Kibishi's POV

  After breakfast, we all decided to go our separate ways.

  ....Or, so I thought.

  "Ah." I narrowed my eyes in disbelief.

  Here we all were, standing in the middle of the city. There were people being lively as usual. Tao, Riley, David, and I were heading to the park, apparently.

  My pn to train for the next mission had left, and it jumped out the window. It got repced by this rubber ball that didn't go away, no matter how far I threw it. That rubber ball... was David, of course.

  "What the hell are we doing out and about when you two have chores to do around the organization?" I said coldly to David and Riley.

  "Oh, cut that out! You know the reason why we're all out here, Kibishi." David pced his hands firmly on his hips.

  "To annoy me?" I answered sharply.

  "Ouch. You sounded like that girl I ran into this morning. What was her name... Koko? Kujonko?" David pced his right hand under his chin.

  "Kujira, David." I deeply sighed.

  "Yeah, yeah! That chick!" David pointed his index finger at me.

  "I don't think you should call her 'that chick'..." I sweated as I closed my eyes in disbelief.

  "What? She's your type?" David sounded cheeky. I was betting he was smirking right now.

  I opened my eyes in annoyance.

  But then I saw Tao and Riley slowly getting in between us. "Now, now!" Tao rested her palms on my chest.

  "You guys need to chill out." Riley pced her palms on David's chest. The same way Tao was doing.

  I deeply sighed and held my head.

  "Geez. Why did it have to be today, though?" I shook my head.

  "What? You don't want to hang with your home boy?" David narrowed his eyes at me.

  "Haah... no, it's not that." I answered.

  I looked at the sideline.

  It wasn't that I DIDN'T want to hang with my friends, but I already had done that this morning. And I wasn't saying that I COULDN'T hang with them.

  The problem relied on me personally.

  I secretly had wanted to at least find out how the others did their work in the day time. I had heard that they were doing their "daily" but I was curious and had wanted to do it myself.

  But this morning, The Founder had mentioned that we didn't have to do it today since it was technically our second day.

  That in mind, though, I didn't want to be a waste of space to anyone.

  Maybe it was a poor excuse to atone but still. I wanted to do it anyway. As a promise to myself... and to Tao as well.

  I was also doing this for David and Riley as well.

  ..... Why couldn't David see that?

  ............................

  ..........

  Wait.

  "Huh?"

  Wait. Wait a minute...

  "Wait, don't tell me. You're doing this since you saw right through my pns for today?" I pointed at David in shock.

  "Not exactly!" David ughed after admitting that.

  "..."

  Never mind. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

  Why did I even bother...

  "Right. Figured as much..." I muttered.

  "A-ah! He's just kidding, Kibishi!"

  Riley elbowed David in the stomach.

  "Oof!"

  "Right?!" Riley gritted her teeth.

  "H-hey..." David rubbed his belly.

  "You don't have to cover for him, Riley. I should've guessed that David wouldn't know exactly what was on my mind." I shook my head.

  "Um..." Tao held my hands. "You don't need to bme all of this on David. Riley and I were the ones who suggested this after returning from our mission."

  "You did?" I raised my brows.

  Tao nodded as she clenched my hand tightly.

  Huh.

  I didn't know that. If that was the case, why didn't Tao tell me anything? Well, I was sure she had her reasons. But more importantly...

  I gnced at David, who was looking away with a serious look.

  "In that case, why didn't you defend yourself like always, David? Usually, you would try to counter my words if you weren't in the wrong."

  "Why would I? If I started to do that then you'd stress too much about it. Besides, I didn't lie. I didn't exactly read your thoughts. I knew they would have come to me with the suggestion." David closed his eyes while folding his arms.

  "Huh? Really?" Now it was Riley's turn to be surprised.

  "You were certain that we would have come to you?" Tao asked with a surprised look as well.

  "Duh! It's about Kibishi, right? I just didn't expect a double sneak attack after you two burst into my room while I was lifting heavy weights." David scratched his nose. "Kibishi is a smart man. But he always gets into his own mind and spaces out a lot. I realized this whenever we hung around and talked about certain topics."

  There it was again.

  I mugst have been spacing out more than I originally thought. This was the second person that mentioned me doing that.

  "Well, it's no big deal. We all have our problems. We still have the lowest in the rank for the soldiers. We still haven't figured out a shortcut to help you assist with the missions yet." David nodded to himself.

  "Don't worry, Tao! We'll figure out a way to join you two someday!" Riley shouted with excitement.

  .... And then, for some reason, they both were doing dramatic poses. It reminded me of that one anime with the guys with giant muscles and having these weird powers that appeared from inside them. They also said, "Ara Ara Ara!" a lot, too.

  Anyway.

  It was nice of them to do that. I then looked at Tao, who was tightening her grip. Not that it hurt or anything, but maybe to gain my attention.

  "Feeling better?" Tao smiled gently at me.

  "Yeah, I'm feeling better." I nodded at Tao.

  Honestly, I preferred not making Tao sad any longer. So maybe it was for the best not to get angry at David anymore.

  "Now that we're all friends again, why don't we all go for ice cream!" Tao cpped her hands together cutely.

  "It was just a normal conversation, Tao." I ughed.

  "Agreed! Guys may be in each other's throats from time to time, but when that is all said and done, we get back to the swing of things. Pin and simple." David announced then smiled at me.

  "R-really? I thought you guys were fighting for real..." Tao mumbled but loud enough for us to hear.

  "Guys are complicated..." Riley commented while scratching her head.

  "..." David and I became silent.

  We both looked at each other and received each other's opinions on the matter. We both then nodded in a silence while closing our eyes.

  Yup. No comments on that statement... we both were thinking.

  We both knew that commenting on that would open up a can of worms that wouldn't be pretty. And so, we remained silent as our answer to Riley's statement.

  "...Hey. why did you two nod just now?" Riley narrowed her eyes at us.

  Uh oh...

  What could I do to change the topic-

  "Oh, Kibishi and I were just thinking about buying you guys some matching ear rings after ice creams. He'll owe me when the time is right, but I'll be paying for them."

  David, you were THE man!

  "I know Tao and Kibishi didn't get paid for their rolls, so I figured that I would do the treat for today. That was also the reason why I agreed with this setup, Riley."

  David expined in the most convincing way ever. He had a straight face and everything.

  The power of the bro code, I supposed, ha.

  Though, Riley didn't seem convinced enough. Tao, on the other hand, seemed to believe David.

  "What? It's the same one you wanted the most since the one I gave you was cheaper." David deeply sighed. "Well, if you don't want it then..."

  "Wait, you're being for real?!" Riley brought David's hands to her chest while holding them tightly. I could practically see her eyes turn into stars right now...

  "Naturally. But you seem to have doubt, so I might as well buy something for me and my bro instead." David narrowed his eyes while giving a cheeky grin.

  "I believe you! I believe you!" Riley was practically squeezing David's hands even more tightly.

  "Really?" David raised his left brow.

  "Mm-hmm! Mm-hmm!" Riley nodded intensely.

  "Cool. Let's get those ice creams and make you and Tao pick the ear rings you like!" David made Riley let go and folded his arms once more.

  "Yay!" Riley jumped in the air and then ran to Tao. "Let's go, Tao!"

  "R-right!" Tao nodded in agreement as she followed Riley while they both were holding hands.

  David turned back at me and gave a thumbs up.

  David, you were a master of your craft. I felt bad for Tao, but she seemed to be enjoying her time with Riley so it couldn't be that bad. That, and David and I got away from trouble.

  And so, David and I followed the girls to the nearest ice cream shop.