Chapter 12

"Pick me up, Daddy! Piggyback ride, piggyback ride!"

"Hahaha, slow down there, sweetheart, I can't even touch you when you're bouncing away from me like that!"

The small girl stilled near the mall's entrance with a comical pout, her short brown hair flipping to the side as she twisted and crossed her arms, waiting for the much older man to catch up. "Daaddyyyy… You're bigger than me, you should be able to catch up!"

"Ah, but Yukari," the tall man said with a warm smile, finally reaching the girl and kneeling down, bopping her on the nose with one finger. "You have much more energy than I!"

Yukari's smile turned mischievous. "Daddy… that sounds like an excuse to me!"

"Ha! Use my own words against me, will you? Then take this!"

The tiny brunette had no time to react before her Father stood and swept her off her feet, holding her by her midsection. The girl let out a laugh as bright as the sun as she was hoisted onto her Dad's shoulders, and the man's face soon slipped into a grin rivaling the girl's.

"Alright, you holding on up there?" The taller brunet asked, and Yukari smirked, grabbing a fistful of her Father's hair and yanking as she leaned back. "Ow, ow, ow, hey now!" He complained with a wince and a laugh, swatting the girl's hand away. "Don't grab that! Grab my shoulders, you silly goose!"

Yukari giggled as she complied, and the two of them entered the mall through the main entrance (with Yukari nearly touching the top of the door from her seat perched on her Father's shoulders). The mall's noise and clamor immediately hit them both, ringing and echoing on and around the duo as they forged onwards. The older man began walking over to a certain shop in the mall, securely tucked away in the rightmost corner of the semi-circular building, and the girl on his shoulders began hopping up and down in excitement. "Ohhh! Daddy, are we going to the…?!"

He chuckled. "You got it, honey, we're going to the arcade. You happy?"

"I'm always happy when I'm with you, Daddy, but now I'm even happier!"

If someone had told the girl's father he'd won the lottery, his smile couldn't have gotten any wider.

Regardless, he continued walking. But just when he reached the entrance, a small, black-haired boy wearing a tiny baseball jersey slowly trudged out of the arcade and nearly collided with the duo. "Oh, I'm sorry," The scientist quickly said. "I didn't see you-"

The brunet cut himself off. There were tears running down the boy's face, but his face was stoically set in a stony-looking "normal" expression. At that sight, the older man immediately crouched. "Yukari," he quickly murmured to his 6 year old burden, "I'm gonna need you to hop off for a second, ok?"

"But, Daddy-"

"Yukari. Please get off. Just for a little, I promise."

Momentarily hesitating at the serious tone her Dad had taken, the small girl soon slipped off his shoulders, but remained clearly behind him, keeping a safe, fatherly buffer between this new boy and herself.

"What's the matter, big guy? Did you run out of yen for the machines?" her Father asked gently, almost cooing.

The small boy had frozen up after being stopped by the tall man, but regained his composure after a few moments of wide-eyed staring. "U-uhm, yeah, mister, I did…"

"Well, that's alright, isn't it?" The elder Takeba gave the boy a reassuring smile. "Why don't you just get a few extra coins from your parents?"

That was the wrong thing to say. The boy's eyes widened even further, and he glued his gaze to the floor, clenching his fists until they became white.

Yukari's dad frowned. "Hey buddy, what's the matter? If they don't have enough, it's no big deal!" His smile returned as he fished through his pocket. "Here, I have a few pieces of spare change, feel free to-"

"Th-that's not… I-I mean, thank you… sir! Thank you, sir, but that's not really the problem…"

The scientist slowly took his hand out of his pocket as a foreboding feeling came over him, and he finally noticed the bags under the boy's eyes and something looking suspiciously like a bruise peeking out from under his jersey. "…Then, could you tell me what the problem is?" He asked softly, praying that his hypothesis was incorrect.

"I-I don't really wanna ask Dad…" The boy swallowed. "Sometimes he's really nice and gives me a lot of extra coins, but other times, he's…" He paused, reaching up slightly to fiddle with the hem of his shirt. "He's…"

The older man didn't even want the boy to finish that thought. "Then, what about your Mom?"

"She's… not exactly available…" the frail kid said quietly, finding a loose thread to pick at on his shirt.

The senior Takeba's fists were clenched tight, and he had to make a conscious effort to relax them. "What's your name, buddy?" he asked in a muted tone.

"J-Junpei, sir!" Junpei squeaked.

"You don't have to call me 'sir,' just call me Eiichiro, ok?"

"O-ok, sir Eiichiro-san!"

Eiichiro let out a small laugh. "Close enough. Say, is your Dad here?"

The small boy shook his head vehemently, and Eiichiro frowned. "He left you here alone?"

"N-no, I came here myself." The boy looked up for once, a tiny, prideful smile written on his lips. "All by myself, without Dad noticing!"

"So your Dad's at home? Watching your Mom?"

Junpei's face fell once again. "Y-yeah, he-" The boy's eyes widened in realization. "Ah…! N-No, at this time… h-he's probably at a bar. I've gotta go make sure she's o-ok…!"

Ah. So that's how it was.

"Alright, Junpei-kun," Yukari's father murmured, chancing a glance back at his own daughter, who was watching the scene with wide eyes and a tightly closed mouth. "Gimme one second here, alright? Can you show me what bar your Dad frequents? And-"

"A-a-actually, I think I'd better go home and check on Mom now," the boy said, looking more terrified now than he ever had within the past few minutes. "B-but thanks a lot, sir Eiichiro-san!"

The boy started to move off, and Eiichiro inwardly cursed vehemently at himself. He quickly moved his hand forwards to stop the boy, but thankfully halted at the last second when he remembered what that could trigger in the kid. "Junpei-kun, wait a sec!"

The boy froze, but didn't turn around. Eiichiro let out a sigh. "…Listen, I'm sorry for scaring you, but don't feel like you need to leave because of what I said. I won't ask about him anymore, alright?"

"Ok, b-but y-y-you didn't scare me off!" the boy denied with a tremor ineffectively concealed in false bravado as he turned to look at the man. "I-I'm never scared!"

The brunet studied the small, raven-haired kid for several seconds, while the boy found something of his own to study on his shoes. "…Never scared, huh?" the scientist muttered to himself with a sigh as he closed his eyes and dropped his head, "Buddy, it's okay to be scared sometimes."

"...But, I hate feeling scared..." Junpei whispered, mostly to himself, but the phrase traveled and was louder than a gunshot to the girl's Father.

If his teeth hadn't already been clenched, they assuredly would have been then. It took all of his self-control to not grill the poor kid any further for details about where he could find and hopefully beat the shit out of his deadbeat Dad. But, as it stood, that was impossible, since any mention of the man brought the boy to tears.

Eiichiro let out another breath for self control. "I'm not gonna tell you to not be scared. But sometimes, when you're feeling scared or sad, and you don't want to, the best thing to do is smile."

"…S-smile?" the boy confirmed hesitantly after a hitch. "When… I don't want to?"

The scientist nodded in agreement. "Yeah. See, I'm a scientist, and I've read about studies that show smiling, even if you don't fell like it, can release endorphins, hormones that can effect many things, among them improving mood and- ow!"

Yukari's Dad turned to look at his daughter, who'd poked him with a finger and was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Realizing that he'd gotten a little too into his technical knowledge (as he often did), the taller brunet sheepishly returned his gaze to the boy, who was looking at the scene with confusion and a little bit of humor, if the near-invisible, tremulous smile on his face was any indicator.

"Er, basically, it can make you happier." Eiichiro finished. "Can you try it out for me, Junpei?"

A wavering smile crept onto his face, and the elder Takeba smiled back. "Perfect, just like that! It looks good on you too, y' know."

Junpei's smile grew a tiny bit more genuine, and Eiichiro's face softened. "Alright, big man. It's up to you if you want to go back and help your Mom, or stay here."

The boy nodded slowly, but with a smile still on his face. "I-I know… but I still want to help Mom out. But t-thanks, Eiichiro-san sir!"

"…Ok. Then you'd better go before it gets too late. See you around, Junpei-kun."

The two boys waved to each other, and the smaller one walked off with a straighter back and longer strides than before. At the sight of that, the tall brunet let his face slide into a small smile, although strained with thoughts of the boy's father swirling through his mind.

The boy exited the mall within a few more seconds, the noise of the door opening and closing lost within the mall's din. A second later, however, Eiichiro's eyes widened, and he dashed forward. He halted for a moment, rapidly turning back to grab Yukari before continuing his sprint through the mall. Bursting out of the entrance and startling a few couples and other groups of people outside, he yelled the boy's name. "Junpei! Hey, Junpei, you still there buddy?!" Silence answered him, and he scanned the area with squinted eyes adjusting to the darkness. "Shit!" he muttered ferociously to himself. "How the hell'm I supposed to report that Dad of his if I don't know his last name…?!"

He surveyed the area one more time, before looking down at the small girl in his arms. "Yukari, if you ever see that kid again, please let me know. I've gotta figure out his last name, ok?" The girl nodded, and the man looked up again, stewing in annoyance for a few more moments… before he came to another realization. "Er, and Yukari, don't repeat that word. Your Mom would skin me alive…"

The girl grinned up at her Father with mischief plain as day in her smile. "Only if you let me play... 3 more games than usual!"

…Really, with a deal like that, who could say no? "You got it, sweetheart," he said with a laugh as he pushed his other thoughts to the back of his mind, and let Yukari down to the ground from his arms. "Shall we, then?"

"Yuka-taaaaan… Hey, Yuka-tan, I think it's time for you to wake up now, class just ended."

Poke!

"Heeyy…"

Poke!

"Yuka-taaaan…"

Po-

Yukari opened her eyes. And apparently her expression was enough to put the fear of the gods in the capped boy poking her. "E-easy there," Junpei said as he backed up with wide eyes, putting his hands up in the traditional I mean no harm way, "I was just tryin' to help wake you up!"

And Yukari wanted to just call him 'Stupei' and smack him as usual, but of course the dream she'd had reminded her of why, sometimes, she couldn't fall asleep at night because of how he was treated.

"Whatever, Junpei," she muttered, pushing the glint of guilt aside as she glanced at some of her more popular friends ("friends," really, but whatever) congregating on the other side of the room. "Don't expect me to thank you for it."

Junpei's ever-present smile grew wider. "Heh, 'course not!" After a second, though, he frowned. "But, Yuka-tan, it's really weird that you fell asleep in class. You even did it yesterday. …And yesterday's yesterday. You sure you're doin' alright?"

"I'm fine," she said crossly as she roughly shoved her notebooks and pencils in her bag. "I've just been really busy with schoolwork."

In reality, she'd only been so busy because she spent most days sitting in Hamuko's hospital room, watching the girl and hoping for a sign of life; a movement or… anything, really. She only left when the hospital staff, exhausted in their own right, kicked her out of the room at night, leaving her only a few hours to study and sleep.

Junpei didn't look like he bought her lie, either, and told her so with a doubtful "If you say so…" However, apparently resigning himself to Yukari's debatable excuse, the capped boy shrugged and picked up his own schoolbag tilted against the desk next to Yukari's. "Well, try to get some sleep tonight, at least."

"…I'll think about it," she half-heartedly replied, not mentioning that she would be returning to Hamuko's hospital room every damn night until the auburn-haired girl woke up. And not mentioning that she was visiting the girl who'd become fast friends with Junpei about a week ago.

…There was probably something blatantly wrong about that, but… God, the last thing she'd need right now is some stupid rumor about her walking with someone.

While she was musing, Junpei had walked off with a wave behind his back, opening the door and exiting the room before Yukari had really taken notice. She blinked and shook her head a little, shaking herself out of her thoughts as most of the other students began leaving too. Zipping her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder, she filed out of the room with the last remaining students and turned left, passing by room 2-E.

A sliding noise was the only indicator that she should have watched out for a student coming from said room.

She hit the other person with a startled, high-pitched "Eep," while her heavy backpack swung back, tilting her off balance. The ground came up to meet her hard, with her backside taking the brunt of her fall, and the girl winced as she hit the ground. Although, internally, she was much more exasperated than hurt. Seriously? What else could go wrong today?

"Sorry."

…Oh, great. Of course she had to say that.

Sure enough, the brunette glanced up to see the king of one-word answers and emotionless stares: Arisato Minato himself.

"It's fine…" she acquiesced reluctantly, picking herself up and off the floor (And, come to think of it, how was it that she'd fallen, but the crippled boy hadn't?!). She was about to reach down for her backpack, which had been flung from her in the crash, but it suddenly swung down in front of her eyes, suspended by one strap from a crutch. It took her a second to digest the fact that the quiet boy had actually helped her, and another few to grab her bag and reply with an awkward, "…Er, thanks."

The normally silent boy hummed in acknowledgement. But, apparently finding little else of interest there, he immediately turned and hopped away, his equally adjusted backpack straps swinging in tandem with his motion.

...Ok, that wasn't going to fly. She didn't particularly want to talk with the kid, not after a week of failed conversations with the stubbornly silent youth, but just walking off like that after you help someone? That was not all right.

"Hey!" Yukari protested, still holding her backpack in front of her with half-clenched fists. "Where do you think you're going?"

The blue-haired boy turned back to her, just a hint of a question on his face. "The hospital. Why?"

"Uh…" Honestly, she should have expected that, given how she knew that Minato seemed to love his sister, and how she'd see him exit the hospital room every day just before she got there, but that answer still caught her off-guard. "W-well, that's where I'm going!"

He raised an eyebrow, silently asking 'and…?'

Yukari huffed, slinging her backpack over one shoulder as she walked towards the boy with steps sharp with annoyance. "Look, we might as well go there together, right? We're even meeting the same person, so there's no point going separately."

Then the brunette froze, gears whirling in her mind as she realized that she'd just asked the transfer student to stop and walk with her to somewhere… in the middle of the damned hallway.

She wasn't the only one who noticed this, either. The whispers from around the hall, previously invisible, were suddenly deafeningly loud as they swarmed her:

"Did the transfer student just ask Yukari out?"

"No, she basically just asked him out!"

"Are you effing kidding me?!"

"Who is this kid?!"

Then, a much closer, quieter, and more distinct voice diverted her attention from the other students' loud thoughts. "I agree. That makes the most sense." She flicked her eyes over to the transfer student in question, who was looking at the brunette in her flustered state with his hands in pockets, and a-

Was that tiny smile across his face?!

That smug bastard!

For better or worse, the boy had turned around before the girl had decided whether or not she'd imagined the quirk of his lips. And before she could determine if any amusement on his part would be due to her admittedly stupefied face or the fact that he'd managed to snag the oh-so-popular Takeba Yukari, the boy spoke up again. "Let's go, then."

Oh, come on, he could've at least acted like walking with her wasn't an inconvenience, right?

After another moment of hesitation, the brunette stalked after the boy, doing her best to ignore the gawking stares of several members of the class and the discrete thumbs up from some of her more girly "friends," the ones that had been trying to get her to date for years. She finally managed to catch up with the handicapped boy (who was surprisingly fast on those crutches) just as the elevator doors opened. The blue-haired boy swung himself in, pivoting on one of his crutches before pressing the "1" button. However, he apparently wasn't expecting Yukari to leap in after him, as he looked up with an expression that could have passed for 'surprise' when she did just that. "What?" she muttered to him crossly (and more than a bit defensively) as the doors closed. "I didn't want to deal with everyone outside."

He just turned his head away in response, his blue locks sweeping sideways with his head's light shake. Yukari huffed in reply.

Fortunately for the brunette, the fancy elevators at Gekkokaun were so smoothly quick that the duo reached the bottom floor before everyone else. They exited the elevator and the building with Yukari leading the charge (for once), and soon found themselves walking (and tak-tak-tak-ing) along the familiar path that led to the Port Island rail station.

However, ever since their great escape from Gekkokaun's rumor-thirsty students, neither of them had said a word. Minato, of course, seemed to have no problem with it, but the social girl found something noticeably off about walking for so long with someone without any type of conversation.

And if the boy next to her thought that she was gonna be intimidated by his apparent lack of social skills… well, he had another thing coming.

She was going to make him talk if it was the last thing she did, dammit!

"So, Minato-kun," Yukari began, turning her head to gauge his reactions, "How're your classes treating you?"

"Fine."

Yukari narrowed her eyes, and the duo crossed the street by the Port Island strip. "Any favorite classes yet?"

"Nah."

"Any classes you dislike?"

"Kinda."

"What are they?"

"It's just one."

"…Then what is it?"

"Science."

"Any reasons why?"

"Yeah."

"Then what are they?"

"It's just one."

"Then what is it?!"

"Kind of personal."

This kept going on and on until they had entered the train, traveled back to the mainland, and hiked up the road to reach the now-familiar hospital. When they finallly arrived at the front entrance, Yukari secretly congratulated herself for her self-control. Since, y' know, she hadn't yet shoved the stupidly quiet boy into a trashcan yet.

As they approached (with the bruette still attempting to engage the mostly-silent blunet in conversation), the two students saw the automatic doors by the entrance being cleaned by a man with stark white hair and a grey janitor's uniform, whistling a jaunty tune as he wiped the glass doors clean with a squirt bottle of solution. He stepped back with a slight bow and a smile as they approached, setting off the sensor and causing the doors to smoothly glide open. Yukari stepped right inside, but stopped for a moment after realizing that her companion had halted. She turned back to see him quietly greeting and balancing on his crutches to return the bow to the janitor, whose happy face beamed even more after the 'hello.'

Somehow, Yukari's eyes narrowed further. Oh, come on! He had to be trying to piss her off, right? He gave this random janitor a better greeting than she'd ever gotten! It's not that it wasn't a sweet thing to do (in fact, she had to grudgingly admit that it was very sweet), but seriously? He never treated anyone else that way, not even his sister!

The boy in question soon rejoined the brunette, who was still fuming a bit under the surface. And it was probably pretty clear, given the boy's expression as returned to the girl's side. "What is it?" Minato asked in a subdued voice, and the girl immediately tried to shift her face into a more natural position, shoving her other thoughts below her consciousness.

"Nothing," she muttered to her classmate, and moved forward to the front desk before he had the chance to inquire further. The secretary behind the counter, whose hair was dyed an oddly bright blond, flashed a smile at the brunette as she passed, and the girl promptly returned it. But just a few steps later, she was again startled into a stop when the girl behind the counter spoke up.

"Minato-kun, how are you doing?"

"Fine. How's the thesis?"

"Great! I'm finally almost done with the research, so I can get started on writing the main paper!"

Yukari had turned around at this point, but was completely flabbergasted when she saw a small but visible smile light upon Minato's face. "Good to hear."

"I'll see you around, Minato-kun!" The secretary chirpily replied to the boy, who simply waved lazily backwards in response as he moved away. The two Gekkokaun students continued forwards until they hit the elevator, which the boy hit with the end of one of his crutches.

This time, the girl was barely able to control her annoyance. Was he making friends with everyone but her? Why did he not seem to like her at all? The elevator doors opened with a ding, but the girl hardly noticed even after they entered the elevator, were lifted, and exited onto the third floor. What was it about her? What had she done wrong? Was it something that she'd said, or was it something that she'd-

"Looks like she's awake," a familiar, soft murmur broke through her thoughts, and she focused back on reality to see that they had come to Hamuko's room. The girl's brother was peering through the small, vertical window on her door, where he had made the comment while waving passively to the girl inside.

"What…? Really?!" Yukari exclaimed, pushing the boy out of the way to give herself a better view of the room inside. Just as Minato had claimed, the auburn-haired girl was sitting upright on her bed, looking and waving at them with a passion, with her massive grin somehow widening when she saw Yukari peer through the door.

The archer returned the gesture with much less effort, and quickly opened the door and entered the room, standing in the door frame with wide eyes as she soaked up Hamuko's appearance. The girl looked... well, normal. Her hair was tacked into a messy bun that hung lazily to one side, and her body itself looked a little skinnier than usual on the massive hospital gown she was wearing. But most importantly, her face was cheerful, with a massive grin covering it when she saw Yukari stop in the door frame and saw her brother gently brush past the brunette and kneel in front of the hospital bed. Minato spoke over the low volume emitted by the TV, playing some cartoon that the happy girl had probably thought was hilarious, and pushing aside his sister's lunch for a moment as he looked at her.

"How are you doing?" the boy asked quietly, peering at her face carefully.

Hamuko rolled her eyes. "Fine, Mina. I just woke up from the longest nap in history, how couldn't I be fine?"

"That was less of a nap, more of a coma."

"Then, as the king of coma-like naps yourself, you should be congratulating me! Unless..." Hamuko's eyes became sly. "Mina, are you jealous of my long nap?"

Minato let out a minute scoff. "Hm. You're fine."

And with that comment, he stood up. Hamuko's teasing continued as he sidled by Yukari (still standing in the doorway and watching the scene), and started heading down the hallway to the elevator.

But that was the last straw for the brunette.

He was leaving? Right now? After his supposedly dearest-sister had just woken up from what could be classified as a coma, he was leaving after he'd just spoken a couple of words with her?

No. Absolutely not. They were family! Family!

You don't do that to family!

Stamping her foot on the ground with a glare at the fleeing boy, she all but bellowed at him. "I can't believe you! You'll talk with the secretary and even bow to the damn Janitor, but you can't say more than a couple words to your own sister?! Dammit, for all you know, she might not have ever woken up from that, but are you even relieved?!"

The boy had turned around with a slight start at the girl's outburst, and his eyes had widened as he turned to see her ferocious glare. Then, seeming to finally understand what had been eating her up, his expression returned to normal as he fully faced her. "…It's not that," he said quietly, watching her huff for air after her outburst. "Of course I'm relieved, but what will talking to her do? Nothing, and she'd rather talk with you."

He glanced back at the open door, before returning his gaze to Yukari, who was gawking as the boy actually spoke full sentences. "And if you don't believe what I say... Why don't you ask her?"

The crippled boy turned on a crutch and began swinging off, but Yukari wasn't gonna let him go without a fight. She practically flung herself back into Hamuko's room, asking in what was probably too loud of a volume, "Hamuko-chan! You need to tell your brother that you'd like to talk with him! He thinks you don't wanna talk with him, and hell, he thinks you'd rather talk to me! You gotta tell him the truth!"

"Well, Yukari-chan, you're asking for two things here. Do you want me to tell him the truth... or that I'd like to speak with him?"

Yukari gaped at the girl.

The auburn haired girl's smile gained a smirkish edge at the other girl's expression. "Surprised?" She gained a more thoughtful expression, and pondered what the other had said for a few moments with her finger on her chin. "It's not that I dislike talking to him. And I do love him more than anyone else. I mean, he's my twin brother, y' know? But that's also why I know he cares for me, and I don't really need to talk to him. We just know each other too well for that."

Hamuko turned her full attention to the girl. "That's what he meant when he said I'd prefer talking to you; since I don't know you as well, it's more interesting to talk with you. With Mina, on the other hand… Well, I could probably run through our entire conversation without him."

"But... you're family," the archer pressed. "Don't you feel, like... abandoned when he leaves you?"

"Heh. Well, I'm sure I would... if we were normal." Hamuko smiled wryly at Yukari. "But, as I'm sure you've noticed, neither of us are normal in any sense of the word."

"That doesn't make it alright! Family needs to stick together, not leave each other! There needs to be some loyalty, some sense of-!"

"Yukari-chan." Hamuko's voice was unnaturally serious as she interrupted, and the brunette was startled into silence. "You're blowing this way out of proportion. Not to mention, you can't just say what someone's family should or shouldn't be like. Everyone is a little different, because everyone has had different experiences. You might think Mina's cold or obtuse, but that's because he's had a lot of.. well, shit to deal with ever since he was young. I dunno why you think that everyone's family has to be perfect, but... no one's family is like that. I doubt yours is, either."

Yukari's breath hitched at the last comment, and her face could have passed for stone. But Hamuko had turned away, and didn't notice her companion's face, or understand how close she'd hit to home as she kept speaking. "I'm fine with Mina, even with all of his social awkwardness and jerk-ish behaviors. And I know it's hard to accept that, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd try." She turned back around with a vaguely sardonic tilt to her lips and head. "Or, y' know, at least deal with his quirks."

"…Ok," the girl replied meekly, not willing to admit total defeat, but not willing to argue any further. "I'll try."

"Great, thanks!" Hamuko fully grinned again. But after a moment, her eyes narrowed slightly. "Having said that, you do have a few other things to answer to. Some rather supernatural things."

Yukari winced a little and averted her gaze, instead seeking out a white chair neatly tucked away in the corner of the room. Ugh, this day was just not going her way, was it?

"…Yeah," she admitted as she pulled the chair out and sat in it. "I guess I have some explainin' to do, huh?"

"No joke," the auburn-haired girl scoffed lightly. "Spill the beans. What the hell's going on?"

Yukari sighed.

AN: I'm so sorry for taking so long!

Also, before anyone asks: No, this isn't a Junpei/Yukari fic.

Shout-outs to: Walking in Rainy Days, Shushit, LiberatorKen, Dracis Tran, Sola Potterhead, True Knight Sky, Yleffl, Artzartz, and Red888 for following; Raziel104, Walking in Rainy Days, Sola Potterhead, and True Knight Sky for fav'ing; and Asahar4, Fracktail Raider, Yoshikunitsu, Shushit, Doom Marine 54, LiberatorKen, Gu3st, crymblade, and Angevon for reviewing!

[In response to Gu3st: Heh, funny you should mention that... since I've decided to go ahead and do more myth corner anyways! Check out what I've said below for more details. And yup, that's my plan! And thanks for the support for the song idea! I'll probably just scratch it at this point, but thanks anyways!]

Here's some good news: the people have spoken! Starting next update, I'll be doing a new Myth Corner for each new chapter. What I've decided to do is accept requests: that'll skirt around the issue of spoilers, since I'll just be listening to your requests. And if there are no requests, then I'll just do a random one that may or may not be related to Lateral.

Okay! Hopefully you won't have to wait that long for another chapter, since the next one is gonna be exciting! Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you soon!