That was not what he had expected at all.
At worst, Mitsuteru had expected Kako to bring up something embarrassing, then have Tsukimi add on to that.
Instead, they had asked him a simple question.
One that made him not be able to look in Minoru's direction.
"Why the sudden question...? Rather, why that question?"
The way Kako shrugged was worrying. Mitsuteru took a breath and let it out to get the tension from his body.
"Well, there is a lot going for you. A line of people you seem particularly close to."
"Um, are you sure that you don't just want it to be that way?"
The next shrug made him worry even more.
Mitsuteru looked to Azuma for some assistance, but he had suddenly begun a conversation with the Schneider father.
That left Mitsuteru to fend for himself.
"Besides all of those people, there is also the fact that you are one of the stronger people at this table."
Wait.
"What do you mean?"
Before he could ask that, Ninomiya had spoken up.
He could only agree.
"Think about it. Out of everyone here, Ariake-kun's record is pretty stacked."
"That is true," agreed Tsukimi. "While everyone else has a lot under their name, Ariake-kun has very little. Even so, the things he does have are not minor."
What had he done that could catch their attention like that?
Everything he had done for Taiyōko Squad was minor when compared to his former teammates.
Each time he joined a new squad, he would end up leaving once it seemed like they no longer needed him.
Even the B-Rank Wars let him play support more than anything.
The only notable thing I have going for me is that I can work pretty well with Shigeko.
"Mino, who is 'Shigeko'?"
"Michelle, try not to read people's minds like that."
Mitsuteru froze and could see Minoru silently apologizing to him.
It was only out of the corner of his eye. He could still not face him.
"Oh? That is also something that has my attention," said Kako impishly. "But that can wait for later. Right now, I want to destroy that pathetic look on your face, Ariake-kun."
"Excuse me, Kako-san, but why are you so invested in this? What would you gain from saying this?"
"I would gain some satisfaction. I can't ask you to join my squad, but you don't seem to realize something important about yourself. And..."
And?
"Fufufu. I suppose I should just say that I like you as you."
What did that mean?
Mitsuteru wanted to say that it was the thought process of someone strong, but that did not feel right to him.
If it had been that simple, then he was sure that everyone around him would have understood that.
Instead, only the former Azuma Squad and Mei understood what she was talking about.
"So, are you ready to have everything destroyed right in front of you? Your whole view of yourself?"
It sounded scary.
But...
"Yes. Please let me know where I'm lacking. If it helps me improve myself, I'll listen closely."
.
He really is adorable, like a little dog.
But they already had too many dogs in Border as it was.
Kako knew she had to change her own thinking.
Yes, from what I've seen, he isn't actually a dog.
No, dogs don't have wings after all.
They could not soar above everything else.
There was only one thing that fit him.
A hawk. Always watching while not showing arrogance.
That was why she was about to do this.
She wanted to see how this individual was after having his views shattered.
Will he become arrogant?
Or...
Will he put himself down?
Both of those options seemed likely.
But a feeling started to form in her. One that made her want to see this through.
"Now then, shall we start?"
.
Kako raised a finger and spoke.
"If we start from the beginning, then that would be your time in Taiyōko Squad."
The start of it all.
"Said former squad, feel free to add anything in." Kako looked to get the approval of that former squad. "Now, there is no doubt that these offense-heavy fighters took the main stage. I had been able to see how they fought during that time, so I understood their strength well. Even more so now. With that being said, offense has always come with a sort of tunnel vision that made things like defending and evasion difficult, right? It was only after 'Kiyoshi' turned into 'Yuki' that those habits started to form."
Yuki gave a thumbs-up from where his head was on the table.
Mei and Kanzaki nodded along.
"Since that was the case, they should have lost more times than they did. There is no way others wouldn't take advantage of that sort of weakness. So then, how did they survive that whole time? It's simple. They had someone who supported them well enough that they could fight without having to worry about those sorts of things. And that was certainly not Kimura."
"Hey!" came a shout from Kimura.
Everyone waved her off and let Kako continue.
"So then, who else could it be? Ah. That would be their hidden member, right? Yes, someone who others forgot about since he had been too weak. But that weakness had been why he was able to support them."
The time when he had been completely new to fights.
Compared to now, he was even worse as a fighter.
But that was why he worked well with that dysfunctional squad.
"Next is the time with your former squads."
She was destroying everything systematically.
"What else is there to say but that you made them better?"
Kako raised another finger and glanced toward Tsukimi.
Nodding at the glance, Tsukimi took over the explanation.
"The records speak for themselves. Ariake-kun has joined low B-Rank Squads. Even though they had not gone up much, their records started getting better. While they may have been at a level to remember you, that meant each person fighting was someone you would be able to deal with. And by that point you had gotten better as a Sniper, right?"
That was true.
By that point, he had trained with his mentors enough that he understood more than just the basics of sniping.
Being unable to deny that, Mistuteru remained quiet.
Which brought them to the third point.
"You held your own with strong people. Both against them and with them."
Kako pulled out her phone and began tapping it repeatedly.
A moment later, she showed it to the table.
"Your first showing in the top tier of the B-Rank Wars saw you harassing three strong squads. Two of them were in the top four of their respective positions. Isn't that right, Ninomiya-kun?"
The snide remark was met with closed eyes and a huff.
There was no denial.
"After that, your squad showed great results in the next two matches. You even managed to get to Kageura-kun and last until the end of the match. Now your squad remains in the top tier, kicking Kotowari Squad back down to the mid tier."
Besides all of that, there was still more.
"Even looking past the B-Rank Wars. You managed something great yesterday. Isn't that right, Hikigane-kun?"
.
What an irritating woman!
This talk of the Meishō Squad Sniper had gotten his mind to start working again after his initial shock of rejection.
He still wanted to hold Michelle, but he understood that this was part of his punishment.
All he could do was sigh about it and accept it.
Accepting things, huh? I guess this is also a part of that.
He nodded.
He accepted it.
"If it really was you yesterday, then I'll admit it. I lost to you and all of those people in that fight."
"They were the ones who did most of the fighting and stalling," he tried to argue.
"But you were their commander at the time." Miwa was quick to shut his argument down. "Don't think that you had no part to play there."
The Meishō Squad Sniper seemed to be thinking over those words for a moment.
It was only when the Awdry brother patted his arm that he seemed to finally accept it himself. A breath left him.
Is that what it looks like when I do it?
No, this was different. While Sekai would sigh to ignore his own thoughts, the Meishō Squad Sniper let out a breath to clear his mind.
They were too different. It was more insulting to think they were the same.
Since that's how it is...
Sekai turned to face the Meishō Squad Sniper and bowed his head.
"Sorry for the trouble yesterday, Ariake."
.
Kako raised a brow at Sekai's response to all of this.
I guess he really has started to grow a bit.
The old Sekai would not have done such a thing. He would have given a sigh, said it was irritating, then made an excuse.
This current Sekai was apologizing to someone he had lost to the day before.
"There's no need for that, Hikigane-san! That was just how things turned out."
"Then should I send it to everyone else?"
Ariake shook his head and smiled. He was not accepting the apology and would not give his own.
After all, there was just nothing for either of them to apologize for.
"Shigeko would be happy if you spoke to her, but she would be pretty pissed if you apologized to her for that."
"Then what about the others?"
"Hm... I think they are satisfied with the end result. So there is no need to apologize to any of us." Thinking it over some more, Ariake continued. "And if he asks for compensation, tell Wataru-kun that I said it was fine. Then send him to me. I'll deal with him after that."
Sekai could only give a weak nod in agreement.
It was clear that he still wanted to do something to make up for his actions. Kako could understand that, but she also felt frustrated with the way he was going about it.
Then an idea came to her mind.
"I think this gives us enough to properly figure something out."
Everyone turned to look at her.
The food would be arriving soon, so she wanted to speed things along.
"We can figure out the rankings of the people sitting here."
.
"Now then," Kako started. "We should clear out the obvious ones. That being the family here. They will clearly be at the top."
"Wow! So Michelle and her parents are seriously strong!?"
Kako nodded at the girl on Miwa's lap.
"Yes. In particular, that mother-daughter pair. They are able to make a lot of people here really weak after all. We will even add you and Awdry-kun, seeing as how you are her friends."
The majority of the people looked away or chose to keep their heads down.
Kako laughed and placed them properly on the chart.
"Next would be the father. After all, he is the one with that mother-daughter pair. But who comes next is where we need to figure things out."
"Is there a need for the dramatics, Kako-san? The food will be arriving shortly."
"That is fair."
With an unimpressed look, Mei wrote down a name on Kako's list.
"Mitsuteru is clearly the next one on the list."
"Huh!?" came the collective response.
No one was more surprised than the boy himself.
Even after being told so much, he still gave this response.
"Don't give us that look. You are far above a lot of people here for the ones you have beaten. That also means you are above the ones they have beaten."
"That's correct," added Kako. "Overall, you have not lost to anyone here, and you have beaten at least two people here."
"Masataka and Sekai, make sure to show him the proper respect."
"There's no need for that!"
Michelle turned to look at Ninomiya from atop Minoru's lap.
"Masa? Kai? Were you mean to him?"
Both men froze, and Kako relished in seeing it.
She watched in amusement as both men lowered their heads.
"We can accept this...Ariake-san."
.
Mitsuteru jumped at the sudden acceptance.
This should not be happening.
Hikigane and Ninomiya were respected Border members. For them to bow their heads to him like that was just wrong.
It was obvious who the real culprits were.
"My. I didn't expect Ninomiya-kun to actually do it."
"Good on him. He can really lower his head like that."
"But is it really a good thing for a chuuni like him to show respect to Mitsuteru?" asked Yuki. His head remained on the table, but he was keeping up with the conversation.
Why is he still sitting like that...?
Trying to figure out a strange person was well beyond him.
"After Ariake-kun, I would say putting Azuma-san, Mei, and Tsukimi next is fitting."
"Oh? Not yourself?"
He had been wondering the same thing.
Kako only shrugged and wrote down their names.
"I can admit when there is someone better than me."
Mitsuteru's respect for her had gone up.
"After them, it would probably be me myself, Minoru-kun, and Bakuto-kun. Seeing as how none of us have lost to Ariake-kun."
If that was how it worked, the next ones would be obvious.
"I guess Ninomiya-kun and Hikigane-kun would be right under."
Huh? Wait.
"Hold on a minute!"
Yuki shot up from his seat.
The boy on his lap had jumped, so Mitsuteru calmed him down by patting his head again.
That's the response I expected to see.
"Why am I under that stupid airhead!?"
"Because you have caused the most trouble out of everyone here."
Mei's quick response quickly sent Yuki back down to the table.
The sound was actually pretty amazing.
"After them it would be Miwa-kun, Kanzaki, and Kimura. If she could upgrade her jokes, Kimura will be with Ninomiya-kun and Hikigane-kun."
"But aren't my jokes good enough now?"
Most of the table froze on the spot.
Mitsuteru wanted to tell her something, but Kimura had already started to figure something out.
"I guess when compared to the idiot's jokes, their grade is not that up."
A second freeze came into effect.
.
White Fox: "I blame Jinsei completely for this."
Life: "What did I do!? And why did I just feel a sudden chill down my spine!?"
Simple Boy: "Probably because you are currently wearing nothing while outside, Vice-Captain-san."
Life: "Oh, yeah. That makes-"
White Fox: "Hm? What happened to him?"
Simple Boy: "Kon-san came and threw a cup at his head."
.
Everyone at the table who had seen the messages started clapping.
Her aim has been getting better because of him. At least he's being kind of useful.
Giving that idiot too much praise would lead to problems, so Kimura tried not to do it too much.
"To finish this list, we have Yuki-kun. Then Kagerei-kun at the bottom."
"Excuse me, Kako. Why am I in last place, exactly? I would think that I am at least in the same place as Sekai and Ninomiya."
"Would that not be because you do not stand out much, Kagerei-dono? Or because you are not trying as hard when speaking? Maybe it is due to the way you are easily influenced."
"Um, Kanzaki-san, I think you did enough damage."
True to Mitsuteru's words, Kagerei had already fallen onto the table in despair.
"So according to what Kako-san has down here... This should be how things look."
"Kimura-san, you really chose to just move on..."
She could only shrug her shoulders. Staying on something like that would be pointless.
1. Yasuko and Michelle
2. Jonas
3. Mitsuteru
4. Mei, Azuma, Tsukimi
5. Denji, Minoru, Kako
6. Sekai, Ninomiya
7. Kanzaki, Miwa, Kimura
8. Yuki
9. Ketsueki
For her, organizing things like this was second nature. There was no real work to be done here.
But for everyone else...
"This list seems...fairly accurate."
"I can accept this much."
"Why am I below that airhead..."
While the adults had different opinions on the matter, the children seemed to enjoy it all.
More than any of that, they were excited about one thing in particular.
"Food!"
"We can seriously eat now!"
"Please calm down, you two."
Their stomachs.
I'm pretty hungry myself, so I can understand their excitement.
This restaurant was known for large portions at a low cost.
It was a place perfect for her.
.
The food was great.
"Small bites now."
"Oh, my. Those two have really gotten used to taking care of our daughter."
"How is it, Shūji-kun?! Is it seriously good!?"
"It is. Now calm down and eat your food."
"Oh, do you need me to cut that a bit more for you?"
"Yes, please."
The children were being taken care of by those around them while the adults ate. They silently watched with smiles on their faces, enjoying their food while doing so.
There were a few moments where others needed to guard their food.
One particular instance had been when Denji tried to pick food from Minoru and Sekai's plates.
Besides them, Yuki and Ninomiya continued to glare at each other from across the table. At times, it felt like they would jump across the table to reach each other, only to be held back by one of the two cousins.
Then everything came full circle with a single sentence from Tsukimi.
"So, Ariake-kun has yet to answer the initial question."
The reaction was instantaneous.
Mitsuteru lunged forward.
Knowing he would crash into Stepney's back by doing so, he moved his body to the side as best he could.
This resulted in his elbow slamming into the table.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
"A-are you okay?"
"Yeah... Oh, thank you for rubbing it, Awdry-kun."
Everyone else either cooed or focused on the returning conversation topic.
For her part, Tsukimi only continued to eat as if nothing had happened.
"Um, Tsukimi?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you bringing that back up?"
"Because it came to mind just now."
There was likely more to it than that, but asking would likely bring another attack on him.
Kako seemed ready to deliver the attack.
Any chance of escaping this conversation had just been lost. They all knew that.
For someone like Mitsuteru, running away from it a second time would mean completely giving up the night.
All that could be done was answer honestly.
.
"I...have someone that I like...yes."
Mei leaned forward toward the other girls at this.
The calculations that had been running through her mind a year or so ago had already figured this out, but it felt right to go along with everyone else.
"Asking you will be a bit too intrusive, so I will not do that. Instead, I will only ask this. Do they know you like them?"
Oh, that was a bad question.
Mitsuteru's expression eased into a bitter smile.
He stabbed his food with his fork, took a bite, then swallowed it after chewing it a bit.
Take your time, Mei thought to herself.
"At this point, I have no clue. There isn't even a way for me to find out if she does."
"Does that mean..."
He shook his head.
"I don't know that either. Actually, there are a lot of things I don't know now."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, she isn't around for me to ask. But I don't know if she will be around to ask either."
That was something Mei had started to wonder about some time ago as well.
Looking around the table, she could see a lot of them unsure of what he meant.
But some others seemed to understand.
"Hold on a moment. Are you talking about who I think you are?"
"...I'm sorry."
Mei raised an eyebrow at this.
Of all the things that had happened, this was what he was apologizing for. Something he had no control over.
Minoru was thinking the same thing based on his own expression.
"What are you sorry for, exactly? You haven't done anything wrong."
"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself."
Oh?
That one was new.
The most accurate choice would have been that he was apologizing for not being able to do anything. Or even that he feels like he should not like her.
After all...
"You like Mirai."
She came out and told them all.
Minoru frowned at her, and Mitsuteru refused to meet her gaze.
"If we are going to be talking about this, I would rather make it clear who you are talking about."
"That makes sense..."
White Fox: "Still, that was pretty harsh, Mei."
Rampage Dress: "I wouldn't have said anything if I knew he couldn't handle it."
White Fox: "That's true..."
Yuki took a breath and steadied himself for this conversation.
This was his way of supporting her.
That is good to know.
He would be needed for this conversation.
That left them with only one other person to resolve himself here.
What will you do?
.
Minoru looked from Mei to Mitsuteru.
The way Mei had spoken out was harsher than he would have liked, but she must have done so for a reason.
And I think it was for the both of us.
It would force Mitsuteru into the open, and it would tell Minoru everything he needed to know.
Now they only had to go from there.
"I would have liked for this to not come up, or to at least talk about it later. But I guess now is the time for it."
Mei gave a peace sign from her seat.
Seeing this, Mitsuteru grabbed his cup, put it to his lips, and downed the entire thing in one go.
There was no alcohol at the table, but the scene reminded Minoru of a drunkard preparing himself.
"So the person you like is Minoru's sister, huh? Well, that is certainly complicated."
That was an understatement.
"But you also don't know why you're sorry for liking her?"
Kako took a bite from her own food while thinking everything over.
Unlike before, she looked like she was taking this conversation seriously.
Probably because she was one of the ones to bring it up in the first place.
"If I had to give a reason for my apology... I think it would be because I'm not the only one who had a connection with her. I might even be the one with the weakest connection out of those people. So just saying that I'm the only one affected by her not being here is a bit much."
"But that's only if you had to give a reason, right?" asked Minoru.
Mitsuteru nodded and kept his gaze to the side.
From the spot next to him, Miwa tapped his head three times and gave a sigh.
This might have been a normal occurrence between the two of them.
"Look at them properly when speaking. Don't lower your head like that."
"That still hurts Shūji. Hitting someone over the head really does hurt them."
"I don't want to hear that from a self-masochist."
The talk that began with that single statement made Minoru tilt his head, look around, then turn to Masataka.
No one else knew what to say about that.
"That's just mean! And I have no idea what you mean when you say that!"
"You don't!?" the former Taiyōko Squad members shouted.
Yasuko was quick to look at them all.
They wasted no time in figuring things out...
Miwa cleaned some sauce off of Mitsubachi's cheek and started again for his own food. The conversation had turned into something he could join in on.
So he did.
"Just say that you don't know how to feel about everything that happened. Isn't that type of honesty usually your strong point?"
"Again, I don't really know what you mean."
"You really suck at looking at yourself from an outside view."
Miwa looked up to face Minoru.
Their eyes met, and he held a hard stare.
"I can't say anything about his actual feelings, but I know that this is one thing that Ariake has a hard time with. Because..."
Because...
"It was after his time with us."
Everyone turned to look at Yuki, who had lowered his head.
He shook his head a few times and raised his head again. The solemn expression he had was suddenly gone, replaced with a resolve Minoru had not expected to see.
Looking around, he could see that his cousin, Kanzaki, and Kimura had the same expressions on their faces as well.
.
"Isn't that right, Mitsuteru?" asked Yuki while pointing at Stepney's face.
Mitsuteru tilted his head before finally understanding.
Some of the food had gotten on Stepney's face as well. He picked up his napkin and wiped it off the same way Miwa had for the Misaki sister. Stepney thanked him and began eating again, this time being much more careful.
He looked back to the others in time to see his former teammates pointing to the side.
When he turned his head to follow their pointing, he found someone.
Hatohara Minoru.
The brother of the girl he had started to like the more he was under her tutelage.
Yuki had gotten the Snipers his age and above to mentor Mitsuteru when they had the chance. Each one of them had their own style of doing so, but there was one thing they had in common when it came to teaching him.
They were all terrible people.
The amount of times I had to deal with Hokari-senpai and Tōma-san's antics was horrible. Then Arafune-san came along... I guess Suzaku-senpai wasn't too bad, but there were some times. Especially when he wanted to use more firepower than was necessary.
But there had been one person who was different from all of them.
Mirai-san.
The only one of his mentors who had spoken to him normally and with at least some respect from the start.
Like most things after his year-long wait of joining Border, things had gone well when around her. Everything went so well with her as his mentor and a squad that he felt comfortable in, even if he was the odd man out. Having others involved made things better.
But like everything else during that time, it had ended in only sadness for him.
"Ah... So that's what it was..."
The thing he had been holding on to the whole time was now right in front of him.
He could see it.
He could remember it.
"I was still holding on to the past."
.
Mei let out a slight breath.
The last thing for him.
Their former squad's past had always been something that held them down.
Kanzaki and Kimura were the most free from it, but even they had their moments. Mei herself had recently gone through a lot with Yuki to finally get over everything that happened between them and their past together. But...
But Mitsuteru had been holding on to every part of that time.
The bitter feelings towards Yuki and Murakami had created a gap.
The anger toward Kotowari Squad had surfaced against them.
The sadness from losing Mirai had lingered all around him.
We managed to settle things with the first two feelings, but I am probably one of the few who knew exactly what was happening when it came to him and Mirai.
There was just nothing she could do about it.
Everything she had gone through had taken up so much of her mind and attention that she could not focus on others for some time. By that point, she felt that she would be the wrong person to speak about this sort of thing.
Now it was out in the open for a group of people.
"It's about time you figured it out." Miwa spoke casually. Yuki and Kako looked ready to tell him something, but he never gave them the chance. "You had said that you started liking her more after everything that had happened. Saying something like that is very suspicious. Miura and Nire said not to talk about it, and I'm not really someone who should be talking about the past, but that's just how it is. We had left it alone since we figured that you would find out eventually."
In short...
"Miwa-kun cares about Ariake-kun a lot."
Mei watched with amusement as Miwa started choking on his food before being offered a glass of water.
Suzume and Toby's siblings tried to help him out, and Mitsuteru started patting his back.
When he was done with that, he glared at Mitsuteru from the side.
"Please keep watching over him like this, Miwa-dono!"
"I'm not doing anything! And you stop looking at me like that!"
"Come on, Miwa. Don't make me-want to do something about this."
Mei felt a shiver run down her spine. Everyone else around her froze simultaneously.
This lasted for a few seconds before everyone looked away from Kimura.
White Fox: "Why is she like this...?"
First Sniper: "How did you all deal with this for as long as you did?"
White Fox: "Good question. No clue."
"Anyway," said Mei with a clap of her hands.
Moving away from Kimura's bad jokes was the best way to deal with them.
"Mitsuteru, I would like to discuss this kind of thing some more with you later. But first, is there anything you want to do now?"
"There is..."
Mei nodded and motioned for him to continue.
Mitsuteru followed her gesture and turned to her cousin. Unlike all the times before, he was refusing to look away from her cousin.
.
"Hatohara-senpai..."
No.
"Minoru-san. I want to take back my apology."
"That's fine. But can I ask why?"
There would be no other reason.
"I can't give a good answer for my apology. I would say that I will think of one and give it to you, but..."
But...
That's right.
"I don't think I'll be trying to find one. Not when I'm around others, at least."
He had done nothing wrong. There was nothing to apologize for.
He knew that now. His mentor's brother also knew that.
None of them were at fault here.
So instead, he would think about this differently.
"I'll rethink my own feelings on a few things and see where it gets me. If I'm still the same by the end of it, I'll make sure to properly tell you."
"I see," the brother said. "Then I'll make sure to have a good talk with you whenever that happens."
Until then...
"Let's enjoy our time here, okay? In the present."
It was fully expected that Ema would hear a groan come from his captain.
The two of them were currently at Kageura's family owned restaurant. Around them were the usual collection of people.
"Sounds like you didn't have a chance in the first place," said his captain while fixing up their food.
Kitazoe and Murakami smiled at nothing in particular across from the two of them.
At least it seemed that way.
Ema knew that they had also been informed of the conversation going on at a different restaurant. It felt like he got off easy when compared to the people who were over there.
"Hatohara-senpai was just my mentor. But I didn't know Mitsuteru felt like that..."
"I'm glad that he is finally letting things out that he has been holding on to. How do you feel about it, Ema?"
Asking him a question like that would have been difficult to face before. Things had changed between him and Mitsuteru at some point, creating a small gap between them that made it hard to speak to him.
But what about now?
How could he feel about Mitsuteru at this point?
The answer was obvious.
"He's trying too hard to please too many people. It sounds like those guys finally set him straight again."
"Hahaha. Yeah, he didn't use to be like this."
"Oh? Did Kō-kun know him before?" asked Kitazoe.
Murakami nodded and smiled fondly into the air.
"I knew him pretty well before either of us came to Mikado City. So seeing him like this now makes me remember some of those times."
"Are things not okay between the two of you now?"
Ema wondered the same thing, but he was reassured by Murakami's head shake.
"Before our match, I would have thought so. But now I know that we are fine." He shrugged and moved to get the plates ready for them all. "Even so, I should talk with him some more. I miss those times."
With the plates set, his captain started passing out anything that needed it and left everything else to them.
Once that was settled, he sat back and clicked his tongue.
"I'd think it's tough getting to him when he has that oni girl by his side a lot."
"Shigenaga is a good person. Try to go easy on her."
"If I do that, then I'll be shot down."
His captain had gotten a good grasp on the oni girl after their match and speaking with her for a bit.
It was because of that connection that Ema felt it was fine to ask his captain something.
"Are you okay with all of this, Kage-san?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Ema blinked twice. He looked to Murakami and Kitazoe to find that they had the same expressions while remaining frozen.
Shaking his head, Ema went for his food.
"...It's nothing. Just...make sure to properly get to know those two, okay?"
It was his captain's turn to look at him oddly.
"When the hell did I ever say I wanted to get to know them?"
Ema felt himself start choking on his food. It was only after he was offered water that he looked at his captain.
Without any hesitation, his captain continued to put food on his own plate.
He gave a hum and allowed a grin to form.
Ema knew what that meant.
"But it wouldn't be bad to know those two better. They would make good opponents again.
Now that that's done, we can enjoy ourselves again, thought Yuki. He slid his phone back into his pocket and finished the last bits of his food.
Mitsuteru had let out a breath, and Yuki could see all of the tension in his body being released with it. Even the built-up tension he had always seen in his teammate was gone.
The only thing that remained was a fully relaxed position.
Toby's brother looked between Mitsuteru and Miwa for a moment.
Oh? Does he have a better understanding of things than I thought?
Yuki knew that Toby was considered a genius, but he had no idea if that also applied to the younger brother as well.
"Excuse me, Mr. Ariake?"
"You can just call me by my name, Awdry-kun."
"Do the same for him, then! And for me and Micchan too!" said Suzume's sister.
Yuki laughed into his hand.
She's exactly like Suzu. Meanwhile, Toby is the complete opposite of his brother.
Thinking like that got him to start wondering how he was with his own siblings.
The differences and similarities must have been there, but he had not been able to see them himself.
I'll ask Mei about it later on.
Right now, he was enjoying Mitsuteru's predicament.
"If that's fine, then I'll happily do so."
Miwa shrugged as if not caring, and the Schneider parents only laughed at the whole ordeal.
It was just natural for these children to drag in others like that.
"There we have it. Now what did you want, Stepney?"
Oh? He's completely ignoring the "-kun" is he?
In a way, Mitsuteru was still like a child.
For as long as he knew Mitsuteru, there had been a natural attraction to him that got children to ease up around him.
Yuki made sure not to miss his chance.
"Looks like Mitsuteru took in another one."
"Are you one to talk, Yuki-kun?"
Kako got him there.
Mitsuteru must have been thinking the same thing. He stuck out his tongue and focused back on Toby's brother.
"Well, um, M-... Mitsuteru? You are friends with a lot of people here, right?"
"I like to think so. Oh, but it's actually like I'm friends with a few of them."
"Then why don't you call some of them by name?"
Yuki stood up with a start alongside his former teammates.
It was their chance.
"Exactly!"
.
"It took way too long for him to fully accept calling us by name! And even now, he does it with hesitation!"
"That is very good of you, Stepney. This is something I've been meaning to talk about."
Yuki and Mei looked at each other before turning to the other two, who were standing up.
Kimura looked ready to speak. Doing so would have led to another bad joke.
So instead, Kanzaki puffed out her chest and raised her voice.
"Last night, you had said that we should be less formal with each other now. Yet I remember you calling me formally. Meanwhile, I had called you by name. Please explain that to me."
"He harassed you that bad!?" yelled the majority of the table.
Kanzaki nodded and crossed her arms.
When the waiter came to pick up some plates, she moved to the side before putting herself back in place.
"Well, you see, um... It's a habit. Especially when it comes to you all. I know what I had said, but I couldn't really stop myself from calling you that."
"I never even got this sort of thing," said Kimura. She narrowed her eyes at Mitsuteru, making him shrink back. "This means there's only one thing to do here."
She shared a look with Yuki, Mei, and Kanzaki before they all nodded.
They all spoke at once.
"Call us by name!"
.
Yasuko smiled behind her hand. She would have shown it, but her drink refill had not come back yet, so she was worried about any remaining food showing on her teeth.
She looked over everyone and could not help but think about how much her own former teammates had grown.
Then she thought about how much the likes of Yuki and the former Azuma Squad had grown.
"They are all lovely, aren't they?"
"They sure are," replied Jonas while handing her his drink.
She gladly took it and drank just enough before handing it back.
Jonas had no hesitation in drinking where her lips had been.
Oh, my. I am sure that I would be embarrassed if I was one of these young ones.
While she was not old, she had long since outgrown being completely embarrassed over these sorts of things.
"Are the two of you enjoying yourselves?"
From beyond her husband, Azuma spoke up. He looked at both of them while ignoring the small squabble between Yuki and Masataka.
This must have been completely normal and not something only seen in Germany.
"Very much so. It has been some time since this kind of group has been around and been so carefree."
"You know," he said. "I am a bit surprised that neither one of you got involved with the conversations so far. Not too much, at least."
She knew what he meant by that.
"I cannot say I know them all too well or the situation they were in, so I stayed out of it. To give them the space they needed here."
"I see. I had a similar thought. Although I suppose I have more of a connection since I helped Mitsuteru and his more immediate mentors."
"That only means you trusted that they would be able to get through the conversation."
That was right.
"All of them have gotten to a point where they can solve things without us."
"In which case, we just need to be around for when they ask for help," said Jonas from between them.
The smile on his face mirrored her own. She once again realized just how much of a connection the two of them also had.
And the biggest connecting point was currently sitting on Minoru's lap and talking to her friends.
"Is it not great that everyone can enjoy themselves now?"
"It certainly is, Yasuko. Seeing everyone act like this shows that you were right in trusting that our daughter could stay here without us for a bit."
"Not having her around for that time did make me miss her, but she seems to be enjoying her time here."
"Since it was Minoru and Ninomiya taking care of her, it's no wonder she's doing fine," said Azuma with a nod.
Those two would watch her openly, while Sekai and Denji could watch her from a distance.
While that left a bitter taste in her mouth, it was still nice to know that her former teammates were still so caring that they would make sure her daughter would be fine.
"Ah, excuse me, Schneider-san. Um...Wife Schneider-san, that is."
Hearing herself being called, Yasuko looked over at the Sniper boy. He was fidgeting a bit, so she smiled to ease his worries.
It must have worked, since he let out a breath to relax himself.
"You are free to also call me by my name. It will be difficult otherwise with both me and my husband here."
"I understand. Thank you."
What a good boy, she thought.
He had already learned that giving thanks was much better than apologizing.
"Now what did you need?"
"Oh, ah... I was just wondering something. And I kind of doubt that they would answer me honestly," he said, gesturing to the people around them. "I was curious as to what Hikigane-san, Bakuto-san, and Kagerei-san were like when you all were a team. I had met Minoru-san before, so I already knew what he was like. And you..."
"She really hasn't changed," was the collective response.
Yasuko laughed. This time, she had no reason to hide it.
The food was finished, and they were just going back to idle chatter now.
With it came the responses from her former teammates.
Sekai and Ketsueki looked away, as if to hide from the answer.
As for Denji...
"Urg... This kid really likes dragging out the past, doesn't he?"
"Leave him alone, Denji. He's just curious."
"You shut up, former... Yuki. You're pretty bad yourself."
"I don't have a reason to hold back against you now, so don't expect me to."
"Same over here, you idiot."
Her daughter was quick to scold Denji for speaking so carelessly.
Michelle really does have him under control.
That was safe since Yasuko knew her daughter would not abuse that power.
Now...
"How these troublesome boys were back then, hm?"
She continued to smile with nostalgia in her eyes.
"That takes me back."