A swealtering hot day it was, just like nearly every day in Abydos. That, however, did not stop Serika from rushing over to work another part time job. This time, the job was just for labour to move some equipment into a another business moving out of Abydos. It saddened Serika that it had to come to this. Lots of people jumping the sinking ship that was the autonomous district, which would only hurt it further and make it that much harder to revive Abydos to what it once was. Nevertheless, she would do this job the best she could just as she had every other job she had done before. She had arrived in sight of the business, it was a business that seemed to specialize in selling stationary goods. While that would be useful for the school, they had to cut that budget by a lot since they needed the money for the debt and it looked like they were paying for it. She sighed, about to approach before she noticed Shiroko, the Shiroko from the alternate timeline, in front of the business's building.

"Oh! Hello Shiroko. What are you doing here?" Serika asks upon her approach.

Shiroko initially looks surprised to see Serika, but that quickly fades to a look of understanding. "Oh! Nice to see you again Serika. I guess I should have expected you to take this job as well."

"You take on part time jobs as well." Serika asks, to which Shiroko nods.

"Have to pay rent and for food." She simply replies.

'Where does this Shiroko now live, anyway?' Serika thinks to herself as their employer led them inside and showed them what they had to do. The two worked together hauling the heavy furniture into a semi Trucks trailer that was parked behind the building. As the two had done this, they were able to exchange casual conversation, which went on for awhile.

"Everytime I've seen you outside of school, it was always on the job of one place or another. You can't blame me for thinking that." Shiroko defends herself.

"I can when that line of thinking goes beyond common sense!" Serika argues back.

"Hmm... your right. Unless you are a robot and always have been the whole time I've known you." Shiroko argues back with some amusement.

"Haah?!" Serika shrieks. "A robot?! Am so not! I sleep just like everyone else!"

Shiroko just chuckles at Serika's response. "Must be some power nap. How do you get all the enegry to work nonstop everyday?"

"I just work. You would never catch me being unproductive and unhelpful. Ever!" Serika counters.

"You're right. So much so, that some people would think you don't sleep." Shiroko jokingly counters back.

"Yeah, ha ha." Serika "laughs" as they load the couch they have been carrying into the truck."

"Well thats the last of it. Thanks for the help ladies." The buisness owner tells the two, handing them their payment before heading back inside to finish up with locking down. It is then, that the two girls notice it is dark out now.

"Hmm. I never realized we had worked that long." Shiroko mutters.

"Eh, I've worked till dark plenty of times before. Its really not that bad." Serika says.

"Lets head home." Shiroko suggests, to which Serika nods. The two walk togther through the darkness of which was only broken up by the street lamps on Abydos roads, though they weren't that bright given they had gone years without the proper maintenance. As Serika walked, she noticed that the alter Shiroko had not left her side yet. Her own home was deeper into Abydos, yet Serika knew, where ever this Shiroko lived, it was somewhere in the D.U. the opposite direction of where she was headed.

"Okay, you aren't going to come into my house to watch me sleep just so you can know I do it, are you?" Serika asks.

"Huh?" Shiroko is seemingly snapped out of her thoughts. "Uh, no, just thought you would like some company on the way home."

"Uhh... thanks, but I'll be just fine." Serika dismisses. "We can talk more at school tomorrow."

"Then, its still better we go together. The kata kata helmet gang could try to attack us at any moment. Better if there is two of us than for one of us to fight them off alone." Shiroko brings up.

"Then when you head home, won't you be unprotected?" Serika points out the flaw in her logic.

"Yeah, but maybe they'll leave me alone because they think I don't go to Abydos." Shiroko says.

"But they might confuse you for the other Shiroko. They'll attack anyway." Serika stops her.

"Then I will fight them off." Shiroko simply replies.

"So will I! I'm not defenseless! I can take care of myself!" Serika starts to get agrivated.

"You couldn't before!" Shiroko shouts to her.

"That was one time! I know better now!" Serika shouts back. " First our Shiroko jokes about it, now you won't leave me alone because of it."

Shiroko is silent for a moment. "...you're right. I'm sorry." she looks away. They both stop walking. Shiroko so she can stop following Serika and Serika sensing the heavy atmosphere.

"That incident happened differently for you than it did for the rest of us." Serika states to her.

"...yeah." Shiroko can simpky reply. "Where did they take you? How did everyone rescue you?"

"When I was kidnapped by the helmet gang, they took me to the abandoned railyard and locked me in one of the cars. Sensei and Hoshino had found me by using the General Student Councils communication network." Serika explains. "What happened differently in your timeline?"

"Sensei wasn't there." Shiroko simply answers. "He was attacked and rended comatose just before you were kidnapped."

"Okay, and how did you rescue me that time?" Serika asks. No response from Shiroko, which for whatever reason, sent a small wave of fear in her for a second. "Shiroko?"

"We never did. We never found you." Shiroko quitely tells her. "...the rail yards... I should have known... I should have known..."

Serika couldn't supress the cold shudder that racked through her body at Shirokos words.

"You... never found me?"

Shiroko shook her head. "I'm sorry. We all searched everywhere as fast as we could. By the time we had checked the railyards, you were gone. We never knew you were there and we never saw you again."

This painted a clear enough picture for Serika on what might have happened to her had sensei never got involved with them. While it was common place for students to take each other hostage, though they would usually get caught and reprimanded for it, it was less common, albight still possible, for the kidnappers to get away with it and possibly send their victem off to whatever terrible fate they had planned out for them. What ever it was, it was very likely it was a fate worse than death. Her fear of one possible future for her took a backseat when she remembbered the woman dealing with the fallout of such a future.

'It was probably hard on her and her Taskforce once I disappeared.' she thought.

"H-hey now. Don't f-feel to bad." Serika awkwardly stammered out. She knew when it came to comforting people, she was less than stellar at it. That was mainly Nonomi's department. "Y-you did the best you could, right? And I'm sure that Serika wouldn't blame you because I know I wouldn't if things turned out like that." she reasoned.

"Y-yeah. You're right." Shiroko quitely admits.

Feeling there was something more to be done, Serika slowly wrapped her arms around Shiroko and pulled her into a hug. An awkward hug, given Serika wasn't the hugger type of person, and Shiroko was quite taller than her. Shiroko didn't seem to care though, as she quickly wrapped her own arms around Serika and returned her embtace fiercely.

"I'm so glad it all turned out okay for you here." Shiroko whispered. "I'm so glad you are safe.

Their hug managed to last quite awhile, but Serika couldn't be too bothered by it.