Ichikawa found himself to be the one looking after Kimiko as she slept, but he wasn't quite sure how he got there. He felt his head going blank as soon as he saw the second gunshot hit her. The fake Tsurugi then disappeared with Mizukawa and the stones, and then... Then...

He took several deep breaths, trying to recall it all.

Someone... He believed it might've been Kamata... went to check on Kimiko. No one else dared to move. They could only watch in fear as she kneeled down next to the blonde laying sprawled on the floor.

They all held their breaths. The seconds that their caretaker hesitated in felt like hours. Finally, after taking a deep breath, she flipped her over. What they saw made them release their breaths with confused gasps.

The middle of her chest, which should've been nothing less than a hole with burnt marks on the rims, was almost perfectly fine. Her white shirt, however, was glistening, as if it was made of glass. Specifically, the part that was shot at was shining brighter than the rest of her shirt, and they noticed, after staring for a little while, that as the glow receded, so did the damage on the shirt.

Kamata leaned down, putting her ear near the girl's nose. She let out another gasp. "She's breathing! She's okay!"

Immediately, they got to work on moving her back to her room. She didn't stir once, so they concluded that it was the shock that knocked her out and nothing more. After Kamata and Aoi did another check to make sure she really was okay, and wrapped bandages around the part of her arm that was burnt from another shot... What happened after that?

Did they all leave to give her space and he was the only one left behind? Did someone tell him to stay? Did he offer to stay?

He leaned back on the chair, running a hand through his hair. Pulling it back, he noticed just how much it was shaking. Looking at his other hand, he realized that it had been shaking too. His entire body had.

He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. He let his eyes wander around the room, trying to find something, anything that could distract him. They landed on the table, where a white gun was placed. He couldn't remember who brought it in, but they all knew it belonged to her.

They all had their jaws to the floor when they saw her holding it, and they all saw how it was shot out of her hand, and...

They all saw how she was... shot...

His shaking got worse.

His arms wrapped around himself as he finally let that fact sink in.

She was breathing, she was okay... but she was still shot.

Had it not been for her strange shirt, she could've... could've...

A choked sob escaped his lips, and before he knew it, tears were flooding out of his eyes. He cried silently, for once letting his thoughts run wild. Thoughts only of the fact that he nearly lost her.

Even if, deep down, he already knew he could never have her in the first place.

~~~~~

Should've known this would happen.

Kimiko kept her eyes shut and her expression as clam and indifferent as possible as she listened to all the commotion in her room. She heard multiple voices, but gave up counting them when they started overlapping. Instead, she used her power to sense their minds.

Ichikawa, Konoha, and Kusaka were there. A few others were there too, but they were just on their way out so it didn't matter.

"Ichikawa, did Kimiko wake up at all while you were here?" Kusaka's voice came.

"No. She stirred a few times, but that was it."

"I hope she wakes up soon..." Konoha's voice was next. She sounded like she was standing right next to her ear. "... That's..."

"What is it, Konoha?"

"Her necklace..."

"Huh? ... Oh, Sorano probably forgot to take it off. Must be uncomfortable to sleep while wearing it."

"Should we take it off?"

"Maybe, yeah. I'll hold her head up for you."

"Kusaka-san, Morimura-san, wait―"

Her eyes snapped open just in time to grab the brunette's arm.

"WHOA―!!!"

She snarled at him. "Don't you dare lay a finger on it."

"W-Wha..." Kusaka's lips trembled a little, but after he recovered from the shock, he glared at her. "Warn me before you do that!"

She only rolled her eyes in response.

"S-Sorry..." Konoha had her head low. "I thought..."

"Forget it." She sat up, stretching about as best she could. Feeling a little discomfort on her back, she leaned back and cracked it letting out a sigh of relief afterwards. Then, she gave the trio a look. "Why won't you three leave?"

"Do you want us to?"

"Yes, actually. I was waiting."

The little girl's lips zipped shut, and immediately the brunette was the one who reacted. "Hey! What's with you? I get that you're worried about Tsurugi, but you shouldn't take it out on―"

"No. You don't get it." Her tone was cold as she cut him off. "I've had to deal with that fake ass for weeks! I had to cover up all of his mistakes so none of you would worry and lose focus on the tournament! I had to watch Kyousuke get kidnapped, sent to another planet, and imprisoned at gunpoint! All because some guy decided, yeah, this is how the timeline is supposed to be if we want to save everyone! 'Destiny', they said! It's bullshit!"

By the end of her rant, they were all looking at her with shocked expressions.

And here comes the questions.

"Kimiko-san, you..." Ichikawa's first words since she fully awoke came in stutters. "Y-You've... known... all this time? F-From the beginning?"

What part of 'watching him get kidnapped' did you not get?! She wanted to retort. But she knew that everything is a bit much for them at the moment, so she took a deep breath, responding much more calmly. "Yes, Ichikawa-san. I was there from the start. I saw Manuuba standing over Kyousuke knocked out on the floor."

"Manuuba?"

"The fake's name. Manuuba Gibutsu. He revealed himself to me when we were on Sazanaara. He knew I had the ability to read minds since he has all of Kyousuke's memories, so he decided to come clean about it." She let out a small laugh. "I guess he didn't want me coming after him in his sleep."

One look at the gun on the table and they all understood how she would've done that had she needed to.

"But didn't you say you're unable to read the minds of aliens?" Konoha asked.

"Yeah, but he didn't know that." Before any of them could ask, she quickly added, "Kyousuke doesn't either. I've never talked to him about it... Anyway, why else do you think he answered me so honestly? He thought that there wouldn't be a point in lying to me. Still, because of that, he probably figured I trusted him to tell me everything, so he must've thought he could've gotten away with omitting one part of his mission... Unfortunately, though it was a little off the mark, he was right."

"And you didn't tell anyone..." Kusaka muttered. He sounded like he wanted to raise his tone, but didn't. After all, she had already explained why.

"What of..." Ichikawa's voice was still shaking slightly, but it wasn't as bad as before. "What of the... timelines... that you spoke of? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh yeah! The fake guy also said something about the future when you had your... uh... stand-off. What's that about?"

It was her turn to zip her lips shut. She turned her gaze to her hands, mulling over how much she was allowed to say.

Suddenly, beeps came from her wrist.

"You may as well tell 'em everything. A bit too late to hide it now, don't you think?"

"Zanark!"

A small holographic projection of her captain and brother appeared above her time bracelet. He seemed to be sitting on his bike.

"Heh. We saw everything, by the way." Before she could ask what he meant, he let out a laugh. "Got your ass kicked, did you?"

She clicked her tongue. "I am two buttons away from heading to wherever you are and kicking yours next."

"Oh, I'm so scared. The little gremlin that could barely beat bigfoot while armed with a gun wants to come after the nameless member of the lower-middle class that won against a kraken barehanded. Yeah. That's going to turn out so well for you."

"... What do you want? Why are you even contacting me when I'm around people? Did Professor Aruno give you permission?"

"Don't need it. No one can tell me what to do."

"Says the guy worried about being sent back to MUGEN..."

"You think I'll endanger the collapse of all of time and space for fun?" She was going to reply, but he quickly held a hand up to stop her. "Don't answer that."

"I don't need to." Her smirk turned back into seriousness. "Seriously, Z, what did you call me for? Because I doubt you're here to explain everything to them in my place."

"You're right about that. Just dropped by to tell you that you don't have to stress about it. Go ahead and tell them everything. The old farts at El Dorado will never know."

Her eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Don't worry about it! I've got it covered! Or do you not trust your own brother?"

"The first time I trusted you, you drove me into a cliff. The last time I trusted you, I got hunted down by a vampire and a werewolf. I think my hesitation is warranted."

"True, but wasn't it fun?"

"No, not really."

"I thought you'd say that." A hand appeared on his shoulder, and for a second, they could see a flicker of another person passing behind him. He nodded at whoever it was. "Anyways, time for me to go. Zanark Domain will be hunting for another kraken for dinner tonight!"

"There are squids in the market."

"Where's the fun in that? Food's only good if you fight it yourself with your bare hands! One day, I will make you realize this!"

"You're going to kill me before that, but okay, whatever, bye."

But just before she could close the call...

"Your boyfriend misses you, by the way."

"What?"

"See ya!"

"Z, wait―!"

He did it first.

~~~~~

"Goddamnit!"

Kusaka ducked out of the way when the blonde ripped her bracelet off of her wrist and threw it right past him at the opposite wall. He couldn't help staring in awe at how not broken it was.

"W-Why don't you just call him again?" He found himself stuttering out the question.

She slid off the bed, running a hand through her hair as she picked up the bracelet again. Sighing, she put it back on. "If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of waves. Knowing him, he probably made that call right before they were about to dive into the water."

"Ah..."

"He's always like that. Starting calls at just the right moment so that he could cut it off at the worst time possible." She continued to mutter under her breath about him, none of them sounding very good.

Well, at least he has now seen the kind of person that would drag her into deadly situations. He really was insane... But at least he seemed to care about her? Maybe it was best not to comment on that.

"K-Kimiko-san, that was..." Ichikawa was still sitting on the chair, blankly staring at the blonde's wrist. "Who is... Why does he... I..."

She dropped back onto the bed, sighing once again. "That was my foster brother... caretaker... captain... whatever. Zanark Avalonic. I've already mentioned this, but he's just like me. As in, he's got special powers too."

"Yes, but..." The green haired boy took a deep breath. It was a little strange to see him so shaken, but with his next words, they understood why. "Why does he... look so much like me...?"

Kimiko stared at him blankly. "That's something that I think you already know the answer to."

Wha...

"Or if you don't, you'll figure it out soon enough." She crossed her arms as well as her legs on the bed, leaning back against the wall to face them all. "You've got questions, right? Z just gave me the 'okay', so ask away."

Ichikawa remained silent, perhaps still thinking about her words. Meanwhile, Kusaka himself was stumped on what to ask. Eventually, it was Konoha who raised her hand.

"Can I... call Aoi and the others?"

Before she could respond, beeps came from the room's transmitter. Kamata asked for everyone to gather at the bridge. They were going to warp soon.