The ears of the yakuza and swordswoman twitched when the booming echo of an explosion reached them. Fuyuhiko stopped moving forward, Peko doing the same out of necessity. He let his eyes stare down the road, and cringed when a plume of smoke was seen floating towards the sky, leaving a black trail behind it. The sight worried him slightly, and annoyed him even more. The image of Komaeda committing an act of arson for whatever reason came to mind, and that's what he would think happened until he knew what went down.

"I think we can assume that's where everyone went, yeah?" he asked her to drum up some conversation. He kept his head straight as he awaited an answer, his eyes glancing at her sideways.

"Most likely, yes." she gave a dry, thoughtless response,.earning a sigh from Fuyuhiko.

"How are your legs feeling?" he didn't want their talk to fall flat, so he took the initiative to ask another question.

"I don't think it will be too long until I can walk on my own." at that, he clicked his tongue, catching the meaning behind her words. He looked at her and tightened the link between their arms, and gave her a light smirk.

"Don't be stupid. I'll be here to help you as long as you need me to."

"R-Right. Thank you."

"Please believe me when I say that that was an accident." after being dragged back by Akane, with a now bloodied nose, Kazuichi bowed before Hajime. He looked at his pink haired friend plainly, finally standing back up after a few seconds to observe the fire burning before the truck in front of them.

"That plane you hit is on fire," Mahiru piped up behind them, causing Soda to flinch and scramble for the truck. Before he could grab the keys from the ground he was jerked back by Hinata, who had grabbed the back of his jumpsuit with both of his hands.

After telling the blundering mechanic to stay put, Hajime gestured to Akane, the two of them now standing side by side at the trucks tailgate. Together, they started pulling the truck away from the fire with ease, making the vehicle look almost as light as paper. They stopped once they had pulled the truck a safe enough distance away, and were met with applause from everyone else but Nagito, who couldn't join in on that luxury.

"Fires gettin' bigger." Akane said as the aviation machine was now engulfed in flames. Everyone gathered around to watch the fire and all flinched at the same time when the plane, for seemingly no reason, exploded. Along with the boom came the rising of the flames, and a thin pillar of black smoke.

"Some clean clothes would be nice right now." Hajime teased Kazuichi as he peeked over his bare shoulder, arms clutching eachother tight across his chest. He even had the gall to gesture to his pile of vomit soaked clothes that were now fermenting in the sunlight. He even took it a step forward, looking down at his bare feet and wiggling his toes before saying "The ground is pretty hot, too."

"What do you want me to do, huh? Snap my fingers and wish for your stuff to be clean?"

"It would be a start."

"How would that be a start!?" Soda yelled at Hinatas smiling face, stamping his foot down to protest his being toyed with. His tormentor let out an audible chuckle, waving his hands in front of him after he turned to face the mechanic.

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm just messing with you." Soda was given a tiny bit of relief when he heard that, before he saw the look on Hinatas face turn into a flat, judgemental stare. "But if it happens again, there will be hell to pay."

Kazuichi only shook his head, not wanting to know exactly what he meant by 'hell'. With threats made and apologies expressed, the group collected themselves and went back to the task at hand: getting the barge into the water.

"Hmmm...I wonder..." the commotion following Kazuichi's blunders was engrossing enough that Nagito could simply walk away and not be noticed by anyone. Even after saying 'I'm going back to my room to change my bandages', he was not paid any mind. "Soda should be able to make a mechanical arm, right?".

"But then again, with luck like mine, maybe living with one arm won't be so bad."

"Hey, you! If I find out you had anything to do with that explosion, I'll have your head on a platter!" a few feet down the road, Komaeda spotted Kuzuryu and Pekoyama, and took the yakuza's words in stride. He said nothing in response only smiling as both parties continued walking, and dropped the expression as soon as they both were to his back. He let out a dry huff, and quickened his pace.

"Acceptance...how long until I'm not the odd man out anymore? Such a shining stepping stone I have been given. But I suppose it's to be expected. Yeah...I should expect it.." glancing at his stump reminded him of his history with his group of companions, his behavior and actions reminding him why he was treated the way he was. An exhale came from his nose, his phantom limb clenching it's fist and bringing a light pain to what was left of his arm.

For some reason he imagined an artificial limb would alieviate him of the pain, and cringed when he recalled how the pain was once something he could say gave him joy. A pain that would nourish his hope with each passing ache, he called it. A sickening view, even he thought that it was. The fact that he lived in despairs name nor too long ago was even more so.

A wave of vibrations shot up his arm when the phantom pain faded away, drawing his eyes to his empty jacket sleeve as he walked. The feeling was painful, yes, but when it was there it was almost like he had the rest of his arm again.

Things were moving along pretty quickly with the barge, as Hinata was already in the process of towing the vessel with Soda's truck. The barge was incredibly heavy, but the truck was able to pull it without much resistance. As the truck rolled out of the airfield gates and onto the road, Hajime shifted in his seat, his warm torso slowly peeling off of the leather interior when he did. It was a useless effort, though, his body sticking back to the seat once he settled.

"Do you want my shirt?" his head shot to his right, eyes bulging wide, making a blush wash over Owari's cheeks as she drifted her eyes down and away from his. Her mouth opened while she shifted in her seat, a breath coming from her throat when she stopped what she was going to say, trying to order her words appropriately. "I mean, I have this on, so..."

She was referring to her training bra, her left hand pulling it partways out of her shirt. His eyes looked down at the fabric, then back at her, the same wide eyed blank expression on his face. They both looked away at the same time, their eyes now fixed on the road ahead. Silence wasn't allowed, the purr of the engine pouring in through the open windows, the voices of the others filling the air as they sat upon the barge as it was being towed.

"I'll be fine without a shirt for now. Besides...it's pretty windy...you could get sick." and he was the one without a shirt or shoes. He leaned forward a bit, pulling his skin from the seat again before leaning back into it. Out of the corner of his vision he saw her move, shortly before feeling her sit down right next to him. His head turned slightly, to see her reach forward and turn the trucks air conditioning knob up a few notches, before she inched just a little closer to him. Their legs and arms were touching, her body head creeping onto his skin as the heat coming from vents in front of him caused his eyes to slightly narrow.

"You're the one who's gonna get sick first." she said. "If ya do, then we won't be able to spar!"

Her clenched fist playfully came down on his thigh. He laughed a bit, and let a calming exhale pass his lips.

"Yo!" Just ahead, Hajime could see Fuyuhiko and Peko on the side of the road, the boy flagging him down with a wave of his free arm. The truck sped up slightly, before stopping so that the two hitchhikers were parallel to the drivers window. "What the heck is this?"

He gestured to the truck as well as the huge barge. On the water vessel, Soda's head peaked out, having heard the question. He waved out his greeting to Kuzuryu before giving his answer.

"We're gonna use this barge to check out the other islands, maybe bring back some stuff!" being a few feet off the ground made him feel he needed to yell for some reason, Fuyuhiko giving him the side eye before looking to Hajime with a raised brow.

"And you are shirtless because?..."

"He threw up on me." Hinata gestured behind him, Fuyuhiko glancing at Kazuichi again to see him tugging at his collar. His nose twitched, subconsciously searching for an unpleasant smell, only finding the salt infused ocean breeze. "Are you two joining us? We're going to the marina right now. The one the Future Foundations ship was docked at."

Peko only looked straight ahead, leaving the choice up to Fuyuhiko. He shrugged his shoulders, saying nothing while he lead Peko around to the trucks passenger side, opening the door and helping her into the row. Hajime and Akane inched more to the drivers door to make room, all of them shoulder to shoulder as Fuyuhiko slammed his door shut, a heavy breath heard from him afterwards.

"All right!" behind them outside, Kazuichi pounded on the metal of the barge as he beckoned for the truck to set off once more. "Let's get going!"

A cold breeze made by his door shutting behind him made Nagitos body quiver, his teeth clattering once or twice as he settled back into his warmth. Taking steps forward he let his jacket slide off so he could throw it towards his bed. Entering the bathroom he stopped at the mirror, lifting up his arm to view the worn bandages wrapped around the end of his stump. Picking the end of the bandage he pulled it off in one motion, afterwards leaning over to grab the roll of medical tape he kept under the sink.

The bandages that were touching the end of his stump were more worn than the others, the black scab having rubbed off on it during the past few days. He debated to stop wrapping it, slightly, but ended up doing so anyway. He most likely did so just to stay in the habit of it. He walked out of the restroom at that, grabbing his jacket and sliding it back on, leaving the zipper undone. As he stepped out with the intent to rejoin the others, a sudden impulse popped into his head.

Some feeling, one that felt closer to intuition than anything else, had brought the idea to go to the control room to his mind. He thought about it for less than a second, before deciding to go to the building where the rest of the group still slept. After all, for such an idea to come so suddenly to mind...

It could only be a lucky occurrence, right?