“What was it that we told you earlier this morning?” asked Eki, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the two males sat down seiza style on the floor. “No unnecessary food wastage.”

“But Rei won…” mumbled Tsugi, an extremely noteworthy pouting expression on his face as he remained sitting on the floor. “He said he would guarantee food if he won…”

“Exactly! We did what you wanted, no complaining, no nothing, so now you should shut up and let us do what we want too,” grumbled Mitaru, his arms also crossed over his chest. One of his fingers impatiently tapped on his upper arm. “What does it matter to you if we burned some food until it became charcoal!? It happens to the best!”

“No, it happens when you start playing around in the kitchen,” pointed out Ikusaki, leaning the back of his head on the backrest of the sofa so he could take a peek at the two offenders and the soldier admonishing them. “I don’t remember burning food to the point it became an energy source and I’ve been cooking since I was a kid.”

“No one asked for your opinion!” barked Mitaru, glaring daggers at Ikusaki. “It’s not like we burned down the house or anything! Just keep on watching TV or whatever.”

“You didn’t burn down the house because Yasuhisa put the fire out before it killed us all!” growled back Ikusaki, turning his body on the sofa so he could accusingly point with his index finger at the rebuking offender.

“What exactly has happened now?” asked Murayama in the form of a sigh, coming down the stairs linked to the upper floor together with Rei. He gave a couple of sniffs. “And why does it smell like smoke here?”

“Tsugi and Mitaru got a little bit too excited in the kitchen and burned down the food they were trying to cook,” explained Eki, opening the kitchen’s door to show his superior the fire marks in the wall next to the stove. “We should install smoke and fire detectors in this building. As a future precaution.”

“No wonder Rei was saying we should go back inside for the day…” groaned Murayama, half facepalming himself as he noticed the wall in the kitchen completely black and the stovetop deformed and wet from putting the fire out with the fire extinguisher. “Tsugi, no cooking until we replace the stove and the smoke and fire detectors are installed.”

“Ehhh…” complained Tsugi, his shoulders slumping down in total heartbreak. “What are we going to eat then?”

“Tomorrow you’re going to Tokyo and there’s plenty of food there,” reassured Eki with a soft smile on his lips. He grabbed the super soldier by the arm and started pulling him up. For better and worse, it would be safer if he kept Tsugi physically away from the kitchen area. “More food than what you can cook in this kitchen. We can also go shopping for the needed appliances while we’re there. Why don’t we go browse the internet for stores?”

“Okay…” mumbled Tsugi, dragging his feet as he was led back inside of the living room area by Eki.

“Atsumu, it’s my turn to control the TV!”, suddenly exclaimed Mitaru after glancing to the clock on the wall and noticing how late it was already. He popped out next to the sofa in the blink of an eye, snatching the remote control from Atsumu’s hand.

“Please don’t start fighting again…” groaned Miue, already sliding his body sideways to put as much distance from the two super soldiers as the sofa’s length allowed. “I’m not about to listen to another bickering session over which channel is the best.”

“Don’t worry, Senpai, Mitaru can have the TV all to himself~” said Atsumu with a sing-song voice, leisurely getting up from the sofa and skipping towards the large table placed on the other side of the living room. “Because now I can have Rei-chan all to my-”

“He’s been taken already, though,” pointed out Azuma, adjusting his glasses as he sideways glanced at the comfortably sat down Rei - the chosen seat had obviously been Iru’s lap. “You should have acted sooner.”

“Awww…” sobbed Atsumu, his cheerfulness deflated to gloom as if a burst balloon.

“You should start wearing warmer clothes while you’re in the rooftop,” advised Iru, gently cupping the sides of Rei’s features. “You’re ice cold, Rei.”

“You’re warm enough for the two of us,” said Rei, nestling the side of his head on the nook of Iru’s neck.

“Hey, less flirting, more playing,” requested Mizusaki, moving one of his pieces across the chessboard.

“Why the rush?” scoffed Iru, adjusting Rei’s sitting position on his lap so he could more easily reach his pieces. Once he was satisfied with the result, having made sure that Rei could soak up as much of his body warmth as possible, he motioned his hand forward to make his next move. “...”

“Is something the matter, Iru?” innocently asked Mizusaki, leaning closer to the table so he could take a better look at the super soldier’s face. Second after second passed by but Iru’s hand remained unmoving midair. In tandem, Mizusaki’s lips slowly arched into a smirk.

“...” Iru lowered his hand back to Rei’s upper legs, his gaze still stuck on the chessboard.

“Checkmate~” purred Mizusaki, victoriously raising his closed fist high in the air.

What began with a soft, flabbergasted ‘Eh?’ soon became loud yelps of surprise and countless feet thundering through the living room to reach the table and the miraculous chess game in it.

“How the fuck…!?” interjected Ikusaki, his eyes wide open in shock and mouth left hanging open as he couldn’t even find it in himself to finish his sentence.

“No way… Iru lost…?” gasped Atsumu, his expression more surprised with that outcome than the person in question, who calmly remained sat down in his seat with Rei cuddling on his lap.

“Mizusaki, what did you do!?” asked Azuma, intently studying the chessboard to try to figure out how that victory came into being. As far as he could tell, there was no apparent winner to the game - if anything, both black and white pieces were in midgame positions. Iru’s king was far from being killed by any of the enemy pieces.

“When you’re about to make your play, you always picture the chessboard a few moves ahead, don’t you, Iru?” inquired Mizusaki, straightening his sitting position while motioning one of his hands towards the chessboard. As he spoke, he started moving piece after piece, be it his own, be it Iru’s. “Since you systematically do that, it means you have several made-ahead plans always ready to be put into motion. Battle strategies that can adapt themselves to any change the enemy may try out. Obviously, that also means putting yourself in your enemy’s shoes. And that’s why you lost. Because you see, today I was playing to lose~ You accidentally mirrored my moves before I could make them and unknowingly inverted the chessboard. There was nothing to be done when you realised it. Because whatever it is you’re doing, you always do it with victory in mind.”

When Mizusaki made the last move, Iru’s king was undeniably dead - the perfect proof to the game that had been lost before it was over.

“Heh, I’m saying all of these smug words but this was my first and last victory against you, Iru,” snorted Mizusaki, leisurely putting his hands on the back of his head while fully leaning on the backrest of his chair. “You’ve acquired my ‘loser becomes the winner’ strategy, after all~”

“Wait… Could it be you didn’t actually cheat in the written exam?” noted Miue, a frown on his brows as he closely studied his subordinate. “Did you really answer all of those questions correctly with your own knowledge?”

“Who knows?” answered Mizusaki, shrugging his shoulders in an overdramatic fashion. “If you beat me in a game, I’ll tell you~ Hehehehe! Oh! And speaking of which~ Is there anything you want to tell me, Ikusaki? Hm? Is there, is there?”

“Ugh… Okay, okay! You were right and I was wrong!” grumbled Ikusaki, averting looking at Mizusaki’s taunting smirk. “Happy now?”

“I’m the happiest man on Earth!” laughed Mizusaki after having stuck his tongue out at Ikusaki - much like a small child would have to mock a friend of the same age.

“Iru-kun,” called Rei amid the total ruckus the living room was becoming. He leaned his head closer to Iru’s and gently kissed his cheek. “It’s okay to lose now and then. I know you always win when it really matters.”

“Yes, I know, my ‘Beatrice’,” reassured Iru, kissing the top of Rei’s head in response. “I’m able to learn from my mistakes. I will not underestimate the ‘weird’ ones a second time.”

Yes, that we should not, added Rei in the back of his mind, quickly shifting his grey eyes back to the table where the human victory was being celebrated.

Again. He was feeling that gaze again.