Hey readers! I'm glad you all like my story so much. Thank you for the many reviews and I shall reward you with a chapter…before I go on vacation for a week! Have a fun read! Also, a fun fact about this chapter's title: It came from my bio textbook…because I ran out of titles. Guilty Crown has pretty sciency titles, so it should work out.

stimulant

Silence, nothing but silence, drifted between them. The noises of beeping cars, whistling coffee pots, and chatter amongst students became irrelevant. They could not help, but ignore everything that was happening. Coffee-goers called for orders. Jessica raced on since she was the only one moving. Everything seemed to slow down in their little world.

The twenty-two year old observed the boy she met eight years ago. He had changed quite a lot. He was still slim with a muscular build. He still had that messy blonde hair and those amethyst eyes. He was even still frowning at her like he did when she gave him candy. Tsugumi couldn't help but blush a little when she found herself staring a bit too long.

Spontaneously, Tsugumi nervously laughed and avoided his gaze. "Oh sprout! It's you again! Why are you not in a mental ward?"

"Why are you still short?" He tried to counter, but even he didn't want to look right at her. He didn't want her to read his face.

"Heh. You're just as rude as ever." Tsugumi quickly turned around in her stool, now deathly afraid of how he was going act now that he saw her again. Ever since encountering him, she has gotten nothing but mixed messages. Did he want to protect her or kill her? Whose side was he on? Even when reviewing Funell's tapes, she found herself scared to death after watching a horrific scene of a GHQ soldier shooting down a mother with her child and then, the ensuing sorrow once she found out it was this guy. This person was definitely a loose cannon! Did she want to associate herself with such a person?

Daryl merely scoffed at her comment and began to walk away, much to her dissatisfaction. "If that's all you're going to say to me, then it was nice meeting you."

Tsugumi felt something stir in her stomach, something that leapt like frogs and flew like butterflies, something that made her not want to let go of this crazy person. "Wait!" She immediately shouted and turned around to see if he was still there. He was. "Can't we just talk?"

When Daryl heard his little runt call for him, he felt those feelings of happiness and warmth that were long buried away resurface once again. Those exact stirrings always made him turn crazy or unlike his usual self and they always happened in the most inconvenient times. Most, if not, all involved this runt right here. He even grew fearful of these feelings and tried to take out the source of everything: her. But, just like that time while patrolling Loop 7, he couldn't shoot. He had every chance and every weapon necessary to kill one girl...and he couldn't do it. Just because of those times, he didn't want to talk to her. He coldly glared back at this person while she gazed on curiously. "Don't want to, runt, now can you leave?"

Tsugumi felt everything crash down in her world. A wave of sadness and sorrow washed over her, but she tried to maintain whatever composure she had to smile, for him, so he can not worry. Suddenly, his heart rose and fell along her smiling face. He could tell she was faking it, that inside, she was crying. But those eyes...those closed eyes glistening with tears. They were just...beautiful, something he couldn't turn away nor let go of. Thus, Daryl couldn't do much but to stand there awkwardly with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Noticing that he was no longer rejecting her, Tsugumi cautiously walked up to him, hand reached out. The last time she touched him was shoving a candy apple into his mouth, but that was ages ago and she never knew how this person really felt. Did he have soft skin or skin as tough as leather? Was he cold or hot? How would he react? Flustered or uncaring? Tsugumi soon discovered that it was neither. When only her fingertips touched his wrist, he quickly pulled away like she still had the Apocalypse Virus.

"Don't touch me." His voice grew even colder than before.

Disappointed, the little woman pulled back her tiny hands. She diligently watched his shoulders relax and his arms dropping from their crossed positions. He didn't seem uncomfortable with her presence. What a relief! So, instead of trying to touch skin-to-skin, Tsugumi tugged onto the cuff of his sleeve. This way, she could still drag him places and not touch him. Brilliant.

"Hey! Runt!"

"You never disagreed!" Tsugumi didn't dare look back as she dragged him out. She needed answers from this person. She only managed to get him out the street and around the corner before he wrestled her off.

"What is your problem?" He yelled at her while stiffly holding his ground.

"Don't you dare treat me like this!" She yelled back with the same intensity. "How did you get out? What are you doing here?" Any previous fears soon vanished and anger replaced the empty void in her. She didn't care if this guy was busy. She didn't care if he came by force or on his own free will. All she cared about were the answers, answers that would put her rocky past to rest.

But he did not answer. He did not look at her anymore. He merely crossed his arms around his chest and ignored her as if she had not been talking at all.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Tsugumi guessed and he flinched in response. She was right. "What can you be possibly hiding now? GHQ is gone now. And I don't work under Funeral Parlor anymore. So what is it that you can't tell me? It's nothing but secrets with you!"

"Can you stop yelling at me for a second?" He angrily grumbled.

"You think I don't have the right to be mad at you?" Tsugumi's anger soared as she tearfully screamed those words. "You disappear for eight years and-"

"Why would you even care where I was for the past eight years?" He quickly interjected. "I tried to kill you. Did you forget that?" An uncomfortable lump formed on his throat when he recalled that memory. But he merely ignored it. It was for the best.

"Ah..." Tsugumi tried to say something back, but even she was rendered speechless. He brought up a good point. Why did she want to see him again?

"You see what I mean. Do you remember what I said? I can be myself again if I got rid of you. I meant it. I wanted to remain as Kill 'Em All Daryl." It was all true. He was and will always be a killer at heart.

"But you didn't kill me." Her voice was so full of hope. "Back then, you had a chance to shoot me. You knew where I was and everything, but you never pulled the trigger."

"Even so, I tried to kill everyone you knew and love: Shu, Inori, that girl in the wheelchair, and everyone in Funeral Parlor."

"But that's all in the past!" Her voice began to grow desperate. "You still can't be a crazy killer anymore!"

"Well guess what? I am!" Daryl angrily turned away and walked. "Just go away! I don't want to see you anymore!"

Why that jerk! Tsugumi gave a harsh pull on his arm in a fit of her anger. She felt every strand of her hair stood at its ends. That was how angry she was and she swore it was only this guy that has ever gotten her this angry. In his confusion and in her pure anger, the palm of her hand connected with his cheek with a deafening snap. He pulled back with surprise. She pulled back with budding tears. Right on Daryl's cheek was a small red handprint.

"Do you know what your problem is? You're so hung up in the past that you can't accept anything that comes to you. Wake up! It's been eight years already. Move on! How long is it going to take for you to accept my forgiveness? Ugh! I can't believe I wasted precious recovery time looking for you! You are such a...such a sprout!" Tsugumi angrily finished.

"You'd forgive me?" A trace of sarcasm was very apparent in his tone. As much as he hoped, no one would ever forgive a killer.

"Stupid sprout! When someone is nice to you, just shut up and accept it!"

What was she doing? How could she forgive him so easily? Tsugumi already reprimanded herself over and over again to never forgive this bastard… But, out of the blue, she did. Why did she do that?

Daryl gazed down at the petite woman. She was furious. But she was also innocent. Innocent as if she had nothing to lose. No matter what, she was telling the truth. She did forgive him. For everything he has done, she forgave him because it was merely her nature. Forgive and forget, just like any sweet person would do. Maybe that was why such a little runt intrigued him when they first met.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." He cautiously warned her. It was their last chance. There was no going back.

"Don't care."

"Fine...little runt."

"Stupid sprout."

-GC-

The hands of the disabled woman flew over a large screen of buttons and switches. The transcript she was working on continuously scrolled up the screen. All wires were connected into a single plug, which became the backside of Funell. Ayase continued performing a sequence of numbers and letters before tiredly letting out a sigh and pressing 'Enter'.

"That should do for check-up and restoration." Ayase patted Funell on his shell. "It'll only take a second."

Tsugumi called in to say that she needed to do something important, so she asked for her to check-up on Funell to make sure everything was working correctly. Ayase didn't really have much computer knowledge for these kinds of things, but she used her Endlave thinking to get things going! That and a helper's manual she found in Tsugumi's drawers.

Ayase relaxed as she leisurely leaned back to watch the random numbers and letters scroll up the screen. If it was Tsugumi, she would know what each code stood for what and then simplify it for her own amusement. That's why, whenever Ayase walked in on Tsugumi and her computer interface, she would find herself surrounded by tic-tac-toe games, levers shaped as animals, codes that were in bejeweled style, and the occasional duck block. As Tsugumi put it: Since we're messing with the enemy, might as well confuse them even more!

Ah…those Funeral Parlor days… Even though it's been a long eight years and everyone has moved on, Ayase could still remember it as if it were only yesterday.

Beep! Beep!

Alarmed, Ayase quickly sprang forward and her fingers flew over the keyboard once again. What was that? It seemed like the system discovered something foreign. After a bunch of search requests were placed, Ayase finally found it. It seems like a recorded audio file had tripped up the system. She quickly scanned the properties information of this file. It was dated around the time Funell went missing! Did he record something? Is it important? But he came back normal…unless it's a spy.

Since they were previous Funeral Parlor members, they always had to be extra careful with purist-GHQ attacks. Just because Funeral Parlor and GHQ are working together in a provisional government, it did not mean they were the best of friends. After years of fighting each other, they still considered each other enemies.

Thus, it'd be safer to check this file…

Ayase moved the cursor right over the file and clicked.

The sound was horrible. Everything sounded fuzzy and unclear. Words were hard to make out. There were also very random beeps and fizzes that came out of nowhere! But Ayase still managed to make out two voices talking.

"…from your days in GHQ? Is it GHQ property…"

"Brat…Stay out…fixed by tomorrow…shift…"

Click!

"Huh?" Ayase felt another wave of nostalgia after playing that clip. That voice…it sounded familiar. She quickly rewound the audio file and played it again and again. Each time, the quality remained the same. The voices still had the same tone. And nothing was clear enough to hear. But it was the second voice that got Ayase spurred on to keep the replay.

Just where did she hear this voice?

She jogged her memory back one year, two years, and three years and on, as long as it took to get the voice correct in her head. She knew this voice! That's a definite.

Finally, a long-buried memory sprang back up to her. It was one of the final battles during the coming of the Fourth Apocalypse. Shu had gone off on his own to fight Gai. Tsugumi and Shibungi were left behind as command center and control. Ayase and the others advanced on to protect Shu and defeat defending officers. That was where Ayase faced her biggest opponent ever: a mysterious pilot that almost tried to kill her when they first fought. She can only recognize him by his voice alone. She never saw him in person. She didn't want to see him in person seeing how much of a nut job he was.

This voice was definitely his. She could instantly recognize it anywhere. But what did he mean? Every officer that has ever committed a crime was promptly put on trial. Did this mysterious pilot escape somehow? And what did he mean by "fix"? Did he tamper with Funell? It did not look like it to Ayase since she just ran a whole system check and everything looked normal. Also, who was that other voice? It sounded like a girl.

Ayase sighed and reclined back against her comfy wheelchair again. All this thinking was giving her a headache! Maybe she should take a break or something. She's been mulling too much into the past.

Ring! Ring!

"Coming!" Ayase wheeled up to the front door, opened it up, and found a blind stick waving at the doorstep. "Shu! Welcome!" She helped bring him through the hallway and down the steps of the central living room.

"Thank you Ayase."

"No problem. So what bring you here?"

"Nothing much. I wanted to congratulate Tsugumi for finally finding Funell, but it seems she's not here." Shu sighed as he relaxed into the couch.

"Seems? How did you know?" Ayase grew curious. Shu was still blind, but he could tell that Tsugumi's presence was absent.

Shu smiled and pointed in the direction of the computer. "She's not at her usual computer. After being blind for eight years, I can sort of feel where people are through a sense of touch and hearing."

"Through your sense of touch and hearing alone? You must have superhuman senses to even feel that." Ayase exclaimed.

Shu merely shrugged. "I did wield the Void Genome…twice…maybe that has something to do with it?"

"Maybe…" Ayase sighed. "By the way, do you know where Tsugumi is? She called me to say she had something important to do but she didn't say what."

"I don't know." Shu suddenly smirked. "But, word around her students says she's been hanging around a coffee shop somewhere in the North Tokyo districts."

"Isn't that the place where students hang out and stuff?"

"Yeah! How about we give her a congratulatory surprise in find Funell again? It'll be fun!" Shu smiled for the fun that was going to ensue. "Besides, I already promised a coffee date with Tsugumi. You should join along."

"Hm…okay then…I'll meet you outside after I get ready." Ayase helped Shu maneuver his way up to the front door. "Hold on though! I need to check something."

She quickly raced back to the computers and finished whatever processes that were taking place for Funell. Afterwards, she began the shutdown process of this device. But before closing the window containing the audio file properties, her eyes caught onto something very interesting... It was the address where the audio file was taken. The address was a coffee shop…in a district…of northern Tokyo.

-GC-

"Do you remember a report about the nine survivors found underground?"

Tsugumi shook her head. "No."

"Well, I was one of the nine. Before headquarters collapsed, one of my comrades pulled me out of the Endlave operating chairs and into an elevator. Unfortunately…that cost him his life." Daryl's gaze soon fell from her as he remembered that painful memory. Even though Rowan was a nuisance sometimes, he was still the only friend he truly cared about. Now that Rowan was gone, he had nobody…until Jessica came for college. Unfortunately or fortunately, she was the spitting image of Rowan. All she needed was a pair of glasses and a green hat.

"Is something wrong?" Tsugumi tried to pat him on the back, but he quickly pulled away.

"Nothing", he continued on with his tale. "The nine of us were stuck underground for a week before UN soldiers dug us out. At that time, they were still arresting and charging GHQ soldiers. But they saw how bad the condition I was in and I was so young; they all couldn't believe I was a GHQ pilot. By then, all records were destroyed due to the main building collapsing. So, with no hard evidence, they assumed I was one of GHQ's experimental children and basically set me free. Few years later, the provisional government found files of my father and recruited me back in. That's why I'm still here."

Recruited him? Now what could that mean? Was he still a part of GHQ? Is it safe now to be getting so close to him? She didn't know or rather not know. Tsugumi liked this moment between them too much to ruin it. But even so...she felt her trust waver for a bit.

"Still here? Where would you have gone?"

"Probably back to America. If not, somewhere in Europe."

Is he alone? Just like her? "So, you don't have a home to return to?"

Daryl scowled. "Why are you getting so personal?"

Tsugumi pouted and she stuck out her tongue at him. "Sorry!" She haughtily turned back to face the pond they were sitting nearby. Looking closely, she could make out her reflection in the water and his reflection right next to hers. Both of them stared into the water. They were similar: the stares. She could tell. They were both lonely. "You know…I'm like you. I don't have a family. Ever since I was a child, I lived in an orphanage. Nobody wanted to play with me, so I played alone. It was only when Gai came that I finally felt like I had a real family."

After she told her story, Daryl began to feel more at ease with her. He felt she was that one person he could definitely trust. No one else had this. Not his dad. Not Segai. Not Rowan or even his living daughter. It was only her.

"When I was around ten years old, my mother sent me here alone to find my father. She wanted a better chance of living for me, but she gave me nothing; only a suitcase with clothes and my last name. I had to search through an unknown country to find that my father was serving as a GHQ officer. After finding him, he had no choice but to take me in. Even as we both rose up the ranks, he still treated me like an unwanted nuisance and ignored me every chance he got."

Tsugumi gasped, "How horrible!"

"He's dead now." Daryl sighed and got up from their sitting point. "Let's go runt. Jessica is probably pissed right now because I'm skipping work again."

"Aye!" Tsugumi began to stand, but she suddenly stopped in between. "Runt? Do you even know my real name?"

"No…"

"Tsugumi." She held out her hand for him. But nothing happened. "Why aren't you shaking hands?"

Daryl felt heat rise to his cheeks and he embarrassingly turned away. "I don't like touching people. Sorry."

"No touching?" Tsugumi pouted and stubbornly grabbed his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you again, Kill 'Em All Daryl."

"Hey! Get off!" He angrily shook her grip off as if she contained a parasite. "I mean it! Don't touch me. And my name is Daryl Yan."

Tsugumi sighed and held up her hands in defeat. "Fine, I won't touch you. Geez! How can you be outside when you're so mysophobic?"

"It's not!-I mean-" Daryl tried to speak up, but no cohesive words could form. Instead, he quickly shut his mouth and began to walk away. "Let's go runt."

"Tsugumi!" She corrected him.

But nonetheless, she also walked side-by-side with him. The more they walked, the closer she got to him. She was close, almost by a centimeter, but she still made no contact with him. He did not seem to mind since he did not try to separate. She was walking so close by, she felt like she was emotionally getting closer to this mysterious person.

But he was still a GHQ officer…can she trust him again?

And so they meet and it was probably a little better than you imagined. Surely, with Tsugumi's big heart, it's not hard for Daryl to like her again. Ahh! My ship! But things are still a little rocky between them…now to add Ayase and Shu into the mix. Jessica can watch. If I see a lot of reviews after my vacation, I shall quickly write up the next chapter!