cat eared girl's attention. "The first is accidental, the second is coincidence, and the third...is fate." Ayase sighed. "Isn't that nice?"

Tsugumi nodded in aproval. "Yeah...sure sounds like it..."

Ayase secretly smirked at her little friend. While Tsugumi was intently staring at her feet, Ayase gave a slight nudge on her arm. "So tell me, is it a guy?"

"Huh?" Blushing madly, she quickly jumped back away from the wheelchair-bound girl. "W-Wait! Aya-nee! I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Come on! I can tell just by the look on your face!"

The red blush on Tsugumi's face grew larger. "Sh-Shut up Aya-nee!" She pouted and turned away. "Besides, why do you care so much about my personal life?"

"Because I'm one of your closest friends. So do I know this guy?"

"Aya-nee!"

-GC-

"Welcome!" Jessica quickly stood up after serving this couple their coffee and her face changed to utter glee. "Tsugumi!"

"Hi Jessica", Tsugumi politely replied and slid into one of the counter booth seats. "Can I get iced coffee."

"Coming right up!" Jessica walked back to her station at the counter and began working. "So what brings you back to this little coffeehouse?"

"I like it here. It's a good place to sit and think." Tsugumi replied as her eyes wondered around where Jessica was working. "That's a nice painting you have."

"Oh! Thank you." Jessica weakly cracked a fake smile. Good thing Tsugumi only saw that as decor than something to cover up a gunshot hole. She hastily finished putting together the drink and slid it over to Tsugumi. "Here's your drink."

"Thanks", Tsugumi passed back a couple of bills.

Before she even considered the money, Jessica took a careful look at Tsugumi's face. She looked like she was lost in space or wondering or hoping for somebody. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"Huh?" A blush soon rose to the cat girl's face, something Jessica took note of. "N-No! I mean-well..." In embarrassment, Tsugumi quickly cut off eye contact with Jessica. "Say Jessica...do you believe in fated meetings?"

"Fated meetings?"

"You know, like meeting someone again and again."

Jessica scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought. "Well... No, not really. But I believe in the chances of meeting people again and again. It's not fate, but pure luck." Jessica plucked a bill out of the money paid for the iced coffee. "Take this money for example. You paid your drink with it. It goes into the coffeehouse deposit. It can become my paycheck. I can use it to buy more clothes. The money now goes into the store deposit and can become some employee's paycheck. He or she decides to go on vacation in Hokkaido and buys something there with that money. This can go on over and over again until that money ends up in a bank and circulates back to you, Tsugumi. Now you see what I mean? Everything always circles back like a ring."

"Either fate or chance?" Tsugumi sighed. "Thanks Jessica, I sort of get it now."

Jessica warmly grinned back. "Whether it be fate or chance, you will meet again."

"Except I don't know if I want to..." The lonely teacher whispered to herself.

Jessica only shrugged in response. To be frank, she had no idea what Tsugumi was talking about this time. She had this little inkling that it might concern Daryl, but then again, she didn't know what kind of past these two had. But she did know they were going to end up meeting...as long as Tsugumi kept visiting this shop. Whatever. She didn't care at all. It was not her problem anyways. She was only here to work her shift and get Daryl's life back in order. If it included Tsugumi, then so be it.

"Jessica!"

"Someone's calling for me. Enjoy your drink." Jessica quickly hurried into the back of the shop.

The last couple minutes composed of Tsugumi sitting in her seat, admiring the simple décor, and listening in on the conversation that Jessica was having. Everything came as a muffle of sounds, but at least they were not arguing. Judging from the voices, Jessica was talking to a male, an older male. His voice was deep and smooth, but his speech contained bits of sarcasm. They seemed to be talking about hours and shifts and paychecks. How typical of employees to banter.

"I've been covering your shift for the past few days!"

"We work the same shift."

"I have to do twice the work!"

She heard Jessica yell and sounds of a scuffle. Tsugumi curiously peeked over to get a clear view of the back. She began to feel worried because of the chances of a fight was going on. No. Good thing too! It was just Jessica trying to push her male coworker out to work.

"Now get out there and start working!" Jessica finally pushed him out the pushing doors.

Tsugumi felt her straw drop to the bottom of her cup and her heart began to race quickly. This man…this person…she knew him…

They stared at each other, face-to-face, both equally afraid to utter out a single word. It became so silent between the both of them as the sounds of other customers were drowned out. They became only two in their little world, their little world that has led them to meet again and again.

For that, Tsugumi finally spoke. "Sprout?"

"Runt."

And they meet! Drama occurs. And Jessica is a Daryl/Tsugumi shipper! (More like: "I have plans to reform Daryl for my father and Tsugumi is in it) What happens next now that they meet? Will it end good or bad?

Keep on reviewing!