XVI

Sense of guilt

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Mako grew increasingly worried as time went on. It had already been close to two hours since she had received a phone call from Bando. Aside from that, she was getting annoyed as the hours went by. Already, she feared that she wouldn't be worth much at work. Getting up, she made her way to the kitchen, offering a small prayer for Kyou having already been so foresighted as she smelled the fresh coffee.

"Thank you dear," she mentioned as she saw the pot standing there, smelling the aroma coming from it. "You think of everything, don't you?"

Reaching out to grab herself a cup, she noticed that one had already been prepared for her, one that read mom on the side. Mako couldn't help but smile a little as she read it. It was enough to make her forget her worries and irritation for the time being as she thought about her two daughters. Sure there were issues with them, most from of Kyou though.

Returning back to her seat, she asked herself if it would be possible to ever let them enjoy a truly normal life; going to school, making friends, going out, dating, and boyfriends. Oh, there were so many things that either of them had to experience yet.

A lot of thoughts were swirling through her mind. Had it been the right thing to do to keep the girls locked inside? Might it not have been better to allow them to go to school along with Saeko? To let them truly enjoy a life outside. After all, right now they had just switched the walls from one place to another.

Part of it was because of what had happened during last weekend. It had—in a way—given her some food for thought. Although Kyou had thrown down one serious tantrum, she did have a point with some of her ranting. Mako sighed as she thought about it.

"… Oka-san…?" The voice drifted towards her gently. It didn't come as a surprise to her though she had hoped they would have stayed in bed a little longer. Turning her head, she could see the two of them standing there, holding hands as they seemed to wait for her say that it was alright to come in. They were still kids and kids needed enough rest.

That said she knew that she couldn't get them to go back to sleep. One glance at their faces made it all too clear that they were pretty anxious to see their father come back home safely.

"Thank you both for having help me get everything ready. If you want, you can get yourselves some cocoa, I'll even let you have a couple of extra marshmallows and let you make it super sweet." She gave a quick wink to which both Kyou and Ryou made a dash for the drawers.

"Just don't tell your father about this, alright?"

Still giggling with enthusiasm, they nodded though Mako actually wondered if they had understood her, not like it mattered all that much to be honest. They were enjoying themselves and that was what mattered more to her. Maybe it would also do the same for them as what Kyou's gesture had done for her—take away some of that worry and anxiety.

Finally finished with making their own special cocoa Ryou was the first one to come sit next to her, Kyou still being busy in making her's. "… Oka-san? Will oto-san be back soon? I really want to see him before I go back to bed? I missed oto-san tucking me in…" She whispered keeping her voice down.

Placing an arm around her shoulders, Mako told her that she expected them both to come home any moment now. If Ryou could wait a little longer then she would get to see her father again. But she also cautioned Ryou that he could be in a bad shape, that he might need some help. By now Kyou had finished and joined them, taking her place on the other side.

Taking a sip from her cup, she waited before making the painful question. "That baka ossan got oto-san into trouble again didn't he? Why does oto-san keep going along with that maniac? Oto-san should stay at home here with us."

A nod from Ryou told her that she agreed to that. There was simply no excuse for him being out during the night. Their father belonged with them, period.

Letting out a quick sigh, Mako had to agree with them but then she was fully aware on why Dai went out on such dangerous trips. She felt guilty about not being able to tell the girls but she feared just like the others that if they were to learn the truth the girls would only get more scared.

After all, what could scare the girls more than knowing that there were still people out there hunting down the last few surviving Diclonius. Those kinds of people would stop at nothing to achieve their goals and only through keeping their existence a secret would it be possible for the girls to have a chance at leading a normal life.

No, they couldn't allow them to learn the truth. As painful as it may seem, it was in the girls' best interest to keep them unaware of the dangers that still lurked out there.

Slowly, the car came to a halt. It had been a long and tiring journey and for Dai it couldn't have ended any sooner. Leaning back in his seat, he looked at Bando who seemed to have dozed off due to the painkillers he had been forced to take. The bandage on his leg had turned crimson by now and Dai wondered if he hadn't lost too much blood.

Turning his attention back to the street, he waited for a few moments to make sure nobody would be out. Right now he preferred it if nobody were to see either of them. Satisfied that nobody was out on the streets, he unbuckled and left the car before turning over towards Bando's side. Already he fully expected the man to refuse any offer for support but right now they needed to get into the house and fast.

His own body had been worn down by the exhaustion and honestly, although he did consider just leaving the man on the street even if resisted, he was also aware that tomorrow it was going to cause problems. Besides, that it would come in handy later to have Bando in his debt.

"Bando, wake up." He gave him a quick nudge without effect. "Guess that stuff really got to you eh? Come on wake up sleepyhead." He gave a harder nudge this time enjoying this rare opportunity. Wasn't going to appear for a long while he figured so he'd better enjoy the opportunity this offered.

"Bando! Come on! We need to leave now!" Finally, with one last and substantially hard nudge, Bando woke up though the look in his eyes told already enough.

"I'm already awake Hirano! Now shut up and give me a hand!" Pulling himself out of the car, Bando groaned and cursed as he leaned against the roof. The pain in his leg was starting to get worse, the strain on his face clearly visible.

"You look terrible; I think those meds are starting to wear off," Dai commented.

"No shit! Are you fucking kidding me?! Now stop loafing around and help me to the fucking door or so help me God I will shove your head through the fucking door! Now get going!"

The saliva dripped from his mouth as he spat the words. He was in no mood for any remarks.

Pushing those words aside Dai helped him, knowing well that even despite the harshness Bando hadn't mean it. It was just the pain slowly starting to get to him. People could get really on edge if they were suffering from enough pain and he could well imagine how the pain must have crept up on him during their ride even with the painkillers.

Getting across the street, Dai joked. "We sure are a mess, aren't we? I doubt we could even deal with a low street punk if we were to run into one now," he laughed as if it meant nothing even though his own body spasmed in pain.

Letting out little more than a growl, Bando wasn't going to respond to that. In his mind, he could deal with any punk even if he was in tatters. Right now, he could do with some rest.

As they approached the house, the door opened already and the prayer that Dai was about to speak died in his throat as they stood there, their arms crossed over their chests. The look in their eyes did not make the two men feel any better.

"Hirano. Judging by that I'd say we're in trouble."

As he found it hard to swallow, Dai could do little more than to agree with him. Just when he thought they had made it home safely. This night's suffering wasn't over for them yet.

Rolling over in her futon, Mayu was feeling restless. In truth, she hadn't been able to ease her worries well ever since she'd left Mei's house. Something had kept nagging in the back of her head that somehow it wasn't right, that it didn't make sense.

Hearing the snoring coming from Nana, she envied her sister for being able to sleep, for herself she just kept worrying as to why Mei hadn't shown up to school when she had seemed so enthusiast about it on Sunday.

Maybe she had gotten sick during the night and if that was so then Mayu was likely worrying over nothing but what still kept plaguing her was that nobody opened the door on two occasions. 'Why can't I shake this uneasy feeling?' she sighed in response to that thought.

Surely there had to be a logical reason that would make sense to her. Well perhaps Mei had been sick enough that she couldn't open the door and her parents weren't at home, that made sense. 'Her parents are really busy, she said so herself. With nobody home and her being really sick it makes sense why nobody answered the door. Maybe she was asleep as well?'

The more she kept thinking about it the more her worries grew. She tried to come up with reasonable explanations in an effort to make her worries go away and yet they remained.

'Tomorrow I will go visit her again. If nobody else is at home during the day she has to be pretty lonely being all by herself. I'm sure she would like having me visit and keep her company. Well at least until her parents come home. Yeah that's what I'll do after school.'

Briefly, she even considered in skipping school or to pretend to be sick in order to go over to Mei's house sooner but she dismissed those thoughts, that wasn't like her. Not to mention that Mei was likely going to be upset anyway if Mayu were to do such a dumb thing. Who was she trying to fool here, Mei never followed her own advice when it came to friends. She was always more than willing to throw everything aside to help those she cared for, didn't matter if her actions could possibly jeopardize her own future.

'What do I do? Mei-san might be a little angry with me if I do that but I can't just leave her on her own, then again it wouldn't be bad if I could help her keeping up with homework.'

She still had to hand over the report she had gotten from their club president, Mei needed to have that delivered anyway. That seemed to settle it for Mayu. She would just go to school, gather what material she could to help Mei keep up, and then after go visit her.

'I would need to ask Aki-san tomorrow. He likely will have kept note of her assignments. If not, I could always ask her homeroom teacher.'

Thinking about it further she noticed that her worries and anxiety started to disappear, she was becoming more at ease and relaxed. Yeah, that was exactly what she was going to do. She would make sure to help Mei as much as she possibly could. Finally, she found the peace to close her eyes and fall asleep. Her troubles for the time being gone.

Dai grunted as he felt the sting of the disinfectant that Ryou applied to his cheek. "O-Oto-san you shouldn't move, that will make it sting even more. You need to stay still," she told him, holding the cotton still in her hand.

"Oto-san…!" She objected as the moment she approached him again he winced a little. "I told you to stay still, please, stop moving."

Well at least she wasn't holding a needle Dai told himself. That didn't make it feel any less pleasant as he was certain Mako had picked the most painful disinfectant on purpose.

"… Oto-san, it is your own fault. You should have stayed at home with oka-san, onee-chan and me. You shouldn't go out and get yourself hurt. W-We were so worried about you," she whispered as this time she was much gentler in applying the disinfected.

From his point, he could just barely see the tears in her eyes. It made him feel guilty about having gone out. It never was easy for him when he got back. Every time he would be confronted by the tears in their eyes. He felt like he was the villain here.

"I know dear but I had to. I had really wanted to stay with you," he admitted to that even though the words felt heavy. He wished that he could promise her that he wasn't going to leave them again but he knew just as well that such a promise would be an empty one.

"…W-Will you be going out again?" she asked, the hesitance and fear apparent in her voice. She didn't try to meet his look, her eyes downcast as she started to drag her feet from left to right across the floor.

There was a lump stuck in his throat as he noticed it. He had better choose his next words carefully as the wrong choice would likely get Ryou to burst into tears. She wasn't making this any less painful for him. Right now, he was just praying that he would have gotten the silent treatment instead.

"… No dear, I won't be leaving anytime soon," he uttered the words, doing his utmost best to make them sound as honest as possible. He knew that he was lying to his daughter now but what else could he do. "I'm going to stay with you. Besides, in my condition, I don't think getting stuck into another fight will be such a good idea." Cracking a smile, he hoped that she would return his look.

Lifting up her arm, she held up her hand. "Oto-san? Do you pinky promise that?" she asked, her head raised, her eyes staring at him. "Oto-san will make a pinky promise right? Not to leave again? To stay with us? To not make oka-san cry again? Not to make onee-chan and I worry?"

He was dumbfounded. That was going to be one hell of a pinky promise alright. Way for her to take an advantage of the situation. He better make that promise or he wasn't going to hear the end of it. Last thing he was looking forward now was to be on the receiving end of both them and Mako who seemed to be giving a considerable lecture to Bando.

Kyou just sat at the other end of the room, never taking her eyes off him. Even from where he was sitting, Dai could clearly tell that she had some issues to resolve with Bando. More than once he could see her clench her fists as a reaction to him before she suddenly disappeared towards the kitchen. He wondered why all of a sudden.

Pushing aside that question, he reached out with his own hand as their pinkies locked together. "It's a pinky promise dear. I'm not going anywhere any time soon." As he said the words a smile began to appear on her face. He found himself looking in her tear stained eyes and the knot in his stomach only got worse.

As she wiped them away, she resumed with treating his injuries though to Dai her touch felt all of a sudden more painful than the injuries themselves. He heard footsteps approaching from behind. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Kyou standing there, holding up a tray with a cup of soup for him.

"Baka oto-san is likely hungry right?" she mentioned as she held it up for him to see. Her gaze making it clear that while she was also happy to see him come back relatively safe she wasn't happy about him having left at all or that he had brought Bando back as well.

There was no lost love between either of them, Bando had made it clear on plenty of occasions in the past on how he felt about horned girls and although he no longer outright hated them he certainly didn't like them.

Kyou had for the most part grown out of her distrust and hatred for humans although most people she still referred to as bugs. Really, it was only the people she truly cared for that she called by their name. Though she didn't refer to him as a bug, she had settled for the still rude ossan though right now with that look in her eyes he could well imagine her turning back to using bug. Accepting the soup, he just hoped they could keep the two of them apart.

"Baka oto-san should stop making my sister cry. You know how I feel when my sister starts to cry, especially if it is because some big baka says something really stupid." Kyou wasn't holding back her discontent and in part Dai had to give it to her.

That made him also came to a rather unpleasant realization. Had Ryou actually sensed that he wouldn't be able to uphold their pinky promise? If that was true, then he had really hurt her by making the promise in the first place. He had lied to her and—worse of all—he had lied in her face.

The soup had suddenly lost its flavor to him. He was feeling just like Kyou had said like an enormous idiot. Oh, he could just sink into the ground and simply vanish for his own stupidity and ignorance.

Bando let out a soft moan but other than that he showed little reaction as Mako gently stitched the injury on his leg. He had taken note on how Dai had been reacting while also keeping a close eye on the older of the two twins. He didn't like her and she certainly didn't like him.

He was fine with that as long as they kept honest about it. Adjusting his head he couldn't say the same about their mother, Mako was doing her best to not yell or be angry with him at the moment but he knew that inside she was just all rage.

Even without having offered him some anesthetic, she was still struggling to restrain herself. To think that she actually believed that a couple of stitches would cause him little more than some mild annoyance.

"You're not being honest with yourself. Right now you would rather let me suffer on the street rather than threatening my wounds, I don't like people who hide their true feelings behind a mask just so they appear to be civilized," he made that remark. He wanted a reaction from her. He was taunting her and he couldn't care if that meant stepping on some toes.

He sure got it as Mako pulled hard on the thread, sending a new surge of pain flaring through his leg which made Bando almost hiss at the sensation. He chuckled as he was glad. "Good job. Now you're finally being fucking honest with me. Don't hold back your anger. You know damn well what I got your husband into."

She squeezed down hard on the freshly sewn wound, almost causing the stitches to snap.

"You damn bastard!" she cursed underneath her breath. "Don't you even dare to lecture me! You nearly got my husband killed through your recklessness! Do you only care about yourself or are you just so miserable in being alone that you need to make others miserable?! You damn bastard! I should have just dumped you in the gutter and left you there to rot!"

He could do little more than grin. She was finally being honest with herself. Good, he preferred it that way. Shame though that she was still doing her best to keep her voice down so that the others wouldn't hear it but it was at least a step in the right direction.

"Hate me if it makes you feel any better about what happened but we all know that we had to go. You can't protect those girls by pretending the world outside is nice. You're only deluding yourself if you think that is how the world works. Now sew up those wounds so I can leave. I know when I'm no longer welcome."

Hearing her mutter and curse he shrugged it off. It didn't matter to him anyway as she just needed to vent some of her frustration. If he needed to play the role of the bad guy here to help her let go of it then he would. In a few days they would come back to their senses.

Grumbling a little, she quickly went back to work and finished it as fast as she could. Right now he was under no illusion that she just wanted to kick him out of the door as fast as possible.

"Don't think you're going to be leaving anytime soon; that legs of yours is in a pretty bad condition. You'll need to avoid putting your weight on it for the coming days otherwise it won't heal well. I will see if I can acquire some crutches for you tomorrow. Until then don't use it," she commanded as she finished and tidied up the last parts.

"I also gave you a big shot of antibiotics to counter any infection you might have sustained. The wounds were pretty filthy so I advise that if you feel anything like getting a fever or anything similar come see me at once. " Gathering her equipment, she walked back towards the table.

"It might be better for you to spend the rest of the night here to get some rest. You certainly won't be able to drive home yourself and calling for a cab might raise some questions."

He didn't say a word. He wasn't exactly looking forward to having to stay in the same house as two Diclonius but she had a point. As soon as it was morning he would make sure to get the hell out of the house, for that matter he would be certain to keep his gun near just in case. "Just make sure nobody is going to be stupid enough to disturb me," he growled.

Turning around, she faced Dai. "As for you dear you had better call sick to work tomorrow. Don't even think for a second that I'll allow you to go outside like that."

Seeing the scene unfold before his eyes, Bando was having the greatest difficulty to repress the urge to just laugh at Dai's turn being lectured. This certainly made up for the lecture he had to endure from her. Damn, this was exactly the reason why he was never going to get married. Like hell that he would allow a woman to lecture him in that manner.

"Just one more thing dear. You'll be sleeping on the couch tonight!" And with that, Mako left the room. Exchanging some worried glances between Dai and himself, Bando just shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't his concern anyway.

"Morning Saekorin!" Yuzuka was already waving for her at the entrance. "Over here," she kept on waving until Saeko finally managed to meet up with her and Azusa, to be honest she had been feeling a little embarrassed in the way she had been greeted by the two of them. This kind of attention made her feel uncomfortable. She didn't like it the way that some of the students were looking at her now.

It wasn't helped that Mayu had already departed earlier as she needed to go and check Mei's house so no coming through the main gate with her. She was on her own without being able to draw strength from Mayu's presence. She could really do with her being here. At least she wouldn't feel as unpleasant as she walked across the square towards the entrance.

Saeko had always preferred it more that the less people looked at her the better, unfortunately with the way that Yuzuka had been shouting and waving towards her that wasn't the case.

"Saekorin? Are you alright? You look a little pale to me," Yuzuka asked expressing her concern as they suddenly came to a stop.

Azusa nodded as well though she seemed to be aware as to why Saeko was looking pale all of a sudden. "Why don't we go inside and get ready, class is going to start soon anyway and we don't want to be late now do we."

Following them both towards their shoe lockers Saeko still found it hard to belief that these two had become her friends in class. It all felt so surreal to her and yet here she stood, changing shoes and talking about all sorts of things with them.

Giggling and smiling all the time, Yuzuka seemed to make her forget about all her troubles and enjoy her life as a high school girl. Donning her slippers and straightening out her thigh high socks, she jumped up and asked her the big question. "So Saekorin? What did your parents say about going out with us after school? Was it alright with them or did they object?" It was fairly obvious that she was feeling ecstatic. "Oh Saekorin please tell me."

Taking by surprise, Saeko froze on the spot. She hadn't expect either of them to ask about it so. They hadn't even gotten to class and already Yuzuka was having the odd glare in her eyes. She could feel the anxiety rise when Azusa as well seemed to be looking forward to her answer. Letting out a sigh, Saeko decided that now might just as well be the only time to give an answer.

"…T-They said that it was alright with them though I have to be back before dinner…"

Yuzuka leaped into the air as she couldn't contain her excitement about hearing that Saeko could come with them. Her excitement reached a new height as she started to babble about the sorts of ice-cream they had at the store.

Saeko was just left speechless by the spectacle unfolding in front of her and again she wished that people would stop staring at her and the others. Honestly she was kind of praying that she could have said no just to avoid all of the unpleasant stares.

Azusa quickly put an end to it. "Yuzuka-san, you're making Isuzu-san feel unpleasant."

Offering a small prayer as Azusa said that Saeko felt relieved as Yuzuka calmed down though her face told that her that the excitement hadn't worn off entirely yet.

"Ah sorry, sorry.. It's just that I have been looking forward to it all night that I just couldn't control myself. I'm really sorry about it Saekorin," she laughed nervously as she started to scratch the back of her head.

Bowing down, she once more apologized for if her antics had made Saeko feel a little awkward. She hadn't meant it like that. "Saekorin?" she asked. "You don't really seem to like it when people look at you. Why is that so? Are you people shy?"

Azusa stepped in. "She can tell us that when she is more comfortable. Isuzu-san you don't have to answer that unless you want to. I would hate to see my new friend feel hurt."

"…I-Ichinose-san?" Saeko gasped, she found it hard to belief. "D-Do you really mean that, I-I-I…?"

Azusa nodded in response. "Of course I do, what kind of friend would I be if I were to let you become uncomfortable around us. Much like Yuzuka-san, I would like to know more about you but you should do that at your pace. Now why don't we let this rest for now and take our seats. There is plenty of time after school."

Yuzuka nodded in agreement though she did start to blush a little in the face. "You're right. Now, Saekorin shall we enjoy class? I promise to be more patient, okay?"

Honestly, Saeko could just cry out of happiness but she had to fight back the tears. If she were to do now then people were sure to make fun of her. Despite all that, a few tears managed to get by her and although some of her classmates noticed her wiping them away they didn't say a thing. Though uncertain why, she offered a quick prayer thanking for them to stay silent.

As their teacher stepped inside everybody got up and bowed and with that class started.

Aki already greeted her in the hallway. "Morning Isuzu. Did you happen to hear from Suzaki? I tried calling her on the phone but I didn't get any response from her."

Mayu had tried calling Mei herself as well and hadn't had any more luck than he had. Given that Aki seemed to have experienced the same difficulty in contacting Mei made it all the more important for Mayu to go and visit her again after school. Her determination only grew as she kept listening.

"Say Aki-kun? I'm planning to visit her again after school as I still have to bring her those papers from the club. Could you also pass me what assignments she might have for homework? I want to make sure that she isn't going to fall behind if she is sick."

He nodded and smiled. "Of course, I was planning on keeping a note of it myself. I will have it ready for you after school. I guess she's likely pretty sick if she doesn't even answer the phone," he said. "Never thought that she would get sick, she always appears so healthy and full of life. Well I suppose we all get a little ill at some point. Even the best and healthiest of us it seems." He joked as he turned his head to look through the windows.

"I hope it is nothing serious, I would feel bad if she is going to miss the festivals soon. You know how much she has been looking forward to that."

Mayu nodded, their club was already busy with the preparations for the festival and Mei had been put in charge of several of their club projects. That was also likely why the club president had wanted for Mayu to deliver those papers to keep Mei up to date and have her opinion on the matters.

"I'm sure she will get better soon and you know Mei-san, she isn't going to let a little illness stop her when we need her the most. She'll come down here in her pajamas if she has to. You know how she feels when people slack off."

Pointing her finger to him, she did her best at impersonating the kind of face Mei would make. They both burst out laughing aloud at Mayu doing her impression. That was definitely the kind of stunt that Mei would pull. If it was just an illness there would be little reason for them to be worried, so they reasoned.

"Well Mayu, I will be going then. Take good care of yourself and I will see you after school to hand you the notes. Bye." Saying those words, Aki departed and left for his own class, leaving Mayu there on her own in the main hallway.

Her head high she went to her own class and already found herself counting down until she could leave. After she had gotten what she needed she would head out. That reminded her, she would also need to inform the club president of her absence for today but given the circumstances she figured that he would understand.

"I should go and inform him," she remarked as she considered it to be only normal for him to know and perhaps he even had some other material for Mayu to hand over to Mei.

She would go and visit him during their break, his classroom wasn't so far from her's so it wasn't going to take her long but after that she did want to spent some time with Saeko and see how she was doing along with her new friends. Mayu couldn't help but smile about Saeko having finally made some friends in her class. "You deserve it Saeko-san. You really do."

Stopping at the entrance to her classroom, she was already looking forward to it.

As she rolled over in bed she just kept staring at the ceiling. Kyou let out a sigh as she knew that right now it was just, her little sister, their little baby brother Sei and that idiot of a Bando left in the house. Her parents had made her promise when she had gone back to bed that she wasn't going to start trouble should she see him tomorrow when she woke up.

Honestly it was enough reason for to just stick to her room for the rest of the day. He was about the last person she was interested to see. Then again she was still worried about her father, even though he had been acting like a complete idiot she still cared about him.

Was he still asleep? Or would he have already woken up when her mother had left?

'Baka ossan got oto-san into trouble. He got him hurt and that baka is allowed to just stay in our house. It is not fair, that ossan should have been thrown outside. Baka! Baka! Baka!'

No, she wasn't keen on her decision but just staying in her room was also going to be boring. She wanted to do things. Turning her head slightly, she noticed that her sister were still sound asleep.

'I guess you must have been pretty exhausted from yesterday. You did do your best in helping oto-san get better. Oka-san was proud of you Ryou, my cute little sister.' Kyou had to giggle a little as she thought of that. She felt actually proud in the way that Ryou had helped. There were many qualities in Ryou that she envied and admired even if Ryou herself wasn't aware of what she was truly capable of.

'Well I should see if I can catch some sleep, even if it might just be to allow you to have your rest for a little longer. You really deserve that Ryou, you did well last night with oto-san.'

She rolled back facing the other side, hoping that staring at the blank wall would help her calm down enough to grab some more sleep. Ah, who was she kidding, once she woke up there was no more chance of her even managing to grab a few minutes. Even if she were to try and shut out the light coming into their room with a pillow over her head she still wasn't going to be able to get some sleep.

'I just need to try and sneak past you. Then go to the kitchen and hopefully find something to kill time with until you wake up. At least then I can go and watch some TV and annoy the heck out of that baka ossan and oto-san.' She began to smile as she thought about it. That did seem like a fun way to her to pass some time.

'You just wait ossan, I am going to teach you a lesson.' Chuckling and smirking, she quickly buried her face in the pillow to avoid waking up her sister. Already she felt a sensation stirring in her belly. 'Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.' Rolling over, her feet were raised above her head.

Her legs thrashing and kicking in the air she kept rolling from side to side on her bed. The pillow clasped with her hands and pressed firmly against her mouth. It was becoming harder and harder for her not to burst out laughing. The excitement was just becoming too much for her to bear any longer.

If she wasn't mistaken then he couldn't walk or at the very least use his leg for long. How could she even pass up such a golden opportunity to exact some revenge for all of the misdoings he had inflicted upon her over the last year or so? She was almost obliged to those remaining of her kind to set this wrong right, to bring justice to this fiend.

'Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. This is going to be so awesome, I'm so going to get payback on him. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! All right, today's the day! I'm going to make a ton of noise while it's still lights out! Now be surprised, my dumb friend!

Oh the excitement was killing her, this was almost going to be too good to be true but there it was, a golden opportunity. She just couldn't make up her mind on what to do, so many ways and so little time.

After all, she couldn't do this if her parents were home. No, they would likely just stop her and ruin this perfect moment for her. 'I'm not going to let them ruin it for me, oka-san is at work so won't be an issue but oto-san might be… hmmm… I need to deal with him as well.'

A scream of utter delight almost escaped her mouth, hand covering her mouth she looked around. Holding her breath, she waited to find out if she had accidentally awoken her sister, after a couple of tense seconds she was feeling relieved when she learned that Ryou was still sound asleep, with that knowledge Kyou started to get up from her bed.

She couldn't stay in her room any longer, not with all of these thoughts running rampant in her mind. Her enthusiasm was reaching a new height which made her leaving the bedroom all the more important to her.

Reaching the safety of the hall she gently closed the door and with her hand still covering her mouth started to laugh, not stopping even if her belly started to cramp. After a few good moments and running out of breath for now she slumped against the wall.

"Oto-san. Ossan. You had better be ready, super cute Kyou-chan is coming for you," she whispered keeping her tone down without it losing its edge.

As she was making her way to the canteen, Mayu was wondering if she would get a chance to meet Saeko and her friends there. The quick talk that she had held with the club president had gone rather smoothly and much faster than she had expected. For the moment, he did not consider anything else to give to Mei just as long as Mayu could hand over those papers. There still was some time and in case Mei was still sick she was to give her his best wishes.

Aki had also quickly visited and handed over those notes he had already made, with just a few classes left and one of them being PE it didn't seem like the list would get that much bigger.

For now she had what she needed and the remainder she would receive after school. It couldn't come soon enough as she was getting anxious to see for herself how Mei was doing.

But for now she all there was left for her was to go to the canteen, grab some lunch to keep up her strength and have a talk with Saeko. Well, she hoped that she could.

Getting closer she could hear that it was pretty lively inside but that wasn't much of a surprise given how many students visited the canteen during the breaks. Having a look inside it seemed to be even more crowded than usual to her.

Much to her own surprise she found it actually hard to find Saeko as she wasn't sitting at their usual spot. "Strange, I would have expected her to be there. Where could she be then?"

She started to search, looking towards her left and her right, looking for a girl with unnatural long pink hair seemed to be more difficult that one would think. She kind of found it funny she had no such luck, that was until one brown haired girl in the distance start waving frantically towards her, her ponytail swinging from left to right as she got even more frantic.

Mayu felt a little confused about her, thinking that the girl was either likely waving towards somebody else or she had simply mistaken Mayu for another person. And yet as the girl kept on waving and by now her attempt had reached a new level of frantic Mayu began to feel a bit less certain about her earlier conclusion.

"ISUZU-SENPAI! ISUZU-SENPAI! OVER HERE! ISUZU-SENPAI! ISUZU-SENPAI! OVER HERE!" The girl yelled all of a sudden at the top of her lungs. The entire canteen fell silent all of a sudden, everybody's gaze fixated on Mayu who just stood there frozen on her spot. "Oh this feels so awkward…"

"ISUZU-SENPAI! ISUZU-SENPAI! SAEKORIN IS HERE! SHE IS HERE WITH US!" It was only now that Mayu felt that the voice sounded familiar and making her way past the near endless odd looks she was getting she saw much to her relief that is was one of Saeko's friends.

"Hey there Isuzu-senpai!" The girl cheered as she greeted her. "It's nice to see you again senpai, I hope I didn't scare you too much but I had to yell a little otherwise you wouldn't have found us." Now Mayu recognized her as the one called Yuzuka.

Appearing from behind her, Mayu could see that Saeko was here as well. "Mayu-chan, are you alright? Your face is all red. Are you sick or something?"

Feeling dumbstruck Mayu didn't know how to respond. Surely it had to be obvious why she was still a bit red in the face. Who wouldn't after feeling a little ashamed in having everybody look at her? That had got to be one of her more awkward moments in school thus far.

"I-It's… nothing alright. Anyway I'm just glad that I found you Saeko-san. You weren't at your usual spot so I thought you were…"

Saeko wanted to apologize but Mayu mentioned there was no need for that, she just wanted to have lunch with her together. Didn't matter to her what table they were sitting at.

Letting out a big sigh as she grabbed a cup of coffee, Arakawa went over again what she needed to gather for Mako. Honestly she had no idea why now all of a sudden that she had requested about any and all information with regards to both the ajina device as well as Saori's medical records. What was the woman thinking she kept asking herself.

"Well I have almost everything that she requested. I'm just wondering what she is planning to do with it. Could it be possible that they have found a way to remove that device?" she said out loud. From what she had read and her own personal experience it wasn't possible at all to remove the ajina without a complicated surgery and a team of specialists.

Neither of which were exactly easy to come by if one wanted to do so in secret and not being part of a clandestine organization. "Who are you planning to call for help this time?"

Honestly to her it was more of a lost cause. There was simple too little information on how the procedure had been done and as far as she knew nobody who had been involved had survived the outbreak of the Diclonius and the subsequent destruction of the DRI.

"Takebe-sensei is just going to waste more of her time, as if anybody would know how to deal with this other than that crazy doctor who came up with it. Seriously cutting away parts of the brain and sticking some cables in, that is just sick."

Already she felt a shiver going down her spine just at the mere thought of it, damn that doctor must have been a real messed up person. But then wasn't that perverted maniac just the same? And then of course there had been the chief himself. Seriously that place had attracted way too many ticked off psychos to last her a lifetime. No, she was done with having to deal with such people for good.

"I need more coffee, after that I'm going to take a bath. I will finish up the rest of the papers after lunch. I doubt that Takebe-sensei is going to need them today anyway."

Finishing the cup she put it down next to the pc while she took of her bathrobe and slowly made her way towards the bathroom, her hair was feeling all sticky and her body felt sore. She was so going to take a long bath; if she was going to see Mako then it couldn't hurt to look at least a bit more presentable.

Author's note: There we are, another chapter and although a bit later as I had hoped to get this one up last weekend its still a lot better than how it has been before. Hope you guys and girls enjoy, and have a couple of good laughs. To you Porta and Elfenliedfan enjoy some of the twins, there will be more of them in the next few chapters.

And also have a happy Easter.