Kibishi's POV

  I spent the rest of my time with Tao after bringing some food to her. I'd admit, I had brought it on a whim after remembering something from the past.

  But I had had a strong feeling that Tao would have skipped lunch after resting all day. And to no one's surprise, she had skipped lunch.

  I had been pnning to do the same, but I wanted to keep Tao company in her loneliness.

  When I had gone to the kitchen, she wasn't there.

  I asked around for Tao. No one had seen her ever since that morning's meeting.

  I tried the cafeteria as well.

  But to no avail; I couldn't find her. That had worried me, but I knew she would be in her room if nothing else. A wave of relief washed over me and I thought about making some lunch for her.

  Fast forward to the afternoon, I made her favorite meal and then headed to her room. Following that, we both fed each other. It was... nice. I'd admit that I even found that smile of hers to be a bit cute.

  Thinking about it now made me blush intensely.

  "Now wasn't the time to think about that, idiot!" I scolded myself for my actions.

  I'd admit, I was kinda conflicted whenever it was Tao. Whenever she was around, I started to act funny. For example, if someone bullied her, I ended up stepping up and facing the bully myself. If she needed my support, I was willing to provide it without a second thought.

  There were MANY more examples I could think of.

  Many with Tao being in them.

  There was nothing I wouldn't do for Tao. Realizing what I was thinking about, I spped my cheeks until they turned red. I deeply sighed and looked at myself in the mirror near me.

  "You can't be daydreaming about her. Just do your best to protect her no matter what. You promised Tao, Kibishi. Owe up to it," I scolded myself once more.

  With one st sp on my cheeks, I shook my head, exhaled for good measure, and started to head to the meeting area from before.

  The Meeting Room

  Once again, all of us were gathered for that night's meeting. It was most likely for that night's mission that Tao and I would take part in. They had said that it wouldn't be much, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared, right?

  Speaking of being prepared, it seemed like Kuma was prepared with a big brown sack right next to her seat. She was sitting to my right, the opposite of Tao, who was to my left. I ughed as a pile of sweat formed. I wasn't ughing because something was funny. I was ughing since I had no comment on how big that sack was beside me. I knew it was more on the other side and Kuma was in between me and the sack, but still. Seeing that really made me nervous for some reason. And I knew that whatever was inside that sack was helpful for the mission... I hoped.

  Putting that aside, I could see a new face joining us that night. It was a guy with brown skin, sck braids, and a jumpsuit that seemed to belong to a mechanic who fixes cars.

  Besides him, I saw the same people from that morning: The Founder, who was the leader of the whole organization; Mato, who was the doctor of this pce; and a few scientists whose names I didn't know. Though, they were pretty talkative when it came to having 'respect' for the elderly, despite them talking back at us first.

  It must have been a custom, I supposed.

  But that didn't mean that I liked it, though. I would respect it regardless.

  Oh!

  When I looked a little bit toward the edge of the walls, I could see Emily, David, and Riley wearing their red, bck, and white soldier uniforms. David and Riley saw me and they waved in the most energetic way I had ever seen, almost as if a fan was meeting their idol on tour.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to face the direction of the tapping. It turned out to be Tao, who had a cute, smiling expression. Not only that, she seemed to be beaming as well.

  "Kishi! Kishi! Everyone is here!" Tao whispered in excitement. And who could bme her? I was dancing on the inside as well.

  "Right! I'm gd that David and Riley could have a break from working!" I whispered back to Tao, who nodded in response to my statement. I then felt another tap on the opposite side of my shoulder. I assumed that was Kuma since she was the closest to me. And I was right on the money when I turned and saw Kuma looking satisfied with herself.

  "Hehe! You should thank me! I was the one who convinced Emily to bring them here while you two were resting!" Kuma grinned at me and Tao, half covering her mouth with her hand.

  "Is that so? Well, I appreciate it, Kuma!" I felt my head feeling lighter as I said that.

  "Yes! Thank you, Kuma!" Tao nodded as she showed a reddish color on her cheeks.

  "Don't mention it!" Kuma raised her right hand as she ughed with us.

  We all talked to each other for a bit more: how things were going so far, how we were pnning on tackling this mission, and even random stuff that had been on our minds for some time now.

  But all of that fun was cut short like a knife through thick butter when The Founder started to cough. His cough was like a signal for us to become silent and wait for his instructions.

  "Alright, everyone. Please pay attention to this important meeting. I'm sure you all have questions and some might want to reunite with old friends," The Founder said, folding his arms. "But now is not the time for that. We have much work to do, and even if it's a search party tonight, I would like to go into detail on what to do for the supernaturals and their mission."

  The Founder stood up with his hands behind his back.

  "Now then... let's begin."