Chapter Text
May, 2020
---------
Rikka favored Yuta with a small, warm smile, shifting her position on the chair in his room a little. "It was... better than I thought," she admitted, looking down and off to one side for a few seconds before turning her attention to Yuta more fully again.
"I know you were kind of shaky on it, but... I was kind of surprised how good you were." Yuta stretched out on his bed, adding, "Your stamina's amazing! And your aim's better than I was expecting, too..."
Rikka's eyes slid shut, and she rubbed a little at her knee. "Yeah, me too. ... Mama actually helped a little bit. We had a few gas guns lying around from a trade-in, and when I mentioned you invited me, she gave me a few lessons! I guess she thinks that kind of thing's nostalgic for some reason?"
"Your mom's always seemed pretty great. I should thank her." Yuta's elbow moved across the bed as he slowly sat back up. "... I, uh..." His eyes drew a conspicuous circle around Rikka without quite meeting hers. "Well, uh -- we're in my room... Do you...?"
Rikka's legs shifted on the chair; her left hand migrated from the top of her knee to about an inch above it shortly before she crossed her left leg over her right, obscuring the hand from view entirely. "... I kind of feel sweaty and gross from survival game stuff? Maybe another time?"
Yuta nodded quietly.
Silence clung to the air for several awkward seconds -- Yuta half-sitting up on his bed, Rikka awkwardly half-drawn onto the nearby chair -- in a way that seemed unbreakable.
It broke with a, "... Your hair looked really good during the game. That purple headband from first year looks really good as a hair tie."
Rikka's cheeks heated up, and she let out a giggle that started as embarrassed but turned wistful by the time it ended. "Ah..." She brought her hand to the back of her neck, seemingly tongue-tied.
///////
August, 2020
-----------
"I didn't think you'd get into this kind of thing, even after the festival last year." Utsumi took a long drink from his ramune bottle, looking up at the commercials on the TV screen. "New Generation stuff is really your speed, huh?"
Rikka shook her head. "I didn't either," she admitted, bringing her tea to her lips. "Didn't you say Origin wasn't that good?"
"Nah, I said a lot of fans didn't like it! There's a huge difference!" The passion rolled off of Utsumi's voice. "Yeah, the budget is lower, but it's not like it looks horrible!"
With a slightly resigned shake of her head, Rikka waved off the sentiment. "I guess I'm just not wowed by that kinda stuff. I was kinda bored for the first few episodes, but when we got to that big argument with Dyna and Juggler..."
"... Yeah, I remember. You really like him." Sheepishly, Utsumi conceded, "... we did kinda have the same argument when we were first-years." That in turn got him to furrow his brow in thought. "... Hey, that reminds me -- did you wanna talk about that thing that set you off last week?"
Rikka took a deep breath. "... So you know that little moment where Hebikura finds out that that... thing, has the pilot girl?" Utsumi leaned over to his laptop, already pulling up the clip as Rikka spoke. "It was super obvious to me that, like... he's not really thinking about her, even though he's worried? He's kind of just back in that guy's research facility... he's seeing her as him and Haruki as Gai. It's all over his face."
Utsumi scrolled through the clip for a bit, then looked up at Rikka. "Yeah... I totally see that! That's an amazing take!" After another drink, he asked, "... That stung, huh. Do you..." A tug-of-war played out in his eyes for a few moments -- before he set it aside. "... We probably shouldn't go that deep into it. We really gotta get back to studying."
"Yeah." Rikka nodded, reaching toward her own laptop and a stack of papers. "Yeah, we do." Her hand paused, though, about halfway there. "... Maybe one more episode of something first, though... I don't think my head's in the game yet."
////////
January, 2021
----------
"Dude, you broke 720?!"
Utsumi clapped his hands onto Yuta's shoulders, grinning ear to ear. "Your score's as good as mine!" Three points better than Utsumi's, actually, but he wasn't going to concede that. "We could go to the same school if we wanted. There's still individual university exams, but wow! You really nailed it!"
Yuta's expression bore less excitement and more relief. "Yeah... I really wanted to get this one right. I wanted to have a lot of options. It did mean a lot of studying, so Rikka and I barely had our schedules match for a few months..." With a content smile, he elaborated, "The Gridman Alliance's gotta stick together, right?"
"You got it."
Yuta tapped the tip of his pencil on paper, doodling nothing in particular. "Have you heard anything from Rikka and Hass yet?"
With a slight grimace, Utsumi reported, "Hass... decided not to go to college. She's focusing on str -- influencing." Looking up at the ceiling, he took a deep breath and sighed it out. "We're on a break until I graduate... I thought I already told you, but I guess it only came up in my DMs with Yonezawa..."
Giving a faint, sympathetic smile, Yuta offered his condolences. "Sorry... are you two seriously okay with that though?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You two are in love, right? It just seems kinda sad to put that on hold just because you're not both going to university."
As Yuta's expression turned serious, Utsumi waved it off a bit. "Nah. We're still doing the show stuff on the weekends and we're still close, it's just... Hass is really great, but our lives seem like they're going different directions."
Yuta scooted back in his seat to look at Utsumi more directly. "You're not still thinking about voiceover stuff, then?"
"In order to become an adult, everyone gives up on something important to them," Utsumi answered... but using his 'cool adult' delivery. When the answer prompted a startled-sad, puppy-dog look on Yuta's face, though, Utsumi changed his tune a bit. "Relax! I'm not just gonna give up on that stuff, it's just... I gotta have a fallback, yeah? Television production could help me get my foot in the door, too."
"Guess so," Yuta agreed. "You're being pretty rational about this... Yume said if you're calm you're not thinking about love, though."
"Aaah, don't worry so much! It's not like you've got anything to worry about with those scores, anyway. Remember when we were all in the same class? Rikka tested better than I did in everything but a couple subjects..." Hooking an arm around Yuta's neck in a mock sleeper hold and planting a fist gently on top of that mop of red hair, Utsumi teased him with a, " You're the one with bad grades usually."
//////
Outside the classroom, Rikka shifted uneasily. ... How was she supposed to break a 385 to the two of them after hearing that? She felt no particular shame over a ronin year for herself; she'd been dreading the entrance exams since her brother took them, and had no great sense that her fine-to-good academic performance would continue in the Center Test -- well, Common Test, now -- environment.
... I could just not tell him, Rikka realized. That'd be better, right? He already said to Utsumi that it'd be weird to break up over not both going to university. He'd be fine with it. It might be a rough few years, but -- they could make it work.
Immediately, an image crept into her head unbidden.
Yuta running at full sprint into Aya for the first time in weeks. A familiar computer back in a familiar spot. No words of warning -- just 'Access Flash,' and never to be seen again.
Sitting with her legs pulled up onto a stool, whimpering, "Why won't he even hesitate...? Why wouldn't he even say goodbye?"
Waiting for a familiar flash-of-return that never comes.
The thought rattled around Rikka's brain. Why did he have to score so well? It'd be one thing if his scores were low enough to justify a ronin year -- something Rikka had kind of expected, and if pressed, would have to admit she kind of planned for. But no -- his scores not only had the audacity to climb high, her gut was telling her that version of the test was going to get its scores scaled up.
She needed to take some time to think this through -- by herself.
No sooner had she made that decision, though, than did she hear Utsumi's voice through the door, saying, "Come on, let's go celebrate!" The anxiety of the moment overtook her; she slipped into the flow of exiting students, forming up to the side of the former Class 1-D girls' group and trying to look nondescript.
Glancing back to see Yuta exiting the classroom, Rikka immediately turned to the side and headed for a different exit. If she didn't talk to him, she could pretend things were fine for a few more days. She could kick reporting her abysmal entrance exam scores down the road just a little further. She could let herself cherish what she had for just a few more days -- or at least a few more hours.
Dodging the main stream of students pouring out of the building, Rikka slipped across the athletic field and off the grounds. As she jogged across the street and took a hard turn into an alley, though, she came across a familiar face.
With her tired eyes and long, black-brown hair, Ramo Marusa -- Marusan -- looked up toward the arriving Rikka. "Oh, I didn't think anyone was going to come this way," she started, rubbing awkwardly at the back of her head with one hand and discreetly hiding the other. She took a step back, looking Rikka over and spotting her hurried expression. "Is everything okay?"
"... yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I'd take a different way home from usual." Rikka felt her nose scrunching up on reflex, then squinted as she tried to place what she was noticing. "Were you --"
Marusan took a half-step back, saying, "No," but that same half-step back revealed a freshly crushed cigarette butt -- and the half-step back naturally drew attention to its presence.
Rikka looked down, then back up at Marusan, rolling her eyes at her. "What -- do you think I'm going to run three blocks to snitch on you? Really? Come on. I know we're not close friends but it's not like I'm going to screw with you like that."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Marusan settled onto a pile of beverage crates. "... Yeah, I guess you wouldn't. I just don't want to get kicked out of dance club this close to the finish line," she admitted, leaning against the rear wall of a pharmacy. After a few moments' consideration, she reached into her bag, retrieving her pack and pulling a fresh cigarette out. After a moment, she tilted it toward Rikka with a barely-vocalized "Mmh?"
Confusion passed over Rikka's face, all furrowed brows and startled blinks. Being offered something without expectation had become such a rarity at this point as to be bewildering. That same novelty, however, led her around in short order to a, "... Why not," plucking one from the pack.
... It rapidly became apparent to both Marusan and Rikka that the latter had no idea what she was doing. With a little giggle, Marusan teased, "... You really are kind of a goody-two-shoes, huh. Look -- let me get that."
A few awkward attempts at demonstrating the process later, Rikka finally brought the cigarette to her lips properly, took a breath inward, and --
-- immediately sputtered, whole face scrunching up. "G-gross," she stammered out, even as Marusan comfortably brought her own to her lips again.
After sighing out the smoke, Marusan said, "... Yeah, that's about what I expected. You don't have to finish it, you know." Despite the reassurance, though, Rikka gave it a slightly more comfortable second attempt.
"... Yeah," she said, through curling blue-grey wisps, "I don't think this is for me. I feel kinda light-headed... I guess it's kinda worth knowing, though? Like..."
Marusan nodded to Rikka. "Yeah, I can see that? Like, sometimes you have to do something that sucks to know it sucks. I'm kinda surprised you tried at all, though?"
"... No, yeah, I kind of am too," Rikka admitted. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she asked, "Why'd you even start?"
The casual tone of the conversation immediately flattened out. "... Promise you won't act like it's weird. Oh, uh -- try pushing the smoke out of your mouth and then breathing in through your nose? I hear that helps some people."
Rikka nodded, bringing the cigarette to her lips again after giving Marusan a, "Trust me, there's nothing you could say that would be that weird."
Marusan looked down the alleyway toward a separate stack of beverage crates as Rikka gave a third attempt. "... So like -- last year, after the culture festival? Like that night I started feeling like... I dunno, something was missing from my life. It wasn't that I was missing that job or anything? It was just... I wasn't really thinking about it or anything. But things started settling in like, a few days later, and I just... couldn't figure out what the problem was. It was just -- I didn't realize it until then but I started feeling like maybe ever since I quit that job my life always felt empty, and..."
Rikka yet again sputtered, prompting a, "No, seriously. Give it up. You're trying to force it. We're kinda -- I know the girls in 3-A say we have the same kind of vibe but I don't think this one's working for you," from Marusan.
Conceding defeat, Rikka dropped the cigarette on the ground, stepping on it. "Yeah, okay. And... that was kind of a big night for me too."
Her thoughts lingered on Marusan's explanation. ... Had she knocked something free in Marusan's memory -- some small part of the 'Akane Shinjo' she lost? They were always close during first year... Was the emptiness Marusan was feeling her fault for daring to bring Akane up at all?
"Oh yeah. You and Yuta started going steady, right?"
Giving Marusan another of those deadpan looks, Rikka fired back, "I didn't realize you were older than my mother. ... but... yeah."
Marusan looked Rikka over once, finishing her own cigarette. "Weird night all around, then." She didn't let that comment linger long enough to stick. "You could do worse. You know I've had him in my class all three years, right? He's..." She trailed off at first, then eventually said, "His grades really rebounded this year? Plus he was a huge help setting up for the culture festival this year."
"That's... good," Rikka started, desperate not to think about the relationship between Yuta's grades and her own. "Yeah, he's always been really enthusiastic about that stuff. Last year I think he ended up doing more for 2-F than anyone in the class did, let alone his own class. He was the one who wanted to do that CD follow-up to our play -- the one that came out when third year started?" Rikka felt a vague nausea overtake her, cutting her off before she went into more detail.
Marusan nodded, agreeing, "He always goes big for events like that," discreetly gathering both her detritus and Rikka's. Looking up again once she finished, she put her full attention on Rikka for the first time since they'd started talking, giving her a, "Wow."
"What?"
"You look like shit."
Taking a deep breath and bringing a hand to her head, Rikka mumbled, "... Yeah," even as Marusan's laugh at her own deadpan delivery turned into a cackle, almost drowning out the faint honk of a vehicle passing the alleyway.
"I should probably get going. I do have to open up the shop this evening. I'm glad we had the chance to talk, though." ... Marusan's comment about when she started feeling so empty chewed at her -- but she dared not mention it further for fear of wedging the wound (which her selfish attempt at closure may well have opened) any further.
"Yeah. It was good," Marusan agreed, as Rikka shouldered her bag again. "See you Monday?"
Rikka nodded, heading out of the alleyway.
////////
Rikka hunched over the sink in Aya's bathroom, dumping the third round of mouthwash into her mouth, swishing it around, and spitting it out, the splattering noise mostly drowned out by the hum of the washing machine. (She wasn't that worried about discovery... but she figured that if she was going to change into work clothes anyway, she might as well wash any possible stink out.)
I can still taste it, she thought to herself -- and trying to parse out the exact ratio of antiseptic mouthwash taste to bafflingly long-lingering cigarette aftertaste prompted a few seconds of retching. Gross.
Rikka's phone helpfully chimed; glancing over to its resting place at the corner of the sink, she checked the sender.
... she'd have to tell him about her scores some time.
... not now.
////////
A world away...
--------
"Not again..."
Koyomi stared dully at his computer, wishing Arata had told him up front the position was only seasonal. He could staple together enough money to live on just from that, but that meant the other nine months out of the year, for the moment, had been --
Well, they'd gone a lot like this, sitting at his computer muddling through freelance work. "Wish I could just ask Takarada-san for a job," he mumbles under his breath. "Be kind of weird to end up on a missing person's report because I ran away to another world, though."
"Mmn..." Curling up, he rolled onto his side with his laptop and applied for yet another work-from-home gig.
His phone buzzed. He gave it only a brief glance to see that it wasn't a recruiter.
///////
On the streets of Tsutsujidai...
--------
A woman with dark hair in a tight bun stepped -- no, translated; to say 'stepped' would imply movement, instead of an eerie static glide -- into the alleyway, eyes obscured by oval glasses.
"Hmmm. So it was this place, but you can't bring yourself to admit it...? ... You always were sentimental."
Her breath met the chilly January air with a sigh.
"Especially when it comes to the most valuable things in the universe."
She turned, sliding away through reality as if dragged across a child's pop-up book by some invisible tab.
"How nostalgic."
///////
"She's not answering?" Utsumi asked, finding himself growing uneasy. "Hold on. I'll text her too... maybe I should ask Hass?"
An awkward silence hung over Yuta and Utsumi's celebrations as they waited for their order at Saidariya's. At the table behind them, two girls talked about seeing who could hold extra-spicy chili sauce on their tongue for longer; a few seats behind Utsumi, former classmates Yonezawa and Hayakawa took a selfie.
Yuta's gaze turned off toward the window, down the street, mentally tracing the path from here to Aya. A pensive expression crossed his face -- and then his phone buzzed in sync with Utsumi's.
> Sorry.
> I got really queasy right after school. I had to go straight home.
Yuta looked down at his phone. "Oh, I'm glad she's okay..."
> I think I have acid stomach or something...
> Sorry.
"Phew... though, jeez, does it seem like she's getting sick more often?" Utsumi furrowed his brow a little. "I remember we had to watch the last episode of Ultraman Z and the special a few days late because she had a stomachache then, too..." Shaking his head and waving his hand back and forth a bit, he murmured, "... Eehh, I'm overthinking it. Besides, it's been kind of a bad year for health stuff... even Hass came down with something."
Yuta, meanwhile, texted back.
>> it's fine
>> also i have a surprise o(*^▽^*)┛
>> 720!!
>> how about you? i know you were busy with stuff at the junk shop for a lot of the big study period
>> but no one's as good as my rikka!!
>> looking forward to it
> I've been too nervous to look.
> I might wait for the next time my brother's over to do it?
>> oh, sure! just let me know.
>> i love everything about you!!!
Turning his phone screen back off, Yuta nodded to Utsumi. "Sounds like she's not ready to talk scores yet... she hasn't looked. She was dreading them all last year...."
The two of them settled in to eat, their conversation lightening -- joining the din of Saida's background noise.
"Hey, I've never had the pasta here..."
"Oh, uh, sure."
"Utsumi?"
"Yonezawa! How'd you do, buddy?"
"I'm here too, you know..."
///////
Namiko glanced into Saida's for a long, lingering moment, then down at her own phone, her texts to her mother still open.
A flat 600. It wasn't bad; a hair above the yearly average. Her mother had told her she was proud of her. Even so...
"My my," came a voice abruptly behind her. "Not enough to feel like celebrating, but not low enough to justify the path of the ronin, hmm?" A tall figure flitted around her, a deep navy jacket momentarily filling the frame. "Remarkable for being unremarkable. Being the only one no one's chosen, and feeling no one has any reason to choose you at all..."
"What the heck? It's kinda weird to look at a girl's texts, you know."
... The grimace across Namiko's face made it clear she felt like she'd been pegged, though.
"Don't worry," came the chiding rejoinder. "People often forget the disappointments of middle and high school."
"Who even are you? Do you work in the school office or something?" Namiko took a half-step away, starting to turn but seeing only empty air where the voice once came from.
A brilliant bolt of blue-white light crackled up to the power lines above her, and then --
///////
A familiar sound came from Yuta's wrist. Both he and Utsumi stood up immediately.
Yuta looked between the Tsutsujidai High students at the rapidly-growing celebration table, standing up.
"... I gotta go."
Yuta was out the door in a blink. Utsumi stammered out a quick, "Hey, wait for me --" before he, too, was gone.
Yonezawa and Hayakawa looked at each other; the former rubbed at one slightly-sunken eye, then brought his hand to the back of his head and gave it a baffled scratch. "Wonder what that's about."
///////
Rikka, one shower and quick load of laundry later, stepped back out into the junk shop proper. Her feet carried her to the door, getting ready to open the shop back up. She turned around --
-- and a familiar old computer sat in a spot in the shop usually left bare. Her eyes widened in shock, one hand clenching into a fist and drawing up to just under her breastbone.
"A-again?" Why now? Why this?
The door slid open, and Rikka turned again to face it -- and saw two familiar faces. Still, she only addressed one.
"Yuta?!" she squeaked over the Accepter's still-beeping G-Call, even as Yuta made a beeline for the ancient computer, its monitor humming to life.
Sure enough, a familiar face appeared on the screen.
"Yuta."
The Hyper Agent Gridman -- in his form borrowed from humans -- appeared on the screen, face impassive but still changed by last year's events.
"Gridman -- what's happening? There isn't a kaiju..."
Gridman's head tilted down slightly. "I sensed something, but it disappeared right away..."
An uneasy pall hung over the room -- interrupted by shaking ground and a high-pitched cry.
"So much for that!" Utsumi interjected.
The ground quaked as a purple and teal leg passed Aya. Rikka hunched over a little in plainly-obvious distress, before --
"Yuta."
"Rikka?"
She stepped up to him, holding him tight; her fingers curled slightly into his still-worn winter uniform jacket. With quivering shoulders, she leaned in, and --
-- kissed him once, softly, on the cheek.
"... Please come back," she murmured into his ear.
Yuta's mind reeled for a few seconds, cheeks warming and turning pink. "R-right," he stammered, quickly returning the embrace before turning his attention back to Junk -- back to Gridman.
"Are you ready, Yuta?" Gridman asked.
"Let's do this, Gridman. Access -- Flash!!"
///////
Rainbow light pulsed through a body that felt lighter than ever, reflecting off building windows as Gridman's feet once again cracked the streets of Tsutsujidai.
His opponent, letting out another sharp cry, came into view -- seemingly intuitively recognizing Gridman as a foe. Bright teal wings, legs, and arms framed its purple core body in silhouette against the setting sun...
... at least, until it disappeared.
"Where did it go?" The body Yuta shared with Gridman pivoted on its feet, looking for their foe. The search didn't last, though, as a moment later a bright silver tentacle wrapped around their neck.
Body quaking as the two of them struggled against the creature's grasp, it began to tug them closer, ultimately swinging Gridman over its head and onto the asphalt below. Pulling themself up, Yuta clenched a fist that Gridman delivered to the monster's face; in a rain of sparkling light from the blow, the road knit itself back together. While it staggered back, the monster disappeared again, fading into the colors of the buildings behind it.
"Is it... teleporting?" Gridman wondered aloud, as their body pivoted back and forth.
Rikka's fingers slid across the keyboard, relaying Utsumi's guidance.
> I think it's turning invisible. Invisibility like that needs a power source, though... hang in there!
> When it's close to running out, it'll have to feed on something!
> If only we knew what it needed...
Gridman pivoted on their feet, trying to find some means to track the invisible foe, only to be struck from behind by a bright red energy blast. Staggering from the blow, the kaiju strode forward, delivering three more shots from the same 'socket' that its earlier tentacle protruded from... and then disappearing again.
"Yuta! Do you see anything?" Gridman asked themselves.
"No!" Yuta replied in turn, before receiving another message from Junk.
> There's a tanker truck behind you! It's getting pulled up off the ground.
Turning again, Gridman locked their eyes on it. Sure enough, the rear end of the tanker truck creaked, slowly pulled away by invisible talons. Yuta took their body into a controlled spinning leap, landing atop the invisible kaiju. Hands grasping invisible wings, they pulled -- tore -- ripped --
The kaiju, visible again, stumbled away, the familiar tangle of red, yellow, and green visible in the void inside it. Two tentacles shot out, one from the socket in each arm, only for Gridman to bring their hands up and grabbing -- yanking -- shredding --
At Aya, Utsumi cheered. Rikka's anxious expression started to fade.
"Here we go!" Yuta declared, flipping their arm up, Gran Accepter pointed outward. "Grid --"
Three more bursts of red energy issued forth from the kaiju's arms...
... but they never reached Gridman, as they cried out, "Beeeeeaaaaaaam!!" and engulfed all that energy in rainbow light. The cracks in the streets knitted themselves back together and cars overturned found their way back to their original resting places, beneath that bright light.
An explosion marked the end, and when the dust cleared, the kaiju was no more.
///////
Returning to Aya in that same familiar burst of white light, Yuta breathed a sigh of relief. No one said anything; all three (four) of them allowed the dust to slowly settle.
It was Rikka who broke the silence. "Why are there kaiju again? I thought that thing hadn't gone off since last year..."
Utsumi looked at Yuta, chewing awkwardly at his lower lip. Yuta looked back up at him, then down.
"Gridman," Yuta started, rather than address any of that. "Do you think this is going to happen again?"
Gridman's head on the screen inclined just a bit. "There's no way to be sure... but I sense something in the city. I don't think your story is over, Yuta."
Standing up from her seat, Rikka took a few steps toward the back of the shop. "... Namiko texted. She's okay, just... I need a minute." Her feet carried her the rest of the way in an instant.
"Do you think she's okay?" Yuta asked, turning his gaze to Utsumi.
Scratching awkwardly at his shoulder, Utsumi admitted, "... Dunno. We should leave her alone for a bit, maybe."
They looked at each other, trying to find some guidance -- only to be interrupted by the arrival of a familiar woman with reddish-brown hair carrying a heavy box. "... I don't know what it was, but the roads are killer out there today... though, boy, I'm glad you two are here! Do you nice boys want to help an old lady carry a few boxes in?"
///////
Rikka stared down at her phone, trying to find the words to meet the torrent of texts she'd received in the last few minutes. It'd be one thing if Namiko was scared of the kaiju -- that would make sense. But this...
>> Since you and hass started dating yuta and utsumi
>> i feel like you never hang out with me anymore
>> it sucks
>> what happened to the rikka corps???
>> and who's that other girl anyway? the one with the pale brown hair
>> i see you hanging out with her more than us lately too
>> we graduate soon and i just feel like you guys are getting a head start on ditching me
Rikka's thoughts drifted back to last year... to Namiko and Hass hovering over the stage play script, recommending change after change.
"... I don't think I've hung out with Hass outside of double dates with Utsumi since then, either..." she murmured to herself.
Did she use Yuta as an excuse to push her other friends away? ... But she wasn't really hanging out with him when she could justify taking shifts at the shop, or studying with Utsumi, either...
With a sigh, Rikka texted back.
> ... Sorry. Things have been... a lot, since last year.
> I guess I haven't been a great friend.
> Do you... want to get lunch this Sunday? We can invite Hass.
> Actually, I'd kind of like to invite Marusan and Ako, too... but it's okay if you'd rather keep it to just the Rikka Corps.
Flopping unceremoniously onto a couch in the back, Rikka stared up at the ceiling. ... When did things get like this...?
/////////
A world away...
Koyomi looked down at his phone again. Three texts in one day... way more than usual.
"Huh? What the hell does Takarada-san want?" he mumbled, pulling his phone off the nightstand and scrolling down.
>> Koyomi-chan! It's been a little while.
>> Listen, I could use a favor... Do you remember the boys from that time when you were sleeping at my place?
> yeah obviously
> how could i forget
>> It seems like they're probably going through something again... and if I ever learned how to talk to teenage boys, my life would probably look a lot different.
>> There's no time pressure on this, but would you mind stopping by and talking to them some time?
>> I know Yuta's parents are out of town again until graduation, so he could probably use an adult to talk to.
Koyomi looked at his distinctly empty phone calendar for a few seconds that seemed to stretch over-long.
"I wouldn't mind," he mumbled, "but I really gotta find a job for the other nine months of the year..."
> Business is a little slow, but if you're willing to sort through junk inventory I'll give you 2,000 yen an hour.
Koyomi's eyes widened half-under the curtain of regrowing hair. Almost twice minimum wage?!
> is tomorrow good
> i don't know what hours nidaime-san keeps or i'd just come now
////////
A world above...
A dark phone screen illuminated in a similarly dark room. Messages appeared, coalescing from a random assortment of letters, numbers, and kanji strokes.
> Did you think things would end so cleanly?
> Even the ones that don't realize it's you they miss still miss you.
> Was it a relief to know they forgot you entirely...?
> Or would some sad, lonely part of you be happy to hear that even without knowing you, they still perceive the hole?
> Don't worry. There will always be a steward for the things left behind by lonely people like you.
> I've been collecting them for a very long time now.
/////////
Two long shafts with spiked balls at the end, some fifteen meters tall, stood beside Tsutsujidai's sluice gate. Bit by bit, they dug into the earth.
Twenty-eight years is too long a time for a weapon to wait for another wielder.
//////////
Today, on Gridman Kaiju Gallery, it's: Malseprit, the By-Halves (中途半端) Kaiju!
This winged beast, in teal and purple, menaced Tsutsujidai in January of 2021. With a 'tow cable'-like tentacle within each arm that could be retracted to use the same sockets to fire energy blasts as well as the ability to fade from view and even from Gridman's sixth sense, it proved a capable foe for Gridman's Universe Fighter form.
Born of Namiko Koudzuki's feelings that her friends were slipping away from her, the act of its creation by the mysterious blue-haired woman seems to have uncorked something twisting inside her. Who is she, and why has she taken such an interest in Tsutsujidai and its former Class 1-E?