Akihiko waits until after supper to take Koromaru on a walk, enough to let the heat of the sun simmer down to a more tolerable level for his heavy fur coat. They barely reach the shrine when his phone dings at some incoming text message. Sitting on a bench, he takes it out while the dog scampers off to run through the park he swore to protect.

Mitsuru? Did something happen?

Business is taking longer than I expected and my father needs something. I will be back tomorrow so you're in charge. Ikutsuki will drop off Aigis at the dorm after her maintenance sometimes tonight. Give my apologies to Arisato.

Ah, the usual then.

He types back a quick thank you for the heads up and pockets the cellphone back. This isn't the first time this happens, and it won't change much in the scheme of things because they so rarely need to intervene, but he'll handle it.

Realizing where the bench is placed in relation to the shrine, he avoids looking toward the playground because this would be somewhat like cheating his unspoken run rule. Instead, he turns his eyes to the massive gate backlit by sunset, clenching his fists on the wood of his seat to chase the undulating tension that rises and falls in his skull.

It makes something flutter inside his ribcage to think about her when the only fire that's dimming is the actual orb in the sky and not the one that lives and breathes on that horizontal bar, holding his hand when the world wakes back into existence.

I don't know why that always makes me tense just thinking about it. Maybe it's just because today was so weirdly quiet and the void she leaves behind is as immense as her presence.

Koromaru eventually strolls back to him, tongue lolling in fatigue, and paws his leg to get his attention.

"Sorry. Ready to head back?"

He barks in confirmation and his phone dings with a new entry again. Frowning, he takes it out a second time, he rarely even gets messages.

Hi :D Let me know when you get in, I think we need to adjust the plan… XX

Wasting no time in coming up with a reply, Akihiko smiles to himself. This is unexpected but if she needs his help for SEES business right now, he's certainly not going to refuse her.

Let's be real, it could be for anything really. I'm just glad she relies on me.

I'll be there soon.

He flips his phone closed and heads toward the dorm, absently scratching the ears of his companion as they walk side by side.

From the look of things when he steps in, some of the juniors came back right after he left with the dog, since Yukari and Minato are lounging at the table with their homework and some already empty drinks. Koromaru instantly heads to the sofa for a nap and the dorm door opens again as Fuuka enters timidly with a pale-faced Ken in tow. Passing near him to rush upstairs with a grumble, the boy barely glances at the others, eyes hard and somewhat glazed. Akihiko looks at the navigator with a raised eyebrow, but she seems as flabbergasted as him.

"Did something happen? He's usually not that moody."

Yamagishi slightly shakes her head, biting her lip with worry.

"I'm not sure… I stumbled on him when taking a walk back, but I don't think he feels well because he barely spoke to me. Perhaps he spent too much time playing outside and needs a rest, the sun was very intense today."

Hopefully that's all it is, they don't even have kid-friendly medicine for common illnesses or fever at the dorm come to think of it. Perhaps he should bring it up to Mitsuru tomorrow, but Ken will go back to his own place once school resumes, so there might not be a point in stocking up.

She's got enough concerns with the Kirijo Group as it is anyways. We'll see tomorrow morning if he's feeling better and go from there.

Ruffling his hair at the unexpected situation, Akihiko turns back to Yamagishi as she takes her laptop bag to the sofa, probably intending to work while petting Koromaru. Fuuka has a soft spot for the gentle creature, and it shows.

"The chairman should drop in later tonight with Aigis, but Mitsuru'll be gone until tomorrow, so if he needs anything, send him my way."

"Alright, will do senpai!"

He heads toward the stairs and looks at the two sitting at the table around math books; only Takeba has her trigonometry manual open. Knowing the blue-haired teen, he's been done with his work ever since he got his assignments, so that probably means he's tutoring her while she smiles shyly his way and asks for clarifications on a particular issue.

"Iori's napping until Tartarus."

Minato's tone is very matter of fact, and he purposefully did not mention his sister or what he's doing, he's not even looking up toward him. Akihiko almost chuckles at that one and settles on a tight smile instead: while their information delivery differs, the twins are so similar in their calculated communications it's almost uncanny. He taps him on the shoulder in passing, murmuring.

"Thanks."

Her room is alight, and the door is open most of the way, but the inside is slightly chaotic. Minako is sitting cross-legged on her bed, peering at a math book with a frustrated expression while biting on her mechanical pen. Her desk has two different notebooks sprawled on it and her planner open on top of her laptop keyboard, giving the impression that she has numerous things in progress all at once.

There's multitasking, and then there's this.

Akihiko knocks slightly on the doorframe to get her attention.

"Hi… Should I come back?"

Crimson orbs turn to him in surprise, and she hurriedly earmarks her current page, closing her manual with a firm clamp of the cover.

"No, no, sorry! I just wasn't sure when you'd be here, and I was trying to squeeze in some progress in the meantime."

Minako gets up from her bed and smooths her skirt down before walking toward her desk on bare feet, motioning for him to join her with a shy smile. He clearly remembers that frilly white number from the other day except she only has a red-and-white striped spaghetti strap top to go with it now and she looks adorable. He takes a few steps in to peruse the material she has on display and can't help but notice how much pale skin is also in his view.

Everyone's boiling alive, it makes sense. Get a grip, she wants advice.

"I had time to draft part of it already, but the short version is, I think we need to start resuming command room duties starting tonight."

He silently counts the days until the next operation by checking her planner's moon phase markers over her bare shoulder and frowns; the full moon is quite far from now.

"Are you sure? The news are pretty quiet right now."

She sighs and looks toward the window, frowning as she talks in a low voice and that evaporates all his current distraction.

"I know, and that's why it's so strange… I swear there's already a lot more Apathy victims at the mall, I saw quite a few between the station and the café as well, more than I expected. I took a glance at the missing person board near the police station after work and there are already a few posters, too. It might not be related though, there's still regular crime happening as well."

More murders too, there doesn't seem to be a correlation with shadows but who knows.

"It's just the dark moon and it's already that bad, what is it going to look like when school starts again?"

Minako's voice has a deflated pensiveness as she keeps going and he doesn't like that tone. Akihiko also doesn't know where to put his hands to offer her some comforting support, because there's too much of her showing from where he stands somewhat behind her back. In the end he opts to cross the fingers of his right hand with hers delicately, stepping into her space a little more because he'd really like to hug her really. She instantly obliges, closing her digits on his like he's a lifeline as she murmurs.

"We even managed to down two shadows at once last time, I thought that would help even more, and for a few days, it did. But now, it almost seems like the more we take down, the worse it gets…"

Most of what's shown to the public are the recovery cases, but this might be a calculated effort to limit panic too.

"I can ask Mitsuru if we have comparative case numbers for the past operations if you want a real confirmation, I assume Ikutsuki kept track of them and documented everything; he seemed to know quite a bit about the victims. In any case, you convinced me, more Apathy victims always means more rescues, so who goes where tonight?"

She disengages her fingers from his own slowly since she's right-handed, stroking his palm as if to excuse herself. Minako takes a pen in her case and flips to a new page in her book to draw a tentative schedule.

"Let's see… I'm open to suggestions, but I was thinking about Aigis and Koro-chan for command room today; he's a great scout and she can handle the computer just fine."

"Sounds good. Oh, you might want to cross out Mitsuru from Tartarus today, she's out on business and back tomorrow."

She nods and takes that entry off, throwing an amused smirk his way with half-lidded red eyes that makes his brain sparkle. At least her earlier unease seems gone entirely.

"Okay, field commander."

Akihiko scoffs at her playful tone, it's not like it means much when Minako or her twin lead in the field. The interim title is just because the rule is one or both seniors must be present, or Tartarus is off-limits; it's really to handle dire emergencies because he's level-headed and experienced.

"I guess we run a single group today then, we need the firepower, these new floors are harder. I'll figure out the rest once I get a feel for everyone's availabilities. Should probably assign myself once or twice to command room duty though, or I assume you're going to scold me."

"Good girl."

She laughs a bit darkly at that one, still focused on scribbling a few more things on the page.

"Yeah, no, not at all, but on this one I'll try. Here, you can do yours right now if you want."

Minako turns around and hands him the pencil with a pleasant smile, but he just bores his eyes into hers and closes his fingers on top of her hand, refusing to take it.

"It's never open for negotiation."

I don't care what anyone might think. I'm not taking any chances. Not when it's you.

She puts the implement back on her desk absently without looking where it lands, irises scorching with intensity as she takes two steps toward him to get closer. She just melts into his frame with a soft exhale like he's a refuge for her soul, her cheek resting on his chest between both her palms to burn him everywhere, and he crosses his arms around her upper back with some force to self-immolate further. Closing his eyes, he lets his nose dip to rest on her hairpins, absently trying to map his breathing to hers to chase off the clouds that dissipate all the words he might want to try and speak aloud. That fluttering is back somewhere deep inside too, pirouetting around his bones as they just stand like this for a long while.

Maybe it's ten minutes or an hour later, he's not counting, he's just cloaking her into himself because somehow, they both need this. But perhaps he shouldn't be so selfish, she was trying to get things done before he came in and he feels a little guilty that he's depriving her of some privacy to get her work done. School is important, but perhaps he can help her with that, ease her burdens, so he murmurs to her.

"How much homework you have left?"

He feels her jaw shift on his shirt.

"Just math, why?"

"If you need help, I can tutor you. It's my highest grade."

Minako lowly chuckles at his answer.

"That sounds like a great way for me to get absolutely nothing done, and you're probably way too busy for that."

I'm not, vacations are lonely, actually.

"You'd be surprised, I can't train all day and I can behave, this is important too."

Her planner's already open on the desk and Akihiko cranes his head to peruse the content of this week. While she has things planned for the next ten days, mostly in red in the mornings, it's not filled completely to the brim, and they could study in the evening a few times if she wants. He can see her eying what he's looking at with an amused smile from the corner of his field of view.

"You don't have anything else to do before we hit Tartarus today?"

If I train again, I won't be at my best. And I need to be.

"No, nothing to do until we deploy except look at the clock."

Her voice drops in volume again until it's barely a whisper.

"I don't really want to keep doing math today though…"

He's a little distracted by memorizing when and where she's not busy, he could definitely work around that schedule and spend more time with her, if she wants. So, he just replies absently, not catching on.

"Why's that? I thought your homework wasn't done."

It's the warmth she injects in her words that catches his attention and he turns around to look at her in curiosity, coming face to face with melting rubies that make his breath catch before it even escapes his throat.

"It's not, but there's tomorrow too and I'd rather you just shut the door instead."