"Uwaaaaaah~~ Finally dooooone!"

A collection of groans could be heard throughout the room. Along with them were the sounds of snoring and rustling.

Katerina looked around the room to make sure no one was in a strange position. When she confirmed that everyone was in a semi-comfortable position, she turned back to the monitor on the desk. The light from it started hurting her eyes, so she closed them and began typing from memory.

"Hey Müller-san, I'm going to go let the directors know that we're done."

"Yes, yes, have fun," she answered with a wave.

Terashima's steps could be heard leaving, giving her a moment to press the final key before moving back and throwing her head back.

A few more minutes went by, and she tried to rest her eyes. The Engineers that were awake slowly began moving. They would rise to their feet, mutter something under their breath, then say they would be back later. The ones who were asleep could do nothing as some of the nicer ones placed blankets over their bodies.

Katerina herself thought of leaving for a while, but stopped when the sound of a message came in.

"Yeah? Hello?"

"I know that tone. It sounds like you're having fun over there."

Recognizing the voice, Katerina slowly opened her eyes to check the time.

It's the middle of the day over there. No wonder he sounds so upbeat.

To be fair, this man's normal tone was an upbeat one. Even if it was morning or night, he would have still sounded like this.

"Hey, Dominik. You aren't wrong about me having fun over here. It's just that I pulled an all-nighter with the Engineers over here."

"Aren't there people over there who do that for fun?"

"Yeah. I haven't officially met them yet, but Lukas has shown me the girl who keeps up with his doujinshis."

She could only see the girl from afar at the time. An impromptu concert started with her taking center stage. The way she got the crowd going while keeping the song alive was actually rather amazing. Each lyric went well with her voice, and her movements were clearly those of a professional.

Even when the music's genre suddenly changed, everyone in the audience gladly took it in and shifted to match the new song. The lights shining all around were fixed on both the girl and the audience themselves. It appeared that someone was controlling the lights for her since there was no prep time for them.

"I know I won't be bored here. I just have to go looking for her again."

"That's the one from Yuki's squad, right?"

Katerina blinked a few times to adjust to the light again.

"Apparently there was a falling out or something. Yuki doesn't have a squad anymore. He's the acting representative of a new branch over here and second-in-command of said branch."

Dominik gave a low whistle that came through clearly.

She could only nod with the whistle. The last any of them had heard, Yuki had still been his fake self they saw in Germany. When coming to Japan, even she had been a bit surprised to learn of his situation.

"He was really talking up a storm about them too. I wonder what happened."

"It isn't my place to say anything, so I never asked."

But there was something she could say.

"He's changed a lot from when they visited us."

"How so?"

There was only one way to put it at this point.

None of them had known Yuki for long, having only seen him when he went to Germany, but they understood something about him.

He had been a faker.

"He is true to himself now. And to the people around him."

"Oh? Then, I guess, he finally figured things out. But I still doubt some of our people will like him now."

"I mean, he's still as bad as when they visited. Just...more open about it."

This time, a laugh came through the line. Following it were some strange noises that had Katerina raising a brow.

Even if it was the middle of the day in Germany and Dominik was doing something, those noises would not be considered normal. If anything, to her, it sounded like...

...I guess we'll see how everything works out then.

She smiled to herself while leaning back in her chair again.

"In any case," she said. "Minoru is also doing well. There had been an incident between the two of them, but that has been settled by now."

"Yeah, some of us were figuring it would happen at some point. Glad to know it's gone by, though."

The memory of speaking with the two of them made her roll her eyes.

They had both been difficult in their own ways. One was too caring, while the other didn't know how to express his caring.

And this is what everyone here has a chance of dealing with daily.

She felt bad for the people in Mikado City who had to deal with such frivolous people constantly.

"..."

The mental image that came to mind a moment later made her stop.

"I guess we have some pretty frivolous people on our end too."

"We balance it out by having a good amount of docile people as well. Especially since Yasuko is around."

Katerina blinked three times, then smiled. The familiar voice told her that there were others listening in.

"So you're there, Leonie?"

"Yeah. Some of us thought we could chat with you guys a bit."

So there really are more over there.

It was fine since she would not be giving away any important information.

"To what you said." Katerina gave herself a pause before continuing. "Now she's over here. And I have to say, even she seems to have her work cut out for her."

"It's more than just Denji and Sekai?"

They were the ones who caused the most recent trouble. That much was true.

Katerina had done what she could at the end, but there had been too many things she couldn't do. Both as an observer and as someone who knew them, she had not gotten involved with their affairs.

It wasn't really my place to do anything about it. I helped out at the end since it directly worked against Border due to Denji, but that's all it was.

"You should probably tell Qúynh Hân that she won't be seeing those two in Germany for a long while."

A sudden noise filled the speaker, even catching Katerina off guard. Because of the noise, she lost a bit of her balance and began to fall over. Reacting quickly to it, she grabbed the desk and pulled herself back.

She looked around the room to see everyone else still asleep or simply raising a brow at her.

"She heard you," said Leonie.

"She's pissed," confirmed Dominik.

It makes sense.

But that was not her problem right now. She was in Japan, and they were in Germany.

Another noise reached her ears, this time much softer. It was similar to the previous one, making her more curious.

"Anyway," she said, choosing not to mention the noise. "They are going to be doing something over here real soon, so don't expect any answers from certain people. Just a heads up."

"Thank you for the warning," responded Leonie.

Katerina gave a nod before stopping. The realization of what she had done made her shake her head.

I really need some sleep. ...Or at least something to keep me awake.

The more she thought about it, the more she came to a decision.

"I'm really tired, so I'm going to find some place to sleep now. Happy you guys called, though."

"No problem!"

"Make sure it's a proper place to sleep."

She rolled her eyes, knowing she couldn't be seen.

"Right, then. Talk to you later."

The moment she hung up, a yawn reached her. There was no time to cover her mouth.

Oh, whatever. Now where are the spare blankets again?

What...?

Kanda could only stare at his hand.

After waking up and taking a shower, he went back downstairs to see if there was something to eat. The options in the kitchen were amazing in how lazy everything seemed to be.

When wondering what to do about the situation, he had placed his hand on the counter.

"..."

At least that was what should have been there.

Instead, his hand had come into contact with a gooey and sticky substance. The feeling of it was familiar, and there were other things mixed in with it.

It took five seconds for him to register what he had done.

"Why is there pizza just lying around!? Dammit, Yuki! This is why you clean up!"

"I wasn't even here yesterday until I messaged the others."

Kanda jumped at the sudden voice that came from behind. He quickly turned around and threw his cheese-covered hand out.

"...!"

The refrigerator door opened, stopping his attack and making him slam his hand into the door. Yuki dove under the door and moved to stand behind Kanda again.

"Damn, that hurt!"

"It should. You slammed your hand into a metal door."

"You!"

Going for a second attack would have been a waste of time and energy when it came to Yuki. The only thing he would accomplish would be hurting himself more. All he could do was glare at Yuki, who had already started to clean up the counter by removing the pizza.

From where he stood, he could hear Yuki mutter something under his breath.

"I'm going to shove Inu's face in a pizza next time he leaves trash behind..."

There were a few questions he had after hearing that, but he decided not to ask any of them.

It really would just end horribly for both of us.

There would be no help for either of them if he started up this early in the morning.

All he could do was groan and wash his hands.

The sink was behind him, so all it would take was to turn around. The kitchen itself was rather small, with almost everything within arm's reach. Even for a standard house, it was interesting to note that everything fit well together while not feeling too cramped.

"So where are the others? Are they still asleep?"

"Kō is. I heard movement from the guest room, so Kage's probably up. I don't know about Mitsuteru and Ema, though."

"Huh. I figured Murakami would be up by now."

Yuki shrugged from the corner of his eye and cleared the last of the pizza.

"We had to get up earlier to clean up a bit more. It makes sense that some of them would be asleep."

"Then does that mean you're going to be making us breakfast?"

"What kind of idiot are you? Mitsuteru and Ema, I'm fine with but the rest of you are on your own."

As if to prove his point, Yuki started pulling out different ingredients for breakfast.

Kanda watched carefully while moving to dry his hands. It was a risk to allow Yuki to do anything that would worsen his condition. As the only other person in the room, it fell on him to watch out for Yuki.

"By the way," he started again. "I was wondering something."

"What is it?"

He nodded.

"What do you think is going to happen now?"

"In general or for what we heard last night?"

"Whatever you think I mean."

Yuki looked back at him with a raised brow but said nothing. A moment later, a sigh came out.

There was no wondering what he was thinking about.

"I know what you mean, so I'm going to go with the other option." He started warming up the stove while turning on the rice cooker. "Border will be starting in a few days, so you won't be seeing a good amount of people for a bit. I can't go into too much detail, but I'll say that Kō and Mitsuteru were given pretty important roles. As an A-Rank and the Yagura Branch rep, I'll also be pretty busy, but I'm probably going to be stuck in the hospital during that time. That being said, the other A-Ranks will also be busy, so don't expect to see them much either. Just a bit more than the others."

That explained some of what had been said last night. The conversation at times had become strange, but Kanda knew that it involved Border. As someone no longer working there, he could not ask for more details.

Even so, he had gotten some good hints as to what was going on.

"That's more-or-less it when it comes to the general stuff."

"I see. So you're going to be lazy while others do things. I understand."

Kanda was quick to duck down before the flying spoon could hit him. He moved to go pick it back up and heard a huff from behind him.

The two of them had not been too close to each other due to being on opposite sides of their group, but they had gotten along like the rest of them. What exactly did it mean for them to be acting like this now? Kanda wondered that as he stood back up.

"You-..."

"Good morning, Yuki. Omi-san."

.

Kanda stopped speaking and looked to the source of the voice.

Yuki looked over and nodded. His hands had not stopped moving as he prepared breakfast for him and two others.

"Hey, Mitsuteru," he said casually.

Mitsuteru walked forward while rubbing one eye. There was a hint of sleep still there, but he seemed to be awake enough to hold a conversation.

"Did you have a good sleep?"

"I did. That bed is seriously comfortable. Way better than mine."

"Mei insisted we get good beds in here."

Kanda and Mitsuteru exchanged glances and nodded.

"What's with you two?"

"I guess Mizukami was right."

"I guess I never noticed until now..."

"I see where this is going," said Yuki. Falling for their teasing would be bad for his health.

With no chance of winning, Kanda and Mitsuteru sighed and settled back down.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of the food on the stove and the rice cooker filling the space. It continued to be this way for a few minutes, none of them speaking and only enjoying the morning silence.

It was only broken when Mitsuteru made a small noise. The noise caught Kanda and Yuki's attention, making him give a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that. I just got a message from Shigeko's parents."

"How many parents' numbers do you have?" asked Kanda and Yuki in unison.

Mitsuteru tilted his head. The two of them shook their heads and went back to what they were doing.

"Hm... Looks like it's one of those days..."

"What does that mean?" asked Kanda.

Mitsuteru nodded and showed his phone.

On the screen were messages sent to and from Shigenaga's parents. They appeared to be harmless enough from the fact Mitsuteru showed them to him.

"She hasn't gotten up yet."

"Is she an early riser?"

"I wouldn't really say that... She does get up early, but only because she knows she is slow to start."

"Her hair does look like it takes a good amount of time."

"It does," said Mitsuteru. He began typing his response. "But that's all when it comes to appearances. She doesn't wear makeup, so she never spends time with that. It's really just that she takes time to start thinking straight. Something about 'building a strong mind' or something."

Kanda and Yuki exchanged a glance. They turned away and nodded to themselves.

"I get that. I need time to start dealing with everyone."

"When you're around a bunch of cannibals, it can be hard to get up."

"What are you guys saying?" asked Mitsuteru.

"Nothing, nothing," they answered.

Mitsuteru stared at them for a moment, then shook his head. There were better things to do than try to understand these kinds of people.

One such thing was returning a message.

"There. I told them that things should be fine now."

"How so? Are you going over to get her up?"

"Her house is pretty far from here, and I'm still waking up myself." He shook his head with a smile. "I asked some others to help out."

The three of them exchanged a glance as the silence returned in full.

Shigenaga felt her chest shaking.

...Hm?

She opened her eyes and saw a dimly lit bedroom.

The clear morning light shone through the clear window and cloth drapes.

The interior of the room was plain, with nothing standing out. She had left it this way for when she moved out, but...

"I slept really well."

The vibration between her breasts was the alarm function of her phone.

Sound could have woken up the neighbors, so she had set it to vibrate.

She did not like moving after waking up, so she had opened the chest of her shirt and stuck the phone there, but...

"I ended up sleeping longer than I usually do."

She checked the phone and found the fan-shaped seal that functioned as a timer was completely used up.

Her sleep usually lasted eight hours.

The following hours had allowed her body and mind to recover, but she could have missed so much at any time throughout. However...

...I would have felt the vibrations of any important messages, so things were pretty peaceful.

There had been some missed messages, so those needed to be looked over. She opened her phone and squinted at the sudden light.

Mitsuteru had spent the night with his former captain.

Before that, he had gone to a new restaurant to eat with some friends, then went with them to his former captain's house.

"It's nice when you have enough friendly people around that you don't need to harass them."

People could be hurt in some way if not careful. But you could only be safe when around others who considered you a friend, and vice versa.

...I only have three or so people who qualify for that kind of position. That's a shame.

Thinking that may have disqualified her as a fighter and rough-type girl.

But a fighter's strength was not just measured by their ability to strike the enemy. Their ability to minimize damage to the things around them also mattered. So she felt having things peaceful around her was a good thing. However...

"It won't always be like this in the future."

These people could only hold hands and have peaceful times because of a large threat waiting for them daily.

The Neighbors.

Mikado City had no excess strength to fight without any sort of break.

To put it another way, without the great threat of Neighbors, the odds were good that Mikado City would have been too ordinary of a city to prepare for any sort of attack.

While she did not like to think about it, sometimes these thoughts would form after she had woken up. Her mental guard would be let down, and they would come flooding in as if to drown her in negative thoughts. In a way, she would gain a lot from these thoughts.

But she wanted to hurry to later in the day so she could have better thoughts about the things surrounding her and see better viewpoints.

This was partially because things had become centered around fighting and the end results of that during her relatively short lifespan.

Trying to have things your way while ignoring those kinds of thoughts would not help in the long run. That was what she had figured out long ago.

The others who knew her had decided their best bet was to keep a distance and coexist in the city with her.

...Honestly.

Shigenaga had been known as an oni, yet here she was accepting the lifestyle she had chosen for herself and the lifestyle that others had helped to build up.

But, thought Shigenaga, I am at least indebted to those people.

They had given her a dream as someone who lived near them, gotten her to look ahead to the future, and even helped bring her to their world.

And while doing that, they had gotten her to realize some things about herself, and they would arrange things for her at times.

Even though those arrangements could introduce the possibility of trouble for her later on.

If that meant those people trusted her, she could only call them naïve. But...

"...I wish I could be as carefree as my squad."

Shigenaga fixed her position.

She was not careless enough to get up while her mind was still in a bit of a haze. She kept her back to the closet on the wall, and she took a breath.

And when she checked the time again, she saw that everyone had been acting pretty wildly.

Mitsuteru had gone to eat with some weird people, and then he had gone to the house of the captain, who had left him behind.

She doubted those events meant much to Mitsuteru, but if anyone had been targeting him for something, then they were probably acting as guards.

Mitsuteru had chosen to be widely protected.

If another person tried to take advantage of Mitsuteru's normalcy, the fox and the wolf would put a stop to it.

Both of them were strong in their own rights that even Shigenaga found she could not ignore them, and they would be supported by Mitsuteru.

If they were both fully working with Mitsuteru now, they would become very troublesome.

Both foxes and wolves took good care of their families. And both the former captain and Murakami likely saw Mitsuteru as part of their family now. So they would act as their conscience led them.

"I really wish I could give it so little thought."

She wished she could just ignore the internal consequences.

But at the moment...

...I should probably keep myself by his side as a friend...

Shigenaga fixed her position again. She opened one hand and gathered strength until a faint sensation appeared there. She had apparently recovered a fair amount of metal fortitude.

In that case, she thought while lying down to the left of the window. Her parents could be lying in wait between the room's exit and the front entrance, so she thought about leaving through the window. With that decided, she steadied her breathing.

Then an unexpected light appeared.

It was a message from someone else.

One: "Nana. Can you hear me?"

It was her teammate, Asagi Shinichi.

.

Shigenaga had a faint inkling of what this was about, but she asked anyway.

"What do you need, Shinichi?"

"First name now?" he asked. And after a breath, "Nana. Do you think that Tsu is going to leave our squad? ...Do you know?"

I knew it, she thought.

She had felt some regret when she saw what was happening, but...

"That isn't for me to decide. ...But why does it matter?"

The sense she got from the transmission changed.

Someone else was going to speak. And it was, of course...

"Hey there, Shigeko. ...First, I hope you woke up just fine."

Their captain.

If he was handing this himself, he had to be pretty bored...no, this had to be pretty important.

"Captain. Are you the one coming up with this weird idea?"

"That's right. I was wondering about it the more I thought about it."

"I see. With the way he's moving, he might find that it's time to leave our squad and do something else. Be it as a solo agent or someone else's teammate. Maybe even someone from his provisional squad."

"That does seem possible," agreed their captain. And after a two-beat pause, "Shigeko. ...Um, may I make a suggestion?"

She already knew what their captain wanted to say.

She was thinking more or less the same thing.

"You don't need to worry about it, Captain. ...I will let him know that it's fine for him to do whatever he wants after the exam."

But...

"Of course, we will still keep in contact with him and remain his friends. There's nothing stopping that."

"...Sorry, Shigeko."

He could not hide the happiness in his voice even as he apologized, but that was just who their captain was. However...

"You have my thanks."

She could hardly complain when he thanked her in such an apologetic tone.

That's not really fair, thought Shigenaga with a bitter smile. This must be what others like about him.

But it would be difficult to talk to him while her mind was still hazy.

"What will we do about this?" she asked. "Will you try to find a replacement support later?"

"Oh, I can cover that," said Asagi. "Nana? I would prefer if I didn't have to support you guys, so I could go and do my own thing. After all, the two of us can't really work well together because of how we are. If we are too open with our wants, we could also be picked on."

"Then I just have to make up for all of that myself."

2Truths1Lie: "You can't do that, Shigeko... It would not be fair to you if that were the case."

Why could she hear his exact tone of voice when it was only text?

But she smiled bitterly when she realized what it meant for him to intervene on her behalf like that.

"Then what will we do?"

"That's a good question. For the time being, we can just see what happened. Teru-kun should be awake by now."

She could only give a sigh at the thought of her partner leaving their squad.

But there was something else on her hazy mind.

...There is no proof or guarantee that he will be leaving.

It had only been due to him hanging out with some weird people that their captain had come up with something weird of his own.

"...Why don't we just see what happens after the exam?"

The other two agreed with her idea before leaving.

What a weird squad, she thought with a smile on her face.

She opened her eyes and looked to the side. There was a wall.

.

There were two things framed and lined up on the bedroom wall where Shigenaga directed her eyes.

The one on the right was a verification of all her accolades from school, along with a note of gratitude from some old neighbors who she had saved before during the first invasion. The words which were lined up on the pages were about the fulfillment of promises she had kept to clubs she had promised and a clear thank you from those former neighbors.

Lined up in the same manner, on the left side were pictures that showed off her time with her friends and teammates. On these, she could notice that there was one person in particular who showed up in every picture, arm somehow always thrown over her shoulder.

"He has always been like that...always making sure I was comfortable around others."

That was something from at least a year ago, when they had barely started out as normal friends and schoolmates.

"...No one ever approached me casually until I had started hanging out with him and started getting introduced to all sorts of people who had no problem with me. Even idiots #1 and #2 kept their distance from me before he had introduced me to them."

In the past, she had not realized this fact and had often pushed her selfishness onto her one and only friend. She was indignant when he did not listen; however, he had soothed her as her only friend.

With the passing of time, she had become a strong fighter for both herself and for Border, which kept the peace, and actually, she should have been more comfortable with everyone...

...However during the B-Rank Wars, she had seen it.

She appeared on each battlefield for his sake, not for her own. Each fight had been because she wanted him to reach the place where those who had forsaken him could see him. So he could scream it all out at them by showing his skills.

Since that time, there had only been an uphill battle with them. One where he needed to both come to terms with his present and look beyond his past. She had been by his side during all of this, but now there were others who could do it better.

She understood that she would be deprived of her role.

However, because of her status, there was no possibility of her being left behind like he once had been.

She also wanted to ask some of the other members about the current situation concerning him. However...

"That's almost as if I'm afraid of his reaction to wondering about what will happen next for him."

While lowering her hips further onto the bed, she let out a sigh.

...She understood; however, she knew she should not finish her thoughts that way.

She was distancing herself from others by arbitrarily deciding that he was the only person who would actually take her seriously without being scared.

Thinking about it deeply, it was the same as with the case as before.

She had also unintentionally started to feel down after wrongly guessing that she would be thought highly of by people above her.

During inconvenient times like this, she wanted to be alone, or if not that, she wanted to be together with him.

She was selfish; that was a bad habit.

However, she understood quite well when it was when she had become like that.

"When did I start gaining these sorts of feelings...about someone who should only be a friend?"

She looked outside the window. Far away, Border's main base could be seen in the distance, however...

"It's not that his leaving our squad is the problem... It's that I might lose these feelings if I don't see him that much."

Suddenly, she dropped her shoulders and collapsed onto the bed again.

It had never occurred to her before, but she thought that her hair would become horribly disheveled; however, it would be fine if she set it later. Anyhow, it was because she had abruptly touched a part of herself that she didn't like. Even though everything that had happened should not matter to her after she decided to join everyone else, once again it had come up.

It may have been better to get up and clear her mind. She did so slowly, lifting her body up by the butt before moving to the waist.

Then again...

She thought about going back to sleep for thirty minutes to refresh herself, so while looking out the window, she collapsed again.

Her clothing was partially removed and was in a horrid state; however, she thought that since she was alone, it was fine.

She collapsed.

And immediately following that...

Outside her door, in the hallway leading to the stairs, two idiotic voices were heard loud and clear through the door.

"Shige! We're here to pick you up!"

The door flew open, startling her and making her get up.

Not wanting to flop around, she threw out her arms to hold herself up. Her knees bent, and her legs held her up. Overall, it was an embarrassing position for her.

"Oh? What do we have here!? Was she doing something she doesn't want others to know!?"

"That's it! That's it! She must have been thinking of Mittsun if she's in that position!"

For the fifth time in her life, she felt heat rush to her cheeks as Izumi and Yoneya had their arms around each other's shoulders. Their stupid grins being ignored for the phones in their hands.

As for Shigenaga herself...

"GET OOOOOOOUT!"

Shige-ko: "You sent Idiots #1 and #2 to my house!? Just wait until I get my hands on you!"

Daybreak: "Um, Shigeko? This is the public chat."

Shige-ko: "Then everyone can know that the body will never be found!"

Daybreak: "Izumin and Yō-chan, what did you two do!?"

Bullet Idiot: "My face hurts..."

Spear Idiot: "I can't believe she threw her alarm clock and phone at us..."

Bullet Idiot: "And what was with that accuracy!? There's gotta be some rule against being that capable after just waking up!"

Momo: "As repeated members of the Expedition Team, shouldn't you be capable after just waking up?"

Almost Everyone: "He has a point."

Spear Idiot: "Dammit! They corrected us!"

Bullet Idiot: "You're next! You're seriously next!"

Daybreak: "If you mess with Momo then I'll have to take drastic measures."

Bullet Idiot: "We're sorrrrryyyyyy!"

Bullet Idiot: "We didn't mean iiiiiiit!"

Shige-ko: "You aren't off the hook, you idiot!"

.

"What a mess."

Yuki shrugged his shoulders. He had been reading the chat on his phone, a spoon hanging from his mouth. The food on his plate had already been cleared, and all he was doing was wasting time.

Across from him sat Murakami; to his right was Kanda; and to his left was Kageura. All of them were getting ready for the day.

"That guy really does know how to mess with others in the worst way possible."

"Was he like that when you were kids, Murakami?"

"He was a bit mischievous but never harassed anyone. Maybe it's Yuki's fault?"

Kanda and Kageura nodded together and dodged a double spoon attack from Yuki.

"Well, disregarding his current bad habits," said Murakami. He looked around them all and took another bite of his morning bowl of rice. "Where is Mitsuteru? He got up before me, right?"

Yuki sighed while putting his dishes in the sink. He looked like he was thinking about something before he turned on the water. Instead of leaving the dishes as they were, he started washing them.

Kanda moved to put his dishes in the sink as well. After that, he grabbed a nearby piece of cloth and started cleaning the counters.

Kageura only shrugged and continued eating.

"He said he needed to get to the base early. He didn't really say why, but he did give me his thanks beforehand. Also said to tell you the same, Kō?"

"What is he thanking us for?"

"I'm not sure. But I think we could figure it out once we get to the base."

"You aren't going to the hospital?" asked Kageura with a raised brow.

Yuki shook his head and looked out the window.

The sky had already started to move into the deep morning. Birds could be seeing flying, making him smile at the way they were unrestrained.

"If I'm dragged back, that's that. So I'm going to use my freedom while I can."

It made sense to the rest of them. Yuki was never the type of person to stay in one place for too long. And if he did, then trouble would follow him.

"What a world we live in," they all said in unison.

"I feel like I shouldn't have walked in here now..."

They all waved their hands toward the entrance to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ema."