The weekend was here for Senji. Thankfully there was no homework given out in any of his classes to complete so he found himself with a free schedule. After he had finished breakfast he went to get dressed. Free from the shackles of a school uniform, he threw on a dark gray Initial D t-shirt and black jeans then grabbed his Game Boy. He was ready to head over to Daiki's house. Kaito wrote down the address for him on a piece of paper. Pocketing it, he made it to the living room before Hinaka spoke to him while sitting on the couch watching television;

"Have fun at your friends house dear! Be careful on your way there okay?"

Senji grabbed his black sneakers by the door to slip on and laced them up. He stood back up and looked over to his mother with a nod and a smile.

"I will mom. Thanks." He said.

"Oh I'm so proud of you... Your first time hanging out with new friends outside of school. You better bring them over sometime soon so I can meet them."

"Of course. I'm sure they'll love your cooking too."

"I'm sure they will too. Love you dear."

"Love you too."

With a polite wave Senji left the house out towards his bike. He hopped on to begin his ride. This time not towards school but deeper into the suburbs.

The neighborhood was lively on this brisk Saturday morning. A mother watched her two daughters playing with dolls out in backyard. A young couple in their twenties strolled along the sidewalk hand-in-hand. A few men stood under a carport talking as a radio set on a workbench played alternative music through the speakers. Senji was getting more exposure to the residents of his new neighborhood and enjoyed seeing these people living their lives amidst the rather grave situation of disappearing people him and his mother were greeted with upon entering Nakamura.

The street where Daiki's house resided was just up ahead. Senji rounded the corner on his bike until he spotted the large house with the big garage and two vehicles, a van and a coupe, parked inside. He was told by Kaito to look out for this detail in particular. He pulled up then hopped off, walking onto the property.

After a few knocks the door opened. A woman with long deep brown hair, brown eyes and wearing an elegant red sundress greeted him with a smile.

"Why hello! You must be Daiki's friend. Please come in!" She spoke in a very upbeat tone.

Senji nodded and entered the home. He slipped his shoes off next to the other sets of shoes. Seven sets in total with his being the eighth. He was quite stunned at the size of the interior. Spacious and clean with a staircase leading to the second story just ahead.

"Daiki is upstairs in his room with the others by the way. Just look for the door with the car poster on it. Okay?" The woman, presumably his mother, said.

"Yeah. Thank you."

Peering ahead past the kitchen Senji could see sliding glass doors leading to the backyard where a bulky man was watching two little girls playing. He headed upstairs where he spotted the door with the car posters creaked open and voices coming from inside the lit room. Pushing the door open inside the room was Daiki, Kaito and Aoi. They all turned to look at him. It was a bit jarring seeing his classmates outside of uniform. Aoi dressed like he worked at an office. Daiki wore baggy clothes and Kaito certainly embraced the punk rock aesthetic with the leather jacket, pants and boots.

"Hey ya' made it. Have a seat. We're about to fire up a totally casual game of smash." Daiki said.

"Casual would be a fat fucking lie and you know it. You get heated when your ass gets kicked." Kaito snickered.

Daiki just stuck his middle finger up at him while Aoi just laughed. Senji took a seat on the floor.

"Your house is... Like, really big." Senji commented picking up the lone fourth controller. "I'm guessing you have a big family?"

"Yup! Me, my mom, dad, and my two little sisters. Dad works in real estate so he brings in most of the money and travels to other towns a lot. Mom owns a flower shop in town. She takes one weekend off a month to spend with dad since he's off on weekends and the shop is only closed on Sundays and Mondays."

"Huh. That's pretty neat."

Aoi stuck the game into the console and turned it on. The group had to select their characters now and pick a map to play on.

"What does your mother do Senji?" Aoi asked. "Or I guess, what did she do before you two moved here?

"She was a part-time nurse at a hospital near where we lived in Tokyo. Today she's actually going to the town's hospital to see if she can get a job there. Since father passed she's wanting full time. The money left in his bank account was enough to cover the down payment and keep us set for the next few months."

"Well that's good at least. It can't be easy moving to a new town. We all have lived here our entire lives so we don't know what that's like."

"Tiring..."

Senji was familiar with this game. Several characters from different franchises clashing in battle. He never owned it but would play it with his friends back home. He only ever played as Link so he had to take him before the others. During the brawling he was struggling against Kaito who claimed to be a Samus pro player. Daiki was Donkey Kong and Aoi was Pikachu. The fighting became quite intense throughout the match, ultimately ending with Kaito as the victor.

"I'm impressed Senji... You're a decent Link player. You even took Aoi out with ease... After he beat Daiki." Kaito said with a smug grin.

"It's not over yet. Kaito is on a win streak and I'm sick of it!" Daiki hissed.

"Then pick someone else. You think you're good with Kong but you really aren't."

"Fine! I'll show you... I'm going with the funny baseball kid!"

Daiki managed to beat Aoi but was defeated by Senji. Him and Kaito were head-to-head now on a dangerous stage with hazards. Their fingers moved like clockwork pulling off every combo and hit with ease and precision. With their health pools well above one-hundred percent, Senji managed to land a finishing blow, knocking Kaito out of the stage and winning the match. Daiki threw his controller in anger. Aoi and Kaito were both speechless. Senji crossed his arms, grinning as he looked up at Kaito on the bed. He lightly slapped his palm onto his face.

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"Holy shit you actually broke my win streak..." Kaito murmured. Moving his hand, he revealed a smile. "Congrats Senji. Neither of these fools have ever beat me. Two rounds with you and I lose. Consider me floored."

Kaito extended a fist to Senji. Senji clenched his fist and bumped Kaito's. Daiki stood up, crossing his arms and pounding the floor with his foot.

"Goddamn it! I was hoping to be the one to break his streak! I should've gotten good with Link..." He muttered.

"Ah suck it up. Say why don't you go get us some snacks and something to drink? Let us celebrate my first ever defeat."

"Fine... I'll be back."

Kaito and Aoi chuckled as did Senji, reeling in his victory.

A few hours had passed by. The four friends spent the rest of their time together watching a marathon of a recent new game show where contestants would gather in groups of four to compete in various wacky challenges for prize money. They were binging up to latest episode which aired that same day. With bowls of noodles prepared by Daiki's mom for dinner, they sat and laughed at the antics happening on screen. It was the first time Senji had actually seen Kaito so upbeat. Sure he would seem pleased with conversations or playing games, but to see him actually laughing was a new experience.

"Oh this oughta' be good. Who's gonna' fall into the pool of gelatin?" Kaito wondered.

As the contestants began to hit each other with large batons resembling ear cleaners, one-by-one they fell off into the pool below the bridge. At the end, only a brutish man remained with the rest coated in green gelatin. Daiki was crying from how much harder he was cackling compared to the others.

"Good grief! What an absolute monster that man is!" Aoi commented.

"I wonder how the four of us would fare in something like this?" Senji pondered.

Kaito glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. He slurped up the last of the noodles then sat the bowl down, resting an arm on Senji's shoulder.

"Not a bad idea my friend. Believe it or not, Daiki is actually quite skilled at soccer. With the four of us and our different... Skill sets? Sure we'll call it that. I betcha' we would make a hell of a team."

"Y-you think so?"

"Absolutely. I'd be the leader keeping the team together and coordinated. Aoi would be cautious and careful making him slippery and hard to defeat. Daiki is pure, unbridled lunacy so where he lacks in brain cells he makes up for with sheer athleticism. You... You're pretty calm and collected so I assume you could be tactical and look for any advantage possible. Think about it. Four heads put together."

Daiki and Aoi looked to each other with glee then over to Kaito and Senji with beaming smiles.

"Hell yeah! We should go to Osaka where they film the show and sign up to compete! Anybody can be a contestant so it's possible!" Daiki spoke with much enthusiasm.

"I agree. Potential future road trip idea?" Aoi suggested.

Kaito nodded in agreement. He clenched his fist and held it right up in front of his face.

"Looks like it's settled. Come summer break, we're taking a trip to Osaka. So make sure you don't fucking slack on your grades Daiki. Got it?" He demanded.

"Y-yes sir!" Daiki said making a salute gesture.

"Set in stone. We win that prize money... Split it up between us four... We're set for a long time."

Senji never thought about the idea of taking a road trip with his friends. Even back in Tokyo he never ventured outside the city with anyone. With the first summer plans laid out, he was already anticipating the final days of school and what would come afterwards.

Senji and his friends had to part ways after finishing up the new episode. Daiki waved them off. Aoi headed off home while Kaito and Senji stood on the sidewalk just outside Daiki's home. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, Kaito turned to Senji.

"Say Senji..." He said.

"Yeah?" Senji replied.

"Why don't we take a little walk. I'm... Not ready to head home yet." His head lowered slightly.

"Oh? I suppose there is some time before my curfew. Sure. Where should we go?"

"The park is nearby. Let's head there."

Kaito led the way as Senji followed. With the sun beginning to set, the neighborhood had quieted down since this morning. Nestled between the suburbs and downtown was a large open park complete with plenty of trees, freshly paved walkways, benches, bathrooms, a couple playgrounds where some kids were still running around freely while their parents sat reading books, a shrine and a central area where a beautiful fountain stood. Kaito kept his head relatively low along the way.

"Wow... This is one hell of a park." Senji noted. His eyes gleamed at the sheer size of the park just ahead of them.

"It's the cornerstone of Nakamura. Downtown doesn't have anything spectacular so the park is a popular place to kill time. People go on walks or jogs, play with their children or even dogs, and even occasionally have gatherings or events. There's also a shrine here too so ya' know... Lots of people come to pray here too. It's peaceful." Kaito explained.

"Huh. I quite like it here."

Senji took in the environment as they ventured into the park past the entrances marked by stone archways. The shrine in particular caught Senji's attention. Part of him wanted to head over to it. Once they were in the vicinity of the central area where the fountain was, Kaito stopped in front of it. He looked up at the fountain, taking in a deep breath.

"Can I tell you something Senji? I know I mentioned it days ago so... It only feels right that I open up a little to ya' now."

"Huh? I..I mean, sure."

"Remember when I mentioned that I didn't want to bring up my home life? Well... Frankly because it's shit. Also why I didn't want to go home yet once we left Daiki's place..."

Senji's eyebrows raised. He stepped closer until he was right next to Kaito.

"What... Do you mean Kaito?"

"... Truth is, my home life is a mess. I only live with my dad. Mom left him five years ago because she got tired of his shit. He drinks every day, constantly smokes so the house always smells like cigarettes, hardly ever cleans anything and was abusive towards my mom... Both physically and verbally. Fuck knows where she went off to now after the divorce. Haven't seen her since. He works at the superstore as a manager so he makes good enough money to keep us stable. But I can tell he hates it. The constant stress of running the place wears him down day after day. I don't know what fucking went wrong with his mind... He used to be the nicest, most caring man ever. It's how he even landed my mom in the first place and had me as a result... Heh look how that ended up. I don't like being around him. I just hole up inside my room. He's lazy so he hardly ever cooks and when he does it's mediocre at best so takeout or microwave meals is usually what dinner comes out to be. So... Now you know. Without the guys and now you, I may have just given up. Tied the noose and ended it..."

Senji felt his heart sink to his stomach hearing all of this. He placed a hand on Kaito's shoulder.

"Hey I'm... I'm sorry to hear that. Really..." He murmured, trying to comfort him. Kaito snickered coldly.

"... The guys are lucky to have their parents and healthy relationships. I know you said you lost your dad... I would at least hope you and your mom have a healthy relationship too."

"Yeah we do... She's the strongest woman I know. We haven't even fully moved on but... She never just gave up and we're learning to move on."

"Hm. I'm glad to hear that. And... Thanks. You've made a fine addition to our little group, Senji."

Senji just nodded. He took the hand off of Kaito's shoulder then glanced over at the shrine again. Kaito turned to see him looking that way.

"Thank you for becoming my friends. For making adjusting to life here a little easier. Um... I think I'm going to visit the shrine for a moment." Senji stated.

"Go ahead. I'll be here."

Senji walked over to the small shrine. It was an elegantly-carved shrine painted red complete with an offering box, a small box for taking fortune slips and a bunch of ema hanging from a separate display. He approached the shrine, tossing the few coins he had in his back pocket into the offering box then got down onto his knees, cupping his hands together to pray. In his mind he prayed for his father, for a hopeful path going forward for him and his mother, and for his friendships to blossom. Kaito just stood in place and silently watched him from the fountain. His expression showed one of pain but also of comfort.