Club week is more brutal than he anticipated; coupled with nightly visits to Tartarus it's starting to test the limits of his endurance. Minato, Yukari, Minako and Akihiko are all committed to training all day, running ragged with their respective sport teams and Iori is throwing it in their faces every evening. At least it's a good workout, except morning runs had to go for now; they need some sleep somewhere.

He must admit Minako's idea of changing the roster every night is inspired; it keeps the others refreshed and rotated every day but it's only some of them. Akihiko and Minako are deploying every night, spreading mass destruction with different duos in tow, rising up the tower at a decent clip.

During her free time, Fuuka updated the control room monitors to leverage some of the newly approved Dark Hour cameras in a few choice spots in the city, letting whoever is on standby relax at the dorm and watch for any suspicious activity on the feeds instead of patrolling on foot across town. The girl has a real gift with electronics.

How did Minako convince Ikutsuki and Mitsuru to okay that kind of expense, and so quickly?

It pays off on Tuesday night, when Minato and Yukari, assigned to command room duty, spot a poor lost soul wandering to the shadows' song toward Tartarus and promptly escort him home safe and sound.

One less rescue to worry about. Why Minato though? He wasn't tired that day.

It's now Wednesday and he's done wolfing down his lunch in the clubroom, watching his fellow boxers enjoying their break. He's been strict on them all morning and they deserve it, but it'll do wonders for the regionals. He keeps perusing his notes, scribbling some observations down on a few club members to adjust what to work on next day.

A murmur echoes around the room and most of his team moves to the windows overlooking the courtyard.

"Check it out dudes!"

"Wow, nice legs!"

The tennis club is passing near the windows to get to the courts, in the back of the courtyard, making all the boys giddy. He barely pays attention until he spots her, she's looking straight ahead, bouncing along the other girls like it's nothing.

Minako glances through the windows and flashes him a secret smile when she sees him. Must be the sun bright above or the exertion but her eyes are glowing, leaking color on her cheeks. He nods back with a grin of his own and his fellows start whispering but he doesn't care.

You should see her during the Dark Hour, she's breathtaking.

She's less energetic when he sees her later, sitting with her twin on a bench while waiting for the monorail, sharing earphones like they often do. Minato has an arm around her frame and she's leaning heavily on his shoulder, eyes barely open, staring at the station bustle with a bleary gaze.

She hasn't noticed him yet but her brother does, looking at him through his blue locks of hair, lips slightly pursed like he's irritated. Akihiko cocks an eyebrow up, glancing at his sister like it's a question and Minato rolls his eyes.

The wagons are rolling in and he stays aligned with the one just next to theirs, intent on observing from afar. There's a chance her brother will convince her to take a breather, but he has some doubts, she's determined to see this through. Akihiko hides in the crowd, watching her shake her head and get up, a bounce in her step like this was just a short break. From the bench to the door he can see her breathe in the mask and put it on like armor.

But there's a strain in her movements that he might not have immediately noticed unless he saw the transition, something in the way she's holding her gaze too high to avoid dropping her eyes to the floor. It's subtle, but it's more noticeable when you spend your whole day imprinting her every move in your brain.

Minako's holding on to her brother to share headphones, not looking his way, as they glide back to the dorm. But he's looking at Minato, and he nods at her twin's unspoken question.

Minako is fumbling around in the fridge, looking for something to drink, when he decides to face the music. The kitchen is functional but quite tiny, and mostly, nobody from the populated lounge sees inside from the angle of the doorway. Akihiko just leans in said frame, effectively blocking the way, and her potential exit.

"Hey."

She takes a water bottle out and smiles at him.

"Hey you, senpai."

He eyes her carefully, trying to gauge her mood, unsure. Deception is not his forte and there's no way he'll sound as subtle as he wants, he might as well just say it.

"I think we should let Minato take point tonight and stay on control room duty."

Minako's eyes narrow in irritation.

"Why? I'm fine, it's just 3 more days before camp, I can manage."

I knew she was going to dig in.

"You of all people have been going above and beyond. It's okay to take a rest now and then, you deserve it."

Her glare just intensifies as she takes a sip of her water, closing the fridge in a huff. He sighs and leans toward her, but she backs off toward the counter to avoid him.

"No cheating!"

Taken aback, Akihiko stops moving instantly. Minako, eyes wide, instantly mellows her anger.

"No, I'm sorry, I just meant…"

Everything's just jumbling inside out, he clenches his hands and takes a deep breath. There are people right there in the lounge and he doesn't want to cause a scene so he whispers, looking sideways because he can't face her.

"I wasn't… trying to… I'm just worried about you, I don't want you to get hurt."

His thoughts full of troubled cacophony, he turns on his heels and goes back upstairs to his room slowly, wondering where it all went wrong.