"President, are you okay?" Ako's voice was doused in concern for Hina.

Hina supposed she must have looked worse than usual, if Ako was this concerned.

The new budget cuts that Makoto forced on the Prefect Team had been carefully aimed, with each cut, while not individually harmful to the running of the Prefect Team, creating as much trouble for Hina as possible.

This has Iroha written all over it, she grumbled. At least she could live with this. Major budget cuts were harmful to morale; at least with this, she reasoned, the only harm was the workload on her shoulders. Iroha may have been a slacker, but she was a slacker who could be reasoned with, and the work she did was top-notch.

If only it helped her shoulders. Raising her arms in a stretch, the amount of cracking she heard would be concerning for anyone else, but was everyday for her unless she took part in an operation.

She ought to get more exercise in, but the work wouldn't finish itself.

But after a full day's work, it was finally done.

"Ako." The sudden utterance of her name made Ako snap to attention. "Yes, President?"

"What time is it?"

"It's 12pm… to be more precise, 12:07."

Hina bit back a yawn as she considered her answer. "Then to answer your question, I feel fine for someone who has been awake for fifty-four hours."

"President?!" Ako's mouth gaped open as she stared at Hina, examining her thoroughly as she took in the new information presented to her. The bags under the eyes, the badly creased coat, and the mountain of paperwork on her desk. "You should take a rest! Did you take a nap between that? I would've stopped you yesterday if I had known-"

"Ako." The single word uttered stopped Ako from continuing. With dread, she turned her head to look Hina in the eyes.

"I'm sorry. I should take better care of my health."

"...Eh?" Before Ako could react, Hina started clearing up papers. "Can you handle it from here, Ako?"

"Of course!" She wasn't hiding her thrill at that thought. One thing Ako always wanted was to help reduce the workload on Hina, and even if it was just helping her send out the documents, she was glad that she could be of use to the constantly overworked President.

But after Hina left, something was niggling at her.

Hina usually put up a lot more resistance to her assistance?

She stared at Hina's back as she left, wondering what prompted the change in attitude.

Then she shrugged, and went on with work.

When Hina woke up, it was 6.

Not 6AM, 6PM. She'd gotten home, and even without removing her clothes fell into her bed and slept.

Only for four hours. She still felt exhausted after that nap.

And she knew why she couldn't sleep. The thoughts raging through her mind, the ones kept at bay by the endless flood of work, haunted her.

It was irrational, emotional and not worth thinking about - but yet, the thought that Sensei and Ako were…

She slapped herself. I ought to be happy for them, she thought.

Her stomach let out a loud rumble. I haven't eaten dinner. She looked down at her clothes, rumpled from days without sleep and hours being slept in.

She went to the wardrobe. She wasn't working now, so it would be best if she got changed when going out.

Of course she was going out. It wasn't like she had a kitchen. She barely even slept at home.

Dressed in her finest casualwear, amounting to little more than a set of the button-up shirts and skirt combo she wore everyday, with a hoodie covering her all up from the cold, Hina cut a small figure as she walked on the streets of Gehenna. While her halo and horns might give her away, she figured that she went out so often in her normal ensemble that people weren't used to seeing her in anything else, thus meaning she ought to blend in with the crowd.

Just in case however, she kept the hood up.

The sign on the convenience store, no matter how hard she stared holes into it, didn't change.

"Closed."

Just her luck, she supposed. The one day she was at home, and the store was closed…

What now? There was another convenience store a bit further away she could go to.

Or, she thought, as she took out her purse, I could go a bit further. She took out a coupon from within, for a restaurant near SCHALE. She got it the last time she was on duty; it had sat unused, despite being valid at all chains of that restaurant, because she never had the time to go out to one.

A soft whisper came out from her mouth: "I hope Sensei is free…"

All the while, the words she had overheard days before ripped at her heart.

She shook it off. Sensei would never do that sort of thing, right?

At least, unless it was her…

No, no, no! What was she thinking!

Sensei

Sorry Sensei, but are you busy now?

I'm going over to the D.U, would you like to have dinner with me?

Sorry Hina, I've got plans for today already

Let's do it another time!

Hina sighed as she stared at her phone. Of course he would be busy.

The mall was a large place. Within, the building was filled with people on their way back from work, buying food, drinks and other things as they headed home.

Among all these people, Hina just felt a sense of loneliness. Around her, groups of people were intermingled with the workers, whether it be drinking buddies, straggling students who stayed out as late as they could before returning to the dorm, or just people meeting others they knew while out and about.

She stood in a sea of strangers.

Putting her phone away, she held back the urge to sigh again, instead looking around. There were sights everywhere, as stalls set up to cater to the holiday season. Baumkuchen there, dango there, even Ako was buying-

She stopped in her tracks, causing a commuter to bump right into her. Muttering apologies, she quickly ducked out of sight.

Ako?! What was she doing here? Wasn't she work-

No, Hina shook her head. She was the only one who routinely did overtime, and Ako only joined her.

Peeking out behind her cover, she wondered what Ako was doing here.

Just then, a familiar face appeared, waving towards Ako.

Sensei.

Ah… So that's what his plans were.

Trembling behind the pillar she was hiding behind, she stared as Sensei and Ako talked.

As Ako stole a bite out of Sensei's yakitori.

As she fed him some of the biscotti she was buying, and his smile growing larger as he bit it from her fingers.

As she wrapped her arms around his, clinging quietly to him.

As they walked off, leaving Hina behind.

She had never felt so lonely before.