Yoneda Ikki was a drunkard, that's his opinion of his store's regular. The old man kept spilling the bottles to the point his employer prohibited him from coming here. For some miraculous reasons, he convinced Uchida-san to let him buy booze and the latter agreed. He and Shinjiro-san couldn't understand why but as long as it wouldn't get them fired, both of them should ignore him.

"Ah, Arisato-san!" A cheerful voice called out for him. He turned around to see the ever energetic Tsubaki Takamura, one of Yoneda's 'little daughters' as he proclaimed. She was pleasant enough to get the ever brooding Shinjiro Aragaki to talk with her, something only Akihiko-senpai could in the past.

"Good morning, Tsubaki-san. Are you here for it?"

"Yup!"

"Geez, it's just 7 in the morning. Lower your voice for once will ya?" Shinjiro grumbled from the booth, preparing the ingredients. The girl pouted at him, prompting Shinjiro to sigh and raise his hands up in defeat. "Alright alright, you can do anything you want."

"Ehehe. Ah, Arisato-san please don't mind me. Just get it please."

He had done already. Boss always told him to leave the box at the counter when opening the store. He handed it to Tsubaki, who happily received it and placed a stack of cash on the counter before leaving. He waved goodbye at her before returning to his work.

Half an hour later, the first batch of customers arrived. Their orders were the usual: ramen, takoyaki, oyakodon and natto with rice. Nothing was impossible for the mighty Shinjiro, after all, he was the best cook anyone could find in this Teito. He mostly delivered drinks and booze and sometimes helped his senior with the food.

Their new lives were enjoyable. No Dark Hour, no Shadows, no hippy with revolver, no Nyx altogether. S.E.E.S, the closest to family he ever had. His grandfather and sister had abandoned him but S.E.E.S didn't. They stayed with him until his death. His smile rose as he reminisced about the times he had spent with the gang. The hunt for Fuuka's information, Yakushima, the guide trip for Aigis, more and more.

"What are you smiling about, Minato? The lunch won't wait for you." Shinjiro's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Right, that first.

Yoneda looked at the teen duo through a hidden camera placed inside the store and the document folder in his hand. Inside was the background information of Minato Arisato and Shinjiro Aragaki, who two months earlier had appeared from nowhere and happened to be nearby the Uchida Liquor during a Kouma attack to save the owner. From then, the middle-aged man accepted the duo to be his full-time employees and provided the store as the place to stay for them. Uchida had even gone so far as to ask Yoneda to forge fake papers for them. That alone spoke how grateful he was to the teens.

Yoneda agreed but with the condition to install the hidden devices inside the building to monitor the suspicious young men. Uchida was hesitant at first but eventually relented. Through his connections with the Kanzaki Heavy Industries, he had the cameras made with Reiroku scanner installed. No ordinary humans could stand against the demons and come out alive, let along unscathed like the boys. Minato and Shinjiro must have the 'potentials', they have to.

He was correct. Both Minato and Shinjiro had considerably higher-than-average amount of Reiroku with the former completely exceeding the previous statistics, even that of Iris. The next thing to do was to wait for a perfect opportunity to get them to join him. On the side note, he turned on the large screen and watched the footage from that day. Blue flames spurred from them and the Koumas were either burned to death or mangled by an invisible force. For now, Yoneda deduced that the flames were their Reiroku taking shape.

"They are certainly qualified, yet no explanation of how they appeared except the report of a massive tear of dimension happening very brief. If they came out from that thing, who are they really? So many questions left unanswered."

He turned to another page, which was showing 'Ichirou Ogami' and 'Yuichi Kayama'. Earlier, he had instructed a girl to pick up the young Ensign from Navy for him. Yoneda hoped Sakura wouldn't cause a scene with her eccentric behavior. The last thing he wanted in the day was hearing complaints. But before that.

"*urk* Uchida's sake is still the best!"

"Good work, my boys." Uchida said to the teens as their shift was over. "Here, take these."

"Huh, tickets? For what?" Shinjiro asked, taking one of the pair. "Great Imperial Theater? That big ass place you once took us to?"

"Indeed. Initially, these are for me and my wife but she is sick right now and I have to stay with her so you kids go and enjoy."

"…Thank you very much." Minato quietly spoke, earning a pat in the back from the man.

"It's nothing really! Go go, before it's too crowded!"

"Tch. You heard the old man, let's go Minato."

Shinjiro put on his peacoat and beanie while Minato changed to his Gekkoukan uniform. Those were their only decent outfits and they attracted a lot of stares from the bystanders due to that reason. Shinji sent glares back while Minato kept his poker face. Soon, the duo reached the place, Great Imperial Theater. True to Uchida's words, there was already a huge crowed at the front door.

"Damn, that's one long line there."

"No kidding."

Both of them sighed before taking spots in the line. The line was slow to advance and Minato knew the reason. The ticket clipper was noticeably clumsy and appeared to be discontent with his job. Must be a worker that was forced to take the job, he mused. Eventually it's almost his turn, just behind a group of loudmouths. They seemed to have agitated the poor clipper guy.

"It's you who should apologize to – Hurk!"

It's Yoneda who slammed the notebook on the guy's head to shut his mouth. That sounded hurt a lot but he couldn't help but agree with it. The number one rule of being an employee was to be polite to the customers, no matter what.

"I'm the manager of this theater and I'm very sorry. This guy just started working today so please forgive him on my behalf. Ogami! Apologize to him!"

"I am…sorry…" The worker, Ogami, complied with a very restrained tone. The leader of the group huffed at him and went further into the theater along with his goons. Now was Minato and Shinjiro's turn.

"It's okay. Take your time." Minato offered him an understanding smile. "I know that feeling."

Their seats were in the second row so it's nice to see the play this close, which both of them didn't understand at all. Shinjiro immediately fell asleep while Minato straightened his head to try finding why the audience loved it and the actresses so much. Back in Iwatodai, the closest to a play he had ever seen was the 'Black Swan' Mitsuru had invited him to watch with her. Even then, he didn't find it interesting at all. In the end, he dozed off.

"!"

Minato's eyes snapped wide as he felt a very intense glare toward him. The people around him still watched attentively at the stage and he couldn't find the source. His companion was still sleeping like a log and his snores miraculously didn't bother anyone. After stretching his arms a few times, he went to sleep again.

Unknown to him and most spectators, a certain actress had noticed his, and Shinjiro's, disinterest in her performance yet still bought the tickets to come to this theater, the blue-haired boy in particular as she could feel a tremendous power underneath that poker face and the fact that he at least had tried to stay focus. Perhaps he was the culprit behind those power spikes recently when a Kouma or Wakiji outbreak occurred. That question would be solved later but now, she was angry at him for daring to sleep in her play.