8

"...You're not the runner for lunch anymore? Not bad." Chika said as he, Shito and Michiru sat within the courtyard of the school.

Michiru laughed a bit nervously to the comment while scratching the back of her head. "I didn't think it would be that easy," she said while eating some bread crust. "I should have said it earlier."

"Eh? Your food tastes so crappy." Chika said.

"This?" Michiru said as she held up the bag full of bread crusts. "Did you know that you could get this free at the bread shop? Starting today, I'm living alone. So I need to watch my spending."

"That doesn't mean you have to live off of bread crusts." Chika said before holding up his lunch. "Look! I win! I have four rice balls!...That's been expired for about three days…."

"Does that count as a win?" Shito asked as he looked at Chika.

"Come here, I'll tell you a secret about where the stores throw away all their leftovers." Chika said as he went over to Michiru.

"Really? Where?" Michiru asked.

Shito remained silent as his two comrades talked, taking no notice to the two younger ones that quietly joined them.

"Kita-san," Shito said after some time. Michiru looked toward him as he held out his lunch to her. "Girls like you need plenty of protein so they can give a healthy birth. You should eat some."

"Eh?" Michiru said, sweating a little to Shito's offering.

"I'll lay it out for you first. It's not for you, it's for your "new life"." Shito explained.

"But I'm not pregnant." Michiru said.

"What?! I want some!" Chika said once noticing that Shito was giving out his food.

Shito kept his plate out of Chika's reach as the boy tried to get it. Rin and Lin watched this go on for a bit before looking towards Michiru as she spoke.

"Oh yeah," she said. "The broken window and the nun….What are you going to do about it? Everyone's saying, "the nun's disappeared"."

"About that," Shito said.

"There are other people in that area to clean it up." Chika said. "Plus, isn't it those kids' faults anyway? Especially the bratty one."

"I'm not bratty, punk!" Rin exclaimed, causing the three to jump and looked toward them.

"When the hell did you get here?!" Chika exclaimed. "And how?!"

"Ancient ninja secret!" Rin said with a smirk.

"We just walked through the gate. Your school doesn't have good security." Lin said.

"You were supposed to play along with me, Lin." Rin said, looking at Lin disappointed.

"Besides, we don't deal with the damage of property." Lin said, ignoring Rin. "That's not even a job for Momma or Papa."

"Yeah, we don't deal with all that stuff." Rin said. "We just hunt down zombies and earn plushie money."

"Why are you hunting zombies anyway?" Michiru asked. "Judging from the way you talked the other day, it doesn't seem like you're part of Z-Loan."

"Of course we're/they're not!" both Rin and Chika exclaimed.

"We're hunting zombies for a different reason." Lin said. "But we can't tell you."

"How come?" Michiru asked.

"We just can't!" Rin said, pouting and crossing her arms over her chest. "It against the rules!"

"What rules?" Michiru asked, tilting her head to the side.

"It's a secret," Lin and Rin said in unison.

"Oh, I see." Michiru said, sweating a bit.

"Anyway, you all have crummy lunches." Rin said as a way to change the subject.

"Oh, like you have a better lunch?" Chika asked as he glared at the little girl.

"Of course I do!" Rin said, "Momma made it for me!"

Michiru watched as Rin and Chika got into another fight about who had the better lunch based on where they got it and how. She then turned to look at Lin as he quietly ate his own lunch made by their mother. The image of him holding the scythe over her from the other day came to her mind, making her shiver and pale at the memory.

"You okay, Nee-san?" Lin asked once he noticed Michiru staring at him.

"Y-y-yeah, I'm fine." Michiru said, putting on a smile.

"Oh, okay." Lin said before going back to his food.

Michiru looked down at her own food as Chika and Rin's fight escalated.

"You know you two don't really have to follow me, right? I'll be fine on my own." Michiru said as she climbed the stairs with her luggage.

"Nah, we want to follow you." Rin said as she and Lin followed Michiru to the Z-Loan office.

"Yeah, we want to." Lin said.

"But, isn't your mother worried about you two?" Michiru asked.

"She is but she'll just be even madder." Rin said.

"Mainly at Rin than anything else." Lin added.

"Hey! You tagged along too!" Rin said as Michiru and them reached the Z-Loan office's floor.

"Please don't fight," Michiru said, setting down her luggage for a moment to adjust her grip on it.

"We're not fighting~," Rin said in a sing song way.

"Liar," Lin said, earning a glare from Rin.

Michiru let out a sigh as she went up to the door and knocked. A moment later, Yuuta answered the door with a smile.

"Welcome!" Yuuta said as he made room for Michiru and the twins to enter.

"Sorry to be a bother." Michiru said as she walked in.

"Pardon us!" Rin said as she and Lin followed in.

"Such a big suitcase!" Yuuta said, looking at Michiru's suitcase. "Congratulations on being alive again! Oh wait, that's not right. You never did die."

"Huh?" Rin and Lin said as they looked toward Yuuta.

"Oh, right." Yuuta said once he noticed the twins, "Your mother's here waiting for you."

"What?!" Rin and Lin exclaimed, paling.

Michiru blinked to their reaction before looking further into the office. Sitting on the couch was none other than Rin and Lin's mother, not looking at all pleased with the situation at hand.