Mai

When we got home, I changed my mind slightly. It'd probably be strange to cook completely from scratch when we were still getting to know each other again. Perhaps they wouldn't appreciate being made to get stuck in, the way that I had managed to do before. But there were things that we had in the freezer, I could defrost those. There were biscuits I could dig out, and carrots I could chop and serve with houmous.

Oh, if only I'd made some baba ganoush, I thought. It'd been a staple at the parties and picnics and things we'd had together as friends. Perhaps it would have served as a culinary memory prompt. Something to pull us back together again, because I could not help but be in two minds about this. The promise was for the best, it made sure that my children's' lives were not tainted by what had happened. But it had lost me my friends. All the things that I'd hoped for back then-"You'll all be great 'aunts' or 'uncles' to my future kids. I can't wait for them to meet you all"-because of twenty years ago, they'd never come to pass.

In any case, between that and some of the leftovers, I could cobble together a pretty good lunch. And that meant I could cook something new for tonight, even if it was only for me and Juro. I could cook, so I would be fine.

"So, erm, this is my living room," I said, "If you guys want to make yourselves comfortable then I'll bring you some snacks and drinks, and then I'll get onto lunch."

"Oh, I'll help you in the kitchen if you like." Friede offered. "Just like old times, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

I did my best to smile. Even though Friede had been what Eizo and some of the others had jokingly referred to as my 'partner in crime' (a title that had also been bestowed on Lilian because of our dancing), we'd really only started cooking together in earnest when we'd been trapped.

"If we're making a chore rota, it probably goes without saying that you're cooking, right?"

Ayuna pointed to me lazily and I startled, blushing slightly. But I grinned.

"Of course!"

"We can hardly expect her to do it by herself for all twenty of us," Eikichi pointed out. "Some of us will need to assist, so we can make sure there's a rota of assistants."

"I'll help with kitchen stuff if you want." Friede offered. "That's alright, isn't it Sadie-chan?"

"Sure!" I said. "You can be my sous chef!"

"I'll help as well!" Azami offered.

When Azami made the offer here in the present, her voice overlapped with past-Azami in my head as well, and I had to blink to clear the memory. Her voice here was more subdued than the one back then, with its undertone of laughter and joy even in such a trying time. When I managed it though, my smile this time was easier to manage. It was so hard to recall an Azami back then who'd been lively and engaged, since with Akari as fifth to die and the third victim, she'd spent more of our captivity in the semi-catatonic state than not.

"Of course. I'm mostly heating up leftovers and things, so it'll be fine. Anyway, what would you all like to drink?"

I took their requests, and then with Friede and Azami I headed to the kitchen, while the other four lounged in the living room.

"What can we do?"

I took some carrots out from the fridge and handed them to Friede, then pointed to where the chopping board and knife were.

"The things you'll need are there, could you chop the carrots into sticks, Free…" I hesitated. "Um, it's alright to call you that?"

Friede shrugged heavily.

"I like it, but it's not so…." She trailed off and then sighed. "It's not so me anymore. Just Friede is fine though."

"Alright then," I said before turning to Azami. "Azami-chan, could you organise the drinks? Do you remember what everyone asked for?"

Azami shrugged, then recited the drinks in order. I smiled at her.

"Thought so. All the juices and whatnot are in the fridge, the water's over there, ice cubes in the freezer and so on."

"The glasses."

"Oh yeah, of course. Cupboard over there." I indicated.

Azami nodded, and then while they got on with what I'd directed them to do, I busied myself with taking things out of the fridge and freezer, finding trays and warming things up.

I finished tying the bandage in place and then stepped back, studying Ayuna. She was subdued, and stared at her now bandaged arm. For a long moment, she didn't say anything.

"Does it still hurt?" I asked. "It probably will, for a little while. But that's the only injury that will scar."

Ayuna laughed bitterly, and reached up to touch the plasters on her face, then the ones on her hands, before returning to looking at the bandage on her arm. Then, she sighed, and looked at me.

"You're going to say that I shouldn't have done that."

"You were lucky the other boys got you out. It could have been…" I let out a shaky breath. "So much worse."

"Geez, I know, Hanamura chewed me out already." Ayuna huffed. "But how could I not? How could I not try?"

I opened my mouth, closed it again. Ayuna let out another bitter laugh, lips twisting.

"I'm not going to try and excuse the fact she killed Yuri. How could I? But…she was still Seiko, goddamnit. So…fuck Hanamura, telling me it was pointless. Do you really expect that I could've just stood there, and watched."

I closed my eyes in pity for a moment. The explosions flashed behind my eyes, as much an aftershock as they were a memory. The thought of being able to just dive in there, without thought, no matter how dear the person in there was to me….

"Bearing witness is still something though, right?" I asked, softly, opening my eyes again.

Ayuna simply shook her head. She looked as if she was pitying me, and then exhaustion swept over her, and her features downturned. She got up.

"Maybe for you. Thanks for patching me up, Sades. I'll see you later."

"Oh, Ao-"

Ayuna was gone before I could say anything else. I sighed, and packed away the first aid kit before looking over at Azami, who'd been standing in the corner the whole time. Completely still, not blinking.

"Come, Azami-chan," I said, going to guide her. "Let's get something to drink, 'kay?"

"I've done everything, have you got a tray?" Azami asked me.

I blinked, trying hard to not gawp at her, though it was hard not to, considering how different she was now. Seeing her functioning was a little bit how I'd felt whenever I'd been able to do something for anyone. How it felt being able to be a good mother to Akio and Sachi. I shook the thought away and smiled, finding one of the trays.

"Yes, here."

I handed over the pink floral patterned tray to her and then continued what I was doing. I sensed Azami put all the glasses on the tray and then leave.

"You haven't changed, have you?" Friede said. "Always cooking. It's nice."

"It helps me. It helped me. But even so, I always liked it." I said. "Plus, I have the children to cook for, too."

"Oh yeah, I saw the photographs." Friede asked, a touch of wistfulness in her voice. "The boy looks a little like you, though your little girl has your eyes. How old?"

"My son, Akio, is 16. Sachi is 9." I hesitated, remembering what Friede had shared in a single stark message. "Your son…how old was he?"

"He would be 16."

"You lost a child?"

This softly-uttered question came from Azami, who had returned without me noticing. She seemed to be regarding the two of us with curiosity, and also a little compassion. Friede also glanced over at her, gritted her teeth, and nodded in response to her question.

"Two years ago. But that's not really what I want to talk about. Not now."

"Oh!" Azami blinked, taken aback. "I'm sorry, Heiwa-san."

"Oh, no, of course, sorry!" I exclaimed. "I can imagine…well, not exactly, but I know loss."

It didn't matter that the children I had lost hadn't even had a chance to be born, that they were so young that some may not have even considered them children at all. I could, at least on the basic level, understand what it was to lose a child. Which means you understand how it felt for all their parents, back then. And how much worse it is for them because they don't know why.

As I tried very hard to not think that, Friede shook her head, laughed bitterly. For a moment, her face creased, but just as quickly her expression became smooth again and she smiled at me.

"It's fine," she said. "It's not your fault. Tell me about them. Akio, and Sachi."

There was something pleading in her tone, so I obliged. I told her about how quiet and thoughtful Akio was, and how Sachi was an impulsive ball of energy in contrast, how they still managed to get on really well in spite of that and the age difference. I talked about Sachi's inability to master the indoor voice and her love of all things sweet and colourful, I talked about how clever Akio was and the animation stuff he did. I sidestepped the fact that he'd been invited to Hope's Peak, that he was there today. Instead, I did what any mother did, ramble about all the virtues of my lovely children as if they were the most amazing, angelic children to exist. Because of course to me they were.

When I stopped, Friede and Azami exchanged a look, both of them smiling.

"They sound like nice kids." Azami said.

"Yeah, they do." Friede agreed. "It would be nice to meet them."

No, no, I can't.

"You'll all be great 'aunts' or 'uncles' to my future kids. I can't wait for them to meet you all"-

But I can't, I can't.

"Maybe another time." I said. "I…erm, will have to think of a way to explain you all to them, particularly to Sachi."

"That seems fair," Friede said. "After all, it'd be hard to explain the investigation to a little one, and I'm sure you wouldn't want her to be worried or scared. "

"Mhm." I said neutrally.

"You seem like a natural at it," Azami noted wistfully. "Being a mother. Then again, you had good practise in it, didn't you? It seemed like you'd do almost anything for us, care-wise."

"Yep, that was Sa-ah, Mai-san, loyal to the very end."

Loyal to the end. The words caught in my mind, and I glanced at Friede in panic. Was she thinking of what we'd decided back then, the thing that we never did follow through on? I hoped not. I could barely think about it, and if anyone were to ever know…

"This seems like a reckless place to leave it though." Friede frowned.

"No, no," I insisted. "It makes the most sense. After all, we decided that food was…."

I gulped, not able to finish the sentence. What sort of a person was I, to decide on something like this? If the others were to find out, then…

"The best method?" Takaaki finished bluntly for me. "Yes, but it's not going to be much use if someone discovers it here before we can use it."

"This is my space though," I gestured around at the kitchen space. "I know where things should be, how they should be. I can make sure it doesn't get seen, even if I have others helping me. And in truth, with not so many people left now, I don't even need that much kitchen help."

"And if we keep going like this, there'll be even less help that you need." Takaaki stated, bluntly.

"Exactly." I said.

Friede and Takaaki frowned at me. Takaaki tapped his foot absently, and Friede bit her lip, but eventually, she nodded.

"Alright, fair enough. Kitchen it is. Alright?"

"Sure." Takaaki shrugged. "Sure."

In the present, Friede laughed and shrugged.

"Yeah, you were a natural at the mothering thing even back then. You're so lucky."

"I'm sure that you were a good mother too." I reassured quickly.

Friede shook her head, and something in her face told me not to press further. Quickly, I gathered the tray with the biscuits, carrot sticks, houmous and other snacks that I'd warmed up.

"Let's go out and enjoy these while everything else is warming in the oven." I said. "Okay?"

Friede nodded hesitantly, and then the three of us left the kitchen for the time being.

…

Takaaki

For a moment after Azami left the drinks with us, there was nothing but silence as the four of us stared at each other. We'd exhausted obligatory 'are you alright' questions and tell-us-about-your-fiancée-Hanamura small talk. So now, we were just sitting there. Silence being awkward was just a social construct, or so I told myself, so I did a pretty good job of staring them down while they twitched. Eventually, though, Ayuna was the first to break the silence. I was glad of it, despite my determination to pretend the silence didn't matter.

"So, Jinsai…what happened with the ear?" she asked.

"He went and cut his tracker out himself." Eikichi interrupted with irritation.

Both Ayuna and Eizo gawped at me in astonishment.

"You did what?"

"Yes, I took it out myself. Yes, I didn't think about it. It hardly matters now, we've all got them out now."

"Yes, but we had them removed safely." Eikichi reiterated. "Still, as you say, it's done now."

"That isn't something I'd ever have thought of doing, but you know what, I get it." Eizo said, unexpectedly. "I mean, to think that we had them in all these years…without any inkling whatsoever."

"Yeah, it is pretty freaky." Ayuna agreed.

"I really want to know how and when we would have had them put in. I mean, I don't remember anything that could…." Eizo bit his lip, looked down at his drink, then back up at us. "All I remember before we woke up there is…well, you know."

There was a sudden cacophony of mock-groans and laughter.

"Kirin? Kirin? Jeez, you're terrible at Shiratori!" Ayuna teased.

"Sorry, sorry," Katsuya said with embarrassment. . "My brain went blank. Let's try again."

"You know what would be really challenging?" Akari asked. "Doing Shiratori with English words."

"English?" Kimiko asked curiously. "That sounds interesting. It'd work better if we used letters rather than syllables though."

"Oh man, English spelling! My English is terrible!" Katsuya moaned.

"Maybe you should sit out, then." Ayuna retorted.

"Oh no, let him have a try anyway!" Azami laughed.

"Alright then, so now that's us lot from before, Tsukuda, and…."

"I'm in." I said casually, looking up from my book. I was starting to feel a little motion-sick anyway.

"Nice!" Ayuna declared. "So, um…..Akari, you start?"

"Me, why me?"

"You came up with the idea!"

"What's that car doing?"

Sadie's question stopped us short, and for a moment it was completely quiet. I was sitting on the other side of the mini-van, so I couldn't see what she and some of the others were looking at. All of a sudden though, Fumiaki pulled over to the side of the motorway.

"What the fuck was that?" Sen'ya said. "They could have crashed!"

All of a sudden, there was a clamour of noise as some of the others unbuckled their belts and moved forward, while we all asked questions, most of which were variations of :what was going on? Peering between my friends, I could see from the front window that there was a car parked in front of us, at a haphazard angle, as if it'd pulled in to block us.

"I'm going to check if they're alright," Fumiaki called out over the clamour.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Moeka said. "They might need our help. Katsuya-kun, come on."

"What, me?"

"Yes, you." It was said playfully though, and Katsuya grinned before obliging.

A few of the others went to sit back down, but I remained standing, watching as a man open the door of this other car and peer out. Fumiaki, Moeka and Katsuya left the mini-van, and the man got out, meeting them halfway, and thus half-disappearing from my sight.

"I wonder what's happening?" Yuri mused.

"Oh, they're coming ba-"

"What is it, Sadie-san?" Kimiko asked. "What's wrong?"

She came back up behind me, but soon got her answer as Moeka and Katsuya stumbled back into the van, looking pale. Fumiaki also followed, though he only hovered by the driver's seat. He looked pale too, and his eyes were wide, mouth slightly open.

"Get back in your seats, back in your seats now!"

The voice belonged to a stranger, and that stranger came into view. The man that had been in the car. Except now that he was here, he was glaring at us over his face-mask, and brandishing a gun.

"Move!" he yelled, pointing it directly at me. "I don't want to have to use this so soon, but I will if you don't get back into your seats."

Kimiko touched my shoulder briefly. I glanced over my shoulder to see she'd already turned away to scramble back into her seat, and then I looked again at the man. At the gun. I wasn't close enough to see into the barrel. But all the same. I gulped, and then sank back down in my seat, wondering what was going to happen next.

I realised that I had tensed my shoulders during this recollection, and I forced myself to remember how to breathe.

"I remember that…and straight after…but then it's complete blank."

Straight after. Even with Eizo beating around the bush like that, it was obvious what he meant. It didn't bear thinking about.

"Yes, well, it's clear that it has to have happened at some point during that blank." Eikichi said, stiffly, sipping at his water.

"The point is when, though?" Eizo persisted. "I really want to know that. I just….don't you ever wonder things, sometimes? About how and why things turned out as they did?"

"No, actually."

Eikichi's voice was stiff, and I raised an eyebrow. I recognised a deflector when I saw one. After all, I was one too, when it suited me. He was trying to not think about it at all, so that way, he wouldn't need to be haunted by the wondering. But I knew full well it didn't really work, and I was sure that he did, too. No matter his stiff voice and haughty posture trying to convince him and us otherwise.

Eikichi noticed my raised eyebrow and glared. I just stared back, pretending to be serene.

"Anyway," Ayuna said, clapping her hands once, decisively. "Jinsai. You were always doing weird things, weren't you? Like, when you got in with Hatakawayama and Komiya, the number of pranks you did and claimed were social experiments."

"Some of them were social experiments." I protested.

Indeed, recollections of some of those prank/social experiment ideas were ones I'd incorporated into my own classes now. That meant something, but I was a philosopher, not a psychologist.

"Turning the entire classroom into a table fort was a social experiment?" Eikichi asked with scepticism.

"Of course," I said casually. "Who is to say that the so-called traditional classroom set up is the most superior one in which to allow learning to take place?"

Eikichi muttered something under his breath, and Ayuna grinned toothily.

"That was funny, though. The siblings went all out decorating too," she recalled, referring to Yuki and Yuri.

"I thought it was someone's birthday that we'd forgotten."

"Do you remember sensei's face when she walked in?" Eizo asked.

"What, Sonoda-sensei?" Ayuna asked.

"Yes…"

"I'd forgotten her name." Ayuna shrugged in response to Eizo's bemusement. "But yeah. I'd never seen such flabbergasted confusion in my life."

"Whose name had you forgotten?"

Mai, Friede and Azami walked back in, and Mai set down the tray of various snacks before taking her own drink. The other two also retrieved their drinks, with Friede grabbing a biscuit as well. I immediately leaned over to take a handful of carrot sticks and dipped them liberally in the houmous. Some of it dripped in my hands, but I wasn't too bothered.

"Jinsai-kun, take a plate!" Mai urged, handing me a small saucer.

I took it simply to indulge her, but left it on the carpet next to me.

"We were talking about Jinsai's pranks-slash-social-experiments." Eizo said with a small chuckle. "And then we just thought of Sonoda-sensei, our homeroom teacher."

"She was nice." Friede said mildly. "It was her first year of proper teaching, wasn't it?"

"Was it?" Mai asked curiously. "I don't remember that at all."

"She was young though, from what I remember." Eikichi said slowly. "I guess that would make sense."

"I just remember she wasn't a former SHSL, which was unusual." Ayuna said thoughtfully.

"Not all the staff back then were former students." Friede pointed out.

"No, but all the other homeroom teachers were, and most of the other higher up staff. Anyone who was a head of anything. Apart from the actual head himself. Funny, that."

"What happened to her?" Azami asked.

"What do you mean, what happened to her?" Eikichi asked.

Azami shrugged, blushing slightly.

"Just that, really."

"Come to think of it, I don't know." Eizo said slowly. "I don't remember seeing her around or getting a message from her or anything when we were rescued. Principal Kirigiri did, didn't he? But not Sonoda-sensei."

"Huh." Ayuna said. "You're right."

I frowned, thinking. We had received a lot of correspondence from well-wishers, a lot from other students and staff from Hope's Peak. I remembered seeing the notes from Principal Kirigiri and that advisor dude of his. There'd been something faintly off about them. I couldn't remember the words now, but they'd seemed insincere, obligatory. Demanding, underneath it, but I wasn't sure what it was they'd been demanding. I'd binned it, in any case. Ripped it and binned it. I hadn't wanted to know.

"I didn't think ghosting us was something that she'd do. She seemed so nice." Friede said. "I liked her."

"Yeah." I spoke up. "I did, too."

It occurred to me then that perhaps we needed the police as much as they needed us to find out the truth. If only to answer questions such as these. But there was so much I couldn't bear to think about, let alone talk about. So much that couldn't be revealed.

I wonder, do they even remember? That decision that never came to be?

"But yeah, " Ayuna said. "Those pranks. Didn't you guys switch all the chairs for yoga balls and space hoppers once? That was epic."

"We also taped our school photographs to mannequins and sat them at our desks, remember?" Eizo laughed.

"And the googly eyes." I remembered. "Those two decided to stick googly eyes on everything in the homeroom once. And they managed to track down different sizes of the properly sticky ones as well."

"Nanakai-kun got involved in that one, didn't he?" Azami remembered. "I think he just found it funny."

"He didn't want to take the googly eyes off of his desk or chair afterwards." Ayuna said, nodding. "I think Komiya gave him some of the leftovers so he could put them on things in his room."

Eizo, Mai and Friede laughed softly along with Ayuna at this, Azami smiled, as did I. Eikichi did not quite manage a full smile, but the edges of his mouth quirked up slightly. For a moment, we sat there, remembering. But then, once again, the pause stretched out and became a silence. The minutes ticked past, we sipped our drinks and nibbled at snacks, gave each other sideways glances. Yet, nobody picked up the conversation.

"Honestly, if this isn't proof that time isn't real then what is?" I declared.

"What do you mean?" Kimiko asked curiously.

"Well," I said, gesturing to the practically-dying fire. "We're sitting in front of a campfire. People have done that for millennia, literally. Even before they could literally be people."

Kimiko raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't interpret that as a case against time, just that some things are universal." She answered. "After all, humans are social creatures, right? Doesn't necessarily mean we want to be surrounded by them all the time, but we need to be connected to others. Right?"

"Okay, and the fire is a symbol of that or something?"

"It's an easy way of connecting people, isn't it? Gathering around, sharing warmth, stories and food."

"Ehhh." I considered this. "You may have a point. But I still maintain time isn't real."

"HEY!" Sen'ya called out from where the minivan was. "You're meant to be putting the fire out! We have to go!"

Kimiko shook her head at me, but smiled. She got up, the side of her arm lightly brushing mine as she did so. She looked around for a long stick to spread around the sticks we'd used. I got up and joined her, and then we both poured water over it before spreading the ashes, and repeating until it was completely out, just as Moeka had read and instructed us.

"Ready?" I asked with a smile.

"Sure." Kimiko smiled back.

And together, we walked over to where the others were waiting for us.

I sighed and stretched. Things had been so different. I knew we couldn't get back to how it was back then. There'd be no more carefree pranks and discussions by campfires or group birthday parties. But, could there be something else?

"Oh, um, I guess now would be a good time to mention this." Eizo said suddenly. "But I'm helping them out."

"What?" I blinked at Eizo, confused.

"I'm sorry, could you back up?" Ayuna asked quizzically. "Who are you helping?"

"Erm…"

Eizo pulled a face, but then sighed, running a hand through his hair before answering:

"New Hope's Peak."

"WHAT?"

This came from Eikichi, Ayuna and Mai, the former two looking astonished and the latter's eyes wide and shocked, slightly worried. I just gawped, as did Friede.

"But why?" Mai half-whispered.

"Yes, why?" Eikichi asked, icily. "You know what happened there, and what could happen."

"But that's why, though." Eizo said.

"I don't get it." Friede stated.

"Yes, I don't understand either." Eikichi agreed. "Are you out of your mind?"

"No, of course not. But-we were talking about the pranks and stuff, earlier, right? And how we liked Sonoda-sensei? Good memories."

"Yes….?" Friede said, sceptically.

"They happened, too. The bad stuff happened, but so did all that good stuff. And that's what we should have had-just the good things. Those kids, they deserve to have a school life where their dominant memories are the good things, not something as an addition, as a 'despite'. You know?"

There was a hesitant pause. Ayuna nodded slowly at that.

"I guess that makes sense. " she said, slowly.

"How are you helping, exactly?" Mai asked, tense and on guard.

"Well, you know I'm in the security business, right?" Eizo asked quickly, continuing on before gaining an answer. "But it's not just locks and alarms and bodyguards and stuff, but also safeguarding procedures, in schools. Things to do to make the school more secure, so that there's protection from abuse, so that everyone who is in the building is a safe person and allowed to go there, so that pastoral care is a priority…that kind of thing."

"Oh yeah, of course. Duh!" Ayuna said. "You mentioned that when we reconnected."

"You reconnected?" Friede asked. "When?"

"Oh, a couple of years back." Ayuna said. "Only sporadically till now, though?"

"…what about the promise?"

"What about it?"

Ayuna fixed Eikichi with a steely gaze-not quite a glare, but close enough to one. Eikichi stared back, and then his shoulders sagged and he sighed.

"That sounds like the kind of idealistic viewpoint you'd have."

This was directed at Eizo, who blinked in surprise, and then stammered.

"Um, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Eikichi shook his head tiredly.

"It means I really can't be bothered to chew you out. If I had any control, after all, I wouldn't even be here."

This sentiment seemed to take a life of its own, hovering in the air between us. No doubt, it was the truth for many of us. Alright, so Ayuna and Eizo had apparently been talking, which was pretty interesting though not surprising-I dimly recalled Ayuna having been reluctant to agree to the promise at all. But would any of us have ever talked to each other, ever again, if not for this? Would we had eventually taken the continuing years as a signal that perhaps everything would be fine and gradually relaxed? Or would each year had been something to push us apart ever further, weakening our connection until finally, in some distant future, we withered and died. All our memories, everything we'd shared, not just the bad but the good, put out like that campfire?

Kimiko's face flashed in my mind, and I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to keep the faint image behind my eyelids. But it fluttered and faded, eventually disappearing. I bit my lip, tried not to give in to the inexplicable urge to cry, and opened my eyes.

"Alright," Mai said. "I think lunch should be ready to eat now. I think we need it."

…

Akio

"Look yeah, this entire thing was my idea, so obviously we should go back to my house."

"Yes, but I'm a proper investigator, unlike you. I have actual resources you can tap into."

"Ahem, you really think I'm gonna bring my box over to your poky place."

"My place isn't poky, it's discreet. There's a difference, not that I'd expect you to understand that."

"Man, you guys are kinda hot when you argue." Mitsuhide butted into this unnecessarily.

"SHUT UP."

For a brief moment both Rieka and Otsuka were united in their disdain of Mitsuhide, but considering we'd been going through similar cycles for the last 10 minutes or so, I knew it was unlikely to work. And sure enough, a few seconds later, Rieka turned to Otsuka, retorted to her last comment and the spat continued.

Next to me, Mitsuhide visibly sagged, but only for a few seconds.

"I was hoping to break the tension, but oh well. I guess when the ladies have to argue, there's no stopping them."

"I'm not sure what you were expecting, considering your strategy didn't work the last two times you tried it." Ritsuka pointed out, dryly.

Mitsuhide opened his mouth, but then closed it abruptly, apparently having no response to give. I couldn't blame him. Ritsuka's expression had barely changed during her blunt response. It was hard to read her. Then again, most of them were hard to read, in that we were all still new to each other.

"Perhaps one of us should try something." Akagi murmured next to me.

"But what, though?" I asked aloud.

"I would suggest my house, "Akemi responded. "There's enough space, but at least one of my parents will be home, because sometimes they do work from home."

Ritsuka nodded thoughtfully, as did Mitsuhide, but I gave Akemi a look. That's not the whole story, is it? I noticed her subtly adjust her top, as though it was uncomfortable, but quickly looked away before I added to the discomfort myself.

"Well then, what on earth should we do?" Mitsuhide asked.

"Why not my place? It's not far, and neither of my parents will be home."

Both Rieka and Otsuka turned to stare at me. The words had come out on impulse, and I blushed.

"They won't?" Otsuka asked briskly.

"Well, no, they're at….work."

This was true, at least for Dad. Still, I couldn't help but hesitate. Why did I even….? There was a part of me that thought maybe even this would be too much. But Mum was still with the police, and Dad was the police, and Sachi was with Kanon and Naomi. Besides, I reasoned to myself. It won't be long. I can get them out of there before Mum or Dad get home, and then after today we can meet at someone else's place. Realising that they were all waiting for further elaboration from me, I quickly scrambled to find a response of some sort.

"Yeah, they're at work and my little sister's with friends, so the house'll be empty. It's not huge, but my room should suffice just for a quick thing."

"Neato!" Rieka said. "After all, we just need a place to temporarily regroup and work out our strategy, and then from that point we can use my room as the official headquarters, so to speak."

Otsuka opened her mouth to protest at this, but Akemi quickly piped up.

"Perhaps the headquarters, such as they are, could be split between the two bases. Jihara-san's, and Amasaki-san's. That could prove useful for when we need to do things in smaller groups, and having information in two places means we've got a backup."

"Huh." Otsuka raised an eyebrow at Akemi. "That's smart thinking, I like that. You can never be too cautious in situations like this. I say let's do it that way."

Rieka pulled a face, but then sighed.

"Sure, whatever."

With that thankfully settled, I led the way and we all set off. Mitsuhide tried to keep up some small talk, asking us about interests and school, and shamelessly attempting to charm the girls. Though, in different ways, none of them were really having it. So apart from that, we didn't really talk much. All the while though, apprehension was mounting in my stomach.

It's fine, they're not there, it won't be for long.

"Here we are." I said as we turned onto my road, gesturing to where my house was.

"Oh, cool." Rieka replied.

I sped up a little, and headed to my front door. I fumbled for my keys and took a breath, before putting it in the lock and then turning. I opened the door wide, and stepped in.

"I'm ba-"

I started calling out of habit, then stopped as my gaze travelled to where I'd leave my shoes and noticed that there were extra pairs of shoes, only the strappy sandals recognisable to me. They all looked like adults' shoes, ranging from ratty trainers to neat patent shoes. Altogether, I counted seven pairs of shoes. But as I gawped at them, trying to work out whose they were, I heard someone call me.

"Akio? What are you doing here?"

I looked up to see my mother look around the kitchen door. Her eyes were wide and tremulous, and as she stepped into the hallway I realised she wasn't alone. There were others, including a tall imposing man with icy-blue eyes, and a diminutive blond woman.

"Is that your son?" the blond woman asked.

"Yes. But I thought…Akio?"

I stared at them, then looked back at my new classmates-to-be behind me, all of them staring with undisguised curiosity. Then, the realisation hit me.

I've made a mistake.