LMAO I've been inactive for almost a year and I'm SO SORRY! Updates will be super slowwwwww but at least I'm still updating (hopefully).

"Shiragin! I finally got them!" Saiko shouted as she dragged Shirazu into a meeting room and shoved six amusement park tickets onto the table. She sat across him, a triumph smile plastered on her face as she eyed his reaction. He looked surprised, but excited nonetheless. He really wanted to win this bet.

"Great job, Saiko! Come on, let's ask Touka-chan!" He stood up, getting ready to leave but Saiko grabbed his arm.

"Idiot! It would be too weird if we suddenly ask her."

"Huh? What's wrong with that?" He stared at her quizzically.

"The friendship level is still low – it's not strong enough. We need to gain more plus points on the friendship level in order for her to accept our offer. If we ask her now, she'll be too suspicious and might end up declining our gracious offer."

Shirazu could not think of any response. He had never played this kind of game before, so he was pretty much clueless.

"Let's add some points to increase our friendship level with Touka-chan."

"How?"

Saiko smiled mischievously while wiggling her eyebrows. "Mucchan's birthday is in two days, right?"

Shirazu looked at the flip calendar on his desk. Indeed, Saiko was right.

"Yeah, so?"

"Let's celebrate it at :Re."

His eyes lit up at her suggestion.

"What a brilliant idea! We could certainly do that!"

"Yes… here's my plan to make Touka-chan fall in love with Maman…"

She leaned in, whispering some words with a big grin on her face. Shirazu was clearly impressed with her strategy.

"You're a genius, Saiko!" He said once they have outlined the plan.

"Ohohohoho! Thanks to my otome games! Leave it to me, Shiragin!"

"Maman. It's 5 PM. Let's go to :Re." Saiko and Shirazu entered their mentor's office room as soon as they were allowed to leave their office. Usually, Sasaki would blush then pack his stuff, but today he had a sad expression on his handsome face.

"You guys can go ahead. I'm not going there today." He said, his gaze was fixated on the document in his hands.

Saiko and Shirazu looked at each other. This was odd.

"What happened, Maman?" Saiko slowly approached her mentor.

"Nothing. I just don't feel like it."

"Is it because of Touka-chan?"

He flinched before his expression saddened even further. "No, it's not because of her."

'It's so obvious…' They thought in unison.

"What happened?"

"Handsome Ayato is what happened." He mumbled very quietly, the Quinx squad members couldn't have picked that up if they weren't half-ghouls.

'Who the hell is Ayato?' Saiko mouthed to Shirazu but he just shrugged. 'I don't know.' his expression said.

Sighing heavily, she sat across him and folded her arms.

"She's single, Maman. I asked her a few days ago."

"Yeah, I was there too." Shirazu added.

Sasaki stopped looking at the documents and looked up, his focus was directed towards their conversation now.

"Well, that's not true. She has a boyfriend."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I saw it with my own eyes." He answered while leaning back in his black chair. His fingers rubbing his tired eyes.

"Did she say it was her boyfriend?" He stopped rubbing them abruptly.

"She didn't, but-"

"Then it's not her boyfriend."

"Why don't you guys believe me?"

"Because we don't."

"You want to know the truth, right Maman? Come with us." Saiko pulled his arm, forcing him to stand up. Shirazu joined her and pulled Sasaki's other arm.

"H-Hey! Where are you bringing me?"

"To see your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sasaki blushed. Despite his initial objection, he actually let them do as they pleased and followed them to :Re.

He had decided to confirm his speculation. If Ayato was indeed her boyfriend, then he would forget his feelings towards her for good and move on.

But Sasaki actually wasn't as brave as he thought he was. Once arrived at the shop, he remained rigid, just sitting and not looking at the pretty barista at all as she was taking their orders.

"How about you, Haise? Americano, as usual?" Their gaze met – and it annoyed him that she acted as if nothing happened last night.

Well, it was true that nothing happened from her perspective. But from his perspective, he felt deeply hurt. It was his first heartbroken as Haise and it was not a pleasant feeling. He felt defeated, crushed, lost, lifeless, even.

Before he could nod, Saiko interrupted them.

"Touka-chan! Can we celebrate someone's birthday here in two days? Pretty please?"

Huh? Birthday? Sasaki stared at them curiously, but they ignored him. So he stared at his beautiful crush, she seemed confused as well but after giving it a thought, she agreed.

"Yeah, sure. I can reserve the whole place for you. Haise's a regular here, after all. Consider this as a special treat from us."

"Woohoo!" Shirazu cheered, Saiko beamed.

What?

"We need to have a big cake!"

"And snacks. And drinks. Balloons. Hats. Let's go shopping tomorrow. CCG gives us days off anyway."

"Touka-chan, please come shopping with us." Saiko pleaded. Of course Touka said yes, she knew which item she already had in her shop, and which item requires shopping, after all.

"I will." She smiled warmly and suddenly an ugly twinge of jealousy prickled Sasaki.

"Why don't you guys leave Touka-chan alone? She might already have plans with her boyfriend, you know."

He only realized what he was saying until he had blurted it out. But it was too late for him to take it back.

"My boyfriend? Did you mean the guy you saw last night?" She giggled.

It wasn't long before Shirazu and Saiko laughed too, what a way to ruin the perfect sound.

"That's my brother." She answered between the giggle.

"Your… brother?" Sasaki's eyes blinked in confusion.

"Yeah. He's two years younger than me. It's strange, though. Usually, when someone saw us, they would know immediately that we're siblings because of our resemblance to each other."

"Someone was jealous…" Shirazu whispered loudly to Saiko, intending to let both Sasaki and Touka hear.

"I wasn't jealous!"

"Whatever, Sassan~"

"Then, let's meet at Daiso tomorrow afternoon?" Touka suggested, and the squad agreed in unison.

"Mission accomplished." Shirazu whispered to Saiko, he felt really satisfied with how things were turning out.

"Not quite yet. But we're getting there." She flashed him a knowing grin.