“You know, no matter how many reports I read, I can still discover new and creative ways of getting disgusted…” groaned Ikusaki, though his voice had a certain melancholic tone to it. “Why the fuck do they need to add autopsy details to the poor guys that got killed by them inside of the lab? They’re dead! Why should anyone care if Mitaru crushed their skulls or shoved a plastic spoon down their throats…?”

“Just be glad you don’t have to read reports about torture results,” barked Miue, a deeper frown than usual creasing his brows. “I think I finally got used to it, even if just barely, but holy shit if all of this crap doesn’t fucking piss me off to no end!”

“You sure sound like it, Miue-san,” said Mizusaki after a small snort. He threw a small folder to on top of the table and grabbed the next one, sluggishly adjusting the single earphone he had in one of his ears. “And you’re right. After a while, you do get used to it, even to the fact there are new and creative disgusting surprises awaiting us in nearly all of them. Though really, what exactly were you expecting of things that came from a lab focusing on illegal human experiments?”

“If you read these with that mindset, then there’s no space for surprises,” pointed out Eki, taking a small break to drink some coffee and rest his eye. “You just constantly expect the worse out of all possibilities. Even from those we didn’t know that could be possible...”

“Lil’ Pandora boxes in paper format, huh~” acknowledged Mizusaki, his eyes quickly going through the content of the first report of the folder. He suddenly came to a halt, however, a knowing smirk slowly tugging at the corner of his lips. “Ohh… Now that one just gave me a brilliant idea!”

“Guys, let’s evacuate right now,” warned Ikusaki, pushing his chair further away from his squadmate. “Mizusaki’s ideas always end up badly for us.”

“They do not!” yelped Mizusaki, loudly dropping the folder on top of the table. “How many times have I saved your ass since our squad was created? And not just you, but Eki-san and Miue-san too? From all of those times, how many of them were because of my brilliant, out of the box plans?”

“Plenty of times, yes,” acknowledged Miue, his eyes still fixed on the papers he was currently going through. “But those plans always backfired on us in some kind of way. How many weeks did it take the Navy to remove the containers from the sea after the smuggling cargo ship was sunk?”

“I have absolutely no control over where underwater boulders and ocean currents are located,” said Mizusaki in his own defence, smugly turning his head in the opposite direction from where his second-in-command was sat down at. “The objective was to shipwreck it before it reached the high sea and that’s what happened. It’s not my fault the currents were stronger than expected that day and the cargo ship fully sunk down.”

“The company invasion and hostage case?” inquired Eki this time, putting down his empty cup on the table and taking hold of the next reading material on his list.

“I told you this time and time again,” sighed Mizusaki, rolling his eyes around just the slightest. “The floor plan that was given to us was incomplete. It didn’t include certain areas of the buildings because of the funny, little illegal businesses the company was running on the sidelines. I can’t include something in a hostage rescue plan if I don’t know it’s there in the first place. We didn’t get lost because of me, it was because of the company’s illegalities!”

“Okinawa?” shortly asked Ikusaki, a knowing smirk on his lips. He knew just the mention of that place in this conversation’s context would make his squadmate pop.

“Now you’re just trying to get on my case,” grumbled Mizusaki, his eyes tightening into a glare as he sideways glanced at Ikusaki. “If not even our spies knew about it, how the heck was I supposed to know the Americans were aiding Korea dropping some ‘gifts’ down their neighbour’s chimneys like freaking Santa Claus!? Besides, even though we were fighting two different countries from two different directions, we still won, right!?”

“You’re just as much as a troublemaker with your plans as our new ‘neighbours’ are,” scoffed Miue, an amused expression on his face as he observed the frustration beneath Mizusaki’s words. “No wonder you get along so well with Iru and Azuma. With Atsumu and Tsugi too, in a roundabout way.”

“If you call being pestered by Azuma with his nonstop discourses about ‘I’m not a tsundere and this is proof number insert-two-digit-number-here’, or having Iru slaughter me at chess from dinner time until well past midnight…” sighed Mizusaki, letting the back of his head drop against the backrest of the chair he was sitting at. “Yeah, I guess we do get along. It’s sort of like all of them, actually. We get along by not getting along or something like that.”

“Weirdoes will always get along with other weirdoes,” snickered Ikusaki, gaining another glare from Mizusaki. “It’s good that one of us has successfully managed to be included in their group, though. It’s as if the chance of suddenly being killed by the Ms has been reduced by 5%.”

“Hm… You think so?” asked Mizusaki, tilting his head slightly while leaving it leaned on the backrest. “I don’t think M0 likes me all that much. No, more like, doesn’t like us all that much. When Iru’s not sticking to him like glue, he’s always on his own. After we finish eating dinner, he runs off to the rooftop and spends there the rest of the night. At first, I thought he was just feeling jealous and sulking because Iru spends so many hours playing against me and doesn’t pay him much attention during those times but… He doesn’t act aggressive with us, he talks with us when needed and we gotta thank him for still being alive, if what Atsumu told Miue-san is true. But I still have the feeling he’s the one who treats us more coldly out of all six of them.”

“He gets along with Murayama-san,” corrected Eki. “When M0’s at the rooftop, Murayama-san is usually there with him. Two days ago, when I was looking for Murayama-san to deliver him some documents from Nakatani-san, I bumped into the two of them talking about convenience stores there. I think meeting there to have ‘human classes’ has become an unspoken agreement between the two of them.”

“Well, colour me fucking surprised!” yelped Miue, the folder slipping from his hands and falling on top of the table. “How come Iru hasn’t attempted to kill Murayama yet!? Even if he’s busy playing chess against Mizusaki, I doubt he has lowered his guard down when it comes to M0!”

“Murayama-san, you have doubled my respect for you…” mumbled Ikusaki, feeling a shudder run down his spine.

“I guess Murayama-san is also on the right path to be accepted by the Ms, like it’s happening with Mizusaki,” said Eki, a small smile on his lips as he gave a quick shrug with his shoulders. “Little by little, progress is being made. Maybe they’ll be able to become part of human society one day.”

“Yeah…” softly acknowledged Mizusaki with a noncommittal tone. He straightened the folder on top of the table and turned to the next page, his eyes not fully focused on the scientific jargon written all over it. But is it really? Call me paranoid, call me a worrywart, but all I see is the two of them exploiting the other’s weakness to get closer. Is that why Iru hasn’t done anything about it yet? Who is he using and manipulating this time? Is Murayama-san the target again… or is it actually M0? “Argh! I have no freaking idea of what’s going on here!!!!”

“Woah!” yelped Ikusaki, his body startling slightly at Mizusaki’s sudden outburst. “Mitsu is supposed to show up in a bit. Ask her about it then. No need to freak out like that.”

“That’s not-” started Mizusaki with an exasperated voice, but the sudden opening of the door made him cut his words short.

“Guys, good news!!” announced Mitsu, a huge happy smile on her face as she nearly skipped on her way inside of the conference room. “Mi-chan has woken up from his resting period~!!”