As they make it back, officers have arrived and started talking to the staff. Mr. Yamada turns and gets excited seeing his son again.

“Tsuki!” He runs over to them and picks up Tsuki in his arms. “What happened? Are you all alright?”

He looks at Tsuki’s leg then at Shiori and Hikigaya. They nod as Tsuki answers.

“It was just some wild coyote. That’s all.”

He smiles at his dad while lying, feeling he wouldn’t believe him anyway. Mr. Yamada thanks Shiori and Hikigaya dearly then brings Tsuki to the ambulance for medical help. They stand and watch as Ms. Samuel walks over to them and bonks them both on the heads.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Shiori shouts, holding her head.

“For scaring me like that!”

She yells back. Hikigaya and Shiori, who were mad that they got bonked, calm down realizing that they just ran off the way they did. Ms. Samuel then crouches down and hugs them both.

“I’m glad you’re safe…”

She whispers in relief, tearing up a bit as they hug her back. After a moment, she lets go and rubs her eyes.

“You two gave us quite a scare there, running off like that into a haunted forest. Next time, you should really listen to me though.”

Shiori and Hikigaya look at each other knowing if they hadn’t run off, Tsuki would likely be hurt or worse. As she talks to them, the others pop their heads out seeing Shiori and Hikigaya. They then bolt out and tackle them, crying out in relief. Ms. Samuel is shocked at their friends’ sudden show of care. Lucy and Chizuru hug onto Shiori as Sugawara and Haru hug onto Hikigaya with even Ryuji holding onto Hikigaya’s shoulder showing signs of worry a s they all cry in relief.

“Ow ow ow!” Shiori whines.

“It was so scary! You just ran out then there was the scream!” Chizuru cries.

“We didn’t know what to do! We thought you guys were gonna die for sure!” Haru cries too.

“Haha! We’re alright guys, seriously!”

Hikigaya says as Ms. Samuel watches them, sighing a bit before smiling softly.

‘I didn’t realize their friends cared so much for them. Maybe they are turning around already.’ She thinks, placing her hand over her mouth gently before speaking up. “Regardless, you both should go see a medic. Make sure you guys are actually okay, understood?”

She commands. They both nod and do as they’re told. 

Eventually everything settles down and the peace officers and medics finish up. The staff get all the kids gathered up and back onto the bus to head home, calling the day a bit early. Mr. Yamada and Tsuki both wave goodbye as they drive off. Without shifting his gaze from the bus, Tsuki speaks to his dad.

“Dad?”

“What is it, Tsuki?” He responds, looking at his son.

“I think I know where I want to go for high school.”

Tsuki says with a pleasant look on his face. Mr. Yamada smiles as he pats his son on the back gently.

On the bus ride home, Shiori and Hikigaya both sleep the whole way on each other like they did before. This time with less drool. The others giggle about the cuteness of the two of them as the bus eventually makes it back home.

“WHAT HAPPENED?!” Hamasaki and Asami shout.

Once they got home, both Hikigaya and Shiori’s parents were waiting for them outside of their homes after getting told what happened. Shiori and Hikigaya stand there with their eyes closed and some sweat coming down as their parents yell at them.

“I can’t believe you two ran off on your own like that!” Hamasaki scolds.

“What were you even thinking?! What if something bad happened to you guys!?” Asami gets more in Hikigaya’s face than Hamasaki does to Shiori.

“What were we supposed to do? Just sit back and let the kid die?” Hikigaya responds.

“I’m sorry we acted so rash but we had to do something.”

Shiori adds with an understanding but still resolute tone. Hamasaki looks at them angrily for a moment before sighing and rubbing her forehead.

“You kids need to be more careful. Asami is right, what if it was something too much for you? Then what? Three kids would’ve lost their lives.”

Shiori looks down.

“Others are not your responsibility to handle.”

Hamasaki says. Shiori feels more upset that her mom is getting frustrated rather than relieved that she saved a life today. Hamasaki notices the look on Shiori’s face and gets a conflicted look. Asami feels this and moves the situation forward.

“Go inside and get yourselves cleaned up. We’re gonna have dinner together tonight and you’re gonna explain to Takanou what happened, both of you.”

She commands sternly but softer than before. They both nod and do as they’re told.

Later that night, after Takanou got home from work, they all sit at a dining table together in silence. Hikigaya and Shiori eat quietly while their parents look at them. Riku sits on the side, quietly, not entirely sure what’s going on. Takanou processes what he was told.

“So all that really happened, huh?”

They nod.

“And are you sure you’re both alright?”

They nod again. Takanou leans back in his chair a bit and scratches the back of his head. He looks over at Shiori once again and sees tears beginning to form in her eye. He leans over and places his hand open near her on the table.

“Shiori, you’re not in trouble. But you’ve got to understand where your mother is coming from, right?”

Shiori looks up at him a bit.

“We don’t mean to make you both feel like what you did was wrong or you’re being punished for it. But it was very dangerous to run out on your own like that without knowing anything of what’s going on or telling anyone where you’re going. Your mothers just love you dearly and were terrified to hear that both of you got hurt fighting off some animal in the woods.”

Hikigaya looks up too. Asami and Hamasaki look at them warmly. 

“We understand that you’re both not helpless children anymore but in our eyes you’ll always be our little babies. And it scares us to death to know you may be getting hurt out there or worse.” He says, looking at Hikigaya with caring eyes as well. “It’ll take us some time to adjust and come to trust that you know what you’re doing but for now just promise us that you'll be more careful. Especially if you are off doing things like this, okay?”

He says, doing his best to explain to them why they feel the way they do. They nod once more, looking more full of life than before. Takanou smiles at them as Hamasaki leans over and kisses him on the cheek.

“Well said.”

He blushes and laughs a bit.

“Well, you know, I’m not very good at these kinds of things.”

He says awkwardly as Asami giggles. Soon, they finish eating, Asami and Hikigaya thank them for having them over and head on out. As Shiori and the others get up to begin cleaning, Takanou comes over to Shiori and pats her on the head.

“Just so you know, I’m very proud of you for saving that boy.”

She looks at him and smiles warmly, tearing up a bit. Riku then hugs her around her legs smiling.

“Yeah, me too!”

Hamasaki looks at them from the kitchen, smiling warmly. 

‘Oh, what would I do without that man?’ She thinks with a loving tone.

In the shadows cast by a night sky with barely visible stars, at an unknown location, the warehouse that Frontier and the other criminals escaped to sits, filled with criminals of the Devil’s Syndicate. The young woman from before is sitting on a bunk bed in the barracks. She is reading a magazine when another worker’s watch starts beeping. The young woman looks over as the worker gets out of bed and heads for the door.

“Is something happening?” The woman asks, more concerned than interested.

“Yeah, the commander is coming in.” He says with a blank stare. The woman’s eyes widen.

“Commander? Again? Today?” She asks with a scared, shaky voice.

“Yep.”

He says, turning his back to her and leaving as the young woman quickly gets to her feet and follows. Everyone gathers at a planning bench, awaiting the arrival of the commander. They chat as the young woman stands shyly by herself not talking to anyone. Suddenly the door swings open as a large figure steps through followed by Frontier. Everyone goes quiet as he comes towards the bench. He is a tall man wearing a cream suit with a red undershirt and no tie. Just a weird symbol pendant where a tie would be. He stands not saying a word, just looking at the large group of underlings in front of him before smiling.

“First of all, I’d like to welcome all the new recruits to our team here. The boss will certainly be glad to see so many new faces. And so strong looking too. Remarkable. But that isn’t why I have come here today.”

He says, taking a step forward.

“As I am sure many of you know, we are working on a large scale job that is going to require all hands on deck. Every single one of you will be given a task to accomplish here in this District. Whether that be resource collection, information gathering or simple support, I expect you to fulfill your duty 100%.”

As he speaks, he walks slowly through the crowd. Motioning around with his hands with gentle, fine movements.

“I do not ask anything unfair. Your jobs are assigned to you based on your level of skill after all. The boss is very particular that way.”

As Commander Spark speaks, the young woman almost hides behind the others as she is quite intimidated by him. He looks over to her and makes eye contact for a moment which causes her to jump. His eyes sharpen as his smile tightens before looking away.

“Which is why I’d like to call forward Stone, Gabriel and Yagi.”

The group looks back to see the three men who attacked Sugawara standing with surprised looks on their faces. They do as they’re told and come closer to the bench.

“You see, these three were given the job of tool collection. They were told to approach a child, no older than 13 years of age, and simply get the Ito tech like we asked. By any means necessary. I mean, how hard would that be, right? The child’s parents aren’t even in town, it’s only him. But do we see any Ito tech around here? No? Well of course not, because they, all three of them, were beaten by two high school students the same age as the child.”

Despite the pleasantness in his voice and demeanor, his words ring with a sense of a spite. The others start whispering to themselves about them as the three men look nervous.

“But, to be fair, they said that those children seemingly had extraordinary skill and precision.” He suddenly claps his hands together with a casual look. “So, here’s what we’re gonna do.”

Spark then lifts his hand as a glowing energy forms around it and blasts a beam at Stone which then connects to the other two. After a moment of yelling they turn to a pile of ash. Everyone is quiet but terrified how quickly he killed those three. The young woman holds her head freaking out and turns away in fear.

“Ms. Amber.”

The young woman, who’s name is Amber, gets a terrified look.

“Please, come here.”

He holds his hand out at her and motions for her to come to him. The others step away from her as she slowly turns around. She shakingly steps towards him, not wasting a second to disobey him. Once she’s in front of him, he lifts her head to look at him with a gentle finger under her chin.

“I have been made aware that you told Fullsky quite a bit of information on your last mission. Is that correct?”

She nods softly.

“I see.” He says with a low tone, gently grabbing her chin between his index finger and thumb. “Despite that, however, you still drove the truck all the way here, leaving her behind and successfully bringing the equipment back undamaged. For that, I am willing to overlook your potential betrayal but it isn’t going to happen again, right?”

He leans in closer as she nods again but he grabs her chin tighter, yanking her just a bit.

“Right?”

“R-right…” She squeaks out between gulps.

“Good.”

He smiles. He lets her go and changes his attention to the rest of the group.

“You will all be sent back to the District to live your normal lives until you are given further orders by me. If you have no life outside of the Devil’s Syndicate, you are welcome to stay here. Dismissed.”

He motions for them to leave and they do. Amber quickly turns and walks away to get her things and heads out like many of the others do. Frontier stares at her intently as she does, a look of contempt on her face.