Koume reflected on the past two weeks since the Suzano-o attacks. Everything had been completely nuts, the military running everywhere and more insurance agents than she knew what to do with. The government was rapidly trying to assess the damages all across the nation, most specifically in Tokyo, where the majority of the damage was. The entire TAC had been questioned over and over and over again, every little microscopic detail told, re-told, written down, signed, and printed by the government. Momiji was  re-located to Izumo to stay with her mother until everything had been cleared out and squared away. Of course she didn't go alone, as Kusenagi and about twenty government agents also accompanied her. As for the rest of the TAC, every single member had pretty much collapsed from exhaustion at some point over the past two weeks due to all of the questioning and effort in helping the government clean up what had been knocked down. Matsudaira finally had her fill and asked if she could be re-located to her family like Momiji had. She had been denied her request at first, but later on the head of security for the Tokyo sector reconsidered and allowed her a week with her son and ex-husband before being obligated to return. The rest of the TAC had been given the day off, so Ryoko and Kunikida both decided to take a break at Kunikida's house. Koume, of course, didn't even want to think of what they were doing. Yaegashi's back ended up getting infected a week after the attacks and he had been in the hospital for a few days getting a hefty amount of treatment. Koume visited him whenever she could, but because of all the interrogations and help that she had to contribute, her visits were quite rare.

            The day before, while Koume was helping Yaegashi get set to leave the government hospital, he asked her if she would be willing to maybe spend her day off with him on a date. She, of course, got all flustered and tried to put on her tough exterior, claiming that dating was for wimps, but Yaegashi saw right through her. Giving her a small smile and a light kiss, he said ok and began walking down the hall. Koume, who was totally taken aback by what he had done, chased after him and once she caught up, said that she didn't have anything planned anyways and to pick her up at noon.

So there Koume stood, looking herself over in the mirror. She turned around to see herself at all angles, making sure that she looked ok. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, with a nice outfit that complimented her figure, consisting of a black spaghetti-strapped top with a thin black long-sleeved coat to go over it and a nice pair of jeans. A knock on the door split through the silence, and Koume blushed a little bit as she went to answer it.

"Why am I doing this?" Koume asked herself as she opened up the door. On the other end stood a happy-looking Yaegashi wearing a nice light-blue sweater and khaki pants, cleanly pressed.

"Ready to go?" Yaegashi asked merrily,

"Yeah." Koume said as she grabbed her apartment keys and closed the door.

"How's your back?" Koume asked as they walked out to Yaegashi's car,

"Light-years better actually, the painkillers and antibiotics that the doctors gave me have been a Godsend."

"Well that's good to hear." Koume said cheerfully as she smacked Yaegashi on the back, causing him to yelp in pain. Koume shook her head,

"Once a wimp, always a wimp." She said as she got into the passenger seat of the car. Upon entering the car, Koume smelled something wonderful and looked in the back seat.

"A picnic?" Koume exclaimed as she eyed the large basket of delicious-looking food.

"Well yeah, I mean, what else can you really do when two-thirds of the city has been destroyed?" Yaegashi said with a chuckle as he stepped on the accelerator.

"Well it smells really good, so you'd better step on it before I eat all right here." Koume said with a hmph and she put her arms behind her head and relaxed into her seat.

"How romantic." Yaegashi joked as he turned a corner, chuckling at his hungry girlfriend. His chuckles soon became a hearty laugh as Koume's stomach began to loudly growl.

"You laugh at my pain huh?" Koume said as she reached up and twisted Yaegashi's ear.

"Hey! Ow! Owowowow! Stop it! Ow! Sorry!" Yaegashi cried out as he tried to bat Koume's hand away and keep the car on the road at the same time. After about ten minutes, they arrived at a slightly secluded part of the city (or what was left of it anyways).

"Alright, I'm hungry!" Koume said as she hopped out of the car and stretched. Yaegashi opened up the back door and reached in to get the basket, noting that it was a bit heavy. His back shot up with pain, and he recoiled out of the car, grimicing. Koume glanced over to see him grimicing in pain, and walked over to him.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, fine, back just protesting, that's all." Yaegashi said through his gritted teeth,

"Here, I'll carry the basket. You take it easy, you're still hurt pretty bad." Koume said as she picked up the basket and took Yaegashi's hand.

"No really, I can do it."

"Uh, Yaegashi, who's the strongest one here?"

"Dare I answer that question?" To that Koume gave Yaegashi's hand a playful tug and started walking.

"Where to?" Koume asked, Yaegashi, feeling a lot better since the temporary pain had passed, answered,

"Up that hill. Here, I'll lead." He said as he trotted ahead of Koume and pulled on her hand to keep up the pace. Leading her up a hill and through an area thick with bushes and trees, they came upon a small clearing overlooking the entire western half of Tokyo.

"Nice view of the rubble." Koume said with a smile,

"What? You were expecting Paris?" Yaegashi joked back as he took the picnic cloth from the basket and began to lay it out on the ground.

"I'm not complainin' or nothin'. It's really nice. How'd you find this place?"

"One day when we were out looking for evidence of the Aragami I stumbled upon this place and figured I'd keep it in mind. I mean, Tokyo used to look nice from here, especially when the sun would set."

"Cool." Koume said as she set down the basket and opened up the flap. Her eyes went as wide as saucers as she inspected to the contents.

"You made ALL OF THIS?!" Koume asked, her mouth gaping. Chuckling, Yaegashi leaned over and began to unload the contents of the basket onto the blanket.

"Yup."

"I never knew you could cook." Koume said as she wiped a bit of drool off of her chin.

"I was raised in a family made up entirely of girls. My father was rarely ever home, as he's, well, quite high up in the defense department. Anyways, it wasn't like I could avoid learning how. Sort of like the other embarrassing fact about me being that I can do hair better than most girls can." Yaegashi said, laughing at the last half of his statement. Koume looked at him strangely,

"Wow, there's so much crap I don't know about you." She said as she finished unloading the basket and looked at the food hungrily. Being that he wasn't suicidal, Yaegashi didn't stop Koume from grabbing a paper plate and piling on as much food as it could hold. Yaegashi started to pile on small portions onto his plate as he watched Koume practically inhale her lunch, and then go back for seconds.

"Vish shpuff ish sho goot." Koume said with her mouth full as she piled a third helping onto her plate. Being that he was already used to watching Koume eat from his many days at the office with her, Yaegashi ignored her veracious eating and answered her question as he took small, polite bites of his food.

"Thank you. Took me all morning to make."

Once Koume found that she couldn't eat any more, she let out a content sigh and laid back on the blanket, stretching out.

"Ah, that was so good, we are definitely doing this again." Koume said as she patted her stomach.

"Glad to see you enjoyed it." Yaegashi said with a smile.

"So how long do you think it'll take 'em to rebuild Tokyo and all the other cities that've been blasted by those damn Aragami?" Koume asked as she sat up again and looked out on the city.

"Dunno, but calculating the rate in which they're working now, I'd give them about a year."

"That's IT?!" Koume exclaimed,

"It's just a guesstimation, and that's given if they keep working as hard as they are right now." Yaegashi said,

"Hm…they won't." Koume said absently, Yaegashi looked at her.

"Why do you say that?"

"'Cuz, I was in the military for four years and I know how they operate."

"Four years? You joined when you were 18?"

"Hell yeah! Once I was legally emancipated, first chance I got, I got the hell out my house and into the army." Koume said as she motioned with her hands the action of running out a door.

"Why? Were you anxious to join?" Yaegashi asked, Koume got a dark look on her face.

"Well, not quite…" For the next five hours the two talked about their lives, their families, shared their funny stories and their sad experiences, told each other their most embarrassing moments, and of course, Yaegashi got his standard friendly beat-up.

"Hey, what time is it?" Koume asked as she suddenly noticed that the sun was setting.

"According to my watch it's about 5:10 pm." Yaegashi said as he glanced at his wrist.

"WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR FIVE FREAKIN' HOURS?!" Koume yelled loudly in disbelief, Yaegashi's eyebrows raised when he realized how much time they had spent getting to know each other.

"Looks that way." He said as he looked up and noticed Koume peering off into the sunset.

"You're right, it is really pretty." Koume said as she scooted over next to Yaegashi and leaned her head on his shoulder. Yaegashi smiled and put his arm around her.

"I'm always right." He said jokingly as he tightened his grip around Koume, holding her close to him. Koume pinched his leg in response.

"Ow!"

"You can't always be right because I'm always right." She said with a smile, a triumphant look on her face.

"You win this round Sawaguchi, but you just wait, I'll come up with some witty comeback sooner or later."

"Oh, so scary. Look, I'm shaking in my boots." Koume said as she rolled her eyes.

"I just thought of one." Yaegashi said matter-of-factly,

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Yaegashi said as he leaned over and captured Koume's lips in his. Not one to protest (hey, how much more romantic can you get with a beautiful view overlooking a wrecked city with a sunset that'd make most romance writers grab their pens and write the sappiest novel they'd ever written), Koume closed her eyes and leaned in to deepen the kiss. The two kissed passionately for the next few minutes, their minds leaving reality behind and replacing it with their own little world of security and love within each other's arms. Koume felt like she could melt right on the spot, the moment was so magical.

"Since when did I start thinkin' like this?" Koume wondered to herself as she felt Yaegashi push her down onto the picnic blanket. The two continued to kiss for a few moments longer, until Koume became uncomfortable with something poking her from behind and broke from his lips.