Riley Ross

"Tomoe…"

"Girl…"

The others had no idea what to do or how to console Tomoe. They've only known her for a very short amount of time, but they knew her as someone incredibly stoic, almost robotic. But now, out of nowhere, her shoulders were slumped and trembling.

She only shed a single tear, and it was obvious that she was trying to stop more from trailing away from her eyes.

Hannah, who was sitting beside her and clutching her hand, also didn't say anything at all. She just waited for her. Not be calm, no—she wasn't going to be calm anytime soon.

She just waited for her to be ready, not necessarily to tell them what happened, but to tell them anything, just anything.

Tomoe bit her lips, hard enough to almost make them bleed. But as soon as Hannah saw that, she gripped her hand tighter, not to the point that it hurt, but enough.

Tomoe slightly gasped, sneaking a glance toward Hannah before looking at the others. And when she realized they were all looking at her with concerned looks on their faces, she immediately took in a deep breath and shook her head.

"I'm f…" At any other circumstance, she usually wouldn't have any problem saying that she was fine—but for some reason, the words were having a hard time escaping her throat.

These people don't need to know about me. —were her thoughts. But the more the thought surfaced in her mind, the more her own lips betrayed her, and the less she wanted to hide away from them.

She was free now, and she could say and do whatever she wanted… so, what about actually telling them about herself… even if just a little?

But no.

They didn't need to know about her at all. And why would it even matter in the first place? These people barely know her, and the only reason she was hanging out with them was because of… him.

She glanced at Riley, and unlike the rest of the Baby Crew, he was casually finishing up his dessert… as well as his sister's.

…That was right.

The only reason she was in this group was because of him, and in order to stay in this group and keep a close watch of him… she needed to blend in and be one of them. She needed to… open up.

Yes.

That was the only reason why she was going to share what she was going through right now. "My… family has been murdered by Darkday."

"What?!"

Everyone had their own reactions to what Tomoe casually uttered to them. Gracey was about to tell her to repeat herself, but knew this wasn't the right time to be doing anything else at all but to try and listen to her.

And so, she calmed herself down, planting her back on the seat as she glanced at the other members of the Baby Crew, who seemed even more stunned than she was.

"Tomoe…" Hannah unknowingly tightened her grip even further. But Tomoe shook her head, and told them the very same thing she told the FBI—they were… abusive.

She told a lot more, but of course, some embellishments were of order—half lie, half truth. She started to calm down, wiping the other tears that almost threatened to fall from her eyes. She made sure to paint her mother and her boyfriend in an extremely bad light, while very subtly insinuating that Darkday could have very well saved her from suffering the same fate as her stepbrother.

The Baby Crew still didn't say anything even as Tomoe wrapped up her story, they only stared at her, and then at each other in disbelief and… disgust.

"W—"

And before any of them could offer any words, Tomoe shook her head and stopped them.

"I… don't need any words of condolence. And I don't need to be cuddled. But… thank you."

"Hey…" Gracey sniffled, her eyes red from almost being on the verge of tears, almost.

"That's what we're here for," she said, placing her hand over Hannah's hand that was also on Tomoe's hand. "Baby Crew for life."

Hannah raised an eyebrow and was about to remove her hand, but Bella also placed her hand over theirs.

"You already my sisters," she said with a smile on her face. "Ain't nothin' in this world that could change that already. Nothing."

"Y-yes." Pauline also placed her hand above Bella's, but she didn't really say anything other than nod at Tomoe.

And lastly, V, who hovered her hand just a little bit above everyone's hands in fear that she might prick Pauline with her sudden little sparks of electricity. And like Pauline, she didn't say anything at all.

As for Riley, well… he had no idea what they were trying to do.

"Are all of you deciding on who would pay for everything we ordered?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, once again placing his spoon on the table as he glanced at everyone's hands.

"I believe as the second youngest in the crew, I have certain privileges that waive me from any financial responsibility to the group. V should also be exempted from this, crewmates."

"Riley…" Hannah sighed. She glared at her brother, her eyes darting back and forth as if quietly telling him to put his hand on the deck… or else.

"Just put your fucking hand on it."

"Very well. Since you asked nicely, Sister." Riley also sighed, carefully placing his hand above V's and touching it.

The sparks in her eyes started to trickle even wilder as she felt Riley's hand. She glanced at him for a moment, and then a hint, just a very small hint of a smile crept onto her face—of course, she wasn't as insensitive as to make this about her.

She quickly turned her focus back to Tomoe and nodded to her.

"We're here for you… always."

"Hell yeah," Gracey said, smirking as she slightly shook their deck of hands. "We're here for you even if you don't need us. And… you are coming to the Philippines with us, right?"

"Gra—Gary." Hannah snarled at her, but Tomoe quickly shook her head before ultimately nodding.

"I will—there is nothing left for me in that house anyway."

"Oh…" Hannah blinked.

"Then… why don't you stay with us Friday night?" she volunteered. "We're all going to meet up anyway, so—"

"That… would be ideal." Tomoe nodded. "Thank you, Hannah Ross."

"Just… Hannah."

"And just her?" Gracey moved her hand away from the deck, and everyone started taking their own hands away and leaning back to their seats. "Can't we just… all stay over at your place?"

"You—" Hannah didn't finish her words and kicked Gracey's foot under the table. Gracey only raised an eyebrow at that, but then quickly realized what she wanted to tell her as soon as she remembered… that all of their parents were also invited on the trip.

"Don't worry, I'll send someone to escort all of you to the airstrip. This will be…

…this will be very good for us."

***

"Since when did I need an appointment to meet you, oh mighty Whiteking?"

"Ignore them. It's just protocol. I don't have much time, so let's make whatever this is quick and just catch up some other time."

Somewhere on the campus, detectives Dorothy and Jake followed Prophet inside an unusually large office with absolutely nothing in it but a desk and some sofas, and chairs.

They expected all sorts of advanced technology never before seen since they were entering Whiteking's office, but there was absolutely nothing here.

"Now…" Whiteking gestured to the two detectives to take a seat, while he went and hugged Prophet.

"What the—" Prophet immediately pushed Whiteking away, stretching his limbs as he waved him away. "You're gonna end up crushing me in that thing."

"Only if you did something bad and stupid. Did you do something bad and stupid?"

"Yeah. Having you as a friend."

"My dudes, I'm your only friend. No, I'm your brother at this point—you haven't even introduced me to this lover of yours. Don't let me doxx you."

Dorothy and Jake looked at each other, completely confused. When they met Whiteking here in the Academy, the atmosphere was… completely different. He was professional and concise to the point that he didn't seem friendly at all.

But now, even with his helmet on, Dorothy could tell that he was smiling underneath it.

"So…" Whiteking sighed, motioning to Prophet to take a seat at the other side of the desk. "...What really brings you here?"

"I'm going to say something ridiculous, and you will be extremely justified if you react violently."

"Huh…" Whiteking tilted his head, his hand brushing against the chair for a moment before he took his seat. "Sounds serious. Throw it at me, then."

"I have a premonition."

"Oh. That's never good."

"I have a suspicion that Darkday's real identity might be your boy. Riley. And Bernard, you can drop the facade—I trust these detectives."

Whiteking didn't say anything and only sat there in silence. He stayed like that for a few seconds before his helmet started to unfold…

…revealing a face devoid of any of the friendliness his tone held. He just looked... annoyed.

About everything.

"Thank you, Berns. Now... shall we talk?"