"Lenka Utsugi."

Kazama wanted to crawl into a hole and shoot everyone. He never thought that this man is more monotonous than his daughter.

God, are you playing tricks on me?

"I'm sure you've taken your medical check up by now?" Kazama ignored the burning feeling in his gut. The chestnut-haired man wanted to scream at his helplessness.

"Yes." Lenka replied simply, his back straight, green eyes slightly dull, and his hair still defying gravity.

'Great.' Kazama sighed inwardly. Awkwardness is spreading. He must stop it at once!

"Well then. Why don't we go on a mission?" Kazama grinned as he looked at a young woman by the counter.

"Understood."

Now Kazama wanted nothing more but to cry in his children's arms upon hearing how monotonous Lenka still sounds

"Hibari-san." Kazama gently smiled at the operator as he turned to Lenka. "Utsugi-kun, meet Hibari Takeda-chan. Hibari-san, this is Utsugi-kun. My new teammate!" Kazama's smile only brightened.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hibari Takeda, I oversee the missions here." A kind smile graced Hibari's youthful features. "I may cause you some inconvenience but I look forward to working with you, Utsugi-kun!" The redhead bowed slightly.

Lenka returned the gesture stiffly, as if he was made up of rusty metal. He didn't notice Kazama rummaging through his pockets until the chestnut-haired captain mumbled out loud: "Oh shoot.. I forgot something important.. Do you mind waiting here, Utsugi-kun?" Kazama offered an apologetic smile to Lenka.

"It's fine, Captain." Lenka nodded, unsurprisingly complacent.

"Great! Hibari-chan do you mind explaining things for him?" Kazama rubbed his nape, the same apologetic smile plastered on his lips.

"No, Not at all, Kazama-kun!" Hibari cheerfully complied. "Thank you!" Kazama grinned as he ran off.

The next few minutes was spent by Hibari briefing Lenka about his 'first mission' with his new captain. All was surprisingly tranquil.

"So you're Kazama's new teammate." A slightly rough voice echoed from behind.

"Lindow-san, Welcome back." Hibari smiled at the newcomer, "Hey there, Hibari. Working hard as always!" the raven haired veteran returned the polite gesture.

Lindow turned back to Lenka's direction, scrutinizing the young man's features. Soon enough, a grin bloomed on the raven haired veteran's face. "Definitely like them. You'll get along nicely with him. The name's Lindow Amamiya, by the way." A carefree smile was still on Lindow's face.

"Lenka Utsugi." Lenka once again bowed politely. The raven-haired man's day just got brighter with it. "Oh man, I'm totally going to get a kick out of this." Lindow quietly snickered.

"Well, Kazama may be a handful of a person, but you can trust him. Oh and, he rambles about sunscreens usually." Lindow grinned as Hibari could only chuckle at the 'compliment.'

"I'm back— Lindow-san?!" Kazama was quite shocked to see the raven-haired veteran chatting with Lenka.

"Yo, Kazama! Just went here to see your new teammate. I gotta say, I think you'll get along very nicely with them!" Lindow's carefree smile widened.

"Go back from where you came from. Don't you have any new recruits to take care of?" Kazama grimaced, he knew Lindow was here to tease him with how similar Lenka is to his children.

Really, what's with him and slightly monotonous anti-social children?

"Pfft. Well then, I'll be off. Mr. Grumpy here might start hitting me with sunscreens later." Lindow happily waved to the three as he scampered away.

"Sorry about that, Utsugi-kun. He might look like an idiot but he's actually a nice guy." Kazama rubbed his temples as he turned to the chuckling operator.

"hehe~ Here you Kazama-kun. Your first mission together." Hibari giggled, handing the clipboard that contained the details about their first mission as a team.

Kazama mumbled a 'thanks' as he read the contents, deep in thought. "Hm.. An ogretail. This is just fine. Alright, Utsugi-kun. Let's head out." the veteran god eater nodded as he handed the clipboard back to Hibari. "Alright then, Kazama-kun. Lenka-kun. Pleade proceed go the den gate to begin the mission." the kind operator beckoned to the elevator.

While going up, Kazama couldn't help but peek at the young man with gravity-defying hair. Maybe he cracked a bit? Rookies often feel nervous about their impending mission.

But no. Lenka still had no sign of emotion.

Oh boy. This is going to be fun.

**
The ride to the City of Mercy was awkward at best. The kind if awkward that Kazama felt when he first met Tenshii and Kuze.

He had Lindow back then to give him support. But right now, it's all up to him.

'Goodbye, my pride as a cool man.' he thought, feeling more aggrieved than ever, and thought of his choice of topics to talk about. Family and Hometown might be the very last thing he would want to ask. For all he knew, Lenka might have lost people dear to him and Kazama opening that topic might just make things more awkward.

Weather? Nah, too common. Teammates? Hell, no. This boy is not even well acquainted to the others. Aragami? Not a chance.

At this moment, the chestnut-haired veteran knew he had to take a risk, and intentionally step on a landmine.

'F**k it. If I have to do this then I have to do this. Forgive me, Utsugi-kun.' Kazama's aggrieved heart could only swallow the fear he felt.

"So, Utsugi-kun. Where are you initially from?" Kazama smiled as dumbly as he could, trying his best to be 'insensitive'

"Outside.. I used to live in a camp with others." Lenka nodded, seemingly calm about it but Kazama was sharp enough to notice his discomfort. "I see.. I'm sorry if it's quite uncomfortable to talk about." Kazama apologized sincerely before continuing.

"I used to live outside the walls too."

This time, it was enough to catch Lenka's attention.

Kazama took this reaction as a signal to continue. "I was tested compatible for Oracle cells. But I was quite young so they decided to place me in an orphanage instead." The glamour-loving man's smile looked quite nostalgic.

'So he used to live outside too....' Lenka thought, listening carefully to the young captain's past. "Despite that, I began as a god eater when I was 12 years old. The orphanage couldn't support much children.." Kazama fondly touched his armlet, remembering the day he had the little bracelet slapped on him.

God, at that time, the process felt like hell.

"So here I am, a veteran at 18." Glamorous sparkles surrounded Kazama as he faced Lenka, whose vibrant green eyes were focused directly on him.

"Utsugi-kun?" Kazama tilted his head. Yes he knows that he looks handsome up close, but he does not swing that way.

"A family. Did you have one?" Lenka inquired.

'Got you.' Kazama felt victorious. Finally. The young man had started to act more humanly, and the atmosphere was less awkward.

But the question hung in the air. Should Kazama tell him the truth?

'Sorry, Utsugi-kun. I can't risk them.'

A bitter smile formed on Kazama's lips.

"None."

***

"Utsugi-kun. You did get some basic training, right?" Kazama carried his assault rifle, fully loaded with bullets, of course.

"Yes." Despite Lenka's monotonous tone, his hot-bloodedness was not that covered.

"Good. You see, Utsugi-kun.. The best way to help you grow stronger is to let you take the reins." A soft, nostalgic smile was present on Kazama's features. As if he had heard of this before.

"As part of my evaluation of your strength, I'd like to see how you handle this situation. But if I see that you are in a pinch, I won't hesitate to steal your thunder. Got it?"

At this point, Lenka Utsugi felt that he was quite lucky to get Kazama as his captain. The spiky haired boy could only gape at the veteran. "Thank you." He gratefully mumbled. Visibly ecstatic to cut down some aragami.

Lenka felt quite frustrated that he flunked during the basic training, he was eager to prove himself capable enough to cut down any aragami that stood in his way.

a few minutes ago, he thought that Kazama would only show him the basics, and he'd only support him from behind.

Boy, he was wrong. And he is quite happy he is.

The look on Kazama's face earlier only shows trust instead of doubt, the same face that a father would have when he lets his child take the reins.

"Utsugi-kun. The hostile is up ahead, get ready to ambush. I'll back you up with bullets when necessary." Kazama beckoned ahead. "Understood." Lenka nodded, stealthily making his way towards the  aragami, whilst Kazama positioned himself behind Lenka, gun ready to blast an aragami to oblivion.

"Go." Kazama signalled.

And all hell broke loose.

* E x t r a *

Lindow nearly guffawed at Kazama's soulless form.

dark bags circled beneath his eyes, his mouth nearly foaming from fatigue.

"Pfft- And what happened to you, Mr. Glamour?" Lindow snickered, trying his best to keep calm.

The chestnut-haired veteran remembered yesterday's events clearly.

The mission went smoothly,

but Kazama never thought that he'd be showered with so much reports and paperwork when he came back.

Christ, Why was he supposed to do the reports about the New-Types?! Isn't that Sakaki's job?!

It didnt take Kazama long to figure out that the jackass who prepared that shit ton of paperwork for him was the devil himself, Rui Schaden.

That son of a grinch.

What did he do this time to get such mistreatment?!

Remembering yesterday's painful events made Kazama want to punch someone.

"Shut up, Lindow-san......" Kazama grumbled grumpily. He had no energy to fight back against this towering hooligan named Lindow Amamiya.

"Well, my recruits seem to be getting along nicely. Yuu's not much of a talker, but I can see him hanging out with your new teammate as well as the other guy.. Fujiki, I think." Lindow grinned at Kazama.

"If I actually had the energy, I'd punch you." Kazama groaned, he had several more paperworks to finish. Including a weird survey report about the giant corn on the cobs.

'God, help me.'