A/N: And the plot has intruded! Muahaha!

Also, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and/or followed! And many thanks to my friend for editing this and making sure it doesn't suck too much!

When Yuu got home that night, he went straight up to his room, laid down on his bed, and ignored everything, choosing to focus only on how to solve the problem with Mika. Should I corner him during school one day and just confront him? Nah, he'd probably make some kind of excuse and escape to class. After school? No, we both have sports after school. Dammit, if only I wasn't a mind reader! If only he wasn't a part of them.

Yuu's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on his door. "Oi, brat," said Guren from the other side of the door. "Come down to the kitchen- we have things to discuss."

Yuu frowned and got up, stiff from all the time he was on his bed. He walked downstairs, wondering what was going on. When he got there, he wasn't at all surprised to see Shinoa and Yoichi sitting at the kitchen table, with Mitsuba and Kimizuki leaning against the counters. Who he was surprised to see, however, was Kureto and Seishiro Hiiragi, standing in front of the microwave. Yuu stopped in his tracks, immediately shielded his mind, and only then did he relax even the slightest bit. The Hiiragis might be on my side, he thought, but there's still no trusting them. For all we know, they're as bad as the Bloody Battle Brotherhood. After all, they've got the same naming sense. What kind of a name is 'Japanese Imperial Demon Army'?

Staring at Yuu, who'd stopped in the doorway and was staring off into space, Kimizuki darted forward from his place by the counter and grabbed his arm, dragging him to stand somewhere out of Kureto's sight. Kureto cleared his throat and said, a little testily, "Now that we've all arrived, we can begin. First, Guren, report. What has the Brotherhood been doing?"

Guren yawned and said, "Yeah, yeah. Well, I had lunch with Krul the other day. We mostly talked about Yuu and Mika- by the way, she bet that you wouldn't tell Mika about your little crush until after Christmas. I bet that you wouldn't tell him at all and he'd be the one to make the first move-"

"Guren, you did what?" burst out Yuu, suddenly furious. "You two made bets on that?"

With a hissed shut up, Kimizuki promptly elbowed him in the stomach.

"I looked into her mind as much as I could without alerting her," continued Guren. "Her mind is shielded very well, even though she's not one of us, so I wasn't able to get much, but I do think they're planning something. Her mind was kind of buzzing, and it felt like it does when someone's planning something big. Something's going on, that's for sure."

Kureto sighed a little and said, "Of course they are. Well, as always, we are prepared to defend both ourselves and other mind readers. We will not let the Brotherhood get the better of us, and we will stop their human experimentation!"

Continuing, Kureto went to the next issue- the fact that more and more mind readers were being captured by the Brotherhood and they had to do something to stop it. When he asked for suggestions, the only one he got that was unanimous was one to attack the Brotherhood and rescue them all. His only response to that, Yuu noted, was to stroke his chin a little and hmmm. Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.

The others agreed with the suggestion to attack and the meeting ended; everyone was buzzing with the news that the Brotherhood was planning something. It worried Yuu- as much as he liked to think he was prepared to deal with them, especially with their leaders, he knew he really wasn't. His last thought before he decided to ignore it for now was, "Mika, I really wish neither of us were involved with this. Then, we'd actually be able to be together."

Meanwhile, Mika was walking up to his room from a meeting of his own. It worried him, the things that were about to happen- he didn't agree with Krul's views about mind readers and what the Brotherhood was going to do to them, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was, after all, loyal to Krul, because she had adopted him and raised him after his parents threw him out of their moving car. He owed literally everything to her.

But the Brotherhood's plans...I don't know if they're going to work. Mika heard things from his sort-of friend, Rene, and recently, Rene had told him of some sort of army of mind readers who were going to resist the Brotherhood as much as they could without it turning into all-out battle. The mind readers were strong, he knew, despite the fact that he'd never faced one himself, but then, so was the Brotherhood.

Mika groaned in frustration. He couldn't stay out of the fight all together, but he would make sure Yuu did. Yuu had absolutely no business getting involved with all this and putting his own life in danger; knowing him, though, he would sacrifice himself for the mind readers without a second thought. Mika would do anything to make sure that didn't happen, so first, he had to cut Yuu off and make sure he didn't come back.

It physically pained him to cut Yuu off, but it was the only thing he could think to do. He would not risk Yuu dying, not when he was the only person Mika lived for. Mika was nothing without Yuu, but being nothing was fine if Yuu was alive. Mika stopped for a moment and put his head on the wall next to him, hating what he had become, his lack of empathy for the captured mind readers, the fact that the only thing he cared about was Yuu's well-being. Yuu's better off without a monster like me anyway, he thought. Besides, it's better for me if I cut him off now. Then, I won't have to worry about what I have to do at all.

You're not fooling anyone, whispered the voice in the back of his mind.

I know there wasn't much Mikayuu interaction in this chapter, but there will be in the next! (I think. I haven't actually decided what to put in the next chapter yet.) Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! As always, I am on Tumblr as purple-dragon or violaceous-draconic-writings. Come say hi, send me your NOTPs or OTPs for whatever fandom, send me prompts, whatever! I really love talking to you all!