Denko's Mephisto part 3

This happened a good while ago.

Denko was leaving school exceptionally late today. Therefore, his three friends that usually walk home with him decided to go home first without him. And at least that's what he thought.

"Denko!" A familiar cheerful voice stopped Denko when he walked through the school gate, and as he turned to the voice source, he saw Angeleah approaching him on a bicycle.

"You got a bike," Denko slightly raised his eyebrows, "How did that happen?"

"A friend of mine let me borrow it! After I helped her with something, " said Angeleah proudly, "Now we can do those romantic high school scenes where the boy rides the girl home under the beautiful sunset!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Denko snorted, "You know that I can't even ride a bicycle. How can I even ride you home?"

"You are right... Well, we can swap positions! You get on the back seat and I can ride you home!" Angeleah exclaimed excitedly as she was not fazed by Denko's denial at all.

"Alright then..." Denko saw nothing wrong about it, so he reluctantly got onto the backseat.

As Angeleah started pedaling the bicycle, she couldn't help but start humming, and slowly her humming turned into a singing.

"You are so noisy." Denko said disapprovingly.

"Well, I am a vocalist," Angeleah paused her song, "It's normal for me that I want to sing my heart out at a pleasant time like this."

"No... I think most vocalists have better self-control."

"You are such a killjoy, Denko!" Angeleah protested, "You are saying that because you have never tried to express your feeling through music- Oh! I have an idea! Why don't you give it a try?"

"Eh? You mean singing?" Denko was a bit shocked by the request, "But I don't even sing..."

"Doesn't matter! It's just between you and me! Just sing whatever you want!"

"Well..." Denko looked around, and it seemed like no one was around at the moment, "Here goes nothing."

"小さくて儚くて

今にも消えてしまいそうだった

でも君が照らしてくれた

震えながら燃えて

時にぶつかって欠けたって

何度も磨き続けた"

"Hm? Denko, you sing surprisingly well," Angeleah complimented as she heard Denko's singing, "I haven't heard of this melody and lyrics though, who is this from?"

"Well... no one special."

"Well, okay. But still, keep going!"

"だから 今日はただずっと歌いたいんだ..."

The melody in the flashback snapped Denko back to reality, as the live concert he was in played the exact part that was in his head. He was in the front seat, dressed in a layer of happi coat, swinging a pair of glow sticks along the music rhythm. The performer he was chanting for is a Raikou girl, Miakoda Amaya. She doesn't have a very large group of fans, but Denko surely is one of the most devoted among them. He never missed any of her shows, and today was no different, as he got here early to ensure he got to get as close a spot as possible to see her up close. Fully dressed up, chanting for his idol with skilled wotagei. It is unclear if Miakoda remembers him at all, but the out of place feeling when he was doing silly dance with a completely straight face surely left a lasting impression for anyone else below the stage. But today, behind this blank face of his, it seems like Denko cannot focus on what he usually enjoys, as his head is occupied by something else.

As the concert ended, Denko packed his belongings and was about to leave the venue. But as he stepped out of the front door, he was stopped by a voice from behind.

"You really swung those glow sticks well. You just look just like a complete idol Otaku. I didn't know after everything, Denko-senpai still has this side of his."

Denko turned around to Edrisa before he spoke with a slightly annoyed voice, "You are stalking me, again? Maybe you are not fit to be a school idol, you are more suitable to be a creepy stalker."

"Don't be absurd. I am also a song artist, what's so weird for me to appear in another artist's performance," Edrisa snickered, "But you really have a good taste, Miakoda-sensei is such a good singer."

"She is and I know that. But I feel like you have more things to say other than this," said Denko suspiciously.

"You are quite right about that. And you really also had things hidden from us, didn't you," Edrisa shrugged, "Miakoda Amaya, she is one of the teachers of the music school I, Jor-kun, Angeleah-senpai and the others go to. And if it is not Jor-kun overheard someone talking about that, I wouldn't know that you also attended that school in a very short period before any of us did, and the teacher that you were under was Miakoda-sensei."

"Yes, that was true. So? I didn't hide anything from you two. It is not a thing that is relevant to anything in the first place," Denko replied in disdain.

"Of course it is! Seeing how much you fanboyed over Miakoda-sensei, and taking the time point you were under Miakoda-sensei according to Jor-kun, she should be counted as your very first crush before anyone else," Edrisa teased.

"Ha? Your generation of kids have stretched the definition of crushes a little bit too far, haven't they?" Denko was a bit baffled, "First off, I think my respect or obsession to Miakoda-sensei is pretty healthy. And second, even if she was my crush when I was a kid, who would count a crush on one's teacher who is ten years older as an actual crush?"

"Because now you are a young adult and that age gap is really just a number for now," Edrisa justified confidently, "Anyway, I will take notes on that, it could be useful for your love story."

"What are you? Momo from To Love-ru darkness?" Denko rolled his eyes.

"But now that I think of it, everything makes more sense that you are surprisingly good at singing when you said you don't sing very often," Edrisa folded her arms, "Despite that you only took the lessons for a very short period, you know? I guess it's true when people say that Porygon2 are a very fast-learning species."

"Not just that," Denko continued walking as Edrisa followed him behind, "Angeleah practiced singing a lot in my room, so I inevitably Traced that."

"Well, if that is the case, don't put that talent to waste, bring it to the big stage!" Edrisa gave Denko a light tap on his shoulder.

"You are still not giving up on that, are you?" Denko let out a deep sigh, or maybe even a grunt. He remembered the moment when Jorge showed him and Edrisa that their singing video became viral on the Internet. And the very first thing Denko did was yelling at Edrisa.

"You said no one would recognize you if we put on a mask, why is the top comment of the video just about how they recognize that is you right away?!"

"Well, I guess Edrisa was overconfidently underestimating herself," Jorge spoke out as Edrisa struggled to reply Denko, "Maybe it is hard to recognize Edrisa when she put on a disguise, but I would agree that Edrisa's voice is very recognizable in the Internet."

"Jorge... Just answer me honestly," Denko's voice sounds like he was completely exhausted, "Is the comment section filled with comments that said they wanted to tear me into shreds because I sang with their precious idol?"

"Um... yes... many of them are."

"...how am I supposed to go to school tomorrow?" Denko covered his face with his hands in frustration.

"Relax, Denko-senpai. Although many people have recognized Edrisa, I don't think they actually know who you are," Jorge comforted, "Although I would like to mention that there are also one other group of people commented something really interesting, and I think that's also is one of the bigger reason why your video became so viral."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Well... read the 4th comment from the top..."

Denko and Edrisa took Jorge's phone, they glanced at the comment on the phone screen at the same time.

"I don't know who that boy singing with Edrisa-chan is, and I hated to say this. But damn, he really did sing well. And his voice really complements well with Edrisa-chan too."

Denko stared at the monitor and stayed silent for a while, and he knew Edrisa was too. But instead of staring at the monitor, he felt that Edrisa was staring at him instead, before she finally decided to break silence and yelled at Denko.

"You are the one who caught all the attention with your singing skills! And you dared to blame me?! How are you going to take responsibility for ruining my image in front of my 'big brothers'?"

"Wait, I am the one to be blamed now? I didn't even want to sing well, I just tried hard not to sing badly! You are the one who gets close to me even when I tell you not to. You are the one who made me sing along with you! Why are you putting the blame on me now?!" Denko shouted back.

"Calm down you two. I don't exactly see this is a bad thing, you know?" Jorge said as he stopped Denko and Edrisa from bickering.

"Ha?! What do you mean by that?" Denko and Edrisa simultaneously reacted.

"I think you two would like to continue reading the comments..."

The two continued scrolling through the comment section, until they stopped at the comment they thought what Jorge was talking about.

"I want to see these two collab and make an actual music video."

The two went silent again, and then a few seconds later you can see Edrisa clenched her eyes tightly for a while, before opening them up and turning to Denko.

"Denko-senpai, do you want to... join our music group?"

"No, I told you, I hate performing."

"But Denko-senpai..."

"No, no matter how many times you ask me, the answer is still no," the flashback ended as Denko said the exact same thing in the present, where they already moved to an area with fewer people as they were discussing something that was more private.

"But think of that, rather than Jor-kun writing a song of you and I sing it, wouldn't it be better if you sing it yourself? Which can be a possible project we do in the future if we three work as a group," Edrisa continued trying to persuade.

"You have already said that. And I also told you that it will for sure ruin your everyone's cute-little-sister-girlfriend image even more, which first time I did that you already wanted to strangle me to death," Denko gave her a face of tiredness, "And I don't see why you are suddenly willing to sacrifice all these for the sake of fulfilling the wish of a small group of fans."

"Because I yearn for the possibility of a great piece of art more than anything-"

"Please stop. Every time you said this kind of seemingly grand speech, you are up to nothing good" Denko interrupted as Edrisa tried to emit that not-very-genuine great person aura.

"Wait, hold up! There is something else I think you should consider!" Edrisa tried to stop Denko when he looked like he was about to leave this conversation.

"Hm? What is it now?"

"You and Miakoda-sensei, from what I have observed, even though you showed up for most of the shows she held, you two don't actually interact with each other a lot, do you?" Edrisa explained, "That's because you two don't have the common grounds to build a relationship. But, if you also became a musician, then you two would actually have chances to interact with each other."

"You are bringing this up again? I already said she is just a person that I look up to," Denko once again coldly rejected the idea, but obviously he has stopped walking away, and Edrisa took it as a sign that he was a bit intrigued, so she kept talking.

"I didn't mean you should approach her like she is a girl you want to pursue. But even if she is just a person you look up to, wouldn't you wish her to not just be a lady that is beyond your reach?"

"And the way you want me to reconnect with my old teacher is to partner with you, singing cutesy love songs together on the same stage?" Denko said with a bit of confusion.

"We are just partnering to sing, you know? Yes, maybe there would be some fans that take it too far and start shipping us. But I think most people would have the sense of what is a business and what is real."

"..."

"Oh yeah, you started dating Sekitobara-san, right?" Seeing Denko going silent for quite some time, Edrisa tried to guess what was wrong, "How was it? How was your first date as lovers?"

"Th- that didn't happen yet."

"Wh- what do you mean that didn't happen?" said Edrisa shocked, "You two became a couple for so long. Normally you two would have gone on so many dates by now."

"She did ask me to call and tell her when I have time for a date when I get home right after I 'confessed', and I..."

"And of course you didn't call, and let me guess, you didn't even see her after that," Edrisa continued Denko's sentence as his voice became softer and softer, leaving Denko could do nothing but avert his gaze.

"Denko-senpai, if you do not like the idea of dating Sekitobara-san this much, you should have dumped her as soon as possible. After all, the Adamina issue has been solved already, so there are not many points continuing this Yamato plot line. It is just really messed up that you left her hanging for so long while she was expecting your reply," Edrisa lectured in a calm voice.

"But you were also there to witness that, her face when I 'confessed' to her, I didn't know she was that in love with me and me suggesting she to date me would make her so happy. It is just more messed up to give someone false hope and then immediately break it," said Denko with a guilty feeling.

"...so you are continuing?"

"The mess is created by me, so this will be the way I take responsibility," Denko said with determination.

"Then you will have to reply to Sekitobara-san quickly, don't let a girl wait for too long."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what to do, stop pestering me," Denko started to get aggravated and picked up his bags, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

"Wait, what about the partnership thing?" Edrisa yelled as Denko already walked away several steps.

"I am not interested. Just give up already," said Denko before he disappeared at the corner.

"I am not giving up that easily, you know?" Edrisa screamed, even though she is not sure Denko can hear it.

On the other end, Denko was heading home straight away. A lot of crazy things have been happening to him recently, he didn't even notice this was the first time ever in a while that he went home so early. And as soon as he reached his home, he was greeted by a familiar voice.

"Denkooooo! You are home so early today?!" Angeleah screamed in joy and dashed out to Denko with her arms wide open, which Denko stopped her by pressing his palm on her forehead. Seems like Angeleah broke into Denko's apartment, again, which has happened so many times already that Denko was not even going to give any remarks at this point.

"Denko, why are you coming home so early today? I thought you are going to come as late as you are lately," Angeleah said after she stopped attacking Denko with her bear hug, and went back to the living room and sat on the couch with Denko.

"Well, the thing that I was busy with was not important anymore. Sorry that it seems like that I don't care about what happened around you and the others lately," Denko apologized as he put down his bags, "So uh... anything big happened when I was not around?"

"Oh yeah, Denko, we uh... Smiley Bomber, is going to disband."

"What?" Although he didn't look very surprised, Denko pretty much still cannot believe what he just heard.

"I said, Smiley Bomber is going to disband," Angeleah repeated.

"I heard that, I am asking how that just happened, I thought you guys were still doing alright as of late. Like, who even suggested that?" Denko asked as he started to sound a bit anxious.

"It's Katori-chan who suggested that."

"That's even less possible. Katori, of all people? And last time I met her, she's still-" Denko paused as he remembered the very last time he saw Katori, cold sweat was trickling down his forehead as his eyes started to dilate.

"What is it, Denko?"

"Uh... go on please," Denko stuttered.

"Well anyway, I am sorry that I brought up this news to you. I am afraid that the usual life that us four laughing and having fun together like what we used to will no longer be," said Angeleah apologetically.

"You don't have to apologize to me. This is a decision made within you three. It should be none of my business," Denko stood up and turned his back to Angeleah trying to avoid the eye contact, "If you really want to know how I feel about that, I would say it feel quite pleasant, you guys were too noisy to have around anyway, and now I can finally find some peace and quiet."

"Denko... are you alright?" Although Denko's words might sound kind of mean, Angeleah can tell something is wrong with Denko. But Denko didn't give a lot of response before heading to his room and closing the door. It was still the middle of the afternoon, but Denko landed face first into the bed and already decided to take a nap. More and more troubles had been piling up as of late and Denko was about to break down. But he knew what he would like to do at this point, it has been a long time since the last time he was there anyway.

"You finally decided to show up. Not only last time you took my mask, beat up some gremlins from your school, made my place a lot of unwanted visitors to seek troubles thinking that was my doing, and you also dared to take a long ass break from your work after that. Do you know how much busier it became when you were gone?" Shibuichi, with a very upset tone behind his mask, grumbled to Denko as he met his boss again in his workplace the very next day, since he felt like this place often holds the key to the relief of his problems.

"Shibu-san, I have several things to talk about-"

"Not right now, I said we have gotten busier and I meant it. So get your ass to work already," Shibuichi yelled as he shuffled through some papers on his desk.

"What are we even dealing with today?" Denko asked as he slowly approached Shibuichi's desk.

"We are splitting up the work, so you will be assigned to do some babysitting at the address here," Shibuichi handed over a piece of paper to Denko, "It should not be a problem to handle it alone if it is you. So while you handle this, I will get the other job done. See you later tonight, and don't you dare to pocket the pay."

"But uh... okay..." Denko was originally trying to ask Shibuichi for some advice for his problems, but Shibuichi's tone made it feel like this was not the time for dealing with his personal good. So he decided to take up his current mission and head for the place right away. Besides, working is a good way to help him forget the problems at hand for a moment, he thought.

"Thank you for coming! You are younger than I thought you would be!" The lady who asked for Shibuichi's services said to Denko as he arrived at the place he was sent to, "It won't be very long. I will be back by the evening. But I wanted you to help me to take care of my three baby girls. And uh, don't get too surprised when you find them not looking like me, because they are all adopted."

"Hm? Are they different species from you too?" Denko asked curiously.

"Well, not just from me. All three of them are different species from each other. You see, they were orphans from three different families. But they three were friends since they were in their orphanage, so I couldn't bring myself to separate them and adopted all three of them. They uh... might be a little bit of a handful to you, but they are also really sweet... You will see when you meet them," the lady gave Denko a reassuring smile, which didn't help Denko a lot. And they entered the room where the three girls were. And then,

"You gotta be kidding me," Denko thought.

The species of the three girls waiting in the room, despite being an impossibly unlikely coincidence, happened to be a Wooper, a Zigzagoon and a Kricketot. While their faces didn't resemble his friends at all, they surely reminded him of Angeleah, Charlotte and Katori.

"C'mon girls," the lady beckoned the girls as Denko stood still in shock, "This is Denko, he will be watching after you guys while I am not here. Please be nice to him and listen to what he says!"

"Yes, mommy!" all three girls replied and nodded in unison. And with that the lady was ready to leave and closed the door, leaving Denko with three kids staring at him with their cute round eyes. And then, the Wooper girl decided to be the first one to approach Denko and started a conversation."

"Dedenko, are you going to play with us?"

"Yes, I am. I am going to play with you all as long as you three are going to be good girls. Let's be good friends together," Denko kneeled down and offered a handshake.

The Wooper girl stared at the hand for a bit, and it seemed like she didn't understand the gesture. Until suddenly, she decided to put Denko's hand into her big mouth and tried to nibble. Denko's eyes went wide when he was in shock, that's almost the same as what happened when he first met Angeleah as a kid.

"Hey, stop it! That's very rude!" The Zigzagoon girl tried to pull the wooper's head back, which she very soon let go realizing what she did was wrong, and she apologized.

"Sorry... Dedenko."

"It's okay. You just didn't understand- Ouch!" As Denko was still in the middle of his speech, the Kricketot girl climbed onto Denko and pulled his ponytail very hard.

"Hey, you are a boy, right? Why is your hair this long?" The Kricketot girl asked curiously as she tugged Denko's ponytail.

"It's a style thing- Please, please let go. This hurts!" Denko sounded desperate as he was worried that his hair was going to pull off but he couldn't do anything about it, since he didn't want to accidentally hurt her either.

"Stop! You are hurting him!" The Zigzagoon girl yelled once again.

"Why are you being so mad? He said he will play with us!" The Kricketot girl yelled back.

"Not in a way that would get him hurt!"

"Why are you always ruining the fun?"

"Because you always make trouble and make people sad!"

"Stop... please stop arguing..." The Wooper girl sobbed as she saw her two friends' argument started to get heated up, and even with that it didn't seem to be cooling down any time soon, so she started crying out loud.

Seeing this scene, Denko started to panic. This resembled what usually happened with his friends way too much, and he couldn't believe he would have to encounter that too with three little kids. He slowly put the Kricketot girl down as he felt her grip on his hair was loosened. And then he took both hands of the Zigzagoon girl and the Kricketot girl and kneeled in between them.

"I am alright. So, please stop fighting," said Denko in a gentle voice, "Your mommy said you three have been good friends for so long, right? Do you know? There are millions, billions, trillions people in the world. It is really, really difficult for two people to meet and become best friends, let alone three. You should really cherish this friendship and not fight over small things. And that's why you should... you should..."

Denko found himself struggling to complete the sentence, and before he noticed, tears were already flowing out of his eyes. He kept trying to wipe them off and stop himself, but it was no use.

"Hahaha, why are you crying? I thought you were scolding us. What a weird person!" The Kricketot girl pointed at Denko and laughed at him. But the Wooper girl, on the other hand, saw Denko crying, so she stopped crying.

"Dedenko, are you sad? I can give you a hug! Don't be sad!" The Wooper girl wrapped her arms around Denko's waist and hugged him tight, "How's it? Feeling better?"

"Huh?!...yes..." Denko was a bit shocked by the sudden act of affection and the firm hug of the small Wooper, but soon he calmed down and answered.

"If that is the case, I will give you my hug too!" The Zigzagoon girl followed in and wrapped her arms around Denko.

"No fair! I want a big group hug too!" The Kricketot girl hopped into the hugging pile too and also wrapped her tiny arms around Denko.

"Th- this is nice..." Denko smiled. Even though tears are still running down, the flow slowed down significantly. This was, without a doubt, one of the most embarrassing experiences Denko had so far, but luckily the rest of the babysitting went really smoothly and no troubles had come to him until their mom came back home. It's time for Denko to go home too. Although he remembered that he was asked to see Shibuichi after this, Denko decided to call his boss that he wanted to head home straight away, which Shibuichi returned with a few grumbles but he allowed that anyway.

"Welcome home, Denko!" As always, Angeleah intruded Denko's home and made herself home, and as always, she was trying to give Denko her bear hug attack. But something felt odd this time for Angeleah, as her attack was not being interrupted, and Denko just let her hug him.

"Denko? Are you alright?" Even for Angeleah, she could tell something was not right with Denko, "Ah! Your eyes! They are all swollen and red, did you cry?"

"Huh? Umm..." Denko didn't want to admit it, but he didn't want to lie either, so he didn't answer, and suddenly hugged Angeleah tightly with his head resting on Angeleah's.

"Heh?! You are hugging me back?! Something must have gone really wrong- ...it feels nice, though..." Angeleah smiled, and Denko's sudden proactive act of affection really made her forget all her concerns for the moment.

"...Leah."

"Hm?"

"You got fatter again," said Denko when he pinched the fat behind Angeleah's back as his hands were on it.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BRING THAT UP IN THIS KIND OF TIME?!"

And then slowly, Denko realized, Futsuki had been watching them hugging next to them for a while, he didn't realize his older sister was home too.

"Is there something wrong, Denko?" Futsuki asked with a slightly worried look.

"Oh, Ane-ue, I didn't know you were home this early today," said Denko as he let go of Angeleah, and then he walked towards his sister, "Can you also give me a hug?"

"Hm? Sure..." Although Futsuki was supposed to be a bit confused and concerned about her little brother's request, but soon she felt like she understood something, she smiled and gave Denko the hug, "I see you figured out something that has been bothering you, right?"

"Indeed I did," Denko hugged his older sister tightly, a memory from the past flashed through his mind.

"You are late, again! Even at a time like this? You know that our performance is closing in, right? And you have the audacity to be this late every single time?" Charlotte yelled at Katori, who had just arrived at the restaurant where the band agreed to meet up at, while Charlotte and Angeleah had been waiting for so long already.

"Yeah, yeah, I am sorry, haha," Katori tried to blow Charlotte off with an apologetic smile, but the nonchalant tone just pissed off Charlotte even more.

"What is with that attitude? You know that amongst us all, you are the only one who is lagging behind in performance, right? How can you just act like we still have plenty of time for your nonchalant ass to loaf around?"

And then Charlotte went on with her endless tirade towards Katori while Angeleah next to her just kept trying to calm her down. Katori just stayed silent trying to suppress her urge to fight back, but it didn't last long as her eyes were about to get teary. Suddenly, she stood up, slammed both her hands on the table.

"If you have so much complains about me, just kick me out from the band, you and Angeleah-senpai are too good for me keep up with anyway," Katori yelled, which shocked Charlotte a little and she couldn't react at the moment, while Angeleah on the other hand immediately started to panic.

"Calm down, Katori-chan! We never wanted to kick you out or something. Charlotte-chan was just a bit upset and she didn't mean it. Besides, you were just a bit not on time, it's not really that serious-"

"Not serious? You know what else is not serious? This freaking band!" Katori interrupted Angeleah's comfort and yelled at her as well, "This band was not meant to be serious anyway, it's just a group of frivolous people hanging out together, doing nothing for good. The so-called 'band' is just merely a labelling of our group without any meaning or substance, then why even suddenly decide that we should hold a performance together and make everything a big deal? We already did performances before, people didn't even like us, they threw stuff at us!"

"You little-" The adrenaline rush and the rage overtook Charlotte causing her to stand up and wanted to yell back at Katori. However, she was interrupted by someone.

"Sorry, I am late," Denko entered the restaurant with a big bag, and because of his appearance, both Charlotte and Katori stopped, they sat back down, turning their heads from each other.

"Aha- ahahaha... Look, Denko is even more late, so Katori-chan was not even that late... Haha..." Angeleah nervously chuckled as she was trying to diffuse the tension.

"Denko doesn't count. He is not even part of the band. Besides, we didn't even ask him to come," said Charlotte, still refusing to look at anyone, reluctantly commenting on Angeleah's goofy remark while suppressing her anger.

"Seems like I am not welcomed here, but it doesn't stop me from delivering my complaints to you, Charlotte," Denko sighed and said.

"Ha? What kind of complaints are so important that you have to bring it up now of all time? Couldn't you read the atmosphere?" Charlotte crossed her arms as she turned her head back to Denko.

"Well, it will have to be you keep messaging Ichimonji all the time lately, which he got really annoyed with. So in return he annoyed me instead to ask me to stop you from doing so," said Denko as he sat down next to Katori.

"You... have been messaging my big brother?" Katori asked Charlotte, she looked really confused, and didn't know what to think about this information, "What business do you possibly have with my brother?"

"Wait! I thought you were talking about something important, this is barely important at all," Charlotte started to panic, trying to stop Denko from continuing this topic.

"Well, it would be more important if you take the context of those messages into account, which I feel Katori should know," Unfazed by Charlotte's reaction, Denko decided to continue, "She has been asking him questions like, 'Where has your little sister been?' 'Is she in trouble?' 'What kind of older brother are you to not be concerned about your own little sister?' yaddi yaddi yadda."

"Charlotte-senpai... I didn't know... You care this much..." Katori was so shocked that she couldn't find her voice and whispered inaudibly.

"D- Don't get the wrong idea! This is merely quoting me out of context! I- I was just trying to inquire where your lazy ass has been. Those messages were just me trying to phrase it politely!" Charlotte stuttered as she tried to defend herself.

"There is no way that those kind of wordings can be called 'phrasing it politely,'" Denko shook his head, and then proceeded to bring the big bag onto the table and tried to take out what's inside, "Well, if you wanted to know what Katori has been doing when she was missing so bad, I will show you."

Denko took out a very huge and ugly plushie from the bag, and this thing left Charlotte speechless.

"This is..."

"You remember this, right? So do I, when you said how much you are in love with this ugly plushie when you saw it in a claw machine last time. Apparently, Katori remembered it too, and has been going to the game center every day, trying to win this from the claw machine," Denko explained before he grabbed the plushie and turned to Katori, "Well, I helped you win this. Do you want me to give it to you, or is it supposed to be gifted to Charlotte? You know, since her birthday is around the corner."

"Y... You idiot! You have been showing up late, just to try to get a birthday present for me?" Charlotte started to blush, and she didn't know if she should be angry, or touched.

"Welp, that's all I got. My business is finished here, and I will leave the rest to you," said Denko as he saw how Charlotte and Katori reacted when they learned the truth, before he picked up his belongings and left without another word.

"Denko-senpai... Isn't his birthday also coming around soon?" Katori whispered as she saw Denko exited the door of the restaurant.

"He is trying to act cool. He is pretending that he doesn't care when people forget his birthday. Just like how he pretended to talk about something else but was subtly trying to fix our problems. All men are like that, thinking that we would never know," Charlotte crossed her arms again and sighed.

"Yeah, kinda gross actually," Katori added.

"Well, no matter if it is cool or gross, it's more important that our band is back into one piece, right?" Angeleah said as her smile returned again.

"Hmph, but business is business, don't think that it is okay to be late just because you were trying to get me a gift," said Charlotte with a cold voice as she leaned her elbow on the table, putting her chin on her palm, turning her face away.

"Well, I don't think I am going to take back what I said either," Katori replied as she also turned her head away from Charlotte.

"Haha... I guess not..." said Angeleah with her voice sounding a little bit like she was about to cry. Until suddenly, the three girls heard a male shrieking noise coming from outside. So they immediately stood up, running out the restaurant's door to see what's the matter.

"G- go away, PLEASE!" Denko screamed in terror as he was stuck on a tree, with a wild feral Pikachu at the bottom of the tree, trying to get to Denko.

"Denko-senpai... he is scared of that little yellow rodent as always," Katori sighed.

"What a useless man, what is he going to do without us?" Charlotte shrugged.

"Well then, let's join our force and fend off this Pikachu away together, and save Denko!" Angeleah laughed heartily, as the three of them were running towards Denko, trying to get the wild Pikachu to run away. This particular part of Denko's memory, has made Denko realize something.

"I feel like I am the cause of why the friendship between my old friends are in shambles," Denko said to Edrisa, as he asked her out to the seafront to tell her his insight of what happened these few days. Both of them are in disguise, of course.

"You don't say," said Edrisa with a slightly displeased tone. Seems like what Denko just said reminded her of something she was angry about before. But she had her eyes remained at the sea, trying to keep herself composed by taking Denko's bottle of strawberry milk that was placed on the top of the metal railing and took a big gulp of it, before she almost spat it out, "Yuck, what milk is this? The level of sweetness is out of the charts."

"Don't just take people's drink and complain about the taste," Denko slightly squinted his eyes at Edrisa, before he turned his head back to the sea, "I know what you are thinking, and that's not what I meant. What I meant is, I think my absence in these past few months might be the reason why Angeleah and her friends couldn't stay together."

"You are acting like this again? You are trying to shoulder problems that don't even belong to you, you know?" Edrisa shrugged, "Also, it's just their band being discontinued. It doesn't mean that they will stop being friends."

"You don't understand. Smiley Bomber as a band is really just a label, they don't perform together very often. It's just an excuse for them to spend time together and stay as friends. Disbanding doesn't just mean they don't perform together, chances are that they won't see each other that often, and eventually they will go from best friends to complete strangers."

Denko explained before he paused and contemplated a bit. After a few days of thinking about the situation, he felt like he got himself to a conclusion. He realized his role in Angeleah's friend group is more important than he thought. To be specific, he might have unironically become the glue that holds this friend group together without realizing it. And even though he never wanted to admit it, these three girls have also become important friends of his. But now... he might have already lost this very treasure of his.

"So... what exactly did you ask me out for?" Edrisa asked after Denko had kept his silence for a while.

"I want to claim back what I have lost."

"...?"

"I said I want to claim back what I lost," Denko turned to Edrisa, "The offer you gave me before, if I accept it, would you help me claim back what I have lost?"

Although it was a little surprising to Edrisa, her face and tone remained serious, and said, "As long as you do what we want you to do, we are happy to help what you have in your plan."

Denko turned his head back to the sea and chuckled a bit, "How funny. It's almost like Faust trading his soul to Mephistopheles."

"Who would understand such an old timer reference of yours?"

"But anyway, I have to mention, I still have one concern," said Denko, which Edrisa immediately understood.

"You are talking about Sekitobara-san, right? And anyone who would kill you if they knew you and me partnered up," said Edrisa, but she smiled with an unconcerned expression, "You don't have to worry about that at all. You remember the video where you and I sang together? The 'you' who people love was a masked Porygon2. And you just have to be like that in any performance we are going to have. You don't need to show your face at any time. Your girlfriend and my fans are not going to know that it's you who partnered with me!"

"So I can do this with my identity totally concealed?"

"Exactly."

"Very well," Denko turned his whole body toward Edrisa and offered a handshake, "I can't believe I am saying this but, I am looking forward to our partnership."

Edrisa smiled and also reached a hand to Denko for a handshake, "Welcome to the team, Denko-senpai."

"Oh, and one more thing."

"...?"

"The mask you gave me looked really ugly on me, can I use a different one?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"