The morning air of Mikado City was a nice cool while not being freezing. The way it felt against bare skin was a nice contrast to the warmth of clothing.

Mitsuteru enjoyed that part of the cool mornings.

"It's just a shame that these things can get easily ruined..."

Pessimism was not something he normally went to, but there had been a reason for it today.

The cool morning air had calmed him down a bit and leveled out his head a bit. Waking up to the warmth of his blankets had been nice, only to throw him into the cool air in his sleepwear. Overall, it was not a bad way to wake up.

It had been what happened before that made his morning bad.

"...Yeah, I guess I wouldn't forget those kinds of times. It doesn't matter how many squads I am a part of if I can only think of those times."

They were not necessarily good times, but they had helped him after having joined Border a year after coming to Mikado City.

Taking in some morning air, Mitsuteru let out a breath through his mouth. The tension that had been building up in his shoulders came out with it. The feeling in his shoulders loosened until he was able to walk without anything being there.

And a moment later a message came through to him.

Yes: "Hey, are you solo at the moment?"

It was Chano.

Daybreak: "I am, yes. Is this about our defense duty day matching up again?"

Tsuki Nai!: "It is. We didn't know if it was another slip-up or you were going solo again."

"Oh," he said to himself.

As far as Chano Squad knew, he had still been with Mamiya Squad. The news of his leaving might not have reached them yet, so their curiosity was well founded.

Mitsuteru gave another breath as he typed with his semi-cold fingers.

Daybreak: "Yeah, I left Mamiya Squad a bit ago. Sorry for not saying anything."

Yes: "It's all good, as long as it was mutual."

Daybreak: "Actually, they had tried to get me to stay with them. It was pretty hard to just leave. I did promise them that I would help them if they ever asked for it."

Blessing: "You do that with everyone."

Tsuki Nai!: "We got the same thing said to us. It's no wonder there's always word going around whenever you join a squad."

"Do I really say it that much...?"

He had to wonder to himself out loud.

The cool morning air was still around, but he could feel the day start to become active as others began leaving their houses.

Unlike everyone else, he had decided to leave a bit earlier for school. It had not been because he was studious, instead, it was because that was the only thing he could think of doing while being up so early.

Besides, mom and dad were out before I woke up. I guess they got an emergency call.

His family owned a self-contained repair business and would get calls like these at times. They owned their own store in the shopping district, but they would also go out themselves for jobs like these. The pay was nothing compared to construction companies, but it gave them some quick connections and regular costumers who would sometimes pay them more.

Mitsuteru himself had worked with his dad a few times and even learned a lot about buildings because of it.

I guess that sort of repetitive action and speech made me view each squad leaving as some sort of professional obligation. Something to always say to them so that I would not need to leave them completely.

It made sense when he thought about it.

Daybreak: "Sorry if it makes you guys feel less special."

Yes: "If that were the case then we wouldn't have brought it up."

That's true.

They didn't need to hold back with him.

Daybreak: "Then just know that I really do mean those words. I'd be happy to help all of you whenever. I might be a former teammate for a lot of you, but I still like being someone who knows all of you."

Tsuki Nai!: "We feel the same. Don't worry."

Blessing: "Even if we would want you to come back and join us permanently."

Mitsuteru laughed at that. It was not to be taken too seriously, but something for him to always consider.

Daybreak: "Sorry, but I'm still looking."

There had only been one squad he felt completely sure he could belong in.

...Then it disappeared.

It was something he could do nothing about.

Something had happened to that squad's captain and he had not been told what that was. The only thing he could tell was from what he had heard around and who was involved. Other than that, none of that squad had said much about the disbandment.

They had all accepted it.

I guess I should just get over it.

Shigenaga had gotten on him for thinking too much about it, but she never reprimanded him for thinking about it in the first place. It had been her way of caring for his feelings on the matter.

"But I really should find a new squad soon." There were too many good things when involved with a squad. "It just sucks that most of them aren't looking for someone or are just better off not having me on them. Ah..."

He stopped.

"That was pretty rude of me, wasn't it?"

He sent a quick message, apologizing to most of his former squads.

Letting out a breath through his nose, Mistuteru looked up to the sky. The morning air felt nice against his skin. It calmed him down and he enjoyed this sort of thing.

It's just a shame that I ruin it for myself.

"Mittsuncchi seems more down than usual."

Miwa looked up from his food as Nire slammed her hands down onto his desk. The sound resounded in the mostly empty room, but no one looked over to them.

From the spot next to him, Miura tilted his head and took another bite from his mandarin. He was in the same position as Miwa in this situation.

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asked. "It means he won't harass others as much as usual.

Nire crossed her arms and tilted her head too.

"It's really fun to see him like that, though. But that part doesn't matter right now."

"Doesn't it?"

She took a moment to think about what he had said before shaking her head.

"It doesn't! What matters is that the last time this happened-"

"Shigenaga-san had thought we had done something and came to us," Miura cut in.

Nire nodded three times, looked to the door, then nodded again. Maybe she was feeling more strange than usual since she nodded for a fifth time and took a seat in front of him.

Miwa ignored her and took another cookies from the bag in his hands.

Just as he was about to put one in his mouth, the bag was taken by Nire. He quickly looked up to see her looking to the side while taking a cookies and placing it in her mouth. The following crunch coming from her got him to reach out and take his bag back.

Before he could get on her for her actions, Miura gestured for him to calm down and pulled out another bag. Miura held out the bag, prompting Miwa to take a cookie from his own bag as a replacement.

"So what do you think is the problem? Last time it was just him worrying about his parents' business, but they were doing fine enough the last time we were over."

"What could it be...? What could it be...?"

The way she said it like a mantra was strange, but not something they weren't used to.

"What about you, Miwa? Any ideas?"

"It's probably because he was thinking about his situation again," Miwa said without hesitation.

Nire and Miura stopped to look at him.

He looked back and sighed.

"His situation on being in a squad or not."

"I thought he was with Mamiya Squad?"

"He left them two days ago." He took another cookie and continued. "It sounded like it was the same situation as the other times."

"He's still on about that!?"

He looked over to see if Ariake had moved from his seat at all by the yell.

There was no movement.

Miura was also looking in that direction, but it was clear that he was worried now.

"To be fair," he said. "That was the only squad he was forced to leave on bad terms. All the others he chose to leave. And he left them on good terms."

.

Nire huffed in her seat in front of Miwa.

From across the desk, Miwa let out a breath and looked over at Mitsuteru again. This time he narrowed his eyes before putting himself back into his original position.

"He should be fine if we leave him be."

"We can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because where't he fun in that? He won't eat lunch with us, so we're missing out on one of the best people to mess around with in this class."

Miura and Miwa looked at each other for a moment before looking back to Nire.

"Since when was he one of the best?" they asked at the same time.

Nire waved her hand at the two of them before standing up.

"Come on, you two."

"I don't want to."

Miura grabbed Miwa's arm to drag him along while getting up from the seat he had been on.

"What do you even plan on doing?"

"We're going to go the best course of action here! Yes! We're going to do the best thing we know how to do when it comes to dealing with a completely average person with no presence at all and ends up down because he's being an idiot who doesn't want to perk up unless we get involved!"

"Breath, Nire-chan! Breath! Take a breath!"

Miura's sudden appearance next to Nire gave Miwa the chance he needed to move away.

He had gone too slow, letting both Nire and Miura grab his arms to pull him forward again.

Once they were in range...

"Mittsuncchi!"

"Mittsun!"

"Ariake."

They held up their hands.

.

Mitsuteru looked up from his desk at hearing his name being called three times in three different ways.

Once he did, he found out why he had been called.

"There! There! Whooooo!"

There, standing to the left of his desk, was Miwa, Miura, and Nire, lined up with their hands up. Their pointer fingers and thumbs were held on two corners while they looked down at him. Nire was really getting into it, Miura looked like he was a bit embarrassed by it all, and Miwa...

...He looks completely done here.

But that was to be expected from Miwa.

"What...are you three... No, sorry, please don't look at me like that, Miwa. Anyway, what are you doing?"

Miwa the first to respond. He did so by lowering his hands and looking away.

Mitsuteru felt sorry for him since it was clear that he had been dragged along.

The next one to respond was Nire.

"!"

And she did so by slamming her hands onto his desk.

"..."

But she said nothing.

"Um... Nire-chan?"

"!"

She slammed her hands on the desk for a second time, making him jump up.

From the side, Miwa began pulling Nire away from his desk before she could go for a third time.

Maybe it isn't a good thing that I'm used to this...

His previous schoolmates had sat on his desk at most, but none of them had ever slammed their hands on his desk twice. In a way, that alone already made Nire different from them.

Miwa and Miura going along with Nire's antics also made them different from his former classmates.

Mikado City is just filled with weird people, isn't it?

His previous squads had been proof enough of that.

"Hahaha... Sorry about that, Mittsun. Nire-chan was just worried."

"I'm guessing about my mood."

Miura nodded with a slight smile.

He had always tried to be straightforward with his words. The people around him seemed to appreciate that.

"It isn't much. Just my mind going back to how things had been. I'm sure I'll get over it by the end of the day. But thanks for worrying in the first place."

.

That isn't the response you should give.

Miura understood that this was just one small side of Mitsuteru that he accepted and went along with. This self-deprecation was nothing new, and Mitsuteru never tried to hide it. His thoughts were always obvious to everyone he knew. A lot of the times he would even speak up about it to them.

That part of him was something Miura enjoyed a lot.

He doesn't try to keep too much to himself. If he does, it's because he thinks it's something he can handle, and it usually is.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, their group didn't know all too much about Mitsuteru. This had been because he moved to Mikado City instead of being born there, giving them all less of a chance to get to know him.

Knowing this much about him did make them all happy, but there were still things they wanted to understand.

So...

"Is there anything we can do to help? If you think you'll get over it by the end of the day then maybe we can do something to shorten that."

"That isn't really necessary."

"But we're going to do something!"

Nire had come in from the side with Miwa behind her. The time limit for him holding her back must have come, so they couldn't expect much else at that point.

But he was glad that she was back to come into the conversation.

"Being all sad like that is fine and all, but you aren't the type to sulk for as long as you are! Come on, Mittsuncchi! You aren't even eating lunch with us! You loooooove eating with us!"

"I generally like eating with friends."

"And what better friends do you have to eat lunch with than us!?"

It may have been the way she put it, or even just Nire's personality in general, but her words had managed to make Mitsuteru smile a bit. Much more than when their conversation had started.

Even Miwa looked ready to say something.

"Fine, fine. Sorry for being a downer."

"It's fine to be like that, but just remember that you can rely on us!"

Nire didn't give him a chance to reply, only clapping her hands loudly.

The others in the classroom turned to them before going back to what they were doing.

"Now, then!"

Before she could continue, she was cut off by the door to the classroom opening.

.

"Is Ariake Mitsuteru-senpai here?"

Everyone in the classroom looked to the door and the person who opened it.

The black-haired boy stood in the doorway with his hands raised.

"Yes, that's me," Mitsuteru said while getting up from his seat.

The black-haired boy nodded and went to meet him half-way.

"What can I do for you?"

"My name's Urushima Wataru," the boy said.

He held out his hand as he spoke.

"Do you want to join my squad?"