A/N: For those who have seen it, I have put in a BBF for SSZ's first chapter. I do that with SSR on ao3 as well. So I was wondering if anyone wanted those on here on FF as well. If so, would you want it in SSR proper or as a side thing to see? Also, thank you all for making it this far into SSR and sticking with it. It is very much appreciated.

The setting sun had always held a certain beauty to it. A normal occurrence had always been dazzling in the way you could look at it and not worry about hurting your eyes. The way the shadows bent and extended out while covering everything gave the surrounding area a nice feeling.

Ariake Mitsuteru felt himself let out a breath into the air.

This setting sun was going against his own name, but he had always enjoyed it more than the rising sun.

Although the rising sun is also very nice, he thought.

Both the rising and setting of the sun made him happy for no particular reason.

"I guess I don't need a reason to enjoy something."

"Are you talking about harassing others?"

"I won't hold back from smacking you," he said with a smile.

The setting sun was not the only thing he was focused on. The person standing next to him also held his attention as a friend.

"Don't you start with that, Kazuto. I hear enough of that from others."

"Yeah, that makes sense. With the way you do things, it would be weird if no one said that to you."

"I still don't get what you all mean by that, by the way."

Tonooka turned his head, looked away from Mitsuteru, then looked forward again. In his hand was a bag filled with things from the nearby konbini.

After another few seconds, he began again.

"Don't worry about it, okay? You just keep being you."

"I wasn't planning on stopping that any time soon."

"I could tell. Especially with the way you reacted to being chosen as captain today."

A groan left Mitsuteru's mouth as the events of the day played in his mind.

Everything had been so different for him because of a single choice. Becoming a captain for a provisional squad should have been something to look forward to, something he should have been proud of. It meant the directors had recognized him.

But it has a different effect.

"It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. Why was I chosen for this?"

"What did you do to the directors?"

"I will seriously hit you."

Tonooka shrugged and took an extra step to the side.

Good. He knows I'm serious about hitting him.

It was satisfying to have someone take him seriously for the first time.

Feeling especially pleased with himself, Mitsuteru moved closer and bumped shoulders with Tonooka.

"I didn't even say anything."

"Take that as my payment for letting me tag along with you."

"I thought you were going to go to dinner with some others. I let you tag along since I figured it would be on your way to meet them."

"That does sound nice," he said with a hum. "But I really did just want to come along with you. It's been a while since we've hung out."

The number of steps taken increased by three.

There had always been a small amount of distance between them, so this felt kind of new.

"Why would the great captain of the 15th squad want to hang out with a lowly sniper like myself?"

"I'm also a lowly sniper; thank you! Actually, I might be even more lowly than you!"

"And now he's competing to see who sucks more..."

That was it. A hit reached Tonooka's arm.

Mitsuteru let out a sigh and bumped shoulders with him again.

"Can you stop that now? I'm seriously worried over here."

"I know you are. You take things like these as something bad."

"It's because I'm nervous."

And why shouldn't he be?

The entire time he had been a part of Border, he had done nothing but follow others around. It was just his nature to do so without complaints.

"You got to choose all of your teammates, so there's nothing to worry about there. From what I know, those three are also great together, so you shouldn't have a problem with them."

"My problem isn't with them. It's with myself."

.

Tonooka rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone.

This guy really never changes.

That was both a good thing and something he hated. At first, it had just been normal worries—something that Mitsuteru could handle by himself. Over time, with many squads, his worries had turned into self-depreciation that would start eating at him.

There had been too many times where Tonooka had to call on Shigenaga to pull him from these thoughts because he was not able to do so.

But I'm not the one he's closest to. And from what I hear, there are even more people who are getting closer to him...

Something Tonooka had never thought he would need to worry about was spending time with his friend. Sniper training had always been calming and fun when he had someone to compete with, but those times had slowly started to dwindle over time.

"..."

When thinking about it more, the feeling of loneliness felt both right and wrong to think about.

I have people around me, so I feel fine. So maybe it's best to say that I feel an individual loneliness when it comes to him.

A sigh managed to escape his lips.

"Huh? That's new. Something wrong?"

"I was just thinking that you might need some more normalcy back in your life."

Maybe bumping him back was not normal for them, but it was normal enough for them individually.

"Things really have been getting crazy for me, haven't they? Oh, but the same could be said for you. I saw your last match. Man, having to deal with Amatori-san's attacks like that must have been something."

"You would have probably found a way to run away from it all. ...Or maybe not."

"I would probably feel too pressured. Especially when I know Kōji could always be watching. So, if anything, I would probably need to rely on Shigeko or Shinichi-kun for support."

That was just how he was. He always asked for help whenever he felt that he couldn't handle something on his own.

But when had he ever asked him for that kind of support?

"Hey, you know that you can ask for my help whenever, right?"

"After the hell you put me through during our match? I'm pretty sure Yukari-chan is the only one who isn't trying to push me in your squad."

Tonooka bumped his shoulder again, this time making sure to show a smile. He was met with a light laugh and a bump in return.

"But I do know that. Kazuto may act like this at times, but he knows when I need to calm down and settle back into myself. Right?"

"The thing we have going for us is our independence during fights and our ability to hide ourselves. That doesn't mean we can't have fun with others around."

"I don't know about that first one. You work great by yourself, but I always need someone to be the actual muscle during fights. I'm just a supporter who needs someone else."

There it was again.

This guy really doesn't see it, does he?

A part of Mitsuteru that he hated had always been the way he could never seem to find his own good points.

Originally, that had not been true. There were multiple times where he would boast about something he did to others. It had only been after he had lost his first squad that he started to lose sight of that part of himself.

I had thought that being around Shigenaga-san would have fixed that problem, but it seems like that only made things worse. He is aware of himself, but he has lost the ability to think of himself as capable.

If only there was something he could do about it.

Knowing that Shigenaga had been unable to beat this part of him out meant there was little he could do about it. Anything he could say would be dismissed or pushed aside simply because it would sound like he was just being nice.

What a troublesome guy!

"Did you ever stop to think about how others feel?"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that sometimes you are the worst."

"How!?"

It would be too much trouble to explain it to him.

"Just make sure you get Shigenaga-san to smack you at least three times."

"That could cause some real damage, you know?"

"Then make it four times."

The next sound from Mitsuteru was pretty amazing.

"Still," he said. "I'm really glad to have you by my side, Kazuto."

"Do I want to know why?"

Mitsuteru bumped his shoulder again. Unlike before, he let it linger for a moment. Then he wrapped an arm around Tonooka's shoulder before shaking the both of them.

Wanting to know why he did that, Tonooka looked over to see him looking on with a smile.

"It's because it's always fun hanging out and competing with you."

.

The first time it had come up was when he first noticed there was someone else trying to find a spot for Sniper training. Like him, this person has been sort of lost while looking around. The only difference was that he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

This isn't my problem, he had first thought.

Instead of interacting with the boy, he had gone on to find his own space.

Once the training was about to start, he noticed two things.

The first was that the other boy was still looking around. Even more franticly than he had been doing before.

The second was that the spot next to him was vacant. The only thing stopping the other boy from taking that spot had been him. His body was covering the sight of the vacancy.

With a breath, he called out to the point and leaned back to show the open space. Some people around him looked at him, but he ignored them to make sure the other boy knew what was happening.

After noticing what was happening, the other boy brightened up and quickly made his way over to the open space. Once there, he got set up and smiled over to him with a slight wave. The white of his clothing and basic features were enough to tell him that this boy was a new recruit. A C-Rank who was barely learning what to do.

Their training had started, and his shots had been a bit above average. There had been moments when he took a bit too long to fire, but he had otherwise gotten a good enough score that he could be proud of his results.

It was after he looked at his score that he heard a small groan from next to him.

Deciding to see what it was about, he turned to see the C-Rank boy looking at his score with a bit of sadness.

"I guess I still can't get my mind wrapped around the idea of using a rifle," the C-Rank boy had said.

It was fair to not be able to think of this as something more than using a real weapon that could hurt both Neighbors and humans alike. He had thought about that a few times before.

"Oh, sorry about that."

The C-Rank boy had turned away from him to apologize to the person on his other side.

After doing that, he turned to him and did the same thing.

"Sorry about my groan just now. And thank you for telling me about this open spot. I was freaking out since I got here later than I thought."

"It's no problem," he answered instinctively.

It was only normal to answer back like that.

The C-Rank boy must have thought the same thing since he smiled again.

"Hey, are you a C-Rank too?"

"Hm? Oh, no. I'm not. I just don't have a squad, so I haven't changed my outfit."

"Ah~ Got it. That makes sense." The C-Rank boy nodded two times. "Well, it's cool that you're a B-Rank then. I still have a long way to go for that, but I'll take it step-by-step."

That was what he had done, so he could appreciate this sort of approach.

"I'm Ariake, by the way. Ariake Mitsuteru. Nice to meet you."

"Tonooka Kazuto. Likewise."

It felt a bit refreshing to speak like this with someone. There had been things going around about some Border members and how crazy they could act at times. The likes of the top Attacker and top Shooter are good examples of things that worried him.

Knowing that there was someone like this in Border now eased his mind a bit.

.

After that day, I started looking forward to meeting up with him.

A friendship had built up, and that had turned into a nice rivalry for the both of them. One wherein either one of them could win and the other would laugh it off before trying to catch up.

There was never any malice between them as two ordinary people surrounded by extraordinary people.

Then he had been told that Mitsuteru had gotten onto a squad. An unknown and new one, but one he felt comfortable with. Their lunacy was the complete opposite of the former C-Rank boy, pulling him from his comfort zone.

At the time, he had been happy for his friend.

When he had managed to find his way to Yuba Squad, Mistuteru had already gone through a few squads. Each time he moved, it felt like there was something draining his energy, and he wanted to remain in Border. The friendly feeling he had felt during their first training session together had evened out to a melancholic dullness as time went on.

Their friendly competition had continued, but losses for Mitsuteru had brought about something other than a laugh. There was still no malice, but it was clear that he was frustrated with the losses. Losses that had only started to accumulate until one day Mitsuteru showed up with bruises

That was the day I learned he had his first ever fight with Shigenaga-san.

Something he never thought could happen did.

The amazing duo he had seen around school and Border's base had gotten into a fight that resulted in both of them being injured.

At the same time...

It felt like he was finally starting to ease up. Whatever had been holding onto him was let go during that fight.

He would later find out from Shigenaga that everything that had been building up in Mitsuteru was a result of something that happened with his first squad. Whatever it was, hit him hard. The ordinary boy, who had been pulled from his comfort zone, was thrown into something he had been unable to handle but refused to let it out. Instead, he kept it locked up inside until someone came along and beat it out of him.

Tonooka could never thank Shigenaga enough for managing to do that.

As time went on, he started seeing more and more of that ordinary C-Rank boy he had first met. A dullness was hidden behind his eyes, but he was otherwise back to his usual self.

And after so much more, here we are. This guy ended up being forced to face everything that had been holding him back. From Kotowari Squad to even Ninomiya-san. But best of all, he had finally gotten through to his first squad.

There was no doubt that that had been the most troublesome part of it all. Everything that had built up inside of him had been because of the single squad.

To have that in the open meant they had reconciled and come to an agreement on where they were in the present, instead of continuing to live in the past. A past that would have taken them all down until there was nothing left.

Feeling a bit of familiarity with their situation, Tonooka let out a breath.

All that needs to be done now is get him back some of his casual confidence that he had there when I met him.

"Now that I think about it, you ended up on a pretty good squad yourself."

"A bit much, but they aren't bad. Although I think Kikuchihara might have a hard time with Minamisawa there."

"That's true. But I think Kitazoe-senpai picked that squad because you all are the same age. He is the only one who isn't the same age."

Tonooka felt his mind stop for a moment.

...I didn't think of that. I figured that he just wanted to round out the team.

But that brought up a question.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Mitsuteru tilted his head, but Tonooka could tell that he was doing it more for show. "Isn't that just something someone like him would do? Oh, that was pretty rude of me. I mean, I just think it's a normal thing to do when picking a squad while also trying to round it out. Granted, I don't think he knows about how Kikucchi is with people like Kai-kun and Shinichi-kun."

When he thought about it, that really was just something someone would normally think about.

"Then did you pick your squad with that kind of thing in mind?"

"Hm? Maybe. I sort of just picked them as things went along. You know, weighing my options as they were presented to me."

This guy is serious...

Tonooka felt his head start to hurt a little.

I guess there is just nothing I can do about someone's stupidity when they aren't aware of it. Maybe I can ask Shigenaga-san to do something about it. Oh, but she will be on a different squad from him, so there isn't much she can do about it all.

This was just how things were now.

.

"Oh, I didn't notice that this was the time."

Mitsuteru looked down at his phone as Tonooka finished the drink in his hand.

They had continued their walk for a bit longer before the setting sun started to worry him.

"You should get going now. We're pretty close to my house, so it isn't like I'm going to be alone for long."

"That's true. Alright, I think I'll be going then."

Tonooka nodded and raised his fist.

Mitsuteru smiled and met the fist with his own.

"Make sure to thank those guys properly after your meal."

"I plan on paying for myself this time. I've been mooching off of others a lot recently, so I feel pretty bad."

"Then make sure to tell them that."

Sometimes he would be so enthralled by the situation around him that he would forget to tell others something.

It really sucks when that happens.

As someone who hated forgetting things, this was the worst outcome for him every time.

"Well, I'll be going then. Make sure to message me when you get to your house, so I know you're fine."

"Yes, mother. I understand."

"I'm not doing your laundry."

The two shared a laugh before he turned to go in the direction of the city. The distance wasn't too bad, so he made up his mind to walk at his own pace.

Once he was far enough, he pulled out his phone.

Daybreak: "Hello, I was making sure that I'm still fine to go."

Kage: "Yeah, we're going to a new place. The location we sent you is still the same."

Daybreak: "Understand. And again, thank you for inviting me."

Zoe: "No need for that, Ariake-kun. Kage would have gotten really mad, and Kō-kun would have been sad if we didn't invite you."

Kage: "That's not it at all, idiot."

Black Wolf: "I do want to have you around, though, Misuteru."

Bright Child: "And I'm not going to be late this time, so you better get there before us!"

Daybreak: "Eh? Maybe I don't want to go after all..."

Bright Child: "If you don't go, I'll send Arafune and Pokari after you!"

Daybreak: "I'll go, I'll go!"

.

"She's always like this!"

Tonooka smiled as Mitsuteru exclaimed into the air and hung his head a moment later.

That was the normal side of him that Tonooka tried to keep around for as long as he could.

"But still," he said to himself. "That's becoming more and more difficult as time goes on."

Going beyond that normal was fine, but losing it meant that there would be another weirdo going around the city. That was already a good enough reason to maintain this norm.

Then again, Obishima is pretty normal.

"For now" went unsaid.

The full force of the hit still managed to do damage.

"Maybe I should try a bit harder..."

The moment he let out a breath, a feeling came to his hand. Looking down, he noticed that a message had come in.

2Truths1Lie: "Hello? Tono-kun?"

Tono: "Was there something you needed, Seiji-san?"

2Truths1Lie: "I only wanted to know if you and Teru-kun were fine. The two of you were walking together, right?"

Tono: "We were, yes. He just left to have dinner."

"I see," Seiji sent back.

The two of them were not particularly close, but they had gotten to know each other due to Mitsuteru.

Because of this connection, the two of them spoke a bit more informally with each other. Seiji would follow up on this by always greeting him and giving him a smile. In return, he would respond properly with a nod-bow before following up by asking how he was doing.

While Seiji maintained his usual demeanor with him, he found it a bit rough to constantly pretend like he didn't feel a bit unnerved each time they interacted.

After all, there is something behind that smile of his...

That was not to say that he was not a genuinely nice guy. Even Tonooka could figure out what the difference was between being genuine and being fake. The only exception is Tsukiko-san. But you had to be abnormal to tell if he was really faking something or if he was being genuine.

There was just something he could not trust when it came to Seiji.

2Truths1Lie: "Tono-kun, while I have you here, can I ask you something?"

Tono: "Of course. What is it?"

2Truths1Lie: "As an outsider, I want your opinion on something. Do you think that Teru-kun and Shigeko are in good places right now?"

A sound was heard, and Tonooka blinked at his black phone screen.

"Ah... I accidentally locked it."

The pressure he had placed on the sides of his phone had made him press the power button and lock his phone.

What a way to put that. Maybe it's because I knew them a bit more than others?

To be called an outsider like that when Mitsuteru was his friend hurt him a bit. While it was true that, to the rest of Meishō Squad, he seemed like an outsider in their situations, he liked to think he was one of the few who knew of their situation. Mitsuteru would tell him when something came up and ask for his advice whenever Seiji or Shigenaga could not be of any help.

Tono: "I can't say much about Shigenaga-san... Most of the things I know are secondhand. Saying something careless could get me in trouble with her."

2Truths1Lie: "That is true. Alright, we can ignore that part of the question then. So what about Teru-kun?"

Tono: "About him..."

Should he bring up the thoughts he had earlier? They were thoughts he made when noticing that Mitsuteru had changed for the better but continued to not notice things about himself.

But...

If someone asked me who, besides Shigenaga-san and his parents, is most willing to look out for him, I would say Seiji-san.

Taking a breath, he made his choice.

Tono: "Mitsuteru is in a good general position. Both with himself and the people around him. Much better than he was before the B-Rank Wars started."

2Truths1Lie: "That was pretty painful to watch."

Tono: "Considering everything that had been happening, he was in a pretty big slump during the first few rounds."

2Truths1Lie: "And what about personally? As his friend, you should have noticed something some of us missed, right?"

Tono: "That was pretty harsh, Seiji-san..."

2Truths1Lie: "Oh, sorry about that. I really didn't mean much with that."

Tono: "It's fine."

I know it's the truth, he thought with a sigh.

This was just how things were.

Tono: "I doubt that I'm the only one who noticed it, but I can tell that there is still something from the past he's holding on to."

2Truths1Lie: "Yes, that was what I was most concerned about."

So that's what this is about.

Seiji had noticed it already and wanted to confirm that it was not just him who had noticed.

Tonooka had noticed it and been honest with it. That honesty towards the situation was likely what Seiji had been after.

2Turths1Lie: "But, you know, that is why I am hoping they can do something about it."

Tonooka furrowed his brows.

It would have made sense if he had been talking about Shigenaga, but Seiji was not referring to a single person.

So who is he talking about?

"Wait..."

2Truths1Lie: "Have you figured it out, Tono-kun?"

He didn't know who they were specifically, but he knew who Seiji had been referring to.

2Truths1Lie: "The people he is having dinner with tonight."

"Aren't you happy to be spending more time with Mittsuncchi?"

"Why would I be happy about that? He is one of the less annoying people I know."

"'More less annoying"? There is something wrong with that, Yuzuru."

"I know what I said, and I stand by it."

Ema's words were true, but only after having fought against the Meishō Squad Sniper.

Kageura chuckled to himself as he thought about his own fight against Ariake and how it brought about something new with his Side Effect that he had not thought about before. That it could be fooled and that it could be overloaded.

"Heh. He really is 'more less annoying' than a lot of others."

"Even Kage!?"

"What did Mittsuncchi do to him!?"

Ema looked up to him with a knowing expression. He nodded once and put his hands into his pockets.

"Still, he isn't a bad guy," said Kageura while patting Ema's head. "He does seem like the type to go with the flow, though."

There had been a strange feeling when they had been fighting.

Once Ariake had been found out, he started doing things any normal Sniper would not think of doing. Fighting back like that after having tried to run had thrown Kageura for a loop at first. Once everything settled, he got the hang of it and went on the offense against Ariake.

Then Ariake's partner had arrived.

"Hey, tell me something. Does that guy change depending on who he's hanging around?"

Hikari and Ema both looked at him in confusion.

Behind them, Kitazoe made a noise, but that could have just been his stomach.

"Why do you want to know that?"

"I just do. Tell me already."

"Fine, fine. But I don't see how it really matters. Doesn't everyone change depending on who they are around?"

That was true. Everyone reacted to different situations depending on who was around them. It was because of those kinds of reactions that relationships were created, both for the good and the bad.

Knowing that, it made what he had witnessed even more strange.

"When he's with us from his class, he's pretty tame. But he does like messing around a bit."

"Haven't the other guys told us how he's more reserved with them? Tōma-kun at least has complained about him not saying too much when they are training."

"Oh, but he does go crazy when he's harassing others. And with Shigenaga, he-..."

"Kage-san noticed it..."

Hikari and Kitazoe stopped talking to look down at Ema.

As for Kageura...

"There's something up with him, isn't there? No...there's something with the people around him."

"Both of those are correct."

Kageura furrowed his brows and moved to get more answers.

There were a few other things he wanted to know about, and the only one here who seemed to know the answers was Ema.

But before he could, a noise reached him.

"Hey, they're here. Should we wait for the last one or just get a table?"

"He knows where we will be, so we can probably get a table now."

Murakami was waving towards them, with two others talking behind him.

The first was Mizukami, who nodded toward them.

The second was...

"What's Kanda doing here?"