Prologue 3 - Tied

"We need to talk."

Ryo and Davion looked over at their blonde compatriot in the kitchen. He was washing the dishes, the three of them enjoying the time off given to them by Obon.

"About what?" Davion asked, finally piecing the head of an RG Kazu 2 together.

It felt so surreal to see what should have been Mobile Suits be turned into IS-themed mecha. The large humanoid war machines of the series' namesake were shrunk down into skimpy exo-suits piloted exclusively by females, not unlike the IS. The 'Kazu' or whatever they called the Zakus of this world looked so...generic that both he and his fellow Gundam enthusiast nearly had a stroke upon seeing them.

Even worse was that any anime, or anime analogue to the Gundam franchise, seemed like a parody to them. The franchise had lost its soul, having been replaced with overly naïve and bland rhetoric that it was more akin to a Saturday morning cartoon.

...Which it was in this world.

He could still remember the night where he and the blonde found that fact out. They were looking up any mentions of a Gundam franchise in order to avoid any future copyright problems when they stumbled across 'GunGirl'.

Ephraim nearly had a stroke upon seeing the storylines, having looked so furious the further he read. When Davion saw the mecha designs, the mechanic barely held himself back from tossing the throwaway laptop out the window of the cheap motel they were staying in. The two of them then began having a tantrum that essentially devolved into a whining session.

And throughout said tantrum, Ryo merely watched as he sipped his can of coffee. He was content in watching the two mecha nerds convulse on the floor in a mix of rage and despair.

"I think it's almost time." Was all the blonde said, and the two stopped whatever they were doing, looking at him with frowns on their lips.

"Who did you encounter?" Davion asked, sitting up properly as he set down the model on the coffee table.

"Chifuyu. She entered the cocktail lounge last night, in the InterContinental." Ephraim turned to them with a troubled look, the lollipop stick between his lips moving about erratically. It was a tic of his, displaying his unease at their situation. He had been more tense and paranoid since they 'awakened', mainly due to the fact that, according to his muddled memories, there was a 'Big Brother' in the world.

Specifically, a Big Sister.

"What did she do?" Ryo asked, his brows furrowing as he thought back to his own encounter with a cast member of the damned world they were in.

Wiping his hands on the towel hanging on the front pocket of his apron, the blonde teen sighed as he removed the stick from between his lips, the candy long gone. "She came in wearing this stunning dress and with her hair down. Introduced herself as Madoka Orimura."

Snap!

The stick broke between his fingers, his jaw tense due to the surge of panic that came with the realization that they may have been had. "Yeah, no, that was definitely Chifuyu. I recognize that face anywhere, and I–" He took a deep breath, holding a finger up as he steadied himself and let the cool sensation of calm flow through him. "Sorry. I shouldn't panic."

"Last night? That's...hmm." Ryo cupped his chin as he crossed his legs, leaning back against the backrest of the loveseat he was on. "I delivered a package for Maya Yamada the day prior. I hoped that it was just a coincidence, but…."

The three of them exchanged grim looks-

Beep!

-before the coffee machine sounded off, causing all of them to look at it in a snap-second.

"...We're being too panicky. Let's all calm down for a moment." The green-eyed teen muttered audibly for the three, who quickly eased from their half-stances.

"Agreed." Taking a deep breath, the blonde poured the coffee into Ryo's mug. Setting aside the sack of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans, the barista who moonlights as a bartender then shut off the machine.

"So...what're we gonna do?" Davion asked, leaning on his thighs as h e cracked his knuckles.

"Let's not reveal our cards too early." Ryo offered, nodding his thanks to Ephraim when walked over and handed him the coffee. "If they notice that we're suddenly tense around them or that we disappear for no reason? That'll get them to come after us for sure." He took a sip from the mug, uncaring of the scalding heat, and visibly shuddered as the caffeine entered his body. A pleased smile stretched his lips, and he let out a long sigh as his body warmed up.

"With Tabane on their side, it'll only be a matter of time before they corner us anyway if we ever did decide to run." The blonde teen grumbled, leaning up on the couch as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So all we could really do right now is to mitigate how much we show them. Act the part of the normal, everyday civilian, and not…whatever we are."

"So we're finally entering canon waters, huh?" Davion asked, crossing his arms behind his head as he let out an annoyed and equally tired sigh. "Man, from what you've told me, it's going to be a right pain in the ass…"

Ephraim only groaned while Ryo let out a long sigh.

And so the three continued on with their lives, well aware that the clock was ticking.

Davion did his best to remain unaware that they were being watched, oftentimes resulting in him burying himself in mechanic work. He had become so efficient that the shop he was working in had even made a limited offer to their repeat customers of a 'revamp' job for their cars, with him being the primary mechanic. Not only that, but he had been more than careful in going to his other source of income.

Pit fighting.

It was a very lucrative side-job, even if it came with a risk of death. But it was that brush against death that kept him in the ring. He felt alive when he and his opponent were shedding blood, exchanging blows, and trading barbs as they fought like beasts in the octagon. Each bruise, each abrasion, each busted lip, they fed the hunger within him for a good fight.

He was just glad that the Florist of Sai had his security tight around Kamurocho, the old man having adapted well to the changing technology to the point that Purgatory had apparently revamped from an 80's red light district look-a-like to something more like a modern shopping street, while underground.

He did bump into 'Maiko' whenever he wandered Akihabara and Odaiba for Model Kit Hobbyist shops. The mechanic knew who she really was, based on his scarce memory of the world he was in, but kept quiet about it, preferring to treat her as a fellow model kit enthusiast than whoever she was supposed to be. She was still shy around him, largely wary due to him simply towering over her, and the fact that he had patches and band-aids on his face that made him seem like a delinquent every time they crossed paths.

But their shared passion for creating custom figures helped her get over a majority of that fear. Online, however, they were much more comfortable with each other. Emailing one another about newest model kit releases or simply exchanging tips and tricks on weathering and painting, they talked hours of their lives away ever since that fateful day in Golden Week when he accidentally knocked her over.

The mechanic was confident enough to say that they were firmly friends by now. He was also very glad to have someone who knows how to talk shop concerning kits, since his roommates didn't quite share his passion. Ephraim had some interest in the hobby, but he wasn't as dedicated to the craft like he was.

Oh well, you take some, you lose some.

Ryo busied himself with his jobs, which consisted of courier service and food delivery. He had to explain to his bosses about his 'plight', that being an orphaned university student working his hardest to earn money, so that he could have a special schedule that would balance out both jobs. Aside from that time Maya ordered that special toolbox, no other staff member from the IS Academy ordered from his courier company, which was a telling sign. However, he may not have made any further contact with the other staff, he did make contact with one of the cast members.

Ichika Orimura.

The protagonist had ordered two large pizzas, one of them Hawaiian and the other a plain Margarita, one Friday night. Ryo was not looking forward to meeting him, mainly due to his deep-seated dislike for Harem Protagonists, but a delivery was a delivery. He took his company scooter to a decent suburban neighborhood, one that...honestly looked like one of the many generic main character houses in anime.

Which it was, actually, in many senses of the word.

So upon ringing the doorbell, he plastered on his best smile and waited for the dense boy to open the door.

Creak…

When it did, green locked on to brown and he nearly jumped out of his skin as he realized who it was.

Chifuyu had opened the door.

They had a brief stare down before he handed her the pizzas, belting out the usual slogans as she read the receipt. The shorter woman was silent as she handed him the money. It was only then that the younger brother poked his head out, thanking him with an apologetic grin before his sister dragged him back inside.

Ryo left as quickly and as nonchalantly as he could, knowing full well that there were now daggers stabbing into his back.

For Ephraim, it was a bit tougher on his end to lay low and act like another face in the crown.

In his day job, he was both a waiter and an occasional chef in a fairly popular café around Shibuya. Plenty of people would enjoy themselves in the trendy setting, and more often than not, he would be the subject of candid photos due to his obviously Western looks and the faint scars that peeked out from his clothes. He would be lying if he didn't preen under the attention though, but he knew that this would eventually bite him back later on. Still, the uniform of the café was quite sharp on his figure and he occasionally used his looks to rake in customers, to the manager's quiet delight, and the added bonuses were a nice balance too.

During his night job, 'Madoka' came into the bar during his shifts. She ordered a different drink each visit and he was treated with the rare event wherein she got drunk and her attitude would turn a 180. She would loudly complain about stress and how her brother kept on getting himself into trouble. He agreed and nodded, automatically falling into the routine of the understanding bartender as she roared and drank. He couldn't help but feel a smidge envious in the warm undertone whenever she complained about her brother, who she aliased as 'Ichigo'.

He knew who the brother was, of course, much to his ever burning annoyance, so all he could do to maintain the professional mask of the bartender and greater facade of the clueless civilian was to give his own two-cents like he was some cheap fortune cookie.

It was on the nights that he didn't have bartending duty that he would have his paranoia cranked up to eleven. If they found out what he did, things would become much harder for the other two.

After all, an escort was still an escort, even if he was a guy.

Especially since he was a guy in the female dominated society he found himself in.

And so, he made sure to wear contacts and hide his scars with makeup whenever he went out. Tabane and Chifuyu must never know what he did, or the people who he 'associated' with.

Now if only his luck would assure him of that…

.

.

.

Date: Wednesday night, middle of October.

"Hey, Aznable-san."

He looked up from his wiping of a shot glass, right into the piercing red of 'Madoka'.

There was a slight tingling in the back of his mind. Something told him that whatever came next was going to suck.

"...Yes?"

"You know who I really am, don't you?" She huffed, taking a sip of her third Martini. "Known it since the moment I first stepped into this lounge all those months ago?"

The scarred blonde raised a brow, though inwardly his heart was pounding. He knew it. He knew that it was going to suck.

"...I…don't understand what you're talking about, Orimura-san." Ephraim tried to play it cool, raising a brow in feigned confusion. "Are you saying that you're not a Shinomiya Conglomerate employee?"

Clink!

The woman sighed heavily, as she set the now empty glass down with a bit more force than appropriate. "Listen, we've been at this cat and mouse game for months. You don't think I wouldn't dig through all of your records? Think again, I did and there's a looot of missing pages in 'em. I know about you, Neo-Type." She grumbled, retaining that sharp intellect despite her reddened cheeks and inebriated state.

"...Excuse me?" He didn't even need to feign being confused this time.

'The fuck's a Neo-Type?'

Warily looking around at the near empty lounge, he saw that there was barely anyone left. And those that were left were clearly way beyond tipsy with how they were swaying as they moved and slurred when they talked. His right pointing finger twitched on a trigger that wasn't there as he gave her an apologetic smile.

"I…should I be worried about you stalking me, Orimura-san? I'm a bit flattered that a beautiful woman like you are doing so, but perhaps you're more drunk than you believe-"

"Oh, I'm perfectly sober for this." Chifuyu interrupted as she glared up at him. There was little to no haze of alcohol in her false carmine eyes anymore, instead, they were filled with deadly steel as she squared her shoulders. "You know me, and I know you. Cards on the table. You don't tell me bullshit and I won't tell you bullshit."

He let the 'genial bartender' aura slip.

Eyes narrowed, he slowly stood straight, the false smile still on his lips. "And what exactly do you want to know? For what purpose, even?"

The questions were both for her and for himself.

What the hell was a Neo-Type?

"I want to know if you're going to be a threat." The elder Orimura stated, sitting up straight as well. "I know that you and your friends were behind that string of vigilante justice in Europe, Aznable. And I know about your suits."

His heart skipped a beat and an overwhelming cold flowed through him.

"...That damned rabbit." He whispered, a deadly gleam in his eyes. The cold was washed away in a tide of red hot rage. "...How long?"

"A few weeks before I stepped foot in the lounge." Chifuyu shrugged, playing with the empty martini glass. "We've kept an eye on you three ever since. Granted, you didn't make it easy on us, but in the end, we know about you."

"Tch." It took him some control to not openly sneer at her. So they weren't as subtle as he thought. "So, what now? Here to strongarm me into doing some dirty work for you?"

The disguised teacher rolled her eyes as she stood up from her seat. "I said it earlier, didn't I, idiot? I wanted to know if you were a threat, and judging by how you haven't leapt over the counter to gut me yet, that says something." She then grabbed his tie in a slow and deliberate motion, pulling him close to her to the point that their forehead were almost touching.

His royal purples glared into false red.

"So, I wouldn't suggest running now that we've caught you." The former Brunhilde whispered, her alcohol tinged breath washing against his lips. "Running would imply that you're guilty of something worth punishing. You aren't stupid enough to do that, are you?"

With a smirk, she let him go and turned to walk out of the lounge. When she was at the threshold of the doorway, she looked back at him over her shoulder, her pink dusted cheeks clear, and gave him one last victorious smirk before leaving.

Ephraim's shaking knees finally gave out and he had to lean against the counter to stay upright, eyes wide and heart pounding.

"God fucking damn it."

He needed to tell the others, perhaps they had more of an idea on what this 'Neo-Type' nonsense Chifuyu was talking about.

The next day…

"The heck's a 'Neo-Type'?"

"That sounds close to 'Newtype'."

Ephraim facepalmed.

So all three of them were in the dark then…

Ryo frowned as he zipped up his delivery jacket. "So she thinks we're part of this 'Project: Neo-Type' thing?"

"That's one helluva flag for a super soldier program if I've ever heard one." Davion snorted as he draped his towel over his shoulder, hair and underclothes still damp from his shower. He hadn't applied the usual bandages yet, thus the pale scars on his face were obvious against his olive skin. Not to mention all the bruises on his body that were in the process of healing. "Not that I'd discount that kind of shit from happening around here."

"So that's it, then?" The blonde sighed, shaking his head as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "We're going to pretend that we're aware of this super soldier program?"

"We could go for the whole 'repressed memories' thing." The courier shrugged as he put on his cap and walked over to the door leading out of their apartment, waving a hand over his shoulder in goodbye. "Suppression via trauma is always the go-to trope."

"Sounds good to me."

"Go change, you caveman." Ephraim snarled at the still near-naked brunette, as he slipped on a face mask. "You're dripping water wherever you go on the floor."

"I'm going to mop them up when I'm about to head out anyway!" Davion retorted to the blonde, who was already in the genkan of their 3LDK. Ryo had already left, leaving the door open for the barista, who turned around and pointed a finger at him.

"Don't do anything stupid, understand? And do your chores!"

"Yeah, yeah…" The mechanic waved him away, and the blonde huffed as he left the apartment. Now that he was alone, he quickly wiped himself down and went to his room to change. The sooner he cleaned up, the less chances there would be of water stains on the floor, and even lesser chances of the blonde yelling at him for not doing his chores.

Putting on a plain white shirt, a pair of dark gray jogging pants, and a pair of gray socks, he exited his room and began to clean up the apartment.

It wasn't as if Ephraim was totally in the wrong for snapping at him about leaving water stains. Their 3LDK apartment wasn't cheap, not by a long shot, and he wasn't going to blame the blonde for being so anal about it. When he and Ryo had moved out of their 2DK apartment in preparation for their friend's arrival in Japan, they had gone out to look for a bigger place to live in.

Luckily for them, the same real estate agent that gave them the 2DK had provided them a deal for being some of the few tenants that actually paid rent on time.

A manshon, or a condominium, closer to the heart of Minato. It was a 3LDK set, meaning it had three bedrooms, and a combined living, dining, and kitchen area. Everything needed for what looked like three bachelors to live their lives in relative peace.

All for the cost of nearly 5 million yen.

And that was just for the deposit.

Their rent was almost half a million yen per month!

So Davion could understand why Ephraim was so iffy about keeping the apartment clean. If the dirt and filth accumulated, something was gonna get broken and that meant that they had to pay even more to get that thing repaired or fixed. None of the three would want to fork over even more money for something they could have easily prevented, after all.

'Still, he could at least put a little bit more trust in me.' The mechanic sighed as he put on a pair of disposable rubber gloves. Grabbing a trash bag full of cans and non-burnable garbage, he trudged his way to the front door. 'It's not as if I look for trouble in the first place. Most of the time, trouble finds me!'

Opening the door, he was greeted with the cool morning wind. A small smile curled his lips as he-

"How are your twins?"

-smelled the scent of blood, mixed with the gentle aroma of flowers in the air.

Time slowed as his senses briefly went into overdrive. He knew what fresh blood smelled like. He knew what fresh human blood smelled like. His fists had caused cuts and abrasions in the octagon that caused blood to spill, and he had taken plenty of wounds back to intimately know just how it smelled like.

He looked to his left, his eyes darting to the side, where they took in the sight of their neighbor with a knife hilt-deep in her abdomen. It was held by a figure in a black hoodie and blue jeans, inconspicuous enough, and falling down between them was what looked like a bouquet of flowers with white petals.

Gray eyes shrunk in brief shock before adrenaline surged through his veins. Lips curling back in a snarl, he hurled the trash bag full of metal towards the shady figure as he yelled out to draw their attention.

"HEY!"

Bash!

The force of the impact knocked the hoodie-wearing figure back, spilling empty cans everywhere as his neighbor took a step back into her apartment, the knife still inside her.

He closed the distance between him and the attacker with a few steps, quickly leaning to the side to dodge the clumsy jab before ducking underneath the amateurish and panicked hook. His right hand came up in a rising uppercut-

SLAM!

-and knocked the hoodie-wearing would-be murderer off of his feet as his gloved knuckles met his chin.

Thud!

Confident that his blow was more than enough to knock him out, he quickly turned back around and went to check the wounded woman.

"Hoshino-san!"

"Ai!"

On her knees at the genkan of her apartment was the purple-haired woman, her face set in a grimace as blood dribbled down from her wound, over the knife's hilt, and onto the floor. There was already a small pool of the sanguine liquid underneath her, staining her jeans and white apron. Blood was dripping between her lips, and she had a raspy breathing that resulted in her coughing up lifeblood every once and a while.

Peeking from behind what looked like the living room door was her blonde haired son, his blue eyes wide in shock and fear. Before Davion could even yell at him to turn his eyes away and close the door, he was already running out and was at his mother's side, looking at the still-lodged knife with intensity.

Ai tried to grab the handle-

""DON'T!"" Both the mechanic and the child yelled, and the former slid to a knee beside the wounded woman. He could tell from a glance that the blade had dug deep, and it being stuck inside her was pretty much the only thing stopping her from bleeding out right then and there.

"Kid, call 119 and stay with your mother," Davion ordered the young blonde as he quickly ran out back to the hall. "I'm going to get my first-aid kit, hold on!"

"We have our own-!"

"Mine's a bigger one than whatever you have!"

The brunette glared at the unmoving form of the perpetrator before running back into his apartment, not caring if he was still wearing shoes indoors. Bursting into his room, he quickly ripped open the cabinet and shoved aside all the unassembled model kits on the bottom half to reveal a large Class-B first-aid kit.

Grabbing it by the handle, he ran back to his neighbor's apartment and briefly sighed in relief when Ai was on her back, with her child looking up at him as he finished putting a backpack underneath her head.

"Mister!"

Setting the kit down beside her, he opened it up and threw the disposable gloves that he was wearing over his shoulder. He needed a sterile pair now.

"Thanks for setting her in that position, kid." Davion gave a reassuring grin to the clearly rattled child. Putting on a pair of blue surgery gloves from within the kit, he pulled out a pair of trauma shears, he set to removing the cloth around the stab wound.

In the back of his mind, he was glad to have actually watched the medics patch him up whenever he got stabbed in the octagon.

"You called 119?"

"Y-Yeah. Wait, let me help apply some pressure-"

"Mama?!"

"Ruby…"

"Ruby!"

Davion tuned out most of the family's conversation, too focused on trying to stem the bleeding from the wound. It was a right bitch to do with the knife still in her, but as long as she was still breathing, then he'd do his best to keep her alive. He listened whenever the young mother talked, however, in order to make sure she wasn't going into shock, or to address an issue that he might have been inadvertently causing her.

After what seemed like almost an hour, but in reality just a bit over 6 minutes, paramedics finally came in to take over. Stepping back and away from what was clearly no longer his duty, he went outside just in time to see the would-be murderer attempt to jump off.

Arm darting out faster than the blink of an eye, he gripped him by the ankle and yanked him back with a snarl.

"You're not going the easy way out of this, scumbag!" The mechanic hissed as he none-too-gently slammed him against the wall, gripping him by his lapel. By now, the other neighbors that were present in their apartments were peeking out from their doors in concern and worry.

"Let go of me!"

"Shut up!" Rearing his head back, Davion delivered a headbutt that made a cringe-worthy sound. The perpetrator was knocked out once more and the brunette let him go to flop on the floor, spitting on him afterwards. "Bastard…"

A hand landed on his shoulder and he had to stop himself from giving a spinning backhand to whoever it was.

"Sir, I'm with the police." The owner of the hand stated, and Davion looked over his shoulder to see a stern-faced officer. "If you can, will you be willing to give a statement on what happened back at the station?"

After a rather lengthy questioning and a change of pants from the spare clothing he packed in his car, the mechanic walked through the hospital halls. Truth be told, he was still in shock at the suddenness of today's events, and it was barely noon!

'Why would someone try to murder a single mother?' He wondered with a small frown, stopping before a vending machine that had sandwiches in it. Taking a moment to grab something to eat since it was almost lunch, he chose one that had eggs and ham before continuing on his way. The nurse at the counter had told him that his neighbor was still in surgery, but she had the courtesy to point him in the right direction where her kids and close family were.

Stuffing one of his hands into the pocket of the jacket that he threw on at the last minute, as the autumn winds were kicking in, he took a bite of the sandwich just as his phone vibrated.

Taking out from said jacket pocket, he winced when he saw that the caller was Ryo.

'Ah, they found out, huh…'

Accepting the call, he held the phone to his ear as he continued walking.

"Yo."

"What happened? I got a call from the police saying that you were involved in an attempted homicide. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't try to kill someone not even an hour after we left the condo."

"Someone tried to kill Hoshino-san." Davion huffed as he finished his sandwich in a few bites. "She got a knife in her and it could have been worse if I wasn't there to step in."

Ryo was silent for a good few seconds before he sighed.

"Must have been a crazy fan."

'Fan?'

"Well, it's good that you were there to save her. How about the kids?"

"Ah, well-"

"Guele-san!"

At the cry of his name, he turned his head to see a blonde head of hair running towards him from further down the hall. The small body colliding with his side barely buffeted him, but he took a step back in surprise anyway.

"Ruby-chan?"

The daughter of his neighbor could barely try and fit her arms around his hips in a hug, and she bawled gratitudes, from what he could barely comprehend from her sobbing, as she cried into his pants.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-!"

"Er…"

"Heh, I think I'll hang up now. Sounds like you've got your arms full over there. Oh, and Ephraim's on the way, by the by. Good luck."

"Oi, Ryo-!"

"Neighbor-san!" Davion lifted his head from the young girl to her twin, who was walking towards him with two adults in tow.

One was a blonde man in a black suit with a white polo underneath with the top buttons loose, sunglasses, and thin facial hair. By his side was a strawberry blonde woman who wore a gray turtleneck sweater, white pants, and black high heels. They both looked surprisingly young, maybe around five or so years older than him.

"So he's the one that saved our Ai-chan?" The man spoke once they were a few feet apart, a shaky smile on his lips. In the next moment, both he and the woman bowed 90 degrees at the waist.

"Thank you so much for saving her!" They both let out, surprising and embarrassing the brunette, who waved his hands.

"Wait wait, there's no need to bow!" Davion's cheeks flushed as he tried to get them to stand straight back up. "Really, there isn't!"

"You saved our Ai-chan from certain death." The woman's voice was shaky, as if she was going to break into tears at any moment. "This is the least that we can do to show our thanks."

"If you hadn't been there…" The man trailed off as his clenched fists shook by his side. "Ai would have…"

"Thank you for saving our mother." The male twin, Aqua, bowed this time, further embarrassing the brunette.

"Th'nk ywouuuu!" Ruby bawled into his side, causing him to grimace when he felt the tears penetrate through the fabric.

"O-Oi, come on, Ruby-chan…" Davion muttered as he hesitantly patted the girl's back. While he wasn't a total stranger to the Hoshino family, he wasn't what one could consider a close affiliate also. They were neighbors and it stayed like that ever since he and Ryo moved in next door and waited for their blonde friend. "There's no need for the waterworks…"

The older man straightened as he sent a thankful smile at the brunette. "So, can we have the name of our daughter's savior?"

"Ah, Guele Davion…or Davion Guele in Western nomenclature. You can just call me Davion, since you're Hoshino-san's er…parents?"

"It's a bit complicated but," The woman stood up straight as she ran a finger through her hair. "We're her guardians, and my husband here does consider her as his daughter."

"H-Hey, Miyako-chan, don't say that..!"

"I see…"

"Oh, right." The man's eyes widened briefly behind his shades before he gave his hand. "I'm Saitou Ichigo, President of Strawberry Productions and manager of B-Komachi."

Miyako sent a wary glance at her husband, her brows slightly furrowed.

Davion shook his hand with a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Saitou-san. As I stated earlier, I'm Davion Guele. I'm a mechanic."

"A…mechanic?" Ichigo blinked but gripped the brunette's more calloused hands firmly as they shook. "I hate to be rude but how does a mechanic afford a manshon like what you and Ai-chan had? You're still in college right?"

"Oh, I have two roommates that help with rent."

"Davion!"

'Ah, speak of the Devil and he shall appear.' The mechanic inwardly huffed as he looked over his shoulder and further down the hall.

There, looking rather harried, was Ephraim.

He was still wearing what he wore when he left for work that morning; a long-sleeved dress shirt underneath a dark green waistcoat paired with slacks and his derby shoes. His normally kept hair was out of place in a few places, and there was a visible unkemptness in his attire that told the brunette that his blonde roommate had been running.

To be fair, he was the only one of the three of them that didn't have his own transport.

He had his car and Ryo had his motorcycle, while Ephraim had to deal with buses and trains.

When the blonde was a few feet away, Davion turned around, only to take a step back when the purple-eyed blonde got into his personal space and started looking him over.

"No new wounds? Are you hiding any underneath the bandages?"

"What? No." The brunette frowned as he slapped away his hands. "I'm fine, I'm fine. The perp wasn't much, just one uppercut and he was out like a light."

"Good." Ephraim grumbled darkly before he looked over his shoulder and saw the kids with the adults. "Oh, who're they?"

"We're Ai-chan's guardians." Miyako introduced themselves with a charming smile, while her husband and Aqua seemed to be staring at him with veiled intensity. "I assume you're one of Davion-kun's roommates?"

The blonde ran a hand through his hair, easing the rebellious strands of unkempt hair back in place, before bowing slightly at the waist. "Yes, it's nice to meet you. I'm Aznable Ephraim, part-time barista at Uni in Gyre and full-time bartender at the InterContinental at Akasaka."

"Gyre? InterContinental? Sheesh, those are some high-end places to work at…" The woman mumbled to herself while her husband rubbed his chin.

"Guele and Aznable…those are clearly not Japanese names…"

"We're immigrants." Davion shrugged as he finally unlatched Ruby from his side, awkwardly patting her head as Aqua took his twin away. "I'm Italian, though I did grow up here for most of my life."

'At least, according to the forged documents Kazama-san had made for me…'

"I see." Ichigo looked at Ephraim, taking in the blonde's looks and subtly glancing over at Aqua. "How about you, Aznable-san? Where did you come from?"

The taller blonde raised an eyebrow, having caught the glance at the male twin. There was something going on here and he didn't like it. "Germany. I grew up there and decided to explore the world when I was 17. A few years later and here I am."

"And how old exactly are you?" Miyako asked, her smile gaining a flirty curl as she took him in head to toe, much to the quiet annoyance of her husband beside her.

"22 years old, why?"

'Or so the papers that Davion gave me say…'

The woman sighed as she placed a hand on her cheek. "So young and handsome only to be working at menial jobs…" Her eyes then locked on to the faint scars peeking out from underneath his collar. "What are..?"

Ephraim's hand unconsciously reached up to rub the burn scars. "Ah, just some old scars. Anyway," He looked at his roommate with a small frown. "What happened?"

"A crazed..fan? Ryo said that it was a crazed fan– But anyway, I was hauling the non-burnable trash and doing my chores like you told me to," Gray eyes narrowed at purple for a moment before easing up. "When I witnessed the stabbing just as I walked out of our apartment. I threw the trash bag at the guy and then knocked him out before seeing Hoshino-san's state and running back into my room to get the first-aid kit. I ran back out and administered first-aid until the paramedics came."

The blonde's frown deepened as he cupped his chin. "Didn't think it would be this bad here." He mumbled, only audible for the brunette, who raised his brow. Was there something he was missing?

"Either way, good job." Ephraim patted his shoulder with a small, genuine smile. "That's gonna be one less scumbag out in the streets." He turned towards the older blonde and his wife. "How's Hoshino-san's condition? Is she out of surgery?"

Ichigo's expression twisted into a mix of anger and sorrow. "Not yet. The doctors said that the knife nicked an artery in her lungs, and if it weren't for Guele-san's efforts, she would have…" He looked at the twins before shaking his head and looking back at the brunette. "I seriously cannot thank you enough for saving her life."

"Please," Davion stressed with an understanding expression. "Anyone else would have done the same thing if they were in my shoes. I did what had to be done. It was the neighborly thing to do."

"You're a regular hero, aren't you, Davion-kun." Miyako winked at him as she giggled, much to the mechanic's further embarrassment and Ephraim's amusement. "And you've got the rugged looks of one too. Have you ever tried acting?"

"Miyako-chan, leave the poor guy alone." Her husband sighed as he shook his head, looking more exasperated than anything else. "Anyway, since you two now know about Ai-chan's secret-"

'Huh? Secret?' Davion glanced at Ephraim, who merely nodded at Ichigo's words.

"-what will it take for you to keep quiet?"

"Wait, what?" The brunette flinched as he looked between the two guardians and his roommate. "What secret?"

Aqua and Ruby looked up at him in disbelief.

Ichigo and his wife stared at him in scrutiny.

Ephraim rubbed the back of his neck in second-hand embarrassment.

"Our neighbor is the same Hoshino Ai who's been climbing up the music charts for the past four years now." The purple-eyed blonde informed him before gesturing to the twins. "Those are her kids. Their mother is an idol. You connect the dots, Dummkopf."

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot!" Davion retorted with reddened cheeks. "I just thought that it was just a case of having similar names!" Shaking his head, he looked at the sunglass-wearing blonde. "Anyway, you don't need to do anything. Hoshino-san is my neighbor, and her secrets will remain hers to keep. I'm not scummy enough to reveal such a thing, even if it was for money."

"Everyone's entitled to a few secrets of their own." Ephraim nodded. "You have my word that I'll keep Hoshino-san's secret safe."

"Then, would you be willing to sign some NDAs just for legality's sake?"

Both roommates nodded, and Ichigo turned to his wife.

"Miyako, the twins haven't eaten yet, have they? Can you take them out to the nearby cafe? We're gonna take a bit here."

"Of course. Come along, kids."

As Ruby and Aqua left with the woman, the male twin looked back over his shoulder at the tall, purple-eyed blonde.

For a moment back there, he swore he saw the barista's eyes had stars much like his and his mother's, save for the fact that they constantly switched between bright white and abyssal black.

AN:

[Rewrite Finish Date: 6/11/23]

*apparates from the Warp*

Adding a few bits here and there, mostly to slightly flesh out the trio's lives before their enrollment in the IS Academy. You can now clearly tell that there are now some non-Gundam related elements in the story, and while they will be brought up once and a while, they'll remain in the background for the most part.

Also for the Oshi no Ko segment…

The three of us wanted to save Ai.

That's it.

Ah, and the other half of the original Prologue 3's gonna be Prologue 4 now, and the Prologue Finale…will remain named as such. Eh…

Tokyo Vacation Update: I got my hands on a Zowort and Sigrun kit. Loving the Zowort, especially its beam gun. I don't have to disassemble the hand anymore to fit it in! The torso is so chunky too, it's a blast to handle. I also chanced upon an HG Hi-nu and an MG Sinanju, both of which were, regretfully, outside the price range of my current balance at that time.

With that, Future Cipher out.