If there were a word to describe how Sahashi Minato felt at the moment, that word would be "relieved".
The previous day had been hectic– or maybe that was putting it a little too lightly? Ever since he met Musubi-san, chaos had become the norm –what, with this whole "Sekirei Plan", and all. Even then, yesterday's series of events stood out like a sore thumb.
Rescuing Kuu-chan was difficult.
All kinds of nasty people were after her, and Musubi-san had a close call with another Sekirei. If Seo-san hadn't come with them, getting to Kuu-chan in time would have been impossible for someone like him.
As it would turn out, though, they weren't the only ones who had it rough. Kagari-san's workplace had a gas leak, and he was caught right in the thick of a building fire; it was almost unbelievable that he was able to scrape by with nothing but a few minor injuries.
But that was just it: things could have been so much worse. What if Seo-san didn't help them? What if Musubi-san wasn't able to defeat the other Sekirei? What if Kagari-san wasn't able to escape the building in time?
Minato was thankful. At the end of the day, everyone had made it out alright.
It was because of his afterglow that he didn't have any complaints when the landlady kicked him out of the house and handed him a grocery list despite him having neither means of transportation nor superhuman strength to carry the shopping bags all the way back.
"Flour…" he muttered to himself as he found the aisle for baking goods. Unfortunately, his attention was captivated by the wall of product, so he didn't notice the stranger in front of him until he walked straight into the man.
Surprised, he almost lost his footing, but he managed to get away with a light stumble.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. Luckily, the person that he had bumped into didn't seem too phased.
…Wow he was tall. At first glance, he could easily have been mistaken for a foreigner.
The stranger smiled.
"It's my fault, really. I was distracted and ended up blocking your path," he said, lifting his cellphone pointedly. "I'll get out of your way."
With a polite tilt of the head, he did just that. The man crouched down a few paces further down the aisle and started to browse for whatever it was that he came here for.
Minato forced down the vestiges of his embarrassment and picked up the flour–
…Hold on, what type of flour was he supposed to be getting? There had to be at least five different kinds here! Should he just pick one and move on? All-purpose seemed like a safe bet. No… the landlady might get upset with him if he did that…
His growing panic consumed him to the point that he almost didn't notice a finger tapping him on the shoulder.
"Uhm. Excuse me… do you need a hand?"
Minato bit back a startled cry.
"Ah – um… I'm sorry?"
It was the same man that he bumped into just before. The guy scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"I didn't mean to project, or anything. I couldn't help but notice that you seemed a little caught up."
Minato thought about it, then blushed. Reticent to make himself out to be any more unreliable than he already felt, he paused before asking, "By any chance… might you know if there's a big difference between these types of flour?"
To his dismay, the kind stranger nodded. "There's enough of one. What are you using it for?"
Minato did his best to think back to whatever the landlady had told him before he left. No luck.
"…"
His ears turned red.
To make matters worse, the stranger started to chuckle.
"Don't worry about it," said the man. "If you don't have anything specific in mind, then the all-purpose flour is probably what you want to go for. You can use it for pretty much anything."
The lost college-hopeful blinked. "Really? I figured it would be bad to get them mixed up."
He was given a reassuring nod. "Really. If whoever gave you the list didn't ask for anything beyond 'flour', then this is probably what they're looking for."
Ah. Maybe his inexperience on the matter made it a little too obvious that he was here on behalf of someone else.
Minato averted his eyes bashfully. "Thank you, Mister. Sorry for taking up your time."
The kind stranger shook his head.
"Really, it's no trouble. I gave my partner our grocery list the other day, and I've since learned that some shopping lists could benefit from a little more detail. People who do most of the cooking have trouble putting themselves in the shoes of those who don't," he explained with a small laugh. "As you can see, I ended up having to make a trip here myself."
Ah. This guy was really nice. Kind of like those elderly people who helped strangers out at train stations, saying stuff like, "I'm retired! Every day's a Sunday!" or something.
It must've been nice to be a dependable sort of guy like that. His girlfriend must appreciate him a whole lot. Maybe one day, Musubi-san would also–
Minato blushed and halted his thoughts altogether, knowing that his brain had gone on a tangent.
"Thanks again, Mister," he repeated with a bow. The young man left with a grateful wave of the hand.
____________
"Hah!?" exclaimed the grey-haired woman incredulously. She shifted the team-branded baseball cap sitting atop her head in an attempt to get a better view of the field. "No one caught it, right? Why is the batter out?"
They were pretty high up in the stands. Maybe she missed something?
Shirou, who wore a hat identical to hers, shrugged his shoulders and gave her a sheepish smile. "No clue, sorry. I know the basics, but I'm not exactly a baseball expert."
"Your people's pastimes are quite convoluted," Karasuba complained.
When her Ashikabi had taken her to a "pro league baseball game", she didn't really know what to expect. She knew that humans had "sport", but never really gave it any mind beyond that. With that said, she was more than happy to allow her partner to explain the rules to her.
The game itself seemed simple enough, but she could not believe how many rules there were. And she thought that she was starting to get the hang of it too…
Shirou waved to someone over her head.
"Over here! Two, please."
A man carrying steaming paper boxes paused mid-march down the stands. His eyes brightened when her Ashikabi handed him a pair of bills, and he gave him a pair of his product in return.
She was handed one of them.
"This is…" the woman mumbled uncertainly. She opened it to reveal… grilled chicken on a stick?
"Yakitori," explained her Ashikabi. "It's pretty much tradition to have this sort of street food at big events like this. Snacking while you watch is normal."
"I see," she responded lamely. She took his word for it and took a bite of her fare.
It was all right.
The food was all right. The venue was all right. The game was all right.
She didn't mind it, though.
"How did it go?" she asked him out of the blue.
He took a moment to process her question before it finally clicked.
"No luck, unfortunately. I've been getting in touch with contacts of mine all day, but none of them are up for it. We'll probably be running on third-party information for the next while, still."
She didn't even pretend to care. Instead, she took another piece of chicken into her mouth.
"Ah! Oh my."
She and Shirou turned their heads towards the source of the sudden exclamation. The elderly couple in the seats next to theirs watched on in consternation as a young boy –their grandchild, presumably– broke down into tears as his box of yakitori fell onto the floor.
The grandfather panicked and took out his wallet, but froze when he saw that it was empty.
"Sorry, Kenta. I didn't bring any more bills with me."
The vendor was about to leave the trio to their misery before Shirou interjected and wordlessly handed payment for another box of grilled chicken.
The young boy looked up at him questioningly. The white-haired man gave him an encouraging nod.
"Ah!" the child's eyes sparkled. "Thanks, Mister!"
The grandmother was the first to shake off her surprise.
"That's awfully nice of you, dear. You didn't have to."
"It never hurts to be kind to others," was Shirou's soft-spoken reply. "I didn't have to, but I could."
The grandfather let out a bellow. "Now, now, let him have this one. A man likes to show off for his woman every now and then, isn't that right?"
The elderly man's smile said that it was nothing more than the good-natured teasing of an older generation.
Shirou gave a laugh of his own. "You got me," he answered simply.
Karasuba watched all of it happen with a squinted smirk shaded by the visor of her cap.
How strange. It was an utterly pointless exchange, same as the rest of their day thus far, and yet some part of her derived some sort of enjoyment from it.
From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a relatively nondescript couple walking away from the stands.
…Oh?
"Shirou-kun," she said, getting her partner's attention. "I found our friends."
"Mm," he acknowledged simply. "Should we go?"
"No, I'll go run over quickly and let them know where we are. We can talk to them properly later."
That made sense, didn't it? She hoped so. At the very least, her Ashikabi seemed fine with it.
"It would be rude to greet them emptyhanded," he remarked.
As if that would be a problem.
"I'll find something on the way. I'll be right back~" she singsonged.
With a pep in her step, she left Shirou alone with the family. She sauntered down the stairs, slowly closing the gap between the couple and herself.
"Ah, Haruto-kun, stop it! We're in public~" a voice giggled.
"C'mon, we're out of the way, aren't we? What's the harm?" a man's voice responded flirtatiously
"Hm? I don't knowww…"
As Karasuba got closer to the voices, her smile grew wider.
She stopped at a popup outlet selling replica NPB-branded bats and hummed thoughtfully. The voices that he was tracking seemed to have stopped moving, she could afford to be a little more appreciative of her environment.
"These would make a good gift, wouldn't they?" She asked the seller, her head oscillating side to side in faked thoughtfulness. Of course, he answered with an eager nod.
"I'll take one," she told him, handing the man her MBI card. The transaction having been completed without much issue, her new bat was tossed over her shoulder whimsically.
She rounded the corner to find a couple pushed up against each other in one of the empty pathways behind the stands. The pair noticed her immediately.
"Hello!" she greeted them cheerfully.
At this point, her grin threatened to split her face.
She couldn't be bothered to waste any more time with two insects that had outlived their usefulness. She had no interest in dragging this out.
"I'm really happy that I found the two of you."
The man seemed to get over his uneasiness first.
"Sorry, can we help you?"
Suddenly, the little Sekirei grew a backbone and stepped out in front of her Ashikabi. It would seem that she had started to catch on to what was going on.
"Step back, Haruto-kun," the tiny bird spoke with conviction. Her eyes hardened as she faced her smiling enemy. "I'm Sekirei number– huh?"
What little confidence she had mustered disappeared in the blink of an eye and was replaced with raw confusion.
Rather than listen to the girl's introductions, Karasuba was practicing swinging her bat off to the side. She was completely ignoring her.
The Black Sekirei let out exaggerated whistles with each strike. Dressed head-to-toe in team-branded apparel, she could easily be passed off as some sort of cosplayer.
"Home run~" she whispered buoyantly.
"Uhm… are we…" started the smaller girl unsurely. "Are we going to fight?"
"Hm?" Karasuba paused mid-swing. She had distracted herself, hadn't she? "Sure."
And just like that, the Sekirei-Ashikabi couple stilled like statues.
Number Four brought a finger to her chin pensively.
How did it go again? The game overseer had a peculiar turn of phrase that she found quaint.
Once more, her body coiled and the bat was brought up behind her head.
"Batter up? I think that's it."
__________
Karasuba took another bite of his homecooked meal. It was difficult to gauge her reaction, but he liked to think that she enjoyed it.
"I didn't get the chance to ask you earlier. Did Sekirei Number Seventy Six give you any trouble?" asked Shirou from across the table. His own plate remained untouched for the moment as he was more concerned with discussing their day's events.
His partner had no such inclinations. Instead, she scooped another mouthful of curry.
That was fine. He had patience to spare.
"…Not at all," she finally answered. "Hm… it was a bit messy though. It's a good thing that MBI came to clean up in time."
Shirou closed his eyes mournfully.
It was a shame that Number Seventy-Six couldn't be offered a clean death, but at the same time, "a shame" was all that he could really call it. Once a person was already dead, the "whys" and the "hows" ceased to matter to them.
"And her Ashikabi?"
"Same for him."
The man nodded. "Good."
Karasuba hummed thoughtfully. Her eyes were downcast. "You know, Ashikabi-kun…"
Shirou, who was about to have his first taste of the meal, lowered his spoon back onto his plate.
"Something wrong?"
"This is good. You made extra, didn't you?"
He exhaled and gave her a wry smile. Aliens really had a strange set of priorities, it would seem.
Wordlessly, he took her plate back to the kitchen. As he did so, she spoke to his back.
"You're not going to have any luck hacking into MBI's systems. Minaka has invested so much into cyber protection with the advent of the Sekirei Plan that you wouldn't even be able to get through it with the backing of a foreign country. MBI hasn't had an information leak in five years."
Any visible reactions to her announcement were nonexistent.
"Oh? Is that so."
Eventually, he cracked and sighed wearily.
"It makes sense, I suppose, but at the same time, tracing so many leads from rumours and online forums won't be efficient enough in the long run. Finding the personal information of Number Seventy-Six's Ashikabi took too long."
A thought occurred to him.
"Does Takami-san have access to the system? Worst comes to worst, we can just have her let me in."
Would she want to? Probably not, but he'd be sure to make the alternatives very clear to her.
Karasuba chuckled. "I don't think that will work, but it's an entertaining thought, Ashikabi-kun. That woman will take what she knows to the grave, if necessary."
He grimaced. "Is the Sekirei Plan really that important to her? I wouldn't have imagined."
"No, not really," was her useless correction. "But either way, MBI's willing to let you be as long as you play nice. You'll get on their bad side if you try something like that."
…Again with that; she kept bringing up "rules" and "games". Was she trying to make a point?
His face was a clear exhibition of the confusion that he felt.
"I don't understand… what gave you the notion that I ever had any intention of playing 'games' with MBI?"
He could have sworn that for a moment, her lips made a tiny "o" shape. Maybe he was mistaken.
His partner chuckled merrily.
"You're right! Silly me."
The new plate of curry was placed in front of her. She was more than happy to dig in.
Though he was finished eating himself, Shirou stayed at the table out of courtesy. He topped off his beverage and brought it to his lips.
Somehow, a comfortable silence had befallen them in which all that could be heard was the sound of a spoon scraping a plate and the bottom of a glass tapping a placemat.
"I'm visiting a friend tomorrow," she said after a while.
"Hm?"
"I just learned that she'd found her Ashikabi. I was planning on stopping by with a housewarming gift."
Shirou began to absentmindedly tap the side of his glass as he searched Karasuba's airtight smile for something –anything– that would let him decipher what the woman was thinking.
"Your friend's another Sekirei," he noted. His brain started to put the pieces together. "You want to spare her."
"Not at all."
Or maybe he didn't have the right pieces to begin with.
"Then–"
"You're really messed up, Ashikabi-kun."
The suddenness of her offhanded remark had him shut his mouth. He was caught off guard.
"But…" she continued, trailing off playfully, "I understand you, I think. Just a little. It wouldn't be fair to ask you to not try to kill her. If I could do that much, then you wouldn't be my darling Ashikabi-kun."
She made a face that put a lump in his throat. So many joyous emotions crossed her eyes. Relief; fulfilment; adoration.
"But just know that when you do go after her, I will kill you."
This was beyond his ability to piece together. There wasn't anything at that moment that Shirou truly felt was the correct thing to say.
"I see. I can make some desserts for you to bring over, if you'd like."
"That would be very kind of you, Shirou-kun."
________
"Ah! You shouldn't be moving around like that."
Minato ran up to his still-injured housemate and wrapped the man's arm around his shoulder.
Kagari grunted. "I'm fine. I just wanted to get some fresh air."
"Then…" started the younger boy. He was trying to find any excuse to get him off his feet. "Come join me in the garden. It's a nice day.
Not waiting for an answer, Minato dragged Kagari out to the yard and sat him on the edge of the engawa facing the yard.
Minato smiled at the scene that awaited them. Musubi-san, who had been asked by the landlady to water the plants while she was away, had instead decided to start a water fight with Kuu-chan. The two girls shrieked every time one of them managed to hose down the other.
It was a peaceful day today.
Both men were content to keep to themselves. It wasn't that they minded each other's company, but rather that there seemed to be a shared sentiment that a conversation would do nothing to add to the pleasant atmosphere.
That was until someone walked onto the property and got hit by a stray blast of water.
All activity seemed to stop, and all eyes fell on the drenched woman holding a closet basket. The receptacle was held at arm's length from her person in an attempt to spare it the same fate.
Musubi-san was the first one to react.
"Karasuba-sama!"
From the way she latched onto the older-looking woman, it became obvious to Minato that this "Karasuba" person was someone who Musubi-san knew intimately, or at the very least, respected quite a bit.
It wasn't hard to believe. The woman didn't seem too upset about the impromptu shower, greeting his Sekirei with a warm smile.
An easy-going sort of person, then.
"Why are you here."
The sudden demand from the injured person at his side threw Minato for a loop.
If Musubi-san was ecstatic to see the woman, then Kagari-san had the complete opposite reaction. His face tensed as if holding back a frown, and he looked just about ready to bolt at a moment's notice despite his wounds.
Musubi-san hummed thoughtfully.
"Come to think of it, why are you here, Karasuba-sama?"
For a moment, the ever-smiling woman didn't react to either question. Even Kuu-chan was curious now, sticking her head out from behind Musubi-san's legs.
"I'm here to give you this."
The basket was carefully released into Musubi-san's custody. Minato pretended not to notice how Kagari-san slowly shifted his weight onto his feet.
Musubi-san lifted the lid off the basket and gasped.
For a split second, Minato was ready to buy into Kagari-san's mistrustfulness.
"It… smells so good! Minato-san, come look! Don't these pastries look delicious?"
Her Ashikabi did as much. He left Kagari-san's side and peered over her shoulder.
They did look delicious.
"Of course they would be!" boasted Kasasuba-san with a pep in her inflection. "My darling Ashikabi-kun made them, after all."
Minato was surprised about her admittance to being a Sekirei for all of two seconds. It made sense that she'd be one if someone like Musubi-san was so close to her… although that didn't really explain why Kagari-san was being so gloomy.
Hold on, did that mean that they were going to fight?
The fervour with which Musubi-san wrapped herself around Karasuba-san's neck after squealing in delight insinuated that they wouldn't be fighting any time soon, at least.
"You found your destined one! I'm so happy for you."
The way that the grey-haired woman's smile brightened at the well-wishes warmed Minato's heart.
It was moments like these that reminded him that Sekirei weren't just bloodthirsty creatures that lived to fight; they were aliens, yes, but their purpose on this planet was nothing more than to find true love.
Despite the Sekirei Plan, Karasuba-san did not come to incite conflict. Rather, she came to congratulate her friend. Both women seemed so… fulfilled as they talked to each other about finally meeting their destined ones.
This was the true nature of the species named "Sekirei".
Despite what the Sekirei Plan was asking him do, there wasn't a single part of Minato that wished to take that happiness away from any of them.
"Karasuba-sama, would you like to step inside? I got you all wet, so it would be impolite of me to not offer you a change of clothes, at the very least."
After processing Musubi-san's offer, Minato eyed Kagari-san from the corner of his eye.
The man didn't have any negative outward reactions… maybe he just misunderstood Kagari-san's feelings on the matter? It could very well be that he didn't know Karasuba-san, and was just wary of strangers in general.
That made sense, now that he thought about it.
After taking his own Sekirei up on her offer, Karasuba-san came out to the living room a few minutes later in a fresh juban. Her coat was thrown over her shoulder uncaringly despite it still being wet.
"You're little Musubi's Ashikabi-kun, are you not?"
Realizing that she was talking to him, Minato nodded. "Oh! Uhm, yes. I am."
Her gentle expression undisturbed, she told him, "I wanted to stop by the moment that I knew that Musubi-chan had found you. Before I go, I'd like to leave you with a friendly warning."
"…Karasuba-sama?" asked Musubi-san with a tilt of the head. Her confusion matched his own perfectly.
The grey-haired woman looked his Sekirei dead in the eye.
"You remember our pledge, don't you?"
"Of course!" the girl shot back energetically despite her question not having been answered. Minato was too preoccupied with the previous lines of thought to start asking about some promise that he'd never heard of.
"I see."
Karasuba-san let out a relieved sigh. Minato's first thought was that she looked quite serene at the moment.
"You will need to watch your back. If you're not careful, my Ashikabi-kun might just kill you too quickly."
…What?
"I'm sorry?" pleaded the boy, asking her to repeat herself.
He couldn't have heard that right.
"Your life is in danger," she reiterated. "Your untimely death would inconvenience my plans, so please do your best to stay away from my Ashikabi."
…Ah. He heard it right the first time.
That expression and the words coming out of her mouth didn't match at all.
To his surprise, Musubi-san's reaction was far from his own. There was no worry. There was no surprise.
Only conviction.
"I won't let you."
Karasuba-san laughed. "I do hope that you won't."
And with that, she walked out the door, only pausing to give one last goodbye.
"It was nice seeing you again, Musubi-chan. I do hope that you'll do your best to survive until our next meeting. I'll be sad, otherwise."
She was gone.
Minato's heart hammered heavily in his chest.
He was starting to get a better idea of why Kagari-san had bad feelings about that woman.