Ryuko stands in front of a public bathroom sink, hair undone and hanging loosely. He turns on the water, letting it get hot to the point of hurting. He turns it off, sighs heavily and looks in the mirror. His tired eyes catch the reflection of a certain blonde and he whips around to see no one there. He turns back. "Fuck!" He shouts, jumping back.

Tanpopo sits on the sink, smiling away. "Talk about a potty mouth, heh." Ryuko looks away and Tanpopo jumps down, putting an arm around his shoulder. "What's got you so blue, my dude?"

"I…I killed someone. Everyone says I should be proud but…I don't know."

"Oh." There's an awkward few seconds of silence. "Tsubaki thinks you're a momma's boy."

"She does?"

"Yeah, yeah, she was on some strong medicine though. Pretty sure she's fine now, you wanna go see her?"

He looks away blushing and Tanpopo smiles. "Ryuko, you like her, don't you." A nervous laugh confirms it and Blondie throws his hands in the air. "I knew it! You like her and you're gonna get married, have a big wedding and I'll gladly be your best man. And after that, you'll have plenty of kids and I'll babysit at a 15% discount."

"Dude." He laughs, leaving. "I have to get back to base."

"What? You gonna write some love letters that you'll never send and then you'll regret it when she moves on?"

"I'll tell her when I'm ready."

"The sooner the better. What are you headed to base for anyway?"

"Training mostly. And something about 'administrative responsibilities'."

"Well." Tanpopo says. "That sounds boring and I'll be going. Buh-bye."

"Bye."

Day passes, night falls and Ryuko walks down the street to the hospital. Tanpopo waits for him, leaning against the hospital building and pretending like he's not loitering.

"Why are we here?" Ryuko says. "It's almost midnight and I'm supposed to be in bed."

"Trust me, this is important."

Tsubaki enters the scene with a croaking of a steel door. "Hey."

"Hi." Ryuko says, looking around for Tanpopo, who is long gone.

"Was someone out here?"

"Ah, yeah. I guess he left." He jitters nervously. "So, uh how are you?"

"I'm doing fine. I'm gonna be working in the hospital, don't know if or when I'll be on the front lines again."

"That's- that's good. I don't, heh, I wish I didn't have to fight."

"You can work here. There's plenty that need help and doctors are in very short supply. There's at least a hundred people in there and only a handful of medics, including myself, but I'm still an apprentice so I don't think I count."

He looks away. "I- I uh." He glances behind her to Tanpopo giving him a thumbs up and a smile. "I don't…think I would make a good medic." The blonde slaps his forehead.

"Yeah, you're probably right. A lot of this job is talking to people and, no offense but you're not that good at it."

"Yeah."

"Welp. I oughta be going." She turns to leave.

"Wait, Tsubaki."

She turns. "Yeah?"

"I…" He stares at the ground, like a baby deer. Tsubaki meets him face to face and they look into each other's eyes. She plants a kiss on his cheek, leaving him red and walks away.

"I'll see you later."

"Y-yeah, I'll see you later." He stands there for a while and it starts to snow. He smiles and laughs to himself, power walking back to base and keeping his head down. Akatatsu meets him at the door and he apologizes for being late. She sees the smile on his face and smiles herself as he rushes off to sleep. He lays in bed, resting a hand on his racing heart and trying to calm down. "Deep breaths." He whispers. "Deep breaths." He looks around the room. His fellow soldiers lay in rows of beds; some sleeping and others staying awake, reading books or having hushed conversations. He takes some solace in being surrounded by his allies and eventually falls asleep.