On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Connected

As they made their way back to the lab to do what they were originally going to do, that is accompany Saru and Fei as they discussed when and how Feida were going to receive their vaccines, a certain navy haired boy slipped into another corridor half the way.

Tenma blinked at him. "Tsurugi?"

"Toilet."

They watched him leave, and it was only after they could no longer see him that Kariya spoke up. "Is he aware that none of us believe him?"

Shindou smiled slightly. "Probably. But that won't stop him."

"True."

"Masato-san, are you not going to go after Kimiko too?" Aoi asked.

The blonde gave her a wry smile. "I would, but... To be honest, I don't know what I'll do when I face her. I hate to say it, but Tsurugi really is the only one who could handle her... everything."

"And after last year..." Gouenji paused for a moment before correcting himself. "After our last year, Tsurugi seems to be the only one she fully trusts anymore, along with his brother."

"It's deserved. We were pieces of shit to―" And immediately, three pairs of hands covered his mouth.

"Masato!"

"Language!"

"Don't corrupt my children!"

When the three best friends let him go, he looked over the kids. He found that Shindou and Taiyou had covered Tenma's ears, Sangoku covered Shinsuke's, Kariya's was covered by Kirino as he himself covered Hikaru's, Midori covered Aoi's, and Kinako and Saru covered Fei's.

"Ah... Habit. Sorry."

"Don't tell me you've already tainted Kimiko..."

"I don't think so? I've never heard her cuss before."

"She called Zanark a prick yesterday."

Zanark's "She did?" was drowned by Masato's "SHUUYA DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT, KIDOU!"

It wasn't reassuring by any means, but after he got slapped on the back of his head, they decided to pretend everything in the last minute didn't just happen.

"By the way, what happened after?" Kinako asked.

"After?"

"Mmhm! Zanark went to MUGEN Prison while his team took Kimiko to your timeline... But how did Gouenji-san and the others find her?"

"If I remember correctly, Yuuka was the first..." Masato trailed off in thought before nodding to himself. "Yeah. It was late at night when she should be sleeping, but suddenly she barged into Shuuya's room and woke us both up, saying she saw a strange light outside."

"The two of us snuck out and I told Yuuka to wait inside." Gouenji continued. "We went right outside the apartment, and that's where we found her knocked out by the gates. We couldn't just leave her there so we carried her up and after waking everyone else, we took care of her together."

Masato threw Zanark a look. "Your people had some nerve deserting a kid in the snow."

"I thought you'd say that. But seeing as you found her immediately after, I think they did a fine job."

"Hm... Touche."

Endou frowned. "No, I... I don't think you're supposed to agree with that..."

"In any case," Sakamaki turned to a certain green haired boy. "Zanark, we are going to need your cooperation―"

"To release the bounty hunter from the space-time prison in my sphere device so he can be left for the real authorities to deal with." He smirked. "I thought you'd say that. Fine. Here." He flicked the retracted device over to him, Rei Rukh catching it and handing it over respectfully.