It was a day with nothing out of the ordinary, yet Rin was feeling very worried as she was asked to stay for a little while in Gin's house while accompanied by Anna who was busy combing her hair. She, of course, liked the comfort of her hair getting brushed, but she could not help but be very curious about why it did seem like her parents and Gin have been left with themselves next door.

"Your hair has gotten quite long hasn't it, Nee-chan?"

"I guess…"

"Are you planning on getting it cut?"

"I haven't thought that far, honestly, so I still don't know. But maybe I'll have it dyed if it continues to grow white.

Haha… I'm not really like Gin or Kuroko to just openly show this…"

"I think it suits you, though?"

"Really? Thank you."

"It doesn't make you look like an old lady, you know? I bet you could rock this, but it's still up to you in the end!"

"I appreciate that.

…

Haku… do you think you have an idea of what's going on?"

"Meow. (Nope. I have no idea too, sadly.)"

"Aaaaggghhh…" Anna grumbled as her shoulders dropped. "I wish we could also understand what Haku's saying just like Nii does…"

"Fufu, you really want to, Anna?" Rin chuckled and gave her supposed younger sister a vague question.

"Of course…! How cool would that be to be able to understand what animals are saying?! Can you imagine the bliss I will go to if it turns out capybaras could be just as chill as they are?!"

"That would be cute, huh."

"Anyway…! While we're here, I might as well play videos of them and pull you down the rabbit hole with me!"

"Ahahaha. You lead the way."

With the sudden burst of energy from Anna, it did seem that it made Rin feel less on the edge. Filtering out the noise Anna was making, she thought to himself that she could just be worrying for nothing.

~ ~ ~

At the same time, in the Akanami residence.

Gin guided his significant other's parents to the couch to sit as he quietly tapped on his foot in front of him.

Not letting a pause be too long, he slowly bent his knees to a kneel, and lowered his head along with his hands to the floor so as to prostrate.

"I'm very much ashamed that, without mincing my words, I cowardly ran away from the problems that I ought to have also shouldered a part of them as I'm privileged enough to be with Rin and this family.

For that, I wish to express my deepest apologies to you, Uncle Shuu, Aunt Sumi."

"…"

The parents were both dumbfounded.

They had expected this sort of arrangement sooner or later, but it was never in their expectations that Gin would take all of the things that happened to this extent. They could not pick the right words to say in this situation, but the man never raised his head even after the minutes of empty silence.

Shuu and Sumi have quite enjoyed the time they are getting back with their daughter, as things felt like it was quickly returning to normal. But it appears that while their mood has been mellowing down, there was still something extremely heavy weighing down on the man in front of them.

"P-Please raise you head, Gin…"

As per Shuu's request, he raised his head and straightened his back, while he maintained his position on his knees. His eyes, however, could not look beyond the sight of his hands on his legs.

"It turns out… we might be the ones downplaying how serious you're taking all of this.

You suddenly reminded me of Junpei, although you were not as insane as him to dig a hole to bury himself alive when we were just brats, he was very resolute. Also… we can't take away the fact that we're partly the reason why you were… broken and lost, so even if you apologize to us, it feels like the responsibility still falls to me and my wife for the decision we made back then."

"N-No… I suppose it was right of you to protect your own child…"

"Even if it was against our morals?

Both our sides can't be excused for what we did, so let us meet in the middle. What's important right now is that our daughter is still alive and becoming well, and it was thanks to you.

And besides… it seems like you're also worried about what we would decide with your relationship, aren't you?"

"…! Y-Yes…"

As Shuu himself had said, Gin was extremely serious with "all of this", and it included him talking about the relationship his daughter has with Gin. Meanwhile, Gin is influenced by the actions of Kobana Azuki. He realized the severity of the actions he impulsively did, and he made sure to make up for it and assumed responsibility to Rena and the child they conceived.

While the situations are not exactly the same, Gin knew what could become of the consequences of his actions. To this day, he upholds the words of Shuu that he would act if he ever does something extremely disagreeable to their family and to his daughter.

He knew the mistakes he had done, and he would grit his teeth no matter how painful a consequence falls upon him.

"We would not do something that we would not discuss with Ringo herself, and it does seem like there is nothing to be discussed in the first place."

"I… don't follow?"

Sumi briefly looked at his husband and responded, "What we're saying is we are fine with your relationship regardless of the way things are now, and were. If anything, at the end of the day, we're the ones indebted to you, being the one who saved her.

And now, it even looks like you're taking care of her more than us, haha…"

"We only heard from the Exiles about what happened between you and Horach, but it is not really our concern especially since you came back alive from that. We know that you decided to keep it from Ringo until the time is right to tell her, and I personally don't think she is going to hate you for that. She knows you very well after all.

And while we're at it… I want to express how thankful I am that you are here with us, and with our daughter."

From his seat, Shuu lowered his head for a brief moment and raised his hand with the intent to shake Gin's hand.

"Come on, stand up."

Thus, they gripped each other's hands.

"Let's consider all of this water under the bridge, and we hope to see you with us, just like you've always done."

"…

Thank you. I… I just want to tell you once again… that I still think about Rin's future—one with everyone and another with me."

"Yup, you've declared it way before to me personally.

…

Umm… musuko?"

"Yes?"

"Can you loosen your grip a little? Ow…"

"Ah, sorry!"

▪ ▪ ▪

With Rin's return to the hospital marked the one week of her coming back home and to her family.

Her father has returned to work, so it was her mother and Gin's job to accompany her on her weekly checkups, as recommended by Dr. Kurt Snetr who is now overseeing her health progress officially.

Observed with her are continuous positive development in her body. It has been revealed that a portion of her blood now constitutes the virus that eradicated the bacteria in her, and is now actively a part of her immune system. Her legs have also shown progress as she began to be able to move them on their entirety while she build up mass back.

She was given a target weight, and once it was reached, she can begin physical therapy to be able to walk again.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Upon returning home, Gin had left Rin with her mother, as he left anew without even stepping back in the house, telling them that he had someone to meet.

Leisurely enjoying a walk as though he was not on a time constraint, he arrived at the doors of Ardor—the restaurant he frequents usually in winter, where he just recently found out that its owner and an acquaintance, is associated with spies.

Without saying a single word, he was accompanied by a waiter and led him upstairs which he had expected, was empty in contrast to the crowd downstairs. Upon receiving a menu, he ordered dishes for three people and a bottle of wine.

He was suddenly all alone, thus he stood up from his table and took a seat in front of a grand piano. He cracked his hands, hesitantly pressed on the keys at random, and played a song to gauge how much he still knows about the instrument.

Three songs have passed, and he heard the arrival of the people he was expecting. He stood as he waved to the two well-dressed men—with one whose right arm on a sling and an evident limping from his leg.

They silently sat, and so Gin carefully greeted.

"Thank you for coming on my invitation… Oregano and Strawman.

First of all, I would like to apologize for all the trouble I caused you two."

"Can't say 'it was nothing', but it is fine. It's nice meeting you again, Gin. I'm glad you got out of it safe and alive."

"W-Wait…" the spy called Strawman looked at Ban Tobei with confusion. "He's Mr. Sakato…?"

"What, you didn't recognize him?"

"W-Well…"

"Ah, my hair. This is actually the color of it from birth, but I spent most of my life with black growing from my head. That said, they turn gray for reasons I'm still not very clear with."

"Hmm, that's interesting.

But setting that aside, are you sure you can pay for this meal? You haven't been at work for a while, right?"

"Hahh… of course you would know that…

But don't worry about it. Although this is only as much as I can do to make up for the damages I made."

"No… Seriously, I'm fine," Strawman reassured him.

"Then… may I ask you, Gin?"

"If it's something that I could answer."

"How was Ginji Satoshi and Kuroko Nijisaki able to get a hold of my contact?"

"Ahh… I knew this would come up eventually…

To be very honest, yes, they got the information from me. It would be extremely difficult to explain, but they got it without asking me or even talking about it. I made sure that your information did not leave a trace, but they can be the only two people that can know about it.

I know it does not make sense at all and it sounds like I'm making so many excuses, but I wish for your understanding. Knowing them, they probably swear to their lives that it will never get out from them. It's also something that I must not disclose to just anyone.

Tobei sighed and leaned back to his chair, "If that's how it is, then we can't really argue since we also have things we can't tell.

…

Anyway… we really should have heed your warning much more…"

"I'm very sorry that this all happened."

"I don't know the reason how and why you warned us about a potential rampage, but it was not your fault. Besides… it is a good thing that Joseph Horach is gone now. We would have gotten rid of him eventually; we just didn't expect things to turn out like that.

Our organization needs to be more careful so that another… excuse my language—walking destruction will not appear again in the future."

"As for the Exiles…" Starwman started. "I expected Mr. Nijisaki to be somewhat of a mysterious person, but I did not know that Mr. Satoshi would know some of them too. I have to make sure that none of that gets out too. They need not concern themselves to us and vice versa. With that, we should maintain a neutral and hopefully contactless relationship."

The spy said, as his gaze never left Gin.

He had noticed some cues from the spy's words, one of them being the use of "I" rather than "we" in most of the context. From then, Gin had followed the words, and came to an assumption that the information Horach declared did not leave him, especially the ones which Gin is in fact also an Exile, and that he was a part of the Medical Children Program.

"That said, I suppose you're also pretty acquainted with them. It seemed like you were wearing their own protective clothing and they knew how to handle you," Tobei asked in one breath.

"I guess you could say that. They knew firstly about me and why that incident happened. They trusted me, so I also trust them wholeheartedly. They chose to shun away the world and the current society, and yet they connected with me.

I really do hope you won't cross paths with them in a bad way in the future."

"Well, it's none of our business, and ours is also not theirs. It is better this way.

Also, before I forget, congratulations on Ms. Akanami's recovery."

"Thank you very much… I wouldn't be with her today if it wasn't for your help."

Then, in the middle of the conversation, they heard steps coming from the stairs with a waiter serving them their food and the wine. There was however a slip under Ban Tobei's plate, which he handed to his companion after a heavy sigh.

"Something going on?"

"Work never leaves us… After this meal I'm probably going to take a nap."

"I hope you enjoy this very small treat, though. I wish I could do the food myself, but I just don't have the time at the moment."

"No, no. We appreciate it. It's nice to have even a few hours of downtime."

"So you weren't joking when you said work never leaves you…"

"Indeed. Well, let's eat."

▪ ▪ ▪

‹Gin›

The latter half of the month has arrived, and I am very glad that I am going to finally go back to Giotto's for work. Looking back, I made trouble for my co-workers, but that was as far as I know since I could not even remember the days of me coming in and out of work for quite a while.

I have so many people to apologize to, but there are also a lot who I wanted to thank for helping us, especially Rin. And so for this day, I reserved the restaurant, although not in its entirety, in lunch and invited the doctors that contributed to the research of defeating BEF-1 as a way to at least express my thanks to them.

For quite a few months, those doctors have been literally living in the hospital. That was how much dedication they put in to save people, or in this case, one person. Now that their schedules have loosened, I showed the intent to give them a small breather after all the work they have done, and this was the best I could do for them in my current situation.

Speaking of my current situation… my financial status really is taking hit after that expensive meal with the spies, and then reserving three tables for the doctors…

I am just really glad that I've already paid the mortgage of my house in full so I was able to save, but I really am going to need to work harder to make up for my unpaid leave and the minuses.

…

As much as I hated it, I woke up early as Hiro handed the keys to me last night, so I had to be the one to arrive first in the restaurant to clean and make preparations for today's opening.

It had been a while since I last saw the restaurant, and it just so happened that it was empty, silent and all being this early. After doing initials checks on the entire kitchen, I opened the staff room while waiting for today's ingredients to thaw, turned on the lights, and pressed my thumb on the fingerprint scanner to start my hours.

"I should have done this first things first… I really forgot how to work, huh."

With the air conditioning starting up, the memories of me being shot here flooded back in among the very few things I remember. I remembered the note that came with the rifle bullet as though it was an elaborate way for Joseph Horach to invite me.

As I expected, the windows have been replaced, not just the one that got hit. A few knocks on them tells me that they are now reinforced with AMM, and I could only assume that it is the same for the entirety of the restaurant.

"Oh. Look who's finally back."

From behind me, the door of the staff room opened and a familiar voice exclaimed which made me involuntarily bend a small smile.

"Good morning, Jean."

"Morning, Gin. It's been a while. I'm glad you're doing well now," he greeted as he registered his time.

"How are things with Ai-san?"

"Good as always, I'm thankful."

"You're quite early today?"

"More like, I'm always early because we had no sous chef for a while."

"Sorry about that…"

As Jean dropped his bag and bent down to look at a schedule, he continued:

"Well, Yuzuri-san was your stand-in but we're basically in charge of the kitchen when the boss is out.

Hmm… Today's the Mykes reservation and… oh, so today's also the early closing."

"Huh? We're closing early today?"

"Yup. Anyway, are you done prepping?"

"Ah, not yet. I just brought out the meat first to thaw before we cut them.

I was about to set up the tables."

"Sheesh. Look who's working double-time so early."

"I feel like throwing up, but I have to work more to make up for the trouble I caused."

"Ah… that's unfortunate. I guess we'll be bringing out the beers tonight," Jean very quietly whispered to himself so as to not be heard.

"Well, let's do a bit of stretching in the hall, Gin. I'll help out a bit!"

"Thanks."

~ ~ ~

If I were to be frank, today was not the best day to come back to work, as it is especially busier because I shot myself on the foot giving me more work and paying for the reservation. I had to mainly man all the preparation for today's reservation as the kitchen had not yet caught up from being a little short staffed. It was nothing new and it's ultimately bearable, so I, as I always do, just kept it to myself.

By the time 12:30 came, I handled all the arrival of the doctors, led them to their tables, and basically attended to everything they need. It was on my request that I do the service for them as I wanted to express my utmost gratitude. It would be weird for me to invite them without even showing my face to them, so I had to give my all to those that helped save Rin and give them the best service they could get.

And you know what, my complaints for this day were washed off seeing them enjoy the food and catch a few words about having a nice time after all the intense work in the hospital. If I did not have the stamina, I would have probably crashed way earlier, but it was all worth it after seeing their satisfaction.

Their stay was not that long as they had meetings to attend to, since their work does not simply end with BEF-1 having countered. Afterwards, things have gotten considerably less busy until the clock hits 4:30. It was still bright outside which is why it was weird to see the restaurant slowly becoming empty at that time.

That said, it did seem that there were a lot of staff that are helping on cleanup, while a lot of the kitchen crew are still working, which did not sit well with me as I was ordered to take a break in the office.

"Just kill some time for a little longer, okay?" Sis, from her desk next to Sean, told me while still continuing on her work.

"Oh, also. I'll be driving you home today. I don't think hubby will be able to drive later. Don't worry, we won't be late today since I know you're taking care of Ringo.

Again, just sit back and loosen up a bit."

…Or so she said, but it has been an hour since Sis told me that.

I managed to catch the final bits of a stream from one of the many vtubers I watch. The dude just finished a 12-hour stream which I caught when I woke up, still went on as I got done with work, and finished with me not knowing what to do next after that and I am still waiting.

It's that kind of boredom where I'm starting to think about binge watching the anime I missed in the last few months with Rin, and I couldn't even do that right now.

"Heeeeeyyyy," finally, Hiro called out to us. "Good work to all. Yu, Sean, go save your works today and go to the hall in three minutes."

That, he announced and looked at me while the other staff leaves the room.

"I'll go with those two, alright?"

…

"Welcome back, Gin…!!!"

With Sean and Sis, we went to the dining hall only to be greeted in unison with a welcome back. Some of the tables were set, and the sizzle of the meat grilling quite especially took my attention. Nonetheless, I am quite surprised that they cut today's work short for, what I assume is a small gathering to celebrate.

I eventually left the reluctance although I am as always still quite awkward on things or celebrations that involve me somewhat, but it has been a while since I had this kind of downtime, and the food outright slaps.

"So this is why Hiro won't be able to drive today…"

I did not really plan to nor even think about it, but I had a few drinks for the occasion and as I find out over and over again, I don't really feel tipsy, but I nevertheless stopped after four tall glasses.

It was a very short party however as it just appeared to simply be an after work gathering just lasting shy of an hour. Thus, while waiting for the couple to close while we're pretty much the only ones left in the restaurant with Sean, I took my bag but was partially stopped.

"Before we go home, there's something we want to tell you, Gin."

It was not that Hiro sounded very serious with his words, but it was still enough to make me worry.

"Umm, I'm all ears…?"

"I'm very sorry to tell you this, just when you got back, but uhh…

You're, uh… fired, Gin."

"…

Huh?"