Lucca and Rei may not call it a date, but it's a date by definition.

POV: 1st Person, Rei Nasu

What do I do? Do I try and make something for Lucca? Maybe a cup of coffee— No, Kitora told me to avoid that. What exactly makes Lucca so scary when he gets a large dose of caffeine? Aria's going to be there also, so will that be weird?

"Nasu-senpai! I'm heading out. Try to have fun, alright?"

Sure, like I can do that when I'm panicking over what I should do when Lucca gets here. Movies are going to be part of it, but I don't know what else we'll be doing.

"Oh! It's snowing outside." Kumagai said.

Huh? I looked outside to see a light layer of snow on the ground. That's a rare occurrence. You pretty much never see snow here.

A few minutes after Kumagai left, I heard talking outside the door.

"Oh come on, Aria. How was I supposed to know that Meeden was going to get this cold? No one from the squad ever told us about this kind of weather. Besides, how was I supposed to prepare for it when I was out buying some stuff?"

Maybe I should make some hot chocolate. That would probably help with the cold.

A short pause later, the voice (clearly Lucca), continued. "Give me a break. You were the one who asked me to create a new link-up system so you didn't have to use my eyes and ears all the time when we're outside the base. I can't be bothered to worry about the cold."

A short moment later, I could hear knocking at the door. Even though I probably should have just opened it when I heard Lucca's voice, I took my time and opened the door to a very chilled Lucca, who was wearing a very thin jacket. Clearly not prepared for the cold.

"Alright, w-what was all that crunchy starchy stuff on the ground?" Lucca asked, teeth chattering.

"Starchy?" That's the first time I've heard snow described like that.

"Well, it s-sounds like starch when I step on it."

I had a small giggle at this. "It's called snow, it's technically little bits of frozen water that usually appears in winter. Japan doesn't get that much snow though, so you rarely ever see this much."

So it is snow. Just like what they have over in Kion. I told you, Lucca! Aria's voice came out of nowhere.

I blinked. "Did I just hear Aria's voice?"

"Oh yeah, that." Lucca said, pulling out what appeared to be a 360 degree camera with a speaker attached to it. "Aria and I went to go buy this s-stuff so that she didn't have to look at everything from my eyes all the time. I-it gets somewhat tiring s-seeing things from my eyes. Took us about an hour to link up everything, but it was worth it. It also has a s-speaker so she can talk. Ayatsuji helped us set it up. It's p-pretty neat."

Not to mention that I won't be stuck having to see what Lucca sees. I can look around on my own with this camera. Next thing we need to do is add legs to this so I can move also. Also, Lucca, your teeth are chattering.

"Alright, first get in. You're going to catch a cold if you stand out there." I said.

"T-thanks." Lucca's teeth chattered.

Once he got in and took a few minutes warming up, we continued on. "So you're restoring Aria's ability to move independently?"

Lucca chuckled, placing Aria's makeshift camera on the counter. "Pretty much. Though on a different note, why haven't I seen it snow before?"

"Probably because we don't get that much snow here. The conditions usually aren't optimal for us to have snow in this area. By the way, what's Kion?"

"Oh yeah, Kion. One of the stronger defensive nations in the Neighborhood, they're pretty much the land of eternal winter. Last I remember, they weren't on friendly terms with Liberi, though that might have to do with the fact that Liberi is currently on a five-battle winning streak against them, even without me commanding. But I digress. Is snow just there or is there something that people do with it?"

I let myself reminisce a bit as I thought about it. "Well, if there's more snow, people do play in it from time to time. There are a lot of things that you can do with snow."

"Like what?"

"Hold on a second." I may be acting a little bit impulsive, but Lucca's reaction is going to be well worth it.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca Dux

I watched as Rei put on a heavy jacket along with some gloves and went out, apparently to do something. It took only a moment later for me to find out what it was. I have to say, I did not expect her throwing arm to be that good. I got a face full of snow.

"Snowball fights are pretty fun when there's enough snow on the ground." Rei said with a light laugh, though I'm pretty sure that she was resisting the urge to laugh even more.

As I wiped the snow off my face, I couldn't help but smile as well. It was pretty funny, after all. "I'm going to have to remember that for the next time it snows."

"You might have to wait a while then. It's only about a month until spring and it usually doesn't snow here. Winter's the only time that it snows, if it does at all."

I sighed. "A pity. So what's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I did pick out a couple of movies that probably won't scare you like that one horror movie did, so that's an option."

I shuddered. Never that movie again. As long as it doesn't involve all that blood streaming down the eyes, I should be alright…

POV Change: 1st Person, Aria Dux

This is such a nice change from what I usually see from Lucca. He's really happy now. Usually he just stays all composed and concerned for people, never really smiling happily. Even in the squad, he barely ever cracks a smile, unless he's feeling somewhat embarrassed or he's cooking. Maybe when he's feeling rather teasing as well. It kind of makes him like Kitora in a sense.

But here, he's so much more relaxed. It's like being with Rei puts him at ease. I think they've gone through like three movies already, laughing together and enjoying hot chocolate. Rei seems to be nodding off though. So glad that I'm not stuck to looking through Lucca's eyes. It gives me completely unhindered view of the movie. It's still fascinating how Meeden has people dedicated to creating these effects that make them look realistic, if rather unfeasible.

"There's no way that spear should've gone that far through his body. Given the speed using a human's reaction time and the slow motion effects used to measure the force with which it was hurled, the spear should have gone at best half a meter through his body. Probably should've severed his spine as well, given the entry and exit point of the wound. Thus, the spear should not have hit the second person."

And then there's Lucca, who simply must find fault with everything. I guess. Can't blame him though. His side effect probably drives him nuts at times.

On the other hand, Rei looked rather green. "That's… a gruesome image."

Could be worse, you know. You could have Lucca's side effect and end up making all these analyses by accident.

One horror movie later though, Lucca was once again shivering in the corner, while Rei patted him on the back and tried to get him back up. It was pretty funny to watch.

As the two of them continued watching movies, I noticed Rei slowly getting closer and closer to Lucca as she continued explaining the kind of entertainment that people got from each genre of movies.

A couple hours later, Rei fell asleep on Lucca's shoulder.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca

I noticed a slight weight on my shoulder while we were watching our third movie. Rei had fallen asleep without me noticing.

She must be really tired. I wonder how long she took to pick these movies. Must have been a while.

You might want to get her to bed. Probably for the best that she gets proper rest.

"Yeah, you're right, Aria. Mind watching over her until she wakes up so she doesn't get confused? I'm going to make dinner."

Sure! No problem at all.

I carried Rei over to her bed before lying her down in it and pulling a blanket over her. She's probably really tired. I grabbed Aria's camera for good measure as well, just to make sure she was alright.

It's weird, though. Being with Rei makes me relax naturally. I can forget being all about protocol and professionalism when I'm with her. It makes me… happy, I guess. I want to protect that to the best of my ability. Which is why I proceeded with what I did next.

Lucca, what are you doing? Aria asked with some alarm.

I ignored Aria, instead bending down over Rei and kissing her on the forehead. Twice. It's a simple gesture to everyone else, but in Liberi, it has a very special meaning. "If you will have it, I will be your shield for all eternity."

Lucca… are you sure you want to do this? You know the implications of what you just did, right? Aria asked.

"I'm sure, Aria."

Aria took a few seconds to think about what I did before finally responding. It's your life, Lucca. If you really believe that what you're doing is the right choice, then I won't stop you.

"Thanks, Aria."

POV Change: 1st Person, Rei Nasu

Dinner must have almost been ready when I woke up, because the smell of the food practically wafted up into my room as I opened my eyes.

Oh! You're awake.

I turned to the stand where Aria's makeshift camera stand was, apparently keeping watch the entire time.

"What happened?" I asked her.

Well, you fell asleep, Lucca carried you upstairs, kissed you twice on the forehead, and then went down to make dinner. Don't worry about getting up, by the way. Lucca's bringing the food up once he finishes cooking.

I felt my face heat up. "He carried me upstairs? And kissed me?"

Don't get the wrong idea regarding the kiss. In Liberi, we have a very different meaning for giving two kisses to the forehead.

That got my attention. "What does the double kiss on the forehead mean?"

The Difand oath, named after the first person who swore this oath. It's an oath of ultimate dedication. Even the personal guard of most people don't swear this oath. Lucca's guard was an exception to this rule, as each and every single one of them was our friend as well as guard.

"So what does it mean?"

It's the equivalent of saying this: 'If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.' Quite literally the ultimate oath. While there's nothing physically binding about it, the one who swears this oath is usually completely willing to lay down his or her life the person whom they swear the oath to. Outside of Lucca's guard, I have seen this oath used only once. I've even heard that in the past, people who swore this oath would become black triggers so that they could continue to protect their charges even in death.

I could only sit there shocked. Lucca? Willing to lay his life down for me? We've only known each other for a couple of weeks. How could he do that so quickly?

Don't worry about it. If anything, I'd say you're making progress.

"Is there anything I should do in response to this oath?"

Don't reject it. There are some oaths out there you simply do not reject. This is one of them.

"Well, how do I accept it then?" I asked.

Kiss his forehead. It's how you accept his oath of protection. There's some verbal things that go along with this, but that's not the important part of the oath.

"I mean, is there something verbal that I can do?"

Well, yes. I can try and teach you the words, but I don't remember them completely.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca

I carried the tray with dinner upstairs. To my (slight) surprise, Rei was awake.

"Oh. You're awake."

Rei blinked in surprise. "Aria said literally the same thing when I woke up."

I shrugged. "We're twins. We're bound to have a lot of things that we do similarly."

After all, that is what we do best. But that aside, Rei has something that she wants to tell you, Lucca.

"Hmm?"

It took Rei a few moments to gather her words. "I accept this oath. Just as you are bound to me, so I am bound to you. From now until forever."

She finished the ritual with a kiss to my forehead. I shook my head in amusement. "I'm guessing Aria taught you that. There's just one thing though. The last line isn't 'From now until forever'."

Wait, you mean I messed it up? Aria asked.

I nodded. "The correct words are actually 'Until fate decrees us separate.'"

Well EXCUSE me for not getting it right.

Rei pouted. "And I put so much work into memorizing it too."

"The only thing you needed to do was kiss the forehead, so it really doesn't matter. But all oath-swearing stuff aside, let's eat. Carrying this tray is starting to get a little tiring."

I heard the door opening a moment later, which didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was the voices.

"Rei, are you home?" An older, male voice asked from below.

"She's probably asleep, dear. No need to worry about her now."

Rei clearly thought otherwise, as she rushed as fast as her body would let her downstairs. I followed right behind her, putting Aria's camera stand in my body.

When we got downstairs, Rei practically ran up to the two people who had entered and gave them a hug. "Okaa-san! Otou-san! You're back from your business trip."

Rei's mother chuckled. "Well, looks like I was wrong about her being asleep."

I will not lie, I was somewhat envious of the scene before me. Aria and I were never able to really enjoy a family environment like this. Well, there was Lucian, but he was more like a surrogate father for us.

"Well, Rei? Are you going to introduce us to your friend?" Her father asked.

Oh. Well this is awkward. Rei seemed to realize this at the same moment as me, as she started explaining the best she could without straight up mentioning that I was a Neighbor. "This is Lucca Dux. He's the newest member of Arashiyama Squad at Border, and a foreigner."

Well, she's technically not wrong. The only problem with wording it like that is…

"Really? So what are you doing at our home, Lucca?"

I scratched the back of my head in slight embarrassment. "Well, your daughter and I first became friends when I first moved in. She helped me with a lot of the culture shock I was experiencing at the time."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I invited him, otou-san." Rei said. "He wanted to learn more about movies, so I invited him to watch a few with me."

Rei's father raised his eyebrow at me. "Did you not have movies where you came from, Mr…?"

I realized he didn't know my last name. "Dux, sir. That's my last name. And no, there were no movies where I come from."

"And where do you come from?" Rei's mother asked.

Shit. No way out of this. I took a deep breath. "Try not to panic when, but I come from the other side of this world. I'm what you call a Neighbor."

POV Change: 1st Person, Rei Nasu

The biggest shock to both me and Lucca was that my parents didn't instantly panic or try to kick him out of the house/kill him. Instead, my father just blinked in surprise. "A Neighbor? You certainly don't look like one of those large things that we see in the news."

Lucca blinked in surprise. "You're not going to panic? Or try to kill me?"

"Well, you certainly haven't given us a reason to. I can see why you tried to avoid telling us you're a Neighbor, but compared to all perceptions of them, you don't really look like them."

"Probably because public perception of Neighbors is that they're the white things with creepy eyes that the rest of us call trion soldiers. Biologically speaking, I'm pretty much human. There might be some slight differences, but I haven't really seen them."

Mother sighed. "Why don't we talk about this over dinner? You must be hungry."

Lucca scratched the back of his head. "Not really… I can cook pretty much anything, and I had just finished cooking dinner for your daughter when you got here. I can probably take a few minutes to cook a couple more dishes and then we can all eat together."

For some reason, both of my parents' eyes lit us when he mentioned this. "Well if that's what you want, then we'll certainly take you up on your offer." My father said.

I didn't let it show, but I was somewhat exasperated. This is going to be a long night.

After Lucca finally left, and I was about to go sleep, my mother came to my room to ask a question. "Rei, do you like Lucca?"

Obviously enough, I was not expecting that question. "W-where is this coming from?"

I got a chuckle as a response. "Well that answers my question. It seemed somewhat obvious from the way that you were acting around him, as if you thought we wouldn't approve or something. And he does seem like a good man."

"Okaa-san, I'm only 17."

"So? 17 isn't too early to start thinking about your future."

"Just let me sleep." I turned over in my bed to hide my embarrassment. First my squad, then Arashiyama Squad, now my parents are getting into this too. I get the feeling this isn't going away anytime soon.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca Dux

Enlistment started relatively early the next day, which sucked. I was still a tad bit sleepy. I mean, I'm used to having to stay up for days on end (There was this one time where I had to coordinate Liberi's defenses for more than five days without rest simply because the enemy nation was stubbornly stupid about throwing out their resources to attack us. It was easily the most tediously tiring battle that I have ever had to manage to date), but there's a huge difference between staying up late to get important stuff done and staying up late to explain to someone's parents what a Neighbor is doing in their world. What was even stranger was that they didn't seem particularly adverse to the idea that their daughter was friends with a Neighbor. If anything, they were more curious about what it was like in the Neighborhood.

"Someone looks tired. Spend a long time at your girlfriend's house?" Satori asked, apparently feeling mischievous.

I responded by punching him in the face, which sent him flying across the room. "We're not dating."

Kitora sighed. "You could at least be a little bit less volatile with Satori teases you like that. I mean, sure you had a long day yesterday, but reacting like that isn't necessary."

Exhaustion makes vile people out of the best of us. Not that I would know, anyway. If anything, I was always one to sleep too much. Aria said.

"Fair enough. But did you spend a while there? It's not like you had to be there all day."

"You try telling someone's parents that you're a Neighbor and get away without them asking any questions." I said.

Tokieda frowned. "They didn't react badly, did they?"

I shook my head. "That's the part that confuses me. If anything, they were more curious about what life was like in the Neighborhood."

Kitora blinked in surprise. "That's… interesting."

"That's one way of putting it." I grumbled under my breath.

Arashiyama handed me a datapad. "Anyway, here's the list of all the new trainees coming in today. Once we split the group, your job will be to observe the trainees and note the ones that seem to do better in some areas then others. You'll be in the control room with Suwa and Tsutsumi. They have close-up view of all the training rooms."

I nodded. "That'll help me analyze each trainee better as they begin each session. I'll have Aria send down data of anyone who I think is good at something else that doesn't involve cutting or blowing up trion soldiers."

"Sounds good. Keep us updated as things go along."

"Right. I'll see you at the training room, squad leader."

"Eh? You're not going to stay for the introduction?" Kitora asked.

I shook my head. "I don't like standing around as a mascot. I only stood on ceremony back in Liberi because I was ordered to."

"Well then, as your squad leader, I order you to stay for the ceremony along with the rest of us." Arashiyama said with a slight smile, knowing exactly how I would respond to an order.

Dammit.

POV Change: 1st Person, Jun Arashiyama

General Manager Shinoda welcomed the new trainees with one of his speeches. "Welcome, I am General Manager Masafumi Shinoda. As of today, you are all C-class members, which means you are all trainees at Border. Regardless, the future of the people of Mikado City depends on you and all who will join in the future."

"Rather dark for an introduction, don't you think?" Lucca asked from where we were standing offstage.

"Don't be a killjoy, Lucca. He's being honest with them. This is an important job, after all." I said.

"Hey, it's a nice introduction. It's just a little dark." Lucca replied.

That was all the time we had for small talk, as the General Manager threw things over to us. "Arashiyama Squad will handle the rest of the explanation from here."

With that, we walked onstage, with two people standing on either side of me. I put Lucca next to Kitora so Satori wouldn't get punched in the face again.

"It's Arashiyama Squad! The real deal!"

"Arashiyama-san!"

"Is that a new member of theirs?"

"Are those eyes real? They look really cool."

Well, everyone's popular. Aria commented with an amused air.

We couldn't really respond because everyone was looking. Once things died down though, I started talking. "Alright, before we get on with your first day at Border, we'll split up the group according to position. People aspiring to be attackers and gunners will stay here, while the snipers will follow our member Satori to their training location."

As the snipers started filing out (there were eight or nine this time around), Lucca whispered in my ear. "What did he mean, are my eyes real? How could they not be real?"

"Hey, you are literally the only person I know who has silver eyes. Give them a break."

"Yet you guys seem to have everything else in the color spectrum when it comes to eye color." Lucca muttered under his breath.

Well, when he puts it like that… Oh. Satori left already. Need to address everyone else.

"As for the rest of you, follow me to the training rooms. Your training will begin there."

Once we got to the training room, Lucca excused himself to go to the control area with Suwa and Tsutsumi. He'll be able to give us a good overview from there.

"We'll start training off with a fighting exercise against a beginner-level Neighbor. It's been downsized for the sake of size, but I still encourage you guys to do your best to get as high of a score as you can."

POV Change: 1st Person, Ai Kitora

Once the first round of the training exercise started, I started scanning the crowd for signs of anyone who would be potentially good. Lucca beat me to it though.

Aria to Kitora, are you there?

I pressed my hand to my ear. "I'm here. Did Lucca find anything yet, Aria?"

Lucca says the people in rooms 1 and 2 are probably going to be trigger-happy and waste trion, and to expect the person in room 5 to get the exercise done in less than 40 seconds. Rooms 3 and 4 will probably take anywhere between three to five minutes if they manage to succeed.

After seeing Lucca do more ridiculous things over these few weeks that I've known him, I'm not going to bother questioning his judgement. I checked the list to see who was in Room 5 at the moment. Other than the fact that she was a foreigner (American) by the name of Andrea Blake, nothing really stood out. Rooms 1 and 2 appeared to be twins by the name of Yoshi and Yuji Araki, while Room 3 was another foreigner (German) by the name of Richard Adler and Room 4 was a middle school student by the name of Eri Sakata.

True to Lucca's word, the twins were trigger-happy to a fault. While they did cause a lot of damage to the bamster that they were each fighting, they were unsuccessful in actually defeating it. Richard Adler did alright, taking about four minutes while Eri Sakata took only two and a half minutes (I could hear Aria making fun of Lucca in the background) to finish her exercise. Andrea was the one that was the least surprising as she finished in 36 seconds.

Aria contacted me directly a few seconds later. Lucca's got the next round of analyses ready. And he thinks he might have found someone with some disposition for strategy. Want to hear it?

"Alright, who does he think it is?"

Lucca really has a knack for this kind of thing.

That's a wrap on this chapter.

Not sure what I want to focus on just yet next chapter. I'll update this chapter with next chapter's focus once I decide.

On a more fun note: Once I finish my next chapter of Reaching Out, I'll be at a 1 to 2 ratio for chapters. (Reaching Out 2, Promises 1).

Also: Every time I'm about to post a new chapter for Reaching Out or Promises, I always somehow end up mixing up the names of the main characters. It's happened to me at least 3 times now.