"Um, excuse me? Are you waiting for someone?" a female child asked awkwardly.

Hiro peered over at the elementary student with a light red-brown hue in her hair and blinked his sharp emerald eyes blankly before responding to her question.

"Actually, yes, I am..." he said carefully.

The students of Aibo were leaving campus for the day; some of the students were commenting about how creepy the teenager with light blue hair was being while others were worried about how close the little girl was to him. He was busy hiding behind a tree and scanning the crowd for his three favorite siblings in the middle and elementary school entrance in which gave him the impression of a shady person.

"Could it be that you're looking for the Mighty Sun Fighter?" she asked excitedly, leaning in closer and balling up her hands into tiny fists.

"The Mighty whatta what?" he repeated clumsily, completely dumbfounded.

"The Mighty Sun Fighter! My big brother, Gao!" she said again proudly, her small ponytail and spiky long hair following her movement as she jumped.

Hiro blinked and then gave a low chuckle as he squatted down to the little girl's height, his eyes now leveled with her amber eyes.

"The well-known and undefeated buddyfighter, Mikado Gao?" he asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" a young boy's voice asked curiously.

The two looked up at the source of the voice and caught sight of a boy with red and black spiky hair and identical amber colored eyes. His arms and hands were dressed neatly with white wrapping bandages and a band aid was on the left side of his cheek underneath his eye. Apparently, the boy was mainly dressed in indigo with little black, white, and yellow accents especially around his shoulders, tall collar, and rolled up sleeves on his short jacket and the side of his pants. He looked very similar to the young girl who stood before Hiro. Next to him was a short red and orange dragon clad in gold armor and a red cape behind him to top it off. He was now tugging on the brown belt around his waist a bit. A giant drill is also seen on the end of his tail and his backhand's golden glove.

"Gao, Drum!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

The famed Sunfighter gave a grin to the young girl's way as she ran over to him and began to drag him over closer to the teen wearing a grey hooded jacket with many pockets to be seen and decorated with beige fur around his hood.

"Uh, isn't it a little hot today to wear something like that?" Gao asked as he chuckled a little awkwardly at the teen's appearance. "Your jacket is like a turtle neck and it looks pretty heavy.."

"He must be roasting in that outfit," Drum commented, inspecting him.

"Ah, don't worry about it! That's a reason why I rolled up my sleeves," he said, showing the maroon cuffs that rested on his forearms and then pointed at his revealing orange t-shirt underneath, "and zipped my jacket halfway up."

Gao nodded as he fixed his torn up indigo cap with a sun ornament rested in the center and dropped his arms back down beside him. Hiro took notice of the orange and yellow picture of the sun on the boy's deep red t-shirt accented with black around his collar.

"You really like the sun, don't you?" Hiro suddenly asked as he smiled again, standing back up to brush off his light tan baggy cargo pants from any dirt and creases. "Naming yourself after the sun and even having symbols of the sun on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the boy's buddy asked.

"Nothing offensive, really. But am I correct?"

"Eh?" Gao said curiously at the question as he blinked a few times. "Well, I guess you can say that I do. I just want to be there for everyone and help those in need, you know? Shine brightly just like the sun does and brighten everyone's mood!"

Hiro nodded approvingly at the boy's answer as he untied his slightly long spiky hair only to retie it back into his usual short ponytail.

"I understand where you're going at," the teen replied as he walked past Gao and pat his shoulder. "I'm Hiro, by the way. Don't mind me looking like a stalker. I'm just here to look for my siblings."

"Hiro... I'll remember that! I'm Mikado Gao and this is my younger sister, Hanako!" he introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Hiro!" the young girl in the long sleeved yellow sweater and grey shorts exclaimed as she stuck a hand into the air.

"Nice you meet you both as well-"

"Hiro!" a pair of voice exclaimed.

The teenager and elementary students turned over to see a pair of twins running over to them, waving at the called boy with their dominant arms up in the air. The boy with messy straight light blue hair was dressed identically with his twin sister who had her bouncing straight light blue hair braided together and held together by a hair tie with pink rabbits on them. Hikaru was apparently wearing his usual white and light green cardigan over his black shirt and his baggy grey-blue shorts over a pair of black baggy pants. Hikari on the other hand was wearing a light green cardigan decorated by white frills over her black flowing dress and black pantyhose. A ribbon was ties behind her cardigan instead of brought to the front.

"Kasumi already left which is why we're late again," Hikari panted, her white lacy headband slipping off her head. "She never walks home with us anymore.."

Hikaru slapped away the dark blue strap away from his leg before reaching over to fix his older twin's headband for her and sighed.

"Guess she wasn't kidding when she said she'll avoid you if you come pick us up," Hikaru commented, pulling the tired girl up right and fixing her straight bangs.

"I can't run in flats...!" the girl complained as she pointed at her white lacy flats that only covered her heels and toes.

Gao blinked as he looked in between the three and noted their similarities, not really remembering how Kasumi looked like.

"Wait. You're siblings?" Gao asked stupidly as he pointed at the emerald eyed teens. "You look nearly as old as each other!"

"I-is it that shocking?" Hikaru chuckled. "I suppose you can say that it's a thing in our family. Hey, you know our little sister, Kas, right? Minami Kasumi?"

Gao pondered a little as he shook his head, completely forgot who the girl was since he only caught tiny glimpse of her passing by a few times.

"Isn't she a friend of Yuna? You do know who Suzuki Yuna is right?" Hanako asked as a reply.

"We certainly do know her! Just not as personal as Kas..." the three said.

Gao and Hanako just gave nervous looking smiles to the group as they nodded.

"I don't think we actually know who Kasumi is.." Gao admitted.

"Who's Kas?" Drum suddenly piped up, earning a nervous smile from the twins.

"Figures... She's not much of a talker, you know?" Hiro sighed disappointingly. "Anyways, we should get back home now, possibly search for her on the way back. Good day to you, Gao, Hanako, and may your matches always be in your favor!"

"See you!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Good bye," Hikaru bid simultaneously with his twin sister.

"You must be twin siblings, Hikari and Hikaru right?" Gao suddenly asked.

The twins blinked and then smiled.

"I'm Minami Hikaru," the boy said, holding a hand up to himself formally.

"Minami Hikari at your service!" the girl jumped in, making her twin cringe a little. "See you again one day!"

The two siblings and their dragon were now waving their hands at Hiro and the twins who were leaving school campus, that was until...

"Wait, I think I do know who Kasumi is!" Gao suddenly said, hitting a fist into his palm. "But that's not really going to help them now."

"Oh well, let's go home. Dad is probably waiting for us to come back for your practice," Hanako said, running ahead and turning around to wait for his brother. "Kuguru and Baku are also waiting for us down the escalators!"

The boy nodded as he and Drum ran after his sister and boarded onto the moving staircase seeing a purple pig-tailed hair girl with round glass and large light ornaments in her hair standing next to a boy with brown hair and a large white band tied around his head.

'Thank god they didn't look up..' Kasumi muttered to herself, leaping off the tree she hid in and fixed her long ripped up maroon scarf.

"Are we going home now?" Valkyrie asked her buddy softly as she fixed her long ponytail and retied it into a loop. "Will that mean we're going to get home first or are we going home after them?"

"We're going home before they get home. Hiro's not going to activate his buddy skill if he's with Hikaru and Hikari," Kasumi reminded her buddy as she tugged on her dark grey glove on her right and her dark grey finger-less glove on her left before she touched the white medical eye patch covering her left emerald eye. "Hikaru and Hikari both don't have flight, teleporting, or speed abilities when Sheila Vanna and Keith Wanaid allows their gifted skills to them. Hiro wouldn't ask Aoihime to lend him her buddy skill especially if we can't catch up to him."

"That is true," Valkyrie spoke as she activated her own skill on her buddy.

Kasumi tugged on her light green vest with yellow hems decorated at the collars and pockets then pulled up her slipping see through shirt that allows people to view her white short shorts, brown belt, and tucked in dark navy blue tank top that has pink straps hidden by her scarf as she waited for her skill. Three big pairs of lavender and pink colored hollow wings were now visible behind the girl as it fazed in and back out into view from the base of the six wings to the tip.

"Shall we get going?" Kasumi asked as she lifted herself off the ground, the wings flapping effortlessly in sync.

Valkyrie nodded at her buddy as a pair of wings appeared behind her as well, taking off after her and officially leaving the school grounds without being caught by her siblings. The girl was now flying around at a moderate and relaxing pace as her buddy monster continued to fly a few inches behind her incase anything happened.

"Do you think your siblings are worried about you right now?" Valkyrie questioned quietly not really wanting to disturb the silence in the air.

"Don't worry, Valkyrie. They're used to me doing this by now," Kasumi replied as the monster nodded in agreement and understandingly.

Gao looked up in the sky and caught the girl with similar light blue hair as the siblings he was conversing with earlier, smiling to himself like a goofball as his friends continued their conversation with him.

"Gao, are you even listening to us right now?" Kuguru asked curiously as she looked up from her tablet. "This is for your decks and all your matches you may have in the future."

"Yeah, I'm listening," the boy said as he looked back at his friends and little sister.

"I can't wait for the Might Sunfighter to take on another challenge with a new opponent!" Hanako squealed excitedly. "You and Drum will be great as always! You'll win no matter what you face, right?"

"Us? Great? We'll be awesome out there, don't you worry about it!" Drum exclaimed energetically. "I'm totally pumped up!"

In response, the boy nodded and gave a thumbs up as he grinned brightly like the sun he always shown himself to be.

"Leave it to me!" he exclaimed.

"Even so, you should listen to what we have to say sometimes, bro," Baku said, sucking on a lollipop.

Apparently for Kasumi, she can hear the younger student's talk enthusiastically about buddyfight matches Gao may be facing in the near future though she chose to ignore it since it wasn't all that interesting in her opinion.

"Buddyfight... How is such a mere game so powerful to everyone in this world but me?" the girl began to ponder, unconsciously nose diving.

Valkyrie flew underneath her buddy as she held out her arms incase she didn't pull herself back up into the air and crashed into a building or anything in her way of some sort. The girl snapped out of her thoughts a second before she landed into Valkyrie and pulled herself together.

"I'm sorry. Did I worry you?" Kasumi asked blandly, patting at Valkyrie's arm reassuringly.

"Just a little," she replied. "We'll be home soon once we take a left turn right now. We went a little off course."

"Understood."

When the girl answered she looked down and noticed blue markings and stars slowly disappearing on the sidewalks and streets, possibly at the base of several buildings as well.

"She better not be flirting with random people again.." the girl sighed as she waved it off.

Fortunately for Kasumi, Yumiko wasn't flirting with anyone else for the day as she stopped by at Aibo Academy where there were still a few students who stayed back.

"I guess they did leave. Hmm, need to pick up the speed.." she thought aloud.

"You still managed to get Sofia and Shido though," Selene said, pointing at the student councils who came by.

"Well?" Shido asked the girl, raising a brow.

"You're probably going to have to hear it when we get back.." Yumiko said, not looking forward to it.

"Anything new?" Sofia asked.

"You'll have to hear that soon too," she replied as she earned a nod.

The well-known Ice Queen, Sofia Sakharov, then created a portal with the ability of her dark core and left with the arrogant Shido Magoroku and the mischievous Koyanagi Yumiko. Of course, they all went unnoticed. Kasumi and Yuna weren't aware of what Yumiko does anymore which does give her a little bit of relief.

"Are you okay? You look doubtful about something," Valkyrie suddenly asked.

"Just wondering about what the other two are doing right now," she replied as she looked back again, noticing that the marks were leaving quicker than usual. "..."

The two were able to make it back home without a problem before Kasumi's siblings came. The wings on both the monster and her partner disappeared as they landed and headed over to the front to unlock the door.

"I'm back.." she said to practically no one as she locked the door and pulled the yellow laces to take off her dark navy blue and pink shin length boots.

The girl tugged on her black biker shorts underneath her short shorts as she set her boots neatly in a corner, the brown heels on the boots facing the exit.

"I'll be returning to the card now," Valkyrie announced as she returned into the girl's hand.

"Okay," she replied as she walked over to her room, her white ankle socks causing her to slip clumsily on the wooden floor.

She was able to make it to her bedroom safely as she sat down and left Valkyrie, Brilliant Brunhildr's card on her desk along with her lavender and pink core deck. Before laying down for a quick break, the girl eyed her deck and then stared at the amber colored gem on the case blankly, laying down on her bed quickly after.

"Buddy... fight..." she said to herself again. "Hm, how boring."

Soon her siblings came home as well just as exhausted. They all noticed their youngest sister's shoes and sighed defeatedly. Hiro lazily took off his own brown and grey ankle boots, tugging off the black tied up laces and setting them next to Kasumi's as the twins kicked off their shoes in unison.

"Remember to pick those up," Hiro pointed out as he smiled and walked off to greet their sister.

"Okay," they replied.

Hikaru went over to wear his maroon sneakers with black straps were sent off to as Hikari did the same with her flats. They both then faced them in the same direction and set it down next to their siblings' own shoes before they followed after Hiro.

"Hello, Kas," Hikaru greeted as he entered the room with his twin.

"Hey," Hikari said brightly.

Kasumi looked over tiredly and held up her left hand to wave, taking off her gloves and scarf right after the silent greeting.

"I bet students thought you were some shady stalker today," Kasumi said irritably, pulling hard at Hiro's stretchy black wrist band on his right and letting it snap.

The eldest sibling flinched at the small pain and let out an awkward chuckle as he rubbed his wrist.

"Maybe a few did... Or more.." Hiro admitted. "But I certainly got to meet that buddyfighter, Mikado Gao, and his sister, Mikado Hanako."

"... Okay. Am I supposed to be interested in this?" she responded blankly. "Because I'm really not."

"Just as expected from our Kasumi..." the others sobbed hopelessly.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you have talked to him before," her brother continued. "He seemed to not know who you were when Hikaru asked for you at school."

"Then there is your answer," Kasumi grumbled a little. "It shows that we have never conversed."

Hiro, Hikari, and Hikaru knew that Kasumi never liked talking to people outside of the family unless she has taken an interest in them, but the fact that she isn't very comfortable talking to anyone always seemed to rub them the wrong way.

"I suggest that you to talk to him then," Hikari jumped in. "He's a really nice kid and it's possible that he won't get intimidated or scared by your appearance like everyone else does.."

Hikaru then pinched his twin sister's arm and frown as she flinched at the sudden pain. It was a look that sent the message 'Don't say that..!' to his twin and warn her.

'Oops, that's a bit too far,' she mouthed as she sent an awkward smile to her younger sister. "Forget I said anything about being frightened."

Hikaru wanted to slap his forehead after that, but held back.

"What we're trying to say is... that you should get out more often, you see?" the male twin said hesitantly.

"I can see that," Kasumi replied. "In which I say that I do get out."

"Yeah, for walks with Valkyrie," the three older siblings said disappointingly.

Kasumi only shrugged in response as she sat back up and untied her hair from her tiny winged hair tie. She then pulled out her homework and books to finish for the day.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be finishing my work and have a short walk right after," she said blandly.

The twins and Hiro sighed as they stood back up and headed out to their own rooms to start on their work as well.

"Just at least give it a try though, alright?" Hiro asked relentlessly.

"No," she said immediately.

"Please?" the twins joined in.

The girl groaned looked at her siblings with a straight face as she untied the medical eye patch, her long side bangs now covering it.

"If I said 'okay,' will you please stop begging?" she asked tiredly.

"That's a promise!" the three exclaimed, running back to their rooms.

"I'm not doing it today though... And if I fail to meet your standards, you'll only come back to pester me about it again.." she said, pushing away her long hair from her homework and pulling the locks on the floor up onto the bed so it wasn't dragging.